Grade Level: Adult

Deep Dive: Tanabata Star Festival
The Emperor of Gladness

One summer evening in the economically depressed town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in the rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. Grazina, a widow dealing with dementia, convinces him to take another path. Hal becomes Grazina’s caregiver, and during the next…
The Incredible Kindness of Paper: A Novel

Chloe Hanako Quinn is assigned Oliver Jones as her pen pal partner in school. Oliver moves suddenly because of rough circumstances. He moves back to the city, when the city is suddenly flooded with yellow origami roses, a specific one finds its way into his hands and changes his life forever.
The Manor of Dreams

Vivian Yin was the first Chinese actress to win an Oscar, Now she is dead, and her daughters are only interested in dividing her estate. The Manor of Dreams is a thrilling family gothic story that examines the true cost of the American Dream—and what happens when the roots we set down in this country…
Detained: A Boy’s Journal of Survival and Resilience

D. attempts to join his parents by traveling with his cousins to the US border. He is detained by the US government and seperated from his cousins. His memoir chronicles the different stages of his travels through variour retention centers some are only a tent with a port-a-potty. “This is a brutally honest account of…
The Matchmaker

In this heart pounding mystery, Nura, a matchmaker is shocked after one of her matched couple’s weddings is ruined. This sabotage is the first in a chain of suspicious and increasingly terrifying events. Azar with her matchmaking team by her side embarks on a dangerous game to solve the mystery.
I Leave It up to You

What does it means to love, to repair a family after a tragedy? “I Leave It Up to You is a delicious meal of a book, with courses of drama, tragedy, and comedy. Jack Jr.’s efforts to separate himself from his raucous, loving, over-reaching Korean American immigrant family are rendered with brilliant finesse and beauty.”…
The Original Daughter

An emmotional, sometimes humorous tale of two sisters as they struggle with family, freedom, intimacy, and forgiveness. One wonders what it means to love, and love well, when our family relationships can create love and pain.
Saving Five

“Nguyen’s narrative cuts back and forth in time, from her childhood growing up with a violently abusive father, to the landmark moment in 2016 when the Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act was passed in Washington, to the vantage point of the adult Amanda, who eventually becomes an astronaut. Throughout, the author’s central task is to…
Young Adult Spring Book Club Guide
Dream Weaver: Finding Strength & Purpose in Life’s Twists and Turns

“You have been conducting fraudulent activities. I am the rightful majority owner, not you.” Unannounced, my business partner walked into my office and recited a list of reasons why I was being fired. “You will be deported. Please pack your things and leave or I’ll call the police to remove you.”Jenny’s inspiring and often humorous…
The Blackwoods

Brandy Colbert writes about gender, Blackness, and aspiration, and what the Hollywood machine has historically given and taken from performers of color.