Upcoming Events
For ages 8 - 14, ninjas will explore the exciting world of physical computing with a microcontroller called micro:bit.
Want to learn the basics of chess? You can play for fun or learn how to participate in tournament chess as part of Meridian Knights prize-winning chess team. Geared towards all levels K-12.
The Idaho Department of Labor has more locations to serve Idahoans in your area on a consistent weekly schedule. Find us on our website or come see us in person at Cherry Lane!
Build something from your imagination! This is a casual free build program. We have the Legos and space; you have the fun!
Disclaimer(s)
The library makes every effort to ensure our programs can be enjoyed by all. If you have any concerns about accessibility or need to request specific accommodations, please contact the library.
We often take photographs during library events. Please let our photographer know if you do not want us to publish photos of your child.
Turn trash into treasure with our Family Afternoon Collage! Make your own art using old books, magazines, and other media. All materials provided.
Are you interested in advancing your business? Join us for a transformative series led by Taryn Davis! This series teaches the thinking behind RCA and the tools we use to assess and determine the root cause of a problem.
Disclaimer(s)
We cannot guarantee that food served at this program has not come into contact with tree nuts, soy, or other allergens.
We often take photographs during library events. Please let our photographer know if you do not want us to publish photos of your child.
Every Monday from June 3rd-July 29th
Time: 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Location: Hero's Park, Parking Lot Area
Disclaimer(s)
The library makes every effort to ensure our programs can be enjoyed by all. If you have any concerns about accessibility or need to request specific accommodations, please contact the library.
We often take photographs during library events. Please let our photographer know if you do not want us to publish photos of your child.
Connect with others who share your love for this beautiful language. Here you can practice signing, build confidence, and achieve fluency by conversing in American Sign Language. All skill levels are welcome.
Get Lost Traveling This Summer
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The Way of the Hermit
Subconsciously, I pressed myself into the loch's banks as that summer inched forward. We'd got off to a rocky beginning, but I started to see Treig in a different way. There was something about this land that told me just to hold on a while longer. It might've been just a whisper at the time, but I knew it was definitely worth heeding. I just knew that was it. This was the place.
Seventy-four-year-old Ken Smith has spent the past four decades in the Scottish Highlands. His home is a log cabin nestled near Loch Treig, known as "the lonely loch," where he lives off the land. He fishes for his supper, chops his own wood and even brews his own tipple. He is, in the truest sense of the word, a hermit.
From his working-class origins in Derbyshire, Ken always sensed that there was more ot life than an empty nine to five. Then one day in 1974, an attack from a group of drunken men left him for dead. Determined to change his prospects, Ken quit his job and spent his formative years traveling in the Yukon. It was here, in the vast wilderness of northwestern Canada, that he honed his survival skills and grew closer to nature. Returning to Britain, he continued his nomadic lifestyle, wandering north and living in huts until he finally reached Loch Treig. Ken decided to lay his roots amongst the dense woodland and Highland air, and has lived there ever since.
In The Way of the Hermit, Ken shares the remarkable story of his lfe for the very first time. Told with humor and compassion, his unique insights allow us to glimpse the awe and wonder of a life lived in nature and offer wisdom on how each of us can escape the pressures and stresses of modern life. -
Three Junes
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An astonishing novel that traces the lives of a Scottish family over a decade as they confront the joys and longings, fulfillments and betrayals of love in all its guises.
In June of 1989 Paul McLeod, a newspaper publisher and recent widower, travels to Greece, where he falls for a young American artist and reflects on the complicated truth about his marriage....
Six years later, again in June, Paul’s death draws his three grown sons and their families back to their ancestral home. Fenno, the eldest, a wry, introspective gay man, narrates the events of this unforeseen reunion. Far from his straitlaced expatriate life as a bookseller in Greenwich Village, Fenno is stunned by a series of revelations that threaten his carefully crafted defenses....
Four years farther on, in yet another June, a chance meeting on the Long Island shore brings Fenno together with Fern Olitsky, the artist who once captivated his father. Now pregnant, Fern must weigh her guilt about the past against her wishes for the future and decide what family means to her.
In prose rich with compassion and wit, Three Junes paints a haunting portrait of love’s redemptive powers. -
Americanah
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the award-winning author of We Should All Be Feminists and Half of a Yellow Sun—the story of two Nigerians making their way in the U.S. and the UK, raising universal questions of race, belonging, the overseas experience for the African diaspora, and the search for identity and a home.
Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time.
Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion—for each other and for their homeland. -
Blaze Me a Sun
One of the New York Times’s Best Crime Novels of the Year • A Good Morning America Buzz Pick
#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A serial killer in a small Swedish town commits his first murder the same night the prime minister is assassinated—a “thrilling and profoundly poignant” (Angie Kim) novel by one of the country’s top criminologists, hailed as “the finest crime writer we have in Sweden” (David Lagercrantz, author of The Girl in the Spider’s Web and other novels in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Series)
“Christoffer Carlsson is to the police procedural what Cormac McCarthy is to the Western.”—Anthony Marra, author of Mercury Pictures Presents and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
A CRIMEREADS AND KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
In February 1986, the Halland police receive a call from a man who claims to have attacked his first victim. I’m going to do it again, he says before the line cuts off. By the time police officer Sven Jörgensson reaches the crime scene, the woman is taking her last breath. For Sven, this will prove a decisive moment. On the same night, Sweden plunges into a state of shock after the murder of the prime minister. Could there possibly be a connection?
As Sven becomes obsessed with the case, two more fall victim. For years, Sven remains haunted by the murders he cannot solve, fearing the killer will strike again. Having failed to catch him, Sven retires from the police, passing his obsession to his son, who has joined the force to be closer to his father.
Decades later, the case unexpectedly resurfaces when a novelist returns home to Halland amid a failed marriage and a sputtering career. The writer befriends the retired police officer, who helps the novelist—our narrator—unspool the many strands of this engrossing tale about a community confronting its shames and legacies.
A #1 bestseller in Sweden, Blaze Me a Sun marks the American debut of the youngest winner of the Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year award, the top prize for Swedish crime writers whose past winners include Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell. -
Greta & Valdin
A New York Times Editors’ Choice • “A heartfelt portrait of a complex family.” —People • “Laugh-out-loud-funny.” —Harper’s Bazaar • “Quintessential rom-com meets the delicious family sprawl of a Russian classic.” —Vanity Fair
An irresistible, “generous, [and] tender” (The New York Times) international bestseller that follows a brother and sister as they navigate queerness, multiracial identity, and family drama, all while flailing their way to love—for fans of Schitt’s Creek and Sally Rooney’s Normal People.
It’s been a year since his ex-boyfriend dumped him and moved from Auckland to Buenos Aires, and Valdin is doing fine. He has a good flat with his sister Greta, a good career where his colleagues only occasionally remind him that he is the sole Maaori person in the office, and a good friend who he only sleeps with when he’s sad. But when work sends him to Argentina and he’s thrown back in his former lover’s orbit, Valdin is forced to confront the feelings he’s been trying to ignore—and the future he wants.
Greta is not letting her painfully unrequited crush (or her possibly pointless master’s thesis, or her pathetic academic salary...) get her down. She would love to focus on the charming fellow grad student she meets at a party and her friendships with a circle of similarly floundering twenty-somethings, but her chaotic family life won’t stop intruding: her mother is keeping secrets, her nephew is having a gay crisis, and her brother has suddenly flown to South America without a word.
Filled with “kernels of humor and truth” (Elle) and with an undeniable emotional momentum that builds to an exuberant conclusion, Greta & Valdin careens us through the siblings’ misadventures and the messy dramas of their sprawling, eccentric Maaori-Russian-Catalonian family. An acclaimed bestseller in New Zealand, Greta & Valdin is fresh, joyful, and alive with the possibility of love in its many mystifying forms. -
Wanderlust
People We Meet on Vacation meets The Unhoneymooners in this sparkling debut romantic comedy about two near strangers—and complete opposites—who win a radio contest for a trip around the world.
Love's about to take flight.
Feeling stuck at work and tired of London’s dreary weather, magazine writer Dylan Coughlan impulsively rings a radio station one day only to win a once-in-a-lifetime trip around the world. The catch? Her travel partner must be a contact randomly selected on her phone. And of course this stressful game of contact roulette lands on a number listed only as Jack the Posho, an uptight, unbearably posh guy she met on a night out and accidentally ghosted.
The two couldn’t be more different, and as the trip kicks off, Jack seems like he’d sooner fling himself into the sun than have a conversation with Dylan. But more is hinging on this trip than the chance to see the world. For the past two years, Dylan’s been relegated to writing quizzes (and only quizzes) at her lifestyle magazine after an article about her past abortion went viral—and not in the good way. If she’s able to make a series about their trip successful, her overbearing boss will give her a chance at a permanent column. Dylan’s willing to do anything to make the series a hit, even if it means embellishing her and Jack’s relationship to satisfy readers. But as the column’s popularity grows, so does the bond between Dylan and Jack, and Dylan is forced to consider if the one thing she thought she always wanted is worth the price she'll have to pay to get there. -
People We Meet on Vacation
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book Lovers and Beach Read comes a sparkling novel that will leave you with the warm, hazy afterglow usually reserved for the best vacations.
Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.
Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.
Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven't spoken since.
Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.
Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by Newsweek ∙ Oprah Magazine ∙ The Skimm ∙ Marie Claire ∙ Parade ∙ The Wall Street Journal ∙ Chicago Tribune ∙ PopSugar ∙ BookPage ∙ BookBub ∙ Betches ∙ SheReads ∙ Good Housekeeping ∙ BuzzFeed ∙ Business Insider ∙ Real Simple ∙ Frolic ∙ and more! -
California Golden
Two sisters navigate the thrilling, euphoric early days of California surf culture in this dazzling saga of ambition, sacrifice, and the tangled ties between mothers and daughters from the New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator’s Wife.
“A shimmering rendering . . . pairs the surf culture of the Beach Boys with the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll of Daisy Jones & The Six.”—Entertainment Weekly (“Best Books of the Summer”)
Southern California, 1960s: endless sunny days surfing in Malibu, followed by glittering neon nights at Whisky a Go Go. In an era when women are expected to be housewives, Carol Donnelly breaks the mold as a legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a male-dominated sport—and her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bear the weight of Carol’s unconventional lifestyle.
The Donnelly sisters grow up enduring their mother’s absence—physically, when she’s at the beach, and emotionally, the rare times she’s at home. To escape questions about Carol’s whereabouts—and to chase her elusive affection—they cut school to spend their days in the surf. From her first time on a board, Mindy is a natural, but Ginger, two years younger, feels out of place in the water.
As they grow up and their lives diverge, Mindy and Ginger’s relationship ebbs and flows. Mindy finds herself swept up in celebrity, complete with beachside love affairs, parties at the Playboy Club, and a USO tour in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Ginger, desperate for a community of her own, is tugged into the dangerous counterculture of drugs and cults. But through it all, their sense of duty to each other survives, as the girls are forever connected by the emotional damage they carry from their unorthodox childhood.
A gripping, emotional story set at a time when mothers were expected to be Donna Reed, not Gidget, California Golden is an unforgettable novel about three women living in a society that was shifting as tempestuously as the breaking waves. -
Under the Tamarind Tree
A compellingly heartbreaking debut novel about the echoes of Partition and four friends whose dark secrets lead to a life-changing night that comes back to haunt them decades later.
One night. Four friends. Countless secrets.
1964. Karachi, Pakistan. Rozeena is running out of time. She'll lose her home—her parents' safe haven since fleeing India and the terrors of Partition—if her medical career doesn't take off soon. But success may come with an unexpected price. Meanwhile the interwoven lives of her childhood best friends—Haaris, Aalya, and Zohair—seem to be unraveling with each passing day. The once small and inconsequential differences between their families' social standing now threaten to divide them. Then one fateful night someone ends up dead and the life they once took for granted shatters.
2019. Rozeena receives a call from a voice she never thought she’d hear again. What begins as an ask to look after a friend’s teenaged granddaughter struggling with her own demons grows into an unconventional friendship—one that unearths buried secrets and just might ruin everything Rozeena has worked so hard to protect.
Captivating and atmospheric, Under the Tamarind Tree shows us the high-stakes ripple effects of generational trauma, and the lengths people will go to protect the ones they love. -
The Covenant of Water
OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK - INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - SUBJECT OF A SIX-PART SUPER SOUL PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY OPRAH WINFREY
The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of the major word-of-mouth bestseller Cutting for Stone, which has sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years.
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India's Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning--and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala's long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl--and future matriarch, known as Big Ammachi--will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants.
A shimmering evocation of a bygone India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.
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Love in the Time of Cholera
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • "A love story of astonishing power" (Newsweek), the acclaimed modern literary classic by the beloved Nobel Prize-winning author.
In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again. -
Next Year in Havana
A HELLO SUNSHINE x REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK
“A beautiful novel that's full of forbidden passions, family secrets and a lot of courage and sacrifice.”—Reese Witherspoon
After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity—and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution...
Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country's growing political unrest—until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary...
Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa's last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth.
Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba's tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate. When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she'll need the lessons of her grandmother's past to help her understand the true meaning of courage. -
The Henna Artist
A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER
A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICK
"Captivated me from the first chapter to the final page."--Reese Witherspoon
Vivid and compelling in its portrait of one woman's struggle for fulfillment in a society pivoting between the traditional and the modern, The Henna Artist opens a door into a world that is at once lush and fascinating, stark and cruel.
Escaping from an abusive marriage, seventeen-year-old Lakshmi makes her way alone to the vibrant 1950s pink city of Jaipur. There she becomes the most highly requested henna artist--and confidante--to the wealthy women of the upper class. But trusted with the secrets of the wealthy, she can never reveal her own...
Known for her original designs and sage advice, Lakshmi must tread carefully to avoid the jealous gossips who could ruin her reputation and her livelihood. As she pursues her dream of an independent life, she is startled one day when she is confronted by her husband, who has tracked her down these many years later with a high-spirited young girl in tow--a sister Lakshmi never knew she had. Suddenly the caution that she has carefully cultivated as protection is threatened. Still she perseveres, applying her talents and lifting up those that surround her as she does.
"Eloquent and moving...Joshi masterfully balances a yearning for self-discovery with the need for familial love."--Publishers Weekly
Look for The Secret Keeper of Jaipur and The Perfumist of Paris from New York Times bestselling author Alka Joshi! -
You Deserve Good Gelato
In this refreshingly honest take on navigating a new life abroad. Social media star Kacie Rose offers a funny, joyful, and searingly honest account of the highs and lows of living abroad and traveling the world.
Kacie decided to leave her life as a pro dancer in New York City and move to Italy in 2021, covering everything from travel fails and homesickness to the joy of culture shocks.
In this travel book, you will find:
-Personal essays that tell Kacie's story that will empower you to challenge yourself
-A candid outlook on life as an expat, discussing important concepts like homesickness, embracing new cultures and cultural stereotypes
-A helpful and funny guide that will encourage you to travel abroad and remind you that you are stronger and more capable than you think.
Kacie reflects on the pure terror of driving on Italian roads, the trials of speaking a new language, and the genuine beauty of a slower pace of life, all with humor and heart. By sharing her personal stories of life under the Tuscan sun, Kacie explains how travel is a privilege, why cultural differences are the coolest things in the world, and how there's a positive you can take away from literally any situation. Travel meets narrative in this book about Kacie Rose's experiences living in a new country.
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A Walk in the Park
Two friends, zero preparation, one dream. From the author of the beloved bestseller The Emerald Mile, a rollicking and poignant account of an epic 750-mile odyssey, on foot, through the heart of America’s most magnificent national park and the grandest wilderness on earth.
A few years after quitting his job to follow an ill-advised dream of becoming a guide on the Colorado River, Kevin Fedarko was approached by his best friend, the National Geographic photographer Pete McBride, with a vision as bold as it was harebrained. Together, they would embark on an end-to-end traverse of the Grand Canyon, a journey that, McBride promised, would be “a walk in the park.” Against his better judgment, Fedarko agreed to the scheme, unaware that the small cluster of experts who had completed the crossing billed it as “the toughest hike in the world.”
The ensuing ordeal, which lasted more than a year, revealed a place that was deeper, richer, and far more complex than anything the two men had imagined—and came within a hair’s breadth of killing them both. They struggled to make their way through the all but impenetrable reaches of its truest wilderness, a vertical labyrinth of thousand-foot cliffs and crumbling ledges where water is measured out by the teaspoon and every step is fraught with peril—and where, even today, there is still no trail along the length of the country’s best-known and most iconic park.
Along the way, veteran long-distance hikers ushered them into secret pockets, invisible to the millions of tourists gathered on the rim, where only a handful of humans have ever laid eyes. Members of the canyon’s eleven Native American tribes brought them face-to-face with layers of history that forced them to reconsider myths at the center of our national parks—and exposed them to the impinging threats of commercial tourism. Even Fedarko’s dying father, who had first pointed him toward the canyon more than forty years earlier but had never set foot there himself, opened him to a new way of seeing the landscape.
And always, there was the great gorge itself: austere and unforgiving but suffused with magic, drenched in wonder, and redeemed by its own transcendent beauty.
A Walk in the Park is a singular portrait of a sublime place, and a deeply moving plea for the preservation of America’s greatest natural treasure.
Lakefront Loungers for Teens
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Summer of '69
Drawing from his teenage years, Todd Strasser's novel revisits a tumultuous era and takes readers on a psychedelically tinged trip of a lifetime.
With his girlfriend, Robin, away in Canada, eighteen-year-old Lucas Baker's only plans for the summer are to mellow out with his friends, smoke weed, drop a tab or two, and head out in his microbus for a three-day happening called the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. But life veers dramatically off track when he suddenly finds himself in danger of being drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam. If that isn't heavy enough, there's also the free-loving (and undeniably alluring) Tinsley, who seems determined to test Lucas's resolve to stay faithful to Robin; a frighteningly bad trip at a Led Zeppelin concert; a run-in with an angry motorcycle gang; parents who appear headed for a divorce; and a friend on the front lines in 'Nam who's in mortal danger of not making it back. As the pressures grow, it's not long before Lucas finds himself knocked so far down, it's starting to look like up to him. When tuning in, turning on, and dropping out is no longer enough, what else is there? -
Liar's Beach
A fresh new take on Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery The Mysterious Affair at Styles, with iconic detective Hercule Poirot recast as a brilliant, brash teen girl named Holiday, and narrated by her childhood friend Linden, an athlete-scholar who fits right in at his elite New England prep school—all the while hiding some secrets of his own.
Michael Linden—or just Linden to his preppy boarding school pals—doesn’t belong in wealthy, storied Martha’s Vineyard. But when his roommate Jasper invites him to spend the end of summer at his massive beachfront home, August House, Linden tries his best to fit in. Linden wouldn’t call it lying, exactly. Though it turns out August House is full of liars.
Then someone is found unconscious in Jasper’s pool, and everyone has something to hide—Jasper, his beautiful sister Eliza, their older brother Wells, and their friends. The accident is written off as just that—an accident—but Linden begins to wonder...
Enter: Holiday Proctor. Linden’s childhood friend, and the one person on the island who knows the truth about Linden. There’s nothing Holiday loves more than a good old-fashioned mystery and she’s convinced there's a potential killer on the Vineyard. The only question is…who? -
The Summer of Impossibilities
Four girls. One summer. And a pact to do the impossible.
Skyler, Ellie, Scarlett, and Amelia Grace are forced to spend the summer at the lake house where their moms became best friends.
One can't wait.
One would rather gnaw off her own arm than hang out with a bunch of strangers just so their moms can drink too much wine and sing Journey at two o'clock in the morning.
Two are sisters.
Three are currently feuding with their mothers.
One is hiding how bad her joint pain has gotten.
All of them are hiding something.
One falls in love with a boy she thought she despised.
One almost sets her crush on fire with a flaming marshmallow.
One has a crush that could change everything.
None of them are the same at the end of the summer. -
Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe
Perfect for fans of 99 Days and Anna and the French Kiss, this unforgettable, sun-drenched summer romance from one of YA's bestselling and most beloved authors, Sarah Mlynowski, is an irresistible dive into the joys of seizing the day and embracing the unexpected.
Sam's summer isn't off to a great start. Her boyfriend, Eli, ditched her for a European backpacking trip, and now she's a counselor at Camp Blue Springs: the summer camp her eleven-year-old self swore never to return to. Sam expects the next seven weeks to be a total disaster.
That is, until she meets Gavin, the camp's sailing instructor, who turns her expectations upside down. Gavin may have gotten the job just for his abs. Or that smile. Or the way he fills Sam's free time with thrilling encounters--swimming under a cascade of stars, whispering secrets over s'mores, embarking on one (very precarious) canoe ride after dark.
It's absurd. After all, Sam loves Eli. But one totally absurd, completely off-the-wall summer may be just what Sam needs. And maybe, just maybe, it will teach her something about what she really wants.
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Float
A heartfelt summer read for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han about holding on and letting go.
Waverly Lyons has been caught in the middle of her parents’ divorce for as long as she can remember. This summer, the battle rages over who she’ll spend her vacation with, and when Waverly’s options are shot down, it’s bye-bye Fairbanks, Alaska and hello Holden, Florida to stay with her aunt.
Coming from the tundra of the north, the beach culture isn’t exactly Waverly’s forte. The sun may just be her mortal enemy, and her vibe is decidedly not chill. To top it off? Her ability to swim is nonexistent.
Enter Blake, the (superhot) boy next door. Charming and sweet, he welcomes Waverly into his circle. For the first time in her life, Waverly has friends, a social life, and soon enough,
feelings . . . for Blake. As the two grow closer, Waverly’s fortunes begin to look up. But every summer must come to an end, and letting go is hardest when you’ve finally found where you belong. -
Golden Boys
National bestselling author Phil Stamper crafts the perfect summer friendship story, starring four queer boys with big hearts and even bigger dreams.
It's the summer before senior year. Gabriel, Reese, Sal, and Heath are best friends, bonded in their small, rural town by their queerness, their good grades, and their big dreams. But they have plans for the summer, each about to embark on a new adventure.
Gabriel is volunteering at an environmental nonprofit in Boston.
Reese is attending design school in Paris.
Sal is interning on Capitol Hill for a senator.
Heath is heading to Florida, to help out at his aunt's boardwalk arcade.
What will this season of world-expanding travel and life-changing experiences mean for each of them--and for their friendship?
Phil Stamper treats readers to an emotionally resonant summer story, full of aspirational experiences, sweet romance, and joyously affirming friendship. -
The Moon and More
A New York Times bestseller
Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun.
He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.
Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.
Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?
Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?
Sarah Dessen's devoted fans will welcome this story of romance, yearning, and, finally, empowerment. It could only happen in the summer.
"Completely engaging, infused with moments of sweetness, humor and major epiphanies." --Kirkus Reviews
Also by Sarah Dessen:
Along for the Ride
Dreamland
Just Listen
Keeping the Moon
Lock and Key
Someone Like You
That Summer
This Lullaby
The Truth About Forever
What Happened to Goodbye -
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Now an Original Series on Prime Video!
Belly has an unforgettable summer in this stunning start to the Summer I Turned Pretty series from the New York Times bestselling author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (now a major motion picture!), Jenny Han.
Some summers are just destined to be pretty.
Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer—they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along. -
Happily Ever Island
"Happily Ever Island is utterly magical. A fun, fast-paced tale of love, friendship, and finding your own path. I loved it!" --Morgan Matson, New York Times best-selling author of The Unexpected Everything
Welcome to Happily Ever Island, a pixie-dusted rom-com about two besties who win the trip of a lifetime filled with Disney magic.
Head-in-the-clouds romantic Madison and driven pragmatist Lanie are unlikely best friends, but the two would do anything for each other. So when Madison's life starts to fall apart--her adviser tells her she'll fall behind unless she can pick a major like the rest of her class, and her girlfriend unexpectedly dumps her on the eve of their once-in-a-lifetime spring break vacation--Lanie agrees to join Madison for the test run of Disney's newest resort experience. They're headed to Happily Ever Island, an immersive vacation destination, where guests can become their favorite Disney character for a week.
Madison has been the biggest Disney Superman since the first time she skipped onto Main Street, U.S.A., with her grandmother, whereas Lanie thinks she maybe watched a couple of Disney flicks when she was little (a crime against humanity as far as Madison is concerned). For their trip, Madison decides to go as the iconic princess herself, Cinderella, with Lanie as bow-wielding Merida. It's not Lanie's idea of fun, but she knows Madison needs her, and besides, she could use the break from her strenuous courseload anyway. Plus, maybe she'll get to shoot things.
But once on the island, Lanie and Madison begin to drift apart. Madison finds herself either missing out or messing up all the enchanting moments she has dreamed about her whole life, and is forever running into their annoyingly perfect (and distractingly cute) vacation coordinator, Val. Meanwhile, Lanie unexpectedly finds herself swept up in the magic of it all. She begins a secret romance with Prince Charming--but there's no telling whether he's just playing a part.
Soon the friends find themselves on a whirlwind of laughter, tears, and more than just a touch of Disney wonder. -
It's Not Summer Without You
Now an Original Series on Prime Video!
Belly finds out what comes after falling in love in this follow-up to The Summer I Turned Pretty from the New York Times bestselling author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (now a major motion picture!), Jenny Han.
It used to be that Belly counted the days until summer, until she was back at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But not this year. Not after Susannah got sick again and Conrad stopped caring. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never come. But when Jeremiah calls saying Conrad has disappeared, Belly knows what she must do to make things right again. And it can only happen back at the beach house, the three of them together, the way things used to be. If this summer really and truly is the last summer, it should end the way it started—at Cousins Beach. -
Passenger
"Expert . . . Passenger succeeds as an adventure, as a romance and as a comparison of cultural norms."
-New York Times Book Review "Riveting, romantic... Fans of Outlander will see so much of Claire in Etta, who holds a smart and headstrong lens to history. I can't wait to voyage through the next volume." -Victoria Aveyard, New York Times #1 best-selling author of Red Queen
"Ambitious and exquisite."
-Sarah J. Maas, New York Times #1 best-selling author of the A Court of Thorns and Roses series In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles, but years from home. And she's inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she's never heard of. Until now.
Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods-a powerful family in the Colonies-and the servitude he's known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can't escape and the family that won't let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, his passenger, can find. In order to protect her, Nick must ensure she brings it back to them-whether she wants to or not.
Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods' grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are playing, treacherous forces threaten to separate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home? forever. -
The Raft
Robie is an experienced traveler. She's taken the flight from Honolulu to the Midway Atoll, a group of Pacific islands where her parents live, many times. When she has to get to Midway in a hurry after a visit with her aunt in Hawaii, she gets on the next cargo flight at the last minute. She knows the pilot, but on this flight, there's a new co-pilot named Max. All systems are go until a storm hits during the flight. The only passenger, Robie doesn't panic until the engine suddenly cuts out and Max shouts at her to put on a life jacket. They are over miles of Pacific Ocean. She sees Max struggle with a raft.
And then . . . she's in the water. Fighting for her life. Max pulls her onto the raft, and that's when the real terror begins. They have no water. Their only food is a bag of Skittles. There are sharks. There is an island. But there's no sign of help on the way.
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The Drowning Summer
A gorgeously atmospheric contemporary fantasy by the New York Times bestselling author of All of Us Villains.
Six years ago, three Long Island teenagers were murdered--their drowned bodies discovered with sand dollars placed over their eyes. The mystery of the drowning summer was never solved, but as far as the town's concerned, Evelyn Mackenzie's father did it. His charges were dropped only because Evelyn summoned a ghost to clear his name. She swore never to call a spirit again.
She lied.
For generations, Mina Zanetti's family has used the ocean's power to guide the dead to their final resting place. But as sea levels rise, the ghosts grow more dangerous, and Mina has been shut out of the family business. When her former friend Evelyn performs another summoning that goes horribly wrong, the two girls must uncover who was really behind the drowning summer murders--and navigate their growing attraction--before the line between life and death dissolves for good.
Beautifully written and enticingly witchy, The Drowning Summer is an eerie story perfect for reading under a full moon. -
Children of the Sea, Vol. 5
When Ruka was younger, she saw a ghost in the water at the aquarium where her dad works. Now she feels drawn toward the aquarium and the two mysterious boys she meets there, Umi and Sora. They were raised by dugongs and hear the same strange calls from the sea as she does.
After following Umi deep into the ocean, Ruka finds herself in an undersea cave where she hears a voice calling to her. She soon realizes it is the meteorite in her stomach, telling her the next step in her journey. The FINAL VOLUME of this majestic tale. -
Until We Meet Again
They exist in two different centuries, but their love defies time
Cassandra craves drama and adventure, so the last thing she wants is to spend her summer marooned with her mother and stepfather in a snooty Massachusetts shore town. But when a dreamy stranger shows up on their private beach claiming it's his own—and that the year is 1925—she is swept into a mystery a hundred years in the making.
As she searches for answers in the present, Cassandra discovers a truth that puts their growing love—and Lawrence's life—into jeopardy. Desperate to save him, Cassandra must find a way to change history…or risk losing Lawrence forever.
Summer Sunshine Reads for Children
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Amelia Bedelia Chapter Book #7: Amelia Bedelia Sets Sail
In the seventh chapter book in the New York Times bestselling series, Amelia Bedelia comes out of her shell and heads to the beach!
Amelia Bedelia and her mother share a summer vacation home at the shore with her aunt Mary (her mother's sister) and her cousin Jason, who has a wicked sense of adventure and a nose for trouble. With a local girl named Pearl as guide, the cousins build sand castles, swim and body surf, and learn how to sail. As much fun as their nautical adventures are, the lives of this trio get way more exciting when they stumble upon pirates! The Amelia Bedelia chapter books star Amelia Bedelia as a young girl and feature funny family and friendship stories just right for fans of Judy Moody and Ivy + Bean. The Amelia Bedelia books have sold more than 35 million copies since we first met the iconic character in 1963!
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Gangsters at the Grand Atlantic
It's 1925. Thanks to Prohibition, bootleg liquor is big business, and organized crime is thriving.As summer vacation begins, 12-year-old Emily Scott witnesses a gangland attack on her landlord, who runs a grocery downstairs from her family's Philadelphia flat. Emily is badly frightened by the violence and the thugs' warnings to keep quiet about it. So she jumps at the chance to accompany her sister Dorothy to the Jersey shore, where they'll be guests of Dorothy's wealthy college friend, Bitsy. The Grand Atlantic Hotel proves to be fabulously luxurious -- right on the ocean and full of fascinating characters, from Madame Serena the sceance leader to costumed mah jongg players and flappers dancing the Charleston. But Emily isn't entirely happy. Dorothy is much more interested in impressing her rich friends, going yachting, and winning dance marathons than spending time with her gawky little sister. Even worse, Emily spots a sinister man who looks exactly like Mr. M, the mob leader from Philly. Emily has heard of gangsters wiping out witnesses -- what if the man really is Mr. M and recognizes her? With her new friend Gwen, who's a pet-sitter at the hotel and a polio victim who relies on crutches and a wheelchair, Emily sets about finding out whether the mysterious man is really Mr. M. Dorothy just laughs at Emily's fears, but it turns out that Emily is right -- and that Mr. M is in Ocean View to carry out a rum-running scheme that means terrible danger for someone near and dear to Dorothy!
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Nicole the Beach Fairy
The fairies are going green!
The fairy king and queen have just put together a new team of seven fairies for a very special mission. They are the Earth Fairies! Together, they're going to work their magic to clean up the environment. But they can't do it alone. Luckily, Rachel and Kirsty are ready to help!
The beach on Rainspell Island is covered with garbage, and it's putting the sea creatures in danger. But Nicole the Beach Fairy can't do much without her missing magic wand. Can the girls help her track it down?
Find the missing magic wand in each book and help save the environment! -
Liberty
Welcome to the Puppy Place - where every puppy finds a home!
Charles and Lizzie Peterson love puppies. Their family fosters these young dogs, giving them love and proper care, until they can find the perfect forever home.
Lizzie and her family go to the beach for a July 4th weekend trip. Liberty, a golden retriever puppy, gets spooked by the fireworks display and loses her owners. Can the Petersons find her home, even while they are on vacation?
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Hello Kitty
The Hello Kitty brand touches every part of a girl's life with on-trend product, and touches every part of popular culture--from fashion to celebrity to art. It is a true lifestyle brand. VIZ Media's wordless comic series is the first of its kind.
Hello Kitty and her friends are off on adventures near and far!
Surprise! Hello Kitty and her friends are in for lots of unexpected treats!
Reads L to R (Western Style) for all ages. -
High and Dry
★ "Walters has woven a touching story about the connection humans have with other living beings on Earth. Recommended for wide purchase."--School Library Journal, starred review
Dylan lives on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest with his parents, but when they have to go to the mainland, his grandfather weathers a storm to come spend time with him. Grandpa's brought Dylan a number of gifts, and one comes in handy the next day while they are exploring the coast. In fact, this gift leads the duo to a dangerous discovery: a young orca got stuck on the rocks during the storm. Racing against the sun and the heat, Dylan and Grandpa need to work together to figure out how to save the calf while his pod circles nearby.
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Stella Díaz Never Gives Up
From award-winning author Angela Dominguez comes the novel Stella Diaz Never Gives Up, a story about a shy Mexican-American girl who becomes an environmental activist and makes a difference in her community.
Stella gets a big surprise when her mom plans a trip to visit their family in Mexico! Stella loves marine animals, and she can't wait to see the ocean for the first time . . . until she arrives and learns that the sea and its life forms are in danger due to pollution.
Stella wants to save the ocean, but she knows she can't do it alone. It's going to take a lot of work and help from old and new friends to make a difference, but Stella Díaz never gives up!
This is the second middle-grade novel from award-winning picture book author and illustrator Angela Dominguez. Based on the author's experiences growing up Mexican-American, this infectiously charming character comes to life through relatable story-telling including simple Spanish vocabulary and adorable black-and-white art throughout.
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2020 for Younger Readers -
Whale Done
In the eighth novel in New York Times bestselling Stuart Gibbs’s FunJungle series, Teddy Fitzroy returns as FunJungle’s resident sleuth to find the culprits behind a blown-up whale and a string of beach sand thefts.
After an escaped kangaroo starts a fire that burns down his house, Teddy Fitzroy accepts an invitation to go to Malibu with his girlfriend, Summer, and her mother, Kandace. He’s hoping to spend some time relaxing on the beach, but wherever Teddy goes, trouble isn’t far behind.
First, a massive dead whale has washed up on the beach—and before anyone can determine what killed it, it explodes. Doc, the head vet from FunJungle, suspects something fishy is going on and ropes Teddy and Summer into helping him investigate.
Then, Teddy stumbles upon yet another mystery involving tons of stolen sand. And the paparazzi start spreading rumors about Summer dating a celebrity, leading Teddy to question their relationship.
Without Summer as his trusted partner, can Teddy navigate the rough waters of this glitzy world and uncover what’s going on? -
Saltwater Secrets
From the acclaimed author of Just Add Magic—now a hit streaming original series—comes a story of two sisters, one summer vacation, and one big mystery for them to solve.
Stella and Josie live for their summers at the boardwalk—each one a carbon copy of the last. Josie lives in Australia most of the year; her half-sister, Stella, lives in New Jersey. But every year, they come together for a beach vacation with their dad, and to make more memories. The real excitement for them is their secret special place under the boardwalk, where they hide their sister scrapbook, adding memories from each summer.
But this summer feels different. Josie isn’t the same—she’s turned into one of the popular girls that Stella can’t stand. Despite the rocky start to their vacation, they still go to their secret, special place under the boardwalk, adding memories to their sister scrapbook once again.
That is, until their place is discovered by the owners of the newest store—the Smoothie Factory, which replaced Josie’s favorite sweet spot. Not only have the owners of the Smoothie Factory discovered the cove, they are exploiting the natural habitat, and endangering marine life and everyone at the beach! It’s up to Josie and Stella to figure out how to stop their beloved boardwalk from disappearing for good. -
Black Sand Beach 1: Are You Afraid of the Light?
This summer vacation is anything but a dream trip. The first book in a spooky, witty new graphic novel series from bestselling Blastosaurus creator Richard Fairgray, perfect for fans of Gravity Falls, Rickety Stitch, and Fake Blood.
Twelve-year-old Dash and his best friend Lily are spending the summer at Black Sand Beach, where Dash's family has a house. Lily can't understand why Dash isn't more excited. Three months of surf, sand, and sun. It should be a dream!
But Black Sand Beach is not that kind of vacation spot.
The house is a shack, and all of Dash's weird relatives are there. More alarming is the zombie ram that crashes through the front yard and the eerie voices calling out to Dash from the lighthouse--a lighthouse that hasn't been operational in a hundred years. . . .
So Dash has a new plan for his summer vacation. . . . Survive.
Full of unexpected twists, Are You Afraid of the Light? begins a delightfully creepy graphic novel series that readers will devour. (But keep a flashlight handy.) -
Mystery in the Sand
The Aldens are spending sunny days at the shore and summer nights in a mobile home right on the beach! One morning, Benny finds a gold necklace in the sand. Soon a search for its owner begins, and a trail of clues leads the children to Tower House. What will the Boxcar Children find in the strange old mansion?
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Eva at the Beach: a Branches Book (Owl Diaries #14)
It's summertime and Eva Wingdale is going to the beach, in this New York Times bestselling early chapter book series just-right for emerging readers!
Pick a book. Grow a Reader!
This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line, Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!
Eva is visiting the beach with her best friend Lucy! They can't wait to build sandcastles and make seashell necklaces. But Eva is secretly afraid to go swimming because of the big fish -- like sharks! -- that live in the sea. After Eva hears the "Legend of the Mermowls" and spots her classmate Sue in the water, the sea doesn't seem so scary. Will Eva face her fears and maybe find some magic at the beach, too?
Rebecca Elliott's sweet text and full-color artwork on every page bring this story to life for young readers!
Continue this book series with "Eva the Owlet," an Apple TV+ original series!
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Sea Turtle
Dive into this colorful title featuring one of the biggest animals on earth! This title gives kids a chance to learn all about Sea Turtles, like where they live, how big they are next to a human, their body characteristics, family life and more. Kids will love the engaging color photographs, simple text, and fun facts about these larger than life beings. A quick quiz is provided for additional reading and learning fun! Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Sandcastle is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.
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Babymouse #3: Beach Babe
Meet Babymouse--the spunky mouse beloved by young readers for more than a decade! It’s summer time and Babymouse is going to the beach to surf and relax. But will sharks ruin her vacation? This groundbreaking young graphic novel series, full of humor and fun, is a bestseller that’s sold more than three million copies!
"Move over, Superman, here comes Babymouse!"—The Chicago Sun-Times
Grab your sunglasses! School’s out and Babymouse is headed to the beach for a week of sun, sand, surfing, snorkeling, and sharks! That’s right, folks . . . sharks! Looks like Babymouse’s summer fun isn’t shaping up quite the way she expected! Will Babymouse survive her summer vacation? Will she be the surfing star she dreams of being . . . or is she sharkbait?! Find out in Beach Babe—the 3rd hilarious, action-packed installment of the beloved Babymouse graphic novel series!
DON'T MISS The BIG Adventures of Babymouse: Once Upon a Messy Whisker, the newest, brightest, and BIGGER THAN EVER graphic novel from BABYMOUSE! -
Go Girl! #8: Surf's Up!
Kowabunga! Lucy can't wait to go on vacation with her BFF, Bonnie, and her family. They're going to stay by the beach, take surf lessons, and eat tons of junk food! But the trip takes a nosedive as soon as they hit the waves. Bonnie is a natural, while Lucy keeps wiping out. Lucy doesn't want to feel jealous, but she can't help wondering...will they still be friends when this vacation is over?