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Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business

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Cover image of "Mindy Kim & the Yummy Seaweed Business"Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business by Lyla Lee, Illustrated by Dung Ho
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Kids

Mindy is NOT excited to be the new kid at school. She and her Appa (Dad) have moved from California, where there were plenty of other Korean-American kids at her multicultural school, to a small town in Florida where she’s the only Asian student. Mindy doesn’t know anyone, and the other kids think her yummy Korean food is weird- at first. But then someone wants to try her spicy seaweed snacks, and suddenly everyone wants to trade snacks! Mindy and her new friend Sally get the great idea to sell the yummy seaweed snacks… but a jealous classmate tries to spoil everything. Soon Mindy’s fighting with her only friend, in trouble with the teacher, and afraid to tell Appa what’s going on. How can Mindy set things right? Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business is the 2021 Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Award winner for Transitional Fiction.

Find it (and other Mindy Kim books) in the catalog!

The City of Ember

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The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Format:  Book
Who it’s for:  Kids and Teens

Ember is a city in everlasting darkness and is only lit by its progressively unpredictable electric system.  Other systems are falling apart as well, and stores of food and necessities that have lasted hundreds of years are dwindling.  The city was only meant to last 220 years, and now it has been 241.  But the messages the “Builders” left have been misplaced and forgotten.

Lina Mayfleet finds the messages, but not before her little sister chewed them to shreds. Now she and her pal Doon Harrow must decipher the few disjointed messages before the city falls to pieces.  Their determination leads them to discover long-overlooked mysteries about the creation and purpose of Ember, and what the “Builders” envisioned.  They want to spread their findings with the people of Ember — but only if the shady mayor and his guards don’t stop them first.

Find it in the catalog!

The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains

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The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman
Format: Book, Audiobook, Digital Audiobook
Who it’s for: Adults

“The truth is a cave in the black mountains. There is one way there, and one only, and that way is treacherous and hard, and if you choose the wrong path you will die alone, on the mountainside.”
– A quote from this “tale of travel and darkness” by master storyteller Neil Gaiman

The unnamed narrator of our story is seeking a mythical cave, on a mythical island, that’s purportedly filled to the brim with mythical gold, ripe for the taking, for any adventurer that should be brave (or foolhardy) enough seek it. He’s hired a guide, Callum McInnes, who claims he’s been there before, and certainly possesses riches well above his station as an average border reaver for us to take his word for it. McInnes also claims the cave, and its gold, is cursed, but our narrator is undeterred, and so they begin their journey, and oh, what a journey it is, filled with many unexpected twists and turns.

You can enjoy the story in a print edition, which is complimented by “pictures of all kinds” illustrated by Eddie Campbell, or an audio version, complimented by original music from the FourPlay String Quartet.

Find it in the catalog

or on Hoopla

Micro

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Micro by Michael Crichton
Format:  Book
Who it’s for:  Adults

On the island of Oahu, a greedy and power-obsessed science mogul named Vin Drake has created a nanotechnology company.  A team of young science graduate students travels to Hawaii to work for Drake’s company.  Almost instantly when arriving on the island, the group gets absorbed in an elaborate scheme that contains cons, killing, and corporate greediness.  This results in Drake turning against the students.  They are shrunk to a size smaller than ants. In this reduced state, they must travel through the island jungle and face challenging obstacles, as the sociopathic Drake attempts to capture them and stamp them out.  I honestly could not set this book down.  This page-turning thriller has you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end.

Find it in the catalog!

 

Ties That Tether

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Ties That Tether by Jane Igharo
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

Nigerian-born, Canadian-raised Azere has always felt a conflict between what her family expects of her and what her own heart desires. At twelve years old, she made a promise to her dying father that she would marry another Edo man and to never forget her culture. She had always had every intention of keeping that promise, especially with her mother strongly encouraging Azere’s efforts by constantly matchmaking for her. However, one night Azere finds herself particularly frustrated with yet another of her mother’s failed setups and indulges in the company of Raphael Castellano: tall, handsome, and…white. Azere insists on leaving their relationship as a one-night-stand but their relationship suddenly and unexpectedly becomes extremely serious when she discovers she is pregnant with his child. Despite her mother’s strong disapproval, Azere is undeniably drawn to the charming Raphael and finds herself wrestling with a core question: can she successfully keep him in her life without compromising her Nigerian culture? Ties That Tether is a heartfelt examination of one woman’s struggle between what she thinks she is supposed to do and what her heart is telling her to do.

Find it in the catalog!

The Shadows Between Us

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The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller
Format: Book
Who it’s for:  Young Adults, Adults

Alessandra is the second daughter and must wait until her older sister is engaged before she can attend any royal social gatherings.  While she waits for her turn, she plots.  She wants to marry the Shadow King and then kill him so that she can take over the kingdom.  She plans how she is going to catch the eye of the King – what she will wear and how she will act.  When she does, she soon learns that she is not the only one trying to kill him.  She gets to know him and even begins to like him.  Liking the King was not part of her plan.

Alessandra is not your ordinary noblewoman.  She likes to design her own outfits and she doesn’t follow society’s rules.  She does as she pleases which includes having some relationships before she is married.  She is determined to do her own thing and her goal is to change the way women are made to follow the rules made by men.  And, if someone displeases her, she just might kill them.

Someone on Good Reads described this as a “Slytherin Romance” and I think that is a good description.  You want to hate Alessandra because she is so unapologetically evil, but you like her anyway.  She knows what she wants and she is going to get it!

Find it in the catalog.