#GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso

#GIRLBOSS is Sophia Amoruso's memoir/advice book on how she went from being a dumpster diver to the founder and CEO (which she stepped down from in January of 2015) of Nasty Gal (a multi million dollar company). Sophia includes the terrible jobs she's had, her (at times cringe worthy) past anti capitalism and anti establishment rebellion (not that there is necessarily anything wrong with a little rebellion, but when your "feminist" response to a guy opening a door for you is "I'd refuse, taking insult" that's cringe worthy, which Amoruso acknowledges), and how her experiences impact how she runs her business and deals with others in the business world. While I occasionally found the #GIRLBOSS thing gimmicky (it would be fine as just the title, but whenever she uses the word or calls the reader girlboss she does it in all caps with a hashtag). However, I was entertained and found Amoruso's unconventional rise to a high powered business woman quite interesting.
Lisa

The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor by Mark Schatzker

The Dorito Effect is a food book in the same vein as Salt, Sugar, Fat and The Omnivore's Dilemma, in that it discusses how the food industry is manipulating (and in many cases making worse) the food that we eat. Schatzker focuses on the flavor component of manipulation, and not just how adding flavors that were once upon a time associated with healthy foods (like strawberry flavoring in yogurt that contains little to no actual strawberries) messes with our intake of nutritional ingredients, like vitamins and amino acids, but also how healthy food that was once succulent and flavorful, like tomatoes and chicken, now taste bland and need an abundance of ranch dressing (among other flavorings) to make them palatable.  This book illustrates that when people from older generations say they remember juicier and more flavorful fruits, vegetables, and chickens from their childhood, they may actually be speaking the truth. While I thought this book was interesting and provided a new perspective on the food industry, I also found it to be less engaging than Salt, Sugar, Fat and The Omnivore's Dilemma. If you haven't delved into reading books about the food industry yet, I would definitely start with one of those two over The Dorito Effect. However, if you've already read a couple (and found them interesting) this is a nice addition.

Lisa

Cookbook Club - Bake It, Don't Fake It

This Sunday’s Cookbook Club baked recipes from Bake It, Don’t Fake It by Heather Bertinetti. Overall, this cookbook wasn’t a favorite. In fact, one member gave it an F for failure. The general consensus was that this cookbook isn’t for inexperienced bakers. Some recipes required longer baking times than were stated, and a few of the batters seemed to be too thin. Three members made the biscotti, and all agreed that the dough was too sticky, and almost unmanageable. Each batch of biscotti turned out ok, but the recipe was very difficult.

However, it wasn’t all bad. The scones didn’t look like they would turn out, but they did. The crepes were surprising in their versatility. They could be “doctored” in many different ways, and the member who made them preferred the savory options to the sweet options. One member was impressed with some of the never-before-seen recipes in this cookbook.

We tried the following recipes:

Chocolate Biscotti - 3 different bakers

Chocolate Cake - collapsed, so Brownies were made instead

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Dulce de Leche Powder Puff Cookies

Gorgonzola and Bacon Scones

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Pistachio Cupcakes

PB & J Whoopie Pies

Palmiers

Crepes - 2 different fillings: applesauce and cinnamon, and blackberry jam

Next book: Weeknights with Giada by Giada De Laurentiis

Copies can be picked up at the reference desk.
Next Meeting: Sunday, January 17 at 1 p.m.

Most Likely to Succeed by Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith

In Most Likely to Succeed, Wagner and Dintersmith explore the idea that even though everyone always seems to be talking about education reform it's almost always in regards to helping boost student performance (and, depending on the reform, school and teacher accountability) in our current system. However, they posit that the system itself is the actual problem; education is preparing 21st century children for a 20th century society. Students still memorize facts, dates, and equations when most of this information can be looked up on the computers, smartphones, and tablets they have at their disposal; and memorizing an equation doesn't necessarily mean they understand what the equation does (I can still sing, because that's how my teacher taught it, the quadratic equation, but I can't tell you how the information I get from it is useful) and in today's world understanding how something works and can be used and manipulated is far more marketable than being able to rattle off something that anyone can google.

While the focus is education it can also put a new perspective on who to hire (what does an excellent GPA from a good university really say about someone?) and what would make for a good employee or colleague.

This book offers an intriguing look at the education system, why it is set up the way it is, why that way should possibly be dismantled, and ways certain programs and schools are working on doing that.

Lisa

Cookbook Club - The Chew

At Sunday's Cookbook Club meeting members reviewed recipes they tried out from The Chew: Food, Life, Fun. While, many enjoy watching the show on ABC, this was not a favorite among the cookbooks selected. All the foods came out tasting good, but many found that times were longer (in some cases much longer) than times estimated in the book and there were quite a few recipes listed at the easy level, however several of them were a bit more complicated than easy. Another issue some had was a lack of pictures in the book; it can be nice to know what your final product should look like. On the other hand each host gave a little opening to their recipes, which added some fun personality to each one.

From this book the group enjoyed:
Fresh Frozen Fruit Sorbet - The book called for honey instead of agave and a mix of frozen mangoes, strawberries and peaches were used.
Whoopie Pies - 2 different cooks
Skillet Irish Soda Bread
Coconut Pound Cake - We tried a less sweetened version with powdered sugar on top rather than glaze.
Warrior Salad
Holiday Mac & Cheese Casserole
Wine-Stained Pasta

Next Month's Book: Bake it, Don't Fake it! by Heather Bertinelli









Copies can be picked up at the reference desk.
Next Meeting: Sunday, November 15th at 1:00pm

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

In Being Mortal, Gawande looks at how medicine treats dying, both in terms of the old and the terminally ill. Through interviews and personal stories he discusses how medicine's (and by extension nursing homes') approach to dying is to put it off for as long as possible, but in countless situations this can run counter to a person's quality of life. While points in this book are emotional and poignant its ideas are also thoughtfully and logically presented. A thought provoking read about a time of life that many people avoid thinking about until they, or someone they care about, are in it.

Lisa

Cookbook Club - Barefoot Contessa at Home

Barefoot Contessa at Home by Ina Garten is the third book our Cookbook Club has tried out (previous books were Smitten Kitchen by Deb Perelman and The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond). While some members of the group preferred the everyday feeling of the meals Drummond offered in her book, others found Barefoot Contessa at Home to be their favorite one so far. A few members described the recipes as very Hamptons (where Garten owns a home), but all the dishes brought were delicious and very few adjustments had to be made, most of the dishes even looked like the pictures (which were excellent). Recipes sampled (and enjoyed) included:

Tomato Feta Salad
Heirloom Tomatoes with Blue Cheese Dressing
Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread
Roasted Shrimp and Orzo
Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup
Cranberry and Orange Scones
Easy Cheese Danish
Lemon Yogurt Cake

Next months book will be: The Chew: Food, Life, Fun

Copies can be picked up at the reference desk!
Next Meeting: Sunday, October 11th at 1:00pm

This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs the Climate by Naomi Klein

In This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs the Climate, Klein provides a thought provoking, and in depth look, at climate change and that in order to really bring about change developed countries may need to readjust their economic ideologies. This work takes a look at climate change science, climate change deniers, communities, people, and other species impacted by dirty energy, and how money, trade laws, and timing play into it all. While an interesting and well researched read it is not a light summer pick-me-up. However, it does build up to a more hopeful tone (hope with caution, but hope none the less), with stories of ground up movements making actual impacts, people taking the time to defend their rights, and homeowners fighting to keep things like fracking away from where they live (including one Exxon CEO who joined a neighborhood lawsuit, claiming a concern for property values). 

Lisa

The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books by Azar Nafisi

The Republic of Imagination is a wonderful book if you like to read about books (which I generally enjoy). Nafisi breaks the book down into three books, The Adventures of  Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (which she argues all the others are derived from), Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. These books are discussed as art that has not only reflected our culture but has effected it as well - the importance of Huck, who casts off "sivilized" society being an icon American literary hero. Nafisi interweaves analysis of these works with reflections on America and her journey to becoming a citizen of this country. While I prefer her first book Reading Lolita in Tehran (another book about books) and this title can sound a bit too much like and English thesis at points, I still found it to be beautiful done and a great way to look at our culture (especially through the eyes of someone who choose to be an American).

Lisa

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Author Mary Roach enjoys exploring the unexplored, the odd, out right weird, and amusing details of events that are everyday (well her space travel book, Packing for Mars, may not cover everyday life, but it does look at space travel in a way that you won't find in most histories). Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers looks at the adventures a body can have once it is dead.

Bodies can be donated to science and used in research for car crashes (dummies can only tell us so much), provide practice for plastic surgeons, and used in anatomy labs for future medical professionals. Roach also covers organ donation, cultural and historical definitions of death and the soul, and an overview of death and the use of cadavers historically (at one point in a doctor suggested systematic tongue pulling for several hours to ensure that a person was truly dead). Other, slightly less known options include ecological burial  - at least in Sweden (which is more or less turning your body into fertilizer) and plastination, which is a way to preserve actual bodies for education (at the time of this book's publication The Body Worlds exhibit was not around, but now you can check it out in action the next time it's in Chicago).

While descriptions can be blunt and irreverent (although the overall book I found to be respectful) it was a fascinating, amusing, and thoughtful book to listen to.

Lisa

Other books you may want to check out:
The Undertaking by Thomas Lynch
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty

The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way by Amanda Ripley

On many international education tests the United States scores below average for the world's developed countries; especially in the subjects of science and math. In The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way, Amanda Ripley looks at the education systems of the countries that scored highest on the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), these countries include South Korea and Finland. Ripley not only speaks to teachers, school officials, and politicians, but also follows American students studying abroad in Finland, South Korea, and Poland.

What Ripley found to be a fairly straight forward difference between the United States and higher performing countries is the expectations teachers and parents had for students. However, that isn't to say that all of these countries achieved this in the best way possible, South Korea was called a pressure cooker more than once and after school tutors have a legally mandated curfew for closing (and their school days already goes until 5:00pm). Ripley discusses what makes American schools different (such as our emphasis on school sports) and what steps the high performing countries took to get their education systems where they are. I found this to be a fascinating look at education in a global context.

Lisa

Think Like a Freak by Seven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

Think Like a Freak is Levitt's and Dubner's third Freakonomics book (there is also: Freakonomics: a Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything and it's follow up Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance).  This addition is all about trying to help readers think a little bit more like the authors of this book. Tips include thinking like a child (sometimes) and asking some questions that may seem obvious. If you liked the Freakonomics you will most likely find this book interesting and it definitely makes you look at things differently. This reader liked it more than Super Freakonomics, but the first is still the favorite. However, for those that did read Super Freakonomics there is an amusing bit of information given regarding terrorists and life insurance. Overall and enjoyable read or listen* (this book, along with the others in this series, is read by Stephen J. Dubner).

For more Freakonomics you can check out their podcast. 

If you like Think Like a Freak you may also want to check out:
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

Lisa

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Henrietta Lacks died in the colored ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital on October 4, 1951 of cervical cancer. However, unbeknownst to her or her family, tissue samples were taken from Henrietta's tumor and the cells from that tumor survived and continued to multiple in cell culture (something no other cells had been found to do before). Those cells become known as HeLa (the first immortal cell line) and have helped bring about the polio vaccine, new information about cancers, and have even been sent into space. These cells are still being used in labs around the world. Her family however, didn't learn about them until decades after Henrietta's death, most of who have been without health insurance for periods of times throughout their lives. Rebecca Skloot first heard of HeLa and Henrietta in a college lecture hall at sixteen, and became fascinated with the person behind the cells, that the world knew so little about.

In her research to discover more about Henrietta The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks becomes more than just a story about Henrietta. It is about her children, and how the magnitude of HeLa cells has impacted their lives. It is about how the cells were acquired and what rights patients had in the 1950s and what rights they have today. Skloot, delves into the ethics regarding human tissues ("today most Americans have their tissue on file somewhere" (Skloot, 315)), scientific research, and commercial use. A fascinating look into scientific research and the human stories behind it.

HeLa Cells

Image From: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cell_culture_(HeLa_cells)_(261_18)_Cell_culture_(HeLa_cells)_-_metaphase,_telophase.jpg

Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson

Jenny Lawson is also known as The Bloggess and is the creator and writer of the award winning blog of the same name.  Her book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir), details what has made her the way she is.  It starts with her childhood years, living in rural west Texas, with her father who owns a taxidermy shop and occasionally makes puppets out of dead animals, her mother, and younger sister Lisa, as well as an array of pets, including at one point turkeys, who did happen to follow her to school one day (and proceeded to humiliate her).  She winds her way, mostly chronologically, through to her adult life, with her husband Victor and daughter Hailey.  This book is genuinely hilarious and may have you literally laughing out loud. However, there are layers (as with any true life story) that are both heartwarming and heartbreaking; the chapters where she recounts her difficulty to have her daughter, her battles with severe anxiety, and as she realizes her crazy family may be kind of wonderful.  Additionally, the mouse dressed in the Hamlet outfit on the cover, totally makes an appearance in the book.  And if you're looking for a good book to listen to, Lawson does a superb job of narrating the audio book.


Lisa

Best of 2012: Staff Picks

December always brings many "best of" lists. This year, we've put together our own. Here are 15 titles published in 2012 that our staff members really enjoyed. What books were your favorites in 2012?

The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken by Tarquin Hall

Mustachioed sleuth Vish Puri tackles his greatest fears in a case involving the poisoning death of the elderly father of a leading Pakistani cricketer, whose demise is linked to the Indian and Pakistani mafias and the violent 1947 partition of India.







Daring Greatly by Brene Brown

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable, or to dare greatly. Whether the arena is a new relationship, an important meeting, our creative process, or a difficult family conversation, we must find the courage to walk into vulnerability and engage with our whole hearts.

In Daring Greatly, Dr. Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability. Based on twelve years of research, she argues that vulnerability is not weakness, but rather our clearest path to courage, engagement, and meaningful connection. The book that Dr. Brown’s many fans have been waiting for, Daring Greatly will spark a new spirit of truth—and trust—in our organizations, families, schools, and communities.



Defending Jacob by William Landay

Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years. When a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: his fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student. As the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own-- between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he's tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.


  

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

On the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick's wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren't his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?
  

 

The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media by Brooke Gladstone

The cohost of NPR's "On the Media" narrates, in cartoon form, two millennia of history of the influence of the media on the populace, from newspapers in Caesar's Rome to the penny press of the American Revolution to today.

 

The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband by David Finch

At some point in nearly every marriage, a wife finds herself asking, What the... is wrong with my husband?! In the author's case, this turns out to be an apt question. Five years after he married Kristen, the love of his life, they learn that he has Asperger Syndrome. The diagnosis explains his ever-growing list of quirks and compulsions, his lifelong propensity to quack and otherwise melt down in social exchanges, and his clinical-strength inflexibility. But it doesn't make him any easier to live with. Determined to change, he sets out to understand Asperger Syndrome and learn to be a better husband, no easy task for a guy whose inability to express himself rivals his two-year-old daughter's, who thinks his responsibility for laundry extends no further than throwing things in (or at) the hamper, and whose autism-spectrum condition makes seeing his wife's point of view a near impossibility. Nevertheless, he devotes himself to improving his marriage with an endearing yet hilarious zeal that involves excessive note-taking, performance reviews, and most of all, this book: a collection of hundreds of maxims and hard-won epiphanies that result from self-reflection both comic and painful. They include "Don't change the radio station when she's singing along," "Apologies do not count when you shout them," and "Be her friend, first and always." Guided by the journal, he transforms himself over the course of two years from the world's most trying husband to the husband who tries the hardest, the husband he'd always meant to be. Filled with humor and surprising wisdom, this book is a candid story of ruthless self-improvement, a unique window into living with an autism-spectrum condition, and proof that a true heart can conquer all.

Le Road Trip: A Traveler's Journal of Love and France by Vivian Swift

Road trip: those are still the two most inspiring words to vagabonds and couch potatoes alike; after all, the great American spirit was forged by road trippers from the Pilgrims to Lewis and Clark to the Dharma Bums. Le Road Trip combines the appeal of the iconic American quest with France's irresistible allure, offering readers a totally new perspective of life on the road. Le Road Trip tells the story of one idyllic French honeymoon trip, but it is also a witty handbook of tips and advice on how to thrive as a traveler, a captivating visual record with hundreds of watercolor illustrations, and a chronicle depicting the incomparable charms of being footloose in France.

 Office Girl by Joe Meno

Odile is a lovely twenty-three-year-old art-school dropout, a minor vandal, and a hopeless dreamer. Jack is a twenty-five-year-old shirker who's most happy capturing the endless noises of the city on his out-of-date tape recorder. Together they decide to start their own art movement in defiance of a contemporary culture made dull by both the tedious and the obvious. Set in February 1999, just before the end of one world and the beginning of another, Office girl is the story of two people caught between the uncertainty of their futures and the all-too-brief moments of modern life.
 

Pinkerton's War by Jay Bonansinga

A heart-pounding historical account of Allan Pinkerton’s role in the Civil War—protector of Abraham Lincoln and mastermind of a controversial network of Union spies.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier by Ree Drummond

I'm Pioneer Woman. And I love to cook. Once upon a time, I fell in love with a cowboy. A strapping, rugged, chaps-wearing cowboy. Then I married him, moved to his ranch, had his babies . . . and wound up loving it. Except the manure. Living in the country for more than fifteen years has taught me a handful of eternal truths: every new day is a blessing, every drop of rain is a gift . . . and "nothing" tastes more delicious than food you cook yourself.

In addition to detailed step-by-step photographs, all the recipes in this book have one other important quality in common: They're guaranteed to make your kids, sweetheart, dinner guests, in-laws, friends, cousins, or resident cowboys smile, sigh, and beg for seconds.  

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Syria, she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke College, a crash course in nursing, and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language. The First World War is spreading across Europe, and she has volunteered on behalf of the Boston-based Friends of Armenia to deliver food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian genocide. There, Elizabeth becomes friendly with Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter. When Armen leaves Aleppo to join the British Army in Egypt, he begins to write Elizabeth letters, and comes to realize that he has fallen in love with the wealthy, young American woman who is so different from the wife he lost.Flash forward to the present, where we meet Laura Petrosian, a novelist living in suburban New York. Although her grandparents’ ornate Pelham home was affectionately nicknamed the “Ottoman Annex,” Laura has never really given her Armenian heritage much thought. But when an old friend calls, claiming to have seen a newspaper photo of Laura’s grandmother promoting an exhibit at a Boston museum, Laura embarks on a journey back through her family’s history that reveals love, loss—and a wrenching secret that has been buried for generations.  

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom


After being punished for trying to measure God's greatest gift, Father Time returns to Earth along with a magical hourglass and a mission: a chance to redeem himself by teaching two earthly people the true meaning of time.




 

 Wild by Cheryl Strayed

A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe--and built her back up again. At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State--and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than "an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise." But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone. Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

 Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.

The Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller

A budding teen journalist and her enigmatic science teacher separately work to locate and infiltrate a secret society that threatens their elite prep school with a shady tragedy from the past, an event that challenges the student's allegiances.






Carrie

Best YA Books for Adults

There really are many well-written and interesting Young Adult books published each year and just because a book is written for teens doesn't mean it can't appeal to adults too. Library Journal created the following list of Best Young Adult Books for Adults from 2012.

The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupa
In a dark future America where violence, terror, and grief touch everyone, young refugees Mahlia and Mouse have managed to leave behind the war-torn lands of the Drowned Cities by escaping into the jungle outskirts. But when they discover a wounded half-man--a bioengineered war beast named Tool--who is being hunted by a vengeful band of soldiers, their fragile existence quickly collapses. One is taken prisoner by merciless soldier boys, and the other is faced with an impossible decision: Risk everything to save a friend, or flee to a place where freedom might finally be possible. This thrilling companion novel to the highly acclaimed Ship Breaker is a haunting and powerful story of loyalty, survival, and heart-pounding adventure.

The Diviners by Libba Bray
Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies." When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As a peace treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high. Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered--in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
Astrid Jones desperately wants to confide in someone, but her mother's pushiness and her father's lack of interest tell her they're the last people she can trust. Instead, Astrid spends hours lying on the backyard picnic table watching airplanes fly overhead. She doesn't know the passengers inside, but they're the only people who won't judge her when she asks them her most personal questions like what it means that she's falling in love with a girl. As her secret relationship becomes more intense and her friends demand answers, Astrid has nowhere left to turn. But little does Astrid know just how much even the tiniest connection will affect these strangers' lives--and her own--for the better. In this truly original portrayal of a girl struggling to break free of society's definitions, A.S. King asks readers to question everything --and offers hope to those who will never stop seeking real love.

The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan
On remote Rollrock Island, men go to sea to make their livings--and to catch their wives. The witch Misskaella knows the way of drawing a girl from the heart of a seal, of luring the beauty out of the beast. And for a price a man may buy himself a lovely sea-wife. He may have and hold and keep her. And he will tell himself that he is her master. But from his first look into those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as she. He will be equally ensnared. And the witch will have her true payment. Margo Lanagan weaves an extraordinary tale of desire, despair, and transformation. With devastatingly beautiful prose, she reveals characters capable of unspeakable cruelty, but also unspoken love.

Every Day by David Levithan
A is a teen who wakes up every morning in a different body, living a different life. Every day a different body. Every day a different life. There's never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere. It's all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with--day in, day out, day after day. David Levithan has written a captivating story that will fascinate readers as they begin to comprehend the complexities of life and love in A's world, as A and Rhiannon seek to discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day.

Dodger by Terry Pratchett
A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors. Can the lad stand by and let her be caught again? Of course not, because he's . . . Dodger. Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London's sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He's not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl--not even if her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England. From Dodger's encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery. Beloved and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett combines high comedy with deep wisdom in this tale of an unexpected coming-of-age and one remarkable boy's rise in a complex and fascinating world.

Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
In December of 1938, a chemist in a German laboratory made a shocking discovery: When placed next to radioactive material, a Uranium atom split in two. That simple discovery launched a scientific race that spanned 3 continents. In Great Britain and the United States, Soviet spies worked their way into the scientific community; in Norway, a commando force slipped behind enemy lines to attack German heavy-water manufacturing; and deep in the desert, one brilliant group of scientists was hidden away at a remote site at Los Alamos. This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the deceit, and genius that created the world's most formidable weapon. This is the story of the atomic bomb.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun. When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution. As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage and failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy? Harrowing and beautifully written, Elizabeth Wein creates a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other.

Kimberly

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Librarians are always recommending books, but maybe you didn't know that we love to hear your recommendations of books for us. Maureen G. told me I must read this book and her description was so inviting that I had to have The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot right away.

The author writes herself into this nonfiction book by telling the story through her ten-year-long research process. Rebecca Skloot documents the story of how scientists took cells from an unsuspecting descendant of freed slaves and created a human cell line that has been kept alive indefinitely, enabling discoveries in such areas as cancer research, in vitro fertilization, and gene mapping. We also learn about how the discovery of the source of those cells affected her family for generations.

As Maureen said, "We all owe Henrietta Lacks a debt of gratitude."
Thanks Maureen!

Leona