Before we share info about this month’s book, we’re excited to announce that this month’s “Community Kindness Sponsor” (which helps offset the cost of the extra 15 books we hide after scavenger hunt weekend every month – the “random act of kindness” books!) is Tommy Tronsdal/Canyon Fence Co.!!!

Do you know someone who might be interested in partnering with us as a Community Kindness Sponsor in 2026 ($250)? 2025 is now full, but we are starting to look for sponsors in 2026. Please send us an email (tucsontomegnome[at] gmail.com) and we can send you some information 🙂

AND NOW, for what you’ve been waiting for: all about this month’s hidden book!

About the book, from HarperCollins:

“Métis millennial Lucky St. James is barely hanging on when she learns she’ll be evicted from the tiny Toronto apartment she shares with her cantankerous but loving grandmother Stella. But then one night, something strange and irresistible calls out to Lucky. She burrows through a wall to find a tarnished silver spoon, humming with otherworldly energy, etched with a crooked-nosed witch and the word SALEM.

Lucky is familiar with the magic of her indigenous ancestors, but she has no idea that the spoon connects her to a teeming network of witches across North America who have anxiously awaited her discovery.

Enter VenCo, a front company fueled by vast resources of dark money (its name is an anagram of “coven.”) VenCo’s witches hide in plain sight wherever women gather: Tupperware parties, Mommy & Me classes, suburban book clubs. Since colonial times, they have awaited the moment the seven spoons will come together and ignite a new era, returning women to their rightful power.

But as reckoning approaches, a very powerful adversary is stalking their every move. He’s Jay Christos, a roguish and deadly witch-hunter as old as witchcraft itself.

To find the last spoon, Lucky and Stella embark on a rollicking and dangerous road trip to the darkly magical city of New Orleans, where the final showdown will determine whether VenCo will usher in a new beginning…or remain underground forever.

A wildly imaginative and compulsively readable fantasia of adventure, history, Americana, feminism, and magic, VenCo is a novel only the supremely gifted Cherie Dimaline could write.”

About the author, Cherie Dimaline:

“Cherie Dimaline is an internationally bestselling author. Her 2017 book The Marrow Thieves was named by TIME magazine, one of the Best YA Books of All Time and won the Governor General’s Award and the Kirkus Prize.  Her novel Empire of Wild  became an instant Canadian bestseller, was named Indigo’s 2019 Best Book and is being adapted into an opera. Hunting By Stars was a 2022 American Indian Library Association Honor Book and her new novel VENCO debuted at #1 on Canadian bestseller lists. Other 2023 titles include Funeral Songs for Dying Girls, Anthology of Monsters and Into the Bright Open. Cherie lives in her Georgian Bay Métis Community and writes/produces for screen and stage.”

Why I selected VenCo for the July 2025 Giveaway:

• I really enjoyed the relationship between Lucky and her grandmother. It was sweet, while also highlighting the hardships of caregiving and living closely with another person, especially one who might be struggling with the effects of aging.
• I loved how distinct each of the witches was, and how fiercely loyal they were to one another.
• There is subtle magic throughout the novel, but the real focus is on the women, their quest, and the sisterhood they form. It is a hardcore feminist read, but in a way that has you agreeing with everything said rather than feeling heavy-handed.
• This is the book where you just want to sit down at a table and have a cup of tea with the characters. The characters were developed and fascinating, and I just wanted to hear more of everyone’s story.