Ages 18+
Pashmina is an author who left her family long ago in order to make a fresh start for herself. Amelia, Pashmina’s young editor is ecstatic to be working for her on her successful mystery series. She and her boyfriend Tim become a big part of Pashmina’s life, and soon all three of their lives become intertwined and secrets are revealed that they never thought would surface.
Ages 18+
Sisters Shelby, Yeardley and Lily Lane are beginning to feel that their every day lives are mundane, so when they get invited to their aunt Nola’s cottage by the lake for a birthday celebration, they jump at the chance to get away. It has been a long while since they’ve traveled there, and to them it feels like a homecoming. They are looking forward to reconnecting with family and each other.
Grades 9-12
Seventeen-year-old Essie is a Jewish girl living in Manhattan in 1911. She is unable to take care of her six-year-old sister, Zelda, because she has a job at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. At the factory, she befriends the new girl, Harriet. She relates to her on a deeper level, because she realizes that Harriet is sad, lonely and lost. We see Essie navigate through her own loss and tragedy as the author alternates between the past and the present, weaving the story together like an intricate web.
Ages 18+
It’s Los Angeles in the 1940s and black war veteran Easy Rawlins has just been fired from his defense plant job. He is drinking his problems away at his friend’s bar when a white man walks in. The man offers Easy money if he can find Daphne Monet, a woman who is known to hang around jazz clubs. To Easy, it seems simple enough, but is there a catch? Find out in this first book of Mosley’s series featuring Easy Rawlins.
Ages 14+
Wisler chronicles Hamilton’s life by taking lessons and advice that we can learn from everything he did and the way he lived his own life. Hamilton was a scrappy orphan who had an insatiable hunger for learning. He read everything he could get his hands on, and then he wrote as much as he could. Helping win the Revolutionary War, ratifying the Constitution and creating the country’s financial system were just some of the things that Alexander Hamilton accomplished. Wisler explains Hamilton’s basic maxims, as Hamilton liked to say, for anyone who wants success in money, romance or a good fight. Hamilton was a man before his time, and people of all generations will learn from him for years to come.
Grades 3-6
From the author who wrote Love That Dog and Hate That Cat comes Moo, her newest novel in a mix of poetry and prose. When Reena’s family moves from the city to rural Maine, at first, she doesn’t know what to expect. Instead of exploring all Maine has to offer, including delicious lobster and blueberries, Reena and her brother Luke are forced to work for their neighbor Mrs. Falala and care for her farm animals, including her stubborn Cow, Zora. This story teaches us that our lives can change for the better if we’re open to it.
Grades 3-6
Annabelle’s life in a quiet Pennsylvania town has been affected by two world wars, but her life really changes when she meets her new classmate Betty Glengarry. Betty is a typical bully and makes it known. She specifically attacks Toby a veteran of World War I. Will Annabelle, who knows what a kind soul Toby is, be able to stand up for him or will she choke and be a bystander?
This is a 2017 Newbery Honor book.
Grades 6-9
This biography explains, in simple terms, what exactly Buffalo Bill Cody did in his day. The author explains both what Buffalo Bill said about himself as well as what is known about him historically. The book is filled with photos, memorabilia from shows and drawings to illustrate Cody’s shows.
Ages 18+
Stephanie Plum works as a bounty hunter for her cousin Vinny’s bond enforcement agency. The latest skip is Larry Virgil, who was arrested for stealing an 18-wheeler full of bourbon. Stephanie and her honorary partner Lula catch Virgil in the act once again, but he gets away, leaving behind a freezer truck complete with Bogart’s ice cream and a dead body, which is frozen solid and topped with chocolate and pecans. Stephanie’s friend and occasional lover Ranger calls on her to go undercover to investigate the Bogart Factory. She takes on the assignment while also juggling her on-again, off-again boyfriend as well as keeping tabs on her pip of a grandma who has a new beau. The twenty-third Stephanie Plum novel is not to be missed!
Grades 3-6
Peter rescued Pax the fox when he was little after his family was killed. From that moment on, Peter became “his boy.” When Peter’s father enlists in the war, Peter is sent to live with his grandfather and forced to release Pax back into the wild. Guilt immediately washes over Peter, and he sets out to find his beloved friend again. Will the two reunite or will Pax be lost forever?
The Bookish Librarian 