The Summer Reading Program reached its final destination on Thursday, Aug. 18. Approximately 80 youngsters traveled this summer reading and learning about other countries and cultures. Our activities and prizes were made possible by the generosity of the following local businesses:

Alex & Bretts' Bakery           Bert's Surf Shop       
Ben and Jerry's of Emerald Isle  
China Garden and Mongolian Grill     
Carlone's Pizza                        Dee-Gee's Gifts and Books

Floyd's 1921 Restaurant          Food Lion        
The Friends of the Library      Ginny Gordan's      
Lowe's Foods                          Mary Withington, MT-BC   
Outback Steak House              Parson's General Store    
The Party Place                       Taco Bell    
Teacher's Pet                           The Town of Morehead City

Vision's Events and Beyond, Inc.  

NEW MATERIALS

Adult

Hiss of Death  by Rita Mae Brown 
From Publishers Weekly

Readers concerned about breast cancer will welcome Brown's 19th Mrs. Murphy mystery (after 2010's Cat of the Century). While Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen copes bravely with a diagnosis of stage one breast cancer, a sad discovery distracts her from her illness. Shortly before the 5K Run for Breast Cancer Awareness, Harry and her pets find the corpse of well-liked OR nurse Paula Benton, one of the event's organizers, who appears to have died of anaphylactic shock from a hornet's sting. But was it murder? Paula had been having problems with Thadia Martin, a former addict turned drug counselor at Central Virginia Medical Complex who was jealous of Paula's friendship with Dr. Cory Schaeffer. Brown sensitively depicts Harry's cancer treatment as the paw-biting action, which includes Schaeffer's almost fatal electrocution (via electric car), builds to the revelation of a surprising killer.

The Storm at the Door  by Stefan Merrill Block 
Product Description

The past is not past for Katharine Merrill. Even after two decades of volatile marriage, Katharine still believes she can have the life that she felt promised to her by those first exhilarating days with her husband, Frederick. For two months, just before Frederick left to fight in World War II, Katharine received his total attentiveness, his limitless charms, his astonishing range of intellect and wit. Over the years, however, as Frederick’s behavior and moods have darkened, Katharine has covered for him, trying to rein in his great manic passions and bridge his deep wells of sadness: an unending project of keeping up appearances and hoping for the best. But the project is failing. Increasingly, Frederick’s erratic behavior, amplified by alcohol, distresses Katharine and their four daughters and gives his friends and family cause to worry for his sanity. When, in the summer of 1962, a cocktail party ends with her husband in handcuffs, Katharine makes a fateful decision: She commits Frederick to Mayflower Home, America’s most revered mental asylum.
There, on the grounds of the opulent hospital populated by great poets, intellectuals, and madmen, Frederick tries to transform his incarceration into a creative exercise, to take each meaningless passing moment and find the art within it. But as he lies on his room’s single mattress, Frederick wonders how he ever managed to be all that he once was: a father, a husband, a business executive. Under the faltering guidance of a self-obsessed psychiatrist, Frederick and his fellow patients must try to navigate their way through a gray zone of depression, addiction, and insanity.
Meanwhile, as she struggles to raise four young daughters, Katharine tries to find her way back to Frederick through her own ambiguities, delusions, and the damages done by her rose-colored belief in a life she no longer lives.

Never Knowing  by Chevy Stevens 
Product Description

From the acclaimed author of Still Missing comes a psychological thriller about one woman’s search into her past and the deadly truth she uncovers. 
All her life, Sara Gallagher has wondered about her birth parents. As an adopted child with two sisters who were born naturally to her parents, Sara did not have an ideal home life. The question of why she was given up for adoption has always haunted her. Finally, she is ready to take steps and to find closure. 
But some questions are better left unanswered.
After months of research, Sara locates her birth mother---only to be met with horror and rejection. Then she discovers the devastating truth: Her mother was the only victim ever to escape a killer who has been hunting women every summer for decades. But Sara soon realizes the only thing worse than finding out about her father is him finding out about her.
What if murder is in your blood?
Never Knowing is a complex and compelling portrayal of one woman’s quest to understand herself, her origins, and her family. That is, if she can survive. . . .

Without Hesitation  by General Hugh Shelton 
Product Description
The powerful unvarnished memoir of General Hugh Shelton, war hero, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during 9/11, and one of the leading military figures of our time

Whether serving under a Democratic president or a Republican president, General Shelton was never afraid to speak out and tell it like it is. Shelton chronicles his incredible journey from a small farming community in North Carolina to the highest level of American military and political power at the Pentagon and White House.
As one of the nation’s elite Special Forces soldiers, Shelton served twice in Vietnam, commanding a Green Beret unit and then an airborne infantry company. He was awarded a Bronze Star for valor and a Purple Heart for a wound suffered when a booby trap drove a poisoned stake through his leg.
Shelton rose up the ranks and was assistant division commander of the 101st Airborne Division as they invaded Iraq in the Persian Gulf War, then led the 20,000 American troops tasked with restoring Haiti’s deposed President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power. Promoted to 4-star General, he became Commander in Chief of U.S. Special Operations Command (including Delta Force, Navy SEALS and other top secret Special Mission Units).
But it was while serving as Chairman during both the Clinton and Bush administrations that he faced his biggest challenges, including his role as chief architect of the U.S. military response to 9/11. General Shelton speaks frankly of how decisions were made behind the scenes in the inner sanctum of the E-Ring and Oval Office, and reveals key military operations and meetings that have not yet been revealed, including:
* High-ranking Cabinet member proposes intentionally allowing an American pilot to be killed by the Iraqis to have an excuse to retaliate and go to war.
* Details of a contentious Camp David meeting among President George W. Bush and his National Security Council immediately after 9/11, where internal battle lines were drawn---and Shelton (along with Colin Powell) convinced President Bush to do the right thing.