Book Lists

Browse curated book lists that we’ve put together just for you! These change seasonally or based on current events. You can also find books for our book groups here, as well as further reading.

Staff Picks: April 2021

Books about Libraries

Public library and other stories by Smith, Ali

The historian : a novel by Kostova, Elizabeth.

The bad-ass librarians of Timbuktu : and their race to save the world

This is what a librarian looks like : a celebration of libraries, communities, and access to information by Cassidy, Kyle

The book woman of Troublesome Creek : a novel by Richardson, Kim Michele

National Poetry Month: April 2021

African American poetry : 250 years of struggle & song by

Whale day : and other poems by Collins, Billy

American melancholy : poems by Oates, Joyce Carol

What kind of woman : poems by Baer, Kate

My daily actions, or the meteorites by Corfman, S. Brook

Violet bent backwards over the grass by Del Rey, Lana

Together in a sudden strangeness : America

When the light of the world was subdued, our songs came through : a Norton anthology of Native nations poetry by

The 100 best African American poems : (*but I cheated) by

Every day we get more illegal by Herrera, Juan Felipe

Devotions : the selected poems of Mary Oliver by Oliver, Mary

Dog Songs : thirty-five dog songs and one essay by Oliver, Mary

West wind : poems and prose poems by Oliver, Mary

Books with Floral Covers

It is wood, it is stone : a novel by Burnham, Gabriella

The rib king : a novel by Hubbard, Ladee

Oh garden of fresh possibilities! : notes from a Gloucester garden by Smith, Kim

With the fire on high by Acevedo, Elizabeth

International Women’s Day Reading List

Half of a yellow sun by Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi

In the time of the butterflies by Alvarez, Julia

Girl, woman, other by Evaristo, Bernardine

Lost children archive : a novel by Luiselli, Valeria

Convenience store woman by Murata, Sayaka

Conversations with friends by Rooney, Sally

The god of small things by Roy, Arundhati.

His only wife : a novel by Medie, Peace A.

American Library Association list of most challenged books in 2018

Every year, in honor of National Library Week (April 7-13, 2019), ALA publishes their list of the books that were most often challenged or banned in the past year. Here’s the list with links to our catalog for your banned book reading pleasure!

Reasons: series was challenged because it was perceived as encouraging disruptive behavior, while Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot was challenged for including a same-sex couple	Reasons: banned and challenged for including LGBTQIA+ characters and themes	Reasons: banned, challenged, and relocated because it was believed to encourage children to clear browser history and change their bodies using hormones, and for mentioning “dirty magazines,” describing male anatomy, “creating confusion,” and including a transgender character
Reasons: banned and challenged for including LGBTQIA+ content, and for political and religious viewpoints	Reason: challenged for depicting stereotypes of Mexican culture	Reasons: banned and challenged for sexual references, profanity, violence, gambling, and underage drinking, and for its religious viewpoint
Reasons: banned and challenged because it was deemed “anti-cop,” and for profanity, drug use, and sexual references	Reasons: banned, challenged, and restricted for addressing teen suicide	Reason: challenged and burned for including LGBTQIA+ content
Reasons: banned and challenged for profanity, sexual references, and certain illustrations	Reason: challenged and burned for including LGBTQIA+ content