As summer begins to wind down and another autumn is on the horizon, your friends at the Free Library have some new titles to share with you!
Young Children (up to 2nd Grade)
Vamos! Let's Go Read by Raul the Third
Little Lobo and his friends are excited for the out-of-this-world book festival that the Guadalupian Library hosts every year! Everyone has a special book they're looking for, but there's so much to see and do first. From cookbook demonstrations and comics workshops to mask making and language classes, this library has something for everyone. Can Little Lobo, Bernabé, Kooky Dooky, Coco Rocho, and La Chida each find the book of their dreams?
Older Children (3rd Grade to 6th Grade)
Once I Was You by Maria Hinjosa
"There is no such thing as an illegal human being or an illegal immigrant." Maria Hinojosa is an Emmy award-winning journalist, but before all that, she was a girl with big hair and even bigger dreams. Born in Mexico and raised in the vibrant neighborhood of Hyde Park, Chicago, Maria was always looking for ways to better understand the world around her — and where she fit into it. Maria's story is one you will want to read again and again, and her voice will inspire you to find your own. [Available in English and Spanish]
Teen Fiction
Those Pink Mountain Nights by Jen Ferguson
Overachievement isn’t a bad word — for Berlin, it’s the goal. She’s securing excellent grades, planning her future, and working a part-time job at Pink Mountain Pizza, a legendary local business. Who says she needs a best friend by her side? Dropping out of high school wasn’t smart, but it was necessary for Cameron. Since his cousin Kiki’s disappearance, it’s hard enough to find the funny side of life, especially when the whole town has forgotten Kiki. To them, she’s just another missing Native girl. People at school label Jessie a tease, a rich girl — and honestly, she’s both. But Jessie knows she contains multitudes. Maybe her new job crafting pizzas will give her the high-energy outlet she desperately wants. When the weekend at Pink Mountain Pizza takes unexpected turns, all three teens will have to acknowledge the various ways they’ve been hurt — and how much they need each other to hold it all together.
Adult Fiction
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott
On the surface, Alice is exactly where she thinks she should be. She's just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Dawn; her charming husband, Steve — a white academic whose area of study is conveniently her own Mohawk culture — is nothing but supportive; and they've moved into a new home in a posh Toronto neighborhood. But Alice could not feel like more of an impostor. She isn't connecting with her daughter, a struggle made even more difficult by the recent loss of her own mother, and every waking moment is spent hiding her despair from Steve and their ever-watchful neighbors, among whom she's the sole Indigenous resident. Even when she does have a minute to herself, her perpetual self-doubt hinders the one vestige of her old life she has left: her goal of writing a modern retelling of the Haudenosaunee creation story. Then, as if all that wasn't enough, strange things start to happen. She finds herself losing bits of time and hearing voices she can't explain, all while her neighbors' passive-aggressive behavior begins to morph into something far more threatening. Though Steve assures her this is all in her head, Alice cannot fight the feeling that something is very wrong, and that in her creation story lies the key to her and Dawn's survival... She just has to finish it before it's too late.
Adult Nonfiction
Pulling the Chariot of the Sun: A Memoir of a Kidnapping by Shane McCrae
When Shane McCrae was 18 months old, his grandparents kidnapped him and took him to suburban Texas. His mom was white and his dad was Black, and to hide his Blackness from him, his maternal grandparents stole him from his father. In the years that followed, they manipulated and controlled him, refusing to acknowledge his heritage — all the while believing they were doing what was best for him. For their own safety and to ensure the kidnapping remained a success, Shane’s grandparents had to make sure that he never knew the full story, so he was raised to participate in his own disappearance. But despite elaborate fabrications and unreliable memories, Shane begins to reconstruct his own story and forge his own identity. Gradually, the truth unveils itself, and with the truth, comes a path to reuniting with his father and finding his own place in the world. A revelatory account of a singularly American childhood that hauntingly echoes the larger story of race in our country, Pulling the Chariot of the Sun is written with the virtuosity and heart of one of the finest poets writing today. And it is also a powerful reflection on what is broken in America — but also what might heal and make it whole again.
DVDs and Blu-rays
Release Date: May 19, 2023
Director: Paul Schrader
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver, Quintessa Swindell, Eduardo Losan, Esai Morales, Rick Cosnett, Victoria Hill, Amy Le
Master Gardener follows Narvel Roth, the meticulous horticulturist of Gracewood Gardens. He is much devoted to tending the grounds of this beautiful and historic estate, and to pandering to his employer, the wealthy dowager Mrs. Haverhill. When Mrs. Haverhill demands that he take on her wayward and troubled great-niece Maya as a new apprentice, chaos enters Narvel's spartan existence, unlocking dark secrets from a buried violent past that threatens them all.
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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