April 2023 Shelf Talk
Maame by Jessica George
This New York Times bestselling coming-of-age fiction title follows Maddie, who’s life in London is far from rewarding. When the chance comes for her to get out of the family home, Maddie jumps at it and begins to enjoy new experiences. The funny, smart, and deeply moving novel deals with “themes of our time with humor and poignancy” as it explores “what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures and it celebrates finally being able to find where you belong.”
Review: kirkusreviews. com/book-reviews/jessica- george/maame
Shutter by Ramona Emerson
This debut suspense fiction title by Emerson is a blood-chilling novel set in the Navajo Nation of New Mexico. The novel follows forensic photographer, Rita, who is hiding the secret that the sees the ghosts of the crime victims she photographs. Due to her ability to see these ghosts, Rita “finds herself in the crosshairs of one of Albuquerque’s most dangerous cartels.” Shutter is an explosive novel full of “gruesome prose” from one of the most powerful voices in crime fiction.
Review: kirkusreviews. com/book-reviews/ramona- emerson/shutteremerson
Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers our Lives by Siddharth Kara
This New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller is an exposé that reveals the toll taken on the environment and the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the cobalt mining industry. Kara traveled deep into the cobalt territory to interview the people who are living, working and dying for cobalt, the essential component of every lithium-ion rechargeable battery made today. Kara agues in the “stark and crucial book that we must all care about what is happening in the Congo—because we are all implicated.”
Review: kirkusreviews. com/book-reviews/siddharth- kara/cobalt-red
Luck of the Draw: My Story of the Air War in Europe by Frank Murphy
This is the epic true story of the heroics of World War II that inspired the movie The Great Escape. More than a war story, this title is the inspiring and incredible story of Frank Murphy, one of the few who survived from the 100th Bombardment Group, and who “cheated death for months in a German POW camp” after he parachuted into a German field when his B-17 was shot down. “Casual readers will savor Murphy’s heartfelt tributes to comrades in arms” while students of military history will appreciate his “detailed accounts of the Army Air Corp’s training program and the B-17 navigator’s responsibilities.”
Review: publishersweekly.com/9781250866899
YOUNG ADULT
Stolen City by Elisa A. Bonnin
The city of Leithon is under Imperial occupation and Arian Athensor has made it her playground.
In stealing magical artifacts for the Resistance, bounding over rooftops to evade Imperial soldiers, and establishing herself as the darling thief of the underground, Arian lives a life wrapped in danger and trained towards survival. She'll steal anything for the right price, and if she runs fast enough, she can almost escape the fact that her mother is dead, her father is missing, and her brother, Liam, is tamping down a wealth of power in a city that has outlawed magic. But then the mysterious Cavar comes to town with a job for the twins: to steal an artifact capable of ripping the souls from the living--the same artifact that used to hang around the neck of Arian's mother. Suddenly, her past is no longer buried under adrenaline but intimately tied to the mission at hand, and Arian must face her guilt and pain head-on in order to pull off the heist. As Arian and Cavar infiltrate the strongest fortress in Leithon and Liam joins the Resistance as their resident mage, the twins find themselves embroiled in court politics and family secrets, and the mission becomes more than just another artifact theft. The target is now the Imperial rule, and Arian will go to any length necessary to steal her city back.
Review: kirkusreviews. com/book-reviews/elisabonnin/ stolen-city
Maze Cutter by James Dashner
Seventy-three years after the events of The Death Cure, when Thomas and other immunes were sent to an island to survive the Flare-triggered apocalypse, their descendants have thrived. Sadina, Isaac, and Jackie all learned about the unkind history of the Gladers from The Book of Newt and tall tales from Old Man Frypan, but when a rusty old boat shows up one day with a woman bearing dark news of the mainland-everything changes. The group and their islander friends are forced to embark back to civilization where they find Cranks have evolved into a more violent, intelligent version of themselves. They are hunted by the Godhead, the Remnant Nation, and scientists with secret agendas. When they cross paths with an orphan named Minho from the Remnant Nation, the dangers become real and they don't know who they can trust. The islanders will have to survive long enough to figure out why they are being targeted, who is friend or foe, and what the Godhead has planned for the future of humanity.
Review: kirkusreviews. com/book-reviews/jamesdashner/ the-maze-cutter
My Second Impression of You by Michelle I. Mason
Sixteen-year-old Maggie Scott is a little dramatic. Both in the over-the-top sense and in the involved- in-every-possibleperforming- arts-activity sense. Life is just more fun when you're always putting on a show! But apparently her boyfriend, Theo, disagrees, because he unexpectedly dumps her. She's so distressed she breaks her foot, has to be rescued by the most obnoxious boy in school, Carson, and can no longer star in the school play. Now everything is terrible and Maggie doesn't understand where it all went wrong. So when she gets a mysterious text from an unknown number offering her a chance to relive the day when she and Theo met, Maggie can't help clicking (even though she knows what they say about suspicious links and clicking). Suddenly, she finds herself transported from her worst day ever to her best day ever-but on second review, Maggie realizes there are some details she overlooked. Maybe she was so focused on starring in the Maggie show that she didn't pay enough attention. Maybe Maggie doesn't know the people around her as well as she thought-particularly Carson. And maybe her worst day ever isn't quite as terrible as it seems.
Review: kirkusreviews. com/book-reviews/michelle- i-mason/my-second- impression-of-you
Saint by Adrienne Young
As a boy, Elias learned the hard way what happens when you don't heed the old tales. Nine years after his lack of superstition got his father killed, he's grown into a young man of piety, with a deep reverence for the hallowed sea and her fickle favor. As stories of the fisherman's son who has managed to escape the most deadly of storms spreads from port to port, his devotion to the myths and creeds has given him the reputation of the luckiest bastard to sail the Narrows. Now, he's mere days away from getting everything his father ever dreamed for him: a ship of his own, a crew, and a license that names him as one of the first Narrowsborn traders. But when a young dredger from the Unnamed Sea with more than one secret crosses his path, Elias' faith will be tested like never before. The greater the pull he feels toward her, the farther he drifts from the things he's spent the last three years working for. He is dangerously close to repeating his mistakes and he's seen first hand how vicious the jealous sea can be. If he's going to survive her retribution, he will have to decide which he wants more, the love of the girl who could change their shifting world, or the sacred beliefs that earned him the name that he's known for: Saint.
Review: kirkusreviews. com/book-reviews/adrienne- young/saint
CHILDREN’S
Locomotive written and illustrated by Brian Floca
Come hear the hiss of the steam, feel the heat of the engine, watch the landscape race by. Come ride the rails along America’s new transcontinental railroad from Omaha to San Francisco in the summer of 1869. Floca’s illustrations carry you back to the beginning of cross-country travel that moved beyond covered wagons and months of walking across the prairie and mountains to the Pacific Ocean. This nonfiction picture book for elementary ages shares the story of a family riding west, the workers that kept the wheels turning as well as the incredibly strong engines that powered the way.
Review: afuse8production. slj.com/2013/07/30/ review-of-the-day-locomotive- by-brian-floca
Beginning by Shelley Moore Thomas, illustrated by Melissa Castrillón
Beginnings are beautiful and lead of course to endings. And endings can lead to wonderful new beginnings. Enjoy the poetic sparse words in this picture book that carry the father and child from a seed to a plant then from an egg to a chick and from a caterpillar to a butterfly, as they watch the cycles of nature from beginnings on to new adventures beginning. The Chagall-like artwork of Melissa Castrillón, an English-Columbian illustrator, depicts the love of a father and daughter for each other beautifully.
Review: kirkusreviews. com/book-reviews/shelley- moore-thomas/beginning- thomas
The Real Dada Mother Goose: a treasury of complete nonsense by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Julia Rothman
Jon Scieszka, known for books that offer new twists to old tales, has joined with illustrator Rothman to create a crazy new take on Mother Goose rhymes. Warning, this is not Mother Goose for little ones! Elementary readers, teens, parents and other adults will find the dada-like nonsense and absurdity hard to put down. Blanche Fisher Wright’s The Real Mother Goose, a classic edition you would recognize, has contributed six rhymes and bits of illustrations that have been turned inside out and upside down and expanded times six to tickle your funny bone.
Review: afuse8production. slj.com/2022/09/16/ review-of-the-day-thereal- dada-mother-gooseby- jon-scieszka-ill-juliarothman
A Whale of the Wild written by Rosanne Parry; illustrations by Lindsay Moore Parry, known for her beautifully woven tales for middle grade readers, once again blends researched facts with an intriguing tale of ocean life. Vega, a juvenile whale from the Salish Sea, tells her harrowing story from a tsunami to locating Deneb, her missing sibling, to reuniting with the family pod. Realistic black-and-white illustrations enhance the maritime setting and sense of adventure.
Review: kirkusreviews. com/book-reviews/ rosanne-parry/a-whaleof- the-wild