Bingeworthy TV: Call the Midwife

Recently I've needed a gentle, upbeat escape in the evenings, so I started watching Call the Midwife. This historical drama about a team of young nurse midwives and Angelican nuns in the late 1950s takes its inspiration from the memoirs of Jennifer Worth. Worth served as a nurse midwife in an impoverished neighborhood in London's East End where she encountered both great hardships and a supportive community.

The characters do face enormous challenges. Pregnancy and childbirth still pose a medical danger to this day, but sixty years ago there were even more unknowns and fewer medical interventions possible. One of the most frequent tasks undertaken by the midwives in this program is to visit the homes of expectant mothers and ensure that the environment is suitable for giving birth. It's only in later seasons that hospital births become an option.

A good part of the optimism and good cheer of Call the Midwife comes from the fact that the characters are taking an active part in improving the health care for their patients. There are frequent reminders of just how much more grim things were a generation ago (even without taking the Blitz into consideration). New tools, new techniques, better hygiene, cutting edge medicines, and a talented and dedicated staff all work together to create a better chance for happy endings in each episode.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Staff Review: "In the Country We Love" by Diane Guerrero

You might recognize Diane Guerrero from Jane the Virgin or Orange is the New Black, but this isn't your typical celebrity memoir. Guerrero's In the Country We Love: My Family Divided is the story of a young woman who overcame the challenges in her life, challenges that sometimes seemed insurmountable, to achieve her dreams. Even if you don't watch much TV, I highly recommend you check out this emotional and inspiring memoir.

With the assistance of co-author Michelle Burford, Diane Guerrero shares how both her worst nightmare and her most impossible dreams came true. From her earliest memories, Guerrero dreamed of being a performer. A dream that seemed impossible for her as the American-born daughter of undocumented Colombian parents.

Guerrero's parents, like so many others, had arrived in the United States with valid visas and then simply stayed past their expiration date, hoping to avoid the notice of government officials. Her family moved from neighborhood to neighborhood in Boston and lived in apartments where landlords would take cash without asking questions. They worked long hours for little pay for employers who exploited their lack of legal protection.

Over the years, her parents tried to gain legal status, but in navigating this complicated and changing system, they fell prey to unscrupulous scam artists. Which is how, one day at the age of 14, Guerrero arrived home from school to discover that her parents had been picked up by immigration to be deported. Guerrero, a native-born U.S. citizen was not a target for ICE, nor did she receive any support from any other agency. From the government's perspective, she fell through the cracks, and she spent her high school years living with family friends.

Diane Guerrero's story is powerful and timely and provides a different perspective on the topic of immigration. If you are a fan of her work as an actor, don't worry! Later chapters do provide a behind the scenes look at her experience working for Netflix and in Hollywood.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Bingeworthy TV: Master of None

I enjoyed Aziz Ansari's performance on Parks and Rec, but his next project, Master of None, was only available on Netflix so I've only recently been able to watch. Ansari plays Dev Shah, a struggling actor in New York City. Dev isn't really struggling with his career -- it's going okay, if not spectacularly, but it's unfulfilling. His love life is likewise lackluster.

This is a comedy series about being young and trying to find your path through the world, which means the humor is often bittersweet and occasionally crude. They don't shy away from difficult topics, but consistently demonstrate that it's possible for all of us to work towards being better versions of ourselves. This is a clever show that embraces opportunities to play with style and storytelling methods, while still developing interesting characters.

Dev is unquestionably our main character though so most of the stories are told from his perspective, though any episodes that feature Dev's parents are among my favorites. Interestingly, Ansari's actual parents play his character's parents in this show.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Bingeworthy TV: Bob's Burgers

Even if you've never seen Bob's Burgers, you probably recognize Louise's pink bunny hat. In fact, the entire Belcher family has been one of the more popular group-costume options in recent years. This is a cartoon with a wider appeal than most due in large part to the great family dynamic at its heart. Though the humor ranges from silly to adult, Bob's Burgers is an overall bright and optimistic show.

I haven't seen every episode of this series, and the episodes that I have watched were almost entirely out of order. This isn't a long-running plot show, but rather a traditional sitcom where no matter how crazy things get, everything returns to almost normal by the end of the episode. So if the Belchers's restaurant is horribly damaged in one episode, everything will be fine by the next. While new viewers aren't punished for jumping in wherever, there are rewards for loyal viewers. You'll discover running jokes and recurring characters who gradually build depth and personality beyond a single gag, .

While I enjoy the visual humor and quick wit, the use of music and original songs are probably my favorite element. In fact, I started watching after a co-worker played a song about Thomas Edison electrocuting an elephant. Not only is it a catchy song, it's hilarious in context. (The song below is an official cover animated in the style of the show.)


~Sarah, Adult Services

Bingeworthy TV: Superstore

The appeal of a sitcom is that you can sit down for 30 minutes and laugh a little, but if you're like me, it can be tricky to find a show that consistently makes you laugh. I started watching Superstore because I love America Ferrera (Ugly Betty).

Superstore is set in the fictional big box retail store Cloud 9, and very few episodes have scenes outside the store itself. If you don't have experience working in retail, you might think this would limit the stories they can tell, but the writers make good use of their talented ensemble cast. If you enjoyed the recurring background characters and sight gags of Community, you'll find similar appeal here.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Staff Review: "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by Maurene Goo

If you're looking for a fun, romantic read for Valentine's Day, I suggest you check out I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo. This book is a sweet and goofy look at first love that will remind readers of the fun of watching a romantic comedy, and anyone who loves k-dramas is in for a special treat.

To call 17-year-old Desi Lee a perfectionist is putting things mildly. Desi's mother died when she was very young, and her father was devastated. Desi dedicated herself to being the perfect daughter, excelling in school, in soccer, and helping out at home. Everything about her life is on track, and it seems inevitable that Desi will finish high school and head to Stanford, her mother's alma mater, where she will become a doctor, like her mother. The one blemish in Desi's perfect life is the fact that she is a devastating failure in the romance department.

Not only has Desi never had a boyfriend (or a first kiss), every time she gets even close to the possibility of maybe having a romantic encounter with a boy she likes, she goes down in flames. For example, when she meets the incredibly hot new transfer student, Desi's pants literally fall off. Despite this incredibly cringe-worthy first meeting, Desi is not one to give up. Instead she resolves to overcome her romantic failures and win her crush's heart, taking inspiration from her Korean-immigrant father's favorite television shows.

If you are a k-drama fan, you'll love all of the references to familiar shows. If you haven't seen a k-drama, you're likely to walk away from I Believe in a Thing Called Love wanting to watch one. K-dramas, or Korean dramas, are a specific style of Korean television series similar in some ways to telenovelas. They often have a heavy focus on a romantic plot and typically last for only a single season of 10-20 episodes (though some series last for much longer and some are only one or two episodes long). I highly recommend flipping to the end of the book where there's a list of recommended k-dramas that you can stream (subtitled) through various online services.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Bingeworthy TV: Broadchurch

The British crime drama Broadchurch has an impressive cast of talented actors, and viewers are likely to recognize several faces including David Tennant and Olivia Colman, who play the main investigators. The series is set in a fictional coastal town of Broadchurch whose small community is rocked by the murder of an 11-year-old boy.

Ellie Miller (Colman) has recently returned from a family vacation to discover that she's been passed over for promotion in favor of Alec Hardy (Tennant), an outsider with a poor reputation. So tensions are already high when Danny Latimer's body is discovered. The ensuing investigation uncovers painful secrets and divides the town.

Broadchurch is an incredibly tense and rather depressing series, so the use of striking natural visuals (and occasional bits of humor) helped greatly. After the emotional roller coaster of the first season, it took me some time before I was able to pick up the second season, which delves into the trail of Danny's murderer. And while it's hard to revisit these characters and their pain, the compelling storytelling provides a rewarding experience.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Staff Review: "The Wanderers" by Meg Howrey

The Wanderers by Meg Howrey was one of the books I most enjoyed reading in 2017, and like The Martian by Andy Weir, I think it's a book that will appeal to readers who ordinarily wouldn't pick up a book described as "science fiction." However, unlike the fast-paced survival story of The Martian, The Wanderers is a quieter, more character-driven book.

In the near future, the multinational company Prime Space (think SpaceX) is in the final stages of preparing a manned mission to Mars. They've selected a crew of potential astronauts who will undergo an incredibly realistic 17-month simulation called Eidolon. Eidolon will serve as a test of both the equipment and the humans involved. The three astronauts serve as our primary narrators, but chapters are also told from the perspectives of four other characters tied to the project.

Helen Kane is a well-respected and experienced American astronaut (I couldn't help but picture Iowa's own Peggy Whitson), and her adult daughter Mireille (a struggling actress) also narrates. Sergei Kuznetsov is a stoic cosmonaut whose ex-wife and teen sons recently moved to the United States, one of whom also narrates. Yoshihiro Tanaka is our third and youngest astronaut and his wife Madoka is the sixth narrator. The final narrator is a Prime Space employee involved in monitoring Eidolon.

Howrey's writing is poetic or dreamlike, and I greatly admire her ability to explore the internal workings of her characters' minds while creating a sense of tension. It's interesting to experience a significant scientific achievement from such an emotional and psychological perspective. There's a lot to chew on in this book, and I think it would make a great selection for a book club discussion.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Staff Review: "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed

What do librarians do all day? Well, it depends on the day, but one of my favorite tasks is picking out new books for the library's collection. A side benefit to buying books for the library is that publishers offer us advance access to review books that they hope will be popular. Which is how I recently had the chance to review Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed, a book that will be published on January 16.

This is Ahmed's first, or debut, novel, and like the publisher, I hope that it will be popular. The book is written for a teen audience, but I imagine many adult readers will enjoy it as much as I did. One element that Dubuque readers might find particularly appealing is the book's Illinois setting.

Maya Aziz is a high school senior who dreams of going to school in New York to become a documentary filmmaker. Her parents left India for America for a chance at a better life for themselves and their daughter, a life they've found in their rural suburb of Chicago where they have built a successful dental practice. However their dreams for Maya's success are more along the lines of attending college close to home, a career as a doctor or a lawyer, and a marriage with a nice Muslim boy.

Maya wants to be a good daughter and make her parents happy, but part of growing up is learning what is important to you. The tension between parents, especially immigrant parents, and their children as they become adults is a common story in literature, and it's handled very well here. Readers who read and loved When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon are likely to also enjoy Love, Hate & Other Filters.

What sets Ahmed's book apart, however, is a larger focus on the Aziz family's identity as Muslim Americans and how that shapes their experience. Ahmed doesn't shy away from the impacts of racism and Islamophobia, both subtle and overt, that exist in our country.

MILD SPOILERS FOLLOW

Maya is the narrator for most of the  novel, but in between chapters there are short pieces, a page or two at most, from other people's perspectives. Readers will quickly come to suspect that the people in these short pieces are tied to some terrible event. An event that, even though Maya will never have met any of the people involved, will have a profound effect on her life.

Many readers are likely to quickly share my suspicion that the story being told in these short pieces is a tragedy, specifically a terrorist attack. The tension that Ahmed created by interjecting these hints of something awful in a story that is otherwise charming kept me reading late into the night. The joy of watching Maya learn to stand up for her dreams and the warmth of first love paired with the seasick dread and tension of a coming tragedy created a book more impactful and human than either story might have been on its own.

~Sarah, Adult Services

#ComicsWednesday: "O Human Star" by Blue Delliquanti

Mystery, romance, interesting characters, and fun world-building details combine to make O Human Star by Blue Delliquanti one of my top 10 favorite ongoing series. The story is set in a near future where science and technology have advanced to make robots and artificial intelligence a part of everyday life. This is neither a grim dark dystopia nor a naive utopia; rather Delliquanti imagines something believably optimistic. Plus, it's just plain fun to see Minneapolis as the center of the cool robot future. How often do us Midwesterners get to be at the cutting edge?

The story starts when Alastair Sterling wakes up nearly twenty years after his last memory to learn that his work in robotics and artificial intelligence has served as the basis for the fantastically advanced robot future, thanks to the efforts of his former partner, Brendan. I don't want to spoil things too much here, but everything rapidly becomes more complicated and Delliquanti flips the perspective between the disorienting future and the dramas of the past. This story provides a great exploration of questions of identity and humanity, and it's no surprise that it made it onto NPR's list of 100 Favorite Comics and Graphic Novels.

Probably the best part of this series for those of us in the Dubuque area is that we'll have the chance to meet the creator when Blue Delliquanti is the Guest of Honor at Carnegie-Stout's Cabin Fever Mini Con on Saturday, January 27. This means that you have plenty of time to read both print volumes of O Human Star and check out the latest updates online.

~Sarah, Adult Services

I Read Banned Books, 2017

“A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone” - Mary Jo Godwin

It is once again Banned Books Week, a time of year when we celebrate our freedom to read. Some years I set out to read a controversial book with the idea that exposure to new ideas and life experiences will help me to grow as a human being. Other years I am surprised to learn that a book I read and loved is considered controversial. This year, I've found myself frequently considering Mary Jo Godwin's quote about how it is likely that each of us will be offended by something on the library's shelves.

As a librarian, I consider myself a champion of intellectual freedom, but even so I can admit that there are books and movies in our library that I don't like. If I am asked for a personal opinion, I will likely say that X or Y isn't for me, but if I'm doing my job right no one will feel shame for liking something I don't. Because, in the end, this job is about helping you to find the information and entertainment that you want and need.

I recently read a middle grade novel that explores the idea that some books contain things that are not just offensive, but outright dangerous to readers. Specifically, children. The protagonist of Ban This Book by Alan Gratz is a fourth grader who loves the escape of reading more than anything, and then her favorite book ever (From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg) is removed from her school's library.

Gratz does an excellent job of exploring book challenges and their impacts.* I think Ban This Book has the potential to spark some interesting discussions, and I wish that I'd had it to read when The Giver by Lois Lowry was removed from my fifth grade classroom. My parents handled the situation well, working with the parents of some of my friends to create a mother/daughter book discussion group so that we could read The Giver outside of school. It dealt with some challenging issues and I was glad to be able to talk about it with my mom, but it was still strange to have a book that I was forbidden from mentioning at school.

Based on ALA's Top Ten Most Challenged Books List for 2016, if I were in middle school today, it's possible that the controversial book would be George by Alex Gino. George is a story written for middle-grade readers about a child who wants more than anything to play the part of Charlotte in the school production of Charlotte's Web, but everyone knows that a boy can't play a girl's part. George, however, knows that she isn't a boy, and a transgender child is too controversial for some. It was, in my opinion, an incredibly sweet book and a great choice for any parents who might want to start their own controversial-books book discussion group, or who just want to share a good book with their child.

~Sarah, Adult Services


*Americus by M.K. Reed is a graphic novel aimed at teen readers that explores the impacts of a book challenge over a fictional series that features witches and magic, and it is also worth checking out.

#ComicsWednesday: Atomic Blonde: The Coldest City by Antony Johnston & Sam Hart

I really enjoyed Mad Max: Fury Road (a.k.a. the car chase movie with interesting female characters), so when I saw previews for Atomic Blonde, another action film starring Charlize Theron, I was excited. So before I saw the movie, I checked out the comic it was based on, The Coldest City (the library's copy is retitled Atomic Blonde: The Coldest City to tie in with the film release), and I can tell you that the comic and the movie are meant for different audiences.


The Coldest City was written by Antony Johnston and illustrated by Sam Hart. Hart's striking black and white artwork with its focus on the characters set the story's emotional tone for me as a reader. I admire Hart's use of shadows to convey the way that secrets were hidden and revealed. The plot was an unremarkable spy story with twists and double crosses I didn't find all that surprising, though the story's setting in Berlin just before the wall came down marking the beginning of the end of the Cold War was interesting.

The plot follows a hunt for a list of the true identity of all spies active in Europe (more or less a MacGuffin) and features a female character in a sea of men who underestimate her. Regardless of the book's historical setting, I expect more from a book written in 2012 than I do one written in 1989, and found this choice exhausting.

The film adaption largely removes the importance of sexism to the plot, and swaps two speaking roles from men to women. However, when you add in the film's increased emphasis on graphically violent action sequences, this change is problematic at best (spoilers). The filmmakers also place a great deal of care into the soundtrack and some strikingly colorful visuals, creating a very different tone from the comic.

The movie was okay, but I prefer action movies with an emphasis on fun over gritty (the above gif was maybe the only funny part). What I really appreciated about the film was the way it made me reexamine my experience of the comic. At first read, The Coldest City seemed bland and predictable, but the movie helped me to appreciate its comparative subtlety and how the use of an unreliable narrator creates space for ambiguity.

~Sarah, Adult Services

#ComicsWednesday: Strong Female Protagonist by Brennan Lee Mulligan & Molly Ostertag

Sometimes it pays to take a chance on a book based entirely on the cover art or a clever title. Jumping into a story blindly with no real expectations can be a great way to break a reading slump by taking all the pressure off of yourself. Plus, there's a chance you'll discover a really great book you probably wouldn't've encountered otherwise.

I knew nothing about Strong Female Protagonist by writer Brennan Lee Mulligan and artist Molly Ostertag before I checked it out from the library, and I am so glad that I did. Like many of my favorite comics, it started life as a webcomic, and if you don't want to wait for the library's print copy, you can read it immediately on their website.

Strong Female Protagonist is a superhero story about a young woman who doesn't want to be a superhero but who finds it equally hard to stand silent in the face of injustice. When young teens started developing superpowers, Alison Green discovered she had some incredible powers. The government provided guidance, support, and merchandising opportunities, and Alison became Mega Girl. Until the day she discovered that maybe the world isn't cut into clear divisions of good & evil, and maybe the world shouldn't be turning to teenagers for saving. So Alison took off the mask and enrolled in college, but her life will never be normal.

This is a character-driven and thoughtful take on the superhero story that incorporates real world challenges and issues between the superpowered battles. There's an intriguing conspiracy that propels the plot, but the real focus is on Alison's struggles to adjust to adulthood. The art is less typical superhero comic, and has more of the feel of a cartoon, but with some incredibly detailed backgrounds. One of my favorite parts of reading a long running webcomic is watching the way that an artist's style changes over time. Not that you'll notice any sudden shifts (except for the addition of color in the most recent chapters), Ostertag's art is remarkably consistent.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Eclipse Mania

In case you hadn't heard, the United States will be treated to a front row viewing of a Total Solar Eclipse on Monday, August 21. Here in Dubuque, we'll be a bit too far north to see the full eclipse, but the show should still be impressive (weather permitting). The eclipse will begin around 11:48 a.m., reach its peak around 1:13 p.m., and end by 2:37 p.m.

One of the most important things to remember when it comes to the eclipse is that you should NEVER look directly at the sun as this can cause irreparable damage to your eyes. Unfortunately, the library does not have any eclipse glasses available, and while many local retailers had pairs for sale, it sounds like many locations are currently sold out. If you've already purchased a pair of eclipse glasses, you can make sure that they are reputable and learn more about eclipse viewing safety from NASA: https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety

If  you happen to have an empty cereal box, you can bring it into the Maker Space here at Carnegie-Stout and staff will show you how to create your own pinhole viewer for the eclipse. You can also watch a live stream of the eclipse in the Maker Space starting at noon on Monday, August 21.

We've put together a few links below with more tips and tricks to enjoy the eclipse and to learn more about astronomy.

• Books and DVDs on Astronomy at Carnegie-Stout Public Library

• NASA's list of eclipse apps

• Five Ways to View the Solar Eclipse from Science Friday 

• See how the Solar Eclipse will look from anywhere in the United States

Staff Review: Cat Castles: 20 cardboard habitats you can build yourself by Carin Oliver

Gathering Materials

When I saw Cat Castles: 20 cardboard habitats you can build yourself by Carin Oliver on the cart of new books, I knew I needed to check it out immediately.


"Look at how happy that cat in an airplane is!" I thought. "Obviously my kitty Dexter needs a cat castle to be truly happy."

Dexter selects a box.

Luckily, my boyfriend was in agreement and had a stash of cardboard boxes waiting for recycling day. We looked through the projects in the book, which vary from fairly simple reinforced and decorated boxes for your cat to hide in to elaborate designs like trains and even the castle of the title. I asked Dexter for his opinion, but he was busy napping on a tote bag we'd left on a kitchen chair. Instead we decided to wait until we were babysitting my boyfriend's niece and asked for her help. She decided that we would make Dexter the largest cat castle we possibly could.

User Testing

The first step was to gather our supplies: cardboard boxes, hot glue gun and glue, box cutter, ruler, twine, and decorations. Unlike the designs in the book, we did not plan on elaborate painting or carefully applied craft paper. Dexter loves to destroy cardboard boxes, so we wanted the design to be something that he could enjoy chewing into little pieces. So we put our elementary student in charge of interior decorating and design elements, while the grown-ups took care of cutting and gluing. We found that the hot glue gun did not have enough power to hold the larger boxes together and ended up using non-toxic wood glue.


One of the best design elements are two cat toys attached from high points of the castle with twine for Dexter to attack (though my favorite is probably Dexter's name spelled out in felt letters on one of the towers). This gives us a way to interact with Dexter and the castle and has encouraged him to engage in active play in his new castle, rather than just napping (although he is definitely getting some good naps). Overall, this was a fun and easily customizable project that I can recommend as an entertaining weekend activity for cat lovers of all ages.

King of the Castle

~Sarah, Adult Services

#ComicsWednesday: Heartthrob by Christopher Sebela & Robert Wilson IV

None of us will live forever, but Callie, who was born with a congenital heart defect, has never been able to escape the awareness that her time is limited. Throughout her childhood she was either hospitalized or kept wrapped in cotton wool by her parents. But after Callie hears about the first successful heart transplant in 1968, she decides to take a chance on living. She leaves her family, moves to California, gets a job in an insurance company, and saves her money for heart transplant surgery.

The story of Heartthrob starts with Callie just returning to work after months of recovering from her successful heart transplant. She feels different, healthier, stronger, though she's well aware that the still experimental transplant has only extended her lifespan by years. But if Callie was tired of hiding from life before, now she is determined to live. And then she meets a mysterious and handsome stranger at a bar, a stranger with a dangerous past who leads Callie into a life of crime and romance.

This fast-paced story is written by Christopher Sebela, drawn by Robert Wilson IV, and colored by Nick Filardi. The story has enough sex and violence that it is clearly an adult series. I enjoyed the 1970s setting, and Filardi's use of color worked well to capture the vintage mood. Without going into spoilers, I would've enjoyed more focus on the heists and less on the unusual romance. It's an interesting premise, and the first volume ends on a heck of a cliffhanger.

~Sarah, Adult Services

#ComicsWednesday: Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura

When I'm stressed, something that always helps me relax is to watch a video of jellyfish swimming. They're both comical and elegant, and if I ever win the lottery, I'm going to Palau to swim in the lake filled with jellyfish that don't sting you. It's safe to say that I like jellyfish, probably a bit more than most people, but compared to Tsukimi, the main character of Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura, I'm barely a fan.

When Tsukimi was young her mother took her to see jellyfish in an aquarium, which happened to be their last outing together before her mother became very ill and died. Tsukimi clings tightly to the joy of her visit to the aquarium by learning everything she can about jellyfish. Unfortunately, an obsession with jellyfish combined with severe social anxiety means that Tsukimi grows up to be an otaku (a geek or nerd, think Big Bang Theory).

Luckily, Tsukimi finds her community within Amamizukan, a shared house for women in Tokyo. All of the residents are women, all are socially awkward and unfashionable, and each has her own unique and all-consuming passion. Society refers to them as fujoshi (meaning female otaku). They call themselves "amars" or "nuns" because the last thing that brings them together is that they live "a life with no use for men."

One night after a particularly disappointing social failure, Tsukimi visits a neighborhood aquarium shop to talk to the small spotted jellyfish in the window display, whom she's named Clara. However, Tsukimi discovers that a moon jellyfish has been added to Clara's tank, creating a dangerous situation for her favorite jellyfish. Tsukimi draws on every ounce of bravery she possesses and confronts the fashionable young man working in the shop to save Clara's life. It's not enough, until a stylish young woman passing by steps in and negotiates a diplomatic solution that results in Tsukimi taking Clara home to Amamizukan, along with her knight in shining, six-inch stilettos.

In the morning, Tsukimi discovers that her rescuer is actually a stylish young man in drag named Kuranosuke (or Kurako when dressed as a woman). Friendship, politics, romance, makeovers, a fight against gentrification, and hijinks ensue, all blending together to form an upbeat and charming story told over the course of eight double-size volumes.

Like many manga that we see in English translation, part of the story has been adapted to a one-season anime, which I can also recommend. However, before you take on either version of this story I should warn you that one character is drugged and led to believe that he was raped by the main antagonist of the series. It's a disturbing enough event that some might prefer to avoid this otherwise enjoyable story.

~Sarah, Adult Services

#ComicsWednesday: Patsy Walker, A.K.A Hellcat! by Kate Leth, Brittney Williams, & Megan Wilson

When it comes to superhero comics, I prefer my stories to be optimistic, fun, and, well, heroic. Not necessarily heroic on a save-the-world scale; I'm every bit as happy to see a superhero who tackles smaller crimes and everyday injustices. In other words, I absolutely love Patsy Walker: A.K.A. Hellcat! and if you're looking for something fun to read this summer, you should definitely add it to your list.

Some readers will be familiar with a different version of Patsy Walker from Netflix's series Jessica Jones where the character goes by the name of Trish Walker, Jessica's adoptive sister. In fact, the character of Patsy Walker has been around since 1944 and has gone through many changes over the last 70+ years. Don't worry about all of that history and backstory though because this is a perfect jumping-on point for new fans.

I first met Patsy in a two volume She-Hulk series written by Charles Soule where Patsy worked as a private investigator for She-Hulk's law office. That series ended with Patsy being laid off, allowing her to start up a new business providing assistance to people with superpowers who need a job other than superhero or super villain. There are currently two volumes available, with the third (and sadly final) scheduled for publication this August.

This series is written by Kate Leth, who before writing for Marvel posted comics about her life and her work in a comic shop online. I've been a fan of her quirky sense of humor for years. Brittney Williams is the illustrator and I enjoyed her cartoony and cute style. Some readers were put off by her use of chibis, but it really worked for me. The bright, cheerful colors were done by Megan Wilson and they really added to the series's overall tone.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Staff Review: "The Day I Died" by Lori Rader-Day

If you were one of the lucky folks who got to meet award-winning mystery author Lori Rader-Day when she visited Carnegie-Stout Public Library back in May, you already know about her most recent book, The Day I Died. A compelling novel of psychological suspense with a Midwestern setting, this novel is a great summer read for anyone on the waiting list for the latest books by Paula Hawkins, Mary Kubica, and Heather Gudenkauf.

The Day I Died starts a bit slow as our narrator and main character, Anna Winger, is not very forthcoming with the personal details. Anna and her 13-year-old son are recent arrivals to the small, rural town of Parks, Indiana, and it's quickly obvious that Anna has spent most of her adult life (literally) running from a dark and abusive past. She makes a living as a handwriting analyst helping the FBI and law enforcement in their investigations, the HR departments of large companies, and people who have questions about prospective romantic partners.

Anna's precarious balance begins to topple when she's asked to consult on a missing persons case for the Sheriff's department of Parks. A very young boy has disappeared along with his mother, a likely victim of domestic abuse. A scenario far too familiar for Anna, who is also feeling pressure from Josh, her barely teenage son. Josh resents their constant moving and has questions about their lack of family.

Mild spoiler to follow. As a native Wisconsinite who has spent some time in the North Woods, I enjoyed how real Anna's fictional hometown of Sweetheart Lake felt.

~Sarah, Adult Services

#ComicsWednesday: Pyongyang by Guy Delisle

Guy Delisle is a French-Canadian cartoonist who has made a career creating biographical comics, building on the strong foundation of his first book, Pyongyang. First published more than 10 years ago, Pyongyang gives readers an interesting glimpse into the secretive and highly controlled world of North Korea. Many things have changed in the past decade, but Delisle's often funny observations of life as a western outsider in North Korea are still fascinating today.

Delisle first came to Pyongyang, the country's capital, to supervise the production of an animated film that had been outsourced to a North Korean company. His job lasted for two months and when he was not working he socialized with other foreigners and went on highly supervised visits to local tourist attractions.

Delisle's black and white drawings are minimalist and cartoony, which suits the immediacy of a travel guide created by an animator. This isn't a sketchbook, though, and you can see the thought he puts into his panels. The people are distinct and expressive, and the often empty backgrounds draw your focus to his characters' humanity and the intense pressure of life under a totalitarian regime.

~Sarah, Adult Services