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A deep night sky shows a sort of explosion, the tree line at the bottm is also illuminated.

Elevation by Stephen King

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A deep night sky shows a sort of explosion, the tree line at the bottm is also illuminated.

By Gabriela P.

Short on time? So is Scott Carey, the main character of Stephen King’s novella, Elevation. Forty-two years old and in relatively good health despite a disposition towards being heavy-set, Scott discovers he is afflicted with a strange condition where he continuously loses weight but not mass. Eventually, he comes to understand that, soon, he will literally be leaving the physical Earth as his weight plummets. With a divorce in his recent past, a too-large house, and a complacently settled routine in the town of Castle Rock, it takes two new neighbors moving in down the street to spur the unfolding of a moralistic but heartwarming comedy.

Scott’s two new neighbors are women. In his small town, same-sex relationships are at best tolerated…but same-sex marriage becomes a root for tension, gossip, and outright hostility. Scott himself bears no ill-will towards Deirdre and Myra, except a slight annoyance with their dog’s preferences for his lawn. When he confronts the two, he is received coldly, a result of a necessary guard the two have had to put up in the face of prejudice.

Unlike the plot development one might expect from a Stephen King story, Elevation does not dive into the wild undoing of a man and a town, but instead comedically highlights one man’s gradual, though admittedly somewhat naive, social enlightenment. While Scott Carey literally begins to leave the ground, he is also able to figuratively rise above prejudice. To really tug at the heartstrings, readers should consider the irony of strengthening bonds and belonging with an inevitable end.

Also available as eBook, eAudiobook on Overdrive and CloudLibrary, on CD, and in large print.

Gabriela is a customer service specialist at the Miller Branch. She loves long walks, reading with her dog, and a good cup of coffee.

A black cover with gold text and a mysterious illustration of the phases of the moon, a mystical eyes, and spiral all centered above a book.

A Deadly Education

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A black cover with gold text and a mysterious illustration of the phases of the moon, a mystical eyes, and spiral all centered above a book.

By Gabriela P.

Did you think your high school years were tough? Count yourself lucky that you could at least eat lunch without having monsters come at you. In Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education, Galadriel “El” Higgins goes to her classes, studies, and navigates her social sphere all while trying to stay alive. She attends the Scholomance, a school for magic, where there are no teachers, holidays, school events, or friendships. Attending students are suddenly thrown into this school located within a terrifying inter-dimensional void. With monsters, or “mals”, in every shadow and around every corner, the students have only one goal – to graduate, which means staying alive.

El is a junior at the Scholomance, and has a unique problem. While every other student has to figure out how to protect themselves from mals and students-gone-dark, she has to concentrate on not destroying everything she touches. A rather bothersome prophecy, something about her being the bringer of mass destruction, keeps her more preoccupied with making sure she doesn’t end up destroying the world than with making friends. Though in this school, friendships are usually strategic. When we are introduced to the snarky, anti-social El, she makes it clear that her only plan is to make it as close to graduation as she can without attracting unwanted attention to herself. Then, in her senior year, she plans to figure out how to impress students from well known magical enclaves to guarantee her and her mother’s safety during and after graduation. However, her not-so pleasant disposition means her chances are slim.

Orion Lake, a student from a major enclave with a major savior complex, is famous among the student body, mainly because he is pretty much responsible for the higher-than-normal survival rate of their junior class. When he saves El’s life once, then twice, the spotlight suddenly turns to her. Suddenly El has to figure out how to use the attention for her benefit, but ends up finding herself drawn into a much bigger problem. On top of all that, she finds herself stumbling upon the discovery that she might be…making friends.

A Deadly Education is a refreshing spin on well-known tropes; magic schools, I-hate-him-I-like-him, monsters with a taste for children – the usual. Naomi Novak skillfully builds a fantastical universe with dynamic characters that you can’t help but fall for. Darkly funny and terrifyingly captivating, this book is definitely one that you won’t put down until the end.

You can borrow A Deadly Education as a book, an eBook, and an eAudiobook.

A dark green cover with golden text and illustration of a keyhold with points and rays, and a dangling key.

The story continues (which you will want to do immediately) with The Last Graduate, and the third installment, The Golden Enclaves, is due this fall. The second book is also available as an eBook and an eAudiobook.

Gabriela is a customer service specialist at the Miller Branch. She loves long walks, reading with her dog, and a good cup of coffee.

The cover shows an old-fashioned, open pocket watch against a dark blue background, with simple hand-drawn celestial objects including moons, stars, and planets scattered around it.

The Pull of the Stars

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The cover shows an old-fashioned, open pocket watch against a dark blue background, with simple hand-drawn celestial objects including moons, stars, and planets scattered around it.

By Julie F.

“Many novels depict the brotherhood of men at war. Donoghue celebrates the sisterhood of women bringing life into the world and those who help them along this perilous journey.” – Wendy Smith, The Washington Post, July 21, 2020

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue mesmerizes in the best possible sense. Both the pacing and the claustrophobia of this novel are intense – but it’s claustrophobic in a way that fully serves the plot, as the reader finds themselves in the tiny, overcrowded pandemic maternity ward of a Dublin hospital in 1918, basically the size of a closet, with the Spanish flu raging and World War I coming to a close. The little room is witness to so much – grief, pain, joy, love, trauma, fear, friendship, teamwork, unity, discovery – with the stories of nurse Julia Power and her influenza-ridden patients at the forefront of the action. The reader is propelled through the story, into this place where the characters’ trials and triumphs, representative of those experienced by women across the globe and across millennia, are so poignantly described. It is a story that will impress the reader with its introspective attention to detail and historical accuracy.

Nurse Power is a formidable character: efficient, tenacious, fearless, full of seemingly inexhaustible reserves of energy. Yet she is still young and, although not naive, full of uncertainty in a world where children randomly end up orphaned, babies and/or mothers die in childbirth, unequal outcomes are dependent upon wealth and social class, and soldiers like her brother Tim return from the war front unable to speak – or don’t return at all. She tries so hard to keep a cheerful spirit for her patients and for her young volunteer, Bridie Sweeney, yet at one point finds herself asking, “Back to this moment – what would be asked of me this morning?” (169). Her story echoes those of countless women who served their communities and countries in wars past, nurses and doctors and midwives and ambulance drivers who never shirked what was asked of them.

Post-2020 readers will find much of the pandemic description sad and uncannily eerie; Donoghue delivered the manuscript to her publishers in March of 2020, two days before Covid was declared a pandemic. But at heart, while still managing to address the random heartaches individuals experience in a world rent asunder by war, disease, and traumatic personal loss, The Pull of the Stars remains a hopeful, inspiring story (as is the author’s more famous and equally claustrophobic Room), about women’s solidarity and strength when tackling what seem to be insurmountable medical issues.

The Pull of the Stars is availalble from HCLS in print and large print, and also as an ebook and an eaudiobook from Libby/OverDrive.

Julie is an instructor and research specialist at HCLS Miller Branch who finds her work as co-editor of Chapter Chats very rewarding. She loves gardening, birds, books, all kinds of music, and the great outdoors.

The book cover illustrates two children caught in the wind, one clutching a red cap and one covering ears with hands, as the wind blows leaves around them.

Spring Arrives with Children’s Books

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The cover depicts three little white kittens looking up at the cherry blossoms above as well as the title, superimposed in yellow script against a blue sky. A bumblebee flies above them and a robin perches in an overhead branch.

By Eliana H.

Spring has sprung! Or has it? As Kevin Henkes says in When Spring Comes, “It changes its mind a lot.” But whether you’re certain spring is here to stay or want to get in the mood to welcome it when it is, we have books for you. Here is a collection of books to share with young children focusing on themes of spring, especially growth and change. For more recommendations, visit your local branch and ask a member of our staff. We will be happy to help!

The book cover depicts a man and a girl in the foreground, on a green grassy hill, with a white house with a brown roof, trees with yellow-green foliage, and geese in formation in the sky in the background.

Birdsong by Julie Flett

First Nations author, illustrator, and artist Julie Flett brings her tender story to life with soft, striking illustrations in this beautiful book. It begins in spring, when a young girl is moving with her mother away from their home by the sea to a new house in the country. As the seasons pass, she grows used to her new home and gets to know her elderly neighbor, with whom she connects over their mutual love of art and nature. As spring returns, the young girl finds ways to comfort her ailing neighbor and realizes that she truly sees this new house as home now.

The book cover is a photograph of yellow and white flowers against a hazy background of gold and green foliage. The title is superimposed in white over the photograph.

Bloom Boom! by April Pulley Sayre

Seeing all the different flowers bloom is many people’s favorite part of spring. This volume showcases large photographs of a variety of blossoms in all different habitats accompanied by simple, rhyming text. The end includes notes about blooms in diverse ecosystems as well as details about the specific plants (and sometimes animals) on each page.

The book cover depicts a child in red rubber boots and a yellow rain jacket splashing in a puddle as raindrops fall and land on the ground.

Red Rubber Boot Day by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Lauren Stringer

What do you like to do on a very rainy day? Simple text and acrylic paintings bring readers along with an unnamed child in this book, as rain pours down and different activity options are explored. Share this with little ones and start a discussion about favorite things to do in different kinds of weather.

The cover depicts an older woman in a lavender traditional Japanese kimono, seated on the ground with a young girl in yellow pants, white top, and rose sweater. A branch with cherry blossoms hangs above them, with the title in rose-colored script.

Sakura’s Cherry Blossoms by Robert Paul Weston, illustrated by Misa Saburi

Sakura, named for the cherry blossoms she loves enjoying with her grandmother, has to move to America with her parents and leave all that she knew behind. Told in a series of tanka poems, a traditional Japanese poetry form similar to haiku but with two additional lines, this story follows Sakura as she becomes accustomed to her new life. Along the way, Sakura finds new friends and unexpected joys in this place so different from her former home.

The cover depicts a white rabbit against a background of green hills, with a budding sunflower to the left and a sunflower in full bloom to the right. The larger flower has a ladybug on one of the leaves.

What Will Grow? by Jennifer Ward, illustrated by Susie Ghahremani

Spring is a time when many of us become especially aware of the life cycles around us, as we can witness much of the change and growth happening. In this book, bright illustrations with friendly creatures accompany short, descriptive text on each page, which includes the title question followed by the answer. Some pages fold out, down, or up to show a larger plant, and notes at the end offer simple instructions for planting different kinds of seeds, along with an overview of the life cycle from seed to plant.

The book cover illustrates two children caught in the wind, one clutching a red cap and one covering ears with hands, as the wind blows leaves around them.

Wind by Carol Thompson (also available in a Spanish edition, Viento)

Blustery days are a sure sign of spring’s arrival. This simple board book uses line drawings with lots of movement to show young children experiencing wind. The sensory experience of a windy day is highlighted with a range of descriptive words, ending with the final quiet as the wind dies down. Other titles in the series explore different types of weather with Rain, Snow, and Sun (available in Spanish as Lluvia, Nieve, and Sol).

Eliana is a Children’s Research Specialist and Instructor at HCLS Elkridge Branch. She loves reading, even if she’s slow at it, and especially enjoys helping people find books that make them light up. She also loves being outside and spending time with friends and family (when it’s safe).

The book cover shows a boy in sideways silhouette in the back of a train caboose; he is seated on a bed with pillows and there is a desk with a lamp and a chair next to him. The small room contains a window with a cloudy bright sky, surreal because it is facing forward towards the next train car. The caboose in on a train track and is surrounded by a darkened landscape and skyscape depicting either dawn or dusk.

The Institute by Stephen King

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The book cover shows a boy in sideways silhouette in the back of a train caboose; he is seated on a bed with pillows and there is a desk with a lamp and a chair next to him. The small room contains a window with a cloudy bright sky, surreal because it is facing forward towards the next train car. The caboose is on a train track and is surrounded by a darkened landscape and skyscape depicting either dawn or dusk.

By Gabriela P.

Until recently, if someone mentioned Stephen King around me, all I pictured were the usual horror staples: clowns, spiders, dark hallways, mysteriously red and sticky substances. Of course my familiarity with King’s work was about the same as the average media consumer – starting and ending with the Hollywood blockbusters like It and The Shining. As a reader who prefers historical fiction over horror, I never ventured into his dizzyingly enormous body of work.

It was not until my recent read of King’s 2019 novel The Institute that I realized I may have been missing out on his ever-developing literary skills. The Institute delivers on a terrifying antagonist, but rather than supernatural, the bad guys in this story are all-too human. In the “Institute,” inmates with telekinetic abilities are kidnapped, imprisoned, and tormented with unexplained experiments. The inmates are children. The story primarily revolves around Luke Ellis, a 12-year old with extraordinary genius, as he wakes up in the Institute and attempts to navigate the sadistic staff and build peculiar friendships. As he and his newfound friends and allies learn more about where they are, readers come to understand that those working for the Institute believe they serve a higher good, and that there exists a place for cruelty with a purpose. The staff members in charge of the children would show up to work, run their terrifying tests, stop for coffee in their breakrooms, chat and flirt, then head home each night. Even as Ellis and his fellow captives live their days bouncing between mysterious injections and surreally normal basketball games, the real horror is apparent in the quiet complacency towards child abuse as a necessary evil, and at its worse no more than daily routine.

How could children survive in a place designed to strip them of dignity and humanity? Could they even survive? The Institute weaves together a story of unimaginable scale with the most authentically human characters: policemen, innkeepers, custodians. And yes, there is a 12-year old genius and kids who can read minds, but their abilities are the least important things about them. Their moments of anger, sadness, courage, and joy are their characters’ truly grounding elements.

While definitely a tough read, it surprised me how much I enjoyed this novel. Ruthless and brutal, but at times captivatingly heart-warming. If you’re interested in making a foray into the Stephen King sphere, The Institute is a great book to pick up and get absorbed into.

The Institute is available from HCLS in a variety of formats: regular print, large print, as an audiobook on CD, and as an eBook and an eAudiobook from Libby/OverDrive.

Gabriela is a customer service specialist at the Miller Branch. She loves long walks, reading with her dog, and a good cup of coffee.

The cartoon image says "Year of the Tiger" in a variety of languages, with a smiling tiger extending his paw towards the viewer, with three gold lanterns hanging above him against a red backdrop.

Lunar New Year Celebrations

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The cartoon image says "Year of the Tiger" in a variety of languages, with a smiling tiger extending his paw towards the viewer, with three gold lanterns hanging above him against a red backdrop.

Welcome to the Year of the Tiger! The Lunar New Year is the most important social and economic holiday for billions of people around the world. Tied to the lunar-solar Chinese calendar, the holiday was originally observed as a time to honor household and heavenly deities and ancestors. Today, Lunar New Year brings friends and family together for feasting and festivities in China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Mongolia, and other countries all over the world.

This website, recommended by our presenters, offers a helpful guide where you can discover more about everything from food and drink to clothing and decorations for Lunar New Year celebrations. In addition, we have an assortment of books and other materials available at HCLS to help families learn and celebrate.

In recognition of this significant holiday, HCLS is celebrating with an online class, Learn About the Lunar New Year Celebration, in partnership with Howard County Chinese School. A panel of middle and high school students and parents share the histories and traditions of the Lunar New Year celebration in a variety of Asian American Pacific Islander sub-communities. Join us on Saturday, Feb 5 for a combination of short presentations, Q&A, and interactive educational games with prizes.

Additional upcoming children’s classes with Lunar New Year-themed sessions include:

Please join us!

The book cover shows a young man on the left, holding a soccer ball behind a net and looking at his cell phone, and a young man on the right in a maroon and white hoodie with his hands in his pockets. Between them is an isolated image of two hands clasping. There is a pink and peach-colored bright but cloudy sky in the background, and the title lettering is in teal green.

Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun by Jonny Garza Villa

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The book cover shows a young man on the left, holding a soccer ball behind a net and looking at his cell phone, and a young man on the right in a maroon and white hoodie with his hands in his pockets. Between them is an isolated image of two hands clasping. There is a pink and peach-colored bright but cloudy sky in the background, and the title lettering is in teal green.

By Sahana C.

TW: Parental abuse & abandonment, homophobia & homophobic slurs, bullying 

In Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun, Julián Luna is determined to make the most of his senior year of high school. He has plans on how he’ll make that happen: spending as much time as possible with his best friends, playing soccer, graduating, getting into UCLA, and, oh – making sure no one finds out that he’s gay. Especially not his father. But despite this secret he’s keeping, he manages to make the most of things, spending time with his tight-knit friend group. Until, of course, one day, just scrolling through Twitter, he sees pictures of a boy. Immediately, there’s a connection, and when they start texting and speaking more, Julián finds himself falling for the boy, Mat. The issue, then? Well, other than the fact that Julián isn’t out, he’s also in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Mat lives in Los Angeles. Despite the distance, the two boys start learning about each other, falling for each other, and hoping for a future together. But time, distance, and unplanned coming-outs get in the way.  

Garza Villa is honest about hardship from the start of the book, even writing in the dedication ““To all the queer brown boys still waiting for their chance to bloom. Quisieron enterrarnos, pero no sabían que éramos semillas.” They want to bury us, but they don’t know that we are seeds. That thread flows through the novel, including candid conversations about machismo in Latinx culture, religion’s intersection with homophobia, and conversations about bullying. And yet, despite the list of trigger warnings at the top of this review, the novel is intentionally not centering trauma in Julián’s life. Every moment of pain is followed by immediate love, support, and care. Garza Villa takes pains to ensure that joy is the central theme around which the rest of the story is built; of course Julián faces hardship, but he is never truly alone in how he responds to those traumatic moments. The idea presented in the dedication, “we are seeds”, is exactly how Julián responds to all the hardships in his life. He was buried deep, and with careful nurture, love, and support from his family and friends, he manages to bloom into something beautiful and loving, breaking the cycle of abuse.  

This book was wonderfully illustrative. I lost myself in Julián’s friend group, found myself falling in love with Mat along with Julián, and waiting with bated breath for college acceptance letters. But most significantly, I was swept up in a celebration of culture, cuisine, friendship, and queer joy. There is real heart here; Garza Villa paints an honest picture of the ways falling in love and doing long distance just as easily as he manages to bring to life all of the different characters that make up Julián’s friend group, who each are so vivacious and full of life without becoming caricatures.  

This book is perfect for any teens looking to find themselves, or adults who know that the blooming never stops. That if we are seeds, we will continue to grow, season after season.

Sahana is an Instructor and Research Specialist at the Savage Branch. She enjoys adding books to her “want to read” list despite having a mountain of books waiting for her already.

The cover art evokes tiles painted with stylized blue birds, separated by barbed wire.

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

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The cover art evokes tiles painted with stylized blue birds, separated by barbed wire.

By Gabriela P.

American Dirt’s story begins with Lydia’s family joyously gathering to celebrate her niece’s quinceanera. The day quickly becomes the beginning of a nightmare when the party is suddenly interrupted by a group of men with no regard for human life launching a violent attack. Lydia and her son, Luca, make it out only through luck. She realizes the attack was planned in vengeance against her journalist husband, who had recently exposed the identity of an infamous drug cartel’s leader. She realizes the leader was a frequent patron of her bookstore, one that she had considered a kindred spirit and even a friend because of his love of books. It is then that Lydia realizes the race is on to save both of their lives. Without time to bury her relatives or even cry, they leave their home in Acapulco. With this begins a story of cat and mouse as Lydia and her son set off on a dangerous mission to find refuge in the United States, following in the footsteps of many Central American immigrants before them.

When mention of American Dirt came up in conversation, several of my colleagues asked me, being Latina, of my opinion of it after it was received with controversial reviews. I was hesitant to pick it up only because of my familiarity with the tragic history of Central American immigrants to the United States, and I knew how emotionally taxing the subject could be. Looking back, I am glad I decided to read it, if only to be able to speak on its shortcomings. I have to say that I feel that, while detailed and evocative, the story came up short in its representations of immigrants and was especially off the mark when it came to cartels. The cartel leader is romanticized, being painted as a man of poetry and philosophy, with a deeply rich life. In reality, cartels are dysfunctional and dehumanizing organizations full of fear. They certainly have no mysterious allure to them.

In regards to our protagonist, Lydia, her background as a highly educated woman of the middle class does not align with the decisions that she made in the story. The danger that she put her and her son in was unnecessary and a poor decision. She leads them along one of the dangerous paths to the United States border, one usually only followed by the most desperate and poor immigrants as a final resort. Unlike so many of the people who would have taken that path, Lydia had options. She was comfortably middle class, with a college education, connections, and resources available to her. As such, I have to say that her story is not very realistic. Instead, I would have liked to read more about her companions on the journey, who truly represent the people who would have had to adopt such dangerous measures. These people holding on to hope, fleeing for the safety of themselves and for the survival of their loved ones, truly represent bravery. The end of Lydia’s story, though conclusive, left me frustrated. Her complacent satisfaction with her new job in the United States left a bitter taste in my mouth, speaking as a Central American immigrant myself. 

If you choose to dive into American Dirt, I would take its legitimacy and credibility with a grain of salt. Let’s not forget it’s fiction. If you are interested in a nonfiction book that explores the topic with more nuance and depth, I highly recommend Enrique’s Journey by journalist Sonia Nazario, her account of a young Honduran boy’s perilous quest to reunite with his mother in the United States. Nazario based the book on her Los Angeles Times series of articles, also called Enrique’s Journey, which won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2003.

American Dirt is also available in eBook and eAudiobook format from Libby, and also as an eaudiobook from CloudLibrary. Enrique’s Journey is also available as an eBook from Libby, an eAudiobook in Spanish, also from Libby, and in a young reader’s edition for teens, which was chosen by Kirkus Reviews as one of four books on their Best Teen Nonfiction Book of the Year list for 2013.

Gabriela is a customer service specialist at the Miller Branch. She loves long walks, reading with her dog, and a good cup of coffee.

The cover shows a young woman in profile, in a long sweeping green dress with long hair flowing behind her against the backdrop of a full moon. She has a sword raised and resting over her shoulder.

Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian

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The cover shows a young woman in profile, in a long sweeping green dress with long hair flowing behind her against the backdrop of a full moon. She has a sword raised and resting over her shoulder.

By Sahana C.

Half Sick of Shadows caught me with its premise. Billed as a feminist version of Arthurian legend, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. King Arthur, the Round Table, and all of the many stories of knights and chivalry are…really not known for their peak feminist content. In fact, the two major women within Arthurian legend, Guinevere and Morgana, both end up being villains and betraying Arthur when he needs them most. But Sebastian lets the reader into a world where, it’s true, there are places that Guinevere and Morgana, and even Lancelot, could betray steadfast Arthur, but she makes sure the origins of the myth are clear. To do that, she introduces Elaine, a minor character in Arthurian lore who plays the leading role in one of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s famous poem, “The Lady of Shalott.”  

Tennyson’s Lady and Sebastian’s Elaine couldn’t be more different in terms of temperament, abilities, and importance, but elements of the poem are woven tightly into the narrative; the Lady falls for Lancelot at first sight, she has some sort of prophetic power, and she believes, deeply, that she is cursed. See, the Lady of Shalott can only see the world through the mirror above her as she weaves. Tennyson opens the poem with great detail about the beauty of the world outside only to tell us that the Lady never sees it. She sits with her back to the window, but cannot escape the draw of the world outside, and as it finds its way into her weaving, she glances at the mirror to ensure accuracy. In fact, in one of the most poignant stanzas of the poem,  

“But in her web she still delights 

To weave the mirror’s magic sights, 

For often thro’ the silent nights 

A funeral, with plumes and lights 

       And music, came from Camelot: 

Or when the moon was overhead 

Came two young lovers lately wed; 

‘I am half sick of shadows,’ said 

       The Lady of Shalott.” (Tennyson)  

Sebastian’s version of the Lady of Shalott, Elaine, is an oracle haunted by a tower in Camelot, just the same, but this Elaine takes control of her future. She is taught to understand her seeing by the Lady of the Lake, she lives among the Fae, and most importantly, she is the last addition to a group of children who grow up in Avalon, balancing between the Fae and the Human worlds. That group of children? Lancelot, Guinevere, Morgana, and Arthur himself. By setting up these friendships so firmly, Sebastian makes the thought of future betrayal gut-wrenching. Because the reader gets to follow her growth, it makes Elaine’s role as oracle and Arthur’s top advisor even more important. And this is the beauty of Sebastian’s story-crafting: Elaine, the fair damsel with no real grit, becomes Arthur’s top advisor and the most important woman in this world. Guinevere is bold and brash and deeply in love with Arthur, but could never be disloyal. And Morgana is the fiercest protector Arthur has on his side, her magic at his service, no matter the personal cost.  

Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian is well worth a read for those who appreciate historical fantasy, Arthurian myth, and coming-of-age stories, all in one.  It is available in print and eBook format. 

Sahana is an Instructor and Research Specialist at the Savage Branch. She enjoys adding books to her “want to read” list despite having a mountain of books waiting for her already.

A small hexagonal trinket box with a design of sailing ships on the ocean worked in beads, with a red and white striped lighthouse and small outbuilding and bushes on top of the trinket box.

The Baltimore Bead Society at the Miller Branch

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A picture of the Baltimore Bead Society collection in the Miller Branch display cases, with an assortment of beaded necklaces in red, pink, earth tones, and gold (clockwise from upper right corner).
The Baltimore Bead Society display at the Miller Branch.

HCLS Miller Branch is delighted to partner with the Baltimore Bead Society (BBS) to exhibit beautiful displays of innovative jewelry designed and created by BBS members! Please visit the Miller Branch through mid-January and view the glass cases in the meeting room hallway to examine and explore the unique handiwork of these gifted local artisans.

The Baltimore Bead Society is a nonprofit group of enthusiasts who love jewelry, and especially love making all kinds of jewelry. Having been around for more than 28 years, the group has experienced amazing growth in membership as more people develop a desire and passion for making jewelry, even with the advent of more mass-produced jewelry. The BBS provides many educational opportunities, including programs, workshops, networking, outreach for individuals who need a healing peace in their lives, and classes for those wanting to learn traditional and new techniques.

A small hexagonal trinket box with a design of sailing ships on the ocean worked in beads, with a red and white striped lighthouse and small outbuilding and bushes on top of the trinket box.

The Baltimore Bead Society presents its 14th Winter Bead and Jewelry Show on January 15-16, 2022 at the Howard County Fairgrounds. You can visit on Saturday from 10 am – 5 pm and Sunday from 10 am – 4 pm. Experts offer a wide assortment of classes each day, from how to make your own jewelry to advanced techniques, with pop-up demos featured concurrently during the entire show. Jewelry makers and crafters will also find an extensive selection of supplies from many of the top vendors.

For further information about the BBS’s 2022 Winter Bead & Jewelry Show, visit their website, www.baltimorebead.org.

And if you are a jeweler, artist, crafter, or enthusiast for all things creative and lovely, please check out this list of related jewelry-making books and other resources available from Howard County Library System. HCLS also has a wide variety of DIY and crafting classes to help you get in touch with your creative side!