Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom RiggsThis story intrigues from the beginning. As the author modestly describes it, “this is a quirky little novel illustrated with photos.” The odd collection of vintage photos that is showcased, integral to the story, fascinates and haunts you. Your excitement to read the next plot turn is matched by your eagerness to see the next curious photo.
It all starts with the angst of the Portman family, . . . . . 
Link to my Peculiar recommendation

 

across a hundred mountains

across a hundred mountains, by Reyna Grande



Illegal immigration from Mexico to the U.S. is most often a political or economic discussion. This novel puts a human face on the families involved in the 1980s. This is the story of one family, their tragedies, and the impacts of their extreme poverty in Guerrero, Mexico. The father labors in the fields for pesos. He hears tales from others about . . . . My recommendation at this link

Believing in Miracles

Tarnished Beauty, by Cecilia SamartinThis is a story about believing in miracles. The message is everything in life is an illusion; the truth is what we believe with the power of conviction. We make our own miracles. Choose your stories and believe in them with all your heart, and all your soul – your entire being, and they will be your truth.

Jamilet is marked from birth. . . . . Link to recommendation

Map of Bones by James Rollins

James Rollins' Map of Bones is an action-packed fiction thriller and a smart, historical and religious mystery.  It is part of the author's Sigma Force book series.  In this installment, US Intelligence teams up with Vatican secret intelligence and one of Rome's finest carabinieri.  The heroes are very strong, both the men and the women characters.  You will admire their strength, endurance, dedication, and intelligence, with a touch of humor!  And there are other characters in the novel that you will really dislike.

The action starts right from the beginning in Cologne, Germany.  Two unwitting innocents stumble into a horrific scene.  And I will caution you that this novel contains lots of graphic violence.  But getting past that you'll follow the clues, and the smart story twists, and you'll be rewarded with many sweet onion layers to pull back and savor.  Discover what's been revealed.  Keep piecing it all together as the clues take the team to the sites of the seven wonders of the world.

You'll get caught up in the excitement, the danger, and the purpose our heroes are immersed in.  You'll hang on by your fingernails at every cliffhanging point, racking your brain to try and help your heroes.  Commander Gray Pierce and his team will be uncovering secrets to a mysterious ancient power, racing against a heretical, fanatical gnostic sect - the Dragon Court.  The Court has its own evil purpose for solving the mystery, and it has a head start.

 Researching the past, to save the future, you are intensely living in each moment.  Clever and suspenseful - get ready for a wild ride through time.

James Rollins is the New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers that have been translated into more than forty languages. Known for unveiling unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets, Rollins has a knack for breakneck pacing and stunning originality that has been hailed by critics and embraced by millions of readers around the world.

James Rollins is the founder of Authors United, a group of bestselling authors dedicated to raising funds and awareness for USA Cares. This nonprofit organization seeks to help soldiers and their families through job placement, housing assistance, and emergency aid. Their mission is simple: restore financial stability and self-sufficiency, while instilling a renewed sense of hope among the brave men and women who have put their lives on the line for our freedom.

Psssst, Pass It On . . .

Hot off the presses from last night's meeting / end of the year party for the local Library Board, I heard of a book that is highly recommended.

I have not read this yet.  I haven't heard of it before, but I guess it was published 3 or 4 years ago.

It's suddenly got the buzz around here again.  It sounds like a gripping read with emotional and intellectual issues that will engage you.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

Although I haven't read it, yet.  I'm passing along this recommendation to you from a trusted source.

Here's a link to more information about the author, the book, and the planned HBO movie - About Henrietta Lacks

Men We Reaped Memoir

Men We Reaped — A Memoir, by Jesmyn Ward who won the National Book Award for her second novel, “Salvage the Bones.” I chose to first sample her writing with her third book, this memoir. She recounts the tragic events that predated, and in some ways gave birth to, her career as a writer. In four years she lost five young men who were dear to her. One was her brother. They were lost to... Link to Men We Reaped Recommendation

 

And did you see the web article about the importance of libraries in young people's lives, featuring young authors including Jesmyn Ward?

 

Link to Importance of Libraries

 

Memoirs by Reyna Grande, MK Asante and Jesmyn Ward show the importance of books and libraries. (Simon & Schuster; Lee Steffen / Random House; Tina Fineberg / Associated Press)

Check Out the Library Behind the Scenes

 We celebrated the new Bookmobiles at the Sno-Isle Library Service Center this weekend. Hooray! Libraries on Wheels provides mobile library service in remote and underserved areas, and also for those who have trouble getting to the library, such as our senior facilities and our Boys & Girls Clubs.

Honk! Honk! Stories and entertainment and knowledge are now even more mobile. This is one of the many vibrant library programs and services funded by the Sno-Isle Library Foundation.

You were expecting spacious stacks to peruse? You're in the wrong place for that. The Sno-Isle Service Center is the behind the scenes backbone of the library. During our tour of the Center we walked by these books that had just been catalogued for distribution. In the past 10 months 237,823 boxes of books have been delivered to the branch libraries. The dedicated staff have been implementing process improvements, and continue to do so in order to streamline processing and further speed up the time it takes to get books in eager readers' hands.

Another great service, here you see the Ready Readers Kits. The Ready Readers Program is a Sno-Isle Libraries initiative designed to help parents and caregivers enhance literacy and language development for young children from birth to five years of age.These thoroughly packed kits are available for check out and include books, puppets, teaching guide, and age appropriate media that encourage reading skills. Assistance is available for day care providers to discover effective ways to use the kits for fun and learning with their kids.

Sno-Isle also provides Book Discussion Kits for adult reading groups. 537 discussion kits were created this year.

It's been a long time since libraries were just for bound books. Here's carts of audio books and also CD's and DVD's that are cleaned (including repairing scratches), and re-distributed. As you can see, some of the puppets that wander into other programs' areas have a rest before getting back to Ready Reading. 



You're thinking the dewey decimal and card catalog are things of the past? Yes, but actually the coding system is very effective with computer and internet. That is the basis for the online searches that you do to find those books you want to read. On this chart you can see an example of what the different code lines tell about a specific book. Sno-Isle has seen 450 million views on their website this year - Link to Snohomish and Island County Libraries

Serving residents in Snohomish & Island counties with electronic databases, computers, free internet access, homework help, storytimes for children and over 1.4 million books, eBooks, DVDs, and CDs available from 21 library buildings, bookmobile, outreach, and childcare services.

Programs the Foundation Funds - Link to Sno-Isle Library Programs

What programs are at your library?  Visit online and in person, check it out, and it's wonderful to volunteer.
 

There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library,this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration.

- Andrew Carnegie