Author Event

We welcome author and Lake Bluff District 65 Superintendent Dr. Lisa Leali discussing her book:

LEADING THROUGH CHAOS: TEN STRATEGIES FOR SCHOOL LEADERS DURING CRISIS

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (November 2, 2022) $30.00

Tuesday, November 14th from 6:00PM to 6:45PM

at Lake Forest Book Store

662 N. Western Avenue

Lake Forest, IL 60045

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

Organizational crisis and chaos create drama that is complicated, layered and difficult to unravel without a roadmap. New leaders, especially those who find themselves in an organization in crisis need to hear how others have experienced that challenge and managed to emerge trusted, supported and having moved the entire organization to a new and better place without losing themselves in the process. This book provides a crisis identification checklist, ten strategies for managing chaos and reflection questions to support the leader’s health and wellness. Utilizing the familiar story of the Wizard of Oz and specifically Dorothy’s experience as a young, female, new leader, anchors the work and provides a familiar and comforting backdrop for managing this extraordinarily difficult and specific leadership challenge.

Lisa Leali has been a central office school district administrator for almost 15 years and a Superintendent of Schools since July of 2020. Her experience in diverse educational settings and roles has given her a unique perspective on school and district leadership at many levels, and the challenges leaders will face in the future.

We welcome local author Rick Telander celebrating his new book:

SWEET DREAMS

Skyhorse (October 3, 2023) Hardcover $19.99

Thursday, November 2nd, 2023 from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM

at Lake Forest Book Store

662 N. Western Avenue

Lake Forest, IL 60045

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

With 42 original poems by author Rick Telander and an equal number of full-page, full-color illustrations from 42 different artists from four countries, Sweet Dreams is a beautiful, easy-to-read poetry collection in the fashion of Robert Louis Stevenson’s century-old classic, A Child’s Garden of Verses. 

Started when Telander was sick in a bed many years ago and had begun writing the poems in his head, this book is a work of caring for young boys and girls who must make that ordinary yet complex and sometimes frightening transition from waking reality to the land of Nod.  

Sweet Dreams will amuse, delight, intrigue, and above all soothe any child before sleep.  This book is a gift to all children, the way the best illustrated words can be.
 

Rick Telander is the senior sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and a former senior writer for Sports Illustrated and ESPN: the Magazine.  In 2018, he was awarded the Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence of the Society of Professional Journalists, and in 2021, he was inducted into the National Sportswriters Hall of Fame.  He is the author of ten books, including Heaven is a Playground.
 

We welcome author William Kent Krueger discussing his new novel:

THE RIVER WE REMEMBER

Atria Books $28.99 September 5, 2023

Saturday, September 23th, 2023 9:30am-11:00am

at Lake Forest Book Store

662 N. Western Avenue

Lake Forest, IL 60045

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

Please call to RSVP as this is a (mostly) standing room only event: 847-234-4420

On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past.

Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn’s death threatens to expose.

Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of midcentury American life from an author of novels “as big-hearted as they come” (Parade), The River We Remember is an unflinching look at the wounds left by the wars we fight abroad and at home, a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal, and a testament to the enduring power of the stories we tell about the places we call home.

William Kent Krueger is the New York Times bestselling author of The River We Remember, This Tender Land, Ordinary Grace (winner of the Edgar Award for best novel), and the original audio novella The Levee, as well as nineteen acclaimed books in the Cork O’Connor mystery series, including Lightning Strike and Fox Creek. He lives in the Twin Cities with his family.

We welcome Kristine Hansen to Lake Forest Book Store celebrating her book:

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

America's most famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, was born in 1867 in the rolling hills of Richland Center, Wisconsin, to a family of Unitarians. Even with world-class commissions like New York City's Guggenheim Museum, his organic architecture remains rooted in Wisconsin's landscape, from affordable-housing prototypes in Milwaukee to his summer home and architecture school in rural Spring Green. This comprehensive guide to Wright's designs (and those of his protégés) that are open to the public--as well as insider historical information about sites now demolished, and those available for "drive-bys" only--is for the architecture or history fan looking for tours, overnight stays or creative inspiration.

Kristine is a journalist that covers food/drink, art/design and travel.  Her stories have appeared on NationalGeographic.com, ArchitecturalDigest.com, Fodors.com and Vogue.com, as well as Midwest Living Magazine and Milwaukee Magazine. She also written for TIME Magazine, Wine Enthusiast Magazine, Today.com, CountryLiving.com, FoodNetwork.com and the  Travel + Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler websites. I also occasionally pen content for brands, design firms and tourism boards, including Timberland, Kolter Homes, Acampora Interiors, Travel Wisconsin and Meijer.  Kristine was born in Illinois and currently resides in Milwaukee, WI.

We welcome Milwaukee-area Producer/Director/Writer Gael Garbarino Cullen as she presents her debut book.

IUniverse Publishing  $13.00  August 22, 2022 (Paperback)

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

Praise for Owning Grief In raw, compelling honesty, Gael Garbarino Cullen articulates the complexities of grief and single motherhood, beautifully illustrating the power of resilience. Natalie Kathryn Sanchez, Author, The Language of Loss An unflinching walk through the long and inevitably difficult stages of grief - confirming and validating the curves and turns that come with healing. Steve Radowski, grieving parent Straight-forward and captivating. I have worked with many who would benefit by learning how the author owned her grief after the sudden death of her husband, and then directed that grief into strength to meet the challenges of single parenthood. Judy Higgs, MA Counseling Psychology, Co-coordinator of Parish Widows Ministry.

Born and raised in Detroit, Gael still harbors a fondness for Motown music and Tiger baseball but three-plus decades of living in her “adopted” hometown of Milwaukee leave no doubt where her loyalties lie.  She loves telling stories about and for Wisconsin businesses, people and organizations.  And her background in news and PBS documentary production give her a special flair for getting to the heart of a story.  Gael welcomes the challenge of tackling a complicated subject matter and making it user-friendly, often in the healthcare or environmental areas, but give her a non-profit organization with a great cause to promote, and she truly shines.  It’s no surprise, then, that one particular “spare time” passion is the Steve Cullen Healthy Heart Run/Walk, raising money for heart research here in southeast Wisconsin. She is a debut author of Owning Grief: Widowed Young, How I Discovered Gifts in Loss.

We welcome Caroline Woods to Lake Forest Book Store to celebrate the paperback release of her novel.

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

A stylish and suspenseful historical page-turner following an up-and-coming journalist who stumbles onto a web of secrets, deceptions, and mysteries at a popular new literary magazine--inspired by the true story of CIA intervention in Cold War American arts and letters.

Louise Leithauser's star is on the rise. She’s filing stories at her boyfriend Joe's new literary magazine and the novel she's writing is going swimmingly. But when she overhears Joe and his business partner fighting about listening devices and death threats, Louise can't help but investigate, and learns that someone is pulling Joe’s strings--someone who doesn't want artists criticizing Uncle Sam. Meanwhile, opportunities are falling in Louise's lap that she'd have to be crazy to refuse. Can Louise let doors keep opening for her, while the establishment censors her fellow writers? As her suspicions mount, Louise's novel is colored by her newfound knowledge. And when she’s forced to consider her future sooner than she planned, Louise needs to decide whether she can trust Joe for the rest of her life. 

Full of period detail and nail-biting tension, Caroline Woods channels 1950s New York glamour as Louise comes face to face with shocking secrets, brutal sexism, and life or death consequences. The Lunar Housewife is a historical thriller rich with meaning for modern readers.

Caroline Woods holds an M.F.A. in fiction from Boston University. She is the author of the debut novel Fräulein M., hailed as "masterful" by Booklist. Raised in Delaware, she now lives near Chicago with her husband and two daughters. 

We welcome local author Jimmy Juliano to Lake Forest Book Store celebrating his debut novel.

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

On a creepy island where everyone has a strange obsession with the year 1994, a newcomer arrives, hoping to learn the truth about her son’s death—but finds herself pulled deeper and deeper into the bizarrely insular community and their complicated rules…

Clifford Island. When Willow Stone finds these words written on the floor of her deceased son’s bedroom, she’s perplexed. She’s never heard of it before, but soon learns it’s a tiny island off Wisconsin’s Door County peninsula, 200 miles from Willow’s home. Why would her son write this on his floor? Determined to find answers, Willow sets out for the island.
 
After a few days on Clifford, Willow realizes: This place is not normal. Everyone seems to be stuck in a particular day in 1994: They wear outdated clothing, avoid modern technology, and, perhaps most mystifyingly, watch the OJ Simpson car chase every evening. When she asks questions, people are evasive, but she learns one thing: Close your curtains at night.
 
High schooler Lily Becker has lived on Clifford her entire life, and she is sick of the island’s twisted mythology and adhering to the rules. She’s been to the mainland, and everyone is normal there, so why is Clifford so weird? Lily is determined to prove that the islanders’ beliefs are a sham. But are they?
 
Five weeks after Willow arrives on the island, she disappears. Willow’s brother, Harper, comes to Clifford searching for his sister, and when he learns the truth—that this island is far more sinister than anyone could have imagined—he is determined to blow the whole thing open.
 
If he can get out alive....

Jimmy Juliano is a writer and high school educator. Several of his stories have gone viral on the Reddit “NoSleep” forum, and his debut novel, Dead Eleven, is currently in development at A+E Studios. He lives outside Chicago with his wife, daughter, and miniature Goldendoodle.

Join us at Lake Forest Book Store as we host author Kathryn Haydon to celebrate her book of poetry.

UNSALTED BLUE SUNRISE: POEMS OF LAKE MICHIGAN

by Kathryn Haydon

Prairie Cloud Press  $16.99  (releases June 12th, 2023)