Category: Books

New Pregnancy and Parenting Books

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Everyone has their own opinions on pregnancy and parenting. While the Library is by no means an expert, we do have the resources to help you on your pregnancy and parenthood journey. We have gathered a list of new nonfiction books published in 2024 and 2025to help parents and parents-to-be! As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. This is not a complete list of the new pregnancy and parenting books in our collection! If you are looking for others, please let us know. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.

The Bonus Family Handbook: The Definitive Guide to Co-Parenting and Creating Stronger Families by Jann Blackstone

Imagine you’re in a heated argument. Your kids have decided that they don’t want to go back to your ex’s home, and your ex isn’t having it. Meanwhile, your new partner is squirming uncomfortably in the other room. What do you do? How do you stop the madness and come together to find the best solution for everyone?

The Bonus Family Handbook introduces readers to a completely new approach to co-parenting and blending families. Until now, parents have been told that once there’s been a break-up, they become autonomous, single parents, and can make decisions for their children on their own. But that’s not true. That’s not real life. That “old school” break-up attitude offers no direction for co-parenting. The Bonus Family Handbook changes all that. It helps even the most contentious parents learn how to work together in the name of their children, teaching them how to apply practical co-parenting techniques so that they will be able to form a supportive, loving family.

The Bonus Family Handbook also recognizes the importance of incorporating new partners into the mix—of bringing in Bonus Moms and Bonus Dads—and empowering them to make decisions for the safety and well-being of the children. With its emphasis on positive, collaborative co-parenting, this book is an essential resource for today’s integrated families. – Bloomsbury Publishing

BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity by Ruth Whippman

Combining painfully honest memoir, cultural analysis, and reporting, BoyMom is a humorous and heartbreaking deep dive into the complexities of raising boys in our fraught political moment.

“Rapist, school-shooter, incel, man-child, interrupter, mansplainer, boob-starer, birthday forgetter, frat boy, dude-bro, homophobe, self-important stoner, emotional-labor abstainer, non-wiper of kitchen counters. Trying to raise good sons suddenly felt like a hopeless task.”

As the culture wars rage, and masculinity has been politicized from all sides, feminist writer and mother of three boys Ruth Whippman finds herself conflicted and scared. While the right pushes a dangerous vision of fantasy manhood, her feminist peers often dismiss boys as little more than entitled predators-in-waiting. Meanwhile her home life feels like a daily confrontation with the triumph of nature over nurture.

With young men in the grip of a loneliness epidemic and dying by suicide at a rate of nearly four times their female peers, Whippman asks: How do we raise our sons to have a healthy sense of self without turning them into privileged assholes? How can we find a feminism that holds boys to a higher standard but still treats them with empathy? And what do we do when our boys won’t cooperate with our plans?

Whippman digs into the impossibly contradictory pressures boys now face; and the harmful blind spots of male socialization that are leaving boys isolated, emotionally repressed, and adrift. Feminist gonzo-style, she spends months interviewing incels, reports on a conference for boys accused of sexual assault; crashes at a residential therapy center for young men in Utah, talks to a wide range of psychologists and other experts, and gets boys of all backgrounds to open up about sex, consent, porn, body image, mental health, cancel culture, screens, friendship and loneliness. Along the way, she finds her simple certainties about male privilege seriously challenged.

With wit, honesty, and a refusal to settle for easy answers, BoyMom charts a new path to give boys a healthier, more expansive, and fulfilling story about their own lives. – Harmony

Growing Up: A Guide to Puberty and Adolescence for Teenagers and Parents by Robert M. L. Winston

The teenage years can be awkward – bodies change, and sweat, smells, and spots become part of life.

Growing Up has a supportive but straightforward approach that gives you the knowledge ahead of time.

Why do boys’ voices break? How do hormones work? From managing spots to mending a broken heart, this book has the answers and advice for parents and kids on discussing potentially embarrassing topics. Inside this book, you’ll find: -An overview of the main areas of growing up, including mental and physical health, social media, relationships, exams and money-Clear, step-by-step explanations to support parents and children in tackling important issues such as puberty, gender, self-expression, digital life and so much more-Simple and colourful graphics to make these subjects seem a little less scary As well as the biological facts of puberty, this book is bursting with tips on how to navigate the emotional and social challenges of growing up – from relationships and confidence to cyberbullying and alcohol.

It gives you the tools to understand and tackle challenging subjects, including discrimination, drugs, and difficult life events, and practical, straightforward guidance on mental health issues such as anxiety and low self-esteem. Growing Up has also been updated so it contains content on contemporary topics such as post-pandemic mental health, eco-anxiety, online hate, and the impact of influencers. – DK

Manners Begin at Breakfast: Modern Etiquette for Families, Revised and Updated Edition by Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece

Princess Marie-Chantal’s must-have parenting resource for the modern age, now fully revised and updated

Manners Begin at Breakfast addresses rules of etiquette, including table manners, social media, fashion dos and don’ts, and party conversation. Covering children from infants to teens, it is an essential guide for all parents keen to raise polite, well-rounded children, equipped to thrive in society and develop into confident, successful adults.

This updated edition captivates and enlightens, adding new insights on parenting in a post-pandemic world. By popular demand, each chapter is now peppered with delightful anecdotes and personal stories from Marie-Chantal’s experience putting her own advice into practice.

Adorned with charming, specially commissioned illustrations and a fresh, updated introduction by leading pediatrician Dr. Perri Klass, Manners Begin at Breakfast is the quintessential guide to propriety for the modern family.

The founder of a successful children’s clothing line, author of an influential parenting blog, and mother of five children, Marie-Chantal of Greece is constantly asked how she manages to do it all. So many of these queries–about proper etiquette for children in our fast-paced, technology-centered world–led her to recognize the need for a modern handbook on children’s manners. – Vendome Press

My Child is Trans, Now What?: A Joy-Centered Approach to Support by Ben V Greene

As a full-time public speaker specializing in spreading awareness and understanding of the transgender community, what I hear the most from parents and loved ones is the phrase “I’m sorry.” They’re sorry for using the wrong word, sorry for asking an offensive question, sorry for not knowing this already, sorry for asking a question at all. Far too often, people who have good hearts and minimal access to information are so afraid to make a mistake they don’t even try.

In My Child is Trans, Now What? A Joy-Centered Approach to Support, I break the mold by offering a judgement-free guide to people across generations, from millennial parents to members of older generations who may not have had previous positive exposure to the trans community. I focus on providing two key resources in this book: information and emotional support. He explains what to expect, what systems exist to support trans youth, and what loved ones can do to help.

Using a combination of personal stories and experiences, definitions, and additional resources, My Child is Trans, Now What? is an essential guide for anyone looking to help trans youth thrive. – Ben Greene

Parent Yourself First: Raise Confident, Compassionate Kids by Becoming the Parent You Wish You’d Had by Bryana Kappadakunnel

A fresh, no-nonsense parenting guide that shows you how to become a great parent (even if you didn’t have one yourself).

Many of us didn’t have a perfect childhood. But it’s never too late (or too early!) to transform into the parent you were always meant to be—grounded, present, intentional, compassionate, and confident. In Parent Yourself First, licensed marriage and family therapist Bryana Kappadakunnel argues that the secret to successful parenting is to UN-learn the wounded patterns you grew up with and create new ways to connect with your child. Parenting from a place of connection may feel unlike anything you experienced as a child or what you thought parenting was meant to be. But the results can be remarkable—and transformative.

As the founder of the popular Conscious Mommy community on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, Kappadakunnel explains that your upbringing is probably impacting your parenting style in ways you don’t even fully recognize, from how you manage your own emotions to how you connect with your kids in their vulnerable moments. In Parent Yourself First, she shares powerful stories from the families she’s counseled and practical tools for managing common parenting woes like tantrums and defiance. Her promise: You can break free of past patterns that no longer serve you and liberate your soul from old traumas and wounds.

Everyone has baggage. But it’s your responsibility to make sure your baggage doesn’t become your child’s problem. Healing yourself allows you to truly connect with your child; understand their needs; and guide them to live the happy, authentic life that they deserve. – G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Why Won’t You Sleep?! A Game-Changing Approach for Exhausted Parents of Nonstop, Super Alert, Big Feeling Kids by Macall Gordon and Kim West

Have you tried everything to get your child to sleep and nothing has worked? You are not alone.

Researcher and sleep coach Macall Gordon and the Sleep Lady Kim West offer a tried-and-true approach to shifting sleep behavior that actually works . . . even when nothing else has.

A tsunami of modern sleep training methods promise “easy” and “quick” results and for many parents and children, these methods work as intended. However, there is a large, exhausted group of parents whose children have sleep problems that are not responsive to those crying-based methods.

These children tend to be more reactive, persistent, and perceptive than their peers. And when it comes to sleep, little ones with this kind of temperament put up a much, much bigger fight. They need a different approach. That’s where Why Won’t You Sleep? comes in.

Based on extensive research and proven methods used with thousands of families just like yours, this guide gives you strategies tailored to your child’s unique temperament. Readers will learn:

  • Why popular sleep training techniques don’t work for some children
  • The strengths and challenges of your child’s temperament traits
  • Simple changes to your child’s routine and environment that set you up for success
  • How to create a plan for your child, using the time-tested approach that doesn’t require leaving anyone alone to cry
  • Tips, tricks, and workarounds for bedtime shenanigans, night wakings, co-sleeping, and more
  • How to confidently push past plateaus and setbacks

Along the way, Gordon and West provide much-needed encouragement, validation, and insights to bolster parents’ self-confidence and resilience. Why Won’t You Sleep?! gives you concrete answers to why sleep has been more challenging for these kiddos—and offers parents a much-needed dose of “I’ve got this!” – BenBella Books

You Belong Here by Sara Phoebe Miller

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You Belong Here written by Sara Phoebe Miller and illustrated by Morgan Beem is a coming of age story about Esther Rosen and her senior year of high school. Full of drama, angst, and romance galore, You Belong Here is a true-to-life glimpse of one teenager’s struggle to find out where she belongs.

Esther Rosen, Essie if you please, is more than ready to leave her hometown of Harborview. Luckily for her, it’s her last first day of high school and she can’t wait for school to finally end so she can graduate and get away from here! While it seems like the end may be far off in the future, time has a funny way of playing tricks. With her best friend off at Columbia living her best life, her brother across the country in rehab, and her mom turning every conversation into a fight, Essie is struggling to find her way. Essie should be able to turn to her boyfriend Bruno, but even he has become weirdly distant. Through all of these ups and downs, Essie knows one thing: she has a limited number of days before she will start school at NYU in the acting program of her dreams with her best friend.

It doesn’t take long before Essie’s plans start to unravel. Her best friend isn’t responding to her texts, Bruno breaks up with her, and her mom’s constant nagging about perfection ramp up her anxiety. After she bombs her audition, Essie is at a loss. She missed the audition window for the community theater group she usually works with and instead has to try out for the school play. When she’s cast opposite Christopher Sun, Essie is conflicted. While Christopher is charming and attractive, he is also the young brother of the drug dealer who got her older brother hooked on drugs and caused all her family’s problems. How can she be attracted to Christopher? Is he a rebound? Or is what she feeling for him real?

This young adult debut graphic novel was gorgeously written and drawn. The illustrator used blue watercolor tones to highlight the story, focusing on details and expression in each interaction. Even though the artwork is monochromatic, readers are easily able to see the big emotions play across each character. You Belong Here is ripe with teenage angst as Essie struggles with her family, friends, and feelings.

Books to help you navigate the education of an autistic student

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The Literacy and Learning Collection is a collection that focuses on resources for parents and educators in special circumstances and populations. Following are some books that look at education through the lens of meeting the needs of a student with autism. Summaries are from the publisher and all items are available in the Literacy and Learning Collection through the Davenport Public Library as of the publication of this post.

Bright minds, creative paths: visual learning strategies for neurodivergent homeschoolers by Sarah Evans — A resource for parents and educators seeking to create a tailored educational experience for children with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other neurodivergent profiles.

Autism & education: the way I see it : what parents and teachers need to know by Dr. Temple Grandin — Here is a concise handbook that illustrates what Temple has found to work in the field of education. Topics include: The importance of early intervention, teaching for different types of thinking, developing talent, motivating students, keeping high expectations, and much more! In these helpful pages, Dr. Grandin offers do’s and don’ts, practical strategies, and try-it-now tips, all based on her insider perspective and extensive research. Interestingly, she argues that education for kids on the autism spectrum must focus on their overlooked strengths to foster their unique contributions to the world

Gifted and distractible: understanding, supporting, and advocating for your twice exceptional child by Julie F. Skolnick — Does your child exhibit giftedness and behavioral issues like meltdowns, power struggles, and difficulty relating to their peers? Are they out-of-the-box thinkers requiring different teaching and learning methods? It’s a widely held misconception that intellectual ability and social and emotional success go hand in hand. In fact, “twice exceptional” kids — those who are gifted and have simultaneous learning differences like ADHD, high-functioning autism, or dyslexia — are often misunderstood by parents, teachers, and themselves. This much-needed and empowering guide reveals the unique challenges these remarkable kids face, and offers strength-based, hands-on strategies for understanding, supporting, and advocating for twice exceptional kids. 

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. For too long, these kids have fallen through the cracks. This book provides key information on how to best support neurodivergent children by leveraging their strengths while supporting their struggles.

This is just a small sample of the education and parenting resources available in the Literacy and Learning Collection. There are also items on the topics of homeschooling, outdoor education and life skills. Check out our LibGuide or stop by any of our locations to have a look in person.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

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“Perhaps the logical conclusion of everyone looking the same is everyone thinking the same.”
― Scott Westerfeld, Uglies

Uglies is the first book in the series of the same name written by Scott Westerfeld. Published in 2005, Uglies is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and anyone interested in young adult dystopian novels.

Tally Youngblood is about to turn 16 and she couldn’t be more excited. In Tally’s world, every 16 year old is required to have a surgery that turns them pretty. Tally is ready to leave the wrong side of town, turn pretty, and join her best friend in New Pretty Town. This mandatory plastic surgery will alter everything about Tally, turning Uglies into Pretties and eliminating any issues of jealousy, insecurity, suffering, and inequality across the world.

Sounds too good to be true, right? Enter Shay, who wants to leave before her surgery and run to the Smoke, a band of rebels who are opposed to everything that Pretty Town stands for. Tally can’t understand why Shay would want to leave, but circumstances soon drastically change for Tally, leaving her with no choice but to hunt down Shay. This book was rich with symbolism and had me on the edge of my seat, thinking about the consequences of a society so caught up on beauty and appearances that they are willing to sacrifice anything for the chance to be pretty.

“What you do, the way you think, makes you beautiful.”
― Scott Westerfeld, Uglies

Interested in this book? Uglies is the December See YA Book Club pick. We will be discussing this book on Wednesday, December 3rd at 6:30pm at our Eastern Avenue branch. For more information about future See YA book picks, visit our website.

Books in the Uglies series

  1. Uglies (2005)
  2. Pretties (2005)
  3. Specials (2006)
  4. Extras (2007)

See YA Book Club

Join our adult book club with a teen book twist. See why so many teen books are being turned into movies and are taking over the best seller lists.

Registration is not required. Books are available on a first-come, first-serve basis at the Eastern Avenue library. We meet the first Wednesday of the month at Eastern at 6:30pm. Stop by the service desk for more information.

Wednesday March 4th session will be meeting in the Story Room.

December 3 – Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

January 7 – She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

February 4 – Better than the Movies by Lynn Painter

March 4 – The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

April 1 – Looking for Smoke by KA Cobell

May 6 – If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang

June 3 – Shut Up, This is Serious by Carolina Ixta

Books about Artificial Intelligence

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Artificial intelligence, also known as AI, can be an overwhelming topic to try to understand. If you aren’t sure where to start and are looking for some books about artificial intelligence, check out the following titles. This is by no means a comprehensive list! If you’re looking for more titles, let us know. As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.

The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna

A smart, incisive look at the technologies sold as artificial intelligence, the drawbacks and pitfalls of technology sold under this banner, and why it’s crucial to recognize the many ways in which AI hype covers for a small set of power-hungry actors at work and in the world.

Is artificial intelligence going to take over the world? Have big tech scientists created an artificial lifeform that can think on its own? Is it going to put authors, artists, and others out of business? Are we about to enter an age where computers are better than humans at everything?

The answer to these questions, linguist Emily M. Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna make clear, is “no,” “they wish,” “LOL,” and “definitely not.” This kind of thinking is a symptom of a phenomenon known as “AI hype.” Hype looks and smells fishy: It twists words and helps the rich get richer by justifying data theft, motivating surveillance capitalism, and devaluing human creativity in order to replace meaningful work with jobs that treat people like machines. In The AI Con, Bender and Hanna offer a sharp, witty, and wide-ranging take-down of AI hype across its many forms.

Bender and Hanna show you how to spot AI hype, how to deconstruct it, and how to expose the power grabs it aims to hide. Armed with these tools, you will be prepared to push back against AI hype at work, as a consumer in the marketplace, as a skeptical newsreader, and as a citizen holding policymakers to account. Together, Bender and Hanna expose AI hype for what it is: a mask for Big Tech’s drive for profit, with little concern for who it affects. – Harper

AI for Small Business: from marketing and sales to HR and operations, how to employ the power of artificial intelligence for small business success by Phil Pallen

An essential guide for small business owners and entrepreneurs looking to use artificial intelligence to automate tasks, improve customer service, make better decisions, grow their businesses faster, and stay ahead of the AI curve.

ChatGPT, machine learning, automation, natural language processing. Every day, it seems like there is a new AI term to learn and a new promise of how it will improve your work. But with tons of conflicting information, small business owners are left wondering exactly how to leverage AI technology to grow and, more importantly, stay competitive with larger companies.

Cutting through the buzzwords and media frenzy, AI for Small Business is the road map to take you from overwhelmed to empowered. Opening with simple explanations of AI basics and clarification of myths, you are empowered to assess your goals to create a comprehensive AI strategy for your business—including information on selecting tools, a timeline for implementation, and ideas for scaling systems. This essential guide then walks you through practical AI applications for each department, informing you how to use AI to automate tasks, make better decisions, and grow your business in all areas including:
-Sales
-Marketing
-Social media and content creation
-Customer service
-Finance and accounting
-Operations and logistics
-Human resources and talent management
-Data analysis and decision-making
-Security and legal compliance
-R&D and innovation

Author Phil Pallen is a brand strategist who uses his AI expertise to help hundreds of businesses scale and grow profits. In AI for Small Business, case studies from Pallen’s successful clients illustrate how real small business owners are applying AI technology in various ways. Plus, ready-to-try prompt sidebars and specific product recommendations allow you to start employing the power of AI in real time. – Adams Media

How to Think about AI: A Guide for the Perplexed by Richard E. Susskind

Revealing the unfolding story of Artificial Intelligence, Richard Susskind presents a short non-technical guide that challenges us to think differently about AI. Susskind brings AI out of computing laboratories, big tech companies, and start-ups – and into everyday life.

In recent years, and certainly since the launch of ChatGPT, there has been massive public and professional interest in Artificial Intelligence. But people are confused about what AI is, what it can and cannot do, what is yet to come, and whether AI is good or bad for humanity and civilisation – whether it will provide solutions to mankind’s major challenges or become our gravest existential threat. There is also confusion about how we should regulate AI and where we should draw moral boundaries on its use.

In How To Think About AI, Richard Susskind draws on his experience of working on AI since the early 1980s. For Susskind, balancing the benefits and threats of artificial intelligence is the defining challenge of our age. He explores the history of AI and possible scenarios for its future. His views on AI are not always conventional. He positions ChatGPT and generative AI as no more than the latest chapter in the ongoing story of AI and claims we are still at the foothills of developments. He argues that to think responsibly about the impact of AI requires us to look well beyond today’s technologies, suggesting that not-yet-invented technologies will have far greater impact on us in the 2030s than the tools we have today. This leads Susskind to discuss the possibility of conscious machines, magnificent new AI-enabled virtual worlds, and the impact of AI on the evolution of biological humans. – Oxford University Press

More than Words: How to Think about Writing in the Age of AI by John Warner

In the age of artificial intelligence, drafting an essay is as simple as typing a prompt and pressing enter. What does this mean for the art of writing? According to longtime writing teacher John Warner: not very much.

More Than Words argues that generative AI programs like ChatGPT not only can kill the student essay but should, since these assignments don’t challenge students to do the real work of writing. To Warner, writing is thinking—discovering your ideas while trying to capture them on a page—and feeling—grappling with what it fundamentally means to be human. The fact that we ask students to complete so many assignments that a machine could do is a sign that something has gone very wrong with writing instruction. More Than Words calls for us to use AI as an opportunity to reckon with how we work with words—and how all of us should rethink our relationship with writing. – Basic Books

These Strange New Minds: How AI Learned to Talk and What it Means by Christopher Summerfield

An insider look at the Large Language Models (LLMs) that are revolutionizing our relationship to technology, exploring their surprising history, what they can and should do for us today, and where they will go in the future—from an AI pioneer and neuroscientist

In this accessible, up-to-date, and authoritative examination of the world’s most radical technology, neuroscientist and AI researcher Christopher Summerfield explores what it really takes to build a brain from scratch. We have entered a world in which disarmingly human-like chatbots, such as ChatGPT, Claude and Bard, appear to be able to talk and reason like us – and are beginning to transform everything we do. But can AI ‘think’, ‘know’ and ‘understand’? What are its values? Whose biases is it perpetuating? Can it lie and if so, could we tell? Does their arrival threaten our very existence?

These Strange New Minds charts the evolution of intelligent talking machines and provides us with the tools to understand how they work and how we can use them. Ultimately, armed with an understanding of AI’s mysterious inner workings, we can begin to grapple with the existential question of our age: have we written ourselves out of history or is a technological utopia ahead? – Viking

Unruly: Fighting Back When Politics, AI, and Law Upend the Rules of Business by Sean West

A bold exploration of modern business risk in a volatile world where traditional rules no longer apply

In Unruly: Fighting Back when Politics, AI, and Law Upend the Rules of Business, co-founder of software company Hence Technologies and former Global Deputy CEO of Eurasia Group, Sean West, delivers a startlingly insightful new take on how politics, technology and law are converging to upend the rules of business, generating dangerous risks and incredible opportunities. West convincingly argues that we must understand all three factors to get leverage over the future – a future filled with eroding rule of law, deepfakes that upend elections and court decisions, government pressure for businesses to be patriotic, robot lobbyists, a flood of automated legal claims pointed directly at your company and much more.

Unruly offers detailed, practical advice for how to understand the world ahead, how to be resilient in the face of innumerable and complex challenges, and how to surround your business with the people and technology you need to excel in this environment.

Inside the book:

  • A framework for understanding all of the pressures on modern corporations from the convergence of geopolitics, technology and law.
  • Strategies for turning your company’s legal department into a source of enduring competitive advantage
  • How to navigate government pressure for nationalism when you have a global footprint
  • Approaches to winning in a world where courts are politicized and the law is increasingly automated, built on interviews with top experts
  • Ways to deal with the backlash to ESG at a company level

Perfect for executives, managers, entrepreneurs, founders, and other business leaders, Unruly is also a must-read for general counsels and the advisors who serve them. – Wiley

Using Artificial Intelligence: Absolute Beginner’s Guide by Michael Miller

Who knew how simple AI could be?

Using Artificial Intelligence Absolute Beginners Guide will have you getting the most of popular AI tools in no time! Heres a small sample of what youll find inside:

  • Learn how AI can make everyday life easier.
  • Get tips for using AI to write, gather information, get advice, and more.
  • Discover how to use AI to generate imagesrealistic and fantastical!
  • Examine the risks and rewards of artificial intelligence.
  • Find step-by-step instructions for todays most popular AI tools, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Meta AI, Microsoft Copilot, and Midjourney.
  • Find out how to tell when something is AI generatedso you dont get fooled by deepfakes.

Artificial intelligence can be fun and productiveif you know which tools to use and when. Using Artificial Intelligence Absolute Beginners Guide tells you all about todays major AI tools and shows how to get the best results from them. Youll learn to use AI for turning your ideas into art, writing a great email, sharpening your resume, and even sparking conversation. Instantly research everything from planning a trip to making your next big purchase. Its all a matter of picking the right AI tool and constructing the right prompt. Youll also learn to protect yourself from the risks of AI and distinguish AI fakes from the real thing. Everything you need to know is here in this book! – Pearson/AARP

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant

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The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant has been on my to-read list for one reason only — I love the cover! Attraction to a cover is a good enough reason to give a book a try, but once I got into this historical fiction story, I’m glad I finally moved it to the front of the line.

The Boston Girl is the Brown Bag Book Club pick for the Wednesday, November 26 discussion at 1pm at Eastern. Join us and share your thoughts on the book. Here are some highlights from my reading of the book:

It’s 1985 and 85-year-old Addie is telling her story to her granddaughter. Settle in.

The Boston Girl really starts in 1915, when, at the age of 15, Addie Baum is brought into the fold of the Saturday Club in the Boston North End neighborhood’s Salem Street Settlement House. Clearly intelligent and eager to learn, the group’s chaperone Miss Chevalier introduces Addie to the institution’s book clubs and evening lectures. Addie is even asked to join the Saturday Club for a week’s summer vacation at Rockport Lodge on Cape Ann, a retreat for lower- and working-class girls to experience the seaside. While there, friendships are cemented and Addie experiences her first taste of romance.

Addie’s home life is tumultuous in comparison. Her parents are immigrants from Russia who work in factories and take in mending to make ends meet. Addie lives in a one room apartment with her parents and older sister Celia. Her other sister, Betty, is not spoken of since she had the audacity to move out of the family home unmarried. To an Americanized family, a woman in her 20s working in a department store and living at a boarding house isn’t something to be ashamed of, but for the Baum parents she is seen as selfish.

But family dynamics continuously change as Celia gets married and Addie starts working for her kindly brother-in-law Levine. Levine also makes sure Betty is included in family celebrations and holidays, bringing new ideas to the family that help them continue to assimilate to American culture.

Through difficult family circumstances, Addie finds relief, comfort and support in her friends. They encourage her to continue in school, help her find jobs and find dates.

Historical moments are seen through the eyes of this average young adult. The 1918 flu pandemic strikes the family; she dates a shell-shocked soldier from World War I and Addie later has a brush with Betty Friedan.

Chapters are short, sometimes filled with family drama and heartache. Other chapters filled with hope and the power of female friendship. The novel is conversational. After all, it is the story a grandmother is telling her granddaughter. A glimpse at life in the 1910s and 1920s Boston, seen through the eyes of one young woman. Her life isn’t extraordinary, but it is interesting and Addie is a character worth spending with. The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant will remind readers that even an ordinary life is a life worth telling.

The Boston Girl is available as part of the Davenport Library’s Book Club collection, in regular print, large print, as a Book on CD in Rivershare, and as an eAudiobook on the Libby app through Bridges.

Help for Grieving Children

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If you are looking for ways to help explain death and grief to children, try these picture books published in 2024 and 2025. These are gentle approaches covering various living things in ways that people of all ages can understand.

As of this writing, all of these titles are available at the Davenport Public Library. The descriptions are provided by the publishers.

Bird is Dead by Tiny Fisscher, translated by Laura Watkinson, illustrated by Herma Starreveld

An honest and simple exploration of death and grief for kids 4 to 8. With playful illustrations by a therapist-turned-artist, Bird is Dead uses humor to make death a more approachable topic.

Bird is dead. Yesterday he was alive. How do the other birds know? On your back + feet up = dead. Some of the birds cry a little. And that’s alright. Crying together can be nice. When it’s time to give Bird a funeral, they reminisce about him, and then have tea with worms (or cake, if you don’t like worms).

In a straightforward but warm way, this picture book of collaged birds can facilitate discussions with kids about:

  • What happens when someone dies
  • How to understand their feelings of loss and grief
  • How everyone can experience grief differently, and have a variety of emotions when something tragic happens

Sensitive and humorous, Bird is Dead provides kids and adults with a space to talk about death on their own terms. – Greystone Kids

The Fire Fox by Alexandra Page, illustrations by Stef Murphy

An uplifting, magical book perfect for sharing at bedtime that will leave children feeling warm, cosy and loved.

Freya and her mum have gone to a little cabin to get away for a while. The light has gone out of their lives since Freya’s dad passed away. Freya isn’t sure about going sledging, but when she meets a magical fox in the snow, she can’t help but follow him into the forest – and on to a thrilling adventure.

A heartwarming bedtime story inspired by the Finnish Saami myth of the revontulet, or fox fires – the sparks that fly from the fur of a mystical fox to become the Northern Lights.

The Fire Fox is a gloriously illustrated, beautifully written story about the nurturing light of love that can’t be dimmed, written by debut author Alexandra Page and illustrated by the exciting talent Stef Murphy. This enchanting picture book with its touching story of sadness, hope, love and joy begs to be read again and again. – Pan Macmillan

The Hole by Lindsay Bonilla

A powerful story perfect for opening up conversations about loss

What does it feel like to lose someone you love? For one little boy, it’s like he has a hole in his life. It’s in the bottom bunk, where his little brother, Matty, used to sleep, and it’s on his brother’s chair at dinner. It follows him everywhere until the day he decides to really explore it. Inside the hole he confronts his grief—the sadness, the anger, and the truth of how much he misses Matty. His friend is waiting when he climbs out, and when she asks, “Do you want to tell me about your brother?” he’s surprised to find that talking about Matty is a comfort—and helps fill his hole with good memories. – Nancy Paulsen Books

Loose Threads: A Story about Me, Mom, and Dad written and illustrated by Airien Ludin

Mom, Dad, and I have the happiest days together, full of delicious meals, arts and crafts, and goodnight hugs. One day, though, Mom gets sick. She will never get better. Like a ball of yarn, I unravel and get tangled up in my emotions. But when Dad and I talk about the sadness, the knots slowly loosen a bit. And in time, sharing our grief frees up some room for beautiful memories, old and new.

A comforting book about loss, love, and strength. For children ages 5 years and up. – Clavis

Popi’s All Souls Song by C.K. Malone, illustrated by Shelly Swann

A gorgeously illustrated story about loss, community, and bringing comfort to others.

Every year on All Souls Day, Mara and her grandparents visit homes in their neighborhood to bring comfort and a song to those mourning the death of a loved one. But this year, Mara and Nene have lost Popi. As Nene leads Mara through their yearly ritual, Mara compares her own grief to that of each neighbor they visit. Then she catches sight of the frozen tears on Nene’s face.

Setting aside the bitterness icing her heart to help her beloved grandmother, Mara rekindles Popi’s song and brings her community together to honor him.

Popi’s All Souls Song is a poignant, timeless story with luminous art, drawing readers into the realization that no person’s loss or grief is bigger or more important than anyone else’s. And when we bring comfort to others, we experience comfort ourselves.

Backmatter includes an author’s note with a brief history of the All Souls Day holiday and traditions associated with the day. – Beaming Books

Under Anna’s Umbrella by Amanda Driscoll, illustrated by Luisa Uribe

When a loved one dies, grief can isolate us as if we’re hiding under an umbrella of sadness. This touching and wise story will comfort the readers who need it most.

Anna never goes anywhere without her umbrella. Not since the stormy day of her father’s funeral. Under her umbrella, she feels safe—safe to be angry and sad. She refuses to put away her umbrella no matter the weather, both outside and in. And then one rainy day she notices a boy getting drenched, and when she invites him under the umbrella with her, things begin to change.

This heartfelt story explores how grief, like an umbrella, protects us, but also blocks light from our lives. However, with time and healing and help from a friend, we can lower our umbrella to see the sun. And maybe even a rainbow. – Rocky Pond Books

Where are you, Brontë? by Tomie DePaola, illustrated by Barbara McClintock

This touching story about love, loss, and remembrance in the wake of losing a beloved pet is the final completed book written by beloved creator Tomie dePaola, with art by award-winning illustrator Barbara McClintock.

Where are you, Brontë?
The day you left me, I knew I would miss you.
And I did. Every day, every night.
But then, I knew you were right here, still with me, in my heart forever.

Children’s book legend Tomie dePaola tells the emotional and deeply personal story about overcoming his grief after the loss of his beloved dog, Brönte. – Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Fiction Books about Cults

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Have you read any books about cults lately? I am specifically referring to fiction titles about cults (I don’t mean books that have a dedicated following or fanbase). Instead I want to know about books you have read that are about actual cults or any cult-like phenomena. It feels weird to say, but cult media, either fiction or nonfiction, is right up my alley. Below you will find a list of fiction books about cults that were published in 2025 (and surprisingly there are quite a few)!

As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. These titles were also published in 2025. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.

The Ascent by Allison Buccola

For decades, the whereabouts of The Fifteen has been an unsolved mystery. All the members of this reclusive commune outside Philadelphia vanished twenty years ago, except for one: a twelve-year-old girl found wandering alone on the side of the road.

In the years since that morning, Lee Burton has tried to put the pain of her past behind her, building a new identity for herself with a doting husband and seven-month-old daughter, Lucy. But motherhood is proving a bigger challenge than she anticipated. She doesn’t want to let Lucy out of her sight even for a moment. She can’t return to work. She’s not sleeping, and she has started spiraling into paranoia.

Then a stranger shows up on her doorstep, offering answers to all of Lee’s questions about her past—if Lee could only trust that this woman is who she says she is. Can Lee keep her safe, stable life? Or will new revelations about “the cult that went missing” shatter everything? In The Ascent, Allison Buccola has crafted a nerve-rattling thriller about motherhood, identity, and the truths we think we know about our families. – Random House

Death in the Downline by Maria Abrams

Drew thought she was destined to become a star journalist in New York City. But now she’s back in New Jersey, pushing thirty, newly single, and living with her father.

After a chance encounter, she reconnects with her former best friend, Steph, who married young and never left their hometown. But Steph looks . . . good. She’s tanned, glowing, and only wears designer labels. Her secret? A skincare sales opportunity called LuminUS. With nothing left to lose, Drew gets sucked into this glamorous world of downlines, sales parties, and girls’ trips.

But when a LuminUS distributor is found dead Drew must uncover the dark secret at the heart of the organization—and save her best friend—before it’s too late.

Gripping, wickedly funny, and a pitch-perfect skewering of pyramid schemes, Death in the Downline is a page-turner that will have readers cheering for Drew until the cathartic conclusion. – Quirk Books

Ecstasy by Ivy Pochoda

Lena wants her life back. Her wealthy, controlling, humorless husband has just died, and now she contends with her controlling, humorless son, Drew. Lena lands in Naxos with her best friend in tow for the unveiling of her son’s, pet project–the luxurious Agape Villas.

Years of marriage amongst the wealthy elite has whittled Lena’s spirit into rope and sinew, smothered by tasteful cocktail dresses and unending small talk. On Naxos she yearns to rediscover her true nature, remember the exuberant dancer and party girl she once was, but Drew tightens his grip, keeping her cloistered inside the hotel, demanding that she fall in line.

Lena is intrigued by a group of women living in tents on the beach in front of the Agape. She can feel their drums at night, hear their seductive leader calling her to dance. Soon she’ll find that an ancient God stirs on the beach, awakening dark desires of women across the island. The only questions left will be whether Lena will join them, and what it will cost her.

Ecstasy is a riveting, darkly poetic, one-sitting read about empowerment, desire, and what happens when women reject the roles set out for them. – G.P. Putnam’s Sons

El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott

All I want is to be innocent again. But that’s not how it works. Especially not after the Wheel.

The three Bishop sisters grew up in privilege in the moneyed suburbs of Detroit. But as the auto industry declined, so did their fortunes. Harper, the youngest, is barely making ends meet when her beloved, charismatic sister Pam—currently in the middle of a contentious battle with her ex-husband—and her eldest sister, Debra, approach her about joining an exciting new club.

The Wheel offers women like themselves—middle-aged and of declining means—a way to make their own money, independent of husbands or families. Quickly, however, the Wheel’s success, and their own addiction to it, leads to greater and greater risks—and a crime so shocking it threatens to bring everything down with it.

Megan Abbott turns her keen eye toward women and money in El Dorado Drive, a riveting story about power, vulnerability, and how desperation draws out our most destructive impulses. – G.P. Putnam’s Sons

The Last Session by Julia Bartz

When a catatonic woman shows up at her psychiatric unit, social worker Thea swears that she knows her from somewhere. She’s shocked to discover the patient holds a link to a traumatic time in her own past. Upon regaining lucidity, the patient claims she can’t remember the horrific recent events that caused her brain to shut down. Thea’s at a loss—especially when the patient is ripped away from her as suddenly as she appeared.

Determined to find her, Thea follows a trail of clues to a remote center in southwestern New Mexico, where a charismatic couple holds a controversial monthly retreat to uncover attendees’ romantic and sexual issues. Forced to participate in increasingly intimate exercises, Thea finds herself inching closer not only to her missing patient, but also to tantalizing answers about her own harrowing past. However, time is running out, and if she stays for the last session, she too might lose her sanity…and maybe even her life in this “hypnotic fever dream of a book” (Jennifer Fawcett, author of Keep This for Me). – Atria / Emily Bestler Books

This title is also available in large print.

O Sinners! by Nicole Cuffy

After the death of his father, a young journalist named Faruq Zaidi takes the opportunity to embed himself in a mysterious cult based in the California redwoods and known as “the nameless,” whose strikingly attractive members adhere to the 18 Utterances, including teachings such as “all suffering is distortion” and “see only beauty.” Shepherding them is Odo, an enigmatic Vietnam War veteran who received “the sight”—the movement’s foundational principles—during his time as an infantryman. Through flashbacks that recount the cult’s wartime origins, we see four soldiers contend with the existential struggles of combat and with their responsibilities to each other, and by the end of the novel we learn which one becomes Odo.

Faruq, skeptical but committed to unraveling the mystery of both “the nameless” and Odo, extends his stay by months, and as he gets deeper into the cult’s inner workings and alluring teachings, he begins to lose his grip on reality. Faruq is forced to come to terms with the memories he has been running from while trying to resist Odo’s spell. Ultimately this immersive and unsettling novel asks: What does it take to find one’s place in the world? And what exactly do we seek from one another? – One World

So Far Gone by Jess Walter

Rhys Kinnick has gone off the grid. At Thanksgiving a few years back, a fed-up Rhys punched his conspiracy-theorist son-in-law in the mouth, chucked his smartphone out a car window and fled for a cabin in the woods, with no one around except a pack of hungry raccoons.

Now Kinnick’s old life is about to land right back on his crumbling doorstep. Can this failed husband and father, a man with no internet and a car that barely runs, reemerge into a broken world to track down his missing daughter and save his sweet, precocious grandchildren from the members of a dangerous militia?

With the help of his caustic ex-girlfriend, a bipolar retired detective, and his only friend (who happens to be furious with him), Kinnick heads off on a wild journey through cultural lunacy and the rubble of a life he thought he’d left behind. So Far Gone is a rollicking, razor-sharp, and moving road trip through a fractured nation, from a writer who has been called “a genius of the modern American moment” (Philadelphia Inquirer). – Harper

The Unworthy by Agustina Maria Bazterrica, translated by Sarah Moses

From her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman writes the story of her life in whatever she can find—discarded ink, dirt, and even her own blood. A lower member of the Sacred Sisterhood, deemed an unworthy, she dreams of ascending to the ranks of the Enlightened at the center of the convent and of pleasing the foreboding Superior Sister. Outside, the world is plagued by catastrophe—cities are submerged underwater, electricity and the internet are nonexistent, and bands of survivors fight and forage in a cruel, barren landscape. Inside, the narrator is controlled, punished, but safe.

But when a stranger makes her way past the convent walls, joining the ranks of the unworthy, she forces the narrator to consider her long-buried past—and what she may be overlooking about the Enlightened. As the two women grow closer, the narrator is increasingly haunted by questions about her own past, the environmental future, and her present life inside the convent. How did she get to the Sacred Sisterhood? Why can’t she remember her life before? And what really happens when a woman is chosen as one of the Enlightened?

A searing, dystopian tale about climate crisis, ideological extremism, and the tidal pull of our most violent, exploitative instincts, this is another unforgettable novel from a master of feminist horror. – Scribner

Visitations written and illustrated by Corey Egbert

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Inspired by true events, Visitations, written and illustrated by Corey Egbert, dives into a formative part of Corey’s childhood that starts him on a path to change his life forever. This young adult graphic novel has strong themes of religion, mental illness, and family dynamics. To me, Visitations was an insight into a young child’s upbringing in the Mormon church and how he was influenced by those around him.

Growing up, Corey was closer to his mom than his dad. His mom always made him feel safe, while he felt further away from his dad. Something happened in the family when Corey’s sister was young that caused his parents to divorce which led to visitations with his dad. He dreaded the visitations, especially as he grew older because his mother’s accusations against his dad and his dad’s side of the family became more erratic. She insisted that Corey be his sister’s protector against their father as she believed he was the devil and trying to turn them against her.

Corey’s mother relied strongly on the Lord through all of their troubles. One day, she received a message that Corey and his sister were to stop the visitations with their father. She took Corey and his sister away from their home and traveled deep into the Nevada desert. With seemingly no directions except to believe that the Heavenly Father had a plan for them, the three traveled with little food, living in their car, while running from the police. Tensions quickly grew to a breaking point. Corey was consistently visited by a flickering ghost who urged him to look outside of what his mother had been telling him for years. This graphic novel deals with heavy topics: mental illness, religion, and ever-changing family dynamics. I appreciated the author’s examination of religion and belief systems, how those are so intertwined into every aspect of life, and how hard finding the line between imagination and memory, the truth and lies can be. This was a four star read for me, but could be triggering for others.

Resources for adoptive parents

- Beth Leave a comment

November is National Adoption Awareness Month, a time to celebrate families created through adoption. There is even a National Adoption Day that takes place on the Saturday before Thanksgiving to finalize adoptions from foster care into permanent families. This year that day is November 22.

The Literacy & Learning Collection contains materials that are not easily confined in either the adult, young adult, or juvenile collections. You can find guidance here on many topics including the unique challenges that come with parenting an adopted child. Adoptee-centered stories are changing the narrative around how adoption is talked about by all sides of the adoption community — birth parents, adoptive parents, adoption professionals, and of course, adoptees themselves. Here are some newer books in our Literacy & Learning Collection or interfiled with the pictures books, available at the Davenport Public Library, as of the publication of this post. Descriptions from the publishers.

“You should be grateful”: Stories of Race, Identity, and Transracial Adoption by Angela Tucker. Tucker is grateful for many aspects of her life, but being a Black woman adopted into a white family involved layers of rejection, loss, and complexity that cannot be summed up easily. She now serves as a mentor to other transracially adopted children and, in this book, draws from her experiences with mentees to invite a profound exploration of a complicated system. Tucker offers practical tools for nurturing identity, unlearning white saviorism, and addressing the mistakes many adoptive parents don’t even know they’re making. She flips the script on ‘traditional’ adoption books written by adoptive parents or professionals to center the experience of adoptees themselves. These perspectives challenge the fairy-tale narrative of adoption, giving way to a fuller story that explores the impacts of racism, classism, family, love, and belonging.

The Adoptee’s Journey: From Loss and Trauma to Healing and Empowerment by Cameron Lee Small. Adoption is often framed by happy narratives, but the reality is that many adoptees struggle with unaddressed trauma and issues of identity and belonging. Adoptees often spend the majority of their youth without the language to explore the grief related to adoption or the permission to legitimize their conflicting emotions. Adoptee and counselor Cameron Lee Small names the realities of the adoptee’s journey, narrating his own and other adoptees’ stories in all their complexity. He unpacks the history of how adoption has worked and names how the church influenced adoption practices with unintended negative impacts on adoptees’ faith. Small’s own tumultuous search for and reunion with his mother in Korea inspired him to help other adoptees navigate what it means to carry multiple stories.

Adoption Memoirs: Inside Stories by Marianne Novy. Adoption Memoirs tells inside stories of adoption that popular media miss. Marianne Novy shows how adoption memoirs and films recount not only happy moments, but also the lasting pain of relinquishing a child, the racism and trauma that adoptees experienced, and the unexpected complexities of child-rearing adoptive parents encountered. Novy considers 45 memoirs, mostly from the twenty-first century, by birthmothers, adoptees, and adoptive parents, about same-race and transracial adoption. These adoptees, she recounts, wanted to learn about their ancestry and appreciated adoptive parents who helped. Adoption Memoirs will enlighten readers who lack experience with adoption and help those looking for a shared experience to also understand adoption from a different standpoint

Eyes that Weave the World’s Wonders by Joanna Ho. From New York Times bestselling Joanna Ho, of Eyes that Kiss in the Corners, and award-winning educator Liz Kleinrock comes a powerful companion picture book about adoption and family. A young girl who is a transracial adoptee learns to love her Asian eyes and finds familial connection and meaning through them, even though they look different from her parents’. Her family bond is deep and their connection is filled with love. She wonders about her birth mom and comes to appreciate both her birth culture and her adopted family’s culture, for even though they may seem very different, they are both a part of her, and that is what makes her beautiful. She learns to appreciate the differences in her family and celebrate them.

I Have Two Families: A Children’s Book About Adoption by Kendra Smith. I Have Two Families is for children aged 5 to 9 who have been through adoption or who are going to be adopted. Written with love by a licensed marriage and family therapist who has both professional and personal experience with adoption, I Have Two Families offers kids a relatable look at open adoption. Parents and caregivers can use the book to help start conversations about what it means to be adopted and how to process all the big questions and feelings that kids may have about their own adoption.