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Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor's Story

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Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor's Story

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Caren Stelson
Book - 2016
What a powerful book. I only know the conventional story of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and this true story of a young girl who survived the blast in Nagasaki held lots of surprises for me. She lost most of her family, her childhood, and her sense of self. Her efforts to come to terms with what happened to her and to speak out so that more children don't suffer the same horrifying events is inspiring. Hearing her speak about her own heroes is both surprising and touching. And reading about the author's determination to share Sachiko's story is awe-inspiring, too.

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Caleb Roehrig
Book - 2016
Caleb Roehrig's LAST SEEN LEAVING is a wonderfully dark and twisty mystery that is absolutely riveting from beginning to end. I was so tense following along as Flynn slowly uncovered what was going on, peeling back layers and layers of January's life, and realizing a lot of uncomfortable truth about her and himself in the process.
Kali Wallace

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Sabaa Tahir
Book - 2016
A Torch Against the Night is the very glorious sequel I had expected from Sabaa Tahir. But what distinguishes itself from its prequel is the otherworldliness of it. The breath of Death on our characters' necks. The villain(s) that are evil incarnate. The idea of a prescribed destiny. The new abilities and powers. The demons, the stories, the souls -- everything combines with a well-built plot, an expanded universe and realistic, flawed portrayals of characters in order to deliver the best kind of chills.
Andreea Pop

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Beth Revis
Book - 2016
A World Without You is one of those books that invades your every thought, controls your every breath and breaks your heart, only to rebuild it as the better, stronger version of itself. In this genre-bending gem of a book, Revis explores mental illness, loss and guilt that lead to never before seen depths of self-delusion and fear. For a more careful reader, reading it can be an eye-opening experience, as each new page peels away one more bit of prejudice of which we were completely unaware.
Maja (The Nocturnal Library)

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Kate Elliott
Book - 2016
Kate Elliott, an award-winning American YA author, pens the next book in her series of Court of Fives called, Poisoned Blade and this time the story gets deathly, complex and extremely mind-blowingly edgy as Jes, the champion of the Fives, is caught between the war of her divided kingdom as well as the strive and the challenge to save her dear mother and her sisters, all the while being under constant supervision of a cruel ruler.
Aditi

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Leigh Stein
Book - 2016
I was entranced by the first couple of sentences. This is a beautifully written memoir of the author's toxic relationship with a younger narcissistic man. He was only a few years younger than her but it seemed like decades. It's a story that most of us can relate to in one form or another. Even though she had already gone on with her life, he seemed to still haunt her.
Sheryl

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Matthew J. Kirby
Book - 2016
Fact and fiction are woven together in the infamous Whitechapel murders, ghosts, and the peculiar case of London Hospital's The Elephant Man, all from the perspective of a girl who has been severely disfigured by phosphorous necrosis. This story doesn't shy away from the gruesome nature of the crimes nor the rough realities faced by a woman without position, or a man who was put on display as a sideshow attraction.
Wendy Darling

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Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Book - 2016
This book tells a great love story that not only portrays social controversy of the community in South Texas, but also the racial oppression that took place in its time. It is a great book for those who are interested in Texas history as well as a good romance novel. This book is an eye opener because it exposes the violence omitted from history books in our schools.
Gustavo Guajardo

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Martin Stewart
Book - 2016
A truly extraordinary, rich and vivid debut. Martin has built a world and concocted a story you can get lost in - this is one of the most engrossing books I've read this year, and I loved every second of it. One for fans of Pratchett and Gaiman.
Robin Stevens

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McGinnis, Mindy
Book - 2016
This is a YA book, but definitely for older teens. Whew, it’s a really tough read--my head is still reeling from this book. On one hand, it’s a book about rape culture, murder, and revenge. But it’s also about falling in love, finding friendship, and growing up. I’m not sure how McGinnis does it, but somehow this book manages to be ruthless and tenderhearted at the same time. This book addresses real, relevant issues, and it doesn’t shy away from the details.
LPL_CentennialC

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Every Falling Star The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea

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Every Falling Star The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea

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Lee, Sungju

Book - 2016
I've read several excellent books by young women who escaped from North Korea to South Korea and I found their personal stories fascinating and well worth reading. The women authors mentioned gangs of young men who were dangerous and violent and threatened people in the farmers' markets in N. Korea. This is the first account I've read by a young man who was in one of those gangs. I encourage you to read this one, but not only this one. Check out, also, the biographies of, e.g., Yeonmi Park or Hyeonseo Lee for books that fill in the experiences of women escapees from N. Korea through China and other routes. Quite topical.
miaone

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Before We Go Extinct
Rivers, Karen
Book - 2016
I was lucky enough to read an advance copy of this book and am so glad I did. Karen Rivers captures the essence of what I imagine is a typical teen boy's psyche. Faced with tragedy, Sharky embarks on a journey that will come to be as life-altering as the situation that brought him to his current state. Rivers weaves a vivid and detailed picture in the readers' minds as she carries us along with Sharky from NYC to a remote island in Canada where he learns to live and breathe again.
Jana Anthoine

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Heir to the Sky

Sun, Amanda
Book - 2016
Sun combines the increasingly popular setting of floating realms with dashes of dystopia and romance and tops it off with some monsters for a wonderful fantasy novel. This brilliant tale should appeal to fans of Lauren DeStefano and Veronica Rossi, as it mixes the sky kingdom world of one with the survival elements of the other. A must for all teen fantasy collections.
Eric Norton--JLG

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Lucky Strikes

Bayard, Louis
Book - 2016
Lucky Strikes is a fast-paced, high-stakes novel set in the real world about tough Melia. She's fighting to keep her family together and to keep their gas station. Nothing was sugarcoated-- Melia was tough, down-to-earth, practical, and her occasional selfish outbursts made her human. The characters of Lucky Strikes were complete, well-developed, and relatable. I cared for them. The ending even made me tear up a bit.
Give it a try!
Blue_Crow_2

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Girl in the Blue Coat

Hesse, Monica
Book - 2016
In Nazi-occupied Holland, Hanneke seems like an ordinary girl working at a funeral parlor to help support her family during wartime...When one of her best customers asks for her assistance in finding a Jewish girl she was hiding, Hanneke is stunned. But soon after, she is drawn into the mysterious disappearance of the girl in the blue coat. What she uncovers as she searches for answers leads her on a journey of self-discovery, self-realization, and redemption. Hesse crafts a thought-provoking and gripping historical novel. The themes of love, betrayal, heroism, social responsibility, and atonement are beautifully intertwined with well-developed characters and a compelling story line.
Donna Rosenblum--JLG

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Highly Illogical Behavior

Whaley, John Corey
Book - 2016
In this novel we meet Solomon Reed, an agoraphobe who hasn't set foot outside his house in three years after a very public breakdown at his middle school. He's happy in his house with his parents and grandparents, doing his schooling online and watching movies and Star Trek...It is a gut wrenching, poignant, funny, and quick read. What mental health issues are addressed here are done with care and so are the other issues like relationships (friendly and otherwise), sexuality, family dynamics, and all that good stuff. Even if you don't get the Star Trek bits of it (there's actually not all that much), it's worth a read.
KateHillier

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Guile

Cooper, Constance
Book - 2016
This debut novel features a well-realized world ruled by guile, a powerful substance found in the water that changes anything exposed to it, for better or worse. Yonie Watereye is a 16-year-old orphan posing as a "pearly"—one who can sense the presence of guile...This fast-paced story will be embraced by fantasy readers looking for something a little different, even as they recognize the universal problems of growing up that Yonie faces.
Anne L. Hoffman--Linworth Publishing Company

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Pond

Bennett, Claire-Louise
Book - 2016
Like a swift current, Pond effortlessly carried me from its first sentence to its last. Much of that had to do with the nontraditional narrative style- almost no dialogue, very stream-of-consciousness with lots of space for the reader to fill in the blanks. I loved the narrator's unusual perspective and enjoyed the book overall.
Chapel_Hill_KrystalB

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Sabotage : the Mission to Destroy Hitler's Atomic Bomb
Bascomb, Neal
Book - 2016
Bascomb is a master of taking complicated histories and turning them into exciting works of nonfiction. By exploring the various backgrounds of each of the Norwegian resistance fighters and scientists, he gives readers a chance to understand their motivations and properly empathize with their struggles. This excellent treatise on a little-known episode of World War II is a first choice.
Eldon Younce--JLG

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The Haters

Andrews, Jesse
Book - 2016
It is an excellent twist on the teenage road trip genre with lots of action, romance and of course, experimental punk rock. Absolutely loved the music element about it and the adventure it took me on.
twentyønepiløts

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The Passion of Dolssa
A Novel

Berry, Julie
Book - 2016
Just the right amount of history, authentic cultural details and language to make it interesting but not weighty. An interesting story of the role of the Church, superstition, cycles of nature and women's spirituality.
KeyPaul

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The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

Liu, Ken
Book - 2016
These remarkable stories highlight Liu’s themes of family, love, and politics and gathered in one collection pack an even bigger punch. Those who revere shorter speculative works will definitely want this book.
Kristi Chadwick--JLG

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Homegoing
A Novel

Gyasi, Yaa
Book - 2016
In Homegoing Yaa Gyasi tackles the politics of race and the legacy of slavery through a brilliant sweeping intergenerational saga spanning two continents. The stories and chapters alternate between the stories of the two sisters and their decendants beginning from the roots of slavery on the gold coast in Africa to its present day reverberations in both Africa and America. This book was wonderfully written by a very talented writer and I highly recommend it.
SquamishLibraryStaff

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The Human Microbiome
The Germs That Keep You Healthy

Hirsch, Rebecca E.
Book - 2017
Hirsch’s readable, lucid text introduces us to these colonizers/hitchhikers/attackers, where they live on/in us, what they do, how they benefit (mostly) or harm us, and—equally important—how we affect them and what it all means to our health in general. She discusses the “golden age” of antibiotics and the dangerous land mines implanted by their overuse...Unexpectedly informative and up-to-the-minute in research, this is a nifty look through a clear window at our unsuspected personal passengers.
Patricia Manning--JLG

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Exit, Pursued by A Bear
Johnston, E. K.
Book - 2016
Hermione Winters is convinced that this is going to be a good year. She's a popular senior and captain of her nationally ranked high school cheerleading team. Then, one night at a dance, Hermione is drugged, raped and impregnated. In the months following the incident, Hermione draws on her own stubborn strength and the support of her community to prove that she is much more than just 'that girl who was raped'. The main characters in this book are knockout - readers will almost expect to meet them on the street. Although the subject matter is tough, this story shows just how much a supportive community can help someone through tragedy.
JennaZeeLibrarian

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Imbeciles
The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck
Cohen, Adam

Book - 2016
This is a fascinating book, not just for the Carrie Buck aspect of it, but for the interrelated history. With the controversy and debates over immigration today, it's interesting to take a look back to the early 20th century when there was a move to keep Italians, eastern European Jews and other "undesirables" from entering the U.S. because they were inferior in a number of ways, and they may even manage to pollute the US gene pool...Adam Cohen explains these and many more related issues so well it's almost like reading a novel. It shines a light on a very dark time in US history that should be a must-read for people interested in history, and especially human rights.
Anne--Goodreads

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The Crown's Game

Skye, Evelyn

Book - 2016
The best way I can think of to describe this is "The Night Circus, minus the circus, in 19th century Russia." Which sounds weird! But I quite enjoyed this. The author has fun playing with history (a helpful author's note at the end expands on this), and while I kind of wish she'd written it as a standalone novel rather than a series-opener, I'm intrigued enough that I'll definitely read the sequels. Romantic and imaginative and sure to find a readership with teen fantasy fans.
Chapel_Hill_MarthaW

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Lab Girl
Jahren, Hope

Book - 2016
A wonderful memoir of a brilliant paleobotanist; her several laboratories; enduring marriage and family; and relationship with Bill, her lab partner... Read it!
AL_PAMELAH

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We Love You, Charlie Freeman

A Novel, 2016

Greenidge, Kaitlyn
I wanted to live inside this book at times - Kaitlyn Greenidge's writing is so vivid and conversational and absorbing. This book deals with the lived experiences of people of color (specifically black women) in America. It's also a story of language acquisition, family, fitting in, and finding yourself. I look forward to many more novels from this author!
multcolib_karene