Author: alamancelibraries

This Wednesday, January 24, is National Peanut Butter Day, which made me think of peanut butter and jelly, which made me think of other great pairs, trios and groups in children’s literature. Kids love reading about friends who support each other, and there are some great books in the library to read to and with your children!

Pea, Bee and Jay by Brian Smith

Of course, I had to start with this early reader graphic novel series, since they’re the inspiration for this book post! In the first book, Strawberry dares Pea to roll off of the farm, and a thunderstorm knocks him off course. He meets new friends, Bee and Jay, who help him get back home. There are now 6 books featuring Pea, Bee and Jay.

Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel

Frog and Toad are a classic pair. This series has charmed kids for decades now with short, sweet adventures written at the level of kids just learning to read. In this book, Frog and Toad bake cookies, grow a garden and act bravely together. These books are also available as eaudiobooks through Libby, which would be great for listening to as you go about your day or to and from school!

Today I Will Fly! By Mo Willems

Elephant and Piggie are one of the great duos of modern children’s literature. Uptight Elephant and freewheeling Piggie are total opposites, yet they have a wonderful relationship. This first book has Piggie announcing he will fly. Elephant is skeptical – pigs don’t fly – but when you get help from others, anything can happen!

Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry

This series shows young children how we all have something to share with friends. In the first book of the series, Stick saves Stone from a prickly situation with Pinecone, and now Stone wants to return the favor and rescue Stick.

Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

Ulysses (the squirrel) accidentally dies after an encounter with a vacuum cleaner, but Ulysses is saved by Flora and comes back as a super hero. He has super strength, he can fly, and he can recite (bad) poetry! Flora is cynical, but maybe the existence of a super hero squirrel can make her have hope in the world again.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

This is the first of the books about the Gaither sisters. Siblings are your first friends, and Delphine and her younger sisters have come to stay with their mother in Oakland, California in 1968. But their mother doesn’t really want them there and is going to send them to the local Black Panther camp.

Other options:

Picture books –Otis and Peanut by Naseem Hrab, Toot and Puddle by Holly Hobbie, Kite Day: A Bear and Mole story by Will Hillenbrand

Early Readers – Fox and Chick by Sergio Ruzzier, George and Martha by James Marshall, Frank and Bean by Jamie Michalak

Juvenile Fiction – Ivy and Bean by Annie Barrows, The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett and Jory John, Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

Mary Beth Adams is the Community Engagement Librarian for Alamance County Public Libraries. She can be reached at madams@alamancelibraries.org.

In the dark I see you. Narayanan, Mallika. New York: Union Square & Co., 2023.

A blind woman stumbles (literally) over a body in her neighbor’s condo, and becomes a suspect in this great psychological thriller.

Audrey is blind, and lives in a lovely condo development in Sleepy Point, a suburb of NYC. Her next-door neighbor is Sarah. Sarah has a baby, Nicole, whom Audrey sometimes babysits, while Sarah goes to the gym or to a class. It’s not immediately clear what Sarah does (or will do after maternity leave), but Audrey works from home as an accountant.

What comes apparent fairly quickly is that Audrey has some secrets and is living in Sleepy Point for a specific reason – to investigate Sarah. When Sarah is found dead in her apartment, and Audrey is the one who finds the body, she becomes a suspect. The police believe that she’s keeping information from them, but would never guess what (and neither will you!).

This story goes back and forth in time and tells the past from both Sarah and Audrey’s points of view. When the twist came, I had just figured it out a few chapters before, but some reviewers say it caught them completely by surprise.

This is Narayanan’s fiction debut, and in some ways, it shows. There are a few characters that don’t get enough “page time,” and I would have liked to known more about them. But overall, I loved the character development and how she wrote a complex story that slowly unfurls. It is the type of story that after you know the twist, you want to go back and reread the story with the knowledge you now have.

If you like psychological thrillers and slow burn stories, then you’ll love In The Dark I See You.

Mary Beth Adams is the Community Engagement Librarian for Alamance County Public Libraries. She can be reached at madams@alamancelibraries.org.

Speak Your Truth with Love and Listen Deeply. Sofer, Oren Jay. Sounds True; 2022.

During the height of COVID, I started studying communication with Oren Jay Sofer, a certified trainer in Nonviolent Communication or NVC.  I recently discovered that one of his titles Speak Your Truth with Love and Listen Deeply is available as an audiobook on our library’s digital platform Hoopla.  The book covers many of the topics we discuss in his classes, and I think that people looking to improve their communication skills in the new year will find the information helpful. 

The audiobook is read by the author, and the narration is both soothing and engaging.  The book is laid out as if it were an eight-session course, with a different topic highlighted each session.  Some of the topics include intentions and needs, handling our emotions, the power of empathy, finding your voice, and difficult conversations.

The author provides clear and accessible instruction, using stories from his own life and his students’ lives to illustrate how NVC tools can be useful in conversation.  He also offers reflection exercises and guided meditations as a way to practice with each topic.

In addition to being an NVC trainer, the author is also a meditation teacher and Somatic Experiencing (SE) practitioner.  His teachings include tools from each philosophy, which I find adds a level of depth and breadth I have not received from other communication trainings.  If you are looking for ways to be more mindful in your relationships and specifically with your communication, I highly recommend this audiobook and the author’s teachings.

Amy Kendrick is the Branch Manager for May Memorial Library. You can reach her at akendrick@alamancelibraries.org.

New to Hoopla? You’ll find instructions on our Downloadable Resources page!

The princess of Thornwood Drive. Moreau, Khalia. New York: Forever, 2023.

Content Warnings: death of parents, panic attacks, off-page sexual assault.

I love books like The Princess of Thornwood Drive that straddle genres and make you think about what is real.

This is a wonderful, touching story of two sisters. One (Alyssa) has a traumatic brain injury, the other (Laine) is her caregiver. Laine feels guilty about the accident that killed her parents and paralyzed her sister. She thinks if she hadn’t lied and said she was sick and couldn’t come home from college, they never would have been in the car. Laine is struggling to keep a roof over their heads and pay the bills. But she still wants the best for her sister. She’s just moved her to Lake Forest Day Care Center, which isn’t going to charge for her care. Laine is too tired to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when she’s worried their uncle wants to purchase their house from under them.

Alyssa isn’t able to communicate with her sister, but she is still present in her body. However, she believes she is a princess and her parents are missing in the Dark Forest. She sees her sister as the First Princess and herself as the Second Princess. When she and Laine enter Lake Forest, she sees it as a healing center for changels, and smells the rot. She communicates with her fellow changels via their mind connection, and they warn her of the dark prince who hurts women. But how can she communicate this information to Laine?

The narrative jumps back and forth between the sisters, giving different viewpoints of what is going on. While you know that Laine’s viewpoint is the reality and Alyssa’s is coming from her brain injury, there are times when the lines are blurred and you’re not quite sure. Alyssa’s fantasy world is vivid and detailed.

This book does deal with some upsetting topics (see the content warnings above), and it also serves as a warning to all of us how easy it is to abuse power when you’re working with people with brain injuries, developmental delays or any other disability that makes them reliant on others for care. I hurt for Alyssa and her friends, who had no way to share what was happening.

There are so many wonderful details in this book (like that Laine and Alyssa were award-winning black equestrian riders), that I felt I was able to drop into their lives and enjoy their story. I do wish there was more explanation of the divide between them and their uncle, because that becomes an important factor in the story.

I highly recommend this book for lovers of realistic fiction as well as fantasy!

Mary Beth Adams is the Community Engagement Librarian for Alamance County Public Libraries. You can reach her at madams@alamancelibraries.org.

Women Are Some Kind of Magic Series by Amanda Lovelace

In Amanda Lovelace’s first collection of poetry she explores the hopes and struggles of her past and present by leaning into fairy tales and themes we all grew up with. She explores subjects of toxic relationships and self-love by setting them against the backdrop of fairy tales to give herself (and her readers) a happy ending.

The Princess Saves Herself in This One. Lovelace, Amanda. Kansas City Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing, a division of Andrews McMeel Universal, [2017].

This first collection is separated into four parts; the princess, the damsel, the queen, and you. Lovelace lets the last part, “you” focus on the reader while the first three sections focused on herself. Lovelace explores a raw and honest take on love, loss, grief, and healing with this collection that connects to the reader in a personal way.

The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One. Lovelace, Amanda. Kansas City Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing, a division of Andrews McMeel Universal, [2017].

This second collection follows a singular character more so. We have the witch, who is powerful, independent, and now – she is indestructible. Lovelace focuses on being strong and unapologetic and excepting of self-love and feminine power in this collection. She also advocates for the reader to realize all of those things and to embrace that in their own life. 

The Mermaid’s Voice Returns in This One. Lovelace, Amanda. Kansas City Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing, a division of Andrews McMeel Universal, [2017].

The final collection of poems shows that, like a mermaid, we are all more than what people see. Instead of just being the “siren” we are soft and in need of a safe space. One of Lovelace’s themes in this collection is the idea of healing and the courage it takes to get to that place. This collection also contains some guest poems by other poets, to allow more voices to showcase unity.

This isn’t your typical poetry. Lovelace doesn’t focus on rhyming lines or meter, nor does she have a heavy emphasis on syllabic beats, Lovelace writes her poems in a more modern way. She focuses on stream of conscience – on how we think or talk.

Note: This entire collection of poems does contain themes of abuse, assault, and healing that Lovelace does warn the reader about at the beginning of each book.

Kayleigh Dyer is a Library Technical Processing Assistant at May Memorial Library. Contact her at kdyer@alamancelibraries.org.