Forests, migrants, parents, and pioneers could refer to the world news. Here, these terms stand for new books, ones sure to catch some part of your attention. Newbery Award winner Linda Sue Park shifts into fantasy with Forest of Wonders, Wing and Claw No. 1, a morality tale full of thoughtful and conscience-bedeviling human-animal communication. On a lighter note, Mylisa Larsen and Babette Cole have written and illustrated a picture book treatise on How to Put Your Parents to Bed. Take care, busy parents, the kids are aiming to take your cell phones, take charge and slip you under the covers-fast!

Tracy Chevalier’s latest offering, At the Edge of the Orchard, returns us to the Midwestern pioneer life in pre-Civil War Ohio, a seemingly idyllic life that begins to fracture with changes occurring across the new country. The new country is the topic of two recent books about migration: Neel Mukherjee’s A Life Apart, and Sunjeev Sahota’s The Year of the Runaways. Both relate the stories of Indians transitioning to life in England, and an uneasy transition it is for them and theirs. We know from the current world news, that topic again, that migrants struggle from the moment they leave home and attempt the journey to a new land, a land once new for all of our ancestors. The topic is always worth exploring.

Ask your librarians to order these books so we may all enjoy their delights!