Not Just for Teens: Young Adult Graphic Novels

December 3, 2013July 9, 2014 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Graphic novels are not just about super heroes, nor are they just for kids. The market and format has grown and evolved quite a bit in the last ten years, gaining a main stream legitimacy that it has often been denied in the past. These days graphic novels are created for everyone from toddlers to grandpas, but the teen and market in particular seems to have grown in wonderful ways. The current collection in our young adult department is growing steadily, and offers a wide range of stories of interest to adult and young adult readers. Check out these titles aimed at teens but full of the humor, complexity, and characters that reel in adults as well. Do not be afraid to explore the great titles that you might otherwise never see!

Kin, The Good Neighbors Book 1 by Holly Black & Ted Naifeh
Sixteen-year-old Rue Silver, whose mother disappeared weeks ago, believes she is going crazy until she learns that the strange things she has been seeing are real, and that she is one of the faerie creatures, or Good Neighbors, that mortals cannot see.

Amulet Book 1, The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi.
After the tragic death of their father, Emily and Navin move with their mother to the home of her deceased great-grandfather, but the strange house proves to be dangerous. Before long, a sinister creature lures the kids’ mom through a door in the basement. Em and Navin, desperate not to lose her, follow her into an underground world inhabited by demons, robots, and talking animals. Eventually, they enlist the help of a small mechanical rabbit named Miskit. Together with Miskit, they face the most terrifying monster of all, and Em finally has the chance to save someone she loves.

Bone Vol. 1, Out from Boneville by Jeff Smith with color by Steve Hamaker.
Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone are run out of their home, Boneville, and become separated in the wilds, but better fortune begins when the three cousins reunite at a farmstead in a deep forested valley, where Fone meets a young girl named Thorn. In Out From Boneville, volume 1 of this 9-book epic, the three Bone cousins, Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone, are separated and lost in a vast, uncharted desert. One by one, they find their way into a deep, forested valley filled with wonderful and terrifying creatures. Eventually, the cousins are reunited at a farmstead run by tough Gran’ma Ben and her spirited granddaughter Thorn. But little do the Bones know, there are dark forces conspiring against them, and their adventures are only just beginning!

One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry.
Buddhism teaches that each person must overcome 100 demons in a lifetime. In this collection of 20 comic strips, Lynda Barry wrestles with some of hers in her signature quirky, irrepressible voice. Color illustrations throughout.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan.
In this wordless graphic novel, a man leaves his homeland and sets off for a new country, where he must build a new life for himself and his family.

Mu shi shi Volume 1 by Yuki Urushibara, translated and adapted by William Flanagan.
Mushi have been around since shortly after life came out of the primordial ooze. They’re everywhere; some live behind your eyelids, some eat silence, some kill, and some drive men mad. Ginko is a mushishi, or mushi master, and has the ability to help those who are plagued by mushi.

Still want more? Well, while I fully encourage just walking into the young adult section and browsing, here are some more titles that are particularly interesting for teen and adult readers; Laika written by Nick Abadzis with color by Hilary Sycamore, Epileptic 1 by David B. Translated from the French by Kim Thompson, Death Note. Vol. 1, Boredom story by Tsugumi Ohba with art by Takeshi Obata and translation and adaptation by Pookie Rolf, Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki, and Tales of the Slayers, story by Joss Whedon.

Top 10 Library Downloads of 2013 : Audiobooks

December 1, 2013November 20, 2013 / cheshirelib / Leave a comment

Libraries are about more than physical books these days. More and more people are discovering the free downloadable books their library has to offer. Cheshire Library has over 4000 e-book titles and over 1500 audiobook titles in our collection. Here are some of the most popular downloads from our online audiobook collection:

AUDIOBOOKS – Adult Fiction

1.    A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin
2.    12th of Never, by James Patterson
3.    The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith
4.   The Forgotten, by David Baldacci
5.   Inferno, by Dan Brown
6.   The Hit, by David Baldacci
7.   Bad Monkey, by Carl Hiaasen
8.   A Clash of Kings, by George R.R. Martin
9.   The Black Box, by Michael Connelly
10. A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin

AUDIOBOOKS – Adult Nonfiction

1.   Bossypants, by Tina Fey
2.   Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, by David Sedaris
3.    Dad Is Fat, by Jim Gaffigan
4.   Orange Is the New Black, by Piper Kerman
5.   Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
6.    Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly
7.   Argo, by Antonio Mendez

8. Wheat Belly, by William Davis, MD
9. No Easy Day, by Mark Owen
10. Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Profile: Author Pat Conroy

November 30, 2013September 16, 2014 / Linda / Leave a comment

Pat Conroy

Pat Conroy is a New York Times best selling author who has written several acclaimed novels and memoirs. Two of his novels, The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini were made into Oscar nominated films.

Pat published his first book, The Boo, while attending Citadel Military Academy in Charleston, South Carolina. He became a teacher, but was fired for his unconventional teaching practices. Pat never taught again, but published a memoir, The Water is Wide, exposing the racism and appalling conditions at the school.

The Great Santini, was published in 1976, and chronicles the author’s childhood and his ambivalent love for his violent and abusive father. In 1980, The Lords of Discipline was published exposing The Citadel’s harsh military discipline and racism. Prince of Tides was published in 1986, followed by Beach Music in 1995. While on tour for this book, members of The Citadel’s basketball team came back into his life. This inspired him to write My Losing Season. His next novel, South of Broad, is a love letter to the city of Charleston. This was followed by The Pat Conroy Cookbook and finally, My Reading Life in 2010.

His latest book is The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and Son. Pat Conroy’s father, Donald Patrick Conroy, was a towering figure in his son’s life. The Marine Corpsfighter pilot was often brutal, cruel, and violent. As the oldest of seven children who were dragged from military base to military base across the South, Pat bore witness to the toll his father’s behavior took on his siblings, and especially on his mother, Peg. She was Pat’s lifeline to a better world—that of books and culture. But eventually, despite repeated confrontations with his father, Pat managed to claw his way toward a life he could have only imagined as a child.
Pat’s great success as a writer has always been intimately linked with the exploration of his family history. While the publication of The Great Santini brought Pat much acclaim, the rift it caused with his father brought even more attention. Their long-simmering conflict burst into the open, fracturing an already battered family. But as Pat tenderly chronicles here, even the oldest of wounds can heal. In the final years of Don Conroy’s life, he and his son reached a rapprochement of sorts. Quite unexpectedly, the Santini who had freely doled out physical abuse to his wife and children refocused his ire on those who had turned on Pat over the years. He defended his son’s honor.
The Death of Santini is at once a heart-wrenching account of personal and family struggle and a poignant lesson in how the ties of blood can both strangle and offer succor. It is an act of reckoning, an exorcism of demons, but one whose ultimate conclusion is that love can soften even the meanest of men, lending significance to one of the most-often quoted lines from Pat’s bestselling novel The Prince of Tides: “In families there are no crimes beyond forgiveness.”

To watch an interview between ABC newsman Charlie Gibson and Pat Conroy, click here.

Cookbooks to Tempt Kids into the Kitchen

November 27, 2013July 11, 2014 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Do you have a child that wants to help in the kitchen or wants to try cooking on their own? Perhaps you just want to learn some more kid friendly dishes or are hoping to get some help from your children in the kitchen? The library has a wide variety of cookbooks in the children’s section. There are books that focus on ethnic food, special diets, celebrity chefs, and even some more unexpected themes. Check some out to help inspire or teach your children about cooking, and just might make cooking less of a chore and much more fun for you as well.

Noodlemania!: 50 Playful Pasta Recipes by Melissa Barlow, photographs by Zac Williams and illustrations by Alison Oliver.
The American-style recipes range from the everyday to the elegant, and the six chapters are divided according to the class of pasta needed for the recipes. Most ingredients are readily available, and the recipes are simple to make, given the adult supervision. Barlow adds twists to dishes to indeed make them playful (making robots out of macaroni and pretzels, etc.).

ChopChop: The Kids’ Guide to Cooking Real Food with your Family by Sally Sampson, photographs by Carl Tremblay.Simple, healthy, delicious dishes for children and parents to make together.

A Princess Cookbook: Simple Recipes for Kids by Sarah L. Schuette.
Provides instructions and close-up step photos for making a variety of simple snacks and drinks with a princess theme

A Pirate Cookbook: Simple Recipes for Kids by Sarah L. Schuette.
Provides instructions and close-up photos for making a variety of simple snacks and drinks with a pirate theme

One World Kids Cookbook: Easy, Healthy, and Affordable Family Meals by Sean Mendez. This healthy eating cookbook is aimed at encouraging young people to think about what they eat through emphasizing the importance of a balanced diet. It contains kitchen tips and suggests vegetarian substitutes to the meat recipes. One World Kids Cookbook aims to instill a passion for good, wholesome, healthy food as well as a passion for life. Includes fabulous dishes from around the world, from jollof rice to fajitas.