CRRL Staff

CRRL Wins!  You voted - thank you! - and we have won a visit from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Susanna Kearsley,  known for her suspenseful, historical romances. 

Meet Susanna at a wine and cheese reception at the Porter Branch on Wednesday, June 5, at 7pm, as she launches her newest book, The Firebird.

Sign up requested but not required - please call 540-659-4909. 

As a former museum curator, Susanna brings her passion for research and travel to her novels, weaving together modern-day and historical intrigue. In her newest novel, The Firebird, heroine Nicola Marter was born with a psychic gift. When a woman arrives with a small wooden carving at the gallery Nicola works at, she can see the object's history and knows that it was named after the Firebird - the mythical creature from an old Russian fable.

Thank you to Barnes & Noble for providing copies of her books for purchase!  

Haven’t read a Susanna Kearsley book? If you like Diana Gabaldon, Daphne du Maurier, or Audrey Niffenegger, you’ll love Susanna Kearsley. Check out one of these titles:

George Van Sant was well known in the area for his outstanding public service in the Marine Corps, at Mary Washington College, and in local politics.  To many of us, however, he was best known as an advocate for the Central Rappahannock Regional Library.

On January 11, 2013 CRRL Headquarters had the pleasure of welcoming the Rappahannock Astronomy Club to Fabulous Friday: Shoot for the Stars. Mr. Jerry Hubbell, President of RAC, and Mrs. Linda Billard, the editor of RAC’s newsletter, came and talked to a group of thirty-two parents and children. The focus of the program was constellations and how we can see shapes in the stars the same way we see shapes in the clouds.  After Mr. Hubbell talked about some of the better known constellations, he and Mrs.

Discover Earth: February 26 - April 24 at England Run Branch

The Central Rappahannock Regional Library system is one of only ten libraries in the country to successfully apply for the grant-funded, museum-quality science exhibit, Discover Earth: A Century of Change!

This year the second floor of the Headquarters Library decided to do something a bit different for their holiday decorations. The Youth Services staff made the decision to have all of their decorations made from recycled and repurposed materials, specifically focusing on books weeded from the collection due to extreme damage. Then the system-wide Teen Council and teen volunteers from Headquarters handled the majority of the decoration creation. Over the course of three weeks these groups worked together to create the trees, snowflakes, paper chains and houses that make up the majority of the second floor decorations while staff members created the complementary hedgehogs. One fun twist that came from using old books was creating a game to go with the decorations.

Five trees created from old books are on the Youth Services Research Desk. We encourage all customers to come and try to guess which books were used to make the trees for a chance to win a prize. To go with the theme of recycled and repurposed decorations the Teen Council decided on the slogan “Go Green with the Grinch” to help tie all of the decorations together.

Check out this slideshow and view on Flickr to find out more about how some of the decorations were made.

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
This is the story of a quiet boy who embarks on a dangerous quest in order to fulfill his destiny -- and find his father -- in a strange world beneath New York City. When Gregor falls through a grate in the laundry room of his apartment building, he hurtles into the dark Underland, where spiders, rats, cockroaches coexist uneasily with humans. This world is on the brink of war, and Gregor's arrival is no accident. A prophecy foretells that Gregor has a role to play in the Underland's uncertain future. Gregor wants no part of it -- until he realizes it's the only way to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance. Reluctantly, Gregor embarks on a dangerous adventure that will change both him and the Underland forever.
 

This is the first book in the Underland Chronicles, followed by Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, Gregor and the Marks of the Secret, Gregor and the Code of the Claw:

If you like Collins' Gregor books, you may have heard of her other series ... The Hunger Games.

If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, be sure to check it out!

You might also like one of these books - they are all the first in a series:

Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
Nathaniel, a magician's apprentice, summons up the djinni Bartimaeus and instructs him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the powerful magician Simon Lovelace.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll.

City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau
In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.

These are good too!:

Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson
As they get older, several sisters decide that they must kidnap children and bring them to their secluded island home to help with the work of caring for an assortment of unusual sea creatures.

Magyk by Angie Sage
After learning that she is the Princess, Jenna is whisked from her home and carried toward safety by the Extraordinary Wizard, those she always believed were her father and brother, and a young guard known only as Boy 412--pursued by agents of those who killed her mother ten years earlier.

Want more reading recommendations? Request a Book Match or browse our Book Match archive for suggestions.

This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you. See our other Book Matches.

If you like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, of course you'll want to read the other two books in the trilogy (if you haven't already!): Catching Fire and Mockingjay

Here are some other action/adventure books you may enjoy:

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day tobe a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.

Feed by M. T. Anderson
In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble.

Girl in the Arena: A Novel Containing Intense Prolonged Sequences of Disaster and Peril by Lise Haines
In Massachusetts, eighteen-year-old Lyn, who has grown up in the public eye as the daughter of seven gladiators, wants nothing less than to follow her mother's path, but her only way of avoiding marriage to the warrior who killed her last stepfather may be to face him in the arena.