Staff Recommendations
Pages
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How to raise a reader
by Paul, Pamela,
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionDecember 9, 2019
Call Number: 372.4 P324
Pamela Paul and Maria Russo provide helpful advice and guidance about how parents can raise children to be readers, and how to keep those children reading. They lay out methods, guidelines, book lists and positive motivational techniques for parents to follow. In the introduction they present two different reading situations that children and parents face:
... Read Full Review
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The Starless Sea
by Morgenstern, Erin
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryDecember 2, 2019
In 2011, Erin Morgenstern made an unforgettable impression on readers with her debut novel, The Night Circus, which is about a challenge between two ancient beings. Each selects an apprentice, whom they then raise and train to compete. The arena for the competition is the wondrous Night Circus, where each apprentice creates and enhances the shows and performances using magic. As the competition proceeds, something unexpected happens: the apprentices fall in love, but what neither of them knows is at the end of this challenge, there can be only one survivor.
The... Read Full Review
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Midnight Chicken: (& Other Recipes Worth Living For)
by Risbridger, Ella
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionNovember 26, 2019
Call Number: 641.59 R595
Even though this book has recipes with good directions, it is not exactly a cookbook. It is part memoir with an appreciation about having a family made of friends who are reliably there for the good and bad times--no matter what. The book is wholeheartedly a paean to life and the love that makes it jubilant when things are going well, and bearable when things are not going so well. It is noticeably British; the recipes are written with a mix of metric and centigrade measurements; and there are Britishisms throughout the text which readers will be able to figure... Read Full Review
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The Girl Who Reads on the Metro
by Feret-Fleury, Christine
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryNovember 18, 2019
Juliette lives a quiet life in Paris. She rides the metro every day to her job in a real estate office. She rides the metro home. She spends a quiet evening in her apartment, and then rises to do it all again the next morning. One of the bright spots in her days is observing the other passengers as she rides the metro to and from work. She takes note of what they are reading and constructs elaborate stories about who they are and why they are reading the book they are reading. One morning, Juliette disembarks the train at an earlier station, deciding that she will walk the remainder of her... Read Full Review
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Anja Niemi in character
by Niemi, Anja, 1976- photographer, interviewee.
Reviewed by: Alice S., Librarian, Art, Music & Recreation Dept.November 12, 2019
Call Number: 770.9874 N668
The cover of Anja Niemi’s first monograph, In Character, shows a kimono-wearing woman collapsed against a beautifully painted wall. Both the room and her outfit are sumptuous and elegant, but there’s a sense that there might be something deeply wrong with her. She looks almost propped against the wall, face first, like a piece of furniture. The image is both striking and unnerving and it made me want to read the whole book and learn more about this artist.
I had not heard of Anja Niemi until I came upon In Character. A Norwegian artist, her work is slightly similar... Read Full Review
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Today We Go Home
by Estes, Kelli
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryNovember 4, 2019
It has only been six years since the US military ended its policy of “no women in units that are tasked with direct combat.” And yet, even though it wasn’t officially sanctioned, women have served and fought, in virtually every conflict in which the US has participated. This has been happening since the founding of our country, when Deborah Samson disguised herself as a man so she could fight against the redcoats in the Revolutionary War. During the Civil War, more than 400 women dressed as men to fight; and 150 years later we are finally beginning to learn about them and their stories. In... Read Full Review
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Violet
by Thomas, Scott
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryOctober 28, 2019
Our past affects us. Significant events, whether pleasant or devastating, can follow us throughout our lives. But what if a tragic event, experienced as a child, affected not only those who directly experienced it, but all of those who lived in the immediate area? What if those effects lasted for decades after the initial event occurred? This is the idea that Scott Thomas explores, both thoughtfully and frighteningly, in his new novel, Violet.
Kris Barlow is a veterinarian living in Colorado. When her husband is killed in a car accident, Kris decides to pack up her eight-... Read Full Review
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Haunting of Tram Car 015
by Clark, P. Djeli
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryOctober 21, 2019
In his short story “A Dead Djinn in Cairo” (available in e-Media), author P. Djeli Clark introduced readers to an alternate Egypt of 1912, and the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, who are charged with investigating disturbances of a paranormal nature. In his new novella, Clark returns to both this world and the Ministry to investigate The Haunting of Tram Car 015.
The case seemed simple enough on the surface: car 015 of the... Read Full Review
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Mexican American baseball on the Westside of Los Angeles
by Santillan, Richard,
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionOctober 15, 2019
Call Number: 796.231 S235-5
This book is part of a series of books that document Mexican American baseball. They are photographic essays which include meticulously researched information. The focus is baseball, but the books are more than a history of the sport as organized and played by Mexican Americans. The text and photographs present a cultural history of prejudice and exclusion of Mexican American players from all-white leagues. The books also document the participation of women in... Read Full Review
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The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
by Richardson, Kim Michele
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryOctober 7, 2019
In The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Kim Michele Richardson tells two stories that have, until now, been overlooked in most fiction and history: the story of the blue people of Kentucky and the Pack Horse Librarians of the 1930s, both of whom are incredible examples of the resilience to triumph over difficult circumstances.
Cussy Mary Carter lives near Troublesome Creek, Kentucky. She is a young, unmarried woman living with her father, who works in the coal mine along with most of the men in town. She was named after Cussy, France, the place from which her great... Read Full Review
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Feels Like Home: Reflections on Central Library
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionOctober 1, 2019
Call Number: 027.47949 L881Fe
One year ago, on September 13, 2018, the Los Angeles Public Library celebrated Central@25. This event commemorated the 25th anniversary of the reopening of Central Library. The day of appreciation, celebration and honors was the idea of Christina Rice, Senior Librarian, LAPL Photo Collection. Preliminary planning began approximately six months before the event. There were many staff suggestions to make the day grand and wonderful, but Ms. Rice suggested a book. At the time, I thought it was an impossible dream that a book of any... Read Full Review
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The Ruby Slippers of Oz: Thirty Years Later
by Thomas, Rhys
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibrarySeptember 23, 2019
Call Number: 791.1 W835Th-1
“Keep tight inside of them. Their magic must be very powerful, or she wouldn't want them so badly," said Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, talking about the ruby slippers.
In L. Frank Baum’s children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the magic shoes worn by the Wicked Witch of the East – and transferred to Dorothy after the Witch of the East’s untimely demise – were silver. In 1938, when MGM began pre-production of the motion picture based on Baum’s novel, it was decided that silver simply would not do for the lavish Technicolor film. With the slash... Read Full Review