Marathon County Public Library

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Staff Reviews

Check out these reviews written by the staff of the Marathon County Public Library, featuring book and DVD reviews for adults, children and teens! Staff book reviews are also published on Goodreads.com; follow us for the latest updates.


'Sherlock Holmes FAQ' by Dave Thompson

"Sherlock Holmes FAQ" by Dave Thompson

★★★★ Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is probably the most widely-known and beloved character in English literature. His adventures, as chronicled in four novels and 56 short stories, have enthralled millions of people over the decades. Holmes and his faithful companion, Dr. Watson, have also been portrayed in dozens of plays, radio programs and films by the...

Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction, Literary, Mystery

'The Upside of Unrequited'  by  Becky Albertalli

"The Upside of Unrequited" by Becky Albertalli

★★★ Molly and Cassie are 17 year-old fraternal twins who have always been extremely close. But ever since Cassie started dating her girlfriend, Mina, the two sisters have started drifting apart. Molly feels like she’s being left behind and longs for a boyfriend to share her life with and spend time with. The thing is, Molly has had 25 crushes so far in her...

Audience: Teens | Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Romance

'Educated'  by  Tara Westover

"Educated" by Tara Westover

★★★★★ Tara Westover has an impressive academic pedigree that includes Harvard and Cambridge, but she did not set foot into a classroom until she enrolled at Brigham Young University at the age of seventeen. This compelling memoir immerses the reader into the isolated world in which she was raised in rural Idaho as the youngest of six children. Her father, a...

Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction

'Lady Bird'  (DVD)

"Lady Bird" (DVD)

★★★★★ Lady Bird's life is at a crossroads, of sorts. It’s her senior year at her Catholic high school and she yearns to spice up her life and make the year a memorable one. More than anything, though, Lady Bird (played by Saoirse Ronan) wants to make sure she gets out of Sacramento after high school and moves a place where she feels she can...

Audience: Adults | Genre: Movies

'Good As Gone'  by  Amy Gentry

"Good As Gone" by Amy Gentry

★★★ When she was just 13 years old, Julie Whitaker was abducted from her bedroom at knifepoint. The kidnapping was witnessed by Julie’s younger sister, Jane, who watched in horror from the interior of her closet. The abduction, which was never solved, left the Whitaker family in shambles, forever changing the dynamic between Jane; her father, Tom; and mother,...

Audience: Adults | Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

'Frogkisser!'  by  Garth Nix

"Frogkisser!" by Garth Nix

★★★★★ Anya is a princess in a tough situation but with quite a gift. She is the Frogkisser. When Rikard, her evil, power-hungry, sorcerer stepfather takes over the kingdom of Trallonia and begins transforming people that get in his way into frogs, lizards and other critters, Anya discovers she has a magic gift all her own. With some magic lip balm and the...

Audience: Teens | Genre: Fiction

'The Missing'  by  C.L. Taylor

"The Missing" by C.L. Taylor

★★★★ Fifteen-year-old Billy goes missing in the middle of the night, plunging his family into a chaotic mess of unanswered questions and public appeals. Six months later and the mysterious disappearance still isn't solved, but when a public appeal goes horribly wrong, the family starts to crack. The mother, Claire, starts experiencing black-outs as the world...

Audience: Adults | Genre: Thriller

'Oddity'  by  Sarah Cannon

"Oddity" by Sarah Cannon

★★★★★ Any book that starts out with fifth graders defending themselves against leopards (again) during a safety drill promises to be fun.  Oddity is a small town that's...well...odd.  Except to Ada Roundtree and her friends and family who have spent their whole lives there.  When Ada's sister Pearl disappears after "winning" the town sweepstakes,...

Audience: Children, Tweens | Genre: Fiction, Tweens

'NERVE'  by  Jeanne Ryan

"NERVE" by Jeanne Ryan

★★★ Vee is used to living her life behind-the-scenes. As part of her high school’s drama department, she prefers to stick to doing costumes and makeup rather than stepping into the spotlight like her best friend, Sydney. But after Vee sees her crush flirting with Sydney, she decides to do something drastic to get the guy’s attention and to step outside her...

Audience: Teens | Genre: Fiction, Suspense

'Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda'  by  Becky Albertalli

"Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli

★★★★ Simon is just a typical, well-adjusted teenager. He does well in school, has a stable and supportive family and has a great group of friends. There's just one thing the people in Simon's life don't know about him: he's gay. After another young man at Simon's school comes out of the closet on a social media site, he and Simon begin emailing back and...

Audience: Teens | Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Romance, LGBT

'The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi'  by  Phil Szostak

"The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi" by Phil Szostak

★★★★★ The Star Wars universe is a vast and constantly growing thing. But did you ever stop to wonder what makes something look like it belongs in a Star Wars movie? In The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, readers see the various stages of planning that went into creating new creatures, vehicles, costumes and locations for the latest film in the franchise....

Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction, Movies, Movie Tie-ins

'Moxie'  by  Jennifer Mathieu

"Moxie" by Jennifer Mathieu

★★★★★ Sixteen-year-old Vivian plans to keep her head down and avoid making any waves as she rides out her last two years of high school in her small town Texas high school. However, after seeing the new girl face humiliation after a sexist incident in class, she finds inspiration in her mother’s “My Misspent Youth” box, which is filled with Riot Grrrl materials....

Audience: Teens | Genre: Fiction

'Goldeline'  by  Jimmy Cajoleas

"Goldeline" by Jimmy Cajoleas

★★★★★ Goldeline is called ghost girl because of her long, flowing white hair, making her a frightening distraction for the robbing bandits she helps in the magical Hinterlands, and who are the only "family" she has known since her momma was accused by the Preacher of being a witch and burned at the stake. However, during one of their jobs she discovers a young...

Audience: Children, Tweens | Genre: Fiction

'The Death and Life of the Great Lakes'  by  Dan Egan

"The Death and Life of the Great Lakes" by Dan Egan

★★★★★ Dan Egan, a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, provides a comprehensive portrayal of the Great Lakes, past and present, and a thorough analysis of the challenges the lakes have endured and continue to face. After establishing a portrait of the Great Lakes as they would have been experienced by the first European explorers, Egan traces the history...

Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction

'Year of Yes'  by  Shonda Rhimes

"Year of Yes" by Shonda Rhimes

★★★ Shonda Rhimes is the creative mind behind of some of the hottest shows on television, including Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder. Though Rhimes was thriving professionally, her personal life had devolved into a cycle of sleeping, eating, working and just getting by. After being told by her older sister that “You...

Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, Biography And Memoir

'Born at Midnight'  by  C.C. Hunter

"Born at Midnight" by C.C. Hunter

★★★★★ Follow Kylie Galen on her journey to discovering who/what she is. Kylie seems to be your everyday, normal teenage girl. Her parent's send her off to a summer camp for "troubled" teens. Once there, Kylie's world gets flipped upside down and she soon discovers that the supernatural things seen in movies and read in books are real and that she is in fact a...

Audience: Teens | Genre: YA Fiction With Adult Appeal

'Lucky Broken Girl'  by  Ruth Behar

"Lucky Broken Girl" by Ruth Behar

★★★★★ Ruthie Mizahi is the “lucky broken girl,” at least that’s what they call her after the multiple car accident in which she survived but several other people died. Being new in America from Cuba, she learned just enough English to graduate from the fifth grade "dumb class” at school, and just received her very own dream pair of go-go boots. Now she has to lie...

Audience: Children, Tweens | Genre: Fiction

'Just Like Jackie'  by  Lindsey Stoddard

"Just Like Jackie" by Lindsey Stoddard

★★★★★ Robinson (Robbie) has finally had enough taunting from the fifth grade school bully, Alex, punches him in the nose, and ends up in the principal’s office with her grandfather. She knows her grandfather will be angry with her for not doing what Jackie Robinson, her namesake, would have done--nothing. She helps her grandfather in his auto repair shop, with...

Audience: Children | Genre: Fiction

'E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'  by  Jim Thomas

"E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" by Jim Thomas

★★★★ For fans of the classic 80’s movie E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, this timeless story is now in the form of a uniquely-illustrated children’s book! This book is a direct adaptation of the film and is aimed at young readers, with a few minor changes from the movie. The story tells the tale of young Elliot, who discovers what he thinks to be a goblin living...

Audience: Children | Genre: Fiction, Movies

'The Wife Between Us'  by  Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen

"The Wife Between Us" by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen

★★★★★ Vanessa can’t believe that her ex-husband Richard is remarrying so quickly! She thought her replacement was going to be a short term fling, but news of their impending wedding has her in a tailspin. She’s barely holding it together as it is—she’s living in her aunt’s spare room, living off commissions as a saleswoman in a swanky department store (where she...

Audience: Adults | Genre: Fiction

'Far From the Tree'  by  Robin Benway

"Far From the Tree" by Robin Benway

★★★★ What exactly is a family? Are they your biological relatives? The people who raised you? Or are they the people you choose to surround yourself with every day? Far From the Tree explores the idea of family in all its forms as it follows three siblings who reconnect as teenagers after being given up for adoption in infancy. There's 17 year-old...

Audience: Teens | Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Young Adult, YA Fiction With Adult Appeal, Award-Winning

'Elizabeth and Zenobia'  by  Jessica Miller

"Elizabeth and Zenobia" by Jessica Miller

★★★★★ Elizabeth is not too happy about moving with her father to Witheringe Manor, her emotionally distant father’s creepy, spooky childhood home, but at least she has her best friend and fearless companion, Zenobia with her, even if her father thinks she is far too old for an imaginary friend. Zenobia believes there is a spirit presence in the house and...

Audience: Children, Tweens | Genre: Fiction

'Herbs for Flavor, Health, and Natural Beauty'  by  Jim Rude, Jena Carlin

"Herbs for Flavor, Health, and Natural Beauty" by Jim Rude, Jena Carlin

★★★★ Looking for ideas on how to use fresh herbs? This book is covered with gorgeous, fully illustrated pages packed full of ideas on how to utilize fresh herbs, from recipes to health and wellness ideas. I grabbed a few recipes that were included that I'm excited to tweak to make vegan and try. My only critique is that I wish there was more to it! I would have...

Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction

'The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl'  by  Issa Rae

"The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl" by Issa Rae

★★★ Issa Rae is the creator, head writer and star of Insecure, a dramedy on HBO about the lives of a group of African American millennials. Watching that highly-entertaining series is what me aware of this book and Rae’s semi-autobiographical web series Awkward Black Girl (on which Insecure is based). This book, chapter by chapter, outlines the various ways...

Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Humor

'Orphan Island'  by  Laurel Snyder

"Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder

★★★★★ Jinny knows that the Changing will happen sometime soon, and her best friend, Deen, the eldest, will be whisked away in a self-propelled green boat and a new young child will be deposited to join the eight left on the island. Then Jinny will be the new "Eldest" and it will be her job to take care of and teach the brand new youngest child, Ess...

Audience: Tweens | Genre: Fiction

'The Stars Beneath Our Feet'  by  David Barclay Moore

"The Stars Beneath Our Feet" by David Barclay Moore

★★★★★ Building epic cities with large garbage bags full of LEGO blocks is how twelve-year-old Lolly channels his anger and his voice since the death of his older brother Jermaine, the only real person he could talk to. When his buildings outgrow his mother’s apartment (and her patience) he spends time hiding in a storage closet at the St. Nick community center...

Audience: Children, Tweens | Genre: Fiction

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