Amnesty:  Only two more days (29th and 30th) to return overdues with no overdue fee. We urge you to take advantage of this opportunity.


Toys for Tots: The Webb supports The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation and serves as a collection point for toys and books. Please help make some child's Christmas a little better.

A Reminder: There will be no Adult Discussion Group meeting this week or in December. The next meeting will be January 5 and the book to discuss will be "The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb.

NEW MATERIALS

Adults

The Reversal  by  Michael Connelly

Longtime defense attorney Mickey Haller is recruited to change stripes and prosecute the high-profile retrial of a brutal child murder. After 24 years in prison, convicted killer Jason Jessup has been exonerated by new DNA evidence. Haller is convinced Jessup is guilty, and he takes the case on the condition that he gets to choose his investigator, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. Together, Bosch and Haller set off on a case fraught with political and personal danger. Opposing them is Jessup, now out on bail, a defense attorney who excels at manipulating the media, and a runaway eyewitness reluctant to testify after so many years. With the odds and the evidence against them, Bosch and Haller must nail a sadistic killer once and for all. If Bosch is sure of anything, it is that Jason Jessup plans to kill again.

Worth Dying For by Lee Child 
From Publishers Weekly
In Child's exciting 15th thriller featuring one-man army Jack Reacher (after 61 Hours), Reacher happens into a situation tailor-made for his blend of morality and against-the-odds heroics. While passing through an isolated Nebraska town, the ex-military cop persuades the alcoholic local doctor to treat Eleanor Duncan, who's married to the abusive Seth, for a "nosebleed." Reacher later breaking Seth's nose prompts members of the Duncan clan, who are involved in an illegal trafficking scheme, to seek revenge. Reacher, who easily disposes of two hit men sent to get him, winds up trying to solve a decades-old case concerning a missing eight-year-old girl.

Young Adult

Stranded  by J T Dutton 
From School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up–Narrated in Kelly Louise's often-breezy, 15-year-old voice, this story is set into motion when a newborn is found dead in a cornfield. Kelly Louise and her mother move to rural Heaven, IA, to support the teen's grandmother and her deeply religious, uncommonly beautiful cousin. Natalie, it turns out, is the mother of Baby Grace, though it is never clear why she chooses to confide in her aunt. The girls have little in common: as Kelly Louise texts her hip friend back in Des Moines, Natalie makes signs for her youth group vigil in memory of the infant. The tone of the story varies from funny (rule-bound Nana is described as “the old S.S. Unpack This Second”) to serious (a baby has died, after all) to descriptions of school events and musings on conservation and ecology.

Incarceron  by Catherine Fisher 
From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 7 Up—Catherine Fisher's intelligent, genre-bending tale (Dial, 2010) will fascinate teens looking for something new and different. Finn is a 17-year old prisoner of Incarceron. His memories begin and end there. He knows nothing about his heritage except for vague memories that tease at his mind. The teen is determined to escape the prison fashioned centuries ago as a solution to the chaos created by man. Now Incarceron is self-sustaining and self-perpetuating—prisoners are born there and they die there. Legend claims only one man has ever escaped, Sapphique, and Finn is determined to follow in his steps. Claudia, the warden's daughter, lives sequestered in a castle surrounded by servants. But she, too, longs for escape—
JF
  
Monstrumologist  by Rick Yancey 
From Booklist
With a roaring sense of adventure and enough viscera to gag the hardiest of gore hounds, Yancey’s series starter might just be the best horror novel of the year. Will Henry is the 12-year-old apprentice to Pellinore Warthrop, a brilliant and self-absorbed monstrumologist--a scientist who studies (and when necessary, kills) monsters in late-1800s New England. The newest threat is the Anthropophagi, a pack of headless, shark-toothed bipeds, one of whom’s corpse is delivered to Warthrop’s lab courtesy of a grave robber. As the action moves from the dissecting table to the cemetery to an asylum to underground catacombs, Yancey keeps the shocks frequent and shrouded in a splattery miasma of blood, bone, pus, and maggots.

The Curse of the Wendico  by Rick Yancey 
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Examples of literary horror don’t come much finer than The Monstrumologist (2009), and Yancey’s second volume sustains that high bar with lush prose, devilish characterizations, and more honest emotion than any book involving copious de-facings (yes, you read that right) ought to have. The new case: lepto luranis, aka the Wendigo, a vampiric creature whose mythic origins have monstrumologists divided. If they accept the existence of mystic shape-shifters, is not their “science” balderdash? Dr. Pellinore Warthrop has no interest until his former true love appears and begs him to find her husband—once Warthrop’s best friend—who has gone missing in search of the creature. Yes, female characters have arrived to the series and smashingly so, none better than Lilly, the talkative 13-year-old scientist who gives Warthrop’s faithful assistant, Will, his first kiss.
Easy Readers

Santa's Reindeer  by Rod Green

Shh!Have you ever heard a reindeer's sleigh bells in the sky on Christmas Eve?
Have you ever heard a reindeer's hoofbeat on the roof of your house?
Or listened to the clatter of antlers outside in the darkness?
Of course you haven't!
Santa's reindeer are so skillful that they can fly in and out of your neighborhood without anyone hearing a thing. But how do they learn to fly in the first place?
What are the reindeer really like?
What do the reindeer do for the rest of the year when they're not flying Santa around the world?
Find out all about how Santa and his Sleigh Master train the Sleigh Team at the North Pole.
Discover just what reindeer games the team likes to play and what they love to eat. Learn everything you ever wanted to know in this beautifully illustrated look at the North Pole's most magical inhabitants.
Then watch out on Christmas Eve.
Once you know all about Santa's reindeer, you just might be able to spot them stopping somewhere near your house!

THANKSGIVING: The library will close at 2 pm Wednesday, November 24 and will be closed on the 25th for the Thanksgiving Holiday. A Great Thanksgiving to Everyone!!!

Amnesty:  In an attempt to retrieve overdue books and in the spirit of the season the Webb will pardon all overdue fees for the remainder of November (22nd thru 30th). This is an excellent time to return those long overdue books.


NEW MATERIALS

Adults

Everything by Kevin Canty 
From Publishers Weekly

The disaffection from a purposeless life unites the characters in Canty's painstakingly crafted novel of backcountry Montana. When longtime friends RL and June memorialize the 11th anniversary of June's husband's death, they're confronted with the emptiness of their lives. RL seeks new beginnings with an old acquaintance undergoing treatment for cancer, while June contemplates selling her house. Into the mix is added RL's sweet but depressive college-age daughter, who engages in an ill-advised affair with an older man beleaguered by a dull marriage.
 

'Poor Carolina': Politics and Society in Colonial North Carolina 1729-1776 by A. Rpger Ekirch

This is an excellent resource for the study of colonial NC, esp. since very little has been written on the subject. "Poor Carolina" is well written, well-researched and painstakingly documented. Having been through most of the records the author used to write this study, I can attest to his great ability to analize and contextualize the raw materials of NC before the Revolution.

Secrets She Left Behind  by Diane Chamberlain 
From Booklist

Keith Weston is having a rough year. After finding out that his biological father is the deceased husband of his mother’s best friend, he got caught in a fire started by his newly discovered half-sister Maggie. Now, badly scarred and very angry, Keith has no one but his mother, Sara, to lean on. Until she mysteriously disappears one afternoon without a word. Chamberlain offers a follow-up to Before the Storm (2008) that can stand alone as a fast-paced read that, through the alternating perspectives of the children and a diary kept by the still-missing Sara, explores the psychological complexity of a family pushed to its limits.

Young Adult

Love and Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Together for another juicy summer, carefree Murphy, perfect Leeda, and big-hearted Birdie return to the place that allowed them to bloom. Brimming with all the charm, humor, and heart of Peaches and The Secrets of Peaches, this satisfying conclusion to the series reunites three unlikely best friends for a final sweet farewell.

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong

Out of My Mind  by Sharon M. Draper

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people--her teachers and doctors included--don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.

Pre-Teen  

The 39 Clues: Book 3: The Sword Thief  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.



Can I play Too? An Elephant and Piggie Book  by Mo Willens 
From School Library Journal

K-Gr 2–This beginning reader focuses on differently abled animals as Elephant and Piggy get ready for a game of catch. Before they begin, Snake asks to join them. Simple gestures and facial expressions convey Elephant's embarrassment at Snake's inability to catch a ball. Piggy breaks the silence stating, “You don't have arms!” and Snake dejectedly slithers away. On the next page, Snake diffuses his rejection by saying, “Hee-hee! Ha-ha! Hee-hee! Ha-ha! Hee-hee! I know I do not have arms./I am a snake.” Elephant asks, “But can a snake play catch?” The story moves from clever to cruel as Elephant throws the ball and hits Snake on the head, and the reptile's expressions indicate distress. Piggy follows suit, with the same result.

Lizette's Green Sock  by Catherine Valckx 
From School Library Journal

Starred Review. PreSchool-Grade 2–What is the use of one green sock? That is the central question asked (and very satisfactorily answered) here. When an intrepid young bird finds and sports her verdant treasure, she is teased by the nefarious feline brothers, Tom and Tim. Their limited imaginations can only conceive of socks in pairs. Lizette's rodent pal, Bert, envisions another use for the footwear, proudly modeling the cap concept. More teasing, a caring mother, and a fishy friend add interest to this celebration of the ordinary–and of friendship.

Strega Nona's Harvest  by Tomie de Paola 
From School Library Journal

Grade 2–4—While its characters are familiar and their actions predictable, this tale adds a second dimension, instructing young readers on how to grow vegetables. Strega Nona saves her seeds from last year's garden, rotates her crops to keep the soil "happy and strong," and, much to Big Anthony's chagrin, explains the importance of compost and manure in the planting process. But most importantly, she stresses the need to sow seeds in orderly rows, a step Big Anthony chooses to ignore.


 

THANKSGIVING: The library will close at 2 pm Wednesday, November 24 and be closed on the 25th for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

NEW MATERIALS

Adults

The Scandal Plan  by Bill Folman 
From Publishers Weekly

An earnest presidential hopeful's campaign staff invents a sex scandal in Folman's slick debut. After Machiavellian campaign manager Thomas Campman hears a voice telling him that sin will make his struggling candidate, Sen. Ben Phillips, human, Campman convinces Ben and his fellow advisers that having the candidate admit to a made-up, decades-old affair will endear him to the masses. Though the plan energizes the campaign and boosts Ben's image, it also puts a strain on Ben's marriage, and after other women begin claiming in the press to have had affairs with Ben, the ruse threatens to end in ruin.

Marta's Legacy: Her Daughter's Dream  by Francine Rivers 
From Booklist
Best-seller Rivers completes the five-generation Christian family saga she began in Her Mother’s Hope (2010). It’s 1951, and Hildemara is back in the hospital with recurring tuberculosis, so her mother Marta moves in to care for her grandchildren Charlie and Carolyn. Charlie is the light of their lives while Carolyn is neglected, with unfortunate consequences in her college years, including alcoholism and pregnancy. Single, unemployed, and with a baby to raise, Carolyn moves back home, where the past repeats itself. Her mother lays down the law for her daughter and takes over her granddaughter Dawn’s care, selfishly arranging matters to suit herself and pushing Carolyn away, much as her mother had abused her.

Santa Cruise  by Mary Higgis Clark 
From Booklist
If you want substance in your crime fiction, look elsewhere; if you want intrigue that keeps you guessing, keep looking; but if you want a frothy, holiday-themed whodunit starring the affable PI Regan Reilly, her D.A. husband, and mystery-writing mother--all aboard a luxury liner's three-day maiden cruise--then this is your ticket. The Clarks, mother and daughter, stick to formula, but they deliver predictable entertainment for the easily entertained. Expect their latest effort to please the target audience.

Young Adult

Witch and Wizard  by James Patterson
From School Library Journal
Grade 5–9—Wisty and Whit Allgood have magical powers, but they don't know it. At least they don't know until they are arrested by the guards of the New Order, which has just come to power. Their parents have always been into herbs and plants and predictions; they don't send their kids to typical schools, and when the teens are allowed to take only one item each to jail with them, they send a drumstick and a book with no words that are visible to the naked eye. The kids start to get an inkling of what they can do when Wisty bursts into flames when she gets angry, and before long she is turning people into creatures and conjuring tornadoes, and lightning bolts shoot from her hands. The bulk of the book takes place when Whit and Wisty are locked up in a reformatory where they are bullied by the guards.

Space Between Trees  by Katie Williams 
From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up—Sixteen-year-old Evie is an outsider with a vivid imagination. She makes up stories for herself and others to make life in her small Midwestern town tolerable. When a childhood friend, Zabet McCabe, is murdered, Evie is thrust into a story beyond her wildest imaginings. Her little habitual deceptions, usually so harmless, get her entangled with grieving Mr. McCabe and Zabet's emotionally unstable and reckless best friend, Hadley Smith. Hadley is obsessed with finding Zabet's killer, and Evie lets herself get dragged into her increasingly paranoid and dangerous investigation.

The Reckoning  by Kelley Armstrong  
From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up Fifteen-year-old Chloe Saunders and her friends Tori, Simon, and Derek are genetically altered supernaturals on the run from the evil corporation that created them. Hiding out with a family friend, they are trying to make sense of their predicament and discover what sinister plans the Edison Group has in store for them. As a powerful necromancer who can raise the dead in her sleep, Chloe struggles to control her abilities and figure out how to best use them to keep everyone safe. To further complicate matters (as if running for your life were not enough), Chloe wrestles with her feelings for Simon, a good-natured sorcerer, and Derek, a misunderstood werewolf.

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

THANKSGIVING: The library will close at 2 pm Wednesday, November 24 and be closed on the 25th for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

NEW MATERIALS

Adults

Web of Evil  by J. A. Jance  
From Publishers Weekly
At the start of bestseller Jance's uninspired second Ali Reynolds thriller (after Edge of Evil), Ali's husband, Paul Grayson, is killed on the eve of their divorce—by a train that hits the car where he's tied up in the trunk somewhere near Palm Springs, Calif. Ali, Paul's legal beneficiary, becomes the chief murder suspect. A popular blogger and former Los Angeles TV news anchor who's suing the station where she used to work for wrongful dismissal, Ali initiates her own investigation, enlisting the help of her mother, grown son Chris and high school friend Dave Holman, a homicide detective in Sedona, Ariz., where Ali now lives.  
Fidelity  by Thomas Perry 
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Perry remains a kind of literary alchemist, able to mix often-incompatible elements, intricate plotting and subtle characterization, into crime-fiction gold. Here he begins with a gripping set-piece: the murder of private investigator Phil Kramer, who, we quickly learn, kept secrets: from his wife, Emily; from his colleagues in the PI firm he ran; and from the other women in his life. One of those secrets got him killed, and two people are desperate to find out what it was: Phil’s killer, who hopes to use the secret to extort the man who hired him (and has now rehired him to kill Emily, too), and Emily, who needs to understand her husband if she is to save her own life.

Young Adult  

Sources of Light by Margaret McMullan 
From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 7–10—With the camera that her mother's colleague gives her, 14-year-old Samantha records a portrait of life in Mississippi during the year 1962–1963. Perry teaches her how to use it and in many ways how to see. He also sets a powerful example through his activism and determination to do the right thing. Sam begins her freshman year somewhat unaware of the racial tensions that exist around her. By the end of the school year though, she becomes acutely aware of the situation, and she and her mother are directly impacted by those struggles. Sam's personal life has its own pressures as she and her mother cope with the loss of her father in Vietnam the previous year, Perry and her mom grow closer, and Sam meets a boy who seems to be at odds with her views on racial equality.

Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers 
From Booklist
Myers takes readers inside the walls of a juvenile corrections facility in this gritty novel. Fourteen-year-old Reese is in the second year of his sentence for stealing prescription pads and selling them to a neighborhood dealer. He fears that his life is headed in a direction that will inevitably lead him “upstate,” to the kind of prison you don’t leave. His determination to claw his way out of the downward spiral is tested when he stands up to defend a weaker boy, and the resulting recriminations only seem to reinforce the impossibility of escaping a hopeless future. 


Juvenile Fiction 

Scumble  by Ingrid Law 
From School Library Journal
Gr 4-7–In this rollicking companion novel to Savvy (Dial, 2008), nine years have passed since Ledger Kale's cousin Mibs turned 13 and began her magical experience. Since he was a young boy, Ledge knew his family was unlike others, with each member gaining an unusual and often unpredictable power, called a savvy, upon turning 13. He hoped that his would enable him to be supersonically swift and race marathons with his dad. Unfortunately, it seems just to entail breaking things.

Kids

Truckery Rhymes  by Jon Scieszka 
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 3—This collection of lively truck-themed "Mother Goose" rhymes is filled with humor, although not all of them are equally nimble for reading aloud. Replacing the familiar lines for "Little Miss Muffet" are the words: "Little Dan Dumper sat on his bumper,/Taking his break for the day./Along came Pete Loader,/who revved his loud motor,/And frightened Dan Dumper away." The words for "Three Blind Mice" change to: "Three LOUD trucks./Three LOUD trucks./See how they ZOOM./See how they ZOOM./They all jumped over/the muck and goo./They skidded and screeched/and their mufflers blew./Did you ever see/such a crazy crew?/As three LOUD trucks./Three LOUD trucks." Fresh noisy lyrics for "The Wheels on the Bus" are great for singing exuberantly in storytime, "The siren on the truck goes whoop, whoop, whoop…." The digital illustrations are colorful, energetic, and playful: the vehicles have personality plus. One flashy spread shows all of them and their sound words from "The Wheels on the Truck," and another picture shows the ice-cream truck parked on a moon made of ice cream.

Carrot Soup by John Segal 
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2 Rabbit's favorite time of year is spring, when he can plant his garden. He plows, plants, waters, weeds, and waits for his carrots to grow, while looking forward to eating carrot soup. But at harvest time, he finds that all of his beloved plants are gone. As he asks his neighbors if they have seen his produce, each one skillfully avoids answering. In the background, readers see animals holding balloons, wearing party hats, and hauling away bucketloads of carrots. Disappointed, Rabbit returns home to discover that his friends have organized a party and cooked his favorite soup.

If I built a Car by Chris VAn Dusen 
From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-With descriptions and a rhyme scheme clearly inspired by Dr. Seuss, a little boy relates all of the wonderful things about the car he plans to design, including safety features, a pool, a robot driver, and the ability to go underwater and fly through the air. The rhyme scheme works well enough, although at times the rhythm falters. The artwork is the real draw here. The brightly colored, crisp, cartoon-style illustrations, reminiscent of the Jetsons, are likely to keep viewers' attention. The full-bleed pictures are animated and detailed, and the boy's dog, which appears in each picture, ties the images together nicely.