Scarlet Morning (2025) is an illustrated middle-grade fantasy novel by ND Stevenson, author of the Nimona (2015) graphic novel. Featuring Stevenson’s illustration work, Scarlet Morning centers on two children, Wilmur and Viola, who live on the island, Caveat, which was isolated following a cataclysmic event called the Great Blow, caused by the infamous pirate, Scarlet Morning. Wilmur and Viola believe that their parents left them on Caveat in the wake of the Great Blow and... Read Scarlet Morning Summary

Written by Emily McIntire, Scarred (2021) is a dark romance and fractured fairy tale that is based on The Lion King. It marks the second installment in the Never After series and delves into the dark and intricate universe of Gloria Terra using dual narrators. Prince Tristan intends to kill his older brother, King Michael, and take the throne, while Sara comes to the capital to get engaged to King Michael and then murder him... Read Scarred Summary

Scary Stories for Young Foxes is a middle-grade horror novel written by Christian McKay Heidicker and illustrated by Junyi Wu. It was published in 2019 by Macmillan Publishers and is followed by a sequel titled Scary Stories for Young Foxes: The City, which is also illustrated by Junyi Wu. Scary Stories for Young Foxes was named a Newberry Honor Book in 2020, and as of September 2021, it was in the process of being developed... Read Scary Stories for Young Foxes Summary

Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder is a self-help book published in 1999 by physician and speaker Gabor Maté. Maté, who worked in palliative care for many years in Vancouver, Canada, uses a mixture of case studies and his own personal experience as a husband and father to present a new, attachment-based framework for understanding attention deficit disorder (ADD). The book critiques modern medicine and directly challenges many of the psychiatric... Read Scattered Minds Summary

Schooled is a 2008 young adult novel by American author Paul Langan. The story follows Lionel Shephard, a Black teenager who struggles in school and dreams of becoming an NBA player. The book is part of The Bluford Series, a series of interconnected novels set in fictional Bluford High School in Southern California.Paul Langan has been acclaimed for his contributions to American young adult literature. His most acclaimed work is The Bully (2002), which also... Read Schooled Summary

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel was written during the COVID-19 pandemic and published in 2022. It is a science fiction novel that explores time travel, the nature of reality, art, and love, as well as pandemics. The title is a reference to the cartographic feature of the moon, and the moon plays a key symbolic role throughout the novel. Sea of Tranquility is longlisted for the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence... Read Sea of Tranquility Summary

Searching For Sylvie Lee is a 2019 novel by Chinese American author Jean Kwok. As the title indicates, the story centers on the disappearance of protagonist Sylvie Lee, a high-achieving managerial consultant who has gone missing while visiting her dying grandmother in the Netherlands. The three narrators—Sylvie herself; Sylvie’s sister, Amy; and their mother, Ma—overlap in their discovery of long-held family secrets. Amy and Ma initially believe that Sylvie’s visit coincided with a work trip... Read Searching for Sylvie Lee Summary

Seascraper is a 2025 novel by British author and lecturer Benjamin Wood. This coming-of-age story follows Thomas Flett, a 20-year old shrimp fisherman who lives with his mother in 1960s Longferry, a fictional town in Northern England. As the lone traditional shrimp fisherman left in town, Thomas lives an isolating and impoverished life while harboring private dreams of becoming a folk singer—and an equally secret crush on his best friend’s sister. Tired of his mundane... Read Seascraper Summary

Second Class Citizen (1974) is a semi-autobiographical novel by Buchi Emecheta. Emecheta grew up in Nigeria and immigrated to England in the 1960s with her husband, Sylvester, following a similar path to the protagonist of the work, Adah. Second Class Citizen is one of Emecheta’s first novels, and it is one of two that focus on the semi-autobiographical character Adah. Emecheta’s first novel, In The Ditch (1972), also focuses on Adah and follows elements of... Read Second Class Citizen Summary

Second First Impressions (2021) is a contemporary romantic comedy by Australian author Sally Thorne. Thorne is a USA Today best-selling author, known for her popular debut novel, The Hating Game, which was later adapted into a feature film. Her work often employs popular genre conventions, including the opposites-attract dynamic. In Second First Impressions, a cautious 25-year-old retirement village manager finds her orderly life disrupted by the arrival of the charming and chaotic son of the... Read Second First Impressions Summary

Gene Luen Yang’s Secret Coders series contains six graphic novels that teach readers about logic and computer programming while telling the story of seventh-grader Hopper and her new friends Josh and Eni as they uncover secrets about their school, Stately Academy. The first book, Secret Coders, was published in 2015, followed by five additional installments: Paths & Portals (2016), Secrets & Consequences (2017), Robots & Repeats (2017), Potions & Parameters (2018), and Monsters & Modules... Read Secret Coders Summary

Secret Daughter (2010) is the debut novel of Canadian-Indian author Shilpi Somaya Gowda. Spanning twenty years, it follows two families who are mysteriously connected by an adopted daughter. A New York Times Bestseller, the novel has been translated into more than thirty languages and has sold more than a million copies. Godwa formed the idea for Secret Daughter while volunteering at an Indian orphanage as an undergraduate. Secret Daughter received much critical praise for its... Read Secret Daughter Summary

“Secrets” is a short story by Bernard MacLaverty that tackles themes of Secrets, Trauma, and the Limits of Emotional Intimacy, Guilt and the Desire for Forgiveness, and Love in the Face of Death. It is a part of his 1977 original collection of short stories titled Secrets & Other Stories. MacLaverty is a writer of contemporary Irish fiction who won an award from the Scottish Arts Council in 1978 for the aforementioned collection. “Secrets” details... Read Secrets Summary

Ania Ahlborn’s debut novel, Seed (2012), is a work of Southern Gothic and supernatural horror. The story follows Jack Winter, a husband and father living in rural Louisiana whose life is thrown into chaos after a mysterious car accident. In the aftermath, his six-year-old daughter, Charlie, begins to exhibit sinister behavior, forcing Jack to confront a terrifying supernatural entity that has haunted him since his own childhood in Georgia. As Charlie’s transformation deepens, the family’s... Read Seed Summary

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity (2014) is a book of memoir and apologetics, written by Pakistani American author Nabeel Qureshi (1983-2017). It recounts his intellectual and spiritual journey from his Muslim childhood to an eventual embrace of Christian belief in his early adulthood. The book explores The Emotional and Relational Costs of Religious Conversion, The Balance of Intellectual Arguments and Spiritual Experience, Friendship as a Catalyst for Spiritual Transformation, and The... Read Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus Summary

See You in the Cosmos, a 2017 middle-grade contemporary novel by Jack Cheng, features 11-year-old Alex Petroski as its main character and narrator. Inspired by scientist Carl Sagan, Alex wants to use a hand-built rocket to send audio recordings about life on Earth to extraterrestrial creatures. Though his quest to communicate with alien life fails, Alex finds himself on a much larger journey toward self-identity and truth. The novel is a Golden Kite Award Winner... Read See You in the Cosmos Summary

Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself is a 2011 self-help book by American author Dr. Kristin Neff. In her work, Dr. Neff, a research psychologist, explains the concept of self-compassion and explores its many benefits. She describes self-compassion as a mindset of kindness and acceptance and argues that it is an antidote to both arrogance and harsh self-criticism. By embracing self-compassion, Dr. Neff believes that people can develop a healthy sense of... Read Self-Compassion Summary

Serafina and the Black Cloak is a middle-grade mystery/fantasy by Robert Beatty. First published in 2015, the novel is set in 1899 at the historic Biltmore Estate near Asheville, North Carolina. The story features 12-year-old Serafina, a girl of mysterious origins and many unusual skills who lives secretly in the mansion’s basement. When some of the Biltmore guests’ children go missing, Serafina discovers that an evil intruder—the Man in the Black Cloak—is responsible. Serafina sets... Read Serafina and the Black Cloak Summary

“Sestina” (1956), by New England poet Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), ostensibly recreates a quiet moment shared by a child and her grandmother in a kitchen on a rainy autumn afternoon. As the grandmother busies herself preparing an afternoon snack of hot tea and bread, the child draws bold, colorful crayon pictures that she proudly shares with her grandmother. Yet nothing feels quite right. Reflecting her background in contrapuntal music composition, Bishop creates subtle feelings of both... Read Sestina Summary

Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself is a best-selling 2021 self-help book by American therapist and social worker Nedra Glover Tawwab. In her work Tawwab explains what boundaries are and how to create them. Using anecdotes from her experiences as a therapist, Tawwab explores the reasons why people struggle to set boundaries with others, and the consequences of allowing others to set the terms of a relationship. The author argues that creating... Read Set Boundaries, Find Peace Summary