Recommend by Carol

The Penny

Jenny Blake has no idea how her life will change in the summer of 1955. But the day she stoops to pick up a penny embedded in the hot asphalt, she starts a chain of events that will transform her life and the lives of those around her in amazing ways. Jenny is swept into friendship with Miss Shaw, the woman whose past is the biggest mystery along Grand Avenue, the woman who will change Jenny’s future forever. As Jenny and Miss Shaw work together at the local jewelry store, they form a friendship that dares both of them to confront secrets in their pasts – secrets that threaten to destroy them.

Vanishing Acts

Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her widowed father, Andrew, she now has a young daughter, a handsome fiancé, and her own search-and-recue bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can’t recall. And then a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret that change s the world as she knows it.

Between Sundays

Megan Gunn works two jobs and spends her spare time helping at the youth center. Much of what she does, she does for the one boy for whom she is everything-a foster child whose dying mother left him in Megan’s care. Now she wants to adopt him, but one obstacle stands in the way. Her foster son, Cory, is convinced that 49ers quarterback Aaron Hill is his father.

Two men and the game they love. A woman with a heart for the lonely and lost, and a boy who believes the impossible. Thrown together in a season of self discovery, they’re about to learn lessons in character and grace, love and sacrifice.

Because in the end, life isn’t defined by what takes place on the first day of the week, but by how we live in between Sundays.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck,  Barbara Kinsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their goo-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food couture that’s better for the neighborhood and also better on the table. This is part memoir, and part journalistic investigation.

The Devil in the White City

Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Larson’s spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men – the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World’s Fair, striving to secure America’s place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction. This is a great read! There is also a novel about H.H. Holmes, the serial killer, called The Scarlet Mansion by Alan W. Eckert.

Recommend by Gail

The Arrival

In The Arrival, Shaun Tan evokes the universal aspects of an immigrant’s experience through a singular work of the imagination.  Through the use of brilliantly clear and mesmerizing images, and without the use of words, Tan expresses the heartbreak of an emigrant leaving his wife and daughter, the trip across an ocean to a strange land, his experience of learning the strange ways of this new and wonderful place and his final joy at being reunited with his family.  It is an amazing book, guaranteed to pull you into a fuller understanding of the immigrant experience. 

Founding Brothers

An illuminating study of the intertwined lives of the founders of the American republic -- John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.  In a lively and engaging narrative, Ellis focuses on these people and six discrete moments that exemplify the most crucial issues facing the fragile new nation.  Founding Brothers gives us a new perspective on the unpredictable forces that shape history.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

A spellbinding, beautifully written novel that moves between contemporary times and one of the most fascinating and disturbing periods in American history -- the Salem witch trials.  Written with astonishing conviction and grace, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane travels seamlessly between the trials in the 1690s, and a modern woman's story of mystery, intrigue, and revelation.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Huckleberry Finn shows up on all the required reading lists, but for pure fun, nothing beats Tom Sawyer!  Mark Twain's classic novel of a mischievous boy's pranks and escapades in a nineteenth-century river town---whitewashing a fence, seeking buried treasure, trying to impress the adored Becky Thatcher, is guaranteed to delight.

Restless Spirit, The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange

Lange’s portrait of a migrant farm woman and her children has become one of the iconic images of the Great Depression.  This handsome book gives a wonderful view of the breadth and depth of Dorothea Lange’s work whose photographs of migrant workers, Japanese American internees, and rural poverty helped bring about important social reforms.

Jelicoe Road

In this absorbing story nothing is as it seems and every clue leads to more questions as Taylor tries to work out the connection between her mother dumping her, Hannah finding her then and her sudden departure now, a mysterious stranger who once whispered something in her ear, a boy in her dreams, five kids who lived on Jellicoe Road eighteen years ago, and the maddening and magnetic Jonah Griggs, who knows her better than she thinks he does. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future.  While it was written for a teen audience, this book is a good read for all ages.

Base Ten

Wayland’s own author, Maryann Lesert, has written a compelling and fiercely honest novel. It exposes the daily battles of women scientists fighting to preserve a family life and succeed in a discipline that functions on the archaic belief that every scientist has a “wife” at home. Reared to believe that she could do anything, astrophysicist Jillian Greer dreamed of going into space. When she and her research partner invented a specialized telescope, it looks as though these two dogged scientists would fulfill the dream they shared. But ten years later, Jillian is married and a mother, packing lunches and helping her kids with homework. As her fortieth birthday draws near, Jillian decides that things have to change.

Recommend by Jenn

Julia's Hope

After the great market crash of 1929, families everywhere are falling on desperate times. Raised by a grandmother who instilled a love for simple pleasures and the good, wild things growing on God's earth, Julia Wortham is determined to make a decent life for her children. Her husband, Samuel, carries the shame of losing his job, their home, and Julia's savings. He also bears the impossible burden of providing for his family. Then circumstances force the family to seek shelter in an abandoned farmhouse—and to find mercy in a stranger's heart.

Home of the Brave

In Africa, Kek lived with his mother, father, and brother. But only he and his mother have survived, and now she's missing. Kek is on his own. As Kek awaits word of his mother's fate, he weathers the tough Minnesota winter by finding warmth in his new friendships, strength in his memories, and belief in his new country.

Recommend by Lynn

Dewey

This is the true story of Dewey Readmore Books, the library cat at the Spencer, Iowa Public Library. The author was the library director during the long life of Dewey. He was discovered in the book return on a frigid December morning, just a little kitten who nearly froze to death. Myron warmed him and revived him and he became beloved by the Spencer community. This is a touching read that pulls at the heartstrings.

Dead Silence

Doc Ford has gone to New York in winter to meet with a former British agent to discuss an expedition in the jungles of South America. While waiting at the Explorer’s Club for an attractive U.S. Senator who is his dinner guest, he witnesses the attempted kidnapping of the senator. She escapes the kidnappers, but the 14 year old boy she is escorting – an essay contest winner from Minnesota – does not. Typical of the Doc Ford thrillers, this is a fast-paced read with lots of bad guys, a little bit of history, gross-out action, and a satisfying ending.

Chasing a Blond Moon

Service and Nantz are still an item, but Maridly has taken a job flying gubernatorial candidate Lorelei Timms around the state on the campaign trail, so they spend a lot of time apart. Toss in Service’s son by his first wife, Bathsheba, whom he only just learned of, and Grady has a lot in his life to juggle. This is classic Heywood with a blend of good cops, bad guys, murder, deception, love and redemption. (Third in the Woods Cop Mysteries)

Fool

Christopher Moore takes on Shakespeare’s King Lear with a twisted and insanely funny tale of a moronic monarch and his deceitful daughters, as seen through the eyes of his jester, Pocket.  Pocket has been King Lear's cherished fool for years. So naturally Pocket is at his brainless, elderly liege's side when Lear demands that his kids swear to him their undying love and devotion.  The only person who can possibly make things right is Pocket.  He may be a fool, but he's definitely not an idiot.  Bawdy and funny, this book a delightful summer read.

Knucklehead

For those of you who are familiar with the children’s works of Scieszka (The Stinky Cheese Man and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs), this autobiography will give you an idea how and why this man thinks and writes the way he does. Written in short vignettes from his baby boomer childhood, we get a glimpse into an ordinary life that produced an extraordinary writer. Funny, familiar and entertaining!

Ice Hunter

This first in a series of Woods Cop Mysteries features Grady Service, a 50 year old U.P. conservation officer. During his long career Service thinks he has seen it all – until a woman’s burned body is found in the Mosquito Tract that he patrols. There are various nefarious people about, and with the help of other Cos, Service busts some poachers, ends an undercover trophy enterprise, and foils those who would mine diamonds in his pristine wilderness. A riveting novel.

Blue Wolf and Green Fire

Grady Service has been promoted to Conservation Inspector, and now he spends most of his time in his truck instead of in the bush. He’s also involved with young Maridly Nantz, a former fire warden, now CO trainee. A secretive wolf lab has blown up and two bodies are found. But the explosion didn’t kill them. They were shot. Being freshly post 9/11, a task force is assembled representing the DNR, local and State Police, Homeland Security, the FBI and CIA to unravel this thrilling mystery. (Second in the Woods Cop Mysteries)

Recommend by Vicki

Hunger Games

Have you ever been starving?  I don't mean the kind of starving when you haven't eaten in a while.  I mean your ribs are showing and you can't remember when the last time that you felt full after eating a meal. Imagine that after your beloved father passes away, you are the primary source for obtaining the food that your mother and sister and you need just to survive.  In this futuristic world, the country has been divided up into districts and each district is responsible for providing those who live in the Capitol everything they need. Katniss lives in the District 12, the one that provides coal.  The Capitol creates this reality game, where a boy and girl from each district are selected to participate. The winner gets a brand new house and never needs to worry about surviving again. But do you want to be the ultimate survivor of the Hunger Games, if it means everyone else needs to die in order for you to win?

Stealing Heaven

Danielle and her mother are constantly on the move.  They support themselves by stealing.  Dani has been taught well by her mother.  Now  she feels a connection with the town of Heaven and she is tired of worrying about being caught. This is a book about relationships – daughter/mother, friend/friend and residents/towns.

Playing with Matches

It’s an odd feeling you when see someone who is very disfigured in the face.  Do you look them in the eye?  Do you cast your eyes aside?  What if they have a locker right next to you in school?  Do you talk to them, ignore them?   Leon has been told he is an quirky sort of guy, but when he finally gets the courage to talk to the “match” girl, he finds out just how beautiful she is.