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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
Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook By Celia Rees
by Celia Rees
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Miss Graham heads to post-war Germany to assist in rebuilding the infrastructure. In addition to this task, she is requested to locate her former lover and Nazi war criminal who is wanted by the Americans and British for different outcomes. The story is dense with history and intense--recommended if one really enjoys a thoroughly researched and intriguing story.

A Short History Of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson
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book cover


It was an interesting read and I discovered some new facts. In a nutshell it explains how Earth was formed and how everything lined up just right at the precise times and distances to create life as we know it. It delves into the subjects of chemistry, biology, and physics throughout, while naming notable scientists, physicists, etc. Overall, it took me quite some time to get through the book because it did not hold my interest, page after page.

The Ghosts We Keep
by Mason Deaver
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This book was complex in how it portrayed grief and how it can affect family/friends/lovers. There were thoughts I read that someone I know has expressed feeling at that time in their life and made me reflect on if I did the right things during that time.

The Invisible Life Of Addie Larue
by V.e. Schwab
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I absolutely loved this book. The storyline is non linear but the plot is extremely creative. Very fun read! It is similar to The Time Traveler’s Wife and Midnight Library. It follows the life of the main character for four hundred years as she is cursed by the deal she makes with the devil.

The Good Sister
by Sally Hepworth
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This was so fun! I didn't want to put this one down. Told from the perspective's of twins Fern and Rose, the book alternates between Fern living her life and Rose writing in her diary. Fern has a sensory processing disorder, and she relies heavily on her twin sister to help her navigate the world. When Rose confesses that she has found out she has a rare disorder that is making it impossible for her to become pregnant, Fern decides on the perfect thank you present for her sister - she'll just have to get pregnant and have a baby for Rose! Enter Wally, named for his similar appearance to Where's Waldo, the perfect match for Fern. Unfortunately, he's maybe too perfect, and before long Fern finds herself in over her head. Everything about this was just so well done. I loved the different perspectives we got, and how I really felt like I was following along with Fern and putting the pieces of the puzzle together with her. It felt like it took a little bit for the mystery to come into focus, but when things started to become clearer I was enthralled. I'd have loved more time with Fern and Rose. Absolutely lovely!

The Island
by Max Brooks
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This book was about a human who found himself trapped in the world of Minecraft. It was a fun and exciting book filled to the brim with action and suspense. This book also contained precisely 36 life lessons.

The Quiet Boy
by Ben Winters
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It’s unusual for me to quit after reading half a book, but I just couldn’t get into this one. I had high expectations because I really liked Underground Airlines by the same author.  The Quiet Boy is told in two timelines 10 years apart. This is a common enough plot structure, but here the jumping back and forth makes the story confusing and disjointed. Jay Shenk is a medical malpractice lawyer who thinks he's found the case of a lifetime. Jay's adopted son Ruben is Jay's precocious assistant as a young teen and is trying to figure out who he is as a young adult. I liked these two characters and the scenes involving the lawsuit are both funny and spot on realistic. But I kept waiting for something to happen. What is this book about? I couldn’t figure it out after 197 pages so I gave up.

The Weight Of Our Sky
by Hanna Alkaf
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Having parents from the neighboring country of Singapore (which was once part of Malaysia) and family from Malaysia, it was very interesting to read about Malaysian history and the race riots. These also happened in Singapore and was one of the reasons why Singapore became independent in the first place. Additionally, I really enjoyed the main character and the portrayal of OCD.

The Wretched Of The Earth
by Frantz Fanon
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book cover


Fanon's book has been called the definitive work on decolonization. He had the unique experience of growing up in Martinique, serving in France during WW2, then joining Algeria in its struggle for independence. Fanon writes with great power on the psychology and the politics surrounding decolonization.

The Sanatorium
by Sarah Pearse
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book cover


This is another one of those books where the journey is really fun, but then the author proves that writing endings is really challenging. You can have a great idea for an atmospheric mystery, but you also need to have a great idea for how you are going to close things out, which Sarah Pearse didn't seem to have. The book follows Detective Elin Warner, who isn't really a detective anymore after a case went wrong and she decided to take some extended leave. Elin and her boyfriend, Will, have arrived at a hotel in the Swiss Alps to celebrate her brother's engagement. The hotel just happens to also be a really creepy former sanatorium, because the designer thought that would be a super cool place to build a fancy hotel. To continue with wonderful decision making skills, Elin also decides that this would be a fitting trip to accuse her brother of possibly killing their younger sibling during a childhood vacation. Because, hey, nothing says "happy engagement!" like "did you kill our brother, though? You can totally tell me if you did." There are just a few problems with this plan - first, Elin doesn't really talk to her brother anymore, so finding time to accuse him of this is a challenge. Second, his fiancée just went missing, and it may or may not be in poor taste to accuse him of anything given those circumstances. Third, there is an avalanche approaching the hotel, so they really all need to leave. And, of course, fourth, some people are starting to get murdered. After staying behind and getting trapped from the avalanche, Elin has to really deal with all her personal issues at once because she is the only cop-like person on the mountain who can investigate anything. No one can come help until the weather clears, which probably won't be for a while. There were a few issues I had with the book, two of which I found to be major issues. The first is that this was a fun crime novel, but ultimately it seems like no one could ever be punished for the murders that happened here. Elin isn't a detective in this area, as she points out again and again, and she tends to disobey the orders she is given (or just hides what she is doing because if she doesn't ask permission, she isn't doing anything wrong?) so it seems like everything she has gathered would be utterly useless. She also has a weird tendency to tell everyone around her everything she has discovered. Like, maybe they don't all need to know every piece of evidence you have gathered? You know someone around here is killing people, maybe stop telling everyone everything and you'd have better luck. The second is that the ending was just really dumb. The culprit didn't really make any sense, and it seemed like a massive overreaction for that person to be the one responsible for everything. I think it's worth it for the fun atmosphere of being trapped in the mountains with a killer, as long as you keep your expectations in line for the ending.
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