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The Shelf Life Winter 2026
The ABRHS Library Newsletter |
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Staying Warm in the Library with Books! We're always displaying new titles as they come in, but if the choices are too numerous, students can get personalized book recommendations by filling out this form on the website. |
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Free access to The Atlantic
Students and staff can now access The Atlantic magazine online for free when they search from campus. |
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NEW! ABRHS Community Book Recommendations Students and staff can let us know when they've read something from the library that they loved by filling out this form. Select titles will then be featured with the blurbs provided in the form on the shelving end caps. |
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Did you know? The library provides free access to test prep materials, including APs, PSATs, and SATs. Students can get started by creating an account with their abschools information by clicking here. |
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Hours & General Information The library is open every day 7:45 am - 4:30 pm (unless otherwise posted) Make sure to visit the library website for access to databases, books, and more. Reach out to Ms. Secino (asecino@abschools.org) with any questions. |
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What Library Staff Have Been Reading Lately |
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The Rose Bargain
by Sasha Peyton Smith
*An instant New York Times bestseller!Vying for the hand of one brother.Falling in love with the other. A new Victorian-inspired romantasy, perfect for fans of Bridgerton, The Selection, and The Cruel Prince.If you're looking for the next YA sensation, here it is. --Adalyn Grace, #1 New York Times bestselling author of BelladonnaLondon, 1848--For four hundred years, England has been under the control of an immortal fae queen who tricked her way onto the throne. To maintain an illusion of benevolence, Queen Mor grants each of her subjects one opportunity to bargain for their deepest desire.As Ivy Benton prepares to make her debut, she knows that not even a deal with the queen could fix what has gone wrong: Her family's social standing is in shambles, her sister is a shadow of her former self, and Ivy's marriage prospects are nonexistent. So when the queen announces a competition for Prince Bram's hand, Ivy is the first to sign her name in blood. What a bargain can't fix, a crown certainly could.Ivy soon finds herself a surprising front-runner--with the help of an unexpected ally: Prince Bram's brother, the rakish Prince Emmett, who promises to help Ivy win his brother's heart...for a price. But as the season sweeps Ivy away, with glittering balls veiling the queen's increasingly vicious trials, Ivy realizes there's more at stake than just a wedding. Because all faerie bargains come with a cost, and Ivy may have discovered hers too late.From the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch Haven comes a tale that will leave readers eager to bargain for a sequel.
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Win Lose Kill Die
by Cynthia Murphy
Amidst the ambition and competition at the elite Morton Academy, Liz, Taylor, Kat, Marcus, and Cole join forces to investigate a string of mysterious deaths and race to uncover the truth before more of the school's best and brightest fall victim.--
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Wild Reverence
by Rebecca Ross
Born in the firelit domain of the under realm, Matilda is the youngest goddess of her clan, blessed with humble messenger magic. But in a land where gods often kill each other to steal power and alliances break as quickly as they are forged, Matilda must come of age sooner than most. She may be known to carry words and letters through the realms, but she holds a secret she must hide from even her dearest of allies to ensure her survival. And to complicate matters, there is a mortal boy who dreams of her, despite the fact they have never met in the waking world--
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The Ministry of Time
by Kaliane Bradley
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF SUMMER 2024 - A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - HUGO AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST NOVEL - WINNER OF THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD FOR SCIENCE FICTION - A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK - A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, VANITY FAIR, ESQUIRE, VOX, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, THE INDEPENDENT, PARADE, KIRKUS REVIEWS, AND MORE... This summer's hottest debut. --Cosmopolitan - Witty, sexy escapist fiction [that] packs a substantial punch...Fresh and thrilling. --Los Angeles Times - Electric...I loved every second. --Emily Henry Utterly winning...Imagine if The Time Traveler's Wife had an affair with A Gentleman in Moscow...Readers, I envy you: There's a smart, witty novel in your future. --Ron Charles, The Washington Post A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley. In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she'll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering expats from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible--for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time. She is tasked with working as a bridge living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as 1847 or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin's doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he's a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as washing machines, Spotify, and the collapse of the British Empire. But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts. Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry's project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how--and whether she believes--what she does next can change the future. An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks: What does it mean to defy history, when history is living in your house? Kaliane Bradley's answer is a blazing, unforgettable testament to what we owe each other in a changing world.
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My Friends
by Fredrik Backman
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! A Most Anticipated Book of 2025: Goodreads - USA TODAY - Marie Claire - BookPage - Literary Lifestyle - Book Riot - Sunset Magazine - Totally Booked with Zibby Owens * A Fallon Book Club Pick The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anxious People returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger's life twenty-five years later. Most people don't even notice them--three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it's just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa's care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting's birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she'll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don't always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art.
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The Names: A Read with Jenna Pick
by Florence Knapp
THE YEAR'S BREAKOUT NOVEL--A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND READ WITH JENNA PICK Dazzling. . . Knapp tirelessly and beautifully replicates not just loss and grief but endless rebirth and delight. --The Washington Post Elegant. . . this is a wholly original work. --People Magazine A magnificent novel. --Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Horse The extraordinary novel that asks: Can a name change the course of a life? In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's birth. Her husband, Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to name the infant after him. But when the registrar asks what she'd like to call the child, Cora hesitates... Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of Cora's and her young son's lives, shaped by her choice of name. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing. With exceptional sensitivity and depth, Knapp draws us into the story of one family, told through a prism of what-ifs, causing us to consider the one . . . precious life we are given. The book's brilliantly imaginative structure, propulsive storytelling, and emotional, gut-wrenching power are certain to make The Names a modern classic.
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The Emperor of Gladness: Oprah's Book Club
by Ocean Vuong
The instant New York Times bestseller - Oprah's Book Club Pick - A 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction finalist Ocean Vuong returns with a bighearted novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive Stunning . . . A heartfelt and powerful examination of those living on the fringes of society, and the unique challenges they face to survive and thrive. --Oprah Winfrey The hardest thing in the world is to live only once... One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to transform Hai's relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink. Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. Hallmarks of Ocean Vuong's writing--formal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to twin grit with grace through tenderness--are on full display in this story of loss, hope, and how far we would go to possess one of life's most fleeting mercies: a second chance.
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Beautiful Darkness
by Fabien Vehlmann
A group of little people find themselves without a home in this horror fantasy classic. Newly homeless, a group of fairies find themselves trying to adapt to their new life in the forest. As they dodge dangers from both without and within, optimistic Aurora steps forward to organize and help build a new community. Slowly, the world around them becomes more treacherous as petty rivalries and factions form. Beautiful Darkness became a bestseller and an instant classic when it was released in 2014. This paperback edition of the modern horror classic contains added material, preparatory sketches, and unused art. While Kerascoèet mix gorgeous watercolors and spritely cartoon characters, Fabien Vehlmann takes the story into bleaker territory as the seasons change and the darkness descends. As with any great horror, there are moments of calm and jarring shocks while a looming dread hangs over the forest--
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Acton-Boxborough Regional High School
36 Charter Road
Acton, Massachusetts 01720
(978) 264-3300www.abschools.org/ |
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