Master Naturalist, Besa Schweitzer, has written an interactive guidebook to native landscaping in Missouri. Her easy-to-follow planner lists garden tasks for each month of the year. The talented gardener challenges readers to help save nature by acting locally—in their own yards—by removing invasive plants and introducing native species. Besa notes that planting one tree can become a habitat for a variety of birds. An oak tree, in particular, can provide habitat for more tha

While it’s rewarding to read a book with rave reviews, it’s a special treat to find a book you don’t know much about, fall fast and wax eloquent about your discovery to everyone you know. “Five” hooked me from the get go, the propulsive thriller thrusting me straight into the story: “Someone will die here this morning, at this suburban train station.” With this shocking first line, Ilona Bannister sets the stage for an unputdownable thriller, action building at a frenzied

Youngsters are sure to dive right into “All I Want to Do Is Swim,” by Marilyn Singer. The inviting cover features a sparkly dolphin and other water-loving creatures, setting the stage for a rhyming story about a little girl who squelches her fear of getting her feet wet. Cute, colorful illustrations by Luisa Uribe, track her progress. Lakeside, the girl sits on the dock, sweet face locked in anxiety. “I’m staring at the water, unsure if I’ll go in. I dip one foot, then the

"A great thinning of the skies is underway. There are three billion fewer birds in North America than half a century ago." With this chilling observation, nature writer Robert Macfarlane and illustrator Jackie Morris introduce an imaginative, vividly illustrated collection of lyrical narratives and paintings about endangered birds. "Instead of photographs—paint. Alongside data—metaphor, story, poetry. In place of definition—relation. As well as classification—something like l

In the novel, “The Children,” by Melissa Albert, beloved children’s author, Edith Sharpe, and her infamous husband, Llewellyn, die in a fire when their children are 13 and 10. Overnight guests, including several famous actors and artists, also perish in the flames. Ennis and his sister Guinevere miraculously manage to flee as the house is consumed. They are found in a little shelter known as The Farmhouse, that they have built by themselves over the years in the fore

The earliest documented habitation of Ireland dates to millennia before the Christian era. The island has been inhabited by multiple waves of cultures including mainland Europe, the Scandinavian region, and the Vikings. Maggie O’Farrell’s recent novel, “Land,” includes references to the earliest inhabitants of the island. The book is set in the 19th century, the years that saw the great potato famine leading to the loss of 20 % of the island’s population, both to death by st

If historical fiction is your preferred genre, you’ve probably read at least one of Lisa See’s novels. Her impressive backlog of historical fiction sometimes reflects See’s passion for writing based on her Chinese American heritage. My personal favorite of See’s is “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan,” (2005.) Many years and books later, See continues to captivate. Her just released novel “Daughters of the Sun and Moon” is a throat-clutcher that culminates in a tragic historical

In a collection of telling essays, Evan Osnos appraises the lives of 1% of the US population known as the super wealthy. The talented author explores their obsession with $500 million yachts and bomb-proof bunkers. He discloses their political influence and the extreme measures they take to avoid paying taxes. “The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich” is composed of three sections: "THE REWARDS—How to Spend It" which describes what the mega rich purchase, "TH

American author and humorist David Sedaris first came to public attention in 1992 when he read his essay Santaland Diaries on National Public Radio. He published his initial collection of essays and short stories, “Barrel Fever,” two years later. Sedaris has published more than a dozen collections since that time, the most recent being “The Land and Its People.” Throughout his career Sedaris’s work has been characterized by his eyes-wide-open observations and characterizatio

The West has drawn the attention of Americans since almost the nation's founding. The Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, and Roy Rogers introduced me to the American West. In elementary school, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and Kit Carson furthered my education of this vast territory. I watched the West unfold through films starring John Wayne, Audie Murphy, Clint Eastwood, and other tough cowboys. My understanding of the West has expanded considerably as an adult, but nothing ha

Claire Fuller’s “Hunger and Thirst” is a haunting story set in one of the most traditionally threatening of places—a decaying brick bungalow with a ghostly history set outside of foggy London. The cottage is damp, dark and abandoned. The yard is overgrown with weeds, clingy vines and rotted trees. When Ursula and Vince decide to live there as squatters, they are shocked to see that the inside is full of dusty furniture, boxes of food in the pantry, closets full of clo

Life’s abuzz for bees at present—they continually zip from flower to flower, blooms to hive and back again. It’s enough to make your wings droop. When gathering gets gargantuan, Clover finds comfort in a book, a marvelous, uncomplicated pick-me-up that pleases but never interrupts. Bountiful benefits can be reaped from reading, so Clover’s hoping you’ll let “The Power of Story” take over this summer, and ease away too-muchness. Solace seeps into the soul with books as your be

This June marks the 150th anniversary of George Armstrong Custer’s overwhelming defeat at the battle of the Little Bighorn. Tom Clavin is a New York Times reporter and prolific documenter of the post-Civil War American West. His most recent book, “Vengeance,” details the history of the U.S. government’s interactions with the Native American nations that led up to the massacre of the U.S. Army’s seventh cavalry on the banks of the river in what is now southeastern Montana. D

Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray have teamed up once again to bring to life the story of two forgotten women from history. “A Pair of Aces” refers to “the prosecutor and the madam, the unlikely pair behind the downfall of America’s most notorious mobster,” Lucky Luciano, in 1936. The first woman, Eunice Hunton Carter, is Assistant District Attorney in New York City. As the authors state, “Not only is she a woman in a man’s world, she is a colored woman, in a w

Pulitzer Prize winning author Elizabeth Strout doesn’t follow her usual path in “The Things We Never Say.” In her new book, readers won’t meet characters they’ve gotten to know from her previous bestsellers. Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge don’t make appearances, nor do others whom Strout fans have become familiar with. Strout doesn’t return to her usual setting either—Maine gives way to Massachusetts where her protagonist Artie Dam teaches school, and lives with his wife E

A new biography of Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882) reveals the often-maligned first lady as both an ambitious, astute political figure, circumscribed by the rigid expectations imposed on women of the time, and a wife and mother weighed down by unimaginable grief. Born into an elite Kentucky family, Mary grew up among the aristocrats who founded Lexington. She declared at an early age that she was destined to become the wife of a US president. Her drive to secure the White House

Author Kathryn Stockett returns to the deep South in her new novel, “The Calamity Club.” Stockett’s newbie will be welcomed—another work of historical fiction by the author of “The Help,” a bestseller that spawned a blockbuster movie. While Stockett returns to familiar territory, the era for her just-released 632-pager, is set years earlier, in 1933, at the height of the Great Depression. It features two engaging protagonists, a stoic orphan, Meg, who withstands incredible m

“Japanese Gothic,” by Kylie Lee Baker, weaves together current times and 1800’s Japan in a novel that blends horror, Japanese mythology, and ghostly apparitions that build tension and create a looming sense of dread. Lee Turner flees to his father’s house in Japan following a disaster of his own making at his college in the US. He carries with him a tragic background in which his mother disappeared when he was only 12. Lee is riddled with insecurity around his cold father

This month young readers are sure to be enchanted by the bounty of Clover’s flyover. Bringing students the very best, Clover’s thrilled to introduce her “Magical May Picks.” There’s no time like the present to gift yourself a good book and make reading a daily goal. The payoff comes with increased knowledge, hours of delightful entertainment, and the chance to meet enticing characters you might have a lot in common with. Be cool—make reading a habit. Check out my picks at you

The clock is ticking for six writers on Skelbrae, a remote island in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. The group has been invited to a best-selling author’s cliffside mansion to compete for a monetary writing prize and the promise of future book contracts. Each of them has had a modicum of literary fame and are tasked with writing the ending to the final book in a bestselling series by well-known author Arthur Fletch. The hitch is they only have 72 hours to come up wi