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Testimony from Your Perfect Girl

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Testimony from Your Perfect Girl by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Format: Book
Who’s it for: Young Adult

Annie is a wealthy teenager who has everything she could ever want. On the outside, her family seems to be perfect but their entire world comes crashing down when Annie’s father is accused of stealing investment funds from several clients. The entire town begins to shame the family, so Annie and her brother are sent to live in a smaller rural town with their aunt and uncle. Annie knows that her father is innocent, but a lot of others don’t seem to agree. She must come up with another identity to remain in hiding until the trial is over. Annie learns how to make new friends and live a completely different lifestyle, while trying to discover her passions in life. Will she tell her new friends about her true identity or keep it all a secret until she can go back home? This is a story that has new connections, inner conflict, and the ultimate realization that parents are perfectly flawed humans too. Find Testimony from Your Perfect Girl in the catalog!

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!

Kaleidoscope

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Kaleidoscope by Brian Selznick
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Kids, Teens

“We stood side by side, holding hands. I thought about an hourglass, where the sand is pouring down from above until the top half is empty. My head felt like the top half of the hourglass, and I could feel everything pouring out – my thoughts, my memories, my past, all the books of I’d read, all the diagrams of telephones I’d memorized, my family, my dreams, my fears. I was dissolving and becoming something new.”

This collection of short stories is a magical and mysterious exploration of loss, loneliness, and longing. Each story is linked by reoccurring themes and motifs, but most notably by the connection between the narrator and his friend, James. With settings that shift over time, space, memory, and dreams, these vignettes interspersed with Selznick’s illustrations form a tapestry examining love, friendship, and the grief that follows loss.

While Kaleidoscope is suggested for young readers ages 9-12, the overarching themes and speculative writing style will also appeal to teens and adults.

Find Kaleidoscope in the catalog here!

Shady Baby

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Shady Baby by Gabrielle Union & Dwyane Wade
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Kids

Shady Baby always keeps it real! Shady Baby loves fashion, fun and a good side-eye. Shady Baby also loves to stand up for what is right. After a morning of being fancy and fabulous morning, Shady Baby heads to the park to play with her friends. When one of her friends isn’t playing nicely with others, Shady Baby steps in to save the day! This book is based on Gabrielle Union’s & Dwyane Wade’s daughter Kaavia and her fun, but sassy ways. This book is a great way to teach children about getting along together and making sure they do the right thing. This was a fun, quick read with a lot of great illustrations! Be sure to check it out today!

Find Shady Baby in the catalog

Beautiful World, Where Are You

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Title of the novel, Beautiful World Where Are You.Title: Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
Format: Novel
Audience: Late Teens and Adults

Sally Rooney’s third novel is as much a Sally Rooney novel as she intends it to be – one where the author does not shy away from being who she is, nor does she pretend to be someone she is not. Beautiful World, Where Are You is a dialectical relationship to her prior works, and in following two critically acclaimed publications, Rooney has solved the burden of success insofar as by writing about the burden of success.

Readers who enjoyed Conversations with Friends and Normal People will certainly find fulfillment in Rooney’s newest work. Part epistolary, part an exploration of ideas, and part a telling of young love, this novel is a jostle of fascinating concepts that attempt to tackle both issues on a grander scale, and ones that hit too close to home. Set around four individuals who, while still young, feel life catching up to them, and whose relationships with one another are tangled together, all approach life in different ways, and it is their understanding of what they know they want compared to what they are unsure or, more possibly, unaware of, that spurs on the decisions they make, and the ramifications that follow.

From the dialogue that does not falter, to the prose that flows seamlessly from page to page, to the discussions of the environment we live in and the future we are to construct, Rooney has created a wonderful work that truly does ask the reader the question, where is this beautiful world?

 

Find Beautiful World, Where Are You in print via the catalog.

Find Beautiful World, Where Are You online via an eAudiobook and an eBook.

 

Blackout

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Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon
Format: Audiobook
Who it’s for: Teens

*Sighs* New York City in the summer. The birds are chirping, music is playing, kids running around and all is well in the world, then a blackout happens. “Blackout” is a book that proves the city of New York is smaller than we think. Each character in the series of short stories within the book interconnect throughout and it exudes the story of young Black teens in love. I saw this book last year in an article and was SO excited about its release. It gives the book world something it desperately needs – Black teens in love and living life. The inclusiveness of the characters is something that makes this book a great read. All six authors are powerhouses and I hope to see more collaborative stories from them in the future.

Find Blackout in the catalog.