Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
The American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, video and audio books for children and young adults, including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards at LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience in New Orleans today.
A list of 2023 award winners follows:
This books delivers exactly what it promises - a history of the color blue from lapis lazuli stones used by ancient Egyptians, to blue dye pressed from a snail's foot in Mexico, to crushed and dried indigo plants in West Africa and finally a Nobel Prize winning chemical clue created in 1905. Along the way we learn more nuance about the color's complicated history - how blue was used and viewed, the value assigned to it, and the meaning given to it by people all over the world, even today in the language that we use.
This book opens on August 31, 1955, when Emmett Till's body was found and his mother, Mamie, chose to have him sent home - the braver thing. We then jump back in time to Mamie's childhood, learning about her family, her schooling, her marriage, and Emmett's birth, with each of Mamie's brave choices highlighted. Emmett's childhood comes next, noting his stutter of speech that came from polio, and his trick of whistling to calm him down.
Have you ever wondered what you would do if you saw something suspicious? Best friends, Abbi and Skylar, think they’re having an adventure à la Nancy Drew spying on two strangers meeting under their tree fort. So when a woman is later found dead in the woods, they realize they may hold the key! As much about relationships as it is about solving a crime, this fast-paced thriller is sure to grab the attention of school age through middle school readers. Do they decide to keep a secret? Or expose a life-altering truth?
I was looking for some graphic novels to read over the holidays and placed a hold on this book, but even as I did I wondered if it would be too horse-y for me. I never really went through a horse phase as a kid beyond a couple trail rides at summer camp, but I shouldn't have worried. Yes, this book is about horses, but it's really about evolving friendships, growing up, changing interests - and fandoms!
These two books have teen LGBTQ+ representation and you get to experience other worlds, but things aren’t always easygoing.
As with many of the books that land on my hold shelf or in the digital queue on my phone, I'm not sure where I heard about this charming, heartwarming, a little heartbreaking, gem of a book. Wherever it was or whoever it was who suggested it? Thank you.
October was LGBTQ+ history month, and it's not too late to celebrate by brushing up on your LGBTQ+ history with Stella Caldwell’s Pride: An Inspirational History of the LGBTQ+ Movement? Beginning thousands of years ago with LGBTQ+ figures from Ancient Greece, China, and Japan, Caldwell provides a comprehensive and accessible history of LGBTQ+ people, culture, and struggle for rights from ancient times all the way up to the present.
October was LGBTQ+ history month, and it's not too late to celebrate by brushing up on your LGBTQ+ history with Stella Caldwell’s Pride: An Inspirational History of the LGBTQ+ Movement? Beginning thousands of years ago with LGBTQ+ figures from Ancient Greece, China, and Japan, Caldwell provides a comprehensive and accessible history of LGBTQ+ people, culture, and struggle for rights from ancient times all the way up to the present.
I picked up this book expecting something of a ghost story - which it is not. It is a story of trauma, grief, and overcoming loss with the support of community and friends.
The only thing Kitty Sweet Tooth loves more than going to the movies is eating delicious desserts. When her Pop-Pop's movie theater falls on hard times, Kitty introduces the concept of a gourmet movie house. Special film screenings paired with custom-made treats created by an enthusiastic scientist and an inspired witch are poised to excite a new generation of movie goers. The ambitious team sets to work cleaning up the theater and dreaming of new ideas for the "Taste-O-Rama." Pop-Pop gives Kitty thirty days to prove that Taste-O-Rama will succeed.
Overdrive (Libby) has announced its next Big Library Read, A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger. From November 2-16 readers around the world will have simultaneous access to the title and can use the hashtag #biglibraryread on social media to share their thoughts with other readers.
Lucha libre, diner lingo, and digging for secrets in a historical archive - what's not to like?
Magic, fantasy, romance, adventure… this graphic novel has it all! The Heartless Prince is the first book in a new exciting trilogy that takes readers into the world of orphaned princess, Evony. Her world is one destroyed by witches and familiars (servants to the witches). Readers join Evony as she and her love interest, Prince Ammon, join together to fight the familiars and the magical forces threatening their kingdom. When the witch, Aradia, steals Prince Ammon’s heart and captures his sister, Evony embarks on a journey to save them.
Magic, fantasy, romance, adventure… this graphic novel has it all! The Heartless Prince is the first book in a new exciting trilogy that takes readers into the world of orphaned princess, Evony. Her world is one destroyed by witches and familiars (servants to the witches). Readers join Evony as she and her love interest, Prince Ammon, join together to fight the familiars and the magical forces threatening their kingdom. When the witch, Aradia, steals Prince Ammon’s heart and captures his sister, Evony embarks on a journey to save them.
Well, heck, this is the cutest book about a 7th grader in West Texas who is adjusting to big changes in relationships, school, and just gosh darn everything. And she’s got a 15 pound cat named Cheese. What could be better?
In her stellar adult fiction novel debut Veronica Roth explores what happens when a totalitarian, dystopian regime falls and whether or not the society can rebuild without repeating the same patterns and mistakes. And she does all of this through the eyes of someone who was complicit in that regime's behavior.
I've mentioned in a few other posts how my reading tastes lately have leaned to stories that take me to other worlds and center on honorable characters. And with that reading quest in mind, a co-worker (thank you Amy S!) suggested T. Kingfisher. And a better balm to the soul, it would be harder to find. In this, the first in the Saint of Steel trilogy, we meet a paladin whose god has died and a perfumer who has escaped an abusive past.
Zuli is determined to find out why the souls of birds have stopped returning to the Great Tree and bring them back. Adventures and mishaps happen one after another as she gets closer to finding out who’s responsible and learns about who she really is and what she’s capable of. There’s magic and a slew of magical creatures like goblins, griffins, a dragon and the cautious, yet faithful owl, Frowly. The cliffhanger promises more adventures with Zuli’s newfound friends and more information about her past.
June Hur's debut novel is a police procedural set in 1800 Joseon, Korea. Seol grew up in rural Korea but because of the family's poverty was sent by her sister to serve an indenture for the police bureau in Joseon. As an indentured servant she's to keep her mouth shut and her thoughts to herself as she cleans and runs errands. The monotony of that work is occasionally broken when she's asked to help in crimes involving women. Males in 19th century Korea aren't allowed to touch non-familial women, thus Seol is called upon.
