Frank Carlson Library

"Anyone who enjoys novels that are scary, erotic, touching, tragic and thrilling should rush right out to the nearest bookstore and pick up The Shadow of the Wind. Really, you should." —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

“Wondrous...masterful...The Shadow of the Wind is ultimately a love letter to literature, intended for readers as passionate about storytelling as its young hero.” —Entertainment...

Recounts the life of the seventeen-year old cancer patient who, after being told he had one year to live, wrote the song "Clouds" that climbed the music charts and inspired millions around the world. When Sobeich found out her son Zach had only one year to live, she released him to God's will. When his mother told him to think about writing good-bye letters to family and friends, he decided instead to write songs. One of them, "Clouds," captured...

When his mother sends Herbie the young hedgehog out on his first big foraging adventure, a big wind sweeps him far from home.

"Fifteen years ago, Hunter Knox abruptly left Georgia amid violence and family secrets. He never thought he'd show his face in Blessings ever again, but with his mom on her deathbed, Hunt is back for one final goodbye. Nurse Ava Ridley is surprised when Hunt joins her at his mother's bedside. They were teenagers when she last saw him, and she had a wicked crush on him even then. Although many years have passed, Ava can't help but feel those same butterflies...

Claudia Morgan is overwhelmed. She's a single parent trying the best that she can, but her four-year-old son, Henry, is a handful--for her and for his preschool. When Claudia hears about a school with an atypical teaching style near her Chicagoland home, she has to visit. The Hawthorne School is beautiful and has everything she dreams of for Henry: time to play outside, music, and art. The head of the school, Zelma, will even let Claudia volunteer...

Veterinarian Audra Hughes welcomes the help of an Afghanistan War veteran when her son's fear of flying opens up a decades-old mystery.

Poppy, accompanied by her troublesome son Junior, his skunk friend, and Uncle Ereth the porcupine, responds to a summons to return to her ancestral home, Gray House, to save the mice there from destruction by a bulldozer.

Twelve-year-old Marius Grey has a job as a Cemetery Boy, looking after the ghosts in his family's graveyard, but he also hunts monsters and, along with his flesh-eating mermaid friend, must race against the clock to save the ghost of his dead mother.

A murderous outbreak of violence among teenagers occurs in a resort in Maine. Dr. Claire Elliot blames a brain-damaging parasite which attacks people when they swim in the lake, but the town ignores her call for a quarantine, fearing for the tourist trade. By the author of Life Support.

"Best friends Unity and Ellen are in serious ruts. High school teacher Ellen, whose son's dream of going out of state for college is arousing financial anxiety, hasn't dated since she became pregnant on the night of her junior prom. Unity, a successful handyman, is grieving after her soldier husband was killed three years ago. Each woman goads the other to venture out of her restrictive comfort zone, daring the other to take on a list of challenges,...