Brenna's Backlist Picks Archives

The One Hundred Nights of Hero

by Isabel Greenberg

This is a retelling of Arabian Nights, set in a world almost-ours but not-quite-ours, and it is a love letter to women's relationships with each other. Sisters, mothers, elders, friends, lovers, WOMEN. It manages to somehow be a novel, a short story collection, and a nonfiction social commentary all at once. It is funny, and sharp, and deep, and magical, and lovely, and intensely relevant in a way that is kind of hard to describe. --Brenna

In the Great Green Room: The Brilliant and Bold Life of Margaret Wise Brown

by Amy Gary

Thoughtful and personal exploration of the life of the woman who wrote Goodnight Moon, with many passages from the personal journals she kept her entire life. Margaret Wise Brown completely reshaped publishing's approach to children's literature, introducing things we take for granted today, like sensory touch-and-feel books, read-along audio recordings, and books about abstract concepts like feelings or difficult subjects like death. You will never look at the Kid Lit section the same again after this book.

Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales from a Life

by Harriet McBryde Johnson

Johnson is an author, attorney, and disability rights activist. Due to a congenital neuromuscular disease, she’s always needed assistance with her daily care and uses a motorized wheelchair. Her life defies assumptions about disability. Her memoir details her pursuit of a law career and her activism and also includes profound meditations on death and pleasure.

Brenna's Backlist Picks

The One Hundred Nights of Hero

In the Great Green Room: The Brilliant and Bold Life of Margaret Wise Brown

Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales from a Life

Buckle Up!

summer reading starts May 16th