Tag: fantasy

Life-Size Candyland!

Posted on by Olivia

Ready for a sugar rush? Join us at the Aurora Library for Life Size Candyland! Race past Lollipop Forest and Gum Drop Mountain on your way to Candy Castle! First one there will win a gift card to Flavors Ice Cream & Deli! Thanks to our Teen Advisory Board for their assistance in putting this program together.

Aurora Public Library

Friday, July 7th

Tweens (8-12): 1 pm

Teens(13-19): 4 pm

Anyone 8-19 is welcome to attend! Registration is recommended, but not required. Please call 812-926-0646 to register. We hope to see you there!

Margaret Peterson Haddix Visits!

Posted on by Olivia

Calling all readers! Acclaimed and world-renowned author Margaret Peterson Haddix is stopping by the Dillsboro Public Library on April 4th @ 6 pm to meet you all!

Margaret Peterson Haddix grew up on a farm near Washington Court House, Ohio. She graduated from Miami University (of Ohio) with degrees in English/journalism, English/creative writing and history. Before her first book was published, she worked as a newspaper copy editor in Fort Wayne, Indiana; a newspaper reporter in Indianapolis; and a community college instructor and freelance writer in Danville, Illinois.

She has since written more than 40 books for kids and teens, including Running Out of Time; Double Identity; Uprising; The Always War; the Greystone Secrets series; the Shadow Children series; the Missing series; the Children of Exile series; the Under Their Skin duology; and The Palace Chronicles. She also wrote Into the Gauntlet, the tenth book in the 39 Clues series.  Her books have been honored with New York Times bestseller status, the International Reading Association’s Children’s Book Award; American Library Association Best Book and Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers notations; and numerous state reader’s choice awards. They have also been translated into more than twenty different languages.

Haddix and her husband, Doug, now live in Columbus, Ohio. They are the parents of two grown kids.

Want to read more by Margaret? Just search “Margaret Peterson Haddix” in our catalog or follow this link. You can also read her novel, The Summer of Broken Things with the Teen Book Club in March! Everyone ages 13-19 is welcome to attend Teen Book Club and you can check out your copy of the March Selection at either library today!

Want to meet Margaret? Registration is not required, but is recommended for this event. Margaret can’t wait to meet you!

Jumanji Interactive Movie Experience!

Posted on by Olivia

Are you feeling a little WILD this Spring Break? Get caught up in a game this Spring Break at the APL Spring Break INTERACTIVE movie showing.

Jumanji (2005) is the name of the game and attendees will be part of the action! Your jungle tour guides have prepared a completely immersive experience full of thrills, laughter, and tons of adventure. Be sure to wear your jungle gear and your tennis shoes as you never know what will happen. This is a completely FREE program for children of all ages! Parents are welcome to join in the fun as well!

Start your adventure with us at the Aurora Public Library on March 24th @ 1 pm. We can’t wait to see you all there!

Want to get ready for your jungle exploration? Check out these Jumanji titles below! Believe it or not, Jumanji was originally a book by acclaimed author Chris Van Allsburg!

January’s Chapter Chat

Posted on by Olivia

So you love reading, but have no one to gush about books with… Look no further! The Aurora Public Library has the answer for you: The Chapter Chat Book Club at the Aurora Public Library, meeting every month to talk books with kids just like you.

In January, Chapter Chatters are reading The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani, now a hit Netflix Motion Picture! Of course, the book is always better than the movie, but see for yourself by checking out your book today at the Aurora Public Library!

With her glass slippers and devotion to good deeds, Sophie knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and join the ranks of past students like Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks and wicked black cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil.

The two girls soon find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School for Good, thrust among handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.

But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are?

We are meeting in January at the Dillsboro Public Library on January 14th at 10:30 am and at Aurora Public Library on January 18th at 4:00 pm. Snacks, drinks, and fun, themed activities will be provided.

Registration is recommended for everyone ages 9 and up. You can pick up your book at either location. We look forward to seeing you there!

Bleak Books with Olivia: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Posted on by Olivia

Have you ever read a book all the way through just to close it for the last time and say “wow, that was bleak”? Well, I’m here to make the case for those dark, dreary, haunting, and disturbing reads that keep you up at night long after you put them down. Welcome to Bleak Books with Olivia, your resident creepy book lover at the Aurora Public Library District.

Leigh Bardugo is all over the place right now. Her three teen series that comprise the “Grishaverse” are wildly popular and have been since the first book in the Grishaverse came out: Shadow and Bone. The Grishaverse is also newly represented onscreen as a new Netflix series titled “Shadow and Bone” as well. Ever since the show was announced, these books have been flying off our physical and ebook shelves, and I must admit, I am one of those newly ravenous readers. But I didn’t pick up Shadow and Bone in hopes of finishing it before the Netflix series came out. I actually found myself drawn to the series after reading Bardugo’s excellent adult debut, Ninth House.

(It is important to note that this book is very much for adults. There are very graphic depictions of violence, gore, and sexual assault.)

Ninth House tells the story of an unlikely Yale freshman: Galaxy “Alex” Stern. Alex finds herself with a full ride to Yale after surviving an apparent overdose and an unsolved multiple homicide, but there’s one major hitch. Alex has to assume all the duties of a member of Lethe, a secret society set up in order to keep all the other infamously secret societies on campus in check. Keep them in check from what, you ask? Oh, just the typical, everyday, run-of-the-mill dark magic ritual. And these… unsavory and, at times, just plain gory rituals attract ghosts, or Grays, which can be a bit of a problem. That’s where Alex steps in. Alex has seen Grays since childhood and, as one may rightly assume, her experiences with them have caused a massive amount of trauma. This new role in the House of Lethe forces her to confront her trauma until an odd murder takes place on campus. Alex is told to leave it up to the authorities. After all, it is just a townie. But Alex knows something is wrong, and she’s up for the challenge of decoding this unnatural crime scene. What follows is a supernatural rollercoaster ride as you piece together both the cause of the murder and Alex’s past through flashbacks.

One part murder mystery, one part supernatural fantasy, and one part dark academia makes up this disturbing, sinister read. It’s the jack of all trades when it comes to bleak books. Can’t get enough of the story? Here’s some good news: not only is Ninth House the first book in a supposedly five book series (according to Bardugo’s Twitter account), but Amazon is reportedly making this series into a television show as well with Bardugo as head writer and executive producer. Three cheers to my fellow hyperfixaters! Looks like we’ll be seeing Alex for years to come.

Thank you for joining me on this dissection of one of my favorite Bleak Books. I hope to see you again sometime soon! Please take a look in the Adult Fiction section at the Aurora and Dillsboro Public Libraries for my favorite Bleak Books. If you are looking to check out this specific title, please look at the Get Caught Reading display in the stairwell at the Aurora Public Library. It’s one of my staff picks! If you meet me in the library and have any Bleak Books suggestions, please let me know! I’m always looking for a new book to disrupt my life for a couple of weeks.

Urban Fantasy on OverDrive

Posted on by Shelby

If you use OverDrive with any regularity, you might have noticed that the featured books that scroll on the homepage change all the time. Right now, the featured books fit into Urban Fantasy, a subgenre of Fantasy.

Sometimes people hear the word “fantasy” and run in the opposite direction; it can be hard to imagine entire worlds and creatures beyond what our world is already filled with. Urban Fantasy happens in the real world with magical elements and creatures added, usually blending in with regular humans. While this genre is super popular with children and teens (think Harry Potter and Isabella Swan), there are plenty of adult titles for those of us who still choose to believe that anything is possible.

Here are a few of the titles that are featured on OverDrive:

Kim Harrison’s The Hollows series takes place in Cincinnati and features bounty hunter Rachel Morgan, a witch whose job is to make sure the vampires all get along.

Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson series features the namesake, a mechanic who also has the ability to shapeshift into a coyote with neighbors ranging from a gremlin to a werewolf.

Kevin Hearne’s The Iron Druid Chronicles features Atticus O’Sullivan, the last of the Druids who runs a bookshop and shapeshifts in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound.

Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series follows wizard Harry Dresden as he works for the Chicago Police Department, catching all things paranormal.

Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series is about MacKayla — Mac for short — who is a seer of the Fae trying to solve her sister’s murder.

Chloe Neill’s Chicagoland Vampires series follows Merit, a former graduate student turned vampire who has to navigate the treacherous Chicago nightlife.

(And that’s just to page three of the featured books!) Chock-full of action and intrigue, these books will hook you and won’t let you put them down.

If you’re a fan of fantasy and the impossible with likable, realistic characters, then give Urban Fantasy a try! You can download any of these books to any device to read anywhere without the bulk of a physical book. All you need is an Internet connection (which you can use for free at any of our branches), the OverDrive app, your library card, and your pin number. If you’re unsure what your pin is or if you’ve never set one up before, stop by and see us and or give us a call. We can also walk you through downloading digital titles at the desk if you bring your device in.

Don’t forget about downloading the Libby app! Libby will put all of your library cards, downloads, and holds in one spot for your convenience. Ask us how!

Happy Reading!

The Grey Bastards (The Lot Lands #1)

Posted on by Bobbie

This debut novel by Johnathan French is truly a book no fantasy  lover should miss, if Lord of the Rings and Son’s of Anarchy could have a baby it would be The Grey Bastards.

LIVE IN THE SADDLE. DIE ON THE HOG. 

Such is the creed of the half-orcs dwelling in the Lot Lands. Sworn to hardened brotherhoods known as hoofs, these former slaves patrol their unforgiving country astride massive swine bred for war. They are all that stand between the decadent heart of noble Hispartha and marauding bands of full-blood orcs.

Jackal rides with the Grey Bastards, one of eight hoofs that have survived the harsh embrace of the Lots. Young, cunning and ambitious, he schemes to unseat the increasingly tyrannical founder of the Bastards, a plague-ridden warlord called the Claymaster. Supporting Jackal’s dangerous bid for leadership are Oats, a hulking mongrel with more orc than human blood, and Fetching, the only female rider in all the hoofs.

When the troubling appearance of a foreign sorcerer comes upon the heels of a faceless betrayal, Jackal’s plans are thrown into turmoil. He finds himself saddled with a captive elf girl whose very presence begins to unravel his alliances. With the anarchic blood rite of the Betrayer Moon close at hand, Jackal must decide where his loyalties truly lie, and carve out his place in a world that rewards only the vicious.

”The first Grey Bastards were potters, named not for our skin, but from the dry clay which covered it. We knew fire and heat and mud, until the day we rode into battle on the backs of hogs that knew only the yoke of a supply wagon. That day we became warriors. We were carving a path to freedom, though we didn’t know it then. Carving it with swords fallen from the hands of our fleeing masters, carving it through the flesh of our orc fathers.”

 

 

Kill the Farm Boy: The Tales of Pell

Posted on by Bobbie

In an irreverent new series in the tradition of Monty Python, the bestselling authors of the Iron Druid Chronicles and Star Wars: Phasma reinvent fantasy, fairy tales, and floridly written feast scenes.

In this pun-laden quest, first in a trilogy, Hearne (A Plague of Giants) and Dawson (Star Wars: Phasma) skewer the traditional tropes of epic fantasy sagas. Though the field is already rife with parodies and satires, the authors execute their own unique twist by killing off the titular farm boy on page 31 before his hero’s journey can ever truly begin. Now it’s up to a ragtag band of unlikely heroes—including a seven-foot-tall horticulturalist in a chainmail bikini, a cursed half-rabbit bard, a bread-conjuring would-be dark lord, a clumsy rogue, and a boot-eating talking goat—to save the kingdom from magical misdeeds. As they face their greatest childhood fears, contend with gourmand giants, and negotiate with arrogant elves, these improbable heroes display surprising depths and complexities. There’s a Pratchettian humor at play here, manifesting in frequent pun wars, silly songs, and an underlying level of societal absurdity—everyone takes cheese rather seriously, for instance. The authors claim they wanted to make fun of the typical “white male power fantasies,” and in that, they succeed, with their heroes all characters of color and/or falling somewhere under the LGBTQ umbrella. Even so, there’s the feeling that they’re marching through familiar, previously conquered territory, putting this solidly in the middle of the field of humorous fantasy. If you are a fan of The Princess Bride by William Goldman or the Last Unicorn you will undoubtedly laugh out loud as you read this epic adventure.

About Kill the Farm Boy

“Ranks among the best of Christopher Moore and Terry Pratchett.”—Chuck Wendig

“When you put two authors of this high caliber together, expect fireworks. Or at least laughs. What a hoot!”—New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks

This masterpiece of fun, farcical, fantasy fiction can be found on both the IDDC and the library shelves.