Staff Picks

I loved this eye-opening graphic-memoir about Kate Beaton's time working in the oil sands in Canada. Told with her signature humor and self-awareness, she gives us a unique perspective of the beauty and brutality of what it's like to live and work in such harsh conditions.

 

Publisher description:
With the singular goal of paying off her student loans, Katie heads out west to take advantage of Alberta’s oil rush—part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can’t find it in the homeland they love so much. Katie encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands, where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet is never discussed.

 

This simple story with bright illustrations by Togolese-French artist, Magali Attiogbé, captivates with the beauty of animals, nature, and repetition.
 

Publisher's description:
When a little pea escapes a girl who is shelling peas, it rolls off the kitchen table, onto the floor, and an adventure begins. The runaway pea rolls passed several hungry animals. It manages to evade a mouse, a cat, a rabbit, a hen, a pig, and a wolf, finally resting in the perfect place. The girl will find it again after some time has passed for a surprise conclusion.

Find Roll, Roll, Little Pea in our online catalog

We all remember the Burger City Murders right? Maybe not, but this book reads like a nonfiction true crime thriller, complete with interviews, footnotes, and deep dives into the nonexistent histories of fake fast food chains. Kraus has pulled together a truly scary tale of murder, mayhem, and fries!

 

Publisher's description:

On June 1, 2017, six people were killed at a Burger City franchise off I-80 near Jonny, Iowa. It was the bizarre and gruesome conclusion to nine months of alleged paranormal activity at the fast-food joint-events popularly known as "the Burger City Poltergeist."

The story inspired Facebook memes, Twitter hashtags, Buzzfeed listicles, Saturday Night Live sketches, and more. But the case was never much more than a punchline...until bestselling writer Daniel Kraus (The Shape of Water, The Living Dead) decided to head to Iowa to dig up what really happened.

Presented here is the definitive story of "the most exhaustively documented haunting in history," including-for the first time ever-interviews with every living survivor of the tragedy.

The employees of Burger City were a family. They loved one another. At least, at the beginning.

 

Find The Ghost That Ate Us in our online catalog

The Unwanteds is one of my favorite book series of all time. It is about twins, Alex and Aaron Stowe, and is a seven book series but when you are reading them it doesn't seem like it. On the island that this book is set on, creativity is banned. Everyone who is caught being creative is sent to their death when they turn 13. On the fateful day of the purge, Alex is chosen to be Unwanted and sent to his death, while Aaron is chosen to be a Wanted and is sent to university. When Alex is sent to his death, he actually discovers that all the Unwanteds are sent to the magical and creative world of Artime. Lisa McMann is an amazing author with incredible world building skills. This series also has, in my opinion, the best villain redemption arc. The Unwanteds continues in another seven book series called The Unwanteds Quests that follows twins Thisbe and Fifer Stowe. Overall, it is an amazing and well written series that is definitely worth the read. 

- Kyra, ninth-grade volunteer

 

Publisher's Description:

In a society that purges thirteen-year-olds who are creative, identical twins Aaron and Alex are separated, one to attend University while the other, supposedly Eliminated, finds himself in a wondrous place where youths hone their abilities and learn magic.

 

Murdle is a fun series where you use deductive reasoning to solve murders. It is set up as 100 puzzles that slowly form an overarching story. It's quite simple to learn how to do and can be hours of fun. There are three books in the series, so far, with an additional shorter book that recently came out. The story follows Deductive Logico as he solves all kinds of murders and mysteries. It is a really great series and I highly recommend to read and complete at least a few puzzles. 

 

- Kyra, ninth-grade volunteer

 

Publisher's Description:

Join Deductive Logico and investigate murders most foul in Murdle: Volume 1. The first of their kind, these humorous mini-mystery puzzles challenge you to find whodunit, how, where, and why. Examine the clues, interview the witnesses, and use the power of deduction to complete the grid and catch the culprit. Together, you'll uncover a buried secret beneath all of the murders and a message that can only be decrypted when you've solved them all.

 

What's that dark shape going bump in the woods? Brooks' chilling tale of man vs. beast is sure to make you want to run for the hills (or run away from them).

 

Publisher description:

As the ash and chaos from Mount Rainier's eruption swirled and finally settled, the story of the Greenloop massacre has passed unnoticed, unexamined, until now. But the journals of resident Kate Holland, recovered from the town's bloody wreckage, capture a tale too harrowing and too earth-shattering in its implications, to be forgotten. Because if what Kate Holland saw in those days is real, then we must accept the impossible. We must accept that the creature known as Bigfoot walks among us, and that it is a beast of terrible strength and ferocity.

 

 Beautiful illustrations and fun message that the best color of all is a rainbow!
 

Publisher's description:
Meet Alma, she loves to paint. With each new bucket of paint she finds, brushstrokes by brushstrokes, page by page, magic appears. Welcome to Alma's World. Alma's Art is inspired by the little-known African American painter Alma Woodsey Thomas, the treasured expressionist who made her national debut in the art world at age 80. Alma kept beauty and happiness at the forefront of her painting technique, studying how light and color worked together in the shapes and patterns on her canvases. Another new book by best-selling author Roda Ahmed who continues to bring inspiring stories of unknown heroes in history to children. Alma's Art is an important book to paint young minds with broad strokes that celebrate the colors of our world.

 

Find Alma's Art in our online catalog

This is a lovely and charming Regency era fantasy romance, all my favorite things! Pick this up if you like reading books that make you feel like you just sipped a warm cup of tea. For fans of Heather Fawcett, Rachell Gillig, or T. Kingfisher.

 

Publisher's description:

After a faerie's curse leaves her with no sense of fear, embarrassment, or happiness, Theodora Ettings tries to not disrupt her cousin's chances of finding a husband during the London Season and unwittingly attracts the attention of Elias Wilder, the strange, handsome, and ill-mannered Lord Sorcier.

 

You Are Here delivers a heartfelt journey of healing. Michael and Marnie, both lost in their own ways, reluctantly embark on a ten-day hike, only to discover something unexpected: each other. Fans of One Day will appreciate the wit and warmth woven into David Nicholls' latest novel.

 

Publisher's description:

Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he'll do anything to avoid his empty house. Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. Curled up with a good book, she's battling the long afternoons of a life that feels like it's passing her by. When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of ten-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they've been looking for. Michael and Marnie are on the precipice of a bright future ... if they can survive the journey.

 

What a fantastic book! The prose is gorgeous, the pictures are evocative, and the message is timeless--bad days are terrible! When we have them, everything seems bad, and it feels like the day will never end. But we have to remember that at the end of the day, we go to bed, and try again tomorrow!

Publisher's description:

Told in rhyming text, a little girl is having a day where absolutely nothing goes right, a day filled with frustration and annoyances, but even bad days end eventually.

Find Ode to a bad day in our online catalog