Walter Dean Myers Passes Away

July 5, 2014July 3, 2014 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Walter Dean Myers, beloved and deeply respected children’s book author, died on July 1, 2014, following a brief illness. He was 76 years old. The School Library Journa l released his obituary on July 2nd.

Just about anyone that has read children’s or young adult literature in the last forty-five years will have read or at least heard of Walter Dean Myers and seen some of the over 100 books that he has written. This impressive body of work includes two Newbery Honor Books, three National Book Award Finalists, and six Coretta Scott King Award/Honor-winning books. He was also the winner of the first-ever Michael L. Printz Award, the first recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, and a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults. In 2010, Walter was the United States nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and in 2012 he was appointed the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, serving a two-year tenure in the position. Also in 2012, Walter was recognized as an inaugural NYC Literary Honoree, an honor given by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for his substantial lifetime accomplishments and contribution to children’s literature.

If you have not read anything from Myers, I would suggest using this loss as a motivation to get reading. His work is deep and sometimes heart wrenching, telling the stories of young people that need a voice and need to be heard. Here is a small sampling of his books which you might want to start with.

1. Darius & Twig
2. Invasion
3. All the Right Stuff
4. The Dream Bearer
5. Monster
6. The Glory Field
7. Hoops
8. 145th Street: Short Stories
9. Harlem: a Poem
10. Bad Boy: A Memoir

Summer Reading: Enjoy A Little History

June 29, 2014June 17, 2014 / Linda / Leave a comment

Summer doesn’t have to be all about lazy days. It’s a great time to stimulate your mind and try your hand at learning something new, or learn something new about a topic that interests you. Here are a few titles you might enjoy.

No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, The NSA, and the US Surveillance State by Glenn Greenwald – In May 2013, Glenn Greenwald set out for Hong Kong to meet an anonymous source who claimed to have astonishing evidence of pervasive government spying and insisted on communicating only through heavily encrypted channels. That source turned out to be the 29-year-old NSA contractor Edward Snowden, and his revelations about the agency’s widespread, systemic overreach proved to be some of the most explosive and consequential news in recent history, triggering a fierce debate over national security and information privacy. As the arguments rage on and the government considers various proposals for reform, it is clear that we have yet to see the full impact of Snowden’s disclosures.

Birdmen: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and The Battle To Control The Sky by Lawrence Goldstone -The feud between this nation’s great air pioneers, the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss, was a collision of unyielding and profoundly American personalities. On one side, a pair of tenacious siblings who together had solved the centuries-old riddle of powered, heavier-than-air flight. On the other, an audacious motorcycle racer whose innovative aircraft became synonymous in the public mind with death-defying stunts. For more than a decade, they battled each other in court, at air shows, and in the newspapers. The outcome of this contest of wills would shape the course of aviation history—and take a fearsome toll on the men involved.

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan – At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was home to 75,000 residents, and consumed more electricity than New York City, yet it was shrouded in such secrecy that it did not appear on any map. Thousands of civilians, many of them young women from small towns across the U.S., were recruited to this secret city, enticed by the promise of solid wages and war-ending work. What were they actually doing there? Very few knew. The purpose of this mysterious government project was kept a secret from the outside world and from the majority of the residents themselves. Some wondered why, despite the constant work and round-the-clock activity in this makeshift town, did no tangible product of any kind ever seem to leave its guarded gates? The women who kept this town running would find out at the end of the war, when Oak Ridge’s secret was revealed and changed the world forever.

Hard Choices by Hilary Rodham Clinton – Hillary Rodham Clinton’s inside account of the crises, choices, and challenges she faced during her four years as America’s 67th Secretary of State, and how those experiences drive her view of the future.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo – A bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport.

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortuneby Bill Dedman – A complex portrait of the mysterious Huguette and her intimate circle. We meet her extravagant father, her publicity-shy mother, her star-crossed sister, her French boyfriend, her nurse who received more than $30 million in gifts, and the relatives fighting to inherit Huguette’s copper fortune. Richly illustrated with more than seventy photographs, Empty Mansions is an enthralling story of an eccentric of the highest order, a last jewel of the Gilded Age who lived life on her own terms.

Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises by Timothy Geithner – As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then as President Barack Obama’s secretary of the Treasury, Timothy F. Geithner helped the United States navigate the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, from boom to bust to rescue to recovery. In a candid, riveting, and historically illuminating memoir, he takes readers behind the scenes of the crisis, explaining the hard choices and politically unpalatable decisions he made to repair a broken financial system and prevent the collapse of the Main Street economy. This is the inside story of how a small group of policy makers—in a thick fog of uncertainty, with unimaginably high stakes—helped avoid a second depression but lost the American people doing it.

Missing Microbes: how the overuse of antibiotics is fueling our modern plagues by Martin J. Blaser, MD – Tracing one scientist’s journey toward understanding the crucial importance of the microbiome, this revolutionary book will take readers to the forefront of trail-blazing research while revealing the damage that overuse of antibiotics is doing to our health: contributing to the rise of obesity, asthma, diabetes, and certain forms of cancer.

Everybody’s Got a Story – 10 New and Upcoming Memoirs

May 29, 2014June 5, 2014 / Louise / Leave a comment

What is a memoir?

Memoir (from French: mémoire, meaning memory or reminiscence), is a literary subcategory of the autobiography, usually a collection of memories that an individual writes about moments or events that took place in the author’s life. Like most autobiographies, memoirs are written from the first-person point of view. Where an autobiography tells the story of a life, while memoir tells a story from a life, such as touchstone events and turning points from the author’s life.

Memoirs have seen a major surge in popularity in recent years. The old adage “everyone has a book in them” seems to be coming true! Some hypothesize that the growing popularity of social media and reality television shows has increased the public’s appetite for reading memoirs. Whatever the reason, there are more and more published every year. Here are a few of the new and noteworthy memoirs being published in 2014:

I Forgot to Remember by Su Meck. the story of an amnesia survivor who permanently lost all of her memories after a traumatic brain injury and who endured a more than 25-year effort to relearn basic skills and reclaim her life. In her own indelible voice, Su offers us a view from the inside of a terrible injury, with the hope that her story will help give other brain injury sufferers and their families the resolve and courage to build their lives anew.

Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart. A candid, witty, deeply poignant account of his life, Shteyngart shares his experience a young Russian immigrant, moving back and forth through time and memory with self-deprecating humor, moving insights, and literary bravado. It is a memoir of a Jewish family leaving Russia and coming to America, as told by a lifelong misfit who forged from his imagination an essential literary voice and, against all odds, a place in the world.

Out of the Woods by Lynn Darling. After her daughter leaves home for college, the author, a widow, embarks on a journey of self-discovery that leads her from New York to Vermont where she, with her dog and a compass, maps out a new direction for her life while adapting to the solitude of her new surroundings. Combining the soul-baring insight of Wild, the profound wisdom of Shop Class as Soulcraft, and the adventurous spirit of Eat, Pray, Love: Lynn Darling’s powerful, lyrical memoir of self-discovery, full of warmth and wry humor.

Paddle Your Own Canoe by Nick Offerman. The actor known for roles in such productions as Parks and Recreation shares whimsical musings on a range of topics from love and manliness to grooming and eating meat, offering additional discussions of his life before fame and his courtship of his wife, Megan Mullally. A mix of amusing anecdotes, opinionated lessons and rants, sprinkled with offbeat gaiety, Paddle Your Own Canoe will not only tickle readers pink but may also rouse them to put down their smart phones, study a few sycamore leaves, and maybe even hand craft (and paddle) their own canoes.

Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan. The author of the best-selling The Middle Place presents an account of her perspectives on motherhood, which have been shaped by her job as a nanny for a grieving Australian family and her character-testing experiences with her daughters. A book about the difference between travel and life experience, stepping out and stepping up, fathers and mothers; But mostly it’s about who you admire and why, and how that changes over time.

Duty by Robert M. Gates. The former Secretary of Defense and director of the CIA recounts his service under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, describing his roles in such major events as the Bin Laden raid, the Guantánamo Bay controversy and the WikiLeaks scandal.

Sous Chef by Michael Gibney. An executive sous chef who has worked alongside cooks from some of the nation’s leading restaurants documents an intense twenty-four-hour period that illuminates the allures and adversities of a professional culinary life. Sous Chef is an immersive, adrenaline-fueled run that offers a fly-on-the-wall perspective on the food service industry, allowing readers to briefly inhabit the hidden world behind the kitchen doors, in real time.

Stronger by Jeff Bauman. Long-distance runner Bauman’s inspiring memoir of his experiences during the terrorist bombing at the 2013 Boston Marathon in which he lost both his legs and his ongoing mission to walk again.

Things a Little Bird Told Me by Biz Stone. Telling personal stories from his early life and careers, the co-founder of Twitter and one of today’s most successful businessmen shares his knowledge about the nature and importance of ingenuity today. Biz also addresses failure, the value of vulnerability, ambition, and corporate culture.

Hard Choices by Hillary Rodham Clinton. The former secretary of state, senator and first lady shares candid reflections about the key moments of her service in the Obama Administration as well as her thoughts about how to navigate the challenges of the 21st century.

10 Books We’re Looking Forward to in May

May 17, 2014June 3, 2014 / Louise / Leave a comment

So many great books coming out in May, it’s hard to pick just ten!

Every month, librarians from around the country pick the top ten new books they’d most like to share with readers. The results are published on LibraryReads.org. One of the goals of LibraryReads is to highlight the important role public libraries play in building buzz for new books and new authors. Click through to read more about what new and upcoming books librarians consider buzzworthy this month. The top ten titles for May are:

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Bees by Laline Paull
Delicious! by Ruth Reichl
The Forgotten Seamstress by Liz Trenow
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
Delancey: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage by Molly Wizenberg
Sixth Grave on the Edge by Darynda Jones
The Blessings by Elise Juska

Doing Time Waiting for Season 2 of “Orange Is The New Black”? Try These Books About Life Behind Bars

April 26, 2014June 4, 2014 / Louise / Leave a comment

Are you a fan of the critically-acclaimed Netflix series Orange Is The New Black? You may know that it is based on the memoir of the same name by Piper Kerman. Heartbreaking, hilarious, and at times enraging, Orange Is the New Black offers a rare look into the lives of women in prison, why it is we lock so many away, and what happens to them when they’re there.