Molly

Molly
Most recent staff pick: Again! by Emily Gravett
The little dragon in Emily Gravett's clever new picture book is hardly the only child to want to hear a story more than once -- but when a dragon gets demanding, the consequences can be downright fiery. This story starts on the endpapers and continues all the way to the back cover, and the meta-charms don't stop there; you can follow the story-within-a-story as it changes, and then peel off the jacket to reveal that the book you're holding is the same one the little dragon is so desperate to hear. Everything about this book is just right, down to the smallest detail. Again!

$16.00
ISBN-13: 9781439171967
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Scribner, 10/2012
I have a weakness for books about how and why we eat the way we do, so Tracie McMillan's investigation into three major stops along the American food chain -- California farms, Walmart, and Applebee's -- was right up my alley. But it's a great investigative tale even if you're not a sucker for The Omnivore's Dilemma and Salt Sugar Fat. McMillan's first-person experience is told with a journalist's skill for detail and research, and reveals as much about middle-class assumptions as it does about the cracked system that provides America with so much food and so little pay.

$28.95
ISBN-13: 9780670026630
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Viking Adult, 3/2013
In Ruth Ozeki's new novel, a writer named Ruth finds, on a cold Canadian beach, a parcel containing a watch, some letters, and a journal. As she reads the journal, growing obsessed with the young woman who wrote it, Ozeki's book shifts, so we read along with Ruth. The journal belongs to Nao, a Japanese girl who in turn is interested in the life of her grandmother, a Buddhist nun. Ozeki knits her two tales together with unexpected threads: quantum mechanics, Schrodinger's Cat, Buddhist practices, cultural divides, the internet, and the reader are all pieces of the whole. A Tale for the Time Being is both lonely and comforting, and very aptly named. It's a story that could only be written now, but it's a bridge between times.

The Scorpio Races (Paperback)

$9.99
ISBN-13: 9780545224918
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Scholastic Paperbacks, 4/2013
While waiting impatiently for Stiefvater's sequel to The Raven Boys, I'm making my way through her backlist. The Scorpio Races centers on a an annual horse race that's like nothing I've ever imagined: the islanders of Thisby race sea horses, carnivorous brutes that come from the ocean but are wickedly fast on land. Stiefvater weaves the stories of two orphaned riders, the mythology of the horses, and the isolated chill of the island into a book I really couldn't put down. Equal parts introspective and exciting, it hovers in that magical place between fantasy and reality, past and present.

$15.95
ISBN-13: 9781933149677
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Manic D Press, Inc., 3/2013
Maybe I'm technically a little too old for counting books, but I LOVE this one, in which 10 happy punks make flyers, go thrift shopping, spike their hair, talk about bands, and play a loud show. Sure, you're most likely to give this to the punk-rock parents among your friends, but the bright, detailed illustrations are meant to charm kids, who can follow green-haired musicians, blue dogs, and a cranky elephant (among others!) through the pages. These punks know how to have a good day.

Eleanor & Park (Hardcover)

$18.99
ISBN-13: 9781250012579
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: St. Martin's Griffin, 2/2013
Rowell's pitch-perfect YA novel -- our first pick for the new YA Not? book group -- is a heartbreaker. Writing from the alternating perspectives of her two main characters, Rowell lingers on the tiny moments that feel enormous, charting the cautious connection that builds between unpopular Eleanor and accepted Park. Their home lives are as much a study in contrasts as their standings on the social ladder of high school, and both feel incredibly real. Mix tapes and comic books are key in Eleanor and Park's relationship, but the pop culture is icing, not the focus -- that stays on these two teens, the gentle, rocky way they fall for each other, and the circumstances that disrupt their lives

The Summer Prince (Hardcover)

$17.99
ISBN-13: 9780545417792
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Arthur A. Levine Books, 3/2013
A vivid, engrossing YA that takes place in a future version of Brazil, where the unusual governing body requires a queen -- and a sacrificial king. June, a young artist, is trying to make her mark and win the coveted Queen's Award. She finds in the new Summer King -- a charismatic young man named Enki, who comes from the lowest tiers of her society -- a kindred soul, a fellow artist and collaborator. Their projects, like Johnson's book, fuse beauty and politics into something beautiful and affecting.

$28.00
ISBN-13: 9781400069804
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Random House, 3/2013
Michael Moss's new book is full of terrifying, fascinating information about how processed food is made, and with what. The wizards behind the food science curtain are wicked smart and sometimes worried about the things they make, but their overlords answer to Wall Street, not the concerned consumer. Pretty much guaranteed to put you off snack foods -- at least for a while.

Code Name Verity (Hardcover)

$16.99
ISBN-13: 9781423152194
Availability: Not On Our Shelves, Usually Arrives In 1-5 Days
Published: Disney-Hyperion, 5/2012
Elizabeth Wein's Printz Honor-winning YA is narrated by a young spy who's writing down her story in order to buy herself time with her Nazi captors. Her tale is full of English planes, secret locations, and the details of life in wartime -- but Wein centers this heartbreaking, gorgeous story on the connection between the captive spy and the pilot who is her best friend. Verity is so carefully pieced together, I may have to read it again just to see how precisely Wein sets out each breadcrumb of plot and character.

$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780062208453
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial, 1/2013
Eerie, elegant stories from the author of the equally excellent feminist dystopia Daughters of the North. The last story in particular will stay with you -- maybe longer than you want it to.

$26.95
ISBN-13: 9781594487118
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Riverhead Hardcover, 1/2013
Reading Rosie Schaap's memoir is like going bar-hopping across the country with the best possible friend -- the one who knows the bartenders, knows the vibe of each bar, and knows how to ease you, her companion, into each new circle of friends, acquaintances and strangers with whom you never thought you'd bond. Drinking With Men isn't about drinking so much as it's about the particular kind of socializing that comes from being a regular, from belonging to a place, even if only for a time. Read it in your favorite pub, next to a pint of really good beer

$9.99
ISBN-13: 9780316133999
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 6/2012
Taylor won me over a few years ago with the exquisite (but awkwardly titled) Lips Touch: Three Times, a trio of unusual stories about kisses and their repercussions. Daughter of Smoke and Bone beautifully displays her skill with carefully laced plots, worldbuilding that spins on the smallest details, and characters you hate to leave behind. Our heroine, Karou, has peacock-turquoise hair, exceptional artistic skill, and a secret life that she carefully hides from her art-school friends. These secrets become impossible to hide when a longstanding war from another world breaks into our own. Taylor spins magic, romance, violence, belief, and family into one of the best young adult series currently running.

$25.00
ISBN-13: 9780374214913
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 10/2012
Smart, entertaining geekery is the defining feature of Robin Sloan's novel, which follows newbie bookstore clerk Clay Jannon as he begins to realize that something is entirely, fascinatingly weird about Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. Like Neal Stephenson with a lighter, less info-obsessed touch, Sloan crosses genres and mentalities, and he spins a story that appeals to both sides of the modern story-lover's brain: the side that loves technology, and the side that still probably has a thing for dusty old books and the bizarre secrets they can hold.

Goblin Secrets (Hardcover)

$16.99
ISBN-13: 9781442427266
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 3/2012
This dreamy, magical, National Book Award-winning middle grade fantasy is about a town where acting is strictly forbidden -- except, sort of, for goblins. Rownie, an orphan, is tired of being an errand boy for the witch Graba, who commands a small host of lost children. When a goblin troupe appears, Rownie is drawn to their illicit craft, their masks, and the allure of being on stage. Maybe the goblins can help him find his brother, Rowan, who was an actor; maybe they can help Rownie free himself from Graba. Goblin Secrets, for all its magic, is an elusive, internal story, the kind that you feel your way through rather than the kind you puzzle out -- but it has more staying power than you might initially expect.

The Raven Boys (Hardcover)

$18.99
ISBN-13: 9780545424929
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Scholastic Press, 9/2012
I'm still a little incoherent about how much I love Maggie Steifvater's new novel, which pairs Blue Sargent, the daughter of a psychic, with a quartet of sharply drawn private-school boys, each holding a secret or two. Each character is so exact, I could almost hear their voices as I read (and I definitely wanted to go exploring the Virginia countryside with them). Stiefvater combines familiar elements -- mystery, ghost story, adventure, nervous teen attraction -- for a twisty, spooky read that never quite plays out as you expect. The Raven Boys is my new favorite YA in a year full of excellent YA novels.

$17.99
ISBN-13: 9780375869198
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 9/2012
Lanagan follows Tender Morsels with an equally brilliant and unnerving book about an island where, over a short span of time, all the men succumb to the lure of "sea-wives," willowy, beautiful women who were once seals. Lanagan switches elegantly between generations and perspectives, weaving together the history of the witch who transforms the seals, the men who pay her for her services, and the children whose worlds are reshaped by their fathers' greed and desire.

$16.99
ISBN-13: 9780312649623
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Feiwel & Friends, 10/2012
September, after much longing and hoping, makes her way back to Valente's brilliantly imagined Fairyland -- but all is not well. Halloween, the queen of the underworld, has been stealing the shadows of Fairyland's residents, taking them down for an endless revel. And Halloween is no ordinary queen; she's September's own shadow. Perfectly autumnal and full of astonishing detail and imagery, this Girl story is as magical as the first (maybe even more so!).

$16.99
ISBN-13: 9780399256882
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Philomel, 10/2012
If you've ever had a cat, you probably know how they can act like life is just SO difficult (being fed, getting ear scritches, sleeping all day...). The Amazing Hamweenie dreams of grandeur and stardom, but is endlessly -- and charmingly -- thwarted by his life in a New York apartment with a tea-party throwing, cat-washing little girl. By about the third page, I was reading this one aloud; the tone is just right, and the illustrations are gorgeous, detailed fun.

$14.00
ISBN-13: 9781938073052
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: McSweeney's, Believer Books, 8/2012
My only complaint about Hornby's collections, which pull together his columns for The Believer, is that they are never long enough. The columns are ostensibly about the books Hornby buys and reads in a month, but they're really about life, the universe and everything - football, family, vacations, aging, writing and more, all so witty and wry that I wind up wishing I could talk about all these things with Hornby, down at some very British pub.

Seraphina (Hardcover)

$17.99
ISBN-13: 9780375866562
Availability: Not On Our Shelves, Usually Arrives In 1-5 Days
Published: Random House Books for Young Readers, 5/2012
Between Bitterblue and Railsea, I already thought this was an amazing year for YA fantasy--and now Seraphina makes it even better. Musically gifted, smart, compassionate, and wary, Seraphina keeps to herself as the assistant music mistress at the court of Goredd--but she carefully guards a secret about her parentage, even as she becomes entangled in the complexities of human-dragon political intrigue. Hartman's worldbuilding is gloriously vivid, her heroine wonderfully complex, and her story so compelling, I may have cursed when I got to the end and realized I have to wait for the sequel.

$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781590515402
Availability: Not On Our Shelves, Usually Arrives In 1-5 Days
Published: Other Press, 7/2012
It's hard to talk about this memoir--it's so intimate, so honest, so specific, so self-observant, that trying to describe how I felt while reading it feels like giving up some very personal information about myself. The voice of the title is her psychiatrist, who dies suddenly, leaving Forrest and his other patients bereft; the other man in the book is her ex, an actor whose presence in the story earned it plenty of the wrong kind of attention. It's not who he is; it's how they are. The highs and lows of Forrest's journey land in different spots, maybe, than those of many other lives, but the story reads like a quest in which the goal isn't treasure or glory, but calm and a certain kind of strength

Bitterblue (Hardcover)

$19.99
ISBN-13: 9780803734739
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Dial, 5/2012
We have a shelftalker for this book - signed by me, Stephanie, and Jenn - that says simply "ALL THE HEARTS. This is sooooo good!" First I didn't think Cashore could top Graceling (to which Bitterblue is the sequel); then I didn't think she could top Fire, the companion novel to both. But she did, and then some. Bitterblue is about a young queen in a magical realm, and everything about it is entirely recognizable: the relationships, difficult and wonderful and complicated; the politics; the collective grief of a country that's slowly recovering from its previous, terrible ruler; and the experience of a girl who's determined to be the queen her country needs, even if that means doing all the hard things. Also there are codes and ciphers and wonderful books and magical statues and midnight adventures over the rooftops. And one very cranky cat.

$16.99
ISBN-13: 9780803735651
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Dial, 6/2012
Squid and Octopus have awesome hats, friendly disagreements about socks vs. mittens, big adventures, and interesting dreams. Super-imaginative and full of wee sea creatures that comment on the action (the starfish have a soup party), Squid and Octopus is unbelievably charming, and my favorite picture book of the summer.

Chime (Paperback)

$8.99
ISBN-13: 9780142420928
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Speak, 4/2012
I love this book so much that I gave my copy away. I was that sure my friend needed it. Billingsley writes these beautiful, folktale-infused stories about places that feel familiar and true, like they almost existed between some magical then and the industrial now. Chime is a glorious, dark tale about the power of the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and how some stories, if you repeat them too often, become true.

The Chaos (Hardcover)

$16.99
ISBN-13: 9781416954880
Availability: Not On Our Shelves, Usually Arrives In 1-5 Days
Published: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 4/2012
Hopkinson's Midnight Robber changed the way I read science fiction. She makes the world bigger, and her writing is so precisely descriptive that when I think of her books, I see the settings, not the pages. The Chaos, her first young adult novel, is a glorious mix of Russian and Jamaican folklore, crazily inventive imagery and the coming of age story of Scotch, whose path through adolescence gets really complicated when a supernatural force turns Toronto into a mishmash of dreams and nightmares come to life.

Fray: Future Slayer (Paperback)

$19.99
ISBN-13: 9781569717516
Availability: Not On Our Shelves, Usually Arrives In 1-5 Days
Published: Dark Horse Comics, 12/2003
Maybe I've just got Whedon on the brain (perhaps due to his rise from "Joss Whedon, cultish Buffy creator," to "Joss Whedon, director of enormous summer blockbusters"). Maybe you've picked up the Buffy Season 8 (or 9!) comics, but haven't gotten around to Fray, Whedon's tale about a tough, sassy (of course) slayer whose existence in a futuristic Manhattan could hardly be more different from Buffy's. Buffy fans might recognize a certain weapon of Melaka Fray's, though...

$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780307474315
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 6/2011
Once upon a time, I stopped obsessively playing The Legend of Zelda long enough to read Tom Bissell's very personal, highly entertaining take on why video games are not necessarily a waste of time (complete with field trips to talk to some of the people who make them). I think this book should be subtitled "Why Video Games Matter to Me," because it's so specific to Bissell's experience, but that's exactly what makes it great.

Palimpsest (Paperback)

$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780553385762
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Spectra, 2/2009
Until the magical The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, this was my favorite Valente, and I suspect it of being unfairly overlooked. Palimpsest is a magical city, but you can only get there by sleeping with someone who's already been - and each visitor winds up in a different place, depending on the map-shaped tattoo that appears on her skin. Dreamy, eerie and bittersweet, Palimpsest is like a year's worth of dreams shaped into one magical novel.

$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780060987107
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks, 12/2000
Sam Raimi may have three witches in his upcoming Oz: The Great and Powerful, but none of them are Elphaba. Gregory Maguire's magical novel has been overshadowed by its musical adaptation, but it's an entirely different beast -- darker, more complex and ambiguous. The first time I saw the cover, I had warring reactions: It's so gorgeous! But you do not mess about with Oz! (Fan fiction wasn't quite so widely known back then, OK?) As it turns out, you can mess about with Oz -- if you do it as well as Maguire, who recreates Oz with political strife, class divisions, and a Witch who maybe isn't all that wicked. Elphaba is one of my all-time favorite characters, and I love her story to bits.