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Adult
“On Animals” by Susan Orlean – New York Times bestselling author and beloved New Yorker staff writer Orlean examines the human-animal relationships through compelling stories that she has written over the course of her career. “Equal parts delightful and profound, enriched by the author’s stylish prose and precise research, these stories celebrate the meaningful cross-species connections that grace our collective existence.” You can read a review of this title, available in print and on Overdrive, at https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-98218-153-6
“The Speckled Beauty: a Dog and His People” by Rick Bragg – Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Bragg, shares this hilarious and warmhearted story of how his life was changed when a half-blind, poorly behaved stray dog appeared behind his home. Speck was dog that was defiant, self-destructive and the maker of bad decisions, but he arrived in Brigg’s life at a time when he needed him most. The Speckled Beauty captures “the extraordinary, sustaining devotion between two damaged creatures who need each other to heal.” You can read a review of this title which is available in print at https://www.kirkusreviews.com/bookreviews/rick-bragg/the-speckled-beauty/
“Lean Fall Stand: a Novel” by Jon McGregor – Booker Prize-longlisted and American Academy of Arts & Letters Award-winning author McGregor writes this new novel that is described as “every bit as mesmerizing as it is settling.” This fiction title follows a veteran Antarctic surveyor who suffers a near fatal injury during an expedition and returns home to his wife who must now navigate a life as his main caregiver. This book tenderly unravels the “different notions of heroism through the rippling effects of one extraordinary expedition on an ordinary family.” You can read a review of this print title at https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-64622-099-1
“Mrs. March” by Virginia Feito – Debut author Feito writes this psychological thriller around novelist George March and his dutiful wife, who has no idea that his latest literary smash hit could be based on her. Mrs. March begins a paranoid journey to decode her husband’s secrets as she attempts to determine if she knows him at all. “Combining a Hitchcockian sensibility with wickedly dark humor, Virginia Feito, offers a razor-sharp exploration of the fragility of identity.” You can read a review of this title is available, in print and on Overdrive, at https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/virginiafeito/mrs-march/
Children’s
“Madeline's Christmas” written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans
Nothing frightens Madeline — not tigers, not even mice. With its endearing, courageous heroine, cheerful humor, and wonderful, whimsical drawings of Paris, the Madeline stories are true classics that continue to charm readers even after 75 years!
“A Walk in the Words” written and illustrated by Hudson Talbott
Hudson Talbott's inspiring story vividly reveals the challenges—and ultimately the rewards— of reading words at your own pace and in your own way. Not everyone is a mainstream kind of learner!
When Hudson Talbott was a little boy, he loved drawing, and it came naturally to him. But reading? No way! One at a time, words weren't a problem, but long sentence were a struggle. As his friends moved on to thicker books, he kept his slow reading a secret. But that got harder every year. He felt alone, lost, and afraid in a world of too many words.
Fortunately, his love of stories wouldn't let him give up. He started giving himself permission to read at his own pace, using the words he knew as steppingstones to help draw him into a story. And he found he wasn't so alone--in fact, lots of brilliant people were slow readers, too. https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-399-54871-0
“Musta Notta Gotta Lotta Sleep Last Night” by Wend Hundere Parnell and illustrated by Guy Hundere and Inspired by the music of Joe Ely
Poor Buddy Brown. He didn't get enough sleep last night because of his cat and now he is having a crazy day that's full of surprises. With its rhyme and repetition and delightful illustrations, the story reminds us in a fun, humorous way of the importance of a good night's sleep. Brown's cat slept with him (and on him) and now he's very tired. At breakfast he pours his cereal on the floor and eats it with a fork. Instead of taking his backpack to school he takes his cat Lucky. Lucky jumps onto Cool Rockin' Loretta's escaped pet pig, and the whole class goes crazy chasing after the cat riding the pig. You won’t sleep through this story written by local author Wendy Parnell. https://lonestarmusicmagazine.com/book-review-wendyhundere-parnells-mustanotta-gotta-sleep-last-night/
“Pax, Journey Home” by Sara Pennypacker and illustrated by Jon Klassen
It has been five years since Pax was published in 2016 and the long-awaited sequel has just arrived! But in Pax, Journey Home, it has been a year since Peter and his pet fox, Pax, have seen each other. Once inseparable, they now lead very different lives. Pax and his mate, Bristle, have welcomed a litter of kits they must protect in a dangerous world. Meanwhile Peter--newly orphaned after the war, racked with guilt and loneliness--leaves his adopted home with Vola to join the Water Warriors, a group of people determined to heal the land from the scars of the war, When one of Pax's kits falls desperately ill, he turns to the one human he knows he can trust. And no matter how hard Peter tries to harden his broken heart, love keeps finding a way in. Now both boy and fox find themselves on journeys toward home, healing, and each other, once again. https://www.hbook.com/story/review-of-pax-journey-home
Young Adult
“The Holiday Switch” by Tif Marcelo:
Lila Santos is ready for her last winter break of high school. The snow in her small town of Holly, New York, is plentiful, the mood is as cozy as a fuzzy Christmas sweater, and she's earning extra cash working at the local inn-AKA the setting of the greatest film of all time, Holiday by the Lake-while moonlighting as an anonymous book blogger.
But her perfect holiday plans crash to a halt when her boss's frustratingly cute nephew, Teddy Rivera, becomes her coworker. Lila is type A; Teddy is type "Anything but Lila's Way," and the two of them can't stop butting heads over tangled icicle lights and messy gift shop merch. But when they accidentally switch phones one afternoon, they realize they've both been hiding things from each other. Will their secrets-and an unexpected snowstormbring these rivals together?
Review By Kirkus- https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tif-marcelo/holiday-switch/
“Beasts of Prey” by Ayana Gray:
There's no such thing as magic in the broken city of Lkossa, especially for sixteen-year-old Koffi, who indentured to the notorious Night Zoo, knows the fearsome creatures in her care and paying off her family's debts to secure their eventual freedom can be her only focus. But the night those she loves are gravely threatened by the Zoo's cruel master, Koffi unleashes a power she doesn't fully understand, upending her life completely.
As the second son of a decorated hero, Ekon is all but destined to become a Son of the Six — an elite warrior —and uphold a family legacy. But on the night of his final rite of passage, Ekon encounters not only the Shetani —a vicious monster that has plagued the city for nearly a century and stalks his nightmares — but Koffi who seems to have the power to ward off the beast. Koffi's power ultimately saves Ekon, but his choice to let her flee dooms his hopes of becoming a warrior.
Desperate to redeem himself, Ekon vows to hunt the Shetani and end its reign of terror, but he can't do it alone. Koffi and Ekon form a tentative alliance and together enter the Greater Jungle, a world steeped in wild, frightening magic and untold dangers. The hunt begins. But it quickly becomes unclear whether they are the hunters or the hunted.
Review By Booklisthttps: //www.booklistonline.com/Beasts-of-Prey-/pid=9754871
