Ava (2020) Summary: I tend to like well-done spy and espionage movies, but can get bored with the heavy politics and gratingly slow pace. Ava doesn’t have those issues. Chastain completely RULES as the assassin looking for a way out. What will her purpose in life be once she steps away from the job? Can …

The Help (2011) Summary: Skeeter just graduated college and is hoping to find a worthy job as a journalist or writer. Given a chance with a weekly column on housekeeping tips, she notes she’d have to take lessons from ‘the help’ to learn what to write. This takes her into the world of 1950/1960s southern …

2022 Illinois Bluestem Award Winners 2022 Monarch Award 2022 Rebecca Caudill Award Winners Check out our Google Sheets document (linked below) to see the titles! These spreadsheets also show you if the library has a physical copy, or if you can get a digital copy through Hoopla or CloudLibrary.

The Spy Kid franchise (2001) -or- Little Nikita (1988) Note/Summary: I wanted to review Little Nikita, the story of an unwitting dependent child of parents who happen to be Russian moles in 1980’s USA. However, the IHLS does not appear to have a copy available for viewing at this time. As the character played by …

The links below the groupings direct you to various blog posts featuring the listed titles. Happy Reading! -Jenna Dauer, Smithton Public Library District Library Director Tween (5th grade and up) interests:  Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin – 2009 Inspired picture books: Thumpy Feet, by Betsy Lewin – 2013 This is Not …

It Ends With Us | Colleen Hoover Summary: Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels …

We added a few new databases this year, with one of them being LinkedIn Learning. LinkedIn Learning is an award-winning industry leader in online training, with a digital library of over 6,000 courses covering a wide range of technical, business, software and creative topics. Please note that you must have a valid Smithton Public Library District …

Scroll down for suggestions for the following ages.  The links will jump you to that section of the blog post. Birth to 5 years old 6 to 12 years old Teens, ages 13-18 years old Adults Ages Birth to 5 years old Sneezy the Snowman | Maureen Wright Summary: A snowman who finds it dreadfully cold keeps …

Jenna shares her favorite reads from the last year (or so) [2021], including print and audio formats. These would make great gifts! Dirt | Mary Marantz Recommended in Audio format Summary: Mary Marantz shares her story for anyone who has ever walked into the world and felt like their scars were still on display, showing that you are …

Old Venus | by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (eds.) Summary: This collection of short stories visits Venus when we thought it was swampy and jungle-thick with exotic life. Never mind that our scientific observations have eliminated this possibility – the various writers ignore the real acidic atmosphere and create a world both …

The Giver of Stars | Jojo Moyes Summary: It is a fictional story based on the true history of the The Pack Horse Library project from 1935-1943. Set in the Appalachian Mountains it is a story of 5 socially different women who want to make a difference by taking books by horses to people in …

Dear Librarian | Lydia M. Sigwarth Summary: Many children don’t gain the experience of knowing a ‘library home’ – having enjoyed several myself as I grew up, this story is a great callback to comfortable surroundings. The main character is unnamed in her own narrative, but it becomes clear that she represents the author when …

From Cinda: The holidays are on their way! I associate holidays with family coming together. Do you have a favorite family movie? Does it happen to involve a holiday or not? Some of my favorite movie families are shown without any holidays involved. I also love a few traditional (and not so traditional) Christmas movies …

The Great Chicago Fire: Rising from the Ashes | Kate Hannigan & Alex Graudins Summary: A fictionalized account of what happened before, during, and after the Chicago Fire (which burned for 30 hours before it was done), this story follows the movements of a couple of kids as they try to reunite their lost puppy …

The Bad Guys (#1) | Aaron Blabey Summary: Hosted by The Wolf, readers meet a gang of bad guys who can’t refute their reputations, but still want to be heroes. We even see the suspects’ rap sheets. But anyone cruising around just looking for trouble (in order to combat or alleviate it) can’t be all …

Blood Quantum – 2019 Summary: This amazing story is told in two large parts: before the discovery of immunity and what happens after. The native Canadian people (the Mi’gmaq) introduce their lives as an infection blazes through the other populations around them. Once they put into effect the natural immunity they seem to hold, the …

The Hate U Give (listing the movie only because I have yet to read the source material, 2018) , book by Angie Thomas – 2017 Summary: Starr is witness to a terrible moment, the police shooting of her black friend who was holding a hairbrush. Conflicted in her identity and purpose, she eventually gives up …

Find a banned, burned, or challenged book available through our library! Banned Books Week My Antoniaby Willa Cather O Pioneers!by Willa Cather Invisible Manby Ralph Ellison Absalom, Absalomby William Faulkner The Great Gatsbyby F. Scott Fitzgerald The Lord of the Fliesby William Golding The Wind in the Willowsby Kenneth Grahame For Whom the Bell Tollsby …

The titles shared are the author’s most recent works (link to the online card catalog shows all formats of that title). Jenna enjoys these podcasts on the regular. All opinions are Jenna’s own. Find these podcasts in your favorite podcast app!  Need help getting started listening to podcasts — call us ! (618-233-8057) We’re happy …

We Are Not Free | Traci Chee Summary: This is a novel written by a single author; yet, like a collection of short stories in an anthology, this bound grouping of fictional memoirs and autobiographical experiences are linked by a theme, varied in their voices and messages. As the USA-born children of Japanese immigrants, these …