TRAVEL BACK IN TIME… WITH A GOOD BOOK!

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Time travel tales have been captivating readers for generations. Ever since the first publishing of the classic H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, in 1895, the genre has gained in popularity. Wells’ book has since been made into two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions and many comic book adaptations. More recent time travel themed novels have also been widely enjoyed. Diana Gabaldon’s book Outlander, first published in 1991, has now become an entire series of books as well as a TV series (2014) that has sparked a super fandom following. The more recent Time Traveler’s Wife (2003), by Audrey Niffenegger, was made into a movie in 2009 and a TV series in 2022. While these latter two focus on romance, as many time travel themes do, there are a variety of storylines – including mysteries and thrillers – to interest most any reader, provided you allow yourself to suspend reality and accept the time-bending premise. During the month of December, both the Fairmount and Eastern branch libraries will feature book displays with an assortment of time travel themed titles for you to consider for your next read. I’d like to share two with you here: Myriad by Joshua David Bellin and The Night Shift by Natalka Burian.

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Joshua David Bellin has published numerous science fiction and adventure novels. His latest is Myriad, a science-fiction thriller set in his native Pittsburgh in the year 2037. The main character, Miriam Randle, works for a private law enforcement firm, whose employees utilize short-term time travel to go back in time to prevent crimes from happening. While competent in her work at the firm, her personal life is haunted by the decades-old unsolved murder of her twin brother by a school shooter. When a routine assignment goes awry ending in tragedy because of her, Miriam finds herself involved in a conspiracy. She escapes to the past to investigate her own firm, and the people she works for, in order to uncover the truth before it’s too late. But, her brother’s murderer isn’t the only thing in Miriam’s past that she would prefer to forget. There are so many twists and turns in this book that you never know quite where it is going. With perfectly flawed characters in a very realistic world, this novel is compelling and you won’t want to stop reading until you find out what happens to Miriam.

“Minority Report meets The Fugitive in this breakneck thriller that kept me guessing—and madly flipping pages—until the bitter end. The devious plot zips nimbly through wormhole after wormhole, but Bellin shines brightest in his nuanced exploration of the light and dark in all of us. Myriad is an antihero for the ages.” – Kat Ross, author of the Gaslamp Gothic Victorian Paranormal Mystery series

“Exciting and thought-provoking, Myriad posits a truly original twist on time-travel. Joshua Bellin’s first adult novel hits all the right notes from its conflicted main character trying to undo a tragic, life-changing past event to multiple twists, turns, and surprises the reader won’t see coming.” – Larry Ivkovich, author of The Sixth Precept and Magus Star Rising

“Joshua David Bellin is a master craftsman. In Myriad, he’s reached an all-time high for plot twists that rock your understanding of what has come before… and after. Enjoy the fast-paced action that will leave you dazzled.” – Diane Turnshek, Carnegie Mellon University astronomer and science fiction author

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In Natalka Burian’s book Night Shift, there are secret passageways all over New York City that allow you to go through space and time to emerge in one of the other locations. These are well-hidden shortcuts. They might be found at the back door of a shop, bar or restaurant, or theater. Nobody knows how they originated and there are rules you must follow. You can only go one direction through them and you can only travel the passageways at night.

The story follows Jean, who is introduced to the passageways by her work friend, Iggy. She decides to use them to shorten her work commute between her night shift bartending and her day shift at an upscale bakery. She notices that the shortcut has side effects that make her more talkative and more open to discussing her past. She starts recalling memories that she’s worked hard to forget. When Iggy, goes missing, Jean believes it’s related to the secret passageways. Jean starts searching for answers and finds more and more connections between these shortcuts and herself. Will she ever find out what happened to Iggy? What do the passageways have to do with her? With her past? What about her future?

“The Night Shift is an engrossing and vibrant novel, and I loved watching my fair city shine in these pages. This is a great book for readers who love New York City after dark, and who see mysterious possibilities around every corner.” — Emma Straub, New York Times Bestselling Author of All Adults Here

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Online Reading Challenge – December

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Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge travels to Cuba. Our Main title for December is Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton. Here’s a quick summary from the publisher.

After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity—and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution…

Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba’s high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country’s growing political unrest—until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary…

Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa’s last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth.

Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba’s tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate. When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she’ll need the lessons of her grandmother’s past to help her understand the true meaning of courage. – Penguin Random House

This title is also available in large print, Libby eBook, and Libby eAudiobook.

Next Year in Havana is the first book in the Cuba Saga by Chanel Cleeton.

  1. Next Year in Havana (2018)
  2. When We Left Cuba (2019)
  3. The Last Train to Key West (2020)
  4. The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba (2021)
  5. Our Last Days in Barcelona (2022)
  6. The Cuban Heiress (2023)

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

Online Reading Challenge – November Wrap-Up

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Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

How did your reading go this month? Did you read something set in Africa that you enjoyed? Share in the comments!

“We believe the one who has power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there you get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture.”
― Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing

I read our main title: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. This is a multigenerational saga that spans countries and centuries. Two half-sisters are born in eighteenth-century Ghana in different villages. The kicker: they don’t know the other exists. One sister, Effia, marries an English slave trader, moves into Cape Coast Castle, and lives a life of comfort and somewhat peace. She raises half-caste children with her white husband. The other sister, Esi, is captured in a raid on her village, imprisoned in the dungeons of Cape Coast Castle, sold into slavery, and shipped off on a boat. She ends up in America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery.

This book follows Effia and Esi’s descendants through eight generations. It discusses slavery in the past all the way through to racism in the present. One thread loops through Ghana with Effia’s family. Another thread travels America with Esi’s family. Readers switch back and forth between each woman’s descendants to learn how past actions influence their futures.

Gyasi’s debut novel was absolutely breathtaking. I listened to the audiobook and wished that I would have had access to the family tree that was in the front of the print book. If you decide to give this book a listen, Knopf Double Day has a copy of the family tree online that you can use. As I was reading, I was amazed that this was the author’s debut novel! Homegoing was beautifully written and tore at my heart as it introduced characters with heartbreaking stories of loss, danger, and love. Gyasi does a wonderful job of telling the accounts of a family and how their bodies are affected by events/people/places out of their control, while also being sensitive to their souls.

In December, we’re headed to Cuba!

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

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“Every real human interaction is made up of a million tiny moving pieces. Not a simple one-note situation: a symphony of cues to read and decipher and evaluate and pay attention.”
― Katherine Center, Hello Stranger

Sadie Montgomery has spent her life struggling. Determined to not need anything from her father, she decided not to study medicine and became an artist instead! She has had her share of ups and downs, but it looks like her life may finally be on the upswing. Sadie has just learned that she is a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition with a prize of $10,000. This competition has the opportunity to publicize her work more and hopefully bring more commissions her way.

Everything’s great, right?! Wrong. Her joy is shattered when she learns that she needs to have surgery right now. The surgery will be minor and she will only need to stay in the hospital for less than a week. In the midst of recovery though, Sadie discovers that the surgery has altered her ability to paint portraits in a big way: she can no longer see faces. Sadie has prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness. This should hopefully be temporary, but the doctors can’t give her any definitive answers. This is the worst news a portrait artist could receive.

Sadie is devastated. Her new reality consists of avoiding looking at faces or seeing a disconnected jumble of facial features every time she looks at a person’s face. Her life just can’t seem to go right. She still wants to be an artist, her family is going through some extra messy drama, and Peanut, her dog, is now sick! In the midst of this madness, Sadie also may have met the man of her dreams. Actually, she may have met TWO men of her dreams. What is she to do? With her perceptions screwed up, Sadie walks through life slowly, wanting to make sure she knows who she is talking to without having to tell everyone she meets that she is face blind. Her journey to acceptance is rough, but at least she has these men, and Peanut, to distract her. Right?!

This title is also available as a Libby eBook, Libby eAudiobook, large print, CD audiobook, and Playaway audiobook.

“We’re all just doing the best we can. We’re all struggling with our struggles. Nobody has the answers. And everybody, deep down, is a little bit lost.”
― Katherine Center, Hello Stranger

New Contemporary Novels with a Twist!

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When I was shelving new books last week, I noticed a new subgenre of contemporary novels with a twist. These books are ones that have contemporary settings, but have unusual/strange/peculiar premises. Fascinated by this, I started hunting for even more and came up with the following list.

Below I have gathered contemporary novels that were released in 2023. All descriptions have been provided by the publisher and/or author.

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

A year into her dream job at a cutthroat Silicon Valley start-up, Cassie finds herself trapped in a corporate nightmare. Between the long hours, toxic bosses, and unethical projects, she also struggles to reconcile the glittering promise of a city where obscene wealth lives alongside abject poverty and suffering. Ivy League grads complain about the snack selection from a conference room with a view of unhoused people bathing in the bay. Start-up burnouts leap into the paths of commuter trains, and men literally set themselves on fire in the streets.

Though isolated, Cassie is never alone. From her earliest memory, a miniature black hole has been her constant companion. It feeds on her depression and anxiety, growing or shrinking in relation to her distress. The black hole watches, but it also waits. Its relentless pull draws Cassie ever closer as the world around her unravels.

When she ends up unexpectedly pregnant at the same time her CEO’s demands cross into illegal territory, Cassie must decide whether the tempting fruits of Silicon Valley are really worth it. Sharp but vulnerable, unsettling yet darkly comic, Ripeportrays one millennial woman’s journey through our late-capitalist hellscape and offers a brilliantly incisive look at the absurdities of modern life.

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House of Cotton by Monica Brashears

Magnolia Brown is nineteen years old, broke, and effectively an orphan. She feels stuck and haunted: by her overdrawn bank account, her predatory landlord, and the ghost of her late grandmother Mama Brown.

One night, while working at her dead-end gas station job, a mysterious, slick stranger named Cotton walks in and offers to turn Magnolia’s luck around with a lucrative “modeling” job at his family’s funeral home where she’ll impersonate the dead. There’s a lucrative fee involved and she accepts. But despite things looking up, Magnolia’s problems fatten along with her wallet. And when Cotton’s requests become increasingly demanding, Magnolia discovers there’s a lot more at stake than just her rent.

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Chlorine by Jade Song

Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life starts and ends with the pool. Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach is her guiding light. If she swims well enough, she will be scouted, get a scholarship, go to a good school. Her parents will love her. Her coach will be kind to her. She will have a good life.

But these are human concerns. These are the concerns of those confined to land, those with legs. Ren grew up on stories of creatures of the deep, of the oceans and the rivers. Creatures that called sailors to their doom. That dragged them down and drowned them. That feasted on their flesh. The creature that she’s always longed to become: the mermaid.

Ren aches to be in the water. She dreams of the scent of chlorine, the feel of it on her skin. And she will do anything she can to make a life for herself where she can be free. No matter the pain. No matter what anyone else thinks. No matter how much blood she has to spill.

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Confidence by Rafael Frumkin

At seventeen, Ezra Green doesn’t have a lot going on for him: he’s shorter than average, snaggle-toothed, internet-addicted, and halfway to being legally blind. He’s also on his way to Last Chance Camp, the final stop before juvie.

But Ezra’s summer at Last Chance turns life-changing when he meets Orson, brilliant and Adonis-like with a mind for hustling. Together, the two embark upon what promises to be a fruitful career of scam artistry. But things start to spin wildly out of control when they try to pull off their biggest scam yet—Nulife, a corporation that promises its consumers a lifetime of bliss.

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Notes on Her Color by Jennifer Neal

Gabrielle has always had a complicated relationship with her mother Tallulah, one marked by intimacy and resilience in the face of a volatile patriarch. Everything in their home has been bleached a cold white—from the cupboards filled with sheets and crockery to the food and spices Tallulah cooks with. Even Gabrielle, who inherited the ability to change the color of her skin from her mother, is told to pass into white if she doesn’t want to upset her father.

But this vital mother-daughter bond implodes when Tallulah is hospitalized for a mental health crisis. Separated from her mother for the first time in her life, Gabrielle must learn to control the temperamental shifts in her color on her own.

Meanwhile, Gabrielle is spending a year after high school focusing on her piano lessons, an extracurricular her father is sure will make her a more appealing candidate for pre med programs. Her instructor, a queer, dark-skinned woman named Dominique, seems to encapsulate everything Gabrielle is missing in her life—creativity, confidence, and perhaps most importantly, a nurturing sense of love.

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The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie

Penny Rush has problems. Her marriage is over; she’s quit her job. Her mother and stepfather went missing in the Australian outback five years ago; her mentally unbalanced father provokes her; her grandmother Dr. Pincer keeps experiments in the refrigerator and something worse in the woodshed. But Penny is a virtuoso at what’s possible when all else fails.

Elizabeth McKenzie, the National Book Award–nominated author of The Portable Veblen, follows Penny on her quest for a fresh start. There will be a road trip in the Dog of the North, an old van with gingham curtains, a piñata, and stiff brakes. There will be injury and peril. There will be a dog named Kweecoats and two brothers who may share a toupee. There will be questions: Why is a detective investigating her grandmother, and what is “the scintillator”? And can Penny recognize a good thing when it finally comes her way?

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Want more? Here’s a list of ten more unusual contemporary novels! Share your favorite in the comments.

August Blue by Deborah Levy

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis

The Last Animal by Romana Ausubel

Big Swiss by Jean Beagin

Open Throat by Henry Hoke

Biography of X by Catherine Lacey

The Guest Lecture by Martin Riker

Ghost Music by An Yu

The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley

Everything is Ok by Debbie Tung

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Debbie Tung has created a graphic memoir full of comforting comics about anxiety and depression in Everything is Ok. Debbie’s words and drawings are relaxing, gentle, and relatable, as she walks you through her own anxiety and depression.

Debbie shares her struggles and relationships with her own anxiety and depression. She digs deep and shows how normal it is to find getting out of bed incredibly hard. Her stories of overthinking, intrusive negative thoughts, and the nearly constant switches between highs and lows are incredibly important as it breaks down the stigma of not sharing mental health struggles with the world.

Debbie’s stories are deeply personal, yet very relatable. Her twisty road to recovery is long and hard, but when she finally vocalizes her need for help, readers can see how her drawings and attitude start to change. Debbie even details her conversations with her therapist, something I found deeply moving. She didn’t need to invite readers into her deepest and most personal spaces, but she did, and I will forever be grateful she is illustrating and sharing her mental health struggles. Her journey to be more mindful and caring to herself and her mental health was enlightening. Debbie is merciful with herself and in doing so, gives readers permission to treat themselves with kindness and to open up. Seeing someone who also struggles with mental health issues shows readers that they are not alone and that it is okay to have dark places as long as you are being kinder to yourself and learning how to love yourself on your road to recovery.

WORLD WAR II AND THE HOLOCAUST

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As a follow-up to the October 16, 2023 blog: PALESTINE 1936: the great revolt and the roots of the Middle East conflict by Oren Kessler it seems appropriate to share more titles that will help the reader to more deeply connect with the humanity and INhumanity of the second World War – a direct precursor to the establishment of Israel as a nation. With the current state of affairs in the Middle East and the division it has caused in our own country and around the world, reminding ourselves of the past is vital to preventing another holocaust (of any people) and potentially another World War.

These books are organized into several categories and deliver the facts of World War II that directly impacted the persecuted people and focus on their personal stories. These are true re-tellings of the horrific acts perpetrated on ordinary people and their fight for survival. There are stories of individuals who risked their lives through selfless acts to help save others. There are stories of resistance and brave defiance, as well as the work of spies and operatives. Included, too, are books that tell of the ideology of the enemy and the atrocities at the concentration camps.  More comprehensive histories of the war are offered as well as books discussing what we can learn from this war, how it has shaped us, and how we can reclaim our humanity and seek peace.

What’s not covered:

There are so many facets of World War II, that this list of books is largely limited to the civilian impact of the war on the European continent, particularly of Jewish people or anyone who dared to help them – including the death camps. This list does not include books that are focused more on specific military campaigns, the battle stories and valor of those who served (excluding spies & operatives), the important acts of the medical corps, the lives of those on the home front, or any of the undertakings in any of the many theatres of war. You may search these topics yourself and will find plenty of books to help you understand those aspects of the war.

STORIES OF THOSE WHO SURVIVED, HOW THEY SURVIVED, AND OF THOSE WHO DIDN’T:

A Bookshop in Berlin : The rediscovered memoir of one woman’s harrowing escape from the Nazis by Francoise Frenkel

The choice : embrace the possible by Edith Eva Eger

Death march escape : the remarkable story of a man who twice escaped the Nazi Holocaust by Jack J. Hersch

The diary of a young girl the definitive edition by Anne Frank

The dressmakers of Auschwitz : the true story of the women who sewed to survive by Lucy Adlington

Into the forest : a Holocaust story of survival, triumph, and love by Rebecca Frankel

The light of days : the untold story of (Jewish) women resistance fighters in Hitler’s ghettos by Judy Batalion

My friend Anne Frank : the inspiring and heartbreaking true story of best friends torn apart and reunited against all odds by Hannah Pick-Goslar

Remember us : my journey from the shtetl through the Holocaust by Martin Small

Saved by Schindler : the life of Celina Karp Biniaz by William B. Friedricks

Tehran children : a (Jewish) Holocaust refugee odyssey by Mikhal Dekel

STORIES OF THOSE WHO RISKED THEMSELVES TO HIDE OTHERS:

The Bielski brothers : the true story of three men who defied the Nazis, saved 1,200 Jews, and built a village in the forest by Peter Duffy

A good place to hide : how one French community saved thousands of lives in World War II by Peter Grose

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Irena’s children : the extraordinary story of the woman who saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw ghetto by Tilar J. Mazzeo

The sisters of Auschwitz : the true story of two Jewish sisters’ resistance in the heart of Nazi territory by Roxane van Iperen

The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman

STORIES OF RESISTANCE:

A cool and lonely courage : the untold story of sister spies in Occupied France by Susan Ottaway

D-Day girls : the spies who armed the resistance, sabotaged the Nazis, and helped win World War II by Sarah Rose

The forgers : the forgotten story of the Holocaust’s most audacious rescue operation by Roger Moorhouse

The girls who stepped out of line : untold stories of the women who changed the course of World War II by Mari K. Eder

Invisible heroes of World War II : extraordinary wartime stories of ordinary people by Jerry Borrowman

Madame Fourcade’s secret war : the daring young woman who led France’s largest spy network against Hitler by Lynne Olson

The nine : the true story of a band of women who survived the worst of Nazi Germany by Gwen Strauss

Operatives, spies, and saboteurs : the unknown story of the men and women of World War II’s OSS by Patrick K. O’Donnell

A train in winter an extraordinary story of women, friendship, and resistance in occupied France by Caroline Moorehead

A woman of no importance : the untold story of the American spy who helped win World War II by Sonia Purnell

Red Orchestra : the story of the Berlin underground and the circle of friends who resisted Hitler by Anne Nelson

FAMILIES SEARCHING FOR LOST RELATIVES AND THE TRUTH:

Jews in the garden : a Holocaust survivor, the fate of his family, and the secret history of Poland in World War II by Judy Rakowsky

A world erased : a grandson’s search for his family’s Holocaust secrets by Noah Lederman

OTHER EXPERIENCES OR FIRST-HAND WITNESS:

The diary keepers : World War II in the Netherlands, as written by the people who lived through it by Nina Siegal

Facing the lion : memoirs of a young girl in Nazi Europe by Simone Arnold Liebster

Last witnesses : an oral history of the children of World War II by Svetlana Aleksievich

The ravine : a family, a photograph, a Holocaust massacre revealed by Wendy Lower

RECOVERING FROM HORRIFIC EVENTS OF WAR:

Man’s search for meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Wounds into wisdom : healing intergenerational Jewish trauma by Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, Ph.D.

HOLOCAUST HISTORY AND GENERAL WORLD WAR II FACTS:

Historical atlas of the Holocaust by the U S Holocaust Memorial Museum

The holocaust chronicle by Marilyn Harran, Dieter Kuntz, and John K. Roth

Holocaust : the Nazi persecution and murder of the Jews by Peter Longerich

The secret war : spies, ciphers, and guerrillas 1939-1945 by Max Hastings

The storm of war : a new history of the Second World War by Andrew Roberts

World War II in photographs by Richard Holmes

THE ALLIES

1944 : FDR and the year that changed history by Jay Winik

Britain at Bay : the epic story of the Second World War, 1938-1941 by Alan Allport

Last Hope Island : Britain, occupied Europe, and the brotherhood that helped turn the tide of war by Lynne Olson

Why the allies won by R. J. Overy

HOW THE WAR CHANGED US, CAN CHANGE US, (OR COULD HAVE):

The fear and the freedom : how the Second World War changed us by Keith Lowe

If the Allies had fallen : sixty alternate scenarios of World War II by Dennis E. Showalter and Harold C. Deutsch

Learning from the Germans : race and the memory of evil by Susan Neiman

Why we fight : the roots of war and the paths to peace by Christopher Blattman

THE AXIS – IDEOLOGY OF THE ENEMY:

Army of evil : a history of the SS by Adrian Weale

Becoming Hitler : the Making of a Nazi by Thomas Weber

The book thieves : the Nazi looting of Europe’s libraries and the race to return a literary inheritance by Anders Rydell

Göring’s man in Paris : the story of a Nazi art plunderer and his world by Jonathan Petropoulos

Hitler’s furies : German women in the Nazi killing fields by Wendy Lower

The rape of Europa : the fate of Europe’s treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War by Lynn H. Nicholas

Then they came for me : Martin Niemöller, the pastor who defied the Nazis by Matthew D. Hockenos

The women who flew for Hitler: a true story of soaring ambition and searing rivalry by Clare Mulley

PRISON CAMPS:

Auschwitz : not long ago. not far away by Luis Ferreiro, Miriam Greenbaum, and Robert Jan van Pelt

Dachau 29 April 1945 : the Rainbow liberation memoirs by Sam Dann

Ravensbrück : life and death in Hitler’s concentration camp for women by Sarah Helm

Library Closed for Thanksgiving Holiday

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All three Davenport Public Library locations will be closed Thursday, November 23rd and Friday, November 24th in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. All three buildings will reopen with the regular hours on Saturday, November 25th: Main (321 Main Street) 9am to 5:30pm, Eastern (6000 Eastern Avenue) 9am to 5:30pm, and Fairmount (3000 N Fairmount St) 9am to 5:30pm.

Even though our physical locations will be closed, you can still access free digital content for all ages. Your Davenport Public Library card gives you access to free eBooks, digital audiobooks, magazines, movies, and music through Libby, Freegal, TumbleBooks, QC Beats, and Kanopy!

Have a safe and happy holiday!

2024 All Iowa Reads Selections

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In the middle of October 2023, the All Iowa Reads Selections for 2024 were announced on Iowa Public Radio’s Talk of Iowa program. All Iowa Reads was established in 2003 as a way to foster a sense of unity through reading. In libraries across the state, patrons are encouraged to read these selections at some point within the calendar year.

The All Iowa Reads titles are selected by three different committees run entirely by volunteers. One committee selects the adult titles, another selects the teen titles(ages 12-18), and the third selects the kids titles (ages 8-12). For more information about their process and requirements, visit the State Library of Iowa All Iowa Reads website.

More information and resources about the All Iowa Reads Selections for 2024 will be posted in 2024 on the State Library of Iowa’s website in January.

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The 2024 Adult All Iowa Read selection is The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. The following description is provided by the publisher, Milkweed Editions.

A haunting novel spanning several generations, The Seed Keeper follows a Dakota family’s struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most.

Rosalie Iron Wing has grown up in the woods with her father, Ray, a former science teacher who tells her stories of plants, of the stars, of the origins of the Dakota people. Until, one morning, Ray doesn’t return from checking his traps. Told she has no family, Rosalie is sent to live with a foster family in nearby Mankato—where the reserved, bookish teenager meets rebellious Gaby Makespeace, in a friendship that transcends the damaged legacies they’ve inherited.

On a winter’s day many years later, Rosalie returns to her childhood home. A widow and mother, she has spent the previous two decades on her white husband’s farm, finding solace in her garden even as the farm is threatened first by drought and then by a predatory chemical company. Now, grieving, Rosalie begins to confront the past, on a search for family, identity, and a community where she can finally belong. In the process, she learns what it means to be descended from women with souls of iron—women who have protected their families, their traditions, and a precious cache of seeds through generations of hardship and loss, through war and the insidious trauma of boarding schools.

Weaving together the voices of four indelible women, The Seed Keeper is a beautifully told story of reawakening, of remembering our original relationship to the seeds and, through them, to our ancestors. – Milkweed Editions

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The 2024 Teen All Iowa Reads selection is Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed. The following description has been provided by the publisher, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

This powerful, gripping thriller from a New York Times bestselling author shows the insidious nature of racism, the terrible costs of unearthing hidden truths—and the undeniable power of hope.

Safiya Mirza dreams of becoming a journalist. And one thing she’s learned as editor of her school newspaper is that a journalist’s job is to find the facts and not let personal biases affect the story. But all that changes the day she finds the body of a murdered boy.

Jawad Ali was fourteen years old when he built a cosplay jetpack that a teacher mistook for a bomb. A jetpack that got him arrested, labeled a terrorist—and eventually killed. But he’s more than a dead body, and more than “Bomb Boy.” He was a person with a life worth remembering.

Driven by Jawad’s haunting voice guiding her throughout her investigation, Safiya seeks to tell the whole truth about the murdered boy and those who killed him because of their hate-based beliefs.

This gripping and powerful book uses an innovative format and lyrical prose to expose the evil that exists in front of us, and the silent complicity of the privileged who create alternative facts to bend the truth to their liking. – Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

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The 2024 Kids All Iowa Reads selection is Tumble by Celia C. Pérez. The following description has been provided by the publisher, Kokila.

From the award-winning author of The First Rule of Punk and Strange Birds, a dazzling novel about a young girl who collects the missing pieces of her origin story from the family of legendary luchadores she’s never met.

A 2023 Pura Belpré Author Honor Book

Twelve-year-old Adela “Addie” Ramírez has a big decision to make when her stepfather proposes adoption. Addie loves Alex, the only father figure she’s ever known, but with a new half brother due in a few months and a big school theater performance on her mind, everything suddenly feels like it’s moving too fast. She has a million questions, and the first is about the young man in the photo she found hidden away in her mother’s things.

Addie’s sleuthing takes her to a New Mexico ranch, and her world expands to include the legendary Bravos: Rosie and Pancho, her paternal grandparents and former professional wrestlers; Eva and Maggie, her older identical twin cousins who love to spar in and out of the ring; Uncle Mateo, whose lucha couture and advice are unmatched; and Manny, her biological father, who’s in the midst of a career comeback. As luchadores, the Bravos’s legacy is strong. But being part of a family is so much harder—it’s about showing up, taking off your mask, and working through challenges together.

Stay tuned in January 2024 for more information about these All Iowa Reads selections.

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

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‘I am learning how to be
sad
and happy
at the same time.’ – Jasmine Warga, Other Words for Home

Lately novels in verse have been popping up on the top of my to-read list. Novels in verse are stories that are written using poetry instead of the typical format of a novel (sentences, paragraphs, and chapters). These books don’t have to rhyme, although some do! If you’re looking for a quick read, give a novel in verse a try. My latest read was a novel in verse that hit me right in the feels: the Newberry Award Honor winner, Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga.

Jude and her family live in a beautiful seaside town in Syria. Her parents run a store, while her older brother attends school. When the war in Syria creeps closer to their home, her parents decide that it would be best for Jude and her mother to move to Cincinnati, Ohio to live with relatives. Jude is devastated. She doesn’t want to leave her older brother and father behind, but her parents have already decided they must leave.

When Jude and her mother land in Cincinnati, everything moves too fast and the world is too loud. Her family try to help the two assimilate, but Jude is at a loss. She used to watch old American movies with her brother and best friend, but those movies are nothing like the real America where she now lives. A big confusion for her: Americans need to label everything. Jude and her mother are suddenly ‘Middle Eastern’, something she has never been called before. Jude is incredibly observant, noticing the new opportunities available to her, the new ways people react to her, and the new friends she finds. Jude’s new life is full of so many surprises, both good and bad, but she is able to live up to her brother’s words to ‘be brave’.

This middle grade free verse novel was beautifully written. It is authentically written, descriptive, and thought provoking. Warga talks about many issues that immigrants face when they flee their unsafe homelands and then the issues that pop up once they land in a new place. There are themes of resilience, belonging, family, and identity. This is a story of one family’s transformation before and after the war began in Syria. Their lives will never be the same, but they have no choice.

This title is also available as CD audiobook, Playaway audiobook, and as a Libby eBook and Libby eAudiobook.

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