Chapter 16 - Part 4

Mystery and Adventure at … the Library?

Chris Grabenstein’s eccentric librarian, Mr. Lemoncello, returns to test rival teams of young bibliophiles

By Tracy Barrett | February 11, 2016

February 11, 2016 The nonstop action in Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics will captivate middle-grade readers, and the puzzles and challenges posed to its young heroes (and anti-heroes) will keep them guessing until the end. Chris Grabenstein will discuss his sequel to the New York Times-bestselling Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood on February 16, 2016, at 6:30 p.m.

Stumbling on a Wasp’s Nest

In Ronald Kidd’s new middle-grade novel, a girl comes of age in the civil-rights era

By Tracy Barrett | September 14, 2015

September 14, 2015 Thirteen-year-old Billie Sims, the heroine of Ronald Kidd’s middle-grade historical novel, Night on Fire, is just becoming aware of prejudice all around her. Then the Freedom Riders come to town. Ronald Kidd will discuss his most recent novel for young readers at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015.

Finding Yourself by Getting Lost

Kathryn Holmes’s Hallelujah Calhoun must fight her way out of the woods—and the darkness in her past

By Tracy Barrett | June 8, 2015

June 8, 2015 The Distance Between Lost and Found, a debut YA novel by Maryville native Kathryn Holmes, introduces high-school sophomore Hallelujah Calhoun, who’s forced to confront a haunting incident from her past.

Something Curious to Write About

A revealing one-sided correspondence is at the heart of Dear Hank Williams by Kimberly Willis Holt

By Tracy Barrett | April 16, 2015

April 16, 2015 In Dear Hank Williams, National Book Award-winning children’s author Kimberly Willis Holt tells the story of an eleven-year-old in 1940s Louisiana through letters the girl writes to Hank Williams. Holt will appear at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on April 22 at 6:30 p.m.

Hidden Treasure, a Haunted House, and an Unlikely Trio of Detectives

In this debut novel, a boy braves bullies and worse to try to save his family home

By Tracy Barrett | April 13, 2015

April 13, 2015 In Matthew Baker’s debut middle-grade novel, If You Find This, eleven-year-old Nicholas breaks his grandfather out of a nursing home and enlists the aid of two unlikely allies to find the family heirlooms his grandfather insists he hid years earlier—all to keep his parents from having to sell their family home. Baker will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 17, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.; and again in Furman Hall, Room 114, at Vanderbilt University on April 20, 2015, at 7 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

What Makes Us Who We Are?

In her debut novel, Memphis native Moriah McStay explores the way our experiences shape us

By Tracy Barrett | March 11, 2015

March 11, 2015 Fiona Doyle’s face was horribly scarred when she was a little girl. But what if the accident had never happened? Moriah McStay’s Everything That Makes You follows Fiona and an alternative, unscarred version of herself, exploring how much (and how little) would change if we could turn back the clock and “fix” what we think is wrong with our lives. McStay will read from her debut novel at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on March 17, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.

Tias and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us

By Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, illustrated by Josie Del Castillo
Seal Press
304 pages
$30

“Within these pages, I found my abuela, my tías and my primas — laughing, crying, and nodding alongside me. This book is a gift of understanding, and loving one’s family, even when our families are complicated and painful. It’s a beautiful reminder of the power of storytelling and the profound connection of kinship.”

~ Paola Mendoza, author, organizer and filmmaker