Recommendations

Creator Spotlight: Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison is a Scottish author and playwright and is known for several fan favorite series for Marvel, DC and European publishers. They are known for their bizarre, psychedelic and counterculture themes and are responsible for breathing new life into a number of obscure characters like Animal Man and the Doom Patrol as well as their own creations like The Invisibles and Zenith. Below are a few of my favorites we have available in our collection:

Let a Train Take You Somewhere New

Memorial Day this year is May 31.  It signals the beginning of summer. (Yay for warm weather after this cold winter!) Its origin goes back to post-Civil War 1866 in Waterloo, New York.  At that time, the commemorative day was called "Decoration Day". Businesses closed and people visited cemeteries to decorate with flowers and mementos the graves of fallen soldiers in their honor.  In 1971 the day became a federal holiday observing all soldiers who have died in active military service.

Jewish American Heritage Month is observed in May and I've selected some of my favorites to showcase, though Jewish American heritage is intrinsically linked with the history of comics stretching back to the Golden Age of Comics and the creation of Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and the Silver Age of comics and the rise of Marvel by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, among countless other examples.

With the decline in physical media and the rise of the digital format, so goes how we consume our books. Thankfully, the library provides digital resources for both our entertainment and educational literary needs. Overdrive, funded by the Huntsville Library Foundation, serves as an online library where you can check out digital copies of library books for a set amount of time. Currently, patrons check out up to 10 eBooks or audiobooks at a time and place up to 10 holds on items not currently available. A newer addition to our library, Hoopla Digital allows library users to check out not just ebooks, but audiobooks, movies, tv episodes, and music without having to wait on an available copy! Users can check out up to 5 titles total per month. What's so great about using these digital sites is that you can download the titles to your computer, phone, or Ipad using the apps.

In honor of Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month I've put together a few of my favorite titles spotlight characters and creators of Asian and Pacific Islander descent- I even tried to select a good mix of fiction and non-fiction offerings. It's a great opportunity to branch and and try something new and learn about different cultures, mythologies and ways of life and broaden your mind and your own experiences!

Almost American Girl by Robin Ha

I may not be a teen anymore, but that won't stop me from reading books marketed to them.  Young adult books often get a bad reputation, in my opinion, by people outside the teen demographic. But since their skyrocket to popularity in the early 2000s, teen books continue to be at the forefront of inclusivity, creativity, and mindfulness for the world around them. I've included in this blog ten of the most influential, popular, and well-written YA books to have been published since the year 2000. This, of course, does not include all of the titles I think are great. I'd end up writing a whole book on all the titles that I'd want to include, but alas, this is a blog and I'm no writer (just an avid reader). Also, this list is in no particular order of the books I think hold the most influence or popularity.

What do you think of when you think of poetry? It can mean a variety of things to different people, but generally speaking poetry is a work of literature expressing emotion through the use of distinct rhythm and style. Learning to express emotion is not often prioritized and why many of us (me included) have such a hard time understanding and enjoying poetry. Instead, we are told as kids to dissect a poem for hidden meanings and intellectually find its message. But what if we approached poetry differently? Many of the first books read to us as children are rhythmic poetry. Picture books are often in verse. Their purposes are not only to help kids learn, but to emotionally engage with a story's ideas through rhyme. As children get older, rhyming seems to be emphasized quite a bit less in favor of other means of learning.

Hungry for something good to read? A glutton for comics and graphic novels? Today I'm cooking up some of my favorite foodie books throughout all three of our graphic collections to satisfy even the most discerning appetite.

Juvenile

Music fans rejoice! April is Jazz appreciation month and it's time to spend some quality time with the syncopated rhythms of Billie Holiday, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and more. As you listen to the distinctly unique sounds of jazz, there are many library books to learn about these musicians and the history of jazz as an American export.  For an overview of the time period, kids will enjoy checking out What Were the Roaring Twenties? The book describes many aspects of American life during the decade including not just music, but politics, fashion, and the Stock market crash that concluded the decade.