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Homer

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Homer  by Elisha Cooper
Format: Book
Who’s it for: Kids (and adults)

If only you had more money, then you would be happy.

If only you had more friends, then you would be happy.

If only you read more books, watched the hottest new tv show, then you would be happy.

If only you had more vacations, went on more adventures, then you would really be happy.

If only you found a way to lose those pesky extra 15 pounds you’ve been carrying for years, then you would truly be happy.

One of these thoughts has probably crossed your mind at some point.  It’s certainly what we’re being told on a day-to-day basis.  Movies, television, and even our books (Have you seen books like this before? 1,000 books to read before you die: a life-changing list), are constantly telling us that we need to do all the things to be truly happy.  There will always be something more to do.  Another book that you absolutely MUST read.  Another Netflix show that everyone is talking about.  Another thing that you’ve always wanted to do.  They are all waiting for us as soon as we’ve finished with the last thing.

Now, please consider this: if we’re feeling it, then the children in our lives are feeling it as well.

Homer, written and illustrated by Elisha Cooper, is a friendly reminder that we absolutely do not need to do all the things to be happy.  In fact, there is nothing that we have to do at all.  We simply have to Be.  Here.  Now.  Present.

Homer is essentially a story of a dog who is perfectly happy to watch his friends have fun and feels no need to participate himself, but at its core it is a story about the nature of contentment.  Contentment, as in to feel content in the present moment. To be happy with what you have at this exact moment.

There are not many children’s books that express this idea so clearly.  Taking less than five minutes to read, it is well worth the small amount of time it would take to complete it.  Homer teaches a very important lesson that is sorely needed in a society that seems to glorify the doing of all the things.

Find it in the catalog.

A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns

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A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns by Archie Bongiovanni and Tristan Jimerson
Format: Book
Who’s it for: Teens and Adults

Archie and Tristan are best friends.  Archie has a beautiful beard, the knees of a 55-year-old (despite being in his early thirties), and uses the pronouns he/him.  Tristan has been drawing comics for over a decade, will always eat an entire bag of Doritos in one setting, and uses the pronouns they/them.

With A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns, Archie and Tristan deliver an easy to read guide to what can be a confusing or sensitive topic for many people.  It is funny, touching at parts, but most importantly, it explains how to go about using gender-neutral pronouns in a way that is easily understood.  They go over how to ask what pronouns a person uses as well as what to say if you accidentally refer to someone by the wrong pronoun.  (Spoiler alert: the answer to both of these situations is as easy as asking respectfully or apologizing sincerely).

It may be difficult at first, but with all things, practice is key.  Soon it won’t seem so awkward and you’ll have the added benefit of being more respectful to your fellow human beings!

To quote Archie and Tristan “nothing is as cool as being an empathetic and respectful person.”

Truer words have never been spoken.

Find it in the catalog.

My Pictures After The Storm

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My Pictures after the Storm by Eric Veille
Format: Book
Who’s it for: Children, adults that like puns and clever jokes

My pictures: Pail.  Slide.  Ice cream cone.

My pictures after the storm: Puddle.  ǝpᴉlS.  Ice cream gone!

My Pictures after the Storm, written and illustrated by Eric Veille, is one of the cleverest children’s books I’ve read in a log time.  To put that statement in context, I am a professional children’s librarian and reading children’s books and being aware of what children’s books are coming out is a significant portion of my job.  There is very little that comes out that I don’t at least offer a cursory thumb through and this book has impressed me with some of its downright ingenious use of wordplay and visual humor.

My pictures: Mother.  Child.  Father.

My pictures after the baby: High Chair.  Rattle.  Bassinet.  Nightlight.  Baby Food.  Formula.  Bib.  Bottle.  Teddy bear.  Crying little sister.  Scared big brother.

The way that Veille is able to arrange the images in such a way as to hit the joke home is one of his strongest qualities.  In the above example, not only is it funny because with a new baby comes a deluge of stuff for that baby, but the images are arranged in a big circle around the baby with the older brother siting  nearby with look of agitation on his face.  This further illustrates how life can feel as if it literally revolves around a new baby, as well as depict how a first born may feel when they have a baby brother or sister.

My pictures: Apple.  Bread.  Boiled Spinach.

My pictures after lunch: Core.  Crumbs.  Boiled Spinach.

Maybe it’s the dad in me, but I’m always down for a good pun. In terms of wordplay and visual humor My Pictures after the Storm is an example of this style of humor at its very best.  Find it in the catalog.

Furyborn

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Furyborn by Claire Legrand
Format: Book
Who’s it for: Adults and Teens

A queen screams in the throes of childbirth.

A little boy travels to another place and time with a power that is a mystery to even himself.

An angel comes to the door with an evil intent.

A young woman decides to barter her soul for her family’s safety.

Claire Legrand’s Furyborn is bursting with tales of magic, love lost, heroic deeds, and tantalizing mysteries.  It is fantasy at its absolute best, but what makes Furyborn so compelling, and unique among its peers, is how Legrand sets up her narrative.  It follows two young women, Rielle, an aristocrat who is discovered to have a magical power that could either doom or save the world, and Eliana, a young bounty hunter that will do anything to protect the ones she loves.  The twist is that Rielle’s story takes place roughly 1000 years before Eliana’s.  The chapters alternate between each character’s point of view, as well as their place in time, which results in an amazing case where one story would seem to foreshadow the next, only to surprise you in how events actually play out.

Furyborn features a world that is as deep as it is complex, with an implicit history that helps the world to feel as real as any created by J.R.R. Tolkien or Christopher Paolini.  Each chapter starts with a quote from a historical figure of its world, each adding a satisfying tidbit of lore for readers to ponder.  For readers that love to figure out the timeline of a story and how events all fit together, this is an absolute paradise.

The first book in the Empirium trilogy, Furyborn introduces and resolves enough plot points to feel satisfying, but still leaves enough mysteries for readers to theorize about in the wait before its sequel, Kingsbane, is released next year.

Recommended for: fans of young adult fantasy, strong female protagonists, magic, time travel, rich fictional histories, and action.

Find it in the catalog.

Hello Lighthouse

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Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Kids

Out on the highest rock of a tiny island at the very edge of the world stands a lighthouse.  This lighthouse shines its unwavering beam every day and throughout every night as if saying “Hellooo! Hellooo! Hellooo!” to any ships at sea.  It is tended to by a lighthouse keeper who, just like the beam of light, is unwavering in his duty.  Every day he has to tend the light by polishing the lens, refilling the oil and trimming the burned end of the wick.  Throughout each and every night he has to ensure that the clockwork that spins the massive lamp is sufficiently wound.  When supplies get low he has to fish for his lunch.

He is the only one there.  He is all alone with only the sea, the gulls, and the green paint of the walls to keep him company.  But despite the constant hard work and the solitude he is still happy.

Hello Lighthouse, written and illustrated by Caldecott medalist Sophie Blackall, tells a beautiful story about how being happy is only a matter of perspective.

Recommended for: anyone interested in beautiful illustrations, lighthouses, and stories about enjoying solitude.

Find it in the catalog

The Magicians

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The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Format: Book
Who’s it for: Adults and Teens

Do you remember what it felt like to believe, to truly believe from the aching bottom of your heart to the tip of your nose, in the impossible?  When I was a kid the Chronicles of Narnia books lit up my imagination like a Christmas tree.  I was one of those kids that felt the back of every wardrobe, closet and medicine cabinet just to make sure there wasn’t a magical world waiting just out of sight.  Over time I stopped checking, and as I grew up I stopped believing as well.  The world, the one I could see around me with my own eyes, was exactly what it seemed to be and I discovered a hard truth: there was no magic door waiting for me.

That feeling of having naive belief only to discover, heartbreakingly, that there never was and never will be a magical world, is what makes Quentin Coldwater’s story so special.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman, follows Quentin’s journey from brilliant, but also brilliantly distracted, high school student to new enrollee in the Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy.  He discovers a hidden layer to the world, one that when pulled back reveals the fantastic.  Magic is real.  And if magic is real, what else might be real as well?  This is one of my favorite books of all time, and I would hate to ruin the story by revealing any more than that, but I will say that although Brakebills may be the start of Quentin’s journey it is certainly not the end.

Part Harry Potter, part Narnia, but with a realistic and decidedly adult edge, Quentin’s story explores the topics of human desire, depression, and the harm of having unchecked power in a narrative that is absolutely enchanting.

Recommended for: fans of realistic fantasy, Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Magicians T.V. show.

Find it in the catalog