VETERAN'S DAY:  The library will be closed Thursday, Nov. 11 to observe Veteran’s Day.


Story Time:  The Tuesday Preschool Story Time celebrated Halloween with a live theater party along with eyeball cupcakes. Plan to join Peggy for a fantastic Thanksgiving "feast".

Book Club:  On November 3 the book Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines by Deborah Wallis will be discussed. This NC author spins a tale with Cherry Point as the locale. Plan to join the discussion @ 3 pm.  For more information, contact Sonya at 726-3012.


NEW MATERIALS

Adults

The Red Breast  by Jo Nesbo 
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Shifting effortlessly between the last days of WWII on the Eastern front and modern day Oslo, Norwegian Nesbø (The Devil's Star) spins a complex tale of murder, revenge and betrayal. A recovering alcoholic recently reassigned to the Norwegian Security Service, Insp. Harry Hole begins tracking Sverre Olsen, a vicious neo-Nazi who escaped prosecution on a technicality. But what starts as a quest to put Olsen behind bars soon explodes into a race to prevent an assassination. As Hole struggles to stay one step ahead of Olsen and his gang of skinheads, Nesbø takes the reader back to WWII, as Norwegians fighting for Hitler wage a losing battle on the Eastern front. When the two story lines finally collide, it's up to Hole to stop a man hell-bent on carrying out the deadly plan he hatched half a century ago in the trenches.

By Nightfall  by Michael Cunningham 
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Peter Harris, a dispirited Soho gallery owner in his midforties, arrives home to find his wife in the shower and marvels at how lithe she looks through the steam, then realizes that he’s admiring her much younger brother. Called the Mistake, or Mizzy, he’s a lost soul, a junkie and moocher as sexy as he is manipulative. Mizzy appears just as Peter, brooding, romantic, and self-deprecating, is grappling with his failings as a father and an art dealer. Ceaselessly observant, Peter senses, or hopes for, “some terrible, blinding beauty” that will topple his carefully calibrated life, and why shouldn’t it be his alluring, feckless brother-in-law?

Young Adult

Sisters Red  by Jackson Pearce 
From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 8 Up—For Scarlett and Rosie March, the world is not what it seems. Werewolves, called Fenris, live among them in the form of good-looking men who prey on pretty young girls. When a Fenris attacked the March girls, it killed their grandmother and left them emotionally and, for Scarlett, physically scarred. Since then, they have taken action and revenge. With the help of a friend, Silas, the girls are on a mission—to destroy as many Fenris as they can. This goal becomes more complicated when they try to unravel the mystery behind the pack and prevent the next "Potential" from transforming fully into a soulless, evil monster. Pearce is on the mark with this modern-day retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel  by James Patterson 
From School Library Journal
Gr 6-10–On a goodwill mission in Africa, Max and the flock meet Dr. Hans Gunther-Hagen, a scientific researcher and billionaire purporting to be a philanthropist in this episode (Little Brown, 2010) in James Patterson's series. He introduces Max to Dylan, a hunky heartthrob bird-kid secretly created to woo 15-year-old Max as a future mate. Skeptical of Dylan's motives and Dr. Hackjob-Wackjob's humanitarian efforts to use adaptive genetics to improve survival among the less fortunate, Max learns toxic chemicals have been used on orphans in Chad. Angel upsets the flock with a prediction of Fang's death and, seemingly brainwashed by Dr. Hans, challenges Max as flock leader. Action passages are fewer than in previous installments as Angel goes off to help Dr. Hans, Dylan moves into the safe house, and Fang follows Max to Las Vegas to contemplate their future.

Juvenile Fiction

One False Note: Book 2, The 39 Clues  by Gordon Korman 
From Booklist
The multipronged attack (books, playing cards, online games, prize sweepstakes) of the 39 Clues extravaganza dashes onward in this second book. Korman takes the reins from Rick Riordan, responsible for series opener The Maze of Bones (2008), with barely a hitch as Amy and Dan Cahill continue their quest to solve the mystery of their wide-ranging and powerful extended family (a tree that branches from Mozart to Picasso to Snoop Dogg). The siblings’ bickering increases as they hunt down the next clue, but so do their successes as they manage to be always one step ahead of their various cutthroat cousins.

The Sword Thief: Book 3, The 39 Clues  by Peter Lerangis 
From School Library Journal
Grade 4–7—Amy and Dan Cahill are now on their way to Japan. In the dramatic opening chapter, while boarding a flight to Tokyo, they are outfoxed by two of their cousins, also in search of the Cahill family secrets. Separated from their au pair, Nellie, and cat, Saladin, they are forced to find alternate transportation in their Uncle Alistair's private jet. Though they never fully trust him, Amy and Dan must rely on his knowledge of Japan and of their Cahill ancestor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a famous warrior whose stronghold may harbor their next clue. Lerangis continues the formula of the earlier "39 Clues" books: plenty of action and surprises, but little in the way of characterization or description of the setting.

Children

Peter Pan by Walt DisneyPeter Pan and his fairy friend Tinker Bell are back in this vintage Little Golden Book! Featuring gorgeous illustrations from 1952, this children's classic is being reissued just in time for the release of Walt Disney's Peter Pan Platinum Edition DVD.

Who Writes Like
Have you read every book by your favorite author or do you want to find other authors that write like your favorite. If so there are a number of websites that can help you out. Check out the following:
http://www.anniston.lib.al.us/readalikes.htm
http://www.erl.vic.gov.au/readers/who.htm 
http://www.bpl.on.ca/reading/fiction/like.htm
http://whowriteslike.com/

New Materials

Adult

Galway Bay  by Marky Pat Kelly 
From Booklist

Kelly uses a well-known chapter in Irish American history as a springboard for a vividly lavish historical novel. The mid-nineteenth-century potato famine in Ireland resulted in approximately one million deaths and one million emigrations. After leaving a desperate and depleted Ireland, Michael and Honora Kelly make their way to America. Eventually settling in Chicago, the Kellys and their children struggle to survive and thrive in the “Promised Land.” This multigenerational family saga mirrors the experiences of countless other immigrants who transformed both their own lives and the face of America. Kelly does an admirable job of conveying both the despair and the determination that gripped a generation of Irish immigrants. Through the eyes of the extended Kelly clan, the reader is treated to a panoramic overview of the Irish American experience.

Bad Business  by Robert B. Parker 
From Booklist

Parker, declared a Grand Master in 2002 by the Mystery Writers of America, delivers another combination of wry satire and sly action in his thirty-first mystery starring Spenser, the Boston private eye. This time he employs to devastating effect one of his signature devices--an observation on how someone dresses or walks into a room, or a few lines of dialogue between the victim and his hero--to fillet the greed and arrogance of corporate types. At novel's outset, Parker indulges in Keystone Kops comedy played out by private eyes. A distraught wife hires him to tail her husband. Surveillance turns complex and comic when Spenser finds that the husband is having his wife watched; an outside party is having both husband and wife watched; and Spenser himself is being tailed.

Young Adult

Rebel Angels  by Libba Bray 
From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up–At the end of A Great and Terrible Beauty (Delacorte, 2003), Gemma Doyle was determined to rebuild the Order and find and destroy Circe. Now the teen finds that she must do one more thing–find the Temple and bind the magic she released into the realms when she destroyed the runes. Her task will not be easy; Kartik and the Rakshana have their own plans, which threaten her; a mysterious new teacher may be Circe; and Christmas in London challenges the careful facades that Gemma and her friends Ann and Felicity have built. Dark things are stirring within the realms, including a possibly corrupted Pippa, and the only guides are Gemma's horrifying visions of three girls and the gibberish of a girl confined to Bedlam. Like the first volume, this is a remarkable fantasy steeped in Victorian sensibility; even as the girls fight to bind the magic, they are seduced by London society and the temptation to be proper young ladies.

The Maze of Bones  by Rick Riodan 
From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 4–7—When their beloved Aunt Grace dies, Dan, 11, and Amy, 14—along with other Cahill descendants—are faced with an unusual choice: inherit one million dollars or participate in a perilous treasure hunt. Cahills have determined the course of history for centuries, and this quest's outcome will bring the victors untoward power and affect all of humankind. Against the wishes of nasty Aunt Beatrice, their reluctant guardian since their parents' deaths, Dan and Amy accept the challenge, convincing their college-age au pair to serve as designated adult. Pitted against other Cahill teams, who will stop at nothing to win, the siblings decipher the first of 39 clues and are soon hot on the historical trail of family member Ben Franklin to unearth the next secret. Adeptly incorporating a genuine kids' perspective, the narrative unfolds like a boulder rolling downhill and keeps readers glued to the pages.

Ana's Story  by Jenna Bush 
From Booklist
First Daughter Jenna Bush worked as an intern with UNICEF throughout Latin America, and in her first book, she focuses on the life of a young woman she befriended during her travels. Infected with HIV/AIDS at birth, Ana loses both parents to the disease. After suffering abuse at relatives' homes, she finds a caring center for those living with HIV/AIDS, where she falls in love and eventually gets pregnant. Her child is born without the virus, and at the story's close, Ana has found a peaceful home where she can plan a new life for herself and her baby. The pace is brisk: chapters are only a few pages long, and the accessible language and simple sentences will pull reluctant readers.

Children's Books

The Human Body  by Seymour Seman 
From School Library Journal

Grade 4–7—Simon has been cruising through the human body for a number of years, and here he pulls all the pieces together and adds a bit to the mix as he presents a cool look at the human interior. Lavishly illustrated with large computer-colored X-rays, MRI scans, computer artwork, and diagrams, the book is an eye-catcher. The text is clear and informative. While human reproduction is mentioned, as is fetal development, the photos provided depict a colored SEM micrograph of a human egg and sperm, a close-up SEM micrograph of a sperm fertilizing an egg, and a six-week-old human fetus floating in amniotic fluid.

Book Discussion
On November 3 the book Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines by Deborah Wallis will be discussed. This NC author spins a tale with Cherry Point as the locale. Plan to join the discussion @ 3 pm.

Yarn

The Webb is collecting left over yarn for a group of avid elderly knitters who need donated yarn. Your donations will be greatly appreciated.

New Materials

Adult

Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts

Sign of Seven Trilogy, Book 1

In the small village of Hawkins Hollow, three best friends who share the same birthday sneak off into the woods for a sleepover the evening before turning 10. But a night of pre-pubescent celebration turns into a night of horror as their blood brother oath unleashes a three-hundred year curse.

Twenty-one years later, Cal Hawkins and his friends have seen their town plagued by a week of unexplainable evil events two more times - every seven years. With the clock winding down on the third set of seven years, someone else has taken an interest in the town's folklore. Quinn is a well known scholar of local legends, and despite Cal's protests, insists on delving in the mystery. But when the first signs of evil appear months early, it's not only the town Cal tries to protect, but also his heart.

Zero History  by William Gibson 
From Booklist

After a gig investigating “locative art” for the “overly wealthy and dangerously curious” Hubertus Bigend, founder of the trend-forecasting firm Blue Ant (Spook Country, 2007), Hollis Henry finds herself once again under Bigend's employ. This time she is hired to discover the identity of the designer of a secret brand of clothing called Gabriel Hounds, whom Bigend hopes to enlist in his bid to get into the design, contracting, and manufacture of U.S. military clothing (and its inevitable spin-off into the mainstream consumer market). Military contracting, according to Bigend, is essentially recession proof. Meanwhile, the translator and cryptologist Milgrim (also returning from Spook Country), a former Ativan addict (now in recovery on Bigend's dime) with “zero history” (being off the grid, he has no credit or address history), is asked to assist Hollis in her investigation.

Wicked Appetite  by Janet Evanovich
From Booklist

Fans of Evanovich have a new series to revel in, although a few characters are familiar. Lizzy Tucker has a way with cupcakes, and she’s inherited a great-aunt’s 1740 saltbox house in Salem, Massachusetts, plying her trade at Dazzle’s Bakery in town. Who should turn up in her living room but Diesel (Visions of Sugar Plums, 2002), who is extremely handsome, very strong, and not entirely human (if not entirely angelic). Diesel is locked into a cosmic battle with his cousin Wulf, specter-thin with more than an air of sulfur about him. Lizzy, who may or may not have a secret, special ability, is needed by Wulf and Diesel to recognize objects of magical power.

Young Adult

Warrior Princess #2: Destiny's Path  by Frewin Jones

Her destiny must be fulfilled . . .
Branwen refuses to take orders from anyone—even the Shining Ones. The ancient gods have marked her as the one fated to save her country from the Saxons. But is she truly ready to be a leader?
Then a messenger from the skies shows her a vision of a bleak and violent future, a future in which Branwen has abandoned her destiny, and those most dear to her suffer unspeakable horrors. There's a blurry line between good and evil, and those Branwen trusts the most are capable of the greatest betrayal. The Shining Ones have spoken. Will Branwen answer their call?


Warrior Princess #3: The Emerald Flame  by Frewin Jones

Branwen has finally accepted that the Shining Ones have chosen her to save her country from the Saxon invaders. But the next stage in her journey includes a seemingly impossible mission, and the path before her is filled with darkness and danger. Branwen is pushed to the brink of disaster, and with each step she takes, she is being pulled farther from the life she once knew—the life she still desperately misses.
Guided by the spirits, with both her fearless friend Rhodri and the dashing, sometimes maddening Iwan by her side, Branwen must overcome terrifying odds if she is to succeed in her quest. But a true Warrior Princess won't back down . . . even when an old enemy returns.

Dangerous Angels  by Francesa Lia Block 

Amazon.com Review
Lanky lizards! The slinkster-cool novels in Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat series have finally been compiled into one delicious volume. All of the ethereal, mesmerizing titles are here--Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, Missing Angel Juan, and Baby Be-Bop--together like the big, beautiful family described on their pages. Block's unique, poetic style immediately draws readers into an intoxicating magical-realist world populated by empathetic, original characters (as well as a few ghosts, fairies, and genies)

Juvenile Collection

Citizens of the Sea  by Nancy Knowlton

The astonishing diversity of ocean life will wow you in this riveting book by marine scientist Nancy Knowlton. Citizens of the Sea reveals the most intriguing organisms in the ocean, captured in action by skilled underwater photographers from National Geographic and the Census of Marine Life. As you read lively vignettes about sea creatures’ names, defenses, migration, mating habits, and more, you’ll be amazed.
Brilliantly photographed and written in an easygoing style, Citizens of the Sea will inform and enchant you with close-up documentation of the fascinating facts of life in the ocean realm.

#9 Encyclopedia Brown Shows the Way  by Donald J. Sobol

Idaville’s ten-year-old star detective, Encyclopedia has an uncanny knack for trivia. With his unconventional knowledge, he solves mysteries for the neighborhood kids through his own detective agency. But his dad also happens to be the chief of the Idaville police department, and every night around the dinner table, Encyclopedia helps him solve some of the most baffling crimes. With ten confounding mysteries in each book, not only does Encyclopedia have a chance to solve them, but readers are given all the clues as well and can chime in with their own solutions. Interactive and fun—it’s classic Encyclopedia Brown!

Easy Readers

The Stinky Cheese Man & Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith 

From Publishers Weekly
Grade-school irreverence abounds in this compendium of (extremely brief) fractured fairy tales, which might well be subtitled "All Things Gross and Giddy." With a relentless application of the sarcasm that tickled readers of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs , Scieszka and Smith skewer a host of juvenile favorites: Little Red Running Shorts beats the wolf to grandmother's house; the Really Ugly Duckling matures into a Really Ugly Duck; Cinderumpelstiltskin is "a girl who really blew it." Text and art work together for maximum comic impact--varying styles and sizes of type add to the illustrations' chaos, as when Chicken Licken discovers that the Table of Contents, and not the sky, is falling.

Books 4 Sale

Books 4 Sale
We are selling a number of books for $2, $3, and $5. Books by J.D. Robb, James Patterson, Sue Grafton, Danielle Steel and other authors are offered. Browse and select your favorites.

Do you have a reading list?
Do you have trouble remembering which books you have read? If this is a problem, then check out shelfari.com. Shelfari lets you build a shelf to display the books you’ve read, want to read or are reading now. Then you get to be the critic by rating and reviewing your books so your friends can see what you think.

Don't want to use Shelfari, then why not use Amazon.com's  ListMania.  
To create a Listmania List:

1. Visit your Profile page at www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/ and log into your account if requested.
2. Click the "Edit Your Profile" button on the top right-hand corner of the page.
3. Click the "Lists" tab in the Contributions section of Your Profile.
4. Click the "Create your first one now" link or "Manage your Listmania Lists" link if you already have existing lists.
5. Provide the requested information for your list and click the Preview button to review your list and Publish list when you are finished.

New materials

Adult Fiction

Visions in Death  by J.D. Robb 
From Publishers Weekly

Though not as gripping as the previous installments in Robb's mid–21st-century In Death series (Remember When, etc.), this new offering showcases her many talents. New York policewoman Eve Dallas is on the trail of a serial killer who strangles his young female victims with a red ribbon and removes their eyes postmortem. Dallas and her longtime partner, Detective Peabody, pursue the criminal with wisecracking vigor and old-fashioned police work, assisted as well by Eve's handsome husband, billionaire businessman Roarke, and a beautiful psychic who volunteers to share her chilling visions of the murders. Naturally, the determined Dallas gets her man, though her toughness is shaken along the way by memories of her own childhood abuse, the murderer's vicious attack on Peabody and a surprising 11th-hour revelation.


Remember Me  by Mary Higgins Clark 
From Publishers Weekly

A tinge of the supernatural flavors the latest entry from our leading practitioner of the damsel-in-distress school of suspense. Just what is the mysterious presence that seems to haunt Menley Nichols and baby Hannah in their spectacular rented Cape Cod mansion? Menley is still trying to recover from the horror of her two-year-old son Bobby's death on the railroad crossing. Lawyer husband Adam is too busy dashing to and from New York, and defending a local hunk suspected of doing away with his wealthy bride, to be much help. And so the presence moves in on Menley, Rebecca style, with eerie middle-of-the-night sound effects and rocking cradles. As always with Clark, there are several plots going on at once, which are miraculously blended and resolved in the finale; people to watch out for here include a pretty waitress in a local inn and a real estate lady who is an old flame of Adam's. Clark opens herself to charges of excessive authorial legerdemain by employing many narrative points of view, including those of at least two guilty parties (without ever offering a clue as to their guilt), but that's a quibble.

Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs 
From Publishers Weekly

A perplexing death in Quebec occupies Dr. Temperance Brennan in Reichs's fine 13th novel featuring the forensic anthropologist (after 206 Bones). The fingerprints of a man who died during autoerotic asphyxiation indicate that the deceased is John Charles Lowery of North Carolina, but Lowery supposedly died in Vietnam in 1968. Unsurprisingly, Lowery's father is reluctant to allow Brennan to reopen old family wounds, but she's determined to find out who's buried in Lowery's grave if Lowery died in Quebec. Brennan heads to Hawaii to seek the help of an old friend at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), whose mission is to find the remains of American war dead and bring them home. But instead of clarifying matters, Brennan's investigation only raises more questions, including parallel inquiries into a series of shark attacks and escalating island gang violence.

Large Print

Dead Heat  by Dick Francis 
From Publishers Weekly

MWA Grand Master Francis's first collaboration with his son Felix, a former physics teacher who researched many of his father's previous bestsellers, introduces an engaging hero, though longtime fans may find certain plot elements, like an unlikely love interest and sinister figures somehow connected with shady racetrack doings, less than fresh. The reputation of Max Moreton, a young wunderkind chef with a restaurant in Newmarket, England, suffers after guests at an affair he caters fall ill with food poisoning. This calamity nearly jeopardizes another job—feeding several dozen attendees at a major horse race. While that meal goes off without a hitch, a terrorist's bomb decimates the crowd at the track. Despite the official theory that an unpopular Middle Eastern ruler at the event was responsible, the chef wonders whether the bombing is related to the earlier food poisoning and turns amateur sleuth.

Her Unlikely Family  by Missy Tippens
Product Description

Take responsibility for his orphaned niece, yes. Raise her himself, no. A good boarding school was what the girl needed, not an uncle who was never home. But then Michael Throckmorton's niece ran away. And the big-hearted, beautiful diner waitress who'd taken her in wasn't letting her go so easily. Josie Miller had a few conditions for Michael. Oddly enough, he was willing to listen. Yet days later, why wasn't he hauling the teen back to school and himself back to the city? Could it be that an unlikely family was forming?

Young Adult

Freak Magnet  by Andrew Auseon 
From School Library Journal

Gr 10 Up–When not stargazing, Charlie fills his time by working at a drugstore and running around town with a Superman costume under his clothes. One day, he runs after the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. Gloria is used to attracting people who are a little different, but Charlie is on the fringe, even for her. While Gloria is mourning her brother's recent death in Afghanistan, Charlie is dealing with his mother's progressively debilitating sickness. He finally has the opportunity to break free of his reactive cycle, but the consequences could be more severe than he imagined. Auseon's attempt to develop Charlie through the arc of mania is half successful: the teen's behaviors at the beginning of the tale appear to be an affectation, which causes the gradual developing of self-awareness to seem faked.

As You Wish  by Jackson Pearce
From School Library Journal

Grade 9–11—As she ponders what she calls the "social mystery" that makes some kids seem to belong and others not, Viola, 16, wishes she didn't feel quite so invisible. Ever since her boyfriend confided in her and came out to his high school class, she has felt neglected and alone, while Lawrence has been adopted by the school's Royal Family of popular kids. When Viola accidentally summons a jinn, she contemplates the three wishes he offers to grant her, while Jinn considers Viola herself. Told in the alternating voices of Jinn and Viola, this story is a romance first and a fantasy last. After she wishes herself into the arms of popular Aaron, Viola finds herself comparing him unfavorably to Jinn, while Jinn, uncommonly critical of Aaron, struggles with his blossoming feelings for Viola.

Juvenile Fiction

Dear Anjali: I Hate That You're Dead by Melissa Glenn Haber
From School Library Journal

Gr 5-8–Meredith's best friend has just died and Meredith is lost. Anjali was her anchor in the stormy sea of being a tween, having crushes, and dealing with bullies. She simply cannot fathom a life without Anjali or a day without speaking to her, so she begins writing letters to her. It is Meredith's way of keeping the connection to her best friend alive, because without Anjali, who is she? Through the course of her grief, Meredith begins to learn things about herself and her friend that put their relationship in a new light. Taking on a tough and little-explored subject, Haber skillfully handles the child's heartache, her loneliness, and the conflicting desires of wanting to continue on with her life but not wanting to forget Anjali. The Last Best Days of Summer  by Valerie Hobbs

The Alchemist: The Secrets of Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott
From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 6-9–Scott uses a gigantic canvas for this riveting fantasy. The well-worn theme of saving the world from the forces of evil gets a fresh look here as he incorporates ancient myth and legend and sets it firmly, pitch-perfect, in present-day California. At the emotional center of the tale are contemporary 15-year-old twins, Josh and Sophie, who, it turns out, are potentially powerful magicians. They are spoken of in a prophecy appearing in the ancient Book of Abraham the Mage, all but two pages of which have been stolen by evil John Dee, alchemist and magician. The pursuit of the twins and Flamel by Dee and his allies to get the missing pages constitutes the book's central plot. Amid all this exhilarating action, Scott keeps his sights on the small details of character and dialogue and provides evocative descriptions of people, mythical beings, and places. He uses as his starting point the figures of the historical alchemist Nicholas Flamel and his wife, who have found the secret of immortality, along with mythical beings, including the terrifying Scottish crow-goddess, the Morrigan; the three-faced Greek Hekate; the powerful Egyptian cat-goddess, Bastet; and Scathach, a legendary Irish woman warrior and vegetarian vampire.

Meetings

The Adult Book Discussion Group will meet Wednesday October 6 at 3 pm to discuss "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

Knit-Wits: Our knitting group meets every Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. and Thursday from 6 p.m. until 7 p.m. Limber up your fingers, bring your project, start a new one or learn something fresh and exciting. For more information, call the Webb @ 726-3012. 

Friends of the Webb: Our support group meets the second Wednesday of each month. The next meeting will be Wednesday, Oct 6th at 10:30 a.m. in the library. Join at the library and come to the meeting.


New Materials

Adult

Don't Blink  by James Patterson.

New York's Lombardo's Steak House is famous for three reasons--the menu, the clientele, and now, the gruesome murder of an infamous mob lawyer. Effortlessly, the assassin slips through the police's fingers, and his absence sparks a blaze of accusations about who ordered the hit. Seated at a nearby table, reporter Nick Daniels is conducting a once-in-a-lifetime interview with a legendary baseball bad-boy. In the chaos, he accidentally captures a key piece of evidence that lands him in the middle of an all-out war between Italian and Russian mafia forces. NYPD captains, district attorneys, mayoral candidates, media kingpins, and one shockingly beautiful magazine editor are all pushing their own agendas--on both sides of the law. Back off--or die--is the clear message Nick receives as he investigates for a story of his own.Heedless, and perhaps in love with his beautiful editor, Nick endures humiliation, threats, violence, and worse in a thriller that overturns every expectation and finishes with the kind of flourish only James Patterson knows.

Body Work  by Sara Paretsky 
From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Paretsky's superb 14th novel featuring PI V.I. Warshawski (after Hardball) delves into Chicago's avant-garde art scene. At the trendy Club Gouge, where Warshawski is keeping an eye on Petra, a young cousin who caused trouble in the previous book, performance artist Karen Buckley (aka the Body Artist) invites members of the audience to step on stage to paint her nude body. The intricate design that one woman paints on Karen's back provokes a violent outburst from Chad Vishneski, a troubled Iraqi war veteran. When two nights later, someone shoots the woman who upset Chad outside the club, Chad is the logical murder suspect. Hired by Chad's estranged parents to clear his name, Warshawski straddles a minefield that reaches from the Windy City's neighborhoods to the Gulf War battlefields. Scenes with her aging neighbor and a new love interest give a much needed balance to the serious plot.

Young Adult


For the Win  by Corey Doctorow
From School Library Journal

Grade 10 Up Wei-dong, known to his Orange County family as Leonard, is addicted to guild game play with his Chinese colleagues. Mala and Yasmin, brilliant strategists, are gaming from an Internet cafe in the poor streets of Dharavi. Matthew and Lu are trying to establish their own freelance gold-farming operation in the rough city of Shenzhen. Guided from Singapore by the secretive Big Sister Nor, these young people are slowly coming together and forming a union to demand basic working conditions and protection from organized crime rackets. In order to prove their strength, these Webblies take over the three games owned by the Coca-Cola Company. Battling for real-world rights in a virtual environment, they must overcome corrupt cops, determined sys ops, and social indifference to beat the game. Doctorow is continually at the leading edge of electronic issues, rallying supporters to the causes of intellectual freedom, privacy, and social justice.

As Easy As Falling Off the Face Of the Earth  by Lynne Rae Perkins

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up This is a story of one misfortune after another. As the book opens, Ry, a 16-year-old Wisconsin resident en route to camp, is left behind in Middle-of-Nowhere, MT, as his stalled train pulls out and he recounts the events that led him to leave the train in the first place. Bad goes to worse: he loses a shoe and his phone charger, his grandfather back home is injured, and his parents are having their own misadventures in the Caribbean. A superhero of a fix-it guy named Del helps Ry to put his life back together. Along the way, readers learn that there is more to Del than initially meets the eye. The story is told in a traditional, episodic style, bouncing from one calamity to the next. The narration occasionally switches perspective to include the grandfather's tale of woe as well as well-drawn graphic-style portrayals of the family dogs' mishaps. The style is reminiscent of Chris Crutcher's, and the action is evocative of Gary Paulsen, but the freewheeling prose, quirky humor, and subtle life lessons are all Perkins's own.

Juvenile Fiction

Saving Sky  by Diane Stanley 
From School Library Journal

Gr 5-8–Living on a New Mexico ranch, Sky Brightman and her family are largely removed from the disturbing news of the war on terror and are sheltered from images of death and destruction as suicide bombers wage war on the United States. Then, when Kareem, a seventh-grade Middle Eastern classmate, is picked on by bullies, and his doctor father is detained by federal agents, Sky resolves to stand by the boy. In a scene that stretches credulity, Sky and her mother collaborate to remove Kareem surreptitiously from school. They safeguard him in their home and build a secret place for him in the barn in case he should need one. Kareem goes into hiding when suspicious Homeland Security agents come looking for him. In the meantime, an attack knocks out the power over a good portion of the country. When Homeland Security comes again, Kareem is spotted and knows he must turn himself in; the president has ordered the DHS to hold detainees until the war ends.

No Such Thing as Dragons  by Philip Reeve 
From School Library Journal

Gr 4-8–Reeve explores a more "realistic" vision of classic dragon tales in his newest novel. Ansel is a mute boy who is callously sold by his father to be a servant to an itinerant dragon hunter who is happy to have someone who can keep his secrets safe. Brock truly has secrets, and before long he reveals to Ansel that dragons do not really exist, and that he is, in fact, a charlatan who preys on the fears of villagers. However, a book with this title surely has to contain a dragon, and inevitably, Ansel and Brock must face off against the real thing. There is some graphic description of horses and a human being devoured by the dragon. The creature itself is portrayed somewhat sympathetically, as Ansel realizes it is just an animal. The real story, however, is how in the course of this quest, the boy is able to find his voice, both literally and figuratively. This is certainly different from anything that Reeve has done previously, but is still shot through with his trademark imagination and feel for action.

Books For Children

It's a book  by Lane Smith 
From School Library Journal

Gr 3-5–Smith jump-starts the action on the title page where readers meet the characters–a mouse, a jackass, and a monkey. The monkey's oval head creates an “o” in the word “book.” Slapstick humor ensues in an armchair face-off when one character, reared on a diet of Web 2.0 and gaming, cannot fathom what to do with a book and slings a barrage of annoying questions, “Can you blog with it? How do you scroll down? Can you make the characters fight?” Readers know who is speaking by each animal's unique font type and color, achieving economy and elegance on each page. Exasperated, Monkey hands over the volume. Life, death, and madness, all in a single illustrated page of Treasure Island, draw Jackass in. He responds with a knee-jerk reaction (“too many letters”) and hilariously reduces it to text speak, but his interest is piqued. He covets the book and readers watch him pore over it for hours.

Brontorina  by James Howe 
From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2 Howe weaves a well-spun tale about acceptance and pursuing one's dream. When Brontorina Apatosaurus appears at the door of Madame Lucille's Dance Academy for Boys and Girls, she faces what could be sure rejection. Young Clara and Jack tug at Madame to accept her, while naysayers jeer at her lack of proper shoes. Finally, Madame admits Brontorina, and humorous scenes show little boys and girls doing arabesques, relev&eacutes, and jet&eacutes, while enormous Brontorina gracefully crashes into the ceiling. Madame concludes that the new pupil is just too big. Brontorina turns to leave, a dinosaur-size tear falling from her eye. Then the teacher has a realization: The problem is not that you are too big. The problem is that my studio is too small, and the academy gets relocated and renamed. A quiet fusion of pathos, comedy, and passion is echoed in the painterly, softly textured, muted oil illustrations.
Help Me, Mr. Mutt: Expert answers for dogs with people problems by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens From School Library Journal
Grade 2–4—With tongue firmly in cheek, the dynamic Stevens sisters have crafted a multilayered story that looks at various situations in the life of an average dog. Through a series of letters to Mr. Mutt, a doggie version of Dear Abby, the text invites readers to learn about the tribulations of "Underplayed in Utah" or "Famished in Florida" and the encouragement they garner from their correspondences. Each letter has its own distinctive style depending on the complaint and the writer's personality but all end with a postscript that refers to the treatment or behavior of cats in the household. Mr. Mutt ends each reply with his own postscript that refers to the cat that shares his home. Here, the book rises to another level of humor with the inclusion of additional commentary from "The Queen," the supremely superior feline who keeps Mr. Mutt in his place. The tension between them builds throughout the letters until a physical confrontation occurs near the end of the story. Mr. Mutt's replies to the dogs in distress include many sketches of "illustrated tips" as well as a variety of graphs to substantiate the advice. While the story will find fans in the primary grades, its most appreciative audience will be among more sophisticated readers who will recognize the amount of effort that went into this creative venture.