Library History

Isabel and Nicki Hoffman may be twins, but they're each one of a kind. Isabel loves dancing with her friends, while Nicki prefers skateboarding alone. In December 1999, the girls create a list of challenges to complete before midnight on New Year's Eve. But just before the new millennium arrives, disaster strikes. Will the most momentous night of their lives be a twin win or a sister setback?

Jephthah and his daughter lived during the period of judges in Israel. The New Testament acknowledges him as a hero of faith. Nevertheless, his hasty and ill-considered speech resulted in a tragic loss for him and his daughter. Walking through this experience inspires us to reconsider and improve how we speak.

In the summer of 1776, when Thomas Jefferson arrived in Philadelphia to sign the Declaration of Independence, declaring that “all men are created equal,” he wasn’t alone. With him was Robert Hemings, just one of the many Black people Jefferson enslaved. But who was Robert Hemings? Discover his story and the true history of those who really helped build America. Featuring riveting interviews with historians, including Margaret Kimberley, author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents, The Founders Unmasked is a quest for the whole truth, good and bad.

The American Revolution is well under way in 1776, but things are looking bleak for General George Washington and his Continental Army. With Washington's hasty retreat from New York City in August, many think the war might soon be over. After all: how on Earth is this ragtag group going to defeat its enemy, the well-trained and well-funded military of the largest empire in history? But Washington soon realizes he can't win with military might. Instead, he must outsmart the British, so he creates a sophisticated intelligence network: the top-secret Culper Spy Ring.

Jordan is going to join a gang. But just as he's about to start his future with the Cobras, his past calls him back. Way back - to the 19th-century, where he meets his ancestors and gets a bitter taste of what life was like for them as slaves. Jordan must live with the constant threat of the whip's lash. His journey back in time will strike a chord with any young person who has felt trapped by hard times and difficult choices.

Richard Peck is a master of stories about people in transition, but perhaps never before has he told a tale of such dramatic change as this one, set during the first year of the Civil War. The whole country is changing in 1861, even the folks from a muddy little Illinois settlement on the banks of the Mississippi. Here, 15-year-old Tilly Pruitt frets over the fact that her brother is dreaming of being a soldier and that her sister is prone to supernatural visions.

During a long, hot July in 1863, the worst race riots the United States has ever seen erupt in New York City. Earlier that year, desperate for more Union soldiers, President Abraham Lincoln instituted a draft - a draft that would allow the wealthy to escape serving in the army by paying a $300 waiver, more than a year's income for the recent immigrant Irish. And on July 11, as the first drawing takes place in Lower Manhattan, the city of New York explodes in rage and fire.

Peewee idolizes Jake, a big brother whose dreams of auto mechanic glory are fueled by the hard road coming to link their Indiana town and futures with the 20th century. And motoring down the road comes Irene Ridpath, a young librarian with plans to astonish them all and turn Peewee's life upside down.

Born into the household of a wealthy slave owner in Cuba in 1797, Juan Francisco Manzano spent his early years by the side of a woman who made him call her Mama, even though he had a mama of his own. Denied an education, young Juan still showed an exceptional talent for poetry. His verses reflect the beauty of his world, but they also expose its hideous cruelty.

In curiously parallel lives, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were both orphaned at an early age. Both were brilliant students who attended college - one at Princeton, the other at Columbia - and studied law. Both were young staff officers under General George Washington, and both became war heroes. Politics beckoned them, and each served in the newly formed government of the fledgling nation. Why, then, did these two face each other at dawn in a duel that ended with death for one and opprobrium for the other?

Bobby Burns knows he's a lucky lad. Growing up in sleepy Keely Bay, Bobby is exposed to all manner of wondrous things: stars reflecting off the icy sea, a friend that can heal injured fawns with her dreams, a man who can eat fire. But darkness seems to be approaching Bobby's life from all sides.

Meggie Dillon's life has been turned upside down by World War II. Her older brother Eddie enlisted and was shipped off to fight in Europe. And people say that anywhere else Grandpa would be turned in because he's German, and people might think he's a spy. Is it true? Could Grandpa be taken away?

The whole world seems to transform during the summer of 1965. When Eden’s cousin Winter comes for a visit, it turns out he’s not just there to sightsee. He wants to figure out what happened to his dad, who disappeared 10 years earlier from the Watts area of L.A. So the cousins set out to investigate together, and what they discover brings them joy - and heartache. It also opens up a whole new understanding of their world, just as the area they’ve got their sights on explodes in a clash between the police and the Black residents.

Humans live longer now than they ever have in their more than three hundred thousand years of existence on earth. And most (if not all) of the advances that have permitted the human lifespan to double have happened in living memory. Extra Life looks at vaccines, seat belts, pesticides, and more, and how each of our scientific advancements have prolonged human life.

What Do We Know About Atlantis? lets curious young listeners dive into what we really know about the sunken city. First described by Plato, the idea of Atlantis has existed since 360 B.C.! Learn about the history of the Greek god Poseidon's relationship with the kingdom and the real research that's been done by historians and scientists who are trying to locate Atlantis. Featured in plenty of movies, books, and comics, Atlantis is still relevant in popular culture today...but does it really exist?

In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to found the very first permanent English settlement in the Americas. The initial settlement—called the Lane colony—failed due to extremely low supplies and a hostile relationship with the Native American people who were already living on the land. Despite this miserable first attempt, Raleigh decided to establish another settlement. Over one hundred people agreed to join this new colony on Roanoke Island, just off the coast of what is now North Carolina.

This true story took place at the emergency farm-labor camp immortalized in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Ostracized as "dumb Okies," the children of Dust Bowl migrant laborers went without school—until Superintendent Leo Hart and 50 Okie kids built their own school in a nearby field.

Beginning in Italy, the Renaissance was a cultural movement that spread throughout Europe and affected art, science, technology, politics, and thought. From the 1300s to the beginning of the 1600s, scholars started to question what they knew and looked to literature and historical texts to develop new ideas for why things were the way they were. In just a short amount of time, the foundations for European life were uprooted and examined, leading people, including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, to explore new ways of thinking and being.

The Nazca Lines in Peru have mystified people around the world for centuries. The famous figures, sometimes called geoglyphs, include a hummingbird, a spider, a fish, a monkey, a dog, a cat, human-like figures, geometric designs, and more. These amazing images were believed to have been created between 500 B.C.E. and 500 C.E., and no one is quite sure how or why they were created. Some historians believe that they are ancient irrigation systems, but other researchers believe in a more paranormal origin story.

An unusually warm winter day resulted in 2.3 million gallons of molasses flooding the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The disaster killed twenty-one people and injured 150 others. Rescue missions were launched to save people from the sticky and deadly mess, led by the Red Cross, the Army, the Navy, and the Massachusetts Nautical School. With the help of hundreds of volunteers over the course of several weeks, the streets were cleaned up. But the smell of molasses and the horror of the preventable tragedy lingered for decades to come.