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It Is (Not) Perfect

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It is (Not) Perfect by Anna Kang, illustrated by Christopher Weygand
Format: Book
Who It’s for: Kids


Another wonderful adventure from the husband-and-wife team behind You Are (Not) Small, I Am (Not) Scared and others! On a sunny day at the beach, two friends build a little sand castle. It’s just right, except…wait, it needs flags. And towers. There, now it’s perfect! Or is it? As others stop by offering their suggestions for sandcastle-perfection, the friends wonder if their creation is as perfect as they thought. So they make change after change, until the castle is massive, beautiful – and completely different than it was! But sand castles are never permanent, the sea always comes in, and at the end of the day, the friends find a new “perfection” that is theirs alone.
A sweet story of perfection and perspective by the talented Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant.

Find it in the catalog!

The Island of the Sea Women

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The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

This book is a One Maryland One Book selection for 2020.

This historical fiction novel is set on the island of Jeju in Korea. Over many decades, beginning with the Japanese occupation during the 1930 – 1940’s and during World War II and the Korean War.
During this turbulent time in history, two young girls Young-sook and Mi-ja, both from different backgrounds bond. Their close friendship begins over their love of the sea and working in their villages’ all-female diving collective. The haenyeo woman are trained from a young age to expand their lungs and go diving on the ocean floor to harvest food. Their livelihood and traditions are intertwined. Their diving skills are handed down for generations.
Mi-ja, a city born orphan living nearby with a neglectful aunt and uncle is caught stealing food in the fields of Jeju by Young-sook and her mother. Her mother as head of the collective, decides to take Mi-ja on and teaches her alongside Young-sook to dive. The girls become lifelong friends enduring many life altering events that impact their lives growing up.
The political unrest and unspeakable tragedies inflicted upon the villagers are part of the horrors of war. The impact on their island from famine, to extreme punishment, and demands of the opposing government regimes are inflicted upon the villagers who struggle to comply.

Young-sook and Mi-ja endure impossible choices that tear their friendship apart causing disappointment, anger and judgement that take generations to understand and forgive.

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Rain before Rainbows

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Rain Before Rainbows by Smriti Prasadam-Halls, illustrated by David Litchfield
Format: Book
Who it’s For: Kids

 

This book is so hopeful and uplifting! Life has its share of good days and bad, and there is a time for everything. Sorrow and joy, dark and light, loss and abundance, planting and harvest. This simple rhyming tale of a Girl and her friend Fox chronicles their journey from troubled times to a new and meaningful life. They must pass through darkness, storms and worry, but with help and inspiration from friends, hopeful dreams and wise words to live by, Girl and Fox finally find their bright new morning.

In challenging and uncertain times, Rain before Rainbows is a perfect story for helping little ones to learn that “this too shall pass” and that better days lie ahead. You will love the gorgeous illustrations too!

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Evvie Drake Starts Over

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by Linda Holmes

Eveleth “Evvie” Drake rarely leaves her house in small town Maine, recently widowed people in town, including her best friend Andy, thinks the death of her husband keeps her locked inside and she doesn’t bother to correct them.  In New York, Dean a former major-league pitcher and Andy’s childhood friend, is struggling on the baseball mound he can’t throw straight anymore, and he can’t figure out why.  An invitation from Andy to stay in Maine for a few months seems like the perfect chance to regroup and figure out what is going on with his mind, body and soul. When Dean moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal. Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken, what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more.  With broke bonds, broken plans and secrets they’ve kept to themselves, they’ll need a lot of help from family and friends to help them maneuver through their life challenges.  I thought this book was a pleasant read a little sad, charming and at times funny.  It shows that life is not always easy and that sometimes you will have challenges in life that you will eventually have to deal with, but through friendship and love there is always a chance at a happier life ..

 

https://catalog.somd.lib.md.us/polaris/view.aspx?title=evvie+drake+starts+over

bookauthorholmes

 

 

 

Untamed

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Untamed by Glennon Doyle
Format: Book, Ebook, Overdrive Audio
Who it’s for:  Adults

Glennon Doyle is the author of a blog and two best-selling memoirs, a public speaker, and the founder of a nonprofit organization Together Rising. These accomplishments show that she is a successful woman, but Untamed her third memoir, shows that Doyle is a painfully honest woman as well.

Doyle begins the first chapter of her book describing a trip to the zoo with her children. While there, they watch a cheetah who has been trained to chase a stuffed bunny like a dog.  Watching this performance presents Doyle with the sudden insight that her life as a woman has been like that cheetah’s.  She realizes that she has spent her entire life feeling “caged” and trying to be loved by doing what she has been “trained” to do.

In Untamed, Doyle explains how she finally broke free of feeling caged.  She empowers all women, through her incredible insight and experiences, to find their own version of humanity and follow it.  Doyle encourages women to trust their intuition and to “find what makes your heart ache and follow it”.

As you read this book you’ll find yourself highlighting inspirational quotes and stories that you’ll want to refer back to later.  You will experience the art of a great storyteller and her willingness to break free of cultural norms in order to establish a life that works best for her and her children.  I listened to this book through RB Digital and found that I wanted to check the hardback copy out as well, just so that I could re-read some of the most inspiring parts.

In Untamed, Doyle teaches us what it means to be brave enough to abandon what the world expects of us instead of abandoning our true selves.  Doyle challenges women to ask themselves “What do I love? What makes me come alive?, What is beauty to me, and when do I take the time to fill up with it? Who is the soul beneath all of these roles?”  Those are great questions for all of us to ponder.

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What Rose Forgot

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What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr
Format: Book
Who It’s For: Adults

 

Rose is a widow in her sixties who awakens in a nursing home, in the ward for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. She does not know how she got there or when. She does know she should not be in this unit and she does not have a memory problem or maybe she does but not Alzheimer’!  What has happened and where is her family? Why would they admit her here? After overhearing a nurse say she will not make it through the week, Rose decides she must escape. She only pretends to take the pills they bring her each day. She is finding that her head is less fuzzy and she is beginning to remember some things. Rose plans a daring escape.

Once outside of the facility, Rose makes her way to her Granddaughters old playhouse, the only place she thinks she will be safe and waits to get Melanie’s attention.

As soon as 13-year-old Mel finds her GG there, she gets her safely back to her own home.  Rose is laying low and only contacts her recluse computer savvy sister for help. Rose begins her investigation into the mystery of her incarceration at the nursing home. How does she convince anyone that she’s not actually demented? Her relatives were the ones to commit her, all the legal papers are drawn up and the authorities are on the side of the nursing home.

Then a would-be killer shows up at Rose’s home in the middle of the night, Rose knows someone is out to kill her. With the help of her sister Marion, her granddaughter Mel and Mel’s friend Royal, a few harebrained stunts on Rose’s part and then the unlikely but blackmailed would-be killers help, Rose begins to unravel the chain of events.

This mystery is a serious, yet funny adventure of What Rose Forgot. A clever novel of action and suspense yet quite witty and entertaining. I laughed out loud while reading this novel.

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