The Pepins and Their Problems

The Pepins and Their Problems by Polly Horvath. Read by Julie Halston.
Youth CD Books – Lower Level – HORVATH

Mr. and Mrs. Pepin and their two children, Irving and Petunia, think they are ordinary enough people. Somehow, though, they and their very fine neighbor Mr. Bradshaw keep having problems. Why is their cow producing lemonade instead of milk? How will they get off the roof when the ladder has fallen down? What to do when the neighbor on the other side objects to Mr. Bradshaw’s being called a very fine neighbor? Most authors would let their characters muddle through these difficulties on their own, but not this one! She solicits her readers/listeners for advice on what the Pepins should do and includes responses from across the country. This is silliness the whole family will enjoy.

Stealing Lincoln's Body

Stealing Lincoln's Body by Thomas J. Craughwell
Adult Nonfiction-Upper Level – 973.709 C

During this year of Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial, books dealing with his life have flooded the bookshelves. Stealing Lincoln’s Body (published in 2007) deals not with his life, but his death, choice of final resting place, and ultimately the plot to steal his body by a group of counterfeiters in 1876. Their goal, it seems, was to hide the coffin and hold it for a $200,000 ransom as well as gain the release of a fellow counterfeiter named Ben Boyd from prison . The plot was foiled by the work of the Secret Service, but it led to the eventual moving of the entire deceased Lincoln family's remains into a new and impenetrable tomb in 1901. Along with relating the bizarre plot, Stealing Lincoln’s Body describes to readers the huge problem of counterfeiting in the early years of our country and the corruption of law enforcement in dealing with it. This fast-paced, slim volume includes contemporary photographs and is sure to fascinate Civil War buffs and admirers of Abraham Lincoln.

Teen Idol

Teen Idol by Meg Cabot.
Teen Zone Cd Books - Main Level - CABOT

Jen Greenley, 17 year old Junior at Clayton High School in Clayton Indiana, is the type of girl everyone wants to be friends with because she’s easygoing, cute, and nice to everyone. Jen never challenges the status quo, she sings in her school's show choir, and she even secretly dispenses advice in the "Ask Annie" column of her school's newspaper. Jen has the perfect life--or does she?

When Jen is put in charge of guiding the major motion picture teen star, Luke Striker (aka Lucas Smith), around Clayton High she isn't even excited. Jen is not interested in movie stars. She would rather read science fiction books than moon over the latest glossy pics in gossip magazines. Guiding undercover Luke around Clayton High is just another duty in Jen Greenley's predictable life. However, Jen is in for quite a surprise when Luke comes to town!

At first, Jen is able to keep Luke's true identity a secret, and she feels that her life will return to normal once Luke heads back to Hollywood. However, after a few days in Clayton, everyone in town finds out who Lucas Smith really is, and chaos ensues. All the girls in Clayton, including Jen's best friend Trina, want to date Luke, entertainment reporters camp out at Jen's house, and now Jen is going to the Spring Fling with Luke as her date! Will Jen's life ever go back to being normal again? Or maybe that normal isn't what Jen needs?

Teen Idol by Meg Cabot is a super engaging and funny book. The audio book version of this novel is delightfully read by Elizabeth Moss who expertly brings the characters of Clayton High to life. Teen Idol may not be thought-provoking literature, but if you are looking for a tall and refreshing glass of lemonade on a hot summer day, then this novel is your ticket!

Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock
Teen Zone Fiction-Main Level
15-year-old D.J. Schwenk takes over the milking chores on her family farm when her father is injured. When heart-throb Brian Nelson, the quarterback of the rival football team, is sent to help out and learn how to work, D.J. is put in charge of teaching him. They start working out (training for football season) together. D.J. acts as the trainer, which becomes awkward when she later decides to try out for her high school football team. Issues of family communication, friendship, loyalty, teenage crushes, and the value of hard work make up this fun teen fiction book.

Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch
Adult Fiction Shelves--Main Level
Sarah Walters grew up in the cotillion world of South Carolina. As she goes out into the world and becomes an independent adult, we watch her become self-destructive. She can’t seem to keep a relationship going, and has low self-esteem and a job that never quite becomes a career. Her debutante friends (Bitsy, Charlotte, and Annie) are also flawed characters. The author gives the characters a dry wit, though, that gives this book more depth than just a slacker with no self respect. When family tragedy brings Sarah home to South Carolina, she has to decide if the southern way – back to her roots – is where she should stay, or if it is too late for her to come back for good.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Adult Paperbacks-Main Level
Alice Howland is a psychology professor at Harvard University. She is well-respected and successful – popular with her students and colleagues. She travels regularly to give speeches at important conferences, and writes articles and books. When she gets lost on her way home from her daily run, her panic leads her to her doctor. She realizes that she has been misplacing things lately, but blames it on menopause. When her clumsiness and lapses in language get worse, she eventually gets a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s. The reader experiences Alice’s steady decline, until she can no longer work, cannot recognize her own children, and does not know when she is in her own home. This is a truly heartbreaking story, so realistic that the reader can’t help but feel compassion for Alice and her loved ones. This is Neuroscientist Genova’s first novel.

The Immortals: Evermore

Evermore by Alyson Noël
Teen Zone Fiction-Main Level – NOEL

Sixteen year old Ever Bloom is the only survivor in a car accident that claimed the lives of her parents, her younger sister, and the beloved family dog. Now Ever resides with her wealthy aunt in Southern California. As a result of the accident Ever can now see people’s auras and read their thoughts. At her old school Ever used to be popular, wear the latest trendy clothes and have a lot of friends. At her new school she is the freaky new girl that wears jeans, keeps her hood up on her sweatshirt and only has a couple of friends. Ever tries to block everything out by hiding in large sweatshirts and listening to her I-pod. Everything changes the day she meets Damen, the new boy in school. There are many things about Damen that intrigues Ever. She cannot see his aura or read his thoughts and is perplexed by his ability to make red tulips appear out of nowhere. Once Ever discovers the truth about Damen she discovers the truth about herself as well. Will Ever accept the fact of what she became even though she did not have a choice?

This is the first in a new fantasy series called The Immortals by Alyson Noël. If you are a fan of the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer than you will probably enjoy this series. The second book in the series is called Blue Moon. The third book called Shadowland will debuting January of 2010.

Age of Bronze

Age of Bronze. Vols 1-3 by Eric Shanower
Adult Graphic Novels – Main Level - AGE
There was this famous war in the Bronze Age in a city named Troy, about which many, many stories have been written over the centuries, including most famously the Iliad, which somehow doesn’t include some of the most famous bits of the legend. Shanower is doing his best to weave these stories into a cohesive whole. Not only did he read a lot of stories, but he did a lot of art and archeological research to make the settings, the clothes, and the people as accurate and realistic as possible. Historians will probably still find room to quibble, but this amount of research appeals to the library in me. Still, all would be lost if the story didn’t work. Shanower’s beautifully detailed drawings and expressive text bring the ancient characters to life. He’s made the decision not to have the gods appear in the story, though the characters nearly uniformly strongly believe in them and appear to receive messages from them. While a strong break from the Iliad, it’s a choice that makes the story more accessible to modern readers, who may pray for guidance but don’t generally view people as heroes who succeed only because the gods made it happen. It also makes the story deeper and more ambiguous: did Aphrodite really promise Helen to Paris? Or is this just another excuse from a young man who demonstrates overpowering arrogance and belief in his own charm from the very beginning, starting with deciding to win the royal athletic contests to win back his family’s bull and continuing on to kidnapping Helen instead of liberating the aged aunt he was sent to rescue, just because he didn’t care about an old woman. I just read the entry on the Iliad in Beowulf on the Beach by Jack Murnighan; one of the things he mentions is how cinematic Homer’s language is. This work feels cinematic as well, as the view zooms from close-ups to wide panoramas. Though in line with the Iliad, the war itself is just getting started at the end of volume three, there’s plenty of violence, sex and mayhem to keep things going in the meantime. This is a book that manages to be beautiful, macho and compelling all at the same time.