childhood

Child Rearing and Civilization: How Each Shapes the Other

Histories of civilization tend to focus on rulers, governments, laws, wars, religions and other major institutions. Nam Nguyen draws our attention to the people who care for children. In Kin: Childhood, Parenting, and the Making of Civilization, he argues that the way one generation raises the next is not a…

BookTribSeptember 1, 2026

Book Club Network Fiction

Lisa Harding’s Latest Is Full of “Bright, Burning Things” That Haunt Your Mind and Memory

When we first meet Sonya, the young mother at the center of Bright Burning Things (HarperVia) by Lisa Harding, she is frolicking at the beach with her son, Tommy, and dog, Herbie. While it feels like a normal outing on a warm and sunny day, it is not long before…

Laura McCaffertyDecember 7, 2021

Author Spotlight Author Spotlight - Featured Fiction

Ellen Barker Takes Us to See a Community Divided by History and Prejudice in “East of Troost”

It’s the story of countless American cities. A harsh line severs the community, cutting Black residents off from more affluent white neighborhoods. Those who do venture across are at risk of being met with threats, violence and displacement. Whether the line was established during the segregation era or was quietly…

BookTribSeptember 6, 2022

Miscellany Potpourri - Featured

Tap Into That Imagination and Tell a Fairy Tale Today

I have a very important, highly serious announcement to make: this is an unofficial national holiday. This is Tell A Fairy Tale Day! Most of us grew up hearing stories before we were old enough to read actual books. Maybe our parents read aloud from colorfully-illustrated children’s books; classic compendiums…

Judy MorenoFebruary 26, 2022

Children's Books Miscellany

Eric Carle and the Childhood Imagination

Photo: Motoko Inoue By most objective standards I’m only a young adult, and “figuring stuff out” is “normal” in anyone’s twenties. But there’s a new normal now, right? Or actually, anything and everything counts as “normal” these days, right? Or maybe there’s no such thing as normal at all? I’m…

Judy MorenoMay 27, 2021

Children's Books

A Walk Down Memory Lane and a Celebration of Easter Traditions

On page three of Cheryl Hill’s charming book, Happy Easter Day, there is a calendar on the wall that reads March 1951. The calendar is significant, indicating that this is not just another book about children celebrating Easter. The author, a retired teacher/librarian following a 40-year career, is sharing her…

BookTribApril 13, 2022

Better Self Nonfiction

“Functional Dysfunction: From Sour Grapes to Fine Wine” Proves Life Can Be Salvaged and Savored

Errol Ball was trapped in the wilderness of his own life. His marriage was tenuous, he was questioning his religious beliefs and was doing reckless things in hope of producing reckless outcomes. He likened his situation to the part in the movie The Ten Commandments when, despite hesitancy from the…

BookTribJuly 16, 2021

Fiction

To Be a Kid Again: Your Favorite Childhood Stories Get a Reboot

No matter our age, we can all remember those childhood books that touched and moved us. These are the stories we return to again and again, reveling in the tales that helped inform us as we grew. Personally, I remember devouring The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and rereading…

Rachel CarterOctober 20, 2017

Fiction

Review: John Irving’s ‘Avenue of Mysteries’ Revisits the Seductive Highways of Childhood

Here’s an interesting fact about John Irving whose new novel, Avenue of Mysteries (Simon & Schuster; November 2, 2015) uses the present as a vehicle for visiting the past: he begins every novel by writing the last sentence first. If your curiosity gets the better of you, then go ahead…

Carol MemmottNovember 2, 2015

Author Spotlight>Author Spotlight - Featured

Appalachian Author Encourages Us to Look Back on the Landscape of Our Childhood

Reminiscent of the work of Alison Stine, Hilary Varner and Barbara Kingsolver, Jo Ann Kiser captures the essence of Appalachia in the snapshot-like stories that make up The Guitar Player and Other Songs of Exile (Atmosphere Press). Set in Eastern rural Kentucky, Kiser weaves wistful tales of identity in an…

BookTribNovember 7, 2022

Listicles Listicles - Featured

8 Books Featuring People Coming to Terms With an Abusive Childhood

Child abuse is a difficult topic to approach for many of us, but the reality is that it is far too widespread. For too many children, it also goes undetected, underestimated or ignored. Their abuser may be a relative, a neighbor, an authority figure, a friend. Whether physical, sexual or…

Judy MorenoFebruary 3, 2021

Author Spotlight Author Spotlight - Featured Better Self Nonfiction

Dr. C. Errol Ball on Rising Above Trauma and Regaining a Meaningful Life

C. Errol Ball suffered immensely in his youth. Out of this pain was born a lifestyle that didn’t serve him well at all; he engaged in activities that he didn’t personally believe in and barely even knew why. Basically, he was lost. Something had to change, and thankfully, it did,…

BookTribJuly 26, 2021

Author Spotlight Miscellany

The Making of a Southern Gothic Writer

Editors’ note: Alexandrea Weis is the author of dozens of novels that span the genres of mystery, suspense, thrillers, horror, crime fiction and romance, including the St. Benedict and Magnus Blackwell series. Her forthcoming YA thriller, Have You Seen Me? (Vesuvian Books, August 3, 2021) was recently named one of…

Alexandrea WeisJune 2, 2021

Author Spotlight Author Spotlight - Featured Book Club Network - Featured2 Fiction Thrillers Thrillers - Featured

Ashley Audrain on the Dark Side of Motherhood in “The Push”

“One day you’ll understand, Blythe. The women in this family…we’re different.” The woman talking in Ashley Audrain’s scorching novel The Push (Pamela Dorman Books) is Blythe Connor’s mother, Cecilia. Cecilia’s mother, Etta, hung herself at the age of thirty-two. Cecilia herself left the family when Blythe was only eleven. “I don’t…

Neil NyrenDecember 25, 2020