Program Banner

TAILS & TALES 

C.H. BOOTH LIBRARY’S SUMMER READING PROGRAM

June 14--August 20


How it Works

  • Register for an account. You can make accounts for yourself and your family.

  • Log in to your account and record your reading. See your age group below for more information regarding logging and prizes.

  • Visit us at the library for reading recommendations, and see our Event Calendar for more summer fun for the whole family. 


Frequently Asked Questions

  • Who can participate?

The whole family! We have a program for children, young adults, and adults. 


  • Can I count books that I read on my computer or e-reader?

Of course!


  • Can I count audiobooks?

You bet! 


  • Can I join the program before or after its official start date?  

Yes! You can register now and start recording your reading on the official start date (June 14th). Log your reading until August 20 for children, young adults, and adults.


  • What should I read?

Stop by the library to ask us for recommendations, view our book lists online, or follow us on social media, where we will post book recommendations all summer long. 


Facebook / Instagram / YA Instagram / Children’s Instagram


KIDS 

Ages 4 to Grade 5

Stop by the children’s department to pick up your summer reading kit. Each kit which includes  tickets for our prize raffle to be held on August 21.  All tickets must be received by August 20 to be eligible.



YOUNG ADULTS

Grades 6 to 12


Log your time spent reading to win points. Each week, participants will have the opportunity to use their reading points for the chance to win gift cards for local businesses and other fun stuff!


The summer’s top readers will have a chance to win a Kindle Fire tablet.


ADULTS


For every book review you submit, you will be entered into the Friday morning gift card raffle as well as the end-of-the-summer raffle of your choice.

All Participants
Points Earned

Book Reviews
Search All Book Reviews
The Novice
by Taran Matharu
View in Library Catalog
book cover


Well in depth, lots of details and action, ends on a cliffhanger to start the next book. A very good read.

The Final Girl Support Group
by Grady Hendrix
View in Library Catalog
book cover


Set in a world where Slasher films really did happen, Lynnette is a member of what's known as the "The Final Girls Club." The club is made up of women who meet a very specific criteria - they all were the only survivors of two massacres, and they all killed the person responsible. They meet once a month to support each other and work towards moving on with their lives - until one day one of the members doesn't show up on time. Her monster has come back to kill her. Now, Lynnette is on a race to not only keep herself alive, but to keep the members of her club alive as well. This probably would have worked pretty well as a movie, honestly, but as a book it didn't quite work for me. First, Lynnette as a narrator was awful. She's unreliable from the start, so I found myself utterly distracted the entire book because I was always trying to figure out if I should believe what was happening. I know a lot of books use the unreliable narrator trope now, but it was a difficult sell in this book. I would have much preferred if a different narrator (Heather?) was responsible for telling us what was going on. Or if Lynette's character was tweaked a little. Second, the plot twists were not really plot twists. It was really easy to figure out who was going to be responsible for the killings happening, so that was disappointing. The twists didn't leave me going "oh wow!" so much as "ugh, finally, we got there." My third issue is that it seems like Grad Hendrix either didn't keep track of everything, didn't want to explain everything, or thought that no one would pay attention. For example, at one point a character is mentioned to have a cell phone that they are going to use to keep track of Amber Alerts and to check in with every five hours. Three sentences later, they say that they're going to keep the phone turned off and only have it on for the check in times. How...how are you checking for Amber Alerts? Why did you make a big deal about checking for Amber Alerts, only to then say you're turning the phone off and not getting them anyway? In another scene, Lynnette is dictating a message for someone to send. She claims that it was a difficult process, and that she had to spell out a lot of the words. The example given is using "p as in Paul which is fascinating, because the only words with "p" in her message are purchased, photos, people, and peace. Am I really supposed to believe that someone couldn't spell one of those words without help? Really? I could go on and on, but honestly? I had high hopes for this book. The summary sounded great, and I was really excited to read it. I'm glad I didn't spend money on it. The writing is just not good.

The Silence Between Us
by Alison Gervais
View in Library Catalog
book cover


I really enjoyed reading this book and learning more about the Deaf community. I have a Hard of Hearing friend and she has expressed many of the same opinions that this book did, such as being proud of being HoH/Deaf and not needing to be fixed. I really appreciated this #OwnVoices book and the research that was done. I also really liked how the author wrote ASL and kept it more with ASL grammar vs writing it with English grammar as other books I’ve read about this topic. Additionally, I thought how the lipreading portions were done well, how it’s impossible to catch every word lipreading and how you have to piece together context with what you caught.

The Couple Next Door
by Shari Lapena
View in Library Catalog
book cover


Anne and Marco have a baby! Their babysitter cancels on them, but they still attend a dinner party at the house next door, with the baby monitor in tow! The baby is taken! Who is responsible and why? The mystery unravels and some things are hard to come to grips with. It was an okay book. I would try this author again.

The Starless Sea
by Erin Morgenstern
View in Library Catalog
book cover


Zachary flips through an old library book and is shocked to find that he is inexplicably one of the characters in it. The ensuing search to unravel this mystery takes him through ancient underground libraries, lost cities, magical seas, in stories that transcend Time and Fate. The author writes in a hauntingly poetic style that immediately draws you into this magical world.

Razorblade Tears
by S. A. Cosby
View in Library Catalog
book cover


"I...I don't know. I mean he was my son. Our son. But what he was doing was wrong. I have to believe that. Because if I don't, then everything I did was a mistake." Never thought I could sympathize with a book set around a whole lot of racist and homophobic people, but dang. This book is brutal and tender, face-paced and beautiful. Set in Virginia, we follow Buddy Lee and Ike, two fathers who have just gone through the unimaginable - their married sons were killed in broad daylight, for reasons unknown. Both fathers are struggling with not only the grief of losing their child, but the knowledge that they will never be able to repair the broken relationship between them that formed when they were unable to accept the fact that their children were gay. When the police mark the case as inactive, the men realize that the only chance they have of putting things right is by using their criminal past to their advantage, and going after whoever put their boys in the ground. You could feel the grief all the characters were feeling, and the action scenes were really well done. This book is as violent as it is beautiful, and I really hope they do wind up making it into a movie - I think it has the chance to be an amazing adaptation.

The Secret Stealers By Jane Healey
by Jane Healey
View in Library Catalog
book cover


An in-depth (albeit a bit too much in parts) story of Anna who is looking for her purpose in war-torn France. She is hired by "Wild" Bill Donovan, head of the United State's OSS and eventually returns to France to help the Resistance. Factually based with a good deal of information and insight as to the lives of those sent beyond the frontline. Would recommend for anyone interested in the women of the OSS and SOE.

Untamed
by Glennon Doyle
View in Library Catalog
book cover


This book is by a woman for women. It is about feminism and being the person you were meant to be, not the one society tells you to be. It is a memoir about one woman’s journey through this process and the lessons she learned along the way. Fast read!

Flipped for Murder
by Maddie Day
View in Library Catalog
book cover


Robbie Jordan moves to a tiny town after visiting her aunt. She opens a country store called Pans n Pancakes. She then is suspected of murder. The town is where her mother is from and begins to learn a few things about her mom and the dad she never met. That is just a small part of the story. It's a cozy mystery!

A Long Petal Of The Sea
by Isabel Allende
View in Library Catalog
book cover


This is a historical fiction about a family who begin life in war torn Spain in the 1930s and are transported to Chile (which is the long petal of the sea in the title). It follows not only their lives but also several other families who come and go throughout their lives. It is quite interesting and has made me want to research both the Spanish Civil War and Chile in greater detail.
Login
Don't have an account? Register now
Did you forget your password? Get it by email
Popular Books
book cover My Sisters Keeper
by: Jodi Picoult
ISBN: 9780340918623

book cover Caraval
by: Stephanie Garber
ISBN: 9781250095251

book cover The One And Only Ivan
by: Katherine Applegate
ISBN: 9780007455331

book cover Divergent
by: Veronica Roth
ISBN: 9780007420438

book cover War And Peace
by: Leo Tolstoy
ISBN: 9781400079988
Copyright (c) 2013-2026    ReadSquared