New Releases: August 18th, 2015
Lots of sequels this week - Auggie & Me for R. J. Palacio's Wonder, The Day the Crayons Came Home following up on last year's crayon-related hit! But I think that Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered sounds the most interesting of the lot.
NEW RELEASES IN HARDCOVER
AUGGIE & ME: THREE WONDER STORIES by R. J. Palacio
Over 2 million people have read the #1 New York Times bestseller Wonder and have fallen in love with Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face. Readers have also been treated to three stories offering a special look at Auggie’s world through new points of view...These stories are an extra peek at Auggie before he started at Beecher Prep and during his first year there. Readers get to see him through the eyes of Julian, the bully; Christopher, Auggie’s oldest friend; and Charlotte, Auggie’s new friend at school. Together, these three stories are a treasure for readers who don’t want to leave Auggie behind when they finish WONDER. Children's Fiction
BORN ON THE BAYOU by Blaine Lourd
In honest, confessional prose, BORN ON THE BAYOU transports us to a pocket of the South where Lourd learns how to be a man from the two people he looks up to the most: his larger-than-life father, “Puffer,” a prominent figure in the oil business, and his successful older brother, Bryan. With an eye turned perpetually toward the gruff and distant Puffer, Lourd illustrates how those closest to us can cause the most hurt, even as we seek their approval. Whether he’s learning how to skin a duck at age ten, enjoying his first beer at thirteen, or detailing the finer points of ride-on lawn mowing, Lourd gets to the heart of being a Southerner with rawness and grace. From his early childhood through his eventual pilgrimage to the West Coast, he beautifully details what it means to have tangible roots to a place so ingrained it is a part of your own being. Memoir
THE DAY THE CRAYONS CAME HOME by Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers
I'm not sure what it is about this kid Duncan, but his crayons sure are a colorful bunch of characters! Having soothed the hurt feelings of one group who threatened to quit, Duncan now faces a whole new group of crayons asking to be rescued. From Maroon Crayon, who was lost beneath the sofa cushions and then broken in two after Dad sat on him; to poor Turquoise, whose head is now stuck to one of Duncan's stinky socks after they both ended up in the dryer together; to Pea Green, who knows darn well that no kid likes peas and who ran away-each and every crayon has a woeful tale to tell and a plea to be brought home to the crayon box. Children's Fiction
EVERYBODY RISE by Stephanie Clifford
EVERYBODY RISE is a keenly observed novel in which a young woman plunges headlong into a glittering world of wealth and social prestige. Evelyn Beegan, an irresistibly flawed heroine, relentlessly elbows her way up the social ladder. In order to be accepted, she must pass as upper class and be seen as someone with an established old money background. Her lies start slowly but quickly grow until the ground underneath her begins to give way. Fiction
WE NEVER ASKED FOR WINGS by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
For 14 years, Letty Espinosa has worked three jobs around San Francisco to make ends meet while her mother raised her children in their tiny apartment on a forgotten spit of wetlands near the bay. But now Letty’s parents are returning to Mexico, and Letty must step up and become a mother for the first time in her life. She comes up with a plan to help the family escape the dangerous neighborhood and heartbreaking injustice that have marked their lives. But one wrong move could jeopardize everything she’s worked for and her family’s fragile hopes for the future. Fiction
NEW IN PAPERBACK
GRAY MOUNTAIN by John Grisham
Samantha Kofer’s career at a huge Wall Street law firm is on the fast track --- until the recession hits and she gets downsized. However, she is offered an opportunity to work at a legal aid clinic in Virginia for one year without pay, after which there would be a slim chance that she’d get her old job back. Samantha’s new job takes her into the murky and dangerous world of coal mining, and within weeks she finds herself engulfed in litigation that turns deadly. Thriller
MONA LISA: A Life Discovered by Dianne Hales
Dianne Hales became obsessed with finding the real Mona Lisa on repeated trips to Florence. Here, she takes readers with her to meet Lisa’s descendants; uncover her family’s long and colorful history; and explore the neighborhoods where she lived as a girl, a wife and a mother. In the process, we can participate in Lisa’s daily rituals; understand her personal relationships; and see, hear, smell and taste “her” Florence. Biography
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: A Wedding in Provence by Ellen Sussman
2013: The Glass Swallow by Julia Golding
2012: Isaac: A Modern Fable by Ivan G. Goldman
2011: Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson
2010: News: Press “Pause” on the Piranha
2009: Ashland 2009: Henry VIII by William Shakespeare
2008: Update on Neil Gaiman contest + author interview
NEW RELEASES IN HARDCOVER
AUGGIE & ME: THREE WONDER STORIES by R. J. Palacio
Over 2 million people have read the #1 New York Times bestseller Wonder and have fallen in love with Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face. Readers have also been treated to three stories offering a special look at Auggie’s world through new points of view...These stories are an extra peek at Auggie before he started at Beecher Prep and during his first year there. Readers get to see him through the eyes of Julian, the bully; Christopher, Auggie’s oldest friend; and Charlotte, Auggie’s new friend at school. Together, these three stories are a treasure for readers who don’t want to leave Auggie behind when they finish WONDER. Children's Fiction
BORN ON THE BAYOU by Blaine Lourd
In honest, confessional prose, BORN ON THE BAYOU transports us to a pocket of the South where Lourd learns how to be a man from the two people he looks up to the most: his larger-than-life father, “Puffer,” a prominent figure in the oil business, and his successful older brother, Bryan. With an eye turned perpetually toward the gruff and distant Puffer, Lourd illustrates how those closest to us can cause the most hurt, even as we seek their approval. Whether he’s learning how to skin a duck at age ten, enjoying his first beer at thirteen, or detailing the finer points of ride-on lawn mowing, Lourd gets to the heart of being a Southerner with rawness and grace. From his early childhood through his eventual pilgrimage to the West Coast, he beautifully details what it means to have tangible roots to a place so ingrained it is a part of your own being. Memoir
THE DAY THE CRAYONS CAME HOME by Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers
I'm not sure what it is about this kid Duncan, but his crayons sure are a colorful bunch of characters! Having soothed the hurt feelings of one group who threatened to quit, Duncan now faces a whole new group of crayons asking to be rescued. From Maroon Crayon, who was lost beneath the sofa cushions and then broken in two after Dad sat on him; to poor Turquoise, whose head is now stuck to one of Duncan's stinky socks after they both ended up in the dryer together; to Pea Green, who knows darn well that no kid likes peas and who ran away-each and every crayon has a woeful tale to tell and a plea to be brought home to the crayon box. Children's Fiction
EVERYBODY RISE by Stephanie Clifford
EVERYBODY RISE is a keenly observed novel in which a young woman plunges headlong into a glittering world of wealth and social prestige. Evelyn Beegan, an irresistibly flawed heroine, relentlessly elbows her way up the social ladder. In order to be accepted, she must pass as upper class and be seen as someone with an established old money background. Her lies start slowly but quickly grow until the ground underneath her begins to give way. Fiction
WE NEVER ASKED FOR WINGS by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
For 14 years, Letty Espinosa has worked three jobs around San Francisco to make ends meet while her mother raised her children in their tiny apartment on a forgotten spit of wetlands near the bay. But now Letty’s parents are returning to Mexico, and Letty must step up and become a mother for the first time in her life. She comes up with a plan to help the family escape the dangerous neighborhood and heartbreaking injustice that have marked their lives. But one wrong move could jeopardize everything she’s worked for and her family’s fragile hopes for the future. Fiction
NEW IN PAPERBACK
GRAY MOUNTAIN by John Grisham
Samantha Kofer’s career at a huge Wall Street law firm is on the fast track --- until the recession hits and she gets downsized. However, she is offered an opportunity to work at a legal aid clinic in Virginia for one year without pay, after which there would be a slim chance that she’d get her old job back. Samantha’s new job takes her into the murky and dangerous world of coal mining, and within weeks she finds herself engulfed in litigation that turns deadly. Thriller
MONA LISA: A Life Discovered by Dianne Hales
Dianne Hales became obsessed with finding the real Mona Lisa on repeated trips to Florence. Here, she takes readers with her to meet Lisa’s descendants; uncover her family’s long and colorful history; and explore the neighborhoods where she lived as a girl, a wife and a mother. In the process, we can participate in Lisa’s daily rituals; understand her personal relationships; and see, hear, smell and taste “her” Florence. Biography
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: A Wedding in Provence by Ellen Sussman
2013: The Glass Swallow by Julia Golding
2012: Isaac: A Modern Fable by Ivan G. Goldman
2011: Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson
2010: News: Press “Pause” on the Piranha
2009: Ashland 2009: Henry VIII by William Shakespeare
2008: Update on Neil Gaiman contest + author interview