Category: Book Talk

The Minnesota Book Awards honor the best books written by Minnesotans for a variety of ages and genres. Thanks to the Pipestone Area Friends of the Library, all of these nominees are available at Meinders Community Library, as well as a few titles to fill in series gaps. For more information on the nominees and to see the winners on April 28th, visit the Minnesota Book Awards home page.

Children’s Literature

• A to Zåäö: Playing with History at the American Swedish Institute by Nate Christopherson and Tara Sweeney
• Home in the Woods by Eliza Wheeler
• A Map Into the World by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Seo Kim
• My Footprints by Bao Phi, illustrated by Basia Tran

General Nonfiction

• America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States by Erika Lee
• Consider the Platypus: Evolution Through Biology’s Most Baffling Beasts by Maggie Ryan Sandford, illustrations by Rodica Prato
• Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions by Nancy Atkinson
• The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer

Genre Fiction

• Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• The Body Keeper by Anne Frasier
• Ice Cold Heart by P. J. Tracy
• Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens

Memoir & Creative Nonfiction

• All the Wild Hungers: A Season of Cooking and Cancer by Karen Babine
• Magical Realism for Non-Believers: A Memoir of Finding Family by Anika Fajardo
• The Memory House by Raki Kopernik
• The Twenty-Ninth Day: Surviving a Grizzly Attack in the Canadian Tundra by Alex Messenger

Middle Grade Literature

• The Line Tender by Kate Allen
• The Lost Girl by Anne Ursu
• The Missing Piece of Charlie O’Reilly by Rebecca K. S. Ansari
• A Tear in the Ocean by H.M. Bouwman, illustrations by Yuko Shimizu

Minnesota Nonfiction

• Closing Time: Saloons, Taverns, Dives, and Watering Holes of the Twin Cities by Bill Lindeke and Andy Sturdevant
• Slavery’s Reach: Southern Slaveholders in the North Star State by Christopher P. Lehman
• Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe by Staci Lola Drouillard

Novel & Short Story

• Evidence of V: A Novel in Fragments, Facts, and Fictions by Sheila O’Conner
• Stray by Nancy J. Hedin
• Suicide Woods by Benjamin Percy
• This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

Poetry

• Bodega by Su Hwang
• A Bony Framework for the Tangible Universe by D. Allen
• Mitochondrial Night by Ed Bok Lee
• Safe Houses I Have Known by Steve Healey

Young Adult Literature

• Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
• Cracking the Bell by Geoff Herbach
• Last Things by Jacqueline West
• The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus

-Emily

Did you know that it’s not too late to sign up for Meinders Community Library’s Winter Reading Program? Participants who read twelve books January 1st through March 31st get a prize. To inspire your winter reading, here are some of Meinders Community Library’s new adult fiction and genre titles.

Adult Fiction

• The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
• A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
• Followers by Megan Angelo
• Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey
• Husband Material by Emily Belden
• Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict
• The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg
• Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain
• Not the Girl You Marry by Andie J. Christopher
• Africaville by Jeffrey Colvin
• American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
• We Met in December by Rosie Curtis
• Westering Women by Sandra Dallas
• Twenty-One Truths About Love by Matthew Dicks
• Good Girls Lie by J. T. Ellison
• Twisted Twenty-Six by Janet Evanovich
• The Wives by Tarryn Fisher
• How Quickly She Disappears by Raymond Fleischmann
• Thief River Falls by Brian Freeman
• Bound for Murder by Victoria Gilbert
• Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talie Hibbert
• Careless Whiskers by Miranda James
• The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
• Meg & Jo by Virginia Kantra
• The Museum of Desire by Jonathan Kellerman
• When We Were Vikings by Andrew MacDonald
• Blitzed by Alexa Martin
• Long Bright River by Liz Moore
• Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
• You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley
• Lost by James Patterson & James O. Born
• The Missing American by Kwei Quartey
• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
• Golden in Death by J. D. Robb
• Reputation by Sara Shepard
• A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh
• Moral Compass by Danielle Steel
• Ruby & Roland by Faith Sullivan
• The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters
• All the Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, & Karen White
• Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters
• Treason by Stuart Woods

Inspirational

• Memories of Glass by Melanie Dobson
• Poor Mrs. Rigsby by Kathy Herman
• Day of Reckoning by Kathy Herman
• Lake Season by Denise Huner
• In a Doctor’s Arms by Lisa Mondello
• A Long Time Comin’ by Robin W. Pearson
• Anna’s Return by Marta Perry
• Forever Hidden by Tracie Peterson
• The Way of the Brave by Susan May Warren

Large Print & Western

• Scarlet Fever by Rita Mae Brown
• Gunfighter’s Revenge by James Clay
• The Daughter’s Tale by Armando Lucas Correa
• The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen
• Her Deadly Secrets by Laura Griffin
• Empire of Lies by Raymond Khoury
• Death Rattle by Sean Lynch
• The Peppermint Tea Chronicles by Alexander McCall Smith
• Pursuit by Joyce Carol Oates
• Deadwood Ambush by Lauran Paine
• Ride into Trouble by R. W. Stone

Science Fiction and Fantasy

• Interference by Sue Burke
• Highfire by Eoin Colfer
• Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
• The Deep by Rivers Solomon

-Emily

This morning, the Youth Media Awards were announced at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference in Philadelphia. This event is basically the library world’s version of the Oscars and I eagerly await this day every year. Here are some of the award-winning books available at Meinders Community Library.

• New Kid by Jerry Craft—Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award
  
• The Undefeated written by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson—Caldecott Medal, Newbery Honor Book, and Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award
• Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams—Newbery Honor Book, Morris Honor Book and Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award
• The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe—Morris Award for a debut Young Adult book
• Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez—Pura Belpré Author Award
• Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith—American Indian Youth Literature Award for Young Adult Book
• Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean—Printz Honor Book
• Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me written by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell—Printz Honor Book
• Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes—Printz Honor Book and Sibert Informational Award Honor Book
• Frankly in Love by David Yoon—Morris Honor Book and Asian/Pacific American Young Adult Honor Book
  
• A Thousand Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II by Elizabeth Wein—Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Honor Book

-Emily

 

Due to the weather and the holiday, Meinders Community Library will get delivery on Thursday, January 2nd this week.

As we approach New Years, here’s a list with a different kind of “new” book—ones that have new in the title (or its homophone knew).

• All Things New by Lynn Austin
• A Whole New World by Liz Braswell
• A New Hope by Robin Carr
• Their Great Gift: Courage, Sacrifice, and Hope in a New Land by John Coy
• New Kid by Jerry Craft
• News of Our Loved Ones by Abigail DeWitt
• Eva and the New Owl by Rebecca Elliott
• A New Friend by Poppy Green
• Newcomer by Keigo Higashino
• The World We Knew by Alice Hoffman
• The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Amanda Quick
• To Pluto and Beyond: the Amazing Voyage of New Horizons by Elaine Scott
• The New Girl by Daniel Silva
• NewsPrints by Ru Xu
• The New Guy (and Other Senior Year Distractions) by Amy Spalding
• Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf

-Emily

This holiday season, Meinders Community Library has a few ways to help you find your next read.

Families looking for picture books can snag one of our Twelve Books of Christmas bags, which includes at least six seasonal reads. Check out the books, and the bag and other treats are yours to keep.

We’ve wrapped a selection of our Junior books, ranging from fiction to nonfiction to graphic novels. Kids can read the gift tag for a hint, check out the book, and unwrap their surprise. Wrapped books will also be available for adults soon.

Happy Veterans Day! Meinders Community Library is open regular hours today. In honor of the holiday, here are some novels featuring veterans.

Middle Grade Fiction

• Two Roads by Joseph Bruchac
• The Madman of Piney Woods by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Snowboard Hero by Jake Maddox
• Pax by Sara Pennypacker
• Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

Young Adult Fiction

• The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
• The Mosaic by Nina Berkhout
• Meet Me Here by Bryan Bliss
• I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
• Either the Beginning or the End of the World by Terry Farish
• American Road Trip by Patrick Flores-Scott
• If I Lie by Corrine Jackson
• Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

Adult Fiction

• One Good Deed by David Baldacci
• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
• Send Down the Rain by Charles Martin
• Home by Toni Morrison
• The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
• The Bad Boy Cowboy by Kate Pearce
• The Drifter by Nicholas Petrie
• Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward
• My Foolish Heart by Susan May Warren

-Emily

Here are some of the new large print titles available at Meinders Community Library.

• The Homestead by Linda Byler (Dakota Bk 1)
• Hope on the Plains by Linda Byler (Dakota Bk 2)
• Home Is Where the Heart Is by Linda Byler (Dakota Bk 3)
• News of Our Loved Ones by Abigail DeWitt
• Heart of Eden by Caroline Fyffe (Colorado Hearts Bk 1)
• True Heart’s Desire by Caroline Fyffe (Colorado Hearts Bk 2)
• My Hope Next Door by Tammy L. Gray
• Hearth Song by Lois Greiman
• Daughters for a Time by Jennifer Handford
• Her Outlaw Heart by Samantha Harte
• Dear Carolina by Kristy Woodson Harvey
• Ascension of Larks by Rachel Linden
• A Bargained-For Bride by Marcia Lynn McClure
• The Highwayman of Tangle by Marcia Lynn McClure
• The Windswept Flame by Marcia Lynn McClure
• Mystic Summer by Hannah McKinnon
• The Shortest Way Home by Miriam Parker
• The Horseman by Tim Pears (West Country Bk 1)
• The Wanderers by Tim Pears (West Country Bk 2)
• When Secrets Strike by Marta Perry
• The Faded Photo by Sarah Price
• Orange Blossom Days by Patricia Scanlan
• The Mending by Susan Lantz Simpson
• Christmas Blessings by Katherine Spencer (Cape Light Bk 18)
• A Christmas Secret by Katherine Spencer (Cape Light Bk 19)

As Halloween approaches, here are some reading recommendations sure to evoke thrills and chills.

Middle Grade Fiction

• Doll Bones by Holly Black
• The Ghost Road by Charis Cotter
• Bone Jack by Sara Crowe
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman
• A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
• The Bone Garden by Heather Kassner
• The Monstrous Devices by Damian Love
• Elizabeth and Zenobia by Jessica Miller
• The House in Poplar Wood by K. E. Ormsbee
• City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
• Thornhill by Pam Smy

Young Adult Fiction

• Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
• Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore
• Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova
• The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried by Shaun David Hutchinson
• The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
• Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
• Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics
• There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
• Jackaby by William Ritter
• These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
• The Raven’s Tale by Cat Winter
• Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff

Adult Fiction

• Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
• The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller
• Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
• The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith
• A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
• The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
• Misery by Stephen King
• Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
• Old Bones by Preston & Child
• Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia
• If We Were Villians by M. L. Rio

Nonfiction

• From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty
• The Witch of Lime Street: Seance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit World by David Jaher.
• Mary’s Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein by Lita Judge
• Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach

-Emily