Staff Favorites 2012

This quick read tells the story of a star high school athlete who has her leg amputated as the result of an accident. Van Draanan does a great job of relating all the emotions felt by everyone – the victim, her parents, her siblings, her friends, her coaches and teachers. Rather than becoming a tear jerker, this book becomes an inspiring story of determination and the power of friendship.

A fascinating examination of the queens of England who challenged the presumption that only men could rule, the compromises they made to secure the thrones for their sons, and how the historical record has impugned their reputations for their considerable trouble.

I think I fell in love…at first sight…with this book. Flying to London may be most girls' dream, but not Hadley's. Not when she's flying out to be a bridesmaid in her own father's wedding. Even worse - she misses her flight by four minutes - ensuring she'll most likely be late. What she doesn't expect: she's helped by a boy named Oliver and seated next to him as well. Because of this, the next 24 hours will change her very reason for existing.

This novel, based on the life of bank robber Willie Sutton, tells the tale of a man who is easily a metaphor for the American Dream. The novel spans decades which become eerily familiar; the failure of the banks and the economic attack on the middle class very reminiscent of our country's on-going economic woes. Moehringer effectively brings to life a man and a nation, weaving them into the tattered fabric of a flawed society that defines crime and distributes punishment through its class structure. But the novel is more than a message, it is also a love story spanning decades, achingly seen through Willie's eyes. The reader is kept guessing as to the true persona of Willie Sutton, a.k.a. "The Actor". This novel is engrossing; readers will want to know more about this notorious player on the stage of American social history.