This July we are cooling off, enjoying treats, and embarking on adventures! There's a little something for everyone in the following recommendations of new titles!
Young Children (up to 2nd Grade)
Our Pool by Lucy Ruth Cummins
Today is a pool day in the city! The sun is shining, so what are you waiting for? Friends and family, kids and grandparents, big bodies and small bodies: everybody is welcome at our pool! Get ready for swimming and splashing, zigzagging and dunking, and racing and laughing.
Older Children (3rd Grade to 6th Grade)
El Toro & Friends: Tacos Today by Raúl the Third
Caution: don't read this while hungry! This mouthwatering early-reader comic follows El Toro and his luchador pals on a hunt for Tuesday's favorite food group: tacos. It’s lunchtime for young El Toro and his friends — and each one is looking forward to a different kind of taco, their favorite! The luchadors take a break from their training and head into town to eat. When they count their lunch money and discover they don’t have enough for tacos, they will have to work together on a creative, fun solution to earn plenty of dinero for a delicious all-you-can-eat spectacular! Flavored with Spanish phrases and topped with plenty of humor, this early reader graphic novel is essential for those who want an action-packed story and lots of laughs.
Teen Fiction
House Party by Justin A. Reynolds
Ten bestselling, critically acclaimed authors deliver a fresh novel of interconnected stories that follows a group of young adults over the course of a few wild, transformative hours at an epic house party! The biggest event of the year is happening, and you're invited! Join us for Florence Hills High School seniors' last hurrah before graduation. THE LOCATION: A megamansion in one of Chicago's wealthiest suburban enclaves. THE HOST: DeAndre Dixon, aka FHHS's golden boy. THE GUESTS: The populars, the jocks, the artists, and heck, even that one kid. THE HOPE: All the drama ensues. Kisses are swapped between old friends, new friends, and could've-sworn-they-were-enemies kind of friends. Relationships get tested. Animals roam free. Secrets are spilled. Add dope music that's thumping, and there's a good chance the whole neighborhood will be disrupted. House Party offers a delightful snapshot of diverse classmates getting ready to say goodbye to high school and hello to life's next chapter — but not before they make their final night together one they'll never forget!
Adult Fiction
The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romera Lacruz
Two women embark on an unforgettable quest that draws them into a world of dark gods and ancient magic in this sweeping fantasy debut inspired by the history and folklore of colonial South America.
Reina is desperate. Stuck on the edges of society, Reina's only hope lies in an invitation from a grandmother she's never met. But the journey to her is dangerous, and prayer can't always avert disaster. Attacked by creatures that stalk the mountains, Reina is on the verge of death until her grandmother, a dark sorceress, intervenes. Now dependent on the Doña's magic for her life, Reina will do anything to earn — and keep — her favor. Even the bidding of an ancient god who whispers to her at night.
Eva Kesaré is unwanted. Illegitimate and of mixed heritage, Eva is her family's shame. She tries to be the perfect daughter, but Eva is hiding a secret: Magic calls to her. Eva knows she should fight the temptation. Magic is the sign of the dark god, and using it is punishable by death. Yet it's hard to ignore power when it has always been denied you. Eva is walking a dangerous path. And in the end, she'll become something she never imagined.
Adult Nonfiction
Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa L Sevigny
A biography of two female botanists who cataloged the plants of the Grand Canyon. Sevigny, a science journalist for Arizona Public Radio, recounts the details of the 1938 river journey of Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, who, along with their guide, Norm Nevills, and a few other crew members, traveled down the Colorado River with the goal of cataloging undiscovered plants in the area.
DVDs and Blu-rays
ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET
Release Date: April 28, 2023
Director: Kelly Fremon Craig
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Abby Ryder Fortson, Benny Safdie, Elle Graham, Jecobi Swain, Wilbur Fitzgerald
When her family moves from the city to the suburbs, Margaret navigates new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence. Eleven-year-old Margaret is uprooted from her life in New York City for the suburbs of New Jersey, going through the messy and tumultuous throes of puberty with new friends in a new school. She relies on her mother, Barbara, who is also struggling to adjust to life outside the big city, and her adoring grandmother, Sylvia, who isn't happy they moved away and likes to remind them every chance she gets.
You can find these new titles and many more great books, ebooks, audiobooks, movies, and music in our catalog and at a neighborhood library near you!
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