Archives par étiquette : Park & Fine Literary and Media

THE BRAVEST WARRIOR IN NEFARIA d’Adi Alsaid

Phineas and Ferb meets the Despicable Me series in this hilarious and heartwarming middle-grade debut from acclaimed author Adi Alsaid about a wannabe hero who lives in a goofily evil kingdom where nefarious schemes abound.

THE BRAVEST WARRIOR IN NEFARIA (Book 1)
by Adi Alsaid
Alladin/Simon & Schuster, September 2023
(via Park & Fine Literary)

Welcome to Nefaria, where nearly every day the kingdom faces another evil scheme. Most are harmless, though, so the citizens of Nefaria simply learn to live with the latest hijinks and go on with their lives. This includes Bobert Bougainvillea, who is much more concerned with the fact that he seems to be invisible. From the teachers in his school to his classmates, almost no one notices Bobert, no matter how visible he tries to be. Then everything changes when Bobert follows his classmates to a cursed gumball machine.
Before he knows it, Bobert is sucked into one of Nefaria’s most villainous evil schemes, a plot that has been a long time in the making—too long, in the evil wizard Matt’s opinion. And retreating into invisibility this time won’t do, not when Bobert is the only one with the drive, knowledge, and—if his newfound courage doesn’t fail him—bravery to foil Matt’s plan.

Born and raised in Mexico City, Adi Alsaid is the author of several young adult novels including Let’s Get Lost, We Didn’t Ask for This, and North of Happy, a Kirkus Best Book nominee. He also edited Come on In: 15 stories about Immigration and Finding Home. He currently lives in Chicago with his wife and two cats, where he occasionally spills hot sauce on things (and cats).

BRING ME YOUR MIDNIGHT de Rachel Griffin

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches and Wild is the Witch comes a lush romantic fantasy about forbidden love, the choices we make, and the pull between duty and desire.

BRING ME YOUR MIDNIGHT
by Rachel Griffin
Sourcebooks, August 2023
(via Park & Fine Literary)

Tana Fairchild’s fate has never been in question. Her life has been planned out since the moment she was born: she is to marry the governor’s son, Landon, and secure an unprecedented alliance between the witches of her island home and the mainlanders who see her very existence as a threat.
Tana’s coven has appeased those who fear their power for years by releasing most of their magic into the ocean during the full moon. But when Tana misses the midnight ritual―a fatal mistake―there is no one she can turn to for help…until she meets Wolfe.
Wolfe claims he is from a coven that practices dark magic, making him one of the only people who can help her. But he refuses to let Tana’s power rush into the sea, and instead teaches her his forbidden magic. A magic that makes her feel powerful. Alive.
As the sea grows more violent, her coven loses control of the currents, a danger that could destroy the alliance as well as her island. Tana will have to choose between love and duty, between loyalty to her people and loyalty to her heart. Marrying Landon would secure peace for her coven but losing Wolfe and his wild magic could cost her everything else.

Rachel Griffin writes young adult novels inspired by the magic of the world around her. She is the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches and Wild Is the Witch. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Rachel has a deep love of nature, from the mountains to the ocean and all the towering evergreens in between. She adores moody skies and thunderstorms, and hopes more vampires settle down in her beloved state of Washington.

LASAGNA MEANS I LOVE YOU de Kate O’Shaughnessy

What are the essential ingredients that make a family? Eleven-year-old Mo is making up her own recipe in this unforgettable story that’s a little sweet, a little sour, and totally delicious.

LASAGNA MEANS I LOVE YOU
by Kate O’Shaughnessy
Knopf BYR, February 2023
(via Park & Fine Literary)

Nan was all the family Mo ever needed. But suddenly she’s gone, and Mo finds herself in foster care after her uncle decides she’s not worth sticking around for.
Nan left her a notebook and advised her to get a hobby, like ferret racing or palm reading. But how could a hobby fix anything in her newly topsy-turvy life?
Then Mo finds a handmade cookbook filled with someone else’s family recipes. Even though Nan never cooked, Mo can’t tear her eyes away. Not so much from the recipes, but the stories attached to them. Though, when she makes herself a pot of soup, it is every bit as comforting as the recipe notes said.
Soon Mo finds herself asking everyone she meets for their family recipes. Teaching herself to make them. Collecting the stories behind them. Building a website to share them. And, okay, secretly hoping that a long-lost relative will find her and give her a family recipe all her own.
But when everything starts to unravel again, Mo realizes that if she wants a family recipe—or a real family—she’s going to have to make it up herself.

Kate O’Shaughnessy is a book nerd, animal lover, former chef, and an outdoor enthusiast. When she’s not writing, you can find Kate pottering in her garden, eating good food, hiking with her dog, and chronically mispronouncing words she’s read but never heard said aloud. She lives in California with her family. Kate’s first book was The Lonely Heart of Maybelle Lane.

LOOKING FOR SMOKE de K.A. Cobell

In her powerful debut novel, author K. A. Cobell (Blackfeet) weaves loss, betrayal, and complex characters into a thriller that will illuminate, surprise, and engage readers until the final word. A must-pick for readers who enjoy books by Angeline Boulley and Karen McManus.

LOOKING FOR SMOKE
by K.A. Cobell
Heartdrum/ HarperCollins, June 2024
(via Park & Fine Literary and Media)

When local girl Loren includes Mara in a traditional Blackfeet Giveaway to honor Loren’s missing sister, Mara thinks she’ll finally make some friends on the Blackfeet reservation.
Instead, a girl from the Giveaway, Samantha White Tail, is found murdered.
Because the four members of the Giveaway group were the last to see Samantha alive, each becomes a person of interest in the investigation. And all of them—Mara, Loren, Brody, and Eli—have a complicated history with Samantha.
Despite deep mistrust, the four must now take matters into their own hands and clear their names. Even though one of them may be the murderer.

« A stunning debut, as beautiful as it is bold. Cobell has woven an aching examination of grief in an Indigenous community with a thriller brimming with so many secrets and twists, it’ll leave you breathless. » —Diana Urban, award-winning author of All Your Twisted Secrets

« A gripping debut thriller with dynamic characters who leap off the page and demand to be heard. » — Jessica Goodman, NYT bestselling author of The Counselors and the Legacies 

« Via four alternating POVs informed by the intricacies of reservation life, Cobell highlights the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis and delivers a gut-punch of an ending in this timely debut thriller that is by turns spine-tingling and emotionally raw. » —Publishers Weekly, starred review ★

“… A story that is gritty and tense but also showcases the deep-rooted strength Native American communities have to summon hope in challenging times. » —Booklist

K.A. Cobell, Staa’tssipisstaakii, is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation. She currently lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she spends her time writing books, chasing her kids through the never-ending rain, and scouring the inlet beaches for sand dollars and hermit crabs. LOOKING FOR SMOKE is her debut novel.

WHAT WE VALUE d’Emily Falk

An award-winning University of Pennsylvania neuroscientist reveals the hidden calculations that shape our daily decisions—and how to make more fulfilling, impactful choices in our work, relationships, and lives.

WHAT WE VALUE:
The Neuroscience of Choice and Change
by Dr. Emily Falk
Norton, April 2025
(via Park & Fine Literary and Media)

Why is it so hard to stick with the choices we want to make? We decide to be healthier, but we snack all afternoon. We resolve to prioritize family time, but we end up working late into the evening. Change is hard – even when we really want, or need, to make it. Amid the many competing priorities of our busy lives, it can feel difficult to make the right decisions―ones that feel aligned with the things we care about. In this book, award-winning researcher Emily Falk reveals how we can transform our relationship with the daily choices that define our lives by thinking like a neuroscientist about what we value.

Introducing us to three brain systems responsible for computing our everyday decisions in a process known as the value calculation, Falk shows how we can work more strategically with our brains to make more fulfilling choices. Whether deciding on lunch or a career, changing our routines or other people’s minds, we learn how changing what we think about can change what we think, connecting with our core values can make us less defensive, and broadening our curiosity about different perspectives can seed innovation. Based on cutting-edge research, WHAT WE VALUE is a groundbreaking guide to finding new possibilities in our choices―and the lives we ultimately make with them.

Emily Falk is a professor of communication, psychology, and marketing at the University of Pennsylvania, where she also directs the Communication Neuroscience Lab and serves as associate dean for research at the Annenberg School for Communication. Her work on the science of attitude and behavior change has been widely covered in the popular press and recognized with numerous awards, including early career awards from the Social & Affective Neuroscience Society and the Association for Psychological Science, the National Institute of Health Director’s New Innovator Award, and more. She lives in Philadelphia.