America's great people shortage, fake college websites surge amid AI enhancements, and what to do if your vacation plans are canceled by weather.

This Weekend with Gordon Deal September 06, 2025

Adapted from Clint Smith's #1 New York Times bestselling and universally acclaimed How the Word Is Passed, this must-read narrative takes readers to historical sites across America, exploring the legacy of slavery to help readers make sense of our nation's past and present, and be better stewards of their own future.

Beginning in his own hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads young readers through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that are not—offering an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation’s collective history, and ourselves.

How the Word Is Passed illustrates how some of our country’s most essential stories are hidden in plain view—whether in places we might drive by on our way to school, holidays such as Juneteenth, or entire neighborhoods (like downtown Manhattan) on which the brutal history of the trade in enslaved people has been deeply imprinted.

Informed by scholarship and brought alive by the story of people living today, this adaptation of Clint Smith’s #1 bestselling, award-winning work of nonfiction offers kids a new understanding of the hopeful role that memory and history can play in making sense of our country, and shows how they can reckon with the past and present to become better stewards of their future.

How the Word Is Passed (Adapted for Young Readers) By Clint Smith

AN INSTANT #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

She knows the taste of death. He’ll stoke her hunger for it.

Sarai doesn’t know why someone tried to kill her four years ago, but she does know that her case was closed without justice. Hellbent on vengeance, she returns to the scene of the crime as a Petitor, a prosecutor who can magically detect lies, and is assigned to work with Tetrarch Kadra. Ice-cold and perennially sadistic, Kadra is the most vicious of the four judges who rule the land—and the prime suspect in a string of deaths identical to Sarai’s attempted murder.
 
Certain of his guilt, Sarai begins a double life: solving cases with Kadra by day and plotting his ruin by night. But Kadra is charming and there’s something alluring about the wrath he wields against the city’s corruption. So when the evidence she finds embroils her in a deadly political battle, Sarai must also fight against her attraction to Kadra—because despite his growing hold on her heart, his voice matches the only memory she has of her assailant…
 
A dazzling Ancient Rome-inspired romantasy debut, This Monster of Mine is a bloodbath of manipulation, deception, and forbidden love.

This Monster of Mine By Shalini Abeysekara, Read By Felixe Forde

Disruption is the most powerful force of change in our lifetime. 
 
Every day we are confronted with...

…sudden pivots at our workplace and in the job market
…rule-changing technology such as Artificial Intelligence.
…unexpected crises and a culture of chaos.
…the sinking feeling that we are losing control of our lives.

This is the book about taking back control.
It’s easy to follow and easy to turn into lifelong habits. 
It has been thoroughly researched and examined.
Simply put, Disrupt Everything works.

One question.
Are you ready to Disrupt Everything and take control of your future?

Disrupt Everything—and Win By James Patterson & Patrick Leddin

Read By: Avery Caris, Katharine Chin, Matt Mercurio, Chase Brown, Marni Penning & Jordan Stephanie Gray

​"A deliciously dark and viciously sexy romance. You will want to devour Jordan Gray's stunning paranormal debut. But beware, this book bites back." –Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Once Upon a Broken Heart

Crescent City meets Fourth Wing in this fast-paced and romantic debut, in which a teenage girl must survive ruthless werewolves, a glittering court, and deadly politics to exact revenge on the monsters who destroyed her.
 
After a vicious werewolf attack on the night of her seventeenth birthday party, Vanessa Hart loses everything she loves in a split second. Her best friend, her father, and even her home.
 
Bitten and imprisoned without explanation, Vanessa endures an agonizing transformation into the very beast that maimed her, and her captors make it clear she cannot escape: she will either swear her life to the Wolf Queen’s Court, or she will die.

With no other choice, Vanessa joins their enchanted Castle Severi—where flowering vines grow through the walls, gifts are bestowed by the stars, and a claw can break through skin as easily as silk—but she hasn’t forgotten what they stole from her. 
 
Vanessa still seeks vengeance, scheming in the shadows even as she finds herself mesmerized by the golden prince Sinclair Severi, who threatens to steal her heart though he is promised to her nemesis. And by his brooding, disgraced cousin, Calix, whose smoldering gaze hides even darker secrets. Immersed in the magic of their whimsical yet cruel society, Vanessa soon learns not all is as it seems.
 
The Court is at war, and she may simply be a pawn in its lethal game.

For Fans of:
Forbidden Romance
Enemies to Lovers
Werewolves
Paranormal Romance

Bitten By Jordan Stephanie Gray

Ciao! Enter the endearing world of Piccolo, a problem-solver whose optimism, boundless enthusiasm, and love of gelato inspires his animal friend community.

Piccolo the stylish shrew is a list maker. On his list are all the favorite places he is eager to visit.  As his day begins he runs into his pal Mr. Rosso who needs help carrying his artwork to the museum. Piccolo can’t believe his luck: the museum is on his list of favorite places! In no time at all, Piccolo is helping all his friends solve problems as he zips around the city on his scooter. But with so many ways to lend a hand, Piccolo might not have time to visit the one place on his list he loves the most.  

Full of adventure, culture, and some tasty hazelnut gelato, this endearing tale of friendship and teamwork proves that helping others is the most powerful triumph of all.

Piccolo By Dan Yaccarino, Read By Susan Vinciotti Bonito

The Wall Street Journal's Ken Thomas explains President Trump's reaction towards the Cracker Barrel's logo change.

Trump Can Read the Room at Cracker Barrel

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN meets THE VEGETARIAN in this chilly and chilling epistolary novel of four characters locked in a frightening cycle of vengeance and comeuppance.

Mira is a desperate young woman, hired by a wealthy single mother to tutor her lonesome son, Yuchan. But Mira is not who she presents herself to be; she is haunted by the death of her own family and motivated by the dark pulse of vengeance. Yuchan was cruel to Mira’s mother. A kind of cruelty she can’t ever forgive.
 
And then there is Jiwon, the boy’s mother, a bad mother, Mira thinks—or so Jiwon tells herself she must not be.
 
But as Mira spends more time in the family’s sprawling home, she begins to suspect Yuchan is not the culprit she’s after. Someone else in the family has been pulling the strings. Someone with a deviant plan she can’t begin to imagine.
 
Structured around four different letters and journal entries: Mira's, Jiwon's reply, Yuchan's younger brother's diary entry and, finally, Mira's own written recollection. Each new section brings us deeper into a web of cruelty, consequence, and closer to the truth.

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Cuca (LOB)

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