Staff Picks
The Benefits of Being an Octopus
by Ann Braden
Summary (Follett and Publisher): “Seventh-grader Zoey Albro focuses on caring for three younger siblings and avoiding rich classmates at school until her fascination with octopuses gets her on the debate team and she begins to speak out. This moving debut novel explores the cultural divides around class and the gun debate through the eyes of one girl, living on the edges of society, trying to find her way forward." NPR Best Book of 2018, Bank Street List for Best Children's Books of 2019
Why: Author, Ann Braden brings awareness to how many families face tremendous obstacles everyday to succeed in school and life. Zoey, shunned by many of her classmates for the way she appears, tries to stay invisible like an octopus. She observes how her classmates take love, privilege, basic hygiene, and nutritious food for granted. This is a timely, well written, important book. Great choice for reading groups and discussions.
Availability:
Book in library - Place hold
ebook - hoopla
ebook - libby
Staff: Eleanor Schuster, Reference/Adult Services
Check out her blog!
by Ann Braden
Summary (Follett and Publisher): “Seventh-grader Zoey Albro focuses on caring for three younger siblings and avoiding rich classmates at school until her fascination with octopuses gets her on the debate team and she begins to speak out. This moving debut novel explores the cultural divides around class and the gun debate through the eyes of one girl, living on the edges of society, trying to find her way forward." NPR Best Book of 2018, Bank Street List for Best Children's Books of 2019
Why: Author, Ann Braden brings awareness to how many families face tremendous obstacles everyday to succeed in school and life. Zoey, shunned by many of her classmates for the way she appears, tries to stay invisible like an octopus. She observes how her classmates take love, privilege, basic hygiene, and nutritious food for granted. This is a timely, well written, important book. Great choice for reading groups and discussions.
Availability:
Book in library - Place hold
ebook - hoopla
ebook - libby
Staff: Eleanor Schuster, Reference/Adult Services
Check out her blog!
Under Their Skin
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Summary: Twelve-year-old twins Nick and Eryn investigate why their mother and new stepfather are keeping secrets, why they are forbidden to meet their stepsiblings, and, most important, why their lives are in danger.
Why: Haddix is a perfect choice for upper elementary and middle school students. She writes accessible, exciting page-turners covering a wide range of thought provoking topics. This book in particular addresses the role of robots, as well as the consequences of prejudice, human error, decision-making, and secrets. You will want to read book two, In Over Their Heads when you finished with this one.
Availability: book - libby
ebook - libby
Staff: Eleanor Schuster, Reference/Adult Services
Check out her blog!
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Summary: Twelve-year-old twins Nick and Eryn investigate why their mother and new stepfather are keeping secrets, why they are forbidden to meet their stepsiblings, and, most important, why their lives are in danger.
Why: Haddix is a perfect choice for upper elementary and middle school students. She writes accessible, exciting page-turners covering a wide range of thought provoking topics. This book in particular addresses the role of robots, as well as the consequences of prejudice, human error, decision-making, and secrets. You will want to read book two, In Over Their Heads when you finished with this one.
Availability: book - libby
ebook - libby
Staff: Eleanor Schuster, Reference/Adult Services
Check out her blog!
Anna Karenina
by Tolstoy, translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky
Summary: Described by William Faulkner as the best novel ever written and by Fyodor Dostoevsky as “flawless,” Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky.
Why: I've always been drawn to long, epic novels--even before this period of self-quarantine & social distancing. If you've shied away from tackling Tolstoy in the past, the time has come. No excuses. This classic will whisk you up and plop you down into the mesh of 19th Century Russian society -- love, betrayal, scandal, aristocrats in drawing rooms, peasants in the fields, philosopher farmers -- everything is there to help you forget the anxieties of our days as well as offer some perspective. Make sure to get this particular translation by these two modern masters. The liveliness, immediacy, and flow allows readers easy access to the inner lives of Anna, Count Vronsky, Levin, & Kitty as the plot winds its way to the devastating conclusion. So you know the ending -- so what? The point is in the journey. Bonus--the latest film version starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law is available to stream on Netflix.
Availability: Ebooks & audiobooks - hoopla
Audiobook - libby
ebook - libby
Staff: Rosemary Farrell, Senior Librarian Programs & Community Engagement
In Five Years: A Novel
by Rebecca Serle
Summary: Where do you see yourself in five years?
Dannie Kohan lives her life by the numbers. Her meticulous planning seems to have paid off after she nails the most important job interview of her career and accepts her boyfriend’s marriage proposal in one fell swoop, falling asleep completely content. But when she awakens, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside her a very different man. Dannie spends one hour exactly five years in the future before she wakes again in her own home on the brink of midnight—but it is one hour she cannot shake.
Why: I read her 1st book ‘The Dinner List’ & both books have an intriguing story line.
Availability: ebook - libby
audiobook - libby
Staff: Irene Tricano, CRC staff
by Rebecca Serle
Summary: Where do you see yourself in five years?
Dannie Kohan lives her life by the numbers. Her meticulous planning seems to have paid off after she nails the most important job interview of her career and accepts her boyfriend’s marriage proposal in one fell swoop, falling asleep completely content. But when she awakens, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside her a very different man. Dannie spends one hour exactly five years in the future before she wakes again in her own home on the brink of midnight—but it is one hour she cannot shake.
Why: I read her 1st book ‘The Dinner List’ & both books have an intriguing story line.
Availability: ebook - libby
audiobook - libby
Staff: Irene Tricano, CRC staff
Exodus: A Memoir
by Deborah Feldman
Summary: The author of the explosive New York Times bestselling memoir Unorthodox (now a Netflix limited series) chronicles her continuing journey as a single mother, an independent woman, and a religious refugee.
Why: Honest memoir written by a woman who was born into Hasidism. This book is rich in the ability to understand and empathize with the author.
Availability: ebook - libby
audiobook - libby
Staff: Irene Tricano, CRC staff
by Deborah Feldman
Summary: The author of the explosive New York Times bestselling memoir Unorthodox (now a Netflix limited series) chronicles her continuing journey as a single mother, an independent woman, and a religious refugee.
Why: Honest memoir written by a woman who was born into Hasidism. This book is rich in the ability to understand and empathize with the author.
Availability: ebook - libby
audiobook - libby
Staff: Irene Tricano, CRC staff
You Never Forget Your First: a Biography of George Washington
by Alexis Coe
Summary: He took up arms against the British only when there was no other way, though he lost more battles than he on. After an unlikely victory in the Revolutionary War cast him as the nation's hero, he was desperate to retire, but the founders pressured him into the presidency–twice.
Why: "With irresistible style and warm humor, You Never Forget Your First combines rigorous research and lively storytelling that will have readers--including those who thought presidential biographies were just for dads--inhaling every page." - publisher. I'm still in the middle of reading it now, but I find in engaging, well written and anything but dry. History tends to be a predominantly male field so I love that a female author has tackled this.
Availability: ebooks & audiobooks - libby
Staff: Tracy Dunstan, Head of Reference
by Alexis Coe
Summary: He took up arms against the British only when there was no other way, though he lost more battles than he on. After an unlikely victory in the Revolutionary War cast him as the nation's hero, he was desperate to retire, but the founders pressured him into the presidency–twice.
Why: "With irresistible style and warm humor, You Never Forget Your First combines rigorous research and lively storytelling that will have readers--including those who thought presidential biographies were just for dads--inhaling every page." - publisher. I'm still in the middle of reading it now, but I find in engaging, well written and anything but dry. History tends to be a predominantly male field so I love that a female author has tackled this.
Availability: ebooks & audiobooks - libby
Staff: Tracy Dunstan, Head of Reference
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