Beautiful Country: A Memoir (2021) by civil rights litigator Qian Julie Wang tells the story of Wang’s experiences immigrating from China to the United States. A New York Times bestselling author and advocate for marginalized communities, Wang writes about the hardships she and her parents faced moving to and living in the United States.Wang’s father, an English professor, left China when Qian was only six. At the age of seven, Qian and her mother, a... Read Beautiful Country Summary

Beezus and Ramona, written in 1955 and published by Harper Collins, is a middle-grade novel and the first in the Ramona series by author Beverly Cleary. The original publication includes illustrations from Louis Darling. Later editions feature updated illustrations by different artists. The novel has 99 editions and has been translated into six different languages.Ramona was introduced in Cleary’s first novel, Henry Huggins, published in 1950. Tracing the antics of Ramona Quimby and her family... Read Beezus and Ramona Summary

Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error (2010) is a nonfiction book written by Kathryn Schulz, a journalist who has written for publications such as the New York Times Magazine, the Nation, and the Boston Globe. The book explores the nature of error from a psychological, philosophical, and personal point of view, drawing from philosophical thought, psychology studies, and personal anecdotes. Some themes of the book include the fallibility of the human mind, the... Read Being Wrong Summary

Published in 2018, Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home is a historical memoir written, illustrated, and compiled by Nora Krug. The memoir received the Society of Illustrators Silver Medal, the Art Directors Club Gold Cube, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and several German awards. Krug has received many accolades, including Illustrator of the Year. Belonging is her personal journey into her family’s past and its association with the Nazi regime. In addition... Read Belonging Summary

Ben and Me (1939), by American writer and illustrator Robert Lawson, is a work of historical fiction intended for children. It is narrated by a mouse named Amos, who befriends and advises Benjamin Franklin during the American Revolutionary era. Lawson is a celebrated author of children’s literature, and he won a Caldecott Award for his illustrations in They Were Strong and Good and a Newbery Medal for his novel Rabbit Hill. The text highlights Ben... Read Ben and Me Summary

Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis is a young adult survival novel. When a rowdy high school party in the forest sends protagonist Ashley Hawkins into an emotional tailspin, she runs into the woods and falls on a hillside. Without any outdoor gear and a severely injured foot, Ashley must figure out how to survive alone in the woods. McGinnis explores themes relating to Nature’s Wildness and The Will to Survive as Ashley... Read Be Not Far from Me Summary

Big Nate: In a Class by Himself is Lincoln Pierce’s first of eight novels featuring the famous cartoon character Big Nate. The novel was published in 2010 and is based on the “Big Nate” comics syndicated since 1991. The Big Nate series has attained huge popularity, gracing the New York Times bestseller list and spawning a television series and musical. Big Nate: In a Class by Himself follows a day in the life of Nate... Read Big Nate Summary

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner was published in 2020. Jennifer Weiner is a New York Times bestselling author of 19 novels popularly known as “beach reads.” Weiner’s novels are characterized by their fast-paced plots, relatable contemporary characters, and exploration of female experiences and friendships. Weiner’s 2002 novel In Her Shoes was adapted into a popular 2005 film starring Toni Collette and Cameron Diaz. Big Summer is a contemporary novel that is part murder mystery, part... Read Big Summer Summary

Black Hole is a coming-of-age/body horror graphic novel written and illustrated by American cartoonist Charles Burns. Black Hole was originally published as a limited comic book series that ran between 1995 and 2004. It was subsequently collected and published as a single volume in 2005. Burns won several Harvey Awards during Black Hole’s limited series run. In 2006, the collected edition received the Harvey Award for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work, as well... Read Black Hole Summary

Sandra Brown’s Blood Moon (2025) is a thriller that follows a television journalist and a disgraced detective as they pursue the truth in a seemingly solved crime and expose layers of corruption and lies. The novel unravels a cold case through shifting perspectives, moving from the protagonists to the perpetrator to the corrupt police chief attempting to cover up the truth. Blood Moon incorporates police procedural elements and psychological suspense, exploring themes such as The... Read Blood Moon Summary

Bluefish (2011) is a young adult novel by Pat Schmatz. This text is also sometimes classified as middle grade. The novel centers around Travis, an eighth grader who has lost his parents and dog and recently moved to a new school. Travis befriends Velveeta, a charismatic girl who is grieving the loss of her stand-in father figure, Calvin. As Travis and Velveeta’s friendship develops, they explore the challenges of coping with loss and family trauma... Read Bluefish Summary

Bones & All is a 2015 novel by Camille DeAngelis. It is a coming-of-age story with elements of horror. The book tells the story of Maren Yearly, a 16-year-old cannibal who struggles with self-loathing, romance, and other mainstays of coming-of-age stories. DeAngelis uses Maren’s story to examine themes of monstrosity, identity and connection, and the need for understanding. Bones & All was a popular and well-received, albeit controversial, book and was adapted into a feature... Read Bones & All Summary

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (2008) is a work of narrative nonfiction by American science writer Mary Roach, whose previous bestsellers (Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife) tackle similarly sensitive topics. Known for blending humor, curiosity, and meticulous research, Roach approaches the science of sex with both intellectual seriousness and comedic irreverence. Bonk sits within the genre of popular science writing and examines the evolution... Read Bonk Summary

Eliza Clark’s debut novel, Boy Parts (2020), is a work of transgressive fiction that follows Irina Sturges, a 28-year-old artist in Newcastle, England, who photographs ordinary men in explicit, fetishistic poses, using her camera to exert power and control over them. When a London gallery invites her to exhibit her work, she sees an opportunity to revive her career. Instead, it triggers a destructive self-examination that impacts her codependent best friend and a shy supermarket... Read Boy Parts Summary

Brain Damage is a 2016 psychological thriller by Freida McFadden. A practicing physician specializing in brain injury, McFadden’s medical expertise informs the novel’s detailed depiction of trauma and recovery. The story follows Dr. Charlotte “Charly” McKenna, a successful dermatologist who must reconstruct her life and memories after a gunshot to the head leaves her with severe cognitive and physical impairment. As she navigates her fragmented reality, Charly realizes that the key to her attacker’s identity... Read Brain Damage Summary

Published in 2012, Bringing Up Bébé (and its bullet-point counterpart Bébé Day by Day) is a nonfiction, sociological exploration of the differences between French and American styles of parenting, and what makes French parenting so successful. Pamela Druckerman is an American journalist and writer who moved to Paris and discovered a drastically different approach to raising children that caused her to reframe Parenting as a Social Construct. Navigating Motherhood in a New Place proved its own... Read Bringing Up Bébé Summary

Burro Genius (2004) is a memoir by Mexican American author Victor Villaseñor. Villaseñor recounts his childhood and adolescence, his experiences as a Mexican American in a discriminatory educational system, his struggles with dyslexia, and the formative years on his family’s ranch in California. Villaseñor situates the book in The Second Family Trilogy, a family saga about growing up as an immigrant in the United States and striving to maintain his cultural heritage. The trilogy includes... Read Burro Genius Summary

By Night in Chile (2000) is a novella by Roberto Bolaño. The story unfolds as the deathbed confession of Father Sebastián Urrutia Lacroix, a Jesuit priest and literary critic who collaborates with Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. Urrutia’s omissions, lies, and rationalizations betray the guilt he avoids until the moment before his death. By Night in Chile explores The Problem of Complicity in Dictatorships, The Illusion of Literary Immortality, and The Past as Mutable and Uncertain.  Bolaño... Read By Night in Chile Summary

Caleb Williams, written by William Godwin, is one of the first crime novels in English literature as well as a critique of the injustices and inequities of the political and social system in Britain during the late 1700s and early 1800s. Godwin passionately believed that the social hierarchy that placed the upper class over the lower class was unjust and that the law enabled a tyrannical abuse of power. Although many felt that Caleb Williams... Read Caleb Williams Summary

Camino Ghosts, a 2024 novel by American author John Grisham, is the third installment in his Camino series. The story follows novelist Mercer Mann and bookstore owner Bruce Cable, recurring characters in the series, as they uncover the haunting history of Dark Isle, a secluded and deserted island off the Florida coast. Grisham explores the history of enslavement, the preservation of cultural heritage, and the degrading effects of development, blending legal thriller with historical fiction.Grisham... Read Camino Ghosts Summary