Novel Experiences

  By Taylor Adams Adult Fiction Reviewed by Kieran from the Manitou Branch     "On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado.  With the roads impassable, she's forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop.  Inside are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers.  Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm...and makes a horrifying discovery.  In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked in an animal crate.  Who is the child?  Why has she been taken?  And how can Darby save her?  There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, and no way out.  One of her fellow travelers is a kidnapper.  But which one?  Trapped in an increasingly dangerous situation, with a child's life and her own on the line, Darby must find a way to break the girl out of the van and escape.  But who can she trust?"  

  Written and Illustrated by Yumi Tsukirino Junior Graphic Novel     Cinnamoroll is no ordinary pup.  He adores freshly baked cinnamon rolls and loves to eat them high up in the sky with his best friends, Cappuccino, Mocha, Chiffon, Espresso and tiny little Milk.  They all love exploring the world.     Cinnamoroll and his besties open a crepe shop in the mystical forest.  It all sounds like a great idea to the pups but the squirrels greedily steal all the nuts for themselves.  And, every chicken wants worms in their crepes!!! This is a disaster! How will the pups solve this problem? To place this book on hold, click here.

By Daniel H. Wilson Adult Fiction, Techno-Thriller Reviewed by Joshua         Fifty years after the first contact with the deadly microbe known as the Andromeda Strain, a mapping drone observes a mysterious anomaly rising up out of the Brazilian rainforest.     Soon, a team consisting of the world's top scientists is dispatched to learn all they can about the microbe's second appearance.  But the Andromeda is evolving and the clock is counting down to an outbreak of unimaginable proportions with life-threatening consequences.     The team must navigate the thick forest, reach the quarantine zone and attempt to enter the foreboding anomaly, all while trying to figure out how to stop the Andromeda Strain.  If they don't, all life on earth will die.     The Andromeda is back...are we ready for the evolution?     While not written by Michael Crichton himself, this novel is the sequel to his masterpiece The Andromeda Strain.  Daniel H. Wilson does a superb job of imitating Crich

  By Andy Weir Adult Fiction Reviewed by Cathy-SCRL Director     Imagine being stranded and left for dead on the planet Mars? Mark Watney, the engineer on the Mars mission, is left behind after a dust storm forces the crew to evacuate the planet and return to earth.  Using all his skill, determination and sense of humor, Mark tells his story.  Growing his own food to sustain him is his biggest challenge considering he had to create soil in a very "yuck" way.  Told in the first person, this story is both amusing yet intense as we follow the tremendous effort made by both Mark and the NASA team on earth trying to get him home.        This book is available in print, audiobook and DVD format in our libraries.  It has been rated as one of the top 10 true-to-life narratives as NASA was consulted by the author to verify the accuracy of the science behind the story. To place the DVD on hold, click here. To place a hold on Altona's or Miami's copy, click here. To place a hold