October 2022 Shelf Talk
ADULT Wild Ride: A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships by Hayley Arceneaux with Sandra Bark
Arceneaux, the youngest American to ever orbit the earth and cancer survivor, shares with readers how she overcame insurmountable odds to find a life “greater than she’d ever imagined.” She shares her cancer diagnosis at the age of ten, which inspired her to pursue a lifelong dream of working with pediatric cancer patients. Then, the “amazing and unimaginable happened”… she was chosen to go to space.
Review: publishersweekly.com/9780593443842 The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II by Buzz Bissinger
College football was at an all time high when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. As the United States Marine Corps was training in the Pacific for one of the bloodiest battles of the war, the invasion of Okinawa, its ranks included some of the most talented football players at the time. Bissinger goes from the football fields of college campuses to the “darkest and deadliest days that followed.”
Review: publishersweekly.com/9780062879929 The Last Karankawas by Kimberley Garza
This beautifully written novel is about a tight-knit community of Mexican and Filipino American families living on the Texas coast. As the author moves the reader through each character, a “multitude of voices present a lyrical, emotionally charged portrait of everyday survival.” Readers will be left with an “exploration of familial inheritance” and human resilience.
Review: publishersweekly.com/9781250819857 All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien
Lien writes a moving thriller about a young Vietnamese-Australian woman who, after the shocking murder of her brother, returns home to find out what happened. This novel is all at once “heart-pounding and heart-rending as it probes the intricate bonds of friendship, family and community.”
Review: publishersweekly.com/9780063227736 YOUNG ADULT The Fear by Natasha Preston
It's just a meme going around their small fishing town in the dead of winter — people reposting and sharing their biggest fear. But when her classmates start turning up dead, dying in the way that they said scared them the most, Izzy knows it's no joke. Could her older sister's friend Tristan have something to do with the deaths? Or what about his brooding cousin, Axel? Izzy's on a path that will lead her right to the killer… and her own worst nightmare.
Review: kirkusreviews. com/book-reviews/natasha- preston/the-fearpreston Heart of the Impaler by Alexander Delacroix
Vlad Dracula has long lived in the shadows cast by his bloodthirsty father, the voivode, and his older brother, Mircea. In the cold halls of the voivode's palace, Vlad can only rely on his cousin and closest friend, Andrei Musat. When Vlad and Andrei meet Ilona Csáki, Mircea’s soon-to-be betrothed, they each find themselves inextricably drawn to her. Ilona has no desire to marry the voivode's eldest son, but love and marriage are the least of her worries. The royal family's enemies have already tried to put an arrow through her back, and if anyone discovers her feelings for her betrothed's cousin Andrei and younger brother, Vlad, she may just wish they'd succeeded.
Review: publishersweekly.com/978-1-25075616-9 Con Academy by Joe Schreiber
It's his senior year, and Will Shea has conned his way into one of the country's most elite prep schools. But he soon runs into Andrea, a fellow con-artist. With the school not big enough for the both of them, they make a bet that whoever can con Brandt Rush, the richest, most privileged student in the school, gets to stay. In this tale of scams, secrets, lies and deception, it hard to figure out who's conning who.
Review: kirkusreviews. com/book-reviews/joeschreiber/ con-academy Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the academy would touch. Ty's squad isn't even his biggest problem — that'd be Aurora Jie-Lin O'Malley, the girl he's just rescued from interdimensional space. She could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler's squad of losers, discipline cases, and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.
Review: kirkusreviews. com/book-reviews/amiekaufman/ aurora-rising CHILDREN Who was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? by Yona Zeldis Mc-Donough, illustrated by Carrie Robbins Meet Mozart, the brilliant musician and composer. Young people will be amazed to learn that Mozart began playing instruments at the age of 3 and composed his first piece of music at 5 years old! Read about his life in the popular “Who was?” series of biographies Review: commonsensemedia. org/book-reviews/ who-was-series Sky Wolf ’s call: the gift of indigenous knowledge by Eldon Yellowhorn, Kathy Lowringer
Yellowhorn and Lowringer share knowledge of water, fire, sky, healing and food security. The information is broad, providing middle-grade readers with knowledge not just from the Blackfoot tradition but also from many other nations and tribes across Turtle Island. This is an engaging read with lots of side bars, including profiles of those who have done and are doing the work to meld Indigenous knowledge and western science.
Review: kirkusreviews. com/book-reviews/ eldon-yellowhorn/skywolfs- call
The Lemonade War,
The Lemonade Crime and The Bell Bandit by Jacqueline Davies
In one book, you have the first three titles in this ongoing series, 2007 to present. Each title is aimed at middle readers who enjoy books of a modest length, filled with real life situations. Brother and sister angst, personal differences, along with moments of total cooperation between themselves and friends fill the pages. What could go wrong when siblings start their own lemonade businesses?
Review: hbook.com/ story/life-gives-lemonade- war Cara’s Kindness by Kristi Yamaguchi, illustrated by John Lee Ice-skating Olympic gold medalist and world champion Yamaguchi promotes early childhood literacy through her newest picture book. Cara the Cat is struggling with picking the perfect song for her new ice-skating routine. But when a friend in need turns up at the rink, Cara drops everything to lend a helping hand. All she asks is that he pay it forward! Before long, Cara's kindness is passed all around… and might even make its way back home!
Review: slj.com/review/ caras-kindness