Reviews

“Middle School Mayhem” by Samuel K., age 12/Grade 6 

The sound of misery, the sound of cries. 
This dreaded vault will not open before my eyes. 
I bang, I hit, I twist the lock. 
It will not open, no matter how hard I’ve fought. 
Oh, the agony! The woe! 
This locker is my sworn and forever foe! 

A sigh left my lips as I kicked my feet softly against the sand. My chest constricted slightly at the sound of the waves crashing into the earth-thinking it was something else. 

I’ve always been paranoid about that type of stuff, always thinking a murderer will come out of nowhere and slaughter me. It’s very unlikely to happen obviously, I don’t know why it’s such a big fear. 

The whole town of Aurora tells rumors about my grandfather's farm. Supposedly, the place is a hotspot for the deceased. 

Ironic, considering that my grandfather, the esteemed Gregory Wilson, rich beyond belief from his many years in the law department, recently passed. 

Not Very Happy Halloween!

The Invitation

By Theo C., grade 4

(transcribed by his mom)

It was a dark and stormy night. I had gotten an invitation to this scary haunted house for free. I thought, “Oh, this is gonna be so lame, like the other haunted houses.” Then, something on the paper appeared in one of the blank spaces. It read “This is going to be like Nothing you have ever experienced.” So I thought, “Letters appearing out of nowhere? Maybe this will be a good haunted house after all. I might even scream.” 

Hello and welcome to #NoWaitWednesday, where we turn the spotlight on a book on the New Release shelf that's hot, available, and ready for a lucky patron to check it out. No one likes waiting in line for the newest bestseller, but there's always quality authors that are lurking just under your nose at your local Library. 

He-Man was my high school swim team's mascot. Not officially, and not in any way that really concerned me. I don't even know the story; I just know that some of the guys a year or two older than me had a little He-Man figure they took to all of our meets to joke around with. It was entirely ironic, meant to be silly. But He-Man was always there.

Johnson County Library is pleased to announce that Ruth Wu has won our writing contest on the theme Mind Changes with her piece "Driving Lessons."

With the climax of the spooky season just around the corner, we thought it might be fun to spotlight a spooky read here at #NoWaitWednesday. For that, there were some recent horror novels that were excellent contenders for the spotlight, but Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward really jumped off the shelf, primarily because it isn't, technically, a horror novel - it's more of a dark, atmospheric psychological thriller with some horror elements lurking around the edges.

Hello and welcome to this week's edition of #NoWaitWednesday, where we take a look at a title from our adult New Release shelf that's just waiting for a lucky patron to discover it. Fantasy, science fiction, mystery, thriller, horror - we look at all kinds of books here at #NoWaitWednesday, however it's been a while since we've looked at romance in this space. It seems all of Kansas City is buzzing about the relationship between Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift, one of the biggest pop stars on the planet.