April 11th is national pet day! To celebrate at the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers, we have compiled a discovery list of books and movies that our pets recommend!
Tessie Recommends: The Beagle Handbook by Dan Rice
Here is detailed advice for owners of this cheerful breed, which is adaptable as a hunter or a household pet. Titles in this pet care series are similar to Barron’s Complete Pet Owner’s Manuals, but are larger, with more detailed instruction and more illustrations. The books advise pet owners on purchase, health care, nutritious feeding, proper housing and other facts important to owners and their pets. All books in this series have dozens of high quality, full-color photos and instructive line drawings.
Kate and Percy Recommend: The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone was the brainchild of Emmy Award-winner Rod Serling, who served as host and wrote more than 80 episodes of the original show’s 150-plus episode run. It’s a strange mix of horror, science-fiction, drama, comedy and superstition. Serling introduced each episode, and many of the black and white episodes concluded with a surprise ending. Actors such as Burt Reynolds, Roddy McDowell and Robert Redford made appearances in some of the more well-known stories.
Coyote Recommends: The Witch
A family in 1630s New England faces destruction by the forces of witchcraft, black magic, and possession. When one of their five children goes missing and their life-sustaining crops fail, they fall victim to paranoia and fear as they begin to turn on one another.
Coyote Recommends: The Shining
Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren’t prepared for the madness that lurks within.
Pawscar Wilde Recommends: Seek You by Kristen Radtke
When Kristen Radtke was in her twenties, she learned that, as her father was growing up, he would crawl onto his roof in rural Wisconsin and send signals out on his ham radio. Those CQ calls were his attempt to reach somebody–anybody–who would respond. In Seek You, Radtke uses this image as her jumping off point into a piercing exploration of loneliness and the ways in which we attempt to feel closer to one another. She looks at the very real current crisis of loneliness through the lenses of gender, violence, technology, and art. Ranging from the invention of the laugh-track to Instagram to Harry Harlow’s experiments in which infant monkeys were given inanimate surrogate mothers, Radtke uncovers all she can about how we engage with friends, family, and strangers alike, and what happens–to us and to them–when we disengage. With her distinctive, emotionally charged drawings and unflinchingly sharp prose, Kristen Radtke masterfully reframes some of our most vulnerable and sublime moments.
Harper Recommends: Medium Mentor by MaryAnn DiMarco
Techniques to Awaken Divine Guidance and Transform Your Life Written by an experienced psychic medium and teacher, Medium Mentor will guide you to connect more deeply to your soul’s innate abilities and employ them to enhance your everyday life and serve others. Through true stories and expert tips, MaryAnn DiMarco reveals the magic, joy, and responsibility of developing psychic gifts and working with souls on the Other Side, as well as how to interpret the powerful energy you experience and establish boundaries. MaryAnn’s deep wisdom comes through as she teaches you to create your own unique approach to intuition and understand and implement universal guidance.
Sweetie Recommends: Compleat Cat by Cleveland Amory
Cleveland Amory’s three classic cat stories have been compiled for the first time into one edition, The Compleat Cat, an enchanting, moving, and humorous collection. A self-confessed curmudgeon and dog lover firmly established in his ways, Cleveland Amory never anticipated how one dirty and scrawny alley cat could affect his life so dramatically. Underneath the New York grime of this hungry stray hid a shimmering white coat and an endearing pair of green eyes; Amory was smitten, and Polar Bear moved right in.
In The Cat Who Came for Christmas, Amory crafts a charming narrative between cat and owner. Polar Bear converses through the swish of his tail, a look in his eye, and the tone of his meow. A humorous battle of wits ensues between the headstrong owner and the even more stubborn cat.
Amory’s second book, The Cat and the Curmudgeon, draws us deeper still into the lives of Polar Bear and Amory, as cat and human face fame, romance, and everyday domestic crises. Now rather famous, Polar Bear is uneasy about his new celebrity status, interested only in eating his fan mail.
Amory’s final Polar Bear book, The Best Cat Ever, takes a more serious twist: both cat and owner fall ill with arthritis and old-age complications. Amory takes Polar Bear on the cat’s final trip–a jaunt back to his college days, where we learn more about Amory’s fascinating past.
Willow Recommends: The City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what’s normal when you’re a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who’s becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn’t ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary’s only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father. To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?
Kai Recommends: Dog
With a dog named Lulu by his side, Army Ranger Briggs races down the Pacific Coast to make it to a soldier’s funeral on time. Along the way, Briggs and Lulu drive each other completely crazy, break a handful of laws, narrowly evade death, and learn to let down their guards to have a fighting chance of finding happiness.
