Tag Archives: Feature Book

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Featured Book: In the Garden of Beasts

This post is a part of an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books.

BeastsTitle: In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson

Written by Maria Burnham, Media Specialist at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School

The first Erik Larson book I read was Devil in the White City, and I couldn’t believe how mesmerized I was by the content, the characters, the storyline.  I have to say that I love non-fiction that reads like fiction.  After all, I even have a whole section of my library called “Non-Fiction Narrative” so students who like true stories but can’t find these non-fiction books that read like novels amongst the more factual and reference-like books in the non-fiction section.

In the Garden of Beasts was exceptionally written.  A fascinating tale of the Dodd family who moved over the Berlin, Germany pre-WWII.  William A. Dodd was named the United States Ambassador to Germany in 1933, and he remained ambassador until 1937.  The book tells both of his journey as a man struggling to maintain his “Jeffersonian” beliefs in a profession that’s renowned for lavish parties and extravagant social situations and of his struggle to clearly and accurately relay the tone of Berlin back to the U.S. during the rise of Hitler and the blacklisting of Jews. And perhaps even a more fascinating element of the story, is the journey of Martha, Dodd’s daughter, who was quite “friendly” with Nazi soldiers and eventually became an agent for the Communist party.

This book is a captivating tale of Germany and the Dodd family journey.  It certainly left me wanting to know more about the rise of Hitler.  Perhaps I’ll be checking out more non-fiction books this summer to satisfy my craving!

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Feature Book: Girl Meets Boy

This post is an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books. If you have a book you would like to showcase, send your review to our offices.

Review by Maria Burnham, SRRHS Library Media Specialist

Cover art for Girl Meets Boy by Tracey Emin. Retrieved online 12/12/13.
Cover art for Girl Meets Boy by Tracey Emin. Retrieved online 12/12/13.

Feature Book: Girl Meets Boy: Because There Are Two Sides to Every Story edited by Kelly Milner Halls

I have to believe that everyone, at some point in their lives, has had a discussion with someone about the difference in perspective between men and women. Oftentimes my husband and I talk about how we “interrupt” a conversation we’ve had or events in our lives so differently from each other.  Frankly, we just see things differently because we are different genders.  And that idea is exactly the premise of Girl Meets Boy: Because There Are Two Sides to Every Story.

The book is actually a compilation of short stories about male/female relationships among teens.  Each story is told twice, once from the male perspective and once from the female lens, and each chapter of the book is written by a different YA author. The first story in the book is written by Chris Crutcher and it’s a story of a young (and quite handsome) young man named John who has a bad habit of lying to girlfriends to get what he wants.  However, he vows to change his ways, so his next female relationship takes him down a new road of friendship and love.  Once you learn of this relationship through John’s eyes, the next chapter retells the story through the lens of his newest love interest, Wanda Wickham, written by the book’s editor, Kelly Milner Halls.  And once you learn how Wanda sees the world, your view on the whole situation completely changes.

I love that each chapter of this book is a little different because the voice always changes and you never know what you’re going to read.  The book is fairly short and would be a good fit for a struggling reader because the stories cut right to the chase.  Warning: some of the content about the relationships relate to sexual intimacy, so the book is probably most appropriate at a high school level.

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Featured Book: The World's Strongest Librarian

This post is a part of an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books. If you have a book you would like to showcase, send your review to our offices.

Review by Maria Burnham, SRRHS Library Media Specialist

Maria Burnham, SRRH Library Media Specialist
Maria Burnham, SRRH Library Media Specialist

Book Review for The World’s Strongest Librarian by Josh Hanagarne

I originally selected this book because it’s obviously a memoir about being a librarian, something that I can relate to.  However, the book is about so much more than that.  John Hanagarne recalls memories of his childhood as a boy obsessed with reading who also happens to have Tourette’s.  In reading this memoir, I learned about the Mormon church, Tourette’s syndrome, kettleball training, the daily challenges as a public librarian, and the power of unconditional love.  This book made me laugh out loud, mainly in the descriptions of the bizarre scenarios that take place in a large metropolitan public library.  But I also loved the formatting of the book–each chapter started with subject heading and Dewey numbers relating to the topic.  Although the book covers so many aspects of Josh’s life, perhaps the part I loved most is his insight into the power of a library and its place in our democracy.  His extraordinary descriptions of the power of books, information and literacy is bound to make any reader’s heart fill with joy.  If you love books, learning, feel-good stories, libraries, or just want to laugh out loud, this is the book for you.  A-mazing!

Follow Maria on Goodreads!

 

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Like Book Reviews?

Image by Simon-Cocks. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Simon-Cocks. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Are you currently reading a book that you want others to know about?  Or, do you already write book reviews for various reasons? Might you consider sharing your reviews with others in Central Minnesota?

CMLE Board Member, Maria Burnham, Sauk Rapids-Rice Library Media Specialist, suggested including book reviews in our current communication streams. We thought this was a wonderful idea!

Our Goal: Over the next six months, we would like to like to have 20 book reviews starting this November going through April of next year.

We’ll need your help!!!

  1. First, we want to come up with a catchy name for this series. It will appear in the title each time a book review is being posted. Place your suggestion(s) in the comment section below or send us an email by next Thursday, October 31st. The winning suggestion will receive public kudos and a reward.
  2. Maria will be kicking off our first post next week. You could be one of the additional 19 CMLE book reviewers. To share your notes with library colleagues, across Central Minnesota, simply email our office (cmle@stcloudstate.edu) place “Book Review” in the subject heading.

TIP:  If you are already reviewing books and blogging about them for your students, it would be easy to send us a copy for this series.