Category: Books

Everyone is Watching by Heather Gudenkauf

- Stephanie Leave a comment

“Nevertheless, this is a cruel game. It’s twisted, and sick, and dangerous. I don’t know if we’ll ever find out who is really behind the show, but whoever it is, brava, you did it.”
― Heather Gudenkauf, Everyone Is Watching

What would you do if you received an email out of the blue from a high-stakes game show saying that you had been chosen as one of five contestants to compete for a ten million dollar prize? Would you think it was spam and delete it? Or would you take a chance and reply to the email hoping it was real? This dilemma is expanded upon in Heather Gudenkauf’s 2024 novel, Everyone is Watching. 

Five contestants nicknamed the best friend, the confidante, the senator, the boyfriend, and the executive are competing for the chance to win ten million dollars on a newly announced game show called One Lucky Winner. No one knows what to expect, no one knows who is in charge, and the set is closed with a skeleton crew. Taking place on an estate in Northern California, the contestants have been told they cannot leave the property and cannot contact anyone in the outside world. If they leave, they will forfeit their chance to win the money. Their phones are locked in a box. Isolated and sleeping in a room altogether, they are at the whims of whomever is in charge, awoken at random times of day to compete in increasingly dangerous challenges that become more personal as time progresses. Each contestant is harboring secrets which are slowly being revealed. As the game marches on, they realize that this isn’t a normal game show and that someone is determined to destroy them. Who is the mastermind? What is their end goal? Will anyone be alive at the end of this game?

I devoured this book in two days. This thriller bounces between timelines and different points of view, which added levels of drama to the story and necessary background information to flush out the story. Heather Gudenkauf was born in South Dakota, but she currently lives in Iowa with her family. This fact is clear in her thrillers as Iowa features prominently. In Everyone is Watching, one of her characters is from a small town in Iowa. As a Midwest native, seeing a state I work in mentioned was fun! I can’t wait to read more books by this author.

This title is also available in large print and CD audiobook.

Children’s Books about Autistic Characters

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April is Autism Acceptance Month. Even though I’m a firm believer in learning year-round, months that highlight different groups are important to spread the word and showcase positivity and acceptance beyond awareness. To honor the identities and experiences of Autistic individuals, I have been researching children’s books about Autistic characters to share this month. All of the books I chose below are co-written or written by Autistic authors. Bonus, these picture books and middle grade fiction all have Autistic characters! All of these books are owned by the Davenport Public Library at the time of this writing. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.

A Day with No Words by Tiffany Hammond

Aidan doesn’t talk with words. He uses a tablet, tapping buttons with pictures to show what he means.

When Mama taps “Park . . . now?” Aidan quickly taps back “Yes.” And after Aidan twirls and twirls in the grass until he can no longer stand, he taps, “All done.”

Not everyone understands their family’s unique way of communicating, though. Some think that because Aidan doesn’t say words, he doesn’t know words. But verbal speech isn’t the only way we can connect with others. We can use tablets and letter boards, facial expressions, hand gestures, and written words.

With tenderness and heart, A Day with No Words illuminates the many unique ways people can understand each other, even if they don’t speak. – Bloomsbury Children’s Books

A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll

Ever since Ms. Murphy told us about the witch trials that happened centuries ago right here in Juniper, I can’t stop thinking about them. Those people weren’t magic. They were like me. Different like me.

I’m autistic. I see things that others do not. I hear sounds that they can ignore. And sometimes I feel things all at once. I think about the witches, with no one to speak for them. Not everyone in our small town understands. But if I keep trying, maybe someone will. I won’t let the witches be forgotten. Because there is more to their story. Just like there is more to mine.

Award-winning and neurodivergent author Elle McNicoll delivers an insightful and stirring debut about the European witch trials and a girl who refuses to relent in the fight for what she knows is right. – Yearling

The View from the Very Best House in Town by Meera Trehan

Sam and Asha. Asha and Sam. Their friendship is so long established, they take it for granted. Just as Asha takes for granted that Donnybrooke, the mansion that sits on the highest hill in Coreville, is the best house in town. But when Sam is accepted into snobbish Castleton Academy as an autistic “Miracle Boy,” he leaves Asha, who is also autistic, to navigate middle school alone. He also leaves her wondering if she can take anything for granted anymore. Because soon Sam is spending time with Prestyn, Asha’s nemesis, whose family owns Donnybrooke and, since a housewarming party gone wrong, has forbidden Asha to set foot inside. Who is Asha without Sam? And who will she be when it becomes clear that Prestyn’s interest in her friend isn’t so friendly? Told from the points of view of Asha, Sam, and Donnybrooke itself, this suspenseful and highly original novel explores issues of ableism and classism as it delves into the mysteries of what makes a person a friend and a house a home. – Walker Books US

Moonwalking by Zetta Elliott and Lyn Miller-Lachmann

Punk rock-loving JJ Pankowski can’t seem to fit in at his new school in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, as one of the only white kids. Pie Velez, a math and history geek by day and graffiti artist by night is eager to follow in his idol, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s, footsteps. The boys stumble into an unlikely friendship, swapping notes on their love of music and art, which sees them through a difficult semester at school and at home. But a run-in with the cops threatens to unravel it all.

From authors Zetta Elliott and Lyn Miller-Lachmann, Moonwalking is a stunning exploration of class, cross-racial friendships, and two boys’ search for belonging in a city as tumultuous and beautiful as their hearts. – Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Bitsy Bat, School Star by Kaz Windness

Bitsy is a little bat with big star dreams of making friends at her new school. But when she arrives, Bitsy doesn’t feel like she fits in. The other kids sit on their chairs, but sitting upright makes Bitsy dizzy. The other kids paint with their fingers, but Bitsy would rather use her toes. Everyone tells Bitsy she’s doing things wrong-wrong-wrong, so she tries harder…and ends up having a five-star meltdown.

Now Bitsy feels like a very small star and doesn’t want to go back to school. But with help from her family, Bitsy musters her courage, comes up with a new plan, and discovers that being a good friend is just one of the ways she shines bright! – Simon & Schuster / Paula Wiseman Books

It Was Supposed to be Sunny by Samantha Cotterill

Laila feels like her sparkly sunshine birthday celebration is on the brink of ruin when it starts to storm. Then, just as she starts feeling okay with moving her party indoors, an accident with her cake makes her want to call the whole thing off. But with the help of her mom and a little alone time with her service dog, she knows she can handle this.

Changes in routine can be hard for any kid, but especially for kids on the autism spectrum. Samantha Cotterill’s fourth book in the Little Senses series provides gentle guidance along with adorable illustrations to help every kid navigate schedule changes and overwhelming social situations. – Dial Books

Talking is Not My Thing by Rose Robbins

This little sister might not use words, but she’s got plenty to say! Narrated through thought bubbles, this energetic book invites readers into the day of a nonverbal girl with autism. She has so much to do—games to play, spaghetti to eat, and a missing stuffed animal to find! Sometimes life can be noisy and overwhelming, but something new is always around the corner. Talking isn’t the only way to make a joke, ask for Grandma’s help, or surprise your brother…

Illustrated in bright colors, Talking Is Not My Thing is a joyful portrait of neurodiverse family life. – Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

Ways to Play by Lyn Miller-Lachmann

Riley has plenty of ways to play; like lining up dolls and stuffies by size and shape. Tearing up newspapers and making piles into mountains, using sharp crayons to draw big swirly patterns. But bossy cousin Emma thinks those ways are wrong, wrong, and wrong. And she makes no bones about letting Riley know exactly what her opinion is. Fortunately, Charlie the dog is on hand to help with a breakthrough demonstration that there are MANY ways to play; and all of them are right.

Based on experiences that Lyn Miller Lachman had growing up as an Autistic child and illustrated with the humor, tenderness and understanding that perhaps only an artist like Gabriel Alborozo, himself an Autistic creator, could bring, here is an empowering validation of the value of individual expression. And a whole lot of fun. – Levine Querido

A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold

The first book in a funny, heartfelt, and irresistible young middle grade series starring an unforgettable young boy on the autism spectrum.

For Bixby Alexander Tam (nicknamed Bat), life tends to be full of surprises—some of them good, some not so good. Today, though, is a good-surprise day. Bat’s mom, a veterinarian, has brought home a baby skunk, which she needs to take care of until she can hand him over to a wild-animal shelter.

But the minute Bat meets the kit, he knows they belong together. And he’s got one month to show his mom that a baby skunk might just make a pretty terrific pet. – Walden Pond Press

Nick and the Brick Builder Challenge by Jen Malia

When the Infinity Rainbow Club at school competes in a brick builder challenge, Nick can’t wait to participate! Until he learns he must have a partner–the new girl. Nick wants to work alone. But to win, he’ll have to figure out how to be part of a team.

A story about the universal struggle of learning to work together on a team, told from the perspective of an autistic child.

The Infinity Rainbow Club is a chapter book series featuring five neurodivergent children in a club at their elementary school. The club provides a safe space for stims and different communication styles to be accepted and celebrated. – Beaming Books

Can You See Me?  by Libby Scott

Things Tally is dreading about sixth grade:

— Being in classes without her best friends

— New (scratchy) uniforms

— Hiding her autism

Tally isn’t ashamed of being autistic — even if it complicates life sometimes, it’s part of who she is. But this is her first year at Kingswood Academy, and her best friend, Layla, is the only one who knows. And while a lot of other people are uncomfortable around Tally, Layla has never been one of them . . . until now.

Something is different about sixth grade, and Tally now feels like she has to act “normal.” But as Tally hides her true self, she starts to wonder what “normal” means after all and whether fitting in is really what matters most.

Inspired by young coauthor Libby Scott’s own experiences with autism, this is an honest and moving middle-school story of friends, family, and finding one’s place. – Scholastic Press

Ellen Outside the Lines by A.J. Sass

Thirteen-year-old Ellen Katz feels most comfortable when her life is well planned out and people fit neatly into her predefined categories. She attends temple with Abba and Mom every Friday and Saturday. Ellen only gets crushes on girls, never boys, and she knows she can always rely on her best-and-only friend, Laurel, to help navigate social situations at their private Georgia middle school. Laurel has always made Ellen feel like being autistic is no big deal. But lately, Laurel has started making more friends, and cancelling more weekend plans with Ellen than she keeps. A school trip to Barcelona seems like the perfect place for Ellen to get their friendship back on track. Except it doesn’t. Toss in a new nonbinary classmate whose identity has Ellen questioning her very binary way of seeing the world, homesickness, a scavenger hunt-style team project that takes the students through Barcelona to learn about Spanish culture and this trip is anything but what Ellen planned.

Making new friends and letting go of old ones is never easy, but Ellen might just find a comfortable new place for herself if she can learn to embrace the fact that life doesn’t always stick to a planned itinerary. – Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen by Sarah Kapit

Vivy Cohen is determined. She’s had enough of playing catch in the park. She’s ready to pitch for a real baseball team.

But Vivy’s mom is worried about Vivy being the only girl on the team, and the only autistic kid. She wants Vivy to forget about pitching, but Vivy won’t give up. When her social skills teacher makes her write a letter to someone, Vivy knows exactly who to choose: her hero, Major League pitcher VJ Capello. Then two amazing things happen: A coach sees Vivy’s amazing knuckleball and invites her to join his team. And VJ starts writing back!

Now Vivy is a full-fledged pitcher, with a catcher as a new best friend and a steady stream of advice from VJ. But when a big accident puts her back on the bench, Vivy has to fight to stay on the team. – Dial Books

Planet Earth is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos

Twelve-year-old Nova is eagerly awaiting the launch of the space shuttle Challenger–it’s the first time a teacher is going into space, and kids across America will watch the event on live TV in their classrooms. Nova and her big sister, Bridget, share a love of astronomy and the space program. They planned to watch the launch together. But Bridget has disappeared, and Nova is in a new foster home.

While foster families and teachers dismiss Nova as severely autistic and nonverbal, Bridget understands how intelligent and special Nova is, and all that she can’t express. As the liftoff draws closer, Nova’s new foster family and teachers begin to see her potential, and for the first time, she is making friends without Bridget. But every day, she’s counting down to the launch, and to the moment when she’ll see Bridget again. Because as Bridget said, “No matter what, I’ll be there. I promise.” – Yearling

The Someday Birds by Sally J. Pla

Charlie’s perfectly ordinary life has been unraveling ever since his war journalist father was injured in Afghanistan.

When his father heads from California to Virginia for medical treatment, Charlie reluctantly travels cross-country with his boy-crazy sister, unruly brothers, and a mysterious new family friend. He decides that if he can spot all the birds that he and his father were hoping to see someday along the way, then everything might just turn out okay.

Debut author Sally J. Pla has written a tale that is equal parts madcap road trip, coming-of-age story for an autistic boy who feels he doesn’t understand the world, and an uplifting portrait of a family overcoming a crisis. – HarperCollins

The Icepick Surgeon by Sam Kean

- Bill Leave a comment

Some medical “professionals” want to get to hell FAST, and they don’t want a layover in DC.  In The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science, we learn about several all-time recipients of that direct flight. This book by Sam Kean is a compilation of unethically gleaned (albeit semi-useful) human medical knowledge.

Do not even bother going down the rabbit hole of motivation.  It sure as hell had nothing to do with the Hippocratic oath.  These cretins were motivated by profit, sadism, god complex, or evil just for the sake of evil.  Is it permissible to use bodies of the unwitting as your own personal petri dish?  Absofrigginlutely not.  Did these abominations advance the wheels of science under laboratory conditions that should never be replicated?  Yes.   But if your loved one is dying of hypothermia, for example, would you want all Nazi trials stricken from the record?  Because those ghouls learned a great deal probing the reaches of human anatomy.

That’s the thinkpiece behind Kean’s work, where we explore operations and experimentation that will just plain make you wince.  Looking at you, Mr. Transorbital Lobotomy.  Of course, the Tuskegee syphilis study gets due treatment.  But were you aware of its parallel counterpart study in Guatemala prisons?  To simulate transmission in the “wild” it frequently employed alcohol and female practitioners of (ahem) the oldest profession.  Its methodology certainly cannot be described in this family blog.

A doff of the cap is given to their ethically-unencumbered progenitors.  As Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra allegedly satiated her intellectual curiosity with an endless supply of slaves.  And Dr. Mengele….well, he was just a sadistic war criminal that took copious notes.    Thomas Edison had no compunction about sending local hounds to the rainbow bridge, or ripping off Nikola Tesla, for that matter.  If you hadn’t deduced already, smart does not equal scrupulous. And success does not concern itself with your posthumous moral judgment.

Winners of the 2025 Libby Book Awards

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The 2025 Libby Book Award Winners have been announced! As a lover of book awards, I wanted to share some of the winners that are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Check out the 2025 Libby Book Award Winners website for a more comprehensive list of the winners and the runner-ups!

At the time of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions are provided by the publisher.

Winner for Book of the Year — Adult Fiction
The Women by Kristin Hannah

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era. – St, Martin’s Press

Winner for Book of the Year — Adult Nonfiction AND Winner for Audiobook of the Year
The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.

Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”

At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between them. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous secretary of state, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.

Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late. – Crown

Winner for Book of the Year — Young Adult Fiction
Heir by Sabaa Tahir

An orphan.
An outcast.
A prince.
And a killer who will bring an empire to its knees.

Growing up in the Kegari slums, AIZ has seen her share of suffering. An old tragedy fuels her need for vengeance, but it is love of her people that propels her. Until one hotheaded mistake lands her in an inescapable prison, where the embers of her wrath ignite.

Banished from her people for an unforgivable crime, SIRSHA is a down-on-her-luck tracker who uses magic to trace her marks. Destitute, she agrees to hunt down a killer who has murdered children across the Martial Empire. All she has to do is carry out the job and get paid. But when a chance encounter leads to an unexpected attraction, Sirsha learns her mission might cost her far more than she’s willing to give up.

QUIL is the crown prince of the Empire and nephew of a venerated empress, but he’s loath to take the throne when his aunt steps down. As the son of a reviled emperor, he, better than anyone, understands that power corrupts. When a vicious new enemy threatens the survival of the Empire, Quil must ask himself if he can rise above his tragic lineage and be the heir his people need.

Beloved storyteller Sabaa Tahir interweaves the lives of three young people as they grapple with power, treachery, love, and the devastating consequences of unchecked greed, on a journey that may cost them their lives—and their hearts. Literally. – G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Winner for Debut Author of the Year AND Winner for Best Science Fiction
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future. – Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster

Winner for Best Book Club Book
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet’s always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naiveté and a yearning for something bigger.

Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price? – William Morrow

Winner for Best Fantasy
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she hasn’t had to.

She and her assistant, Caz, a magically sentient spider plant, have spent the last eleven years sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. But when a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz save as many books as they can carry and flee to a faraway island Kiela was sure she’d never return to: her childhood home. Kiela hopes to lay low in the overgrown and rundown cottage her late parents left her and figure out a way to survive without drawing the attention of either the empire or the revolutionaries. Much to her dismay, in addition to a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor, she finds the town neglected and in a state of disrepair.

The empire, for all its magic and power, has been neglecting for years the people who depend on magical intervention to maintain healthy livestock and crops. Not only that, but the very magic that should be helping them has been creating destructive storms that have taken a toll on the island. Due to her past role at the library, Kiela feels partially responsible for this, and now she’s determined to find a way to make things right: by opening the island’s first-ever secret spellshop.

Her plan comes with risks—the consequence of sharing magic with commoners is death. And as Kiela comes to make a place for herself among the kind and quirky townspeople of her former home, she realizes that in order to make a life for herself, she must learn to break down the walls she has built up so high. – Bramble

Winner for Best Horror
Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

Misha knows that chasing success in Hollywood can be hell.

But finally, after years of trying to make it, his big moment is here: an Oscar nomination. And the executives at the studio for his long-running streaming series know just the thing to kick his career to the next level: kill off the gay characters, “for the algorithm,” in the upcoming season finale.

Misha refuses, but he soon realizes that he’s just put a target on his back. And what’s worse, monsters from his horror movie days are stalking him and his friends through the hills above Los Angeles.

Haunted by his past, Misha must risk his entire future—before the horrors from the silver screen find a way to bury him for good. – Tor Nightfire

Winner for Best Thriller
One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon

Jasmyn and King Williams move their family to the planned Black utopia of Liberty, California hoping to find a community of like-minded people, a place where their growing family can thrive. King settles in at once, embracing the Liberty ethos, including the luxe wellness center at the top of the hill, which proves to be the heart of the community. But Jasmyn struggles to find her place. She expected to find liberals and social justice activists striving for racial equality, but Liberty residents seem more focused on booking spa treatments and ignoring the world’s troubles.

Jasmyn’s only friends in the community are equally perplexed and frustrated by most residents’ outlook. Then Jasmyn discovers a terrible secret about Liberty and its founders. Frustration turns to dread as their loved ones start embracing the Liberty way of life.

Will the truth destroy her world in ways she never could have imagined? – Knopf

Check out the 2025 Libby Book Award Winners website for the complete list of winners and runner-ups!

April’s Celebrity Book Club Picks

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Simply Held is rebranding to Bestsellers Club. No change in services, just a name change! If you’ve been with us for a while,  you might notice that this was our original name for this service, and now we’re back to it!

Simply Held is now Bestsellers Club, a service that automatically places you on hold for authors, celebrity picks, nonfiction picks, and fiction picks. Choose any author, celebrity pick, fiction pick, and/or nonfiction pick and The Library will put the latest title on hold for you automatically. Select as many as you want! Still have questions? Click here for a list of FAQs.

It’s a new month which means that Jenna Bush Hager and Reese Witherspoon have picked new books for their book clubs! Reminder that if you join Bestsellers Club, you can choose to have their selections automatically put on hold for you.

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Jenna Bush Hager has selected Heartwood by Amity Gaige for her April book.

Curious what Heartwood is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.

In the heart of the Maine woods, an experienced Appalachian Trail hiker goes missing. She is forty-two-year-old Valerie Gillis, who has vanished 200 miles from her final destination. Alone in the wilderness, Valerie pours her thoughts into fractured, poetic letters to her mother as she battles the elements and struggles to keep hoping.

At the heart of the investigation is Beverly, the determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valerie, who leads the search on the ground. Meanwhile, Lena, a seventy-six-year-old birdwatcher in a Connecticut retirement community, becomes an unexpected armchair detective. Roving between these compelling narratives, a puzzle emerges, intensifying the frantic search, as Valerie’s disappearance may not be accidental.

Heartwood is a “gem of a thousand facets—suspenseful, transporting, tender, and ultimately soul-mending,” (Megan Majumdar, New York Times bestselling author of A Burning) that tells the story of a lost hiker’s odyssey and is a moving rendering of each character’s interior journey. The mystery inspires larger questions about the many ways in which we get lost, and how we are found. At its core, Heartwood is a redemptive novel, written with both enormous literary ambition and love. – Simon & Schuster

Reese Witherspoon has selected All That Life Can Afford by Emily Everett for her April pick.

Curious what All That Life Can Afford is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.

I would arrive, blank like a sheet of notebook paper, and write myself new.

Anna first fell in love with London at her hometown library—its Jane Austen balls a far cry from her life of food stamps and hand-me-downs. But when she finally arrives after college, the real London is a moldy flat and the same paycheck-to-paycheck grind—that fairy-tale life still out of reach.

Then Anna meets the Wilders, who fly her to Saint-Tropez to tutor their teenage daughter. Swept up by the sphinxlike elder sister, Anna soon finds herself plunged into a heady whirlpool of parties and excess, a place where confidence is a birthright. There she meets two handsome young men—one who wants to whisk her into his world in a chauffeured car, the other who sees through Anna’s struggle to outrun her past. It’s like she’s stepped into the pages of a glittering new novel, but what will it cost her to play the part?

Sparkling with intelligence and insight, All That Life Can Afford peels back the glossy layers of class and privilege, exploring what it means to create a new life for yourself that still honors the one you’ve left behind.  – D.P. Putnam’s Sons

Join Bestsellers Club to have Oprah, Jenna, and Reese’s adult selections automatically put on hold for you!

A Love Catastrophe by Helena Hunting

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“Change is never easy, but without it we can’t move forward.”
― Helena Hunting, A Love Catastrophe

Sometimes you just need to pick a book based on what the cover looks like. My latest read picked that way was A Love Catastrophe by Helena Hunting. This was such a fun, cute romance with two main characters whose jobs I had never read about in a romance before: a woman with a cat-sitting/cat-training business and a man who works as a data analyst for an NHL team.

Kitty Hart enjoys her job as the Kitty Whisperer. She is internet famous and is considered an expert on anything feline. Her job: she runs a cat-sitting business! Her latest client is proving difficult though. She has fallen face-first into him, plus he doesn’t seem to be a cat person, which is a major problem.

Miles Thorn isn’t great at first impressions. He is dealing with the fallout of his mother’s latest hospital stay. The news he receives from the doctors isn’t good, which means that he needs to figure out what to do with her house and her Sphynx cat named Prince Francis that his mother absolutely adores. Luckily Miles found Kitty on Instagram. The downside is that Miles isn’t a cat lover, and he especially doesn’t like Prince Francis. Miles and Kitty continue to have awkward run-ins, but their awkwardness starts to turn into attraction. The two spend more and more time together. These forced interactions start out business-related, but turn more personal over time, leading the two to wonder where exactly they are going in their lives and what they want out of their futures.

I adored this book. Helena Hunting wrote these characters with beauty and grace, giving them the ability to grow throughout their personal lives and express their emotions without fear. It honestly felt like their relationship was realistic. I also enjoyed that the third act issue wasn’t a break-up and was instead a business/personal related problem. (Third act breakups in romance are not my favorite). Hopefully other books by this author are similar because I’m looking forward to reading more by her!

LEARN A LANGUAGE — Part 4 — GERMAN

- Jill Leave a comment

Continuing in our monthly series of language resources offered by The Library, our focus in April is GERMAN. While the German language is on the decline in the United States (according to census.gov), it is still in the top ten languages (other than English) that are spoken at home. And, while it is spoken in just over 900,000 homes across the nation, North Dakota is the only state in which German is the second most commonly spoken language according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. If you remove the Spanish language from the mix, 16 mostly Midwest and Western states emerge, revealing their German influence. The bulk of these German speaking populations are in Midwestern states, but the spread is from Alabama and Tennessee to the south and as far west as Idaho and Utah. Notable exceptions on the list in the Midwest are Minnesota (Hmong language), Michigan (Arabic), Illinois (Polish), South Dakota (Dakota), and Nebraska (Vietnamese), demonstrating our country’s diverse populations and the influence of immigrants from other nations.

In Iowa, German is the third most commonly spoken language. The Amish population in southeast Iowa accounts for some of that finding, although that does not completely explain the fact as German is the third-most spoken language in a lot of states that don’t have a significant Amish community. According to IowaPBS.org, “German immigrants historically were the second largest immigrant group (behind people from the British Isles) to settle in Iowa”. Beginning around 1840, millions of Germans began immigrating to the US. The entry point for many of these immigrants to the upper Midwest region and points west was Scott County (IA) where the first passenger railroad crossed the Mississippi River. In 1900, Joseph Eiboeck, a veteran German newspaperman, described Davenport as, “the most German city, not only in the State, but in all the Middle West, the center of all German activities in the State.”

These German immigrants spread widely into every county across the state – more than any other immigrant group – and by 1900, the US Census indicated that over half of the citizens in Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota were German immigrants or their descendants. By 1920, at least half of all farmers in Iowa were of German ancestry as well. Many of these Germans who settled in the Davenport area attempted to maintain a close-knit German community. They continued to speak their own language, published a local newspaper “Der Demokrat”, and formed their own social club, Turn Germeind, or Turnvereins (turner halls), which were an athletic and social gathering place for their community.

These immigrants also established the practice of going to parks for picnics, where they would listen to band music and drink beer. This brought alcohol consumption out of the saloons (that were typically only frequented by men) and perceptions slowly changed such that by 1900 the City of Davenport had over 100 taverns and beer gardens (Biergarten). Many orchestras and bands were formed within the city as well and they regularly played venues such as Schuetzenpark (which during its heyday, in addition to a music pavilion, also consisted of an inn, dance hall, shooting range, refreshments, bowling alleys, a roller coaster, and a zoo).  Music was such an important facet of German immigrant culture that their influence helped begin one of the oldest continually operating symphonic orchestras in the United States, The Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra. These are just some of the many cultural facets German immigrants brought with them from their homeland, becoming an integral part the “history and fabric of life in Iowa” as well as in the region and the country as a whole.

The decline of the German language is due to many factors including, among other things, the growth of industries in the area which draws in a talented and diverse workforce and impacts population growth. We also continue to see an influx of immigrants in the Quad Cities Area. We have a long history of welcoming immigrants, and our cities today continue to be a sanctuary for immigrants and refugees from around the world. Certainly, one factor that has impacted the decline was the Governor of Iowa’s ban on speaking the language in public near the end of World War I. Since the U.S. was at war with Germany, many Iowans became suspicious of their German neighbors. The governor issued a proclamation in May 1918 that prohibited anyone from speaking a foreign language in public, specifically German. German books were also removed from the library, and citizens of German birth were interrogated. After the war, many German descendants tried to hide their heritage and assimilate more closely with their neighbors. With the use of the German language declining, German names were removed from streets signs and towns, turner halls lost their popularity, and German businesses changed their names. Even Schuetzenpark was renamed Forest Park, for a time.

But, it’s not too late to reinvigorate the German language in our area!  In 2010, there were over 600 speakers of German in Scott County alone, with another 13,000+ statewide (MLA Language Map Data Center). Perhaps you have German heritage or have been influence by the culture that these immigrants have brought to our area. Maybe you have always wanted to travel to Germany and spend time in some of the beautiful alpine regions or see the architecture and museums of the Capital, Berlin. Whatever the reason you want to learn, we have lots of resources to help introduce you to the language.

Here’s just a sampling of the FREE resources available to you at The Library as you learn German. See our online catalog or ask a Librarian for more resources.

FOR A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO THE LANGUAGE:

15-minute German : learn in just 12 weeks by Sylvia Goulding

Fast talk German : guaranteed to get you talking (Lonely Planet)

Intermediate German for dummies

 

FOR A MORE LAID-BACK APPROACH:

101 conversations in simple German : short natural dialogues to boost your confidence & improve your spoken German  by Olly RIchards

Short stories in German for intermediate learners : read for pleasure at your level and learn German the fun way by Olly Richards

50 German coffee breaks : short activities to improve your German one cup at a time

German short stories for beginners and intermediate learners : engaging short stories to learn German and build your vocabulary

 

IF YOU ARE A VISUAL LEARNER:

German visual dictionary for dummies

5 language visual dictionary

 

MORE COMPREHENSIVE LANGUAGE COURSES:

 

Complete German by Paul Coggle

Langenscheidt German at your fingertips  by Tien Tammada

German by Paul Coggle

Basic German by Jolene Wochenske

Teach yourself German by Paul Coggle

#Language hacking German : a conversation course for beginners : learn how to speak German–with actual people–right from the start! By Benny Lewis

And, a Davenport Public Library cardholder, you have FREE access to the language learning program, Mango Languages.

 

FOR THOSE WHO PLAN TO TRAVEL:

German phrase book & dictionary (Berlitz)

Rick Steves’ German phrase book & dictionary by Rick Steves

German (Rough Guides)

 

NEXT MONTH…  LEARN A LANGUAGE — Part 5 — JAPANESE

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

- Stephanie Leave a comment

“Comprehension is key, and that hasn’t exactly been mastered by the citizens of this country.”
― Tiffany D. Jackson, The Weight of Blood

Tiffany D. Jackson is a young adult writer who writes with gusto and anger. Her books always stick with me for long periods of time and relate to stories in the news. My latest read, The Weight of Blood, was one I went into blind. The Weight of Blood is a retelling of Carrie by Stephen King, telling the story of a Georgia high school hosting its first integrated prom and a biracial teenager navigating a small town’s legacy of racism. This book is heavy and disastrous and necessary to read. Highly recommend.

Maddy Washington is an outcast in her small town of Springville, Georgia. She has always been the target of bullies. Having been homeschooled until her early teenage years, Maddie has never quite fit in. The school bullies are the least of her problems though. She has more serious problems to deal with. The precarious life she has made for herself is destroyed one day with the arrival of a surprise rainstorm. Her secret: Maddy is biracial. Her father Thomas has required Maddy to pass as white for her entire life due to his fanatical beliefs.

The students and some staff at Maddy’s school react badly to Maddy’s news. When a video goes viral showing students bulling Maddy, the school’s racist beliefs and history become news across the country. Things come even more to a head when the news discovers that Springville High holds two separate proms every year: a white prom and a black prom. In order to improve their image, students and administration decide to host their first integrated prom. This doesn’t go over well, especially when the white class president asks her Black quarterback boyfriend to take Maddy as his date to the integrated prom.

Maddy starts to hope that maybe a normal life is possible for her. The closer prom gets, the more excited she becomes. Some of her classmates are angry though, deciding that she needs to be taught a lesson. Flashing back and forth from 2014 and to present day, readers learn more about what happened leading up to prom in 2014 and how the Springville residents left alive after prom night are dealing with the shock of what happened that night.

This title is also available in large print and audiobook.

Online Reading Challenge – April

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge is focusing on coming of age, also known as bildungsroman. Our main title for April is The Topeka School by Ben Lerner. Here’s a quick summary from the publisher:

Adam Gordon is a senior at Topeka High School, class of ’97. His mother, Jane, is a famous feminist author; his father, Jonathan, is an expert at getting “lost boys” to open up. They both work at a psychiatric clinic that has attracted staff and patients from around the world. Adam is a renowned debater, expected to win a national championship before he heads to college. He is one of the cool kids, ready to fight or, better, freestyle about fighting if it keeps his peers from thinking of him as weak. Adam is also one of the seniors who bring the loner Darren Eberheart—who is, unbeknownst to Adam, his father’s patient—into the social scene, to disastrous effect.

Deftly shifting perspectives and time periods, The Topeka School is the story of a family, its struggles and its strengths: Jane’s reckoning with the legacy of an abusive father, Jonathan’s marital transgressions, the challenge of raising a good son in a culture of toxic masculinity. It is also a riveting prehistory of the present: the collapse of public speech, the trolls and tyrants of the New Right, and the ongoing crisis of identity among white men. – Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Looking for some other coming of age or bildungsroman? Try any of the following.

As always, check each of our locations for displays with lots more titles to choose from!

Online Reading Challenge – March Wrap-Up

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

How did your reading go this month? Did you read a biographical fiction novel? Share in the comments!

I read our main title: The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. This book has been on my to-read list since its publication in 2018.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is based on interviews that were conducted with Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov, a Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist. Lale’s voice is present throughout this book, something that I felt added to the depth, despair, and hope. Based on the true story of Lale and Gita, Heather Morris weaves the stories of two Slovokian Jews who survived the Holocaust with great care. As someone who has read dozens of Holocaust stories, both fiction and nonfiction, this book stands out to me. The emotions radiated through the pages, pulling me into their lives as they struggled to survive. Readers follow Lale as he is forced to Auschwitz-Birkenau in April 1942. His ability to speak multiple languages lands him a job as the tattooist, forced to permanently mark his fellow prisoners. Lale witnesses horrors for almost three years in the camps, but those horrors are also accompanied by acts of bravery and compassion. He uses his unique position to help his fellow prisoners, risking his life to secure food and medicine. While tattooing new prisoners in July 1942, Lale helps a young woman named Gita, a woman who Lale vows to marry once they survive the camp. The Tattooist of Auschwitz was a devastating, yet hopeful, read. This piece of biographical fiction is a good stepping stone to learn more about Lale and Gita Sokolov.

In addition to being the March Online Reading Challenge pick, this title was also made into a Peacock Original Series starring Harvey Keitel and Melanie Lynskey. I have plans to watch this series in the future to see how well it relates.

Next month, we will be reading a coming of age, or bildungsroman, novel!

In addition to following the Online Reading Challenge here on our Info Cafe blog, you can join our Online Reading Challenge group on Goodreads and discuss your reads!