July 2023 Shelf Talk
ADULT
Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women who Mapped the Botany of The Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny
Using the diaries and letters written by Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, Sevigny writes the story of these two botanists and their forty-three-day journey down the Colorado River through The Grand Canyon. They faced many challenges as they made their way down river, cataloging the plants they found and creating a list that would one day become a vital tool in efforts to restore and protect the rivers ecosystem. This book is a “spellbinding adventure of two women who risked their lives to make an unprecedented botanical survey…at a time when human influences had begun to change it forever.”
Fragile Cargo: The World War II Race to Save the Treasures of China’s Forbidden City by Adam Brookes
In the spring of 1933, war between Japan and China is drawing closer and the museum curators in China face the challenge of how to protect the vast imperial art collections of the Forbidden City, some with inscriptions that were 2,500 years old and of great cultural significance. This “exhilarating story of a small group of men and women, who, when faced with war’s onslaught on civilization, chose to resist.” As you read, you will be reminded of the “enduring power of beauty in a world beset by conflict and violence.”
The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams
This original, domestic comedy of manners, is the witty debut novel of Agbaje-Williams, who weaves the story of a well to do couple and the wife’s best friend as the two women spend a lazy afternoon together enjoying wine and snacks. The story is told through three distinct parts – the wife, the husband, and the best friend – all over the course of one day. The Three of Us is a “subversively comical, wildly astute, and painfully compulsive triptych of domestic life that explores cultural truths, what it means to defy them, and the fine line between compromise and betrayal.”
The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie
Nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, this title follows Penny Rush as she goes on the quest to start a new life as her problems loom over her. Driving a van held together with duct tape, her road trip is riddled with questions and colorful characters. This “slyly humorous, thoroughly winsome novel finds the purpose in life’s curveballs, insisting that even when we are painfully warped by those we love most, we can be brought closer to our truest selves.”
YOUNG ADULT
French Kissing in New York by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau
Margot hasn't been able to stop thinking about Zach, the dreamy American boy she met one magical night in Paris. Flash forward one year later: Margot has finished high school and is newly arrived in New York, ready to roll up her chef's-coat sleeves in Manhattan's bustling restaurant scene, celebrate her father's upcoming wedding… and reconnect with Zach. But a lot can happen in a year, and promises made in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower look different in the neon glow of the Big Apple.\\
Arana and Spider-Man 2099 Dark Tomorrow by Alex Segura
Araña. It means spider — and it also means Anya Corazon. She was a normal Brooklyn teenager with normal Brooklyn problems — until a few months ago, when she was gifted with amazing spider-like abilities. Nueva York. It is the future of New York City, the home of the Spider-Man of 2099, and where Anya finds herself stranded, tossed across the century. Araña and Spider-Man are about to discover that the enemies they face have dark and powerful connections to both heroes — and that this unlikely team across time will need to save much more than each other.
Borrow My Heart by Kasie West
Wren is used to being called a control freak. But when a cute guy named Asher walks through the door of her neighborhood coffee shop, the rulebook goes out the window. Asher is cute, charming… and being catfished by his online crush. So Wren makes an uncharacteristically impulsive decision — she pretends to be the girl he's waiting for to save him from embarrassment. Suddenly she's fake-dating a boy she knows nothing about. But will he forgive her when he finds out she's not who she says she is?
The Winter Soldier – Cold Front by Mackenzie Lee
As World War II begins, 16-year-old Bucky Barnes is determined to enlist in the US army. When Bucky is offered enrollment in a training program with the British Special Operations Executive, he leaps at the chance to become a hero. But Bucky has hardly touched down in London when he finds himself running from a mysterious assassin and accompanied by an English chess champion fond of red lipstick and double crosses. She's in possession of a secret every side is desperate to get their hands on. If only they knew what it was… Decades later, the Winter Soldier struggles to solve the same mystery Bucky is just beginning to uncover.
CHILDREN'S
Some of These are Snails by Carter Higgins
The same author illustrator that brought us Circle Under Berry comes this deceptively simple concept book that explores sorting, classification, and patterns as it teases the brain in unusual ways. The simple illustrations remind you of Eric Carle and Lois Ehlert, no higher praise needed. This thoughtprovoking book shows young readers that even the most familiar things can be seen differently each time a book is read and re-read!
The Polter-Ghost Problem by Betsy Uhrig
One haunted orphanage + two types of ghosts + three freaked-out friends = plenty of trouble. Best friends Aldo, Pen and Jasper are braced for a boring summer. And an equally dull summer of journal writing assignments. That is, until they see a slightly transparent boy appear by the soccer field and then disappear into the woods beyond. The boys follow him and discover the long-abandoned Grauche Orphanage for Orphans, a house in the woods that is most definitely haunted.
Jurassic Jeff: Space Invader by Royden Lepp
Welcome to this graphic novel, book one with Jurassic Jeff, a space invader of the hilarious kind! Jeff has one mission and one mission only: to take over the world… Too bad he crash lands on planet Earth a few million years too early. His dinosaur friends are in tune with the land and what it offers while Jeff must adjust from his need of constant conquest.
Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly
From fixing the class computer to repairing old radios, 12-year-old Iris is a tech genius. But she's the only deaf person in her school, so people often treat her like she's not very smart. Iris is drawn to accounts of a lonely blue whale. “Blue 55” is a real whale who is unable to speak to other whales, Iris understands how he must feel. Then she has an idea: she should invent a way to 'sing' to him at decibels he can hear and then hopefully he would respond to her! But he's three thousand miles away. How will she play her song for him?