Author: Beth

Nonfiction Books about Libraries and Librarians

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In April, the American Library Association celebrates Library Appreciation Week (April 7-13). Books about libraries and told by librarians themselves hold a special place in the hearts of library staff everywhere.

Here are a few nonfiction items about librarians that you can find on the shelves of the Davenport Public Library. (Descriptions from the publisher)

The Library Book by Susan Orlean — On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual false alarm. As one fireman recounted later, “Once that first stack got going, it was ‘Goodbye, Charlie.'” The fire was disastrous: it reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library — and, if so, who?

Available in regular print, large print, and audio book on CD

Reading behind bars : a true story of literature, law, and life as a prison librarian by Jill Grunenwald — In December 2008, Jill Grunenwald graduated with her master’s degree in library science, ready to start living her dream of becoming a librarian. But the economy had a different idea and jobs were scarce. After some searching, however, Jill was lucky enough to snag one of the few librarian gigs left in her home state of Ohio. The catch? The job was behind bars as the prison librarian at a men’s minimum-security prison. Jill was forced to adapt on the spot, speedily learning to take the metal detectors, hulking security guards, and colorful inmates in stride. Over the course of nearly two years, Jill came to see past the bleak surroundings and the orange jumpsuits and recognize the humanity of the men behind bars. They were just like every other library patron–persons who simply wanted to read, to be educated and entertained through the written word. By helping these inmates, Jill simultaneously began to recognize the humanity in everyone and to discover inner strength that she never knew she had.

Available in regular print.

Dear Fahrenheit 451 : love and heartbreak in the stacks by Annie Spence — If you love to read, you know that some books affect you so profoundly they forever change the way you think about the world. Some books, on the other hand, disappoint you so much you want to throw them against the wall. Either way, it’s clear that a book can be your new soul mate or the bad relationship you need to end. In Dear Fahrenheit 451, librarian Annie Spence has crafted love letters and breakup notes to the iconic and eclectic books she has encountered over the years. From breaking up with The Giving Tree (a dysfunctional relationship book if ever there was one), to her love letter to The Time Traveler’s Wife (a novel less about time travel and more about the life of a marriage, with all of its ups and downs), Spence will make you think of old favorites in a new way. Filled with suggested reading lists, Spence’s take on classic and contemporary books is very much like the best of literature sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes surprisingly poignant, and filled with universal truths.

Available in regular print.

At Least You Have Your Health by Madi Sinha

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In “At Least You Have Your Health” by Madi Sinha, Dr. Maya Rao is a gynecologist who isn’t completely satisfied with her situation but is working hard to set a foundation to move her career and her family forward. She writes a grant to host community outreach classes about women’s health. It gets rejected. She enrolls her 9-year-old in the best Philadelphia-area private school. Her daughter isn’t fitting in.

The day the grant is rejected, Maya blows up at a patient, who also happens to be the wife of the hospital’s new CFO. Her job at the hospital clinic is over. As luck would have it, another parent at the private school, Amelia DeGilles, offers Maya a job, almost on the spot, with a concierge wellness clinic she runs.

Maya begins making house calls to the wealthiest and most private women in the community. The lines between patient and client become blurred as Maya balances professional ethics with the demands of the clinic’s clients. Some of them insist on healing crystals instead of proven medical treatment. Others reject prescriptions and ultrasounds, in favor of vitamin supplements and good vibes.

As the child of immigrants, Maya has grown up with the expectation of that she must never stop working until she is the best. She is at a point in her life where she is trying to reconcile those expectations with her own desires. She is troubled to find her own desires may align. She has worked hard, why not want a better house, private school for her kids, and a car without a broken side mirror? Maya is flawed but relatable, trying to balance family and work, expectations and reality.

Easy to label as the villain, Amelia DeGilles is written with nuance and compassion. Her personal history of misdiagnosis explains her desire to empower woman to make their own medical decisions at her wellness clinic. It is easy to see why Maya and Amelia are drawn together into a fast friendship and business partnership.

Even though he was supposed to be an easy-going academic, Maya’s husband, Dean, did not appeal to me at all. They never have a conversation about him taking on any parenting duties. He doesn’t do kid drop-offs or pickups and whines the one time he has to take an afternoon off his work to attend to the kids. Maya subscribes to a meal kit service; Dean complains that no one eats the healthier food. Maya wants to switch the kid’s violin instructor; Dean says it’s too expensive. Dean doesn’t do anything but criticize Maya’s desire of upward mobility. Perhaps he’s supposed to be the voice of reason, but he comes across as dismissive. It’s easy to think, “We’ll be fine, stop worrying,” when your spouse is taking care of all the logistics of running a home and family, besides her own — more lucrative — career.

Overall, I thought “At Least You Have Your Health” was a face-paced, entertaining novel. There are nudges of the book that deal with classism, racism, and medical care access that give the story some weight. I loved the fluffier interactions between Maya and her entitled patients / clients. I found myself rooting for Maya, her career, and her kids. Even though she stumbled, she finds her way again.

Books Celebrating Neurodiverse Parenting

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Neurodiversity Celebration Week is March 18-24, 2024. This time is used to celebrate people who think, move, process information, and communicate in different ways. The term neurodiversity is used to take a balanced view of an individual’s unique strengths and challenges. (Taken from the website www.neurodiversityweek.com)

The Davenport Public Library’s Literacy and Learning Collection features books about that may help you in parenting a neurodivergent child or thrive as a neurodiverse family. (Descriptions provided by the publishers.)

Low-Demand Parenting : dropping demands, restoring calm, and finding connection with your uniquely wired child by Amanda Diekman — Author and autistic adult Amanda Diekman discusses her experience as a parent to her own neurodivergent children. In the book, she outlines a parenting approach that finally lowers the bar for the whole family, enabling the equilibrium of the home to be restored. Low-Demand Parenting allows you to drop the expectations that are making family life impossible and embrace the joyful freedom of living life with low demands. Full of practical resources and scripts that are easy to implement in busy everyday life, this book is your guide to parenting your uniquely wired child.

Views from the Spectrum : a window into life and faith with your neurodivergent child by Ron Sandison — Author and autistic adult Ron Sandison shares the inspiring stories of twenty remarkable young adults with autism and the loving families who support them. This book serves as both a how-to guide for parents as well as an uncanny view into the world of autism. In every interview Ron reveals that, while there are similarities among the young adults featured, each is uniquely talented. Full of anecdotes, expert research, parenting tips, prayers, and devotion, this book is a celebration of autism and of faith.

Avoiding Anxiety in Autistic Children : a guide for autistic wellbeing by Luke Beardon — One of the biggest challenges for the parent of any autistic child is how best to support and guide them through the situations in life which might cause them greater stress, anxiety and worry than if they were neurotypical. Dr. Luke Beardon has put together an upbeat and readable guide that will be essential reading for any parent to an autistic child, whether they are of preschool age or teenagers. This practical book gives insight into the nature of the anxiety experienced by autistic people. Socially and emotionally this book covers challenges such as bullying, friendships, relationships, puberty and sex education.

8 keys to parenting children with ADHD by Cindy Goldrich — Parenting children with ADHD, whether diagnosed or undiagnosed, can be challenging and complex. But just as a child who struggles with reading can learn to decode words, children with ADHD can learn patience, communication, and solution-seeking skills to become more confident, independent, and capable. This book, rich with optimism, tips, tools, and action plans, offers science-based insights and systems for parents to help cultivate these skills.

Raising Twice-Exceptional Children : a handbook for parents of neurodivergent gifted kids by Emily Kircher-Morris — Just because a child is gifted doesn’t mean they don’t have other types of neurodivergence, like ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and more. Conversely, even children with one of these diagnoses can be cognitively gifted. Raising Twice-Exceptional Children provides you with a roadmap to understand the complex makeup of your “gifted-plus,” or twice-exceptional, child or teen. The book helps you understand your child’s diagnosis, meet their social-emotional needs, build self-regulation skills and goal setting, and teach self-advocacy. It also shows you effective ways to collaborate with teachers and school staff, and it offers advice on finding strength-based strategies that support development at home.

Books to help you Write Your Story

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March 14 is National Write Your Story Day. At the Davenport Public we have a variety of books to help you polish a piece of writing. Whether working toward a better grade in school or preparing for publication, here are a few items from our Literacy & Learning Collection to get you started in your journey to Write Your Story. (Descriptions provided by publisher.)

The student’s guide to writing : spelling, punctuation and grammar by John Peck. Aimed at college and university students wishing to improve their writing skills, this guide deals with the key basics of grammar, punctuation and spelling. Any writer can benefit from a solid review of how to construct a sentence, how to build a paragraph and how to structure an essay.

 

Understanding show, don’t tell (and really getting it) by Janice Hardy – The common writing advice “Show, don’t tell” is explored in-depth. This book will help you understand what “show, don’t tell” means. You’ll learn how to find the right balance in your writing between description, narrative, and internalization for the strongest impact. It gives examples of before and after text and demonstrates how telling words change the prose of your story. There is also advice on the best practices for adding backstory to your characters.

501 writing prompts – Writers will gain the necessary writing skills they need to ace college placement exams and civil service exams. This book gives sample writing prompts that simulate actual test questions. The categories target: persuasive, narrative, response to literature, and expository writing skills. In each section, sample essays give a clear picture of what it takes to compose the kind of writing needed to get a top score.

Writers as Main Characters

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There is a long history of novels that have writers as the protagonist. Just look at Jo March from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, published in 1868. In that classic, Jo writes plays to perform with her sisters, sensational stories for tabloid-like newspapers, and eventually, longer manuscripts that get published as books.

Modern authors continue to use writers as main characters. Here are a few newer titles on our Davenport Public Library shelves.  (Descriptions provided by publisher)

The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor – The once-rising literary star Olivia Fitzgerald is down on her luck. Her most recent novel, a retelling of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, was a flop, and she’s battling a bad case of writer’s block. When her agent calls her with a high-paying ghostwriting opportunity, Olivia is all too willing to sign the NDA. At first, the write-for-hire job seems too good to be true. All she has to do is interview Henry “Ash” Asherwood, a reclusive mega billionaire, twice named People’s Sexiest Man Alive, who wants her help in writing a book that reveals a shocking secret about his late grandmother and Daphne du Maurier. But the more Olivia digs into his grandmother’s past, the more questions she has, and before she knows it, she’s trapped in a gothic mystery of her own.

The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly – Fifty years ago, Sir Frank Churcher wrote The Golden Bones. Part picture book, part treasure hunt, he created a fairy story about Elinore, a murdered woman whose skeleton was scattered all over England. Clues and puzzles in the pages of The Golden Bones led readers to seven sites where jewels were buried – gold and precious stones, each a different part of a skeleton. One by one, the tiny golden bones were dug up until only Elinore’s pelvis remained hidden. The book is being reissued along with a new treasure hunt and a documentary crew are charting everything that follows. During the filming, Frank finally reveals the whereabouts of the missing golden bone. And then all hell breaks loose.

Writers & lovers by Lily King – In the summer of 1997, Casey Peabody works on the novel she’s been writing for six years. At thirty-one, Casey is still clutching onto something nearly all her old friends have let go of: the determination to live a creative life. When she falls for two very different men at the same time, her world fractures even more. Casey’s fight to fulfill her creative ambitions and balance the conflicting demands of art and life is challenged in ways that push her to the brink. Writers & Lovers follows Casey – a smart and achingly vulnerable protagonist – in the last days of a long youth, a time when every element of her life comes to a crisis.

Leap Day / Leap Year items

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You would think with Leap Day coming only every four years, there would be more stories revolving around the rare event. I could only come up with four titles in our catalog. (Descriptions provided by publisher.)

Lucky Leap Day by Ann Marie Walker — During a whirlwind trip to Ireland, after one too many whiskeys, fledgling screenwriter Cara Kennedy gets caught up in the Irish tradition of women proposing on Leap Day. She wakes up the next morning with a hot guy in her bed and a tin foil ring. With a flight back to LA in four hours, the best thing they can do is figure things out along the way. In LA Finn Maguire spends the nights charming his new bride– and his days going on auditions. Is their marriage the real deal– or was he just after her Hollywood connections?

 

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Leap Year (DVD) – This movie from 2010 introduced me to the Irish tradition that allows women to propose to men on Leap Day. Anna (played by Amy Adams) follows Jeremy to Dublin to propose to him. But after landing on the wrong side of Ireland, she must enlist the help of Declan, a handsome and carefree local man, to get her across the country. Along the way, they discover that the road to love can take you to very unexpected places.

 

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Leap Day by Wendy Mass – This Young Adult novel features a heroine Josie on her fourth Leap birthday, when she turns sixteen. Josie has a number of momentous experiences, including taking her driver’s test, auditioning for a school play, and celebrating with her family and friends.

 

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A Different Dawn by Isabella Maldonado — When the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program database detects two murder incidents “staged to look like double murder suicides,” FBI special agent Nina Guerrera investigates, in Maldonado’s captivating sequel to 2020’s The Cipher. The most recent occurred in Phoenix, Ariz., and the previous one happened four years before in Manhattan, both on February 29. FBI agents soon discover the existence of eight similar crimes at four-year intervals, all involving young couples with an infant or newborn child. As the agents get closer to finding commonalities among the murders and in particular the significance of leap day, things get personal for Nina as she uncovers clues to the crimes related to her entry into the foster system as a child. (Publishers Weekly review, 06/28/2021)

I love you “snow” much

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Snow outside makes many people want to cozy up with a loved one. Here’s a few titles that combine romance and snow to make sparks fly! (Descriptions from the publisher)

Snowfall on Lighthouse Lane by JoAnn Ross – The feeling of first love can’t be forgotten between Jolene Wells and Aiden Mannion. Jolene returns to her hometown and Aiden has shed his black-sheep reputation. Despite the secret they left between them all those years ago, snow is starting to fall on their picturesque little town, making anything seem possible … maybe even a second chance at first love.

 

The Secret of Snow by Viola Shipman – When Sonny Dunes, a SoCal meteorologist whose job is all sunshine and 72-degree days, is replaced by a virtual meteorologist that will never age, the only station willing to give the fifty-year-old another shot is her northern Michigan hometown. Sonny throws herself headfirst into covering every small-town winter event to woo a new audience, made more bearable by a handsome widower with optimism to spare.

Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis – With a blizzard closing off roads, Noelle Butterby finds herself stranded, alone in her car, without food, drink, or a working charger for her phone. All seems lost until Sam Attwood, a handsome stranger also trapped in a nearby car, knocks on her window and offers assistance. What follows is eight perfect hours together, until morning arrives and the roads finally clear. The two strangers part, positive they’ll never see each other. As the two keep serendipitously bumping into one another, they begin to realize that perhaps there is no such thing as coincidence.

Reasonable Adults by Robin Lefler – After a humiliating post-breakup social media post (#sponsoredbywine), Kate Rigsby loses her marketing job. Craving a reset, Kate flees the big-city life to take a temporary gig at Treetops, a struggling resort stuck in the 1990s. Kate’s office is a bunker, her boss is a nightmare, and at night she shares a freezing hut with her Goldendoodle. Then there’s the sexy, off-limits coworker whose easy smile and lumberjack forearms are distracting Kate from the already near-impossible task of making this snowbound oasis profitable. 

Ever Constant by Tracie Peterson – On the surface, Whitney Powell is happy working with her sled dogs, but her life is full of complications that push her over the edge. When sickness spreads in outlying villages, Dr. Peter Cameron turns to Whitney and her dogs for help navigating the deep snow, and together they discover that sometimes it’s only in weakness you can find strength.

 

Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly – When Alexei Lebedev finally comes out to his conservative community, it does not go well. That’s how he ended up on the Pacific Crest Trail, hoping he can figure out a new life plan in the miles it’ll take to walk the famed hike. There he meets charismatic and outgoing Ben Caravalho. No matter how determined Alexei is to hike the trail alone, it seems he and Ben can’t avoid being drawn to each other. Through snow crossings and close calls with coyotes, Alexei inches closer to letting Ben in.

Davenport Public Library’s longest book

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Librarians never know what kind of questions they’ll get when working the reference desk. Recently, a young patron asked a question that seems like it should have an easy answer but needed quite a deep dive.

The question was, “What’s the longest book in the library?”

It turns out, we don’t have a way to search our catalog by number of pages or word count. Instead, we did an internet search for longest books and then manually cross referenced that with items available at our library.

Among fiction, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy came out as our longest book. Our copy is 1,388 pages. The word count is estimated at over 587,000 words. (Editions of “War and Peace” at other libraries may use a different font size and come out to a different number of pages.)

Runner’s up are:

  • Les Misérables by Victor Hugo at 1,330 pages and about 546,000 words.
  • Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace at 1,079 pages and almost 484,000 words.
  • Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell at 1,037 pages and about 418,000 words.

Get In On the Ground floor — New Graphic Novels Series

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New graphic novel series are starting all the time, introducing new characters or new storylines for established characters. Here are some series added to the Davenport Public Library collection in early 2021 that will help you enjoy your graphic novel reading experience from the very beginning.

The Apothecary Diaries – This manga from Natsu Hyuuga tells the story of Maomao, a young woman trained in the art of herbal medicine, who is forced to work as a lowly servant in the inner palace. Using her wits to break a “curse” afflicting the imperial heirs, Maomao attracts the attentions of the handsome eunuch Jinshi and is promoted to attendant food taster. But Jinshi has other plans for the erstwhile apothecary, and soon Maomao is brewing potions and solving mysteries. In this quick moving series, Volumes 2 through 4 are scheduled to come out by the end of the year.

Batman/Superman – From popular comic hero writer Joshua Williamson, Batman and Superman team up in a new series. They must work together to find out who is infected with the mutated Joker virus and hopefully cure them before it’s too late.  You can jump in here or get more backstory on the Joker virus in 2019’s The Batman Who Laughs storyline from Scott Snyder.   Volume 2 of  Batman/Superman is due out later this year.

 

Canto : If Only I had a Heart  written by David M. Booher ; art by Drew Zucker – Canto opens with a quote from the Tin Woodman in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. “I shall take the heart, for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.” That sets the stage for, what at first appears to be an adorable, short knight going on an epic quest. The story turns darker as it is explained that creatures known as “slavers” have replaced all the hearts of the Canto-like creatures with clocks and forced them to work at furnaces to fuel their city. Canto’s epic quest is to find the heart of the girl he loves after the slavers break her clock and threaten to throw her in the furnace if she can’t work anymore. Volume 2 comes out in May 2021.

Carole & Tuesday written by Shinichirō Watanabe; illustrations by Morito Yamataka – When orphan Carole meets runaway Tuesday, an uptown girl who wants nothing more than to make music, it’s as if they were fated to find each other. With their shared dream, the duo charges headfirst into the world of entertainment on colonized Mars. This is a manga graphic novel, so it reads right to left.  Watch for Volume 2 to be available from the Davenport Public Library soon.

 

Ms. Marvel starts an all-new era with an alien invasion in New Jersey.  She must save her hometown, save the planet, and protect her family.  But her parents are also trying to protect her by chaperoning her outer space adventures. In Volume 2, Ms. Marvel’s roadtrip is derailed by zombies. You don’t have to wait long for Volume 3, due in May 2021, where Ms. Marvel must complete with a new superhero in town – Amulet. This series is headed by prolific graphic novel writer Saladin Ahmed.

Ragna Crimson — Dragon hunters: warriors armed with special silver weapons who kill their prey for bounty. Lowest among their ranks is Ragna, who forms an improbable partnership with the young genius Leonica, a master dragon slayer with more kills to her name than almost any other. All Ragna wants is to stay by Leonica’s side, but his dream is shattered by an attack from the deadliest dragon imaginable. More volumes are scheduled to come out in May and August.

Graphic Novels You May Have Missed

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Since the beginning of the pandemic, Davenport Public Library has been intermittently closed for browsing. We are open at the moment and encourage you to “grab-and-go.” Checking out the New Shelves is a great way to find something to suit your immediate needs, but don’t neglect the stacks — that area of the library where items go to live after losing the New sticker. Here are some graphic novels that moved out of the New area while we were closed for browsing. Check them out! You just may find a hidden gem.

Big Black : Stand at Attica is a graphic novel memoir by Frank “Big Black” Smith about one of the bloodiest civil rights confrontations in American history. In 1971, prisoners at New York’s Attica State Prison rebel against the injustices of the prison system. This is a must-read if you are studying the history of systematic racism in America.

Clyde Fans, by a writer/artist simply known as Seth, is a picture novel that opens with an older gentleman starting his day while reminiscing about his younger years as a traveling fan salesman. Between the character’s nostalgic musings and the art deco look of the drawings, it’s hard to remember the opening scene takes place in 1997. The story follows a once-successful fan business through its decline as it’s unable to adapt to the changing conditions of the business, namely, air conditioning.

Downfall by Inio Asano is a manga graphic novel — it reads right to left and is translated from Japanese. After achieving success with his first manga series, the main character desperately tries to fill a void by re-creating that success, but he has no idea how. Several reviews warned this book is for mature audiences because of scenes of sexual violence.

These savage shores will appeal to vampire fans and history buffs. This graphic novel takes place in 1766 as the East India Company seeks to secure its future along the lucrative Silk Route. An English vampire sails aboard a company ship, hoping to make a home in this new found land. But he will soon find that the ground along the Indus is an ancient one with daemons and legends far older than himself.

In Upgrade Soul by Ezra Claytan Daniels, Hank and Molly Nonnar undergo an experimental rejuvenation procedure for their 45th wedding anniversary. Their hopes for youth are dashed when the couple is faced with the results: severely disfigured yet intellectually and physically superior duplicates of themselves. Can the original Hank and Molly coexist in the same world as their clones? Is a newer, better version of yourself still you?

Meanwhile, the Archie universe is alive and well. Archie is no longer just a romantically indecisive teen with a Jughead best friend. In Archie by Nike Spencer, the gang returns to Riverdale after a summer away and Archie has a secret girlfriend. Betty & Veronica : Senior Year by Jamie Lee Rotante focuses on BFFs Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge.  The two think they’ll be attending the same college in the fall but find out that their plans have changed, putting their friendship to the test. Finally, Archie vs. Predator II by Alex DeCampi takes on a science fiction plot as Predators on Mars plan to attack Betty, Veronica and Archie.