Bookshelf

(BookBaby, 2024).

In this book, Parker reveals timeless wisdom through poetry and dramatic photography. According to the publisher, “It imaginatively communicates the topics of values, manners, love, leadership, and fears in the lifelong journey. These messages are metaphorically illustrated through birds, boats, designs, and notes: What we can learn from birds. The wisdom of the sea. Lessons in art and design. The importance of love.”

(Marrowstone Press, 2024).

In this book of poems, the last in a four-part series, Weltner follows loss or what remains enduring after time or an era has passed. “It is about memory and what it clings to or holds on to despite all that inevitably, inexorably changes. It is about how new work always follows in the steps of the old toward the future, about influence and inspiration, whatever the source,” he notes.

(self-published 2024).

These two volumes are the latest editions in the author’s “anatomy” series, designed to explore how the activities of humankind have evolved and provide insight into the puzzle of human behavior. Anatomy of Antisemitism takes readers through the journeys of the Jewish people and the hardships they’ve faced. As one reviewer comments, “An eye-opening view of antisemitism written in a conversational tone. We read a chapter during our Passover Seder which will become a new tradition.” Anatomy of Addiction focuses on the history and current treatment of many forms of addiction, mainly concentrating on drug addiction, but also delving into such addictive tendencies such as sex and gambling.

(Black Lawrence Press, 2024).

This literary chapbook of flash fiction — essentially a short book of 12 very short stories — includes tales of longing and desire for escape. “Whether the characters yearn for a different, unknown life, or they wish themselves out of something else, Turner’s surreal yet relatable collection offers glimpses to the depths beneath, above, or in-between our own domestic realities,” notes the publisher.

(BookBaby, 2024).

Do you want to be free? Come fly with me. The publisher describes this children’s book as a story with adventure, fun, scary things, and a happy ending. “The story takes the child on an adventure, with our symbolic heron, who finds friends, goes on a fun adventure, has scary moments, and comes home for a happy ending. However, reading it will stir the parent’s imagination, too.”

(Harper Muse, 2024).

As one reviewer notes, “Put on a pot of coffee, cut yourself a wedge of chess pie and dive in.”

Set in a gossipy small town during the turbulent 1960s — and full of Southern charm and unforgettable characters — this hilarious book by a first-time novelist tells the story of 38-year-old Posey Jarvis, who knows she’s the rightful “empress” of rural Spark in Cooke County, Tennessee . . . if only everyone else would just realize it too.

(Scribner’s, 2024).

The author, a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, takes us on a fast-paced and entertaining tour of playful animals and the scientists who study them. The publisher notes, “From octopuses on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to meerkats in the Kalahari Desert to brown bears on Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, we follow adventurous researchers as they design and conduct experiments seeking answers to new, intriguing questions: When did play first appear in animals? How does play develop the brain, and how did it evolve? Are the songs and aerial acrobatics of birds the beginning of avian culture? Is fairness in dog play the foundation of canine ethics? And does play direct and possibly accelerate evolution?

(Harvard Education Press, 2024).

Drawing on extensive research and case studies, the authors outline successful strategies for whole child and whole community support that can help school systems meet broader student needs in times of disruption. They focus on Integrated Student Support (ISS), an approach to education policy and practice in which schools focus on attending to students’ basic physical, social, and emotional needs before learning occurs.

 (She Writes Press, 2024).

Klara Lieberman is 49, single, a professor of archaeology at a small college in Maine — a contained person living a contained life. That was before she receives an unexpected letter from her estranged mother, Bessie, with the long-overdue news that her father is dead. What prompts her mother’s timing? The Polish government is giving financial reparations for land it stole from its Jewish citizens during World War II, and Bessie wants the money. Klara, on the other hand, wants answers about her father. She flies to Warsaw, determined to learn more.

(Cambridge University Press, 2024).

According to the publisher, “The study of gesture — the movements people make with their hands when talking — has grown into a well-established field, and research is still being pushed into exciting new directions. Bringing together a team of leading scholars, this handbook provides a comprehensive overview of gesture studies, combining historical overviews as well as current, concise snapshots of state-of-the-art, multidisciplinary research. … Attention is given to different theoretical and methodological frameworks for studying gesture, including semiotic, linguistic, cognitive, developmental, and phenomenological theories and observational, experimental, corpus linguistic, ethnographic, and computational methods. It also contains practical guidelines for gesture analysis along with surveys of empirical research. Wide ranging yet accessible, it is essential reading for academic researchers and students in linguistics and cognitive sciences.”