**Video may contain spoilers**
Join APL staff each week for a discussion of some of their current reads! Each week they will discuss a book from a different genre. Join the discussion live on at Facebook.com/AuroraLibrary each Friday at 1 p.m. (MST) and leave your thoughts in the comments below!
The next discussion will be at 1 p.m. on July 17, 2020 on our Facebook page and will feature "Commute" by Erin Williams (available instantly on hoopladigital.com).
Other upcoming titles, all available instantly from hoopla digital, include:
- July 24, "The Goblin Emperor" by Katherine Addison
- July 31, "FantasticLand" by Mike Bockoven
Family Book Club
with Tess
It's a new month and time for our next Family Book Club read!
"The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles" by Julie Andrews Edwards
Reading Schedule
- Week 1 (July 6-12): Read Part 1 (5 chapters); Discussion blog posted on Monday, July 13
- Week 2 (July 13-19): Read Part 2 (8 chapters); Discussion blog on Mon, July 20
- Week 3 (July 20-26): Read Part 3 (8 chapters) & epilogue; Discussion blog and activity on Mon, July 27
To put a copy of the book on hold to be picked up during Curbside Pickup hours, please call 303.627.3050.
**Video may contain spoilers**
Join APL staff each week for a discussion of some of their current reads! Each week they will discuss a book from a different genre. Join the discussion live on at Facebook.com/AuroraLibrary each Friday at 1 p.m. (MST) and leave your thoughts in the comments below!
The next discussion will be at 1 p.m. on July 10, 2020 on our Facebook page and will feature "Desperadoes" by Ron Hansen (available instantly on hoopladigital.com).
Other upcoming titles, all available instantly from hoopla digital, include:
- July 17, "Commute" by Erin Williams
- July 24, "The Goblin Emperor" by Katherine Addison
- July 31, "FantasticLand" by Mike Bockoven
Family Book Club
with Tess
It's a new month and time for our next Family Book Club read!
"The Whangdoodle was once the wisest, the kindest and the most extraordinary creature in the world" but it, along with many other splendid and strange creatures, have disappeared, creating for themselves a secret land to live in peace away from people. Most humans have forgotten them but, with the help of Professor Savant, three children discover the way to Whangdoodleland.
Join the Family Book Club (all online!) and read this exciting fantasy/adventure written by the great Julie Andrews! To put a copy of the book on hold to be picked up during Curbside Pickup hours, please call 303.627.3050.
We will have discussion questions every Monday on our blog and, in the final week, a fun activity!
Family Book Club
with Tess
"The Turnaway Girls" by Hayley Chewins
Chapters 32 - 41
- Were you surprised by what Mother Nine said to Delphernia? Were you surprised by Delphernia's reaction to her?
- How did you feel when Delphernia founds out her mother is still alive and that the Childer-Queen and Bly are her family?
- How do they save Linna and change Blightsend?
- Did you like this novel? What were your favorite things?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Activity:
Follow these instructions to make clay birds. When you come to the painting part, paint them gold 🙂
**Video may contain spoilers**
Join APL staff each week for a discussion of some of their current reads! Each week they will discuss a book from a different genre. Join the discussion live on at Facebook.com/AuroraLibrary each Friday at 1 p.m. (MST) and leave your thoughts in the comments below!
The next discussion will be at 1 p.m. on July 3, 2020 on our Facebook page and will feature "Reclaiming Home" by Lesego Malepe (available instantly on hoopladigital.com).
Other upcoming titles, all available instantly from hoopla digital, include:
- July 10, "Desperadoes" by Ron Hansen
- July 17, "Commute" by Erin Williams
- July 24, "The Goblin Emperor" by Katherine Addison
Family Book Club
with Tess
"The Turnaway Girls" by Hayley Chewins
Chapters 23 - 31
- Linna wants everyone to be able to choose what they want to do (make shimmer, music, etc.). How do you feel about Blightsend being so controlling with everyone having one role assigned to them and no freedom to change it?
- The birds represent freedom. When Delphernia sings, she creates golden birds. What does Bly say they really are?
- What has Bly made and how can Delphernia's birds help him?
- Mother Nine has found Delphernia. Why do you think she has come out of the cloister?
- We are nearing the end of the book! What do you think will happen?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Rainbow Reads A Librarian Recommends
by Elizabeth
Hi, everyone! Happy Pride! It may not be safe out there to hold a parade, but that doesn’t mean there’s no way to celebrate this month. Whatever your Pride flag or reading preference, the Aurora Public Library has a book recommendation for you! We’ve created several Pinterest boards based around fun themes: the LGBTQ spectrum, yes, but also books with magic, graphic novels, books as sweet as cotton candy, books guaranteed to make you laugh, books that will definitely make you find a tissue box, and more! All of the Pinterest board books are ebooks, at least at this time, so that you can enjoy them from the comfort of your own home. However, there are even more books available through our curbside pickup system! Here are five of my personal favorites: some are ebooks, some are curbside, and all of them are incredible. Bonus: they’re all summer reads! (Well, all but the first one. You’ll see.)
"Gideon the Ninth" by Tamsyn Muir
Category: Epic Fantasy and Sci-fi
Representation: lesbian
Available through: curbside pickup, Overdrive
I can sum up this book in three words: “lesbian space necromancers.” Either that sounds too wild for you or you’re already online ordering a copy from the library. "Gideon the Ninth" is one of those books you’ll either love or hate: I love every award-winning page, from our sword-fighting star Gideon’s ill-fated escape attempt from her dismal home planet to the summons that changes everything. Gideon and royal heir Harrow must go to a distant planet to compete in a deadly puzzle challenge for the emperor. The prize? Immortality. The problem? Gideon and Harrow hate each other, Gideon’s only faking being a bodyguard, and there’s something sketchy about this whole competition that no one’s seen fit to reveal. Everything in this book from the plot to the word choice zings with energy. If you love this book (and I hope you will!), our library has the sequel. (And I know this isn’t technically a summer read, but consider: every season could be summer, if you’re in space.)
"Felix Ever After" by Kacen Callender
Category: High School Struggles
Representation: trans, bisexual
Available through: curbside pickup
Felix Love has never been in love. That’s the problem, he thinks: how can he make good art in his summer school’s art program if he’s never even been in love in the first place? But when an anonymous bully posts pictures of Felix before he transitioned all over school and starts sending transphobic messages, Felix vows revenge: he’s going to catfish the most likely suspect to get some information. Life gets complicated fast: Felix’s sneaky detective Instagram plan soon turns into a complicated love triangle, and Felix begins to question whether he fits as neatly in boxes as he imagined. Kacen Callender’s an incredible author: their book "King and the Dragonflies" is a heart-wrenching read for middle schoolers, and "Felix Ever After" handles its complicated teen protagonist withgrace. If you love this book, you can check out Callender’s other work through the library!
"Lumberjanes" by Shannon Waters, Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis & Brooke Allen
Category: Magic is for Everyone, Graphic Novels, Summer Fun
Representation: trans, lesbian, bisexual
Available through: Hoopla, curbside, Overdrive
Sometimes, you just want a fun graphic novel about a summer camp getting hopelessly disrupted by crazy magical monsters. Lumberjanes, the fabulous comic book series by the author of the recent She-Ra reboot, is there for you. Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley don’t mean to end up fighting supernatural foxes, taking on Greek gods, and helping mermaids start a concert. That’s just how summer camp goes at Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types. Each of the friends brings something different to the team, whether it’s puzzles, puns, planning, or kittens and cupcakes. Before long, you’ll be wishing you could have had a summer camp experience this unique. If you love this book, you can read more in the series or check out Mooncakes for more magical creatures and shenanigans.
"If It Makes You Happy" by Claire Kann
Category: Summer Fun, Cooking Adventures, Romantic Comedies
Representation: asexual, bisexual, polyamorous
Available through: curbside pickup
Winnie has a busy summer. She’s the Summer Queen, which means public speaking (her greatest nemesis) and flirting with the impossibly cute Dallas. She’s working at her granny’s diner, and she wants to enter a cooking competition, but her grandmother won’t hear of it. She’s trying to work things out with her not-girlfriend, Kara, who doesn’t like this Dallas situation at all. She’s looking out for her little brother, and, oh yeah, she really wishes everyone would stop telling her to lose some weight. "If It Makes You Happy" would be cupcakes, if it had a flavor: sugary and impossibly sweet, colorful and fun to eat. If you love this book, try "You Should See Me in a Crown" for more “prom queen / Summer Queen” fun.
"The House in the Cerulean Sea" by TJ Klune
Category: Found Families, Magic is for Everyone
Representation: gay
Available through: curbside pickup
Take X-Men and make it twice as adorable, with no comic book battles and a sassy kid Antichrist, and you have The House in the Cerulean Sea, my new comfort book extraordinaire. Linus Baker is a case worker with the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, and he’ll be the first to tell you he’s boring: he’s read the book of regulations cover to cover, he always follows procedure, and he’s certain that, in his forties, every chance of excitement has passed him by. Enter Arthur Parnassus: master of an orphanage filled with particularly unusual children, like a living garden gnome, a were-dog, and Lucy (short for Lucifer). Linus’s job is to go observe this orphanage and report back, but as he visits this charming place, he realizes that maybe the organization he’s dedicated his life to might be wrong. Can Linus really find family on this too-magical island? If you love this, try "Steven Universe" for another unusual magical family on a beach.
Thanks for tuning in! I hope you enjoy these reads - I know I did.
Please let me know if you have any that you adore, and happy Pride!
Family Book Club
with Tess
"The Turnaway Girls" by Haley Chewins
Chapters 11-21
- What do you think of Blightsend? I imagine an island full of strange fruit and mystical birds.
- Why do you think everyone has their role and cannot change it? The masters make music, the turnaway girls turn the music into shimmer. No one thinks to do anything different... except Delphernia, Bly, and Linna. What would you do if you lived there?
- What do you think the birds represent? Delphernia can turn her own singing into golden birds but Bly captures one. She also has a special connection with cloisterwings.
- Delphernia wants to be free but has a secret she is afraid will mean her death. Do you think she'll ever tell?
- Do you think the Childer-Queen is a good character or a bad one? Does she have a secret she is afraid to share?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below! Next week we'll discuss chapters 22-31.
**Video may contain spoilers**
Join APL staff each week for a discussion of some of their current reads! Each week they will discuss a book from a different genre. Join the discussion live on at Facebook.com/AuroraLibrary each Friday at 1 p.m. (MST) and leave your thoughts in the comments below!
The next discussion will be at 1 p.m. on June 12, 2020 on our Facebook page and will feature "Fire Logic" by Laurie J. Marks (available instantly on hoopladigital.com).
Other upcoming titles, all available instantly from hoopla digital, include:
- June 26, "Get a Life, Chloe Brown" (Part 1 of The Brown Sisters Series) by Talia Hibbert
- July 3, "Reclaiming Home" by Lesego Malepe
- July 10, "Desperadoes" by Ron Hansen
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