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Tag: staff pick

--Staff Picks

“The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye” by Briony Cameron

During the Golden Age of Piracy, Jacquotte Delahaye, the daughter of a French father and Haitian mother, is forced to flee her life as a shipwright in Santo Domingo when her father is assassinated. Unfortunately, the ship she escapes on is captured by pirates. She and a fellow refugee named Teresa are made indentured servants […]

--Staff Picks

Polite Society [DVD]

Ria Khan wants nothing more than to become a famous stuntwoman, so she puts all of her prodigious determination and energy into making a name for herself online.  She is bullied at school and discouraged by her parents for this dream, so she relies heavily on her older sister Lena.  Lena has dropped out of […]

--Staff Picks

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver employs her exceptional talent for character development and world-building for the eponymous Damon “Demon Copperhead” Fields, set in Appalachia from the 1990s to today, in her retelling of Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield. For readers of the Dickens tale, it is fun exercise to compare the new and the old versions of the classic […]

--Staff Picks Teens

The Reappearance of Rachel Price

In Holly Jackson’s latest young adult mystery, Bel Price’s family is the focus of a new documentary being filmed based on the disappearance of her mother, Rachel Price. Rachel Price disappeared 16 years ago without a trace. Her car was found on the side of the road, running, with the heat on and the doors […]

--Staff Picks

“Wren Martin Ruins It All” By Amanda DeWitt

There are two things that Wren Martin hates more than anything: The Valentine’s Day Dance at Rapture High, and his Student Council Vice President, Leo Reyes. When Wren becomes Student Council President (by a technicality, but that’s not important) he’s determined to make the school better by doing away with the Dance and using the […]

--Staff Picks

“All the World Beside” by Garrard Conley

Garrard Conley, the author of the bestselling memoir Boy Erased, covers similar themes of reconciling queer sexuality with a deeply repressive religious community in this foray into historical fiction. In 18th-century Massachusetts, a Puritan preacher falls in love with a physician who leaves Boston to join his small religious community. Their affair and the steps […]

--Staff Picks General

The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground. Just the name conjures images of gritty New York City nights, avant-garde soundscapes, and lyrics that dared to push boundaries. If you’re a fan like me, you know their impact on rock and roll is undeniable. But even if you haven’t fully delved into their world, Todd Haynes’s 2021 documentary, simply titled […]

--Staff Picks

“Episodes”

Are you a fan of British humor? Satires about Hollywood? Yes? Then I have just the show for you—“Episodes”, starring Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan, and…Matt LeBlanc. Yes, you heard right. Joey from “Friends.” If this seems like an unlikely trio, well, that’s the entire premise of the show. Sean (Mangan) and Beverly (Greig) are a […]

--Staff Picks

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods

After defeating Kronos, sending Gaea back to sleep, and surviving the mess that was Apollo’s stint as a mortal, Percy is back facing his hardest challenge yet: College Applications. Finding out that he needs three godly recommendation letters in order to get in to New Rome University, even the Savior of Olympus has hit his […]

--Staff Picks General

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

If you’re looking for a book to captivate and change your view of the world, look no further. Robin Wall Kimmerer, a botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, seamlessly blends scientific knowledge and indigenous teachings together. She embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these […]