Black text on white background that reads "Discovery Lists." On the image, there is a black film reel in the upper left-hand corner. On the bottom right hand corner, there is a music staff with music notes on it. Between the words "Discovery" and "Lists" there is a black and white sketch of an opened book with flowers growing out of it.

Celebrating Juneteenth: A Reading List

The Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, but it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay,…

Black text on white background that reads "Discovery Lists." On the image, there is a black film reel in the upper left-hand corner. On the bottom right hand corner, there is a music staff with music notes on it. Between the words "Discovery" and "Lists" there is a black and white sketch of an opened book with flowers growing out of it.

Celebrating LGBT+ Pride Month: A Discovery List

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, which was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. This month-long celebration demonstrates how LGBTQ Americans have strengthened our country, by using our…

Black text on white background that reads "Discovery Lists." On the image, there is a black film reel in the upper left-hand corner. On the bottom right hand corner, there is a music staff with music notes on it. Between the words "Discovery" and "Lists" there is a black and white sketch of an opened book with flowers growing out of it.

Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month: A Reading List

May is Jewish American Heritage Month! This month gives us the opportunity to celebrate the diverse and vibrant history, culture, and contributions of Jewish Americans through the years. There area many ways to celebrate Jewish American Heritage. One way we are celebrating at the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers is through this reading list that…

Black text on white background that reads "Discovery Lists." On the image, there is a black film reel in the upper left-hand corner. On the bottom right hand corner, there is a music staff with music notes on it. Between the words "Discovery" and "Lists" there is a black and white sketch of an opened book with flowers growing out of it.

Celebrating Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month: A Discovery List

May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10,…

Black text on white background that reads "Discovery Lists." On the image, there is a black film reel in the upper left-hand corner. On the bottom right hand corner, there is a music staff with music notes on it. Between the words "Discovery" and "Lists" there is a black and white sketch of an opened book with flowers growing out of it.

Celebrating Earth Day: A Discovery List

Earth Day is April 22nd! There are many ways to celebrate Earth Day, and one of the ways we are celebrating at the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers is through this discovery list of books and movies for all ages to enjoy about eco-friendly activities, climate justice, Indigenous land stewardship, sustainable living, enjoying the beauty…

"Native American Heritage Month" in yellow and green text on a black background. This logo is from: nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov

Native American Heritage Month: A Reading List

November is Native American Heritage Month. The National Congress of American Indians tells us: [t]he month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general…

The Month Ahead: March Young Adult Fiction

These new titles and many more will be available in the Teen Room. Children of Blood and Bone – Tomi Adeyemi “Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders…

It’s Teen Read Week!

What better way to celebrate than with a new YA novel, but if you’re not sure which to pick up next, we have a few suggestions: Reserve John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down and we’ll let you know when a copy is available for you. “It’s quite rare to find someone who sees the…

What I’m Reading Now

I met Franz Kafka over the body of a giant insect. It was, years upon years ago, an inauspicious introduction. And first impressions being what they are–misleading, mostly–I veered away from a second encounter, slipping quickly past the K’s (or the PT 2620’s, here) with downcast eyes. Then, well, then my epistolary leanings pitched me…

Jim Reviews: Unlikely Warrior: A Jewish Soldier in Hitler’s Army – Georg Rauch

The obvious hook of Georg Rauch’s memoir Unlikely Warrior: A Jewish Soldier in Hitler’s Army is how did a Jew end up in the German army in World War II? Until I read this book I would have thought it was impossible but apparently it was a thing (see Bryan Mark Rigg’s Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers). In Rauch’s case he grew up in a intellectual Austrian family in Vienna. He himself was christian but his Grandmother was Jewish so by Nazi doctrine he and his family were, although not destined for a concentration camp, considered 2nd class citizens.

Michelle Recommends (II)

Notes from the Internet Apocalypse – Wayne Gladstone Have you ever guffawed while reading? I mean, out of the blue: a burst of laughter, startling in the relative quiet. I did, with this book, not once or twice but so many times I lost count. This too-slim* satire imagines an internet-less world run amok with…

Linger – Maggie Stiefvater

After the events of Shiver, you would think that Grace and Sam would be on the road to a happy life together. Alas, that is not the case in this beautiful and eloquent sequel. Although Sam has seemingly found a way around his werewolf “curse” and is now fully human, he still has to come…

Coming Soon: Wintergirls ~ Laurie Halse Anderson

Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend’s restless spirit. In her most emotionally wrenching,…

Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception ~ Maggie Stiefvater

“Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She’s about to find out she’s also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a…

What I Saw and How I Lied ~ Judy Blundell

When Evie’s father returned home from World War II, the family fell back into its normal life pretty quickly.  But Joe Spooner brought more back with him than just good war stories.  When movie-star handsome Peter Coleridge, a young ex-GI who served in Joe’s company in postwar Austria, shows up, Evie is suddenly caught in…

Skin Deep ~ E.M. Crane

Everyone thinks the phoenix rises from the ashes, gleaming and unscathed. Until they know better. Andrea Anderson goes about her days something like a hamster on a treadmill. She keeps her head down and tries to go unnoticed with great success until the end of her sophomore year. Her eccentric neighbor, Mrs. Menapace,  gets sick…

Generation Dead ~ Daniel Waters

“All over the country, a strange phenomenon is happening. Some teenagers who die aren’t staying dead. They are coming back to life, but they are no longer the same — they stutter, and their reactions to everything are slower. Termed ‘living impaired’ or ‘differently biotic,’ they are doing their best to fit into a society…

The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

There are certain books that are intended for teens that adults can’t help but read. The Book Thief is one of those books. It is probably unlike any other book you have ever read. First off, it’s narrated by Death. Yeah, that’s right, Death. Here’s how he describes the book: It’s just a small story…

The Alchemyst, by Michael Scott

“The Alchemyst” is the first book in a new series called “The Secrets Of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel”, and it’s one of those Young Adult novels that will also appeal to adults. It introduces us to twins Sophie and Josh Newman who are destined to be the deciding factors in a war between “Humani” and…

Rain Village ~ Carolyn Turgeon

  If you’re looking to read something a little different, try this novel. The main character is Tessa Riley, a 12 year old girl living on a farm in Kansas. She just can’t seem to fit in. She is unusually petite, which makes her farm chores more difficult. Her family has very little use for…

The Siren Song, by Anne Ursu

“The Siren Song” picks up where the “Shadow Thieves” left off. Charlotte Mielswetzski and her cousin are still recovering from saving the world from an evil demigod named Philonecron. To make matters worse, Charlotte has been grounded by her parents and forced into therapy because she won’t tell them why she was out all night,…

Eclipse ~ Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer’s Eclipse. We waited patiently for it. We read it as soon as we could get our hands on it. ta calmly enjoyed it; kimb8 was quietly dismayed; and inkonvellum wanted to throw it across the room. Here is a collection of thoughts on the third installment in Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling young adult series……

Percy Jackson story posted on author’s blog

If you’re a Percy Jackson/Rick Riordan fan (as in The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, and The Titan’s Curse) you’ll want to take a virtual walk over to Riordan’s blog. He’s posted the first part of a never-before-seen Percy short story entitled Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot. For all of us who cannot…

Red Handed ~ Gena Showalter

Here’s the cool thing about Red Handed – besides the fact that it was really quite good – it’s a young adult novel that has an adult counterpart. But before I delve into that, a bit about Red Handed {via B&N.com}: “Phoenix Germaine has been trying to earn back her mother’s trust after going into…

Stormbreaker ~ Anthony Horowitz

If you’re a fan of James Bond, you’ll love Alex Rider. Sure, he may only be fourteen, but he knows his way around a karate kick and a Portuguese Man-of-War. Complete with gadgets – zit cream that can eat through eight inches of metal, anyone? – Alex infiltrates a computer manufacturing company to discover why…

Looking for Alaska ~ John Green

“I am concussed.”* I was so pleasantly surprised by John Green’s Looking for Alaska that I became concussed. Okay, so that’s not entirely true – I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed this novel, but I wasn’t the one concussed; no, that was Miles “Pudge” Halter, the remarkably reasonable and intelligent narrator of…

The Dead Girls’ Dance ~ Rachel Caine

Technically, The Dead Girls’ Dance is considered a young adult novel. But don’t let that put you off. Rachel Caine knows how to tell a good story and she creates wonderful characters. If you’re a fan of either of those concepts (and you don’t mind vampires) give her Morganville Vampire series a shot. (In case…

Books Laid Bare

What do you do when an avid teen reader comes to the desk looking for something great to read? If you haven’t been keeping up with the latest teen reads or if the perfect book doesn’t come to mind, Michelle has just the thing for you – Books Laid Bare. This is a separate blog…