Favorite September Reads

I read a fair amount of good books in September. It was a good month for finding books I will recommend to patrons, but not necessarily books I personally love.

I did love these three books though!

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Come and Get It! by Ree Drummond (Adult Nonfiction)

 

 

Easy-to-make comfort food with delightful pictures and stories to accompany the recipes. Her recipes were little a-ha moments for me. They weren't too crazy, but they offered different ways of making the foods my family already enjoys. The best example of this is making hash browns in a waffle iron. They're not the best hash browns my family has ever had, but they are so much fun to make and allow us to use the oven and stove for other things we like to make for a big weekend breakfast.

 

Almost American Girl by Robin Ha (Teen Graphic Memoir)

 

 

Robin's surprise move from South Korea to Alabama is jolting, frustrating, and completely life-changing. I cannot imagine how awful it must feel to be completely uprooted from your home and moved to a new country where you don't speak the language and are thrown in with a new family that doesn't embrace you. Robin does a beautiful job illustrating and writing about this journey. Each illustration of her face bursting into tears is so beautifully portrayed, it feels like you're being repeatedly punched in the gut. I was ready to kick some stepsister butt several times and was outraged by how her classmates treated her. Despite the awful surprise move and the bullies, Robin flourishes and finds friends she clicks with. I love how text-heavy Almost American Girl is. I also appreciate the piece about her mom that's tucked into the acknowledgements. I only wish I had thought to check for a glossary! I was so engrossed in the story I didn't flip to the back until the very end. Because I enjoyed this book so much I read every single word in it, including the copyright page. That is where I discovered that the really cool chapter openers came from comics Robin created as a teen. Amazing!

 

Saving Jemima by Julie Zickefoose (Adult Nonfiction)

Zickefoose's journey of raising a sickly baby blue jay and slowly reintegrating it back into the wild will warm a lot of hearts. I enjoyed the variety of pictures, artwork, and adorable stories of Jemima bonding with the family, especially Zickefoose's two teens and their dog, Chet. This was my first book by the author, but it's definitely not my last!