Boswell Book Company is excited to present Political Fact and Political Fiction: an event featuring Chicago author Kathleen Rooney, who will discuss and sign copies of her latest novel O, Democracy!, and Marquette Political Science Professor, Julia R. Azari, who will discuss and sign copies of her latest political study, Delivering the People's Message: The Changing Politics of the Presidential Mandate.  

A quarterlife crisis viewed from the ghostly perspective of the Founding Fathers, Kathleen Rooney's latest novel, O, Democracy!, is a hilarious and heartbreaking story about American politics and the difficult business of being a good citizen: walking the tricky line between self-sacrifice and self-sabotage, between doing your part and knowing your place.

In Delivering the People's Message, Julia R. Azari finds that when the presidency enjoys high public esteem and party polarization is low, mandate rhetoric is less frequent and employs broad themes. By contrast, presidents turn to mandate rhetoric when the office loses legitimacy, as in the wake of Watergate and Vietnam and during periods of intense polarization. In the twenty-first century, these two factors have converged. As a result, presidents rely on mandate rhetoric to defend their choices to supporters and critics alike, simultaneously creating unrealistic expectations about the electoral promises they will be able to fulfill.

While we can't promise a political-style debate on the subject, an entertaining and informative evening is likely. Join us Tuesday, September 2, 7 pm. 

Between them, the beloved authors Margaret Peterson Haddix and Lisa McMann have done events with Boswell four times, but never together and always at area libraries. On one of her visits, we brought McMann to Boswell for a peek and she said, "It would be so great to have an event at the bookstore," as she was a long time children's bookseller in Michigan before she became a published author. The result should be a fantastic evening of adventuring and magic featuring both Haddix, and McMann, who will discuss and sign copies of their books in an event great for ages 8 and up!

Margaret Peterson Haddix returns with the seventh installment in The Missing Series, Revealed, which Booklist is calling a "thrill ride through a historical incident" and of which Kirkus promises "the story continues with the suspense fans have come to expect in this entertaining and discreetly educational series." After a mysterious cameo from Charles Lindbergh, it's up to Jonah to save his town in Revealed, the latest book in this The New York Times bestselling series.

Lisa McMann's latest in the Unwanteds Series, which Kirkus Reviews calls "The Hunger Games series meets Harry Potter," is Island of Legends. As Alex grows more confident in his role as the mage of Artime, he expands his skills and brings his first creature to life--with results that are both painful and wonderful. Meanwhile in Quill, Aaron faces threats to his leadership as Gondoleery hones her rediscovered magical abilities and Eva and Liam form a secret alliance against him.

Don't forget, the Haddix and McMann event is Wednesday, September 3, 7 pm, at Boswell. 

If you're looking for a little back-to-school magic, we've got the event for you. Join us in welcoming former Milwaukeean and debut young adult author, Julia Mary Gibson, as she talks about and signs copies of her debut novel,  Copper Magic, great for ages 10 and up! Can an unearthed talisman found on the shores of Lake Michigan save 12-year-old Violet's fractured family?

Exploring themes of Native American culture, ecology, and conservation, Gibson's debut historical fiction novel is a brilliant awakening. The year is 1906, and twelve-year-old Violet Blake unearths an ancient talisman--a copper hand--beside the stream where her mother used to harvest medicine. Violet's touch warms the copper hand and it begins to reveal glimpses of another time. Violet is certain that the copper hand is magic, and if anyone is in need of its powers, it's Violet.    

Kirkus Reviews writes that "Gibson examines race, ethnicity, class and tragedy without didacticism or oversimplification, and while all of the characters are well-crafted, the imperfect protagonist is particularly refreshing." Our event is Friday, September 5, 7 pm.  

Please join us as we welcome Daryl Brown, co-author of Inside the Godfather: Never Before Told Stories of James Brown by His Inner Circle, also known as My Father the Godfather, to Boswell for a talk and signing. If you think you know the soul truth about James Brown, think again. Who better to tell us the inside stories than artist, songwriter, musician, and produce Daryl Brown, son of the legendary James Brown? Daryl played on countless James Brown hits and toured with him extensively.

The Godfather of Soul may be the most misunderstood man in the last century. Confusion emerges as a consequence of the complexities in his life. His contributions toward modern music pale in comparison to the indispensable role he played in modern history. James Brown lifted all races toward the ideals of equality and opportunity. Tragically, while he had the ability to calm the storms of social turmoil, his personal life was a perpetual tempest. Inside the Godfather brings together, for the first time, those from Brown's inner circle. They will correct the distortions of the past and provide for the reader a clear understanding of the brilliance and generosity that was Mr. Dynamite. You will see inside the man. You will never be the same.

Legendary author Mary Gordon, who penned The Love of My Youth and Circling My Mother, is coming to Boswell for a reading and signing of her latest, The Liar's Wife: Four Novellas. You won't want to miss this opportunity to meet Mary Gordon as she introduces Milwaukee to the book that has already garnered praise as "emotionally engaging and smoothly flowing" (The New York Times Book Review), "vivid and richly imagined" (Chicago Sun-Times), and "entrancing" (Los Angeles Times).

Bestselling author of over thirty novels, Melissa de la Cruz, is coming to the Oak Creek Library to read from and sign copies of the first book in her New Blue Bloods Coven series, Vampires of Manhattan, a new paranormal adventure for her adult readers (they call this genre "new adult") that incorporates the memorable characters of Blue Bloods, who, ten years after The Coven's battle with Lucifer, are older, cooler, sexier, and in more danger than ever before!  

On the island of Manhattan lurks a secret society of the city's most wealthy, beautiful, and powerful people; they are the Blue Bloods and they are vampires. Vampires of Manhattan takes place ten years after the Blue Bloods defeated the enemy in the Great War. To celebrate a new era of prosperity, the irresistibly charming and handsome leader of the Blue Bloods, Oliver Hazard-Perry, throws a Four Hundred Year Ball with all of society in attendance. And then, all hell breaks loose...

You know Melissa de la Cruz from her young adult Blue Blood series, The Witches of East End (as seen on Lifetime) and the new Heart of Dread novels, and now you can meet her in person. Join us Wednesday, September 10, 6:30 pm (note time) at the Oak Creek Public Library. The library is located at 8620 S. Howell Avenue in Oak Creek at Drexel; for directions or other questions, contact them at (414) 764-4400.

Geophysics-professor-turned-author, Stuart Rojstaczer, returns to his home town of Milwaukee for a reading and signing of his debut novel, The Mathematician's Shiva. This comic, bittersweet bildungsroman of middle-age takes on the Jewish Eastern European immigrant experience following the combined darkness of World War II and Stalinism. This event is co-sponsored by the Sam and Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies at UWM.   

Alexander "Sasha" Karnokovitch and his family would like to mourn the passing of his mother, Rachela, with modesty and dignity. But Rachela, a famous Polish émigré mathematician and professor at the University of Wisconsin, is rumored to have solved the million-dollar Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize problem. Rumor also has it that she spitefully took the solution to her grave.  

To Sasha's chagrin, a ragtag group of socially challenged mathematicians arrives in Madison and crashes the shiva, vowing to do whatever it takes to find the solution--even if it means prying up the floorboards for Rachela's notes. Sasha must do his best to keep these geniuses in check, keep his patchwork family happy, and figure out who he is now that he no longer exists in relief against his mother's towering presence--all at the same time.  

Want to know more? Andrew Blom has already reviewed this book in the Boston Herald. Hope that whets your appetite for our event on Wednesday, September 10, 7 pm. 

Beloved children's book author and illustrator Patricia Polacco appears at Boswell for Fiona's Lace, a gorgeous picture book and heartwarming immigration story. After escaping the difficult times in Ireland and moving to Chicago, an Irish family stays together with the help of Fiona's talent for making one-of-a-kind lace.

Fiona's family finds work in domestic service to pay back their passage, and at night Fiona turns tangles of thread into a fine, glorious lace. Then when the family is separated, it is the lace that Fiona's parents follow to find her and her sister and bring the family back together. And it is the lace that will always provide Fiona with memories of Ireland and of her mother's words: "In your heart your true home resides, and it will always be with you as long as you remember those you love." This generational story from the family of Patricia Polacco's Irish father brims with the same warmth and heart as the classic The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup, which Kirkus Reviews called "deeply affecting" in a starred review, and embraces the comfort of family commitment and togetherness for which Patricia Polacco's books are known.

Join us as we welcome Betsy Woodman, who will read from and sign copies of the third volume in her cross-cultural Jana Bibi Series, Emeralds Included. Jana Bibi saved the town from a government dam in Jana Bibi's Excellent Fortunes and foiled an international bird-smuggling ring in Love Potion Number 10. Now Jana faces her biggest challenges yet: preparing for her son's arrival and planning a wedding in the upside-down town of Hamara Nagar. Fans of Alexander McCall or Jan Karon will enjoy these stories of a quirky town and its charming inhabitants.  

Betsy Woodman spent ten formative years in India and studied in France and Zambia, and has a masters degreee in anthopology. She has edited history books and been a frequent book reviewer, and was a writer/editor for Experiencing War, the award-winning radio documentary series for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project.

Milwaukee-born Madison author Miki Knezevic is coming to Boswell for her historical novel, Behind God's Back. The novel integrates history, travel, family life, and a love story from the perspective of Serbian physician Desa Jovanovic, who survives the bombing of Belgrade by the Austrians to France to move on to Tunisia and Macedonia, before returning finally to Belgrade.

Tom Angleberger began writing his first novel in eighth grade, but never completed it. Since then, he's been a newspaper reporter and columnist, a juggler, a weed boy, a lawn-mower-part assembler, and a biology research assistant, and now a bestselling author! Please join us for an exciting afternoon with the author of the Origami Yoda Series, Tom Angleberger, as he discusses and signs copies of his latest and final book in the series, Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus, great for ages 8 and up!

After successfully fighting to save their field trip in Princess Labelmaker to the Rescue!, Tommy and the gang prepare for a well-earned day of fun and adventure in Washington, DC...but of course it won't be that easy! This trip to the nation's capital will be full of shifting alliances and betrayals, carsickness and sugar rushes. Trouble starts even before the buses leave school, when Principal Rabbski decrees the field trip an "origami-free zone." Dwight secretly folds a Yoda from a Fruit Roll-Up, but will Fruitigami Yoda be a match for Harvey's sour, hate-filled pickle of darkness? Astronaut ice cream, a supersonic plane, a Johnny Appleseed sighting, and a near arrest are just some of the clues in the sweetest, stookiest, biggest, and craziest Origami Yoda case file yet.

This is event is free and yes, you can bring your previous books from home to get signed on Sunday, September 14, 3 pm. And to keep you busy until then, visit the Origami Yoda website.  

Still on a high from her wonderful 500+ evening with Chuck Palahniuk at UWM last year, Chelsea Cain, is coming back to Milwaukee in conjunction with the release of One Kick, the first in a nail-biting new series featuring Kick Lannigan. Kick is a young woman whose complicated past (she was famously kidnapped at age six) has given her a very special skill set. With lives hanging in the balance, Kick sets out to be the crusader she has always imagined herself to be in this heart-stopping and entertaining new thrill ride by a stunning talent in the thriller realm. One Kick was named a "Summer Must" by Entertainment Weekly and received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Booklist.

Chelsea Cain is the author of bestselling Archie Sheridan thriller series, which includes Heartsick and Let Me Go. Her steamy Portland-based thrillers have been published in over 30 languages, recommended on The Today Show, and appeared in episodes of HBO's True Blood and ABC's Castle. Stephen King included two of her books in his top ten favorite books of the year, and NPR named Heartsick one of the best 100 thrillers ever written.  

Help kick off a brand new and likely to be equally beloved series at Boswell on Tuesday, September 16, 7 pm. Want more convincing? Read Alison Flood's review in the (UK) Guardian.