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Scooby Apocalypse

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Scooby Apocalypse Vol. 1 by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Howard Porter
Format: eBook
Who it’s for: Adults, Teens

It’s everyone’s favorite meddling kids, re-imagined for a new generation. Meet:

Daphne Blake, host of a low rated cable TV show investigating supernatural phenomenon.

Fred Jones, Daphne’s loyal camera man, who has carried a torch for her for years.

Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, dog trainer for a mysterious science lab called The Complex.

Scoobert “Scooby” Doo, prototype of a Complex experiment to create intelligent dogs to serve in the military.

And Dr. Velma Dinkley, top scientist at The Complex, and maybe the world’s only hope at stopping an experiment gone wrong that’s turning the human race into monsters.

This unlikely gang traverse the land in a literal Mystery Machine (What is the actual purpose of this armored van they escaped The Complex in?) trying to survive… The Scooby Apocalypse.

This dark reboot of the Scooby-Doo franchise is fun for new and legacy fans alike. It’s the end of the world as they know it, but you’ll feel fine, when you check out Scooby Apocalypse on Hoopla right now!

Ultimate Pound Cakes Classic Recipe Collection

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Ultimate Pound Cakes Classic Recipe Collection       by Phyllis Hoffman Depiano
Format: Book
Who it’s for:  Adults

The old saying “Never judge a book by its cover” is the exception with this book.  When I came across Ultimate Pound Cakes, which features a delicious looking pound cake on the cover, I had to check it out for myself.  I have not been disappointed.  I was lucky enough to have checked this book out before the corona virus caused the library to temporarily shut down.  Stuck at home for the past several weeks, I have had the time to try two of the recipes featured.

The author begins her book with the history of the pound cake.  Did you know the pound cake dates back to the 18th century?  The cake’s name is derived from the fact that it is created using a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of flour and a pound of eggs.  The intent was to make a cake that would be large enough to feed more than one family.  At that time in history baking ingredients were hard to come by, as some of us have found to be true during the recent pandemic.

Ultimate Pound Cakes is divided into three sections based on the type of pan used for the recipe.  There are recipes for tube pans, bundt pans, loaf pans and mini bundt pans.  Although the two cakes that I made called for a tube pan, I made them both in a bundt pan, which is all that I had available to me.  I was a bit limited by ingredients as well, so I had to choose recipes whose ingredients I already had in my pantry.  I made Grandma’s Favorite Pound Cake and Chocolate Pound Cake.  They were both scrumptious and very easy to make.  In fact, all of the recipes looked like they would be easy to make.

There are all kinds of other pound cake recipes in the book, and a corresponding picture for each one as well.  Some of the cakes made my mouth water just looking at their pictures. There is a Cream Cheese-Filled Red Velvet Pound Cake, a Peanut Butter and Honey Pound Cake, a Vanilla Bean Pound Cake with Honey-Orange Drizzle, a Fresh Peach Pound Cake and a Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake just to name a few.

Add this book to your Library Wishlist.  You will not be disappointed.  Find it in our catalog.

I am always interested in learning about the authors of books that I love, just to see where they get their inspiration.  If you are interested, you can take a look at Phyllis Hoffman DePiano’s website Ribbon In My Journal, where several of the author’s recipes are listed for free.

The Hating Game

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The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Who it’s for: Adults
Format: eBook, Digital Audiobook

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman work as assistants to the C0-CEOs at the recently merged Bexley and Gammon Publishing House. Lucy and Joshua keep the office running. The only problem is that Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate one another. The two assistants may be the most competent employees at B and G Publishing, but they are also the two most likely to be sent to HR. With all the games they play to bring one another down, neither is expecting to be brought down by love. The Hating Game is a smart and steamy enemies-to-lovers romance that will have readers laughing and swooning until the very end.

You can find the Hating Game by Sally Thorne on Hoopla and on Overdrive/Libby.

Say Nothing: A True Story Of Murder And Memory In Northern Ireland

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Say Nothing: A True Story Of Murder And Memory In Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
Who it’s for: Adults
Format: eBook, digital audiobook

Say Nothing begins with the abduction of widow and mother of 10, Jean McConville, in Belfast in 1972. From there, Radden Keefe traces several of the key players of the Troubles, the decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland between nationalists (often Catholic) who wanted to see Northern Ireland united with Ireland, and loyalists (often Protestant) who supported continued British rule in Northern Ireland.

McConville was one of the “disappeared,” sixteen people who were determined to have been taken, killed, and buried in unmarked graves by the Provisional IRA (the IRA admitted to being involved in nine of the sixteen cases). But Radden Keefe’s account is not just of McConville and her children. We also meet Gerry Adams, Brendan Hughes, and, most intriguing, the Price sisters, Delours and Marian, all members of the IRA (though Adams has denied his own membership in the organization). Radden Keefe describes hunger strikes, bombings, prison stays, and the gradual shift by some members of the IRA from violence to politics. This shift is an underlying theme of the story; some IRA members viewed the shift and the compromises made as removing the moral justification for the violent acts they had committed. This led to some of them speaking at length with interviewers for a Boston College oral history project. That project’s history, and its legal battles and their outcomes are entwined in the story of the more recent events in Radden Keefe’s account. 

Throughout the book, Radden Keefe returns to Jean McConville, and to her children and their lives after their mother’s abduction. Many of the others discussed in the book were leaders of or soldiers in the IRA, so McConville’s children provide a different view of the Troubles and the events discussed in the book.

Say Nothing often reads like fiction, but it’s not. Every so often, the realization hits that these people are real, many of them still living and dealing with the trauma of their experiences. Radden Keefe has thoroughly researched this story, taking four years to conduct research and interviews, leading to a fascinating true account of events that occurred not that long ago.

You can find Say Nothing in eBook and digital audiobook format on OverDrive/Libby, or in digital audiobook format on RBdigital.

The Moon Within

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The Moon Within by Aida Salazar
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Kids

Celi Rivera has many questions. What should she do about these new feelings she has for her classmate Iván? How should she best support her closest friend as they experiment with their gender expression? And will her mother really insist on throwing her a traditional moon ceremony when Celi’s first period arrives? This lyrical novel in verse does a fantastic job of portraying that lifechanging and magical, yet incredibly awkward, prepubescent time in one’s life when it feels like there are more questions than answers. Like its forebear, Judy Blume’s Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, this book would be an indisputably beneficial and relatable read for any person who has ever had questions about growing up.
Find it in the catalog

Fraggle Rock: Journey to the Everspring

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Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock: Journey to the Everspring by Kate Leth and Jake Myler
Format: eBook
Who it’s for: Kids, Teens, Adults, Everyone

Dance your cares away! Worry’s for another day! Let the music play! Down at Fraggle Rock!

If you’re a fan of the Fraggles, you will love this graphic novel adventure. When a drought unexpectedly hits Fraggle Rock, our favorite Fraggle friends–practical Gobo, anxious Wembley, boisterous Red, mellow Mokey, and cautious Boober–must travel in search of the fabled Everspring, the source of Fraggle Rock’s water supply. Their journey takes many twists and turns, as they avoid spooky creatures, discover the Crystal Caves, and meet a new and unusual colony of Doozers!

The story has themes of friendship, finding one’s purpose, and environmental stewardship, and if you’re thinking “The thing I love most about Fraggle Rock are the great musical numbers,” well, this book has those too!

This Journey to the Everspring is fun for the whole family, and it’s available electronically via Hoopla, along with other Fraggle comics! It’s a great time to virtually hang out with the carefree Fraggles, so look them up in our catalog today.