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A Good Housekeeping Best Kids' Book of 2025

Toy Story meets Traction Man Is Here in this picture book that offers a fresh spin on a universal premise: the secret action-adventure story of a toy.

When Red, a game piece, is accidentally left out of the game box, nothing--not a hungry robot nor the ferocious family dog Lady Flufferton--will stop them from reaching home.

The unthinkable has happened! Red is alone on the living room floor, far from the safety of the game closet and best pal, Yellow. After almost being devoured by a ravenous robot (a.k.a. the vacuum cleaner), Red embarks on the dangerous journey home. There will be perils--a transparent cliffside to climb, hanging forests to conquer, and the beastly Lady Flufferton (a.k.a. the family dog) to escape. And there will be setbacks--as when Red is found and carelessly tossed into the junk drawer. But in this action-packed, humorous story, Red learns from mistakes and discovers that with perseverance and resourcefulness nothing is impossible.

From the award-winning author of MELISSA, a sweet and tart story about unexpected friendship and family reconciliation.

THIS IS NOT THE SUMMER CHRIS HAD PLANNED...

Chris does not want to be spending the summer with her grandparents and her little sister. Her grandparents aren't bad -- they just don't let Chris do what she wants to do, which is sit around and read all day. And her sister, Becca, is the opposite, never sitting still and never being quiet.

The good part is that Chris's grandparents are always telling her to go outside and "get some air" -- so she can escape into the woods with a book and get some alone time. Or at least it's alone time until Mia comes along. Mia is also in town for the summer, and she understands Chris in a way that Chris's family just can't.

Soon Chris is sneaking off to spend as much time with her friend as possible. But is there more to Mia than Mia is saying?

"I have read a lot of books in my life, but never one like this... this captivating memoir will take you places you might never have gone on your own: into the elemental mysteries of life, death, creatureliness, and divinity with someone who has turned from the orderliness of religion to find salvation in the God of the Wild. I'm glad I went." --Barbara Brown Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of Leaving Church and Learning to Walk in the Dark

A pastor walks out of the church and into the woods, in pursuit of the God he's lost.

Millions of Americans, disillusioned with organized religion, yearn for meaning and transcendence in their lives, and many of them are finding that in nature. When pastor and theologian Tony Jones, Ph.D., had his crisis of faith, brought on by personal trauma and broken relationships, he sought solace in the outdoors - paddling a canoe, hunting with his dog, butchering deer.

When he walked out of the church and into the woods, he left the orderly pews and numbered hymns for chaotic spaces and untamed wilderness. And he re-discovered God -- a God who brings peace in the midst of storms, a God who lives in the community of our fellow creatures, a God who's acquainted with death. This is the God of wild places.

In The God of Wild Places, Tony mines his own experiences, recent research in evolutionary psychology, and ancient wisdom from various spiritual and philosophical traditions to fashion lessons about solitude, the predator-prey relationship, the importance of place, risk, failure, and death, and the chaotic presence of God.

Tony's guidance in The God of Wild Places promises to introduce a generation of Americans to the transcendence available only in untamed spaces; his writing draws on wisdom from Christianity to Buddhism, Kant to Cioran, Jim Harrison to Annie Dillard. This is a journey of loss and discovery through forests and fields, lakes and streams, from knowing to unknowing, from finding to losing -- from life to death, and then back to life.

It's time to discover your hidden genius--and embrace your life's work. Featuring access to the innovative YouScience aptitude assessment, Your Hidden Genius reveals your innate talents, interests, and personality traits along with the infinite paths that can lead to your utmost happiness, career success, and personal fulfillment.

"If happiness, success, and fulfillment are your intended destinations in life (and who doesn't want those?) Your Hidden Genius is your express-lane ticket." --Adam Taggart, entrepreneur; president and cofounder, Peak Prosperity; and author of Finding Your Way to Your Authentic Career

Do you love brainstorming sessions and juggling multiple assignments, or are you happiest when you are given space to concentrate on a single mission? Are you a three-dimensional thinker who enjoys tangible projects, or are you more at home solving abstract puzzles? Would you say you are a social butterfly who talks to everyone, or someone who prefers a quiet, focused group to large crowds?

Your Hidden Genius provides a custom-made road map to what makes you special, revealing your distinct combination of natural talents, interests, and personality traits--a mix as unique to you as your fingerprint. With the instant appeal of Enneagrams and Strengthsfinder, Your Hidden Genius instead focuses on scientific testing rather than self-reported answers as a means to unlock your potential.

Included in the book is access to the groundbreaking YouScience aptitude assessment, a series of gamelike exercises that distill the science of aptitude measurement into a ninety-minute online experience, then pairs your results with its robust and proprietary career database. You'll uncover new opportunities for work and leisure that suit both your interests and your talents.

Betsy Wills, cofounder of YouScience and a pioneer in aptitude awareness, and expert career coach Alex Ellison joined forces to write this essential life and career guide based on this cutting-edge assessment and take a deep dive into different aptitude profiles and in-depth context for how to interpret your results. Whether you're just starting out or pivoting mid-career, Your Hidden Genius will guide you through today's complex and shifting professional landscape and be your indispensable resource through every twist and turn of the road.

With science-backed results, real-life stories, and rare insight into you, Your Hidden Genius explains why self-awareness is the most important step toward a fulfilling and meaningful life.

"A complete course of instruction that should be considered essential and high priority reading."
--Midwest Book Review

Publishers Weekly Bestseller

Discover a simple system for creating predictable organic sales growth in your business-to-business organization.

The top predictor of growth is not hiding in your invoices or line items but in your sales behaviors.

Based on tens of millions of behaviors logged, tracked, and analyzed by more than 400 clients over 20 years, revenue growth consultant and speaker Alex Goldfayn has developed an actionable system of proactive growth statistically proven to succeed.

In Outgrow, Alex shares this system, his clients have implemented to generate 20 to 30 percent annual sales growth year after year. Learn how to easily implement this process and unlock the power of:

Focusing on the customers you don't interact with regularly to significantly expand your wallet share with them Logging and tracking lightning-fast revenue-generating behaviors Generating analytics that will arm with you with predictors of coming sales growth Guiding salespeople through a powerful mindset shift from selling to customers to helping them

Packed with practical tools such as action planning and tracking forms, scorecards, call scripts, and communication strategies, Outgrow is your playbook for outgrowing old, limiting sales beliefs and creating predictable, sustainable, measurable, and organic sales growth.

Dostoevsky's last and greatest novel, The Karamazov Brothers (1880), is both a brilliantly told crime story and a passionate philosophical debate. The dissolute landowner Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov is murdered; his sons - the atheist intellectual Ivan, the hot-blooded Dmitry, and the saintly novice Alyosha - are all at some level involved. Bound up with this intense family drama is Dostoevsky's exploration of many deeply felt ideas about the existence of God, the question of human freedom, the collective nature of guilt, the disastrous consequences of rationalism. The novel is also richly comic: the Russian Orthodox Church, the legal system, and even the author's most cherished causes and beliefs are presented with a note of irreverence, so that orthodoxy and radicalism, sanity and madness, love and hatred, right and wrong are no longer mutually exclusive. Rebecca West considered it 'the allegory for the world's maturity', but with children to the fore. This new translation does full justice to Dostoevsky's genius, particularly in the use of the spoken word, which ranges over every mode of human expression.

What the emergent church movement is all about and why it matters to the future of Christianity

Following on the questions raised by Brian McLaren in A New Kind of Christian, Tony Jones has written an engaging exploration of what this new kind of Christianity looks like. Writing dispatches about the thinking and practices of adventurous emergent Christians across the country, he offers an in-depth view of this new "third way" of faith--its origins, its theology, its views of truth, Scripture, and interpretation, and its hopeful and life-giving sense of community. With the depth of theological expertise and broad perspective he has gained as a pastor, writer, and leader of the movement, Jones initiates readers into the emergent conversation and offers a new way forward for Christians in a post-Christian world. With journalistic narrative as well as authoritative reflection, he draws upon on-site research to provide fascinating examples and firsthand stories of who is doing what, where, and why it matters.

Two very different friends learn how to enjoy each other's company in this hilarious story about finding common ground.

Pig and Bug just want to be friends. But their size difference is proving to be a problem. Pig wants to play games, but Bug is too small. Bug wants to make things for his friend, but Pig is too big!

Just as they've given up all hope for their friendship, Pig has an idea... But will it work?

Pig and Small is another hilariously quirky tale from Alex Latimer, filled with visual puns and wordplay. Latimer combines his bold visual style with an entertaining tale about finding new ways to enjoy friendship.

Are you tired of getting overwhelmed during highly emotional situations? Do you struggle to remain as clearheaded and logical as possible when faced with stressful confrontations with people?

If Yes, then this book is for you.

Being an empath in today's world can be challenging to say the least. Between the constant barrage of emotional stimulus from dealing with people in real life and social media, it's easy for normal people to become inundated with the energy that people put into the world.

For empaths, however, it can quickly turn into a nightmare because of their sensitivity, leading them to view this special ability to pick up on the emotions of others as a curse instead of a magnificent gift.

In this insightful guide, Alex Wolf lucidly explains why you behave the way you do and equips you the tools you need to face the challenges of being an empath while also helping you nurture and develop your special gift to enable live a full life.

Here's a snippet of what you're going to discover in Empath:

• A checklist to find out if you or someone you know is an empath
• How to get started on the path to self-acceptance if you're an empath
• Feeling out of place or like you don't belong? You're going to find seven tips to help you regain self-confidence
• How to deal with the impostor syndrome that is often common with empaths
• Step-by-step instructions on dealing with emotional overload and burnout
• Breaking out of the vicious cycle of negativity that sensitive people are often prone to
• Three types of empaths and how to identify your type
• No-nonsense meditation guide designed specifically for empaths
• ...and tons more!

Deeply profound and highly practical, Empath is the ultimate survival guide designed for highly sensitive people to help them embrace their unique gift, learn how to effectively deal with emotional vampires and thrive in a harsh and unforgiving world.

The long-awaited reissue of the classic Vertigo miniseries Uncle Sam by Steve Darnall and Alex Ross is a sharp political fever dream praised by Kirkus as a "truly subversive graphic novel" and "a damning account of American political history that also affirms basic democratic ideals"

Uncle Sam: Special Election Edition is a vibrant, hallucinatory tour of modern America--the story of a star-spangled, ragged vagrant named Sam who is guided by the voices in his head and his own fractured memories.

Absorbed by history-traveling visions of America's dark past, Uncle Sam struggles to remember his true identity and piece together the scattered clues of his own experiences in this deep and thoughtful look at America's checkered past.

Meticulously researched by Steve Darnall and fully painted by Alex Ross, Uncle Sam returns in print just when it is needed most--in time for the 2024 presidential election--as a reminder of American ideals, the promise of our nation, and the democracy that is at stake.

Originally published by DC, and out of print for over a decade, this expanded and updated Special Election Edition is brought to readers by Abrams in collaboration with DC.

Copublished by Aperture and Televisa Foundation

Depression can feel like a downward spiral, pulling you into a vortex of sadness, fatigue, and apathy. In The Upward Spiral, neuroscientist Alex Korb demystifies the intricate brain processes that cause depression and offers a practical and effective approach to getting better. Based on the latest research in neuroscience, this book provides dozens of straightforward tips you can do every day to rewire your brain and create an upward spiral towards a happier, healthier life.

Whether you suffer from depression or just want a better understanding of the brain, this book offers an engaging and informative look at the neuroscience behind our emotions, thoughts, and actions. The truth is that there isn't one big solution to depression, but there are numerous simple steps you can take to alter brain activity and chemistry. Some are as easy as relaxing certain muscles to reduce anxiety, or getting more sunlight to improve your mood. Small steps in the right direction can have profound effects--giving you the power to become your best self as you literally reshape your brain, one small change at a time.

When a Black teen decides to run for prom queen at her predominantly white high school, the competition takes a deadly turn when the fight for the crown becomes a matter of life or death. A gripping YA thriller for readers of Jumata Emill's The Black Queen and Tiffany D. Jackson's The Weight of Blood.

Ida and JJ could have been the ultimate power couple of Banneker High. As the VP and president of their Black Student Union, the two seemed destined to be yearbook legends. But that was before JJ learned Ida was equally attracted to girls. JJ is already deep in a new relationship, which infuriates Ida--almost as much as when a sexist "hot list' starts circulating the school. It's bad enough anyone rated the girls on their looks, but the list has only white students. Seriously?

There has never been any racial diversity among the prom queen candidates at Banneker, so the BSU decides to make their own statement on beauty and run a candidate. Now Ida and JJ's new girlfriend are both competing for the title. Ida wants to make a point more than win the crown, but having smart, savvy Amayah as her campaign manager might just help her do both. She's already winning Ida's heart.

Competition is fierce. Suddenly the prom queen candidates start getting picked off one by one...dropping out and dropping dead. Forget winning

a tiara. Who will live to see prom?

Told in alternating timelines, this gripping mystery about a PI and her quest for answers is full of twists and turns, perfect for fans of Allison Brennan and Gytha Lodge.

Struggling private investigator Kate Myles is shattered to learn her late father isn't her biological dad. She's still reeling when she discovers that an unknown distant relative is the prime suspect in a decades-old murder investigation. Trying to convince her to take on the case for free, an old colleague recommends her as an investigator for a recent arson murder in the same small town.

After giving up on a failed acting career, Abby Coburn is starting over as a promising social work student. With her life on the right track, she's determined to help her brother, Jacob, whose meth addiction triggered a psychotic break and descent into crime. But when Abby dies in a fire that kills two other people and destroys part of the town, the police immediately suspect Jacob.

As the Coburn family grapples with the tragedy, Kate begins unraveling the cold case but finds herself caught in the middle of an emotional minefield. Pretty soon, she discovers that this town is full of dark secrets, and as she comes closer and closer to figuring out the truth, Kate must solve both murders before she becomes the next victim.

Join Tobey--a sweet, talkative puppy with a superpower--on a magical adventure to find the rest of her pack! Perfect for fans of the Magic Puppy series.

Siblings Moose, Sparkle, Rocky, and Tobey are superpuppies. Each pup has a special power that will help them with their mission of keeping humans safe--from superstrength to flight to phasing through objects to teleportation.

But when the big dogs in their superpack go missing, it's up to the superpuppies to save the day. Will Tobey be able to find a human companion to help her?

Avalon Spy Academy rules: spy on the fey, resist falling for your mentor, and try not to die in the process.
As a bookseller, Nia saved up for years for her dream vacation-drinking champagne on a beach with her favorite books. But her dream turns into a nightmare when she's kidnapped by a muscular, tattooed jerk of a fey named Raphael.

Yes, kidnapped.

It turns out Nia has a magic power, and Raphael demands that she train at Camelot's elite academy for spies. Raphael is hellbent on revenge against an evil Fey king, certain that Nia's powers can help. But Nia is in way over her head--asthmatic and out of shape. She'll be lucky to get out of there alive.

Still, there's no escape when Raphael is watching her every move. He's lethal, dangerous, and hot as hell. When they're sent on a dangerous missions together, he becomes harder to resist. Touching him is playing with fire. Is she ready to get burned?If you liked Frost and City of Thorns, you will love Avalon Tower.

Do you have the tools to authentically write and edit a character whose identity is different than your own? It's not a subject that's generally taught in creative writing programs. There are few online resources, but in terms of craft books, what exists is outdated or limited in its scope. Some seminars and classes are offered by independent writing workshops, but can you learn everything you need to know in a three-hour seminar or even a four-week class? Not at all. You need a book on hand to provide guidance and insight as you craft characters with historically marginalized identities. That's where this book comes in.

In Writing an Identity Not Your Own, award-winning author Alex Temblador will discuss one of the most contentious topics in creative writing: crafting a character whose identity is historically marginalized. She'll begin by discussing what she means by 'identity' and why it's important to understand the state of diversity in publishing, before delving into how unconscious bias and bias blocks are the biggest obstacles to this writing approach. From there, you'll learn about intersectional identities and specific things to consider when writing different race/ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, disabilities, nationalities, and more. Alex will guide writers through the pre-writing phase to the editing process so they can gain a full understanding of the complexities of writing other identities and why it's important to get it right.

"Take a break and read Rest: you'll make smarter decisions, have better relationships, and be happier and more creative" James Wallman, author of Stuffocation

Do you regularly find yourself too tired after a long day at your desk to do anything other than binge TV, or scroll mindlessly through social media? Do you go on holiday and still compulsively check your email? Do you work through your lunch-break, often not even leaving your desk to get some fresh air?

For most of us, overwork is the new norm, and we never truly take the time to rest and recharge. But as Silicon Valley consultant Alex Soojung-Kim Pang explains in this groundbreaking book, rest needs to be taken seriously and to be done properly, because when you rest better you work better.

Drawing on emerging neuroscience, Rest is packed with easy practical tips for incorporating rest into our everyday:

- Go for a long walk to stimulate and sustain creativity
- Schedule deliberate active rest periods into your diary to try out new activities like painting or learning a language
- Stop working on a task when you know what the next step will be, this will make it easier to get started the next day
- Establish clear boundaries between work and rest time
- Take a nap during the day to increase alertness, boost your concentration and decrease fatigue
- Get good quality sleep at night to stay healthy, solidify memories and generate new ideas

When you rest better you'll find that it won't just be your work which improves - you'll have more time for hobbies, stronger relationships and you'll sleep better, too.

"An incredibly timely read for my own increasingly rest-starved life. This might be the book to finally persuade us that downtime isn't in conflict with good work; rather, it's an essential ingredient of it" Oliver Burkeman, Guardian

The national bestseller.

Write. Burn. Repeat. Now with new covers to match whatever mood you're in.

"This book has made me laugh and cry, filled me with joy, and inspired me."
-TikTok user camrynbanks

Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, TikTok, VSCO, YouTube...the world has not only become one giant feed, but also one giant confessional. Burn After Writing allows you to spend less time scrolling and more time self-reflecting. Through incisive questions and thought experiments, this journal helps you learn new things while letting others go. Imagine instead of publicly declaring your feelings for others, you privately declared your feelings for yourself?

Help your heart by turning off the comments and muting the accounts that drive you into jealousy for a few moments a night. Whether you are going through the ups and downs of growing up, or know a few young people who are, you will flourish by finding free expression--even if through a few tears!

Push your limits, reflect on your past, present, and future, and create a secret book that's about you, and just for you. This is not a diary, and there is no posting required. And when you're finished, toss it, hide it, or Burn After Writing.

From a Bancroft Prize winner, a harrowing portrait of Black workers and white hypocrisy in nineteenth-century Boston

Impassioned antislavery rhetoric made antebellum Boston famous as the nation's hub of radical abolitionism. In fact, however, the city was far from a beacon of equality.

In No Right to an Honest Living, historian Jacqueline Jones reveals how Boston was the United States writ small: a place where the soaring rhetoric of egalitarianism was easy, but justice in the workplace was elusive. Before, during, and after the Civil War, white abolitionists and Republicans refused to secure equal employment opportunity for Black Bostonians, condemning most of them to poverty. Still, Jones finds, some Black entrepreneurs ingeniously created their own jobs and forged their own career paths.

Highlighting the everyday struggles of ordinary Black workers, this book shows how injustice in the workplace prevented Boston--and the United States--from securing true equality for all.

The Fruits and the Vegetables have always been fighting, but Grape and Mushroom decide it's time for a change. The intrepid pair set off on the arduous climb to to the Top Shelf to seek The Wise Old Cheese. Will he be able to help?

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of Against All Odds, returns with an utterly immersive, adrenaline-driven account of D-Day combat.

"Meet the assaulters: pathfinders plunging from the black, coxswains plowing the whitecaps, bareknuckle Rangers scaling sheer rock . . . Fast-paced and up close, this is history's greatest story reinvigorated as only Alex Kershaw can."--Adam Makos, New York Times bestselling author of Spearhead and A Higher Call

Beginning in the predawn darkness of June 6, 1944, The First Wave follows the remarkable men who carried out D-Day's most perilous missions. The charismatic, unforgettable cast includes the first American paratrooper to touch down on Normandy soil; the glider pilot who braved antiaircraft fire to crash-land mere yards from the vital Pegasus Bridge; the brothers who led their troops onto Juno Beach under withering fire; as well as a French commando, returning to his native land, who fought to destroy German strongholds on Sword Beach and beyond. Readers will experience the sheer grit of the Rangers who scaled Pointe du Hoc and the astonishing courage of the airborne soldiers who captured the Merville Gun Battery in the face of devastating enemy counterattacks. The first to fight when the stakes were highest and the odds longest, these men would determine the fate of the invasion of Hitler's fortress Europe--and the very history of the twentieth century.

The result is an epic of close combat and extraordinary heroism. It is the capstone Alex Kershaw's remarkable career, built on his close friendships with D-Day survivors and his intimate understanding of the Normandy battlefield. For the seventy-fifth anniversary, here is a fresh take on World War II's longest day.

Praise for The First Wave

"Masterful... readers will feel the sting of the cold surf, smell the acrid cordite that hung in the air, and duck the zing of machine-gun bullets whizzing overhead. The First Wave is an absolute triumph."--James M. Scott, bestselling author of Target Tokyo

"These pages ooze with the unforgettable human drama of history's most consequential invasion."--John C. McManus, author of The Dead and Those About to Die

Gilbert accidentally brings home a slobbery, bite-sized monster in the hilarious latest installment in The Worst! picture book series, where even the strangest of creatures can become the best of friends.

When plucky Gilbert the Goblin and his pal Chicken go camping together, they run into creatures that go bump in the night! The friends immediately flee the woods and head home--after all, everyone knows that monsters are absolutely, undeniably, unequivocally the worst!

But when a shocking stowaway appears in Gilbert's knapsack, looking awfully cute and extra snuggly, Gilbert is...smitten! Sure, monsters can bite and drool and make a big mess, but they can also steal your heart. It's a tale so sweet it's scary!