Reading Suggestions
Check out our blog page each month for a new book recommendation by one of the library staff.
Iowa Reads
Established in 2003, the All Iowa Reads program fosters a sense of unity through reading. Iowans are encouraged to come together in their communities to read and talk about a single book title in the same calendar year. All Iowa Reads consists of three categories, each with one title chosen per year: kids, ages 8-12; teens, ages 12-18; and adults.
Junior Fiction:
The Trouble with Heroes, by Kate Messner: Two years after his father died, Finn Connelly is failing seventh grade. When he’s caught vandalizing the grave of a legendary local mountain climber, the deceased’s daughter makes Finn an unusual offer: climb all forty-six Adirondack High Peaks with her dead mother’s dog, and they can call it even. In a wild three months of misadventures, mountain mud, and unexpected mentors, Finn begins to find his way on the trails and set his own life back on track.
Teen Fiction:
Strong Like You, by T. L. Simpson: Fifteen-year-old Walker Lauderdale and his momma are faced with being kicked out of their family home, after Walker’s father goes missing while cutting a wild trail through the Ozarks. Even though everyone says his father’s dead, Walker won’t give up hope and begins a desperate search across the hills of the Ozarks for the man who, for better or worse, taught him everything he knows about strength, leading Walker straight to a drug-addled and dangerous man named Lukas Fisher.
Adult Fiction:
The Quiet Librarian, by Allen Eskens: Hana Babic wasn’t always a quiet, middle-aged librarian in Minnesota. Thirty years ago, Hana went by Nura Divjak in Bosnia, where she led a militia against Serbian soldiers, as the deadly Night Mora. After being forced to flee to the United States with a bounty on her head, Nura’s past catches up to her when a detective arrives with the news that her best friend has been murdered. To protect herself and her friend’s eight-year-old grandson who was left in her care, Hana must find the killer and again become the Night Mora.
At Literature Map, you can enter the name of your favorite authors, and it will generate an author-association map powered by GNOD, to recommend authors you may also enjoy.