These books are only a small selection of the new books available. To see a full list, check out the Books ‘n banter here
Adult Non Fiction
Project unlonely: healing our crisis of disconnection by Jeremy Nobel
Insight into our new world of loneliness that offers solace, hope, and solutions.
Even before 2020, chronic loneliness was a private experience of profound anguish that had become a public health crisis. Since then it has reached new heights. Loneliness assumes many forms, from enduring physical isolation to feeling rejected because of difference, and it can have devastating consequences for our physical and mental health. As the founder of Project UnLonely, Jeremy Nobel unpacks our personal and national experiences of loneliness to discover its roots and to show how we can take steps to find comfort and connection.
Dr. Nobel brings together many voices, from pioneering researchers, to leaders in business, education, the arts, and healthcare, to lonely people of every age, background, and circumstance. He discovers that the pandemic isolated us in ways that were not only physical, and that, at its core, a true sense of loneliness results from a disconnection to the self. He clarifies how meaningful reconnection can be nourished and sustained. And he reveals that an important component of the healing process is engaging in creativity, a powerful opportunity he shows us can be accessed by all.
Supportive and clear-eyed, this is the book we will take into our new normal and rely on for years to come.
Adult Fiction
Beyond ivy walls by Rachel Fordham
Reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast, a recluse and a young woman discover that the scars of life are no match against an act of love.
Iowa, 1903. All of Monticello believes Otis Taylor has been away fostering his musical genius. But the truth is that his father exiled him long ago, rejecting Otis’s appearance and the scars that came with it. Now that he is the last living Taylor, Otis has covertly returned to settle his family’s affairs and rid himself of his past for good. However, he soon discovers that he may not have been the only abandoned Taylor and begins a tireless search for his missing toddler niece.
At twenty-three years old, Sadie West left her family farm and found employment at the
Hoag feather duster factory. It isn’t a romantic job, but she’s hardly had a glimmer of romance since her beau went off to college, leaving her with no promise of a future together. Desperate to save money and help her family make ends meet, she trespasses and finds shelter in an abandoned building–and is thrown in the path of the town’s mysterious bachelor.
Otis’s wounds are deep, but as Sadie’s friendship with him grows, she begins to fall for the man beneath the mask. Locating his long-lost niece, however, is more difficult than either could have imagined, and Sadie West may be the key to Otis Taylor finally finding his way home.
Large Print Adult Fiction
Bad river by Marc Cameron
In the Inupiaq village of Wainwright on the Arctic Ocean, two teenagers discover a frozen body in the permafrost wall of their family’s cellar. They recognize the face through the ice. It is the face of a young woman who went missing ― two years ago
New-Adult Fiction
The dark we know by Wen-Yi Lee
Growing up in Slater, Isadora Chang never felt at ease in the repressive small town, even before she realized she was bisexual―but after the deaths of two childhood friends, Slater went from feeling claustrophobic to suffocating. So, Isa took off before the town could swallow her, too. Even though it meant leaving everything she knew behind, including her last surviving friend, Mason.
When Isa’s abusive father dies, however, she agrees to come back from art school just long enough to collect the inheritance. But then Mason turns up at the cemetery with a revelation and a plea: their friends were murdered by an evil that haunts the town, and he needs Isa to help stop it―before it takes anyone else.
When Isa begins to hear strange songs on the wind, and eerie artwork fills her sketchbook that she can’t recall drawing, she’s forced to stop running and confront her past. Because something is waiting in the shadows of Slater’s valleys, something that feeds on the pain and heartbreak of its children. Whatever it is, it knows Isa’s back . . . and it won’t let her escape again.
Young Adult Fiction
This ravenous fate by Hayley Dennings
The first book in a decadent fantasy duology set in Jazz Age Harlem, where at night the dance halls come to life―and death waits in the dark.
It’s 1926 and reapers, the once-human vampires with a terrifying affliction, are on the rise in New York. But the Saint family’s thriving reaper-hunting enterprise holds reign over the city, giving them more power than even the organized criminals who run the nightclubs. Eighteen year-old Elise Saint, home after five years in Paris, is the reluctant heir to the empire. Only one thing weighs heavier on Elise’s mind than her family obligations: the knowledge that the Harlem reapers want her dead.
Layla Quinn is a young reaper haunted by her past. Though reapers have existed in America for three centuries, created by New World atrocities and cruel experiments, Layla became one just five years ago. The night she was turned, she lost her parents, the protection of the Saints, and her humanity, and she’ll never forget how Elise Saint betrayed her.
But some reapers are inexplicably turning part human again, leaving a wake of mysterious and brutal killings. When Layla is framed for one of these attacks, the Saint patriarch offers her a deal she can’t refuse: to work with Elise to investigate how these murders might be linked to shocking rumors of a reaper cure. Once close friends, now bitter enemies, Elise and Layla explore the city’s underworld, confronting their intense feelings for one another and uncovering the sinister truths about a growing threat to reapers and humans alike.
Young Adult Graphic Novel
The librarian of Auschwitz by Salva Rubio
Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this graphic novel tells the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust.
Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror that is life in the camp. When Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious volumes the prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees. And so Dita becomes the librarian of Auschwitz.
Out of one of the darkest chapters of human history comes this extraordinary story of courage and hope.
Blue Dot- Picture Books
I see color: an affirmation and celebration of our diverse world by Valerie Bolling
For fans of The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Little Leaders by Vashti Harrison, I See Color is a picture book that affirms people of color—of all shades—by celebrating their achievements and contributions to society.
Highlighting people such as Madonna Thunder Hawk, Basemah Atweh, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., incredible leaders are honored, seen, and heard on every page.
Part ode to an array of beautiful skin tones and part introduction to change-makers in history, this book is a perfect conversation starter for readers everywhere.
Green Dot- Earliest Reader
Pinkalicious Lost in Paris by Victoria Kann
Young readers will be swept up in Pinkalicious’s pinkatastic Parisian adventure in this Level One I Can Read!
Pinkalicious gets distracted and loses track of Mommy, Daddy, and Peter on a family trip to Paris. But fortunately, Pinkalicious remembers Mommy’s advice and knows what to do!
Pinkalicious: Lost in Paris is a Level One I Can Read, which means it’s perfect for children learning to sound out words and sentences. Whether shared at home or in a classroom, the short sentences, familiar words, and simple concepts of Level One books support success for children eager to start reading on their own.
Readers can watch Pinkalicious and Peter on the funtastic PBS Kids TV series Pinkalicious & Peterrific!
Orange Dot – Earliest Chapter
A birthday for Frances by Russell Hoban
Tomorrow is Gloria’s birthday, and her party is sure to be fun for everyone—except Frances, that is, who wishes it was her own birthday. This new edition of the beloved classic is perfect for beginning readers.
Orange Dot Graphic Novel
The Grinch takes a vacation by Kaeti Vandorn
He’s a little mean, definitely green, and now Dr. Seuss’s beloved and iconic character, The Grinch, is starring in his very own chapter book graphic novel! Everyone’s favorite holiday grump is back in a brand-new adventure and he already needs a vacation!
It’s vacation time in Whoville but The Grinch doesn’t understand…what is a vacation?
Determined to learn what the Whos seem so excited about, The Grinch decides to give a vacation a try! Unfortunately the mountains are too snowy, the beach is too sandy and the theme park is too loud . . . vacations just might not be something that Grinches do?
Thankfully, his dog Max isn’t letting the Grinch give up that quickly! Will there be some fun in the sun for everyone’s favorite Grinch or is the Whos’ favority grumpy neighbor doomed to stay home?
Red Dot- 3rd-5th grade
The one and only family by Katherine Applegate
Ivan has been happily living in a wildlife sanctuary, with his friend Ruby next door in the elephant enclosure, frequent visits from his canine friend Bob, and his mate Kinyani by his side. And in the happiest turn of all, Ivan and Kinyani have welcomed a set of twins to their family!
Ivan loves being a papa, even though it can be hard sometimes. But as he navigates the joys and challenges of parenthood, he can’t help but recall his life before the glass walls of the mall circus, his own childhood in the jungle—and his own twin.
Yellow Dot – 6th & 7th grade
The everybody experiment by Lisa Moore Ramée
Eleven-year-old Kylie’s friends seem so much more mature than she is. And with middle school just a summer away, she’s worried her friends might leave her behind, especially because she keeps embarrassing them.
So Kylie applies her scientific brain to solve the problem and comes up with the Everybody Experiment:
- Hypothesis: Kylie Stanton will be mature if she does what everybody else does.
- Experiment: This summer, when all of Kylie’s friends do something, she will do it too.
Suddenly it’s a whole new grown-up world for Kylie, with parties, unsupervised excursions, and boys. But the more research Kylie puts into the Everybody Experiment, the more she begins to wonder how she can do what everybody else does . . . without letting go of herself.
Children’s Non-Fiction
Growing up under a red flag: a memoir of surviving the Chinese Cultural Revolution by Ying Chang Compestine
A stirring and magnificently illustrated picture-book memoir of the author’s childhood during the Chinese Cultural Revolution
Ying Chang Compestine was a young girl in 1966 when Mao launched his Cultural Revolution to reclaim power and eliminate non-communist values in the country. His army began punishing and arresting people who didn’t agree with him, foreign reading material was banned, and children were all required to dress in uniform and carry the Little Red Book of Mao’s teachings.
It was a time of fear, mayhem, and scarcity that lasted until Mao’s death ten years later, when Ying was thirteen. Through those ten harrowing years, Ying’s parents found ways to secretly educate her and allow her dreams of visiting America to stay vibrant. Now she brings her childhood story and China’s history to life in this absorbing and beautiful picture book.
McCord Memorial Library 
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