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HOW TO DRAW THE WORLD

Nel’s interest in the picture book Harold and the Purple Crayon began five decades ago, when he encountered the book as a child. In the ensuing decades, he not only wrote a biography of the book’s author, Crockett Johnson, but also aspired to write the current volume, which he calls “a biography of a book.” True to his intent, Nel traces the book’s origins, evolution, and cultural effects, beginning with the premise that picture books should be treated as works of art. He writes, “As one of our

FALL OF THE IRON GODS

Six months after the fall of the Narrows, the members of the rebel group Red Hand face an ongoing threat from the South Asian Province’s government and the Planetary Alliance Commission in the form of an ominous mind-controlling program called Solace. Ashiva struggles to become an inspiring hero for the Red Hand, despite being unable to fully sync with her new SynGenesis, a deadly and advanced bio-mechanical arm. When their base is targeted, Ashiva, Synch, and Taru, along with the remnants of t

COURAGE, EVERY DAY

Tomorrow marks a momentous occasion for an East Asian–presenting child with pale skin and straight black hair: a musical performance in front of a crowd of people. “But there are thousands of butterflies fluttering in my tummy,” the child tells us. White-outlined butterflies surround the youngster. “I believe in you,” Papa says as he hands the protagonist a violin. “Have courage.” But what is courage? Papa catalogs many different types of bravery, from saving the day to making small but meaning

MOUSE AND HIS DOG

This second visit to the Dogtown animal shelter brings back some familiar furry faces while introducing a new narrative perspective—that of one of the mice residing in the building’s rafters. Mouse enjoys lounging in the basement with the “unadoptable” pups, among them Buster, a “bounceback,” who has been adopted several times but then been returned following a litany of tragicomic mishaps. There’s also Smokey, the robot dog, who (due to an error at the factory) randomly emits a tremendous, mis

SHORELINE

Nayman, a clinical psychologist and a fiction and nonfiction writer, brings her storytelling skills to bear in her poignant memoir. Unfolding across standalone chapters, the book explores connections with lost friends, her children, and her mother, who continues to be a complicated character in the author’s life even years after her death. “To live is to grieve,” Nayman writes, ruminating on the deaths of close friends and both of her parents, as well as imagining the impact her own future pass

THE ART OF DYING

Schjeldahl (1942-2022) was best known as an art critic, a role he held at the New Yorker right up until his death at the age of 80. He made the East Village his home for most of his life, but his roots were in the Midwest—a fact that perhaps explains why he was able to make art accessible without dumbing it down or pandering. The title essay was published after he was diagnosed with incurable lung cancer. The author writes about his life in a discursive style that he has, as an elderly man faci

TOGETHER IN A BROKEN WORLD

The story opens in Elk Springs, Montana, after society has fallen into ruin, due to a disease known as the Infection that either kills people outright or turns them violent. Seventeen-year-old Zach first sees 18-year-old Aiden passing through town, and after they form a relationship, Zach shares some of his supplies with the newcomer. Aiden aims to continue his trek to the University of Washington to deliver vials of the original version of the Infection to researchers looking for a cure. He at

THE QUIET COUP

The current economic landscape suffers from skyrocketing student debt, predatory lending, and stark income inequality. Baradaran, a law professor specializing in financial regulation and the author of The Color of Money and How the Other Half Banks, shows us how neoliberalism’s emphasis on corporations over people has “augment[ed] the power of corporations and capital over that of national governments,” creating an economic system that everyday citizens (and even lawyers and government official

THE ENDS OF FREEDOM

Arguing against the use of negative rights to champion individual freedom and bolster conservative thought, Paul, a professor of public policy at Rutgers, begins his counterargument with a history of the rise of neoliberalism in the U.S. and of governmental efforts to realize positive rights that ensure that everyone prospers. Midway through the text, the author shifts from history to policy analysis and proposes “concrete alternatives that would provide all with universal security by guarantee

12 MONTHS TO LIVE

All things considered, things have been going pretty well for Jane Smith. Sure, she’s twice divorced; she’s not all that close to her sister, Brigid, who also has cancer; and Rob Jacobson, the client accused of killing Mitch and Kathy Gates and their teenage daughter, Laurel, is a lying piece of trash. But Jane and her investigator, tavern owner Jimmy Cunniff, have just been asked to look again into the high-profile Carson case, involving another family of three who were shot dead some years ag

AMERICAN MERMAID

Penny Schleeman loves her job teaching English at a public high school in New Haven, but at 33 she’s living in a studio apartment and has to get help from her parents if she needs dental work. “It’s not my fault that it’s not feasible to have a middle-class job anymore,” she tells us. “All I want is to be a teacher.” When her novel about Sylvia, a young woman who transforms into a mermaid, becomes a surprise bestseller, it seems Penny’s money troubles are over. Her new, barracudalike film agent

THE EASTERN FRONT

Even after a century, the bloody, mud-soaked images of World War I are deeply ingrained in the public consciousness. However, that is only one part of a larger picture, according to veteran WWI historian Lloyd, author of The Amritsar Massacre, Hundred Days, and Passchendaele. In Eastern Europe, there was a very different war. This book is the second part of a planned trilogy, following The Western Front (2021). Like the previous installment, the author delves deeply into records and corresponde

THE KNIFE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

The star of the season is the Cliffs Hotel, a marvelous restored Victorian mansion overlooking the ocean. Building contractor Shannon Hammer and her crew are working on plans for a Christmas Fun Zone on the grounds highlighted by a carousel and of course Santa. Shannon is close to Bill and Lillian Garrison, who own the Cliffs, and their children, who all work there except for the eldest, Logan, who is in the Navy. Logan’s stunning but awful wife, Randi, is a close friend to Shannon’s archenemy,

POCKET FULL OF TEETH

The story begins as police interview Eddy Sparrow for reasons that aren’t immediately clear to the reader.Eddy is a woman whose recently deceased mother—chair of the history department at Georgia State University—was sent a manuscript before her death that was found buried in a canister in the backyard of an abandoned estate. The property, located in northern Alabama, was allegedly haunted, as was the manuscript, which is rumored to curse anyone who reads it. As Eddy talks to the police officer

LONG TIME DEAD

Police Constable Kate Armitage and newspaper editor Ellie Sands were shot before the eyes of shop assistant Sally Doneghy back in 1997. Ellie survived, Kate didn’t, and the likely shooter, drug dealer John Lively, vanished. The case has languished since then, mainly because Ellie’s brain damage has prevented her from constructing coherent sentences, let alone identifying the man who shot her. Then, in 2004, Lively surfaces in a literal fashion, his body unearthed by a gravedigger preparing for

MELVILL

“Call me Herman.” Such a commandment could come from only one writer, Herman Melville, who stands at the center of Fresán’s narrative. Occupying much of that space, too, albeit in sometimes spectral form, is Melville’s father, Allan Melvill (the -e a typo that his son, the victim of a bureaucrat’s pen, stuck with, even as, later in the novel, he notes ruefully that his obituary in Harper’s Monthly Magazine, where several of his stories appeared, will render his name as Henry). Allan, born to a

ENOLA'S BEST FRIEND

Enola, a tiny tot with a wavy mop of brown hair, loves visiting Grandma Mimi. Grandma Mimi is the most easygoing, fun grandmother ever. She creates a blanket fort for Enola to sleep in, serves the best snacks, and even has an adorable pup named Hoagie. For lunch one day, Grandma Mimi makes hot dogs. Enola has never had one. Unfortunately, she can’t eat it, because, as she observes, using a child’s logic, it is “perfectly friend-shaped.” (The hot dog has a squiggle of mustard and a tiny smile.)

TAKEDOWN

Rowan, a Canadian high school wrestler, is feeling helpless and pulled in multiple directions: Her father is suffering from ALS, she’s training for a major tournament in New York City that will attract college recruiters, and her influencer best friend, Pia, her usual sparring partner, is injured. Complicating things even further, she’s caught between two very different boys—Ozzy, her high school boyfriend who’s a budding Shakespearean actor with two dads, and Caspian, an up-and-coming mixed ma

GIRLS WHO BURN

Eighteen-year-old Addie Blackwood is preparing to head to Rutgers University in the fall, although she’s still reeling from the death of her sister, Fiona, last summer. Gifted ballerina Fiona’s death was ruled an accident, but Addie believes Fiona was murdered by wealthy, privileged Thatcher Montgomery. When the family gathers at their estate in Bier’s End, New Jersey, for their matriarch’s funeral, Addie comes face to face with Seth Montgomery, the boy she has unresolved feelings for, and his

FIVE DAYS IN BOGOTÁ

Ally Blake, a widowed mother of two and owner of a financially strapped art gallery in San Diego, risks everything to exhibit at a Bogotá art fair and hopefully make it big. Specializing in Latin American art, she’s joined by Uruguayan artist Mateo Lugano, who’s also hoping to get his big break at the fair. After struggling to get her crates full of valuable art—on which her livelihood depends—free from customs, Ally notices additional paintings have been added to her collection. To her astonis