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Staff Picks

Anjana recommends Macbeth by William Shakespeare

03/20/2022

Boulder Library

.Guest Post, .Teen Picks, drama

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Macbeth is a piece of literature that urges the reader to think about power, sexuality, and loss in ways out of the ordinary. Though I had to read it as a book from my English Class, this play really pushed me out of my comfort genre into a different style of writing. With one page dedicated to annotations for certain words, and the other page being the actual play, Macbeth is a style out of the ordinary, but certainly one worth trying.

- Anjana, tenth-grade teen volunteer

Publisher's description:

No dramatist has ever seen with more frightening clarity into the heart and mind of a murderer than has Shakespeare in this compelling tragedy of evil. Taunted into asserting his "masculinity" by his ambitious wife, Macbeth chooses to embrace the Weird Sisters' prophecy and kill his king–and thus, seals his own doom. Fast-moving and bloody, this drama has the extraordinary energy that derives from a brilliant plot replete with treachery and murder, and from Shakespeare's compelling portrait of the ultimate battle between a mind and its own guilt.

Find Macbeth in our online catalog.

Varun recommends The Crucible by Arthur Miller

08/15/2021

Boulder Library

adult nonfiction, history, teen, .Guest Post, .Teen Picks, drama

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A short look into the old but relevant witch trials. I really liked this book not only for the content, but because it was relatively short, but not too dense. The best thing about this book is that it is very relevant, it represents our society now. Even though we don't have witch trials and hangings in 2021, we see situations like this and it is very interesting to make connections to our current lives. These connections really engaged me when I was reading this, it was very interesting and will get you hooked immediately. This reading is a solid 10/10, and you will not forget it.

Content warning: Sex, Abuse, Other: Death, Religion, Hate Speech.

- Varun, 12th grade teen volunteer

"The place is Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, an enclave of rigid piety huddled on the edge of a wilderness. Its inhabitants believe unquestioningly in their own sanctity. But in Arthur Miller's edgy masterpiece, that very belief will have poisonous consequences when a vengeful teenager accuses a rival of witchcraft and then when those accusations multiply to consume the entire village." -- back cover.

Find The Crucible in our online catalog.

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