For adults:
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, Shannon Chakraborty
Swashbuckling pirate adventures aren’t only for the young, male, and greedy. Amina is none of these, as she sets out ‘one last adventure’ and tries to do the right thing. An amazing narrator made me laugh aloud in delight.
Properties of Thirst, Marianne Wiggins
An American epic from the West, in an almost empty California spot where a Japanese internment camp is being built. Rocky, Schiff and Sunny are all complex, intelligent, and flawed characters. Wiggins explores family, food, business, love, and (evil) land development. The beauty of the described landscape, always important in a Western, is ultimately matched by the interior lives of these characters.
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver
The second doorstopper of a book I read retells David Copperfield. Kingsolver sets her masterpiece in, of course, Appalachia. Both books reveal the ills of our society, especially how poverty creates lost children. No need to have read Dickens to feel the impact of this!
Calling for a Blanket Dance, Oscar Hokeah
Ever is the protagonist, who we come to understand through the voices of a dozen people in his life. A mix of Cherokee, Kiowa, and Mexican, he first faced violence as a child, and still struggles with it, both from without and within. The last chapter, finally, is in his voice.
Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound, David B. Williams
This human history of our part of the world is centered on fish, kelp, rivers and Sound. Williams melds his personal account with the information of archaeologists, historians, biologists and natives. The story of how we have damaged the ecology ends with a tiny bit of hope.
For children:
To Catch a Thief, Martha Brockenbrough
11 year old Amelia has to quickly solve the mystery of who sabotaged her small town’s icon before the tourist season. Luckily, she meets a stray dog she takes in as an assistant. This local author has a great storytelling voice, and a sweet tale to tell here.
Ancestry, Hannah Salyer
If you were intrigued with the Caves of Lascaux, here’s a way to bring that wonder to your child.
Sora’s Seashells, Helena Rhee
Two very good friends died this year, so I’ve gravitated to books that deal with grief. This one is tender and surprising.
Penny & Pip, Candace Fleming
Fleming is one of my favorite authors of nonfiction, and this fiction rocks! Penny goes on a fieldtrip, and is the only one to notice an egg hatching in the dino exhibit. Clever art, too.
The Skull, Jon Klassen
So, I hesitated to include this one. If you’re a Jon Klassen fan, you probably already know it! He says, “Folktales…are supposed to be changed by who is telling them, and you never find them the same way twice.”
Bookshelf Picks of a Librarian 