The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise

The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart
Adult New Book Display Main Level - STUART

Balthazar Jones works at the Tower of London. He also lives there with this wife, Hebe, and their very old tortoise, Mrs. Cook. One day, Balthazar is informed that all the various animals given to the Queen over the years will be moved to the Tower grounds and Balthazar will be in charge of taking care of them. Hebe works at the London Underground Lost Property Office. Anything that is found on the subway is brought to Hebe. The jobs of the two main characters create all kinds of funny situations. All the interesting supporting characters and their interactions with one another add to the humor as well. However, the story also has some serious aspects to it, mainly concerning Balthazar and Hebe mourning the death of their young son a few years ago and its effect on their marriage. Overall, this is a very charming and touching book.

Zombies vs. Unicorns

Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black vs. Justine Larbalestier.
Teen Short Stories – Main Level - ZOMBIES

Zombies are in right now. Really in, and I personally really don’t like them. That’s why I’m so glad that this anthology of short stories has come out, so that everyone can see once and for all why unicorns are so much cooler than zombies. That would be my way of looking at it, anyway. The book is geared towards a teen audience and has twelve stories, six each zombie and unicorn, each team headed by a separate editor. Here are the authors that I’ve heard of: Garth Nix, Naomi Novik, Maureen Johnson, Diana Peterfreund, Scott Westerfeld, Meg Cabot and Libba Bray. These are very good authors, though I admit that the only zombie story I made it all the way through was Alaya Dawn Johnson’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, and that only because the opening comments described it as funny. (A thoughtful feature of this book is that every story is marked with a zombie or unicorn icon so if you are a diehard member of one team or another, as it turns out I am, you can avoid the stories from the other side.) Some of the stories are dark, like Kathleen Duey’s “The Third Virgin”. Some, like Naomi Novik’s “Purity Test” (what if the girl the unicorn picks isn’t really a virgin?) and Meg Cabot’s “Princess Prettypants”, where the unicorn literally farts rainbows, are hilarious. Every story is preceded by an argument between the two editors on the background of the story, tidbits about zombies or unicorns (depending) and the relative merits of zombies and unicorns. Even when I didn’t read the story, the notes were priceless. I hear the zombie stories were pretty good, too.

The book has an active web following, too – check out Team Unicorn’s “A Very Zombie Holiday” on Youtube.

The Quilter's Apprentice

The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

Matt McClure was out of a job and had a difficult time trying to find one in State College, PA. Matt and his wife Sarah decided to move to Waterford, PA where he accepted a full time job with a landscape architect firm. Now it was Sarah’s turn to be out of a job. She went on numerous interviews but to no avail. Matt was working to restore Elm Creek Manor. The owner of Elm Creek was Mrs. Sylvia Compson, she wanted to repair and restore the estate so she could sell it. Mrs. Compson offered Sarah a temporary position that consisted of cleaning and restoring the interior of Elm Creek. Sarah willingly took the job, with one condition though. Sarah wanted Mrs. Compson to teach her how to quilt. Sarah loved the quilting lessons very much; she loved hearing stories about Mrs. Compson’s life and what it was like growing up at Elm Creek. Sarah enjoyed quilting so much that she joined the Tangled Web Quilters. She invited Mrs. Compson to join her but she refused, and when Sarah brought it up at meeting some of the quilters were upset that Sarah would do that. Sarah was told that one of the members was Mrs. Compson’s sister in law and they have not spoken to each other in many years. Through the stories Mrs. Compson tells Sarah realizes that Mrs. Compson does not want to sell Elm Creek Manor and she regrets the events that estranged her from her family. Sarah needs to come up with a plan to keep Mrs. Compson from selling Elm Creek and to reunite her with her sister in law. Do not miss the other great novels in the Elm Creek Quilts series:

Round Robin by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

The Cross Country Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Paperbacks-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

The Runaway Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

The Quilter’s Legacy by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

The Master Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

The Sugar Camp Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

The Christmas Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

Circle of Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

The Quilter’s Homecoming by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

The New Year’s Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

The Winding Ways Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

The Quilter’s Kitchen by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

The Lost Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

A Quilter’s Holiday by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

The Aloha Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
Adult Fiction Shelves-Main Level– CHIAVERINI

My Name is Mary Sutter

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira Adult New Book Display - Main Level Oliveira

Mary Sutter is a 20-year-old midwife in Civil War-era New York. She dreams of becoming a surgeon, but can find no one to apprentice her. The medical school in Albany will not admit women. She decides to go to Washington D.C. to volunteer with army nurses. She's too young, and her mother pleads with her not go to, but she sneaks away. Even the famed Dorothea Dix won't take her on, so she has to find a willing surgeon to work with. She finds Dr. William Stipp in the Union Hotel (which has been converted to a war hospital). He begrudgingly takes her on, and ultimately finds her irreplacable! Mary is not squeamish about the brutality of war medicine: amputations are a necessity, and Mary skillfully helps Dr. Stipp in any way she can. Meanwhile, her sister and mother are at home in New York, begging her to return to deliver her sister's baby. Her sister's husband and her brother are both off fighting the war. This is a very realistic portrayal of women, medicine, and the Civil War...historical fiction at its best!

Alchemy and Meggy Swann

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman
Teen Zone New Fiction - Main Level - CUSHMAN

The year is 1573 in England. Queen Elizabeth I is the reigning queen, and Meggy Swann is an adolescent girl who has been sent by her cruel mother to live with the father she has never known in filthy and smelly London. To top it all off, Meggy is crippled and is forced to learn her own way around the vast and unknown city. “Ye toads and vipers!”

When Meggy first arrives in London, she is hopeful that her father will care about her and want a relationship with her, but she soon realizes that his true love is himself and his “Great Work.” Indeed, he spends all of his hours locked in a laboratory mixing chemicals trying to change base metals into gold. He is also trying to find the “great elixir of life” or the fountain of youth. His “Great Work” doesn’t pay much, and Meggy is often hungry and cold. Left to fend for herself, Meggy soon learns her way around the streets of London and meets some kind people such as Roger Oldham (an old helper of her father’s), Master Cooper, and Printer Allyn. Printer Allyn prints many ballads which are sold on every street in London proclaiming interesting stories and the news of the day.

In time, Meggy’s father does start to talk to her, but mostly so he can have her help in the laboratory. While this isn’t exactly the life Meggy had envisioned for herself, she does her best because her beloved Gran would have wanted her to be positive. One day however, Meggy overhears two men talking to her father about an evil plot to murder a high official in Queen Elizabeth’s court. “Ye toads and vipers!” What will Meggy do? She can’t allow her father to get involved in something so wicked and evil, and yet what can she, a poor and crippled common girl, do to stop such a plot?

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman is absolutely wonderful historical fiction written in the same vein as Ms. Cushman’s other novels which are always about young girls who face adversity and yet find their own way to succeed. Meggy is a great heroine to add to the long list of heroines created by Karen Cushman. If you enjoy historical fiction that is richly researched and detailed, then you will enjoy any of Karen Cushman’s fantastic young adult novels!

Imaginalis

Imaginalis by J.M. DeMatteis
Youth New Book Shelves-Lower Level – DeMATTEIS

Mehera Beatrice Crosby is devastated upon learning that her favorite book series Imaginalis will no longer be published. She was waiting for Book 5 forever and now she will not know how everything ended! She believed in these books and considered all the characters her friends. After learning the news Mehera starts receiving weird and strange text messages. She thought her friend from school was playing a joke on her. Mehera discovered it was really the characters from Imaginalis that were contacting her. The Imaginalians are counting on her to save them from Pralaya (the villain). Soon Mehera is going between worlds trying to save the Imaginalians. Through her strong belief that they are real and her determination to help her friends Mehera goes on a quest to find the author of the series. Together can they save the Imaginalians from disappearing in Nolandia or will they forget the Imaginalians ever existed?