May We Suggest?

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If You Enjoy American Girl Mysteries, Try...

June 18, 2018 | strande

 

If you enjoy the American Girl mysteries or mini-mysteries, you might enjoy some of these titles.

Fiction

The dark lady by Irene Adler

While on summer vacation at the seaside, twelve-year-old Irene Adler meets the young Sherlock Holmes, and his friend Arsène Lupin-- and when a dead body floats ashore the three young friends set out to solve the mystery.

If You Like the Games of American Girl, Try...

June 18, 2018 | strande

 

If you like reading about the games, contests, and toys in the American Girls series, you might enjoy some of these titles.

 

Fiction

The puzzling world of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin
Also available in: e-book

Puzzle-crazy, twelve-year-old Winston and his ten-year-old sister Katie find themselves involved in a dangerous mystery involving a hidden ring. Puzzles for the reader to solve are included throughout the text.

Lives of the Artists

June 18, 2018 | strande

Explore the lives of many artists. The books below are found in our children's collections, but may appeal to wider audiences. Find more artists and art in our collections: just ask any librarian.

Vincent can't sleep : Van Gogh paints the night sky by Barb Rosenstock

Describes how Van Gogh's insomnia, possibly a symptom of mental or phyical illness, allowed him to view the night sky while everyone else was asleep and influenced how he saw the world around him.

The iridescence of birds : a book about Henri Matisse by Patricia MacLachlan

A story inspired by the life of the influential French master artist considers how he transformed his dreary childhood community in northern France through his expressions of color and form.

Add a Little Enchantment to Your Summer: Magic Reads

June 18, 2018 | strande

 

Find a story to incorporate some magic in your life. Some suggestions to get you started are included below: books intended for older audiences are toward the bottom of the list.

Room on the broom by Julia Donaldson
Also available in: video

A witch finds room on her broom for all the animals that ask for a ride, and they repay her kindness by rescuing her from a dragon.

Tell me a dragon by Jackie Morris

Kate Greenaway Medal nominee Jackie Morris presents in stunning pictures a range of dragons, describing many different varieties of the beast, and why their owners find them so entrancing.

Books with No Words

June 18, 2018 | strande

 

Have you ever been drawn to a wordless picture book, but been unsure how to read it or share it with your child? Check out these helpful tips, and remember that wordless picture books can be a great tool to enhance your child's literacy, whether or not he or she knows how to read. They can also be exceptionally beautiful and enjoyed by any age.

These picture books don't need words to tell their story:

Hug by Jez Alborough

Bobo the chimp seeks hugs among various jungle animals and their young, but he does not get what he wants until he is reunited with his own parent.

Red sled by Lita Judge

At night, a host of woodland creatures plays with a child's red sled.

All Things Gardening

June 14, 2018 | obrienbc
Beginner's garden : a practical guide to growing vegetables & fruit without getting your hands too dirty by Alex Mitchell

"Gives tips and advice to beginning gardeners for planning, setting up, and maintaining a small garden. In addition to recipes and tips for entertaining in the garden, this book also details the characteristics of dozens of commonly grown vegetables and fruit"--Provided by publisher.

Grow something different to eat by Matthew Biggs

Whether you're a beginner and determined to make the most of limited space with a truly unique and heirloom harvest, or a seasoned grower looking to spice up your cooking with gourmet flavors, the step-by-step instructions give you the confidence to grow some unusually tasty crops. Choose from fruiting vegetables such as orange eggplants and hyacinth beans, salad greens such as fiddlehead ferns and sushi hostas, grains such as quinoa and chia, and luscious fruits such as honeyberries and white strawberries. All plants can be started indoors and transplanted, grown outdoors in the garden, or kept as houseplants. With versatile gardening advice for growing in a variety of spaces and situations, plus cooking suggestions and preserving options, a weird and wonderful harvest is guaranteed.--Amazon.com.

The new seed-starters handbook by Nancy Bubel

1968: an Unforgettable Year

June 11, 2018 | SuzyQ

It's been 50 years since the country experienced one of the most turbulent years in American  - and world - history. The Tet Offensive in Vietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, numerous anti-war protests across the nation, the My Lai Massacre, violent police clashes with anti-war protesters at the Democratic National Convention, the seizure of the USS Pueblo by North Korea, student riots  in Paris - these are just some of the seismic events that occurred in 1968. Yet, there were some bright spots to celebrate as well. The astronauts on Apollo 8 became the first humans to orbit the moon, the Beatles launched Apple Records, and the Detroit Tigers won their first World Series since 1945.

1968 : the year that rocked the world by Mark Kurlansky
Also available in: e-book
1968 Magnum throughout the world by E. J. Hobsbawm

Look What's In Large Print: June 2018

June 8, 2018 | kasarak

A common myth about large print books: large print books are gigantic! 

If the font is bigger, it stands to reason the book will be bigger as well, right? That large print titles seemingly defy basic logic makes this one of the most prevalent misconceptions. In fact, large print titles are often the same size or smaller than their hardcover or trade paperback counterparts and weigh about the same as a traditional hardcover book. The common reaction to learning this fact is, “Well, to be the same size or smaller, they must be abridged.” This is also false. The magic here lies in the combination of printing on a thinner, higher quality paper and laying out the text to maximize the use of white space. Source.

 

Here are a few large print titles that are brand new to our shelves:

The high tide club [large print] by Mary Kay Andrews
Also available in: print | e-book | audiobook | e-audiobook | large print

When ninety-nine-year-old heiress Josephine Bettendorf Warrick summons attorney Brooke Trappnell to her 20,000 acre barrier island home, Brooke is puzzled. Everybody in the South has heard about the eccentric millionaire mistress of Talisa, but Brooke has never actually met her. Josephine's cryptic note says she wants to discuss an important legal matter, but why enlist Brooke and not the prestigious Atlanta law firm she has used for years? Brooke travels to Shellhaven and meets the cagey Josephine, whose home is a crumbling pink mansion at the edge of the turquoise sea. Over the course of a few meetings, Josephine spins a tale of old friendships, dark secrets, betrayal, and a long-unsolved murder. She is hiring Brooke for two reasons: first, to protect her island from those who would despoil her land, and second, to help her make amends with the heirs of the women who were her closest friends, the girls of The High Tide Club-- so named because of their youthful skinny-dipping escapades.

The high season [large print] : a novel by Judy Blundell
Also available in: print | large print

The ultimate summer read--featuring indelible characters, crackling wit, and sophisticated storytelling--about one season when everything in a woman's life goes wrong. On Memorial Day weekend in a seaside town on Long Island, Ruthie, her still-adored ex-husband, Mike, and the couple's sullen fifteen-year-old daughter, Jem, are packing up the last bits of their household in preparation for the yearly arrival of a wealthy renter from Manhattan. It is what Jem calls "the summer bummer"; her parents own a beautiful house that they have renovated by hand from top to bottom, but which they can only afford to keep by leasing it out during the best part of the year. Soon Ruthie's relationship with Mike seems about to disappear for good. The job she loves, as the underpaid and undervalued director of the local arts museum, is under siege from a coterie of rich women from the city, who want to use it as an opportunity for social climbing. An old flame who once broke her heart and betrayed her is back on the scene, causing Ruthie to re-evaluate their romance. And in the midst of it all, her teenage daughter Jem could be involved in a dangerous and destructive relationship of her own.This is a novel about the dreams and ambitions of youth coming to terms with the realities of middle-age; about the way desperation can make us astonish ourselves; and about how the most disruptive events in our lives can sometimes twist endings into new beginnings.

Anthony Bourdain, 1956-2018

June 8, 2018 | Patton

For decades, he worked 13-hour days as a line cook in restaurants in New York and the Northeast before he became executive chef in the 1990s...until his "madcap" memoir about the dark corners of New York’s restaurants made him into a celebrity chef and touched off a nearly two-decade career as a globe-trotting television host.

“We have lost someone who was in my opinion the sharpest and keenest observer of culture that I have ever known,” [Andrew Zimmern] said. “When we were alone his hopes and dreams extended into amazing areas.” - New York Times

Free and confidential suicide prevention hotlines

  • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255 (Open 24 hours a day, every day, for everyone. Ayuda En Español)
  • Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741
  • The Trevor Project: 866-488-7386 (for LGBT youth)
  • Trans Lifeline: U.S.: 877-565-8860 | Canada: 877-330-6366 (for transgender people with transgender staff)

 

Kitchen confidential : adventures in the culinary underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain, no reservations. Discs 1 & 2 [videodisc]

Chef and author Anthony Bourdain travels the world sampling local foods and culture.

June is Pride Month Storytime

June 7, 2018 | Michelle

We had a lovely time in our June is Pride Month Storytime. If you missed it, here are not only the great books we read but also a few more selections so you can have your own Pride Week storytime at home. Enjoy!

 

Stories and Songs from Storytime

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