Hot summer reads: CADL reading specialists make their recommendations

Summer is a great time to pick up a book, whether you're heading to the beach or on a long road trip. Take a look at these titles recommended by reading specialists with the Capital Area District Library. And then head out to your local library and check some out.

Adult fiction

All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby

Award winner Cosby’s high octane crime novel follows the first Black sheriff in a Virginia County seething with secrets — including a mysterious serial killer.

Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig

A historical thriller about the highly complex legendary Chinese pirate queen, Shek Yeung, who successfully led a pirate confederation between 1807 and 1810 against Chinese and European ships.

Hello Stranger: A Novel by Katherine Center

In this romantic comedy with depth, a health emergency leaves a struggling portrait artist unmoored with a possibly temporary diagnosis of face blindness.

Witch King by Martha Wells

Wells drops the reader right into the middle of a political adventure as Kai, the titular Witch King, and his partner wake to find themselves entombed on a secluded island unaware of how they got there and with another mage hoping to steal his power.

Yellowface: A Novel by R. F. Kuang

Do stories need to be told, regardless of the teller? NYT bestseller Kuang delivers a timely and cutting look at publishing, diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation in her latest featuring a white author who passes off the work of an Asian contemporary as her own after she witnesses her death.

Adult nonfiction

Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper

Cooper, a self-described black queer nerd and lifelong passionate birder, known to many as the “Central Park Birder,” writes with great insight about living in our world today in this memoir that combines personal narrative with travelogue, stories of bird sightings, and birding tips.

Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny

Beautifully written and meticulously researched, this is the story of the treacherous and trail-blazing 1930s expedition of University of Michigan botanist Elzada Clover and her mentee Lois Jotter, who journeyed 600 miles on the Colorado River to conduct the first ever botanical survey of the Grand Canyon.

Last Call at Coogan’s: The Life and Death of a Neighborhood Bar by Jon Michaud

Michaud tells the story of a beloved institution — Coogan’s, an Irish bar in the multi-ethnic, majority immigrant New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights — that served its patrons, and the larger community through 35 years of challenges and transitions.

Owner of a Lonely Heart: A Memoir by Beth Nguyen (July)

Following Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, Nguyen’s award-winning first memoir, Owner of a Lonely Heart returns to the stories of her Vietnamese refugee family’s experience settling in West Michigan, examining belonging, parenthood, and her relationship with her largely absent mother, who initially stayed behind when her family fled Saigon in 1975.

Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden by Camille T. Dungy

Poet and professor Dungy writes about transforming her Colorado yard from a non-diverse landscape into a native plant and pollinator-friendly garden, while exploring motherhood, family, history, race and environmental justice.

The Soldier's Truth: Ernie Pyle and the Story of World War II by David Chrisinger

Chrisinger tells the story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ernie Pyle, who dedicated his career and life to telling the “stories behind the stories” of American soldiers in WWII as an embedded journalist, and who has been called “America’s most beloved war correspondent.”

Children & Young adult

Family Style: Memories of An American from Vietnam by Thien Pham

In this young adult graphic memoir, Pham, a Vietnamese refugee, offers a savory collection of memories connected to food and his family’s effort to partake in the American Dream.

Like Lava in My Veins by Derrick D. Barnes

A Black boy is a student at the Academy of Kids with Awesome Abilities to help regulate his superpowers. As a superhero-in-training, he is frustrated when a teacher is less than welcoming, and he inadvertently melts his chair! An excellent picture book wisely illuminating the importance of a teacher’s kindness.

The Braid Girls by Sherri Winston

A trio of Black girls anticipate summer as day camp counselors and are excited to start their own business braiding hair. While they navigate issues of money, family and rivalry, the girls each present their stories in alternating perspectives. This lovely middle grade novel celebrates natural Black hair styles, entrepreneurship and friendship.

Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley

After her amazing debut, Firekeeper’s Daughter, Boulley returns to Michigan's Sugar Island where sassy teen Perry Firekeeper-Birch learns a local university is purposely delaying the return of deceased Anishinaabe remains to her Ojibwe Tribal Council. Conversations of police violence against Black people and Indigenous women going missing detail this stirring, stand-alone novel.

When You Can Swim by Jack Wong

This poetic meditation uses gentle prose and lively illustrations of children in various bodies of water to relish the journey of becoming a swimmer. A perfect picture book to linger over in summer.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Summer reading list from CADL Capital Area District Library