Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn

Confronting your past is an issue that most adults go through in life. Kate Clayborn’s newest book, Georgie, All Along, talks about how to reconcile your past, love, career, and understanding your worth in a whimsical and captivating story.

Georgie Mulcahy has spent her entire career putting others ahead of herself. As a personal assistant to high-profile people in Los Angeles, she has always known how to get people what they need. When she unexpectedly finds herself out of a job and heading back to her hometown, Georgie realizes that she has no idea what she wants or needs. This throws her for a loop.

While helping her best friend prepare for the arrival of her baby, Georgie finds a relic from her past – a ‘friendfic’ diary that she wrote with said best friend when they were teenagers. This diary is full of all of the possibilities that they imagined for themselves, albeit mostly Georgie’s wishes. Given that she has no idea what she wants to do, this diary full of ideas is her path to a new life.

Determined to get a head start on her new plan, Georgie heads to her parents’ house to read through her diary and figure out where to start. Her plans suddenly change when she discovers that her parents have accidentally let another person to stay at their house – Levi Fanning, a quiet, grouchy man. Levi comes with his own baggage. Born and raised in the same town as Georgie, Levi used to have quite the reputation as the town troublemaker. Now however, Levi is the town hermit, determined to rebuild his reputation by keeping his head down, working hard, and not getting into any trouble.

Levi eventually offers to help Georgie work through the list of ideas from her diary. As the two work through the list, they become closer and start to see how the way each of them have been living may not be the way they want to continue. Trying to figure out what they want proves difficult as their pasts start to push to the present in uncomfortable ways.

This title is also available as a Libby eBook and Libby eAudiobook.

July’s Celebrity Book Club Picks

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 Simply Held, these titles will automatically be put on hold for you.

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Jenna Bush Hager has selected Banyan Moon by Thao Thai for her July pick.

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

A sweeping, evocative debut novel following three generations of Vietnamese American women reeling from the death of their matriarch, revealing the family’s inherited burdens, buried secrets, and unlikely love stories.

When Ann Tran gets the call that her fiercely beloved grandmother, Minh, has passed away, her life is already at a crossroads. In the years since she’s last seen Minh, Ann has built a seemingly perfect life—a beautiful lake house, a charming professor boyfriend, and invites to elegant parties that bubble over with champagne and good taste—but it all crumbles with one positive pregnancy test. With both her relationship and carefully planned future now in question, Ann returns home to Florida to face her estranged mother, Huơng.

Back in Florida, Huơng is simultaneously mourning her mother and resenting her for having the relationship with Ann that she never did. Then Ann and Huơng learn that Minh has left them both the Banyan House, the crumbling old manor that was Ann’s childhood home, in all its strange, Gothic glory. Under the same roof for the first time in years, mother and daughter must face the simmering questions of their past and their uncertain futures, while trying to rebuild their relationship without the one person who’s always held them together.

Running parallel to this is Minh’s story, as she goes from a lovestruck teenager living in the shadow of the Vietnam War to a determined young mother immigrating to America in search of a better life for her children. And when Ann makes a shocking discovery in the Banyan House’s attic, long-buried secrets come to light as it becomes clear how decisions Minh made in her youth affected the rest of her life—and beyond.

Spanning decades and continents, from 1960s Vietnam to the wild swamplands of the Florida coast, Banyan Moon is a stunning and deeply moving story of mothers and daughters, the things we inherit, and the lives we choose to make out of that inheritance.

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Reese Witherspoon has selected Yellowface by R.F. Kuang for her July pick.

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

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

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

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal is a thought-provoking, meaningful, and sexy book that was definitely not what I was expecting. Jaswal pairs funny, light, and lively touches with very serious themes like arranged vs. forced marriages and traditional vs. modern cultures. As I was scrolling through the Libby app, I found this title and checked the author’s website where I found this:

Entertainment Weekly:
Write a movie poster tagline for your Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows.

Balli Kaur Jaswal:
You’ll never look at root vegetables the same way again.

Nikki and Mindi are sisters who showcase differences between generations and traditions. Mindi is slightly more traditional than her more modern sister Nikki. The daughters of Indian immigrants, both Nikki and Mindi, are working to find their places in life. Needing a change, Nikki applies for and is hired to teach creative writing at the local Sikh community center. When she arrives for the first class though, she learns that the job posting was a lie. Her students are mostly older Punjabi widows who want to learn how to read and write. Quickly adjusting, Nikki starts teaching them English letters, but the widows become bored. The students soon find a book of sexy/erotic short stories that they read to each other before class starts. This devolves into the widows sharing their own stories. Chaos ensues with issues popping up all over the community and within their own class.

Even though the name of this book sounds scandalous, this book is not erotica nor romance. Yes, there are a couple erotic stories, but the stories presented are meant to appear like they are written by women who cannot read or write. Instead they are lived experiences or stories that come from the heart or from loneliness. These stories are presented in ways that show that these women want to feel equal or loved or wanting to feel pleasure or be able to be on equal terms as men. They add meaning to the book by showcasing issues that women have faced for centuries and are still facing today.

There are lots of triggers in this book: violent murders, threats, oppression of women, mention of rape, religious persecution, and social oppression.

This title is also available in spanish fiction and as a Libby eBook.

Simply Held July Authors: Mary Monroe and Louise Penny

Want the hottest new release from your favorite author? Want to stay current with a celebrity book club? Love nonfiction and fiction? You should join Simply Held. Choose any author, celebrity pick, nonfiction and/or fiction pick and the Davenport Public Library will put the latest title on hold for you automatically. Select as many as you want! If you still have questions, please check out our list of FAQs.

New month means new highlighted authors from Simply Held. July’s authors are Mary Monroe for fiction and Louise Penny for mystery.

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Our July fiction author is Mary Monroe. Monroe was the first and only member of her family to finish high school. She never went to college or took any writing classes. Instead, she taught herself how to write and started writing short stories at the age of four. Her first novel, The Upper Room, was published in 1985. After that, it took her fifteen years before she landed a contract for her second book, God Don’t Like Ugly, which published in 2000. She has won the Oakland Pen Award for Best Fiction, the Best Southern Author Award, the Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award, and the J. California Copper Memorial Award, amongst many others.

Monroe writes romance, general fiction, romantic suspense, and historical fiction.

Monroe’s newest book is Love, Honor, Betray, which is the third book in the Lexington, Alabama series. This book was published in March 2023.

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

Award-winning New York Times bestselling author Mary Monroe delivers the latest thrillingly scandal-filled novel in her Depression-era saga of a church-going lady and her oh-so-upstanding husband racing to cover up their many sins—and gambling on one scheme too many. . .

With mysterious serial murders putting peaceful Lexington, Alabama, on edge, Jessie and Hubert Wiggins’ steadfast calm and devotion to each other reassures everyone that faith will see them through. But Jessie and Hubert have paid a terrible hidden cost to maintain their devout facade and respectable standing. Nothing can allay the guilt they feel—or stop the growing distrust between them . . .

Hubert thought he and his secret lover, Leroy, could continue seeing each other on the down-low in peace. But when Leroy’s ex-wife moves back in with him, a heartbroken Hubert is driven to distraction trying to keep Jessie in the dark—and quell his mounting jealousy. And his need for satisfaction is driving Hubert to reckless extremes—and desperate risks. . .

Jessie believes the struggles between her and Hubert will all be worth it if she can connive him to finally consummate their marriage—no matter what she has to do. But his erratic behavior and her frustration soon has her trying yet another new lover, who is as charming as he is unreliable—and unexpectedly dangerous. . .

Now with their secrets out of control—and the police perilously near—Jessie and Hubert discover who might be behind the deaths plaguing their town. But can they risk a pursuit that could expose their own web of lies? When their only choice pits them and their suspicions against each other, their next move will either bury their deceptions deep for good—or reveal the one truth they can’t escape. . .

This title is also available as a Libby eBook and large print.

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Our July mystery author is Louise Penny. Penny is most well-known for her best-selling mystery series starring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec. This series started in 2005 with Still Life and has made it up to eighteen novels (so far). It is known as both the Three Pines books and the Chief Inspector Gamache series. Her late husband Michael was the inspiration for Armand Gamache. Outside of this series, Penny worked with Hillary Clinton to write State of Terror, a geopolitical thriller that was released in 2021.

Before becoming a published author, Penny worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as a radio host and journalist for 18 years. In 1996, Penny quit working for the CBC at the encouragement of her husband, Michael Whitehead, in order to write a novel. After five years of struggles, she decided to start writing mysteries, stop writing for an imagined reader, and start focusing on what she would like to read. She made the characters people she would want to be friends with and based the setting on her town and the surrounding area. She was rejected by numerous publishers. Frustrated, she submitted her book for the Debut Dagger award in 2004, a British crime-writing contest for unpublished works. She placed second, but left with an agent. Her first book, Still Life, was published in 2005. Her Chief Inspector Gamache series has sold more than 10 million copies in North America. A miniseries and television show were also based on the series.

Penny is a New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling author. She has won multiple awards, including multiple Agatha Awards, a Crime Writers’ Association Dagger, and was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Novel, plus many others not listed here. She currently lives outside a small village south of Montreal with her golden retrievers. Penny writes mysteries and thrillers.

Penny’s author website has many helpful parts – book club questions, reading order, literacy help, Three Pines character list, pronunciation guide, and so much more. I highly recommend you check it out.

Penny’s newest book is A World of Curiosities, book 18 in the Chief Inspector Ganache series. This book was published in November 2022.

Curious what this book is about? Below is a description provided by the publisher.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns in the eighteenth book in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny’s beloved series.

It’s spring and Three Pines is reemerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should reemerge.

But something has.

As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the Sûreté du Québec investigators’ lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they’ve arrived in the village of Three Pines.

But to what end?

Gamache and Beauvoir’s memories of that tragic case, the one that first brought them together, come rushing back. Did their mother’s murder hurt them beyond repair? Have those terrible wounds, buried for decades, festered and are now about to erupt?

As Chief Inspector Gamache works to uncover answers, his alarm grows when a letter written by a long dead stone mason is discovered. In it the man describes his terror when bricking up an attic room somewhere in the village. Every word of the 160-year-old letter is filled with dread. When the room is found, the villagers decide to open it up.

As the bricks are removed, Gamache, Beauvoir and the villagers discover a world of curiosities. But the head of homicide soon realizes there’s more in that room than meets the eye. There are puzzles within puzzles, and hidden messages warning of mayhem and revenge.

In unsealing that room, an old enemy is released into their world. Into their lives. And into the very heart of Armand Gamache’s home.

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

Library Closed for Independence Day / 4th of July

All three Davenport Public Library locations are closed on Tuesday, July 4th in observance of Independence Day. We will be open for regular hours and services on Wednesday, July 5th.

Even though Independence Day is a largely celebrated holiday, I wanted to focus on some smaller known holidays. I found a list on Holidays and Observances website, but I’m going to focus on a few!

Alice in Wonderland Day – Supposedly this is the day that Lewis Carroll, real name – Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, originally told his story to Alice Liddell for the first time before he wrote it down. This first telling would eventually become Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Boom Box Parade Day – In 1986, the local high school of Willimantic, Connecticut had to make budget cuts, which meant there would be no band to play in the July 4th parade. The local radio station 1400 AM WILI volunteered to play music instead. Now hundreds of people march through town with boom boxes tuned to WILI, which plays marching band classics.

Independence from Meat Day – According to sources, this day was created by the Vegetarian Awareness Network in Tennessee with the aim to take a day off from consuming meat. The irony that it takes place on a holiday marked by barbecues is not lost on me.

Sidewalk Egg Frying Day  – Every July 4th, a town in Arizona has an egg frying contest. The catch? You have to fry an egg outside without any electricity or fire! You can use mirrors or magnifying glasses though. Have you ever fried an egg on a sidewalk before?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this dive into unique July 4th traditions and holidays. If you any other favorites, share them in the comments below!

 

 

Online Reading Challenge – July

Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge travels to suburbia. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, suburbia is ‘the outer parts of a town, where there are houses, but no large stores, places of work, or places of entertainment’. Miriam-Webster defines suburbs as ‘a smaller community adjacent to or within commuting distance of a city OR the residential area on the outskirts of a city or large town’. There are so many suburbia options for you to read, watch, or listen to! I can’t wait!

Our Main title for July is The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. Here’s a quick summary from the publisher.

Ann Patchett, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Commonwealth, delivers her most powerful novel to date: a richly moving story that explores the indelible bond between two siblings, the house of their childhood, and a past that will not let them go. The Dutch House is the story of a paradise lost, a tour de force that digs deeply into questions of inheritance, love and forgiveness, of how we want to see ourselves and of who we really are.

At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves.

The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures.

Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.

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

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

Online Reading Challenge – June Wrap-Up

Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

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

I read our main title: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman. This book tore my heart out. The more I read, the more I was invested in what was going on in everyone’s lives. The prose is absolutely beautiful as the author describes the remote island setting (and all the other locations in the book). Honestly, I love any books set in Australia, especially narrators with Australian accents, so this was an almost guaranteed enjoyment for me. Let’s talk about the book!

Tom Sherbourn is a young World War I vet described by others as responsible, upstanding, and stalwart. The war ravaged him emotionally. After the war, Tom finds a job as a light-keeper on isolated Janus Rock off the western coast of Australia. During one of his shore leaves, Tom meets Isabel. Isabel is young and free-spirited. The two are soon married and set up house on Janus Rock to begin their life together as starry-eyed new lovers. Janus Rock is gorgeous. Tom starts to heal amongst the silence, solitude, and rumblings of the sea. The thing that would make their life complete is a baby, something that Isabel longs for intensely. Over several years, Isabel suffers two miscarriages and a devastating stillbirth. The couple are crushed.

One day a small boat washes up on Janus Rock. The two are stunned to find a dead body and a very much alive infant in the boat. Tom is required to record and report everything that happens on Janus Rock, but Isabel persuades a very reluctant Tom to not do so in this case. She reasons that the baby is most likely an orphan now. Isabel believes that this is a sign from the universe to reward them after the years of heartbreak the two have suffered in their attempts to have a child. Tom buries the dead man, sets the boat adrift, and tells himself the two are doing the right thing, although his conscience eats at him as time passes.

Tom, Isabel, and the baby have an almost perfect life on Janus Rock. Their trips back to shore to visit Isabel’s family however start to worry even more at Tom’s conscience. He broke the rules and omitted important information from his reports, something that could end his career and lead to him facing formal charges. Tom’s misgivings haunt him and soon enough, his worries actually amount to something. Their idyllic life comes crashing down. The family is forced to deal with the consequences of Tom and Isabel’s actions. Nothing will be the same.

I wasn’t sure what I expected when I started this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. I had never read this before (or seen the movie starring Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Rachel Weisz). The depth of emotion presented through written words tore at my heart. As I was reading, I thought I was going to be sympathetic one way, but reading from multiple points of view really had me second-guessing my judgments and feelings. I find myself thinking about this book long after I finished it – wondering what choices I would have made if I had been put in a similar position. This book, to me, was a good reminder that you never know what a person is going through. Everyone has their own reasons for doing something and just because you wouldn’t necessarily behave a certain way doesn’t mean that someone else won’t. All in all, I enjoyed this book and found myself running through a wide range of emotions as I listened.

In July we’re headed to suburbia!

Flung Out of Space by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer

This is a story I believe is worth telling. That being said, I want to be clear: The protagonist of this story is not a good person. In fact, Patricia Highsmith was an appalling person. – Grace Ellis, author’s note in the beginning of Flung Out of Space

Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith by Grace Ellis and illustrated by Hannah Templer was a book that had my feelings twisted multiple directions. Patricia Highsmith is problematic. She was a comic book writer and a lesbian during a time when those things were very much frowned upon and seen of as wrong and immoral. Pat’s own feelings towards herself are not positive – she goes through conversion therapy during the book. She is portrayed more as an antihero that readers aren’t sure how they should feel towards. Throughout this book, she is portrayed as bitter, caustic, and lashes out to anyone who gets too close. Pat is deeply flawed. This graphic novel is full of casual sexism, a male-dominated hierarchy, antisemitism, and prejudice against homosexuality. The swirling issues surrounding homosexuality are never really called attention to, but instead are present in Pat’s intense self-loathing of herself amongst other things. Hence my twisty feelings.

This graphic novel begins with Pat working as a writer of low-brow comics. She knows she can do better, but doesn’t do so. She drinks, smokes, and generally goes about life with an immensely surly attitude. As she goes about her day to day, Pat is consumed with thoughts of the novel she should be writing, which will eventually become Strangers on a Train, which will then be adapted into a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951.

While she works to write Strangers on a Train, Pat is consumed with self-hatred as she battles the fact that she is a lesbian. She tries conversion therapy, which instead provides her with more women to love and leave. One of those encounters plants the seed of another book in Pat’s head: a story of homosexual love that would give the lesbian protagonists a happy ending – a first! (this would eventually become the book, The Price of Salt).

As I talking about before, this title gave me conflicting emotions. Pat became an unintentional queer icon, but also held incredibly problematic views on multiple topics which made her legacy controversial. It’s a good read, but please read with care.

Atención!  Achtung!  Announcing!   

The Library has switched foreign language products.  We have been offering Transparent Language of late (and we still do through the end of June).  But we are pleased to announce the return of Mango Languages to our fleet of online learning products.

Some previous users may recall that we offered Mango Languages in the past, and will be acquainted with the 70+ foreign language courses it offers and the 20+ ESL (English as a Second Language) courses.

The Mango learning system focuses on intuitive language construction through a conversation-based methodology that reinforces grammar, vocabulary, culture, and pronunciation, the four key elements of becoming a confident communicator.

With Mango, you may start to learn a new language or re-freshen your skills.  If you will be taking a trip to a France, learn to parle Français.   Or if you want to know what is being said around you learn to entender Español.

Mango uses a building block approach. At the beginning of each chapter, lesson material is presented in conversational context, broken up as the lesson progresses, and built back up by the learner, as they’re presented with new vocabulary, retention exercises, and cultural context that complement the learning material with a backdrop of cultural context.

With Mango you can hear the language pronounced and there’s the opportunity to record your pronunciation to compare it with that of a native speaker.

You may use Mango as a guest or you can sign up for an account.  The benefit of an account is that you’ll be able to keep track of the courses you have signed up for and your progress through them.  For example, with an account, if you just finished Japanese Lesson 5, the next time you sign on you’ll be presented with Japanese Lesson 6.  And there is an app that you can download so you can learn on-the-go.  But be aware that you must use the website to sign up for an account.  Though once created, the app can keep track of your account’s progress.

Lessons tend to be 15-20 minutes.  Sneak in a session while you are waiting in a restaurant or at an airport.  Every lesson furthers your language skills.

So, go forth and Russisch sprechen, Italian or Ukrainian.  The world awaits!

 

Sensory: Life on the Spectrum edited by Rebecca Ollerton

Sensory: Life on the Spectrum: An Autistic Comics Anthology edited by Rebecca Ollerton was organized for autism acceptance month in 2021. It started as a Kickstarter campaign and was eventually traditionally published with Andrews McMeel and circulated around the world. Now that we’ve talked the nitty-gritty, let’s get into how/why this title caught my eye.

First off, I am a sucker for comics anthologies. I love being introduced to new writers’ styles and seeing what they choose to focus on. Thirty autistic creators contributed to this anthology, talking about a wide variety of topics related to autism and their own journeys, such as self-diagnosis, masking, and autistic joy. This isn’t a graphic novel talking JUST about the happy though. Many of the autistic people in this book do share how they love their life or how they have come to accept that autism is an inherent part of who they are. However, there are also stories from artists sharing their discomfort (or at times, their hatred) of being autistic. I appreciated that this story shared stories from a wide variety of experiences. I also loved how there were multiple different autistic perspectives shared and how they didn’t agree on the ‘correct’ autistic terminology. The different experiences, perspectives, and emotions made this book more realistic and authentic to me versus if it had been exclusively positive or negative.

Second, I found this title in our Literacy Collection when I was looking for resources on autism from autistic people. I specifically was looking for input on identity first language(autistic person) vs people first language(person with autism). I had found a resource from the Autistic Not Weird Autism Survey 2022 that talked about how the majority of autistic people prefer identity first language. It’s been an interesting research journey and I wanted to see where this book would take me.

Third, I wanted to see how perspectives were highlighted in the neurodivergent world versus how they perceive the allistic(people not on the autism spectrum) world. Emotions ran high in some of the stories, which is necessary as those emotions can be healing and start new conversations. I also wanted to check my privileges and perceptions as an allistic person and see how I can adjust my actions to be more inclusive. This book was an interesting read as it had something for every different neurotype. Definite recommend if you want to expand your thinking and inclusiveness.

Sensory: Life on the Spectrum can be found in the Literacy Collection at our Main and Fairmount Street locations.

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