Read Everything!!

  News:   This December, the SSS Library is featuring 12 top picks in the YA Historical Fiction genre. Any of these would make a great holiday read so choose one. Then cozy up with a candy cane hot chocolate and a warm blanket, and have a very merry time! ü Fever (L.H. Anderson) ü The Bone Feud (Wynne McLaughlin) ü Code Name Verity (Elizabeth Wein) ü The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (Avi) ü Witch Child (Celia Rees) ü A Great and Terrible Beauty (Libba Bray) ü Number the Stars (Lois Lowry) ü The Witch of Blackbird Pond (E.G. Speare) ü I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith) ü The Ransom of Mercy Carter (C.B. Cooney) ü Empire of the Sun (J.G. Ballard) ü Witness (Karen Hesse) (from Goodreads Reader’s Choice)

  Book Review:   In Traitor , YA author Gudrun Pausewang gives us a chance to imagine the tensions, upheaval, and horrible cost of WWII from another perspective, the everyday German citizen’s perspective. The protagonist in the novel is Anna, a teenage girl living in Sudetenland near the end of the war. Her family is sharply divided in their attitudes toward Hitler and the glories of the Third Reich, and as Russian forces press relentlessly into the area Anna finds herself in an unimaginably perilous predicament. If you’re curious to know more, you’ll have to read the book. Pausewang employs a straightforward voice in Traitor , which helps one get caught up authentically in Anna’s teenage world. Having said that, her struggles are far from trite or simplistic, and the mounting tension throughout leaves one practically breathless by the explosively crushing ending. This story shows just how completely war twists the everyday world of ordinary people into a senseless, catastro...

  News:   For November, the SSS Library is featuring ten of the most acclaimed Action/Adventure books, plus the greatest War Story and Nonfiction Adventure of all time. So, get ready for a major adrenaline rush!! Here goes. 1.                    Jurassic Park (Michael Crichton) - 1990 2.                   The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) - 2006 3.                   The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum) - 2005 4.                  Hunt For Red October (Tom Clancy) - 1999 5.                   The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) – 1844 6.           ...

Book Review: Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451 & The Martian Chronicles) released his horror/dark fantasy classic “Something Wicked This Way Comes” in 1962. Since then, it has become one of his most acclaimed works. Stephen King calls it… “a darkly poetic tale… it is probably Bradbury’s best work”. In 1983 it was adapted to film under the direction of Jack Clayton, and a Disney remake with Seth Grahame is presently in the works. The story is set in a mid-western American town in the middle of the last century and features two boys in their turbulent early teen years. When a mysterious traveling carnival rolls into town, things begin to get strange - and downright creepy!! Hopes and dreams begin to metamorphose into living nightmares as reality warps and twists like molten glass. Bradbury writes in a highly original voice, as much poetry as prose, conjuring up at once an atmosphere of dark tension and poignant beauty. I found myself enjoying not only the story, but the act of s...

 News: It's Halloween season again, and what better way to celebrate than by highlighting some of the greatest scary stories of all time. Here are  twelve chilling tales to make your blood run pleasurably cold. 1.   Frankenstein     (Mary Shelley) -  1818 2.   Edgar Allen Poe: the Ultimate Collection -  1830’s & 40’s 3.  Dracula  (Bram Stoker) - 1897 4.   The Turn of the Screw (Henry James)  - 1898 5.  The Horror in the Museum (HP Lovecraft) -  1917 to 1937      6.  Rebecca  (Daphne du Maurier) - 1938 7.     The Haunting of Hill House  (Shirley Jackson) -  1959    8.   Something Wicked This Way Comes  (Ray Bradbury) - 1962 9.  The Shining  (Steven King) - 1977 10. Coraline  (Neil Gaiman) - 2002 11. Let the Right One In  (John Ajvide Lindquvist) - 2004 12.  N0S4A2  (Joe Hill) - 2013 Have a creep...

  Book Review: Welcome back, Sardis Falcons!! September 2023 is Fantasy month in the SSS Library and we are highlighting the best-selling fantasy books and series of all time. It’s no surprise to find Harry Potter, The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings, the Narnia books, and the Wheel of Time series all given their rightful places of honor. As great as these classic tales are, they hardly need yet another review. But there is one masterwork that I believe deserves more attention… Often forgotten, hiding in plain sight on practically every library in the western world yet rarely checked out, is Richard Adams’ debut novel, “Watership Down”. Since its release in 1972, it has sold over fifty million copies, won both the Carnegie Medal and Guardian Prize , and been adapted to animated film in 1978. Additionally, it has been removed from the shelves of various libraries due to the story’s darkly violent content and been completely banned in China for its anti-Marxist message. Curiou...

News: The most popular genre in the SSS Library (by far) is... (drum roll please) Fantasy And we are celebrating this wonderful genre all September long. To make sure you don’t miss out on any of the most acclaimed fantasy titles, I’m providing you with a top 12 list. Each book or series is ranked according to overall sales in millions. Maybe you’ll find something great here that you’ve never read!! 1.  Harry Potter (JK Rowling) - best selling series                                         450+ million 2.  The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien) - best selling book                    150+ 3.  The Hobbit (JRR Tolkien)                                              ...