Staff Picks - Page 2 of 9

Some photographers will do anything for a great shot. Ask Paul Souders. Over four summers from 2012 to 2015, Souders explored the Hudson Bay region of Canada, hoping to take the perfect picture of a polar bear. He traversed the area by himself in a small C-Dory fishing boat and an inflatable dinghy. Despite dangerous… Read More

As hard as it may be to believe, 16-year-old Annabelle begins a 2,700-mile cross-country run with zero planning or foresight. She just knows that she needs to start, and she cannot stop until her heart gives her permission. Her life has imploded and running is the only thing that keeps her going.  She has so… Read More

How does someone who grew up with no education end up with a Ph.D. from Cambridge? Tara Westover’s memoir Educated recounts her incredible journey from an isolated life in the mountains of Idaho to a scholar at Harvard and Cambridge. Born to extremely conservative Mormon parents who did not believe in public education (or really… Read More

What happens when Chris Harris, a producer known for his work on the T.V. show How I Met Your Mother, decides to take a stab at writing children’s literature? The answer is a book of poetry that will leave readers of all ages (even self-proclaimed “not poetry people”) laughing out loud. The full title gives… Read More

Long before Jeopardy!, there was Quiz Kids, a trivia program for children that debuted on the radio in the 1940s. One of its stars was Chicago’s Joel Kupperman, who became a regular contestant at age six and charmed listeners with his precocious math skills. He received thousands of fan letters every week and bantered with… Read More

  What would happen if suddenly every woman on the planet had the power to electrocute others with the flick of her fingers? Naomi Alderman takes you on a terrifying ride that digs deep into human nature and how a sudden shift in the power dynamics between men and women can transform society. Set in… Read More

Alfonso Jones is shot and killed by an off-duty cop while shopping in a store for his first suit. He’s 15 years old. Thus begins his journey as a ghost through the NYC subway system, interacting with other spirits who were also murdered through gun violence. In Tony Medina’s I am Alfonso Jones, these stories… Read More

True story: In 1910, the United States was suffering from a meat shortage. In addition, an invasive plant, the water hyacinth, was choking U.S. waterways and hindering transportation. A bold idea was presented to Congress to import hippos from Africa and raise them in the bayous of Louisiana. The Hippos would eat the water hyacinths… Read More

You Hold Me Up is a picture book with gentle, rhythmic text that lists ways readers can show empathy and demonstrate care and respect for one another. You hold me up when you are kind to me when you share with me when you learn with me. You hold me up when you play with… Read More

Unless you’re studying for the National Spelling Bee, you wouldn’t want to read the dictionary cover to cover. But books about the dictionary can be pretty compelling. Don’t believe me? Check out “Word by Word” by Kory Stamper. Written by an editor at Merriam-Webster, “Word by Word” takes us through the strange, complicated, and occasionally… Read More