Happy April and Happy Spring! Lots of terrific books coming out this week. Let’s take a look:
Books for Kids
Balderdash: John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children’s Books – Picture book biography of John Newbery, advocate for children’s literature.
Be Quiet – Rupert the mouse wants to star in a beautiful, wordless picture book, but his friends won’t stop yakking!
Frankie – Two dogs try to figure out how to get along together. Looks darling!
Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors – This backstory of the epic competition between Rock, Paper and Scissors is from some of the best and brightest in the world of picture books. I can’t want to read this one!
Night Night Groot – Rocket and Groot have to save the galaxy before Groot can finally go to bed. This looks darling!
Pout Pout Fish Far Far from Home – I discovered the Pout Pout Fish books when I was doing book fairs with Scholastic. Cute story line. This is the latest addition to the series.
Splatypus – A lonely platypus goes “SPLAT” no matter what he tries to do. Look at that cover! I have to see this one in person – looks terrific!
Rosie Revere’s Big Project Book for Bold Engineers – An activity book tied to the terrific Rosie Revere picture book.
Star Wars Prequel Trilogy Graphic Novel – I have seen the GN for the original series that goes with this one for the prequels and it is gorgeous! I would love to own both of these. Our family would get a lot of use out of them.
Books for Older Kids/Teens/Young Adults
Chester and Gus – Chester has only ever wanted to be a service dog, but he fails the test. Then a family adopts Chester to help their autistic son, Gus, but Gus isn’t anything like Chester has trained for. But Gus is now his person, so Chester is determined to figure out how to help him! Adding this to my list for certain.
First Class Murder – Book 3 in the Murder Most Unladylike/Wells and Wong mystery series. This one takes place on The Orient Express. This looks like a fantastic mystery series for kids!
The Forgetting Spell – Book 2 in the Wishing Day series. Darya approaches her Wishing Day with trepidation after the impact of her mother’s wish ten years ago and her sister’s wish last year.
Guys Read: Heroes & Villains – Love this series of short stories with boys in mind (but totally appropriate for any reader!). This theme sounds terrific to me! Ten original stories.
I Funny School of Laughs (April 3) – Book 5 in the I Funny series by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
Jack and the Geniuses: At the Bottom of the World – Three orphans and their benefactor head to the South Pole to judge a contest and find a missing scientist. This was a terrific series launch! I will be posting a review of this here tomorrow. Check it out!
Journey Across the Hidden Island – Twin princesses encounter monsters on what was supposed to be a pretty routine journey. Now it is up to them to save their kingdom.
Magic in the City – Two boys from Canada and their cousin in London stumble onto three magical objects that take them on an amazing adventure.
Panda-monium – Book 4 in the Teddy Fitzroy series. I haven’t read any of these, but they sound terrific – mysteries at the zoo! I think I have to add these to my TBR list.
Prisoner of Ice and Snow – A girl gets arrested on purpose in order to try to break her twin out of jail. Sounds like a great adventure!
Speed of Life – After losing her mother 8 months earlier, Sofia is still grieving, but her friends are ready for her to “move on.” Sofia reaches out to an advice columnist for help. There are a couple girls in my life who recently lost their dad. I’d love to read this and see if it would be a good resource for them when/if they need it.
The Titanic Mission – Second book in the time travel Flashback Four series by Dan Gutman
Who Are the Rolling Stones? – Biography of the Rolling Stones
Who Was Princess Diana? – Biography of Princess Diana.
Alex, Approximately – A twist on You’ve Got Mail. I loved it!! You can read my review here.
Geekerella: A Fangirl Fairytale – Elle wants to win a cosplay contest for a reboot of her father’s favorite scifi show. Darian wants nothing more than to be in the reboot, but the fandom seems to have written him off completely. Maybe Elle can change all that. Yep, this one is definitely in the shopping cart!
Gem & Dixie – Sisters with a complicated family situation take a road trip where one has to determine how far she will go to save herself from their past. This is getting rave reviews online.
Inconceivable Life of Quinn – Daughter of a prominent politician is pregnant – and she doesn’t remember ever having sex. Could this be another virgin birth? Interesting premise. I’d read this just to find out what really happened.
Letters to the Lost – A girl writes letters to her mother and leaves them at the cemetery. A boy doing community service there reads them and responds. Soon they are exchanging letters even though they are “strangers.” Except they aren’t. Can’t wait to read this one!
Perfect – Sequel to the awesome Flawed, about a dystopian society where people are punished for deception, bad decisions and other examples of flawed character. I am reading an ARC of this (Advanced Reader Copy) right now! I’ll post a review of this later this week.
Pretty Fierce – The daughter of two assassins who have disappeared is targeted by hit men.
Royce Rolls – Bentley Royce’s family, stars of uber-popular reality TV show, is on the brink of destruction. It will be up to Bentley to save the show in order to save the family, but a car accident throws a wrench into the plan.
Zenn Diagram – A math whiz who can read people’s emotions from their possessions or even their own skin meets a boy who she can’t read like everyone else. But there is a link between the two of them that could tear them apart. Romance and suspense with hints of the paranormal. I already pre-ordered this one!
Books for Adults
All By Myself Alone – For fans of Mary Higgins Clark, here is her latest mystery that takes place on a cruise ship. I love mysteries like this! Clark leans more towards suspense/thriller than I usually read, but the premise of this one might grab my attention anyway!
Caramel Crush – Book 9 in the Cupcake Bakery Mystery series. I loved the first book in the series and would love to get back into it!
Dying on the Vine – Book 2 in the Kelsey McKenna Destination Wedding Mystery series. Mysteries, weddings, and travel – sounds great!
A Frying Shame – Book 3 of the Deep Fried Mystery series
Invitation – Book one of the Harbringers series. Frank Peretti. Angela Hunt. Bill Myers. Alton Gansky. With those authors, how could I NOT read this one!! Looks like there are four stories, one by each author, with the same core characters. This one is already in my Amazon cart!
Of Books and Bagpipes – Book 2 in the Scottish Bookshop Mystery series
Silence of the Jams – Book 2 in the Down South Cafe Mystery series. I enjoyed book one, The Calamity Cafe and I’m looking forward to this one!
Town in a Maple Madness – Book 8 in the Candy Holliday Mystery series. I haven’t read any of these yet, but this series sounds terrific.
An Unseen Angel: A Mother’s Story of Faith, Hope and Healing after Sandy Hook – A mother shares her journey after the shooting at Sandy Hook (Newtown, CT) in 2012.
A Colorful Way of Living: How to Be More, Create More, Do More the Vera Bradley Way – An inspirational book from one of the founders of Vera Bradley. Personally, I am looking to do LESS and strive LESS, but I still want to read this.
The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America – A history of Evangelical American Protestantism, from the Puritans to the 2016 election season.
The Gatekeepers – I have never been more fascinated by politics than I have in this past year. This book, looking at the work of Presidential Chiefs of Staff, sounds interesting!
The Gospel According to Paul – The latest from John MacArthur looks at passages from Paul’s writings that sum up the gospel of Jesus Christ
Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy – The latest from Anne Lamott where she looks at finding meaning in life.
I Love You with All My Butt – The funny things kids say! I follow this artist on social media and I can’t wait to see this in person. This title cracks me up every time I read it.
Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice – A Christian doctor shares his story of conviction to help others through the “service” of providing abortions. This stands opposed to my own interpretation of scripture, but I am curious to read how this gentleman reconciles his work with his faith.
So, what are you adding to your TBR list this week?
