July 2022 Shelf Talk with the Dripping Springs Community Library
ADULT
Fly Girl: a Memoir by Ann Hood
Fresh out of college in 1978 and ready to experience the world, Hood decided to join the ranks of flight attendant. It was the golden age of flight. Hood found the adventure she craved along with the unexpected realities of life as a flight attendant. She knew she always wanted to write, so as the airline industry changed around her, she began to draft her first novel from the jump seat on international flights. This memoir is “packed with funny, moving, and shocking stories of life as a flight attendant” while also capturing the “nostalgia and magic of air travel at its height, and the thrill that remains with every takeoff.
Review: publishersweekly.com/9781324006237
Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution by Eric Jay Dolin
In this non-fiction title, best-selling historian Dolin writes that privateers were crucial to America’s victory during the Revolution. Privateersmen were patriots, just like their fellow American sailors and contributed to the success of the war by diverting critical British resources, providing needed supplies at home, as well as contributing to the new nation’s confidence, among other accomplishments. Rebels at Sea presents this “nation’s first war as we have rarely seen it before” with “abounding tales of daring maneuvers and deadly encounters.”
Review: kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/eric-jay-dolin/rebels-at-sea
Fencing with the King by Diana Abu-Jaber
In this historical fiction title, award winning author Abu-Jaber creates the story of Gabriel Hamdan, who is the favorite fencing sparring partner of the King of Jordan. Amani, his daughter, is curious about her father’s past and jumps at the chance to go with her father back to his homeland. With insight into modern politics and family dynamics, this novel asks “how we contend with inheritance, both familial and cultural, hidden and openly contested.” It is full of warmth and vitality with “intelligence and spirit, it is absorbing and satisfying on every level, as wise and rare literary treat.”
Review: publishersweekly.com/9780393867718
Flying Solo by Linda Holmes
New York Times bestselling author, Holmes, writes this fiction title about a woman who, upon returning to her small Maine hometown, Laurie uncovers family secrets that will take her on a journey of new love and self-discovery. Laurie must come to terms with her own past and her future as she works to uncover her great aunt’s secrets. This novel is filled with a cast of “unforgettable characters and a heroine you will root for from page one.”
Review: kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/linda-holmes/flying-solo-holmes
YOUNG ADULT
All the Right Reasons by Bethany Mangle
Cara Hawn's life fell apart after her father cheated on her mother and got remarried to a woman Cara can't stand. When Cara accidentally posts a rant about her father online, it goes viral--and catches the attention of the TV producers behind a new reality dating show for single parent families.
The next thing Cara and her mother know, they've been cast as leads on the show and are whisked away to sunny Key West where they're asked to narrow a field of suitors and their kids down to one winning pair. All of this is outside of Cara's comfort zone, from the meddling producers to the camera-hungry contestants, especially as Cara and her mother begin to clash on which suitors are worth keeping around. And then comes Connor. As the son of a contestant, Connor is decidedly off-limits. Except that he doesn't fit in with the cutthroat atmosphere in all the same ways as Cara, and she can't get him out of her head. Now Cara must juggle her growing feelings while dodging the cameras and helping her mom pick a bachelor they both love, or else risk fracturing their family even more for the sake of ratings. Maybe there's a reason most people don't date on TV.
Review: publishersweekly.com/9781534499034
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to death before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Still, if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
Review: kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/suzanne-collins/the-hungergames
Divergent by Veronica Roth
One choice can transform you. Beatrice Prior's society is divided into five factions--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). Beatrice must choose between staying with her Abnegation family and transferring factions. Her choice will shock her community and herself. But the newly christened Tris also has a secret, one she's determined to keep hidden, because in this world, what makes you different makes you dangerous.
Review: slj.com/review/divergent
Cinder and Glass by Melissa de la Cruz
Cendrillon de Louvois was poised to be the most eligible maiden in all of France. But the death of her father, the king's favorite advisor, has left Cendrillon at the will of her cruel stepmother and stepsisters.
Dubbed Lady Cinder by the court, Cendrillon is forced to become a servant to her new family. But when she attends the royal ball, she catches the eye of the handsome Prince Louis and his younger brother, Auguste. Even though Cendrillon has an immediate aversion to Louis and a connection with Auguste, the only way to escape her stepmother is to compete with the other girls at court for the Prince's hand.
As her stepmother's cruelty grows, Cendrillon captures the prince's heart . . . though her own heart belongs to Auguste. Cendrillon's fate rests on one question: can she bear losing the boy she loves in order to leave a life she hates?
Review: kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/melissa-de-la-cruz/cinder-glass
CHILDREN
The 2nd Best Haunted Hotel on Mercer St. by Cory Putman Oakes
A fun and entertaining story of family, both living and ghostly, who are trying to save their hotel. The Ivan family has run and haunted The Ivan on Mercer St. for four hundred years. A corporate chain with hundreds of haunted hotels has now opened a competing hotel down the street. Twelve-year-old Willow with the help of Evie, a spook from the other hotel, make plans to save The Ivan. Time is short as customers dwindle and the hotel ghosts begin to fade!
Review: kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cory-putman-oakes/the-second-best-haunted-hotel-on-mercer-street
Mr. Seahorse, written and illustrated by Eric Carle
Eric Carle’s classic picture book gives us a nice combination of scientific fact and storytelling fantasy. Using his signaturecolored tissue paper collage technique, his sea creatures shimmer in rainbows of color. At the same time they look enough like their real counterparts to be instantly recognizable. Mr. Seahorse carries the eggs that will become baby seahorses until they hatch. You also meet other sea animal fathers who care for their young before and after hatching.
Review: kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ericcarle/mister-seahorse.
Sky wolf's call: the gift of indigenous knowledge by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowringer
From healing to astronomy to our connection to the natural world, the lessons from Indigenous knowledge inform our learning and practices today. How do knowledge systems get passed down over generations? Through the knowledge inherited from their Elders and ancestors, Indigenous Peoples throughout North America have observed, practiced, experimented, and interacted with plants, animals, the sky, and the waters over millennia. Knowledge keepers have shared their wisdom with younger people through oral history, stories, ceremonies, and records that took many forms. Indigenous knowledge comes from centuries of practices, experiences, and ideas gathered by people who have a long history with the natural world. Indigenous knowledge is explored through the use of fire and water, the acquisition of food, the study of astronomy, and healing practices.
Review: kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/eldon-yellowhorn/sky-wolfs-call
Yoga animals: a wild introduction to kid friendly poses by Paige Towler
Adorable animal photos and lyrical text guide kids step-by-step through easy animal-inspired yoga poses in a cute and calming bedtime poem. Roar like a lion! Arch like a kitten! Stretch like a cobra! Did you know that many yoga poses were inspired by animals? Let these creatures inspire your young ones to adopt a playful new bedtime practice, designed to help them stretch their bodies, unwind their minds, and relax into sleep. Simple step-by-step instructions explain the kid-friendly moves. Kids will get a kick out of the accompanying photos of animals that mimic each pose. And the sweet poem is sure to lull them into a dreamy state.
Review: kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/paige-towler/yoga-animals