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Staff Picks

We love to read, and we've got some interesting recommendations. Check Staff Picks weekly for new titles!

2008 January–June

The Tailor's Daughter by Janice Graham: Tragic losses threaten love and self-reliance in this historical romance set in London's fashionable Savile Row.
The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga: Fanboy encounters Goth Girl, who helps change his outlook on almost everything, including himself.
Nazi Literature in the Americas by Roberto Bolaño: First published in 1996, Bolaño's fake encyclopedia is a tour de force of black humor and wild inventiveness.
Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells: As the Civil War breaks out, India, a young Southern girl, summons her sharp intelligence and the courage she didn't know she had to survive the war.
The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss: The Hearts of Horses is the compelling story of a young woman breaking horses for several ranchers in Eastern Oregon during the winter of 1917. Meet the author.
Little Night by Yuyi Morales: At the end of a long day, Mother Sky helps her playful daughter, Little Night, get ready for bed.
The Italian Lover by Robert Hellenga: Book restorer Margot Harrington from The Sixteen Pleasures returns in this romantic comedy about the film adaptation of her memoirs.
Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox: A 15-year-old girl is training to be a dreamhunter when her father disappears, leaving her to carry on his mysterious mission.
Symptoms of Withdrawal by Christopher Kennedy Lawford: More than a recovery memoir, Lawford tells the bittersweet truth about life inside America's royal family.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart: Frankie infiltrates an all-male secret society in order to enliven their mediocre pranks.
Sloth by Gilbert Hernandez: Troubled teenager Miguel Serra becomes a walking urban legend after he wills himself into a coma and wakes up one year later virtually unchanged — except for his sloth-like pace.
Hello, Bumblebee Bat by Darrin Lunde: Meet the inch-long bumblebee bat, the smallest bat species in the world.
Little Scarlet by Walter Mosley: Unlicensed PI Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins investigates a brutal murder in the last days of the 1966 Watts riots.
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale: Fifteen-year-old Dashti, sworn to obey her sixteen-year-old mistress, the Lady Saren, shares Saren's years of punishment locked in a tower.
Arthur & George by Julian Barnes: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle storms to the aid of George Edjali, falsely accused of a dreadful crime, in Barnes' literary thriller based on a true story.
Chess Rumble by G. Neri: Marcus learns how to fight his battles on the chess board.
JPod by Douglas Coupland: Ethan Jarlewski and five fellow geeks are marooned in JPod, a distant quadrant of a giant Vancouver video game corporation.
21 Proms by David Levithan and Daniel Ehrenhaft: Short stories about the biggest dance in high school.
Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio: A photographic study of families from around the world reveals what people eat during the course of one week.
Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine: Ling, the daughter of two doctors, struggles to make sense of the communists' Cultural Revolution.
Brasyl by Ian McDonald: Past, present and future Brazil come together in a novel that is part science fiction, part history and part mystery.
Here's a Little Poem by Jane Yolen: A very first book of poetry.
The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones: While working out some personal problems, an American food writer learns the intricacies of the Chinese feast from a rising culinary star.
Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems by John Grandits: A 15-year-old girl named Jessie voices typical — and not so typical — teenage concerns in this unique, hilarious collection of poems.
Blankets by Craig Thompson: Wrapped in the landscape of a blustery Wisconsin winter, Thompson's autobiographical graphic novel explores the sibling rivalry of two brothers growing up in the isolated country, the power of young love, and the limits of faith.
Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies & Little Misses of Color by Elizabeth Alexander and Marilyn Nelson: The story of Prudence Crandall's school for African American girls that opened in 1833.
The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier: Laura, the last woman on earth, is slowly running out of supplies at an Antarctic research station; meanwhile a city comprised of the recently dead only exists as long as Laura remembers them.
Dimity Dumpty by Bob Graham: The story of Humpty's little sister.
About Alice by Calvin Trillin: Though it deals with devastating loss, About Alice is also a love story, chronicling a romance that began at a Manhattan party when Calvin Trillin desperately tried to impress a young woman who "seemed to glow."
One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke: As her irritating family prepares to celebrate her grandfather's 80th birthday, 16-year-old Lily yearns for just one whole perfect day together.
The Wrong Man by John Katzenbach: When Ashley Freeman is stalked by blue-collar bad-boy Michael O’Connell after a brief fling, she turns to her divorced parents and her mother’s new partner for help.
The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander: Three friends follow a treasure map through the deserts and cities of the infamous Golden Road.
Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences by Kitty Burns Florey: Florey examines the sentence-diagramming phenomenon, including its humble roots at Brooklyn Polytechnic, its "balloon diagram" predecessor, and what diagrams of famous writers' sentences reveal about them.
When Dinosaurs Came with Everything by Elise Broach: Although his mother is a little worried, a young boy is delighted to discover that every shop in town is giving away real dinosaurs to their customers.
The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg: Four girls named Jane form a secret art gang to offset their difficulties in high school.
Spud by John van de Ruit: Thirteen-year-old John "Spud" Milton keeps a diary of his first year at an elite, boys-only boarding school in South Africa.
The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud: Messud's comedy of manners examines the fates and fortunes of three friends striving for recognition in New York City.
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart: Four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.
April in Paris by Michael Wallner: A German soldier in occupied Paris leads a double life: by day, an interrogation translator; by night, a native Parisian. Soon his two worlds collide.
Global Babies: Babies everywhere are beautiful, special and loved.
How to Hepburn: Lessons on Living from Kate the Great by Karen Karbo: Karbo's sassy mix of self-help and star biography reveals how Katherine Hepburn made it her business to be one of a kind. Meet the author.
The Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles: Will the annual July 4th baseball game be cancelled because of the county anniversary pageant?
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah: The Everybody Reads selection for 2008 tells the story of one boy's experience as a child soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war.
The Hunterman and the Crocodile by Baba Wagué Diakité: Donso, a West African hunterman, learns the importance of living in harmony with nature and the necessity of placing humans among, not above, all other living things. Meet the author.
Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast by Bill Richardson: Somewhere on a small island in beautiful B.C., a pair of quirky brothers runs a B&B especially for people like them, "the gentle and bookish and ever so slightly confused."
How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor: Georgina, desperate for money, persuades her younger brother to help her in an elaborate scheme to steal a dog and claim the reward.
Xtra Tuf (zine) by Moe Bowstern: Moe works as a commercial fisherwoman in Alaska and describes her adventures in her zine, Xtra Tuf. This zine is full of interesting facts about the profession, but it is Moe's storytelling that draws the reader in and brings the fishing industry to life.
New Socks by Bob Shea: A chicken is filled with excitement and self-confidence when he dons a new pair of orange socks.
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin: The extraordinary story of Greg Mortenson's humanitarian efforts in Pakistan. Meet the author.
The Arrival by Shaun Tan: In this wordless graphic novel, a man leaves his homeland and sets off for a new country, where he must build a new life for himself and his family.
Fred Stays with Me by Nancy Coffelt: A child describes how she lives sometimes with her mother and sometimes with her father, but her dog is her constant companion.