Colorado Bookshelf: What to Read Right Now

Bookstores aren’t lacking in Colorado-penned page-turners at the moment (see here, here, here, and here). But if your nightstand is looking baren, here are two suggestions—one for you and one for your kids.

FOR THE ADULTS

Kind One by Laird Hunt
(Coffee House Press, October 2012)

Hunt’s fifth novel is a meditation on “antebellum America.” His narrator, a woman nearing the end of her life, reexamines her experiences as a wife and then a captive on a farm in Kentucky. “It is risky,” Hunt says, “A white man, writing the story of a white woman, embroiled in the world of slavery.” It is perhaps for just that reason that the Boulder author’s latest is worth picking up.

FOR THE KIDS

Love Is in the Air by Jonathan Fenske
(Penguin USA, December 2012)

Denver painter Jonathan Fenske translates his talents to the page in this sweet tale about a lonely balloon who finds a friend in a happy-go-lucky kite. Aimed at readers aged six to seven, Fenske’s book comes alive thanks to his bright, merry illustrations and straightforward text. Kids and their parents will enjoy reading this story together again and again. Look for Fenske’s second book, Guppy Up!, on shelves now.

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Bonus: Is reading important to you and your kids? Check out the Junior League of Denver‘s inaugural literacy fund-raiser, The Journey: Honoring Our Past, Looking to Our Future, on Thursday, February 28. The keynote speaker is Leigh Anne Tuohy, the inspiration behind Sandra Bullock’s character in The Blind Side. Proceeds benefit the league’s literacy efforts in Colorado. Find more information and purchase tickets here.