From Tiger Moms to Scholarly Witches, Good Reads Await at MacDonald Public Library

Stop by MacDonald Public Library and check out the newly acquired books on the “In Demand” shelves or a work by a favorite or new author. This month there are some wonderful selections available that are sure to grab your attention and are worthy of adding to any book club’s future reading list. These are a few highlights for your consideration.

 Adult Non-Fiction Picks for February:

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chau. As the year of the Tiger draws to a close, this is the story of one Chinese mother living in the states who struggles to raise her girls to honor their cultural beliefs. This book, told from the mother’s point of view, is meant to be an empowering story of raising children. It chronicles one mother as she struggles with the western influences on her daughters and her desire to raise them the Chinese way. By her own admission, she has never allowed her daughters to have a playdate, attend a sleepover, watch television, play computer games, or not be the No. 1 student in all subjects except gym and drama. She is brutally honest about the Chinese child-rearing methods, which include mathematics speed drills, hours of practice on their musical instruments and foreign language lessons, and the pressure and stress the western culture presents. The child-rearing methods of Tiger Mother have received a great deal of criticism by our western culture and leave the reader to decide if the way of the Tiger Mother deserves a  Mother of the Year Award or goes to the other extreme and can be a newer version of  Mommy Dearest. Readers cannot help but have strong feelings about this book and this book will certainly appear on many book club reading lists in the upcoming months.

Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard by Liz Murray. This newly published biography, interestingly, was a movie before it was a book. In 2003, Lifetime aired the movie originally titled Homeless to Harvard. Now, seven years and a Harvard education later, her memoir hits the shelves. If you were a fan of Jeannette Walls' memoir The Glass Castle, the story of Liz as a teenage girl who loses everything because of her mother’s drug addiction—her family, her home, her every possession—will bring to the surface a mixed bag of feelings. This story retells her life on the streets, sleeping on the subway trains, foraging for scraps of food and how she overcame the unfairness of her life, rose above her environment and achieved her dreams and a world-class education. The story is truly moving, the message inspiring. The book is a must-read, the movie a must-see.

Adult Fiction Picks:

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. Some of the most interesting works in fiction start in a library. This story hooks the reader on page 2 when the main character in the book, Diana, a historian and scholar, visits the university library to pick up books for her latest research project. As she takes the book from the librarian, it literally comes alive in her hand—shimmering incandescently, faintly whispering, challenging Diana to set aside her chosen academic undertaking to pursue her magical birthright. Thus begins a 579-page journey that is a combination of historical fiction and fantasy that has Diana following the clues this leather-bound manuscript lays out for her. This book is geared toward the many adults and teens who  are fans of the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling and will not disappoint the reader as they follow Diana–39 clues meets Harry Potter—in this tale.

Teen Fiction

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain is the first book in a new series that is sure to be the new must-read series for teens. The main character, Grace, is the daughter of the local pastor, little sister of the "hot" and very popular older brother, who for all appearances is part of your typical normal family. The truth starts to come out the night Grace’s first love, Daniel (who happens to be her brother’s best friend), returns home covered in blood. The path Grace follows as a result of these events will leave the readers anxiously awaiting the second book's arrival. This book has something for everyone, a little mystery, a little romance, and a little fantasy and a desire to know what will happen next.

For the youngest readers:

The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers. This 32-page picture book manages with very few words and some wonderful, quirky illustrations to tell the story of a little girl who is loved and inspired and taught the wonders of the world by her unnamed person. In this story, the little girl loses her special person and places her sense of wonder and curiosity in a bottle she wears around her neck. Over time, as she forgets her special person, she forgets how to enjoy new things. One day she meets someone younger who helps her unbottle her heart. A really well-told and well-illustrated story with a strong message for this age group.

Stop by MacDonald Public Library to check out these and many other great reads.