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Naomi has a serious case of the Whys. Her Whys pop up everywhere—at school, at home, and all through the day—buzzing with questions about rules, routines, and the world around her.
But at school, Naomi's questions do not always fit the moment. When her Whys keep getting her into trouble, she begins to wonder if there is space for all her curiosity.
The Whys Get in Trouble is a heartfelt picture book about curiosity, school, self-expression, and big feelings. With humor and warmth, it celebrates the children who ask questions, think deeply, and see wonder everywhere while gently exploring how to navigate rules, timing, and classroom life.
Perfect for readers, families, educators, and counselors, this story opens conversations about:
Maddy's Towers is about a young girl who has her trust broken at school by her best friend. Through this challenge, Maddy learns how slowly and carefully trust can be rebuilt. The towers serve as a metaphor for how small moments of caring for someone build up over time.
Inbal Alon writes from the heart of the classroom and the library, where children’s questions, wonders, and small everyday moments spark her stories. After twelve years as a first‑grade teacher, she now serves as a school librarian in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Born in Canada and raised in Israel, Inbal studied education and spent time in classrooms around the world before finding her home in early literacy. She creates books that help children feel cared for and valued—and that invite them into the joy of reading.
Website: https://inbalalon.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorinbalalon
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorInbalAlon
A collection of connected flash fiction stories set in a bookstore cafe--a place where people are noticed, remembered, and quietly changed. At its center is a love story told sideways--but the book belongs just as much to the people who pass through its doors.
Michael M. Brownstein is an Arlington-based author. His stories celebrate everyday connections and the small moments that make places feel like home.
A story about love, guilt, and the courage to desire.
Sayli Talpade grows up believing stability matters more than dreams. When family responsibility changes the course of her life, she chooses certainty over passion and tells herself love can wait.
Vikram has spent his life moving in the opposite direction. But beneath his reinvention is a guilt he cannot escape — a single night that changed more than one life, including Sayli's.
When their paths cross again years later, familiarity deepens into something harder to ignore. As they travel through India together, the past begins to catch up. Love comes with risk. Sayli must decide if she can finally choose herself — and Vikram must determine whether he deserves a second chance at all.
Read more about Canticle: A Novel HERE!
Janet Rich Edwards is a graduate of GrubStreet’s yearlong, MFA-level Novel Incubator program. A professor of epidemiology at Harvard, Janet had written more than 300 papers for scientific journals, but was left wondering if she could convey more truth, or at least different truths, through story. When she’s not sneaking hours to write fiction, Janet’s researching facts about women’s health. This is her first novel.
Janet lives outside of Boston with her husband and never more than two cats.
at Maxima Hive, 212 Mass. Ave Arlington, MA
“A gripping eco-thriller that delves into the mystical bonds between humanity and the earth, while exposing the devastating impact of our destructive habits.”
– Mindy McGinnis, Edgar Award-winning novelist and author of Heroine and Under This Red Rock
“Via Luino’s All the Scattered Stars builds an engaging and unique world, an Italy that never quite was, shining a light on the interconnection between how humanity treats Earth, and how humanity treats those that have been declared Other. Luino’s debut novel is a pleasure to read.”
– Jennifer Pullen, author of Fantasy Fiction: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology
Read more about All the Scattered Stars HERE!
Raised in the wilds of Western Massachusetts, Via Luino is the author of over 25 published short stories and poems and has been a Pushcart Prize nominee. She holds an MFA in fiction writing from the University of New Hampshire and has worked as an English teacher overseas. She is now a youth services librarian by day and an avid reader and writer of all kinds of fantasy by night. She lives just north of Boston with her spouse and their two dogs, an elderly seeing-eye dog flunky and a spry young rescue.
All the Scattered Stars is her debut novel.
In the summer of 2020, social justice protests and the removal of Confederate monuments rock the city of Richmond, Virginia, as the marriages of two estranged sisters implode.
When Cynthia's husband, Bobby, can no longer hide his dire financial situation, their union finally ruptures. Melissa, her sister, has dedicated herself so fully to racial justice activism that she becomes alienated from her own Black husband.
As the summer heats up and their marriages veer in opposite directions, the sisters have no choice but to turn to one another. Meanwhile, their husbands conspire in a racial reckoning that their ancestors-one old Virginia White, the other old Virginia Black-would never have dreamed of.
When secrets within marriage erode trust, all couples must decide what's more important: being true to who they are as individuals or holding on to an illusion of the past.
Kirkus Reviews calls Marriage and Other Monuments, Virginia Pye’s recently published book, “A fascinating and audacious novel of family, marriage and a society in flux.” It is a #1 Amazon bestseller in New Southern Fiction.
Virginia is the author of four previous award-winning books, including two post-colonial historical novels set in China, River of Dust and Dreams of the Red Phoenix, and the short story collection, Shelf Life of Happiness. Her last novel, The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann is a love story to writers and readers set in Gilded Age Boston. Virginia’s essays have appeared in The New York Times, Literary Hub, Publisher’s Weekly, Writer’s Digest, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She has taught writing at New York University and the University of Pennsylvania, and, most recently, at GrubStreet in Boston. Virginia is Fiction Editor of the literary journal Pangyrus and serves on the board of the Women’s National Book Association, Boston Chapter.
Instagram: @virginiapye
Facebook: Virginia Pye | Facebook
Twitter: @VirginiaPye
Beatrice, one of America’s first career women, is still feisty at ninety-six. She lives with her daughter Alexandra, who has moved to Cape Cod to care for Bea while running a bed-and-breakfast out of their beloved old house. Like so many adult children caring for elderly parents, Alexandra must balance her new job as caregiver with her role as daughter—and it isn’t easy. Bea is demanding and very verbal. Her mind is like a fireworks display on a drizzly Fourth of July—some shots fizzle out, but there are still bits of brilliance. After a knee ailment confines Bea to bed, it becomes clear her life will soon end. Convinced nothing comes next, Bea declares she doesn’t want to die. When deceased friends and family start “visiting” Bea’s bedroom, Alexandra wonders if her mom is hallucinating. Or could these visits have deeper meaning? Bea entertains her “guests” by hosting tea parties and reliving treasured memories. She reveals an unexpected kind of joy to Alexandra—a joy that brings peace and chases away the fear of death as they experience their final days together.
Alexandra Grabbe is the author of The Nansen Factor: Refugee Stories and Seeing Joy: A Story of Life, Death, and What Comes Next. She worked in journalism and broadcasting while raising three bicultural children in Paris, France. For a dozen years, she ran an eco-friendly bed-and-breakfast in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. Now living in Arlington, Massachusetts, she continues her life-long passion as an author. Alexandra is a Vassar graduate. See Alexandragrabbe.com for links to her freelance writing.
Today’s the day to TOUCH A TRUCK! This rhyming, tabbed novelty book invites young vehicle fans to explore eight fascinating trucks, with a sweet and special surprise at the end. Climb inside eight different trucks—including a fire engine, garbage truck, ambulance, and more!—and discover what makes each of them unique. Use the tabs to skip straight to your favorite vehicle, then lift the flaps and learn about the important features found inside and out.
● Eight different vehicles to choose from!
● Tabs across the top let you open to your favorite vehicle.
● Each vehicle page has one to three flaps to lift and learn.
● There are sixteen information-packed flaps throughout the book.
Brightly illustrated and filled with dynamic, fun-to-read rhymes and engaging facts, this
celebration of trucks puts readers in the driver’s seat and in the middle of the action. Tabbed
pages and liftable flap features encourage readers to develop their motor skills, learn about
vehicles, and play independently. A fun and sweet surprise at the end will have children eager to
turn every page.
Perfect for:
● Young readers enthusiastic about trucks of all kinds
● Parents and family members looking for a fun, interactive gift for birthdays and baby
showers
● Gift-givers looking for an item with good play-and-read value
● Fans of vehicle books like Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site; Trucks Go; and
First 100 Trucks
Carrie Finison began her literary career at the age of seven with an idea, a box of markers, and her father’s typewriter. She has been writing off and on ever since, though she has (somewhat regretfully) traded in the typewriter for a laptop. She is the author of Dozens of Doughnuts (Putnam, 2020), a Junior Library Guild selection; and Don’t Hug Doug (Putnam, 2021), an ALA Notable Children’s Book, which received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. She is also the author of Lulu & Zoey: A Sister Story (Running Press Kids, 2022); Hurry, Little Tortoise, Time for School! (Random House Studio, 2022); and Pigs Dig a Road (Putnam, 2024). Her newest picture books are Plenty of Pancakes (Putnam, 2026), a sequel to Dozens of Doughnuts; Even Steven: A Book About Sharing (Putnam, 2026), a companion book to Don’t Hug Doug which was named a Junior Library Guild gold standard selection; and Touch a Truck Day (Chronicle, 2026), a lift-the-flap board book. In addition, her poetry for children has been published in magazines including High Five, Ladybug, and Babybug. When she’s not writing, Carrie enjoys reading mystery novels, trying new recipes, and curling up on the couch for family movie nights. She lives outside Boston with her husband, son, daughter, and two cats who permit her to write in their cozy attic office.
The definitive book about The Cars, one of the most popular and beloved bands to emerge from New Wave, with articulate musical insights and exclusive new reporting with access to the surviving members of the band and everyone who surrounded them—from critically acclaimed writer and musician Bill Janovitz, author of the New York Times bestselling biography of Leon Russell.
Bill Janovitz is the New York Times bestselling author of Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time’s Journey Through Rock & Roll History (2023, Hachette Books). He has also written two books on the Rolling Stones: Rocks Off: 50 Tracks That Tell the Story of the Rolling Stones (2013, St. Martin’s Press) and Exile on Main Street (2004 for the Bloomsbury 33 1/3 series). He is one of the three founding members of the Boston-based band, Buffalo Tom, which formed in Northampton in 1986 while students at UMass Amherst. He lives with his family in Lexington, Massachusetts.