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Staff Picks

The Ofrenda That We Built 

Jolene Gutiérrez and Shaian Gutiérrez

Picture Book 

A colorful book cover with two animated characters smiling beside a table, titled "THE OFRENDA THAT WE BUILT."

It is Día de Muertos—the Day of the Dead—and the family ofrenda is at the center of the celebration! Inspired by the popular nursery rhyme “The House That Jack Built,” The Ofrenda That We Built invites readers to join in the building of a colorful ofrenda, a home altar full of symbols and meaning, one special element at a time. This is truly an intergenerational holiday with deep familial love at its heart. Readers will recognize these moving and universal themes in the hands-on activity of building an ofrenda together, an accessible way of learning more about other cultures and celebrations. Told in warm and welcoming rhyme, with beautiful, immersive illustrations, this is a delight for readers of all backgrounds to enjoy when the holiday arrives each autumn or any time of year that calls for remembrance and connection with loved ones.

-Chronicle Books

 

Dungeon Runners Level 1: Hero Trial 

Kieran Larwood  

Juvenile Fiction 

A colorful book cover for "Dungeon Runners" with three adventurers and whimsical monsters.

CALLING ALL DUNGEON RUNNERS - There's space for a new team of heroes. This is your chance to enter the leagues and fight your way to the top! Kit has dreamed of being a Dungeon Runner all his life, although being a gnorf (part gnome, part dwarf) means he's much smaller than the other competitors. But when a space opens up for a new team in the Dungeon Running League, Kit doesn't want to miss this chance to try out! With his new friends Sandy and Thorn, they're ready to take on anything - mazes, puzzles, monsters, treasure, and most of all adventure! Are you ready for the games to begin? Welcome to the Dungeon!

-Nosy Crow 

 

 

Flawless Girls 

Anna-Marie McLemore

Young Adult Mystery 

A book cover with a hand dripping gold paint above the title "FLAWLESS GIRLS" by Anna-Marie McLemore.

The Soler sisters are infamous in polite society—brazen, rebellious, and raised by their fashionable grandmother who couldn’t care less about which fork goes where. But their grandmother also knows the standards that two Latina young ladies will be held to, so she secures them two coveted places at the Alarie House, a prominent finishing school that turns out first ladies, princesses, and socialites. Younger sister Isla is back home within a day. She refuses to become one of the eerily sweet Alarie girls in their prim white dresses. Older sister Renata stays. When she returns months later, she’s unfailingly pleasant, unnervingly polite, and, Isla discovers, possibly murderous. And the same night she returns home, she vanishes. As their grandmother uses every connection she has to find Renata, Isla re-enrolls, intent on finding out what happened to her sister. But the Alarie House is as exacting as it is opulent. It won’t give up its secrets easily, and neither will a mysterious, conniving girl who’s either controlling the house, or carrying out its deadly orders.

Feiwel & Friends

 

When Among Crows 

Veronica Roth

Adult Fantasy

Book cover for "When Among Crows" by Veronica Roth, featuring stylized artwork with a silhouette and a keyhole.

Pain is Dymitr’s calling. His family is one in a long line of hunters who sacrifice their souls to slay monsters. Now  he’s tasked with a deadly mission: find the legendary witch Baba Jaga. To reach her, Dymitr must ally with the ones he’s sworn to kill. Pain is Ala’s inheritance. A fear-eating zmora with little left to lose, Ala awaits death from the curse she carries. When Dymitr offers her a cure in exchange for her help, she has no choice but to agree. Together they must fight against time and the wrath of the Chicago underworld. But Dymitr’s secrets―and his true motives―may be the thing that actually destroys them.

-Tor Books

 

 

 

Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show

Tommy Tomlinson

Adult Non-Fiction 

A book cover titled "DOGLAND" about the Westminster Dog Show, featuring a person in purple and a long-haired dog.

Spending three years on the road, Tomlinson goes behind the scenes at more than one hundred competitions across the country, from Midwestern fairgrounds to Madison Square Garden. Along the way he is licked, sniffed, and rubbed up against by dogs of nearly every size, shape, and breed. Like a real-life version of the classic mockumentary Best in Show, Dogland follows one champion show dog—a Samoyed named Striker—as well as his handler, Laura King, and his devoted entourage of breeders and owners as he competes in the 2022 Westminster Dog Show.

-Avid Reader Press 

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