Monroe Free Library

This gorgeously packaged (yet affordable) children's fantasy has become an instant classic since its original hardcover release in 2005, as well as a perennial bestseller for Fantagraphics in three hardcover printings. This edition includes five new pages not included previously. The Clouds Above is a rip-roaring adventure about a kid named Simon, who skips school one day with his cat, Jack. They climb a magic staircase leading skyward, encounter...

"Megan Kamalei Kakimoto's wrenching and sensational debut story collection follows a cast of mixed native Hawaiian and Japanese women through a contemporary landscape thick with inherited wisdom and the ghosts of colonization. This is a Hawai'i where unruly sexuality and generational memory overflow the postcard image of paradise and the boundaries of the real, where the superstitions born of the islands take on the weight of truth. A childhood encounter...

Hairstylist Jess Greene has spent the last decade raising her younger half-sister, Tegan--and keeping a shocking secret. Ever since their reckless mother ran off with a boyfriend she'd known only a few months, Jess has been aware that he's the same accomplished con man who was the subject of a wildly popular podcast, The Last Con of Lynton Baltimore. Now thirty-one, Jess didn't bargain on Tegan eventually piecing together the connection for herself....

Many different beings live on the tiny but magical Island of the Sun, unknown to humans. Some were created at sea and others on land. Owley, the wise owl of the island, built a holiday resort so all of them can live together in harmony, while having fun on the same beach. But Starfizz, a human-like starfish who is full of ideas and loves building things, unwittingly drags sweet Shelly and tiny Magna Alga into a wild adventure across the sea on Shell...

Two scavengers veer paths in their pursuit of happiness through the streets of Night City. Tasha and Mirek make a living for themselves stealing cyberware and indulging in parties and braindances. Tasha is rowdy and wild--she seeks to up her street cred to become the most famous gangster in the city. Mirek, on the other hand, is a calm introvert--he longs for something more--meaning, belonging, warmth. He soon finds hope in an unexpected braindance....

"Orphaned at age ten by a violent home invasion, Susannah Faulkner grew up wild, her stubbornness the only thing harder than her heart. Since then, she's used her skills to put a boot in the faces of those who deserve it. She knows she's wired wrong and living a dangerous and violent life, but she's determined to wring something decent from the world before she leaves it. Then she gets word her brother Ethan needs her help and returns home to Atlanta....

A thrilling adventure story that examines consent and privacy in a way that books have not had to before this generation where everything is online. Nothing about us, without us. When Paige learns that her parents enrolled her in an autism study without telling her, her world turns upside down. Suddenly she isn't sure if she can trust the two people she oves most. A chip was implanted in her brain that sends them information about her mood, brain...

"A journey into the wild woods with a character who just needs a break -- and the terrible things that stare back at her. Whisperwood is a small town deep in the woods that's not on any maps. Nobody goes there. And nobody ever comes out. To Anna, Whisperwood is an opportunity, a haven, a place to hide from her violent, witch-hunting ex-lover. But, once she arrives, Anna is preventing from leaving by folk magic she doesn't understand. An unwilling...

A glorious call to throw off restraint and balance in favor of excess, abandon, and disproportion, in essays ranging from such topics as mindfulness, decluttering, David Cronenberg, and consent. In her debut essay collection, "brilliant and stylish" (The Washington Post) critic Becca Rothfeld takes on one of the most sacred cows of our time: the demand that we apply the virtues of equality and democracy to culture and aesthetics. The result is a culture...

"A kinder, funner usage guide to the ever-changing English language and a useful tool for both the grammar stickler and the more colloquial user of English, from linguist and veteran professor Anne Curzan. Our use of language naturally evolves and is a living, breathing thing that reflects who we are. Says Who? offers clear, nuanced guidance that goes beyond "right" and "wrong" to empower us to make informed language choices. Never snooty or scoldy...