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Staff Recommendations
January 2008
Children's Books | Adult Books | Teen Books | Movies | Music
Below you'll find materials recommended by library staff.
Children's Books
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Wild Child, by Lynn Plourde (E Plourde) Mother Earth is attempting to put her swirly and swooshing wild child, Autumn, to bed in this lusciously illustrated book. Younger children can relate to the rhythm, and older ones will pour over the images. Quite a useful book for a fall theme or for teaching about simile and metaphor, perfect as a bedtime story as you snuggle up on a cool windy night. Extension activities can include leaf crafts or wind science experiments. Wild Child is part of a series about seasons by Plourde and illustrator Greg Couch. Picture book, preschool through third. --Shannon, Head of Youth Services |
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The OK Book, by Amy Rosenthal (E Rosenthal) In the age of excelling at it all, Rosenthal's book is a breath of fresh air about being, well, just simply o.k. at something. The "OK" figure (tilt the image to see a stick figure representation pop out at you) is shown being somewhat-good while trying many things, and realizing that excellence may perhaps be achieved at something in the future. The book also lends itself to extension craft and discussion activities. Trace the "OK" figure on a piece of paper and have your little experimenter draw or decorate what they might like to try one day. Picture book, preschool and up. --Shannon, Head of Youth Services |
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Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, by Sarah Miller (J Miller) Readers will delightedly wince as they dive into a book that explores the overlooked story of Annie Sullivan, teacher of Helen Keller. Physical battles match ones of will as Annie works to bring discipline to Helen's untamed world. A few scenes give us sides of the Keller story we never imagined, including one where Annie loses a tooth to a bone-crunching blow by six-year-old Helen. Debut novelist Sarah Miller provides historical information about the Sullivan story to take the reader one step further. Highly recommended for middle schoolers, a hopeful for a Caudill nomination. Chapter book, 208 pages. --Shannon, Head of Youth Services |
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Careers in Technical Theater, by Mike Lawler (on order) When one thinks of Theater careers, one generally considers the performance end of business. But what makes a performance actually possible? Lawler's breakthrough book is one of the first comprehensive informational works that discusses career options in the modern fine arts. The approachable chapters provide an overview of the career choice, earnings potential, required training and education with companion contacts. It's a gem of information and a must-have for every school and public library, especially ones working with fine arts programs. Lawler also produces a notable blog, EcoTheater, which focuses on sustainable practices in Theater and is working on his second book, EcoLogues. Non-fiction, middle school through adults. --Shannon, Head of Youth Services |
Adult Books
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Goddess of Spring, by P. C. Cast (FIC Cast) At age 43, Carolina Santoro is a successful baker in the trendy district of Tulsa, but she is unlucky in love. In fact, she's given up on love entirely and is devoted to baking her bread, shepherding her young coworkers, and doting on her bulldog and persnickety cat. But when Lina learns that her accountant has utterly messed up the books and that her bakery is in danger of bankruptcy, she searches frantically for a hot new menu item to draw in more customers. She comes across a dusty old Italian cookbook with a dough recipe that invokes Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest. Figuring she's got nothing to lose, Lina follows the steps of the spell. Suddenly she has traded places with Demeter's young and irrepressible daughter, Persephone (Goddess of Spring), and learns that she is to visit Hades and the Underworld to bring light and hope to the souls of the dead. Little does Lina realize she will fall madly in love with the Underworld's dark, brooding god. A fun, light-hearted fantasy read with some tasteful romance mixed in. --Jamie, Reference Librarian |
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The Almost Moon, by Alice Sebold (FIC Sebold) "When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily." If that's the first line of a novel, the rest of it had better measure up, which The Almost Moon defintiely does. Alice Sebold's novel takes on a subject very familiar to Baby Boomers: caring for an aged parent with dementia. It looks without flinching at the love and the hatred that a grown daughter may bring to the task, what growing-up experiences have marked her, and where she can go when she can't go home again. --Christine Ricker, Circulation |
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Boomsday, by Christopher Buckley (FIC Buckley) Boomsday is a funny poitical satire about a blogger who sets off a debate on Social Security by suggesting that Baby Boomers commit suicide to help it stay afloat in exchange for tax write-offs for their heirs. When politicians get involved, everything goes crazy. This book was very funny, well written, and thought provoking. -- Julie L., Head, Magazine Desk |
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Whistling Season, by Ivan Doig (FIC Doig) This is a charming story about a Montana widower who hires a housekeeper to care for his boys and the one-room school in which her brother teaches. It is beautifully written and evokes rural Montana c. 1920. The Thomas Ford Book Discussion Group liked it very much. --Nancy L., Reference Librarian |
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Shoot the Moon, by Billie Letts (FIC Letts) A fast-paced novel about a man who found out that he was adopted after his parents died. While looking for his birth mother, he learns that she was murdered and that he had been abducted. This is a page turner. I couldn't wait to find out the killer's identity. -- Julie L., Head, Magazine Desk |
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The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, by Jeffrey Toobin (347.7326 Too) Ideology has always trumped precedence in the rulings of the Supreme Court of the United States, according to Jeffrey Toobin in The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. The law does not change and necessitate new decisions. What changes are the judges. To get the decisions you want, you need to put your judges on the bench. In telling the story, Toobin sprinkles the serious matter with some amusing details. I never knew that justices get to decorate their offices with paintings and sculpture from the Smithsonian's Museum of American Art. David Souter eats an apple and a cup of yogurt every day for lunch. Clarence Thomas got through an entire term without asking any questions. Readers will learn much about all the justices appointed in the past forty-five years. Toobin seems to admire most of them. The Nine would be a great discussion book. There are bound to be readers who disagree. --Rick, Adult Services Librarian |
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Flower Confidential, by Amy Stewart (331.8 Ste) I recommend having a friend nearby as you read Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart, as there are so many interesting statements to share. You will keep saying, "Did you know?" Did you know that eighty percent of the cut flowers sold in the U.S. are imported? Did you know that the largest number of them come from Colombia, which we give favored nation status to encourage flower farming as part of the unsuccessful war on drugs? Did you know we get the most roses from Ecuador, which sends its high-end roses to Russia? Did you know most flowers imported into the U.S. come through Miami, where sample containers will be inspected for disease, insects, and illegal drugs? Did you know that the trend toward outpatient surgery has hurt flower sales in the sympathy segment of the market? Did you know that two-thirds of all cut flower sales in the U.S are gifts? Stewart tells us much about cultural trends and their influence on flower sales. One of our gardening speakers recommended --Rick, Adult Services Librarian |
Books for Teens
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Uprising, by Margaret Peterson Haddix (YA Haddix) Popular writer Haddix offers this engrossing historical fiction novel about the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911. The story centers around three girls who are all involved in the factory in some way: Bella, an Italian immigrant working hard to send money back to her family in Italy; Yetta, a Russian Jewish immigrant who escaped persecution in her homeland and is a major part of the labor union movement, and Jane, the daughter of a corrupt businessman who has everything she wants except self-respect. The three meet during the famed union strike of the Triangle factory and stick together through all the hard obstacles they must endure, including the fire that claimed so many young lives. 346 pages. --Jamie, Reference Librarian |
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Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, by James Patterson (YA Patterson) Max is 14 and part of a group of genetically-enhanced kids that have wings and can fly, among other unique traits. The kids were created in a lab as part of an experiment. Max and her gang are on the run from wolf-like predators called Erasers. When Angel, the youngest of the group, is kidnapped by the Erasers, the gang must pool all their talents to rescue her. A fast-moving favorite, The Angel Experiment is the first in the Maximum Ride series. 440 pages. --Jamie, Reference Librarian |
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The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Clooney (YA PB Clooney) One day during lunch in the school cafeteria, Janie Johnson sees a picture of a missing girl on the back of a milk carton and realizes SHE is that girl! As flashbacks and memories begin to come to Janie, she must face the truth: her beloved parents kidnapped her when she was three years old. Why would they do such a thing? How will Janie deal with it all? And what about her real family that she left behind so long ago? A quick-paced mystery, the first in the Janie Johnson series. 237 pages. --Jamie, Reference Librarian |
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Peak, by Roland Smith (YA Smith) Peak Marcello knows he has a weird name, but it fits him, since he likes to climb things - very tall things. When he scales a skyscraper in his hometown of New York, he is arrested and sent to live with his eccentric father, who runs a mountain-climbing company in Thailand. Peak's dad wants him to climb to the top of Mount Everest; if he can do it, he'll be the youngest climber to ever achieve that goal. But is the challenge worth his life? This is an action-packed adventure story that'll keep you up all night! 246 pages. --Jamie, Reference Librarian |
Movies
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Mad Hot Ballroom (DVD MAD) Do you know the steps to merengue, rumba, foxtrot, tango, or swing dancing? I don't, but many eleven-year-old students in New York sure do; they get ballroom dancing instruction from the American Ballroom Theater's Dancing Classrooms program, and they take it seriously. For ten weeks they learn the dances and prepare for competitions. The best team wins the city trophy for its school. Only one school wins the competitions, but all the students benefit: school pride is raised, each student's sense of accomplishment is strengthened, and they learn how to dance, which will stick with them forever. The cameras of Mad Hot Ballroom followed teams from three schools closely through the 2004 dance season, so moviegoers get to see the students from first lessons to the final competition, witnessing all the missteps and frustrations of children just beginning to mature. They also see what can be accomplished when dedicated people care enough to work with students in all economic classes. --Rick, Adult Services Librarian |
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Good Night, and Good Luck (DVD GOO) This Oscar-nominated film, which recreates the televised clash between Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy, looks like a documentary. The dramatized scenes are shot in slightly soft black and white, and David Strathairn is made to look very much like Murrow. Old CBS studios are effectively recreated, and period jazz helps establish a 1950's mood. Worked into the film is restored footage of Congressional hearings, old commercials, and newscasts. Joseph McCarthy looks like Joseph McCarthy because he is Joseph McCarthy. The same goes for President Eisenhower and Liberace. The scene of Murrow interviewing Liberace is worth the price of admission itself. George Clooney directed and co-wrote the script, using many of Murrow's own words. The result is a very quotable film that should become a classic. --Rick, Adult Services Librarian |
Music
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Just My Heart for You by Curtis and Loretta (CD 781.62 Cur) Curtis and Loretta's latest CD mixes folk songs and Loretta's original compositions. It may be their best CD so far. Several talented musicians assist them, including fiddler Peter Ostroushko from A Prairie Home Companion. Sandy Njoes plays bass fiddle, Sera Jane Smolen and Lori Smart play cellos, and Bill Philipp plays banjo and accordion in support of Curtis on a variety of stringed instruments and Loretta on her Irish harp and guitar. Kazoos and a pennywhistle are also used. It sounds great. There are two very moving stories in song on the CD. Track 4 is "Can You Take Me Home?" which tells about Loretta's mother caring for her father during his years suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Track 9 is "Angel of Bergen-Belsen," which tells the story of Luba Tryszynska-Frederick saving the lives of children at a concentration camp during World War II. Later Luba joins Loretta to sing the Yiddish song "Tell Me Where Can I Go?" Not all the songs are so serious. Curtis sings a humorous old Vaudeville song called "I Had But Fifty Cents" and they end the CD with the children's song "There Ain't No Bugs on Me." "Harps in Heaven" is perhaps the happiest sounding song on the CD. --Rick, Adult Services Librarian |
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Rodrigo y Gabriela (CD 781.66 Rod) Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero are Mexican-born guitar virtuosi who fuse heavy metal with Latin beat to create magically seductive instrumentals. Most of the pieces on this CD are original, but its most exciting piece may be their rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." Classical guitar fans and metalheads may see eye to eye on this CD. Great music for a long drive. --Rick, Adult Services Librarian |
Staff Recommendations Archive
