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Little Witch Hazel: A Year in the Forest

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Little Witch Hazel: A Year in the Forest by Phoebe Wahl
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Kids

In this four-season volume, Little Witch Hazel follows a tiny witch who lives in the forest. Hardworking and kind Hazel raises a baby owl, learns how to slow down and rest, and helps her friends and neighbors however she can. The world that Wahl creates with her beautiful illustrations and storytelling is whimsical, but also rooted very deeply in connection with nature and community. Hazel has a steadfast, quiet confidence and a commitment to being of service to others.

Little Witch Hazel is a soft hug of a book, with talking woodland creatures, homes made in tree stumps, and witches who heal. A sweet and gentle read for children ages 4-8.

Find Little Witch Hazel in the catalog here!

Snotgirl

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Snotgirl by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Format: Graphic Novel & eBook on Hoopla
Who’s it for?: Adults and Young Adults

Lottie Person is a self-infatuated, attention-seeking, LA fashion blogger and social media influencer. On the surface, she’s perfect. She’s glamorous. She’s the woman all her fans aspire to be, but on the inside…she’s kind of a mess. She’s actually super insecure and her so-called friends rival her vanity. She’s called “Snotgirl” not because of her outrageous hair, but because of her raging allergies. #rude. When Lottie meets Caroline, she’s super happy to try out her new, in-clinical-trials allergy medication. I mean, she doesn’t want to be known as “Snottie Lottie” by the coolest girl she’s ever met. I mean, Caroline could be her first IRL bestie in, like, forever. But when a night out turns odd, Lottie witnesses something strange…or maybe she imagined it? Are her new allergy meds playing with her head? #cliffhanger

The art is gorgeous! The fluorescent color scheme and dry humor teeter-totter with the dark moods and sinister themes. With characters you love to hate and a plot with more twists than the Pacific Coastal Highway, I highly recommend Snotigirl by Bryan Lee O’Malley. There are currently three volumes to the series with hopefully more to come. #fingerscrossed

Find Snotgirl in the library’s Catalog or for instant download on Hoopla Digital.

 

Entangled Life

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Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

It turns out that fungi are fun!  This book takes the reader on an unexpected journey and turns conventional thinking somewhat on its head. Although fungi have their own kingdom and are often lumped in with plants, they are actually more closely related to animals. They even take the prize for the largest and perhaps the oldest organism on the planet. There is a patch of honey fungi that covers 10 square kilometers in Oregon.  It is believed to be somewhere between two thousand and eight thousand years old. Some species of fungi launch their spores so explosively that they accelerate ten thousand times faster than a space shuttle directly after launch. Other species are responsible for “zombie” carpenter ants and provide nature with its very own internet, the wood wide web.

This book was a delight. Each page was full of new and interesting details that led me to search for more information, pictures, or videos of the events described. While the book itself is short, it may take you a bit longer to finish because you’ve fallen down a mycological rabbit hole.

Find Entangled Life in the catalog here!

A Season on the Wind

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Title: A Season on the Wind by Suzanne Woods Fisher
Format: Book
Who’s It For: Teens and Adults

Penny Weaver remembered Ben Zook from her childhood. She met him in the meadow near his family’s farm. She taught him about birding while visiting her grandmother. Together, they traversed the countryside and spotted an eagle’s nest.  They became friends.  However, decades later, Ben did not remember Penny.

Ben Zook left Stoney Ridge and his Amish faith long ago. He had become a world-renown photographer. One day, Ben returned with his cousin Natalie to rent Penny’s guest house. And they hired Penny’s brother Micah for his keen birding skills. Micah had spotted the elusive White-winged Tern.  Ben wanted Micah to help him to spot it to photograph it. It was actually Micah’s pesky neighbor Trudy Yoder who’d seen the bird.  Could Micah find it?

Penny provided a meal daily for Ben’s father, Zeke Zook.  The poor man suffered from Alzheimer’s and, she suspected, loneliness.  He was gruff to most people, yet he trusted Penny.  Why hadn’t Ben returned home when his mother passed?  Were there unresolved issues between Ben and his father?

An Amish widower named Roy King brought flowers for Penny.  Roy liked Penny, and yet Penny couldn’t get Ben out of her heart and mind.  Micah liked Shelley, Trudy Yoder’s beautiful older sister.  And Trudy liked Micah.  What a pickle!

Penny loved birds and privately kept a collection of drawings of them in her home.  In her last church, she had been told that drawing was prideful. Penny didn’t want to draw attention to herself.  She simply loved birds.  So, when she moved to Stoney Ridge and a new church, she didn’t show her drawings to anyone.  Yet Natalie snooped and found some.  She loved them!  As an interior decorator, she knew she could sell them for Penny.  What if she just took one to look into it for Penny?

A Season on the Wind is a touching tale of wounded hearts, flawed individuals, and restoration.  I enjoyed the context of birding and Micah’s humorous birding notes.  Penny was clearly the heroine, yet the surrounding cast was personable and realistic, with their own issues to overcome too.  If you enjoy an inspirational story of love and faith and character, I recommend this book to you.  

And you can find A Season on the Wind in our catalog.

 

 

 

 

 

The Unfinished Corner

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The Unfinished Corner by Dani Colman
Format: Book, Graphic Novel
Who it’s for: Kids

Twelve-year-old Miriam has a lot going on in her life. She’s preparing for her Bat Mitzvah (a Jewish coming-of-age ceremony for young women) and she’s got Big Feelings about it. On top of that she’s just gotten accepted into a really cool art school, that she neglected to tell her friends she even applied to, so she’s got Big Feelings about that too. And on top of all that she’s preparing for a Tikkun Olam (Hebrew for “repair the world”) outreach trip with her best friends Avi and David, and her worst frenemy Judith. And on top of all that her Rabbi is actually an angel in disguise who informs her that G-d left the Universe unfinished and needs her to finish it. Wait. What?!?!

So begins this lovely graphic novel adventure inspired by Jewish mythology and incorporating Jewish philosophy. Miriam, Avi, David, and Judith encounter angels, demons, a Golem, the literal Lion of Judah, and more, as they learn valuable lessons from the Torah, Tanakh, and Talmud, on their quest to finish the Universe, while grappling with relatable struggles regarding friendship, family, what it means to be Jewish, and what it means to grow up. This is a sometimes funny, sometimes moving, all times wholesome story, with great art, and a diverse cast of characters, that I would recommend to any young fan of graphic novels.

Find The Unfinished Corner in the catalog

The Last Dragonslayer

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The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Young Adults, Adults

Jennifer Strange is acting manager of Kazam, an employment agency for sorcerers. Nearly 16 and a foundling, Jennifer spends her days arranging pizza delivery via magic carpet, overseeing rewiring of homes without ripping out walls, and completing the required paperwork for every bit of magic the sorcerers perform, intentional or not. Her Quarkbeast, a terrifying, yet relatively placid beast, tags along for these adventures. Magic has been fading for years, but recently, some of the sorcerers have noticed a surge in their power. And pre-cogs (wizards who see versions of the future) begin to have visions of the death of the last dragon at the hands of the Dragonslayer. But who is the Dragonslayer and why does the dragon have to die?

The Last Dragonslayer is the first of a four-part series, with the final installment set for release in the US in May of 2022. For fans of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett’s The Wee Free Men, and Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl series.

Find The Last Dragonslayer in the catalog.