Barbara McIntyre

4 days ago | beaconjournal.com | Barbara McIntyre

Barbara McIntyreSpecial to USA TODAY NETWORK - OhioToad is a helper. Toad is always in a happy rush to find motorists in trouble, so he can tow them to safety. In Hudson children’s author Jashar Awan’s brilliant storybook “Towed by Toad,” Toad is too busy to eat breakfast: “No time, Pop! Can’t stop!”Toad rescues Catie Cat, who has a flat; Davey Dog, who hit a log. Stanley Snout’s engine has fallen out. “I’m happy to help!” he cries.

1 week ago | beaconjournal.com | Barbara McIntyre

Show Caption Hide Caption Book Talk selections, Spring 2025Here are some recent releases of local interest that Barbara McIntyre checked out for the Akron Beacon JournalHe just wants to make his delivery. Mercury Carter is a self-employed courier who will deliver anything from pizza to people. In “The Mailman,” a thriller by Columbus writer Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Carter is a single-minded man who steps into 24 hours of the worst kind of trouble.

2 weeks ago | beaconjournal.com | Barbara McIntyre

Show Caption Hide Caption Book Talk selections, Spring 2025Here are some recent releases of local interest that Barbara McIntyre checked out for the Akron Beacon Journal“Moving Maggie” is third in Austintown author Nancy Christie’s uplifting “Midlife Moxie” series about middle-age women facing personal and career challenges. Maggie Cartwright is reeling from her husband’s infidelity after taking a forced retirement at 60 from her executive job at a hospital.

1 month ago | beaconjournal.com | Barbara McIntyre

“Having a great time; wish you were here.” Sometimes that’s all you need to say. Before email and Facebook, a traveler could send greetings on a penny postcard with a penny stamp. Kenneth J. Weiss has selected about 200 from his extensive collection for “Postmarked Akron: Lost Stories of Places and People Discovered in Vintage Postcards.”The postcard business was huge in the early 20th century.

1 month ago | beaconjournal.com | Barbara McIntyre

Akron native Renée Rosen says that her novel “Let’s Call Her Barbie” was “in the works long before the Barbie movie came out,” and the timing could hardly be better. The story of an American icon is told through three main characters, two real and one made-up. Ruth Handler, who founded Mattel with her husband Elliot, returns from a European trip with a souvenir — a doll called Bild Lili, made in the figure of an adult woman.