Last Call For Beach Reads!

The summer is slipping away like sand on the beach. Before it’s completely gone, check out these reads that are perfect for your last days on the beach! Reserve print copies for Curbside Pickup (read full instructions here), which now has online registration to make setting up an appointment for Curbside Pickup even easier.

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

Daphne Berg and Drue Cavanaugh were high school besties until a fight separated them. Daphne, who struggles with her plus size body image, is unsure when her old time frenemy asks her to be her maid of honor in a high society wedding set to be on Cape Cod. Likable characters, an honest look at female friendship, and a glamorous setting make this a thoroughly enjoyable beach read. Check it out on Overdrive or the Libby app in ebook or audiobook format, or reserve the print copy for Curbside Pickup. 

The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward

The Jetsetters is a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick. Charlotte Perkins from Savannah, Georgia misses her three children. She enters a “Become a Jetsetter” contest, wins a Mediteranean cruise, and invites her children to join her. During the ten day cruise, the family reconnects with each other and finds out all isn’t going so well in each other’s lives. 

You can reserve a print copy of the book in the catalog here or read the ebook on Overdrive/the Libby app.

A Week at the Shore by Barbara Delinsky

Set in Rhode Island, this is the story of three sisters who, after not seeing each other for a long time, come together to care for their father who is suffering from dementia. Painful secrets are forced to light and fragile family bonds are tested as the past is explored. They also reconnect with childhood friends, and old flames are rekindled. Reserve it in print or check it out on Overdrive/the Libby app in ebook or audiobook format.

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Creature Features! Summer Film Favorites from hoopla and the APL DVD Collection!

Summer is still very much with us, and you just may be craving the sort of  blockbuster viewing that the season usually provides. Something to take your mind entirely off of the pressures of real life and plunge you into the midst of impossible drama and adventure. Something with fabulous special effects to engross the senses and take you somewhere else, far from the world as it is. If you haven’t yet made it to a drive-in theater, or if you’re eager for more of this sort of thing, APL has you covered! Whether you prefer streaming video or watching DVDs, you’ll find “creature features” on hoopla and via our easy Curbside Pickup Service.

hoopla dishes up ravening dinosaurs, alligators, and sharks galore (also see this week’s Shark Week post) with its specially-curated Creature Feature category. Here, you can wander at will in unabashedly B-movie territory–because who doesn’t secretly love them, however bad the reviews may be? If you’d like a dollop of literature with your sci-fi/fantasy/horror experience, you might go for Journey to the Center of the Earth or Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island, both of which reimagine classic 19th-century novels in modern terms. Or perhaps try a comic take on H. P. Lovecraft’s famously weird tales with The Last Lovecraft: The Relic of Cthulhu, in which the author’s last living relative must reckon with the fearsome monster.

Once you’ve exhausted the 47 possibilities represented in hoopla, hop over to our library catalog for a bijou, hand-selected list of DVDs that are sure to give you those chills and thrills you crave! Get reacquainted with Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, or opt for a real-life adrenaline rush with the documentary Shark Dive. If you’re in the mood for something a little gentler than Jaws, have a look at a critically-acclaimed, fantastical film full of tall tales: Big Fish. There are vintage heebeegeebees to be had too, if you want to try the classic film Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

If you’re new to hoopla, take a look at our FAQs page to get started. And if you haven’t tried our Curbside Pickup Service, learn all about it here and check the updates here. Oh–and you’ll be happy to know that there’s currently no fee for DVD checkouts!

Reserve These New Library Books For Curbside Pickup!

These are just a few of the new books Abbot Public Library has to offer for Curbside Pickup! Just click the links in the titles below and log in to your account to reserve your copy. Please read the full instructions for Curbside Pickup Service for further details. If you don’t want to wait for the physical book, some titles may be available to check out in digital formats through our online services.

28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand

Nothing feels like summer like reading an Elin Hilderbrand novel. Get away to Nantucket for sun, sailing, and a journey with her well-crafted novels. A movie which started as a play in 1975, Same time, Next Year, inspired the book. Mallory Blessing has been meeting Jake McCloud for 28 years on Labor Day weekend, but they are both married to other people. When Mallory receives bad news about her health, she has to face what might be their last meeting. 

You can reserve the physical copy or check it out in ebook or audiobook format on Overdrive or through the Libby app. Hilderbrand’s next book coming soon is Troubles in Paradise, which you can also reserve now for Curbside Pickup.

The Friends We Keep by Jane Green

Prolific writer Jane Green is the author of Swapping Lives and Falling, as well as many others. Her latest novel follows the lives of Evvie, Maggie, and Topher, who became fast friends during college. Through the ups and downs of life their friendship has remained a constant anchor, but one betraying secret threatens to damage these ties when they need each other most.

You can reserve the physical copy or check it out in ebook or audiobook format.

Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Christmas in July! This brilliant writer can always bring a smile to the reader in her humorous fiction. In the latest volume of her Shopaholic Series, Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) is suddenly hosting her first family Christmas party. Between her quest (which becomes quite involved) to find her husband, Luke, the perfect present, and planning the perfect party for her friends and family, Becky might be in over her head. Lovable, familiar characters make this a cozy read.

Reserve the physical copy or the ebook format, and keep a lookout for Kinsella’s latest book coming out soon!

Celebrate National Ice Cream Month!

July is National Ice Cream Month. And no wonder, with how hot the summer can be! If you want to practice social distancing away from those long lines at the ice cream stores, here are some ebooks to help you make, enjoy, and celebrate this tasty summertime treat! 

Get the scoop on how to make ice cream in Charity Ferreira and Lou Seibert Pappas’s ebook with 25 recipes for homemade ice creams and frozen desserts. The A to Z Ice Cream: Making Ice Cream at Home for Total Beginners by Lisa Bond is another great way to start learning how to make this popular frozen dessert, as well as facts about ice cream you can share with friends and family! Find 51 recipes in Nicole Weston’s How to Make Ice Cream, including classics such as coffee and chocolate, as well as original flavors like goat cheese and honey, maple bacon, and more! Or learn from master chef Louis P. De Gouy in The Ice Cream Book, which includes over 400 recipes. We guarantee you will find The Best Ice Cream Maker Cookbook Ever in our hoopla collection! If you care about cows so much you don’t eat dairy products, try Vegan A La Mode by Hannah Kaminsky, with 100+ recipes made from almond, coconut, and other dairy alternatives. 

Once you have your frozen dessert in hand, enjoy while reading an ice cream-themed adult mystery or romance! Jen and Sherry try to solve the Chunky Raspberry Fudge Murder in Penelope Manzone’s cozy mystery. Listen to Lexy Baker and her grandmother, Nans, solve a mystery in Leighann Dobbs’s audiobook, Ice Cream Murder. For A Deadly Inside Scoop, Abby Collette’s wintertime mystery features a recent MBA grad who took over her family’s ice cream business and found the body of a man with an old feud with her family.

If you want something more romantic, Eileen Dreyer’s The Ice Cream Man features Jenny Lake investigating an ice cream man who may be selling something else from his ice cream truck. You could also travel back in time to Grace Thompson’s Ice Cream in Winter, about a woman trying to run a struggling ice cream shop in the winter of 1940. Or take a contemporary road trip in Tiffany Carby’s romance, $(mint)en Chocolate Chip, in which a successful blogger takes a road trip to find the best ice cream spots.

What goes well with ice cream? Dogs! In Drawing with Mark: Happy Tails & We All Scream for Ice Cream, children will learn about popular flavors of the frozen dessert, and they will be taught how to draw an ice cream cone and truck! They’ll also learn how to take care of and draw puppies and kittens. If you want to see doggos enjoying their own frozen treats, take a look at the photos in Diana Lundin’s Dogs vs. Ice Cream! Splat the Cat and Stick Dog also have something to scream or dream about ice cream in the children’s books by Rob Scotton and Tom Watson.

Check out the rest of hoopla’s ice cream-themed items, which include recipe books, fiction, music, and other entertaining items for all ages!

It Is SO Hot!

Phew! It is so hot! Below are books for both younger and older children describing hot summer weather and heat waves. What to do when it is hot, why it is hot, and how to stay safe are some of the topics explored.

* All descriptions are from the publishers

Disaster Zone: Heat Waves by Vanessa Black (also available as a Read-Along ebook)

Part of the Disaster Zones Series

In Heat Waves, early fluent readers learn about the conditions that lead to and result from catastrophic heat waves. Vibrant, full-color photos and carefully leveled text will engage young readers as they learn about the deadliest heat waves and how to stay safe in heat wave conditions.

An infographic illustrates how a heat wave forms, and an activity offers kids an opportunity to extend discovery. Children can learn more about heat waves using our safe search engine that provides relevant, age-appropriate websites. Heat Waves also features reading tips for teachers and parents, a table of contents, a glossary, and an index.

Weather in Summer by Maddie Spalding

Part of the Welcome, Summer! Series

Engage readers with the story of weather in summer. Readers are introduced to the ways that Earth changes in the summertime. Additional features include a table of contents, a phonetic glossary, an index, an introduction to the author, and sources for further research. A kid-friendly project inspires creativity and hands-on fun.

On a Hot Day by Donna Herweck Rice

Part of the My Words Readers Series

Sprinklers, sunglasses, lemonade, and ice cream. These are all things that we use when it’s hot out! Perfect for 1st grade students, this book teaches these 7 high-frequency words from Fry’s First 100 words list: who, can, use, some, on, this, and day. The short sentences and clear images support the text to help with memorization. The rebus pictures and simple text build grade 1 reading comprehension in a format that is appealing to children. Beginning readers will learn the essential sight words and gain confidence as they learn to read independently.

Adapting to Severe Heat Waves by Tamra B. Orr

Part of the Science to the Rescue: Adapting to Climate Change Series

Like a row of dominoes, persistent and repetitive heat waves also threaten the environment, exacerbate current climate-related problems, stress a country’s health system, damage its infrastructure, and strain its energy resources. Readers examine efforts, including drought and heat-resistant energy-efficient “smart” homes and buildings, green roof gardens, next-generation building materials, and alternative energy sources as well as technologically advanced climate modeling, weather prediction, and emergency warning systems. Also highlighted are governmental efforts that can be made to alleviate human suffering, including energy conservation initiatives, the opening of public shelters and cooling centers, and the organizing of neighborhood watch programs for heat-vulnerable residents. Most importantly, readers learn how they can learn to reduce their carbon footprint while also coping with increasing heat and remaining healthy.

How’s the Weather in Summer? by Rebecca Felix

Part of the 21st Century Basic Skills Library: Let’s Look at Summer Series

This Level 1 guided reader explores the concept of seasonal changes in weather in the summer. Students will develop word recognition and reading skills while learning about the changes in summer weather we can see and feel.

Why is Summer Hot? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfelf

Have you ever wondered why the days are so long in the summer and short in the winter? Or why we have hot weather and colder weather? Read on to learn about the Earth, how it spins around the Sun, and the seasons!

If you need to cool down now, take a look at this post about swimming books.

Get Your Groove On: Discover Music on hoopla!

It’s well and truly summertime now and time to switch up some of your rest-of-the-year habits! If you’re in the doldrums, there’s nothing like some brand-new listening to perk you up. Did you know that you can borrow the very latest albums through Abbot Public Library on hoopla?

Log in today and have a look! There are at least 49,089 titles to wow your earbuds. If you’d like to see the very newest releases, that’s easy. Browse “Music,” and filter to release dates to within the last 7 or 30 days–or broaden your scope to include the last 3, 6, or 12 months. If you’re thinking family-friendly, you have the option to filter results to “exclude PA music.” Learning a language this summer? Try filtering by the language of your choice and practice to the lyrics! 

hoopla has helpfully created 66 categories by genre, audience, and era–and you’ll even find “shuffle” playlists for rock, alternative, and pop. Want only the best of the best? You’ll find up-to-date awards-winning collections like the 2020 ACM Awards, the 2020 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees, or, if you’re looking for something outside the US border, the 2020 Juno Awards. Curious about what’s been popular with other hoopla users? Have a listen to Best of 2019: Most Borrowed!

If you’re sorely in need of some beach party vibes and that’s just not happening, turn up the volume on hoopla’s Summer Party Playlist, a full 50 songs to download and shuffle at will! You’ll find everything from decade-by-decade hits to the latest Jimmy Buffett, Bruno Mars, and Lady Gaga to lift your mood.

Hitting the road? Mix up the audiobook suggestions from a recent post with some vacation-worthy selections. You’ll find 49 kids’ and adult titles to keep you going in the Summer Road Trip Music collection.

Need to cool down and soothe your soul? Try out our library-curated playlist, 2020 APL Calming Classical Soundtrack, with 35 albums from various musical eras. Or find your zen spot with hoopla’s Meditation and Mindfulness category. You’ll even find kid-appropriate lullabies and soothers here.

So, whatever your mood or schedule, we’ve got the soundtrack for your summer life!
If you’re new to hoopla, check out our FAQ page. If you need a library card, get started here.

Swimming Stories For Young Readers

On hot summer days, we need to get cool in the water. If you are not at the beach, pool, or lake yet, here are some books to get kids thinking about it. Below are charming stories for young readers based on swimming and learning to swim. 

*All book descriptions are from the publisher.

Maisy Learns to Swim by Lucy Cousins

Today Maisy and her friends are going swimming for the first time. Eddie is a natural, but Maisy and Tallulah get into the pool slowly—ooh, it’s freezing! But soon they are kicking and floating and even blowing bubbles with the rest. Whether water-shy or raring to go, young readers will relate to Maisy as she learns to make a splash!

Waiting for High Tide by Nikki McClure

For one young boy, it’s a perfect summer day to spend at the beach with his family. He scours the high tide line for treasures, listens to the swizzling sound of barnacles, and practices walking the plank. But mostly he waits for high tide. Then he’ll be able to swim and dive off the log raft his family is building. While he waits, sea birds and other creatures mirror the family’s behaviors: building and hunting, wading and eating. At long last the tide arrives, and humans and animals alike savor the water.

Another beautiful ode to life lived in harmony with nature, and by the labor of one’s own hands, from an artist of great warmth and clarity.

Peppa Goes Swimming, a Scholastic book

An all-new storybook featuring Peppa—a lovable, slightly bossy little piggy! Peppa and George are going swimming, but George is a bit scared. How will Mummy and Daddy pig ever convince him to get in the pool?

Duck & Goose Go to the Beach by Tad Hills

In this delightful follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Duck & Goose and Duck, Duck, Goose, Duck wants to go on an adventure. Goose doesn’t. He doesn’t see the point. After all, why would they go anywhere when they’re happy right where they are? But then Goose sees the ocean and loves it. Who doesn’t? Well, Duck, for one! 

This Read & Listen edition contains audio narration.

Check out more swimming stories for kids on Overdrive/Libby and hoopla!

Summer Love: Noteworthy Love Stories of May and June 2020

Summer is the season of love, and the Abbot Public Library has over 25 new and upcoming titles to suit all of your summer romance needs! Whether you’re a fan of historical fiction, suspense, thriller, fantasy, humor, or a combination of it all, we have the best stories for you to fall in love with.

If you’re looking for a good laugh, the recently released title Not That Kind of Guy by Andie J. Christopher has plot elements from The Proposal and Crazy Rich Asians with a strong heroine. 

In Beach Read by Emily Henry, two polar opposites have only a few things in common: for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block. 

In Alli Frank & Asha Youmans’ Tiny Imperfections, The Devil Wears Prada meets Class Mom in this novel of love, money, and misbehaving parents.

In Sajni Patel’s The Trouble with Hating You, a strong-willed and proudly single engineer walks out when her parents set her up with a lawyer — but when work brings them together again, she just might give love a second chance. 

Mary Alice Monroe is back with book 6 of her Beach House series. On Ocean Boulevard reunites the Rutledge family in Isle of Palms for love, tradition, and tragedy.

In Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson, four brothers struggle to keep open the doors of their adoptive mother’s beloved Harlem knitting shop after she suddenly dies. Follow the heart-breaker son, Jesse, as he tries to prove to part-time shop employee, Kerry, that he can be her forever and always man. 

From the author of Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors, Sonali Dev brings her newest, Recipe for Persuasion – another clever, deeply layered, and heartwarming romantic comedy that follows in Jane Austen’s tradition.

We see even more romances coming this June!

500 Miles from You: A Novel by Jenny Colgan

Lissa is a nurse in a gritty, hectic London neighborhood who struggles with PTSD. Her supervisor quietly arranges for her to spend a few months doing a much less demanding job in the little town of Kirrinfeif in the Scottish Highlands, hoping that the change of scenery will help her heal. Lissa will be swapping places with Cormack, an Army veteran who’s Kirrinfeif’s easygoing nurse/paramedic/all-purpose medical man.

What will happen when Lissa and Cormack finally meet?

Always the Last to Know by Kristan Higgins

The Frosts are a typical American family. Barb and John, married almost fifty years, are testy and bored with each other…who could blame them after all this time? At least they have their daughters– Barb’s favorite, the perfect, brilliant Juliet; and John’s darling, the free-spirited Sadie. The girls themselves couldn’t be more different, but at least they got along, more or less. It was fine. It was enough.

Until the day John had a stroke, and their house of cards came tumbling down.

The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon

Samiah Brooks never thought she would be “that” girl. But a live tweet of a horrific date just revealed the painful truth: she’s been catfished by a three-timing jerk of a boyfriend. Suddenly Samiah-along with his two other “girlfriends,” London and Taylor-have gone viral online. Now the three new besties are making a pact to spend the next six months investing in themselves. No men and no dating.

Then she meets the deliciously sexy Daniel Collins at work. What are the chances? But is Daniel really boyfriend material or is he maybe just a little too good to be true?

Dance Away with Me: A Novel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

When life throws her one setback too many, midwife and young widow Tess Hartsong takes off for Runaway Mountain to outrun her heartbreak and find the solace she needs to heal. But instead of peace and quiet, she encounters an enigmatic artist with a craving for solitude, a fairy-tale sprite with too many secrets, a helpless infant, a passel of curious teens, and a town suspicious of outsiders, especially one as headstrong as Tess. Just as headstrong is Ian North, a difficult, gifted man with a tortured soul—a man who makes Tess question everything. 

In running away to this new life, Tess wonders— Has she lost herself… or has she found her future? 

Last Tang Standing by Lauren Ho

At thirty-three, Andrea Tang is living the dream: She has a successful career as a lawyer, a posh condo, and a clutch of fun-loving friends who are always in the know about Singapore’s hottest clubs. But – she’s about to become the lone unmarried member of her generation in the Tang clan. Andrea then decides to give the charming, wealthy entrepreneur Eric Deng a chance while her office rival, Suresh Aditparan, keeps throwing a wrench in her plans. Now Andrea can’t help but wonder: In the endless tug-of-war between pleasing others and pleasing herself, is there room for everyone to win?

The Lost Diary of Venice: A Novel by Margaux DeRoux

In the wake of her father’s death, Rose Newlin finds solace in her work as a book restorer. Then, one rainy Connecticut afternoon, a struggling painter appears at her door. William Lomazzo brings with him a sixteenth-century treatise on art, which Rose quickly identifies as a palimpsest: a document written over a hidden diary that had purposely been scraped away. Yet the restoration sparks an unforeseen challenge when William—a married man—and Rose experience an instant, unspoken attraction.

Sisters and Secrets: A Novel by Jennifer Ryan

There’s nothing more complicated than the relationship among family, especially when the Silva Sisters are keeping secrets. As the secrets between Sierra, Amy, and Heather are revealed, each realizes that there is more to their family than meets the eye… and forgiveness may be the only way to move forward and reclaim true happiness at last.