Five books we can't wait to read in April

It’s not quite beach read weather in Minnesota but maybe it’s time for light-jacket reads? Cardigan reads? We’ll workshop that.

Meanwhile, the titles we are looking forward to most in April include one that probably will be the beach read of the summer (from superstar novelist Emily Henry), a picture book that reminds us that birds will chirp again and tulips will bloom, and an unusual look at the Minnesota musician who reminded us that “sometimes it snows in April.”

Dearly Beloved: Prince, Spirituality & This Thing Called Life, Pamela Ayo Yetunde

The author, a “lifelong Prince fan” who founded the Theology of Prince project, dives into how the late musical genius' songs reflect his spirituality and how that spirituality was connected to sex in her “Dearly Beloved.” Taking its title from the first words in the “Purple Rain” single “Let’s Go Crazy,” the book promises to make sense of coded references scattered throughout four decades of Prince hits, which could mean we’re finally going to get an explanation for “Batdance.” Maybe read “Dearly Beloved” while wearing a raspberry beret, the kind you find in a secondhand store? (April 22)

The Float Test, Lynn Steger Strong

The author of bestselling “Flight” returns to a motif she explored in that novel: bickering adult siblings gather in the aftermath of their mother’s death. “The Float Test” is set in Florida, where the heat isn’t helping three sisters and their brother grapple with their mother’s legacy. Neither is the emerging reality that each of them has a big secret. Or the fact that they seem to have forgotten the common beliefs that made them a family. Or that funerals rarely bring out the best in anyone. But the biggest issue may be a discovery made while organizing things: Why did their mom keep a gun in her underwear drawer? (April 8)

Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry

Hugely popular Henry tries a change of pace with a romantic comedy. Just kidding. Her books are always romantic comedies and that’s why they’re hugely popular. “Great Big Beautiful Life” sounds like it may have a quasi-autobiographical element, since it’s about writers. Alice and Hayden’s meet-cute occurs when both show up on a remote island to interview a legendary heiress, not realizing the wealthy octogenarian is pitting them against each other in a kind of biography bake-off. The two have different takes on the books they intend to write but might they have love in common? (April 22)

Medicine River, Mary Annette Pember

The writer, a former president of the Indigenous Journalists Association, spent years researching the United States' Native American boarding schools, which purported to offer opportunities to Indigenous children but, in fact, were designed to rip apart families, destroy languages and wipe out tribes. Pember, who is Ojibwe, has a personal connection to the legacy of the schools, some of which still operated as recently as the 1930s: Her mom attended a boarding school in Wisconsin and has a painful story that Pember incorporates into this nonfiction account. (April 22)

One Spring Up North, John Owens

A wordless picture book about the beauties of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota, “One Spring Up North” shines a gentle spotlight on a canoeing family that learns (quietly) how the BWCAW transforms as the ground and water begin to warm up. Nicely timed to the start of spring here, Owens' book also is a reminder that months of snow and chill might not be with us much longer. The author’s previous books include “One Summer Up North” and “One Winter Up North,” so maybe we can guess what comes next for him? Owens will discuss the book at a pair of May 3 events: at Minneapolis' Wild Rumpus at 10:30 a.m. and St. Paul’s Red Balloon at 2 p.m. (April 29)