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Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
I tried it, and I liked it! I’m not usually into angsty teen romance novels, but Sugiura provides plenty of layers to this one. Sana is discovering her sexual identity (lesbian), she is discovering her father’s infidelity (he is having an affair of sorts), and at the same time she is struggling with her peers’ racism (she is of Japanese descent), and her own racism (she falls for a Latina girl at her high school and stumbles with her own preconceived beliefs).
The title of this book might put you off, but the topic is real and it is important. There is a kind of decluttering in Sweden called dostadning. Do means "death" and stadning means "cleaning." The author, Margareta Magnusson, suggests ways in which we can prepare our homes and possessions to make the most of them while we are still living and to ease the burden on others after we have died. She promotes minimalist living and choosing clothing, furniture and artifacts with care, especially as we age.
In her latest in the Ravenals series, Kleypas has loosely based the heroine on a real historical figure, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first (and only, for many years) female doctor in England. Kleypas' Dr. Garrett Gibson is also the lone female physician of her time and she does work in London and those are broadly the only things they have in common.
The Bear & Hare books are such fun to share with young readers! Toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy the humor and charm of each one – and you will, too! To practice counting and have a first introduction to hide-and-seek, check out Bear & Hare, Where’s Bear? (Simon & Schuster, 2016). The pacing is perfect – and the illustrations are very silly. Readers get to practice counting from 1 to 10 several times as bear and hare take turns hiding. When Hare can’t find Bear at the very end, and is feeling sad, Bear appears quickly and gives his friend a much needed hug of reassurance.
Winner of the coveted 2018 Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children, Wolf in the Snow artistically explores themes of moving beyond fear and mistrust of “the other” to a place of caring and helping. Cordell’s watercolor illustrations depict a little girl and a wolf cub who find each other in a blizzard that renders each of them lost from their families and homes.
Unusually for me, I was reading two non-fiction books concurrently, this one and The Taste of Empire. Like that one, this one good and interesting. Yes, it is about Billie Jean King but it is more than that. The author is looking at King's rise to the top of "women's" tennis, the ebb and flow of the feminist movement, and the impact of Title IX funding on sports, especially women's sports. Back when I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s there were no organized sports for females.
Author Chloe Benjamin read from her new book The Immortalists to a packed house at the first Wisconsin Book Festival event of 2018. It was a cold night but spirits were high at Cooper's Tavern as the author shared the news that her book was about to debut on The New York Times bestsellers list. Now Benjamin has been named the featured author at this year’s Book Club Café. Stay tuned for more details about that big event!
A perfect book for spring! In this non-fiction book, Wisconsin author Miranda Paul weaves a brilliant and accurate account of the water cycle through the seasons in whimsical and engaging rhyming verse. With awesome full page, water color illustrations following a family of kids jumping in a lake in the summer, splashing in puddles on their way to school in the fall, and having a snowball fight, your Wisconsin family will see themselves and their adventures reflected, while still learning all the forms water takes and all the places we encounter it around us.
Marriage of convenience plots are a not-uncommon trope in the romance genre, but generally they work a bit better in historical romances (where marriage for practical purposes just feels more possible). In contemporary novels the MOC usually comes about from a couple of scenarios; either there's an inheritance at stake or someone needs to gain a green card. With Roomies, we're talking about the second scenario and it mostly works.
Two siblings enjoy messy, active play all day long and then finish up the day with supper, a bath and a cozy bedtime routine. This story is told in the most mouth-pleasing rhythmic onomatopoeia that I’ve encountered in a long time.
