Umberto Eco

The Christmas holiday is a wonderful time to appreciate a snowy day and great books like this one, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana.

Philip Pullman

Sssshhhhh! Don't tell her....I'm giving my daughter, Molly, the His Dark Materials trilogy and am reading a guide to Philip Pullman's books, Discovering the Golden Compass. Hopefully, Molly will share with her mom after she opens them Christmas morning.

Gordon Parks

This book is a beautiful photo history by Gordon Parks. Our "One Book, One Community" read last spring was The Learning Tree, by G. Parks. Each year, our community enjoys a week of activities (book discussions, author readings, visiting author in the schools, etc.) around a particular book. What a delightful way to meet up with kindred spirits! This year, I was lucky enough to be hostess to our featured author, Ann Parr, who wrote a young adult biography of Gordon Parks...a man she had the fortune of meeting twice, in person, when she flew to New York to interview him. The name of Ann's delightful book is No Excuses.