Amy Kay
Hooked on Books
The staff of the County of L&A Libraries are avid readers and are always eager to make reading suggestions. Here you’ll find a couple of picks from our library pages: a retelling of a classic with a modern message and an enchanting middle grade historical with musical accompaniment.
Saige suggests If The Shoe Fits By Julie Murphy
If The Shoe Fits written by Julie Murphy is the first novel in the Meant to Be collection, which takes us through modern day fairytale retellings unlike any you’ve seen before. The premise here is that our protagonist, Cindy, is a shoe designer hit hard by a second wave of grief from the loss of the most important person in her life: her Dad. In a fascinating series of events, a skeptical Cindy ends up on a Bachelor-esc show known as “Before Midnight”, duking it out against other women for the attention of our Prince Charming. But Cindy isn’t like everybody else.
While this concept is interesting on its own, the nature of Cindy’s character is what really drove me to pick up this book. Romance is a huge and ever growing genre, but even with all of the options, people often seem to struggle to find a satisfying option that features a plus sized main character. But in true Julie Murphy nature we are given just that: a strong, plus sized Cindy who manages to change the world and find love without ever changing herself.
Written by a plus sized author herself, I believe that this novel was gracefully navigated and refreshing in comparison to other options of a similar premise. There’s some speculation as to whether this novel is to be considered adult or YA, but let’s just say it’s pretty tame. I think that this would be a great choice for anybody looking for an easy read with an important message, or for fans of similar books such as One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London and The Selection by Kiera Cass.
Elizabeth suggests Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan
Of the many different genres out there, historical fiction is definitely one of the most interesting. It gives you a glimpse into the past while at the same time telling an excellent story. One of my favourite historical novels is Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan. It is set in the years leading up to and during WWII.
The book begins with a fairytale-like setting in 19th century Germany. Three princesses are put under a curse by a witch, and to escape from it they must save a life. They send out a magical harmonica into the world to do just that.
The book then skips ahead a couple of decades to the late 1930s and early 1940s and chronicles the stories of Friederich Schmidt a factory worker in Germany, Mike Flannery an orphan in Philadelphia, and Ivy Maria Lopez a migrant worker in California. Each of these three children receives, and then passes on, the same mysterious harmonica, until, eventually, it saves a life.
This book has a lot of music throughout the story, and although reading it is a wonderful option, the audiobook version is truly amazing. It features performances of each of the songs with instruments like the cello, piano, and (of course!) the harmonica. It is available in both a CD format and on Hoopla.
These titles can be reserved at your local County of Lennox and Addington Library or online at www.countylibrary.ca.