Category Archives: Books

Book Bouquet: Bread

Each week we assemble a collection – a bouquet, if you will – of books you can read for yourself, or use to build into a display in your library. As always, the books we link to have info from Amazon.com. If you click a link and then buy anything at all from Amazon, we get a small percent of their profits from your sale. Thanks!! We really appreciate the assistance! 

Bread is delicious, fun to bake (depending who you ask, of course), and a staple food for many people. This week we’ll share some books about bread and hopefully we don’t make you too hungry!

The Bread Pet: A Sourdough Story by Kate Depalma, illustrated by Nelleke Verhoeff
“Cora promises to keep Uncle JB’s Bread Pet alive but didn’t anticipate its exponential growth! She needs to come up with a solution — and fast! This whimsical STEM story of family, creativity and community will inspire young makers to experiment and share their gifts with others. Includes sourdough starter and sourdough bread recipes.”

Loaves of Fun: A History of Bread with Activities and Recipes from Around the World by Elizabeth Harbison, illustrated by John Harbison
“From the pitas of ancient Mesopotamia to the white breads of the modern bakery, kids can explore the globe with more than 30 exciting recipes and activities about the history of bread.”

Bread Is for Eating by David Gershator, Phillis Gershator, illustrated by Emma Shaw-Smith
“A bilingual, rhythmic celebration of bread, from farmer to baker.”

Bread Alone by Judi Hendricks
“Thirty-one-year-old Wynter Morrison is lost when her husband leaves her for another woman. Desperate for a change, she moves to Seattle, where she spends aimless hours at a local bakery sipping coffee and inhaling the sweet aromas of freshly-made bread. These visits bring back memories of the time she aprenticed at a French boulangerie, when her passion for bread-making nearly led her to leave college and become a baker. Once again, the desire to bake bread consumes her thoughts. When offered a position at the bake shop, Wyn quickly accepts, hoping that the baking will help her move on. But soon Wyn discovers that the making of bread—the kneading of the dough—possesses an unexpected and wondrous healing power—one that will ultimately renew her heart and her soul.”

How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O’Neal
“In a novel as warm and embracing as a family kitchen, Barbara O’Neal explores the poignant, sometimes complex relationships between mothers and daughters—and the healing magic of homemade bread.”


Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley
“In Bread Matters, Andrew Whitley, professional organic baker, founder of Bread Matters, and cofounder of the Real Bread Campaign, exposes the terrible state of modern commercial bread and shares his recipes for making great, nutritious bread at home. Using the skills he has amassed during more than 25 years as a professional bread baker, Whitley clearly explains the process in detailed discussions of the tools, ingredients, methods, and tricks of the breadmaking trade. He also offers more than 50 foolproof recipes for all types of bread, including yeast-free and gluten-free loaves, as well as uses for leftover crumbs once they’ve passed their prime. Bread Matters is an essential bread book for beginning and seasoned bakers alike. Once you see how easy it is to make your own delicious bread at home, you may never buy commercial bread again.”

Book Bouquet: Books to Read Together

Each week we assemble a collection – a bouquet, if you will – of books you can read for yourself, or use to build into a display in your library. As always, the books we link to have info from Amazon.com. If you click a link and then buy anything at all from Amazon, we get a small percent of their profits from your sale. Yay!!! Thanks!!! We really appreciate the assistance! 💕😊

I’ve been looking forward to reading chapter books out loud to my son since he was born! I was not expecting his first pick to be I Was an Outer-Space Chicken but it encourages math skills, so we’re making it work! 🛸Whether you are reading with a partner, spouse, many children, or your whole family, here are some suggestions of books that are great to read together:

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal
Fry bread is food.
It is warm and delicious, piled high on a plate.
Fry bread is time.
It brings families together for meals and new memories.
Fry bread is nation.
It is shared by many, from coast to coast and beyond.
Fry bread is us.
It is a celebration of old and new, traditional and modern, similarity and difference.”

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
“In the valley of Fruitless Mountain, a young girl named Minli spends her days working hard in the fields and her nights listening to her father spin fantastic tales about the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon. Minli’s mother, tired of their poor life, chides him for filling her head with nonsense. But Minli believes these enchanting stories and embarks on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man of the Moon and ask him how her family can change their fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest.”

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage
“A hilarious Southern debut with the kind of characters you meet once in a lifetime. Rising sixth grader Miss Moses LoBeau lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone’s business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She washed ashore in a hurricane eleven years ago, and she’s been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her “upstream mother,” she’s found a home with the Colonel–a café owner with a forgotten past of his own–and Miss Lana, the fabulous café hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known.”

The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez
“A dazzling, heartbreaking page-turner destined for breakout status: a novel that gives voice to millions of Americans as it tells the story of the love between a Panamanian boy and a Mexican girl: teenagers living in an apartment block of immigrant families like their own.”

The Truffle Underground: A Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and Manipulation in the Shadowy Market of the World’s Most Expensive Fungus by Ryan Jacobs
“Beneath the gloss of star chefs and crystal-laden tables, the truffle supply chain is touched by theft, secrecy, sabotage, and fraud. Farmers patrol their fields with rifles and fear losing trade secrets to spies. Hunters plant poisoned meatballs to eliminate rival truffle-hunting dogs. Naive buyers and even knowledgeable experts are duped by liars and counterfeits.”

Virtual Book Happy Hour!

Virtual book happy hour logo

We miss chatting about books with you, so we’ve decided to bring the book group to you!

Last week we had our first Virtual Book Happy Hour and it was just the sort of end-of-week fun we needed!!

We shared books for all ages (some introduced by very young fans of CMLE) and even got to take a look at some of the creative projects our library friends are working on!

Can you join us?? We’d love to “see” you! Bring a book or a craft to share, or just get ready to chat about how things are going for you.
We will be holding these Virtual Book Happy Hours via Zoom this Thursday, April 23rd and next Thursday April 30th starting at 4:30pm. These are casual events so if you arrive later or have family members/pets/quarantine distractions, that is completely OK!

Here’s the link to the Zoom meeting: https://tinyurl.com/y9owq85l

Please email us with any questions! admin (at) cmle.org. Hope to see you Thursday! 😊

Book Bouquet: Books with Grandmothers

Staying safe at home also means missing family. Maybe you (or your kids) wish you could connect with older family members you’re used to seeing regularly! We have some reading suggestions all about grandmothers:

As always, the books we link to have info from Amazon.com. If you click a link and then buy anything at all from Amazon, we get a small percent of their profits from your sale. Yay!!! Thanks!!! We really appreciate the assistance! 💕😊

Nana in the City by Lauren Castillo
“In this magical picture book, a young boy spends an overnight visit with his nana and is frightened to find that the city where she lives is filled with noise and crowds and scary things. But then Nana makes him a special cape to help him be brave, and soon the everyday sights, sounds, and smells of the city are not scary—but wonderful. The succinct text is paired with watercolor illustrations that capture all the vitality, energy, and beauty of the city.”

How to Babysit a Grandma by Jean Reagan
“When you babysit a grandma, if you’re lucky, you’ll have a sleepover at her house! And with the useful tips found in this book, you’re guaranteed to become an expert grandma-sitter in no time. (Be sure to check out the sections on: How to keep a grandma busy; Things to do at the park; Possible places to sleep, and what to do once you’re both tucked in for the night.)
From the author-illustrator team behind the New York Times bestselling HOW TO… books comes a funny and heartwarming celebration of grandmas and grandchildren”

The Hello Goodbye Window by Norton Juster illustrated by Chris Raschka
“A little girl visits grandparents Nanna and Poppy and waves greetings through their magical window. They lovingly watch stars, play games, work in the garden, and listen to Poppy play the harmonica. Bright simple illustrations.”

Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai
“A California girl born and raised, Mai can’t wait to spend her vacation at the beach. Instead, though, she has to travel to Vietnam with her grandmother, who is going back to find out what really happened to her husband during the Vietnam War. Mai’s parents think this trip will be a great opportunity for their out-of-touch daughter to learn more about her culture. But to Mai, those are their roots, not her own. Vietnam is hot, smelly, and the last place she wants to be. Besides barely speaking the language, she doesn’t know the geography, the local customs, or even her distant relatives. To survive her trip, Mai must find a balance between her two completely different worlds.”

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
“From the New York Times bestselling author of The Red Tent and Day After Night, comes an unforgettable coming-of-age novel about family ties and values, friendship and feminism told through the eyes of a young Jewish woman growing up in Boston in the early twentieth century. Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie’s intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can’t imagine – a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love. Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her “How did you get to be the woman you are today?” She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.”

The Mermaid’s Daughter by Ann Claycomb
“A modern-day expansion of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, this unforgettable debut novel weaves a spellbinding tale of magic and the power of love as a descendent of the original mermaid fights the terrible price of saving herself from a curse that has affected generations of women in her family. Kathleen has always been dramatic. She suffers from the bizarre malady of experiencing stabbing pain in her feet. On her sixteenth birthday, she woke screaming from the sensation that her tongue had been cut out. No doctor can find a medical explanation for her pain, and even the most powerful drugs have proven useless. Only the touch of seawater can ease her pain, and just temporarily at that. Now Kathleen is a twenty-five-year-old opera student in Boston and shows immense promise as a soprano. Her girlfriend Harry, a mezzo in the same program, worries endlessly about Kathleen’s phantom pain and obsession with the sea. Kathleen’s mother and grandmother both committed suicide as young women, and Harry worries they suffered from the same symptoms. When Kathleen suffers yet another dangerous breakdown, Harry convinces Kathleen to visit her hometown in Ireland to learn more about her family history. In Ireland, they discover that the mystery—and the tragedy—of Kathleen’s family history is far older and stranger than they could have imagined.  Kathleen’s fate seems sealed, and the only way out is a terrible choice between a mermaid’s two sirens—the sea, and her lover. But both choices mean death…”

Book Bouquet: Country Romance Reads

It’s always nice to escape into a sweet romantic story. Here are some reading suggestions set in small towns or rural environments that will bring some love to your TBR list:

As always, the links below lead to Amazon.com. When you go there, if you buy anything Amazon will give us a small percent of their profits. Thank you in advance for your support of CMLE’s programs!

The Chai Factor by Farah Heron
“Thirty-year-old engineer Amira Khan has set one rule for herself: no dating until her grad-school thesis is done. Nothing can distract her from completing a paper that is so good her boss will give her the promotion she deserves when she returns to work in the city. Amira leaves campus early, planning to work in the quiet basement apartment of her family’s house. But she arrives home to find that her grandmother has rented the basement to . . . a barbershop quartet. Seriously? The living situation is awkward: Amira needs silence; the quartet needs to rehearse for a competition; and Duncan, the small-town baritone with the flannel shirts, is driving her up the wall.

As Amira and Duncan clash, she is surprised to feel a simmering attraction for him. How can she be interested in someone who doesn’t get her, or her family’s culture? This is not a complication she needs when her future is at stake.”

American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera
“For Nesto Vasquez, moving his Afro-Caribbean food truck from New York City to the wilds of Upstate New York is a huge gamble. If it works? He’ll be a big fish in a little pond. If it doesn’t? He’ll have to give up the hustle and return to the day job he hates. He’s got six months to make it happen—the last thing he needs is a distraction.

Jude Fuller is proud of the life he’s built on the banks of Cayuga Lake. He has a job he loves and good friends. It’s safe. It’s quiet. And it’s damn lonely. Until he tries Ithaca’s most-talked-about new lunch spot and works up the courage to flirt with the handsome owner. Soon he can’t get enough—of Nesto’s food or of Nesto. For the first time in his life, Jude can finally taste the kind of happiness that’s always been just out of reach.”

You’d be Mine by Erin Hahn
“Annie Mathers is America’s sweetheart and heir to a country music legacy full of all the things her Gran warned her about. Superstar Clay Coolidge is most definitely going to end up one of those things.

But unfortunately for Clay, if he can’t convince Annie to join his summer tour, his music label is going to drop him. That’s what happens when your bad boy image turns into bad boy reality. Annie has been avoiding the spotlight after her parents’ tragic death, except on her skyrocketing YouTube channel. Clay’s label wants to land Annie, and Clay has to make it happen.

Swayed by Clay’s undeniable charm and good looks, Annie and her band agree to join the tour. From the start fans want them to be more than just tour mates, and Annie and Clay can’t help but wonder if the fans are right. But if there’s one part of fame Annie wants nothing to do with, it’s a high-profile relationship. She had a front row seat to her parents’ volatile marriage and isn’t interested in repeating history. If only she could convince her heart that Clay, with his painful past and head over heels inducing tenor, isn’t worth the risk.”

Untouchable by Talia Hibbert
“Sensible, capable, and ruthlessly efficient, Hannah Kabbah is the perfect nanny… until a colossal mistake destroys her career and shatters her reputation. These days, no-one in town will hire her—except Nathaniel Davis, a brooding widower with a smile like sin and two kids he can’t handle.”

Taking Flight by Siera Maley
“Seventeen-year-old Lauren Lennox is a city girl at heart. Being born and raised in Los Angeles, California by her movie star mom and ex-child-star father sounds like an ideal childhood, but with a mother who’s always busy and a father who suffers from alcoholism, Lauren’s already parentless childhood and her resulting rebellious streak are made worse when her mother passes away and she’s left alone with her father, who doesn’t care how little school she attends, how much alcohol she drinks, or how many girls she sleeps with. When she puts too many toes out of line and a judge deems her father unfit to be her guardian, she’s shipped across the country to the rural mountains of northern Georgia, where a personal friend of the judge lives with his wife and two kids on a farm.”