If you’re like me, you’ve been enjoying more time outdoors, doing yardwork, planting gardens, or just relaxing. That means there is more opportunity to interact with the other people that live around you! We’re sharing some book this week about neighbors and neighborhoods, ranging from happy encounters to romances to thrillers that might have you watching the people that live nearby with a wary eye.

City Shapes by Diana Murray. illustrated by Bryan Collier
“Diana Murray’s playful and poetic verse encourages readers to look for shapes everywhere, noticing the hidden details in even the simplest of scenes around them every day. And Bryan Collier’s beautiful illustrations add even more layers to the cityscapes, letting readers get immersed in the hustle and bustle, culminating in a thrilling twist when the girl looks through her kaleidoscope and sees the skyline in a completely new way.”

In Lucia’s Neighborhood by Pat Shewchuk, illustrated by Marek Colek
“This beautiful, thought-provoking picture book about a little girl’s observations of her community has been adapted by the award-winning author/illustrator team of Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek from their animated short film, Montrose Avenue. Inspired by the work of urban studies writer and activist Jane Jacobs, seven-year-old Lucia takes readers on a daylong tour of her own bustling city neighborhood, commenting on all the people and their activities that she encounters along the way. Intergenerational and multicultural, her busy neighbors are seen going to school, tending their gardens, opening their shops, practicing Tai Chi and visiting with each other on their porches.”

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
“The first time Juli Baker saw Bryce Loski, she flipped. The first time Bryce saw Juli, he ran. That’s pretty much the pattern for these two neighbors until the eighth grade, when, just as Juli is realizing Bryce isn’t as wonderful as she thought, Bryce is starting to see that Juli is pretty amazing. How these two teens manage to see beyond the surface of things and come together makes for a comic and poignant romance.”

The Things We Wish Were True by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen
“From the outside, Sycamore Glen, North Carolina, might look like the perfect all-American neighborhood. But behind the white picket fences lies a web of secrets that reach from house to house.
Up and down the streets, neighbors quietly bear the weight of their own pasts—until an accident at the community pool upsets the delicate equilibrium. And when tragic circumstances compel a woman to return to Sycamore Glen after years of self-imposed banishment, the tangle of the neighbors’ intertwined lives begins to unravel.”

Edith’s Diary by Patricia Highsmith
“As Edith Howland’s life becomes harsh, her diary entries only become brighter and brighter. She invents a happy life. As she knits for imaginary grandchildren, the real world recedes. Her descent into madness is subtle, appalling, and entirely believable.”

The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell
“You live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people’s houses. You’ve known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly. You think your children are safe. But are they really?
Midsummer night: a thirteen-year-old girl is found unconscious in a dark corner of the garden square. What really happened to her? And who is responsible? “

The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
“Anthony Peardew is the keeper of lost things. Forty years ago, he carelessly lost a keepsake from his beloved fiancée, Therese. That very same day, she died unexpectedly. Brokenhearted, Anthony sought consolation in rescuing lost objects—the things others have dropped, misplaced, or accidentally left behind—and writing stories about them. Now, in the twilight of his life, Anthony worries that he has not fully discharged his duty to reconcile all the lost things with their owners. As the end nears, he bequeaths his secret life’s mission to his unsuspecting assistant, Laura, leaving her his house and and all its lost treasures, including an irritable ghost.

Recovering from a bad divorce, Laura, in some ways, is one of Anthony’s lost things. But when the lonely woman moves into his mansion, her life begins to change. She finds a new friend in the neighbor’s quirky daughter, Sunshine, and a welcome distraction in Freddy, the rugged gardener. As the dark cloud engulfing her lifts, Laura, accompanied by her new companions, sets out to realize Anthony’s last wish: reuniting his cherished lost objects with their owners.”