Children’s Books:
Catch That Cookie!
By Hallie Durand
After spending the entire morning baking cookies, Marshall checks the oven for the baked goods, only to find that they have gone missing. Using a series of rhymes, it’s up to Marshall, along with a little help of his classmates, to solve the mystery of the escaped gingerbread men. (Preschool-grade 2)
Boris and Stella and the Perfect Gift
By Dara Goldman
To provide Boris with the perfect Hanukkah present, Stella must make some sacrifices. For Boris to get Stella the most stellar gift, he must make some sacrifices. In the process of picking out gifts, they think less of themselves and more of each other and scrape what little funds they have to make this the best holiday season. (Preschool-grade 2)
Tumtum & Nutmeg: the Rose Cottage Tales
By Emily Bearn
The holidays are upon Tumtum and Nutmeg, thus shaking up their comfy and cozy lives. This is the time of year when Arthur and Lucy, the human children of Rose Cottage, are likely to get into some mischief. It’s up to Tumtum and Nutmeg to make things right, but first they'll have to outsmart Purple Claw, the mouse, and save Christmas. (Grades 3-5)
Who Stole New Year’s Eve?
By Martha Freeman
College Springs has a winter carnival between Christmas and the New Year’s celebration, complete with ice sculptures. But someone has stolen all 37 sculptures this year, including one on Chickadee Court. Alex and Yasmeen, and the kids of Chickadee Court, take on the investigation in a fast-paced mystery. (Grades 3-5)
A Joyful Christmas: A Treasury of New and Classic Songs, Poems, and Stories for the Holiday
Edited by James Ransome
This is a grand collection of poems, songs, stories and more for the Christmas seasons. Classics found here include “Deck the Halls” and “Silent Night.” New holiday stories are featured, including those by Joseph Bruchac, Nancy Willard and Katherine Paterson. (All ages)
Adult Reads
Kahiki Supper Club: A Polynesian Paradise in Columbus
By David Meyers
The Kahiki, a South Seas-themed restaurant, was located in Columbus on East Broad Street. The restaurant was easy to identify, since it was shaped like a Polynesian fighting boat with giant flaming mo’ai heads outside the main doors. Entering, you walked into a faux South Pacific village with tropical rainforest – totally exotic. The best was ordering up the “Mystery Drink,” which came in a bowl with a smoking volcano and was served by the “Mystery Girl” who danced the drink to your table after being summoned by a giant gong.
Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History
By Rose Fox and Daniel José Older
This is the culminations of stories about a teenage werewolf hunting a killer in medieval Germany, Prohibition gangsters and the river sirens they love, a Welsh conscientious objector who comes home from World War I irreversibly changed, unspeakable monsters of the old West, and the family ties that bind them. This collection of epic tales is haunting and fantastical.
Renegade Amish: Beard Cutting, Hate Crimes, and the Trial of the Bergholz Barbers
By Donald B. Kraybill
“Amish hate crime” sounds like an oxymoron, but that was the verdict for 16 Amish men and women involved in four beard- and hair-cutting attacks that took place in the fall of 2011. Religion scholar and Amish culture expert Donald Kraybill explains the history of the Bergholz “cult” responsible and why some of its members considered the attacks acts of love. Kraybill uses new interviews with eyewitnesses and community members to describe the attacks in vivid detail, painting a gripping portrait of a community terrorized by its own. An in-depth look beyond the headlines to the religious and legal implications of a unique case.
The Furies
By Natalie Haynes
Greek tragedy becomes modern tragedy when the student of a grieving teacher is inspired by ancient tales of bloody vengeance. When London exile Alex Morris starts her first class in drama therapy at Edinburgh’s Pupil Referral Unit, her main goal is to keep the students from attacking each other – or her. As the term progresses, though, Morris and her students bond over shared grief and loneliness. But for one student, this shared fascination with Greek tragedy will become an obsession with finding the truth – and a dangerous quest for revenge.
My Salinger Year
By Joanna Rakoff
Rakoff, an aspiring poet who drops out of graduate school, is trying to make ends meet in NYC. At a cocktail party, she accepts a card from a friend who temps for different publishers and she ends up getting a job at an agency where she diligently types up her boss’s correspondence. There’s lots of talk about “Jerry,” an author who her boss represents. If Jerry calls, she is to put him straight through to her boss. If someone calls asking for Jerry, she is not to give out his personal information under any circumstances. Rakoff soon figures out that Jerry is none other than J.D. Salinger, whose work she has never read despite her extensive background in literature. This is a coming of age in NYC story that centers around the works of Salinger and his impact on generations of people.
Compiled by the Upper Arlington Public Library
