On the shelves - July 19

The following books are available for checkout at the Clovis-Carver Public Library:

“Africaville” by Jeffrey Colvin. “Africaville” chronicles the lives of three generations of the Sebolt family-Kath Ella, her son Omar, and her grandson Warner-whose lives unfold against the tumultuous events of the twentieth century. Kath Ella's ancestors established a new home in Nova Scotia. Like her ancestors, her life is shaped by hardship-she struggles to conceive and to provide for her family during the long, bitter Canadian winters. Over the decades, each successive generation drifts further from Africaville, yet they take a piece of this indelible place with them as they make their way to Montreal, Vermont, and beyond, to the deep South of America.

“Great American Cowboy Stories” by Michael McCoy. Roping a buffalo, running off cattle rustlers, sitting out a winter storm in a cave--adventures like these were all part of everyday life for the cowboy. They're depicted here in stories that have stood the test of time, by writers whose words are just as funny and wise today as they were one hundred years ago.

“Murder in Chinatown” by Victoria Thompson. In Chinatown to deliver a baby, Sarah Brandt meets a group of women she might otherwise never have come across: Irish girls who, after alighting on Ellis Island alone, have married Chinese men in the same predicament. When the new mother's half-Chinese, half-Irish, 15-year-old niece goes missing, Sarah knows that alerting the constables would prove futile. So she turns to Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy-and together they begin the search themselves. And after they find her, dead in an alley, Sarah and Malloy have ample suspects-from both sides of Canal Street.

“Freedom Libraries” by Mike Selby. Although illegal, racial segregation was strictly enforced in a number of American states, and public libraries were not immune. Numerous libraries were desegregated on paper only: there would be no cards given to African-Americans, no books for them read, and no furniture for them to use. It was these exact conditions that helped create Freedom Libraries. This book delves into how these libraries were the heart of the Civil Rights Movement, and the remarkable courage of the people who used them. They would forever change libraries and librarianship, even as they helped the greater movement change the society these libraries belonged to.

“Natural Antibiotics and Antivirals” by Christopher Vasey, ND. Nature offers us many natural antibiotics from the plant kingdom that work powerfully against germs while also being gentle on the body. Knowledge of these safe and natural antibiotics and antivirals is more crucial now than ever as modern antibiotics become less and less effective due to the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant germs. Natural antibiotics even offer an opportunity to reverse antibiotic resistance by reducing the use of pharmaceutical antibiotics to only the most critical cases.

“Decoding Boys: New Science Behind the Subtle Art of Raising Sons” by Cara Natterson, M.D. What is my son doing behind his constantly closed door? What's with his curt responses, impulsiveness, newfound obsession with gaming, and ... that funky smell? As pediatrician and mother of two teenagers Cara Natterson explains, puberty starts in boys long before any visible signs appear, and that causes confusion about their changing temperaments for boys and parents alike.

— Summaries provided by library staff