Team Coaching Edge by Alison Grieve; Jenni Miller

★★★★★  The publisher provided a copy for review. 
Here's your much-needed textbook, whether you're a leader, coach, or communications student. This is the guide for coaching teams in non-profits, religious organizations, and businesses. There is enough information for self-guidance but this would be useful in the classroom as well as giving guidelines or acting as a reference manual in professional coaching settings.

It's good enough that I gave a heads up and the cover picture to friends who are professional coaches. That should tell you something. They're excited to see it published, as am I.

Refreshing Comms: Internal communication for a better-connected, feel-good, goal-achieving workplace by Liz Atkin

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.

You're frustrated by not getting the message across to your team? No matter what you say, they don't get it. So you wish you had a practical workbook to improve your internal communication.

And here you go. Atkin offers words, charts, sketches, and write-in tables that work step by step through your communication upgrade. If you want help - if you're willing to tackle a practical course to change your team - this is the book you've been looking for. 

The author offers practical advice in addition to the theories behind getting your vision, methods, and work to your team. From idea to action? Follow this manual.

Return on Humanity: Leadership lessons from all corners of the world by Philippa J. White

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
Why are human connections important in this age of digital messaging and AI? White offers stories of people around the world who make a difference by networking, doing what they love, and creating where they live.

As an artist, the stories of wonder and connections spoke to my heart. They made me hopeful that people remain when settings and circumstances shift. Life is not all about screens and efficiency and templates. Work is not just about hierarchy and status and ability.

Sometimes the simplest and most direct ways toward positive changes and meeting needs are found in the people who are nearby. People who dream, call others into their circles, and lead by being themselves. 

Whether you're in a season of restrictions or others' boundaries, or if you're in a wide-open sea of possibilities, there's a story for you. You'll be inspired and you'll be challenged. 

In the global economy, in the season of high innovation and attrition, this is a most-read for anyone working interculturally or developing a business outside their home culture. Don't miss this one if you're spinning your wheels, wondering whether you or your team are an extinct species.

The Women of Wynton's by Donna Mumma

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
This book draws the reader into the backdrops of women's power, privilege, education, and interactions.

It explores how women see each other: threat, burden, helper, or friend? How do they boost each other or keep other women from thriving?

Those themes unfold in this wonderful story of structure, intuition, and intentions. Though the settings are old-fashioned, the observations ring true and are satisfying in scope and resolution.

I recommend this for feminists and traditional thinkers, male and female. Mumma understands women's hearts and abilities as they're lived out at home and under external power structures. She pictures the need for accountability, mentors, and people who make the way for anyone viewed as less privileged. 

And in the process, she encourages the reader to seize the day for themselves. A book that enthralled me at times and reminded me of the push and pull of relationships within our assumptions of who someone else is. You'll cheer for the characters as you close the book. And maybe, just maybe, you'll try something you've resisted and been afraid to tackle. Maybe you'll have the courage to approach someone you thought was beyond you - up or down in your hierarchies and webs of connections.

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
This story slowly sucks you into the internal worlds of its characters. I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it because it took me a while to understand who was who.

And then I became invested in the conversations.

If you like deep dives into the personality and progress of couples, marriages, family life, and communities, you'll enjoy this one. Take your time to get to know the characters and the setting. Your last exhale as you ready the final page is worth the journey.

The Cure for Women by Lydia Reeder

★★★★★  The publisher provided a copy for review. 
A stunning look at the medical treatment of women in the 1800s. It carries the development of medicine from assumptions on what was "wrong" with female bodies and minds to increasingly scientific methods of care.

Filled with anecdotes, women's stories, and physicians' understanding - this is an exciting and stunning journey. The Epilogue updates the evolving medical fields that interact with and take care of women's physical and mental needs.

Highly recommended for anyone who loves good stories, cherishes the advances of science, and is interested in how history unfolds.

Start Here: Draw by Moira Clinch

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
Beginner? Here's a book of total FUN! If you copy Clinch's illustrations and instructions, you're on the way to illustrating buildings, animals, and anything else you see.

It's the most basic "how to sketch what you see" or imagine. Good pictures, informative text. 

Very helpful if you're teaching or leading and want to put more than a stick-figure on the board, too.