Fun & Practical Summer Reads for Cool Mom/Dad Reader Types
New Books on Parenting, Hobbies & Family Fun This Summer
If your bookshelf is a mix of parenting wisdom, DIY inspiration, and storytime favorites, you're a Cool Mom or Dad Reader. At Bookfinity, we match you with books that fit your real life—practical, fun, and perfect for busy families who love to learn and grow together.
This summer’s new releases, arriving June through August, offer parenting insight, creative hobbies, and delightful reads for your kids (and you). Whether you're sneaking in a chapter during nap time or sharing a laugh with your littles, these books are made for your world.
August New Releases
Nights and Weekends: Recipes That Make the Most of Your Time - A Cookbook
by Alexis Deboschnek
As a veteran recipe developer, Alexis thought she had home cooking on lock until she became the primary caretaker and chef for her mother, which inspired her to think harder about cooking the daily task. Nights and Weekends is the solution to this quotidien dilemma, offering recipes that are eminently achievable for every time and effort constraint. In the Nights section, which is divided by type of food (such as Soups, Vegetable, Meat, Pasta, Fish), recipes have a short ingredient list that can be easily sourced, will come together in under 40 minutes, and only one pot or a sheet pan. The Weekend section is organized by type of meal--Brunch, Dinner, and a chapter on Snacks for informal gatherings--and features recipes that are slightly more adventurous, as well as a chapter on homemade desserts. Through dishes such as One-Pot Gnocchi Ragu, Everything Bagel Tomato Panzanella, Hot Butter Garlic Shrimp, 7-Minute Eggs with Mayo and Chile Oil, and Curried Chicken and Cauliflower Phyllo Pie, this cookbook not only gives you delicious meals, but it also gives you your invaluable time back to enjoy them.
Disney Adults: Exploring (and Falling in Love With) a Magical Subculture
by Aj Wolfe
A fascinating and enlightening deep dive into the infamous Disney Adult community from the woman behind the popular website The Disney Food Blog.
Disney Adults are grown-ups who derive singular, almost obsessive, joy from all things Disney. They devote countless hours and millions of dollars to Disney offerings, whether or not they have children. They're avid fans of the films, devotees of the Disney theme parks, collectors of the vast world of Disney merchandise, cosplayers who dress in clothing inspired by Disney characters.
Their ranks are so large and their cultural impact so distinct that they have their own moniker and are an economic force unto themselves. They're often maligned in the larger culture and put on a particularly high pedestal of cringe. But in truth, their obsessive fandom hints at a universal desire for pleasure and joy, for magic and escape.
There are darker sides to Disney mania that can't be ignored, but the ranks of the Disney Adult community are broad, deep, and ever-growing. Disney Adults are a telling microcosm of modern America, highlighting the value we place on magic and escapism, and what we deem to be "acceptable" sources of joy.
Disney Adults dives deep into a misunderstood subculture, exploring the lives and experiences of a fascinating community to better understand its devotees' unwavering passion for all things Disney, why it offends, and why it matters.
Sam Holland's Kitchen Kickstart: Simple, Budget-Friendly Recipes for Beginner Cooks
by Sam Holland
Designed to inspire confidence and ignite a passion for cooking, this is the essential cookbook for anyone moving away from home for the first time. Talented chef and rising star Sam Holland is here to guide you!
Sam Holland's Kitchen Kickstart is an essential lifeline for any beginner cook's kitchen. In this book you'll find simple, affordable, creative and truly useful recipes you'll really want to cook. Whether you're looking to master the ultimate cheese sauce for your mac and cheese, make pina coladas for your first party, make a mouthwatering sausage and egg sandwich to nurse a hangover, or whip up a 15-minute Thai Curry instead of ordering in, Sam has got you covered.
Every recipe in the collection was developed with four objectives in mind: make it cheap, quick, simple, and tasty. Sam brings his signature charm and enthusiasm with 80+ creative recipes divided into practical chapters like Hangover Helpers, Monday Meal Prep and When Did I Last Eat a Vegetable?
A comprehensive basics section covers how to get started in the kitchen--basic chopping advice, how to plan your weekly shop so you don't break the bank, the importance of the pantry, advice on storing, freezing and defrosting leftovers, etc.--all presented with budget and space considerations in mind.
july new releases
Mean Moms
by Emma Rosenblum
Meet Frost, Morgan, and Belle--a wealthy, gorgeous group of New York City moms, the queen bees of downtown Manhattan. Their children attend Atherton Academy, the top private school in the city, and their social lives revolve around elaborate themed parties. On the first day of school, the arrival of a new mom and mysterious beauty from Miami, Sofia shakes up their world. When Sofia quickly integrates herself into their clique, inexplicably bad things start to happen to the women. Is someone at school out to get them?
Spanning the course of one eventful school year in New York, Mean Moms is part satire of upper-crust mom-ing and part mystery, interrogating the line between friendship and jealousy, and getting at the question:
What would happen if the woman standing next to you at school pickup was actually a sociopath?
This Is How We Talk: A Celebration of Disability and Connection
by Caroline Cupp - Jessica Slice - Kayla Harren
From the creators of This Is How We Play is a new jubilant, inclusive, luminously illustrated picture book that celebrates all the ways we communicate with each other
We sign, write, clap! We tap, stim, scream! So many ways to talk and joke, play and learn and dream. This joyful read-aloud, with an empowering refrain, from disability rights activists Jessica Slice and Caroline Cupp, demystifies and respects how disabled people and their families use different forms of communication to connect and show love.
Autism, Sensory and Behavior: Everything You Need to Know
by Temple Grandin
Temple Grandin draws on her own experience to deliver an essential resource for guiding and nurturing autistic individuals with sensory differences. She gets to the REAL issues of autism in this book--the ones parents, teachers, and individuals on the spectrum face every day.
Most autistic individuals deal with a variety of sensory differences, and in this book Dr. Grandin sheds light on the best ways for them to adapt and thrive. In these helpful pages, Dr. Grandin offers do's and don'ts, practical strategies, and try-it-now tips, all based on her insider perspective and extensive research.
Cold Canning: The Easy Way to Preserve the Seasons Without Hot Water Processing (a Cookbook)
by Bruce Weinstein - Mark Scarbrough
Discover this food preservation bible for the modern cook, with a collection of 425 recipes for small-batch jams, jellies, chili crisps, pickles, krauts, kimchis, and more that will safely keep for months to years in your fridge or freezer.
Cold canning is a revolutionary new approach to preserving the best produce of the season, without the headache of traditional canning methods. Whether you're canning for convenience, frugality, or fun, these small-batch recipes are simple to make and can be safely stored for months or even years in your refrigerator or freezer.
June New Releases
The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd's Life
by Helen Whybrow
"Helen Whybrow is a to-the-bone writer, and this is a to-the-bone book--beautiful, real, full of life."--Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
Set in Vermont's Green Mountains, a profoundly moving meditation on the lessons and wisdom that come from raising a family, tending sheep, and living close to the land.
In the heart of Vermont's Green Mountains, Helen Whybrow and her partner set out to restore an old two-hundred-acre farm. Knowing that "belonging more than anything requires participation," they begin to intertwine their lives with the land. But soon after releasing a flock of Icelandic sheep onto the worn-out fields, Whybrow realizes that the art of shepherding extends far beyond the flock and fences of Knoll Farm.
How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir
by Molly Jong-Fast
"Molly Jong-Fast's memoir is mesmerizing, intimate, wise, unputdownable, crazily honest, heartbreaking, funny, illuminating--beautiful and painful at the same time, just like real life." --Anne Lamott
From the political writer and podcaster, a ferociously honest and disarmingly funny memoir about her elusive mother's encroaching dementia and a reckoning with her complicated childhood
Molly Jong-Fast is the only child of a famous woman, writer Erica Jong, whose sensational book Fear of Flying launched her into second-wave feminist stardom. She grew up yearning for a connection with her dreamy, glamorous, just out of reach mother, who always seemed to be heading somewhere that wasn't with Molly.
Almost 30: A Definitive Guide to a Life You Love for the Next Decade and Beyond
by Lindsey Simcik - Krista Williams
Turn your mess into magic.
The years leading up to thirty can feel more agonizing than exciting. The pressure to have it all figured out--your job, your relationships, your life--is intense. And as if that's not enough, bam! Along comes Saturn Return, a cosmic milestone that thrusts you into adulthood ... ready or not.
Lindsey Simcik and Krista Williams--creators of the #1, critically acclaimed wellness podcast Almost 30 and its global community--help you navigate this season of astronomical (and astrological) transition in your life. Consider them the big sisters of your Saturn Return, here to guide you, hold your hand, and cheer you on as you embark upon this monumental transition that will touch every single part of your life, from your body to your relationships to your spirituality.