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Penguin and Little Blue

Megan McDonald

Most of us agree -- penguins included -- that there is no place like home. Also no business like show business.For Penguin and Little Blue, home is Antarctica and far, far away. They are both missing all one million three hundred twenty-eight thousand and forty-eight of their feathered friends.And show business is hard work. The only homelike treats anywhere in their Kansas hotel are an ice machine and a bathtub (much more fun than the pool they have to dive, dive, dive into for spectators). After long days signing autographs Little Blue and Penguin dream of enjoying the white ice, blue ice, pancake ice, pencil ice, ice cakes, ice falls, and fast ice of home.But how oh how can they escape show business and reach Antarctica?

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Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt

Lisa Campbell Ernst

When Sam Johnson inadvertently discovers how much fun sewing can be, he tries to join the Rosedale Women's Quilting Club. "Don't be silly," the club president says. "We can't have a man here bungling everything!" But Sam Johnson won't take no for an answer. He organizes a rival sewing circle -- and no women need apply.

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The Climate Book

Greta Thunberg

We still have time to change the world. From climate activist Greta Thunberg, comes the essential handbook for making it happen.

You might think it's an impossible task: secure a safe future for life on Earth, at a scale and speed never seen, against all the odds. There is hope - but only if we listen to the science before it's too late.

In The Climate Book, Greta Thunberg has gathered the wisdom of over one hundred experts - geophysicists, oceanographers and meteorologists; engineers, economists and mathematicians; historians, philosophers and indigenous leaders - to equip us all with the knowledge we need to combat climate disaster. Throughout, illuminating and often shocking grayscale charts, graphs, diagrams, photographs, and illustrations underscore their research and their arguments. Alongside them, she shares her own stories of demonstrating and uncovering greenwashing around the world, revealing how much we have been kept in the dark. This is one of our biggest challenges, she shows, but also our greatest source of hope. Once we are given the full picture, how can we not act? And if a schoolchild's strike could ignite a global protest, what could we do collectively if we tried?

We are alive at the most decisive time in the history of humanity. Together, we can do the seemingly impossible. But it has to be us, and it has to be now.

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On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal

Naomi Klein

An instant bestseller, On Fire shows Klein at her most prophetic and philosophical, investigating the climate crisis not only as a profound political challenge but also as a spiritual and imaginative one. Delving into topics ranging from the clash between ecological time and our culture of “perpetual now,” to the soaring history of humans changing and evolving rapidly in the face of grave threats, to rising white supremacy and fortressed borders as a form of “climate barbarism,” this is a rousing call to action for a planet on the brink.

An expansive, far-ranging exploration that sees the battle for a greener world as indistinguishable from the fight for our lives, On Fire captures the burning urgency of the climate crisis, as well as the fiery energy of a rising political movement demanding a catalytic Green New Deal.

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The Sustainable Vegetable Garden

John Jeavons

From the author of our best-selling and widely beloved HOW TO GROW MORE VEGETABLES comes this "quick and dirty" introduction to biointensive gardening that shows it is not only possible but easy to grow astonishing crops of healthful organic vegetables and fruits, while conserving resources and actually helping the soil.

A revolutionary approach to feeding ourselves and nurturing the land, this book includes:

- Step-by-step illustrations and instructions that make these techniques simple for even the novice gardener.

- Everything you need to know about planning crops, composting, harvesting, and more.

- Complete resources for seeds, tools, and other garden supplies.Feed a family of four on the bounty of your backyard, or just get more out of your garden with less effort with this wonderful resource.

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The World As We Knew It

Amy Brady

Nineteen leading literary writers from around the globe offer timely, haunting first-person reflections on how climate change has altered their lives—including essays by Lydia Millet, Alexandra Kleeman, Kim Stanley Robinson, Omar El Akkad, Lidia Yuknavitch, Melissa Febos, and more.

In this riveting anthology, leading literary writers reflect on how climate change has altered their lives, revealing the personal and haunting consequences of this global threat.

In the opening essay, National Book Award finalist Lydia Millet mourns the end of the Saguaro cacti in her Arizona backyard due to drought. Later, Omar El Akkad contemplates how the rise of temperatures in the Middle East is destroying his home and the wellspring of his art. Gabrielle Bellot reflects on how a bizarre lionfish invasion devastated the coral reef near her home in the Caribbean—a precursor to even stranger events to come. Traveling through Nebraska, Terese Svoboda witnesses cougars running across highways and showing up in kindergartens.

As the stories unfold—from Antarctica to Australia, New Hampshire to New York—an intimate portrait of a climate-changed world emerges, captured by writers whose lives jostle against incongruous memories of familiar places that have been transformed in startling ways.

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Half-Earth

Edward O Wilson

In his most urgent book to date, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and world-renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson states that in order to stave off the mass extinction of species, including our own, we must move swiftly to preserve the biodiversity of our planet. In this "visionary blueprint for saving the planet" (Stephen Greenblatt), Half-Earth argues that the situation facing us is too large to be solved piecemeal and proposes a solution commensurate with the magnitude of the problem: dedicate fully half the surface of the Earth to nature. Identifying actual regions of the planet that can still be reclaimed—such as the California redwood forest, the Amazon River basin, and grasslands of the Serengeti, among others—Wilson puts aside the prevailing pessimism of our times and "speaks with a humane eloquence which calls to us all" (Oliver Sacks).

 

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How to Become a Gardener

Ashlie Thomas

Take charge of your family’s food security by learning how to grow your own fruits, vegetables, and herbs—and right along with them, you’ll nurture your own inner strength, too.

Food insecurity affects millions of people worldwide. Without access to well-stocked stores or nutritious, fresh foods, those living in “food deserts” face more hunger and health issues than communities where a diversity of food is plentiful. With the inspiration and knowledge found in How to Become a Gardener, self-reliance and food autonomy are within reach for anyone willing to get a little dirt under their nails and dig in.

Author, health coach, and food security advocate Ashlie Thomas of The Mocha Gardener (@the.mocha.gardener) serves as an experienced and encouraging guide on your journey toward self-empowerment through the cultivation of your own homegrown harvests. With a spirit of respect for others, for nature, and for community, Ashlie walks you step by step through not only the practical ins and outs of gardening—from seed starting to making the harvest—but also through the personal challenges and lessons found within the act of gardening itself. Regardless of whether you only have space to grow in a few pots or you have enough room for multiple raised beds or an in-ground garden, you’ll find freedom and wellnessthrough the food you grow, along with patience, compassion, and perspective.

How to Become a Gardener focuses on:

  • What makes a space a garden and how to get one started 
  • How gardens can be a symbol of resilience in challenging times 
  • Finding what motivates you to grow and using it to cultivate nutrient-dense, homegrown harvests 
  • Why reclaiming your food authority is one of the most empowering things you can do for you and your family 
  • The importance of finding personal freedom by growing your own garden-to-table food
  • How the garden grows you just as much as you grow the garden

How to Become a Gardener is about growing food, yes. But it’s also about finding your strength through gardening, reclaiming your food authority, discovering your motivation, and learning that no matter what your garden yields,it’s always worth the wait.

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Simply Climate Change

DK

Understand climate change like never before!
Explore and understand the intriguing science behind climate change. Gain valuable knowledge on why climate change is occurring — one of the planet’s most challenging issues — and analyze possible solutions.

Simply Climate Change is the perfect guide for a clear and concise understanding of the often complex subject of climate change. Inside you’ll find:

   • Simple, easy-to-understand graphics which help convey information in a visual way. 
   • Clear, authoritative text that explains over 100 key concepts. 
   • Concise explanations that quickly convey the most important information. 
   • Technologies and practical ideas to combat climate change. 
   • Debates surrounding climate change as a political, social, economic and environmental issue.

Gain a new appreciation for our precious planet, and acquire newfound knowledge on climate change. This easy-to-understand climate change book will allow you to grasp all these topics quickly, from the basics of greenhouse gases to microplastics and insightful debates.

The guide combines clear text and bold graphics, divided into pared-back, single or double-page entries that explain concepts simply and visually. Whether you’re a student and want an easy-to-read, jargon-free reference or are simply interested in climate or environmental science, then this is the ideal global warming book for you!

The most accessible guide to climate change on the market will have you knowledgeable on the subject like an expert! This is a perfect reference book for busy readers looking for an easier way into the subject, as a self-purchase or an excellent gift for self-improvers, as well as for thinkers, borrowers and life-long learners.

 

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Silent Earth

Dave Goulson

In the tradition of Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking environmental classic Silent Spring, an award-winning entomologist and conservationist explains the importance of insects to our survival, and offers a clarion call to avoid a looming ecological disaster of our own making.

Drawing on thirty years of research, Goulson has written an accessible, fascinating, and important book that examines the evidence of an alarming drop in insect numbers around the world. “If we lose the insects, then everything is going to collapse,” he warned in a recent interview in the New York Times—beginning with humans’ food supply. The main cause of this decrease in insect populations is the indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides. Hence, Silent Earth’s nod to Rachel Carson’s classic Silent Spring which, when published in 1962, led to the global banning of DDT. This was a huge victory for science and ecological health at the time.

Yet before long, new pesticides just as lethal as DDT were introduced, and today, humanity finds itself on the brink of a new crisis. What will happen when the bugs are all gone? Goulson explores the intrinsic connection between climate change, nature, wildlife, and the shrinking biodiversity and analyzes the harmful impact for the earth and its inhabitants.  

Meanwhile we have all read stories about hive collapse syndrome affecting honeybee colonies and the tragic decline of monarch butterflies in North America, and more. But it is not too late to arrest this decline, and Silent Earth should be the clarion call. Smart, eye-opening, and essential, Silent Earth is a forceful call to action to save our world, and ultimately, ourselves.

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The Frugal Gardener

Catriona T. Erler

With warmth, wit, and detail, garden guru Catriona Tudor Erler teaches you which tools you need for essential garden jobs, how to help hoses find the "fountain of youth", whether to repair, replace or rent equipment, and hundreds more thrifty lessons. "What Will You Save?" and "25 Smart Shopping Tips" sidebars put frugal facts right at readers' green thumbs. Whether you are planting a perennial border or pumpkin patch, this resource will help you spend little and grow a lot!

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The Fragile Earth

David Remnick

A collection of the New Yorker’s groundbreaking reporting from the front lines of climate change—including writing from Bill McKibben, Elizabeth Kolbert, Ian Frazier, Kathryn Schulz, and more.

Just one year after climatologist James Hansen first came before a Senate committee and testified that the Earth was now warmer than it had ever been in recorded history, thanks to humankind’s heedless consumption of fossil fuels, New Yorker writer Bill McKibben published a deeply reported and considered piece on climate change and what it could mean for the planet. 

At the time, the piece was to some speculative to the point of alarmist; read now, McKibben’s work is heroically prescient. Since then, the New Yorker has devoted enormous attention to climate change, describing the causes of the crisis, the political and ecological conditions we now find ourselves in, and the scenarios and solutions we face. 

The Fragile Earth tells the story of climate change—its past, present, and future—taking readers from Greenland to the Great Plains, and into both laboratories and rain forests. It features some of the best writing on global warming from the last three decades, including Bill McKibben’s seminal essay “The End of Nature,” the first piece to popularize both the science and politics of climate change for a general audience, and the Pulitzer Prize–winning work of Elizabeth Kolbert, as well as Kathryn Schulz, Dexter Filkins, Jonathan Franzen, Ian Frazier, Eric Klinenberg, and others. The result, in its range, depth, and passion, promises to bring light, and sometimes heat, to the great emergency of our age.

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A Bigger Picture

Vanessa Nakate

A manifesto and memoir about climate justice and how we can--and must--build a livable future for all, inclusive to all, by a rising star of the global climate movement

Leading climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate brings her fierce, fearless spirit, new perspective, and superstar bona fides to the biggest issue of our time. In A Bigger Picture, her first book, she shares her story as a young Ugandan woman who sees that her community bears disproportionate consequences to the climate crisis. At the same time, she sees that activists from African nations and the global south are not being heard in the same way as activists from white nations are heard. Inspired by Sweden's Greta Thunberg, in 2019 Nakate became Uganda's first Fridays for Future protestor, awakening to her personal power and summoning within herself a commanding political voice.

Nakate's mere presence has revealed rampant inequalities within the climate justice movement. In January 2020, while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as one of five international delegates, including Thunberg, Nakate's image was cropped out of a photo by the Associated Press. The photo featured the four other activists, who were all white. It highlighted the call Nakate has been making all along: for both environmental and social justice on behalf of those who have been omitted from the climate discussion and who are now demanding to be heard.

From a shy little girl in Kampala to a leader on the world stage, A Bigger Picture is part rousing manifesto and part poignant memoir, and it presents a new vision for the climate movement based on resilience, sustainability, and genuine equity.

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We Are the Weather

Jonathan Safran Foer

In We Are the Weather, Jonathan Safran Foer explores the central global dilemma of our time in a surprising, deeply personal, and urgent new way.

Some people reject the fact, overwhelmingly supported by scientists, that our planet is warming because of human activity. But do those of us who accept the reality of human-caused climate change truly believe it? If we did, surely we would be roused to act on what we know. Will future generations distinguish between those who didn’t believe in the science of global warming and those who said they accepted the science but failed to change their lives in response?

The task of saving the planet will involve a great reckoning with ourselves—with our all-too-human reluctance to sacrifice immediate comfort for the sake of the future. We have, he reveals, turned our planet into a farm for growing animal products, and the consequences are catastrophic. Only collective action will save our home and way of life. And it all starts with what we eat—and don’t eat—for breakfast.

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101 Ways to Go Zero Waste

Kathryn Kellogg

Minimalism meets DIY in an accessible guide to household waste reduction

We all know how important it is to reduce our environmental footprint, but it can be daunting to know where to begin. Enter Kathryn Kellogg, who can fit all her trash from the past two years into a 16-ounce mason jar. How? She starts by saying “no” to straws and grocery bags, and “yes” to a reusable water bottle and compostable dish scrubbers.

 

In 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste, Kellogg shares these tips and more, along with DIY recipes for beauty and home; advice for responsible consumption and making better choices for home goods, fashion, and the office; and even secrets for how to go waste free at the airport. “It’s not about perfection,” she says. “It’s about making better choices.”

This is a practical, friendly blueprint of realistic lifestyle changes for anyone who wants to reduce their waste.

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Earth: The Operators' Manual

Richard B. Alley

The book—companion to a PBS series—that proves humans are causing global warming and offers a path to the future.

Since the discovery of fire, humans have been energy users and always will be. And this is a good thing-our mastery of energy is what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom and has allowed us to be the dominant species on the planet. However, this mastery comes with a price: we are changing our environment in a profoundly negative way by heating it up.

Using one engaging story after another, coupled with accessible scientific facts, world authority Richard B. Alley explores the fascinating history of energy use by humans over the centuries, gives a doubt-destroying proof that already-high levels of carbon dioxide are causing damaging global warming, and surveys the alternative energy options that are available to exploit right now. These new energy sources might well be the engines for economic growth in the twenty-first century.

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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Barbara Kingsolver

"As the U.S. population made an unprecedented mad dash for the Sun Belt, one carload of us paddled against the tide, heading for the Promised Land where water falls from the sky and green stuff grows all around. We were about to begin the adventure of realigning our lives with our food chain.

"Naturally, our first stop was to buy junk food and fossil fuel. . . ."

Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that's better for the neighborhood and also better on the table. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.

"This is the story of a year in which we made every attempt to feed ourselves animals and vegetables whose provenance we really knew . . . and of how our family was changed by our first year of deliberately eating food produced from the same place where we worked, went to school, loved our neighbors, drank the water, and breathed the air."

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What Can I Do?

Jane Fonda

In 2019, daunted by the looming disaster of climate change and inspired by Greta Thunberg, Naomi Klein, and student climate strikers, Jane Fonda asked herself one question: What can I do?

Jane Fonda, one of the most influential activists of our time, moved to Washington, D.C., and has since led thousands of people in demonstrations on Capitol Hill. In launching Fire Drill Fridays, Fonda teamed up with Greenpeace, leading climate scientists, and community organizers not only to understand what’s at stake, but to equip all of us with the education and tools we need to join her in protest.

What Can I Do? isn’t a wish list—it’s a to-do list. So many of us recognize the urgency in stemming the tide of climate change but aren’t sure where to start. Our window of opportunity to act is quickly closing. And it isn’t only Earth’s life-support systems that are unraveling, so too is our social fabric. This is going to take an all-out war on drilling, fracking, deregulation, racism, misogyny, colonialism, and despair—all at the same time. The problems we face now require every one of us to join the fight for not only our immediate future, but for the future of generations to come.

100% of the author's net proceeds from What Can I Do? have gone to Greenpeace.

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The Uninhabitable Earth

David Wallace-Wells

It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible—food shortages, refugee emergencies, climate wars and economic devastation.

An “epoch-defining book” (The Guardian) and “this generation’s Silent Spring” (The Washington Post), The Uninhabitable Earth is both a travelogue of the near future and a meditation on how that future will look to those living through it—the ways that warming promises to transform global politics, the meaning of technology and nature in the modern world, the sustainability of capitalism and the trajectory of human progress.

The Uninhabitable Earth is also an impassioned call to action. For just as the world was brought to the brink of catastrophe within the span of a lifetime, the responsibility to avoid it now belongs to a single generation—today’s.

 

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Wildly Successful Farming

Brian DeVore

Wildly Successful Farming tells the stories of farmers across the American Midwest who are balancing profitability and food production with environmental sustainability and a passion for all things wild. They are using innovative techniques and strategies to develop their "wildly" successful farms as working ecosystems. Whether producing grain, vegetables, fruit, meat, or milk, these next-generation agrarians look beyond the bottom line of the spreadsheet to the biological activity on the land as key measures of success.

Written by agricultural journalist Brian DeVore, the book is based on interviews he has conducted at farms, wildlife refuges, laboratories, test plots, and gardens over the past twenty-five years. He documents innovations in cover cropping, managed rotational grazing, perennial polyculture, and integrated pest management. His accounts provide insight into the impacts regenerative farming methods can have on wildlife, water, landscape, soils, and rural communities and suggest ways all of us can support wildly successful farmers.

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The Librarian of Burned Books

Brianna Labuskes

The Paris Library, The Librarian of Burned Books is a captivating WWII-era novel about the intertwined fates of three women who believe in the power of books to triumph over the very darkest moments of war.

Berlin 1933. Following the success of her debut novel, American writer Althea James receives an invitation from Joseph Goebbels himself to participate in a culture exchange program in Germany. For a girl from a small town in Maine, 1933 Berlin seems to be sparklingly cosmopolitan, blossoming in the midst of a great change with the charismatic new chancellor at the helm. Then Althea meets a beautiful woman who promises to show her the real Berlin, and soon she's drawn into a group of resisters who make her question everything she knows about her hosts--and herself.

 

 

Paris 1936. She may have escaped Berlin for Paris, but Hannah Brecht discovers the City of Light is no refuge from the anti-Semitism and Nazi sympathizers she thought she left behind. Heartbroken and tormented by the role she played in the betrayal that destroyed her family, Hannah throws herself into her work at the German Library of Burned Books. Through the quiet power of books, she believes she can help counter the tide of fascism she sees rising across Europe and atone for her mistakes. But when a dear friend decides actions will speak louder than words, Hannah must decide what stories she is willing to live--or die--for.

New York 1944. Since her husband Edward was killed fighting the Nazis, Vivian Childs has been waging her own war: preventing a powerful senator's attempts to censor the Armed Service Editions, portable paperbacks that are shipped by the millions to soldiers overseas. Viv knows just how much they mean to the men through the letters she receives--including the last one she got from Edward. She also knows the only way to win this battle is to counter the senator's propaganda with a story of her own--at the heart of which lies the reclusive and mysterious woman tending the American Library of Nazi-Banned Books in Brooklyn.

As Viv unknowingly brings her censorship fight crashing into the secrets of the recent past, the fates of these three women will converge, changing all of them forever.

Inspired by the true story of the Council of Books in Wartime--the WWII organization founded by booksellers, publishers, librarians, and authors to use books as "weapons in the war of ideas"--The Librarian of Burned Books is an unforgettable historical novel, a haunting love story, and a testament to the beauty, power, and goodness of the written word.

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The Book Woman's Daughter

Kim Michele Richardson

A powerful portrait of the courageous women who fought against ignorance, misogyny, and racial prejudice. --William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author of This Tender Land and Lightning Strike

The new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek!

Bestselling historical fiction author Kim Michele Richardson is back with the perfect book club read following Honey Lovett, the daughter of the beloved Troublesome book woman, who must fight for her own independence with the help of the women who guide her and the books that set her free.

In the ruggedness of the beautiful Kentucky mountains, Honey Lovett has always known that the old ways can make a hard life harder. As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned, Troublesome Creek packhorse librarian, Honey and her family have been hiding from the law all her life. But when her mother and father are imprisoned, Honey realizes she must fight to stay free, or risk being sent away for good.

Picking up her mother's old packhorse library route, Honey begins to deliver books to the remote hollers of Appalachia. Honey is looking to prove that she doesn't need anyone telling her how to survive. But the route can be treacherous, and some folks aren't as keen to let a woman pave her own way.

If Honey wants to bring the freedom books provide to the families who need it most, she's going to have to fight for her place, and along the way, learn that the extraordinary women who run the hills and hollers can make all the difference in the world.

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The Librarian Spy

Madeline Martin

Ava thought her job as a librarian at the Library of Congress would mean a quiet, routine existence. But an unexpected offer from the US military has brought her to Lisbon with a new mission: posing as a librarian while working undercover as a spy gathering intelligence.

Meanwhile, in occupied France, Elaine has begun an apprenticeship at a printing press run by members of the Resistance. It's a job usually reserved for men, but in the war, those rules have been forgotten. Yet she knows that the Nazis are searching for the press and its printer in order to silence them.

As the battle in Europe rages, Ava and Elaine find themselves connecting through coded messages and discovering hope in the face of war.

 

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The Personal Librarian

Marie Benedict

A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation, from New York Times bestselling authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection.

But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white—her complexion is dark because she is African American.

The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths she must go to—for the protection of her family and her legacy—to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.

 

 

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The War Librarian

Addison Armstrong

Two women. One secret. A truth worth fighting for.

1918. Timid and shy Emmaline Balakin lives more in books than her own life. That is, until an envelope crosses her desk at the Dead Letter Office bearing a name from her past, and Emmaline decides to finally embark on an adventure of her own—as a volunteer librarian on the frontlines in France. But when a romance blooms as she secretly participates in a book club for censored books, Emmaline will need to find more courage within herself than she ever thought possible in order to survive.

1976. Kathleen Carre is eager to prove to herself and to her nana that she deserves her acceptance into the first coed class at the United States Naval Academy. But not everyone wants female midshipmen at the Academy, and after tragedy strikes close to home, Kathleen becomes a target. To protect herself, Kathleen must learn to trust others even as she discovers a secret that could be her undoing.

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The Paris Library

Janet Skeslien Charles

Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet seems to have the perfect life with her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into the city, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books. But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.

Montana, 1983: Lily is a lonely teenager looking for adventure in small-town Montana. Her interest is piqued by her solitary, elderly neighbor. As Lily uncovers more about her neighbor’s mysterious past, she finds that they share a love of language, the same longings, and the same intense jealousy, never suspecting that a dark secret from the past connects them.

“A love letter to Paris, the power of books, and the beauty of intergenerational friendship” (Booklist), The Paris Libraryshows that extraordinary heroism can sometimes be found in the quietest places.

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The Woman in the Library

Sulari Gentill

Award winning author Sulari Gentill sets this mystery-within-a-mystery in motion with a deceptively simple, Dear Hannah, What are you writing? pulling us into theornate reading room at the Boston Public Library.

In every person's story, there is something to hide...

The tranquility is shattered by a woman's terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who'd happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning--it just happens that one is a murderer.

 

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The Unkindness of Ravens

M. E. Hilliard

Greer Hogan is a librarian and an avid reader of murder mysteries. She also has a habit of stumbling upon murdered bodies. The first was her husband's, and the tragic loss led Greer to leave New York behind for a new start in the Village of Raven Hill. But her new home becomes less idyllic when she discovers her best friend sprawled dead on the floor of the library.

Was her friend's demise related to two other deaths that the police deemed accidental? Do the residents of this insular village hold dark secrets about another murder, decades ago? Does a serial killer haunt Raven Hill?

As the body count rises, Greer's anxious musings take a darker turn when she uncovers unexpected and distressing information about her own husband's death...and the man who went to prison for his murder . She is racked with guilt at the possibility that her testimony may have helped to convict an innocent man.

Though Greer admires the masters of deduction she reads about in books, she never expected to have to solve a mystery herself. Fortunately, she possesses a quick wit and a librarian's natural resourcefulness. But will that be enough to protect her from a brilliant, diabolical murderer?

And even if Greer manages to catch the Raven Hill killer, will living with her conscience prove a fate worse than death?

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Along a Storied Trail

Ann H. Gabhart

Kentucky packhorse librarian Tansy Calhoun doesn't mind the rough trails and long hours as she serves her Appalachian mountain community during the Great Depression. Yet she longs to find love like the heroines in her books. When a charming writer comes to town, she thinks she might have found it--or is the perfect man actually closer than she thinks?

Perdita Sweet has called these mountains home for so long she's nearly as rocky as the soil around her small cabin. Long ago she thought she could love, but when the object of her affection up and married someone else, she stopped giving too much of herself away to others.

As is so often the case, it's easier to see what's best for others than to see what's best for oneself, and Perdita knows who Tansy should choose. But why would anyone listen to the romantic advice of an old spinster?

 

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The Last Chance Library

Freya Sampson

June Jones emerges from her shell to fight for her beloved local library, and through the efforts and support of an eclectic group of library patrons, she discovers life-changing friendships along the way.

Lonely librarian June Jones has never left the sleepy English village where she grew up. Shy and reclusive, the thirty-year-old would rather spend her time buried in books than venture out into the world. But when her library is threatened with closure, June is forced to emerge from behind the shelves to save the heart of her community and the place that holds the dearest memories of her mother.

Joining a band of eccentric yet dedicated locals in a campaign to keep the library, June opens herself up to other people for the first time since her mother died. It just so happens that her old school friend Alex Chen is back in town and willing to lend a helping hand. The kindhearted lawyer's feelings for her are obvious to everyone but June, who won't believe that anyone could ever care for her in that way.

To save the place and the books that mean so much to her, June must finally make some changes to her life. For once, she's determined not to go down without a fight. And maybe, in fighting for her cherished library, June can save herself, too.

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Cloud Cuckoo Land

Anthony Doerr

In the 15th century, an orphan named Anna lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople. She learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds what might be the last copy of a centuries-old book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the army that will lay siege to the city. His path and Anna’s will cross.

In the present day, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno rehearses children in a play adaptation of Aethon’s story, preserved against all odds through centuries. Tucked among the library shelves is a bomb, planted by a troubled, idealistic teenager, Seymour. This is another siege.

And in a not-so-distant future, on the interstellar ship Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault, copying on scraps of sacking the story of Aethon, told to her by her father.

Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno, and Konstance are dreamers and outsiders whose lives are gloriously intertwined. Doerr’s dazzling imagination transports us to worlds so dramatic and immersive that we forget, for a time, our own.

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The Librarian of Boone's Hollow

Kim Vogel Sawyer

During the Great Depression, city-dweller Addie Cowherd dreams of becoming a novelist and offering readers the escape that books had given her during her tragic childhood. When her father loses his job, she is forced to take the only employment she can find—delivering books on horseback to poor coal-mining families in the hills of Kentucky.
 
But turning a new page will be nearly impossible in Boone's Hollow, where residents are steeped in superstitions and deeply suspicious of outsiders. Even local Emmett Tharp feels the sting of rejection after returning to the tiny mountain hamlet as the first in his family to graduate college. And as the crippled economy leaves many men jobless, he fears his degree won’t be worth much in a place where most men either work the coal mine or run moonshine.
 
As Addie also struggles to find her place, she’ll unearth the truth about a decades-old rivalry. But when someone sets out to sabotage the town’s library program, will the culprit chase Addie away or straight into the arms of the only person who can help her put a broken community back together?

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The Midnight Library

Matt Haig

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

 

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The Library of Lost and Found

Phaedra Patrick

A librarian's discovery of a mysterious book sparks the journey of a lifetime.

Librarian Martha Storm has always found it easier to connect with books than people--though not for lack of trying. She keeps careful lists of how to help others in her superhero-themed notebook. And yet, sometimes it feels like she's invisible.

All of that changes when a book of fairy tales arrives on her doorstep. Inside, Martha finds a dedication written to her by her best friend--her grandmother Zelda--who died under mysterious circumstances years earlier. When Martha discovers a clue within the book that her grandmother may still be alive, she becomes determined to discover the truth. As she delves deeper into Zelda's past, she unwittingly reveals a family secret that will change her life forever.

Filled with Phaedra Patrick's signature charm and vivid characters, The Library of Lost and Found is a heartwarming and poignant tale of how one woman must take control of her destiny to write her own happy ending.
 

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Twelve Angry Librarians

Miranda James

Charlie is stressed out. The Southern Academic Libraries Association is holding this year's annual meeting at Athena College. Since Charlie is the interim library director, he must deliver the welcome speech to all the visiting librarians. And as if that weren't bad enough, the keynote address will be delivered by Charlie's old nemesis from library school.

It's been thirty years since Charlie has seen Gavin Fong, and he's still an insufferable know-it-all capable of getting under everyone's skin. In his keynote, Gavin puts forth a most unpopular opinion: that degreed librarians will be obsolete in the academic libraries of the future. So when Gavin drops dead, no one seems too upset...

But Charlie, who was seen having a heated argument with Gavin the day before, has jumped to the top of the suspect list. Now Charlie and Diesel must check out every clue to refine their search for the real killer among them before the next book Charlie reads comes from a prison library...

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The Giver of Stars

Jojo Moyes

Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve, hoping to escape her stifling life in England.  But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.

The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky. 

What happens to them--and to the men they love--becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity, and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.

Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic--a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond.

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The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

Kim Michele Richardson

"...a hauntingly atmospheric love letter to the first mobile library in Kentucky and the fierce, brave packhorse librarians who wove their way from shack to shack dispensing literacy, hope, and -- just as importantly -- a compassionate human connection."--Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants

The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrap for everything--everything except books, that is. Thanks to Roosevelt's Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, Troublesome's got its very own traveling librarian, Cussy Mary Carter.

Cussy's not only a book woman, however, she's also the last of her kind, her skin a shade of blue unlike most anyone else. Not everyone is keen on Cussy's family or the Library Project, and a Blue is often blamed for any whiff of trouble. If Cussy wants to bring the joy of books to the hill folks, she's going to have to confront prejudice as old as the Appalachias and suspicion as deep as the holler.

Inspired by the true blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service of the 1930s, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a story of raw courage, fierce strength, and one woman's belief that books can carry us anywhere--even back home.

 

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The Invisible Library

Genevieve Cogman

One thing any Librarian will tell you: the truth is much stranger than fiction...
 
Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it's already been stolen.
 
London's underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested—the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something—secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself.
 
Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option—because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself...

 

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The Silence of the Library

Miranda James

When a beloved mystery author’s visit causes a stir in their small Mississippi town, librarian Charlie Harris and his cat Diesel must outwit a fiction fanatic turned real-life killer.

It’s National Library Week, and the Athena Public Library is planning an exhibit to honor the centenary of famous novelist Electra Barnes Cartwright—creator of the beloved Veronica Thane series.

Charlie has a soft spot for Cartwright’s girl detective stories (not to mention an extensive collection of her books!). When the author agrees to make a rare public appearance, the news of her whereabouts goes viral overnight, and series devotees and book collectors converge on Athena.

After all, it’s rumored that Cartwright penned Veronica Thane stories that remain under wraps, and one rabid fan will stop at nothing—not even murder—to get hold of the rare books...

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All the Little Liars

Charlaine Harris

Aurora Teagarden is basking in the news of her pregnancy when disaster strikes her small Georgia town: four kids vanish from the school soccer field in an afternoon. Aurora’s 15-year-old brother Phillip is one of them. Also gone are two of his friends, and an 11-year-old girl who was just hoping to get a ride home from soccer practice. And then there’s an even worse discovery—at the kids’ last known destination, a dead body.

While the local police and sheriff’s department comb the county for the missing kids and interview everyone even remotely involved, Aurora and her new husband, true crime writer Robin Crusoe, begin their own investigation. Could the death and kidnappings have anything to do with a group of bullies at the middle school? Is Phillip’s disappearance related to Aurora’s father’s gambling debts? Or is Phillip himself, new to town and an unknown quantity, responsible for taking the other children? But regardless of the reason, as the days go by, the most important questions remain. Are the kids still alive? Who could be concealing them? Where could they be?

With Christmas approaching, Aurora is determined to find her brother...if he’s still alive.

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Hello, Rain!

Kyo Maclear

A picture book celebrating all the reasons to love the rain! Flowers bloom in the garden. Umbrellas bloom on the streets. There are puddles for jumping and, later, a cozy home for hot chocolate and books.

The air is full of waiting. The sky is full of breeze. The trees gust and billow. All before it rains.
Rumble, rumble. Distant thunder. Rain is coming, rain is coming.

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Sunny-Side Up

Jacky Davis

Drip, drip, drop.

With breakfast finished, an energetic young girl is ready to play. But it's raining, and Dad says that she must stay inside. So, she crafts and she builds, she draws and she bakes. What else can she do to find the sunny side of a rainy day?

Keep gloominess at bay with Sunny-Side Up, a wonderful choice about resilience and the power of imagination. A perfect book to share at storytime, to celebrate Father's Day, and to encourage kids--and their parents and caregivers--to use creativity to overcome challenges.

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Split! Splat!

Amy S. Gibson

A delightful rainy-day celebration!

I sing a little rain song, a simple song, a plain song, a pitter-patter-tip-tap-on-the-windowpane song. Drip drop, plip plop, pit pat, split splat!

Put down your umbrella! Take off your galoshes! It's time to sing and dance in the rain. When one little girl and her adorable dog venture out on a rainy spring day, her neighborhood friends join her, and what results is squishy, sloshy, muddy day fun.

Amy Gibson's simple, whimsical rhymes and New York Times bestselling illustrator Steve Bjrkman's bright and sweet illustrations create the perfect celebration of nature and friendship in this springtime, anytime rhyme!

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Rain

Sam Usher

Sam wants to go out, but it's pouring rain, so Granddad says they need to stay inside until the rain stops. Sam drinks hot chocolate and reads his books and dreams of adventures while Granddad does some paperwork. When Granddad needs to mail his letter, it’s time to go out—despite the rain and floods—and Sam and Granddad have a magical adventure. The follow-up to the acclaimed Snow, this is the second title in a four-book series based on the weather from creator Sam Usher.

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Puddle

Hyewon Yum

One rainy day, a little boy is upset because he can't go out and play. His mom comes up with a way to keep him entertained--by drawing a picture of herself and him going outside, playing in the rain, and splashing in a giant puddle. They have so much fun drawing themselves that they decide to venture out and make the most of the rainy weather.

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Elmer and the Rainbow

David McKee

Elmer and the other elephants are waiting for the storm to end so they can see the beautiful rainbow. But something dreadful has happened―the rainbow has lost its colors! Elmer decides to give his own colors to the rainbow. But what will happen to Elmer if he gives the rainbow his own colors? Will he lose them forever?

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Raindrops Roll

April Pulley Sayre

Raindrops drop. They plop. They patter. They spatter. And in the process, they make the whole world feel fresh and new and clean.

In this gorgeously photo-illustrated nonfiction picture book, celebrated author April Pulley Sayre sheds new light on the wonders of rain, from the beauty of a raindrop balanced on a leaf to the amazing, never-ending water cycle that keeps our planet in perfect ecological balance.

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Emma's Rainy Day

Jane Gillespie

A story about the imagination and having fun, even when it rains.

On a rainy day, Emma puts on her surf shirt and goes outside to play. A huge banana leaf becomes a canoe which she sails down the canal behind her house. There she encounters a giant octopus, an evil shark, and a rushing waterfall, proving that the imagination can make any day fun.

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Rain!

Linda Ashman

One rainy day in the city, an eager little boy exclaims, "Rain!" Across town a grumpy man grumbles, "Rain." In this endearing picture book, a rainy-day cityscape comes to life in vibrant, cut-paper-style artwork. The boy in his green frog hat splashes in puddles--"Hoppy, hoppy, hoppy!"--while the old man curses the "dang puddles." Can the boy's natural exuberance (and perhaps a cookie) cheer up the grouchy gentleman and turn the day around?

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Peep and Ducky Rainy Day

David Martin

When Peep visits Ducky on a rainy day, the little pals have no trouble finding things to do. Inside, there is a tent to build and a pillow fight to be had. And outside, with the help of galoshes and umbrella, it's fun to captain a boat—until awhoosh of wind and a clap of thunder sends them running back in! Perfectly tuned to a toddler sensibility, this exuberant tale will enchant both listener and reader.

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Puddles

Jonathan London

In this delightful tribute to one of the simple joys of childhood, "Puddles" follows two children who, the morning after a night of rain and thunder, splash through puddles and run through the mud. Full color.

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Come On, Rain

Karen Hesse

"Come on, Rain!" Tess pleads to the sky as listless vines and parched plants droop in the endless heat. Then the clouds roll in, and the rain pours. And Tess, her friends, and their Mamas join in a rain dance to celebrate the shower that renews both body and spirit. Through exquisite language and acute observation, Karen Hesse evokes this refreshing experience, and Jon J Muth's lyrical artwork perfectly reflects the spirit of the text.

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Soggy Saturday

Phyllis Root

When the rain washes the blue right out of the sky, Bonnie Bumble and the inhabitants on her farm find themselves feeling a bit down, and Bonnie must find a way to make everything and everyone happy once again!

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One Rainy Day

Valeri Gorbachev

Youngsters must discover why Pig is soaking wet even though he has found shelter under a huge tree with all of the other animals during a torrential downpour, in a delightful picture book that features a giant, fold-out spread.

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And Then it Rained--

Crescent Dragonwagon

And then it rained...

And what a long time since it has rained! A whole apartment building full of overjoyed neighbors revel in the raininess. It's the perfect day to read a book on dinosaurs, to stay home and bake bread, or even to go out for a splishy-splashy adventure to a cafe with your father for a bowl of hot soup.

But when it keeps raining day after day after day, baking bread becomes dull, and splishy-splashy walks become plain old wet ones and not at all adventuresome. You begin to long for the kind of weather where you'd want to eat ice cream, not soup. Naturally everyone starts grumbling....Everyone, that is, except for the wise father of one grouchy little boy because...

The sun comes out!

And what a long time since it has come! A whole apartment building full of overjoyed neighbors celebrate the sunniness. For it's the perfect day to go roller skating, visit the bakery, or put on your shiny cool sunglasses and stroll out for a sunny day adventure, including a ringside seat at an outdoor cafe with your father for a dish of ice cream.

But when the sun gets hotter and hotter, day after day after day, roller skating gets exhausting, and a walk becomes less and less of an adventure and more and more uncomfortable. You begin to long for the kind of weather where you'd want to eat soup, not ice cream. Naturally everyone starts grumbling....Everyone, that is, except for the wise father of one grouchy little boy because...

 

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Raindrop Plop!

Wendy Cheyette Lewison

A young girl and her dog find many things to count on a rainy day, both as they play outside and after they come home to a warm, dry house.

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One Rainy Day

M. Christina Butler

Pitter-Pat! Pitter-patter, pitter-pat! Little Hedgehog is very excited when he wakes up to the sound of raindrops. Finally he can wear his spiffy new raincoat, hat, and boots, and use his shiny new umbrella. But soon the rain shower turns into a storm and Little Hedgehog's rainy day turns into a great big adventure! Little Hedgehog must use his new raingear to rescue his friends.

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Bartholomew and the Oobleck

Dr. Seuss

Bored with rain, sun, fog, and snow, King Derwin of Didd summons his royal magicians to create something new and exciting to fall from the sky. What he gets is a storm of sticky green globs called Oobleck, which soon causes a royal mess. But with the assistance of the wise page boy Bartholomew, the king (along with young readers) learns that the simplest words can sometimes solve the biggest problems.

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Daisy-head Mayzie

Dr. Seuss

 In the same zany way that the Cat wreaks havoc in The Cat in the Hat, the darling blossom that springs from Mayzie’s head sets off a series of madcap reactions that will leave young readers (and their lucky parents) giggling with glee.

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Why We Meditate

Daniel Goleman

We all experience negative emotions from time to time. But in a world with as much frenzy and pressure as ours, it’s incredibly easy for these same emotions to become destructive. Now, by blending Eastern tradition with Western science, Why We Meditate effortlessly helps you embrace and understand meditation as never before.

With accessible and eye-opening advice based on groundbreaking neuroscience, this guidebook helps you not only break free from negative patterns of thought and behavior but radically embrace your very being. Revolutionize your health, relationships, and soul with this book that is perfect for both serious meditators and those new to the practice.

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Effortless

Greg McKeown

As high achievers, we’ve been conditioned to believe that the path to success is paved with relentless work. That if we want to overachieve, we have to overexert, overthink, and overdo. That if we aren’t perpetually exhausted, we’re not doing enough.

But lately, working hard is more exhausting than ever. And the more depleted we get, the more effort it takes to make progress. Stuck in an endless loop of “Zoom, eat, sleep, repeat,” we’re often working twice as hard to achieve half as much.

Getting ahead doesn’t have to be as hard as we make it. No matter what challenges or obstacles we face, there is a better way: instead of pushing ourselves harder, we can find an easier path. 

Effortless offers actionable advice for making the most essential activities the easiest ones, so you can achieve the results you want, without burning out.  

Effortless teaches you how to:
• Turn tedious tasks into enjoyable rituals
• Prevent frustration by solving problems before they arise  
• Set a sustainable pace instead of powering through
• Make one-time choices that eliminate many future decisions
• Simplify your processes by removing unnecessary steps
• Make relationships easier to maintain and manage
• And much more   

The effortless way isn't the lazy way. It's the smart way. It may even be the only way. 

Not every hard thing in life can be made easy. But we can make it easier to do more of what matters most.

 

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The Listening Path

Julia Cameron

The newest book from beloved author Julia Cameron, The Listening Path is a transformational journey to deeper, more profound listening and creativity. Over six weeks, readers will be given the tools to become better listeners—to their environment, the people around them, and themselves. The reward for learning to truly listen is immense. As we learn to listen, our attention is heightened and we gain healing, insight, clarity. But above all, listening creates connections and ignites a creativity that will resonate through every aspect of our lives.
 

The Listening Path offers a new method of creative and personal transformation. Each week, readers will be challenged to expand their ability to listen in a new way, beginning by listening to their environment and culminating in learning to listen to silence. These weekly practices open up a new world of connection and fulfillment. In a culture of bustle and constant sound, The Listening Path is a deeply necessary reminder of the power of truly hearing.

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Slow Birding

Joan E. Strassmann

A one-of-a-kind guide to birding locally that encourages readers to slow down and notice the spectacular birds all around them.

Many birders travel far and wide to popular birding destinations to catch sight of rare or “exotic” birds. In Slow Birding, evolutionary biologist Joan E. Strassmann introduces readers to the joys of birding right where they are.

In this inspiring guide to the art of slow birding, Strassmann tells colorful stories of the most common birds to be found in the United States—birds we often see but might not have considered deeply before. For example, northern cardinals thrive in the city, where they are free from predators. White brows on a male white-throated sparrow indicate that he is likely to be a philanderer. This essential guide to the fascinating world of common, everyday birds features:

  • detailed portraits of individual bird species and the scientists who have discovered and observed them
  • advice and guidance on what to look for when slow birding, so that you can uncover clues to the reasons behind specific bird behaviors
  • bird-focused activities that will open your eyes more to the fascinating world of birds
  • Slow Birding is the perfect guide for the birder looking to appreciate the beauty of the birds right in their own backyard, observing keenly how their behaviors change from day to day and season to season.

 

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Joyful

Ingrid Fetell Lee

Have you ever wondered why we stop to watch the orange glow that arrives before sunset, or why we flock to see cherry blossoms bloom in spring? Is there a reason that people -- regardless of gender, age, culture, or ethnicity -- are mesmerized by baby animals, and can't help but smile when they see a burst of confetti or a cluster of colorful balloons.

We are often made to feel that the physical world has little or no impact on our inner joy. Increasingly, experts urge us to find balance and calm by looking inward -- through mindfulness or meditation -- and muting the outside world. But what if the natural vibrancy of our surroundings is actually our most renewable and easily accessible source of joy?

In Joyful, designer Ingrid Fetell Lee explores how the seemingly mundane spaces and objects we interact with every day have surprising and powerful effects on our mood. Drawing on insights from neuroscience and psychology, she explains why one setting makes us feel anxious or competitive, while another fosters acceptance and delight -- and, most importantly, she reveals how we can harness the power of our surroundings to live fuller, healthier, and truly joyful lives.

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The Self-Talk Workout

Rachel Goldsmith Turow

Self-talk matters, but what methods of building healthy self-talk actually work? This how-to guide shares evidence-based techniques to go from being your own worst critic to your own best friend.

Perhaps you want to be nicer to yourself but don’t really know how to get there. Or maybe you’re someone who assumes self-criticism is a permanent part of your personality. Rest assured you’re not alone—millions of people struggle with the toll that excessive self-criticism takes on their minds, energy levels, jobs, and relationships. And problems with self-talk vary dramatically from one person to the next: they can appear as mild but persistent inner criticism, full-blown self-loathing, or the pain of internalized oppression or abuse. 

After over twenty years of working with individuals, groups, and classes on self-criticism and related challenges, psychologist and mindfulness teacher Dr. Rachel Goldsmith Turow offers the “self-talk workout”—six doable exercises that can help you replace self-criticism with self-kindness and self-encouragement. Specific self-talk strategies such as “Spot the success,” “Fail forward,” and “Allowing all feelings, skillfully,” require just a few minutes a day. These skills can be practiced individually to transform your self-talk, or you can choose to combine two or more exercises to enhance your self-talk workout. Each chapter features a core exercise, variations on the strategy that might feel right for you, scientific studies supporting each approach, and success stories to inspire your own practice. 

Turow includes examples from her own life and experiences as a psychotherapist, as well as lessons from her students and respected public figures such as Michelle Obama and Thich Nhat Hanh, to show that the burden of harsh self-criticism need not go on forever: the way that we relate to ourselves can be changed.

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Mindful Origami Kit

Mark Bolitho

Lose yourself inb the calming world of origami and create beautiful objects to amaze and inspire your friends and family. With the expertly detailed guidance of Mark Bolitho, learn the wondrous art of paper-folding, inspired by these 15 attractive models.

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Yoga For Men

Bruce Van Horn

From the moment the alarm clock sounds to the time his head hits the pillow again, the typical man experiences dozens of stressful events every day. Whether it's tight finances, employment insecurity, challenging family issues, or all of the above, the majority of men fail to cope with such stress in a healthy way. Yoga for Men equips men with the yoga know-how to improve their physical, mental, and spiritual health. An increasing number of men are tapping into the power yoga can release within them. Yoga for Men homes in on yoga techniques that address issues of specific concern to today's males, including reducing the risk of prostate cancer, decreasing daily tension, increasing sexual performance, improving metabolism, and enhancing flexibility and muscle mass. Using a plain-English, straightforward approach, author Bruce Van Horne walks male readers through yoga tips that will help them get into better shape, release fears that are blocking personal goals, and enjoy life more fully.

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Aim True

Kathryn Budig

Are You Ready to Discover What Aim True Means to You?

Yoga teacher and inspirational speaker Kathryn Budig is known for her ability to encourage others to set their intentions and goals, no matter how lofty, and work toward them while staying true to themselves.

In Aim True, Budig extends her empowering message beyond the mat. Life is an adventure that is meant to be explored, challenged, and fully lived. The best part? When you approach life with an open mind and heart, the possibilities are endless. Allow Budig to be your guide along the journey with:

• A 5-day purification process

• 6 yoga sequences to put into practice

• Over 85 recipes to seduce your inner Top Chef

• An introduction to meditation

• Homeopathic self-care and beauty recipes

Whether your goal is to love who you are right now, reshape the way you view food, develop a meditation practice, or discover new ways to embrace the great balancing act that is life, this holistic approach to yoga, diet, and mindfulness has something for you. Filled with vibrant photographs and whimsical illustrations, this guide is as beautiful as it is life-changing.

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Slow

Brooke McAlary

Free yourself from the frantic and embrace the joy of slow...ing contribution to the slow living community. 

Are you constantly striving to keep up with life's busy expectations? It's easy to feel consumed with the desire to "succeed" and "acquire," and miss the simple opportunities waiting for you to slow down: a walk in the forest, sharing laughter with family, a personal moment of gratitude...

Once upon a time, it became clear to Brooke McAlary that the key to happiness was discovering a simpler, more fulfilling existence. She put the brakes on her stressful path, and reorganized her life to live outside the status-quo, emphasizing depth, connection and meaningful experiences. Alongside Brooke's affirming personal stories of breaking down and rising up, Slow provides practical advice and fascinating insights into the benefits and challenges of the slow life, such as:

--Decluttering to de-owning
--Messiness to mindfulness
--Asking why, to asking where to now?

Slow is an inspirational guide on creating a life filled with the things that really matter, and is meant for anyone seeking peace, meaning, and joy in their otherwise rapid lives. Slowly--of course.

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Mindfulness for Unravelling Anxiety

Richard Gilpin

Anxiety is a state many of us know only too well and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is on the global increase too. Mindfulness for Unravelling Anxiety helps loosen the knots and tangles of anxiety and explores the ways we can break their stifling bonds through better understanding of the root of the problem – the mind. Richard Gilpin shares frank personal anecdotes and therapeutic insights, revealing how mindfulness can create a path for us through anxiety. With wisdom and clarity, he guides us through the transformative practice of mindfulness meditation.

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From Suffering to Peace

Mark Coleman

Like yoga before it, mindfulness is now flourishing in every sector of society. It is a buzzword in everything from medicine to the military. Mark Coleman, who has studied and taught mindfulness meditation for decades, draws on his knowledge to not only clarify what mindfulness truly means but also reveal the depth and potential of this ancient discipline. Weaving together contemporary applications with practices in use for millennia, his approach empowers us to engage with and transform the inevitable stress and pain of life, so we can discover genuine peace — in the body, heart, mind, and wider world. While profound and multilayered, the mindfulness teachings Coleman shares have proved effective in a wide variety of settings. From Suffering to Peace will help readers of all kinds access and benefit from the "true promise of mindfulness."

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Pause, Rest, Be

Octavia F. Raheem

Restoring your body, mind, and spirit amid change is an act of courage, empowerment, and hope. This warm, powerful guide will help you honor the changes and spaces in your life with purposeful rest and reflection.

If you're trying to push your way through endings, beginnings, and places of uncertainty, only to find yourself more confused, disconnected, tired, and uncertain, this book will hold and fortify you. Yoga teacher and activist Octavia Raheem offers us the motivation and guidance we need to restore ourselves in the midst of all sorts of change. She gives us three simple restorative yoga poses (savasana, side lying pose, and child’s pose), and offers short teachings, reflections, and practices to see us through times of ending, beginning, and liminal/transitional space. She shows us how slowing down, stillness, and deeper connection to our own transitions empower us to move through collective shifts with more grace--and what it means to navigate shifts and change with presence and courage.

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Good Mornings

Linnea Dunne

Early-morning rituals for contentment, clarity and purpose.
In this inspirational guide, Linnea Dunne shows how building a life-affirming ritual into your morning routine is an act of self-care that can benefit both your physical and mental health, enhance your productivity and positively influence your day. Whether it's a dedicated yoga practice at sunrise, mindfulness meditation just after waking, journalling while you sip your morning coffee, or listening to birdsong in the back garden before you tackle your daily commute, a morning ritual can enhance your health and wellbeing, and bring increased contentment, clarity and purpose to your day. With countless ideas for nourishing morning practices and invaluable advice on how to create a morning ritual that is unique to you and takes your individual needs, circumstances and time constraints into account, this book will help you to make the most of the peace and promise of the first moments of every day.

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Sitting Still Like a Frog

Eline Snel

Simple mindfulness practices to help your child (ages 5-12) deal with anxiety, improve concentration, and handle difficult emotions—with a 60-minute audio CD of guided exercises

Mindfulness—the quality of attention that combines full awareness with acceptance of each moment, just as it is—is gaining broad acceptance among mental health professionals as an adjunct to treatment. This little book is a very appealing introduction to mindfulness meditation for children and their parents. In a simple and accessible way, it describes what mindfulness is and how mindfulness-based practices can help children calm down, become more focused, fall asleep more easily, alleviate worry, manage anger, and generally become more patient and aware. The book contains eleven practices that focus on just these scenarios, along with short examples and anecdotes throughout.

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Miracles Now

Gabrielle Bernstein

"Miracles Now by New York Times best-selling author Gabrielle Bernstein will help readers clear stress and find peace--even if they only have a minute to spare. Bernstein knows that most of us don't have time for an hour of yoga or 30 minutes of meditation to dissolve our anxiety, so she has hand-picked 111 techniques to combat our most common problems--from fear and anxiety to burnout and fatigue. Inspired by some of the greatest spiritual teachings, Bernstein offers up spirit-based principles, meditations, and practical, do-them-in-the-moment tools to help readers burst through blocks to live with more ease. She breaks down each technique Spirit Junkie style--with meditations, assessment questions, and step-by-step guidance--while incorporating lessonsfrom A Course in Miracles.As readers benefit from the techniques they'll be able to share them. Each practice has been boiled down to a 140-character description--or Miracle Message--which can be tweeted, pinned on Pinterest, posted to Facebook, or shared on Instagram. Each Miracle Message will end with the hashtag #111Miracles. Ebook readers can share from their device.Readers familiar with Bernstein's fun and innovative take on spirituality will scoop up her latest work. And those who are discovering her will appreciate her tech-savvy approach to spirituality and transformation"--

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Wherever You Go, There You Are

Jon Kabat-Zinn

The author of Full Catastrophe Living explains how anyone can use mindfulness--the art of living each moment fully as it happens--to reduce anxiety, achieve inner peace, and enrich life.

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The Mindful Way to a Good Night's Sleep

Tzivia Gover

This accessible guide to cultivating deep, restful sleep — naturally — combines author Tzivia Gover’s expertise in both mindfulness and dreamwork. Along with a healthy dose of encouragement, Gover offers practical lifestyle advice, simple yoga poses, 10-minute meditations, and easy breathing exercises, plus visualization and journaling activities. You’ll also learn how to set the scene for safe, productive dreaming and cultivate your dream recall. This holistic approach extends into your waking hours with tips on morning routines to ensure that sound sleep leads to refreshed, more conscious living all day long.

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The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi

Peter Wayne

A longtime teacher and Harvard researcher presents the latest science on the benefits of T’ai Chi as well as a practical daily program for practitioners of all ages
 
Conventional medical science on the Chinese art of T’ai Chi now shows what T’ai Chi masters have known for centuries: regular practice leads to more vigor and flexibility, better balance and mobility, and a sense of well-being. Cutting-edge research from Harvard Medical School also supports the long-standing claims that T’ai Chi also has a beneficial impact on the health of the heart, bones, nerves and muscles, immune system, and the mind. This research provides fascinating insight into the underlying physiological mechanisms that explain how T’ai Chi actually works.

Dr. Peter M. Wayne, a longtime T’ai Chi teacher and a researcher at Harvard Medical School, developed and tested protocols similar to the simplified program he includes in this book, which is suited to people of all ages, and can be done in just a few minutes a day. 

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I Don't Want to Read This Book

Max Greenfield

Words, sentences, and even worse, paragraphs fill up books. Ugh! So what's a reluctant reader to do? Actor Max Greenfield and New York Times bestselling illustrator Mike Lowery bring the energy and laugh-out-loud fun out for every child (and parent) who thinks they don’t want to read a book. This clever and playful read-aloud breaks the fourth wall and will have all readers coming back for laughs again and again!

 

 

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Books Aren't for Eating

Carlie Sorosiak

How can Leopold, goat and bookstore owner, find the perfect book for a fellow goat—one the visitor will enjoy reading, not munching?

Leopold the goat owns a delightful bookstore, and he has a talent for matching his customers with the ideal book—an adventure story for the girl in the rain boots, a novel about gnomes for the man who loves to laugh, and a book of birds for the woman in the feathered hat. But one day, another goat arrives and proceeds to eat every book Leopold offers. Can Leopold find just the right one to tempt this reluctant reader? This funny, charming tale of the transformative power of books is a celebration of that first special story that sparks a child’s love of reading.

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How to Eat a Book

& MacLeod

Sheila sat down to eat her first book and the strangest thing happened . . . The book ate HER. One by one, cousins Sheila, Gerald, and Geraldine Grunion are eaten . . . by their books. This peculiar turn of events flings them far and wide. Sheila escapes the weight of the world entirely, while Gerald braves the wonder of seeing it up close. And Geraldine, well, Geraldine turns as terrifically terrible as she possibly can. Join the Grunions on adventures no child can resist!
 

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Dear Reader

Tiffany Rose



In this book a young girl pens a love letter to libraries and books, and powerfully expresses the need for diversity and the importance of representation in stories!

There was just this one thing, this nagging suspicion, that I didn't meet the criteria for a heroine's condition. In the books that I read, an absence of melanin was a clear omission.

A voracious young reader loves nothing more than going to the library and poring through books all day, making friends with characters and going off on exciting adventures with them. However, the more she reads, the more she notices that most of the books don't have characters that look like her, and the only ones that do tell about the most painful parts of their history. Where are the heroines with Afros exploring other planets and the superheroes with 'locs saving the day?

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No Buddy Like a Book

Allan Wolf

This celebration of the power of books is a rallying cry for letting imaginations soar.

We learn important stuff from books.
We learn to speak and think.
We learn why icebergs stay afloat . . .
and why Titanics sink.

Have you ever wanted to climb to the top of Everest with one hand behind your back? Kiss a crocodile all by yourself on the Nile River? How about learning how to bottle moonlight, or track a distant star? There are endless things to discover and whole universes to explore simply by reading a book. But books are only smears of ink without the reader's mind to give their letters meaning and bring them to life. With a rollicking, rhyming text and delightful artwork, poet and storyteller Allan Wolf and illustrator Brianne Farley remind us that books, no matter how they may be consumed, give readers of every background an opportunity to expand their world and spark their imagination. With infectious enthusiasm, No Buddy Like a Book offers an ode to the wonders of language--written, spoken, and everything in between.

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Please Don't Read This Book

Deanna Kizis

In this laugh-out-loud book that begs readers to break the rules, silliness and hilarity reign supreme! Perfect for fans of The Book with No Pictures.

Wait--are you reading this book? Even though the cover asked you not to?

Well, if you're going to read it, then you'll have to follow the rules, or you're going to have WAY too much fun. And you don't want to have FUN, do you? DO YOU?!

That's what I thought. So definitely, positively, DO NOT read this book!

Join along for zany antics, silly sounds, and endless fun in this breaks-the-fourth-wall book that will have readers coming back time and time again--regardless of what the title says.

 

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Stanley's Library

William Bee

Stanley has stocked his bookmobile with lots of great books to take to the local park. Everyone stops by to borrow a book that Stanley selected just for them, and later at the main branch, he hosts an out-of-this-world author visit from Agatha Mouse!  After a hard day at work, Stanley winds down his day with a familiar supper and bath routine that makes this series a great pick for bedtime reading!

 

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How to Read a Book

Kwame Alexander

A stunning new picture book from Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander and Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet! This New York Times bestselling duo has teamed up for the first time to bring you How to Read a Book, a poetic and beautiful journey about the experience of reading.

Find a tree—a black tupelo or dawn redwood will do—and plant yourself.

With these words, an adventure begins. Kwame Alexander’s evocative poetry and Melissa Sweet’s lush artwork come together to take readers on a sensory journey between the pages of a book.

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The New LiBEARian

Alison Donald

A visit to the library can be full of surprises. When the librarian is late for story time, the children go off to look for her and follow mysterious paw prints to find a bear sitting at her desk. Is the bear a new librarian? Not exactly. The new LiBEARian opens a book about bears and utters a loud growl. The kids love it! Then the real librarian appears and sends the bear back into the book he came from. A fun twist at the end rounds out this winsomely illustrated tale of a universal childhood experience--story time at the library--infused with magic.

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Miss Brooks Loves Books (And I Don't)

Barbara Bottner

With the help of Miss Brooks, Missy’s classmates all find books they love in the library—books about fairies and dogs and trains and cowboys. But Missy dismisses them all—“Too flowery, too furry, too clickety, too yippity.”

Still, Miss Brooks remains undaunted. Book Week is here and Missy will find a book to love if they have to empty the entire library. What story will finally win over this beastly, er, discriminating child? William Steig’s Shrek!—the tale of a repulsive green ogre in search of a revolting bride—of course!

Barbara Bottner and Michael Emberley pay playful homage to the diverse tastes of child readers and the valiant librarians who are determined to put just the right book in each child’s hands.

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Fox in Socks

Dr. Seuss

 

Find out how wacky words can be with Dr. Seuss and the Fox in Socks in this classic hardcover picture book of tongue tanglers!
This rhyming romp includes chicks with bricks, chewy blue glue, a noodle eating poodle, and so much more! Just try to keep your tongue out of trouble! Seuss piles his the energetic rhymes into a mountain of hilarity that the whole family will enjoy. Rhyming has never been this fun!

 

 

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Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories

Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss presents three modern fables in the rhyming favorite Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories. The collection features tales about greed (“Yertle the Turtle”), vanity (“Gertrude McFuzz”), and pride (“The Big Brag”). In no other book does a small burp have such political importance! 

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Barack Obama

Rebecca Pettiford

Barack Obama is known by many as the first Black president of the United States. But readers might not know that President Obama likes to collect comic books and play basketball! In this title, young readers are introduced to Barack Obama's life and presidency through leveled text and high-quality images. Special features include a map, a timeline, and a thought-provoking question.

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Thomas Edison

Barbara Kramer

Traces the life of Thomas Edison, one of the most influential inventors in American history, from his early childhood and education through his sources of inspiration and challenges faced, early successes, and the many inventions for which he is best known.

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Who Was Nikola Tesla?

Jim Gigliotti

When Nikola Tesla arrived in the United States in 1884, he didn't have much money, but he did have a letter of introduction to renowned inventor Thomas Edison. The working relationship between the two men was short lived, though, and the two scientist-inventors became harsh competitors. One of the most influential scientists of all time, Nikola Tesla is celebrated for his experiments in electricity, X-rays, remote controls, and wireless communications. His invention of the Tesla coil was instrumental in the development of radio technology.

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Wild About Books

Judy Sierra

It started the summer of 2002, when the Springfield librarian, Molly McGrew, by mistake drove her bookmobile into the zoo.

In this rollicking rhymed story, Molly introduces birds and beasts to this new something called reading. She finds the perfect book for every animal—tall books for giraffes, tiny ones for crickets. “She even found waterproof books for the otter, who never went swimming without Harry Potter.” In no time at all, Molly has them “forsaking their niches, their nests, and their nooks,” going “wild, simply wild, about wonderful books.” Judy Sierra’s funny animal tale coupled with Marc Brown’s lush, fanciful paintings will have the same effect on young Homo sapiens. Altogether, it’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

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Know My Name

Chanel Miller

She was known to the world as Emily Doe when she stunned millions with a letter. Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting her on Stanford's campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral--viewed by eleven million people within four days, it was translated globally and read on the floor of Congress; it inspired changes in California law and the recall of the judge in the case. Thousands wrote to say that she had given them the courage to share their own experiences of assault for the first time.

Now she reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words. It was the perfect case, in many ways--there were eyewitnesses, Turner ran away, physical evidence was immediately secured. But her struggles with isolation and shame during the aftermath and the trial reveal the oppression victims face in even the best-case scenarios. Her story illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators, indicts a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and, ultimately, shines with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life.

Know My Name will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault, challenging our beliefs about what is acceptable and speaking truth to the tumultuous reality of healing. It also introduces readers to an extraordinary writer, one whose words have already changed our world. Entwining pain, resilience, and humor, this memoir will stand as a modern classic.

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Hunger

Roxane Gay

In her phenomenally popular essays and long-running Tumblr blog, Roxane Gay has written with intimacy and sensitivity about food and body, using her own emotional and psychological struggles as a means of exploring our shared anxieties over pleasure, consumption, appearance, and health. As a woman who describes her own body as “wildly undisciplined,” Roxane understands the tension between desire and denial, between self-comfort and self-care. In Hunger, she explores her past—including the devastating act of violence that acted as a turning point in her young life—and brings readers along on her journey to understand and ultimately save herself.

With the bracing candor, vulnerability, and power that have made her one of the most admired writers of her generation, Roxane explores what it means to learn to take care of yourself: how to feed your hungers for delicious and satisfying food, a smaller and safer body, and a body that can love and be loved—in a time when the bigger you are, the smaller your world becomes.

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Good Talk

Mira Jacob

How brown is too brown?
Can Indians be racist?
What does real love between really different people look like?

Like many six-year-olds, Mira Jacob’s half-Jewish, half-Indian son, Z, has questions about everything. At first they are innocuous enough, but as tensions from the 2016 election spread from the media into his own family, they become much, much more complicated. Trying to answer him honestly, Mira has to think back to where she’s gotten her own answers: her most formative conversations about race, color, sexuality, and, of course, love. 
 
Written with humor and vulnerability, this deeply relatable graphic memoir is a love letter to the art of conversation—and to the hope that hovers in our most difficult questions.

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