Children & YA | Chapter 16

Who Runs the World?

Debbie Dadey, Stephanie Faris, and Gail Nall hit the road for their Girls Read tour

By Sarah Carter | May 12, 2017

Debbie Dadey, author of Mermaid Tales: Flower Girl Dreams, Stephanie Faris, author of Piper Morgan Makes a Splash, and Gail Nall, author of Out of Tune, will read from their middle-grade novels at Books-a-Million in Knoxville on May 19, at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood on May 20, at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 20, and at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Chattanooga on May 21.

A Werewolf Wearing What? Where?

Jessica Young takes another punny romp with two doggie best friends

By Kathryn Justice Leache | May 9, 2017

Jessica Young’s latest early-reader graphic novel, Haggis and Tank Unleashed: Howl at the Moon, is a clever exploration of language and a celebration of imagination. Young will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 13 at 2 p.m.

What is Love Without Longing?

Sheba Karim’s meditation on desire and distance embraces and enlarges the YA genre

By Tina Chambers | May 1, 2017

It’s the summer after high school, and Shabnam Qureshi has a simple plan: “Get through the summer. Get to Penn. Begin anew. Don’t look back.” But as Sheba Karim demonstrates in That Thing We Call a Heart, her second book for young adults, life is rarely so simple. Karim will appear on May 9 at 2 p.m. at Parnassus Books in Nashville.

God’s Gonna Trouble the Water

In Midnight Without a Moon, Linda Williams Jackson considers the civil-rights movement through the eyes of a feisty teenage girl

By Erica Ciccarone | April 27, 2017

Thirteen-year-old Rose Lee Carter knows that the Jim Crow South has to change, but she’s not sure she wants to be the one to do it. Linda Williams Jackson makes a stunning debut with her middle-grade historical novel, Midnight Without a Moon.

Fear, Fury, Hope, Love

For two teenagers, a same-sex love affair plays out against a backdrop of family grief

By Tina Chambers | April 26, 2017

In How to Make a Wish, Nashville YA author Ashley Herring Blake deftly describes the highs and lows of a burgeoning love affair between two young women dealing with personal problems that would challenge adults of any age. Blake will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 2 at 6:30 p.m.

Remembering Pat

The world of children’s lit mourns the loss of the legendary Patricia C. McKissack

By Julie Danielson | April 17, 2017

Middle Tennessee native Patricia C. McKissack, acclaimed author and storyteller, died near her home in Missouri on April 7. Her body of work, which includes many books written with her late husband Fredrick, did much to champion the African American experience.

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