Stealing Saint Nick: A Legendary Corpse, a Notorious Theft, and the Stories that Shape the World

by M.T.Anderson

Dutton Books for Young Readers/PRH

     You don't have to be a "young reader" to love this book and learn a great deal from it.  Anderson tackles hard questions of religion, war and Santa Claus without ever being too critical, or naive. There is much to learn and wonder about the years from 300AD forward and what to make of how far we have and haven't come since then.

    And yes, this is a very good companion to Anderson's (much funnier) novel Nicked. You'll want to read them both.

If you would like to know more about, or own any of these books, please check with your local independent bookstore or this great place: bookshop.org.

Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang

by Kate Wilhelm

Gateway/Hachette

  This is brilliantly written and thus terrifying. The ecological disaster is too close for comfort and you need only substitute AI for cloning to be genuinely frightened. Still, the characters are very well drawn and it does end with hope. It was written in 1976!

If you would like to know more about, or own any of these books, please check with your local independent bookstore or this great place: bookshop.org.