Reviews

Staff Review

The Weight of Blood

By Laura McHugh
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Jun 22, 2017

Told in alternating perspectives of members of the Dane family from both the past and the present, McHugh builds a twisted and disturbing portrait of a family with deep, dark secrets.

Staff Review

Kubo and the Two Strings

By Laika

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Jun 20, 2017

"If you must blink, do it now. Pay careful attention to everything you see and hear, no matter how unusual it may seem. And please be warned, if you fidget, if you look away, if you forget any part of what I tell you, even for an instant, then our hero will surely perish."

Thus begins the saga of Kubo.

Staff Review

The Roanoke Girls

By Amy Engel
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Jun 18, 2017

Lane is just fifteen when her mother commits suicide. She is sent from New York City to western Kansas to live with her grandparents. Even though she’s never met them, they claim to love and want her. As Lane adjusts to life away from the dysfunction of her mentally ill mother, her idealistic image of the farm blends with her mother’s version to form a reality she wants no part of.

But home and family are hard to root out, and when her cousin Allegra goes missing, Lane is dragged back into the dysfunction she thought she had escaped when she left Osage Flats ten years before.

Staff Review

Stardew Valley

By ConcernedApe

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Jun 16, 2017

Sometimes you just need something wholesome and peaceful in your life.  Welcome to Stardew Valley.

This simple little indie game that could has made its way from a Steam trial to major consoles. Your completely customizable character gives up on corporate life and goes to live on the farm inherited from your grandfather. You have absolute control over how you live your life from there.

Staff Review

Driving Miss Norma

By Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Sarah As
Jun 14, 2017

I first heard about the “Driving Miss Norma” Facebook page a few months ago and was excited to see that a book was in the works. At first glance, I thought the book might be too sentimental for my tastes, but I ended up loving it and its message, and I would really recommend it to anyone.

Staff Review

Build a Better World Writing Contest Winner

By Kayla Wiltfong
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Jo F.
Jun 12, 2017

The Readers Advisory Committee is pleased to announce that Kayla Wiltfong has won our Build a Better World poetry contest. We enjoy Politics for both Wiltfong’s skill and confidence. She employs double-meanings to great effect, referencing multiple news items seen and heard in both social and mainstream media. On the surface, it’s a very short and simple poem, that evolves with each reading and teases our understanding.

Staff Review

Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise (DVD)

By Bob Hercules
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by LeeAnn B.
Jun 10, 2017

Dr. Maya Angelou was an author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage, and screen producer. In this documentary, filmmakers Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack do a remarkable job of detailing her extraordinary life. The DVD includes details about her childhood in the Depression-era South, interviews with Dr. Angelou during different periods of her life, and video footage of her early performing career. It also contains interviews with her family and friends to reveal even more about her life and impact on others.

Staff Review

Raven Girl

By Audrey Niffenegger
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by Sam S.
Jun 8, 2017

Raven Girl is the story of a girl-raven child produced by a lonely postman and the raven he fell in love with. It's a uniquely illustrated, dark, short novel—similar to Niffenegger's The Three Incestuous Sisters. The story opens with a postman rescuing a young raven who has fallen from her nest.

Staff Review

New Releases - June 2017!

By Various
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Gregg W.
Jun 7, 2017

Hello and welcome to our monthly look at the new releases that will be hitting your library’s shelves – and hopefully, hitting your holds list. Summer is here, and we love it when we see library books by the pool, or at the lake, or even on the porch. (The kiddos have Summer Reading to do – why should THEY have all the fun?)