FICTION
The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi
In the City of Lies, they cut out your tongue when you turn thirteen, to appease the terrifying Ajungo Empire and make sure it continues sending water. Tutu will be thirteen in three days, but his mother won’t last that long. So Tutu makes a deal: water for his mother, and in exchange he will travel out into the desert and bring back water for the city. Thus begins Tutu’s quest for the salvation of his mother, his city, and himself.
I Am Ayah: The Way Home by Donna Hill
Alessandra Fleming has spent most of her life running from her past. Her budding photography career, her life in Manhattan, all serve to distract from the secrets and guilt she’s never been able to face. Then the call. Her estranged father is in the hospital…and Alessandra must return home to Sag Harbor, crumbling the first wall between her past and her present.
Chlorine by Jade Song
Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life starts and ends with the pool. Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach is her guiding light. If she swims well enough, she will be scouted, get a scholarship and go to a good school. Her parents will love her. Her coach will be kind to her. She will have a good life.
House of Cotton by Monica Brashears
Magnolia Brown is nineteen years old, broke, and effectively an orphan. She feels stuck and haunted: by her overdrawn bank account, her predatory landlord, and the ghost of her late grandmother Mama Brown. One night, while working at her dead-end gas station job, a mysterious, slick stranger named Cotton walks in and offers to turn Magnolia’s luck around with a lucrative “modeling” job at his family’s funeral home.
NON-FICTION
The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market by Naomi Oreskes
In the early 20th century, business elites, trade associations, wealthy powerbrokers, and media allies set out to build a new American orthodoxy: down with “big government” and up with unfettered markets. With startling archival evidence, Oreskes and Conway document campaigns to rewrite textbooks, combat unions, and defend child labor.
The Sh!t No One Tells You About Divorce: A Guide to Breaking Up, Falling Apart, and Putting Yourself Back Together by Dawn Dais
After 12 years together, 2 children, 10 pets, and 5 properties, Dawn and her partner decided to call it quits. Dawn takes you on her own bumpy, meandering, and often absurd journey through the destruction of a life exploded by divorce. She dodges legal hurdles, irrational decisions, alarmed therapists,and random hobbies.. But somehow, she found herself stronger — and happier — on the other side.
The Transition: Interpreting Justice from Thurgood Marshall to Clarence Thomas by Daniel Kiel
Every Supreme Court transition presents an opportunity for a shift in the balance of the third branch of American government, but the replacement of Thurgood Marshall with Clarence Thomas in 1991 proved particularly momentous. Not only did it shift the ideological balance on the Court; it was inextricably entangled with the persistent American dilemma of race.
The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents by Lisa Damour Ph.D.
In teenagers, powerful emotions come with the territory. And with so many of today’s teens contending with academic pressure, social media stress, worries about the future, and concerns about their own mental health, it’s easy for them—and their parents—to feel anxious and overwhelmed. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
CHILDREN’S
Gone to the Woods by Gary Paulsen
In this autobiography, popular middle-grade author Gary Paulsen shares the most important elements of his life: the childhood journey from the big city to a Minnesota farm at the age of five that would turn him into an outdoorsman. The encouragement of the librarian who handed him his first book when he was thirteen, without which he might never have become a reader. His daring teenage enlistment in the Army, without which he might never have discovered that he was good at telling stories. In his own words, this is how Gary Paulsen became exactly who he was meant to be — the three-time Newbery Honor-winning author beloved by generations of schoolkids who have read the adventures of Brian, the hero of the Hatchet books. Mr. Paulsen died in 2021 aged 82 after an extraordinarily prolific career, and this is his last book.
Ages: 10 – 14
LIBRARY OPEN
• Lima Public Library is open to the public six days a week. Hours for the Main Library in Lima are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Our Cairo, Elida and Spencerville branch libraries are open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Our Lafayette branch is open from 12 noon to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday.
• Curbside pickup is available at the Main Library from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. Arrangements can be made by calling 567-712-5239, contacting the library through Facebook Messenger, or putting a hold on a book through the online catalog. 24 hour notice is required. Call us when you arrive (park near the main entrance) and your items will be brought to you.
