2026 Staff Picks | Downers Grove Public Library

1) We could be rats

Author

Austin, Emily (Emily R.)

Description

"A new novel from the bestselling author of Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead and Interesting Facts About Space"-- Provided by publisher. "A moving story about two very different sisters, and a love story to childhood, growing up, and the power of imagination"--Dust jacket.

2) The correspondent: a novel

Author

Evans, Virginia, 1986-

Description

"Sybil is seventy-three years old, in the winter of her life. Sybil has always made sense of the world through writing letters and through this epistolary novel we see how she comes to terms with her past and present and learns forgiveness"-- Provided by publisher. Throughout her life Sybil Van Antwerp has used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings around half past ten Sybil sits down to write letters--to her brother,...

3) The loneliness of Sonia and Sunny: a novel

Author

Desai, Kiran, 1971-

Series

Thorndike Press large print dynamic drama

Description

"When Sonia and Sunny first glimpse each other on an overnight train, they are immediately captivated, yet also embarrassed by the fact that their grandparents had once tried to matchmake them, a clumsy meddling that only served to drive Sonia and Sunny apart. Sonia, an aspiring novelist who recently completed her studies in the snowy mountains of Vermont, has returned to her family in India, fearing she is haunted by a dark spell cast by an artist...

4) Homecoming: a novel

Author

Morton, Kate, 1976-

Description

"The highly anticipated new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Clockmaker's Daughter, a sweeping novel that begins with a shocking crime, the effects of which echo across continents and generations. Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek on the grounds of a grand country house, a local man makes a terrible discovery. Police are called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled...

5) Accomplice to the villain

Author

Maehrer, Hannah Nicole

Series

Assistant and the villain series volume 3
Assistant to the Villain

Description

"With a magical prophecy unraveling, assassins showing up in the break room, and a suspicious [number] of frogs wearing crowns, Evie has to figure out how to survive her job without setting the kingdomon fire--or her dignity, which is hanging by a very sarcastic thread. Being evil-adjacent was never part of the five-year plan. But then again--neither was falling for The Villain"-- Provided by publisher. REWARD OFFERED: Apprentice to The Villain wanted...

Author

Harris, Kamala, 1964-

Description

"For the first time, and with surprising and revealing insights, Kamala Harris tells the story of one of the wildest and most consequential presidential campaigns in American history. Your Secret Service code name is Pioneer. You are the first woman in history to be elected vice president of the United States. On July 21, 2024, your running mate, Joe Biden, announces that he will not be seeking reelection. The presidential election will occur on November...

7) A house between sea and sky

Author

Description

In 1920s California, two people in need of healing find strange refuge in a house with a mind of its own in an enthralling fantasy by the author of A Thousand Recipes for Revenge.

8) Bottom of the pyramid: a memoir of persevering, dancing for myself, and starring in my own life

Author

Description

"When you've been told over and over that you belong at the bottom, how do you come out on top? Dance Moms star and triple threat Nia Sioux shows the way via her story of resilience, triumph, and defining success for herself"-- Provided by publisher.

Author

Description

Patti's Smith's exquisite prose is generously illustrated in this full-color edition of her classic coming-of-age memoir, Just Kids. New York locations vividly come to life where, as young artists, Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe met and fell in love: a first apartment in Brooklyn, Times Square with John and Yoko's iconic billboard, Max's Kansas City, or the gritty fire escape of the Hotel Chelsea. The extraordinary people who passed through their...

10) The wide wide sea: imperial ambition, first contact and the fateful final voyage of Captain James Cook

Author

Description

"From New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides, an epic account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration, which culminated in Captain James Cook's death in Hawaii, and left a complex and controversial legacy still debated to this day On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach...

11) Madden & Summerall: how they revolutionized NFL broadcasting

Author

Podolsky, Rich, 1946-

Description

This is the story of how John Madden and Pat Summerall got to CBS and, although very different, how they became the greatest broadcast team of all time. It is told by Rich Podolsky, who worked alongside them both at CBS. Separately, they were great. Together, they were the greatest ever. Madden & Summerall is about two stalwarts of the game, but their story is not without controversy. Summerall was a five-sport star who became a broadcaster by accident....

Author

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616

Series

Works
Plays (Oxford University Press)
No fear Shakespeare
More Series...

Description

Featuring the images of some of the world's most famous stage and film actors, these additions to the all-new Oxford School Shakespeare introduce--and enthrall--young people to one of the greatest writers of all time. This season brings revised editions of five of the Bard's most famous plays--As You Like It, Othello, Hamlet, Love's Labour Lost and The Taming of the Shrew. Designed specifically for students unfamiliar with Shakespeare's rich literary...

13) The other talk: a guide to talking with your adult children about the rest of your life

Author

Prosch, Timothy

Description

The Other Talk gives you the tools to develop a strong partnership with your kids to plan for the rest of your life. Who will manage your finances and how will you budget for unknown needs? Where can your children find important documents they will need to help? Where will you live if you need assistance? What type of medical treatments do you want--and not want--and who will advocate for your needs?

14) Remarkably bright creatures: a novel

Author

Van Pelt, Shelby

Series

Indian Prairie Public Library Book Club Kit
Library of Things Book Club Bundles

Description

"For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus. After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on...

15) Fall into temptation

Author

Series

Blue Moon series volume 2

Description

"Beckett Pierce is the most eligible bachelor in the nosiest small town in upstate New York. But after his last girlfriend handcuffed herself to his porch and set his welcome mat on fire when he broke up with her, he's not looking for any more romance. Even if it lands right in his backyard. Gianna Decker has her hands full. With two kids, a useless ex, and a brand new yoga studio, the last thing on her mind is finding a man who'll cause her more...

16) Ugly love: a novel

Author

Hoover, Colleen

Series

Thorndike Press large print romance series

Description

When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she doesn't think it's love at first sight. They wouldn't even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn't want love, she doesn't have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless,...

17) Hide and seek

Author

Collins, Wilkie, 1824-1889

Description

"A young woman falls in love with a mysterious drifter. She soon becomes pregnant and is banished by her aristocratic family. Desperate and alone, she gives birth to a daughter and dies in excruciating pain. Discovered by a traveling circus, the baby is taken in by the wife of a clown."--Cover page 4.

18) The journey to the west

Author

Wu, Cheng'en, approximately 1500-approximately 1582

Series

Phoenix books volume p882

19) The perfect marriage

Author

Series

Perfect volume 1

Description

"Sarah Morgan is one of the best criminal defense attorneys in Washington, DC. With a perfect case record and having made named partner before the age of thirty-five, her life is going exactly as she planned. However, the same cannot be said for her husband, Adam, a failed author, who's grown to resent his wife's meteoric success as he feels it's come at the expanse of their relationship. For almost two years, Adam has kept his affair with Kelly Summers...

20) Our infinite fates: a novel

Author

Description

Evelyn, who remembers each of her past lives in which she is always murdered before her eighteenth birthday by Arden, a supernatural being to whom she is tethered, must break their deadly curse to save her sister while resisting the pull of forbidden love.