Blog Post
Staff Picks: Teen Fiction by Indigenous American Authors
by nicole
Here are a few great Teen books by Indigenous American authors from across several genres, including fantasy, mystery, and sci-fi.
A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger | Request Now
Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She's always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories. Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he's been cast from home. He's found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake. Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli's best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven't been in centuries. And there are some who will kill to keep them apart.
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Staff Picks: Get Excited for Big New Releases This Summer!
by eapearce
It’s that time of the summer when lots of big new releases are coming out! Many of these titles have been long-anticipated by readers and you might want to get on the hold list to get your hands on a copy! One thing to note: some of these titles are getting published in a few short weeks, so AADL does not yet have copies—but you can still put your name on the list and once the books are published and shipped, we’ll get them into the hands of our patrons!
Long Island Compromise, by Taffy Brodesser-Akner | Request Now
This just-released title, by the author of Fleishman Is In Trouble, details the unusual saga of a Jewish family in New York over the past four decades. The book opens in 1983, when wealthy businessman Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway, tortured and held for ransom. Upon his return to his family a week later, they all begin the work of recovering from the trauma and moving on with their lives. Forty years later, when Carl’s mother dies and the family reunites to mourn her, it becomes clear that no matter how hard they might have tried to forget the past, no one really got over anything. Carl’s wife Ruth has spent every day since the kidnapping working to protect and heal her husband at her own emotional expense. Ruth and Carl’s three grown children are all a mess in their own ways, and Carl himself still lives in fear over what happened to him. Will Carl and his family ever be able to find closure? Though their enormous wealth is ultimately what saved Carl’s life, isn’t it also what put him in danger in the first place? Was it worth it? Readers will find themselves immersed in the Fletchers’ lives, eagerly turning the pages to see how everything turns out.
Blog Post
Staff Picks: Cool Drinks & Treats For the Summer
by lucroe
This summer is already heating up so why not take the time to make some cool drinks and frozen desserts. These books have some creative combinations for both alcohol-free and alcoholic drinks, as well as some healthy sips and indulgent frozen treats.
Chill: Smoothies, Slushes, Shakes, Juices, Drinks & Ices by Cooking Light | Request Now
Looking for some variety in your refreshing summertime drinks? This book has great recipes, clear guidelines, and excellent low-calorie drinks for cooling off this summer. One such low-calorie strawberry smoothie has 200 calories, 2 grams of saturated fat, and less than 25 grams of sugar from naturally occurring sources: fruit, low-fat dairy, and honey. There are also lighter slushes, and cool ices packed with fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, low-fat dairy, and natural sweeteners. There’s a delicious protein-packed banana breakfast smoothie, fresh juices with vegetables and fruit as well as options for kids that help control the sugar intake. Enjoy a refreshing and healthy beverage this summer with ideas from this book!
Blog Post
Staff Picks: Check Out These Cool Board Games from AADL!
by eapearce
Did you know that AADL offers board games for checkout? You can peruse a wide variety of popular—and more obscure—games in our collection and take some home to try out! Not sure where to start? Read on for some of our suggestions!
Ticket To Ride | Request Now
The object of this game, which can support two to five players, is to complete train routes across the United States to earn points faster than your opponents complete their own routes. To start, players draw route cards dictating what routes they must attempt to build, then strategize the most efficient way to accomplish completing the routes. Players can always draw more route cards as the game goes on—but beware: points are lost for routes not completed! The premise is made more fun by building routes that get in other players’ way, stealing routes or positions from other players, and trying to hit particular cities as you build your routes. Though it takes a little bit to become super skilled at the game, most players over the age of ten or so can learn in fifteen minutes or less.
Blog Post
Staff Picks: New Graphic Novel Biographies
by nicole
Readers who love personal histories and fact-based family drama should check out these newly-added graphic memoirs filled with art and stories about aging, family struggles, political propaganda, and finding yourself.
Polar Vortex: a Family Memoir by Denise Dorrance | Request Now
What do you do when your mother can't remember who you are? You catch the first flight from your adopted home of London to your original hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she's hospitalized, injured, and struggling with the swirling disorientation of dementia. You take responsibility for finding her new (and, perhaps, final) home--although insurance is running out and you might have to finally patch up your bitter relationship with your sister. And you try not to think about death, lurking around every corner... or the coming polar vortex, growing closer and closer as snowflakes swirl ever faster outside. With cinematic illustrations and moving yet humorous prose, award-winning author and cartoonist Denise Dorrance shares the two most haywire months of her life: the phone call after her mother is discovered lying confused on the living room floor, the mingled shock and familiarity of a harsh Midwestern midwinter, the attempt to settle her homesick mother into a care facility, the limiting and limitless inanities of the US health care system, and the impossible decisions about what comes next. Incorporating vintage postcards, photographs, and letters, Dorrance brilliantly captures the sadness, frustration, and gallows humor of suddenly having to care for an aging parent and facing the moment of transition between life as you've long known it and life as it must become.
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Staff Picks: Celebrate Make Music Ann Arbor With New Music in AADL’s Collection!
by eapearce
Make Music Ann Arbor is a live, free musical celebration that takes place on June 21 every year—the longest day of the year. Cities across the world celebrate with concerts by professional and amateur musicians. Completely different from a typical music festival, Make Music is open to anyone who wants to take part. Every kind of musician—young and old, amateur and professional, of every musical persuasion—pours onto streets, parks, and plazas to share their music with friends, neighbors, and strangers. All of it is free and open to the public. You can read more about Make Music Ann Arbor here. Of course, listening to music is a big part of Make Music Day, and you might want to listen to some of these new albums in AADL’s music collection!
Orchestras, by Bill Frisell | Request Now
In his new double LP, famed guitarist Bill Frisell teams up with his usual trio of bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston for a live recording of two concert hall arrangements designed specifically for Frisell. In the first, the trio is accompanied by the nearly 60-piece Brussels Philharmonic and in the second, they’re backed by the 11-piece Umbria Jazz Orchestra. While not a complex or unheard of concept, Frisell’s talent and interaction with the pieces make for transcendent listening and the trio nimbly weaves themselves in with the accompanists to make a truly special recording.
Blog Post
Staff Picks: To Know & Be a Father
by lucroe
Celebrate all of the paternal figures in your life with these powerful memoirs about fatherhood and relationships with fathers.
The Beautiful Struggle: a Father, two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood by Ta-Nehisi Coates | Request Now
An intense and eloquent personal journey by National Book award winner Coates about his younger years growing up in Baltimore in the 1980s. Although his father Paul Coates believed in tough love for Coates and his half-brother he also instilled self-respect and to have pride in Black culture. His guiding principle was simple: 'I'm not here to be your friend. My job is to get you through. To make you conscious of the world around you. To teach lessons that can carry over.' His father was a member of the Black Panthers but could not get past the internal political struggles and eventually left. He ran a successful small publishing company that still exists called Black Classic Press out of his basement dedicated to African American authors including Walter Mosley. This is where Coates’ love for books began. Coates’ home life was unconventional, his father raised seven children with four different mothers which Coates’ considered all family. An honest and unflinching look at growing up with an authoritarian father who never gave up on teaching his children respect for themselves and their heritage.
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Fabulous Fiction Firsts #839, Murders Most British
by muffy
R.J. Rozen (of the Lydia Chin/ Bill Smith series) teams up with comics exec John Shen Yen Nee to bring us the ”bewitching series kickoff that cleverly riffs on the Holmes/Watson dynamic,” (Publishers Weekly) in The Murder of Mr. Ma * * (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook).
London, 1924. When Chinese scholar Lao She was summoned by mathematician Bertrand Russell to take part in a dangerous bait-and-switch operation to free his friend Judge Dee Ren Jie, mistakenly arrested as a Chinese agitator, Lao was swept up in Dee’s murder investigation of a Chinese merchant who served with him in the Chinese Labour Corps during WWI. Then more bodies turned up, all pointing to a killer using a rare butterfly sword.
“The intricate plot, which is bolstered by vivid period detail and playfully riffs on real-life figures in Chinese history (including Lao), is enhanced by healthy doses of humor and well-orchestrated action. Readers will be clamoring for a sequel.” (Publishers Weekly)
“Fans of the Sherlock Holmes canon will appreciate this fast-paced, exciting novel.” (Library Journal)
How to Solve Your Own Murder * by Kristen Perrin (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) opens in 1965 as 17 year-old Frances Adams was told by a fortune-teller at an English country fair that one day she’ll be murdered, and one year later, her best friend Emily disappeared. The two events caused Frances to spend a lifetime compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise.
60 years have gone by, Frances, now an enormously wealthy woman, summons her grand-niece Annie, an aspiring mystery writer to the sleepy village of Castle Knoll. When Annie arrives she finds Frances dead in her library - murdered. France’s will dictates that she will leave her entire estate to Annie, but only if Annie solves her killing. Thanks to Frances's lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder.
“Perrin juxtaposes timelines, detailing Frances's provincial life in the 1960s while Annie's investigation grows increasingly treacherous in the present. The pace is quick, the red herrings are plentiful, and Annie's growth from timid wannabe writer to confident sleuth is beautifully rendered. Combining elements of Agatha Christie, Anthony Horowitz, and Midsomer Murders, this is a richly entertaining whodunit from a promising new talent.“ (Publishers Weekly)
The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder * by C. L. Miller (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) exposes the dark underbelly of the antiques trade. Forty-something Freya Lockwood is at a crossroad - a divorced empty-nester about to lose her London home, when the news reaches her that her estranged mentor Arthur Crockleford has died under mysterious circumstances. Returning to the quaint village where she was raised by her Aunt Carole upon her parents’ accidental death, she finds out they are to inherit Arthur’s antique shop, thus thrusting her back into a life she had sworn to leave behind. 20 years ago Arthur was implicated in the death of Freya’s boyfriend when the two of them were investigating stolen artifacts and antique forgeries in Cairo.
“A trail of clues left by Arthur leads Freya and Carole to an old manor house filled with antiques and populated by various mysterious guests, all of them with hidden agendas and exuding varying degrees of menace. The author, daughter of Judith Miller (Miller's Antique Price Guide), draws on her own knowledge of antiques to develop the backdrop of the mystery.” (Library Journal)
For Your Listening Pleasure
The Other Half, a “crackling debut” (Publishers Weekly) by Charlotte Vassell (also in downloadable eBook) which The Guardian called “smart, pacy and good fun.”
When Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp discovered the body of Instagram influencer Clemmie O’Hara on his morning run at Hampstead Heath, attention was immediately drawn to her boyfriend Rupert Beauchamp,(no relations to the detective) heir to a baronetcy, who the evening before, threw himself a tawdry black-tie 30th birthday bash at a London McDonald's, where guests washed down their fries with champagne and cocaine.
Clemmie’s death couldn't have been more timely or convenient for Rupert who was ready to dump her for Nell Waddingham, a publishing assistant. Friends since their uni days, Nell is still traumatized by what happened to her on their recent trip to Greece, and wants nothing to do with Rupert.
“His (Caius’s) search takes him through a web of over-privileged suspects on whom the detective casts a half-contemptuous, half-envious eye, and eventually delivers him to the doorstep of a murderous, elite conspiracy.” (Publishers Weekly)
* * = 2 starred reviews
* = Starred review
Blog Post
Staff Picks: History Comics for Kids
by nicole
Dig into these middle-grade history comics to learn about people from the past, the creation of your favorite snacks, the origins of anime, or even the history of witches in Salem.
Tasty: a History of Yummy Experiments by Victoria Grace Elliott | Request Now
How did cheese happen? Who pickled the first pickle? Explore the history of innovative food in this non-fiction graphic novel filled with facts, legends, and recipes. Have you ever wondered how some of our favorite foods came to be? How was cheese created and who realized it belonged on everything? Was soda always meant to be a drink? A team of whimsical food sprites are excited to show you the yummy history of food experiments from all over the world! Learn about the true stories behind pickles! Get a recipe for how to make your favorite pizza! With a story and recipe for every chapter, this graphic novel will give you something to read and taste.
Blog Post
Staff Picks: It's Cookie Time!
by emjane
Want to celebrate the end of the school year? It’s cookie time! Happy that the heat has finally broken, and it’s not miserable to turn on your oven? It’s cookie time! Have a rumble-y in your tum-bley and know it’s time for something sweet? (Say it with me) IT’S COOKIE TIME! Here are some great cookbooks for old classics and new riffs on one of the most versatile baked treats!
Martha Stewart’s Cookie Perfection | Request Now
In classic Martha fashion, this cookbook is filled with recipes that walk the line between fussy and approachable, taking familiar concepts (like the snickerdoodle cookie) and giving them a “now that’s intriguing” twist (like the pumpkin snickerdoodle). The 100+ recipes in this collection span a wide variety of tastes and cultures, making it easy for the baker to find something new to try that aligns with their taste! The real highlight of this book, though, is its delectable close-up photographs of every bake. I dare anyone to flip through the pages without getting a little hungry. These 5-ingredient Macaroon Sandwich Cookies look approachable and delicious!