Starred Reviews for Ron Chernow, Nora Princiotti, Edward Hirsch, Stacey Abrams, and more!

By Kate McManus | June 9 2025 | Starred Reviews

With starred reviews from publications including Booklist and AudioFile — your patrons will want to read these much-anticipated books that reviewers are raving about.

Fiction

A Thriller

“Abrams enriches this fast-paced thriller with her sense of social justice: most of the main characters are people of color motivated less by greed than by their experiences with institutional racism. The very real concerns with veteran health, privacy, and the chilling prospect of AI run amok will engage readers’ brains and souls.” —Booklist, starred review

Jul 15, 2025
Hardcover
Doubleday

Nonfiction

Britney, Taylor, Beyoncé, and the Women Who Built Pop's Shiniest Decade

“Princiotti’s writing is celebratory and incisive, blending the enthusiasm of a superfan with the precision of a critic. A must-read for pop music lovers.” —Booklist, starred review

Jun 17, 2025
Hardcover
Ballantine Books
Grades 9-12 + AP/IB

A Stand-Up Comedy, a Skokie Elegy

“Wisecracks, mischief, trouble, arguments, cruelties, absurdities, and deceit are all delivered with a stand-up comic’s precision and a poet’s gift for exhilarating and droll wordplay.” —Booklist, starred review

Jun 03, 2025
Hardcover
Knopf
Grades 9-12 + AP/IB

Audiobooks

”Twain’s twang, as delivered by Jason Culp, runs through this compelling and comprehensive audiobook like a vein of gold.” —AudioFile Earphones Award Winner

May 13, 2025
Audiobook Download
Books on Tape
Grades 9-12 + AP/IB

The Illusion of Urgency and a Better Way to Live

”[Chris Guillebeau is] a smooth and utterly charming narrator whose vocal quality and natural pitch patterns make his delivery sound beautiful.” —AudioFile Earphones Award Winner

Apr 15, 2025
Audiobook Download
Books on Tape
Grades 6-12

The Story of the Global Economy in One Barge

”Carefully adapting his beautiful vocal range to the energy in each word, phrase, and line of thought, Graham provides a layer of impact and meaning that make the author’s historical storytelling come alive.” —AudioFile Earphones Award Winner

May 06, 2025
Audiobook Download
Books on Tape
Grades 9-12 + AP/IB