Staff Picks
Flamer
by Mike Curato
It’s the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone’s going through changes―but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can’t stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance.
YAG Curato
The Word is Murder
by Anthony Horowitz
When a wealthy woman is found murdered after planning her own funeral service, disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, author Anthony Horowitz, investigate.
FIC Horowitz
Also available on Overdrive as an ebook and audiobook.
Gideon the Ninth
by Tamsyn Muir
The Emperor needs necromancers. The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman. Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense. Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service. Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds, she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die. Of course, some things are better left dead.
Fic Muir
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
by Charlie Mackesy
Charlie Mackesy offers inspiration and hope in uncertain times in this beautiful book, following the tale of a curious boy, a greedy mole, a wary fox and a wise horse who find themselves together in sometimes difficult terrain, sharing their greatest fears and biggest discoveries about vulnerability, kindness, hope, friendship and love. The shared adventures and important conversations between the four friends are full of life lessons that have connected with readers of all ages.
Fic Graphic Mackesy
Available in Overdrive
The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
Kvothe, a legendary hero and villain whom is presumed dead, recounts the story of his life and shares the dark secrets that have shaped his life and forced him to take up a lonely existence in a land of strangers.
Fic Rothfuss
Available online
The Way of Kings
by Brandon Sanderson
A new epic series by the best-selling writer of Robert Jordan’s final Wheel of Time novels introduces the world of Roshar through the experiences of a war-weary royal compelled by visions, a highborn youth condemned to military slavery, and a woman who would save her impoverished house.
Fic Sanders
Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice
by Nikki Grimes
Lightly framed as a conversation between a girl and her mother, this comprehensive picture book biography follows formative events in the life of former presidential candidate and “lawyer, prosecutor, Senator” Kamala Harris. Though each page is information-dense, lyrical prose makes the text effortlessly readable (“Right away, Kamala was like clay/ her parents molded for action…./ chewing on her pacifier/ and words like ‘peace’ and ‘justice’ ”). In multitextured digital art, Freeman succeeds in creatively capturing a range of Harris’s expressions and experiences, exemplified by a layered portrait of her life and legacy. Notably, Grimes covers Harris’s presidential run and withdrawal, leaving young readers with an uplifting message of perseverance and agency: “Kamala Harris is still writing her American story. And so are you.”
JB HARRIS
Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
Name of the Wind, also called The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day One, is a heroic fantasy novel written by American author Patrick Rothfuss.
Rothfuss is heralded as the next Tolkien, he truly knows how to weave a tale and no matter how many times I read this book I discover something new.
Many Lives, Many Masters
By: Brian Weiss
Psychiatry and metaphysics blend together in this fascinating book based on a true case history. Dr. Weiss, a well-respected graduate of Columbia University and Yale Medical School, who was once firmly entrenched in a clinical approach to psychiatry, finds himself reluctantly drawn into past-life therapy when a hypnotized patient suddenly reveals details of her previous lives. During one hypnosis session, his patient introduces the spirit guides who have nee her soul therapists in between lives. This is when the story really takes off for Weiss, who discovers that these guides have specific messages about his dead son as well as Weiss’s mission in life. After this book Dr. Weiss became an enormously popular speaker, author, and leader, in the field of past-life therapy, writing another half dozen books on the theme.
The Witch Elm
By: Tana French
Charming, easygoing Toby surprises burglars and then is badly beaten. Just as he is coming to terms with the idea that his life will never be the same, a discovery at his childhood refuge, where he has gone to care for his dying uncle, forces him to suspect that his entire past is not what he thought and that his family is not what he thought, either.
