Karyn Henley
WaterBrook Press
256 pages
$9.99
“Karyn Henley’s novel starts with a jolt, grabs the reader by the collar, and doesn’t slow down one minute. This author infuses her text with imagery, suspense, and a cast that will appeal to all ages.”
— Kathi Appelt, author of The Underneath
In Julianna Baggott’s post-apocalyptic novel, Pure, children struggle to save a world destroyed by adults
August 14, 2012 Julianna Baggott’s Pure is a futuristic blend of fairy tale and science fiction reminiscent of George Orwell’s classic 1984. The first in a planned trilogy, this beautiful, startlingly inventive, dystopian novel has been optioned by Fox 2000 and the lead producer of the Twilight movies, and within a few chapters it’s easy to see why. The cinematic setting vividly described in the book’s opening is a post-apocalyptic world charred by detonations. Survivors are divided into two camps: the so-called “Pures,” who have been cherry-picked to live safely within the Dome, a bubble immune to future attacks and disasters, and those left to fend for themselves on the outside. Baggott will discuss Pure at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.
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John Corey Whaley’s award-winning debut novel features a rare bird, teenaged angst, religious mania, and lost children
August 7, 2012 John Corey Whaley’s Where Things Come Back is a curiously indefinable novel of youth and wonder, fear and loss, and the triumph of unflinching emotional honesty. Whaley will discuss Where Things Come Back at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.
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After eleven years, hitting the bestseller lists with nearly every volume, Eoin Colfer brings the Artemis Fowl saga to a close
July 10, 2012 Eoin Colfer burst onto the middle-grade fantasy scene in 2001 with Artemis Fowl, a high-energy thriller starring a young criminal mastermind from an aristocratic Irish family, who kidnaps a ferocious fairy cop and holds her for ransom. Now the series comes to an end with its eighth installment, The Last Guardian. Colfer will discuss the culmination of his bestselling series on July 18 at 4 p.m. at the Nashville Public Library, as part of the Salon@615 series. The event is free and open to the public.
Read moreFor May Justus, the late children’s author from East Tennessee, folksongs were inextricably linked to storytelling
June 28, 2012 A devoted teacher of Appalachian children and the author of more than sixty books for children, May Justus rarely traveled from her home in East Tennessee. But her books, written over half a century, were read widely and reviewed in the major media, awarded prizes, and collected in libraries. Now the Tennessee Folklore Society and Jubilee Community Arts of Knoxville have released May Justus: The Carawan Recordings, a collection of traditional mountain ballads sung by Justus. The recordings help cement Justus’s legacy as an Appalachian folk hero, and they highlight her connection to the famous Highlander Folk School and its contribution to the protest movements of the 1960s.
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Patricia McKissack and her son Frederick McKissack Jr., along with illustrator Randy DuBurke, have created a graphic novel about the most famous African-American cowboy
June 19, 2012 Award-winning children’s author Patricia McKissack collaborates with her son, Frederick McKissack Jr., to tell the unlikely and compelling story of the most famous African-American cowboy. Best Shot in the West: The Adventures of Nat Love is a biography of Nat Love, a contemporary of General Custer, Buffalo Bill Cody, Billy the Kid, and the Masterson brothers. Love, a.k.a. “Deadwood Dick,” rose from slavery to become an accomplished and respected member of the Wild West community during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Vivid, colorful paintings by illustrator Randy DuBurke provide a stunning visual component to this graphic novel for adventurous readers aged twelve and up.
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