GPL Blog

by Meghan Bohn

Book Review | The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

Published on by Emily DuGranrut

From the Publisher: Omakayas and her family live on the land her people call the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker. Although the “chimookoman,” white people, encroach more and more on their land, life continues much as it always has: every summer they build a new birchbark house; every fall they go to ricing camp to harvest and feast; they move to the cedar log house before the first snows arrive, and celebrate the end of the long, cold winters at maple-sugaring camp.

This is a highly recommended read for any Little House on the Prairie fans (along with Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park), as well as other readers interested in the mid 1800s and pioneering time period and aspects of American history. Louise Erdrich, an enrolled…

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Staff Picks — August 2021: Meghan

Published on by Emily DuGranrut

Curious what the staff of GPL likes to read? Every month we’ll share five titles we’ve read recently. All titles are available for checkout at the library — give us a call or visit the catalog to put one on hold!

STAMPED: RACISM, ANTIRACISM, AND YOU by Jason Reynolds
A remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning for ages 12 and up. This is NOT a history book. This is a book about the here and now. A book to help us better understand why we are where we are. A book about race…

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Book Review | Condor Comeback by Sy Montgomery

Published on by Emily DuGranrut

>b>Sibert Medalist, National Book Award Honoree, and New York Times best-selling author Sy Montgomery turns her formidable talents to the story of California condors and the scientists who have fought against their extinction. In April of 1987 the last wild California condor was captured and taken to live in captivity like the other twenty-six remaining birds of its kind. Many thought that the days were over of this remarkable, distinguished bird that had roamed the skies of North and Central American for thousands of years.

Condor Comeback is a fantastic nonfiction book lavishly illustrated with photos by…

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Book Review | The Godmothers by Camille Aubray

Published on by Emily DuGranrut

From the publisher: Filomena, Amie, Lucy, and Petrina become godmothers to one another’s children, finding hope and shelter in this prosperous family and their sumptuous Greenwich Village home, and enjoying New York life with its fine dining, opulent department stores and sophisticated nightclubs. But the women’s secret pasts lead to unforeseen consequences and betrayals that threaten to unravel all their carefully laid plans. When their husbands are forced to leave them during the second World War, the Godmothers must unexpectedly contend with notorious gangsters who run the streets of New York City.

I found The Godmothers to be an excellent novel that kept me distracted through a day of…

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Book Review | Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire

Published on by Emily DuGranrut

From the publisher: They have names for her all over the country: the Girl in the Diner. The Phantom Prom Date. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown. Mostly she just goes by “Rose,” a hitchhiking ghost girl with her thumb out and her eyes fixed on the horizon, trying to outrace a man who never sleeps, never stops, and never gives up on the idea of claiming what’s his. She’s the angel of the overpass, she’s the darling of the truck stops, and she’s going to figure out a way to win her freedom. After all, it’s not like it can kill her — you can’t kill what’s already dead.

“No matter what form your soul takes when it hits the ghostroads, it has rules it has to follow. I can borrow flesh and blood from the living for the span of a night by putting on the…

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Book Review | Baby Zebra Rescue by Tamsyn Murray

Published on by Emily DuGranrut

From the Publisher: There’s paws, claws, feathers and fur — welcome to Tanglewood Animal Park! Zoe loves living with her family at Tanglewood — splashing with penguins, feeding lemurs their breakfast, and even seeing baby zebra, Flash, being born! Then disaster strikes when Flash goes missing. Can Zoe help rescue him in time for the grand opening?

Zoe’s parents have bought a failing zoo and now she lives in the manor house on zoo grounds and helps out with taking care of the animals. The short description provided by the publisher makes this seem a lot lighter and fluffier than it actually is. I was expecting this to be similar to some of our other animal-based chapter book series for younger…

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Book Review | Thornwood by Leah Cypress

Published on by admingale

From the publisher: This middle grade debut is Sleeping Beauty like you’ve never seen it before, about a girl who lives in the shadow of her older sister and the curse that has haunted her from birth.

For years, Briony has lived in the shadow of her beautiful older sister, Rosalin, and the curse that has haunted her from birth–that on the day of her sixteenth birthday she would prick her finger on a spindle and cause everyone in the castle to fall into a 100-year sleep. When the day the curse is set to fall over the kingdom finally arrives, nothing–not even Briony–can stop its evil magic.

You know the story.

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Book Review | Daughter of Black Lake by Cathy Marie Buchanan

Published on by admingale

From the publisher: In a world of pagan traditions and deeply rooted love, a girl in jeopardy must save her family and community, in a transporting historical novel by nationally bestselling author Cathy Marie Buchanan.

It’s the season of Fallow, in the era of iron. In a northern misty bog surrounded by woodlands and wheat fields, a settlement lies far beyond the reach of the Romans invading hundreds of miles to the southeast. Here, life is simple–or so it seems to the tightly knit community. Sow. Reap. Honor Mother Earth, who will provide at harvest time. A girl named Devout comes of age, sweetly flirting with the young man she’s tilled alongside all her life, and envisions a future of love and abundance. Seventeen years later, though, the…

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