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The Book Hog

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The Book Hog by Greg Pizzoli
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Kids

Hog has quite the growing collection of books. He scoots around town on his moped and searches out great deals on them too. He’ll look anywhere–from garage sales to garbage cans! Any books that Hog gets his hands are sure to become part of his collection. There’s only one problem…Hog can’t read a single one of his beloved books. In fact, he doesn’t know how to read at all!

One day, out on his search for more books, Hog stumbles into his local library and joins in a storytime. With the help of a friendly librarian, Hog gains confidence in himself and strives to learn to read. And slowly but surely, he does! By the end of the story, Hog becomes a frequent library patron who no longer needs to buy books to enjoy a good story.

Pizzoli’s The Book Hog contains charming illustrations and is an absolute joy to read. It also highlights the fact that the value of libraries cannot be defined simply in terms of their material offerings, but rather in the additional services they offer such as their dedication to encouraging early literacy skills. This fun story with its book-lovin’ main character would be a great read to share with young children curious about reading on their own.

Find it in the catalog.

 

The Unhoneymooners

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The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

Olive and her twin Ami are identical in looks but completely the opposite in luck. Ami met the perfect guy, has the perfect wedding which she won and financed through internet contests and is all set to go on the perfect honeymoon (another contest win). Olive, on the other hand, lost her job, has no love life to speak of, and has a tendency to ruin anything she touches. So when Olive is only one of two people to not get horribly debilitating food poisoning from the free seafood buffet at Ami’s wedding (there was a silver lining to that life-threatening seafood allergy after all) it seems like her luck is changing. After all, she will get to go on the honeymoon trip in Ami’s place and spend a week relaxing at a tropical resort. But soon Olive learns that the other person to come away from the meal unscathed is her new brother-in-law and mortal enemy, Ethan. Ami’s husband insists that Ethan take his place on the trip, so now Olive and Ethan will be forced to spend a week in paradise together, filled with rage and hate. Though, perhaps with some heat and hijinks his hating pair might become something entirely different. Check out The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren for a funny and sexy story of falling for the last person on earth you’d ever want to date. Find it in the catalog

 

The Accidental Beauty Queen

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The Accidental Beauty Queen by Teri Wilson
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

Even though she is an identical twin, Charlotte Gorman has always been considered the sister with the “great personality,” not that it has ever really made much difference to her. Nerdy, book-loving Charlotte is more than happy with her job as an elementary school librarian and keeps far out of the limelight cast by her pageant crown-seeking sister, Ginny. However, the night before the Miss American Treasure competition, Ginny has a severe allergic reaction and Charlotte is her only hope. Reluctantly, Charlotte agrees to secretly swap places with her sister and quickly discovers that there is more to the pageant world than she ever assumed.

The Accidental Beauty Queen is a delightfully fluffy romantic comedy—like the movie Miss Congeniality, if Sandra Bullock’s character majored in English literature instead of law enforcement.

Find it in the catalog.

There Are No Bears In This Bakery

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There Are No Bears in This Bakery by Julia Sarcone-Roach

Publication Date: January 8, 2019
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Kids

Muffin the Cat takes her job providing security for her human owner’s bakery very seriously. Each night, while the baker sleeps, Muffin listens for sounds to alert her to trouble, like the rustle and squeak of mice, or the rattle and clang of raccoons. But one night, she hears a new sound. Is it rumbling? Is it growling? What could it be? Certainly not a BEAR in the bakery?! Read on to see what Muffin finds, what she does about it, and what becomes of the bakery’s stock of treats and sweets in this sweet and funny sequel to A Bear Ate Your Sandwich.

Find it in the catalog

Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence

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Title: Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence by Michael Marshall Smith
Format: Book
Who It’s For: Adults

Hannah Green is eleven years old and her parents are separating. Her mother is working in London and Hannah is home in Santa Cruz with her father. She misses her mother, but finds herself missing her father more as, though he is right in front of her, he seems to be lost. She goes through her daily routine – school, homework, food, bed. Her life becomes “horribly, unfeasibly mundane.” Until her father sends her to stay with her world-traveling grandfather for a while in a cabin in the Pacific Northwest and the Devil shows up. The Devil has discovered that he is no longer benefitting from the dark power usually transferred to him when humans commit bad deeds. This might have something to do with a machine Hannah’s grandfather built.

Hannah, her grandfather, the Devil, and an accident imp named Vaneclaw travel to the Behind (a version of Hell you can get to without dying) via Siberia to try to get to the bottom of the mystery. Meanwhile, Hannah’s father has disappeared and a man with bad intentions sets out toward Santa Cruz to fulfill an unknown mission. All these individuals come together at a roller coaster on the Santa Cruz boardwalk where the fate of humanity will be decided.

Reminiscent of Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, and Jasper Fforde, Smith has produced a story and characters that stick with you and leave you wanting more.

Find it in the catalog.

The Adventure Zone

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The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, and Travis McElroy
Publication Date: July 17, 2018
Format: Graphic Novel
Who’s it for: Teens, Adults

A story of three brothers and their dad playing dungeons and dragons is a tale as old as time. If that time also included irreverent humor, wanton violence, and one overly dramatic elf. The hit podcast turned New York Time’s best seller has hit your local library shelf. If fantasy, bad jokes, magical jellyfish, and goblin slaying sound like your kind of fun, welcome to The Adventure Zone! 

Here There Be Gerblins starts off with our three heroes bungling their way into a rescue of their employer from a lair of goblins, and they only make things worse from there. Our champions will encounter perils such as giant spiders, the Zone of Truth, and even tea with a bugbear (heavens!) Magnus the fighter is brash and will charge into any situation, Merle is the cleric who never knew he could heal, and the Wizard Taako who’s more interested in looking good than saving the day. But don’t forget Griffin, our dungeon master as he makes things harder for our heroes, and maybe make a few puns along the way.

Featuring the charming art of artist Carey Pietsch bringing to life these larger than life characters. They even have a section at the end of the comic dedicated to fanart to show off all the different fan perceptions of the characters from when they were a podcast. If you’re looking for a new graphic novel series to invest in, volume 2, Murder on the Rockport Limited, is already announced for next year. So roll for initiative and prepare for goofs, it’s the Adventure Zone!

Find it in the catalog