booktalk Archives - Page 1249 of 1253

furfinsandfeathers
Fur, Fins, and Feathers: Abraham Dee Bartlett and the Invention of the Modern Zoo
by Cassandre Maxwell (Author / Illustrator)

Booktalk: Abraham Dee Bartlett knew from a young age that he wanted to spend his life working with animals. But in Victorian London, there weren’t many jobs that provided an opportunity to do that. Still, Abraham spent years gaining knowledge and pursuing his dream until he eventually became superintendent in the London Zoo. Driven by his compassion for the animals, Abraham dramatically improved the conditions of the zoo to ensure that the animals could be happy and healthy.

Snippet: From the time he was a little boy, Abraham Dee Bartlett loved animals. He was fascinated by anything with furs, fins, or feathers.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

doreen
Doreen
by Ilana Manaster (Author)

Booktalk: If Doreen Gray were to take a selfie upon her arrival at the elite Chandler Academy, it would capture a face marked with acne, a head full of frizz, and eyes looking anywhere but at the lens.

What Chandler queen bee Heidi Whelan sees is a desperate hunger for acceptance and the makings of a willing and useful protégé. Heidi’s roommate, Biz Gibbons-Brown, works her Photoshop magic to create a stunning profile pic of Doreen—a glossy, digital makeover that Doreen initially rejects . . . only to wake up the next morning transformed as the girl in the picture.

But Doreen quickly becomes accustomed to her newfound power and lives without considering consequences of her actions. Only the picture knows the truth, and she will do anything to protect her secret.

In this sharp, scandal-filled retelling of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the men of nineteenth-century London become three girls of twenty-first century New England.

Snippet: Oh, how she hated her looks, her face, her skin. She stepped in front of the mirror to relish in her own disgust. She looked up at her reflection with a scowl on her face. And the scowl returned to her–on the face of the perfect-looking girl she remembered from the photograph.

What? Doreen couldn’t compute what she was seeing. The beautiful mirror-girl had on the purple flannel pajamas Doreen’s mother brought back from Nashville that time, the same pajamas Doreen had worn to bed. When Doreen moved her hand, the girl also moved her hand.