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Tag Archives: books
#BookFaceFriday “The Southpaw” by Mark Harris
Take me out to the #BookFace!
If you’re a fan of America’s greatest pastime or you just love a slow afternoon at the ballpark check out this week’s #BookFaceFriday, “The Southpaw” by Mark Harris and Henry W. Wiggin (Bobbs-Merrill, 1953) it would be a great choice for your next read. This novel revolves around a left-handed pitcher on a fictional New York baseball team, it is a part of the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse, which receives documents every month from all Nebraska state agencies, including the University of Nebraska Press (UNP). UNP books, as well as all Nebraska state documents, are available for checkout by libraries and librarians for their patrons.
“As the temperature warmed up in recent days, there was no better way to prepare for the season than to reread Mark Harris’s “The Southpaw, ” one of the finest sports books I know. . . . Harris loves the game itself, and he never loses sight of its value to America.” —George Vecsey, “The New York Times”
This week’s #BookFace model is Bruce Oorlog, NLC’s Mail/Material Specialist and avid baseball fan!
Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Posted in Books & Reading, General
Tagged Baseball, Book Art, Book Covers, bookface, bookfacefriday, books, Mark Harris, Novel, Reading, The Southpaw, University of Nebraska Press
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Book Club Spotlight – The Nickel Boys
This Thursday, State and Federal offices across the country will be closed in observance of our newest official federal holiday, Juneteenth! 160 years ago on June 19th, 1865- 250,000 enslaved people were finally emancipated two years and a war after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Despite this, Jim Crow laws continued until the mid-1960s, another hundred years after the liberation. Today’s Book Club Spotlight, The Nickel Boys, (also a 2024 movie) takes place during the tumultuous 1960s at the end of the Civil Rights Movement inside of a Florida reform school. The 2019 book by author Colson Whitehead won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making Whitehead one of four authors to have won the award twice.
There are three versions of Elwood Curtis. The young, intelligent Elwood dreams of attending college and making something of himself beyond his segregated Tallahassee home. The Elwood of the authoritarian Nickel Academy Reform School, is a righteous young man striving to follow the words and ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But the Academy is stronger and crueler than love can conquer; torturing him and his peers to either submission or death. Finally, there is the Elwood who escapes and lives on. A haunted man, trying to find his way in the world with nothing but his name. How was this goodhearted boy with a bright future ahead of him sentenced to such a life? The truth lies with the bodies of young men hidden on the grounds of Nickel.
“Like justice, it existed in theory.”
– Colson Whitehead
The Nickel Boys is, unfortunately, based on a real reform school in Florida that was shut down in 2011. The Dozier School for Boys, much like Residential Schools, was a state-sanctioned way to force children into submission and assimilation under the guise of civility and patriotism. After the school was closed there was an outpouring of stories from former students who told of the horror faced there, including beatings, sexual assault, and murder. Dubbed “America’s Storyteller”, Whitehead doesn’t shy away from our tragic history, and his influence in writing The Nickel Boys came from a need to make sense of the world and fight back against the “larger culture of impunity”. Book Club groups can discuss the influences of thought and worldviews found in the novel, especially in how they play out between our main characters Elwood and Turner as they must adapt to the school’s barbaric rule of law and its lasting consequences. How do we cope in a world without justice?
Further Resources on The Dozier School for Boys:
- The Official White House Boys website
- Run by survivors of the school
- “For Their Own Good”
- An article detailing stories from survivors
- The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
- A 2023 fictionalized novel about the school
Lincoln Juneteenth Events (2025)
- 6/19: Legal Fight for Freedom: Student Research Panel and Keynote Address – UNL
- 6/21: Malone Center Juneteenth Event
To read more about Juneteenth and related topics, The National Museum of African American History & Culture has curated a “Juneteenth Reading List”, which features titles from our Book Club Collection!
If you’re interested in requesting The Nickel Boys for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 7 copies. (A librarian must request items)
Whitehead. Colson. The Nickel Boys. Doubleday. (2019)
Friday Reads – The Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka
Nothing catches my attention quite like seeing my own first name on a book cover, so naturally, I picked up Aimee Pokwatka’s “The Parliament” when I spotted it at my local library. I supposed I should feel lucky to have been able to leave my local library, unlike the characters in this novel, whose library is swarmed by thousands of tiny, murderous owls as the tale begins. This is the titular Parliament, a parliament of owls.
Pokwatka’s novel has been described as “The Birds” meets “The Princess Bride” – it’s a tale within a tale. First, the birds: we soon learn that Madigan (aka Mad), our protagonist, is only at her hometown library as a favor to an old friend. She has reluctantly agreed to come back to town to teach a group of tweens how to make bath bombs. She’ll teach the class and head back to her condo in the city, away from the traumatic past she left behind after high school. The owls, however, have other ideas; one owl breaks through the window of the classroom, sending glass flying and kids diving under tables.
It doesn’t take long for the library’s occupants to realize that the building is completely surrounded by the birds, and that they’ve lost all connection to the outside world – no cell phones, landline, or internet. One patron tries to exit…but is quickly consumed by the flock when she steps outside. With no way to leave and no way to call for help, Mad does her best to help her students stay calm. She locates her favorite childhood book, “The Silent Queen”, and reads aloud.
“The Silent Queen” is the tale of Princess Alala, the ruler of the mining kingdom of Soder. Every year on Enrichment Day, the 8-year-old girls of Soder journey up the mountain to trade some part of themselves to the monster, in exchange for a magical endowment, such as the ability to heal, or fly, or talk to plants. The monster takes what it wants – eyes, entire limbs, even the ability to speak. But this year, the monster is taking more and giving less, and Alala is forced to confront the beast to save the girls of Soder from it’s wrath.
Pokwatka alternates between the distraction of the Silent Queen’s journey, the escalating crisis in the rest of the library, and the resurrection of childhood memories Mad would rather leave buried. The author does an excellent job of joining these very distinct narratives into one cohesive tale of courage, loss, and healing. And her name is Aimee too, so I’ll add a star for that.
Pokwatka, Aimee. (2024). The Parliament. Tor Books.
Posted in Books & Reading, Friday Reads
Tagged Aimee Pakwatka, books, Fantasy, Friday Reads, Horror, Owls, Reading, The Parliament
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#BookFaceFriday “The Garden of Small Beginnings” by Abbi Waxman
This #BookFaceFriday is ready to sprout!

If you’re looking for a summer beach read without the beach, this #BookFace has you covered. “The Garden of Small Beginnings” (Berkley, 2017) by USA Today bestselling author Abbi Waxman is a slice-of-life romance following widowed Lilian Girvan as she’s starting to get back into the swing of life, starting with a vegetable-gardening class her newest boss has signed her up for. With help from her two daughters and her supportive sister, she faces a botanical challenge and discovers a group of quirky gardeners. It’s available as an eBook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is currently featured in the “Beach Reads” curated collection that’s filled with captivating reads to fill your summer days.
“Waxman’s skill at characterization…lifts this novel far above being just another ‘widow finds love’ story. Clearly an observer, Waxman has mastered the fine art of dialogue as well. Characters ring true right down to Lilian’s two daughters, who often steal the show. This debut begs for an encore from Waxman.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
#BookFaceFriday “Music is History” by Questlove
Put a record on this #BookFaceFriday!

Dive deep into the history of music with this #BookFace. The New York Times bestseller “Music is History” by multi-Grammy Award winner author Questlove (Harry N. Abrams, 2021) takes a look at contemporary America and its music starting from 1971. It’s available as an eBook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is currently featured in the “Artistic Reads” curated collection, along with many other novels about art and artists.
“An entertaining, informative and far-reaching work, meticulously excavating American culture and history with the eye of a seasoned cratedigger.”
— The Washington Post
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Posted in Books & Reading, General
Tagged Book Covers, bookface, bookfacefriday, books, Music is History, Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, Questlove
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Book Club Spotlight – The Picture of Dorian Gray

With languorous prose and the ramblings of the rich and bored, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is just the novel to usher in a hedonistically aesthetic summer heat. Now a classic piece of Gothic Literature, Oscar Wilde’s novel is praised for its writing style and daring characters but was considered vulgar, unacceptable, and lacking moral merit at the time of its publication. Even with all its poetic euphemisms and curtain-pulling, the work was too salacious for the Victorian audience and faced censorship for its ideals and morality. In the face of his detractors, Wilde, a prominent Aesthete, included in the 1891 published edition a preface concerning the morality and duty of art, in which he states: “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all”.
A muse is a powerful creature. Love and praise may fall on deaf ears to an unrealized man. But whisper tales of mortality, fleeting beauty, and adoration, the desperation of the damned will overtake them. As it overtakes the young man, he, in a pit of panic, pledges his soul so the burden of time will be placed upon his mirrored self in portraiture. Young Dorian Gray. A beautiful muse and love of painter Basil Hallward, and the manipulated mentee of the hedonistic fast-talking Lord Henry, tears through the polite society of London, leaving all who approach ruined in his wake. While his portrait decays in his attic, exposing the monstrous degradation of his soul.
“I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die.”
– Oscar Wilde
To the people of the Victorian era, perception was everything. The women had to be beautiful, charming, but unobtrusive. The men, stoic masculine providers with no time for frivolities or deviant behaviors. And Dorian Gray is the perfect young Victorian man. He is beautiful, charming, and has all the merits his class dictates. His impressionable mind is warped by voyeuristic Aesthete Lord Henry, into an existential crisis that leads to selfishness and cruelty all in the pursuit of pleasure. This is what made The Picture of Dorian Gray so subversive in its time. It held a mirror to society, forcing it to look at its faults and secrets, and even at Wilde’s beloved Aestheticism Movement. Book Club Groups can explore the themes of love, art, beauty, and influence through each unique character carefully crafted by Wilde, and the conflicting realities held within them. To help guide discussion, our copies include an introduction by Penguin Classics Editor, Robert Mighall, and a backmatter of notations to provide the modern reader with further context and knowledge for the novel.
Oscar Wilde in a letter to Ralph Payne (1894):
I am so glad you like that strange coloured book of mine: it contains much of me in it. Basil Hallward is what I think I am Lord Henry what the world thinks of me: Dorian what I would like to be – in other ages, perhaps.
If you’re interested in requesting The Picture of Dorian Gray for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 16 copies. (A librarian must request items)
Wilde. Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Penguin Classics. (1891)
#BookFaceFriday “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein
This #BookFaceFriday is man’s best friend!

If you’re a dog person, then this #BookFace is for you! “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by New York Times bestselling author Garth Stein (Harper Paperbacks; 2018) is an emotional but ultimately uplifting novel about life, love, and loyalty- but told as only a dog could.
We have 35 copies for your reading group to borrow in our Book Club Kit collection, and it’s available as both an eBook and audiobook on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries.“The perfect book for anyone who knows that some of our best friends walk beside us on four legs; that compassion isn’t only for humans; and that the relationship between two souls…meant for each other never really comes to an end.”
— Jodi Picoult
Book Club Kits Rules for Use
- These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
- Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
- Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
- Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Posted in Books & Reading, General
Tagged Audiobook, book club kit, Book Club Kits, Book Covers, bookface, bookfacefriday, books, Ebook, Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, Reading
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#BookFaceFriday “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents” by Terry Pratchett
Cat got your #BookFace!?

This #BookFaceFriday has more than nine lives! Check out “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents” by bestselling fantasy author Terry Prachett (HarperCollins; 2001), it’s number 28 in Prachett’s Discworld series.
This is a standalone Discworld novel retelling the classic fairytale of the Pied Piper. We have 14 copies for your reading group to borrow in our Book Club Kit collection, and you can read more about it in our Book Club Spotlight series!“An astonishing novel. Were Terry Pratchett not demonstratively a master craftsman already, The Amazing Maurice might be considered his masterpiece.”
— Neil Gaiman
Book Club Kits Rules for Use
- These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
- Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
- Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
- Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Book Club Spotlight – Room

Creative, resilient, and bitter. When discussing heroic mothers in fiction, any list would be empty without “Ma” from the 2010 novel, Room, by Irish-Canadian Author Emma Donoghue. As a college freshman, Ma was abducted and locked in a shed for 7 years. Despondent in her confinement, it’s not until her son is born that Ma is renewed and dedicates her life not only to their escape but to providing the naïve Jack with a full and healthy life, unaware that he is in captivity. Inspired by the real-life determination of mothers and women in the face of impossible circumstances, Room is the winner of the Alex Award, a New York Times Best Book of the Year, and 2010’s Irish Novel of the Year.
Five-year-old Jack lives with Ma in Room. There, they play, learn, brush their teeth, exercise, and look out Skylight. Every night, he goes to sleep in Wardrobe while a mysterious man comes to visit. Ma doesn’t seem to like Old Nick, but Jack likes it when he brings them new things like clothes, food, and sometimes candy! To Jack, Room is all there is, and he wants everything to stay the same forever. But now that Jack is 5 years old, his curiosity is harder to contain, he gets in fights with Ma, and Old Nick gets so upset that their power is off for days! Maybe he should have just stayed 4. Ma is changing too. She decides it’s time to tell Jack a story, a real story this time, about a place called Outside. And about a plan where Jack must be brave, get to Outside, and save Ma.
“I’m not in Room. Am I still me?”
– Emma Donoghue
Engaging for Mature Teen and Adult readers, Room is a sociological exploration of what makes our reality, and the persistence of the human race to thrive against all odds. From discussing faith, the sensationalism of tragedy, and the spirit of motherhood, love is at the forefront of this novel. Narrated by Jack’s unusual and childish voice, Room’s language will take a second to get used to and is not for everyone. We follow his malleable young mind as it opens up and tries to process this place that was previously far beyond his understanding. But once the reader is enveloped in his unique world, it’s hard to leave and return to Outside.
Room was adapted by Emma Donoghue into an academy award winning movie of the same name starring Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay.
If you’re interested in requesting Room for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 11 copies and an Audio CD. (A librarian must request items)
Donoghue, Emma. Room. Little, Brown and Company. (2010)
#BookFaceFriday “Songs in Ursa Major” by Emma Brodie
Listen to the rhythm of #BookFaceFriday!

This week’s #BookFace is all about chasing your dreams. “Songs in Ursa Major” is a scintillating debut by Emma Brodie (Knopf, 2021), a love story that’s all about music and the trappings of fame. Filled with the heart and vibes of the early 70’s music scene, the novel has a powerful core that asks how much are you willing to sacrifice for your dreams? You can listen to the audiobook yourself through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries!
“Entrancing… This superbly crafted debut novel immerses readers in a story of family, love, and music from the first page. Brodie makes a point about the destructive force of drug abuse, and bears witness to unsavory business practices in the music industry. This book would make a wonderful movie; readers will long for an album of Jane’s songs to go with it.”
— Library Journal, starred
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
#BookFaceFriday “The Lola Quartet” by Emily St. John Mandel
Get inspired with #BookFaceFriday!

Let #BookFace be your muse and check out what’s being showcased on the Nebraska OverDrive Library home page, you’ll find titles like this week’s #BookFace, “The Lola Quartet” by Emily St. John Mandel (Vintage, 2015) which follows disgraced journalist Gavin Sasaki, as he goes back home to regroup after being fired for plagiarism and finds out he may have a daughter he never knew about. You can check out the ebook yourself through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries!
“Compelling. . . . Perhaps all novelists can be said to wrestle with morality; Mandel seems to wrestle with it at greater length and in greater depth than most. . . . First-rate fiction.”
— Dallas Morning News
This week’s #BookFace model is Ethan Nelson, the new Director of the Western Library System! Ethan is a native Nebraskan who grew up on a farm about forty miles south of Scottsbluff. He loves a good book with his favorite genre being fantasy, and is currently reading Michael Moorcock’s Elric saga. He now lives in Scottsbluff with his adorable cat Tails. If you get a chance send him a note and welcome him to Nebraska’s Regional Library systems!
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Book Club Spotlight – House of Sticks

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and this year, as marked by the Federal Asian Pacific American Council, is for celebrating the “Legacy of Leadership and Resilience” of the wide-reaching diaspora. Today, for our Book Club Spotlight, we celebrate author Ly Tran and her family’s story of resilience, as Chinese-Vietnamese (Tang Dynasty Teochew) refugees to the United States. Her memoir, House of Sticks, was a New York City Book Awards Winner, and one of Vogue and NPR’s Best Book of the Year.
“We arrive in the blizzard of 1993, coming from rice paddies, mango trees, and the sun to February in the Empire State.” At three years old, Ký Lý and her family of 6 are sent to the United States, as part of a humanitarian effort to relocate South Vietnamese prisoners of war. Though she doesn’t quite understand it, Ly’s father was one of those men, confined in the Viet Cong re-education camps of torture and indoctrination. However, America was not the fresh start they were sold. The family struggles in poverty, resorting to endless nights of sewing garments in their cramped and dirty apartment to barely make ends meet. As she grows, Ly recognizes the dour circumstances around her, and her parent’s ceaseless effort to create a life for their children- free from the horrors of the past. In an attempt to protect her family from more hardship, Ly learns to hide the cruelty of others from her parents and to hide herself as well.
“Even the most monstrous of faces that I could conjure always had the same pained look in their eyes. And I imagined that they feared the dark just as much as I did.”
– Ly Tran
For Adult Book Club Groups who are fans of moving family memoirs like Educated and The Glass Castle, House of Sticks is a story of filial piety, and how the trauma of our parents move within us and propel our lives. How pressures of helping support a family, and neglect can weigh on a child into their adult years. Though Tran spends much of her memoir away from her family, they are a part of her and influence every step she takes. She was especially her traumatized father, but her ability for compassion and understanding helped bridge the long-worn gaps between them. Reading stories like House of Sticks can open us up to new perspectives and peoples. When we celebrate the melting pot of the United States, like with AAPI month, it’s important to take the time and learn about our history together. Even before we were a country, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Native Hawaiians have been a part of our legacy.
If you’re interested in requesting House of Sticks for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 8 copies and an Audio CD. (A librarian must request items)
Tran, Ly. House of Sticks. Scribner. 2022.
#BookFaceFriday “The Last Story of Mina Lee” by Nancy Jooyoun Kim
Don’t turn your back on #BookFaceFriday!

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI), and we want to help you celebrate by highlighting just one of the many Asian authors in our collections. “The Last Story of Mina Lee” by Nancy Jooyoun Kim (Park Row, 2021) is a fictional novel recounting the fraught mother daughter relationship between first and second generation Korean immigrants. It’s available as an Audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is also available as a book club kit through the Nebraska Library Commission. You can find more AAPI stories to explore in our book club collection or Asian/Pacific authors here.
“Haunting and heartbreaking, troubled threads between a mother and daughter blend together in a delicate and rich weave… With both sadness and beauty, [Kim] describes grief, regret, loss, and the feeling of being left behind. Fans of Amy Tan and Kristin Hannah will love Kim’s brilliant debut.”
— Booklist, STARRED review
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Book Club Kits Rules for Use
- These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
- Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
- Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
- Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team
Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Book Briefs: New University of Nebraska Press Books at the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse
The Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse receives documents every month from all Nebraska state agencies, including the University of Nebraska Press (UNP). UNP books, as well as all Nebraska state documents, are available for checkout by libraries and librarians for their patrons.
Here are the UNP books the Clearinghouse received in March and April, 2025:
The Bears of Grand Teton: a Natural and Cultural History, by Sue Consolo-Murphy. Series: America’s Public Lands
The Bears of Grand Teton is the first comprehensive history of bears, black and grizzly, and their interactions with people in Grand Teton National Park and the surrounding area of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It is also a personal account by Sue Consolo-Murphy, who spent thirty years as a wildlife manager for the National Park Service.
Consolo-Murphy focuses on the natural, cultural, and administrative histories of bears in and around Grand Teton National Park and the nearby John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, paying particular attention to bears’ interactions with livestock. Entertaining and educational, The Bears of Grand Teton also explores the phenomenon of social media celebrity bears—such as Grizzly 399, the world’s most famous bear—and the challenges of listing and removing grizzly bears from Endangered Species Act protection.
A Grammar of Nakoda (Assiniboine), by Linda A. Cumberland. Series: Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas
A Grammar of Nakoda (Assiniboine) is the first complete grammar of the Native American language Assiniboine, also known by the endonym Nakoda, a member of the Siouan language family. It addresses all major grammatical categories, including phonology, nouns, verbs, adverbs, enclitics, determiners, syntax, and kinship terminology. It also includes groundbreaking analysis of motion verbs of coming and going, demonstrating that such verbs compose a closed system that is consistent in varying degrees across all Siouan languages.
Over the past century and a half, the classification of the Assiniboine language has suffered due to a complicated history regarding the Dakotan branch of the Siouan language family. Once spoken over a vast contiguous area of the northern plains, Assiniboine/Nakoda is used today among the Assiniboine people in and around Fort Belknap and Fort Peck in Montana and in five reserves in Saskatchewan. A Grammar of Nakoda (Assiniboine) establishes the singular basis of the language while also relating its unique features to other Great Plains American Indian languages.
Locomotive Cathedral, by Brandel France de Bravo. Series: The Backwaters Prize in Poetry Honorable Mention
With wit and vulnerability, Brandel France de Bravo explores resilience in the face of climate change and a global pandemic, race, and the concept of a self, all while celebrating the power of breath as “baptism on repeat.” Whether her inspiration is twelfth-century Buddhist mind-training slogans or the one-footed crow who visits her daily, France de Bravo mines the tension between the human desire for permanence and control, and life’s fluid, ungraspable nature. Poem by poem, essay by essay, she builds a temple to the perpetual motion of transformation, the wondrous churn of change and exchange that defines companionship, marriage, and ceding our place on Earth: “not dying, but molting.”
Memories of Buffalo Bill, by Louisa Frederici Cody. Series: The Papers of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody
Written with the help of Courtney Ryley Cooper, Memories of Buffalo Bill offers an idealized account of William F. Cody’s life from the perspective of his wife, Louisa. True to its origins, this account offers many more details about Cody’s domestic life, including his children, than any other preceding work. Although William and Louisa’s real-life marriage was marred by some high-profile scandals, it endured until her husband’s death in 1917.
Memories of Buffalo Bill, the first biography of William F. Cody to appear after his death, strikes a celebratory tone in narrating highlights of his life and enterprises. Through its introduction, notes, and appendixes, this edition offers a broader context for the Codys’ marriage, evidencing its private realities and the collaboration required to preserve the Buffalo Bill image in the public eye. Out of print since its first publication, Louisa Cody’s memoir highlights the processes involved in crafting and preserving a national myth. Both for what it does and does not say, it was the first step in laying a foundation for the enduring legacy of Buffalo Bill as an American icon.
Nebraska Government and Politics, edited by Robert Blair, Christian L. Janousek, and Jerome Deichert. Series: Politics and Governments of the American States
Nebraska Government and Politics offers an in-depth examination of the connection between the political culture, traditions, and heritage of Nebraska and its governmental institutions. This new edition discusses federalism, constitutionalism, and the continuing American frontier, paying special attention to the effects and frameworks of Nebraska’s political culture. The contributors emphasize enduring trends and issues through Nebraska’s history as they examine the cultural foundations of the state’s political institutions, the major governmental structures in the state, and the political and administrative relationships at play. The chapters cover periodic populism, the state constitution, nonpartisanship and direct democracy, budgeting and financial policies, the unicameral, the executive branch, local government, political culture, and capital punishment.
Robert Blair, Christian L. Janousek, and Jerome Deichert provide a long view of Nebraska, a state whose unique political culture is reflected in its institutions.
Old Rags and Iron: New and Selected Poems, by R.F. McEwen. Series: Ted Kooser Contemporary Poetry
Old Rags and Iron is a collection of narrative poems about the life experiences of working-class people with whom the author, R. F. McEwen, is not only acquainted but whose lives he has shared. McEwen supplemented his income as a teacher while working as a professional logger and tree trimmer, and he writes with great love and respect for blue-collar families.
Set primarily in the back-of-the-yard neighborhood of South Side Chicago, where McEwen grew up, as well as Pine Ridge, South Dakota, western Nebraska, Ireland, and elsewhere, the poems celebrate many voices and stories. Utilizing tree-trimming as a central metaphor, these poems of blank verse fictions reverberate like truth.
Silence in the Quagmire: The Vietnam War in U.S. Comics, by Harriet E.H.Earle. Series: Encapsulations: Critical Comics Studies
Old Rags and Iron is a collection of narrative poems about the life experiences of working-class people with whom the author, R. F. McEwen, is not only acquainted but whose lives he has shared. McEwen supplemented his income as a teacher while working as a professional logger and tree trimmer, and he writes with great love and respect for blue-collar families.
Set primarily in the back-of-the-yard neighborhood of South Side Chicago, where McEwen grew up, as well as Pine Ridge, South Dakota, western Nebraska, Ireland, and elsewhere, the poems celebrate many voices and stories. Utilizing tree-trimming as a central metaphor, these poems of blank verse fictions reverberate like truth.
Tell Me About Your Bad Guys: Fathering In Anxious Times, by Michael Dowdy. Series: American Lives
Michael Dowdy perceives the world as a poet, one with an anxiety disorder. As a result he has rarely experienced fathering or his relationship with his daughter, A, as a linear narrative. Rather, his impressions of fathering coalesce in encounters with the conditions of our time, producing intense flashes of awareness and emotion. Critiquing his own fathering practices, Dowdy’s essays move between simplicity—being present for his daughter—and complexity—considering the harrowing present of entrenched misogyny, school shootings, climate change, and other threats to childing and fathering with love, optimism, and joy.
The essays in Tell Me about Your Bad Guys do not provide easy answers. They follow instead an interrogative mode, guided by A’s unruly questions and Dowdy’s desire to avoid fatherhood literature’s traps: false modesty, antic ineptitude, and defensive clowning. This means understanding fathering not as an ironclad identity or a cohesive story but as a process of trial and error, self-reflection, and radical openness. With measures of dark humor, the essays take seriously the literary, material, and political stakes of fathering and in doing so challenge patriarchal norms and one-dimensional accounts of fatherhood.
Thank You for Staying with Me: Essays, by Bailey Gaylin Moore. Series: American Lives
Urgent, meditative, and searching, Thank You for Staying with Me is a collection of essays that navigates the complexities of home, the vulnerability of being a woman, mother-daughter relationships, and young motherhood in the conservative and religious landscape of the Ozarks. Using cosmology as a foil to discuss human issues, Bailey Gaylin Moore describes praying to the sky during moments of despondency, observing a solar eclipse while reflecting on what it means to be in the penumbra of society, and using galaxy identification to understand herself. During a collision of women’s rights, gun policy, and racial tension, Thank You for Staying with Me is a frank and intimate rumination on how national policy and social attitudes affect both the individual and the public sphere, especially in such a conservative part of the United States.
Turning the Power: Indian Boarding Schools, Native American Anthropologists, and the Race to Preserve Indigenous Cultures, by Nathan Sowry. Series: Critical Studies in the History of Anthropology
In Turning the Power Nathan Sowry examines how some Native American students from the boarding school system, with its forced assimilationist education, became key cultural informants for anthropologists conducting fieldwork during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Salvage anthropologists of this era relied on Native informants to accomplish their mission of “saving” Native American cultures and ultimately turned many informants into anthropologists after years of fieldwork experience.
Sowry investigates ten relatively unknown Native American anthropologists and collaborators who, from 1878 to 1930, attended a religiously affiliated mission school, a federal Indian boarding school, or both. He tells the stories of Native anthropologists Tichkematse, William Jones, and James R. Murie, who were alumni of the Hampton Institute in Virginia. Richard Davis and Cleaver Warden were among the first and second classes to attend the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. Amos Oneroad graduated from the Haskell Indian Industrial Training School in Lawrence, Kansas, after attending mission and boarding schools in South Dakota. D. C. Duvall, John V. Satterlee, and Florence and Louis Shotridge attended smaller boarding and mission schools in Montana, Wisconsin, and Alaska Territory, respectively.
Turning the Power follows the forced indoctrination of Native American students and then details how each of them “turned the power,” using their English knowledge and work experience in the anthropological field to embrace, document, and preserve their Native cultures rather than abandoning their heritage.
**Pictures and Synopses courtesy of University of Nebraska Press.
#BookFaceFriday “House of Sticks: A Memoir” by Ly Tran
Get your hands on this #BookFaceFriday!

This #BookFace is a sneak peek at our next Book Club Spotlight! “House of Sticks: A Memoir” by Ly Tran (Scribner; First Edition; 2021), follows Ly’s life from childhood when her and her family immigrate from a small town along the Mekong river in Vietnam to a two-bedroom railroad apartment in Queens and she finds herself torn between two worlds.
A New York City Book Awards Hornblower Award Winner and one of Vogue and NPR’s Best Books of the Year, Ly Tran writes a deeply compelling memoir. We have 8 copies for your reading group to borrow in our Book Club Kit collection, and you can look forward to reading the upcoming spotlight on May 6th!“Powerful … showcases the tremendous power we have to alter the fates of others, step into their lives and shift the odds in favor of greater opportunity”
— Minneapolis Star Tribune
Book Club Kits Rules for Use
- These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
- Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
- Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
- Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Posted in Books & Reading, General
Tagged book club kit, Book Club Kits, Book Covers, bookface, bookfacefriday, books, House of Sticks, Ly Tran, Reading
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Friday Reads: “The Crime Brulée Bake Off” by Rebecca Connolly
I love watching cooking and baking shows. From classics like Masterchef, or more fun shows like Netflix’s Nailed It or Dropout’s Gastronauts, or YouTube content like Tasting History with Max Miller, there’s a plethora of options to choose from with different themes and vibes. But one show takes the cake, and that would be The Great British Bake Off. My friends and I will often have watch parties as the newest season airs, choosing bakers to root for as the season goes on. So when I visited my local library and saw The Crime Brûlée Bake Off by Rebecca Connolly with their new mystery arrivals, I was instantly interested and as soon as I had a chance to sit down and read it I found myself charmed by the parody it creates.
The novel follows Claire Walker, a teacher with a love for history who just learned that she will be one of the bakers on the newest season of Britan’s Battle of the Bakers. This season is set to take place on the estate of Blackfirth Park, where our secondary character and future love interest Viscount of Colburn Jonathan Ainsley lives. Claire’s peppy and quirky energy is juxtaposed with Jonathan’s more serious (and somewhat annoyed) tone every other chapter, swapping perspectives as the show goes on.
At first it seems like a simple re-imagining of the classic Bake Off show, with a few changes such as a cash prize. But after the first round of baking one of the bakers is found dead in the estate’s mill, the body found in the exact same way as the 10th Viscountess who had died mysteriously many years ago. The novel becomes a very fun murder mystery where the suspense grows alongside the budding romance between Claire and Johnathan, who are helping the lead detective look into the death and the various suspects. Some say it was the ghost of the Viscountess herself, the local government and showrunners are more than happy to say it was an accident, but they’re convinced it was a murder. But they need to prove it before the show ends, and hopefully before Claire gets sent home for a bad bake.
If you love The Great British Bake Off and enjoy a good romance mystery novel, The Crime Brûlée Bake Off makes for a fun and lighthearted read. Claire’s silly exclamations such as “crepes alive!” had me giggling, and the mystery of the murder kept me guessing. Plus, once you’re finished with the story there are six recipes in the back, each a story-relevant bake from the book. I certainly can’t wait to give one of them a try!
Connolly, Rebecca. The Crime Brûlée Bake Off. Shadow Mountain. 2025.
Posted in Books & Reading, Friday Reads, General
Tagged Book Review, books, Friday Reads, Novel, Reading, Rebecca Connolly, The Crime Brulee Bake Off
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#BookFaceFriday “The Trial and Execution of the Traitor George Washington” by Charles Rosenberg
We’re up in arms about #BookFaceFriday!

You say you want a revolution. Well, you know, we all want to change the world. If you devour military history books, love a good historical fiction, or are just looking for something new to read, check out what’s being showcased on the Nebraska OverDrive Library home page. you’ll find titles like this week’s #bookface, “The Trial and Execution of the Traitor George Washington: A Novel” by Charles Rosenberg (Harleqin Audio, 2018) which is a historical fiction read touted as “A thought-provoking novel that imagines what would have happened if the British had succeeded in kidnapping General George Washington.” It’s available as an audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is currently featured in the “250th Anniversary of the American Revolution” curated collection, along with many other novels and nonfiction centered around this particular piece of American history.
“If you love history, you love to speculate. When it comes to the American Revolution, Charles Rosenberg can speculate with the best of them: What if the British captured George Washington and spirited him off to England? And that’s just the beginning of this hugely satisfying journey through time… a fascinating premise, a brisk pace, a storytelling high-wire act performed as deftly, convincingly, and entertainingly as it can be done. If you love historical speculation, you will love this novel.”
— William Martin, New York Times bestselling Author of Citizen Washington and The Lost Constitution
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Book Spotlight – Other Words for Home
It’s National Library Week once again, and as always, the best way to support your library is to use your library! At the Commission, we provide Book Club Kits, which are available for any public library or school in Nebraska to use. We have a wide selection of titles available and reading the Book Club Spotlight is a great way to get to know our incredible collection! Today’s Book Club Spotlight, Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga, has been listed as a notable book for the Association for Library Service to Children, a Forbes Best Kids Book of 2019, and a Newbery Honor Book! Half-Jordanian, Warga was inspired by her community to write a story about how love and generosity can transcend country borders through the eyes of a young girl, arriving in America.
Jude is an average girl who enjoys her peaceful and fun life on the coast in Syria. She loves running around with her friend Fatima, and visiting her dad at his store as tourists bustle in and out. Whip-smart and confident, Jude often gets in trouble for talking too much, constantly being told to “skety!” (hush!) Her older brother, Issa, fights with her dad a lot about the future of their country, and Issa even moves out so he can better focus on helping others. Suddenly, their home isn’t so safe anymore. Jude and her pregnant mother move across the Atlantic Ocean to stay with family in far-flung Cincinnati, Ohio. There, Jude has to deal with all the normal middle school problems, but in a whole different country! She makes friends, learns English in her ESL class, and even auditions for the school play! It’s hard being the new kid, and here in the United States, she’s suddenly not so normal anymore.
“You will belong here.
– Jasmine Warga
You will belong wherever you want.
You will make anywhere beautiful”
Being from Syria, Jude’s first language is Arabic, and to express the expressive and lyrical Arabic language in English, Other Words for Home is written in free verse – meaning that it is written with poetic intent and metaphor that flows rhythmically but doesn’t have to rhyme. This can be a great introduction to readers learning about the different ways to write and tell stories. All ages of Book Club Groups can discuss how even though Jude faces difficulty in her new country, she stays true to herself. Warga hopes young readers will be inspired by Jude’s big dreams, confidence, and love for her culture. Like other middle schoolers, Jude is trying to navigate growing up like anyone else, learning to fit in and find where to call “home”.
If you’re interested in requesting Other Words for Home for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 10 copies. (A librarian must request items)
Warga, Jasmine. Other Words for Home. Harper Collins. 2019.
#BookFaceFriday “On the Trail: A History of American Hiking” by Silas Chamberlin
Take a hike with #BookFaceFriday!

Take in the sunshine and breath some fresh air. “On the Trail: A History of American Hiking” by Silas Chamberlin (Yale University Press, 2016) is the first history of the American hiking community and its contributions to the nation’s vast network of trails.
Delving into unexplored archives, including those of the Appalachian Mountain Club, Sierra Club, Green Mountain Club, and many others, Silas Chamberlin recounts the activities of hikers who over many decades formed clubs, built trails, and advocated for environmental protection. It’s available as an eBook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is currently featured in the “Take a Hike!” curated collection, along with many other novels about hiking and the wilderness.“This winning, thought-provoking book offers insight into a relatively unknown aspect of environmental history.”
— Library Journal (starred review)
Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!
Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Book Club Spotlight – Mad Honey
Written by bestselling authors Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, today’s Book Club Spotlight, Mad Honey, was made possible by the power of the internet and a (literal) dream. Known for their thoughtful and provoking works, Picoult, a writer on complex and controversial issues, and Boylan, the President of PEN America, combine their talents into a riveting story of love, identity, and tragedy. As Women’s History Month ends with the celebration of International Transgender Day of Visibility on the 31st, both topics are at the heart of today’s Spotlight.
“Mad Honey”- a sweet comfort turned poison by the pollinators we thought we could trust. In a small New Hampshire town, beekeeper Olivia McAfee has worked hard to keep her teenage son away from the world’s poison, including her abusive ex-husband. But now Asher’s girlfriend, Lily, is dead, and all fingers point towards him. All the while, Lily’s own story falls back through time, from the day she died to her first meeting with Asher. It was true love. Sure, he could get angry, but it was love- wasn’t it? In the present, Olivia must work through the pain of seeing her child accused of murder, not knowing if she can trust the boy she raised, while mourning for the tender girl they lost.
“Everybody is always still trying to learn, day after painful day, how to be themselves. I can’t wait”
– Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Told in dual timelines, Mad Honey shines in one cohesive text, drawn together by the dangerous reality of womanhood. The reader, like Olivia, goes back and forth throughout the novel, unsure of Asher’s innocence, scared that he’s not. But will the truth change the reality of Lily’s fate? A suspenseful novel for mature young adults and adult Book Club Groups, Mad Honey asks how much our identities and the past shape us. And how far would we go to defend a loved one. For fans of Picoult, her recurring character Jacob McAfee from The Pact, Nineteen Minutes, and Salem Falls makes an appearance as the family’s whip-smart lawyer.
If you’re interested in requesting Mad Honey for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 5 copies. (A librarian must request items)
Picoult, Jodi and Jennifer Finney Boylan. Mad Honey. Ballantine Books, 2022.