Staff Picks
It's easy to forget sometimes that there was a real person behind a name. Thankfully, there are picture books like this one to tell the stories of amazing people who struggled and persevered like Lena Bryant. An absolute beauty of a book that is a perfect fit for the subject matter, with such a great message for those of us who always feel like we're sewing without a pattern.
Stacey
A breathtakingly beautiful retelling of a classic Korean legend. Mina travels to the underworld to save her people and take charge of her own fate, resulting in a tale of love and mystery and adventure. Combine the quiet friendships and wonder of Spirited Away with the longing of Hadestown and you'll get this book.
Katherine
Two dads, two kids, and the baby rush to get ready for Grandma's visit, but the cat isn't cooperating. Chaos ensues. Bright, colorful, and laugh-out-loud funny.
Katie
Animalia is like an I Spy book mixed with a beautifully illustrated word game! I used to love pouring over Graeme's drawings for hours, figuring out how each item in the pictures tied back to the alphabet letter represented by the page spread. As an adult, I love helping kids figure out new vocab words by pointing out details in the illustrations!
Murphy
Alone is a middle grade novel in verse that follows the story of Maddie and her Rottweiler George as they settle into the aftermath of a surprise evacuation of their small town. Abandoned and entirely alone, Maddie and George have to figure out creative ways to survive, though they quickly find out that the hardest part about this is not fighting off packs of wild animals, but rather the bone-deep loneliness of total isolation from the rest of the world. Perfect for any kiddos and adults who enjoy a gripping story and a plotline that is superbly unexpected.
Cindy
Full of hilariously expressive illustrations and charmingly understated narration, THE CAPYBARAS is a fun, beautiful story about how we all have more in common than we think, and building communities across differences makes everybody stronger.
Piera
This is a YA sapphic horror novel that asks the question: What would you give to achieve your deepest wishes? It's an atmospheric, creepy novel that at the same time manages to have sweet romance and funny moments. Read it for a marriage of Jennifer's Body and The Craft or give it to the horror-loving teen in your life.
April
Like Pacific Rim if it were a book, just better & more feminist.
N.B. There are content warnings at the front, and as they do not reveal any of the plot, please do take note of them. Some heavy topics are covered.
Marisca
A perfect summer read for any middle-grade reader with sisters! I read this book when it first came out, and it is part of what jumpstarted my love for reading. The story follows four sisters' adventures over their summer vacation at a family estate. It has been fifteen years since I first read it along with my sisters, and we still make reference to it, specifically the M.O.P.S. (Meeting of the Penderwick Sisters) and M.O.O.P.S. (Meeting of the Older Penderwick Sisters) of which we created our own variation.
Morgan
Grub Street Pick
What does it mean to be a monster? In this retelling of Beowulf from Grendel’s POV, we find the creature searching for meaning in a world that never wanted him. Through conversations with dragons and his secretive observations through the roof of the great hall, Grendel tries to determine the meaning of life, if there even is one.
Dave
Before George Saunders was a genius minted by the MacArthur Fellowship folks, and the recipient of the Booker Prize for his first novel, he wrote this book of genuinely delightful, weird, tender stories. In terms of short story writers, Saunders has become American royalty. But this is him as a debut author, in what might be his wildest form.
Dave
Naomi and Nicholas are the lovey dovey fiances everyone's jealous of. But they're both burdened by an earth-shattering secret...they actually despise one another. With the wedding coming hot at their heels, It's too late to back out, though neither of them wants to tank the cost of their wedding by calling it quits. Suddenly, their "happily ever after" becomes a battle of wills: who's going to outlast the other in this crumbling relationship? Full of hilarious dialogue and trickery to last a lifetime, Sarah Hogle's debut You Deserve Each Other is the unconventional lovers-to-enemies-to-??? rom-com you didn't know you needed.
Cindy
If you're looking for new, unique, and diverse writing that is reminiscent of authors like Mona Awad, Cat Valente, and Carmen Maria Machado, this book is an ideal read for you! Chadburn's Filipino heritage lends a heavy filter to the narrative, which follows the too-short life of a woman cast out by society and transformed by death into an agent of justice--or mercy. Murdered by a serial killer, Marina Salles' life doesn't end the day she wakes up dead. Transformed into a monster from myth, she has nine days to decide whether to enact revenge.
Engel
Not all of these poems are about death, but a lot of them are. Likewise, not all of these poems are about pigs, but really truly A LOT of them are, and Jenny George treats both subjects with the care and close attention of someone who loves this world and all the things living and dying in it. Describing a pig, George writes: "All sleeping things are children."
Piera