Our Friend Hedgehog: The Story of Us (Hardcover)

By Lauren Castillo

$16.99

That Lauren Castillo’s Our Friend Hedgehog is evocative of childhood classic read-aloud stories is unmistakable. The comfort found in the timeless charm of Our Friend Hedgehog will be a happy discovery to many readers who are living through this most unsettled and uncertain of times. For adults, sharing it with a child, it will be a welcome passage back to treasured inner landscapes of their own childhood, the very agency of association enhancing the comforting effect of experiencing a new world so imbued with beloved aspects of the past. For children it will be just sheer delight, companionship, and wonder. Our Friend Hedgehog is a book that will still be there whenever you return to it. It is of course a book to share. That’s why I’m sharing it with you.

Piranesi (Hardcover)

By Susanna Clarke

$27.00

What a remarkable book Piranesi is. Fifteen years have passed since Clarke's last novel, the magnificent Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.  Clarke has transposed this period of stasis in her life into the pages and passages of Piranesi, infusing the tale with atmosphere and insight. Piranesi, he who is the mysterious hero of this tale, inhabits an almost infinite house filled with halls of porcelain statues and a questing sea whose tides he has mastered. As the truth of his odd existence unspools, it feeds a quiet intensity that suddenly steps out into the light of a brilliant and satisfying conclusion. Many are the tales of portals to adjacent worlds. Piranesi has an air of authenticity about which is unique.

Long Bright River: A Novel (Hardcover)

By Liz Moore

$26.00

Moore delivers a powerhouse here, a detective story which transcends its genre and defies its readers' expectations. Her take-no-prisoners style left no possibility for a sequel and leaves its readers with a story which lingers in the mind long after the last word is read. Long Bright River delivers an exceptional detective story and exposes the true nature of a profound and ongoing social tragedy in doing so.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (Hardcover)

By V. E. Schwab

$26.99

Schwab proffers up a deliciously atmospheric story, one which adds elements of attitude and agency to the traditional tale of a Faustian bargain. Addie Laroux, seeking escape from an arranged marriage in the rural France of 1714, makes a bargain with a god who answers in the night and grants her an immortal life which leaves no trace on those living around her. Addie cannot be remembered by any of the lives she touches. Yet she transcends her circumstances in a manner that other Gothic victims such as Melmoth the Wanderer can only envy from a distance. This is a compelling and deeply absorbing account, a page turner with real depth. A novel not to be missed.

This Is a Book of Shapes (Board book)

By Kenneth Kraegel, Kenneth Kraegel (Illustrator)

$8.99

Foodie Faces is just genius. This series of emotive faces rendered from pieces of food, will cause the most serious mien to bend into a smile. The magic that the Wurtzel team brings to these pages creates the best kind of learning, where knowledge just happens in the process of discovery and enjoyment. If you don't  love Foodie Faces your heart is astray indeed.

A Deadly Education: A Novel (The Scholomance #1) (Hardcover)

By Naomi Novik

$28.00

Naomi Novick, always an intricate storyteller, weaves her magic upon the worthy subject of a school of dark magic as explored though they eyes of a most dangerous student narrator, Galadrial. Galadrial has no interest in giving either her readers or her classmates the story they expect. The challenging engagement offered by her unsettling narrator is used to great effect by Novick. A Deadly Education which will delight her existing fans as well as drawing in the readers of other tales of nefarious magical education such as Lev Grossman's Magicians Trilogy.

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight (Hardcover)

By Kimberly Jones, Gilly Segal

$17.99

This young adult novel, told in alternating voices by two different authors, follows a black and a white high school student thrown together during a race riot which erupts at a football game. These unexpected companions share an edgy, eventful night which is as exciting as it is insightful. I’m Not Dying with You Tonight explores the themes of race relations, police violence, and protest and looting in a manner sure to connect with a teen audience. Thought provoking without offering easy answers, entertaining  without being trite, this book is a great choice as a gift.

The Detective in the Dooryard: Reflections of a Maine Cop (Hardcover)

By Timothy A. Cotton

$24.95

It is easy to see why Maine trooper Timothy Cotten is so beloved. His easy humor, toughness, eye for detail, and love of place infuse these Maine stories with character. The Detective in the Dooryard, the highlights of Cotten's long and rich career, is sure to captivate lover's of Maine non-fiction .

Meerkat Christmas (Hardcover)

By Emily Gravett, Emily Gravett (Illustrator)

$19.99

Sunny the Meerkat goes in adventure seeking the sort of Christmas he has read about in books and seen in a magazine. When Santa finds a postcard Sunny sent to his family he sees in him a means of illustrating the true meaning of Christmas. This is a holiday story filled with charm and the wonderful illustrations Emily Gravett always brings to accompany her rich story telling. Delightful!