March-April

ADULT FICTION

 Ivey, Eowyn. Snow Child. Jodi and Judy both recommend this wintery read. Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them  (FIC Ivey) MA

 Patchett, Ann. Bel Canto. Betty recommends this bookclub pick, which generated a lot of discussion. Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of the powerful businessman Mr. Hosokawa. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening -- until a band of gunwielding terrorists takes the party  

Burdettte, Lucy. An Appetite for Murder. Mary Ann recommends this delicious murder mystery series. Hayley Snow's life always revolved around food. But when she applies to be a food critic for a Key West style magazine, she discovers that her new boss would be Kristen Faulkner-the woman Hayley caught in bed with her boyfriend! Hayley thinks things are as bad as they can get-until the police pull her in as a suspect in Kristen's murder. Kristen was killed by a poisoned key lime pie. Now Hayley must find out who used meringue to murder before she takes all the blame. (MPBK Burde) MA

 ADULT NONFICTION

Djwa, Sandra. Journey with No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page. Sharon suggests  this first biography of P.K. Page, brilliant twentieth-century poet and a fine artist. The product of over a decade's research and writing, the book follows Page as she becomes one of Canada's best-loved and most influential writers. (819.154 Page-D) HL

 JUVENILE FICTION

 Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . Patsy recently re-read  this classic and notes there is a lot more in the book than in the movie! Join Dorothy Gale, Toto, and all of her friends as they explore the incredible land of Oz (Electronic resource).

 Stiefvater, Maggie. The Raven Boys. Angela recommends this paranormal romance. You'll fall in love with the characters. Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.  His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can't entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he's looking for much more than that. He is on a quest. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore. (YFIC Stief) HL