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Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
Louise and Milo find a stick at their favorite park. They play fetch with Stick over and over again. Milo doesn't understand why Louise loves throwing Stick so much, but he is determined to bring it back each and every time. Then Louise pretends to throw Stick and Milo races off only to discover that he's gone too far astray while searching. He doesn't realize that Stick was never thrown! Not only is Stick "lost" to Milo, but Milo is lost as well.
Every month there are new titles purchased for the Too Good to Miss collections at our libraries. If you're not familiar with TGTM (as we call it here in library-world), it's a special collection of popular books that are truly too good to miss. Some are new and popular titles, others are older titles that might not have had as much media attention as a bestseller or celebrity book club selection but are still great reads that deserve another look.
This quiet picture book by the author of the rollicking Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type prepares young readers for bedtime in a calm and comforting way. Baby sloth and his mama live high up in the tree. They sleep in the light of the moon holding each other tight.
August is pretty much synonymous with vacations as people try to eke out the last of summer fun before school resumes. So it’s no surprise that the publishing industry is a bit similar, with houses holding back for the big Labor Day weekend sales push. But there are still a few notable releases heading to shelves this month for readers who might have some space in the luggage…
My last couple reviews have been books with darker theme and tone, so I thought I should switch it up. Now, if you've seen the book cover and title, Fangs, you may be thinking, how is a book about a vampire (and a werewolf, btw) going to lighten things up? Here's how: throw in a sweet, quirky romance and about as many (sometimes groanworthy) dad-type jokes poking fun at paranormal stereotypes and you have a graphic novel that will have you smiling (for sure) from first to last, and likely giggling often along the way.
With the announcement of J.D. Vance as the Republican candidate for Vice President his book Hillbilly Elegy has made the bestseller lists again. That pushes to the forefront stories of working class Americans.
In his debut novel Nick Medina blends mystery, suspense and a touch of supernatural horror in a story that focuses on the disappearance of indigenous women. At the heart of the story is Anna Horn who is finishing high school and trying to figure out her place on the rez and in her tribe. While grappling with her own struggles, and feeling haunted by a entity of ancient myth, Anna is forced to reckon with a larger battle. Women on the reservation are going missing and no one seems to care. It becomes personal, and more immediate, when two women in Anna's life are lost.
Have you ever wondered about all the stories a library book holds? Not the stories inside the book, but stories of the physical book itself. Who else has read it? Where has it been? What kinds of adventures has it had?
The star of this Gothic thriller is Ashby House, a magnificent estate high in the Blue Ridge mountains and home to Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore. Ruby, also known as Ruby "Killmore," reigns over Ashby House and neighboring community Tavistock, North Carolina, with benevolence and a lifetime of scandal. Abducted as a toddler in the 1940s and married four times to husbands who died under mysterious circumstances, Ruby's life is shrouded in mystery and intrigue and lots of speculation.
I had a local friend recently ask me why Madison Public Library didn’t have Tonies for check out - if you’re unfamiliar they are small plastic figures that pair with an integrated system for audio stories - and I knew all of the answers. New systems are expensive to start on a large scale, and our collections management team thinks really critically about system wide implementation before investing in a new product…. But as a parent? I have all kinds of other thoughts. With two little kids at home, we have a LOT of STUFF floating around.
