New Arrivals

Treeborne

Caleb Johnson

Wedged between the bluffs and the river for which it's named, there’s a small and all-but-forgotten town. Janie Treeborne lives on an orchard at the edge of Elberta, Alabama, and in time, she has become its keeper. A place where conquistadors once walked, and where the peaches they left behind now grow, Elberta has seen fierce battles, violent storms, and frantic change—and when the town is once again threatened from without, Janie realizes it won’t withstand much more. So she tells the story of its people: of Hugh, her granddaddy, determined to preserve Elberta’s legacy through his art; of his wife Maybelle, who shook the town when she became its first female postmaster, then again when she died a sudden and mysterious death; of her lover Lee Malone, a black orchardist and musician harvesting from a land where he is less than welcome; of the local legend Ricky Birdsong, who scored touchdown after touchdown, only to run headlong into tragedy; of the time Janie herself kidnapped her own Hollywood-obsessed aunt and tore the wrong people apart.

As the world closes in on Elberta, Alabama—a fictional land equal parts Macon and Macondo—Caleb Johnson’s debut novel lifts the veil and offers one last glimpse. Treeborne is both a celebration and a reminder: of the difficulty of untangling the past from the future, and of how home is a story as much as a place.

Fiction. Call number: FIC Joh. View in our catalog

Super Late Bloomer: My Early Days in Transition

Julia Kaye

Instead of a traditional written diary, Julia Kaye has always turned to art as a means of self-reflection. So when she began her gender transition in 2016, she decided to use her popular webcomic, Up and Out, to process her journey and help others with similar struggles realize they weren’t alone.

Julia’s poignant, relatable comics honestly depict her personal ups and downs while dealing with the various issues involved in transitioning—from struggling with self-acceptance and challenging societal expectations, to moments of self-love and joy. Super Late Bloomer both educates and inspires, as Julia faces her difficulties head-on and commits to being wholly, authentically who she was always meant to be.

Graphic novel/biography. Call number: GN BIOG Kaye. View in our catalog

Medusa Uploaded

Emily Devenport

The Executives control Oichi’s senses, her voice, her life. Until the day they kill her.

An executive clan gives the order to shoot Oichi out of an airlock on suspicion of being an insurgent. A sentient AI, a Medusa unit, rescues Oichi and begins to teach her the truth—the Executives are not who they think they are. Oichi, officially dead and now bonded to the Medusa unit, sees a chance to make a better life for everyone on board.

As she sets things right one assassination at a time, Oichi becomes the very insurgent the Executives feared, and in the process uncovers the shocking truth behind the generation starship that is their home.

Science fiction. Call number: SCIFIC Dev. View in our catalog

Cloak and Dagger: Runaways and Reversals

Mark Bernardo, et al.

Catch up with Marvel's newest television sensations, Cloak and Dagger, as they walk the line between darkness and light! But can the super-powered teens called the Runaways save Cloak from a deadly case of mistaken identity—and the wrath of the Avengers? Then, Cloak and Dagger are approached by Norman Osborn...but when his Dark Reign falls apart, they just might end up joining the X-Men!

Teen graphic novel. Call number: YA GN Cloak and Dagger. View in our catalog

The Marvelous, Amazing, Pig-Tastic Gracie LaRoo!

Marsha Qualey, illustrated by Kristyna Litten

Gracie LaRoo is a synchronized swimming pig extraordinaire! Follow Gracie as she shoots for the gold medal; uses her dazzling moves in a Piggywood movie; visits her old school and shows her former coach just how hard synchronized swimming can be; and captivates a cruise ship audience with her signature spins. This easy-to-read, beautifully illustrated chapter book by seasoned author Marsha Qualey will make new readers squeal with delight as they learn about the marvelous, the amazing, the pig-tastic Gracie LaRoo!

Youth fiction, ages 5-8. Call number: J FIC Qua. View in our catalog

Black Ink: Literary Legends on the Peril, Power, and Pleasure of Reading and Writing

Stephanie Stokes Oliver, editor

Spanning over 250 years of history, Black Ink traces black literature in America from Frederick Douglass to Ta-Nehisi Coates in this masterful collection of twenty-five illustrious and moving essays on the power of the written word.

Throughout American history black people are the only group of people to have been forbidden by law to learn to read. This unique collection seeks to shed light on that injustice and subjugation, as well as the hard-won literary progress made, putting some of America’s most cherished voices in a conversation in one magnificent volume that presents reading as an act of resistance.

Organized into three sections, the Peril, the Power, and Pleasure, and with an array of contributors both classic and contemporary, Black Ink presents the brilliant diversity of black thought in America while solidifying the importance of these writers within the greater context of the American literary tradition. At times haunting and other times profoundly humorous, this unprecedented anthology guides you through the remarkable experiences of some of America’s greatest writers and their lifelong pursuits of literacy and literature.

The foreword was written by Nikki Giovanni. Contributors include: Frederick Douglass, Solomon Northup, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Martin Luther King, Jr., Toni Morrison, Walter Dean Myers, Stokely Carmichael, Alice Walker, Jamaica Kincaid, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Terry McMillan, Junot Diaz, Edwidge Danticat, Colson Whitehead, Marlon James, Roxane Gay, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Colson Whitehead. The anthology features a bonus in-depth interview with President Barack Obama.

Nonfiction. Call number: 808.849 Bla. View in our catalog

Asperger's Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna

Edith Sheffer

A groundbreaking exploration of the chilling history behind an increasingly common diagnosis.

Hans Asperger, the pioneer of autism and Asperger syndrome in Nazi Vienna, has been celebrated for his compassionate defense of children with disabilities. But in this groundbreaking book, prize-winning historian Edith Sheffer exposes that Asperger was not only involved in the racial policies of Hitler’s Third Reich, he was complicit in the murder of children.

As the Nazi regime slaughtered millions across Europe during World War Two, it sorted people according to race, religion, behavior, and physical condition for either treatment or elimination. Nazi psychiatrists targeted children with different kinds of minds—especially those thought to lack social skills—claiming the Reich had no place for them. Asperger and his colleagues endeavored to mold certain "autistic" children into productive citizens, while transferring others they deemed untreatable to Spiegelgrund, one of the Reich’s deadliest child-killing centers.

In the first comprehensive history of the links between autism and Nazism, Sheffer uncovers how a diagnosis common today emerged from the atrocities of the Third Reich. With vivid storytelling and wide-ranging research, Asperger’s Children will move readers to rethink how societies assess, label, and treat those diagnosed with disabilities.

Nonfiction. Call number: 618.928 She. View in our catalog

Two Moons: Stories

Krystal A. Smith

A splendid debut collection of stories that traverses the connections between earth and the heavens, the living and the spectral, human and animal.

In “Cosmic,” a former drug addict has a chance to redeem herself and restore honor to her family’s name. In “Harvest,” a woman tasked with providing for her community ponders her inability to bear live children. In the title story, “Two Moons,” a young woman falls in love with the moon, and is astonished by the moon’s response. In “What the Heart Wants,” a rejected lover discovers that her physical and emotional desires are incongruent with the organ pumping blood through her veins.

Sensitive, ethereal, humorous, and at times, heart-breaking, Smith’s collection of speculative fiction signals the arrival of an exceptionally talented writer with a promising career ahead of her.

Science fiction/fantasy. Call number: SCIFIC Smi. View in our catalog

Heavy Vinyl

Carly Usdin, illustrated by Nina Vakueva

When Chris joins the staff at her local record store, she’s surprised to find out that her co-workers share a secret: they’re all members of a secret fight club that take on the patriarchy and fight crime!

Starry-eyed Chris has just started the dream job every outcast kid in town wants: working at Vinyl Mayhem. It's as rad as she imagined; her boss is BOSS, her co-workers spend their time arguing over music, pushing against the patriarchy, and endlessly trying to form a band. When Rosie Riot, the staff's favorite singer, mysteriously vanishes the night before her band’s show, Chris discovers her co-workers are doing more than just sorting vinyl . . . Her local indie record store is also a front for a teen girl vigilante fight club!

Teen graphic novel. Call number: YA GN Heavy. View in our catalog

You Are Mighty: A Guide to Changing the World

Caroline Paul, illustrated by Lauren Tamaki

Passionate about politics? Dedicated to saving the environment? Outspoken about animal rights? No matter the cause, kids can make a difference! This guide features change-maker tips as well as anecdotes of young activists around the globe and throughout history. The suggested activist tactics covered range from tweaking everyday habits—like the sisters who call themselves the Plastic Patrol and convinced their family to stop using grocery bags and straws—to stretching to achieve something extraordinary—like the teen who used food waste to invent a water purification system. Told in Caroline Paul's trademark breezy voice and including Lauren Tamaki's delightful spot illustrations and tons of DIY activities, this is the ultimate practical—and fun!—manual for kids looking to change the world.

Youth nonfiction. Call number: J 306 Pau. View in our catalog

Anxiety Happens: 52 Ways to Find Peace of Mind

John P. Forsyth and Georg H. Eifert

We live in an age of anxiety, and studies show that it’s only getting worse. Anxiety forces itself into our awareness and can deplete our energy, resources, and resolve. It screams “pay attention to me—or else.” We may confront it the moment we wake up in the morning, and it can even keep us from getting to sleep at night. In short, it can run our lives. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Building on the success of The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety, this quick reference guide offers fifty-two simple tools and strategies—one for each week of the year—based in proven-effective acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you break free from worry, fear, and panic. In addition to “in-the-moment” tools for staying calm, you’ll learn about the underlying causes of your anxiety, why avoidance just doesn’t work, how to move past your negative inner voice, and how focusing on your values can help you move past anxiety and live a rich, meaningful life.

If—like many people—you’re fed up with anxiety getting in the way of living your life, the powerful little exercises in this guide will show you how to break the cycle of anxiety for good.

Nonfiction. Call number: 616.852 For. View in our catalog

The Good Son

You-Jeong Jeong

Who can you trust if you can’t trust yourself?

Early one morning, twenty-six-year-old Yu-jin wakes up to a strange metallic smell, and a phone call from his brother asking if everything’s all right at home - he missed a call from their mother in the middle of the night. Yu-jin soon discovers her murdered body, lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs of their stylish Seoul duplex. He can’t remember much about the night before; having suffered from seizures for most of his life, Yu-jin often has trouble with his memory. All he has to go on is a faint impression of his mother calling his name. But was she calling for help? Or begging for her life?

Thus begins Yu-jin’s frantic three-day search to uncover what happened that night, and to finally learn the truth about himself and his family. A shocking and addictive psychological thriller, The Good Son explores the mysteries of mind and memory, and the twisted relationship between a mother and son, with incredible urgency.

Fiction. Call number: FIC Cho. View in our catalog

Give Me Some Truth

Eric Gansworth

Carson Mastick is entering his senior year of high school and desperate to make his mark, on the reservation and off. A rock band—and winning Battle of the Bands—is his best shot. But things keep getting in the way. Small matters like the lack of an actual band, or his brother getting shot by the racist owner of a local restaurant.

Maggi Bokoni has just moved back to the reservation with her family. She's dying to stop making the same traditional artwork her family sells to tourists (conceptual stuff is cooler), stop feeling out of place in her new (old) home, and stop being treated like a child. She might like to fall in love for the first time too.

Carson and Maggi—along with their friend Lewis—will navigate loud protests, even louder music, and first love in this stirring novel about coming together in a world defined by difference.

Teen fiction. Call number: YA FIC Gan. View in our catalog

Hurricane Child

Kheryn Callender

Caroline Murphy is a Hurricane Child.

Being born during a hurricane is unlucky, and twelve-year-old Caroline has had her share of bad luck lately. She's hated and bullied by everyone in her small school on St. Thomas of the US Virgin Islands, a spirit only she can see won't stop following her, and—worst of all—Caroline's mother left home one day and never came back.

But when a new student named Kalinda arrives, Caroline's luck begins to turn around. Kalinda, a solemn girl from Barbados with a special smile for everyone, becomes Caroline's first and only friend‐and the person for whom Caroline has begun to develop a crush.

Now, Caroline must find the strength to confront her feelings for Kalinda, brave the spirit stalking her through the islands, and face the reason her mother abandoned her. Together, Caroline and Kalinda must set out in a hurricane to find Caroline's missing mother—before Caroline loses her forever.

Youth fiction. Call number: J FIC Cal. View in our catalog

Square

Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen

This book is about Square. Square spends every day taking blocks from a pile below the ground to a pile above the ground. This book is also about Square’s friend Circle. Circle thinks Square is an artistic genius. But is he really? With the second story in a trilogy of tales about Triangle, Square, and Circle, Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen nudge readers toward a more well-rounded way of looking at things. Understated and striking in its simplicity, this funny, thoughtful offering from two of today’s most talented picture-book creators emphasizes the importance of keeping your eyes — and your mind — open to wonder where others see only rubble and rocks.

Youth easy book. Call number: J EASY Bar. View in our catalog

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

Zora Neale Hurston

In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston went to Plateau, Alabama, to interview eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis. Of the millions of men, women, and children transported from Africa to America as slaves, Cudjo was then the only person alive to tell the story of this integral part of the nation’s history. Hurston was there to record Cudjo’s firsthand account of the raid that led to his capture and bondage fifty years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed in the United States.

In 1931, Hurston returned to Plateau, the African-centric community three miles from Mobile founded by Cudjo and other former slaves from his ship. Spending more than three months there, she talked in depth with Cudjo about the details of his life. During those weeks, the young writer and the elderly formerly enslaved man ate peaches and watermelon that grew in the backyard and talked about Cudjo’s past—memories from his childhood in Africa, the horrors of being captured and held in a barracoon for selection by American slavers, the harrowing experience of the Middle Passage packed with more than 100 other souls aboard the Clotilde, and the years he spent in slavery until the end of the Civil War.

Based on those interviews, featuring Cudjo’s unique vernacular, and written from Hurston’s perspective with the compassion and singular style that have made her one of the preeminent American authors of the twentieth-century, Barracoon brilliantly illuminates the tragedy of slavery and one life forever defined by it. Offering insight into the pernicious legacy that continues to haunt us all, black and white, this poignant and powerful work is an invaluable contribution to our shared history and culture.

Nonfiction. Call number: 306.362 Hur. View in our catalog

Calypso

David Sedaris

If you've ever laughed your way through David Sedaris's cheerfully misanthropic stories, you might think you know what you're getting with Calypso. You'd be wrong.

When he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast, Sedaris envisions long, relaxing vacations spent playing board games and lounging in the sun with those he loves most. And life at the Sea Section, as he names the vacation home, is exactly as idyllic as he imagined, except for one tiny, vexing realization: it's impossible to take a vacation from yourself.

With Calypso, Sedaris sets his formidable powers of observation toward middle age and mortality. Make no mistake: these stories are very, very funny—it's a book that can make you laugh 'til you snort, the way only family can. Sedaris's powers of observation have never been sharper, and his ability to shock readers into laughter unparalleled. But much of the comedy here is born out of that vertiginous moment when your own body betrays you and you realize that the story of your life is made up of more past than future.

This is beach reading for people who detest beaches, required reading for those who loathe small talk and love a good tumor joke. Calypso is simultaneously Sedaris's darkest and warmest book yet—and it just might be his very best.

Nonfiction. Call number: 818.609 Sed. View in our catalog

Atlanta, the Complete First Season

Donald Glover, Brian Tyree Henry, Lakeith Stanfield, Zazie Beetz

Starring and created by Donald Glover, Atlanta follows two cousins who work through the Atlanta music scene in order to better their lives and the lives of their families.

DVD. Call number: DVD-TV Atl. View in our catalog

The Geek's Cookbook: Easy Recipes Inspired by Pokémon, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and More!

Liguori Lecomte

Binge-watching your favorite season of Dexter, Breaking Bad, or The Walking Dead? Planning a Pokémon Go gaming party or a Harry Potter viewing party? Need sustenance to fuel your attempt to achieve the impossible and watch all six Star Wars movies in a row? Enter The Geek Cookbook, your guide to cooking all sorts of treats and goodies to nourish your inner (or outer) geek.

Send your taste buds to another world with over thirty recipes from your favorite series, TV shows, and video games. Experience the supreme taste of the Matrix Burger or the Sauron Tarts, succumb to the Dagobah Marsh in Herb Crust or the Karadoc Crunch. Top it all off with some Minecraft Cookies or Meringue Pokéball, and you’ve got yourself a meal fit for Geek royalty.

Teen nonfiction. Call number: YA 641.5 Lec. View in our catalog

The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science

Joyce Sidman

Bugs, of all kinds, were considered to be “born of mud” and to be “beasts of the devil.” Why would anyone, let alone a girl, want to study and observe them?

One of the first naturalists to observe live insects directly, Maria Sibylla Merian was also one of the first to document the metamorphosis of the butterfly. In this visual nonfiction biography, richly illustrated throughout with full-color original paintings by Merian herself, the Newbery Honor–winning author Joyce Sidman paints her own picture of one of the first female entomologists and a woman who flouted convention in the pursuit of knowledge and her passion for insects.

Youth biography. Call number: J BIOG Merian. View in our catalog