St. Louis author Jody Feldman presents her first children's book, The Gollywhopper Games. Gil Goodson has studied for months to win the Golly Toy & Game Company's ultimate competition. If Gil wins, his dad has promised the family can move out of Orchard Heightsaway from all the gossip, the false friends, and bad press that have plagued the Goodsons ever since The Incident.Will Gil be able to answer the trivia? Solve the puzzles? Complete the stunts? The ride of Gil's life is about to begin.

 Dickie Sinfield was seven years old when her father decided to become a cowboy and move his family from their comfortable suburban home to a small run-down ranch in Clayton, Utah. From her first stock show to the day she turns eighteen and flees for the comforts of the city, Dickie bucks the cattle-ranching lifestyle and yearns for manicured lawns, housebroken pets, and neighborhood playmates. Yet she reluctantly finds herself drawn to the vast, desolate landscape of the desert and the solitude it offers--a feeling she won't acknowledge even within herself.

A novel that spans two generations and vast landscapes, The Last Cowgirl brings to mind the writing of Pam Houston and Barbara Kingsolver. Richman's provocative prose, pulled from personal experience, will strike a chord with anyone who has been faced with demons from their past and found solace in the space around them.

This event will be hosted by Jane Ellen Ibur, co-host of "Literature for the Halibut" on 88.1FM KDHX.

 Post-Civil War New York City is the battleground of the American dream. In this era of free love, emerging rights of women, and brutal sexual repression, Freydeh, a spirited young Jewish immigrant, searches for her adrift sister from tenement to brothel to prison. Along the way, her story interweaves with those of some of the epoch's most notorious figures. In the tradition of her bestselling World War II epic Gone to Soldiers, Marge Piercy once again re-creates a turbulent period in American history.

 In this groundbreaking volume, leading rabbis, intellectuals, and activists explore the relationship between Judaism and social justice, drawing on ancient and modern sources of wisdom. These provocative essays concentrate on specific justice issues such as eradicating war, global warming, health care, gay rights and domestic violence, offering practical ways to transform theory into practice, and ideas into advocacy.

Rabbi Rose is associate dean at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in Newton, MA.

This event is co-sponsored by Congregation B'nai Amoona, Central Reform Congregation, the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival and the St. Louis chapter of Brit Tzedek V'Shalom.

 The unique voice of Spencer Dew--a slowly simmered reduction of prose poetry with pulp gristle and bits of horror--has developed a loyal underground following. Songs of Insurgency presents a post-9/11 world in the process of being dismantled. Fear segues to paranoia; and alienation to sadism or suicide or a droning, dial-tone numbness. Yet amidst all this dislocation and unease, just audible above the fake moans on the phone sex line, a vision of an authentic alternative existence tests its wings.

Winnie Perry is a teenager-at last! And it's a ginormous deal with ginormous problems. Winnie's bff #1 is growing up too slowly, while her bff #2 is growing up too fast, leaving Winnie stuck in the middle. Winnie's boyfriend, Lars, is fabulous--except when he's not. And as for Winnie's family, well, BIG changes are in the air. Bestselling author Lauren Myracle concludes her enormously popular trilogy about a winning young heroine and also offers the next installment in her Internet Girls series with l8r, g8r.

Books for signing must be purchased from Left Bank Books or at the event.

From three-time New York Times bestselling author and The Advocate columnist Christopher Rice comes this psychological thriller. An Iraq War vet seeks redemption and revenge when a fellow Marine he failed to protect during the war is brutally murdered. Blind Fall, a story of honor and integrity, is a stunning departure for Christopher Rice: the tale of two men, one a Marine, one gay, who must unite to avenge the death of the man they both loved--one as a brother-in-arms, one as a lover--and to survive.

 St. Louis resident Larry Swedroe, a principal in the Buckingham Asset Management firm, offers engaging stories to readers as a way of explaining sound investment concepts in his new book, Wise Investing Made Simple. Swedroe graduated from New York University with an MBA in finance, and is the author of The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need, What Wall Street Doesn't Want you to Know, The Successful Investor Today and three other books.