iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 06/10/2026

Ellen Poe: The Forgotten Lore, by Diana Peterfreund, read by Marli Watson, is about a teen who's a supposed descendant of Edgar Allen Poe, who gets haunted by his ghost while following clues to sites from his life and death all around Baltimore. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/ellen_...

Cover of Ellen Poe: The Forgotten Lore, by Diana Peterfreund. Picture shows a girl on foggy streets at sundown with a raven flying behind her and old buildings and lit streetlamps behind her. She's holding a book close, but pages are blowing out of it.

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 04/10/2026

Read more here: sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes...

Yellow flowers in front of a stone wall at Giverny. Quotation: "As image bearers of the divine, we are thus cocreators - midwives and doulas - for one another." -- Kat Armas

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 03/10/2026

Who Is Amy Schneider? Questions on Growing Up, Being Curious, and Winning It Big on Jeopardy!, by Amy Schneider, is the Jeopardy! champion's autobiography, simplified for kids, including what it was like to come out as transgender. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_No...

Cover of Who Is Amy Schneider? Picture is of Amy Schneider standing at a Jeopardy! desk. Books and planets and drama masks and music notes are floating in a cloud above her head.

032

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 03/10/2026

Read more here: sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes...

Photo of the grounds of the Abbaye de Royaumont, with stone buildings and a tall pointed stone tower standing alone with adjacent walls broken off from it. Quotation: "Believing the wrong thing won't send you to hell, so you can relax and just focus on believing the loving thing." -- Brian Recker

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 03/10/2026

Thornhedge, by T. Kingfisher, read by Jennifer Blom, is a novella featuring Toadling, a side character in a twist on the Sleeping Beauty story. She's guarding a sleeping princess who should very much not be woken, despite what a curious and kind knight thinks. www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/thor...

Cover of Thornhedge, by T. Kingfisher. Includes the caption: "Not all curses should be broken." Picture is a close-up of a bloody thorn, with a drip of blood on the end. In the distance, there's a shadowy castle.

074

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 01/10/2026

You and Me on Repeat, by Mary Shyne, is a fun graphic novel about a boy caught in a time loop on Graduation Day. And every time he fails to kiss his girlfriend. Maybe the friend stuck in the loop with him can help. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/you_an...

010

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 29/09/2026

The Bats on the Bus, by Alison Jackson, illustrated by Scott Magoon, is a ready-made storytime hit, with the classic song adjusted perfectly for Halloween. I bet you can't read it without singing along! Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Book...

Cover of The Bats on the Bus, by Alison Jackson, illustrated by Scott Magoon. Picture shows a cartoon bus with a face and fangs filled with Halloween characters like bats and ghosts and vampires and Frankenstein.

062

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 27/09/2026

Read more here: sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes...

Photo of the cliffs at Étretat with the ocean behind them. Quotation: "Nurture the humility it takes to admit you can get it wrong." -- Rachel Held Evans

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 27/09/2026

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez, is a fascinating and detailed history of evangelicalism in America and how the culture gradually got obsessed with rugged masculinity. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/j...

Cover of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. In the center, there's a picture of a cross with crossed guns in front of it.

021

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 25/09/2026

In Holloway, by Elana K. Arnold, an autistic teen is solo traveling in France in 2021 to scatter her anti-vax mother's ashes when she stumbles into a hollow that takes her back in time to 1946. What she encounters there surprised me. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/hollow...

Cover of Holloway, by Elana K. Arnold. Picture is done in collage, with a woman looking through one of the Os, and the silhouette of a girl in fog in the other O. Behind them is a tree and the Eiffel Tower.

010

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 24/09/2026

Mary Morland in the Time of Dinosaur Discovery, written by Jane Kurtz, illustrated by Giselle Potter, is a fun picture book biography of a woman who threw aside convention and was a crucial part of establishing the science of paleontology. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens......

Cover of Mary Morland in the Time of Dinosaur Discovery, by Jane Kurtz and Giselle Potter. Shows a girl in old-fashioned clothes painting a picture of a dinosaur bone on a desk in front of her. There's another painting of a dinosaur in front of her and fossils next to her.

010

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 23/09/2026

The Late Mrs. Willoughby, by Claudia Gray, read by Billie Fulford-Brown, is a second mystery featuring characters and children of characters from Jane Austen's classics. Many people hated Mr. Willoughby. So who killed his wife? Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/late...

Cover of The Late Mrs. Willoughby: A Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney Mystery, by Claudia Gray. Picture features silhouettes of various Regency-dressed ladies and gentlemen, with a lady in a pink dress in a heap on the floor at the bottom of the picture, next to a small keyboard instrument.

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 22/09/2026

Today as part of #Sonderbooks25 I finished relistening to Enchantment, by Orson Scott Card. I loved it just as much as the first time, when it was a 2007 Sonderbooks Stand-out. What really happened with Sleeping Beauty? So beautifully told! Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/ench...

Cover of Enchantment, by Orson Scott Card. Picture shows a princess asleep in a forest, mostly covered by leaves.

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 22/09/2026

Read more here: sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes... (This is a good one!) @sarahbessey.bsky.social

Photo of a swan floating in a pond while its reflection makes a mirror image. Quotation: "It's my hope that you'll relearn how to ask questions and you'll be startled by ladybugs and the return of a robin will make you glad." -- Sarah Bessey

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 22/09/2026

Kaho'olawe: The True Story of an Island and Her People, written by Kamalani Hurley, illustrated by Harinani Orme, is a history in a picture book of a Hawaiian island devastated by the U.S. Army, but being brought back to life and health by caring activists. www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_No...

Cover of Kaho'olawe: The True Story of an Island and Her People, by Kamalani Hurley and Marinani Orme. Picture shows an island in the distance with a rainbow over it, as well as nearby land with people working and others smiling at the viewer.

020

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 20/09/2026

Read more here: sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes...

Photo of a lake rimmed by tall green trees under a gray sky. There's a small boat in the distance. Quotation: "Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it." -- Gregory Boyle

011

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 20/09/2026

Pufflings Fly Free! A Rescue Tale from Iceland, by Colleen Paeff, illustrated by Linda Ólafsdóttir, is a sweet picture book based on real-life Puffling Patrols that happen every year in the Westman Islands of Iceland. Read my Review: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Book...

Cover of Pufflings Fly Free! A Rescue Tale from Iceland, by Colleen Paeff, illustrated by Linda Ólafsdóttir. Picture shows a smiling girl wearing mittens and a headband releasing a baby puffin over water with icebergs floating in it.

041

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 19/09/2026

A simple chapter book perfect for beginning readers, One Mad Cat and the Missing Book, by Vicky Fang, uses simple language and plenty of pictures to tell a story of Cat solving a puzzle for her friends. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens......

Cover of One Mad Cat and the Missing Book, by Vicky Fang. Picture features a simple drawing of a cat, who looks angry. Dotted lines lead to a magnifying glass, a puzzle piece, and a book with a question mark on the cover.

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 18/09/2026

Work in Progress: Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool, and Priest, by James Martin, SJ, is a memoir, told with insight and humor, about his antics as a teen and young adult on the job. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/w...

Cover of Work in Progress: Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool, and Priest, by James Martin, SJ. Cover features a strip of black and white photos from a photo booth with a teen boy making faces. There are daisies as decorations, reminiscent of the 60s.

010

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 17/09/2026

Like Glass, by Jen Ferguson, features a teen visiting the French Alps to try to get her father to come home and to deal with her sister's death a year before. Meeting a pickpocket and a competitive skiier while she's at it. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/like_g...

Cover of Like Glass, by Jen Ferguson. Picture shows a girl in front of a large stained glass window of mountains and sky. She's facing a girl who looks like her but is made of stained glass.

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 16/09/2026

Rewriting the Rules: How Dr. Kathleen Friel Created New Possibilities for Brain Research and Disability, by Danna Zeiger, illustrated by Josée Bisaillon, is about a brain scientist with cerebral palsy whose work helps people with disabilities overcome challenges. www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_No...

Cover of Rewriting the Rules: How Dr. Kathleen Friel Created New Possibilities for Brain Research and Disability, by Danna Zeiger, illustrated by Josée Bisaillon. Picture shows a woman in a white lab coat with two children with brown skin, one using crutches. There are plants and flowers around them shaped like brain neurons.

010

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 15/09/2026

Translation State, by Ann Leckie, is a fascinating look inside alien minds as we learn more about the Presger translators, and our characters have to work together when in danger. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/tran...

cover of Translation State, by Ann Leckie. The background has a gradient of colors, and there's a small silhouette of a person at the bottom and a triangle on top.

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 14/09/2026

Read more here: sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes...

A cluster of orange and red flowers in a garden. Quotation: "Open our ears to the voices we have ignored, open our hearts to the beauty we have feared." -- Kat Armas

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 13/09/2026

The Otherwhere Post, by Emily J. Taylor, read by Barrie Kreinik, is the tale of a teen who infiltrates a school for magical couriers to try to clear her father's name. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/otherw...

Cover of The Otherwhere Post, by Emily J. Taylor, read by Barrie Kreinik. Title is in silver on a dark blue background with silver curlicues around it and two quill pens crossed beneath it.

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 13/09/2026

Read more here: sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes...

Photo of the cliffs of Étretat, with an arch and pointed rock out in the ocean. Quotation: "This is the heart of what it should mean to be a Christian of any designation: the desire to continue to move and grow and learn and change." -- John Pavlovitz

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 13/09/2026

Blue Monster, by Petr Horáček, is a sweet picture book in which we learn that it's not nice to swallow your friends. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Book...

Cover of Blue Monster, by Petr Horáček. Picture shows a friendly blue monster smiling at the viewer, with a finger in his mouth. There's a bright yellow background, with flowers on the ground.

030

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 11/09/2026

Read more here: sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes...

Photo of a hall in an abbey with pillars and arches and stained-glass windows. Quotation: "Our hope can only be as deep as our lament is. And our lament as deep as our hope." -- Cole Arthur Riley

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 11/09/2026

Third book in the Impossible Creatures series, The Neverfear, by Katherine Rundell, is another magnificently imaginative fantasy adventure where two kids must cleverly and courageously complete Herculean tasks to save those they love. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fi...

Cover of The Neverfear, Impossible Creatures Book 3, by Katherine Rundell. Picture is against a blue sky and shows a fiery phoenix above a boy riding on a fiery golden deer with extended antlers.

010

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 10/09/2026

Read more here: sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes...

Photo of a cluster of purple flowers in the foreground and a tree with light red leaves in the background. Quotation: "My job (and yours) is to keep blooming with an eye for making the garden as lush as we are able." -- Shannan Martin

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 10/09/2026

Counterweights: An Essential Practice for Holding Hope in a Heavy World, by Shannan Martin, is about spotting joys as counterweights to the weight of the world. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/c...

Cover of Counterweights: An Essential Practice for Holding Hope in the World, by Shannan Martin. Picture features a blooming red flower with blue skies and white clouds above and gray beneath.

010

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 06/09/2026

King of the Neuro Verse, by Idris Goodwin, read by the Author, is a novel in verse about a teen who has to do summer school with an English teacher who hates him, but at least he gets to win rap battles at lunch. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/king_o...

010

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 06/09/2026

Read more here: sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes...

Photo of the head and neck of a great blue heron, emerging from tall grass, with a body of water behind it. Quotation: "We grow spiritually much more by doing it wrong than by doing it right." -- Richard Rohr

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 02/09/2026

Diamond Fever! A True Crime Story in the Wild West, by Steve Sheinkin, with comics and art by Jon Chad, is the true story of an elaborate swindle pulled off in the Wild West, told with all the drama of a novel. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_No...

Cover of Diamond Fever! A True Crime Story in the Wild West, by Steve Sheinkin, with comics and art by Jon Chad. Shows two men in cowboy hats, one holding a sparkly stone. They're looking down on a train pulled by a steam locomotive.

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 01/09/2026

Huzzah! Shannon Hale has updated her brilliant novel for adults, Austenland, where heroine Jane Hayes gets to travel to a stately home in England and immerse herself in the world of Jane Austen. @shannonhale.bsky.social Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/aust...

Cover of Austenland, by Shannon Hale. Shows a young woman wearing a blouse and slacks and carrying a bonnet, wheeling a suitcase toward a stately home. A gardener in old-fashioned clothes is on one side of the path, and a couple wearing Regency clothes are embracing on the other side of the path.

1125

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 31/08/2026

The Scammer, by Tiffany D. Jackson, read by January LaVoy, is a thriller about a Black Freshman in college who gets pulled into the sway of the charismatic older brother of her roommate. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/scamme...

Cover of The Scammer, by Tiffany D. Jackson. Against a pink background, picture shows three Black girls and a Black boy standing above a dorm building. There are strings coming from them leading up to a Black hand holding the puppet strings.

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 30/08/2026

Read more here: sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes...

A close-up picture of a field of daisies in Giverny, France. Quotation: "Even if you haven't been forgiven, forgive." -- Maggie Smith

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 29/08/2026

Wildspeak, words by Sangma Francis, pictures by Lexi Vangsnes, is a lovely picture book combining a nature walk with the creative power of words. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Book...

Cover of Wildspeak, words by Sangma Francis, pictures by Lexi Vangsnes. Picture shows a child wearing a sun hat peeking up out of a field of grasses, with flowers in the field and creatures like butterflies, a bird, bees, and a grasshopper in the grass.

020

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 29/08/2026

Princess Academy: The Graphic Novel, by Shannon Hale and Victoria Ying, adapts the Newbery Honor book into visual form, telling the same magical story of a mountain girl learning to help her people - and maybe marry a prince. @shannonhale.bsky.social www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fi...

Cover of Princess Academy: The Graphic Novel, by Shannon Hale and Victoria Ying. Picture shows a girl wearing a plain dress with her hair in pigtails hugging a book. There are mountains behind her and a stately house.

2398

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 28/08/2026

Read more here: sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes...

Photo of the path and bridge leading to Mont Saint-Michel, France. Quotation: "We are invited to love what God loves, which is quite different from doing things that please God." -- Gregory Boyle

010

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 28/08/2026

Read Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences, by Neal Allen and Anne Lamott, for the wonderful back-and-forth between the married authors. Or read it for the topic they're discussing: Better communication. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/g...

Cover of Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences, by Neal Allen and Anne Lamott. Features a picture of an old-fashioned typewriter.

010

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 27/08/2026

Bridget and Gabe Are Not Okay, by Lex Croucher, is a sequel to Gwen and Art Are Not in Love, set in a medieval world where descendants of King Arthur navigate queer romance and Arthurian legends. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/bridge...

Cover of Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay: A Novel, by Lex Croucher. Letters are decorated like medieval manuscripts, and the picture shows a cluster of teens. A red-haired boy wearing a crown is sitting on a throne, but leaning sadly on his arm, with his elbow on a round table. Behind him to his right with a hand on his shoulder is a dark-haired and dark-skinned boy. Next to him on the other side a dark-haired girl wearing armor is sitting, with a fair-skinned, red-haired girl wearing a crown behind her. They're all looking concerned toward the boy on the throne.

021

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 26/08/2026

We Carry the Sun, by Tae Keller, illustrated by Rachel Wada, is a gorgeous picture book history of solar power and human ingenuity in harnessing the sun. You'll learn a surprising amount about past and present technology. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_No...

Cover of We Carry the Sun, written by Tae Keller, illustrated by Rachel Wada. Picture shows a child with dark hair facing away from the viewer with their hand held up toward the sun. The sun is radiating light and takes up most of the picture.

010

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 25/08/2026

Brigands & Breadknives, is a third wonderful cozy fantasy novel for adults from Travis Baldree. This one has the ratkin Fern accidentally joining a legendary adventurer on a quest involving plenty of danger. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/brig...

Cover of Brigands & Breadknives, by Travis Baldree, read by the author. Picture shows folk at a campsite at night, lit by a fire. Sitting on a bench is a ratkin wearing a red cloak, holding a stack of parchment and writing on them with a quill. There's a large horse behind all of them, and a tall elf holding a large sword. Seated in front is a small goblin with green skin, red eyes, red hair, and a very wide toothy grin.

010

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 23/08/2026

I was at the National Book Festival yesterday! Here's how it went: sonderbooks.com/blog/?p=46853

Photo of a large banner. Library of Congress National Book Festival is printed at the top. Pictures below include the Library of Congress, 2026 over the Capitol Dome, a quill and ink, open books, and the Washington Monument. Smaller print says "America 250: It's Your Story."

120

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 23/08/2026

Old Favorite Beauty, by Robin McKinley, is the author's first retelling of "Beauty and the Beast," sweet and cozy and making you want to live in the story's world. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/beauty...

Cover of Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast, by Robin McKinley. Picture is a dark background with two red roses.

3131

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 21/08/2026

Incredibly Fast and Not at All Fun, by Tadgh Bentley, is a picture book tale of a bear who accidentally invents a roller coaster when he just wanted something fast and efficient. He doesn't understand why he can't keep the other forest creatures away. www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Book...

Cover of Incredibly Fast and Not at All Fun, by Tadgh Bentley. Picture shows a bear wearing goggles and riding a roller coaster through a forest.

030

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 20/08/2026

Unclobber: Rethinking our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality, by Colby Martin, covers ways we can responsibly interpret the Bible and not harm people, combined with his own story of looking at his beliefs and building an inclusive ministry. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/u...

Cover of Unclobber: Rethinking Our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality, by Colby Martin. Background of the cover is white, with black letters for the title, but the first two letters, UN are large and orange, with small white text running through them.

000

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 19/08/2026

Fruitcake, by Rex Ogle & Dave Valeza, is the third graphic memoir about Rex's middle school years. This one covers eighth grade when everyone's pairing up, and Rex realizes that he likes boys. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_No...

Cover of Fruitcake, A Graphic Novel, by Rex Ogle & Dave Valeza. Picture shows five kids under a banner with the title. They're in a room with streamers and lights.

020

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 18/08/2026

Read more here: sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes...

Two pink water lilies from Monet's Garden in Giverny. Quotation: "It is actually quite an old-fashioned thing to think that God is bigger than gender." -- Lizzie McManus-Dail

030

Sondra Eklund @sonderbooks.com · 18/08/2026

Old Bones, by Aaron Elkins, is a Edgar Award-winning mystery that features a drowning in quicksand in the bay of Mont Saint-Michel as well as bones in a cellar from World War II. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/old_...

Cover of Old Bones: Book Four in the Gideon Oliver Series, by Aaron Elkins. Picture is of a skeleton smiling at the viewer.

000