April 5, 2024 - National Library Week

How did it get to be April 5th already? We sailed right past Easter, April Fools Day, and are coming up to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four this weekend as well as the start of National Library Week.

April is one of two months that are particularly dear to librarians’ hearts (I know. I know. You are shocked to learn that librarians have hearts. But we do! At least some of us.). We, in the trade, are rather fond of National Library Week and the entire month of September which you all know is National Library Card Signup Month.  To celebrate National Library Week (April 7th through the 13th) we are having a month-long Bingo challenge/contest (details to follow) and an open house on Saturday, April 13th, from 10-noon. At the end of the Open House, Duke Otherwise will be putting on a show. Be sure to stop by and checkout all the neat equipment and services that will be showcased during the Open House and then stay for an energetic performance. Duke Otherwise, as some of you may recall, during the pandemic, performed on the intersection of the two book cases in the Circulation corral while the audience stood around the mezzanine railing. It was quite the performance! While the Duke has demurred about performing on the circulation desk, he will provide a memorable show. Be sure to get these events on your calendar. While you’re waiting to attend these must-see events, there are a few book titles listed below which will help you pass the time. Enjoy!

New Non-Fiction

“Raising Mentally Strong Kids: How to Combine the Power of Neuroscience With Love and Logic to Grow Confident, Kind, Responsible, and Resilient Children and Young Adults” by Daniel Amen and Charles Fay with Foreword by Jim Fay. Reveals how to identify the nonverbal areas where a child might be struggling, and equips readers with a set of simple exercises for helping any child learn how to: follow the rhythm of conversations, respect others' personal space and much more.

“Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism” by Stephen Breyer. A recently retired Supreme Court justice deconstructs the textualist philosophy of the current Supreme Court’s supermajority and makes the case for a better way to interpret the Constitution.

New Fiction

“To Slip the Bonds of Earth” by Amanda Flower. The sister of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Katharine looks for a new challenge and finds it in the form of sleuthing when someone steals Wilbur’s as-yetunpatented flyer plans, which leads to murder, and she must keep her feet on the ground to make sure her brothers are free to fly another day.

“Cheater, No.2 (San Diego Case Files)” by Karen Rose. San Diego Detective Kit McKittrick investigates a nursing home with numerous skeletons in the closet after a resident is found stabbed to death with his apartment ransacked in the second novel of the series following “Cold Blooded Liar”.

“Expiration Dates” by Rebecca Serle. Every time she meets a new man, Daphne Bell receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—the exact amount of time they will be together; usually she is right, but when she meets Jake, her whole system is thrown for a loop.

“The #1 Lawyer: Patterson’s Greatest Southern Legal Thriller” by James Patterson & Nancy Allen. A small-town lawyer with a big-time reputation, Stafford Lee Penney, Mississippi’s #1 Lawyer who has never lost a case, when his wife is scandalously killed, spirals into a legal and personal legal streak, ruining his career, and making him the nation’s #1 suspect.

“2054” by Elliot Ackerman & James Stavridis. Set 20 years after the events of the New 
York Times best-selling 2034 the fate of American democracy is threatened by tech visionary in the Amazon rainforest who uses a breakthrough in AI to assassinate the president.

“Every Single Secret” by Christina Dodd. A woman lives alone in an isolated lighthouse on the coast of California until a man appears on her doorstep who knows every single secret she’s kept since one fateful night.

“Everyone Is Watching: A Locked Room Thriller” by Heather Gudenkauf. From the New York Times best-selling author of The Overnight Guest comes a twisty locked-room thriller about a mysterious, high-stakes game show that proves life-threatening.

“The Mystery Writer” by Sulari Gentill. When he is accused of murdering his sister Theo’s literary mentor and lover, Gus, after Theo disappears, leaving behind clues in the form of a story, soon discovers that in order to protect the carefully constructed deceit, Theo, and everyone who every looked for her, must die.

“The Princess of Las Vegas” by Chris Bohjalian. Living in the Buckingham Palace Casino, Crissy Dowling, a Princess Diana impersonator with her own musical cabaret, finds her carefully constructed kingdom crashing down around her when the owner of the casino is brutally murdered and she is drawn in a world of organized crime, cryptocurrency and obsession.

“Sleeping Giants” by Rene Denfeld. A novel by the author of The Child Finder explores sibling bonds, foster children, monsters masquerading as caretakers, terrifying secrets and the power of love to right even the most egregious wrongs.

“The Truth About the Devlins” by Dervla McTiernan. The charming disappointment in the prominent Devlin family, TJ Devlin finds his world turned upside down when his lawyer brother confesses he has just killed one of his clients and, seizing this chance to prove his worth, becomes entangled in a deadly web of deception and murder to save his brother.

“The Wild Side” by Fern Michaels. Called back to the Office of Special Investigations for a highly specialized assignment, school guidance counselor Melanie Drake must pose as an escort to infiltrate a dangerous international group of billionaires during a decadent dinner to collect information vital to national security.