Readers of nonfiction know that histories and biographies provide plenty of thrills. Reading them can feel like excavating a lost civilization. This year, outstanding books by Imani Perry, Ron Chernow, Barbara Demick and more changed the way we see the world. ... Read full Story
With the irresistible pacing of a thriller, Rich Cohen’s Murder in the Dollhouse chronicles the relationship of Connecticut mother Jennifer Dulos and her estranged husband—who was accused of her murder. ... Read full Story
Tiffany Francis-Baker’s delightful Microseasons invites readers to slow down and appreciate nature by observing the traditional 72 Japanese microseasons. ... Read full Story
The spare prose and lush illustrations of What If We . . . pull readers into the siblings’ story, while visual and lexical echoes are satisfying to see and read. ... Read full Story
Claire Lebourg’s signature blend of wryly humorous text and finely rendered, offbeat illustrations make Have a Good Trip, Mousse! an adventure to treasure and remember. ... Read full Story
Fireworks is a wonderful book to read aloud and pore over, thanks to its energizing wordplay and immersive art—and an excellent way to pass the time until fireworks beckon our gazes skyward once again. ... Read full Story
Gus and Glory are two funny, poignant, memorable characters in a moving and hopeful tale about a transformative time in a girl’s life, and the ways in which she and her dog leave those around them forever changed as well. ... Read full Story
Bright Lights and Summer Nights is a true lullaby, gently soothing readers to a place where they are ready for an enchanted night’s rest. ... Read full Story
Celebrate queer stories for Pride Month 2025 with graphic novels, romances, horror and science fiction featuring LGBTQ+ characters. ... Read full Story
Dreamy, poetic and almost hypnotic, Megan Giddings’ masterful speculative novel Meet Me at the Crossroads eschews sentimentality for wonder. ... Read full Story
"To juvenile loggerhead sea turtles, a tasty squid might as well be a disco ball. When they sense food—or even think some might be nearby—these reptiles break into an excited dance. ... Researchers recently used this distinctive behavior to test whether loggerheads could identify the specific magnetic field signatures of places where they had eaten in the past. The results, published in Nature, reveal that these rambunctious reptiles dance when they encounter magnetic conditions they associate with food." — Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 12 Feb. 2025
Did you know?
Rambunctious first appeared in print in the early half of the 19th century, at a time when the fast-growing United States was forging its identity and indulging in a fashion for colorful new coinages suggestive of the young nation's optimism and exuberance. Rip-roaring, scalawag, scrumptious, hornswoggle, and skedaddle are other examples of the lively language of that era. Did Americans alter the largely British rumbustious because it sounded, well, British? That could be. Rumbustious, which first appeared in Britain in the late 1700s just after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was probably based on robustious, a much older adjective meaning both "robust" and "boisterous."