Hugo is eager to join Dorian and their friend Ada, a boulder who will eventually grow up to be a planet, on a trip to watery Hydrox, Dorian’s home planet. They arrive to find a crisis caused by masses of butterfly people, who have been driven from their own polluted, warming planet, and by their rapidly reproducing pet otters, who have escaped to wreak havoc on the Hydrox residents’ floating habitats and submarine farms. What’s to be done? Even as they pitch into a series of predicaments on the way to reining in the invasive pets and engineering a new local home for the refugees, clockwork ex-servant Hugo and brash, royal Dorian find their friendship blossoming into a romantic flurry of kisses and affirmations of devotion. The multiplicity of species and intelligences in this story that explores ecological themes in an intergalactic setting makes for an unusually diverse cast. Better yet, the tale ends on a cozy note as Hugo gets past self-esteem issues rooted in his artificial origins and joyfully agrees to become Dorian’s official consort. This stand-alone companion to The Starlight Watchmaker (2025) features a straightforward text and a font and paper color designed to support readers with dyslexia.

Hiding out in the near-future “Perfect. Animal. Worlds.” (or PAW) Biosphere, 11-year-old Hazel McCrimlisk hopes that learning to speak with the animals will help her locate her scientist parents, who were mysteriously abducted by a monster just over a year ago. Traveling between the different ecosystem-based biodomes created by Dr. Henry Nimick, Hazel becomes adept at speaking with different species. She’s assisted by Nina, a genetically modified miniature elephant, and her friend Alex Silva, whose gender isn’t specified. On the fateful day when they stumble upon Dr. Nimick, who’s presenting his genetically modified beasts to biosphere visitors, they’re propelled into a whirlwind adventure filled with giant carnivorous flowers, an old woman who morphs into a jaguar, a helpful goat, and more. When the trio, along with a courageous team of creatures, discover Laboratory 2044, located in a secret biosphere, they’re thrust into a showdown with the terrible perpetrators of Hazel’s parents’ kidnapping. The black line art alternates between shading in purple for the main storyline and green for flashbacks. The somewhat stiff imagery moves the storyline along satisfactorily, giving the quirky and occasionally humorous animals their time in the spotlight and supporting the sometimes wooden dialogue. Hazel and Alex are racially ambiguous, and Dr. Nimick presents white.

The author, an experienced leader in risk management, here shares his method for turning professional setbacks into opportunities by focusing on six distinct areas, using a system he calls Presilience®. First, readers learn how psychology can be used to understand people’s thoughts and actions in certain situations. Next, Schneider draws from neuroscience to explicate people’s responses to various situations: “In decision-making, the neural seesaw illustrates why we sometimes struggle to blend logical analysis with empathetic understanding. For effective decision-making, especially in leadership or complex scenarios, we need to harness both aspects.” The author then discusses the importance of physical health, using his martial arts and bodyguard experiences as examples, before discussing how interactions with others need to include trust (both in others and oneself) and a strong sense of ethics. He presents specific suggestions (like using a color-coded system for “different risk levels or scenarios” in the workplace) and explains the importance of looking to the past for information about the future. The final section includes a step-by-step guide to making one’s own “personal Presilience plan.” Schneider takes pains to break down potentially complicated ideas (the psychological concepts of “priming” vs. “framing,” for example) into bite-sized informative chunks that never feel overwhelming—even for risk-management novices. There are parts of the text that do become a bit repetitive, though, such as the section discussing the “tribal leadership model” in which the same information is relayed twice using slightly different verbiage. But such moments prove to be the exception—the author largely keeps the book moving in a logical forward trajectory. The prose itself is personable but never emotional, and it avoids the dryness that sometimes plagues business books of this size. There are also plenty of examples, anecdotes, and visuals to break things up. Schneider has created an accessible handbook full of concrete advice for anyone looking to adapt to the ever-changing business landscape.

Robbie Jordan is on the cusp of motherhood, and she and her husband, Abe O’Neill, couldn’t be happier. Business is buzzing at Pans ’N Pancakes, Robbie’s diner. But as she and her staff of two, Danna Beedle and Turner Rao, work hard to furnish the citizens of South Lick, Indiana, with a steady stream of delicious daily specials, Robbie can’t help noticing that she isn’t able to focus on business the way she used to. Maybe it’s “pregnancy brain” that allows her to leave a stiff-moving customer to his own devices, even when he introduces himself to her as Ivan Sheluk and asks whether she’s related to Adele Jordan before ordering a grilled cheese and chocolate milk. Robbie’s supplier of baked goods, Hope Morris, seems to know Ivan. So does South Lick Mayor Corrine Beedle, Danna’s mother. But by the time Robbie gets to talk to her Aunt Adele about it, Ivan’s been found dead in Adele’s sheep field. Adele turns out to have enough history with the man to make her a likely suspect, but Robbie is too absorbed by her impending delivery, as well as Danna and Turner’s intermittent unavailability for work, to put much energy into helping her aunt. Braxton-Hicks contractions and a never-ending search for waitstaff compete with sleuthing for room in Robbie’s head. In the end, finding a new cook seems just as important as finding out how Ivan died.

Kurt Endlicher is a young Viennese adult-education teacher living on his own for the first time. As the book begins, he has just moved into his aunt’s old apartment, where he initially clashes with one of his neighbors, Paul. “I had ended up living next to the most vulgar person in the world,” Kurt observes—but soon, the tension that exists between Kurt and his neighbor gives way to an often moving friendship. Kurt’s connection to his oldest friend, Frederik, and Frederik’s girlfriend, Yasmina, supply much of the book’s tension. Both Frederik and Yasmina work in medicine, leading to some wry observations: “We never interact with reasonable people whose butts are covered,” Yasmina says. Eventually, the couple separates after Frederik tells her, “You’re not an Arab Rosa Luxemburg but just a pretentious snob from the Eighteenth District.” In the aftermath of that quarrel, Frederik moves in with Kurt. Frederik then asks Kurt to keep tabs on Yasmina; Kurt in turn enlists the help of one of his students, Ferhat, to whom he is attracted. This novel has the components of a comedy of manners, but there are more serious concerns taking place in the background as well—including the 2014 fall of Mosul and broader questions of immigration, assimilation, and isolationism. Schmidt’s translation keeps things moving at a brisk pace and conveys the big ideas, subtle comedy, and moments of sadness that punctuate this book. And Kurt’s own idiosyncrasies—including hypochondria and depression—make him a memorable narrator.