It's Christmas season and veterinarian Kate Turner is definitely not feeling jolly. She's overworked, unappreciated, and dealing with two dissatisfied and very vocal clients. Tied to the Oak Falls Animal Hospital's hectic schedule of house calls and clinic appointments, she finds it difficult to juggle work with a complicated personal life. At the staff Christmas party, she wishes that all her troubles would magically disappear. And they do. Both dissatisfied clients pass away within two weeks of each other. First, elderly Eloise Rieven is found frozen to death next to the woodpile in her backyard. A bulldog breeder, she threatened to sue Kate after her prize bitch failed to produce puppies. Police call Eloise's death a tragic accident. Then perpetually angry Franklin Markus, annoyed at his veterinary bill and refusing to pay it, is found dead in his recliner at home. Coincidence, right? But when Kate's ex-boyfriend, Jeremy, is mugged and robbed after they have a heated argument in the hospital parking lot, all the coincidence start to add up to something suspicious. Read a review by Ann Reeves:
Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children No Solicitations No Visitors No Quests Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else. But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children. Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world. But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter. No matter the cost. Read a review by Gennifer King:
Longtime Jeopardy! host and television icon Alex Trebek reflects on his life and career. Since debuting as the host of Jeopardy! in 1984, Alex Trebek has been something like a family member to millions of television viewers, bringing entertainment and education into their homes five nights a week. Last year, he made the stunning announcement that he had been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. What followed was an incredible outpouring of love and kindness. Social media was flooded with messages of support, and the Jeopardy! studio received boxes of cards and letters offering guidance, encouragement, and prayers. For over three decades, Trebek had resisted countless appeals to write a book about his life. Yet he was moved so much by all the goodwill, he felt compelled to finally share his story. “I want people to know a little more about the person they have been cheering on for the past year,” he writes in The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life. The book combines illuminating personal anecdotes with Trebek’s thoughts on a range of topics, including marriage, parenthood, education, success, spirituality, and philanthropy. Trebek also addresses the questions he gets asked most often by Jeopardy! fans, such as what prompted him to shave his signature mustache, his insights on legendary players like Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer, and his opinion of Will Ferrell’s Saturday Night Live impersonation. The book uses a novel structure inspired by Jeopardy!, with each chapter title in the form of a question, and features dozens of never-before-seen photos that candidly capture Trebek over the years. This wise, charming, and inspiring book is further evidence why Trebek has long been considered one of the most beloved and respected figures in entertainment. Read a review by Ann Reeves:
New York Times bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak, Shout) and artist Leila del Duca reimagine Wonder Woman's origins in this timely story about the refugee experience, teenage activism, and finding the love and strength to create change. Princess Diana believes that her 16th birthday will be one of new beginnings--namely acceptance into the warrior tribe of Amazons. The celebrations are cut short, however, when rafts of refugees break through the Themysciran barrier. Diana tries to help them, but she is swept away by the sea--and from her home--thus becoming a refugee herself. Now Diana must survive in the world outside of Themyscira for the first time; the world that is filled with danger and injustice. She must redefine what it means to belong, to be an Amazon, and to make a difference. Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed is a story about growing into your strength, battling for justice, and the power of friendship. Read a review by Gennifer King:
Amy Reynolds has been harboring a secret crush on Matt Cole for two years. Today, they will crash land on an island in the Bermuda Triangle and fall in love and raise a family together, but neither will remember any of it. While traveling together for a photo shoot and interview with international movie star, Bill Ruby, Amy and Matt end up flying through a flash of white light. Three boys instantly appear in the backseat of the aircraft: three boys who claim to be their children. Amy stays on Ruby Island to get acquainted with the boys, and in the process ends up rekindling her old flame with Bill Ruby, while Matt runs back to his fiancé in New York City. Neither can remember where these three boys came from. Through arguments, DNA tests, and the developed photo images of their time on the island, their forgotten thirteen years unfold, proving they were a happy family, and leaving Amy wondering if they ever will be again. Read a review by Gennifer King:
From the Sibert Honor–winning creator behind The Unwanted and Drowned City comes one of the darkest episodes in American history: the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918. This nonfiction graphic novel explores the causes, effects, and lessons learned from a major epidemic in our past, and is the perfect tool for engaging readers of all ages, especially teens and tweens learning from home. New Year’s Day, 1918. America has declared war on Germany and is gathering troops to fight. But there’s something coming that is deadlier than any war. When people begin to fall ill, most Americans don’t suspect influenza. The flu is known to be dangerous to the very old, young, or frail. But the Spanish flu is exceptionally violent. Soon, thousands of people succumb. Then tens of thousands . . . hundreds of thousands and more. Graves can’t be dug quickly enough. What made the influenza of 1918 so exceptionally deadly—and what can modern science help us understand about this tragic episode in history? With a journalist’s discerning eye for facts and an artist’s instinct for true emotion, Sibert Honor recipient Don Brown sets out to answer these questions and more in Fever Year. Read a review by Ann Reeves:
A girl. A gun. Monsters. When her farming community is consumed in the ruthless jaws of a corporate monster, 16-year-old Merit finds herself face to face with a different kind of beast, one possessing a human form but a mind bent on one thing and one thing alone: her destruction. Then a chance encounter with a legend turns her mad dash for survival into an odyssey of revenge as she sets out to hunt down the men who destroyed all that she loves. But in pursuing the monsters, will she become one herself? Is it possible to embark on a journey of destruction without digging your own grave? In her beginning lies their end. This action-packed adventure from an award-winning author takes you on a fast and furious journey through the Protectorate, a dystopian landscape wracked by environmental disaster, in the ruins of a place known as the Old Republic, where water is the most precious commodity and people are expendable pawns in the game of survival. Read a review by Gennifer King:
November 4, 2020 | 'Anti/hero' by Kate Karyus Quinn & Demitria Lunetta [Middle Grade Review]11/4/2020
Piper Pájaro and Sloane MacBrute are two 13-year-old girls with very different lives but very similar secrets. Popular, outgoing Piper is strong. Like, ripping-the-doors-off-cars strong. She longs to be a superhero, even if she tends to leave massive messes in her wake. Snarky Sloane, on the other hand, is super smart. Like, evil-genius-smart. To help her family, she has to put those smarts to use for her villainous grandfather. When a mission to steal an experimental technological device brings the two girls face to face with each other, the device sparks, and the two girls switch bodies! Now they must live in each other's shoes as they figure out a way to switch back. Read a review by Gennifer King:
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