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Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
Unicorns are supposed to be all smiles, glitter and rainbows. And Kevin’s days are “filled with …Magical Awesomeness” Until the morning Kevin wakes up on the floor. Something feels not quite right, but he picks himself up and smiles through it all, since his living room posters remind him that, “Unicorn Starts with You!” and to “Keep it Happy” and “Sparkle Sparkle Sparkle.” So he sets out for yet another fantastic day.
"My name is Lila Macapagal and my life has become a rom-com cliche'.
Not many romantic comedies feature an Asian-American lead (or dead bodies, but more on that later), but all the trademarks are there.
Girl from an improbably named small town in the Midwest moves to the big city to make a name for herself and find love? Check.
Girl achieves these things only for the world to come crashing down when she walks in on her fiance' getting down and dirty with their next door neighbors (yes, plural)? Double check.
Just in time for National Poetry Month! This is an exquisite special edition of National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman's presidential inauguration poem given on January 20, 2021 with a foreword by Oprah Winfrey. I've watched and listened to this spectacular young poet recite "The Hill We Climb" numerous times, now, and each time I'm left feeling hopeful for our country and a democratic society. This poem is honest and looking towards a brighter future.
National Poetry Month was launched by the Academy of American Poets to remind "the public that poets have an integral role to play in our culture and that poetry matters." Since I don't read much poetry, I try every April to challenge myself to read some poetry. To help myself (and you) out I've put together some lists of poetry from last year and some new titles from the the first quarter of this year. This is the second of four lists. Let's read some poetry!
Right now, we all feel far away from one another. This bilingual board book helps little ones understand what it means for something to be "far." Using simple text and tranquil illustrations, Lejos = Far describes places and things by their distance from one another. If you're looking to teach spatial concepts and get a little language practice in too, I recommend this book.
There is also a companion book that covers the concept of "close": Cerca = Close
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It was perhaps inevitable that the same year that sports stopped cold in its tracks, The Best American Sports Writing would mark its last year.
Somewhere in the Nevada desert, Rose Colter hears her best friend’s last voicemail message broadcasted on the radio. With her car broken down, she runs towards the broadcast tower into a town called Lotus Valley. The townspeople have been waiting for her; in fact, she was prophesied to arrive and in doing so would bring about a great flood within the next three days. Is Rose the cause of the flood and if so, why?
As we've all hunkered down over this past year there have been a few bright spots in our social network. One of the brightest (and most surprising to many) was the instagram posts that veteran character actor Leslie Jordan started posting while he was sheltering in place in Tennessee. Leslie is best known for his guest appearances on Will and Grace, but he has appeared in many, many things. And as was the case for everyone, the pandemic shut down the bulk of his work and life.
Did you know that National Poetry Month has been around since April 1996? It was launched by the Academy of American Poets to remind "the public that poets have an integral role to play in our culture and that poetry matters." Since I don't read much poetry, I try every April to challenge myself to read some poetry. To help myself (and you) out I've put together some lists of poetry from last year and some new titles from the the first quarter of this year.
Albert Marrin has crafted a gripping narrative of the life and death of Janusz Korczak, a Polish Jewish doctor in the Warsaw Ghetto. He was not only a physician, he ran an orphanage in Warsaw for Jewish children. As the horrors of the Nazi regime moved closer, Dr. Korczak was given numerous opportunities to escape, but he would not go without his charges. Ultimately, he led them to Treblinka Camp, dying by gas along with the children in 1942.
