Bill Reynolds, long-trusted sports columnist for The Providence Journal, has great talent for finding teen athletes in Rhode Island, recognizing not only their athleticism but also the life obstacles they have hurdled, and spreading their story in order that they may receive the recognition they have earned. He has transferred the energy and heart with […]
This is a coming-of-age tale about Billy, a recent high school graduate, during his last summer of carefree kid-dom before heading off to college. While he has a couple of close friends — Charlie and Mark — his best friend is his dog, Jimmy. Old and wise, Jimmy serves as the silent voice of […]
As a child of the ‘70s, my memory of frozen summer treats includes Popsicles loaded with red dye number 40, Fudgsicles, and – my personal favorite – the push pop: an empty toilet paper roll filled with rainbow sherbet. The notion of a “homemade frozen treat” was about as foreign as the Internet. As […]
Reading can serve as an incredible escape during the summer — either from the heat or from the fact that the heat is temporary and it’s only a matter of time before the winter coats and snow shovels come out. This year, in addition to featuring local literature that will help you get lost in a […]
Walking Further picks up where Seasonal Ramblings, Danielian’s first poetry collection, left off. The poems are strong but have a sense of simplicity to them. None of the poems were difficult to read and nothing went over my head, leaving me getting a lot out of each poem on my first reading, with added layers […]
I can’t remember the last time I was this excited to learn that a book was coming out. Waking the Merrow, Heather Rigney’s first book in the Merrow Trilogy, blew me away, keeping me reading whenever I could or wishing I had the book in my hand when I wasn’t. There was a cliffhanger that […]
Local author Steven Manchester is known for being a prolific, heartfelt author who also wrote and directed his first play last year, which I also covered for Motif. His latest work, The Changing Season is due out on February 16, 2016. I was fortunate enough to get an advance copy of his work, and although […]
But I want to know what is going to happen next. This was my mantra while reading through this 131-page story, the first foray into fiction for Rhode Island native Janet Dutcher. I had trouble making it through at times, but I was incredibly curious to see where Dutcher was going with this and how […]
In Fake Smiles and Lasagna, author Christine Jenkins, a math teacher at Moses Brown School, describes mentoring sibling refugees from Rwanda and helping them get accustomed to the United States. This is Jenkins’ coming-of-age story — a middle-aged high school teacher who embarks on an incredible three-year journey. The idea to become a refugee mentor […]
What if you took all those animated Christmas specials we all loved growing up, complete with toy making elves, Santa preparing for his yearly visit, a romantic subplot with a nerdy elf and an animated snowman narrator (as in 1964’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) and added a zombie invasion? You don’t have to wonder because […]