Have You Caught Up With Dolly’s Lately?

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2-4 pm

Author Debra Drecksel

will visit Dolly’s to read and sign her new book

Born out of the meme culture of the web, Cake Wrecks the book takes some of the best or the worst in cake making and decorating featured on cakewrecks.com in a photographic homeage to bad spelling, unthinking bakery employees (“Heppy Bertty” really?  Really??) and artistic license gone horribly, horribly wrong.  Of course, some of the [...]]]>

Born out of the meme culture of the web, Cake Wrecks the book takes some of the best or the worst in cake making and decorating featured on cakewrecks.com in a photographic homeage to bad spelling, unthinking bakery employees (“Heppy Bertty” really?  Really??) and artistic license gone horribly, horribly wrong.  Of course, some of the blame has to go to the customer, like the No Sexual Harassment cake, the grooms cake shaped like a slab of beef, and the camo wedding cake, adorned with green plastic soldiers from Toy Story.  Flip through it and feel much, much better about your own forays into baking and decorating.

Review by Monika

Education Weekly recently posed the question: Will fart jokes make boys read more?  You’ll be safe to answer that one with a “YES!”, and Captain Underpants is an illustrated series that entices readers ages 7-10 with booger, cootie, and underpants jokes (no fart jokes in this particular series, though the relation is close).

Harold and George [...]]]>

Education Weekly recently posed the question: Will fart jokes make boys read more?  You’ll be safe to answer that one with a “YES!”, and Captain Underpants is an illustrated series that entices readers ages 7-10 with booger, cootie, and underpants jokes (no fart jokes in this particular series, though the relation is close).

Harold and George are two typical fourth grade boys who just happen to get into trouble and who just happened to get their principal, the grumpy Mr. Krupp, hypnotized into thinking he was a superhero.  The newly born “superhero” fights bad guys with the help of the two boys.  The reader is in on the joke that Captain Underpants/ Mr. Krupp never seems to figure out his dounle identity for himself.  Goofy, fun, and a good way to entice a young reader into the world of books.

Review by Monika

Love is rarely neatly packaged.  Dexter and Emma meet on the last day of college in 1988, poised to launch into their own separate paths, but the brief romantic encounter starts a bond that ties them together, however slightly at times, over more than 20 years.

One Day looks at July 15th of each year of [...]]]>

Love is rarely neatly packaged.  Dexter and Emma meet on the last day of college in 1988, poised to launch into their own separate paths, but the brief romantic encounter starts a bond that ties them together, however slightly at times, over more than 20 years.

One Day looks at July 15th of each year of their relationship and at the events, near misses, no-close-enough misses, and personal challenges each of them faced, keeping them apart but connected nonetheless.  Dexter and Emma’s friendship/love as they grow up and older fills with the complications and banalities of moving through life’s phases.  Readable and smart, One Day depicts growing up in adulthood with the help of two different, identifiable characters.

Review by Monika

Since I discovered this picture book of Cinderella’s next door neighbor in a Chicago independent bookstore years ago, I have bought and given away more than 15 copies.

Cinder Edna has inherited a similar set of circumstances as the Disney-made-famous heroine from next door.  This girl, however, shows initiative and creativity, earning money by mowing lawns [...]]]>

Since I discovered this picture book of Cinderella’s next door neighbor in a Chicago independent bookstore years ago, I have bought and given away more than 15 copies.

Cinder Edna has inherited a similar set of circumstances as the Disney-made-famous heroine from next door.  This girl, however, shows initiative and creativity, earning money by mowing lawns and learning how to make 17 different kinds of tuna casserole instead of feeling sorry for herself.  She meets and loses her prince at the ball too, but her man is smart enough to look her up in the phone book instead of making random women try on footwear.  Jackson and artist Kevin O’Malley deliver a fairytale with an ending that really makes you smile.

Review by Monika

This is another one of those books you’ve heard of your entire life, but there are countless reasons this book is considered a “must read”.  When young Heathcliff, a child from the streets, is brought to live with the Earnshaws, he quickly forms a deep bond with young Catherine that will shape and destroy the lives of all [...]]]>

This is another one of those books you’ve heard of your entire life, but there are countless reasons this book is considered a “must read”.  When young Heathcliff, a child from the streets, is brought to live with the Earnshaws, he quickly forms a deep bond with young Catherine that will shape and destroy the lives of all those they come into contact with.  Heathcliff is a fascinating character to study; I can never decide whether I loathe or pity him, but that’s what gives this novel such staying power.  His actions are deplorable, his motives are questionable, yet his love of Cathy is unwavering.  This atmospheric novel will  haunt you long after you finish it and beg to be re-visited!

Review by Meagan

When Sophie and Josh get back from England with Nicolas, they are quickly sent off on another journey to try and continue their instruction on the elemental magics.  Neither twin wants to go, and it is hard to tell who is on the good side.  The fourth b0ok in the series is going to leave [...]]]>

When Sophie and Josh get back from England with Nicolas, they are quickly sent off on another journey to try and continue their instruction on the elemental magics.  Neither twin wants to go, and it is hard to tell who is on the good side.  The fourth b0ok in the series is going to leave you hanging more than ever!

Review by Kade Townsend

In his second series, Rick Riordan trades Greeks for Egyptians on another wild adventure.Carter and Sadie Kane are siblings that have been kept apart for the last six years.  They see each other twice a year, but have little in common.  That is until their dad takes them to the British Museum and does some [...]]]>

In his second series, Rick Riordan trades Greeks for Egyptians on another wild adventure.Carter and Sadie Kane are siblings that have been kept apart for the last six years.  They see each other twice a year, but have little in common.  That is until their dad takes them to the British Museum and does some strange things.  Now they are trying to stay alive while an evil god is tryign to kill them.  This book is great for anyone who read, or wanted to read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series!

Review by Kade Townsend

Do we take a sense of community for granted?  Are we slowly drifting into spheres of isolation- a private sea of e-mails, text messages, and mass media?  Finding Beauty is an observation of community, it’s benefits and drawbacks but most of all its necessity.  Community is an element of both nature and our own human [...]]]>

Do we take a sense of community for granted?  Are we slowly drifting into spheres of isolation- a private sea of e-mails, text messages, and mass media?  Finding Beauty is an observation of community, it’s benefits and drawbacks but most of all its necessity.  Community is an element of both nature and our own human cultures, as Williams sees through her work with Utah Prarie Dogs in Bryce National Park, as well as her travels to Rwanda, commissioned to design a genocide memorial.   Eloquently written, both in poetry and prose, this book is perhaps the most influential I have ever read. 

Review by Soren