Skip to main content

Staff Picks

Embarrassed Ferrett

Lisa Frenkel Riddiough

Book cover: "Embarrassed Ferret" by Lisa Frenkel Riddiough, illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi. A ferret unwinding toilet paper.

Picture Book 

Ferret is having a day. It didn't start that way. She came to school confident and ready to learn until one thing after another, after another, after another kept happening. Join Ferret and her class as they learn that, "All of us have things go wrong. It doesn't mean we don't belong." 

-Emily Stone, Youth Services Coordinator

The Library of Unruly Treasures

Book cover: "The Library of Unruly Treasures" by Jeanne Birdsall, illustrated by Matt Phelan. Features a person, dog, and birds.

Jeanne Birdsall

Juvenile Fiction 

Gwen MacKinnon's parents are dreadful. Truly, deeply, almost impressively dreadful. So Gwen's not upset at all when she's foisted onto her never-before-seen Uncle Matthew for two weeks. Especially when it turns out he has a very opinionated dog named Pumpkin. Things take a turn for the weird when Gwen makes a discovery in the local library. A discovery that involves tiny creatures with wings. And no, they're not birds. They're called Lahdukan. But why can only Gwen and the youngest children, gathered for storytime, see them? The Lahdukan insist that Gwen is destined to help them find a new home. But how can a girl as unwanted, uncourageous, and generally unheroic as Gwen possibly come to the rescue? Pumpkin has a few ideas...

-Knopf Books for Young Readers

The Mysterious Virginia Hall

Book cover titled "The Mysterious Virginia Hall" by Claudia Friddell, about a WWII spy.

Claudia Friddell 

Young Adult Non-Fiction

Virginia Hall, known to her family as “Dindy,” was an athletic, outdoorsy girl who dreamed of joining the foreign service and becoming an ambassador. Despite numerous setbacks, including losing her leg to gangrene after an accident, Virginia never wavered in her determination to serve her country. After the outbreak of World War II, a chance meeting on a train changed her life—George Bellows, an agent of the British Special Operations Executive, recruited her as one of its first women agents. Working for Allied intelligence services in France, Virginia Hall organized French resistance fighters, performed daring rescues, and provided the Allies with intelligence that was key for ousting the Nazis and earned her numerous medals, including the US Army’s Distinguished Service Cross.

-Calkins Creek

The Girls of the Glimmer Factory

Jennifer Coburn

Book cover titled "The Girls of the Glimmer Factory" by Jennifer Coburn. Features women and planes, with a vintage film strip design.

Adult Fiction 

Hannah longs for the days when she used to be free, but now, she is a Jewish prisoner at Theresienstadt, a model ghetto where the Nazis plan to make a propaganda film to convince the world that the Jewish people are living well in the camps. But Hannah will do anything to show the world the truth. Along with other young resistance members, they vow to disrupt the filming and derail the increasingly frequent deportations to death camps in the east.

Hilde is a true believer in the Nazi cause, working in the Reich Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda. Though they're losing the war, Hilde hasn't lost faith. She can't stop the Allied bombings, but she can help the party create a documentary that will renew confidence in Hitler's plans for Jewish containment. When the filming of Hitler Gives a City to the Jews faces production problems due to resistance, Hilde finds herself in a position to finally make a name for herself. And when she recognizes Hannah, an old childhood friend, she knows she can use their friendship to get the film back on track.

-‎Sourcebooks Landmark

The Art Spy

Book cover: "The Art Spy" by Michelle Young, features Eiffel Tower, WWII planes, and a blurred figure.

Michelle Young

Adult Non-Fiction 

On August 25, 1944, Rose Valland, a woman of quiet daring, found herself in a desperate position. From the windows of her beloved Jeu de Paume museum, where she had worked and ultimately spied, she could see the battle to liberate Paris thundering around her. The Jeu de Paume, co-opted by Nazi leadership, was now the Germans’ final line of defense. Would the museum curator be killed before she could tell the truth—a story that would mean nothing less than saving humanity’s cultural inheritance?

-‎HarperOne

Join our mailing list