The orderly life of Jo Spence is seldom disturbed, except when she is dreaming. As a Juvenile Probation Supervisor in Duluth, Jo loves her work overseeing a staff of highly dedicated professionals. They guide the youth of the city out of trouble while protecting the safety of the community. When a murderer strikes, Jo's job suddenly becomes unpredictably threatening. She is forced to abandon her home in the country to take refuge with close friend Kathy and her partner Donna. Set against a backdrop of the idyllic life led by the women of the Valley, this suspenseful story reveals the inside world of the courthouse, jails, and the criminal justice system. Multiple murders, an attempt to break a gang leader out of a local detention facility, raids, and drug busts contribute to an action-oriented plot. In the middle of this turbulent time in Jo's life, her friends set her up with Zoey, a new faculty member at the local university. Their first date turns into a three-day encounter during a record-setting snowstorm. Jo tries unsuccessfully to resist the strong attraction she feels for Zoey, but she is drawn into the most intense affair of her life.

Killer Storm (Jo Spence Mystery)

Literature & Fiction

Wright, Jen

Contemporary

Clover Valley Press, LLC

Teachers and Parents: This timely collection of essays addresses the rewarding work of supporting schools and nurturing the learning of schoolchildren today. Author and educator Julia M. Williams is an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where she prepares tomorrow's teachers. In writing this caring, funny, and lyrical commentary, she draws from a deep well of professional knowledge as well as the personal experience of having raised six children as a mom and a stepmom. Beginning with the idea that all of us are trying to do the right thing for kids, she shares with readers some of the wonders that are being discovered about how children learn, and she illuminates how schools and parents can use what the research is telling us. As Williams says in the book, "We all need to learn and grow and go forward in our roles, holding hands and reaching out to embrace the opportunity that surrounds us and the children we love."

Jules on Schools: Teaching, Learning, and Everything in Between

Parenting & Relationships

Williams PH., Julia M

Reference

"By Heart" shares the surprising story of one family's journey from compliant public schooling to radical home-based learning. This literary homeschool memoir takes readers from the tundra of Bethel, Alaska, to the placid farm country of Wisconsin, all the while exploring the homeschool lifestyle. Daring and compassionate, it portrays homeschooling as a progressive choice and thoughtfully examines classic homeschool tensions -- homeschool decision, schedules and curricula, socialization, and the economics of co-parenting. "By Heart" offers a view of the homeschool lifestyle deeply connected to nature and its cycles. Unflinchingly human, it explores doubts and concerns while remaining steadfastly passionate to the homeschool choice. "By Heart" is a "must- read" for those considering the homeschool life and a soothing companion to parents in the midst of it. Entertaining, inspiring, and empowering, it's a delightful and provocative memoir for all parents, whether they homeschool or not. For educators and policy makers, it reveals an insider's experience of the homeschool reality; meanwhile, courageously searching the historical and cultural complexity of education rather than posing a simplistic debate between public school and homeschool. "By Heart: A Mother's Story of Children and Learning at Home" is a literary page-turner of a memoir that strips away facades and invites readers to an intimate portrayal of one homeschool family. Ultimately, this rare and heartfelt telling affirms all those who live their lives beyond tidy boxes and categories.

By Heart: A Mother's Story of Children and Learning at Home

Melin, Kathleen

New lovers Jo and Zoey venture into the deep woods of northern Minnesota for a vacation away from their demanding jobs, but plans for a restful and romantic winter retreat are interrupted when Jo learns that a former probation client has gone missing in the area. Jo is torn between concern for the young man's disappearance and distress over the impact that her work is having on her relationship. Will Jo pursue every lead to find the missing Rick, or will she play it safe and try to be the lover Zoey wants her to be? In the end, she must confront her own obsessions. A killer brings everything into perspective, and Jo and Zoey learn more about each other in this terrifying encounter than any private intimacy could ever reveal. "Big Noise" is the sequel to Jen Wright’s exciting debut novel "Killer Storm." Don’t miss this latest release from a talented new author.

Big Noise (Jo Spence Mystery)

In this comprehensive collection of Ellie Schoenfeld's poems, "...one finds a tenderness mixed with bewilderment, a feeling of awe at the great mystery of life, and a longing," according to Louis Jenkins. Schoenfeld's work is accessible, amusing, and gently elegiac in tone. She has been called "a voice of warm dry humor." This collection includes the complete spectrum of Ellie's poetry, both retrospective and new.

The Dark Honey: New & Used Poems

Schoenfeld, Ellie

Poetry

With her mother's last words still echoing in her ears, Tyler Jones, the San Francisco-based newspaper columnist and amateur sleuth introduced in "The Other Side of Silence," journeys to the family home in northern Minnesota. Tyler, directed to "find the truth," has no inkling what truth she is supposed to search for in this idyllic haven perched on the edge of Lake Superior. As Tyler attempts to fulfill her mother's deathbed wish, she unearths layer after layer of half-truths, legends, and lies accumulated over the years and passed down through the generations, binding some members of this community to a conspiracy of silence. She explores the meaning of family in its many guises, the complexity of human nature regarding our notions of "good" and "bad," and the lengths to which the living will go to protect their dead. There are bodies, of course, but the real mystery in "Silent Words" is about the secrets that hide and fester in family histories and hearts. Winner of a Minnesota Book Award, the Northeastern Minnesota Book Award, and a Midwest Book Achievement Award. Finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award.

Silent Words (Tyler Jones Mystery)

Drury, Joan M.

Literary

This collection is made up of poems written over a span of twenty years, including selections from each of the author's four previously published chapbooks and from the anthology "The Moon Rolls Out of Our Mouths," along with thirty newer pieces. The author describes the crafting of poetry as a contemplative practice, an act that opens us to insights and connections that might otherwise go unnoticed, an attempt to articulate what is essentially beyond words. These poems are reflections on relationships...with oneself, with the living and the dead, with the natural and the spiritual world.

Under the Influence of Lilacs

Cooper, Deborah Gordon

For Probation Officer Jo Spence, spring in the northland means firing up her motorcycle and enjoying the speed and exhilaration of her favorite pastime. Though an unsettling dream warns of approaching death, she shakes off the premonition. Only after a stalker grows ever more bold and threatening does Jo understand the mounting danger to herself and to her lover Zoey. Which unsavory character from Jo's work life is responsible, and will she give up her career to save the life she loves with Zoey and her friends? The police prove to be inept at capturing the voyeur/stalker, and Jo must take matters into her own hands if she wants her nightmare to end. Jo finds herself on a collision course with crisis in "Dead Ahead."

Dead Ahead (Jo Spence Mystery)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

The opening scene in this story, set in California during the early 1980s, instantly propels readers into the world of Maggie McIntyre, a woman whose occupation as an auto mechanic makes her unusual and somewhat of a mystery-especially to Bett Holman, the young lesbian who has fallen in love with her. Maggie is injured as she attempts to rescue a man caught up in a roadside explosion. Could the victim be her friend Scotty? Or has he managed to simply disappear into the night? In the days that follow, Maggie must rely on the survival skills she honed as an orphaned child and young adult. But falling in love complicates things. Bett, who has turned her back on healing as a way of life, now finds that she must turn again, taking huge risks in the process, to help Maggie heal on many different levels.

Maggie's Mechanics

Connolly, Sheila J.

For sixteen years, five talented poets met over dinner, sharing their lives, the mundane and the sacred, sharing their words: Deborah Cooper, Candace Ginsberg, Ann Floreen Niedringhaus, Ellie Schoenfeld, and Anne Simpson. The evolution and bonding of a writing group remains a mystery. This group of women poets grew in an atmosphere of affirmation, raucous laughter, and gentle challenge. Life stories, ordinary and profound experiences and insights, were shared. In this collection of their work, distinct writing styles and philosophies emerged to express each individual's unique search for understanding, for a patch of ground to stand on in the wind. Walking together through time and transitions, through the dark struggles, and the surprise of joy, they created this collaborative work and wove the scattered sands of their lives together, lending strength to each of their voices. Winner of the Northeastern Minnesota Book Award.

Bound Together: Like the Grasses

Cooper, Deborah

Niedringhaus, Ann Floreen

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