Thomas Dresser is pleased to announce the second printing of Tommy’s Tour of the Vineyard, his popular tour guide based on stories shared by tour bus drivers on their route around the Island. The material has been edited to make the book more readable and useful, but the essence remains the same: Mr. Dresser surveys the Vineyard from a variety of vantage points, including history, geography, social issues and humorous tales.

Arts a la Carte, a new children’s arts discussion series at the Featherstone Center for the Arts, will kick off this Thursday with a bang: a Molly Bang, that is.

Island readers anticipated Philip Craig’s annual mystery novels like their first summer swim. The author died this year, leaving one last novel finished. Here is an exclusive excerpt from that book, Vineyard Chill, printed with permission from Scribner.

It was a bright, snowless mid-January day, chilly but not cold, Just right for a drive on the Chappy beaches. We could enjoy the ride and bring back several big, industrial-strength trash bags full of seaweed for the garden. Two good reasons to go. So we went.

Gardening expert and author C.L. Fornari will launch her new book, A Garden Lover’s Martha’s Vineyard, with a wine and cheese signing reception open to all on Thursday, June 12, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury. Gazette readers can get a taste of the full-color book — which features Island gardens large and small, from formal layouts in Edgartown to Victorian-inspired gardens in Oak Bluffs to casual up-Island gardens — from the excerpt below, about a Chilmark couple growing a vineyard on the Vineyard.

Even if you don’t call your brother by the name of a different vegetable every day (Broccoli, Turnip, or, whenever he’s being nice, Pea Pod), many readers know what the quirky, crazy-lovable third grader Clementine means when she says, “Spectacularful ideas are always sproinging up in my brain.”

What makes the Vineyard a special place for growing plants? C.L. Fornari, writer of garden information and radio host of the Saturday morning program Garden Line on WXTK (95.1 FM) is “happy to say that gardening and agriculture on the Island is thriving.”

Speaking to a packed audience at the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club April meeting, Ms. Fornari presented a slide show of selected photographs from her soon-to-be-published book, A Garden Lover’s Martha’s Vineyard.

Why do some washashores to the Island stay ashore while others drift away?

The question had settled in Island author Elaine Pace’s mind for a couple of years. She spent a year talking with people who stayed and the result is Island Home, the stories of 14 pilgrims who visited, then chose to live on the Vineyard.

Subtitled Why People Come to Martha’s Vineyard and Why They Stay, the self-published book hits Island bookstores today. The book joins Island, a Memoir, Ms. Pace’s first book, published in 2005.

Vineyard-born author A.F. Cook (known to many Islanders as the artist Anne Cook) recently published her first book, Democrats in the Red Zone: an Independent Voter’s Take on the Game of Political Perception. The book looks at the Democratic Party’s strategic failures through the lens of a football fan — specifically, a longtime New England Patriots fan.

Celebrate National Poetry Month with readings by three published Chilmark poets: Margaret (Peggy) Howe Freydberg, John Maloney and Donald Nitchie. The authors will read some of their favorite poems on Wednesday, April 9, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library.

Ms. Freydberg recently celebrated her 100th birthday at the library surrounded by family, friends and poetry written by her and especially for her. Ms. Freydberg is the author of several novels, a memoir, a book of short stories and two poetry books, Evening on the Pond and Wanting.

Storyteller and author Susan Klein will recount her Island childhood in a special free performance at the Old Whaling Church on Saturday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m., sponsored by the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank.

A signed copy of Ms. Klein’s book, Through a Ruby Window: A Martha’s Vineyard Childhood, will be given out to the first 250 people at the event. Immediately following the presentation Ms Klein will meet guests at a reception with refreshments in the Baylies Room downstairs.