Hey teens! Are you looking for a little adventure? Check out our Adventure booklist, get a jump on your summer adventure.
If You Like Beautiful Creatures booklist provides great suggestions for readers who love the Beautiful Creatures series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
If you can’t wait for that awesome summer movie, look no further! Read the book before you watch the movie in our Books into Movies booklist.
We provide FREE activities that promote early literacy while putting a smile on your face.
Subscribe to our Early Lit Bits eNewsletter. Read the most recent issue online or sign up to receive this monthly update highlighting early literacy tips and resources for parents and caregivers.
Find 
great early literacy activities and information on our Play-Grow-Read! website. After all, books are for babies too!
Join one of our Babytime groups, which will delight and stimulate your baby with songs, a story and playtime. Get to know other families and help your baby develop listening and language skills.
Get out of the house and head to KDLville, early-literacy play spaces in each KDL branch.
Your Happy Pregnancy is a three-part series led by chiropractor Dr. Jessica Avery Karns. And pick up a library card for the little one while you’re there — it’s one of the best things you can do for your new baby.
Prepping Your Body to Make a Superbaby 
Congratulations, You’re Pregnant! Let’s Make This a Great Experience!
The Bundle of Joy is Here: What to do for Baby and for Momma
Congratulations to the six authors and publishers that made the second-ever shortlist for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction.
The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence were established in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. the previous year. The winners (one for fiction, one for nonfiction) are announced at the ALA Annual Conference.
Fiction Finalists:
Nonfiction Finalists:
Are you in the mood for a happily ever after sort of story? Browse our Fairy Tales Retold for Teens booklist to find your next happily ever after ending.
Following a theme of flowers, the Victorian era and happiness, might I suggest a few activities:
Read: The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and the nonfiction companion A Victorian Flower Dictionary by Mandy Kirby to learn all about the hidden meaning of flowers.
Watch: Cranford or The Young Victoria to get yourself in the Victorian era mindset.
Listen: Try classical music from the following Romantic composers to fully immerse yourself in the Victorian era: Johannes Brahms, Claude Debussy, or Franz Schubert
Do: Attend the Lily of the Valley is for Happiness program and learn the Victorian language of flowers. Wendy Batchelder from “Lost Arts” will appear in full Victorian costume to talk about the meaning of flowers while you make a simple tussie mussie to give to someone who makes you happy! Pre-registration is required. (For teens and adults)
These aren’t your typical Hunger Games dystopia titles. Rather, the thread of commonality involves women dealing with the threat of Earth’s survival during and after catastrophic events.
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker imagines the coming-of-age story of young Julia, whose world is thrown into upheaval when it is discovered that the Earth’s rotation has suddenly begun to slow, posing a catastrophic threat to all life.
Life as We Knew It is a teen novel by Susan Beth Pfeffer, the first in the Last Survivor series. Through journal entries, 16-year-old Miranda describes her family’s struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Melancholia, a film starring Kirsten Dunst, highlights how two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World starring Keira Knightley and Steve Carell. As an asteroid nears Earth, a man finds himself alone after his wife leaves in a panic. He decides to take a road trip to reunite with his high-school sweetheart. Accompanying him is a neighbor who inadvertently throws a wrench in his plan.
The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18. The winning titles are selected from the previous year’s publishing. The Alex Awards were first given annually beginning in 1998 and became an official ALA award in 2002.
Wondering who the current winners are? Check out our Alex Award Winners booklist and find your next interesting read.
Grow Happiness @ KDL by sharing your favorite joke with the library staff. Check out the KDL collection of jokes, cartoon books and humorous writing. Create a funny caption for pictures posted in our library branches and on KDL Facebook pages. In conjunction with Gilda’s Club LaughFest.
Friday, March 1 – Sunday, March 31
Here are the Grandville Branch staff pick selections for the month of March.
A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson: For the past three years, Mr. Malik has been secretly in love with Rose Mbikwa, a woman who leads the weekly bird walks sponsored by the East African Ornithological Society. Just as Malik is getting up the nerve to invite Rose to the Nairobi Hunt Club Ball (the premier social occasion of the Kenyan calendar), Harry Khan, a nemesis from his school days, arrives in town. Khan announces his intent to invite Rose to the Ball. Rather than force Rose to choose between the two men, a clever solution is proposed. Whoever can identify the most species of birds in one week’s time gets the privilege of asking Rose to the ball.
Drayson’s descriptions of the Kenyan wildlife and his sharp take on the foibles and follies of the people and politics sketch a rich picture of contemporary life in Nairobi.
Out of Warranty by Haywood Smith: Wanting to remarry when her health-care costs eat up all of her money, widow Cassie Jones enlists the grudging help of reclusive fellow patient Jack, and devises a pragmatic but unconventional solution when dating proves unsuccessful.
It has a clever plot, fun characters and it would also appeal to inspirational fiction readers.
Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo (Kate Burkholder series): Kate Burkholder, who grew up in an Amish community before abandoning their way of life, has recently been appointed Chief of Police in her former hometown. When a serial killer, whose spree sixteen years before was dubbed The Slaughterhouse Murders, returns with spectacular violence, Kate is determined to catch him.
Aya by Marguerite Abouet: Aya tells the story of its nineteen-year-old heroine, the studious and clear-sighted Aya, her easygoing friends Adjoua and Bintou, and their meddling relatives and neighbors. It’s a breezy and wryly funny account of the desire for joy and freedom, and of the simple pleasures and private troubles of everyday life in Yop City.
The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. The award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.
Take a look at our Coretta Scott King Author Award Winners booklist and our Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winners booklist.
