In a town called Stain’d-by-the-Sea which is no longer by the sea and only barely still a town, Lemony Snicket and his chaperone, S. Theodora Markson, are called in to investigate the theft of a statue.  This statue, in the shape of a creature called the Bombinating Beast, is part of a feud between two families, so S. Theodora Markson is pretty sure she knows exactly where to find it.  Snicket, on the other hand, does some investigating and finds out that not only is the statue not actually stolen, it’s part of a larger mystery plaguing the formerly seaside town.  Can Snicket solve all of the town’s mysteries and avoid the help of his bumbling chaperone? Maybe, if he can stop asking all the wrong questions…

If you’ve read any of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events books, you’ll have a good idea of the kind of story you’re in for as Snicket recalls his youth and apprenticeship as a member of his unnamed organization.  If you haven’t, expect sarcasm, puns, and a lot of definitions of words that may or may not reflect their dictionary definitions.  I think Snicket’s books are great for kids because they do define a lot of difficult or obscure words and also regular words used in odd ways or sarcastically, and because they show kids doing a lot of good problem solving.  But if you want your kids to keep thinking that adults know everything, you may want to find a different series.

--Alison McCarty, Callahan Branch Library

Find Who Could That Be At This Hour? in the Nassau County Public Library System catalog.

It’s 1999, and Lincoln, a perpetual student with multiple Master’s degrees but no practical experience, has gotten himself a job reading a newspaper’s filtered emails to make sure that no employees are breaking any rules with their company-provided email accounts.  Two employees, Beth and Jennifer, are breaking lots of rules — sending personal emails on company time and using some prohibited words to boot — but their stories are so interesting that Lincoln can’t bring himself to write them a warning.  He keeps reading their emails that show up in the filter until one day he realizes that he has a huge crush on Beth.  Lincoln wants to stop reading the emails and start asking Beth out, but his job (and Beth’s boyfriend, for that matter) can only get in the way.

If you like romantic comedies of the Nora Ephron variety (especially my fave, You’ve Got Mail), I don’t know how you couldn’t like this novel.  The romance plot is as sweet and charming as Lincoln is, even when he’s crossing into dangerous ethical territory, and the emails between Beth and Jennifer are so fun and snarky that you understand why Lincoln would feel compelled to keep reading.  If you’re not romantically inclined, you can take this book instead as a look at Internet culture and how it has changed since 1999, and wonder how the story would play out in today’s age of sharing everything and having no expectation of privacy.  I prefer the sentimental, though.

--Alison McCarty, Callahan Branch Library

Find Attachments in the Nassau County Public Library System catalog.

This memoir by a thirteen-year-old boy with autism is based upon his communication using an alphabet grid created and translated to construct words he is unable to speak out loud.  The book is a series of questions posed to its author, Naoki, about his thinking, behavior, and inner life.  Novelist David Mitchell and his wife, KA Yoshida, translate the book, and Mitchell writes the introduction. The memoir is intended as an opportunity for readers to understand what occurs in the autistic mind and to answer questions about how this special class of persons feels, perceives, and responds to the world.

One of our local book clubs recently selected this title for discussion. Their conclusions were mixed, and I agree with the club’s overall sentiment that the depth of the memoir and its accurate reflection into the thoughts and feelings of its thirteen year old author, Naoki, may be compromised by its series of translations. Naoki chooses characters in an alphabet that is first decoded and translated by his mother, and the work is further translated into English. Nevertheless, this process is a commendable effort resulting in a book that promotes compassion and understanding of persons with autism. I would recommend it to anyone who is curious about autistic behavior. Parents and caregivers may find this book particularly interesting.

--Rosemary Szczygiel, Hilliard Branch Library

Find The Reason I Jump in the Nassau County Public Library System catalog.

In the future, the world is ruled by Epics, supervillains with varied powers ranging from super strength and invisibility to the ability to turn whatever is touched to steel.  The Epic with that power is called Steelheart and he rules the former city of Chicago, now turned largely to steel and always in darkness, as a barely benevolent dictator.  One young man called David has sought vengeance on this Epic for many years, so he uses his encyclopedic knowledge of Epics to team up with a resistance group and take down Steelheart once and for all.

    Strangely enough, the best part of this book about doom, gloom, and evil was the humor!  David has a terrible way with words that leads to many a baffling metaphor whose explanation is almost weirder than the metaphor itself, but his frequent pauses to explain his thoughts help to lighten the mood.  This book is the first in a series, with Firefight coming out later this year, and if the sequels are as good as this first book I will be first in line to read them when they arrive!

--Alison McCarty, Callahan Branch Library

Find Steelheart in the Nassau County Public Library System catalog.

After a terrorist attack on a New York art museum, 13-year-old Theo Decker is left without his mother or his home.  He finds himself relocated to the home of a childhood friend where he tries to keep his life as normal as possible, but since the attack also left him in possession of a stolen painting, that may not be as easy as it sounds.  The story follows Theo's life in New York, then Las Vegas with his formerly deadbeat father, and then back to New York where he makes a life for himself as an antique furniture dealer whose shady business dealings and still-hidden painting may ruin more lives than just his own.

If you shy away from giant literary novels (this one is around 800 pages) where nothing really happens, this book is probably not for you.  But I quite enjoyed the focus on Theo and how he deals with the death of his mother and abandonment by his father's family while also dealing with being a teenager, which is its own kind of difficult.  I also liked the insights into the worlds of rich New Yorkers, the year-round residents of Las Vegas, and art and furniture buyers and sellers, which are all things I am not.  If you're willing to spend a couple of weeks in a story that is mostly more interesting than exciting, you should definitely check out The Goldfinch.

--Alison McCarty, Callahan Branch Library

Find The Goldfinch in the Nassau County Public Library System catalog.