DIVIn debt to the mob, Sidel’s sidekick brings hell to One Police Plaza/divDIV/divDIVFor Detective Caroll Brent, special attention from Commissioner Sidel is not a good thing. Sidel’s last pet detective, Manfred Coen, was killed by a gang of smugglers, and none of Sidel’s favorites have had good luck since. But when Sidel taps Brent for an unusual assignment, the young cop can’t refuse./divDIV /divDIVAs part of a feud with the head of the Board of Education, Sidel turns Brent into a one-man special task force to patrol the city’s schools. The lonely, miserable, dangerous work is not Brent’s only trouble. Ever since he made the mistake of marrying an heiress, he has been spending like mad to keep up with her lifestyle, borrowing money from the mob to keep himself in tuxedos on a detective’s salary. When his money runs out, it’s Sidel who will have to cover the debt./div

One of the Must-Read Books of 2019 According to O: The Oprah Magazine * Time * Bustle * Electric Literature * Publishers Weekly * The Millions * The Week * Good Housekeeping “There is more life packed on each page of Ordinary Girls than some lives hold in a lifetime.” —Julia Alvarez In this searing memoir, Jaquira Díaz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age. While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn’t find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be. Reminiscent of Tara Westover’s Educated, Kiese Laymon’s Heavy, Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club, and Terese Marie Mailhot’s Heart Berries, Jaquira Díaz’s memoir provides a vivid portrait of a life lived in (and beyond) the borders of Puerto Rico and its complicated history—and reads as electrically as a novel.

A gem of a Marías story: Elvis and his entourage abandon their translator in a seedy cantina full of enraged criminals. “It all happened because of Elvis Presley.” Elvis, down south of the border to film a movie, has insisted his producers hire a proper Spaniard so that he can pronounce his few lines in Spanish with a Castillian accent. But Ruibérriz has taken on much more than he bargained for. One fatal night, horseplay in a local bar goes too far: a fatuous drunken American insults the local kingpin, and when the thug insists that Ruibérriz translate, Elvis himself adds an even more stinging comment—and who must translate that?

In this beautiful nonfiction biography, a Robert F. Sibert Medal winner, the Newbery Honor–winning author Joyce Sidman introduces readers to one of the first female entomologists and a woman who flouted convention in the pursuit of knowledge and her passion for insects. One of the first naturalists to observe live insects directly, Maria Sibylla Merian was also one of the first to document the metamorphosis of the butterfly. Richly illustrated throughout with full-color original paintings by Merian herself, The Grew Who Drew Butterflies will enthrall young scientists. Bugs, of all kinds, were considered to be “born of mud” and to be “beasts of the devil.” Why would anyone, let alone a girl, want to study and observe them? The Girl Who Drew Butterflies answers this question. Booklist Editor’s Choice Chicago Public Library Best of the Year Kirkus Best Book of the Year Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book Junior Library Guild Selection New York Public Library Top 10 Best Books of the Year

She was found abandoned in the lavatory of a cafeteria in Bogota, Colombia. The police who picked her up named her Maria Consuelo. From a stack of would-be parents, Colombias welfare agency chose Valerie Kreutzers application, and the toddler quickly bonded with her new mom in Washington, DC. At school Maria struggled with severe learning disabilities despite a superior I.Q., but also blossomed into an award-winning young artist. Her impulsive behavior led to fits and false starts during adolescence, until she found happiness at twenty-one with David and his extended family. Their love and lives ended in the curve of a rural road in Florida. A Girl Named Maria chronicles an adopted daughters struggle with identity and her yearning for a birth family that may have included a twin brother. Marias legacy lives on in this poignant personal story of one mothers unconditional love for her adopted daughter. I loved this book! This story, although carrying the deep sorrow of a daughters death, will give parents of transnational adoptions a guideline for their own experience. This book is a much needed addition to the adoption literature. Nancy Verrier, The Primal Wound; Coming Home to Self www.nancyverrier.com

When Maria first came to America from Italy, she hoped that some day she would live the American dream. She thought she found her happiness when she met and married Michael. Instead, over the years, she became a battered woman. After many years and four daughters later, things changed for the better. She has now made a new life for her and her daughters. They had little problems starting their new life together without Michael, but now they have more happiness as they raise their families and enjoy each other.