Tag Archives: Nebraska OverDrive Libraries

#BookFaceFriday – “Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind” by Nate Bargatze

Have a laugh with #BookFaceFriday!

So many #BookFace‘s, so little time! If you’re feeling like you didn’t get a chance to read all the amazing books that came out last year, or you just like to wait until the hold lines are shorter, you’ll love this week’s highlighted Overdrive collection. One of those amazing books published in 2025 was “Big Dumb Eyes” by Nate Bargatze (Grand Central Publishing, 2025), the comedian’s first book, full of heart and his classic funny stories. This title is available as an eBook and Audiobook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is a part of the curated collection, “Best Books of 2025.” Find out what you missed last year in this great collection of over 300 titles.

“I Went To Career Day For My Daughter’s School… They Put Me At A Table With A Surgeon… They Asked Him, ‘How Long Do You Have To Go Have To Go To School To Be A Surgeon?’ He’s Like, ’54 Years,’ Or Whatever. They Asked Me, ‘How Long To Be A Comedian?’ I Was Like, ‘You’re Good Now'” Nate Bargatze

“The Southern comic delivers a good-natured memoir of his years in the trenches… Bargatze never takes himself too seriously, but there’s plenty of grown-up self-awareness here along with the yucks.”

Kirkus Reviews

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 192 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,081 audiobooks, 44,746 eBooks, and 6,170 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!

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#BookFaceFriday “The Last Death of the Year: A Novel” by Sophie Hannah

Our new year’s resolution is more #BookFaceFriday!

Ring in the new year in murderous style with this week’s #BookFace! “The Last Death of the Year: A Novel” by Sophie Hannah (William Morrow, 2025) is the sixth book in Hannah’s New Hercule Poirot Mystery Series, based on Agatha Christie’s original Hercule Poirot Series. “The Last Death of the Year” is available on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries as both an ebook and audiobook, along with the first 5 books in the series as audiobooks. Agatha Christie’s original Hercule Poirot series is also available as audiobooks on Nebraska Overdrive Libraries. The Nebraska Library Commission has three Agatha Christie novels available as Book Club Kits, including “And Then There Were None”, ” The Big Four”, and “Postern of Fate”.

“Sophie Hannah does an egoless, silky job of reviving Agatha Christie’s beloved Belgion detective Hercule Poirot…enough so to hope that Hannah turns to Miss Marple next.”

USA Today

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 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!

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#BookFaceFriday “The Christmas Heirloom” by Kristi Ann Hunter, Becky Wade, Sarah Loudin Thomas, and Karen Witemeyer

Nothing brings people together like #BookFaceFriday!

Some gifts are meant to last, like in this week’s #BookFace! “The Christmas Heirloom: Four Holiday Novellas of Love through the Generations” by Kristi Ann Hunter, Becky Wade, Sarah Loudin Thomas, and Karen Witemeyer (Bethany House Publishers, 2018) is a collection of four heartwarming Christmas novellas about love, faith, and the power of family all tied together through a mysterious brooch passed from mother to daughter for generations. The ebook is available on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is part of the curated collection “Warm Up With Holiday Reading.” Find your perfect winter read in this collection of over 470 titles, available all December.

“Perfect for the Christmas season, four beloved authors bring their bestselling, award-winning talents to a multigenerational collection of romantic holiday novellas. In stories ranging from 1820s Regency England to present-day Washington state, readers will be treated to Christmas tales of an heirloom brooch passed from mother to daughter for almost two hundred years. Will the family legend claiming the brooch brings love to its recipient hold true for these women separated by the years but bonded together by the ties of family?”

From the Back Cover

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 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!

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#BookFaceFriday “Christmas Shopaholic” by Sophie Kinsella

It’s a #BookFaceFriday shopping spree!

Still trying to finish your holiday shopping? This week’s #BookFace has you covered! “Christmas Shopaholic: A Novel” by Sophie Kinsella (The Dial Press, 2019) is the 9th book in Kinsella’s Shopaholic series that follows Rebecca Bloomwood through her adventures in life, romance, and of course shopping. The entire series is available as an ebook or audiobook on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. “Christmas Shopaholic” is also a part of the curated collection, “Warm Up With Holiday Reading.” Find your perfect winter read in this collection of over 470 titles, available all December.

“Becky is still a hardworking, eminently lovable character who just wants to do the right thing, even if she usually screws everything up and finds herself in hilariously awful situations. . . . A laugh-out-loud funny book that will delight longtime Kinsella fans and those looking for a cozy holiday story.”

Kirkus Reviews

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 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!

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#BookFaceFriday “Dory Fantasmagory” by Abby Hanlon

It’s a fantasmagory #BookFaceFriday!

This week’s #BookfaceFriday is bursting with character!

Dory Fantasmagory” (Dial Books, 2015) is the first in Abby Hanlon’s ongoing children’s series all about Dory. Recommended for kids in grades 1-4, “Dory Fantasmagory” is filled humor and charming pencil-drawn illustrations. It’s available as a Book Club Kit from the Nebraska Library Commission, with 3 copies for your reading group to borrow.
You can also find the next five books in the Dory Fantasmagory series as audiobooks through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries: Kids & Teens.

This title came to us via a donation from Sower Books in Lincoln! We love that book stores and book clubs around the state regularly donate their books so that more people can read them. So we want to say a big THANK YOU to all those who have sent us donations!

“This inventive child is irresistible…Charming, funny and true to life.”

Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. 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. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 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!

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#BookFaceFriday “The Christmas Bookshop” by Jenny Colgan

Merry #BookFaceFriday!

Whether you participate in the Icelandic tradition of Jólabókaflóð, or just love gifting books, we can’t recommend shopping at your local bookstores enough and this week’s #BookFace presented the perfect opportunity to highlight one! If you’re just looking for a cozy festive read, check out “The Christmas Bookshop: A Novel” by Jenny Colgan (‎HarperCollins, 2021) available as an ebook and audiobook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. It’s a part of the the curated collection, “Warm Up With Holiday Reading.” Find your perfect winter read in this collection of over 470 titles, available all December.

“Colgan’s new Edinburgh-set Christmas novel is full of references to books, descriptions of the twisty insides of a bookshop, and fun details about Scotland, Quakerism, and the centuries-old Great Yew Tree of Ormiston. Get ready to root for these charming characters as they bungle their way toward a merry Christmas.”

Library Journal (starred review)

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 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!

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Friday Reads and #BookFaceFriday – “Taste of Home: The Best Family Feast”

This combo #BookFace & #FridayReads is cooking up a great meal!

It’s that time of year again where we’re cooking big meals for family events, and sometimes that means being brave and trying new recipes. I found a simple solution with easy access to magazines on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries! “Taste of Home” just one of 4,615 English titles now available as an eBook from Nebraska OverDrive Libraries! Magazines do not count against a reader’s checkout limit of 6, and magazine issues may be checked out for 7, 14, or 21 days, depending on your library’s policy. Along with all the English-language titles, you have access to Spanish-language titles, and many other languages including French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Afrikaans, and Italian.

With 50+ recipes to choose from, it’s fun looking for something new to try in the kitchen. The issue has recipes for Thanksgiving classics such as a Favorite Dutch Apple Pie, Foolproof Gravy, and Parker House Rolls, along with some more fun and funky iterations like Oyster Stuffing, Dill Pickle Potato Salad, and Sweet Potato Coconut Pie with Marshmallow Meringue. However my favorite option is the Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake, a delicious looking combination of two of my favorite desserts. With the clear instructions that Taste of Home provides, I’m hoping to make a yummy dessert for my family to share on the holidays.

Taste of Home is America’s #1 cooking magazine and your #1 recipe resource for delicious, family-favorite dishes! And you’ll love the variety—200+ easy recipes and tips in every issue will help make any occasion special, from everyday meals to holiday celebrations.”

Taste of Home Blurb

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 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 in our Book Club collectionpermanent collection, and Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

Taste of Home: The Best Family Feast. September 26, 2025.

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#BookFaceFriday “Walking in Two Worlds” by Wab Kinew

Watch your step! It’s #BookFaceFriday!

November is National Native American Heritage Month Month, join in paying tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans. Check out “Walking in Two Worlds” by Wab Kinew (Tundra Book Group, 2021). It’s a YA fantasy novel about a teenage girl caught between her gaming life online and the real world. It’s available as an audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is a part of the “Native American Heritage” curated collection. Peruse this collection of over 160 titles that range from YA to nonfiction, available all November.

“With dizzying action set in virtual reality, Walking in Two Worlds is at once exhilarating, clever, and poignant, seamlessly blending traditional knowledge with science fiction for an important entry into the genre of Indigenous Futurism. It doesn’t just walk in two worlds, it sprints.”

David A. Robertson, award-winning author of the bestselling The Barren Grounds

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!

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#BookFaceFriday – “Victorian Psycho” by Virginia Feito

Happy Halloween #BookFaceFriday!

It’s a #BookFace bloodbath! If you’re still looking for a Halloween read consider checking out the suspenseful thriller “Victorian Psycho” by Virginia Feito (Liveright, 2025), a riveting tale of a bloodthirsty governess who learns the true meaning of vengeance. This title is available as an eBook and Audiobook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is a part of the curated collection, “Scare Up a Good Book: Horror and dark reads.” Find your perfect horror read in this collection of over 250 titles, available all October.

“Sleek, deadly and paced like a runaway train, Feito’s novel is an absolutely delectable mashup of horror sensibilities, and one of 2025’s must-read genre releases. …At just 200 pages, Victorian Psycho is lean, lithe and clear in its purpose and its violent delights. It’s a book you can easily finish in a single sitting, yet Feito’s prose is so dense with meaning and subtlety that you may just pick it right back up again.”

BookPage, 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. 192 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,081 audiobooks, 44,746 eBooks, and 6,170 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!

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#BookFaceFriday – “Everyone is Lying to You” by Jo Piazza

Smile pretty it’s #BookFaceFriday!

Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead in this week’s #BookFaceFriday! This social media influencer thriller is sure to keep you on your toes; check out “Everyone is Lying to You: A Thriller” by Jo Piazza (Dutton, 2025.) This title is available as an eBook and Audiobook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is a part of the curated collection, “Scare Up a Good Book: Horror and dark reads.” Find your perfect horror read in this collection of over 250 titles, available all October.

“Jo Piazza dazzles in Everyone Is Lying To You, pairing a witty, inviting tone with a pulpy, seedy mystery full of sharp twists–a combination as fun as it is clever. . . . Add to that Piazza’s deliciously ripped-from-the-headlines plot, and you have the makings of an edgy, juicy thriller that doesn’t let up until its explosive end.”

—Bookreporter

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 192 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,081 audiobooks, 44,746 eBooks, and 6,170 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!

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#BookFaceFriday “1984” by George Orwell

Sometimes it feels like #BookFace is watching me!

“Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights!” is the theme of this year’s #BannedBooksWeek, and we are celebrating with a banned #BookFace! The Nebraska Library Commission supports readers and the freedom to read so we make sure our various collections reflect that. “1984” by George Orwell (Signet Classic, 1961) has been challenged and banned for its political themes, particularly being perceived as pro-communist or anti-government, its explicit sexual content, and its portrayal of surveillance and censorship. A book is considered challenged when calls are made for it to be banned or removed from the public’s access. This is one of many banned or challenged titles NLC has available in our Book Club Kit Collection, titles like The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Looking For Alaska by John Green, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling, just to name a few.  This week’s #BookFace and other banned books can be found on the NLC Book Club Kit webpage. This service allows libraries and school librarians to “check out” multiple copies of a book without adding to their permanent collections, or budgets. NLC also has several banned or challenged titles available to our Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, including “1984” as both an ebook and an audiobook.

“This work remains as powerful, timely, and important now as it was when first published in 1949—even more so as Orwell’s totalitarian vision unfolds disquietingly in the present day. The novel challenges students with thought-provoking ideas that will spark discussion, composition, research, and debate. In one of the original dystopian cautionary tales, past history is changed to serve an agenda and independent thought is outlawed. Orwell’s text guides readers out of complacency so that they never slacken the vigil against oppression.”

— School Library Journal

You can find more information about Banned Books Week and the fight against censorship at ALA.org/advocacy/bbooks! What are you doing to celebrate Banned Books Week? Let us know!

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. 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. 192 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,081 audiobooks, 44,746 eBooks, and 6,170 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!

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#BookFaceFriday – “Tender is the Flesh” by Agustina Bazterrica

You’ll want to devour this #BookFaceFriday!

I ate this #BookFace with some fava beans and a nice Chianti! Spooky season is upon us and nothing sets the vibe like a scary story. This week’s #BookFaceFriday is the perfect way to get your adrenaline flowing; check out “Tender is the Flesh” by Agustina Bazterrica (‎Scribner, 2020.) This title is available as an eBook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is a part of the curated collection, “Scare Up a Good Book: Horror and dark reads.” Find your perfect horror read in this collection of over 250 titles, available all October.

“From the first words of the Argentine novelist Agustina Bazterrica’s second novel, Tender Is the Flesh, the reader is already the livestock in the line, reeling, primordially aware that this book is a butcher’s block, and nothing that happens next is going to be pretty.”

—New York Times Book Review

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 192 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,081 audiobooks, 44,746 eBooks, and 6,170 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!

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#BookFaceFriday “George Norris, Going Home: Reflections of a Progressive Statesman”

In order to form a more perfect #BookFace!

This past Wednesday, September 17th, was Constitution Day, celebrating the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. What better way to celebrate here in Nebraska than highlighting our own contributor to the Constitution, Senator George Norris? Senator George William Norris was the main author and sponsor of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution (the “Lame Duck” amendment), which shortened the time period between the November election and the date when the newly-elected officials take office. He was also instrumental in the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Rural Electrification Act. Closer to home, he secured the funding for the Tri-County Project that helped create the Kingsley Dam and Lake McConaughy, and he led the conversion of Nebraska’s legislature from a bicameral to unicameral system, which remains the only one-house legislative system in the United States. Check out “George Norris, Going Home: Reflections of a Progressive Statesman by Gene A. Budig and Don Walton (Bison Original, 2013), with a preface by George W. Norris, is one of many titles about Senator Norris available in the Nebraska Library Commission’s government documents collection, as well as Nebraska Overdrive Libraries.

One of the most prestigious academic presses in the country, the University of Nebraska Press sends us around 75 select titles per year, which are added to the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse, also known as the Nebraska State Documents Collection. This collection is comprised of publications issued by Nebraska state agencies, ensuring that state government information is available to a wide audience and that those valuable publications are preserved for future generations. University of Nebraska Press books, as well as all state documents, are available for checkout by libraries and librarians for their patrons.

“A remarkable account of the life of one of the most influential politicians in the last hundred years. . . . His extraordinary achievements for all American people offer a rare glimpse at what can be achieved when people and politicians put aside narrow interests. . . . Budig and Walton have produced a short and powerful document that draws on the reflections of the Senator and others who knew him at the end of his life. It would serve us well if a copy of this book were in every school library across the country.”

—Richard Sterling, former president of the National Writing Commission

This title can also be found as a eBook on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. 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!

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#BookFaceFriday “Family Ties” by Gary Paulsen

As far as anyone knows we’re one big happy #BookFace!

Snap a picture, it’s time for this week’s #BookfaceFriday, “Family Ties” by Gary Paulsen (Wendy Lamb Books, 2014). Book five in his Liar Liar series, family antics and the ties that bind are put on center stage in this quirky, funny YA read. Family Ties is available as a book club kit from the Nebraska Library Commission. You can also find the first four books in the Liar Liar series as e-books through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries: Kids & Teens. Family ties is one of thirteen titles by Gary Paulsen available to schools and public libraries as a book club kit.

This title came to us via a donation from the John A. Stahl Library in West Point! We love that book clubs around the state regularly donate their books so that more book clubs can read them. So we want to say a big THANK YOU to all those who have sent us donations!

“The fifth book (following Vote) about now fourteen-year-old Kevin Spencer is funny and off-beat. He continues to see life through his self-centered lens, but, in a bid to impress the beautiful Tina, Kevin volunteers to plan his uncle’s wedding. The plot is a bit over-the-top, but since Kevin is not an entirely reliable narrator, readers won’t expect logic.”

School Library Journal

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. 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? 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!

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#BookFaceFriday “Fish Out of Water” by Katie Ruggle

Dive in to #BookFaceFriday!

This #BookFace will have you gasping for air. Now that the kids are back in school, hopefully all of you moms out there have a little more time for reading, and if you enjoy a good romance novel you’ll want to check out “Fish Out of Water: A Novel” by Katie Ruggle (Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2024). It’s a slow burn to spicy romance novel set in the Colorado wilderness, with the classic tropes of grumpy hero, charming heroine, and only one sleeping bag. It’s available as an eBook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is one of sixteen Katie Ruggle titles we have in the OverDrive collection.

“Romance lovers will have no trouble rooting for this raunchy heroine and her strong, protective hero.”

Publisher’s Weekly

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!

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#BookFaceFriday “Flunked” by Jen Calonita

Will this #BookFaceFriday be on the test?

Grab your spell books and pencils, it’s time to go back to (reform) school with this week’s #BookfaceFriday, Flunked by Jen Calonita
(Sourcebooks, 2015). Gilly Cobbler, one of the many children that lives in the old woman’s shoe, is caught stealing to help feed her brothers and sisters, and is packed off to the Fairy Tale Reform School to change her ways. The first book in the Fairy Tale Reform School series, it’s available as an e-book and audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries: Kids & Teens and is currently in the “My School is Magic!: juvenile books about magical schools” collection. Featured on the Kids & Teens main page, this curated collection is full of fantasy, folklore, mythology, and fun!

“Calonita blithely samples from fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and folklore in this lighthearted first book in the Fairy Tale Reform School series…. Recognizable fairy-tale characters abound (profiles of the school’s instructors, like Xavier Wolfington, the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, appear throughout), and questions of whether goodness or badness run to the core of a person leave readers with plenty to consider.”

Publishers Weekly

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!

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#BookFaceFriday & the Jane Austen Book Club

Resting #BookFace

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a reader in possession of free time, must be in want of a #BookFaceFriday. “Northanger Abbey,” “Persuasion,” “Emma,” and “Pride and Prejudice” all by Jane Austen are this week’s #BookFaceFriday picks, and they are all available, along with “Mansfield Park,” and “Sense and Sensibility,” in our Book Club Kit collection. Inspired by the Jane Austen book club from Papillion utilizing our collection, we wanted to highlight what we have available in our Book Club Kits for groups interested in reading a single author. Other authors we have more than six titles by include: Debbie Macomber – 25; Jodi Picoult – 21; Elin Hilderbrand – 19; Nicholas Sparks – 16; Richard Paul Evans – 14;  Elizabeth Berg – 13; Barbara Kingsolver 13; Carl Hiaasen – 12; Gary Paulsen – 12; Beverly Lewis – 11; Kristin Hannah – 10; John Grisham – 10;  Louise Erdrich- 9; Fannie Flagg – 9; Neil Schusterman – 8; Toni Morrison – 8; Jerry Spinelli – 8; Sandra Dallas – 8; David Sedaris – 7; Liane Moriarty – 7; Jo Nesbo – 7; Ann Patchett – 7 ; Anne Tyler – 7;  and Judy Blume – 7.

“witty, clever, and engaging – and easy to read despite being written over 200 years ago. Austen is adored to this day for her sharp social commentary, and her vivid, complex characters, creating novels that continue to entertain and enchant.”

Penguin Random House

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. 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!

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#BookFaceFriday “My Ideal Boyfriend is a Croissant” by Laura Dockrill

Sink your teeth into #BookFaceFriday!

Well butter my #Bookface and call me a biscuit, because this week we’ve got something good a cooking. Just kidding, My Ideal Boyfriend is a Croissant: A Novel by Laura Dockrill (Delacorte Press, 2019) isn’t a cookbook, it’s a funny teen drama centered around one sixteen year old’s relationship with food, her body, and life. It’s available as an audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries: Kids & Teens and is currently in the “Sunshine & Reading Time: YA beach reads” collection. Featured on the Kids & Teens main page, this collection has the 300 titles ranging from romance to sci-fi to thriller, and we think it’s the perfect way to soak up just a little more summer.

“BB’s honesty, her comfort with her own body, and her love for her family and best friend shine through. Full of heart, BB’s authentic voice will strike a chord with anyone who doesn’t want to be defined by the way they look.”

School Library Journal

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!

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#BookFaceFriday “The Friday Night Knitting Club” by Kate Jacobs

It’s the #BookFaceFriday Night Knitting Club!

This #BookFace is calling for a cozy night in! “The Friday Night Knitting Club” by New York Times bestselling author Kate Jacobs (G.P. Putnam’s Sons; 2012) is the first Friday Night Knitting Club series, centered around a group of women gathering together in a New York City yarn shop to knit and share stories.

We have 20 copies for your reading group to borrow in our Book Club Kit collection, along with copies of the other two books in the Friday Night Knitting Club series. All three books are also available as an audiobook on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries.

“It’s all here—dating, love, motherhood, career, estrangement, death and, especially, friendships that span generations…[A] quick, fun, poignant yarn.”

The Seattle Times

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. 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!

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