FDL Reads: African Town
African Town by Irene Latham and Charles Waters
Reviewed by: Melissa Friedlund, Reference Specialist
Genre: Historical Fiction
Suggested Age: Teen, Adult
What is the book about? In 1860, the importation of enslaved people into the United States had been illegal for decades. However, that year 110 men, women, and children were bought and smuggled from Africa to Alabama. They were hidden in swampland and secretly divided up to work on plantations. After the Civil War, these newly-freed people established a community of their own: Africatown, USA (near Mobile, Alabama). Originally hoping to buy passage back to their homelands, they created a unique society for that time and place, the South in the late 19th century. This book tells their story in fourteen distinct voices, including that of the ship they sailed on through the Middle Passage, the Clotilda.
My Review: I listened to the audiobook version of this book and found it to be very engaging and informative. These people who remembered their lives in Africa and knew who their ancestral people were had a unique frame of reference when it comes to slavery and the post-Civil War era in the United States. I liked how the different perspectives were examined and portrayed throughout the story. Since this is historical fiction, there are some parts of the story that were altered for a more cohesive narrative. Those changes are detailed in an appendix at the end, which I found to be a very conscientious choice for the authors to make.
Three Words That Describe This Book: Poignant, Heartbreaking, Compelling
Give This a Try if You Like… Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston, Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 edited by Ibram X. Kendi, The Last Slave Ship by Ben Raines
Rating: 5/5
FDL Reads: The Marriage Portrait
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
Reviewed by: Beth Weimer, Communications Specialist
Genre: Historical/Literary Fiction
Suggested Age: Adults
What is the Book About?: In a Florentine gallery, there still hangs a small but intense oil painting of a young girl, the duchess Lucrezia de’Medici, painted by Bronzino in the 1550s… Lucrezia enjoys a sheltered childhood within the walls of the Palazzo Vecchio, but when she is 15, Lucrezia’s sister Maria dies suddenly, and Lucrezia is married off to the broody Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, in her sister’s stead. Lucrezia is a free spirit ensnared in a web of palatial politics and power, and within a year, the young duchess is also dead – perhaps murdered by her duke. The mystery surrounding her death during the heart of the Italian Renaissance is said to be the inspiration for Robert Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess,” and Maggie O’Farrell’s novel breathes new life into the mythology of her fate.
My Review: For me, this is peak historical fiction. Maybe I just encountered it at precisely the right time, but O’Farrell’s writing is so luxurious and intimate, full of fierce emotion and fascinating minutiae. Maybe it was partially due to the audiobook narrator’s (Genevieve Gaunt) voice, but listening to this story put a serious spell on me. The author deftly adds layers of life, mystery, and a twist ending to the few basic facts actually known of Lucrezia, and the use of the portrait and painting (and hints of the underpainting) as the vehicle for the story is masterful. The depth of O’Farrell’s imagination is breathtaking, and pulling out of the story, you can’t help but wonder if Lucrezia’s reality was more fraught, mundane, or a thousand shades in between. I loved it so much, I immediately had to read Hamnet, which has been on my list but never a priority. Hamnet is equally lush and magical, the astonishing story of Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, and family (he himself is never named), but the death of a child makes it much heavier reading. Both novels are highly recommended.
Three Words That Describe This Book: Vivid, Alluring, Compelling
Give This a Try if You Like… Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, Matrix by Lauren Groff, Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Rating: 5/5
Central Illinois Reads
FDL is proud to partner with Bradley University, Chillicothe Public Library, Dunlap Public Library District, Methodist College, Morton Public Library, Neighborhood House, Pekin Public Library, and Peoria Public Library to celebrate every individual’s Freedom to Read!
With the marked increase in book challenges nationwide, Peoria Public Library invited Central Illinois libraries to come together to encourage everyone to exercise their intellectual “Freedom to Read” what they choose.
Learn more at peoriapubliclibrary.org/central-illinois-reads/.
Upcoming Central Illinois Reads Events:
Tuesday, September 12 — Central Illinois Reads Presents: Talking About Trauma
6 p.m. — Methodist College, 7600 N. Academic Dr.
Free and open to all. Refreshments provided.
FDL Reads: Welcome Home
Welcome Home: A Cozy Minimalist Guide to Decorating and Hosting All Year Round by Myquillyn Smith
Reviewed By: Rebecca Cox, Business Manager
Genre: Non-Fiction
Suggested Age: Adults
What is This Book About? Welcome Home is a decorating guide for those who are ready to free themselves from a consumer-driven lifestyle and have a simple home that is always ready to welcome guests. Myquillyn Smith or “The Nester” as she is known takes you through each of the four seasons and gives you a step by step purposeful process to help you cultivate a space that you will love! The Nester doesn’t believe in having bins and bins of factory-made décor or in breaking the bank to have a home that looks festive. Her ideas, accompanied by photos and how-tos, help you to “usher in the seasons with more style and less stuff.”
My Review: I came across this book somewhat by accident from a scroll on Instagram and I am hooked on The Nester’s “cozy minimalist” ideas! As a recovering thriftaholic, I had bins and bins of stuff in my house but it never felt tidy and put together and definitely not seasonal. The Nester breaks down each season and has you look at each of them from both a consumer and a creator standpoint. She helps you to focus on specific areas and bring the seasons in using your senses, instead of using knick knacks from Hobby Lobby. The Nester has you consider the sounds, smells, and tastes that make you think of each season, instead of just the visual cues that we all focus on when we bring home different tchotchkes. The best part about this book is that I read it all the way through the first time but then I find myself coming back at the beginning of each season and re-reading just that season’s chapters to help me maintain the mindset and calm my urges to go out and spend money. As we are thinking of spring cleaning with the warm seasons ahead, I whole-heartedly recommend that you check out Welcome Home for some inspiration!
Three Words that Describe this Book: Inspiring, Informative, Beautiful
Give this a try if you like… The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t and Get Stuff Done by Kendra Adachi, The Home Edit Life: The No-Guilt Guide to Owning What You Want and Organizing Everything by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff by Myquillyn Smith
Rating: 5/5
#FDL: Young Adult Fiction – April Giveaway
Young Adult Fiction – April Giveaway
Young Adult fiction novels are often centered around themes like friendship, individuality, coming-of-age, and risk-taking – great subjects for teen and adult readers! Enter the drawing below for a chance to win advanced reading copies of these upcoming young adult titles, a collection of contemporary fiction and fantasy novels.
Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker
Thirty years ago, a young woman was murdered, a family was lynched, and New Orleans saw the greatest magical massacre in its history. In the days that followed, a throne was stolen from a queen.
On the anniversary of these brutal events, Clement and Cristina Trudeau—the sixteen-year-old twin heirs to the powerful, magical, dethroned family—are mourning their father and caring for their sick mother. Until, by chance, they discover their mother isn’t sick—she’s cursed. Cursed by someone on the very magic council their family used to rule. Someone who will come for them next.
Cristina and Clement used to be each other’s most trusted confidant and friend, now they barely speak. But if they have any hope of discovering who is coming after their family, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other and their family’s magic, all while solving the decades-old murder that sparked the still-rising tensions between the city’s magical and non-magical communities. And if they don’t succeed, New Orleans may see another massacre. Or worse.
Contemporary urban fantasy • Expected publication: 04/04/2023
Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton
Saoirse Sorkova survives on lies. As a soldier-in-training at the most prestigious barracks in the kingdom, she lies about being a siren to avoid execution. At night, working as an assassin for a dangerous group of mercenaries, Saoirse lies about her true identity. And to her family, Saoirse tells the biggest lie of all: that she can control her siren powers and doesn’t struggle constantly against an impulse to kill.
As the top trainee in her class, Saoirse would be headed for a bright future if it weren’t for the need to keep her secrets out of the spotlight. But when a mysterious blackmailer threatens her sister, Saoirse takes a dangerous job that will help her investigate: she becomes personal bodyguard to the crown prince.
Saoirse should hate Prince Hayes. After all, his father is the one who enforces the kingdom’s brutal creature segregation laws. But when Hayes turns out to be kind, thoughtful, and charming, Saoirse finds herself increasingly drawn to him-especially when they’re forced to work together to stop a deadly killer who’s plaguing the city. There’s only one problem: Saoirse is that deadly killer.
Featuring an all-Black and Brown cast, a forbidden romance, and a compulsively dark plot full of twists, this thrilling YA fantasy is perfect for fans of A Song Below Water and To Kill a Kingdom.
High fantasy • Expected publication: 06/27/2023
Saint Juniper’s Folly by Alex Crespo
For Jaime, returning to the tiny Vermont town of Saint Juniper means returning to a past he’s spent eight years trying to forget. After shuttling between foster homes, he hopes he can make something out of this fresh start. But every gossip in town already knows his business, and with reminders of his past everywhere, he seeks out solitude into the nearby woods, called Saint Juniper’s Folly, and does not return.
For Theo, Saint Juniper means being stuck. He knows there’s more out there, but he’s scared to go find it. His senior year is going to be like all the rest, dull and claustrophobic. That is until he wanders into the Folly and stumbles on a haunted house with an acerbic yet handsome boy stuck—as in physically stuck—inside.
For Taylor, Saint Juniper is a mystery. The surrounding woods speak to her, while she tries—and fails—to practice the magic her dad banned from the house after her mother died. Taylor can’t seem break out of her spiral of grief, until a wide-eyed teenager barges into her life, rambling on about a haunted house, a trapped boy, and ghosts. He needs a witch.
The Folly and its ghosts will bring these three teenagers together. But they will each have to face their own internal struggles in order to forge a bond strong enough to escape the Folly’s shadows.
Paranormal fiction • Expected publication: 05/16/2023
Ride or Die by Gail-Agnes Musikavanhu
Best friends Loli Crawford and Ryan Pope have earned their nickname, the “Bonnie and Clyde of Woolridge High.” From illegal snack swapping in kindergarten to reckless car surfing in high school, they have been causing trouble in their uptight California town forever. Everyone knows that the mischief starts with Loli. When it comes to chasing thrills, drama, and adventure, no one is on her level.
At least until Loli throws the wildest party Woolridge High has ever seen just to steal a necklace and meets X, a strange, unidentified boy in a coat closet, who challenges her to a game she can’t refuse—one that promises to put her love of danger to the ultimate test.
Loli and X begin an anonymous correspondence, exchanging increasingly risky missions. Loli’s fun has always been free and easy, but things spin out of control as she attempts to one-up X’s every move. As Loli risks losing everything—including her oldest friend—she’ll face the most dangerous thing of all: falling for someone she shouldn’t.
Contemporary fiction • Expected publication: 06/06/2023
Annotations from the publishers
– Post by Melissa Friedlund, Reference Specialist
Giveaway
Enter your name here for a chance to win ARCs of the books mentioned in this post. One entry per person. Drawing to be held approximately 7 days after this post.
ARCs are “advanced reading copies.” These are free copies of a new books given by a publisher to librarians and other reviewers before the book is printed for mass distribution.
#FDL is a weekly update on all things Fondulac District Library and East Peoria.
FDL Reads: My Aunt is a Monster
My Aunt is a Monster by Reimena Yee
Reviewed By: Alice Mitchell, Youth Services Manager
Genre: Action/fantasy (graphic novel)
Suggested Age: Kids (7-12)
What is This Book About? Safia dreams about the kind of adventure she reads about in her audiobooks, but her own turns out to be different than she imagined. After a devastating fire, Safia is sent to live with her mysterious Aunt Whimsy, the World’s Greatest Adventurer (retired) and former editor of the magazine Observations of the Strange and Wondrous. When Whimsy’s arch rival, Expert of Extremely Lost Things, Professor Doctor Cecilia Choi, declares their intentions to explore an ancient kingdom in the Remote Reaches of Beyul, Whimsy is both furious and worried. She sets out to warn them about the dangers of exploring this lost kingdom – the very same kingdom that transformed Whimsy into a monster – and takes Safia along with her.
My Review: Yee has created a delightfully playful and over-the-top adventure story grounded in the emotional depth of its characters. Excerpts from Observations at the beginning of the book highlight wonders like a man with a long and strong mustache and the tap-dancing flamingos of Lake Ohboyitshot, which tell the reader immediately how fun this book will be. Safia immediately stole my heart with her excitement, wonder, and optimism. I loved the ways Whimsy does her best to make Safia feel at home, despite Whimsy not being familiar with how to be a parent. This book also shines in its portrayal of a blind character – Safia is not lacking in opportunities or adventures at all. Her assistive technology and cane are included throughout, and I especially liked seeing her explore a museum exhibit with a Braille brochure and headphones.
Three Words that Describe this Book: adventurous, funky, whimsical
Give This A Try if You Like… Indiana Jones, Witches of Brooklyn by Sophie Escabasse, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag, Stepping Stones by Lucy Knisley
Rating: 4/5