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Hey teens, let’s talk! :)

I'm Taylor, one of the Youth Services librarians over at Central Library.

Cartoon Taylor

Each month at the Aurora Public Library, I cover a variety of topics for teens. This month’s blog is all about mental health.

Swing by the Aurora Central Library's teen area to browse books, resources, and/or activities related to the monthly topic.


Teen Talk Mental Health

What is Mental Health?

Mental health refers to our cognitive, behavioral, and emotional well-being. In simpler terms, mental health affects how we think, behave, and feel—which then can affect our daily lives, relationships, and physical health. Conditions such as stress, anxiety, depression, and addiction (as a few examples), can turn a person’s daily life upside down.

Read more here: MedicalNewsToday.com

Mental Health Is Isn't list

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” The WHO stress that mental health is “more than just the absence of mental disorders or disabilities.” Peak mental health is about not only avoiding active conditions but also looking after ongoing wellness and happiness.

The 10 Tools for Living Mentally Healthy:
1. Connect with others
2. Stay positive
3. Get physically active
4. Help others
5. Get enough Sleep
6. Create joy and satisfaction
7. Eat well
8. Take care of your spirit
9. Deal better with hard times
10. Get professional help if you need it

Read more about how to incorporate these practices into your life here: MHANational.org/ten-tools

Mental Health Check

Never forget: Your mental health MATTERS.

Read more:


Explore books & eContent regarding mental health:

Resources are also available at Aurora Mental Health.

Check back next month for our next Teen Talk!

Come join me every Thursday at 4 p.m. for our weekly Teen Hang at the Aurora Central Library. I'd love to meet you and hear about what topics you’d like featured.


Taylor's signature
-Taylor (she/her)

Posted by [email protected]  On May 02, 2022 at 2:12 PM
  
Teen Talk. Photo of teens laughing together.
 
Hey teens, let’s talk! J

I'm Taylor, one of the Youth Services librarians at Aurora Central Library.  

Cartoon Taylor  
 
Each month at the Aurora Public Library, I cover a variety of topics for teens. This month’s blog is all about sexual health.
  
Swing by the Aurora Central Library's teen area to browse books, resources and activities related to the monthly topic. 

Text: Let's talk about sex. Pop art style of two people with hand cupped around mouth, like shouting.

April is STD (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) Awareness Month! I didn’t know this, but it seems so fitting given that this month’s blog post is all about sexual health. Let me begin by saying sexual health is not only about preventing STDs  it encompasses a whole range of topics related to your changing body, sexual relationships and overall health. 

Some of the things you will read in this blog post may be new to you, lead you to feel uncomfortable or awkward and have you asking more questions than you did before — and that is all okay! It’s normal. You are not alone in your feelings. This is a safe space. 

Real talk: Growing up I did not have access to a lot of information regarding my sexual health. This left me feeling a sense of personal shame, confused and even stupid at times. It also affected my physical health, leading to a handful of STDs as well as an unplanned pregnancy. I hope this blog post will help you feel more informed regarding your health as well as capable of having a conversation with a trusted adult if you need more information and questions answered. 

Graphic that reads Your Sexual Health Matters 

•  KidsHealth.org has one of the most comprehensive lists I’ve seen regarding adolescent and teen sexual health. I’d highly recommend exploring this page to get some of your (potentially embarrassing) questions answered.

Sex, etc. has a sex ed dictionary with almost 400 words you need to know. - https://sexetc.org/sex-ed/sex-terms/

Puberty
Puberty is a time of emotional and physical change. You can feel out of control and confused at what is happening inside of you. However uncomfortable, awkward and scary it may be these feelings will not last forever and are all part of normal growth and development.

Graphic of what happens during puberty
 
Resources about Puberty
· Puberty Topics (Videos)
· Everything You Wanted to Know About Puberty
· Puberty & Development Information
· Puberty 101

Masturbation
"What is it about masturbation that provokes such negative reactions from so many people? Shame, silence and stigma are common adult reactions to the topic.

Yet, the topic of masturbation is consistently mentioned in all the groups of students with whom I’ve worked. Students often ask if it is okay. Silence from adults communicates stigma to our young people: masturbation is shameful and taboo. So, young people learn not to talk about it. They hide their questions and behavior from the adults who love and care for them. Our children develop unhealthy attitudes about the ways their bodies work and feel during puberty.

[I]t is normal if someone does masturbate, and it is also normal if someone does not masturbate. Whether or not a person masturbates is an individual choice” (Wendy Sellers, 2016).

Masturbation: Totally Normal (Video)


Healthy Relationships 
Graphic listing healthy signs and warning signs for relationships

· Healthy Relationships 
· 6 Simple Ways to Understand Consent (Video)
· Consent: What Does it Mean?
· How to Tell Your Partner What You’re Ready (or Not Ready) for Sexually


STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases)
STDs come with a lot of stigma and shame… Why? Despite what you may think, more people have had an STD at some point in their life than not. 

While a handful of STDs are not a big deal if treated (usually just an antibiotic for a couple weeks), if left untreated they can severely impact your life. That is why it is important to get tested regularly if you are sexually active and communicate with any sexual partners you have.

· Free, Safe, & Confidential Testing
· Do You Have an STD? You're Not the Only One
· How To Tell Someone That You Have an STD or STI
· 10 Signs You May Have an STD or STI
· How Do Teen Couples Talk About STDs?


Pregnancy
Unplanned pregnancy can be scary and overwhelming. There are three options: raising the child, having an abortion or placing the child for adoption. It is important remember that there is no “right” option, each one is a choice — a hard one, but still yours to make. 
· Pregnant?
· Experiencing an Unplanned Pregnancy? You have options.
· The Adoption Option
· Birth Mothers Share What They Want Adoptive Parents to Know


Birth Control
 Chart showing how well various forms of birth control work
What’s the Best Birth Control for Teens?

***The most effective way to prevent pregnancy and STDs is by practicing abstinence -- meaning not having sex or any intimate genital contact (including anal sex or oral sex).***

Explore books & eContent regarding sexual health: 

 
Check back next month for our next Teen Talk!  

Come join me every Thursday at 4 p.m. for our weekly Teen Hang at Aurora Central Library. I'd love to meet you and hear about what topics you’d like featured.  
 

Taylor's signature
-Taylor (she/her)


Posted by [email protected]  On Apr 05, 2022 at 9:33 AM
  
Teen Talk. Photo of teens laughing together.
 
Hey teens, let’s talk! 

I'm Taylor, one of the Youth Services librarians at Aurora Central Library.  
Cartoon Taylor  
 
Each month at the Aurora Public Library, I cover a variety of topics for teens. This month’s blog is all about self-love.  
Swing by the Aurora Central Library's teen area to browse books, resources, and activities related to the monthly topic. 

Cartoon of person hugging himself 

Self-love. We hear this term quite frequently nowadays, but… What does it really mean? How do we cultivate it? Why is it important?

Self-love: “regard for one's own well-being and happiness” –Oxford Dictionary 

Self love in heart in center. Phrases on colorful sections around the heart. Phrases include don't compare yourself, note the things you're proud of, let go of past mistakes, say yes to things you love, speak kindly to yourself and let yourself rest.


Self-Love and What It Means:

“Self-love is a state of appreciation for oneself that grows from actions that support our physical, psychological and spiritual
growth. Self-love means having a high regard for your own well-being and happiness. Self-love means taking care of
your own needs and not sacrificing your well-being to please others. Self-love means not settling for less than you deserve.” 

The line that really sticks out to me in this definition is: “Self-love means taking care of your own needs and not sacrificing your well-being to please others.”

I struggle a lot with ignoring my own needs in order to remain “responsible, productive, or a good friend/partner” when it actually is hurting me and hinders my ability to show up for my friends, family and coworkers. It is easy to push, push, push and think we are doing what is right. However, our bodies and minds will find ways to slow us down and stop us if we are not paying attention to our needs. Practicing self-love and learning what you need is difficult and does not happen overnight. Remember to give yourself some grace and trust yourself. 

Examples of self-love:
• Talking to and about yourself with love
• Prioritizing yourself
• Giving yourself a break from self-judgement
• Trusting yourself
• Being true to yourself
• Being nice to yourself
• Setting healthy boundaries
• Forgiving yourself when you aren’t being true or nice to yourself
 
A list of various ways one can practice self-love

How to (Really) Practice Self Love: 4 Things to Remember:

“Self-love isn’t just saying yes to things that we enjoy, it’s saying no to things that don’t serve us. Is that thing you’re doing self-care or self-sabotage? Are you not responding to messages because you’re holding a boundary or are you not responding because you are withdrawing and isolating? Just like every other skill  we have to learn, it takes practice and constant work.”

While self-love sometimes is doing things like taking a bath, seeing friends, cooking a healthy meal—it also is about doing those hard things, like cutting out toxic people from your life, saying no to a commitment because you do not have the capacity to fulfill it, or following through on something challenging, even if you are nervous to try. It is about finding a balance between pushing yourself and trusting your own limits. That what is tricky. Sometimes self-love is saying no. Other times self-love is saying yes, even though you want to say no. It takes practice and intention to figure out what your true needs are and what your capacity is.

A list of examples of what self love might look like

Graphic showing elements of self-love

Other articles to explore:
A Seven-Step Prescription for Self-Love
Self-Love is Tough, But Not Impossible
Why Self-Love is Important and How to Cultivate It

What's your self-love language? With lists of various examples. 

Check back in March for our next Teen Talk! 

Join me every Thursday at 4 p.m. for our weekly Teen Hang at Aurora Central Library (14949 E. Alameda Pkwy.). I'd love to meet you and hear about what topics you’d like featured. 
 
- Taylor is cursive

 
Posted by [email protected]  On Feb 08, 2022 at 12:36 PM
  
Breaking Down Barriers. Image of castle. Aurora Public Library logo.
 

Breaking Down LGBTQA+ Barriers in Teen and Adult Fiction

“Cemetery Boys” by Aiden Thomas 
Cover of "Cemetery Boys"Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him. 
 
When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. 
 
However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie up some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave. 


“Carry On” by Rainbow Rowell 
Cover of "Carry On"Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who's ever been chosen. 
 
That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right. 
 
Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here — it's their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up.  


“The Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue” by Mackenzi Lee 
Cover of "A Gentlemen's Guide to Vice and Virtue"Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men. 
 
But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy. 
 
Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores. 


“Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction” by Brit Mandelo 
Cover of "Beyond Binary"Speculative fiction is the literature of questions, of challenges and imagination, and what better to question than the ways in which gender and sexuality have been rigidly defined, partitioned off, put in little boxes? These seventeen stories explore the ways in which identity can go beyond binary from space colonies to small college towns, from angels to androids, and from a magical past to other worlds entirely, the authors in this collection have brought to life wonderful tales starring people who proudly define (and redefine) their own genders, sexualities, identities, and so much else in between. 

 

 


“Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time” by Hope Nicholson 
Cover of "Love Beyond"Love Beyond, Body, Space, and Time" is a collection of indigenous science fiction and urban fantasy focusing on LGBT and two-spirit characters. These stories range from a transgender woman trying an experimental transition medication to young lovers separated through decades and meeting far in their own future. These are stories of machines and magic, love, and self-love. 

 




 

Breaking Down Protagonists of Color Barriers in Teen and Adult Fiction

“Dread Nation” by Justina Ireland 
Cover of "Dread Nation"Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations. 

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems. 
 

“Children of Blood and Bone” by Tomi Adeyemi 
Cover of "Children of Blood and Bone"Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls. 
 
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope. 
 
Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good. 
 
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.  
 

“Legendborn” by Tracy Deonn 
Cover of "Legendborn"After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus. 
 
A flying demon feeding on human energies. 
 
A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down. 
 
And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw. 
 
The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates. 
 
She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.  

 
“The Gilda Stories” by Jewelle Gomez 
Cover of "The Gilda Stories"The winner of two Lambda Literary Awards (fiction and science fiction) The Gilda Stories is a very lesbian American odyssey. Escaping from slavery in the 1850s Gilda's longing for kinship and community grows over two hundred years. Her induction into a family of benevolent vampyres takes her on an adventurous and dangerous journey full of loud laughter and subtle terror.  

 






“The Poppy War” by R. F. Kuang 
Cover of "The Poppy War"A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic, in the tradition of Ken Liu’s Grace of Kings and N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy. 
 
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising. 
 
But surprises aren’t always good.  

 

Breaking Down Non-Ableist Barriers in Teen and Adult Fiction

“The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks” by Mackenzi Lee 
Cover of "The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks"Return to the enchanting world of the Montague siblings in the finale to the New York Times bestselling and Stonewall Honor-winning series, featuring a teenage Adrian Montague as he desperately seeks the now adult Monty and Felicity—the older siblings he never knew he had. 

Adrian Montague has a bright future. The sole heir to his father's estate, he is an up and coming political writer and engaged to an activist who challenges and inspires him. But most young Lords aren't battling the debilitating anxiety Adrian secretly lives with, or the growing fear that it might consume him and all he hopes to accomplish. In the wake of his mother's unexpected death, Adrian is also concerned people will find out that he has the mental illness she struggled with for years. 

When a newly found keepsake of hers—a piece of a broken spyglass—comes into Adrian's possession, he's thrust into the past and finds himself face to face with an older brother he never knew he had. Henry "Monty" Montague has been living quietly in London for years, and his sudden appearance sends Adrian on a quest to unravel family secrets that only the spyglass can answer. 

In pursuit of answers about the relic, the brothers chart a course to locate their sister Felicity. But as they travel between the pirate courts of Rabat, Portuguese islands, the canals of Amsterdam, and into unknown Artic waters, the Montague siblings are thrown into one final adventure as they face a ghostly legend that threatens their whole family.  
 

“Magonia” by Maria Dahvana Headley 
Cover of "Magonia"Since she was a baby, Aza Ray Boyle has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live. So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn’t think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name. 
 
Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found by another. Magonia. 
 
Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—but as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war between Magonia and Earth is coming. In Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?  
 

“The Blade Itself” by Joe Abercrombie 
Cover of "The Blade Itself"Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he's on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian — leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies. 

Nobleman, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules. 

Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it. 

Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glokta a whole lot more difficult. 

Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood. 

Unpredictable, compelling, wickedly funny, and packed with unforgettable characters, The Blade Itself is noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.   
 

“A Curse so Dark and Lonely” by Brit Mandelo 
Cover of "A Curse So Dark and Lonely"Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year, Prince Rhen, the heir of Emberfall, thought he could be saved easily if a girl fell for him. But that was before he turned into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. Before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope. 
 
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, Harper learned to be tough enough to survive. When she tries to save a stranger on the streets of Washington, DC, she's pulled into a magical world. 
 
Break the curse, save the kingdom. Harper doesn't know where she is or what to believe. A prince? A curse? A monster? As she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what's at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.   
 

“For a Muse of Fire” by Heidi Heilig 
Cover of "For a Muse of Fire"Jetta’s family is famed as the most talented troupe of shadow players in the land. With Jetta behind the scrim, their puppets seem to move without string or stick a trade secret, they say. In truth, Jetta can see the souls of the recently departed and bind them to the puppets with her blood. But the old ways are forbidden ever since the colonial army conquered their country, so Jetta must never show never tell. Her skill and fame are her family’s way to earn a spot aboard the royal ship to Aquitan, where shadow plays are the latest rage, and where rumor has it the Mad King has a spring that cures his ills. Because seeing spirits is not the only thing that plagues Jetta. But as rebellion seethes and as Jetta meets a young smuggler, she will face truths and decisions that she never imagined—and safety will never seem so far away. Heidi Heilig creates a world inspired by Asian cultures and French colonialism.    
 

 

Breaking Down Queer and Found Family Barriers in Teen and Adult Fiction

“The Weight of the Stars” by K Ancrm 
cover of "The Weight of the Stars"Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But a career in space isn’t an option for a girl who lives in a trailer park on the wrong side of town. So Ryann becomes her circumstances and settles for acting out and skipping school to hang out with her delinquent friends. 
 
One day she meets Alexandria: a furious loner who spurns Ryann’s offer of friendship. After a horrific accident leaves Alexandria with a broken arm, the two misfits are brought together despite themselves—and Ryann learns her secret: Alexandria’s mother is an astronaut who volunteered for a one-way trip to the edge of the solar system. 
 
Every night without fail, Alexandria waits to catch radio signals from her mother. And its up to Ryann to lift her onto the roof day after day until the silence between them grows into friendship, and eventually something more . . . 
 
In K. Ancrum’s signature poetic style, this slow-burn romance will have you savoring every page.  
 
"Every Heart a Doorway" by Seanan McGuire
Cover of "Every Heart a Doorway"Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children 
No Solicitations 
No Visitors 
No Quests 
 
Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else. 
 
But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children. 
 
Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world. 
 
But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter. 
 
No matter the cost.    
 
“Labyrinth Lost” by Zoraida Cordova 
Cover of "Labyrinth Lost"
Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo she can’t trust, but who may be Alex’s only chance at saving her family.   









“The Gilded Ones” by Namina Forna 
Cover of "The Gilded Ones"Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs. 
 
But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity--and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death. 
 
Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki--near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire's greatest threat. 
 
Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she's ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be--not even Deka herself.  


“The House in the Cerulean Sea” by TJ Klune 
Cover of "The House in the Cerulean Sea"A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret. 
 
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. 
 
When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days. 
 
But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn. 
 
An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.   
Posted by [email protected]  On Feb 05, 2022 at 11:38 AM
  
If You Like That, Try This!

If You Like That, Try This!
by APL Staff

Looking for something new to read? We've got you covered! Check out our staff recommendations for your favorite fantasy books and series and discover something new! Each image links to the item in our catalog so you can play a hold and start enjoying as soon as possible. Let us know in the comments which books is your favorite and which ones you're adding to your to-read list!
 
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Posted by [email protected]  On Feb 05, 2022 at 8:57 AM
  
Book Clubs

As we prepare to say “Farewell” to 2021 and usher in 2022, we’re sharing some of our favorite reads from APL’s many book clubs! Each title was selected by the staff member who runs the book club from each club’s 2021 booklist. Learn more about our book clubs at AuroraGov.org/BookClubs

Non-Fiction Book Club 
Cover of book "My Own Words"Staff Pick: “My Own Words” by Ruth Bader Ginsberg
The first book from Ruth Bader Ginsburg since becoming a Supreme Court Justice in 1993--a witty, engaging, serious, and playful collection of writings and speeches from the woman who has had a powerful and enduring influence on law, women's rights, and popular culture. My Own Words is a selection of writings and speeches by Justice Ginsburg on wide-ranging topics, including gender equality, the workways of the Supreme Court, on being Jewish, on law and lawyers in opera, and on the value of looking beyond US shores when interpreting the US Constitution. Throughout her life Justice Ginsburg has been (and continues to be) a prolific writer and public speaker. This book contains a sampling, selected by Justice Ginsburg and her authorized biographers Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams. Justice Ginsburg has written an Introduction to the book, and Hartnett and Williams introduce each chapter, giving biographical context and quotes gleaned from hundreds of interviews they have conducted. This is a fascinating glimpse into the life of one of America's most influential women

Horror Corner Book Club
Cover of book NOS4A2Staff Pick: “NOS4A2” by Joe Hill
Victoria McQueen has a secret gift for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. On her Raleigh Tuff Burner bike, she makes her way to a rickety covered bridge that, within moments, takes her wherever she needs to go, whether it’s across Massachusetts or across the country. Charles Talent Manx has a way with children. He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland.” Then, one day, Vic goes looking for trouble—and finds Manx. That was a lifetime ago. Now Vic, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx never stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. He’s on the road again and he’s picked up a new passenger: Vic’s own son.

Books at the Bar
Book cover of The BearStaff Pick: “The Bear” by Andrew Krivak
In an Edenic future, a girl and her father live close to the land in the shadow of a lone mountain. They possess a few remnants of civilization: some books, a pane of glass, a set of flint and steel, a comb. The father teaches the girl how to fish and hunt, the secrets of the seasons and the stars. He is preparing her for an adulthood in harmony with nature, for they are the last two left. But when the girl suddenly finds herself alone in an unknown landscape, it is a bear that will lead her back home through a vast wilderness, which offers the greatest lessons of all, if she can only learn to listen. A cautionary tale of human fragility, of love and loss, The Bear is a stunning tribute to the beauty of nature's dominion.




Short Story Book Club
Staff Picks:
- “The Secret Life of Bots” by Suzanne Palmer – Read here
-“State Change” by Ken Liu – Read here
- “Open House on Haunted Hill" by John Wiswell – Read here


True Crime Book Club
Cover of Devil in the GroveStaff Pick: “Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America” by Gilbert King
Arguably the most important American lawyer of the twentieth century, Thurgood Marshall was on the verge of bringing the landmark suit Brown v. Board of Education before the U.S. Supreme Court when he became embroiled in an explosive and deadly case that threatened to change the course of the civil rights movement and cost him his life.

In 1949, Florida’s orange industry was booming, and citrus barons got rich on the backs of cheap Jim Crow labor. To maintain order and profits, they turned to Willis V. McCall, a violent sheriff who ruled Lake County with murderous resolve. When a white seventeen-year-old Groveland girl cried rape, McCall was fast on the trail of four young blacks who dared to envision a future for themselves beyond the citrus groves. By day’s end, the Ku Klux Klan had rolled into town, burning the homes of blacks to the ground and chasing hundreds into the swamps, hell-bent on lynching the young men who came to be known as “the Groveland Boys.”

And so began the chain of events that would bring Thurgood Marshall, the man known as “Mr. Civil Rights,” into the deadly fray. Associates thought it was suicidal for him to wade into the “Florida Terror” at a time when he was irreplaceable to the burgeoning civil rights movement, but the lawyer would not shrink from the fight—not after the Klan had murdered one of Marshall’s NAACP associates involved with the case and Marshall had endured continual threats that he would be next.

Drawing on a wealth of never-before-published material, including the FBI’s unredacted Groveland case files, as well as unprecedented access to the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund files, King shines new light on this remarkable civil rights crusader, setting his rich and driving narrative against the heroic backdrop of a case that U.S. Supreme Court justice Robert Jackson decried as “one of the best examples of one of the worst menaces to American justice.

Daytime Booklovers’ Book Club
Finding DorothyStaff Pick: “Finding Dorothy” by Elizabeth Letts
This richly imagined novel tells the story behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the book that inspired the iconic film, through the eyes of author L. Frank Baum's intrepid wife, Maud. Hollywood, 1938: As soon as she learns that M-G-M is adapting her late husband's masterpiece for the screen, seventy-seven-year-old Maud Gage Baum sets about trying to finagle her way onto the set. Nineteen years after Frank's passing, Maud is the only person who can help the producers stay true to the spirit of the book--because she's the only one left who knows its secrets. But the moment she hears Judy Garland rehearsing the first notes of "Over the Rainbow," Maud recognizes the yearning that defined her own life story: from her youth as a suffragette's daughter to her coming of age as one of the first women in the Ivy League, from her blossoming romance with Frank to the hardscrabble prairie years that inspired The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Judy reminds Maud of a young girl she cared for and tried to help in South Dakota, a dreamer who never got her happy ending. Now, with the young actress under pressure from the studio as well as her ambitious stage mother, Maud resolves to protect her--the way she tried so hard to protect the real Dorothy.

Armchair Generals Book Club
Cover of "Guns of August"Staff Pick: “The Guns of August” by Barbara W. Tuchman
Historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Tuchman has brought to life again the people and events that led up to World War I. With attention to fascinating detail, and an intense knowledge of her subject and its characters, Ms. Tuchman reveals, for the first time, just how the war started, why, and how it could have been stopped but wasn't. A classic historical survey of a time and a people we all need to know more about, “The Guns of August” will not be forgotten.


Posted by [email protected]  On Dec 15, 2021 at 10:34 AM
  
Three on a Theme: Fiction

Votes have been counted and it's time for this month's Three on a Theme recommendations!

This month's options were FICTION vs. POETRY/ESSAYS celebrating Native American Heritage Month in November and the winner was...FICTION! Check out our staff’s recommendations below! 

Have book recommendation that we missed? Tell us about it in the comments!

ADULTS:
The Round House Cover"The Round House" by Louise Erdrich
"The Round House" won the National Book Award for fiction. One of the most revered novelists of our time-a brilliant chronicler of Native-American life-Louise Erdrich returns to the territory of her bestselling, Pulitzer Prize finalist The Plague of Doves with The Round House, transporting readers to the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. It is an exquisitely told story of a boy on the cusp of manhood who seeks justice and understanding in the wake of a terrible crime that upends and forever transforms his family. Riveting and suspenseful, arguably the most accessible novel to date from the creator of Love Medicine, The Beet Queen, and The Bingo Palace, Erdrich's The Round House is a page-turning masterpiece of literary fiction-at once a powerful coming-of-age story, a mystery, and a tender, moving novel of family, history, and culture.

Elatsoe CoverYOUNG ADULTS:
"Elatsoe" by Darcie Little Badger
Imagine an America very similar to our own. It's got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream. There are some differences. This America has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly everyday, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and should never see the light of day. Seventeen-year-old Elatsoe ("Ellie" for short) lives in this slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered, in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry. The picture-perfect facade of Willowbee masks gruesome secrets, and she will rely on her wits, skills, and friends to tear off the mask and protect her family.
Race to the sun CoverKIDS:
"Race to the Sun" by Rebecca Roanhorse
Guided by her Navajo ancestors, seventh-grader Nizhoni Begay discovers she is descended from a holy woman and destined to become a monsterslayer, starting with the evil businessman who kidnapped her father. Includes glossary of Navajo terms.
Posted by [email protected]  On Dec 03, 2021 at 7:59 AM
  
Three on a Theme: Best and Brightest

Votes have been counted and it's time for this month's Three on a Theme recommendations!

This month's options were BEST & BRIGHTEST vs. READING REBELS and the winner was...BEST & BRIGHTEST! Take a look at the list below for the the most circulated eBooks from OverDrive in 2020 - decided by our patrons!

Let us know in the comments which ones you've read, which are your favorites and what's on your to-read list!

 
Adult eBooks

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
"Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens
Fans of Barbara Kingsolver will love this stunning debut novel from a New York Times bestselling nature writer, about an unforgettable young woman determined to make her way in the wilds of North Carolina, and the two men that will break her isolation open. For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. She's barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark. But Kya is not what they say. Abandoned at age ten, she has survived on her own in the marsh that she calls home. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life lessons from the land, learning from the false signals of fireflies the real way of this world. But while she could have lived in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world--until the unthinkable happens. In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a heartbreaking coming of age story and a surprising murder investigation. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens's debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides "The Silent Patient" by Alex Michaelides
Alicia Berenson's life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London's most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word. Alicia's refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations--a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

"Blue Moon" by Lee Child "Blue Moon" by Lee Child
In the next highly anticipated installment of Lee Child's acclaimed suspense series, Jack Reacher comes to the aid of an elderly couple . . . and confronts his most dangerous opponents yet. Check out more Jack Reacher novels here. 






Young Adult eBooks

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins"The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" by Suzanne Collins
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

Funny, You Don't look Autistic by Michael McCreary"Funny, You Don't Look Autistic" by Michael McCreary
Like many others on the autism spectrum, 20-something stand-up comic Michael McCreary has been told by more than a few well-meaning folks that he doesn't "look" autistic. But, as he's quick to point out in this memoir, autism "looks" different for just about everyone with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Diagnosed with ASD at age five, McCreary got hit with the performance bug not much later. During a difficult time in junior high, he started journaling, eventually turning his pain e into something empowering-and funny. He scored his first stand-up gig at age 14, and hasn't looked back. This unique and hilarious #OwnVoices memoir breaks down what it's like to live with autism for readers on and off the spectrum. Candid scenes from McCreary's life are broken up with funny visuals and factual asides. Funny, You Don't Look Autistic is an invaluable and compelling read for young readers with ASD looking for voices to relate to, as well as for readers hoping to broaden their understanding of ASD.
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalils name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr doesor does notsay could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.


Kids' Chapter Books

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by JK Rowling "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by JK Rowling

Harry Potter's life is miserable. His parents are dead and he's stuck with his heartless relatives, who force him to live in a tiny closet under the stairs. But his fortune changes when he receives a letter that tells him the truth about himself: he's a wizard. A mysterious visitor rescues him from his relatives and takes him to his new home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

After a lifetime of bottling up his magical powers, Harry finally feels like a normal kid. But even within the Wizarding community, he is special. He is the boy who lived: the only person to have ever survived a killing curse inflicted by the evil Lord Voldemort, who launched a brutal takeover of the Wizarding world, only to vanish after failing to kill Harry.

Though Harry's first year at Hogwarts is the best of his life, not everything is perfect. There is a dangerous secret object hidden within the castle walls, and Harry believes it's his responsibility to prevent it from falling into evil hands. But doing so will bring him into contact with forces more terrifying than he ever could have imagined.

"Wonder" by RJ Palacio "Wonder" by RJ Palacio
Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.







Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney"Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School" by Jeff Kinney
Life was better in the old days. Or was it? That's the question Greg Heffley is asking as his town voluntarily unplugs and goes electronics-free. But modern life has its conveniences, and Greg isn't cut out for an old-fashioned world. With tension building inside and outside the Heffley home, will Greg find a way to survive? Or is going "old school" just too hard for a kid like Greg? Check out more "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" here.






Picture Books

The Good Egg"The Good Egg" by Jory John
When the other eggs in his carton behave badly, the good egg feels like he needs to be perfect.








"The Cool Bean" by Jory John "The Cool Bean" by Jory John
Everyone knows the cool beans. They're sooooo cool. And then there's the uncool has-bean . . . Always on the sidelines, one bean unsuccessfully tries everything he can to fit in with the crowd--until one day the cool beans show him how it's done.







"the Bad Seed" by Jory John"The Bad Seed" by Jory John
A naughty seed with a bad attitude, bad temper, and bad manners vows to change his life for the better, but his efforts are met with skepticism by his friends.
Posted by [email protected]  On Sep 24, 2021 at 11:05 AM
  
Celebrate Women's Friendship Day

A friend is the best thing you can have and the best thing you can be! Every year the third Sunday in September is all about celebrating female friendships with National Women's Friendship Day! This year this special day is celebrated Sept. 19. Take some time today to celebrate friendships with your sisters - family or chosen - and check out the books below to continue the celebration of these special relationships!


Anne of Green Gables by Mariah Marsden "Anne of Green Gables" by Mariah Marsden
The magic of L.M. Montgomery's treasured classic is reimagined in a whimsically-illustrated graphic novel adaptation perfect for newcomers and kindred spirits alike. When Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert decide to adopt an orphan who can help manage their family farm, they have no idea what delightful trouble awaits them. With flame-red hair and an unstoppable imagination, 11-year-old Anne Shirley takes Green Gables by storm. Anne's misadventures bring a little romance to the lives of everyone she meets: her bosom friend, Diana Barry; the town gossip, Mrs. Lynde; and that infuriating tease, Gilbert Blythe. From triumphs and thrills to the depths of despair, Anne turns each everyday moment into something extraordinary.




Text Me When You Get Home by Kayleen Schaefer "Text Me When You Get Home" by Kayleen Schaefer
The stories we're telling about female friendship have changed. What used to be written off as infighting between mean girls or disposable relationships that would be tossed as soon as a guy came along are no longer described like that. Now, we're lifting up our female friendships to the same level as our other important relationships, saying they matter just as much as the bonds we have with our romantic partners, children, parents, or siblings. Journalist Kayleen Schaefer relays her journey of modern female friendship: from being a competitive teenager to trying to be one of the guys in the workplace to ultimately awakening to the power of female friendship and the soulmates, girl squads, and chosen families that come with it. Schaefer has put together a completely new sociological perspective on the way we see our friends today, one that includes interviews with dozens of other women across the country: historians, creators of the most iconic films and television shows about female friendship (and Galentine's Day!), celebrities, authors, and other experts. The end result is a validation of female friendship that's never existed before.



Ruth has been single-handedly raising four young daughters and running her family’s Indiana farm for eight long years, ever since her husband, John, fell into a comatose state, infected by the infamous “sleeping sickness” devastating families across the country. If only she could trade places with her older sister, June, who is the envy of everyone she meets: blonde and beautiful, married to a wealthy doctor, living in a mansion in St. Paul. And June has a coveted job, too, as one of “the Bettys,” the perky recipe developers who populate General Mills’ famous Betty Crocker test kitchens. But these gilded trappings hide sorrows: she has borne no children. And the man she used to love more than anything belongs to Ruth.
When the two sisters reluctantly reunite after a long estrangement, June’s bitterness about her sister’s betrayal sets into motion a confrontation that’s been years in the making. And their mother, Dorothy, who’s brought the two of them together, has her own dark secrets, which might blow up the fragile peace she hopes to restore between her daughters.
An emotional journey of redemption, inner strength, and the ties that bind families together, for better or worse, "The Sisters of Summit Avenue" is a heartfelt love letter to mothers, daughters, and sisters everywhere.


A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
"A Thousand Splendid Suns" is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years - from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding - that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives - the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness - are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love - a stunning accomplishment.



"Big Little Lies" by Liane Moriarty"Big Little Lies" by Liane Moriarty
A murder...A tragic accident...Or just parents behaving badly? What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.
Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny, biting, and passionate; she remembers everything and forgives no one. Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare but she is paying a price for the illusion of perfection. New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for a nanny. She comes with a mysterious past and a sadness beyond her years. These three women are at different crossroads, but they will all wind up in the same shocking place.
"Big Little Lies" is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the little lies that can turn lethal.




Conversation with Friends by Sally Rooney"Conversations with Friends" by Sally Rooney
Frances is twenty-one years old, cool-headed, and darkly observant. A college student and aspiring writer, she devotes herself to a life of the mind--and to the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi, her best friend and comrade-in-arms. Lovers at school, the two young women now perform spoken-word poetry together in Dublin, where a journalist named Melissa spots their potential. Drawn into Melissa's orbit, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older woman's sophisticated home and tall, handsome husband. Private property, Frances believes, is a cultural evil--and Nick, a bored actor who never quite lived up to his potential, looks like patriarchy made flesh. But however amusing their flirtation seems at first, it gives way to a strange intimacy neither of them expect. As Frances tries to keep her life in check, her relationships increasingly resist her control: with Nick, with her difficult and unhappy father, and finally even with Bobbi. Desperate to reconcile herself to the desires and vulnerabilities of her body, Frances's intellectual certainties begin to yield to something new: a painful and disorienting way of living from moment to moment.


"Swing Time" by Zadie Smith"Swing Time" by Zadie Smith
Two brown girls dream of being dancers—but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It's a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early twenties, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either.
Tracey makes it to the chorus line but struggles with adult life, while her friend leaves the old neighborhood behind, traveling the world as an assistant to a famous singer, Aimee, observing close up how the one percent live.
But when Aimee develops grand philanthropic ambitions, the story moves from London to West Africa, where diaspora tourists travel back in time to find their roots, young men risk their lives to escape into a different future, the women dance just like Tracey—the same twists, the same shakes—and the origins of a profound inequality are not a matter of distant history, but a present dance to the music of time.



The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
Four mothers, four daughters, four families, whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's telling the stories. In 1949, four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, meet weekly to play mahjong and tell stories of what they left behind in China. United in loss and new hope for their daughters' futures, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Their daughters, who have never heard these stories, think their mothers' advice is irrelevant to their modern American lives – until their own inner crises reveal how much they've unknowingly inherited of their mothers' pasts.

With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.



"The Animators" by Kayla Rae Whitaker "The Animators" by Kayla Rae Whitaker
In the male-dominated field of animation, Mel Vaught and Sharon Kisses are a dynamic duo, the friction of their differences driving them: Sharon, quietly ambitious but self-doubting; Mel, brash and unapologetic, always the life of the party. Best friends and artistic partners since the first week of college, where they bonded over their working-class roots and obvious talent, they spent their twenties ensconced in a gritty Brooklyn studio. Working, drinking, laughing. Drawing: Mel, to understand her tumultuous past, and Sharon, to lose herself altogether.

Now, after a decade of striving, the two are finally celebrating the release of their first full-length feature, which transforms Mel’s difficult childhood into a provocative and visually daring work of art. The toast of the indie film scene, they stand at the cusp of making it big. But with their success come doubt and destruction, cracks in their relationship threatening the delicate balance of their partnership. Sharon begins to feel expendable, suspecting that the ever-more raucous Mel is the real artist. During a trip to Sharon’s home state of Kentucky, the only other partner she has ever truly known—her troubled, charismatic childhood best friend, Teddy—reenters her life, and long-buried resentments rise to the surface, hastening a reckoning no one sees coming.


"Another Brooklyn" by Jacqueline Woodson"Another Brooklyn" by Jacqueline Woodson
For August, running into a long-ago friend sets in motion resonant memories and transports her to a time and a place she thought she had mislaid: 1970s Brooklyn, where friendship was everything. August, Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi shared confidences as they ambled their neighborhood streets, a place where the girls believed that they were amazingly beautiful, brilliantly talented, with a future that belonged to them. But beneath the hopeful promise there was another Brooklyn, a dangerous place where grown men reached for innocent girls in dark hallways, where mothers disappeared, where fathers found religion, and where madness was a mere sunset away. Woodson heartbreakingly illuminates the formative period when a child meets adulthood -- when precious innocence meets the all-too-real perils of growing up.
Posted by [email protected]  On Sep 16, 2021 at 3:32 PM
  
Three on a Theme: Mountains

Votes have been counted and it's time for this month's Three on a Theme recommendations!

This month's options were MOUNTAINS vs. BEACH and the winner was...MOUNTAINS! Check out our staff’s recommendations below! 

Have book recommendation that we missed? Tell us about it in the comments!

ADULTS:
“The Bear” by Andrew Krivak

The Bear
In an Edenic future, a girl and her father live close to the land in the shadow of a lone mountain. They possess a few remnants of civilization: some books, a pane of glass, a set of flint and steel, a comb. The father teaches the girl how to fish and hunt, the secrets of the seasons and the stars. He is preparing her for an adulthood in harmony with nature, for they are the last two left. But when the girl suddenly finds herself alone in an unknown landscape, it is a bear that will lead her back home through a vast wilderness, which offers the greatest lessons of all, if she can only learn to listen. A cautionary tale of human fragility, of love and loss, “The Bear” is a stunning tribute to the beauty of nature's dominion.

TEENS:
“Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen


Hatchet
After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.

CHILDREN (J2):
“My Side of the Mountain” by Jean Craighead George 

My Side of the Mountain
A young boy relates his adventures during the year he spends living alone in the Catskill Mountains including his struggle for survival, his dependence on nature, his animal friends, and his ultimate realization that he needs human companionship.
Posted by [email protected]  On Jul 29, 2021 at 8:09 PM
  
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