Staff Picks

Eka loves visiting her Grandfather in Tokyo because she can slip out and sing, dance, and march with her spirit friends (yōkai) in a glorious night parade. She can't do this in New York where her family now lives, so she cherishes her participation in the wild procession and longs for her next visit.

 

Publisher's description:
The night parade is about to begin . . . The ground thunders in Tokyo. A gust of wind blows. The pitter patter of paws and claws draws closer. The air is thick with swirling, swooping demons. It's Eka's favorite evening of the year, the one night she refuses to miss. But it's become harder to travel to Japan now that she's living across the world in New York. Unsure of when she can return next to see her yokai friends, Eka tries to forget that this could be her last parade for some time. Instead, she'll march, sing, dance, hoot, and screech until sunrise. Because on this night, there's no time to waste--the night parade awaits.

Find Tokyo night parade in our catalog

A multi-generational accounting of the murder of an aboriginal man in Australia's sacred heart by a white police officer in 1934. A clever mix of true crime, history, and reconciliation, Return to Uluru will leave you with a new understanding of the famous rock and the people who call it home.

 

Publisher's description:

Return to Uluru explores the cold case that strikes at the heart of Australia's white supremacy-the death of an Aboriginal man in 1934; the iconic life of a white, "outback" police officer; and the continent's most sacred and mysterious landmark.

 

Find Return to Uluru in our online catalog

This is the first book on the famous Iditarod sled race as told by one of the trail veterinarians. Morgan tells his stories of trial, tragedy, and triumph in each of the 26 checkpoints from Anchorage to Nome in his humorous and engaging way. If you love dogs, this book is a must-read!

Publisher description:
In Four Thousand Paws, award-winning veterinarian Lee Morgan―a member of the Iditarod’s expert veterinary corps―tells the story of these heroic dogs, following the teams as they traverse deep spruce forests, climb steep mountain slopes, and navigate over ice-bound rivers toward Nome, on the coast of the Bering Sea, where the famed Burled Arch awaits. From the huskies of Iditarods past to the intrepid dogs of today, Morgan shows how these fierce competitors surmount the dangers of the Arctic, aided, along the way, by attentive mushers and volunteer veterinarians. A world away from his Georgetown veterinary clinic, Morgan examines dogs at each checkpoint, and sees how their body language reflects the thrill of the race―and how, when pulled from it, they often refuse to eat. As in any team sport, distinct personalities among the sled dogs create complex group dynamics, and Morgan captures moments of intense rivalry, defeat, camaraderie, and, ultimately, triumph

 

Forced into serving as a Jewish  Blockälteste (block leader) in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Magda Hellinger would witness unimaginable cruelty and destruction. By using her new position of power in the camp she would also save thousands of innocent people from the Nazi ovens. A remarkable true story!

 

Publisher's description: 

In March 1942, at the age of 25, kindergarten teacher Magda Hellinger was deported from her hometown in Slovakia along with 998 other young women. They were some of the first Jews to be sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Very few would survive the next three years until liberation. The SS soon discovered that by putting prisoners in day-to-day charge of the accommodation blocks and even the camps at large -- so called Blockalteste and Lageralteste respectively -- they could both reduce the number of guards required and use these "leaders" to deflect attention away from themselves. Magda was one such Jewish prisoner selected for leadership. Like many others during the war she found herself constantly treading a fine line: how to save lives-if only a few at a time-while avoiding being too "soft" and likely sent to the gas chambers. Through her own inner strength and ingenuity, she was able to rise above the horror and cruelty of the camps and build pivotal relationships with the women under her watch, and some of Auschwitz's most notorious Nazi senior officers. Based on Magda's own personal account and completed by her daughter's extensive research, this awe-inspiring story offers us incredible insight into human nature under the pressure to survive, the power of resilience, and the goodness that can shine through even in the most horrific of conditions.

 

Ye's debut novel is a generational saga of adventure, loss, grief, resilience, and culture. A faithful daughter is sold into slavery and sent to the American West. She hopes to find her missing father but instead finds herself struggling to avoid being consumed by the brutal country around her.

 

Publisher's description:

A sweeping historical novel of the American West from the little-seen perspective of those who helped to build it, Straw Dogs of the Universe traces the story of one Chinese father and his young daughter, desperate to find him against all odds. After her village is devastated by famine, 10-year-old Sixiang is sold to a human trafficker for a bag of rice and six silver coins. Her mother is reluctant to let her go, but the promise of a better life for her beloved daughter ultimately sways her. Arriving in America with the profits from her sale and a single photograph of Guifeng, her absent father, Sixiang journeys across an unfamiliar American landscape in the hopes of reuniting her family. As she makes her way through an unforgiving new world, her father, a railroad worker in California, finds his attempts to build a life for himself both upended and defined by a long-lost love and the seemingly inescapable violence of the American West. A generational saga ranging from the villages of China to the establishment of the transcontinental railroad and the anti-Chinese movement in California, Straw Dogs of the Universe considers the tenacity of family ties and the courage it takes to survive in a country that rejects you, even as it relies upon your labor.

Find Straw Dogs of the Universe in our online catalog.

Adelaide Henry is a bit of an unusual sight: a lone black woman attempting to stake a homesteading claim in the wilderness of Montana. Even more unusual is the impossibly heavy old trunk that appears to be her only baggage... An engaging blend of horror, western, and historical fiction.

 

Publisher description:

Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It's locked at all times. Because when the trunk is opened, people around her start to disappear... The year is 1914, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, and forced her to flee her hometown of Redondo, California, in a hellfire rush, ready to make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will be one of the "lone women" taking advantage of the government's offer of free land for those who can cultivate it-except that Adelaide isn't alone. And the secret she's tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing keeping her alive.

 

Follow Huda and her family as they take a road trip from Dearborn, MI to Disney World in Florida. Being visibly Muslim, Huda and her family experience the park a bit differently than others. Where does one pray in Tomorrowland? How does one stay cool in abaya? A witty & heartfelt romp of a story.

 

Publisher's description:

This summer's exercise in Fahmy family sisterly bonding involves a trip to Disney World--which seems like it's headed for disaster when Huda gets into a fight with a boy making fun of her hijab.

 

Chinese American twins Billy and Milly are struggling to support their restaurant while their immigrant parents visit. But their mom Ipo keeps chain-smoking and glaring at the empty house next door while their father Keon seems more on-edge than usual. What's up with them and that creepy, old house?

 

Publisher's description: 

Chinese American twins, Milly and Billy, are having a tough time. On top of the multiple failures in their personal and professional lives, they're struggling to keep their restaurant afloat. Luckily their parents, Ipo and Keon, are in town for their annual visit. Having immigrated from Hong Kong before the twins were born, Ipo and Keon have supported their children through thick and thin and are ready to lend a hand--but they're starting to wonder, has their support made Milly and Billy incapable of standing on their own? When Ipo forces them to help her clean up the house next door--a hellish and run-down ruin that was the scene of a grisly murder--the twins are in for a nasty surprise. A night of terror, gore, and supernatural mayhem reveals that there is much more to Ipo and her children than meets the eye.

 

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.