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  • Join us for our Minutes of Summer Celebration!

    Can you believe that Arlington Heights readers read more than 750,000 minutes this summer? Join us in September to celebrate the thousands of minutes our community read!

    Relive the time spent falling in love, solving a mystery, learning something new, and exploring fantastical worlds with fellow readers and AHML Advisors. Enjoy activities, refreshments, and chatting about the best books of the summer. When you attend, you will also have the opportunity to enter a drawing for one of three prize baskets filled with end of summer goodies.

    Ages 18 and up.

    Date and time: Sunday, September 7, 1-2:30 p.m.
    Location: Arlington

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  • Start the school year off strong with library resources, games, homework help and more

    It's time for back-to-school season, and the library has you covered. Reading, games, history and more - check out our online resources for kids, tweens and teens.

    Preschool-Kindergarten:
    ABCmouse:     Simple, fun activities and printables to help get ready for school.
    TumbleBook Library: Animated stories you can read along with.
    LOTE4Kids (Languages Other Than English): International read-alongs in original languages and English.
    BookFlix: Read-alongs pairing related fiction and nonfiction books.
    Little Pim: Language learning for kids grades preschool-2. Covers Spanish, French, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Hebrew, English, German, Arabic and Russian.
    Scholastic Teachables: Printable worksheets and

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  • National Immigrant Heritage Month Booklist

    National Immigrant Heritage Month recognizes the countless ways immigrants have enriched American society, economy and culture. We welcome our community to learn more about the history of our nation's diverse and varied immigrant communities and embrace our shared history by sharing family stories and honoring our ancestors during this month in August.

    Click here to view our staff-curated booklist.

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NEW TO THE LIBRARY

Grave birds
Elmendorf, Dana,
"Hollis Sutherland has an uncanny gift that allows her to see grave birds, manifestations of the dead's unfinished business; and when a mysterious bachelor wanders into her small town, bizarre events begin to plague its wealthiest citizens and Hollis must work against these evil forces to save the town and herself."--
Maggie; or, a man and a woman walk into a bar
Yee, Katie,
"A man and a woman walk into a restaurant. The woman expects a lovely night filled with endless plates of samosas. Instead, she finds out her husband is having an affair with a woman named Maggie. A short while after, her chest starts to ache. She walks into an examination room, where she finds out the pain in her breast isn't just heartbreak -- it's cancer. She decides to call the tumor Maggie. Unfolding in fragments over the course of the ensuing months, Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar follows the narrator as she embarks on a journey of grief, healing, and reclamation. She starts talking to Maggie (the tumor), getting acquainted with her body's new inhabitant. She overgenerously creates a "Guide to My Husband: A User's Manual" for Maggie (the other woman), hoping to ease the process of discovering her ex-husband's whims and quirks. She turns her children's bedtime stories into retellings of Chinese folklore passed down by her own mother, in an attempt to make them fall in love with their shared culture -- and to maybe save herself in the process." --
Glass girls
Shokoohi, Danie,
"A former child medium is forced to face her deadly past and the ghosts she left behind in this electrifying debut. Alice Haserot thought she'd escaped the curse. For sixteen years, she's lived far from her family and the ghosts she used to conjure. But her past isn't so easily left behind. When Alice discovers she's pregnant and her estranged sister, Bronwyn, turns up on her doorstep, her carefully built new life begins to unravel. Bronwyn offers an ultimatum: one of her daughters is trying to possess the other, and only Alice has the power to save them. If Alice refuses, Bronwyn will go to their abusive mother and expose her location. Forced to confront the terrors of her childhood, Alice returns home to face the inheritance of her family curse. Tautly paced and gorgeously written, Glass Girls explores the deep, complicated bonds of family and the shadows that follow us, no matter how far we run" -- Dust jacket
Don't let him in
Jewell, Lisa,
"A novel following three woman who have seemingly separate lives and the one man connecting them all"--
The dance and the fire
Saldaña París, Daniel, 1984-
"After years apart, three high school friends return to Cuernavaca, Mexico, where an intense love triangle once left an indelible mark on their adolescence. The city, surrounded by a ring of claustrophobic wildfires, brings out the past and confronts them with their present: they must once again face the entanglement of friendship and desire, the seemingly distant discovery of sexuality, complex parental relationships, and the daunting task of artistic fulfillment. In the background, two forces of chaos and destruction are a constant presence. As fires ravage the physical landscape, one of the friends begins choreographing an ecstatic dance inspired by the German expressionist Mary Wigman and medieval Danse Macabre. What starts as a coping mechanism for the anxieties of youth and climate catastrophe becomes an overpowering, all-consuming hysteria. Mysterious powers are awakened, the boundary between reality and myth begins to blur, and the friends find themselves immersed in an increasingly turbulent and uncertain universe"--
The unraveling of Julia : a psychological thriller
Scottoline, Lisa,
"Lately, Julia Pritzker is beginning to think she's cursed. She's lost her adoptive parents, then her husband is murdered. When she realizes that her horoscope essentially foretold his death, she begins to spiral. She fears her fate is written in the stars, not held in her own hands. Then a letter arrives out of the blue, informing her that she has inherited a Tuscan villa and vineyard - but her benefactor is a total stranger named Emilia Rossi. Julia has no information about her biological family, so she wonders if Rossi could be a blood relative. Bewildered, she heads to Tuscany for answers. There, Julia is horrified to discover that Rossi was a paranoid recluse with delusions of grandeur, who believed herself to be a descendent of Duchess Caterina Sforza, a legendary Renaissance ruler. Julia is stunned by her uncanny resemblance to Rossi and even to Caterina, then she unearths eerie parallels between them, including an obsession with astrology. Before long, Julia suspects she's being followed, and strange things begin to happen. Not even a chance meeting with a handsome Florentine can ease her disturbed mind. When events turn deadly, she breaks with reality. Julia's harrowing struggle becomes a search for her identity, a race to save her sanity, and ultimately, a question of her very survival"--
As you wish
Cross-Smith, Leesa, 1978-
"A heartwarming story of found family, love, and second chances about three American au pairs in Seoul who realize a wish may be all they need to make their dreams come true. For Lydia, Jenny, and Selene, au pairing in Korea is the opportunity of a lifetime. Lydia wants nothing more than to transform into a leading lady; Jenny is determined to swear off love for good 5,955 miles away from her ex; and Selene is convinced working in Korea will finally lead her to her biological mother. The girls find comfort in the magic of instant companionship when their host families introduce them. During a combined family vacation, they visit an enchanted waterfall on Jeju Island and make a wish under a full moon. Overnight, everything changes. Suddenly, Lydia is the girl everyone wants-except, strangely, her mysterious art-class partner from Spain. Jenny is having secret, no-strings-attached fun with her host mom's irresistible younger brother. And Selene is finally getting somewhere in her search for her mother thanks to a research-savvy photographer. But when Jenny's romantic feelings begin to deepen, she realizes her wish is standing in the way of real, lasting love. Her decision to undo it will have unexpected consequences-and force Lydia, Jenny, and Selene to reexamine what truly matters and confront the age-old adage "be careful what you wish for.""--
Under the stars
Williams, Beatriz,
"When a daughter and her famous mother return to Winthrop Island to confront their complicated past, they discover a secret trove of paintings that connect them to a mysterious woman who vanished on a luxury steamship two centuries earlier. From the New York Times bestselling author of Husbands & Lovers comes an epic tale of family legacy, love, and truths that echo down generations." --
What we leave behind
Halpern, Sue,
"From the author of Summer Hours at the Robbers Library, a tenderhearted story of two very different women whose lives intersect in surprising and endearing ways, perfect for fans of Joanna Goodman, Patry Francis, and Susan Henderson Reeling after her mother's unexpected death, adopted high school senior Melody is left to work through her grief in the midst of school and college applications-and under the shadow of her own future. Suddenly reconsidering everything she once took as certain Melody must piece together the fragments of her once happy family, and the future feels more uncertain than ever before. Meanwhile, Candace is an independent workaholic uninterested in relationships or children. Her quiet life is interrupted, however, when a casual Thanksgiving dinner turns into a rescue mission for a stranger and his dog. Through a tangled web of connections, she becomes acquainted with Melody's father, Eddie, and her once regimented life takes an unexpected turn. Bighearted and deeply relatable, What We Leave Behind grapples with destiny, belonging, and love and makes us question our own idea of family: the kind you're born into and the kind you create"--
The tiny things are heavier
Okonkwo, Esther Ifesinachi,
This heart-rending debut novel follows Sommy, a Nigerian woman who comes to the United States for graduate school two weeks after her brother, Mezie, attempts suicide. Plagued by the guilt of leaving Mezie behind, Sommy struggles to fit into her new life as a student and an immigrant. Lonely and homesick, Sommy soon enters a complicated relationship with her boisterous Nigerian roommate, Bayo, a relationship that plummets into deceit when Sommy falls for Bryan, a biracial American, whose estranged Nigerian father left the States immediately after his birth. Bonded by their feelings of unbelonging and a vague sense of kinship, Sommy and Bryan transcend the challenges of their new relationship. During summer break, Sommy and Bryan visit the bustling city of Lagos, Nigeria, where Sommy hopes to reconcile with Mezie and Bryan plans to connect with his father. But when a shocking and unexpected event throws their lives into disarray, it exposes the cracks in Sommy's relationships and forces her to confront her notions of self and familial love. A daring and ambitious novel rendered in stirring, tender prose, "The Tiny Things Are Heavier" is a captivating portrait that explores the hardships of migration, the subtleties of Nigeria's class system, and how far we'll go to protect those we love
The Namaste Club
Elias, Asha,
"From the author of Pink Glass Houses, another delicious beach read about rich people behaving badly! The Yoga Retreat is sly and hilarious send-up of the wellness industrial complex, rich ladies doing yoga, and all things fabulous and Florida"--
Sunburned
Wood, Katherine, 1979-
When a washed-up foot ties Audrey Collet and her eccentric billionaire ex Tyson to a buried past, she's pulled into a high-stakes investigation on his St. Barth's estate, where blackmail, betrayal, and a deadly birthday dive reveal a killer among their secret-laden inner circle
Fade in
Mills, Kyle, 1966-
"When ex-navy SEAL Salam "Fade" al-Fayed steps in front of a sniper's bullet, he assumes that he's reached the end of the road--his death wish has finally been answered. Instead, he wakes in a hospital. As one of the deadliest operatives in U.S. history, he's now incapable of even standing without assistance. Alone and wanted by authorities, he's destined to spend the rest of his life lying in a prison infirmary. So when a shadowy organization offers him a new identity and next-generation medical care, he has no choice but to agree. Nothing's free, though. After a grueling rehabilitation, he's drafted into an elite paramilitary unit. But who's in charge? When a dire threat--a highly contagious pathogen--explodes out of China, his question is quickly answered: A select group of the world's wealthiest and most powerful people has decided that governments are no longer capable of controlling the chaos erupting around the globe. It's a power grab by billionaires who've decided that it's their time to rule. With panic rising, the leaders of both democracies and dictatorships prove equally willing to destroy anything and anyone to save themselves. Forced into action before he's fully ready, Fade finds himself at the sharp end of a mission to stop a menace unlike any he's faced before. If he fails, the consequences will be unimaginable. But what if he succeeds? No one elected the people he's working for. And God sure as hell didn't ordain them. Has he signed on to save the human race . . . or to help quietly enslave it?"--
A bomb placed close to the heart
Batsha, Nishant,
"An expansive and poignant novel of love, radical ambition, and intellectual rebirth set at the dawn of World War I. At a party near Stanford University's campus in 1917, Cora Trent, a graduate student raised in the rugged mining towns of the American West, meets Indra Mukherjee, an Indian revolutionary newly arrived in California. Indra is grieving the recent loss of a friend and unsure of the place violence has in the cause of national liberation, while Cora is seeking a new life that stays true to her ambitions as a writer and an idealist. They spark an instant connection, and their passionate romance deepens as they attend protests alongside anticolonial dissidents and socialize with radical thinkers in Berkeley and Palo Alto. All the while, Indra awaits orders from a mysterious German spymaster. As the United States is drawn into the war in Europe, Cora and Indra quickly marry in a climate increasingly intolerant of dissent. When news of arrests threatens their future together, they are forced to flee to New York City with the hope that they can avoid the attention of the British and American authorities. Trying to find footing in their new life, Cora and Indra must reckon with divergent ambitions that challenge the foundations of their hasty marriage-and their freedom. Profound, immersive, tenderly written, and with finely wrought characters drawn from the forgotten archives of American history, A Bomb Placed Close to the Heart is an extraordinary story of a marriage caught at the intersection of radical politics and everyday life"--
Pariah
Fesperman, Dan, 1955-
"Hal Knight is a famous, if deeply polarizing, figure in Hollywood and on Capitol Hill. After a disastrous #MeToo encounter, Knight resigns from his seat, quits social media, and disappears to a Caribbean island. Upon his arrival, however, he is approached by a group of mysterious strangers, whom he discovers are CIA agents hoping to penetrate Bolrovia - a hostile, eastern European country. They want his help in doing so. Bolrovia's oligarch, Nikolai Horvatz, is a fan of Knight's movies, and the agents anticipate Knight will receive an invitation for an official visit imminently. Though Knight is skeptical about the mission, he realizes he has nothing more to lose and could - at last - do something truly meaningful with his life, whether or not anybody ever learns the truth about his hand in the matter. Reluctantly, he agrees to the job. Arriving in Bolrovia as President Horvatz's guest of honor, Knight is faced with his ultimate acting challenge. He brushes shoulders with Horvatz, Branko Sarič - the President's ruthless head of state security - shadowy figures in their orbit, and another group of Americans whose motivations are unclear. The only people in his corner are a trio of agents led by Lauren Witt, who has her own troubles in the agency and despises Knight. What begins as an assignment to keep his eyes and ears open quickly turns into a life or death mission"--

Items Coming Soon

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    Books    

 

 
 

Upcoming Programs

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28
Aug

Play, Learn & Grow Family Workshop (4 of 4)
- /Full Hendrickson Room

28
Aug

Digitize It: Slides and Photos
- /Training Center

28
Aug

Culture & Conversation (intermediate +)
- /Room H

28
Aug

Beginning ESL
- /Room I

28
Aug

Culinary: Talk and Taste
- /Makerplace - Kitchen

28
Aug

Makerplace Wire Wrapped Jewelry: Pearl Pendant
- /Makerplace - Creative Arts
View full calendar ›