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Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
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.
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
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.
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
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.
"Every year around 27 January, UNESCO pays tribute to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and reaffirms its unwavering commitment to counter antisemitism, racism, and other forms of intolerance that may lead to group-targeted violence. The date marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet troops on 27 January 1945.
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 today.
A list of 2022 award winners follows:
In this beautiful picture book, even the youngest book lovers can appreciate the simple comfort of a satisfying refreshment while on a journey. With vibrant cut-paper collage art, the reader can be transported to a train station stop in Jaipur, India. Part recipe, part sensory experience, this story is based on the author’s remembrances of visits to India as a child. Told with familiar yet descriptive language, children can delight in re-reading this accessible adventure story, while noticing all of the colors, sounds, smells, actions and tastes of this friendly momentary encounter.
Claudia Lin is living a double life. Her mother and siblings think she's still working a low-level corporate job (found for her by her brother). In reality she's quit that job and taken an entry level investigative position with Veracity; a firm that investigates dating app misbehavior (not showing up for dates, cheating, lying, ghosting, etc). The work in her new job is extremely confidential, but that's not a problem for Claudia who is used to keeping secrets.
This is a beautiful, quiet book about grief and friendship and recognizing when the people you love are broken. It's also about the power of sticking with those close to you until they are on the road to healing.
