WHO'S ON TOP: GRAPHIC NOVELS

TOP 5 GRAPHIC NOVELS:

HARDCOVER:  

1. CEMETERY GIRL, BOOK 1, by Charlaine Harris, Christopher Golden and Don Kramer

2. BATMAN, VOL. 3, by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo

3. INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US, VOL. 1, by Tom Taylor and Jheremy Raapack

4. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EARLY EARTH, by Isabel Greenberg

5. BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland

SPOTLIGHT:

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EARLY EARTH

Isabel Greenberg

Before our history began, another now forgotten civilization thrived. The people who roamed Early Earth were much like us: curious, emotional, funny, ambitious, and vulnerable. In this series of illustrated and linked tales, Isabel Greenberg chronicles the explorations of a young man as he paddles from his home in the North Pole to the South Pole. There, he meets his true love, but their romance is ill-fated. Early Earth's unusual and finicky polarity means the lovers can never touch.

As intricate and richly imagined as the work of Chris Ware, and leavened with a dry wit that rivals Kate Beaton's in Hark! A Vagrant, Isabel Greenberg's debut will be a welcome addition to the thriving graphic novel genre.

WHO'S ON TOP: CHILDREN'S BOOKS

TOP 5 CHILDREN’S BOOKS:

CHILDREN’S BOOKS:

1. THE DAY THE CRAYONS QUIT, by Drew Daywalt.

2. WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?, by Ylvis

3. I AM ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by Brad Meltzer

4. GOODNIGHT, GOODNIGHT, CONSTRUCTION SITE, by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld

5. I AM AMELIA EARHART, by Brad Meltzer

SPOTLIGHT:

I AM ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Brad Meltzer

We can all be heroes. That’s the inspiring message of this lively, collectible picture book biography series from New York Timesbestselling author Brad Meltzer.

Kids always search for heroes, so we might as well have a say in it,” Brad Meltzer realized, and so he envisioned this friendly, fun approach to biography  for his own kids, and for yours. Each book tells the story of one of America’s icons in an entertaining, conversational way that works well for the youngest nonfiction readers, those who aren’t quite ready for the Who Was series. Each book focuses on a particular character trait that made that role model heroic. For example, Abraham Lincoln always spoke up about fairness, and thus he led the country to abolish slavery. This book follows him from childhood to the presidency, including the Civil War and his legendary Gettysburg Address.

This engaging series is the perfect way to bring American history to life for young children, and to inspire them to strive and dream.

WHO'S ON TOP: NONFICTION

TOP 5 NONFICTION:

HARDCOVER:

1. DUTY, by Robert M. Gates

2. THINGS THAT MATTER, by Charles Krauthammer

3. DAVID AND GOLIATH, by Malcolm Gladwell

4. KILLING JESUS, by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

5. I AM MALALA, by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

SPOTLIGHT:

DUTY

Robert M. Gates

From the former secretary of defense, a strikingly candid, vividly written account of his experience serving Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Before Robert M. Gates received a call from the White House in 2006, he thought he’d left Washington politics behind: after working for six presidents in both the CIA and the National Security Council, he was happy in his role as president of Texas A&M University. But when he was asked to help a nation mired in two wars and to aid the troops doing the fighting, he answered what he felt was the call of duty. Now, in this unsparing memoir, meticulously fair in its assessments, he takes us behind the scenes of his nearly five years as a secretary at war: the battles with Congress, the two presidents he served, the military itself, and the vast Pentagon bureaucracy; his efforts to help Bush turn the tide in Iraq; his role as a guiding, and often dissenting, voice for Obama; the ardent devotion to and love for American soldiers—his “heroes”—he developed on the job.

In relating his personal journey as secretary, Gates draws us into the innermost sanctums of government and military power during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, illuminating iconic figures, vital negotiations, and critical situations in revealing, intimate detail. Offering unvarnished appraisals of Dick Cheney, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Presidents Bush and Obama among other key players, Gates exposes the full spectrum of behind-closed-doors politicking within both the Bush and Obama administrations.

He discusses the great controversies of his tenure—surges in both Iraq and Afghanistan,  how to deal with Iran and Syria, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” Guantánamo Bay, WikiLeaks—as they played out behind the television cameras. He brings to life the Situation Room during the Bin Laden raid. And, searingly, he shows how congressional debate and action or inaction on everything from equipment budgeting to troop withdrawals was often motivated, to his increasing despair and anger, more by party politics and media impact than by members’ desires to protect our soldiers and ensure their success.

However embroiled he became in the trials of Washington, Gates makes clear that his heart was always in the most important theater of his tenure as secretary: the front lines. We journey with him to both war zones as he meets with active-duty troops and their commanders, awed by their courage, and also witness him greet coffin after flag-draped coffin returned to U.S. soil, heartbreakingly aware that he signed every deployment order. In frank and poignant vignettes, Gates conveys the human cost of war, and his admiration for those brave enough to undertake it when necessary.

Duty tells a powerful and deeply personal story that allows us an unprecedented look at two administrations and the wars that have defined them.

WHO'S ON TOP: FICTION

TOP 5 FICTION:

HARDCOVER:

1. THE INVENTION OF WINGS, by Sue Monk Kidd

2. THE GOLDFINCH, by Donna Tartt

3. FIRST LOVE, by James Patterson and Emily Raymond

4. THE FIRST PHONE CALL FROM HEAVEN, by Mitch Albom

5. SYCAMORE ROW, by John Grisham

SPOTLIGHT:

FIRST LOVE

James Patterson and Emily Raymond

An extraordinary portrait of true love that will move anyone who has a first love story of their own. Axi Moore is a "good girl": She studies hard, stays out of the spotlight, and doesn't tell anyone how all she really wants is to run away from it all. The only person she can tell is her best friend, Robinson--who she also happens to be madly in love with.

When Axi spontaneously invites Robinson to come with her on an impulsive cross-country road trip, she breaks the rules for the first time in her life. But the adventure quickly turns from carefree to out of control after the teens find themselves on the run from the police. And when Robinson suddenly collapses, Axi has to face the truth that this trip might be his last.

A remarkably moving tale very personal to James Patterson's own past, FIRST LOVE is testament to the power of first love--and how it can change the rest of your life.

WHO'S ON TOP: GRAPHIC NOVELS

TOP 5 GRAPHIC NOVEL:

HARDCOVER:

1. CEMETERY GIRL, BOOK 1, by Charlaine Harris, Christopher Golden and Don Kramer

2. BATMAN, VOL. 3, by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo

3. THE JOKER: DEATH OF THE FAMILY, by Scott Snyder and Various

4. BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland

5. THE WALKING DEAD, BOOK 1, by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard

SPOTLIGHT:

CEMETERY GIRL, BOOK 1

Charlaine Harris, Christopher Golden and Don Kramer

Charlaine Harris, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels and the Harper Connelly Mysteries, and New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden present an original graphic novel illustrated by acclaimed comic book artist Don Kramer—first in a brand-new trilogy.

She calls herself Calexa Rose Dunhill—names taken from the grim surroundings where she awoke, bruised and bloody, with no memory of who she is, how she got there, or who left her for dead.

She has made the cemetery her home, living in a crypt and avoiding human contact. But Calexa can’t hide from the dead—and because she can see spirits, they can’t hide from her.

Then one night, Calexa spies a group of teenagers vandalizing a grave—and watches in horror as they commit murder. As the victim’s spirit rises from her body, it flows into Calexa, overwhelming her mind with visions and memories not her own.

Now Calexa must make a decision: continue to hide to protect herself—or come forward to bring justice to the sad spirit who has reached out to her for help...

WHO'S ON TOP: CHILDREN'S BOOKS

TOP 5 CHILDREN’S BOOKS:

PICTURE BOOKS:

1. WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?, by Ylvis

2. GOODNIGHT, GOODNIGHT, CONSTRUCTION SITE, by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld

3. STEAM TRAIN, DREAM TRAIN, by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld

4. THE DAY THE CRAYONS QUIT, by Drew Daywalt

5. PRESS HERE, by Hervé Tullet

SPOTLIGHT:

MR. TIGER GOES WILD

Peter Brown

Are you bored with being so proper?

Do you want to have more fun?

Mr. Tiger knows exactly how you feel. So he decides to go wild.

But does he go too far?

From Caldecott Honor artist Peter Brown comes a story that shows there's a time and place for everything...even going wild.

WHO'S ON TOP: NONFICTION

TOP 5 NONFICTION:  

HARDCOVER:  

1. THINGS THAT MATTER, by Charles Krauthammer

2. DAVID AND GOLIATH, by Malcolm Gladwell

3. KILLING JESUS, by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

4. BRAINSTORM, by Daniel J. Siegel

5. I AM MALALA, by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

SPOTLIGHT:

BRAINSTORM

Daniel J. Siegel

Between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, the brain changes in important, and oftentimes maddening, ways. It’s no wonder that many parents approach their child’s adolescence with fear and trepidation. According to renowned neuropsychiatrist Daniel Siegel, however, if parents and teens can work together to form a deeper understanding of the brain science behind all the tumult, they will be able to turn conflict into connection and form a deeper understanding of one another.  

In Brainstorm, Siegel illuminates how brain development impacts teenagers’ behavior and relationships. Drawing on important new research in the field of interpersonal neurobiology, he explores exciting ways in which understanding how the teenage brain functions can help parents make what is in fact an incredibly positive period of growth, change, and experimentation in their children’s lives less lonely and distressing on both sides of the generational divide.

WHO'S ON TOP: FICTION

TOP 5 FICTION:

HARDCOVER:

1. THE INVENTION OF WINGS, by Sue Monk Kidd

2. THE GOLDFINCH, by Donna Tartt

3. DARK WOLF, by Christine Feehan

4. STANDUP GUY, by Stuart Woods

5. SYCAMORE ROW, by John Grisham

SPOTLIGHT:

THE INVENTION OF WINGS

Sue Monk Kidd

From the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees, a magnificent novel about two unforgettable American women

Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world.

Hetty "Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid.We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty-five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.

As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements.

Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better.

This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.

WHO'S ON TOP: CHILDREN'S BOOKS

TOP 5 CHILDREN’S BOOKS:

PICTURE BOOKS:

1. WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?, by Ylvis

2. THE DAY THE CRAYONS QUIT, by Drew Daywalt

3. GOODNIGHT, GOODNIGHT, CONSTRUCTION SITE, by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld

4. PRESS HERE, by Hervé Tullet

5. STEAM TRAIN, DREAM TRAIN, by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld

SPOTLIGHT:

WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?

Ylvis

Do you know what the fox says? Based on the hugely popular YouTube video with more than 200 million views, this picture book is packed full of foxy fun.

Dog goes woof. Cat goes meow. Bird goes tweet and mouse goes squeak…

But what does the fox say?

The lyrics of Ylvis’s YouTube sensation “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)” meet Svein Nyhus’s playful illustrations in this irresistibly entertaining read-aloud picture book.