Staff Picks

Abdurraqib's writing is passionate, jumps off the page at times, and has rhythm and meaning for every word and at the corners of every sentence. He articulates what it means to be a true fan, how that fandom is intertwined with the city you're from, and how a lot of times that city lets you down but you keep showing up, because you've always dreamed of the day your team, your city, can rise above it and get national recognition for redemption, even if it's just for that moment.

 

Publisher's description: 

While Hanif Abdurraqib is an acclaimed author, a gifted poet, and one of our culture's most insightful music critics, he is most of all, at heart, an Ohioan. Growing up in Columbus in the '90s, Abdurraqib witnessed a golden era of basketball, one in which legends like LeBron were forged, and countless others weren't. His lifelong love of the game leads Abdurraqib into a lyrical, historical, and emotionally rich exploration of what it means to make it, who we think deserves success, the tensions between excellence and expectation, and the very notion of role-models, all of which he expertly weaves together with memoir: "Here is where I would like to tell you about the form on my father's jumpshot," Abdurraqib writes. "The truth, though, is that I saw my father shoot a basketball only one time.

 

The Inheritance Games is honestly an amazing book. It is the first book of a trilogy and follows Avery Kylie Grambs, a normal teenager who was given a billionaire's entire fortune. Avery has to stay in the billionaire's house for a year to gain the money. The only problem with that is that the other residents of the mansion aren't exactly happy at her being left the money instead of them. This book completely blew away my expectations. The chapters are short, grab, and keep your attention, with plot twists and puzzles that keep you guessing. Aside from the main trilogy there are some other books in this world such as The Brothers Hawthorne (two short stories about some of the Hawthorne brothers) and The Grandest game (The start of a new series or trilogy that is every bit as interesting as the first). Another collection of short stories is coming out later this year. Overall, this book is amazing and if you are looking for a new series to read, read this.

                                                                                        

- Kyra, ninth-grade volunteer

 

Publisher's description: 

Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why -- or even who Tobias Hawthorne is. To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch -- and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a con-woman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here is an amazing book that is centered around four people who aren't exactly the main protagonists of any other story. They aren't the chosen ones, they just happen to live in the same world that all the weird things happen in. I have never read a book like this before but Patrick Ness pulled it off well. The chapters are engaging and even tell you what is happening with the Indie kids (they are typically the ones to do all of the heroics and world saving). However the book just focuses on smaller problems in the life of Mikey and his friends.

- Kyra, ninth-grade volunteer

 

Publisher's Description:

What if you aren't the Chosen One? The one who's supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you're like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week's end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions.

 

In his mysterious 1897 novel Dracula, Bram Stoker artfully details the encounters different characters have with the elusive Count Dracula, thus crafting a detailed, interconnected web of information describing a vampire. Details about the vampire’s existence are revealed through Jonathan Harker’s encounter with the count in Transylvania, Doctor’s Seward’s observations on a madman conflicted between allowing the count to turn him into a vampire and defy death or staying pure in the eyes of God, and Mina Harker’s account of her own and her friend Lucy Westenra’s symptoms while turning. This fascinating Gothic fiction novel is absolutely delightful, especially for readers who are into or just getting into the horror genre. Although it is not too graphic, it still carries suspense by breaking up the narrative into a series of letters and journal entries written by various characters as they travel around England and continental Europe searching for Dracula’s whereabouts.

 

   - Jiyu K, ninth-grade teen volunteer

 

Publisher's description: 

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries in his client’s castle. Soon afterwards, disturbing incidents unfold in England: a ship runs aground on the shores of Whitby, its crew vanished; beautiful Lucy Westenra slowly succumbs to a mysterious, wasting illness, her blood drained away; and the lunatic Renfield raves about the imminent arrival of his ‘master’. In the ensuing battle of wills between the sinister Count and a determined group of adversaries – led by the intrepid vampire hunter Abraham van Helsing – Bram Stoker created a masterpiece of the horror genre, probing into questions of identity, sanity and the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

Little Thieves is a beautifully written (and at times hilarious) YA fantasy with a morally grey heroine who learns from her mistakes.

 

Publisher's description:

Vanja Schmidt knows that no gift is freely given, not even a mother's love--and she's on the hook for one hell of a debt. Vanja, the adopted goddaughter of Death and Fortune, was Princess Gisele's dutiful servant up until a year ago. That was when Vanja's otherworldly mothers demanded a terrible price for their care, and Vanja decided to steal her future back... by stealing Gisele's life for herself. The real Gisele is left a penniless nobody while Vanja uses an enchanted string of pearls to take her place. Now, Vanja leads a lonely but lucrative double life as princess and jewel thief, charming nobility while emptying their coffers to fund her great escape. Then, one heist away from freedom, Vanja crosses the wrong god and is cursed to an untimely end: turning into jewels, stone by stone, for her greed. Vanja has just two weeks to figure out how to break her curse and make her getaway. And with a feral guardian half-god, Gisele's sinister fiancé, and an overeager junior detective on Vanja's tail, she'll have to pull the biggest grift yet to save her own life.

 

This book was recommended to me by a friend living with Parkinson's and helped educate me on how Parkinson's manifests in individuals differently and varies day by day. It made me laugh, cry, and consider things I hadn't before. It's a raw, witty, visually-captivating graphic novel not to be missed.

 

Publisher description:

How does one deal with a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease at the age of forty-three? My Degeneration, by former Anchorage Daily News staff cartoonist Peter Dunlap-Shohl, answers the question with humor and passion, recounting the author's attempt to come to grips with the "malicious whimsy" of this chronic, progressive, and disabling disease. This graphic novel tracks Dunlap-Shohl's journey through depression, the worsening symptoms of the disease, the juggling of medications and their side effects, the impact on relations with family and community, and the raft of mental and physical changes wrought by the malady. My Degeneration examines the current state of Parkinson's care, including doctor/patient relations and the repercussions of a disease that, among other things, impairs movement, can rob patients of their ability to speak or write, degrades sufferers' ability to deal with complexity, and interferes with the sense of balance. Readers learn what it's like to undergo a dramatic, demanding, and audacious bit of high-tech brain surgery that can mysteriously restore much of a patient's control over symptoms. But My Degeneration is more than a Parkinson's memoir. Dunlap-Shohl gives the person newly diagnosed with Parkinson's disease the information necessary to cope with it on a day-to-day basis. He chronicles the changes that life with the disease can bring to the way one sees the world and the way one is seen by the wider community. Dunlap-Shohl imparts a realistic basis for hope--hope not only to carry on, but to enjoy a decent quality of life.

Julia Wertz's Drinking at the Movies is a collection of messy and hilarious tales of young adulthood. Her witty illustrations and candid storytelling make it astonishingly relatable, especially for those of us who've navigated our fair share of late-night escapades and existential hangovers.

 

Publisher description:

In her first full-length graphic memoir, Julia Wertz (creator of the cult-hit comic The Fart Party) documents the year she left San Francisco for the unfamiliar streets of New York. Don’t worry—this isn’t the typical redemptive coming-of-age tale of a young woman and her glorious triumph over tragedy or any such nonsense. It’s simply a hilarious—occasionally poignant—book filled with interesting art, absurd humor and plenty of amusing self-deprecation. Box by box, Wertz chronicles four sketchy apartments, seven terrible jobs, family drama, traveling fiascos, and too many whiskey bottles to count.

 

Lore Olympus reimagines the world of the Greek Pantheon in explosive color and expressive imagery. While it is a contemporary retelling of the story of Persephone and Hades, all of your favorite Greek myths and monsters make an appearance. A cozy, romantic read that will addict you to the webcomic.

 

Publisher description:

Persephone, young goddess of spring, is new to Olympus. Her mother, Demeter, has raised her in the mortal realm, but after Persephone promises to train as a sacred virgin, she's allowed to live in the fast-moving, glamorous world of the gods. When her roommate, Artemis, takes her to a party, her entire life changes: she ends up meeting Hades and feels an immediate spark with the charming yet misunderstood ruler of the Underworld. Now Persephone must navigate the confusing politics and relationships that rule Olympus, while also figuring out her own place--and her own power.