20 Book Club Picks (Part 2)

June 25, 2013June 5, 2014 / Linda / Leave a comment

Here’s another batch of favorite books for book clubs.

(If you missed the first batch, here’s the link.)

Wild – Cheryl Strayed
The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
Room – Emma Donoghue
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert
Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson
The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
Moloka’i – Alan Brennert
The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safran Foer
The Shack – Wm. Paul Young
My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult
Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
The Light Between Oceans – M.L. Stedman
The Forgotten Garden – Kate Morton
The Kitchen House – Kathleen Grissom
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie – Alan Bradley
Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides

Top 5 Non-Fiction Books about Bullying

June 23, 2013June 6, 2014 / Sharon Tyler / 1 Comment

Bullying is a huge issue for children of all ages, and in some cases adults. The recent rise in awareness of this problem, and the sometimes tragic results, have made people sit up and take notice. Bullying has always been an issue to those involved, and a constant source of inspiration for authors, therefore there have always been books that discuss bullying on some level. However, in recent years it seems to be a much more prevalent topic in news and literature. Here are some of the non fiction books for children, teens, and the adults in their lives that I have found to be the most useful and moving on the subject.

1. Sticks and Stones : Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy by Emily Bazelon defines bullying and what it is not. This includes when intervention is essential and when kids should be given the freedom to fend for themselves.

2. It Gets Better : Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living by Dan Savage is a collection of essays and testimonials written to teens from celebrities, political leaders, and everyday people in order to show LGBT youth that happiness, potential, and satisfaction is in their future if they can get through the early years.

3. Letters to a Bullied Girl : Messages of Healing and Hope by Olivia Gardner includes letters originally written to Olivia by that can speak to all young people who have been bullied, offer advice and hope to those who suffer, and provide a wake-up call to all who have ever been involved in bullying.

4. We Want You to Know: Kids Talk about Bullying by Deborah Ellis contains more than thirty profiles in which teens honestly and openly talk about bullying and the roles that they played: as victims, perpetrators, or bystanders.

5. Bullied : What Every Parent, Teacher, and Kid Needs to Know about Ending the Cycle of Fear by Carrie Goldman ties the advice of leading authorities to candid accounts from families that have dealt with peer victimization to offer proven strategies and practical tools for helping children speak up, carry themselves with confidence, call each other out on cruelty, resolve conflict and cope with taunting in the physical, verbal, or cyber format.

2013 Edgar Award Winners

June 22, 2013June 14, 2013 / Louise / Leave a comment

Love a good mystery? The Edgar Awards, named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America. They honor the best of the best in the mystery genre, published or produced in the previous year. The 2013 winners were announced in May, and the winners are….

BEST NOVEL: Live by Night by Dennis Lehane

BEST FIRST NOVEL: The Expats by Chris Pavone

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL: The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

BEST FACT CRIME (also known as True Crime): Midnight in Peking:

How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China by Paul French

BEST YA: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

From the Reference Desk : Penguin Lives Series

June 19, 2013June 10, 2013 / cheshirelib / Leave a comment

Do you want to get a good overview of the life of a famous historical figure but don’t have the time to plough through an 800 page book of his or her life? Try some short biographies for easy reading this summer. Penguin Group Book Publishers has published the “Penguin Lives Series,” and Cheshire Library owns 29 of the titles. The average length of these books is under 200 pages. This is a beautifully designed, innovative series of biographies pairing celebrated writers with famous individuals who have shaped our thinking.

Here is a sample of the wide variety of biography subjects available: Julia Child, Elvis (Presley of course), Andy Warhol, Leonardo da Vinci, Frank Lloyd Wright, Robert E. Lee, Buddha, Mozart, and Crazy Horse.

For a complete listing of all of these titles, go to the library’s online catalog. In the search box, enter penguin lives then choose the series tab. All of these books are shelved in the biography section, located on the library’s lower level.

It’s National Audiobook Month – 10 Great Audiobooks to Listen to With Your Kids

June 18, 2013June 19, 2013 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Do you feel like you spend all your time driving your children back and forth from school, to practice, to friends houses, to wherever? These days we are all busy, and parents chauffeuring their children around know it well. Whether it is on the way to scouts, sports, or a family vacation you can turn a search for quiet into some serious quality time. Put that CD player or iPod to work and steer your car-full towards some of your childhood favorites, or new popular books, and you have the bonus of knowing exactly what they are reading (or hearing as they case might be) so that you can start conversations about the books with your children.

Many classic and new, popular books for children are now available on audiobook, and they are often read by very talented voice actors, the author, or sometimes even a full cast of voices. Here are ten quick suggestions, in no particular order, for audiobooks you might want to listen to with your children or for your own enjoyment.

1. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her own Making, written and read by Catherynne M. Valente.

2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (and the rest of the series), written by J.K. Rowling and read by Jim Dale.

3. Anything written and read by Neil Gaiman, such as Coraline, M is for Magic or The Graveyard Book.

4.Green Eggs and Ham and other Servings of Dr. Seuss, read by Jason Alexander, Michael McKean, and David Hyde Pierce.

5. The Lightning Thief, written by Rick Riordan and read by Jesse Bernstein.

6. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, written by Tom Angleberger and read by Mark Turetsky, Greg Steinbruner, Jonathan Todd Ross, Julia Gibson, and Charlotte Parry.

7. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Blubber, Freckle Juice, or anything else from Judy Blume. Some books are read by the author, others by Halley Feiffer or Laura Hamilton.

8. Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass written by Lewis Carroll and read by Ralph Cosham.

9. Magic Tree House Collection Books 1-8 (other book groupings are also available), written and read by Mary Pope Osborne.

10. The works of E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web and The Trumpet of the Swan read by E.B. White, and Stuart Little, read by Julie Harris.

If you prefer downloading audiobooks rather than juggling cd’s in the car, do not forget that you can use Overdrive to download free audiobooks. Many of these titles, as well as more great audiobooks and e-books to share with the family can be found there as well.