Staff Picks

Malamander by Thomas Taylor is an atmospheric mystery set in the seaside town of Eerie-on-Sea. This salty tale features a quirky cast of characters who quickly become entangled in the lore of a legendary sea monster and its wish-granting egg. As the resident Lost-and-Founder at the Grand Nautilus Hotel, Herbie Lemon is in charge of reuniting lost items with their owners.

Those born after the advent of DVR and streaming services probably never heard the yell from a sibling, “hurry, it’s ON!” We now look at the 1980s the way we once looked at shows like Happy Days. At that time, the only way to see a show was to watch it when it first came on or wait until the summer to watch a rerun.

“Say you’re sorry”, is one of the first things we are taught in life. As authors Marjorie Ingall and Susan McCarthy point out so clearly, too many of us never learn how to do it well.

I get so excited when I see a new graphic memoir on the browse shelf. Graphic memoirs are little slices of life told in comic book form. They allow you a dynamic opportunity to gain understanding about a particular time in a person’s life, while providing context for the author’s experience.

Count Dracula and the undead vampire have been a part of popular culture for all of living memory. With roots going back to 1720s Germany, the vampire has sunk its teeth deep into western literature and cinema.

Through a series of elegiac vignettes, David Small offers a haunting account of his formative years into adolescence with Stitches, a graphic memoir. David’s mother is not what one would call emotionally available. She snaps at him if he shows vulnerability and, when he gets sick, she only gripes about the medical bills. In therapy, young David grieves the heart wrenching truth: “Your mother doesn’t love you. I’m sorry, David.” To make matters worse, the boy’s father, an aloof radiologist, has been making his son ill, albeit unwittingly.

If you are anything like me, you may have already become an expert in the domestic noir genre, without even realizing it. Ever since the publication of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, back in 2012, I have been voraciously reading every book that allows me to take a peek behind the curtain into other people’s seemingly perfect lives.

T.J. Klune’s 2021 novel The House in the Cerulean Sea is about a middle-aged man who finds belonging where he least expects it. It won the RUSA Reading List award for outstanding fantasy fiction, as well as the Alex Award for its appeal to young adults. The story follows Linus Baker, a scrupulous caseworker for DICOMY, the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. His job is to inspect schools for the magical, ensuring that everything is up-to-code per RULES AND REGULATIONS.

Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle synergize their storytelling skills in Squad, a graphic novel about a group of bloodthirsty werewolves who hunt sexual predators. Becca is the new girl at Piedmont High. With no friends and a deep hunger to belong, she is over the moon when Marley, Arianna, and Amanda—the most popular girls in school - invite her to join the pack.

"When you are a great listener and a great communicator—and you combine that with being smart, focused, and unselfish—you can go very far." - Jeffrey Lurie, owner of the Philadelphia Eagles (from foreword to Fearless)