Join us for these upcoming book discussions at Wilmette Public Library.
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger Tuesday, November 2nd, 7:00pm
We will be discussing YA novel Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger before our virtual author visit on November 10th. In Elatsoe, seventeen-year-old Elatsoe (“Ellie” for short) lives in a slightly stranger America, which has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly everyday, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and should never see the light of day. Elatsoe can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered, in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry. The picture-perfect façade of Willowbee masks gruesome secrets, and she will rely on her wits, skills, and friends to tear off the mask and protect her family.
Sign up for our author visit with Darcie Little Badger here.
Copies of the book are available here. Ebook and eaudiobook copies are available through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app.
Registration will close two hours before the program begins and registrants will receive a link to join shortly thereafter.
CLASSICS & CONTEMPORARY
White Noise by Don DeLillo Tuesday, November 9th, 10:30am
White Noise tells the story of Jack Gladney, his fourth wife, Babette, and four ultramodern offspring as they navigate the rocky passages of family life to the background babble of brand-name consumerism. When an industrial accident unleashes an "airborne toxic event," a lethal black chemical cloud floats over their lives. The menacing cloud is a more urgent and visible version of the "white noise" engulfing the Gladneys-radio transmissions, sirens, microwaves, ultrasonic appliances, and TV murmurings-pulsing with life, yet suggesting something ominous. (From the publisher)
Copies of the book are available here. Ebook copies are available through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app.
Registration will close two hours before the program begins and registrants will receive a link to join shortly thereafter.
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS/WPL BOOK DISCUSSION
Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West by Lauren Redniss Wednesday, November 17th, 11:00am
This work of visual nonfiction tells the story of a race-against-time struggle for a swath of American land, which pits one of the poorest communities in the United States
against the federal government and two of the world’s largest mining conglomerates. The book follows the fortunes of two families with profound connections to the contested site: the Nosies, an Apache family whose teenage daughter is an activist and leader in the Oak Flat fight, and the Gorhams, a mining family whose patriarch was a sheriff in the lawless early days of Arizona statehood. The still-unresolved Oak Flat conflict is ripped from today’s headlines, but its story resonates with foundational American themes: the saga of westward expansion, the resistance and resilience of Native peoples, and the efforts of profiteers to control the land and unearth treasure beneath it while the lives of individuals hang in the balance. (From the Publisher)
Find a copy of the book here. Ebook and audiobook copies are available through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app.
Registration will close two hours before the program begins and registrants will receive a link to join shortly thereafter.
MEET THE AUTHOR BOOK DISCUSSION
What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad Tuesday, November 23rd, 7:00pm
We will be discussing What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad, this year's Meet the Author title. After the discussion, join us for our virtual author event on December 1st at 7pm.
More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another overfilled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. But miraculously, someone has survived the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who is soon rescued by Vänna. Vänna is a teenage girl, who, despite being native to the island, experiences her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. And though Vänna and Amir are complete strangers, though they don’t speak a common language, Vänna is determined to do whatever it takes to save the boy.
In alternating chapters, we learn about Amir’s life and how he came to be on the boat, and we follow him and the girl as they make their way toward safety. What Strange Paradise is the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world. But it is also a story of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair—and about the way each of those things can blind us to reality. (From the publisher)
Copies of the book are available at the library. The ebook and audiobook are available for checkout through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app on your device.
Registration will close two hours before the program begins and registrants will receive a link to join shortly thereafter.
