Traditionally known for his Scottish mystery series, award-winning Peter May’s latest, Runaway, is a standalone, a superbly executed story of five friends who have to relive the past in order to resolve their regrets and guilt. In 1965, Jack Mackay is a headstrong 17-year-old, ready to leave his unhappy life in Glasgow, Scotland, with his […]
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Learn from Elephant and Piggie
Grown ups are always wondering what the moral of the story is. I didn’t even know what “moral of the story” meant until I asked a librarian the other day. It means the lesson that you learn from a story. Since I love Mo Willems’ Elephant & Piggie books, I thought I would share with you some […]
Continue readingNo football this weekend? No problem!
Here are some options (pun intended) for your viewing pleasure. Broncos: The Complete History, 2006 Denver Broncos Greatest Moments, 2013 Broncos 3 Greatest Games, 2008 America’s Game: Denver Broncos Collection, 2007
Continue readingBook Review: Gold Fame Citrus
Luz is a dystopian mess. While her boyfriend Ray spends his days gathering water and working around the former starlet’s mansion where they squat, Luz stays in the bedroom, trying on the starlet’s many glamorous dresses, or laying listlessly in bed. They are Mojavs, living in a Los Angeles depopulated by years of drought. Ray, […]
Continue readingStill creepy after all these years
Published in 1963, The Collector, by John Fowles, gives readers one of the first, and still one of the best, psychological thrillers. Frederick Clegg is a dull and colorless nobody whose only passion is for the butterflies he captures and mounts. That is, until he sees a beautiful girl. Miranda Grey, an art student, dazzling and full […]
Continue readingAtlas of Columbus
In my next life I want to be a cartographer. More specifically, a cartographer in the time of Columbus, Magellan and de Gama. In 1992, to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage to what turned out to be the West Indies, Rand McNally published Atlas of Columbus. This beautiful book is a collection […]
Continue readingWrapping up Banned Books Week
Libraries are a place with something to offend everyone. They are also places of discovery, wonder, enrichment, and understanding. Throughout this week dedicated to bringing Banned (and Challenged) Books to people’s attention, we have had some heart-warming moments: Listening to a mother tell her child the reasons given for banning Green Eggs and Ham, an […]
Continue readingBanned Book Review: Maus
I first read Maus when I was in 7th grade and I can recall the experience almost like it was yesterday. The book was created by Art Spiegelman and has been nominated for over 10 national and international book awards. In the graphic novel, Spiegelman retells the account of his father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew who […]
Continue readingBeloved by Toni Morrison – Challenged!
The past is a fearsome ghost hanging over Sethe’s life. It is 1873, slavery has been abolished, and while she now lives a safe and seemingly peaceful life, she remains haunted by a dark act she committed 20 years ago. She has stayed sane by “beating back the past” , but the horrendous legacy of […]
Continue readingBanned Books Week Review of And Tango Makes Three
Based on a true story, And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, with illustrations by Henry Cole, is a heartwarming children’s book about companionship and family. Two penguins, Roy and Silo, in New York City’s Central Park Zoo, meet and become a family of two. They see the other penguin couples laying eggs […]
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