On the Shelf

Header Right Social

FacebookInstagramYoutubeMeetupOn the Shelf Blog

Header Right Search

eBook

Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan

by Leave a Comment

Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan
Format: Book
Who It’s For: Adults

After graduating from college and working for a year, Kelly Corrigan and a good friend decided to set out on the adventure of a lifetime.  Everything was great until they began to run out of money in Australia.  Instead of asking their parents to wire them money, Kelly and her friend decided to get jobs.

Kelly took a job as a live-in nanny for the Tanner family.  The mother of the family had just passed away after battling cancer.  Kelly was responsible for taking the children to school, doing their laundry, cooking their meals, taking care of them when they returned home, cleaning up after them, and getting them ready for bed.

Glitter and Glue is a memoir in which Kelly examines her relationship with her mother while being the substitute mother for the Tanner children.  The book is heartwarming.  Kelly has a style of writing that will leave you laughing and sometimes crying.  It will leave you thinking of your relationship with your own mother and reflecting on what it means for one parent to be the “glitter” and one parent to be the “glue”.  This is a book that you won’t be able to put down.

Find it in the catalog

 

The Song of Achilles

by Leave a Comment

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Format: eBook, Book, Audiobook
Who it’s for: Adults, Teens

The Song of Achilles is a retelling of the story of Achilles from the point of view of Patroclus, his best friend and eventual lover. Miller takes the stories we know from The Iliad and fills in the blanks, starting with Achilles’ childhood and the beginnings of his relationship with Patroclus. Achilles is a complicated figure. More than the arrogant, brash man who fought in the Trojan War, he is depicted as often unsure of himself, kind, and capable of love. 

We follow Achilles and Patroclus from childhood to their adolescence, during which they travel to train under the centaur, Chiron, to young adulthood. Through it all, Achilles’ mother, Thetis, appears often to express her displeasure with her son’s relationship with Patroclus. We see Achilles and Patrolcus grow closer over the years, ultimately falling in love before the story turns to the more familiar Trojan War years. Although you may know what happens next, Miller’s writing makes the entire series of events gut-wrenching.

The Song of Achilles is for anyone with even a passing interest in Greek mythology, or anyone who likes a well-written romance with a dash of war and vengeful gods. Also recommended is Miller’s second novel, Circe, a retelling of the life of Circe, a daughter of Helios.

Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World

by Leave a Comment

Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World by Matt Parker
Format: Book, eBook
Who it’s for: Adults

What do you get when you cross a stand-up comedian with a math enthusiast? You get Matt Parker, and his chuckle-inducing book Humble Pi. Math typically works quietly behind the scenes of life, ensuring that your internet works, your train runs smoothly on its tracks, and the calendar marches steadily onward…until, suddenly, it doesn’t.

Parker reveals the math mistakes behind some of the world’s most spectacular failures, from a bridge collapse to a stock market meltdown to an election debacle. For an entertaining tour through humanity’s mathematical stumbling blocks, find it in the catalog.

Meddling Kids

by Leave a Comment

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
Format: eBook, Book
Who it’s for: Adults

In 1977, a group of precocious kid detectives and their dog solved the case of the Sleepy Lake monster. The culprit turned out to be, as was common in their cases, an old man in a mask. He would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for those meddling kids!

Years later the “Blyton Summer Detective Club” are all grown up, but only barely functioning. One committed suicide, one is a college drop out, one has been in and out of jail, and one has been in and out of psychiatric wards. Turns out they’ve all been haunted by the Sleepy Lake monster case. The truth is: they didn’t actually solve it. Yes, there was a masked man in the abandoned mansion on Deboen Isle, but there were also real live monsters that permanently unsettled them, and they’ve had enough. They are reuniting to solve the case once and for all.

When they return to their charming hometown in the Pacific Northwest they find it’s not as idyllic as their childhood memories. Otherworldly horror lurks around every corner, and only they, and their loyal dog (twice removed from their original dog), can stop it.

This book is basically Scooby-Doo meets H.P. Lovecraft meets Twin Peaks and I thought it was great. The writing style is unique, laden with meta references to popular kid detective and classic sci-fi tropes. If you love stories about young detectives, Lovecraftian horror, or small towns where things are not as they seem, you should definitely check this out from the library, or electronically on OverDrive, today!

Care Bears: Unlock the Magic

by Leave a Comment

Care Bears: Unlock the Magic by Matthew Erman, Nadia Shammas, and Agnes Garbowska
Format: eBook, Book
Who it’s for: Kids (and kids at heart)

The time is ideal for a deep dive into Care Bears lore.

This graphic novel takes us on an adventure with Cheer Bear, Share Bear, Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear, and Grumpy Bear, as they traverse the Silver Lining of Care-A-Lot in the Cloudseeker! There’s a report of unrest in the Whiffle community, which is bad news, because if the Whiffles are busy arguing with each other, it means they aren’t planting seeds of care!

The Care Bears descend upon the Glass Glaciers and spot the problem immediately: the glaciers, which are supposed to reflect the best versions of ourselves, have been tampered with by the villainous Bluster and his Bad Crowd, and are reflecting instead the worst versions of those looking into them! Our brave Care Bears must confront their worst fears if they are to defeat Bluster, soothe the dissension among the Whiffles, and continue spreading positive vibes throughout the realm!

This cute story is sure to delight fans of the Care Bears young and old, and teach some important lessons about friendship, forgiveness, and self love along the way. If you need a dose of magic in your life stat, then check this book out right away!

Scooby Apocalypse

by Leave a Comment

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!