What to read this week: New books by Kim Brooks, Robin Green and Jennifer Baker

SMALL ANIMALS: Parenthood in the Age of Fear, by Kim Brooks. In 2011, the author left her 4-year-old son alone in the car for five minutes as she ran into Target to purchase a pair of headphones. She was recorded by a stranger who contacted the police. Was she a bad mother? Or just a harried parent who made a bad choice in the moment? Brooks uses her story — and the legal fallout — as a springboard to examine the "rise of fearful parenting"  in our society. (Flatiron, $26.99)

THE ONLY GIRL: My Life and Times on the Masthead of "Rolling Stone," by Robin Green. In 1970, the author interviewed with Jann Wenner for a job at Rolling Stone magazine, becoming the first woman writer on the masthead. "Never write about me, OK?" he told her when she left. Fortunately, Green disregarded that request to produce a gloriously unvarnished account of her RS years (with cameos by Dennis Hopper, Hunter S. Thompson, Warren Beatty) and beyond (she became a TV writer/producer and co-created "Blue Bloods"). (Little, Brown; $28)

EVERYDAY PEOPLE: The Color of Life — A Short Story Anthology, edited by Jennifer Baker. This new anthology collects stories by writers of color — a gift for readers looking to diversify their fiction reading. Among the better-known writers in these pages are Yiyun Li, Mitchell S. Jackson, Alexander Chee, Mia Alvar and Jason Reynolds, but there are discoveries, too. What to read next? A thorough list of books by writers of color who are women, nonbinary, transgender or indigenous will send you back to the bookstore or library for more. (Atria, $17 paper)