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I loved reading this magical, whimsical tale to my children! With beautiful illustrations throughout this is the perfect gift for children and grandchildren aged 5-12 this Christmas! Talking animals, a magical train and an adventure to save the world, The Silver Arrow is a Narnia like tale that all ages will love reading. (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
An amazing new first novel by award winning non-fiction author, Ta-nehisi Coates! Though it is a slave story of which there are many, Coates' focus on family separation really hit a nerve in our current political climate. However he was not heavy handed with this message and the novel was really the personal journeys of the characters. I loved the magical realism element and wanted to know more about the Underground Railroad in Virginia. I highly recommend this book! (One World)
This imaginative novel was a wild ride through the Canadian lands of indigenous people and their myths of the Rogauru. I loved every minute of this super inventive original tale of a husband gone missing and his wife who won't give up. After 11 months of searching, Joan discovers Victor at a tent revival and he has no memory of his life before. He is battling the Rogauru within him as she has to face the evil man who is controlling him on the outside. And there seems to be a sinister plot to trick native peoples to allow mining on their land.......
There is so much in this short book it's too hard to explain, just read it! (William Morrow)
This unique memoir tackles the universal question of how well do we know our parents? Deb, a reporter and comedian sets out to discover why his father left his mother and the country suddenly without explanation in his youth. He also seeks to reconnect with his estranged mother after years without communication. What follows is an immediately identifiable journey within to rediscover people we think we have known our entire lives
Here We Are is one of my all time favorite children’s titles. In the vein of Vonnegut's, Welcome to Earth essay, Jeffers gives us an informational and heart-warming guide to life on earth for newborns and older kids to share with their siblings. With inventive and unique art, this is my go-to gift for families. And, out this Christmas, look for the sequel, What We'll Build : Plans For Our Together Future.
Think beyond yourself. Have patience. Challenge the norm. Keep on striving. These are some of the bite-sized pieces of wisdom from the amazing RBG that you can enjoy yourself or give as a gift! Perfect inspiration for any age!
This lovely coffee table book is packed with information, pictures and graphics from Ruth's life. In an accessible way, it shares the most important events of one of the most influential women of our time! She dedicated this book to "the women's shoulders before her that she stood on." Now, we stand on her small, but mighty shoulders to carry on her legacy.
This novel is a "Gentleman-in-Moscow-esque" saga set along the US/Mexico border in the 1950's. The main character Fulgencio comes from a poverty stricken family. He dedicates his life to making more of himself by working hard with dignity and building heartfelt connections with those around him, including his soulmate. The publisher says: "Through enchanting language about the porous nature of borders--cultural, geographic and otherworldly--this story offers a vision of how the past has divided us and how the future could unite us." Gorgeously written this novel is perfect for fans of Love in the Time of Cholera.
This may just be my favorite book of the year, and I read a LOT of books! It’s funny, sad, mysterious, and extremely insightful. It will challenge your assumptions about people, and also give you so much hope. I think this is Backman’s best book yet. "Rich with Fredrik Backman’s 'pitch-perfect dialogue and an unparalleled understanding of human nature' (Shelf Awareness), Anxious People is an ingeniously constructed story about the enduring power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope—the things that save us, even in the most anxious times.” (Atria Books)
Letters of Politics, Pandemic, and Place is, simply put, amazing. A series of correspondence between these two fierce environmentalists and supremely talented writers will have you in tears and also remind you of what’s really important. Once again, I am stunned by both of their abilities to put words together. What a gem of a book. (Torrey House Press)
Adults who love this genre know that YA books often dare to just "go there" better than adult books do, and this one is a happy example of "why not!?" Incorporating relationships and various serious issues that are painfully real, sci-fi that is just wacky enough, and teen romance to make your heart go a little mushy, Sia Martinez is a heroine you wish you knew in real life. (Simon Pulse)
Sometimes (oftentimes) life is just one kick in the pants after another, and sometimes you just have to put on your panda bear costume and do your best to kick it back. Pick up this book if you could use some laugh-out-loud moments in your life right now. A great gift for someone who needs a heartwarming pick-me-up (which don't we all in these trying times?). (Scribner)
This is a really fun series about a young horse who discovers a magical secret about herself in the first book. In each of the following books she goes on adventures with a fun cast of very different friends from plant pixies to flying horses to a nosy toucan. We loved every book in this series! (Little Bee Books)
Hilda is a young girl who lives in a valley filled with magical creatures like trolls, elves and giants. She gets pulled into an adventure when she discovers her house, that she thought was just surrounded by meadow, is actually surrounded by invisible elves who want her and her mom to leave the valley. Along with her fox deer friend Twig she must face the elf king and in doing so create peace in her beloved valley. The illustrations are super fun and this is a great read-aloud for the whole family! (Flying Eye Books)
Beautifully illustrated and a wildly imaginative story, Barnabus is a science project gone wrong. Join him and the other "failed" projects on an adventure as they escape the underground lab where they are being held captive. There is so much detail in all of the illustrations that we loved just looking at them and discovering all there was to see. (Tundra)
This is a story of a silly goat who really prefers to be free from his pen rolling in the grass and eating flowers. When he escapes he doesn't go far and never causes trouble except for all of the things the silly humans try to blame him for. When mom's garden gets trampled by her sons playing ball they blame the goat and so each time he gets out he is blamed for something else until finally everyone admits to their mistakes. Illustrated by the artist who brought us Fancy Nancy this is a whimsical tale to explain what it means to blame a (e)scapegoat. (Harper Collins)
Book Club: November 18th at 6:30pm via Zoom Check the Events Tab for Zoom LInk
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert).
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return. (Milkweed Editions)
Book Club: December 16th at 6:30pm Check our Events Tab for Zoom Link
A charming, warmhearted novel from the author of the New York Times bestseller A Man Called Ove.
Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy—as in standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at- strangers crazy. She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother’s stories, in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.
When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry is told with the same comic accuracy and beating heart as Fredrik Backman’s bestselling debut novel, A Man Called Ove. It is a story about life and death and one of the most important human rights: the right to be different.
