We have had a few requests for the authors that participated in our local Author's Night. So I have put the video up that features the authors and their books.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Monday, September 28, 2015
A Thousand Miles to Freedom
A Thousand Miles to Freedom by Eunsun Kim
Eunsun Kim was born in North Korea in 1986 during the reign of Kim Jong-Il, the socialist leader of one the most oppressive countries. Up until the age of 11, Eunsun lived what for her was a normal happy childhood, despite the increasingly constant hunger and the school field trips to public executions.
As the country grows deeper into despair and famine, Eunsun loses her grandparents and father to starvation. After surviving on next to nothing for months, Eunsun's mother realizes that if she and her two daughters are going to survive, they need to escape North Korea. Once the decision is made, they embark on a journey that ends up taking them 9 years to complete and leads them to human traffickers in China, through a labor camp in North Korea and the deserts of Mongolia.
This is an amazing story of survival and the will to live and also reveals the horrific wrongs that are still taking place in North Korea by a regime that cares only about power and has no care for the tens of millions of North Koreans that are starving and abused.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Monday, September 21, 2015
Silver in the Blood
Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George
Seventeen year old cousins, Dacia and Lou, finally get to embark on their long awaited trip to see their mothers' native country of Romania. Dacia and her aunt are traveling ahead of Lou and her parents and so this story takes place with the two cousins exchanging letters as they travel through Europe on their way to meet their maternal cousins and grandmother.
The closer they get, they begin to discover their family's dangerous secrets and the unlikely centuries-old bond they have with the Dracula family and how it will affect their future.
This book really had a slow start and it wasn't until about 100 pages in that I felt like the story was ready to begin. I also didn't really understand the need of keeping the girls in the dark for so long about their transformative abilities. Once the story got started, George did a good job of giving a classic folktale new life.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Monday, September 14, 2015
When I Found You
When I Found You by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Over the years, Nathan McCann had drifted into a steady but monotonous rhythm with his life and marriage. The only thing he had left that he really looked forward too were his early morning duck hunts with his faithful hunting dog, Sadie.
On a chilly Fall morning as he and Sadie set out to hunt, Sadie, who was a well trained and obedient hunting dog, went off on her own and would not listen when he called her. As Nathan went to figure out what had Sadie so riled, he found an abandoned baby boy that could not be more than a few hours old.
Nathan, who had never had children of his own, felt an inexplicable bond with this little baby boy and immediately began to plan a future where he would raise him as his own. When the boy's grandma came forward to claim the infant, Nathan was unaccountably disappointed and against his normal passive personality, insisted that the grandma one day bring the boy to meet him.
As a teenager, the boy becomes to much for the grandma to handle and when she has no where else to turn, she remembers her promise to Nathan and takes the boy to meet his rescuer.
This is a touching story of a man's conviction to helping a young boy, who is angry and lost and needs an unconditional love and support that is otherwise so hard to find.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Out of the Easy
Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
Josie Moraine is seventeen years old and lives on her own above the bookstore where she works. Her second job is cleaning a French Quarter brothel where her mother works. Her mother is a self absorbed thieving prostitute that doesn't even want to admit that she has a daughter.
Josie is determined to leave life in the Big Easy and her mother's reputation behind and attend the prestigious Smith College in Northhampton. She is saving every penny she can to achieve her goal and just when she feels like she might have a shot at it, her mother gets her entangled in the death of wealthy businessmen and leaves her with a mob debt that Josie might end up paying for with her life.
This was a captivating read with well developed characters, especially Josie who, despite being abandoned by both her mother and her father, was able to create a unique family of her own that included the madam of her mother's brothel, a local taxi driver and the owner of the bookstore where she works.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
USU Extension Class
Come join us on Thursday for a class on how to prepare fresh vegetables by the USU Extension Office.
Don't Forget!!
September Book Club at the Library Thursday (tomorrow) night!!
Whether you have had a chance to read the book or not...come join us for some fun and games!
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