Atlantic County Library System

In Soma Mei Sheng Frazier’s debut novel, “Off the Books,” a Chinese American college student chauffeurs a handsome and suspicious client from California to New York.

She wrote two books about multiple generations of her forebears, including her mother, Lena Horne.

Loren Long has illustrated books by Barack Obama, Madonna and Amanda Gorman. His No. 1 best seller, “The Yellow Bus,” took him in a different direction — one that required time, patience and toothpicks.

“Tree. Table. Book” and “Not Nothing” feature young people whose friendships with the very old unlock fading memories.