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by Kim Akers at Quincy Public Library
The staff’s favorite book this week at the Quincy Public Library is Westering Women by Sandra Dallas. Maggie Kaiser knows she has to do something to get her and her daughter away from her abusive husband, but traveling west in a wagon train made up of single women looking for husbands during the California gold rush seems extreme even to her. Yet Maggie finds herself at a church in Chicago lying about her marital status and signing up to start a new life. Mary Madrid also signed up to be a part of the wagon train to get away from her brother and his lazy wife and possibly find a suitable husband. Once they were on their way, Maggie and Mary forged a bond with the other women on the wagon train along with Reverend Parnell, Reverend Swain and his wife, Caroline, who were leading the expedition. Their friendships were not only built by the hardships and tragedies suffered on the trail, but also shared secrets. Fiercely loyal to each other, these women were willing to sacrifice everything for their dreams and for each other. Westering Women is a magnificent, emotional new book you won’t be able to put down.
If you like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, you might enjoy the first novel in a young adult series entitled The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black. Call has grown up learning to hate magic thanks to his father, but he still has to go through a series of tests to see if he is going to be trained in magic for the next five years. Naturally, Call plans to fail his test. It shouldn’t be too hard, since it seems as though he is always failing something in life. Unfortunately, Call fails so miserably that he stands out in the class and is chosen by a Master for extended studies. Call tries even harder to fail his lessons, but instead of sending him home he is threatened with having his magic bound and losing a part of himself. Finally realizing he has to stop goofing off, he starts to get serious about his latent talents. When dark, hidden secrets begin to reveal themselves, Call has to decide which side of the war he is going to be on, and if he is going to step up and be the magician everyone expects him to become.
Daniel Day was born in the old Harlem when it was still the place to find the best music, restaurants, and theater before heroin and gangs took over the neighborhood. Despite living in abject poverty, his mother saw to it that all of her seven children received a good education and a religious upbringing. Day quickly realized that if he wanted anything, he would have to earn it himself. He learned how to throw dice and hustle whatever he could to make money. He used these skills, both legal and illegal, to create his first clothing “store” selling shoplifted items out of his car. As he moved to a more legitimate enterprise, he opened Dapper Dan’s Boutique, but the prejudice and outright hostility from the clothing industry caused him to rethink his business model. He learned more about the ins and outs of the clothing industry and began designing his own line of clothing using cast-offs and bootlegged materials. Attracting attention from the burgeoning hip-hop music scene, Dan became the premiere designer of “streetwear” for celebrities. However, his lack of judgment in using trademarked logos landed him in serious hot water, which eventually caused his boutique to close. But Dapper Dan was far from done. The now 75-year-old designer shares his story in the memoir Dapper Dan Made in Harlem.
These materials are available for checkout at the Quincy Public Library if you have a current Quincy Public Library card. Reciprocal borrowing cards from other area libraries will be honored as well. Materials may be available in a variety of formats including audio books, digital books, large print, regular print, and/or may be available from other libraries through the Resource Sharing Alliance. You may also place reserves on library materials and check your patron record online at www.quincylibrary.org.