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Elisa Mattingly

We Ride Upon Sticks

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We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
Format:  Book
Who it’s for:  Adults

It’s 1989 in Danvers, Massachusetts, and the Lady Falcons field hockey team is easily the worst team in their high school league. Fed up with losing, the team uses their knowledge of the town’s history as the site for the 1692 Salem Witch Trials to make a deal. This dark deal involves armbands cut from a blue athletic sock and an Emilio Estevez journal.

All of a sudden, the Lady Falcons cannot be stopped. They’re breaking records and are on their way to the state championships. But at what cost? Emilio needs to be fed dark energy. The girls begin doing wicked deeds in order to strengthen the journal and continue winning.

Their goalie has a mark on her neck that looks like it’s growing teeth and it really does seem like their center forward’s bangs might be communicating with them telepathically.

If this sounds to you like the weirdest book ever, you wouldn’t be wrong. While the writing is dense, the description, ‘80s references, and strange point-of-view make you feel like you are a part of the 1989 Lady Falcons. You really get to know each member of the team and what drives them to make the pact with Emilio.

We Ride Upon Sticks is truly impossible to put down once you begin. This is a great choice for fans of Bunny by Mona Awad or anyone else who enjoys strange stories about witchcraft and dark magic.

Find We Ride Upon Sticks in the catalog!

 

Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

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Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds
Format: Book, eBook, Digital Audiobook
Who it’s for: Kids

Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds tells the story of ten different middle school students walking home from school and their adventures on ten different blocks. Each kid is dealing with their own struggles and are caught up in their own lives. So much so that no one sees the school bus falling from the sky. This  poignant story demonstrates how everyone is following their own path, home from school and in life.

I love Jason Reynolds, and I love this book. From a girl who just wants to skateboard but who is confronted by bullies, to a young boy hustling pennies so he can buy ice cream for his mom, this book includes small, slice-of-life tales from a variety of different point-of-views. It really demonstrates that everyone is going through something. Even the toughest boy in school has problems he is struggling with at home. Even the funniest girl in class is using humor to comfort herself and her family. Everyone in the story is connected. It was fun to hear about the same small moments told from different perspectives and hear small comments about characters from previous chapters.

I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook of this title. It has a full cast, and it really makes the story come alive and captures your attention.

Because the most important question still remains: did anyone see that school bus fall from the sky?

Find it in the catalog!

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

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The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

An isolated mansion in the hills of Scotland. An app that controls every lock and camera. A mysterious noise in the attic. And a nanny sitting in prison, explaining how she did not kill a little girl.

The Turn of the Key is the perfect mix of a Gothic ghost story, as it is based on Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw, and a cautionary tale of what happens when we let technology invade every aspect of our lives.

Rowan is a young woman moving to the Scottish Highlands to work as a nanny for three little girls. The pay is high, and the house is an amazing hybrid of Victorian architecture and modern style. The mansion is equipped with state-of-the-art technology that allows everything to be controlled through an app.

As Rowan tries to settle into her new role, she is disturbed by footsteps in the attic and whispers about ghosts scaring away the girls’ previous nannies.

Told through Rowan’s perspective as she recounts what happened after she arrived at the house, the novel’s twists and turns kept me guessing until the very last page.

I devoured this book in one day, because I just had to know what happened to land our protagonist in prison. This is easily my favorite Ruth Ware novel, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.

Find it in the catalog!

Mapping Sam

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Mapping Sam by Joyce Hesselberth
Format: Book
Who it’s For: Kids

Each night, after her family goes to bed, Sam the cat slips outside to roam and explore the neighborhood. Sam’s journey is mapped out for readers and provides a perfect demonstration of how and why maps are used. Readers learn about map drawing and things like the compass rose and scale, while being told a fun story about a curious cat. The book also discusses other types of maps, like a map of the body or a map of the constellations.

This is the perfect blend of fiction and nonfiction and is a great beginner’s book for learning about maps. The illustrations are beautiful and the story keeps readers engaged while they learn about the different things that can be mapped, finally asking the question “Can you map a dream?” While GPS has taken over the everyday use of maps, Mapping Sam demonstrates the ways maps are still useful and relevant today and teaches children how to read them.

Mapping Sam is a new addition to our Side by Side collection! Pick up a copy for fun activities and discussion questions connected to the book.

Find it in the catalog!

Harriet Gets Carried Away

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Harriet Gets Carried Away by Jessie Sima
Format: Book
Who it’s For: Kids

Harriet loves dressing up and wears different costumes every single day. When it’s time for her dress-up birthday party, Harriet is so excited to go to the store and get all the supplies they’ll need to throw an amazing party. But when Harriet gets to the store, dressed in her super special penguin costume, she finds dozens of penguins who take her in as one of their own and fly her to the South Pole. Harriet must enlist the help of an orca whale and a flock of pigeons in order to get back home in time for her birthday party.

Harriet Gets Carried Away is another wonderful, whimsical work by Jessie Sima, author of Not Quite Narwhal. The book encourages imagination, creativity, and determination in the face of a challenge. The story is amusing, and the artwork is adorable.

Harriet Gets Carried Away is a new addition to our Side by Side collection! Pick up a copy for fun activities and discussion questions connected to the book.

Find it in the catalog!

(Don’t) Call Me Crazy

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(Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation About Mental Health Edited by Kelly Jensen
Format: Book
Who it’s For: Teens and Adults

(Don’t) Call Me Crazy is a collection of essays, poems and drawings that discusses different aspects and experiences of mental health. The 33 collaborators come from various backgrounds, including authors like Libba Bray and Victoria Schwab, actress Kristen Bell, and former figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.

The book is broken down into five chapters of essays that deal with similar topics. The first seeks to define the word “crazy” in terms of each individual’s personal experience and their relationship to the word. The second discusses our culture’s stigmas surrounding mental illness. The third discusses addictions and eating disorders, while the fourth addresses anxiety and depression. The book finishes with a discussion of recovery and healing.

(Don’t) Call Me Crazy is an important work for teenagers and adults alike. No matter if one has personal experience with mental illness, knows someone living with one or has no experience with mental illness, everyone can gain something from the book. Whether to make a personal connection or inspire a better understanding, the perspectives brought forth by the collection show the multitude of different aspects of mental health and show that every person’s experience is different. No one’s experience with mental illness is exactly like another’s, but the book may provide comfort to those struggling with their own.

(Don’t) Call Me Crazy inspires an important discussion about a topic that many in our society find too uncomfortable to talk about. It is, however, becoming vital that we engage in open conversation about mental health. Collections like (Don’t) Call Me Crazy aid in that conversation, especially for teens.

Find it in the catalog!