DRIPPING SPRINGS COMMUNITY LIBRARY SHELF TALK DECEMBER 2018
The stockings are hung, the tree, decorated and the outside lights are up with yard décor in place. Now comes the cocoa and a good book to read. This year, our collegian who is studying to become a reading specialist added a few of her favorite children’s books to our collage of holiday decorations. As you enjoy the merriment of the holiday season, think about supporting the Dripping Springs Community Library (DSCL), taking part in the educational children’s and adults’ programs and classes offered every month. Add making books a bigger part of your family’s life to your list of New Year’s Resolutions…and when you’ve finished reading a book you’ve bought, share it with a friend or recycle it by donating it to the DSCL. And for this holiday season, there’s nothing better than curling up under a warm blanket, with a great book in your hands and a cup of coffee, tea or cocoa nearby! Wishing all of you the very happiest of holidays from all of us at the DSCL to all of you! Here are the library staff’s reading recommendations for good books to read when you want to take a break from the holiday rush:
ADULT DEPARTMENT
Whiskey in a teacup: what growing up in the South taught me about life, love and baking biscuits. By Reese Witherspoon.Reese Witherspoon’s grandmother Dorothea always said the combination of beauty and strength made southern women “whiskey in a teacup.” We may be delicate and ornamental on the outside, she said, but inside we’re strong and fiery.
Reese’s southern heritage informs her whole life, and she loves sharing the joys of southern living with practically everyone she meets. She takes the South wherever she goes with bluegrass, big holiday parties, and plenty of Dorothea’s fried chicken. It’s reflected in how she entertains, decorates her home, and makes holidays special for her kids—not to mention how she talks, dances, and does her hair (in these pages, you will learn Reese’s fail-proof, only slightly insane hot-roller technique). Reese loves sharing Dorothea’s most delicious recipes as well as her favorite southern traditions, from midnight barn parties to backyard bridal showers, magical Christmas mornings to rollicking honky-tonks. It’s easy to bring a little bit of Reese’s world into your home, no matter where you live. After all, there’s a southern side to every place in the world, right?
YOUNG ADULT DEPARTMENT The Rule of One. Ashley Saunders & Leslie Saunders: In the near-future United States, a one-child policy is ruthlessly enforced. Everyone follows the Rule of One. But Ava Goodwin, daughter of the head of the Texas Family Planning Division, has a secret—one her mother died to keep and her father has helped to hide for her entire life. She has an identical twin sister, Mira. For eighteen years Ava and Mira have lived as one, trading places day after day, maintaining an interchangeable existence down to the most telling detail. But when their charade is exposed, their worst nightmare begins. Now they must leave behind the father they love and fight for their lives. Branded as traitors, hunted as fugitives, and pushed to discover just how far they’ll go in order to stay alive, Ava and Mira rush headlong into a terrifying unknown.
CHILDREN’S CORNER
Grandpa’s Great Escape. By David Walliams: David Walliams, hailed as “the heir to Roald Dahl” by The Spectator, burst onto the American scene with the New York Times bestseller Demon Dentist. Now the UK’s #1 bestselling children’s author is back with this high-flying adventure about a boy and his grandfather, perfect for fans of Jeff Kinney and Rachel Renee Russell. Grandpa is Jack’s favorite person in the world. It doesn’t matter that he wears his slippers to the supermarket, serves Spam a la Custard for dinner, and often doesn’t remember Jack’s name. But then Grandpa starts to believe he’s back in World War II, when he was a Spitfire fighter pilot, and he’s sent to live in an old folk’s home run by the sinister Matron Swine. Now it’s up to Jack to help Grandpa plot a daring escape!