Staff Picks

Staff Picks List - November 2014

Fiction

BURN, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (Little, Brown). Detective Michael Bennett, back in New York City, investigates a peculiar crime in Harlem.

EDGE OF ETERNITY, by Ken Follett (Dutton). Five interrelated families from five countries grapple with the events of the 1960s through the 1980s; Book 3 of the Century trilogy.

BIG LITTLE LIES, by Liane Mariarty (Amy Einhorn/Putnam).  Who will end up dead and how, when three mothers with children in the same  school become friends.

PERSONAL, by Lee Child (Delacorte).  Jack Reacher, a former military cop, helps the State Department and the C.I.A. stop a sniper who has targeted a G8 summit.

DEADLINE, by John Sandford (Putnam).  Dog-nappers and a murdered reporter draw the attention of the Minnesota investigator Virgil Flowers.

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, by Anthony Doerr (Scribner). The Lives of a blind French girl and a gadget-obsessed German boy before and during World War II.

LILA, by Marilynne Robinson (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). The difficult early life of the woman who becomes the wife of the widower and minister John Ames; a back story to "Gilead".

Non-Fiction

AS YOU WISH, by Cary Elwes with Joe Layden (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster). The making of the movie "The Princess Bride" 25 years ago.

NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL, by Lena Duhman (Random House).  A Collection of revealing and often humorous personal essays from the creator and star of "Girls".

WHAT IF ? by  Randall Munroe (Houghton Mifflin).  Scientific (but often humorous) answers to hypothetical questions, based in part on the author's website, www.xkcd.com.

HOW WE GOT TO NOW, by Steven Johnson (Riverhead). A history of innovation focused on the development of six key technologies of modern life; companion volume to a PBS series.

STOP THE COMING CIVIL WAR by Michael Savage (Center Street).  The radio host urges true patriots to save the country from the machinations of the left.

KILLING PATTON by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard (Holt).  The host of "The O'Reilly Factor" recounts the death of  Gen. George S. Patton in December 1945.

High School Battle of the Books 2014-15

CINDER by Marissa Meyer

CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein

DON'T TURN AROUND by Michelle Gagnin

EDGE OF NOWHERE by John Smelcer

FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury

RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefuater

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green

Seven to Eight Grade Battle of the Books 2014-15

ARTEMIS FOWL by Eoin Colfer

BLIZZARD OF GLASS by Sally M. Walker

DEADLY by Julie Chibbaro

THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC by Jane Yolen

THE FALSE PRINCE by Jennifer A. Nielsen

FOUND by Margaret Paterson Haddix

Fifth to Sixth Grade Battle of the Books 2014-15

DRAGON PROPHECY by Tui Sutherland

MY LIFE AS A BOOK by Janet Tashjian

ALCHEMYST by Michael Scoot

FABLEHAVEN by Brandon Mull

FAIRY-TALE DETECTIVES by Michael Buckley

SYLVIA AND AKI by Winifred Conkling

Third To Fourth Grade Battle of the Books 2014-15

BABE  by Dick King- Smith

ELSKA by Cathy Hapka

DEAR MAX by sally Grindley

EXPLORER by Kazu Kibuishi

SNOWFLAKE BENTLEY by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

MELONHEAD by Katy Kelly

Kindergarten to Second Grade Battle of the Books 2014-15

ALASKA'S DOG HEROES by Shelley Gill Battle

BALLOON TREES by Danna Smith Battle

BORIS FOR THE WIN by Andrew Joyner

DINOSAURS BEFORE DARK by Mary Pope Osborne

THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT by Beatrix Potter

BISCUIT IN THE GARDEN by Alyssa Capucilli

BLUEBERRY SHOE by Ann Dixon