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Friendship

Rough Patch

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Written and illustrated by Brian Lies
Format: Book
Who Its For: Kids

Have you ever had a super-good friend? Have you ever lost a friend?  In The Rough Patch, Evan experiences both.  Evan and his dog are best friends. They go everywhere and do everything together, in all weather, year in and year out. Their very favorite thing is working in Evan’s amazing garden, where they grow beautiful things to see and eat. Then one terrible day, Evan’s doggy friend dies. He is heart-broken, bitter, angry and alone. What will he do without his best friend? No longer able to stand the sight of their beautiful garden, when he feels so dark and sad inside, Evan chops it all down! He then turns his garden into the saddest, loneliest spot he can, a place that grows only terrible plants with thorns and bad smells, until the day a pumpkin vine creeps in under his fence. He begins to care for it and slowly, as it grows, he begins to remember happier times. That vine produces a HUGE pumpkin and Evan decides to enter it at the Fair, where at last he shakes off his darkness and, very unexpectedly, makes a new friend.

Gloriously illustrated by the multiple award winning author of Bats at the Beach, this is an honest and hopeful book about friendship, healing and the ways we deal with loss. A 2019 Caldecott Honor Book and an ALA Notable Book

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Elementary

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Recommended Series

Series Title: Elementary by CBS Television Studios
First Book: Elementary Season One
Who it’s for: [Teens, Adults,]

“Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) is a recovering addict who meets Joan Watson (Lucy Lui) as his ‘sober companion’. Initially their relationship is strictly professional, and somewhat frosty, but they grow to understand and work with one another, eventually forming a friendship and partnership. Together they assist Captain Gregson and Detective Bell of the NYPD, where Holmes’ observational abilities and deductive talent unravel a series of complicated cases. Alongside his police work, Sherlock struggles with a past he left behind in London involving an ex-girlfriend Irene Adler, a ‘nemesis’ in Moriarty, and an absent father.”- IMDb

While I as waiting for the BBC’s Sherlock to release some more mini movies, I was told about this show. The concept intrigued me- recovering addict, NYC, and Dr. Watson as a woman. In addition, I liked the lead actors from their previous work.

Elementary  did not disappoint. The episodes were the typical one-hour mystery murder show. Even though they were not buddy-buddy and there was absolutely no sexual tension between Sherlock and Watson, I really liked their comradery. They also had great comradery with the police Captain Greggson, played by veteran actor Aidan Quinn, and their assigned police liaison, Detective Marcus Bell.

I would recommend this to people who like episodic buddy-cop-mystery shows with real backstories and character arcs that run throughout the seasons.

Click to Request Season 1-6 on DVD!

P.S. Apparently, Season 7 started on May 23, 2019.  I cannot vouch for it. I thought Season 6 ended the series pretty well.

The Next Person You Meet in Heaven

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The Next Person You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom   
Format: Book
Who’s it for: Adults and Young Adults

 

On the morning after Annie is married, she and her husband Paolo are involved in a shocking balloon ride accident leaving them in critical condition. Paolo needs a lung transplant and Annie donates one of hers.

At eight years old, Annie was the survivor of a terrible accident. A falling amusement car severed her arm.  Eddie, a maintenance man pushed her to safety but was killed by the falling car. Annie’s arm is reattached in a miraculous surgery.

Annie endures a lot of bullying until she meets a boy named Paolo. They become friends until he moves away with his family.  Annie, estranged from her Mom after high school, wonders about the mistakes she’s made and why she survived the accident.

Years later Annie meets Paolo again. Soon they get married.

Annie awakens after the lung surgery but where is she?

The Next Person You Meet in Heaven follows Annie as she meets five people in heaven. One of them is Eddie the maintenance man who saved her. “‘Mistakes,'” Eddie declares. “‘That’s what I’m here to teach you about.”

Annie learns from her five people in heaven that, lives are intertwined in many ways.

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Quiet Please, Owen McPhee!

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Quiet Please, Owen McPhee! by Trudy Ludwig
Format: Book
Who it’s For: Kids

“We have two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we speak” Epictetus.
Owen McPhee talks too much. WAY too much, according to his friends, his teachers and his hound dog Hannah! He talks so much that it gets in the way of his listening, with pretty serious consequences for his friends and their science projects… But the next day Owen wakes up with LARYNGITIS! No voice? No TALKING?? What’s a super-chatty kid to do? Read on and see how Owen deals with his laryngitis and learns something about listening and friendship in the process. Make sure to check out Owen’s calendar on the very last page! There are even questions in the back for further discussion with your own chatty ones.

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Where the Crawdads Sing

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Where the Crawdads Sing  by Delia Owens
Format:  Book, Audio, Ebook
Who it’s for:  Adults

 

This is Delia Owens’s debut novel.  It is the story of a young woman abandoned at age ten to survive alone in the coastal marsh of Barkley Cove, North Carolina.  Kya Clark is known as the “Marsh Girl” to residents of Barkley Cove.  Kya lives barefoot and wild.  She is friends with the gulls and very astute to nature and the environment in which she lives.  She has the skills to survive in the wild, but she is not prepared for the relationships of polite society.

In 1969, handsome Chase Andrews is found dead.  Local residents immediately suspect the Marsh Girl.  Rumor has it that Kya has been seen with Chase Andrews.  But could this wild girl be in a relationship with the wealthy Chase Andrews?  After all, Chase is a married man.

As the story unfolds, we learn about Kya’s childhood, her ability to survive on her own, her kindness and caring for nature, and her first encounters with friendship and love.  Could this wildly beautiful girl, who only ever attended one day of school be capable of violence?

Owens has written a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a mysterious tale of possible murder.  You will be mesmerized until the end.

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The Girl with No Name

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The Girl with No Name by Diney Costeloe
Format: CD Book
Who it’s for:  Adults and teens

Lisa is a thirteen year old Jewish girl escaping Nazi Germany after her family has been driven from their home.  She was sent to England with other children and eventually arrived in London, lonely, scared and unable to speak English.  A childless couple took her in and cared for her.  Lisa attended school with many other refugee children and she gradually learned English.  When the Nazis bombed London Lisa escaped to a bomb shelter but she was injured.  She lost her memory and couldn’t recall anything about her previous life.  She was transferred to a children’s home until it also became a target of the attacks.  Another evacuation forced her to find a new home in the country with a kind spinster woman.  If you are a fan of historical novels, listen to this captivating story by Diney Costeloe.  This is the first book in the series.  The next one is The Married Girls.

The narrator, Anna Bentinck, has a wonderful speaking voice and makes this story come to life.  She is a British actress and producer who has done hundreds of broadcasts on BBC, was the voice for an animation series and has narrated many audiobooks.  The author, Diney Costeloe, writes historical novels and also writes romantic novels under the name of Diney Delancey.

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