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Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors

The value of a dollar

Cover of Vanderbilt: The Rise and F
A review of Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe

Expertly researched and timed perfectly to coincide with viewing of The Gilded Age on HBO, Vanderbilt dissects new versus old money and new versus old New York scenarios from that time period in American history. Along the way it leaves the reader baffled at how and why a family fortune was lost in just a few generations.

Feb 16, 2022

Come for the art, stay for the fun

Cover of ¡Vamos! Let’s Cross the
A review of ¡Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge by Raúl the Third

Piñatas, cakes, rockets, presents, music…what else do you need for a party? Little Lobo and friends are back in this third ¡Vamos! book - winner of this year's Pura Belpré Youth Illustration Award - and are headed across the bridge for a big celebration in a city on the other side of the river in another country.

Feb 14, 2022

Powerful winner

Cover of Unspeakable: The Tulsa Rac
A review of Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford

Another of the the ALA Youth Media Awards honorees that won a number of deserved accolades was Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre written by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper.

2022 Awards and Honors:
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award Honor
Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award Winner
Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award Winner
Caldecott Medal Honor

Feb 8, 2022

Black history reading

Cover of Nonfiction Titles
Nonfiction Titles

Donna Seaman's "Core Collection: New and Innovative Black History" in the current Booklist is just in time for Black History Month. It's always nice when someone else puts together an excellent reading list. There are biographies, family histories, memoirs, histories, women's stories and I hope that you can find one (or more) that stimulates your interest. I know I have.

Feb 7, 2022

You get an award and you get another award and...

Cover of Firekeeper's Daughter
A review of Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

The ALA Youth Media Awards were announced last week and Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley was honored in a number of categories (very deservedly so!).

2022 Awards and Honors:
AILA American Indian Youth Literature Award, Young Adult Honor
William C Morris YA Debut Award Winner
Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature Winner

Feb 4, 2022

Murder is messy. So who are you going to call?

Cover of The Maid
A review of The Maid by Nita Prose

Molly Gray doesn’t see the world like other people do. The eponymous maid in Nita Prose’s debut mystery, Molly also knows that most people don’t see her either. Not really, at least. At the luxury hotel she works at in Manhattan, her single-minded devotedness to her job mostly makes up for that deficiency, and as long as she can keep the Regency Grand in tip-top shape and maintain her A+ devotion to employee excellence, she can cope with the problems that crop up.

Feb 3, 2022

Influenced by People magazine headlines

Cover of Let Love Rule
A review of Let Love Rule by Lenny Kravitz

This is partly true. I had been planning to read this book for over a year but it moved to the top of my reading list because I was influenced by the news that Lisa Bonet and Jason Momoa had recently split. Let me start by saying that I think Lenny Kravitz is the coolest human living on planet earth today. This book covers the first 25 years of Lenny's life and I'm hoping that by the time a book about the next 25 years is published, Lenny and Lisa will be reun

Feb 1, 2022

The power of story

Cover of Watercress
A review of Watercress by Andrea Wang

Watercress is this year’s winner of the Caldecott Medal for the illustrations by Jason Chin, a Newbery Honor for the writing by Andrea Wang, and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in the picture book category. And it deserves all the accolades. It is an outstanding book about the power of story to connect generations and to heal.

Jan 27, 2022

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