Ask a Bookseller

Foggy mornings, apples and pumpkins abound: anyone in the mood for a ghost story? Or rather, in the case of Shannon Sanders’ debut novel, “The Great Wherever,” a story narrated by ghosts who have some pretty strong opinions about the living? This recommendation comes from Victoria Ford of Comma, a bookshop in Minneapolis.

Here’s the scenario: Aubrey is 31, adrift and in debt, when she learns that she and three cousins have inherited the family homestead in Tennessee. Aubrey’s great-grandfather was one of the first Black landowners in the country, and legacy draws the cousins together to make a fraught decision: keep the land or sell it?

Watching over the four living characters are four ghosts whose deaths prevented them from inheriting. Tethered to the land, they do not want to see it turned into a Costco parking lot. As the ghosts observe, gossip about, and try to influence the cousins, the stories of their own lives and deaths — the secrets that are also part of the family inheritance — come to light.

“I just loved Shannon Sanders' voice as an author. She's funny and wry, even though it's a bit of a sad story,” Ford said. “It's a hot summer in Tennessee, and [you can practically] smell the barbecue and feel the sweat trickling down your back as the cousins are debating what to do.”

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Did you ever read the “Baby-Sitter's Club” books? Who was your favorite character?

That series by Ann M. Martin is now 40 years old, and it keeps on ticking, having spun off into graphic novels, a Netflix series and even a musical in development, with music by the composer of “KPop Demon Hunters.”

To mark the milestone anniversary, Scholastic is releasing 15 expanded "Super Special" books, which are longer and feature the voices of the whole club.

The first, released Sept. 15, is "Baby-Sitters on Board," a graphic novel adapted and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier and Gale Galligan. Today’s young “Baby-Sitters Club” readers may recognize Telgemeier for her own bestselling graphic novels, including "Smile," "Guts" and “Sisters,” among others.

Emily Regnier of Cherry Street Books in Alexandria, Minn., expects the new "Super Specials" to be a big draw for readers. She says the new book feels updated for today while still leaning on the characters and situations readers love.

In this book, the whole club flies to Florida, takes a cruise to the Bahamas and returns for adventures at an amusement park. Each character has a predicament to work through, ranging from awkward run-ins with fellow passengers to new crushes and babysitting triplets on board.

With school back in session, we’re continuing to bring you recommendations for great reads for kids. Pallas Erdrich of Birchbark Books in Minneapolis says her favorite picture book of late is “The Inquisitive Raven,” written by Richard Wagamese and illustrated by Bridget George.

The Ojibwe Canadian writer was known for his novels and memoirs for adult readers, but Erdrich says this picture book, published years after his death in 2017, is pure delight, with illustrations by Bridget George that are “just so soothing.”

“The blessing of the book is about connecting with your ancestors and your grandparents and your parents and just being able to learn from the culture that you come from. Kids have a lot of questions about things, and this opens the door to say it's okay to ask questions about your family history [and] about the things around you; and that when you learn those answers, it can all become part of one larger story,” Erdrich said.

The book follows Rueben, a curious raven, who asks questions and tries to imitate the other forest animals he meets. On the way, Erdrich says, readers learn Ojibwe words, legends, and lore.

“It’s a dense enough picture book that I think it would be good for reading a kid to sleep, but also one that they could read when they're between five to 10. It’s one that I would keep coming back to myself as a kid, especially because it just has such a beautiful story at the end.”

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K-12 school is back in session across the state, and as usual on Ask a Bookseller, we’re marking the occasion by focusing on books for kids and teen. Char Palmer of Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis recommends the YA graphic novel “Angelica and the Bear Prince,” written by Minneapolis writer and cartoonist Trung Le Nguyen.

High school drama? Sure. Transformative power of theater? Check. This graphic novel follows a burned-out teen, Angelica, who is buoyed by supportive messages on social from ... a bear? Determined to meet the person inside the bear costume who serves as the local theater’s mascot, she gets an internship at the theater.

“It's an adorable story. The art is great, full of whimsy,” says Palmer. “It kind of reads almost like a modern-day fairy tale. So it's realism playing off of the magical kind of whimsy of the theater and the show. It's almost like two different worlds colliding.”

Palmer also appreciates that the storm has good trans representation via one of the main characters.

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Are you looking for a novel to generate a good discussion for your book club? Pamela Klinger-Horn of Valley Bookseller in Stillwater recommends “Coyoteland” by Vanessa Hua. With the novel’s multiple viewpoints and complex issues, “Coyoteland” will appeal to fans of Celeste Ng’s “Little Fires Everywhere.”

After years of scraping, Jin Chang has finally managed to move his family into a prestigious suburb east of Berkeley, Calif.

Secretly, Jin has high hopes of making a big real estate deal that will cement his family’s future. Next door, Blaire Belle, who is white, makes a show of welcoming her new Chinese American neighbors. That is, until Jin’s hopes threaten her own plans to develop a high-end neighborhood.

“This taught me a new [phrase] called ‘performative progressivism,’” laughs Klinger-Horn.

“This is a very insightful look at suburbia, where privilege, racism, and class consciousness are set to a low boil and will be soon threatening to boil over because all these people also have teenagers, and you know how teenagers like to push the envelope. They are not happy with the hypocrisy that they see in the town, and they plan to expose this. And the fallout will intensify everything and have a cataclysmic end that will change the course of everyone's life.”

The name “Coyoteland” references the fact that humans are not the only ones who view the land as their own. The suburb is in coyote territory.

And while the human residents view the coyote who enters the scene as a threatening, dangerous predator, Klinger-Horn says, “he is the least of their worries when they have neighbors like this.”

If you’re in a book club, you know that not everyone is going to like every book every time. So, it was a delight for Gina Grinde of Four Pines Bookstore in Bemidji when everyone liked Bailey Seybolt’s mystery/thriller “Coram House.”

"They said, ‘This was a page-turner; I forgot to go to bed on time; I didn't do any chores,’ stuff like that. There's over a dozen of us, and we all agreed upon it. It’s my best-selling book so far this year."

Here's the story: Alex Kelley, a true crime writer recovering from a flopped book, gets an exciting offer from an attorney to tell the story of their recent case. It’s an old one: 50 years ago, a boy disappeared from a Catholic orphanage in Vermont. Alex moves to the small town and starts sifting through the case file, but she quickly runs into more questions than answers.

Why did the investigation go this direction? Why didn’t they speak to that person? And could the body of the woman who has just been found in a lake be related?

Alex sets out on her own investigation, interviewing past residents of the now-closed orphanage. The secrets she unearths in the small town — and the danger that arises — keeps readers turning pages.

Like many readers of mysteries and thrillers, Jackie Fuchs of The Book Keepers in Hutchinson loves to try to figure out whodunnit and why, and she appreciates a book that keep her guessing. That was the case with Taylor Adams' thriller "Her Last Breath."

“Every time I thought I figured out, it took us the other way,” Fuchs said.

This is not a book for the claustrophobic, unless, like Fuchs, you believe in exposure therapy through reading.

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The book centers on Allie and Tess, who have been best friends since high school. Allie is the adventurous traveler of the two, and she convinces Tess to join her in exploring a cave. At the cave entrance, they encounter a creepy fellow spelunker.

Allie’s response to this stranger sets him off, and soon Tess is trapped in a cave with a murderer. The novel jumps between Tess’s harrowing experience in the cave and her debrief with a detective afterwards.

“So you get moments of reprieve out of the cave with those moments with the detective, but also you’re getting more questions because what Tess is saying and what the detective is asking— and the things the detective is not saying — [all] lead to more questions. You want to get back in that cave...even though you don't want to get back in that cave,” she said.

Do you love the science-focused, curiosity-driven storytelling on Radiolab? Pallas Erdrich, manager of Birchbark Books in Minneapolis, recommends reading Radiolab co-host Lulu Miller's memoir “Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life.”

Its exploration of how and why animals are classified the way they are will make you more curious about the world, Erdrich says.

“It’s more than just a science book. It is a book about love. It is a book about discovering yourself. It is a book about not holding on to the rules that were made up around us and trying to figure out where we fit in the world.” she said.

“And it’s funny. It’s bright. It’s short. There are illustrations that are very beautiful that kind of give you a peek into her mind. It’s just, for me, a nearly perfect book. I have no notes for Miss Miller!”

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Miller also voices the audiobook. Radiolab airs Saturdays at 2 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. on MPR News.

Birchbark Books celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

Laura Haave of Content Bookstore in Northfield said one of her top recommendations so far this year is a YA graphic novel called “Wake Now in the Fire“ written by Jarrett Dapier and illustrated by AJ Dungo.

The title is a reference to a Rage Against the Machine song, “Sleep Now in the Fire,” which is about protesting oppression; it’s a fitting title for story about Chicago high school students standing up — successfully — to book banning.

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The graphic novel is based on a true story, based on interviews with the students and teachers who were involved. Dapier is a librarian who was working in a Chicago-area library in 2013 when students uncovered that Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel “Persepolis” had been systematically pulled from their schools. “Persepolis” is Satrapi’s story of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

In “Wake Now in the Fire,” Satrapi appears as a character in the book in support of the students. Haave says Dungo’s bold black and white illustrations are a visual nod to Satrapi’s style, and Dapier’s story speaks about her book’s legacy:

“And there’s a lot of discussion in the book about how important ‘Persepolis’ is as a novel, and just the continuation of graphic novels about young people coming of age, becoming aware of injustices and fighting back against them.”

Satrapi passed away in June at the age of 56.

“Wake Now in the Fire” was one of Haave’s picks for Content’s Paperback Summer series, in which staff select 10 fiction books, 10 nonfiction, 10 young adult and 10 middle grade novels that have come out in paperback in the past year.

She recommends this YA book for teens and adults alike.

Lauren Richards, co-owner of Tropes & Trifles in Minneapolis, recently hosted author Shirlene Obuobi to launch her new paranormal romance novel "Die for Me," and Richards is very excited about this book.

Sean is a cardiologist with a good salary, a dog, a best friend, and a goddaughter. Having taken time to heal from an abusive relationship, she has her life together and she isn't looking for love. Then she meets Julian at a wedding, and their chemistry is combustible. He's wealthy, attractive, and stable in his own life, but he's 11 years younger.

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This is a bad idea, Sean tells herself. She's seen her older male colleagues trade in their wives for younger models. Could she date a younger man?

Richards was insistent on not revealing any spoilers in this paranormal romance, except to say that Julian only seems to be younger than Sean.

"One of the really interesting things that I love about paranormal romance is all of the power dynamics. Those obviously exist in any kind of relationship, even if you're just two regular old humans," but there are further complications when one person is, say, immortal.

Sean is the only Black woman cardiologist at her hospital. The main character’s career reflects the author’s own life: in addition to being an artist, Shirlene Obuobi is a Ghanaian American cardiologist.