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'coming-of-age'

Oct 11

Book Notes 10/11/2021

Posted to Campbell Unclassified on October 11, 2021 at 1:07 PM by Genesis Gaule

Blog Book Notes

10/11/2021

R.A.L.F. - Random Awesome Library Fun - is back! All students in grades 6-12 are welcome to attend. R.A.L.F.'s next meeting is October 19 at 4 pm. More information

Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

A Memoir // This memoir steps into the world of growing up a poor Black girl, exploring how isolating and complex such a childhood can be. As Ashley battles her body and her environment, she provides a poignant coming-of-age recollection that speaks to finding the threads between who you are and what you were born into, and the complicated familial love that often binds them.

305.48 FORD

Unbound by Tarana Burke

My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement // This is the story of an inimitable woman's inner strength and perseverance, all in pursuit of bringing healing to her community and the world around her, but it is also a story of possibility, of empathy, of power, and of the leader we all have inside ourselves. In sharing her path toward healing and saying "me too," Tarana reaches out a hand to help us all on our own journeys.

362.883 BURKE

Make Good the Promises edited by Kinshasha Holman Conwill and Paul Gardullo

zion-unmatched

Reclaiming Reconstruction and Its Legacies // An incisive and illuminating analysis of the enduring legacy of the post-Civil War period known as Reconstruction--a comprehensive story of Black Americans' struggle for human rights and dignity and the failure of the nation to fulfill its promises of freedom, citizenship, and justice.

305.896 CONWILL

Sister Secrets by Anne Frasier

A Brother's Reveal // Regional Author // The farmers of the Red River Valley of rural North Dakota and Minnesota don't often talk publicly (or privately) about mental illness. Lutheran pastor Matthew Valan's two sisters were diagnosed too late with bipolar disorder. One is dead. The other is in prison. Trying to understand what may have led his beloved sisters to act in the ways they did, Valan examines dark family dynamics he didn't fully comprehend when younger -- an often-absent father involved in politics, and sexual abuse. As he made his way through these dark places, a measure of wholeness and healing came to him, unearthing a passion to help people unlock the secrets of their own lives.

616.89 VALAN

If you need help accessing any of these titles or using front door pickup, email or call us and we will be happy to assist you!

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Tag(s): US history, social justice, siblings, sexual abuse, regional authors, Red River Valley, racism, nonfiction, mental illness, memoirs, history, families, coming-of-age, Civil War, book notes, abuse

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Jun 04

6 Regional Reads by Genesis Gaule

Posted to Campbell Unclassified on June 4, 2021 at 2:31 PM by Genesis Gaule

Books have the extraordinary ability to take you anywhere you can imagine: across the globe, to strange new worlds, back in time, or flung far into the future. They can even take you back home. There is a unique feeling of “hey I know that place” or “that character reminds me so much of my dad/mom/next door neighbor/etc” that I only get when reading books set in Minnesota and North Dakota written by people who lived here.

So if you are in the mood to journey through our own neck of the woods, here are 6 regional reads to take you there.

Fiction:

A Fireproof Home for the Bride

by Amy Scheibe
Fiction SCHEIBE 

Caught in a time bubble between a world war and the upheaval of the 1960's, 18-year-old Emmaline Nelson doesn’t have any say in her life or where it is headed. All her choices, especially who she will marry, are governed by her strict Lutheran parents. As her world opens up, she realizes that she longs to be something other than a farmer’s wife. But what can she do to escape the cage her parents have built for her? Peppered with charm and lush detail, this coming-of-age story of complicated family relationships, racial tension, and love is sure to transport you back to 1950’s Minnesota.

The Life We Bury

by Allen Eskens
Mystery ESKENS | Also in eBook and eAudiobook

A seemingly simple college assignment turns into deep dive to uncover the truth surrounding a brutal rape and murder. Tasked to interview a stranger and write a brief biography and his deadline looming, University of Minnesota college student Joe Talbert heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Car Iverson--a Vietnam veteran and convicted murderer with only a few months to live--and Joe’s life is turned upside down. Part mystery and part character study, Eskens debut novel crafts believable characters with compelling interpersonal drama.

The Round House

by Louise Erdrich
Fiction ERDRICH

Based on a number of true stories over the past 20 years, The Round House looks deeply into the fallout after a woman living on the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota is attacked in 1988. As she descends into solitude and her husband seeks justice, their 13-year-old son is left alone to look for answers and try to save his mother. Born in Little Falls, MN, raised in North Dakota, and an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Erdich is one of the most revered novelists of our time and a brilliant chronicler of Native-American life and culture.

Nonfiction:

Hundred Miles to Nowhere: An Unlikely Love Story

by Elisa Korenne
813.6 KORENNE

When singer-songwriter, Elisa Korenne, took a month’s sabbatical from New York to be an artist-in-residence in “middle-of-nowhere” Minnesota, she didn’t intend to stay. And she certainly didn’t intend to fall madly in love with the local outdoorsman/insurance guy. Her story is an honest and heartfelt reflection on the ups and downs of their love story, culture shock, and what it means to live in community.

The Horizontal World : Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere

by Debra Marquart
921 MARQUART

From a very early age, Debra Marquart--the youngest and wildest of five children--knew she wanted out of the confines of her life on the family farm in North Dakota. Yet, returning home after years away for her father’s funeral, Marquart finds herself discovering a newfound respect for her father and her connection to the land she was so desperate to escape. Chronicling her rebellious adolescent life on the farm and subsequent exodus, Marquart’s wry understated memoir will resonate with anyone who has spread their wings but still calls the Midwest “home.”

If You Lived Here You'd Be Home By Now: Why We Traded the Commuting Life for a Little House on the Prairie

by Christopher Ingraham
070.92 INGARHAM | Also in eAudiobook

If You Lived Here... is a candid story of writer Christopher Ingraham’s decision to uproot his life and move his family to Red Lake Falls, Minnesota—the community he made famous as “the worst place to live in America” in a story he wrote for the Washington Post. As Ingraham and his family acclimate to their new life, all their preconceptions—good and bad—are turned on their heads.

Tag(s): romance, regional, recommendations, North Dakota, nonfiction, mystery, Minnesota, memoir, historical fiction, First Nations, fiction, coming-of-age, cold case

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Apr 09

Life in Panels by Vanesa Gomez

Posted to Campbell Unclassified on April 9, 2021 at 2:41 PM by Genesis Gaule

I remember the day I fell in love with graphic novels. On the walk home from school my older sister had told me all about a type of Japanese book genre called manga, and the cool stories of headband clad ninjas, flexible pirates, and sword wielding soul reapers that she had been reading with her “big kid” friends. As a kindergartener, I thought everything my sister thought was cool was the best thing in the world. When it came to manga, it turned out to be true; although wearing a dress over jeans, not so much.

one punch man reading a graphic novelReading and rereading the first and only volume of Naruto we had until the pages were soft and worn was a ritual after school. Every trip to the library my sister and I would run right over to the small rotating bookshelves that housed the manga section and spend hours reading volume after volume standing up. Once I could navigate the internet, my obsession only grew. In addition to the mountains of traditional prose books I inhaled while at school, the manga I read was like candy that I couldn’t stop myself from getting a stomach ache from.

The diversity of genres that the storytelling medium offered broadened my horizons to ways of life, emotions, struggles I had never encountered in my day to day life. It wasn’t until I grew older that I learned about Western style graphic novels that went beyond the classic Marvel or DC superhero stories. While I will always hold manga near and dear to my heart, I have a newfound appreciation for western graphic novels.

If you are hesitant to jump into the deep end of teenager piloting fighting robots and brightly colored protagonists, here are a few western and eastern graphic novels to dip your toes into.

Maus: A Survivor's Tale

by Art Spiegelman

Our generation will soon become one of the last to hear first hand accounts of those that lived through the Holocaust. This meta story of the author listening to his father’s stories of life during this horrific time, is beautifully illustrated and will break your heart over and over.

The Magic Fish

by Le Nguyen Trung

The art itself is breathtaking, paired with riveting a narrative and take on identity struggles make this one of my all time favorites. Though marked as a junior graphic novel, this is a coming of age story for all ages.

Hey, Kiddo

by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

This autobiography graphic novel is a powerful story that tells the tale of comic book artist Jarrett Krosoczka’s upbringing with family addiction and how he found solace in art.

The Color of Earth

by Tong-Hwa Kim

This series is a Korean graphic novel, also known as a manwha, is about the daughter of a single mother and the budding romances they both experience. It is a look into Korean culture and a unique mother-daughter relationship they share.

The Prince and the Dressmaker

by Jen Wang

This award winning graphic novel is full of beautiful dresses, fleshed out characters, and life lessons for all ages.

Tag(s): World War II, Vanesa Gomez, romance, recommendations, nonfiction, lgbt, holocaust, graphic novels, gender identity, fiction, coming-of-age, autobiography

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