Staff Picks
August 2023
Strange Sally Diamond
by Liz Nugent
Posted in: Adult Fiction
April & Mae and the Tea Party
by Megan Dowd Lambert
April and Mae are best friends, and so are their pets. On Sundays they have a tea party where Mae prepares the table and April puts on a show. Unfortunately, on this particular Sunday things go awry when April tries out a new act and accidently upsets Mae. April & Mae and the Tea Party by Megan Dowd Lambert tells the story of how these best friends work through their argument and save their friendship. There is a book in the series for each day of the week where the two best friends experience different activities, emotions, and challenges together. Beginner readers who enjoy Cynthia Rylant’s Annie and Snowball series or Eve Bunting’s Frog and Friends series will be sure to love this friendship too!
Recommended by: Erin Cady, Youth Services Reference Librarian I
Posted in: Youth Fiction
Something Wild
by Molly Ruttan
Posted in: Youth Fiction
One last shot : the story of wartime photographer Gerda Taro
by Kip Wilson
This novel told in verse covers the short life of Gerda Taro, a German photojournalist and the first woman photojournalist killed in combat. Told in the first person point of view, Taro’s activism to expose fascism is connected with her relationship with photographer André Friedmann (later known as Robert Capa).Their photographs were in great demand and they found themselves covering the Spanish Civil War up close at the front of the fighting. Taro was forgotten until 2007 when a “Mexican Suitcase” (3 boxes) collection of 4500 Spanish Civil War negatives was discovered. The boxes had been in storage in Mexico City for decades. A Doodle commemorating her birthday led the author to write this book.
Recommended by: Joan Stoiber, Youth Services Reference Librarian 1
Posted in: Youth Fiction
Underground Fire: Hope, Sacrifice, and Courage in the Cherry Mine Disaster
by Sally M. Walker
The town of Cherry, Illinois still exists and is the setting for the latest non-fiction book written by Sally M. Walker. On Saturday November 13, 1909 a fire began in part of the mine that eventually killed hundreds of men. The rescue efforts continued for eight days until the mine was sealed. Walker’s account relates the tragedy from the miners’ efforts to survive as well as the rescuers’ efforts to save them. The Cherry Mine Disaster remains one of the worst coal mining disasters in United States. The disaster led to changes in mining and labor regulations.
Recommended by: Joan Stoiber, Youth Services Reference Librarian 1
Posted in: Youth Nonfiction
Take
by Jennifer Bradbury
A young adult novel by the author of Shift, in which the author once again captures the interpersonal relationships young adults experience with each other, with family, and with society. Cara and her ex-boyfriend Nat (not an ex due to her decision) take on a challenging rock climb in the Cascade Mountains as they must find her father, who went climbing alone. Navigating the mountains they uncover a family secret that has implications for generations as WWII and the Japanese Incarceration Camps determined the fate of her ancestors.
Recommended by: Joan Stoiber, Youth Services Reference Librarian I
Posted in: Young Adult Fiction
The Enigma of Room 622
by Joel Dicker
After Sloane gets tired of Joel abandoning her for his novel and leaves him, Joel decides he needs to get away. What he does not expect is to meet Scarlett, and end up investigating a murder that took place at the hotel years earlier and led to them changing room 622 to 621A. The writing, the story, the twists, all made this story fantastic.
This book is available in the library and on OverDrive/Libby as an e audiobook.
Recommended by: Chris Schultz, Graphics Information Clerk
Posted in: Adult Fiction
The Only One Left
by Riley Sager
Kit McDeere is a home health aid and after having a problem with her last assignment she is now left with no choice but to work at Hope’s End, the infamous house where three people were murdered and the lone survivor, Lenora Hope, is Kit’s patient. Most people believe Lenora is responsible for the murders and she has been ostracized and feared the majority of her life. Now, Lenora is in her 70’s, confined to a wheelchair and paralyzed. Her only method of communication is through her typewriter.
A lot of these types of thrillers I am able to anticipate and predict most endings but the amount of twists and turns in the last 100 pages, most of which I did not see coming, caught me off guard.
This book is available in the library and on OverDrive/Libby as an ebook and e audiobook
Recommended by: Chris Schultz, Graphics Information Clerk
Posted in: Adult Fiction
Small Spaces
by Katherine Arden
Lately, Ollie’s only comfort is in books. After a fiasco at school that involves a thrown rock and her classmate’s injured head, Ollie just wants to get to her favorite spot by the creek and read. What she finds when she arrives at the creek both shocks and unnerves her. A woman, crying uncontrollably, is trying to throw a little black book into the creek. Ollie just can’t let that happen. She steals the woman’s book and runs away, with just one warning from this mysterious woman: “Keep to small spaces at night.” After staying up late reading this new find, she discovers the story tells of a someone known as the Smiling Man. But morning soon arrives, and Ollie has a field trip to attend. When the bus breaks down on the ride home, suddenly Ollie’s watch reads just one word: “Run.” Ollie listens, and only two of her friends join her. They run into the woods, unable to shake the feeling that all the scarecrows they pass are watching them. As the three of them run, keeping to small spaces at night, Ollie realizes that this little black book might be able to explain whatever evil is taking place in her town, and how to stop it. If you are looking for something creepy and hair-raising, Small Spaces should be your next read.
This book is available in the library and on OverDrive/Libby as an ebook and e sudiobook.
Recommended by: Stephanie Visser, Youth Services Reference Librarian I
Posted in: Youth Fiction
Monsters in the Mist
by Juliana Brandt
A creepy ghost story that takes place at a lighthouse overlooking Lake Superior, “the lake, it is said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy”. Glennon McCue finds himself with his Mom and sister on an island that seemingly doesn’t exist on any map yet there are inhabitants who may or may not be real. To try to save his mother and sister before the Waning, the family must confront the emotional and physical abuse the father exerted on the family for years and haunts them. Monsters can be living and dead.
Recommended by: Joan Stoiber, Youth Services Reference Librarian I
Posted in: Youth Fiction