Rebecca Rose Mooradian’s great-grandmother fled the Armenian Genocide and eventually settled in the United States. Rose by the Sea, Mooradian’s debut picture book, was inspired by her grandmother’s story and combines lyrical lines with beautiful images by Myo Yim to help children understand both troubling history and enduring human goodness.
With simple, poetic lines, The Weedy Garden: A Happy Habitat for Wild Friends invites young readers to imagine they’re the animals in a garden where a weed is not something to be pulled up and eradicated but an essential, life-giving force. Margaret Renkl and Billy Renkl will discuss The Weedy Garden at Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis on February 22, Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 24 and 28, David Lusk Gallery in Nashville on February 28, and Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville on March 19.
The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, known as the “Six Triple Eight,” was a predominantly Black unit in the U.S. Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. Tonya Abari tells their heroic but underappreciated story in her latest picture book, The Six Triple Eight.
“I’m a baseball player,” 12-year-old Timothy “Pumpsie” Strickland declares. “Baseball is my life.” In Andrea Williams’ new middle-grade novel, Inside the Park, Pumpsie must overcome his fears and think fast to save the day when sinister forces threaten his beloved team, the Nashville Wildcats.
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Shauna LaVoy Reynolds’ debut picture book, Poetree, is a gentle ode to spring and friendship.
In Kerry Madden-Lunsford’s middle-grade novel, Werewolf Hamlet, something terrible is happening to Angus Gettlefinger’s 17-year-old brother, Liam. He’s turning into a monster, and Angus doesn’t know why. Madden-Lunsford will discuss Werewolf Hamlet at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on February 20 and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 24.
