GREAT READS

Anyone who knows me should realize my memory's something to laugh about. Forget shopping lists -- I can't even remember I need to go shopping. So when I came to work one day and pictured frogs hopping out of the copy machine, I was highly impressed...

Jake and Lily are twins.  And anyone who is not a twin imagines them having super special powers that connect them.  Well Jake and Lily do; that is until Jake decides he'd rather hang out with bad boy Bump and his gang the Death Rays. ...

I picked this movie up on a whim, without really knowing what it was about and without reading the back cover.  Within the first 10 minutes, I was looking it up on the internet to see if it was actually true. Amazingly, this DVD is a 100% true ...

When Homer's mean ol' uncle sells his brother into the army, Homer takes off to find and rescue him.  Homer finds himself contending with slimy robbers (Stink and Smelt), scoundrels, shifty spies, and the stench of being a travelling Pig Boy!&nb...

Charlotte Miller is the daughter of a long line of Millers running the local town Mill; a living, breathing entity her family has been steeped in for generations. Her father died leaving no sons to inherit the Mill, so it has fallen to the remaining...

I really had no idea what this book was about when I popped the AudioBook into my CD player. I was greeted by a wonderful host of voices playing all the characters. The plot is divided by short chapters featuring different characters and realistic ...

Daniel "Funkster's Funky Fact # 15: A cockroach can live for nine days without its head before it starves to death."  And Daniel Funk would know because he faced down a hissing cockroach when he was the size of your fourth toe.  Yeah, that'...

Alex is a genius at designing things like the Duplicator and an Atom Slider out of scraps he finds around the house and cardboard boxes.  His biggest invention yet is the space ship he's created to take him as far away as possible from his "evil...

This is the first novel by Michael Connelly that I have read and I loved it. The Closers is the 11th book in a series featuring Harry Bosch who comes out of retirement to begin work in the Open-Unsolved unit of the LAPD. Following a DNA match on a ...

One day a boy finds a box and decides to get in and read his book.  But then come the wild animals and in hops a tall giraffe, an elephant, a grumpy lion, a baboon, and a hippopotamus!  How many animals do you think can fit?  It's gett...

"I'm a Pout Pout fish, with a pout-pout face, and I spread my dreary wearies all over the place."  This is what Pout-Pout fish says to each of his friends when they ask why he's grumpy and doesn't smile.  Written in rhyme, rhythm and a catc...

Why be bored in a chicken house when you could meet a Wonder Pug!  Chick seeks out his hero but has a tough time waking him.  But won't they have amazing adventures when Pug does wake up?  Chick has to wait for awhile, but it's all wor...

Meet Charlie.  He's the best droopy-eyed, floppy-skinned, dangly-eared ranch dog there is.  Well there's also Suzie who likes to help around the ranch, but Charlie is actually the big dog for the job.  It's hard work sniffing the porch...

I've raved to everyone I can about the most delicious, heavy, decadent peanut-butter filled chocolate cupcakes I made with this book (with my neighbors help, of course). Besides being dark chocolate and peanut butter heaven in your mouth, they are a...

Melt-in-your-mouth is right and I drool just looking at the large colorful pictures in this book. Cookies, and desserts I didn't even realize were cookies, stare at me from every page. Since I'm not much of a cook (or baker), I need simple instruct...

The creator of the movie Pan's Labyrinth, Guillermo Del Toro, has written a book with author Chuck Hogan that scared me while reading at home in the dark. Well, even during the day it gave me the creeps when the Medical Examiner Dr. Bennett heard kn...

Calpurnia Tate is a curious and inquisitive girl in a rural Texas family full of brothers growing up in 1899.  Spying a different type of grasshopper, she starts making observations and asking questions about animals and bugs that she can't...

The Secret of Kells is a little known gem in our DVD collection. I found it in the children's collection, took it home and fell in love with it. I showed it to my young nieces and after being a bit intimidated by the darker scenes, it promptly beca...

Kathy is a "carer" who has been caring for donors much longer than most. In this book, Kathy tells a touching and intriguing story about growing up in Hailsham, a school run by lenient guardians who promote the children's creativity. Each month a m...

Shelly's sisters have all come out of their shells but Shelly is just not ready.  His sisters Adelaide, Miranda and Tallulah can all do amazing, wonderful things, but not Shelly.  He watches as they paint, skate, and dance, but only really ...

"I love you, Beth Cooper" is what Denis Coverman says at graduation instead of his Valedictorian speech. Besides shocking the school, Beth Cooper is the head Cheerleader and doesn't even know who Denis is. This declaration starts a disastrous chain...

It is eighteenth-century Vienna and Theresa awakens from a bad dream to find her murdered father being brought in the house wrapped in a blanket. The mystery and heartache begin with the absence of his beloved violin and appearance of an unfamiliar ...

David Gurney is a retired homicide investigator who gets pulled into a mystery by an old friend. Mark Mellery received a very intriguing and frightening letter from an anonymous person. He is asked to think of any number and is dumbfounded when he ...

Morton doesn't want to play with his little brother.  Wouldn't it be so much better if his brother were something else, like a dragon?!  They could have grand, exciting adventures.  But as Morton soon finds out, having a dragon creates...

Alex, Kevin and Slug were best buddies, but then Kevin moved away and now it's just Alex and Slug.  All the time.  Slug keeps popping up everywhere, following Alex around, always talking and really starting to annoy him.  Alex just wan...

I am so glad my coworker, Kristi Burr, introduced this book and practically begged me to read it. Now that I have, and was so wrapped up in the story, I'm having trouble finding something else to satisfy my senses. Thankfully, Zafon has another boo...

Award-winning graphic novel American Born Chinese made me laugh out loud. I had not read many graphic novels when I picked up this book and was absolutely thrilled with how funny it was. American Born Chinese alternates between three different stor...

Mia's life is finally taking off. She's been accepted into the most prestigious music school, has a dream boyfriend and a fantastic family she's very close to. The most important decision in her life is whether to follow her dream or her new love w...

Based on a Grimm's fairy tale, The Goose Girl is an enchanting story of Anidori-Kiladra, Crown Princess of Kildenree. Blindsided by her family, Ani is betrothed to a faraway prince and must make a journey through the forest to the kingdom of Bayern....

Lincoln Rhyme is a quadriplegic who can only lift a single finger, but is one of the best forensic criminalists. Lincoln Rhyme and his partner Amelia Sachs star in this mystery series by Jeffrey Deaver starting with the book The Bone Collector. Tog...

There are only nine remaining Loriens and Number Four and has just arrived in Paradise, Ohio. Moving every few months to stay hidden, Number Four has now chosen the name John Smith in hopes to evade the Mogadorians who are hunting them down one by o...

Author Linwood Barclay tackles one man's nightmare in this fast-paced thriller. David Harwood, a small town reporter, and his wife Jan are visiting an amusement park when their son disappears in his stroller. When they split up to search for him, D...

Warning: not for the squeamish! Author Richard Yancey receives an interesting journal from his editor that appears to be written in the 1800's. William James Henry writes for the first time about his apprenticeship to manic-depressive (and often cr...

This series features a Kung Fu class that solves mysteries using calculations with money, time and temperature, measurements and other every day math topics.  In this first book and with the help of their "Sifu" or teacher, these stude...

Meet Jack and Benny who are very disappointed to spend all summer at a boring town in Maine with no TV.  But soon after arriving in Chowder Bay, they find themselves sucked into a mystery involving Old Salty, a legendary sea monster.  Is th...

Have you ever wondered what happens to us when we die? Is there really a life after death, and what would it look like? I picked up this book expecting a thoroughly serious, scientific look at the afterlife, but what kept me reading until the last ...

Orphan Miles Wednesday wakes up in his barrel one day to find the mysterious Circus Oscuro setting up and a prophetic tiger talking to him.  This first book in the Wednesday Tales series follows Miles and his new friend Little, a winged Song Ang...

While climbing a tree, Ariel and her best friend Zeke find a Telling Dart.  Darts are very magical devices that may only be deciphered by its rightful recipient and haven't been used for ages.  Which one of the friends was the intended reci...

This beautifully written and classically illuminated book is a delight for all readers.  "Long ago and far away" there were two peasant children who dreamed of escaping their mean guardian and living like royalty.  There are also a host of ...

Twelve year old Igraine only wants to be a brave knight.  With a family of magicians, she finally gets her chance when a spell goes horribly wrong and their castle is under attack by the evil Osmund.  Igraine valiantly sets off to protect t...

Simple paper collages form the illustrations in this direct and easy-to-understand book for children about how your insides work.  Why do we have teeth and skin, or what does a kidney really do?  Find out how your body functions from i...

Nubs will make you smile and cry at the same time. Follow the journey of Nubs, an Iraqi dog of war, who makes a loyal friend of Marine Major Brian Dennis.  Little does Nubs know that Marines are not allowed to have pets overseas.  Nubs...

When a fuzzy green tennis ball is dropped down into prairie-dog town, no one quite knows what to do with it.  When one prairie dog discovers that fuzz can be used for many things such as wigs, beards, and tutus, all the prairie dogs want their v...

What do you like to do for fun?  This little wombat shows how much fun it can be to jump really high or stand still as a tree.  Get messy and loud or make funny faces with little wombat and his adorable friends.  There are cute little ...

Imagine being the ugliest maid in the land but with the prettiest voice.  In Ayortha, the land of singers, where everything is sung rather than spoken, Aza still receives insults due to her large size and ugly features.  When by unexpected ...

The old story goes that when a princess kisses a frog, he will turn into a prince, right?  Well this series, Tales of a Frog Princess, follows Princess Emeralda who gets unexpected results when she has her first kiss with a slimy frog claiming t...

What would you do if you found a penguin at your door?  Well, this boy decides to journey to the South Pole to return his new friend home.  But on the way back, he begins to rethink his decision.  Through simple, bold watercolors, Jeff...

Can you guess whose eyes you are looking at in these extreme close-up photographs? Learn about different bugs such as a weevils and cicadas through beautiful photography and clear, simple text, making this book enjoyable and appealing for a broad ran...