"The First Library Founded in Essex County."
Adult Book of the Week
YA Book of the Week
Children's Book of the Week
"Friendly and bubbly, Julia Padden likes nearly everyone, but her standoffish neighbor, Cain Maddox, presents a particular challenge. No matter how hard she's tried to be nice, Cain rudely rebuffs her at every turn, preferring to keep to himself. But when Julia catches Cain stealing her newspaper from the lobby of their apartment building, that's the last straw. She's going to break through Cain's Scrooge-like exterior the only way she knows how: by killing him with kindness. ? To track her progress, Julia starts a blog called The Twelve Days of Christmas. Her first attempts to humanize Cain are far from successful. Julia brings him homemade Christmas treats and the disagreeable grinch won't even accept them. Meanwhile, Julie's blog becomes an online sensation, as an astonishing number of people start following her adventures. Julia continues to find ways to express kindness and, little by little, chips away at Cain's gruff facade to reveal the caring man underneath. Unbelievably, Julia feels herself falling for Cain--and she suspects that he may be falling for her as well. But as the popularity of her blog continues to grow, Julia must decide if telling Cain the truth about having chronicled their relationship to the rest of the world is worth risking their chance at love."
"Lyra Belacqua lives in a parallel world in which human souls take the form of lifelong animal companions called daemons. Dark forces are at work in the girl's world, and many children have been kidnapped by beings known as Gobblers. Lyra vows to save her best friend, Roger, after he disappears too. She sets out with her daemon, a tribe of seafarers, a witch, an ice bear and a Texas airman on an epic quest to rescue Roger and save her world."
"This is a charming and poignant tale of Elsie, a girl who lives alone in the woods. Praying for a companion, she is sent a cat made of snow and is told not to let it inside. Elsie plays with the cat and they quickly become friends, exploring the woods and marveling at the wonders of the northern sky. But after parting for the night, Elsie is too lonely, so she lets the cat inside to lie by the fire. Sure enough, the snow cat melts, and in the morning Elsie discovers the water has run down a hill until it gathered to become a pond in the shape of a cat, where the girl plays all year long, and the pond sparkles 'like a diamond in the sun'."