September is Library Card Sign-Up Month! We've put together this list for all ages filled with titles that celebrate books and libraries, and the roles they play in our lives and in our society.
Adult Books | Teen Books | Kids Books
A funny and superbly observed novella about the Queen of England and the subversive power of reading ... When her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, the Queen feels duty-bound to borrow a book. Discovering the joy of reading widely (from J. R. Ackerley, Jean Genet, and Ivy Compton-Burnett to the classics) and intelligently, she finds that her view of the world changes dramatically. Abetted in her newfound obsession by Norman, a young man from the royal kitchens, the Queen comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with the routines of her role as monarch. Her new passion for reading initially alarms the palace staff and soon leads to surprising and very funny consequences for the country at large.
Fight back against censorship and empower your community with this close look at the book banning movement. ...Danny Caine...author of How to resist Amazon and why and How to protect bookstores and why offers a ..confrontation of far-right, Christian nationalist attempts to reshape American culture through ban campaigns targeting schools, libraries, bookstores, and prisons with a silencing campaign against marginalized identities in life and in literature.
An inspiring tribute in text and photos to librarians and libraries in all fifty American states and Canada describes the diverse backgrounds and motivations of today's librarians and includes original essays by such contributors as Neil Gaiman, George R. R. Martin, and Paula Poundstone.
A novel about children on the cusp of adulthood in a broken world who find resilience, hope, and story ... They are trying to figure out the world around them, and to survive. In the besieged city of Constantinople in 1453, in a public library in Lakeport, Idaho, today, and on a spaceship bound for a distant exoplanet decades from now, an ancient text provides solace and the most profound human connection to characters in peril.
In which a queer library worker searches for love, artistic validation in New York City, and the perfect book. An aspiring cartoonist and book lovin' lesbian, Louise works a dead-end day job at a shoe store, where she spends most of her time brooding over a coworker who will never quite love her back. By night, she works diligently and obsessively on her graphic novel--the true story of a carrier pigeon who rescued a battalion of soldiers in WWI. When Louise unexpectedly lands a new job at a private library on the Upper East Side, she feels like her graphic novel will finally take off--surely the oldest library in New York has excellent holdings on pigeons and WWI. But what she finds in the stacks might be less revelatory than her discoveries between the sheets and buried in her own family history. A graphic novel set against a perfectly cartoony NYC backdrop--complete with landmark haunts, street fashion, and quintessential characters of the city--Checked Out is at once a valentine to libraries and New York, and the story of an artist working to make her dreams come true. Drawn in a delightfully vivacious style, Checked Out buzzes with Katie Fricas's vibrant energy, quick wit, and storytelling aplomb.
Esther is a stowaway. She's hidden herself away in the Librarian's book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her--a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda. The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.
The untold story of the academics who became OSS spies, invented modern spycraft, and helped turn the tide of the war At the start of WWII, the US found itself in desperate need of an intelligence agency. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to today's CIA, was quickly formed-and, in an effort to fill its ranks with experts, the OSS turned to academia for recruits. Suddenly, literature professors, librarians, and historians were training to perform undercover operations and investigative work-and these surprising spies would go on to profoundly shape both the course of the war and our cultural institutions with their efforts. In Book and Dagger, Elyse Graham draws on personal histories, diaries, and declassified OSS files to tell the story of a small but connected group of humanities scholars turned unlikely spies. Among them are Joseph Curtiss, a literature professor who hunted down German spies and turned them into double agents; Sherman Kent, a smart-mouthed history professor who rose to become the head of analysis for all of Europe and Africa; and Adele Kibre, an archivist who was sent to Stockholm to secretly acquire documents for the OSS. These unforgettable characters would ultimately help lay the foundations of modern intelligence and transform American higher education when they returned after the war. Thrillingly paced and rigorously researched, Book and Dagger is an inspiring and gripping true story about a group of academics who helped beat the Nazis-a tale that reveals the indelible power of humanities to change the world.
To save precious centuries-old Arabic texts from Al Qaeda, a band of librarians in Timbuktu pulls off a brazen heist worthy of Ocean’s Eleven. In the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that had fallen into obscurity. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu tells the incredible story of how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist and historian from the legendary city of Timbuktu, later became one of the world’s greatest and most brazen smugglers. In 2012, thousands of Al Qaeda militants from northwest Africa seized control of most of Mali, including Timbuktu. They imposed Sharia law, chopped off the hands of accused thieves, stoned to death unmarried couples, and threatened to destroy the great manuscripts. As the militants tightened their control over Timbuktu, Haidara organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali.
In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in Alix E. Harrow's powerful novel of magic and the suffragette movement. In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box. But when the Eastwood sisters -- James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna -- join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote -- and perhaps not even to live -- the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive. There's no such thing as witches. But there will be.
Discover 50 of the world's most magnificent hidden libraries — each with a unique and uplifting story to tell — featuring a foreword by librarian, bestselling author, and literary critic Nancy Pearl. Book swap your latest read in a cool 1950s style fridge in New Zealand or hike through the ethereal woodlands of Eas Mor in Scotland where a hidden library in a small log cabin awaits. Each entry shares the library's mission and impact on the local community and offers fascinating stories from its resident caretaker.
Liesl Weiss has been (mostly) happy working in the rare books department of a large university, managing details and working behind the scenes to make the head of the department look good. But when her boss has a stroke and she's left to run things, she discovers that the library's most prized manuscript is missing. Liesl tries to sound the alarm and inform the police about the missing priceless book but is told repeatedly to keep quiet to keep the doors open and the donors happy. But then a librarian goes missing as well. Liesl must investigate both disappearances, unspooling her colleagues' pasts like the threads of a rare book binding as it becomes clear that someone in the department must be responsible for the theft. What Liesl discovers about the dusty manuscripts she has worked among for so long-and about the people who preserve and revere them-shakes the very foundation on which she has built her life.
In America, censorship surges in periods of demographic and political change. Its primary purpose is to silence challenges to an established elite or norm. Today, censorship is part of a larger assault on such American institutions as schools, public libraries, and universities, the better to establish more control over the people--while also pilfering their wallets. In this concise look at censorship, author James LaRue explores the topic through a librarian's lens. Using humor, reason, and intelligence, he builds a case against censorship as he recounts stories from his experience as a librarian confronting book banning, while also casting a wider net to encompass larger issues of censorship. On Censorship is a part of Fulcrum Publishing's Speaker's Corner Books series.
Lindsey is getting into her groove as the director of the Briar Creek Public Library when a New York editor visits town, creating quite a buzz. Lindsey's friend Beth wants to sell the editor her children's book, but Beth's boyfriend, a famous author, gets in the way. When they go to confront him, he's found murdered ... and Beth is the prime suspect. Lindsey has to act fast before they throw the book at the wrong person.
Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books -- none of which she's actually read. To replace the 'pornographic' books she's challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home : a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she's sure the town's readers need. What Lula doesn't know is that a local troublemaker has stolen her wholesome books, removed their dust jackets, and restocked Lula's library with banned books: literary classics, gay romances, Black history, witchy spell books, Judy Blume novels, and more. One by one, neighbors who borrow books from Lula Dean's library find their lives changed in unexpected ways. Finally, one of Lula Dean's enemies discovers the library and decides to turn the tables on her, just as Lula and Beverly are running against each other to replace the town's disgraced mayor. That's when all the townspeople who've been borrowing from Lula's library begin to reveal themselves. That's when the showdown that's been brewing between Beverly and Lula will roil the whole town...and change it forever.
Alexandria 'Alix' Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives--inside their favorite books. The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect.
We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe, to challenge us, and perhaps most importantly, to make us more fully human.
Although illegal, racial segregation was strictly enforced in a number of American states, and public libraries were not immune. Numerous libraries were desegregated on paper only: there would be no cards given to African Americans, no books for them to read, and no furniture for them to use. It was these exact conditions that helped create Freedom Libraries. Over eighty of these parallel libraries appeared in the Deep South, staffed by civil rights voter registration workers. While the grassroots nature of the libraries meant they varied in size and quality, all of them created the first encounter many African Americans had with a library. Terror, bombings, and eventually murder would be visited on the Freedom Libraries--with people giving up their lives so others could read a library book. This book delves into how these libraries were the heart of the Civil Rights Movement and the remarkable courage of the people who used them.
No one knows Margo's real name. Her colleagues and patrons at a small-town public library only know her middle-aged normalcy, congeniality, and charm. They have no reason to suspect that she is, in fact, a former nurse with a trail of countless premature deaths in her wake. She has turned a new page, so to speak, and the library is her sanctuary, a place to quell old urges. That is, at least, until Patricia, a recent graduate and failed novelist, joins the library staff. Patricia quickly notices Margo's subtly sinister edge, and watches her carefully. When a patron's death in the library bathroom gives her a hint of Margo's mysterious past, Patricia can't resist digging deeper--even as this new fixation becomes all-consuming.
If you love to read, and presumably you do since you've picked up this book, you know that some books affect you so profoundly they forever change the way you think about the world. Some books, on the other hand, disappoint you so much you want to throw them against the wall. Either way, it's clear that a book can be your new soul mate or the bad relationship you need to end. In Dear Fahrenheit 451, librarian Annie Spence has crafted love letters and breakup notes to the iconic and eclectic books she has encountered over the years. From breaking up with The Giving Tree (a dysfunctional relationship book if ever there was one), to her love letter to The Time Traveler's Wife (a novel less about time travel and more about the life of a marriage, with all of its ups and downs), Spence will make you think of old favorites in a new way. Filled with suggested reading lists, Spence's take on classic and contemporary books is very much like the best of literature sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes surprisingly poignant, and filled with universal truths. A celebration of reading, Dear Fahrenheit 451 is for anyone who loves nothing more than curling up with a good book...and another, and another, and another!
Daraya lies on the fringe of Damascus, just southwest of the Syrian capital. Yet for four years it lived in another world. Besieged by government forces early in the Syrian Civil War, its people were deprived of food, bombarded by heavy artillery, and under the constant fire of snipers. But deep beneath this scene of frightening devastation lay a hidden library. While the streets above echoed with shelling and rifle fire, the secret world below was a haven of books. Long rows of well-thumbed volumes lined almost every wall: bloated editions with grand leather covers, pocket-sized guides to Syrian poetry, and no-nonsense reference books, all arranged in well-ordered lines. But this precious horde was not bought from publishers or loaned by other libraries-they were the books salvaged and scavenged at great personal risk from the doomed city above.
A librarian with a knack for solving murders soon realizes there is something supernatural afoot in her little town in this cozy fantasy mystery. Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies - and solving murders. But she's concerned by just how many killers she's had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count...but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural. But when someone Sherry was close to ends up dead, and her cat, Lord Thomas Crowell, is possessed by what seems to be an ancient demon, Sherry realizes she is going to need an exorcist more than a detective. With the help of her town's new priest and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the "Demon Hunting Society," Sherry needs to solve the murder and get rid of the demon. This riotous mix of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Murder, She Wrote is a lesson for demons and murderers alike: Never mess with a librarian.
A multi-genre, young adult anthology that spotlights the transformative power of books while equipping teens to fight for the freedom to read, featuring the voices of 15 diverse, award-winning authors and illustrators.
After her principal bans a number of books from the school library, bibliophile student Clara joins forces with her friends to start an underground library.
Emlyn DuLaine just wants to know what happened to her sister, Camille, seven years ago on the fateful day she vanished--literally. Emlyn witnessed Camille unravel and disappear, but no one believes her. Since they think she's crazy, the least the cops could do is solve Camille's case. Is a little closure too much to ask? But Emlyn's life is upended when she is pulled through a portal into the fantasyland of her childhood imaginings--a magical library holding the storyworlds of every story ever published. And trouble is brewing in the land of Rivenlea. Rogue characters threaten their plot lines, and broken classics are beginning to crumble, but Emlyn only wants to find Camille. As she searches for her sister, Emlyn begins to learn the reality of Rivenlea and her own origins. A nefarious plot is afoot, and the line between fact and fiction is becoming hopelessly blurred. The truth threatens the storyworlds, Rivenlea, and Earth--the fabric of creation, itself.
When he was a child, troublemaker Yan was attacked by a ferocious spellbeast...until he was rescued by a group of spellbook librarians. Inspired by the librarians' heroic efforts, Yan vows to turn over a new leaf and become a spellbook librarian to repay their kindness. On the day of his employment exam, he meets Tohru, a mysterious young boy who has his own reasons for wanting to work at the library. Together, Yan and Tohru set off and join the ranks of the Spellbook Library, and begin the long journey to learn just what it takes to become a spellbook librarian!
It has been a year since our hero was reborn into a new world in the body of Myne, a sickly little girl from a poor family. She's been doing her best to fulfill her dream of making books, but her plans have been foiled at every turn. But now Myne has a deal with Benno the merchant: With her friend Lutz's help, she will make a paper prototype that he can sell in his shop. In exchange, he will take her and Lutz on as apprentices. But making the prototype is filled with its own challenges, and can she trust a conniving merchant like Benno? And the most important question is, does Myne have the deadly sickness known as 'The Devouring'? Follow Myne's efforts to become this world's first librarian in volume 2 of this bibliofantasy dedicated to book lovers!
No one is entirely certain what brings the Emperor Sikander to Shalingar. Until now, the idyllic kingdom has been immune to his many violent conquests. To keep the visit friendly, Princess Amrita has offered herself as his bride, sacrificing everything--family, her childhood love, and her freedom--to save her people. But her offer isn't enough ... Stripped of all that she loves, caught between her rosy past and an unknown future, will Amrita be able to restore what was lost, or does another life--and another love--await?
Radcliffe Prep. The third most haunted school in the country, where a student disappearance isn't uncommon and no one dares stay in the library after dark. And Este Logano enrolls with the hopes of finding her dead father. Not literally, of course. She doesn't believe in ghosts. Going to her dad's school just seems like her best hope at figuring out who he was. But then Este meets Mateo, who is maybe--probably--definitely--a real ghost. And an annoying one at that. When Mateo frames Este for the theft of a rare book from the library's secret spire and then vanishes, Este will have to track him down or risk being expelled and leaving Radcliffe early just like her father did. Except following in her father's footsteps might be more dangerous than Este ever anticipated. As she investigates the library with its secret passageways, hidden tunnels, and haunted halls, she learns that the student disappearances aren't just myth. And if she isn't careful, she'll be next.
Time is running out for the Peculiar Children. With a dangerous madman on the loose and their beloved Miss Peregrine still in danger, Jacob Portman and Emma Bloom are forced to stage the most daring of rescue missions. They'll travel through a war-torn landscape, meet new allies, and face greater dangers than ever. Will Jacob come into his own as the hero his fellow Peculiars know him to be? (Features more than 50 all-new Peculiar photographs.)
War orphan and junior librarian Lazlo Strange gets an unexpected opportunity to follow his dream of seeking the mythic lost city of Weep with the Godslayer and his band of legendary warriors.
In Green Bank, West Virginia, two teens--grieving, artistic Copernicus and Kepler, a small-town overachiever--become secret pen pals through a forgotten astronomy textbook and join forces to unravel a decades-old mystery tied to Copernicus's late mother.
Autumn Collins doesn't let anyone get close. She can't tell anyone about her anxiety, especially not Jeff -- he'd never be her boyfriend if he knew. But then she gets trapped in the library, instead of making it up the mountain to a bonfire with Jeff and her friends. And she isn't alone : Dax Miller got locked in, too. With tattoos and a juvie record and a constant scowl, Dax isn't exactly helping Autumn feel any better. She's sure Jeff will realize that he left her behind and come racing back to rescue her, any minute now. Only he doesn't come. No one does -- instead, a snowstorm blows into town and the temperature plummets. Autumn tries to stay calm. As she and Dax trade secrets, forage for vending machine food, and huddle together for warmth, Autumn realizes she may not survive the weekend if she doesn't let Dax get close. And to her surprise, she may want him to.
Although he sees no need for more books to read, Bear agrees to accompany Mouse to the library.
Deep in the mountains of Norway, the Svalbard Seed Bank stores seeds of the world's food supply.
Matilda is a little girl who is far too good to be true. At age five-and-a-half she's knocking off double-digit multiplication problems and blitz-reading Dickens. Even more remarkably, her classmates love her even though she's a super-nerd and the teacher's pet. But everything is not perfect in Matilda's world... For starters she has two of the most idiotic, self-centered parents who ever lived. Then there's the large, busty nightmare of a school principal, Miss ("The") Trunchbull, a former hammer-throwing champion who flings children at will, and is approximately as sympathetic as a bulldozer. Fortunately for Matilda, she has the inner resources to deal with such annoyances: astonishing intelligence, saintly patience, and an innate predilection for revenge.
From the author of MONSTER TRUCK and STARRING CARMEN comes a gorgeous and lyrical story about Pura Belpré, a Puerto Rican librarian who changed the world.
Clarisse, a street cat who loves books, finds a new home in the library as a read-aloud cat.
When Julius, a young lion, sees library books removed from the library, realizes the power of his voice and uses his roar to advocate for the value of all books.
Spend your summer on Soggy Stump! This cozy, colorful, and amphibious graphic novel adventure draws inspiration from the author's background as a Diné librarian. Anura is a young frog spending the summer back home with their grandmother. With some...er...gentle prodding from Grandma, they get a job working at the local library. It's about 11 minutes in when they're tasked with a big project: create an archive that captures what makes Soggy Stump so special. What the heck is even an archive?! And so begins a summer full of fry bread, weaving, zines, community gardens, manga, and (maybe) an answer to the question of: how do we preserve the knowledge, wisdom, and memories of the ones we love? Inspired by Julie Fiveash's Diné background and career as a librarian, and infused throughout with the colors of the Southwest, The Froggy Library is a love letter to Native communities, summers with friends and family, and libraries everywhere.
In what other place can a child "sail their dreams" and "surf the rainbow" without ever leaving the room? This ode to libraries is a celebration for everyone who loves stories, from seasoned readers to those just learning to love words, and it will have kids and parents alike imagining where their library can take them. This inspiring read-aloud includes stunning illustrations and a note from Nikki Giovanni about the importance of libraries in her own childhood.
Award-winning author Jeff Gottesfeld and #OwnVoices co-writer Michelle Y. Green introduce us to another important historical figure who deserves to be better known. Along with illustrator Kim Holt, Gottesfeld and Green bring vibrant life to the story of Wilbert Tucker who grew up in the segregated South and became a lawyer who loved to read. In 1939, he organized a sit-down-in-the-library protest to fight for the right to read along with the rest of the public. It took many court cases and years of fighting, but Tucker fought with words and conviction until everyone could sit and read in the public library.
Twelve-year-old Kyle gets to stay overnight in the new town library, designed by his hero (the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello), with other students but finds that come morning he must work with friends to solve puzzles in order to escape.
In segregated 1950s Nashville, a young African American girl braves a series of indignities and obstacles to get to one of the few integrated places in town: the public library.
A poignant picture book biography on how John Lewis got his library card and helped change history. All John Lewis wanted was a library card, but in 1956, libraries were only for white people. That didn't seem fair to John, and so he spent a lifetime advocating for change and fighting against unfair laws until the laws changed. Finally, black people could eat at restaurants, see movies, vote in elections, and even get library cards. With an in-depth author's note, a timeline of John Lewis's life, and a lengthy list of resources, Unstoppable John, illustrated by Jerry Jordan and written by New York Times bestselling author Pat Zietlow Miller, explores the profound impact John had on the world and that books had on him.
Hana wants to know everything about the world around her. When she starts asking questions, her mother gives her a book. She learns so much, but now she has even more questions! She also has a big mission: she will read all the books--every single one. She reads every book in her house--and then her friends' houses--and then the whole block. But when her mother takes her to the downtown library, she realizes there are a lot more books than she thought--way more.
In this fictionalized biography, Pura Belpré breaks the rules of storytime by telling unpublished stories from her homeland of Puerto Rico. Includes author's note.
When a fire breaks out at the Jewish Theological Seminary library, helping hands from across the community rally together to save the books and preserve the stories within the pages. Includes factual backmatter on the Jewish Theological Seminary fire of 1966.
Five-year-old Pari accompanies her mother on her library bus rounds for the first time, stopping at a village and a refugee camp so that girls there can exchange books and have a lesson in English. Talking with her mother as they drive, Pari learns that she is lucky that she can attend school the next year. Pari's mother had to learn in secret when it was forbidden to teach girls to read, and the young women the bus visits weekly have no other access to education. Inspired by the first library bus to operate in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Babies are warned not to be given library cards, as the endless knowledge they could gain--like cooking, sewing, driving, or running businesses--could lead to uncontrollable chaos.
A heartwarming reminder that everyone is welcome at the library, a place filled with activities, games, and countless stories.
Based on a true story of love and resilience at the Minidoka incarceration camp.
Twelve-year-old June Harper, shocked when her parents go on a campaign to clear the Dogwood Middle School library of objectionable books, starts a secret banned books library in an empty locker.