Staff Picks

A pitch-black story about a girl born in the slums of 18th century London, cursed with the desire for more. Mary Saunders should be content with her lot in life, but fine fabrics and ribbons always tempt her. As she wends her way through life on the streets of St. Giles, her eternal desire leads her to darker and darker places. This book has stuck with me for twenty years since I first read it, and it absolutely holds up to the scrutiny of a second read. Not for the faint of heart.

 

Publisher description:

Born to rough cloth in Hogarth's London, but longing for silk, Mary Saunders's eye for a shiny red ribbon leads her to prostitution at a young age. A dangerous misstep sends her fleeing to Monmouth, and the position of household seamstress, the ordinary life of an ordinary girl with no expectations. But Mary has known freedom, and having never known love, it is freedom that motivates her. Mary asks herself if the prostitute who hires out her body is more or less free than the "honest woman" locked into marriage, or the servant who runs a household not her own? And is either as free as a man? Ultimately, Mary remains true only to the three rules she learned on the streets: Never give up your liberty. Clothes make the woman. Clothes are the greatest lie ever told.

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A hilarious and educational journey through the history of English rulers, from King Arthur to Queen Elizabeth I. If you like dry British wit and history, this is the perfect read for you! And for an extra bonus, try the author-narrated audiobook--Mitchell's reading sounds like you're just having a chat over a pint about a thousand years of British heritage.

 

Publisher's description:
Think you know the kings and queens of England? Think again. In Unruly, David Mitchell explores how early England’s monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects’ destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky bastards who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear today in their portraits. Taking us back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn’t exist), Mitchell tells the founding story of post-Roman England up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It’s a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and a few Cnuts, as the English evolved from having their crops stolen by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed king. How this happened, who it happened to, and why the hell it matters are all questions that Mitchell answers with brilliance, wit, and the full erudition of a man who once studied history -- and won’t let it off the hook for the mess it’s made. A funny book that takes history seriously, Unruly is for anyone who has ever wondered how the British monarchy came to be -- and who is to blame.

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This was recommended to me by a friend who is in second grade, and it's a great first guide for kids (and some adults!) about how to spot fake news, and what questions to ask yourself to make sure you are able to figure out what is true and what's false. Also a fun silly read with great pictures!

 

Publisher's description:
In this hilarious, yet fact-filled book, Elise Gravel uses her kid-friendly wit and quirky illustration style to break down what fake news is, why people spread it, and how to tell what is real and what isn't. And that's the truth!

Find Killer Underwear Invasion! 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

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

In a beautifully illustrated picture book, Kari Percival takes little ones on a journey through a garden and all the friends that come with it! From greeting bees to growing peas, this is a sweet and messy guide to starting a garden and getting dirty outside.

 

Publisher's description:
The beautiful simplicity of a garden is depicted through digital woodcut illustrations and engaging nonfiction text presented as a series of sweet questions and gentle replies. Less of a traditional how-to and more of a how-to-appreciate, this soothingly sparse text paints an inviting and accessible picture of what a garden offers. And with an all-child cast, the absence of an adult presence empowers readers to view the garden and its creatures through their own eyes, driven by curiosity and wonder.

Find Say Hello to a Worm: A First Guide to Outside in our catalog

A beautifully written story about faith, family, and pomegranates. Luzia is a simple scullion hiding a dangerous secret in 16th century Spain--and when her ability to perform little miracles brings her to the attention of powerful men, she must find her way through a political labyrinth.

 

Publisher description:

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position. What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen-and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor. Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the lines between magic, science, and fraud are never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive-even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

 

Hendrix has a knack for writing horror that also moves you, and including just enough comedy to keep things mostly light hearted. This book was written as something of an homage to hard working stay at home moms who are overlooked by pop culture, and who also sometimes have to fight vampires.

 

Publisher's description: 

Patricia Campbell's life has never felt smaller. Her husband is a workaholic, her teenage kids have their own lives, her senile mother-in-law needs constant care, and she's always a step behind on her endless to-do list. The only thing keeping her sane is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime. At these meetings they're as likely to talk about the Manson family as they are about their own families. One evening after book club, Patricia is viciously attacked by an elderly neighbor, bringing the neighbor's handsome nephew, James Harris, into her life. James is well traveled and well read, and he makes Patricia feel things she hasn't felt in years. But when children on the other side of town go missing, their deaths written off by local police, Patricia has reason to believe James Harris is more of a Bundy than a Brad Pitt. The real problem? James is a monster of a different kind--and Patricia has already invited him in. Little by little, James will insinuate himself into Patricia's life and try to take everything she took for granted--including the book club--but she won't surrender without a fight in this blood-soaked tale of neighborly kindness gone wrong.

 

Find The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires in our online catalog. 

Charlie has always loved to tell stories--or has Charlie always loved to lie? This dark thriller with twisting timelines follows several stories that ultimately all tie in to one horrific summer at an English beach. The consequences of the lies and stories told that summer will ripple for decades.

 

Publisher's description: For Charlie and her niece Katie, it's supposed to be a quiet holiday in the peaceful, out-of-the-way seaside town of Hithechurch, England. Charlie is researching a book on the folklore of the area, and the gloomy sea and dangerous caves seem to offer up plenty of material, while Katie is just there to run wild and get some fresh air. But Charlie's research reveals a deeper, darker secret, one that uncovers her own, carefully hidden past. Because young women are going missing again: a teenage girl snatched from the beach in broad daylight, and before that, other girls through the decades have vanished from the area, their families left with no answers and no bodies to bury. Charlie's creation was a thing of felt, straw, fury, and a rusty pair of scissors in the dark. It couldn't be her monster. Could it? Charlie is set on discovering the truth about the girls' disappearances, but she's about to encounter a force of pure, obsessive malevolence that threatens to destroy anything in its path 

 

A haunting fantasy about a country immersed in mists and tradition and the girl whose hidden magic might just save them all. Elspeth Spindle has a hidden curse, a nightmare in her head that guides her and protects her--but at what cost? When she's pulled into a conspiracy, everything changes.

 

Publisher description:

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom she calls home--she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets. But nothing comes for free, especially magic. When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it. Except the highwayman just so happens to be the King's own nephew, Captain of the Destriers ... and guilty of high treason. He and Elspeth have until Solstice to gather twelve Providence Cards--the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly, darkly, taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.