(NewsUSA) - BookTrib.com, a leading source of book news, reviews and information for more than 20 years, is launching the second edition of BOOKTRIB’S LIT PICKS, an ebook showcasing excerpts from the first chapters of some of the hottest books -- past, present and future -- that readers can discover this Spring and Summer. 

Studies indicate that when people read an excerpt from a book, the probability of them buying and reading that book increases dramatically. In creating BOOKTRIB’S LIT PICKS, BookTrib, a unit of longtime leading literary marketing and promotion firm Meryl Moss Media Group, has compiled a collection of first-chapter excerpts from genres including contemporary and historical fiction, thrillers, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, self-help, memoirs and much more. The ebook includes offerings from major publishers like Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins to midlist titles and self-published works from celebrated emerging authors.  

The books represent: #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, #1 Sunday Times Bestseller, #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller, Booklist Starred Review, Kirkus Starred Review, Library Journal Starred Review, USA Today Bestselling Author, Silver Falchion Award Winner, Bram Stoker Award Winner, Edgar Award Nominated Author, and Goodreads Choice Award Nominated Author.  

The latest version of the ebook includes offerings from well-known authors such as Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Tessa Bailey, Mark Greaney, James Comey, Mike Bond, Laura Hankin, Gill Paul, Terry Hayes and more. 

The first edition of LIT PICKS, launched last holiday season, generated thousands of downloads and heaps of praise. 

One NetGalley reviewer, Amanda Waggoner, said, “I am always thrilled to see these samplers posted. It's a fantastic way to be introduced to new authors or the latest works from familiar authors. There are so many books on offer that it's great to get a sample to narrow down my list. I particularly appreciate that this sampler covers so many genres.” 

“Wow! All I can say is wow," said Naomi Jones on NetGalley. “If you have been looking for a new read, you'll find it here. I love this concept and was astonished at how lengthy this is.” 

“This is a great idea,” said NetGalley reviewer Carol Holland. “I picked this up and didn’t know what to expect but quickly saw that there were four or five books from each genre listed in the contents, and it gave a description of what the book was about a quick preview, a little bit about the author and the first chapter. I think this type of item should happen pretty regularly, like every month with new and old books. Now I know book catalogs from publishers, etc. have this info but it’s interesting to just have a handful in each genre from all publishers in one quick easy reference guide.” 

In a nutshell, BOOKTRIB’S LIT PICKS provides readers of all tastes and preferences and hungry to discover their next read with excerpts from a wide range of books sure to enhance their Spring/Summer reading list. 

BOOKTRIB’S LIT PICKS is available on Amazon and other popular retail outlets where ebooks are sold. To learn more, visit https://booktrib.com/litpicks. 

ABOUT BOOKTRIB 

BookTrib.com was created as a news source for people who love books, want to find out what’s happening in the book world and love learning about great authors of whom they may not have heard. BookTrib.com has more than 90,000 unique monthly website visitors and more than 212,000 social media followers.

(NewsUSA) - Meet Me at the Starlight by Rachel Hauck

A heartfelt tale of romance, perseverance, and the enduring power of community by the New York Times bestselling author.

Eighties supermodel Harlow Hayes seeks solace in a quaint Florida beach town to heal from a heartbreak that shattered her world. To her surprise, she encounters Matt Knight--a Hollywood A-lister with a bad-boy reputation--who has returned to help his plucky grandmother, Tuesday, save her century-old skating rink, the Starlight.

The Starlight once acted as a refuge for Depression-era families and brought the town together with celebrations. Tuesday always protected her beloved rink from her husband's shady business dealings. Yet when it is threatened with demolition, Tuesday may not be able to stop it.

As Matt and Harlow plot with Tuesday to save the Starlight, they find themselves on a journey of surprises, self-discovery, and the kind of healing that leads to love. Purchase at https://bit.ly/3P21qt5.

The War You’ve Always Wanted by Mike McLaughlin

Pat Dolan’s father has a box. In it are treasures from Jimmy Dolan’s service in World War II—his photos, his medals, his memories. But ten-year-old Pat can’t understand why his father refuses to look in the box. After all, the war was a grand adventure, wasn’t it?

Determined to serve in the Army like his father, Pat enlists nine years later—but it’s 1972, and the American military is withdrawing from Vietnam after seven years of futile combat. As an Army combat correspondent surrounded by people growing more desperate by the day, young Dolan quickly learns how bleak the South’s prospects are. He is forced to witness the slow, steady death of a nation.

When Pat is wounded in action, he wonders if he will live long enough to fill a box of his own. Are there any treasures to be found in a country as fragile as this? Purchase at https://bit.ly/4beMJMp.

BEING: A Brief History of the Universe by Masoud Mostafavi

This manuscript is a beginner/intermediate-level science book discussing a brief history of the universe and how we came to exist. The most recent scientific theories in cosmology and related physics and life sciences concepts are aimed to inform and educate the science-leaning public, especially college students. Subject matters include various origin and creation stories, the nature of reality, and ancient ideas in astronomy and modern cosmological theories, including the Big Bang.

The book contains chapters discussing historical milestones and topics of physics to help readers better comprehend modern complex cosmological concepts. The birth and death of stars, the Solar System, and the formation and development of the Earth during eons are covered in modest detail. Theories related to the emergence of life on Earth and the evolution of living organisms are described. Purchase at https://bit.ly/3wxWFSg.

The Last Harmonic: A Tale of Bella & Oscar by Dustin Cook

In the heart of an ancient castle, a curious cat named Bella stumbles upon a hidden world of mystical mice. Granted the gift of speech and bipedal movement, Bella joins forces with the brave mouse Oscar and a wise mouse wizard. Together, they embark on a perilous journey to confront a dark sorcerer threatening their kingdom. Along the way, they navigate treacherous traps, decipher ancient prophecies, and forge unbreakable bonds of friendship.

With courage and determination, they face their ultimate challenge in the sorcerer's lair, fighting to restore magic and harmony to their land. The Last Harmonic: A Tale of Bella & Oscar is a story of bravery, teamwork, and the power of light over darkness, captivating young readers with its enchanting adventure and timeless lessons and also appealing to adult readers. Purchase at https://bit.ly/3KN13jS.

(NewsUSA) - Daft Mejora’s Infinite Madness by Karl Dehmelt

America, 2021: an alien known as the Daft One washes ashore in Florida, arriving on a particular planet undergoing strange times. The only knowledge the Daft One has of earth comes from the Internet, where daily life and technology mix in startling, violent ways. However, rather than finding existence “on the ground” to be more serene and logical, the Daft One befriends the son of a Q-Anon supporting State Representative and finds himself in a country torn along political lines amidst conflicting realities.

 When the Daft One saves the State Representative from a shooter, his launch to American stardom through his quick trigger finger and acerbic tongue catapults him and his friends through a world where the Internet and daily life merge, resulting in a terrifyingly real odyssey based in satire, celebrity, and connection, with consequences both shockingly absurd and stunningly human. Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and wherever books are sold. Purchase at https://bit.ly/4bT9yVS.

Crash Course by Ricardo Jimenez

Nine times out of ten, the passionate, well-educated, semi-cocky entrepreneur with dreams of taking the market by storm . . . fails. But don’t we have as much or more to learn from entrepreneurs who have failed as we do the lucky few who actually make it?

Entrepreneur Ricardo Jimenez crawls out from under the wreckage of his failed startup and explores how his best-laid plans went so terribly wrong. With surgical precision, Jiménez studies every decision, meeting, step, and misstep that turned his international toy company into an expensive lesson in how not to succeed.

Jiménez puts his whole story on display—the good, the bad, and the terrible—with the hope that the next generation of startup entrepreneurs can learn from his mistakes and take a pain-free shortcut to the important lessons he had to learn the hard way. Purchase at https://bit.ly/3wJEw3y.

The Golden Warrior by Soraya Rose

In The Golden Warrior, Cassius, a slave and gladiator of much renown, receives a visit from his long-departed father.  After his father's visit, Cassius begins to realize that he has gifts given from the gods that are beyond his skills as a gladiator.

The more that Cassius develops his gifts, the more he begins to undertake a journey of not only self-reflection, but also a journey to see the world and people around him in a new light.  With each step he takes, he learns who he can trust to help him, who seeks to do him harm, and learns what it is that he stands for. Purchase at https://bit.ly/3Ko8Eov.

Kaboomer by David Emerson Frost

Does poor physical fitness, flagging sexual health, fatigue, brain fog, or a life-sapping disease make you feel like you’ve lost it? Embrace proven and practical steps for your anti-aging journey from Master Fitness Trainer, Life Coach, and Rowing Champion David Frost in KABOOMER: Thriving and Striving into Your Nineties.

 Filled with lasting lessons for longevity, this science-driven and sweat-proven manual will coach readers toward a happy, healthy lifestyle. With this guide, readers will discover and establish their:

• Personalized healthy habits for good-to-great stamina, strength, stability, and stretching.
• Live-to-100 diet plan to lose weight, improve gut health and body composition, and boost immunity while fighting inflammation and illness.
• “Motion as medicine” with effective exercises and strength training to diminish pain and limit cognitive decline.
• Enhanced libido and sexual performance for better pleasure without a prescription.
• Restorative sleep and de-stress power practices to cheat death, and much more.

Purchase at https://bit.ly/3xYI4zE.

(NewsUSA) - I almost died shortly before Father’s Day in 2012, saved, ultimately, by my father. You might say I found him the night I almost lost my life.

He had died nearly thirty years before, but he was with me in the darkest moments of a harrowing, night-long ordeal being stranded at sea off the Bahamas in the midst of a violent storm. Through those endless rain-swept and wind-ravaged hours, my thoughts turned to him.

My father was a veteran of World War II, a product of the Greatest Generation who came home from Europe to build the America of today. He never once said “I love you.” It just wasn’t his way. His way was defined by work at the dry-cleaning business the family had founded.

My father was fond of saying, “No morning sun shines all day.” He said that to make the point that you should save your money. Today, I realize my father might just as easily have been talking about life in general. Life is full of clouds, storms, and darkness that serve to make us appreciate the light all the more. You don’t come out ahead in every bargain you make, but you must strive to honor the terms.

I learned that principle from my father and revisited it, along with so many other lessons he imparted, in that long night at sea when I didn’t think I’d live to see the dawn. Every time I started to slip away, feeling my eyes start to close for maybe the last time, I saw his face.

That night at sea, I started talking to my father as if he were there. I told him I had spent my life trying to do good things and I felt mine was a life well lived. I told my father that before I made a serious decision, I would ask myself, what would Dad do? I knew he loved me even though he never expressed it the way the fathers of my friends did and assured him I had grown into a man who was a lot like him, though inwardly I wondered if I’d be joining him soon.

I think about life as encapsulated in that long night stranded at sea with my father by my side. It’s simple to push down the throttle and pass the channel markers beyond the harbor. It’s easy to leave everything behind in the wake of white water and be free, easy to make a hard bargain with the calm sea. The hard bargain you make with rougher waters is altogether different because you’re at their mercy, a prisoner of their whims.

In times like those, keep your father close, in heart and mind, to guide you clear of the storm and into the light.

Donald G. Denihan, a real estate entrepreneur and waterman, is the author of HARD BARGAIN: What Life-Altering Experiences Taught Me About Faith, Friendship, and Family.

BookBites is presented by BookTrib.com.

(NewsUSA) - The Bucharest Dossier by William Maz

“The Bourne Identity” meets John le Carre’s “The Spy Who Came In from the Cold.”

Bill Hefflin is a man apart—apart from life, apart from his homeland, apart from love. And he is about to learn that in the world of cold war espionage, life is cheap.

At the start of the 1989 uprising in Romania, CIA analyst Hefflin—a disillusioned Romanian expat—arrives in Bucharest at the insistence of his KGB asset, code-named Boris. As Hefflin becomes embroiled in an uprising that turns into a brutal revolution, nothing is as it seems, including the search for his childhood love, which has taken on mythical proportions.

With the bloody events unfolding at blinding speed, Hefflin realizes the revolution is manipulated by outside forces, including his own CIA and Boris—the puppeteer who seems to be pulling all the strings of Hefflin’s life. Purchase at https://bit.ly/4aBv0yz.

Looking for Legends by Scott and Tarantino

Would you rather have dreams, or memories?

Whether you're an armchair traveler, an occasional tourist, a seasoned globetrotter, a daring adventurer, or an intrepid explorer, there's something for everyone in Looking for Legends.

Part travelogue and part good old-fashioned action story, this witty commentary recreates the magic and excitement of adventure. The married authors span the globe over 25 years and discover that travel is more than the journey and the sights. It's about the people, the incredible individuals they befriend along the way--the towering legends who lived life out loud.

Complete with original, hand-drawn maps and more than 150 images, Looking for Legends delivers you to destinations from your wildest dreams: walk through the desert sands; dance the tango; drink ouzo on Stavros Beach; discover a mountain higher than Everest; unlock the secrets of the Rosetta Stone, and much more. Purchase at https://bit.ly/3TpRtXS.

Klara’s Truth by Susan Weissbach Friedman

May 2014. Dr. Klara Lieberman—49, single, an archaeology professor and a contained person living a contained life—receives a letter from her estranged mother, Bessie, that will dramatically change her life. Her father—who has been absent from her life for 43 years—is dead. Has been for many years.  But now the Polish government is giving financial reparations for land it stole from its Jewish citizens during WWII, and Bessie wants the money. Klara wants answers about her father – so she flies to Warsaw.

Klara begins to piece together her father’s, and her own, story. She also connects with extended family, begins a romantic relationship, and discovers her calling: repairing the hundreds of pre-War Jewish cemeteries in Poland. Along the way, she makes peace with her past and builds purposefully toward a bigger future. Purchase at https://bit.ly/3rT0tuY.

The Guide - Survival, Warfighting, Peacemaking by Gregory Munck

Life with a drug-addicted father meant sleeping with one eye open, nervously anticipating but not knowing what chaotic event would happen next. Whether it was having a shotgun placed against his head or snorting cocaine at 13 with his dad, the unpredictable and unwanted were Greg Munck’s normal. Just when his anxiety and anger were starting to rumble, the Marines and a long boat ride to Kuwait to fight in the Gulf War changed the trajectory—and eternity—of a 20-year-old warfighter gifted by God to lead men.

Simple, emotional, and visceral, this story is about earth’s brokenness, God’s presence, and the true significance that resonates in the soul of every man. To do great things is embedded in the heart of every man, but the process demands courage, perseverance, and faith. Discover the bravery to win your own biggest emotional and spiritual battles. Purchase at https://bit.ly/3PxUDb2.

BookBites is presented by BookTrib.com.

(NewsUSA) - Can an ordinary life be extraordinary? It depends on the lens through which one views it. In the case of Marc Gellman, that lens is Shiva Eyes and the life is the one he describes in his powerful and unforgettable memoir, Seven Days of SHIVA.

This love story is a full portrait of a marriage that will make you smile, laugh, and cry. Looking through a husband’s Shiva Eyes, readers will experience the couple’s wondrous life as he searches deep into his soul to find the answer: Can a forty-year marriage still have been magical, romantic, and filled with life, even with a thirty-year struggle with breast cancer?

Don’t let the title mislead you . . . The story is a romantic celebration of life and the next romantic love story – a New York City tale about a boy from Brooklyn and a girl from The Bronx.

Seized with grief at the loss of his beloved and vibrant wife Barbara, Marc does the only thing he finds he can do: He starts telling stories. This unique memoir is much more than a tribute to a departed love. Their story shows how a cancer journey seamlessly entwines through a four-decades-long love story.

Surrounded by family and friends for seven days of sitting Shiva, Marc recounts his fairytale love story, from their teenage meeting in the 1960s Rockaway summer scene, to being early marrieds in New York City, to suburban parenting, and to life as an urban couple relishing their empty nest. Once it appears, Barbara's courageous, grueling, determined, hope-filled fight against a brutal disease is unflinchingly depicted.

With candor and humor, laughter and tears, the author shares the tales of a life both wildly charmed and excruciatingly challenging. Theirs is a life of parties and singing and celebration, and a life of hard work raising three lively children while managing two demanding careers. It’s a life of playful adventures and hijinks, of making the most of every silly moment in even the most serious of times. A life of standing up to every challenge together and dancing close whenever they can.

Observing the singular, remarkable romance of Marc and Barbara through Shiva Eyes, the author uncovers a depth to their love he’d never fully grasped, and a strength in his wife that he’d never fully understood. And about everything that the cancer couldn’t touch: their nonstop silliness and playful puppy love that endured through the hills and valleys of their life together. Entwined into their marriage, cancer took a place in their love story without overtaking it.

Don’t be surprised if you see some of yourselves in the characters and their journey. Come along to discover a happy-ever-after born of laughter, devotion, faith, and above all, a teenage puppy love that only grew with each passing year.

Learn more at marcgellman.com and purchase at https://bit.ly/4cfY1RG.

(NewsUSA) - Leaning on Air by Cheryl Grey Bostrom

They last spoke as teens . . .

But a surprise encounter 12 years later reunites ornithologist Celia Burke with veterinary surgeon Burnaby Hayes, and they enter the most unusual romance of her life.

After a decade of marriage, tragedy strikes while Celia hunts for the nest of a research hawk. She’s certain Burnaby won’t understand her anguish or forgive the choice that initiated it.

She flees to kindness at a remote farm, where a wild prairie and an alluring neighbor convince her to begin anew. But when unexplained accidents, cryptic sketches, and a mute little boy make her doubt her decision, only a red-tailed hawk and the endangered lives of those she loves can compel her to examine her past―and reconsider her future.

A soaring tale of wonder, loss, redemption, and restoration from the award-winning author of Sugar Birds. Purchase at https://bit.ly/3UqIM1B.

Curing Death by Mark Rosenberg M.D.

Dr. Mike Royce has a problem. His patients keep dying. His skills as an ER doctor are unmatched, but he can’t save them all. With every death, his sense of failure grows.

With the help of a brilliant nurse—his sometime lover—Royce embarks on a controversial research project to challenge the inevitability of death. When he discovers a never-before observed energy in the body, he feels he has stumbled upon the soul itself. And he makes a tantalizing connection between the egress of this soul energy and imminent, certain death.

To forestall death, Royce must find a way to stop that soul-energy from leaving the body, before his own mysteriously erratic, increasingly unstable mind betrays him. "All in the backdrop of the continual traumas of a hospital emergency room headed by the unstoppable Dr. Mike Royce – you can’t put it down." Purchase at https://bit.ly/3uOHgvY.

The Queen of Steeplechase Park by David Ciminello

The absolutely, positively, practically, almost-true story of infamous burlesque queen and magic meatball maker Belladonna Marie Donato. Pregnant at 15 after gleefully losing her virginity to pansexual neighborhood strongman Francis Anthony Mozzarelli, she is robbed of her baby by a pack of nefarious nuns, and her embittered papa has her sterilized without her consent (legal in 1935).

With the help of Francis and her top-secret meatball recipe, a Bella embarks on a riotous quest through Depression-era Coney Island sideshows, the world of peek-a-boo striptease routines, a queer mob marriage, and tasty collection of wisdom-filled recipes to find her lost child, herself, and maybe true love. It all leads Bella back to the scene of her Original Sin, where she faces matters of life and death, questions of forgiveness, and a mess only the healing properties of great Italian cooking can fix. Purchase at https://bit.ly/4bWlfvE.

The New Testament, Second Edition: A 21st Century Translation by Michael Straus

A translation that brings some fresh turns of phrase to the New Testament's varied texts. Not designed to supplant prior translations but to shed light on obscure passages; capture the humanity of Jesus' personality as presented in the Gospels; intelligibly convey doctrine and experience as related in Acts and the Epistles; and reflect the atemporal nature of the Book of Revelation.

The translation seeks to be at once enjoyable, novelistic and at times poetic, avoiding the overly literal, freely adopting the colloquial, and taking grammatical license where the writer employed imagery not subject to standard linguistic limitations.

 As a whole it approaches Scripture as the viva vox evangelii, with ongoing linguistic presence through credal, liturgical, sermonic and other forms of expression. Purchase at https://bit.ly/3TlFOdH.

(NewsUSA) - If ever there was a story about a self-made man whose wealth can be measured more by the contents of his heart than by the contents of his bank account, this is it.

Everybody has heard of GoDaddy, but how many people know the real-life story of the highly successful, philanthropic, and colorful man behind the company? For the first time, GoDaddy and PXG founder Bob Parsons, in a highly confessional account, shares the story of his life, from his humble upbringing to his meteoric rise as one of early tech’s pioneers.

FIRE IN THE HOLE! The Untold Story of My Traumatic Life and Explosive Success (Forefront Books) is an unflinching yet inspirational account of his path to success, from a hardscrabble childhood to his combat service as a U.S. Marine during the Vietnam War – and beyond.

A descendant of coal miners, Parsons grew up in the 1950s in a blue-collar, working-class neighborhood in East Baltimore. Money was tight, given his parents shared a mutual fondness for gambling and were not particularly good at it. In his book, Parsons talks about the financial struggles his family faced, as well as the emotional neglect he experienced as a boy.

He writes: “We were just getting by when Pop’s business failed … my dad racked up so much debt from gambling and credit cards that everything came tumbling down. In the end, he practically gave the business away. And, when he did, we went from not having much to having nothing. I mean absolutely nothing.”

An admittedly so-so student, he recalls the struggles he faced in learning, as well as the corporal punishment dished out by Catholic school nuns. But his early experiences reveal an innate resiliency that got him through a harrowing tour of duty in Vietnam, his early years at his first company, Parsons Technology, as well as his bold business decisions that would eventually make him one of the wealthiest people in the world. With a net worth of $3.6 billion, Parsons is No. 314 on the Forbes 400 2023 list of the richest people in America.

He's an everyman who has made it. He’s authentic. And his reflections on life, business, and giving back are heartbreaking, heartwarming, humorous, and inspiring.

In the book, Parsons:

• Shares how he survived his grueling tour of duty in Vietnam with the U.S. Marines infantry.
• Reveals the struggles he has faced throughout his lifetime because of PTSD, as well as the efforts he has made to treat it, including novel therapeutic uses of psychedelics.
• Offers the lessons he has learned during his career, from the launch of his first business, Parsons Technology, to the creation of his present-day business empire, which includes YAM Worldwide and Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG).

Since 2012, Parsons and his wife, Renee, have donated nearly $300 million to more than 96 charities and organizations worldwide. Having suffered from PTSD, he works to find new and effective treatments for himself and others. FIRE IN THE HOLE! encourages readers to dream big and imagine all that’s possible – even if the cards seem stacked against them.

Learn more at bobparsons.com and purchase the book at https://bit.ly/3TyNb0x.

(NewsUSA) - Writers of the Future Volume 40 by L. Ron Hubbard

Spine-tingling. Breathtaking. Mind-blowing.

Experience these powerful new voices—vivid, visceral, and visionary—as they explore uncharted worlds and reveal unlimited possibilities. Twelve captivating short stories from the best new science fiction and fantasy writers of the year, selected by Writers of the Future Contest judges. Each story has a full-color illustration. Three bonus stories and art and writing tips.

“This is where the next stars are born.” —Hugh Howey

“These are the people who are going to be creating trends.” —Brandon Sanderson

“One of the best anthologies of the year.” —Tangent

“Some of the most excellent speculative fiction that you can find anywhere. They’re cutting-edge. They’re new.” —Nnedi Okorafor

“See the best of the best culled for you, curated and selected in a single volume every year.” —Robert J. Sawyer

“The stories are wonderful.” —Orson Scott Card

Purchase at https://bit.ly/3varkUQ.

Volk by D. Werkmeister

FBI agent Terri Watson is working on the biggest case of her career. But as she tracks the flow of dirty money around the world and aims to take down a powerful Russian money launderer, her work collides with a series of horrific murders. Something is out there, stalking the streets of Philadelphia. When Terri comes face to face with the beast, she discovers an explosive secret—one that powerful men will kill to keep hidden.

Her investigation reveals there is more to this predator than meets the eye. Much more.

Volk is a supernatural werewolf thriller. If you like fast-paced novels with a twist, then you will love this book, written by a former Marine and retired FBI Special Agent. Says one Amazon reviewer, “Extremely realistic portrayals of detective work, wiretapping methodology, and weapons handling contrast nicely with the supernatural elements.” Purchase at https://bit.ly/3v1WdLn.

Dear God, Why Is It So Hard to Forgive by Imani

Is love ever too good to be true? That is a question Lydia struggles to answer in this romantic novel. She seemingly meets the perfect man and tries to make it work. However, haunted by the pain of past and present betrayals, she worries that her struggles will drive him away.

Is there such a thing as too much baggage? Can she use her faith to untangle the webs of pain and forge a path of forgiveness with those who have hurt her before her pain and anger rob her of her future? Find out in this recently released Book 2 in the “Dear God” series. Purchase at https://bit.ly/3TtPW2W.

Wolf’s Head Bay Book II: The Race for Home by Jeffery Allen Boyd

“Auction?” Richard repeated incredulously. “You mean a—an actual modern-day slave auction—in this country?”

The frightened yet determined group of teens led by Jeremy make a harrowing escape by helicopter, taking with them incriminating evidence exposing both the Colonel and the human trafficking global Network. With Jeremy at the controls, they are pursued by the black Scorpion. Owing to his limited piloting skills they are quickly forced down into the remote northern Michigan wilderness.

In Book II, the group is alone and isolated. Unable to communicate with the outside world and on the run not only from Spear, the lethal enforcer within the trafficking Network and the Colonel’s trained assassin, but also from deadly government operatives, what will save them? Jeremy’s resourcefulness and dogged determination, or younger brother Travis’ faith . . . and will it be enough? Purchase at https://bit.ly/4aoshbc.

BookBites is presented by BookTrib.com.

(NewsUSA) - Educators everywhere should scrap their current lesson plans and make the new book Be a Scribe! by 16-year-old Michael Hoffen and co-authors Dr. Christian Casey and Dr. Jen Thum part of every ancient history curriculum in every elementary school around the country. 

Whether for the classroom or frankly any room, Be a Scribe! might be the most unique, fascinating, entertaining, informative and educative book you’ll read this year. 

Young Hoffen, while in middle school, was introduced to the joys of translating ancient texts and never looked back. During the pandemic, he embarked on this ambitious project to bring ancient Egypt back to life. 

This book is an extraordinary translation of a papyrus dating from ancient Egypt’s Middle Kingdom era some 4,000 years ago. The text, known as The Instruction of Khety, tells the story of a teenager in ancient Egypt, Pepi, who wonders what career path he should choose -- an important matter still contemplated today by millions of teenagers 40 centuries later. 

The book already has been getting very high-profile coverage. National Gallery Victoria (Melbourne), in anticipation of their blockbuster exhibition Pharaoh!, has chosen the book to be represented in their bookstore. This exhibition will comprise of the largest loans the British Museum has ever undertaken. 

Also the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will carry the book in the main book store and in their Uris store next to their educational center. 

In the text, Pepi’s father, Khety, takes him on a long journey up the Nile to enroll him in a school far away from home, where Pepi will learn to read and write. Along the way, Khety explains 18 other terrible jobs Pepi could end up having to work at if he is not hired as a scribe. 

Khety’s marvelous descriptions of the many other jobs are blunt and humorous: the smith or sculptor with “fingers like crocodiles;” jewelers and carpenters with arms ruined; the barber exhausted “in order to fill his stomach, like a bee working to eat;” the trader, who is bitten by fleas and mosquitoes; the sandal maker, who has the taste of leather in his mouth all day; the gardener, who only rests when he dies; and the weaver, who gives bread to the doorkeeper “just to let him see daylight.” 

Sail up the Nile with an ancient Egyptian father and son and discover what daily life was like along the way. Experience the wonderful world of ancient Egypt with the help of countless artifacts and paintings in this beautifully oversized hardcover edition. Delight in 4,000-year-old humor and immerse yourself in the choices facing a teenage boy in Egypt.  

The book also provides some ancient words of wisdom from the father, everything from staying out of trouble, minding your manners, and following orders. It also provides a great introduction to hieroglyphs, which many associate with the pictures and paintings but actually represent the sounds of the Egyptian language. 

Hoffen is the youngest-ever recipient of the annual Emerson Prize, awarded by the Concord Review for outstanding promise in history. Be A Scribe! is Michael’s first book in a series intended for young readers.  

His co-authors on this project are two Egyptologists: Dr. Christian Casey,  who now works as a researcher at Freie Universität Berlin, and Dr. Jen Thum, a curator at the Harvard Art Museums.  

Prepare yourselves to go “on a journey through the hopes, fears, struggles and skills of the ancient people who lived in the shadows of the pyramids.” 

Learn more at www.beascribe.com and purchase the book at https://bit.ly/3wlclaP.