River Readers

This is more than a book about the Los Angeles Public Library fire in 1986. It is a history of libraries and of the LA library in particular. Susan Orlean delves into what makes libraries great, the fascinating collections they contain and the politics that have played a role in their existence. This book is centered around the largest library fire in history. Many people don't know about it because it happened the same day as the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, which overshadowed the story in national news. 

Zomorod Yousefzadeh and her parents have moved from Iran and are living in California where her father works for an American company building an oil refinery. Zomorod decides after they move from Compton to Newport Beach to reinvent herself as Cindy and become more American. This is difficult when her parents don't speak a lot of English and her mom insists on giving the neighbors traditional Iranian food. Cindy makes a friend during the summer who turns out not to be a great friend, but once school starts she does make friends and start to assimilate into American life.

This was awesome! It was a look at how the Lowriders came to be friends. They look so cute as little kids. I loved how they came together and overcame bullies and created awesome art. Fantastico!

Parents are coming to Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady Types and is it going to be fun. There are scavenger hunt shenanigans and aww worthy meetings. I loved all the parents and how they interacted with the kids and how they reacted to the shenanigans. Awesome story as always.

Annie Browne transfers to a new school and is afraid she won't make friends. On the first day, outcast Elsie latches on to Annie and insists they be best friends. Except Elsie is not the kind of friend Annie wants. She lies and tattles and is super possessive and mean. When Elsie gets sick Annie becomes friends with the other girls in her class and they ostracize Elsie when she returns. The girls are bullies to Elsie and each other. When the Spanish Flu hits their town they start attending funerals for the sweets and cakes. One day they end up at Elsie's funeral without realizing it.

We know Circe from Greek Mythology and from The Odyssey. What Madeline Miller does is reimagine her life from birth to mortality. Circe is the daughter of the Titan Helios. She is raised in the houses of the Titans, unloved and unappreciated. She begs for scraps of attention, but gets nowhere. It is only after she is banished to her deserted island and becomes a witch that she truly becomes the goddess she was meant to be. She is banished for creating Scylla the monster of legend and devourer of men. She meets heroes and gods like Hermes and Athena and Ulysses.

Ramona is a six foot tall lesbian with blue hair in her small town of Eulogy, Mississippi. She lives with her dad and big sister Hattie in a FEMA trailer they moved into after Hurricane Katrina and never left. It is the beginning of senior year and Ramona has plans to get out of Eulogy. Then Hattie gets pregnant and Ramona believes she has to stay and take care of her sister and future niece. Then childhood best friend Freddie moves back to town with his grandma and things go sideways for Ramona. Suddenly, she is having feelings for a boy!

Chase Ambrose falls off his roof and can't remember a thing. Physically he is fine, but the concussion he suffered from means his memories of the last 13 years are all gone. That might not be a bad things since it appears Chase wasn't the nicest kid. In fact, Chase might have been the furthest thing from a nice person. Even his 4 year old half sister seems afraid of him. That Chase isn't who the new Chase wants to be though. He doesn't feel the need to be the football star bully of the school anymore and he doesn't really like his old friends Bear and Aaron.

June Harper loves books and is devastated when her parents and school go full dictatorship and start banning books. The librarian is dismissed, the library is emptied and the students will get punished if found with books. June's books are also confiscated at home even though she has already read them all. June is inspired by a little free library in her neighborhood and starts her own library in an empty locker at school. Soon half of the students are borrowing books from her. The other half are part of a student anti-reading group.

Jarrett Krosoczka's graphic memoir of his childhood is compelling, sad and joyful all at the same time. He is born to a teen mother addicted to heroin who is in and out of rehab and prison during his childhood. His grandfather gets custody of him and he is raised by his grandparents. Shirley and Joe were not the sweetest grandparents; they liked a drink and a cigarette and had some grueling arguments, but they loved Ja and saw to his needs. They enrolled him in art classes even though they didn't think art was a valuable career.

Alice isn't happy to leave Ohio and move to Rainbow, Georgia to help take care of her ailing grandmother. It doesn't help that when they get there grandma is worse than they thought she was. Alice just wants her absentee dad to come and take them back home. She wants her brother Eddie to be back in Ohio where he can go to the school for the deaf and not public school. She meets her grandma's neighbor Miss Millie and starts walking her dog Clarence. Unfortunately, Clarence won't walk with anyone other than Miss Millie, so Alice actually walks Clarence and Miss Millie.

Joplin never knew her grandfather but when he dies she and her mom still have to clean out his house. Her grandfather was a famous author and all her mom wants are his papers, but she does let Joplin have one keepsake. Joplin takes a broken platter in a tin. When she gets it home her mom's friend Jen helps her get it restored. The first person they take it to is Lucius Doyle who creeps them both out. Once the platter is repaired Joplin notices the young girl on it and wishes she had a friend like that. The next day the girl in in the garden waiting for her.

Jax isn't happy that his mama dropped him off with an old lady he has never met. And then it turns out Ma is a witch and has a bag of dragons to deliver to a magical dimension. While Jax agrees to work with Ma as her assistant for the day, things don't go exactly as planned. First they don't make it to the magical world but to the past in the time of dinosaurs instead! And then Ma and Jax get separated and Jax is left on his own with the dragons. He gets help and eventually finds Ma again, but of course things still don't go to plan.

Alec wants to spend all of his time reading books. Unfortunately there are things like school and homework and parents who don't appreciate his love of books. His parents and principal give him an ultimatum. Either he quit reading all the time and pay attention in class or he spends the summer in class. He also has to go to after school care every day. Alec assumes that after school care will be a great time to just sit and read for three hours, but the program director has other plans. He has to join the activities or the clubs or do homework.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is based on the true story of Lale and Gita and their survival of Auschwitz and Buchenau. Lale was given the job of tattooing numbers on the arms of the people being held in the camps. It is a job that gives him certain privileges. He is able to get money and jewels from the people who work in the Canada and purchase extra food to smuggle in to the other prisoners. One day he meets Gita when he tattoos her arm. It is love at first site, but how do you fall in love in a concentration camp when every day could be your last? It is a harrowing tale of death and love.