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The Rent Collector

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The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults & Teens

How do you find hope when your life is in the dump? I’m talking literally about the people who lived in shacks at a municipal dump in Cambodia and spent their days picking recyclables out of the trash to get enough money for food. This real life story was told in a 2009 documentary called River of Victory.
The director’s father, Camron Wright, was so moved by the struggle of these people that he wrote this book, which is a fictional story woven around many of the characters and facts from the documentary. The author added in the gift of literacy to one character and examined how literature has transformative power for us no matter what our background is or what our life circumstances are.
The Rent Collector is a truly wonderful story that, like other great literature, will make you think about who your heroes are.
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Your Happiest You: the care & keeping of your mind and spirit

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Your Happiest You: the care & keeping of your mind and spirit by Judy Woodburn
Format: book
Who it’s for: Kids & Teens

Being happy is something we want for our kids but how can we help them get there?  This book is full of great insight and practical ideas about achieving happiness and is written in an inviting style that makes it very accessible to elementary and middle school age kids.

We teach our kids to take care of their bodies by eating right, exercising, and brushing their teeth so it makes sense to help them learn to take care of their mind and spirit at the same time.  With this book, kids can try out simple exercises to find internal calm, have better relationships with friends and family, enjoy the world around them, and think about how their attitude affects their feelings.

This book is published by American Girl Publishing so it is more geared toward girls but the concepts and advice apply to boys just as well.  Another wonderful book in this Care & Keeping of You series is Liking Herself which talks about developing good self-esteem.

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Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

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Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Format: Book (also available in: Ebook, Audiobook, eAudiobook)
Who it’s for:  Teens, Adults

Eleanor is almost 30. She works in an office. Everything is completely fine.

Eleanor lives alone. She is considered to be strange. She has no family. She has no friends. She drinks two liters of vodka every weekend. OK, everything may not be completely fine.

How do you respond when asked: ‘How are you?’ Do you automatically say ‘Fine’? This story lets you give some thought to what might be going on behind the word ‘fine’ and explore social isolation.

Eleanor has a very quirky interpretation of the world around her and this first person narrative lets you see the world through her eyes.  Dry British humor and the other characters in the story make this a fun and interesting read.  Eleanor’s background is a bit murky and you get to discover her past along with her.

I read this for my book club and it led to a really great discussion.  There are plans to make it into a movie.

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13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do

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13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults, Teens

Let’s say you’re trying to get your body into good physical shape, you might go to the gym and have a long, heavy work out and feel like you’re moving in the right direction.  However, if you eat a box of donuts on the way home from the gym then you’ve just erased all your hard work!

The same thing can happen with our mental health.  There are many very positive things we can do for ourselves like practicing mindfulness, gratitude, or yoga but author Amy Morin points out that we might be sabotaging our best efforts with some bad mental habits.

Do I stress about things I can’t control?  Do I try to please everyone? Do I resent other people’s success? These are just three out of the thirteen bad mental habits that can drag us down and undermine our happiness.

Check this book out and give your mental health a workout. We can’t always change our circumstances but we do have control over our attitude and that can make all the difference!

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Math Doesn’t Suck

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Math Doesn’t Suck by Danica McKellar
Format: Book
Who it’s for:  Teens, Middle School

It may be hard to believe, but math really doesn’t suck.  In fact, it can be fun, or at least you can be successful at it if it’s presented the right way.  Author Danica McKellar started out as a TV actress, who you may recognize as Winnie from the Wonder Years or Elsie from The West Wing, then went on to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics and has created a series of math books for middle and high school girls that presents math in a fun and relatable way.

Math Doesn’t Suck features early middle school math concepts, along with Danica’s personal stories, real life applications, and personality quizzes – because what middle schooler doesn’t love those? The second book in the series is titled: Kiss My Math, followed by Hot X: Algebra Exposed.  The last in the series is Girls Get Curves, and yes of course, it’s about geometry!

I was a girl who loved math in school so I hope these books will inspire today’s young women to try on their smarty pants and wear them with pride!

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The Nightingale

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The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults & Teens

Vianne and Isabelle are estranged sisters living through their new reality of a Nazi occupied France during World War II.  Isabelle is the younger, impulsive, defiant sister who speaks her mind about any injustice while Vianne is the older, cautious, and practical sister trying to manage the household and keep her own daughter safe under rapidly worsening conditions.  With the men in their lives taken away by the war, they both find themselves in roles they never imagined and have to reach deep inside themselves to decide which risks are truly worth taking.
This is a wonderfully told story about love, war, sisters, friendship, and true heroism.  It makes you ask yourself ‘What would I do?’

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