The Good Stuff
From the Staff of Driftwood Public Library
 
August 2026
 
 
Staff Picks
Kirsten Recommends
My Best Books of the Year So Far

Since 2026 is already more than half over (argh, no! the passage of time!), I thought it would be a good time to share some of my favorite reads this year. These aren't necessarily books that were published this year, because I'm usually criminally behind, but they're the ones that have enthralled, moved, entertained and/or enlightened me the most so far.

In regards to The Everlasting, I wanted to note that I listened to the audiobook version on Libby, and it was spectacular! Moira Quirk (fan favorite from the Locked Tomb audiobooks) and Sid Sagar take turns narrating as the two main characters, and it's an absolute delight. It was also a finalist for the 2026 Audie Awards for Fantasy, and if you give it a listen I think you'll see why.
 
 
 
American Trickster: The Hidden Lives of Carlos Castaneda by Ru Marshall
American Trickster: The Hidden Lives of Carlos Castaneda
by Ru Marshall

Twenty years in the making, American Trickster: The Hidden Lives of Carlos Castaneda unravels the story of the secretive faux-anthropologist who pulled off one of the greatest literary hoaxes in modern history. Both an investigation of the techniques employed by charismatic narcissists and a study of the cult dynamics that still shape American life, American Trickster defies conventional biography. It emerges as a chilling allegory for the Trump era, a trenchant critique of academia's complicity in distorting and erasing Indigenous culture, and a deep dive into the mechanics of New Age spiritual abuse.
The Everlasting
by Alix E. Harrow

Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion's greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children's books and recruiting posters--but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten. Centuries later, Owen Mallory--failed soldier, struggling scholar--falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives--and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs. But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una's legend--if they want to tell a different story--they'll have to rewrite history itself.
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
The Saint of Bright Doors
by Vajra Chandrasekera

WINNER of the Nebula Award for Best Novel WINNER of the Crawford Award WINNER of the Ignyte Award for Best Adult Novel A 2023 New York Times Notable Book Finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel Finalist for the 2024 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel Finalist for the 2024 Lambda Award for LGBTQ+ Speculative Fiction Shortlisted for the 2024 Ursula K Le Guin Prize

The Saint of Bright Doors sets the high drama of divine revolutionaries and transcendent cults against the mundane struggles of modern life, resulting in a novel that is revelatory and resonant. Fetter was raised to kill, honed as a knife to cut down his sainted father. This gave him plenty to talk about in therapy. He walked among invisible powers: devils and anti-gods that mock the mortal form. He learned a lethal catechism, lost his shadow, and gained a habit for secrecy. After a blood-soaked childhood, Fetter escaped his rural hometown for the big city, and fell into a broader world where divine destinies are a dime a dozen. Everything in Luriat is more than it seems. Group therapy is recruitment for a revolutionary cadre. Junk email hints at the arrival of a god. Every door is laden with potential, and once closed may never open again. The city is scattered with Bright Doors, looming portals through which a cold wind blows. In this unknowable metropolis, Fetter will discover what kind of man he is, and his discovery will rewrite the world.
Finch
by Jeff VanderMeer

In a deserted tenement in an occupied city, two dead bodies lie on a dusty floor as if they have fallen out of the air. One corpse is cut in half, the other is utterly unmarked. One is human, the other isn't. The city of Ambergris is half ruined, rotten, its population controlled by narcotics, internment camps, and acts of terror. But its new masters want this case closed, urgently. Detective John Finch has just one week to solve it or be sent to the camps. With no ID for the victims, no clues, no leads, and precious little hope, Finch's fate hangs in the balance.But there is more to this case than meets the eye. Enough to put Finch in the crosshairs of every spy, rebel, informer, and traitor in town. Under the shadow of the eldrich tower the occupiers are raising above the city, Finch is about to come face-to-face with a series of mysteries that will change him and Ambergris forever. Why does one of the victims most resemble a man thought to have been dead for a hundred years? What is the murders' connection to an attempted genocide nearly six hundred years ago? And just what is the secret purpose of the occupiers' tower?
Finch by Jeff VanderMeer
Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher
Daggerbound
by T. Kingfisher

Learned Edmund, a disillusioned scholar, is transporting yet another precious relic from one stuffy temple to a different stuffy temple. Another great adventure for the ages... But when Edmund is set upon by bandits, in desperation, he breaks the cardinal rule and grabs for the relic, an ancient sword. To his surprise, instead of unsheathing a rusty, ancient weapon, an alarmingly handsome man appears, wielding daggers of blue steel and cutting the thieves down. This man is the Dervish, an immortal warrior who's been trapped for centuries in a sword of enchanted steel, and is angry as hell about it. He hates the curse that put him there, and he wants to hate Edmund, just as he has hated every wielder before him. But the damned scholar is just so sweet and clever and kind. And while the Dervish may be able to protect Edmund from bandits, cultists, dragons, and strange inhuman diplomats, he may find it much harder to protect his own heart.
Matthew Recommends

August 13th was International Left-Handers Day.  Enjoy some books about left-handedness including titles like Left-handed: getting a grip on handedness, Left-handed knitting, Your left-handed child: making things easy for left-handers in a right-handed world, and The left hand of the electron (a nonfiction science essay collection from Isaac Asimov). There are also a couple of left-handed mysteries and suspense novels to enjoy! 

Here's a link to the full list of catalog results, or check out some highlights below!
 
Left-Handed: Getting a Grip on Handedness by Maria Birmingham
Left-Handed: Getting a Grip on Handedness
by Maria Birmingham

A cross-disciplinary look at the history, mystery, and facts of left-handedness Most of us define ourselves as lefties or righties based on the hand we use for writing. But what makes people prefer one hand over the other? And what if handedness doesn't tell the whole story? Do we also favor one eye, one ear, or one foot? What about people who use different hands for different activities? That's where this book comes in. It examines all things lefty--from handedness in our ancient ancestors to lefty myths to current theories about the roles of genetics, environment, and brain structure. It also tackles intriguing questions: Why and when does someone become a lefty? Are humans the only left-handed animals? And what is it like to live a left-handed life in a right-handed world? With a blend of pop culture, sports, history, and STEM, this middle-grade nonfiction book tackles these questions and more, while celebrating the traits that make us unique, no matter which hand we use.
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
by Garth Nix

In a slightly alternate London in 1983, Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father, a man she has never met. Crime boss Frank Thringley might be able to help her, but Susan doesn't get time to ask Frank any questions before he is turned to dust by the prick of a silver hatpin in the hands of the outrageously attractive Merlin. Merlin is a young left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones), who with the right-handed booksellers (the intellectual ones), are an extended family of magical beings who police the mythic and legendary Old World when it intrudes on the modern world, in addition to running several bookshops.
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin's groundbreaking work of science fiction--winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards. A lone human ambassador is sent to the icebound planet of Winter, a world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants' gender is fluid. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters... Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.
Lisa Recommends
Sometimes I use Libby's search filter and choose "Available Now" and "Audiobooks" for something new to listen to before I head out the door for a walk. These last minute, readily available selections have led to more than a few gems that I never thought to include on my Holds List. Two of my most recent and now absolute favorites are:
 
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans — With more than fifteen narrators and told entirely in the form of letters, this story of one woman's lifetime was really breathtaking. I laughed. I cried. I thought deep thoughts. I came back from my walk and kept listening all through the day. Highly recommend! It was available on Libby with no wait time.
 
Tom Lake by Anne Patchett - This audiobook is narrated by Meryl Streep and is a masterclass in the gentle art of storytelling. It's a gentle sort of story in general. Meryl deserves all the awards (as usual) for her voice acting. I also got this one on Libby with no wait time. 
 
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
The Correspondent
by Virginia Evans

Sybil is seventy-three years old, in the winter of her life. Sybil has always made sense of the world through writing letters and through this epistolary novel we see how she comes to terms with her past and present and learns forgiveness.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Tom Lake
by Ann Patchett

In the spring of 2020, Lara's three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.
Hobbes Recommends
Sometimes the Sequel (or Prequel) is Better (or Just as Good) 
 
I have a controversial opinion about two of the most iconic horror classics of the 1970s: I am not a huge fan of either The Omen or The Exorcist. I understand the significance of The Exorcist in film history, it’s place in our culture, and its value as a work of art, but I don’t hold any reverence for it. I’ve always just thought The Omen was boring and kind of dumb. As I’ve gotten older I’ve developed a sort of respect for both movies, an appreciation, but that is not the same as liking them: I have enjoyed sequels to both much more than the originals. The First Omen was only released a couple years ago, but it is a finely-crafted and well-thought-out prequel that casts the original in a whole new light; it’s a sequel that actually makes the original richer and more interesting. The Exorcist III, with George C. Scott, an adaptation of William Blatty’s novel Legion and directed by him, was never intended to be an Exorcist sequel but was kind of mangled by the studio to force it into the franchise.  To me, even in its corrupted state, it is a much more interesting movie than the original could ever hope to be (and it contains one of the greatest jump scares in the history of film).
 
Below are a list of original movies and their sequels or prequels in which I’ve found the later movies to be either as entertaining as or even better than the originals.
 
101 Dalmations (1961)/ Cruella (2021)
Mary Poppins (1964)/ Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
Exorcist (1973)/ The Exorcist 3 (1990)
The Omen (1976)/ The First Omen (2024)
Manhunter (1986)/ Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The Addams Family (1991)/ Addams Family Values (1993)
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) / Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Paddington (2014)/ Paddington 2 (2017)
 
New Books
ADULT Non-Fiction
Cesar Romero: The Joker Is Wild by Samuel Garza Bernstein
Cesar Romero: The Joker Is Wild
by Samuel Garza Bernstein

Dynamic and debonair, Cesar Romero was best known for creating the role of the Joker in the 1960s Batman television series. As the first actor to play Batman and Robin's villainous nemesis, Romero established the character's giddy, manic tone and the distinctive laugh that subsequent actors like Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, and Joaquin Phoenix would use as the starting points in their own Oscar-nominated (Nicholson) and Oscar-winning (Ledger and Phoenix) performances. As a closeted gay man of Latin American descent, Romero gracefully faced many personal challenges while maintaining his suave public image and starring opposite legends ranging from Shirley Temple to Marlene Dietrich, Carmen Miranda to Frank Sinatra, and Kurt Russell to Jane Wyman.

Cesar Romero is an in-depth study of a significant Hollywood star and his impact on the entertainment industry. Batman made him immortal, but with more than four hundred film and television credits, his six-decade career as an actor, dancer, and singer made him a true Hollywood icon.
The iPhone Photography Book (2nd Edition): How to Get Professional-Looking Images Using the Awesome Camera You Always Have with You by Scott Kelby
The iPhone Photography Book (2nd Edition): How to Get Professional-Looking Images Using the Awesome Camera You Always Have with You
by Scott Kelby

Imagine if someone took the same photographic techniques, principles, and tools used by high-end and professional photographers, but applied them to shooting with an iPhone. Imagine the type of images you'd be able to create using those same ideas. Well, that's exactly what Scott Kelby did in the first edition of the bestselling The iPhone Photography Book, and now he's done it again in this fully updated second edition. 
From Life Itself: Turkey, Istanbul, and a Neighborhood in the Age of Erdoğan by Suzy Hansen
From Life Itself: Turkey, Istanbul, and a Neighborhood in the Age of Erdoğan
by Suzy Hansen
 
One neighborhood in Istanbul: a window on a city, country, region, and world in a state of upheaval. Karagumruk, an Istanbul neighborhood once dominated by Ottoman-era homes, is now known for petty thieves, cheap apartment blocks, and an influx of Syrian refugees. It's here that Suzy Hansen went looking for the truth behind the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoan's authoritarian turn, a catastrophic regional war, and an accelerating geopolitical crisis. She asks: Was Turkey a harbinger of what would soon arise in other countries, the resurgence of authoritarianism? Or do the lives in this neighborhood, and the transformations of Erdoan's Turkey, reveal a more complex story?
Charity and Sylvia by Tillie Walden
Charity and Sylvia
by Tillie Walden
 
The month is February in the year 1807. The place is Weybridge, Vermont: small, cold, lonely, and beautiful. Sylvia Drake is exhausted. As an unwed woman with few prospects, she is residing with and caring for her sister's rambunctious family. Today the house is abuzz awaiting a guest--Charity Bryant. A friend of the family, she is most known for her elegant letters, with their swoopy and evocative penmanship and carefully chosen prose. But Charity's visit is a guise, she is coming to Vermont to start over after heartbreak and rumours--so many rumours--that have grown too loud back in Massachusetts. Being openly gay in 19th century New England is not an easy row to hoe. But Charity can only be herself, and she immediately catches--and holds--the eye of none other than Sylvia Drake. From this point on, for 44 years, the two would be inseparable, building a life together despite all odds and living as a lesbian couple in small town Vermont. The true, exceptional story of these remarkable women is brought to life with humor and passion by the unparalleled and award-winning Tillie Walden (Spinning, On A Sunbeam). We see America grow alongside these women over a period that brings about the railroad, many novels, 14 Presidents, riots, rebellion, plagues, and poetry. Based on extensive archives of their writing, Charity and Sylvia is a groundbreaking biography that is also the story of 19th century America.
Japanese Comfort Cooking: An Opinionated Guide to Modern, Homey, Classic Japanese Recipes by Tadashi Ono
Japanese Comfort Cooking: An Opinionated Guide to Modern, Homey, Classic Japanese Recipes
by Tadashi Ono

Discover the secrets of Japanese comfort food with 100 cozy recipes for easy, flavorful dishes, from the bestselling authors of Japanese Soul Cooking.
YOUNG ADULT and JUNIOR Non-Fiction
How to Train Your Evil Robot
by Joy McCullough

One kid, one skeptical dog, and one very overconfident robot walk readers through what AI can do, what it can't, and why being human is still pretty great.Perfect for curious kids, savvy parents, and anyone who wants to stay one step ahead of the robots.
How to Train Your Evil Robot by Joy McCullough
Reading the Bones: Homo Naledi and the Mysteries of Human Evolution
by Marc Aronson

High-stakes adventure meets cutting-edge anthropology in this true account of the groundbreaking discovery of Homo naledi, which shocked the world of evolutionary science and redefined what it means to be human, written for young readers by a Sibert Medalist and a nationally-recognized educator.
Reading the Bones: Homo Naledi and the Mysteries of Human Evolution by Marc Aronson
Sharks in Kansas: The Ancient Sea in the Middle of America
by Melissa Stewart

Sharks in Kansas? Yes, it's true Take a fascinating journey back 85 million years to a time when Kansas was submerged under a vast ocean teeming with incredible prehistoric sharks. Sharks in Kansas? Seems impossible, right? After all, Kansas is smack dab in the middle of the United States--more than 1,000 miles from the closest ocean. But the world hasn't always looked the way it does today. Once upon a time, 85 million years ago, the middle of America was submerged in water--and incredible creatures roamed the sea. On a typical afternoon, a small herd of Claosaurus munches on plants along the shoreline. Above them, a Pteranodon glides across the sky in search of fish... when, suddenly, a Squalicorax grabs a young dinosaur with its bone-crunching bite. Chomp From the flightless bird Hesperonis to the mighty Tylosaurus, here is a fascinating look at many kids' favorite creatures and the mysteries of an ancient ocean.
Sharks in Kansas: The Ancient Sea in the Middle of America by Melissa Stewart
ADULT Fiction
The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson
The Secret Society of Librarians
by Kate Thompson

The Secret Society of Librarians is a heartbreaking yet heartwarming wartime library-set novel, inspired by real people, real stories, and extensive research. Meeting through real-life Secret Society of Librarians in London, two women form a close bond. When WW2 hits, they take their libraries underground, creating create a roaming underground library. But when one of them is taken to Poland and a concentration camp, they think there is no chance of ever being reunited again... This is an inspirational, true and compelling story about friendship, everyday bravery and the power of books, with a dual narrative set between London and Poland in the 1940s.
Henry Tudor Must Die by Jillian Laine
Henry Tudor Must Die
by Jillian Laine

One queen exiled. Another headed for the gallows. Both hungry for revenge. England's most infamous queens unite in vengeance against Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn is going to die, and neither her cleverness nor her witchery can save her. So when her late rival, Catalina de Aragon, miraculously appears in her cell at the Tower of London on the eve of her execution, very much alive and offering a daring escape plan, no one is more surprised than Anne. Lina doesn't have Anne's magic-but she has just as much hate for England's wretched king. Severed from her daughter and stripped of all her influence, Lina breathes only for the Hellebore Sisterhood, a clandestine and powerful society with a vested interest in keeping both queens alive...and using their particular skills to advance womankind. Anne and Lina's old rivalries pale in comparison to a common enemy. And they're not alone: Anna von Kleve, Kat Howard, and even Catherine Parr all have their own bones to pick with the king. One by one, they capture their pawns, infiltrating the court, and eliminating the men who plotted against them. Always inching closer to their true target... And they want his head.
Bedlam by Jennifer Higgie
Bedlam
by Jennifer Higgie

Jennifer Higgie presents a year in the life of Rich­ard Dadd, infamous inmate of one of England's most notorious sanitariums, London's Bethlem Hospital, better known as Bedlam. A young man of great promise, Dadd embarks on a grand tour of Europe and the Middle East with his patron, Sir Thomas Phillips. The two men travel through German forests, Alexan­drian brothels and across the desert to the Nile. By the time they find themselves beneath the unforgiving sun of Syria and Palestine, Dadd's fraught mind has been taxed to the limit with extraordinary images. He becomes stranger and more violent, changes his companion attributes to sunstroke. But in Dadd's imagination he has become a devotee of the god Osiris. Shortly after his return to England in 1843, the god directs him to take a life, and Dadd is set on the road to Bedlam. At once jarringly acute and alarmingly askew, Dadd's voice is rendered with both empathy and acuity by Higgie. This is a poetic and consid­ered portrait of an artist, as well as an intriguing mystery about how, and why, a mind can go so swiftly and dangerously awry.
Mystery
Indie Darling
by Lauren Nossett

Kelly Williams, a Dolly Parton-loving, sports-car-driving private investigator in Nashville, helps women. Sisters in search of lost siblings. Wives determined to uncover affairs. Daughters haunted by men lingering outside their windows. Clients trust her because she listens, she believes them, and over the years she's honed a specialized skill set. Her latest client is Sarah Owens, better known as Seraph, the magnetic and polarizing lead singer of the indie sensation The Garden Snakes. After a series of threats turns violent, she hires Kelly to identify her assailant. With feminist anthems, cryptic lyrical easter eggs, and an electrifying stage presence, Seraph has built a fiercely loyal following--and attracted a number of critics. At that level of fame, her attacker could be anyone. Then, in the middle of a Nashville performance, Seraph is shot on stage. The ambulance carrying her disappears. As the city reels and conspiracy theories swirl, Kelly is pulled into a dangerous web of secrets involving Seraph's bandmates, her troubled past, and the high cost of stardom. Propulsive and atmospheric, Indie Darling is both a page-turning mystery and a powerful meditation on art, obsession, and the perils of being a female artist in a celebrity-obsessed world.
Indie Darling by Lauren Nossett
Bait and Witch
by Angela M. Sanders

Librarian Josie Way moved to small-town Oregon to lay low. Instead, thanks to newfound magic abilities—and a killer on the loose—she’s leapt out of the frying pan and into a cauldron of trouble . . .
Bait and Witch by Angela M. Sanders
The Masala Chai Mystery Club
by Mj Soni

Retired librarian Neeti Shah was hoping for a restful life with her chai-loving friends, but when the body of a neighbor, a childhood friend of Neeti's, turns up dead and the killer's MO is similar to that of Neeti's most recent book club read, things start to get out of control. When Neeti hears a commotion at a neighbor's house, she finds Rohit's body sprawled across the bottom of the staircase with Agatha Christie's The Dumb Witness nearby. Blackmailing his neighbors, threatening them with lawsuits, and calling them by nasty nicknames were only some of the hateful things that made him so disliked. But were they angry enough to kill? Neeti is indebted to her old friend, and she's determined to find his killer. But she can't do it alone, so she enlists her mystery-loving friends, the Masala Chai Mystery Club, to get to the bottom of the murder. But Neeti and her club members need to be careful. As more bodies turn up and more suspects start to appear, they'll need to find the killer before they end up in hot water
The Masala Chai Mystery Club by Mj Soni
Fantasy / Sci-Fi
The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell
The Dragon Has Some Complaints
by John Wiswell

In this heartfelt and humorous fantasy from the Nebula-winning author of Someone You Can Build a Nest In, a dragon whose three heads bear rather...different...personalities finds family in the most unexpected of places. Garrodigh was once a four-headed dragon, among the most powerful in Kardosa. After an unfortunate incident, he now has three heads, one stump, and a daily whirlwind of internal bickering. Centerhead wants to rain death upon all humanity, Bottomhead is like a feral cat, and Upperhead is under the delicate delusion that he is, in fact, human. When a nearby battle goes awry, Garrodigh sneaks into an elite dragon rider academy, pretending to be tame to get free food and a warm bed. Lucky for him, rider Rania Charv tov is desperate enough for a dragon of her own that she overlooks his eccentricities. As Garrodigh recovers under Rania's care, all three heads start to turn, for the first time, in the same direction. Each wants to protect her from the invaders who killed their fourth head--the same invaders who seek to conquer Kardosa. When the academy comes under attack, can this wild dragon and his wilder rider save their homeland together? This cozy fantasy intertwines epic battles with loving friendships, sharing an utterly unique perspective on what it means to be a monster.
Not with a Bang by Temi Oh
Not with a Bang
by Temi Oh

The Minton family is in crisis. After losing his job, Marcus begins stockpiling cans, running evacuation drills and digging a doomsday bunker in the back garden. At the same time, his daughters are unravelling in their own ways - Chantale is being haunted by dreams of disaster, and Briar's obsession with a missing classmate draws her deeper into the seductive world of a UFO cult. Meanwhile, no one is aware of the diagnosis their mother has been trying to keep hidden. When, on the morning of the eldest daughter's wedding, an extinction-level event tears the world apart, the Mintons must fight their way through a devastated city--back to safety, survival, and each other.
Witch Season by Julia Bianco
Witch Season
by Julia Bianco

Katherine Barnes is an enforcer, charged with upholding the rules of the notorious Los Angeles-based Aestas coven. It's her job to maintain order and bring unsettled witches-people who aren't aware they have magic until it explodes out of them in a catastrophic burst-into the coven's fold. As a former unsettled witch, Katherine owes her life to Sylvia Page, coven leader and silver-haired rebel who founded Aestas years ago. When Silas Khatri, heir to Noctis, the most powerful coven in the world, arrives to take Aestas to task for some of their more unconventional practices, Katherine's dislike for him reaches blistering levels. She hates his money, his good looks, his coven's dangerous attitude towards unsettled witches. She can absolutely overlook that he sets her off in more ways than one. But a powerful threat is about to rise. Stronger than any one coven. More insidious than the decades-long power struggle that exists in the hidden witch world. One that will pull Katherine and Silas together despite their differences. And one that will lead to an all-out war. 
YOUNG ADULT Fiction 
Gods & Comics
by Kat Cho

Seventeen-year-old junior class vice president Grace Bak has her entire future all mapped out with plans to become a doctor like her parents. But the weight of Grace's own daunting expectations leads to debilitating panic attacks that have made her a virtual outcast at school, even to her longtime friend and crush. To make matters worse, her grandmother and only real support system has just died. Halmeoni was the glue that kept Grace's little family together, especially after she and her dad lost her mother to cancer when Grace was too little to have many memories of her. To cope with the grief of another loss, Grace starts a webcomic inspired by the Korean myths her halmeoni used to tell her as a child. In Sun God, Grace spins the tale of Korean god Haemosu and his love Yuhwa, but with a twist--the two gods are trapped in the bodies of teenagers and, worst of all, cursed to attend high school. Grace never expected her comic to go viral, but it has, and the new fandom has somehow conjured the real Haemosu. Now it's up to Grace to get him back home. But when she starts to fall for Hae, sending him home is the last thing she wants to do. More troubling, Hae isn't the only god to suddenly reappear. Hae's sworn enemy--also brought back to the mortal realm by Grace's comic--is set on destroying Hae, all while infecting humanity with a deadly disease. As an epic battle between gods looms, Hae is without his powers, so it may fall to Grace to fight back against a vengeful god hell-bent on punishing anyone who gets in his way.
Gods & Comics by Kat Cho
Augusta Pine Does Not Exist
by Emily Lloyd-Jones

A teen criminal hacker turned secret operative must outwit a band of cyberterrorists in this gripping novel from the acclaimed author of The Bone Houses.
Augusta Pine Does Not Exist by Emily Lloyd-Jones
Ladies of the Knight
by Fiona Marchbank

In a land where glamorous knights compete in showy tournaments for fame and fortune, George wants to be the best. Being small and untrained means no knight will give her a coveted spot as their squire, but George won't give up on her dreams so easily. Serafina is the best knight around, no question. She's so good that she's getting bored and reckless in her jousts. It doesn't help that everyone is mesmerized by Aethelberg, her sparkling rival, who is much better at playing to the crowd, while Serafina would rather keep to herself and practice her swordplay. When Serafina's wife and patroness insists on her taking plucky George as a squire, Serafina suddenly finds herself in the position she never wanted--a mentor. Their partnership is going to be even harder than it looks, considering George can barely hold a sword without giving herself a black eye and Serafina is even pricklier than the lance she wields. But if either of them are going to take the league of knights by storm, they'll have to learn that neither of them can do it alone. 
Ladies of the Knight by Fiona Marchbank
CHILDREN'S Library
Picture Books & Easy Readers
All the Hulk Feels (a Mighty Marvel Comics Picture Book) by Dan Santat
All the Hulk Feels (a Mighty Marvel Comics Picture Book)
by Dan Santat
 
Eisner Award winner!
When scientist Bruce Banner starts to feel his emotions getting out of hand, he transforms into his alter ego, the Incredible Hulk! Usually, Hulk is ready to use his anger to smash supervillains, but when everyday moments like pickles on a burger (yuck!) begin triggering Bruce s transformations, Hulk grows frustrated. Will their differences get the better of them? In a silly and heartfelt series of letters exchanged through a pocket in their purple pants, Bruce and Hulk learn to befriend even their most ferocious emotions.
What's on Your Mind?: A Calming Book for Busy Brains by Todd Parr
What's on Your Mind?: A Calming Book for Busy Brains
by Todd Parr

A gentle, interactive introduction to mindfulness and handling feelings of all shapes and sizes from New York Times bestselling author Todd Parr. With his colorful illustrations, playful humor, and inclusive storytelling, beloved author Todd Parr has long been a favorite among young readers and caregivers. His books promote an essential message of love and acceptance that is inspiring, empowering, and accessible. If your head feels too full... Think about something that tastes good. Stretch all the way up to the sky to pet a giraffe. Laugh out loud for no reason What's On Your Mind?: A Calming Book for Busy Brains helps little ones sift through overwhelming thoughts, identify feelings, and calm anxiety. Colorful bird characters lead the reader through the book, and interactive pages offer specific tools--such as deep breathing, stretching, and sensory exploration--to relax the mind in a fun and silly way. With Todd's signature simple text and bold art, this is the perfect first book on mindful thinking for the youngest readers.
All You Can Be with ADHD by Penn Holderness
All You Can Be with ADHD
by Penn Holderness

From the New York Times bestselling authors of ADHD Is Awesome comes an empowering and joyful picture book that invites young readers to join the ADHD Club--a celebration of creativity, resilience, and the endless possibilities that come with thinking differently. 
 
Written in playful rhyme and filled with humor, this story will help young readers who have been diagnosed with ADHD (or who have someone they care about with ADHD) feel seen, understood, and empowered to embrace their pretty cool brains. 
Tajín and the Twelve Thunders: A Pre-Columbian Myth (a Picture Book) by Magaly Morales
Tajín and the Twelve Thunders: A Pre-Columbian Myth
by Magaly Morales

Mischievous Tajin visits the home of the Twelve Thunders to learn how to control his wild energy, but even the thunder gods cannot tame his behavior for long.
Chapter Books and Graphic Novels
Sawyer Lee and the Quest to Just Stay Home
by Zach Weinersmith

From New York Times-bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author Zach Weinersmith comes a cartoon-illustrated middle grade novel starring a ferociously inactive kid who is dragged against his will into the madcap adventures of his friends and family.
Sawyer Lee and the Quest to Just Stay Home by Zach Weinersmith
Let's Get Together
by Brandy Colbert

Kenya Norwood likes things just the way they are. She's lived all her life in Pasadena with her dad and grandmother, she's attended the same school with the same friends since pre-K, and she's always the center of attention. Even as she's about to start middle school, she knows one thing for sure--none of that is going to change. For Liberty Perry, change is all she's ever known. Her mother disappeared when she was a toddler, and ever since, she's never stayed in one place for very long. But things seem different with her new foster mother, Joey. Maybe in this home, in this school, change won't come so quickly. Except everything changes the day Liberty and Kenya meet--and discover they are identical. Neither of them is ready to find out she has a twin sister (in fact, they're unsure if they even want one), and when the girls learn the truth of how they were separated, it's clear that no one else in their lives was ready for this, either. But the connection they share might be even stronger than the things that kept them apart--and teaming up might be the only way to set everything right.
Let's Get Together by Brandy Colbert
The Tear Collector
by R. M. Romero

In a post-apocalyptic world created by climate change, Malka and her brother, Ezra, learn to survive on an isolated island, where people afflicted by a mysterious illness change into monsters.
The Tear Collector by R. M. Romero
Sama Crushes the Code: A Graphic Novel
by Samaira Mehta

Big-thinking Sama loves coding, but is she skilled enough to fit in at Tech Club? This is a playful and STEM-rich story inspired by the real life of its seventeen-year-old author. Sama's starting middle school Maybe Tech Club will be a good place to fit in. She's into solving problems, building clever machines, and collecting beautiful data, plus her friend Nancy has given her a cool book on coding. But everyone at Tech Club is already so good at coding--will Sama's contributions be enough for her to be included in the Code Crusher championship? Sama proposes a project to help a stressed-out bus driver develop a time-saving route, but the club leader thinks the coding isn't complex enough. When Sama befriends new neighbor Zoe (who built her own hovercraft ), however, the two girls inspire each other, and soon Sama bounces back with a bunny-based board game that teaches kids how to code while having fun. Could this game be the key to getting to the championship? Precise coding vocabulary and examples are woven seamlessly into this lively story, based on the real-life computer science adventures of its author, young tech entrepreneur Samaira Mehta.
Sama Crushes the Code: A Graphic Novel by Samaira Mehta


We hope to see you at the library soon!
 
Sincerely, 
 
Your friends at Driftwood Public Library
 
Driftwood Public Library
801 SW Hwy 101, Second Floor
Lincoln City, OR 97367
Phone: 541-996-2277
Email: librarian@lincolncity.org
www.driftwoodlib.org
 
Hours:
Monday-Friday: 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM
Sunday: 1 PM - 5 PM
Closed Saturdays.