Reading Library

Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes or filled with bean bags and children's drawings - the history of the library is rich, varied and stuffed full of incident. In this, the first major history of its kind, Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen explore the contested and dramatic history of the library

Tom is a teenager and blends into the background of life. After a row with his dad and facing an unhappy future at the dog food factory, he escapes to the library. Tom unwittingly ends up with a bagful of romance novels and comes under the suspicion of Maggie. Maggie is a pensioner and has been happily alone for 10 years, at least that's what she tells herself. When Tom comes to her rescue, a friendship develops that could change her life.

American Libraries editor in chief Leonard Kniffel offers a compelling collection of interviews with prominent figures--all of whom have special connections to libraries. From President Barack Obama to actress Julie Andrews; from basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to former First Lady and librarian Laura Bush and many others, stars of literature, politics, entertainment, and the public arena speak with Kniffel about the ways libraries have been critical in their lives.

Libraries are much more than mere collections of volumes. The best are magical, fabled places whose fame has become part of the cultural wealth they are designed to preserve. Some still exist today; some are lost, like those of Herculaneum and Alexandria; some have been sold or dispersed; and some never existed, such as those libraries imagined by J. R. R. Tolkien, Umberto Eco and Jorge Luis Borges, among others.

After moving to Los Angeles, Susan Orlean became fascinated by a mysterious local crime that has gone unsolved since it was carried out on the morning of 29th April 1986: who set fire to the Los Angeles Public Library, ultimately destroying more than 400,000 books, and perhaps even more perplexing, why? With her characteristic humour, insight and compassion, Orlean uses this terrible event as a lens through which to tell the story of all libraries—their history, their meaning and their uncertain future as they adapt and redefine themselves in a digital world.

With over one million copies sold, this series of modern classics about the charming Penderwick family from National Book Award winner and New York Times bestseller Jeanne Birdsall is perfect for fans of Noel Streatfeild and Edward Eager. The Penderwick sisters are home on Gardam Street and...

With over one million copies sold, this series of modern classics about the charming Penderwick family, from National Book Award winner and New York Times bestseller Jeanne Birdsall, is perfect for fans of Noel Streatfeild and Edward Eager. Springtime is finally arriving on Gardam Street...

With over one million copies sold, this series of modern classics about the charming Penderwick family from National Book Award winner and New York Times bestseller Jeanne Birdsall is perfect for fans of Noel Streatfeild and Edward Eager. When summer comes around, it's off to the beach for...

Lois Lowry’s Gathering Blue continues the quartet beginning with the quintessential dystopian novel, The Giver, followed by Messenger and Son. Kira, an orphan with a twisted leg, lives in a world where the weak are cast aside. She fears for her future until she is spared by the all-powerful...

Read by Fenella Woolgar, known for her role as Sister Hilda in BBC series Call the Midwife. When the Blitz threatens the heart of a London neighbourhood, three young women must use their fighting spirit to keep their community together in this heartwarming novel from the author of The Kitchen...

"This beautiful page-turner kept me reading all night.” —Janet Skeslien Charles, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Library "This one’s an absolute gem.” —Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Stolen Queen When a young librarian discovers hidden historic...

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES WITH MORE THAN TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD! James Patterson called it “the coolest library in the world.” Now follow along and solve the clues in this interactive adventure through Mr. Lemoncello’s one-of-a-kind, never-before-seen Gameworks Factory! From...

A detour. A chance encounter. Two women who alter the pages of each other’s story. Juliet Nightingale is lucky to be alive. Months after a freak accident involving lightning, she’s fully recovered but is left feeling that something is missing from her life. Something big. Impulsively, she...

The story of an unhappy little girl, her invalid cousin, and the healing power of friendship and love. Reading level: 4.8...

Rory and her magical family are deep in preparing for the holiday celebrations, but the local Grim Reaper throws a spanner—or scythe—in the works when the town of Ivory Beach is chosen to host the Reapers’ annual summit. Not only is the town swarming with angels of death instead of Santa’s elves, but the situation gets even less cheery when a Reaper apprentice is found to have been murdered. Now Rory and Xavier must unmask a killer among a group of people who reap the souls of the dead for a living — not to mention capture someone without a physical body to put behind bars.

A delightful adveture full of humor and heart set in Elizabethan England! Widge is an orphan with a rare talent for shorthand. His fearsome master has just one demand: steal Shakespeare's play "Hamlet"--or else. Widge has no choice but to follow orders, so he works his way into the heart of the...

Three feisty, fun-loving Anglo-Asian sisters rule the roost over their dad since their mum died. They've got a reputation at school for being the coolest, most sorted babes in town - and what they certainly DON'T need is an interfering Auntie-ji from India inviting herself over to England and...

The hysterical #1 New York Times bestseller from Newbery honoree Carl Hiaasen featuring gators, snakes, bats that bite, and reality show hosts gone wild! When Wahoo Cray’s dad—a professional animal wrangler—takes a job with a reality TV show called Expedition Survival!, Wahoo figures he'll...

Read by Fenella Woolgar, known for her role as Sister Hilda in BBC series Call the Midwife. Three women united by their love of books. One library that has the power to change lives, even in wartime . . . When Juliet begins work ats Bethnal Green Library, she discovers it is far from the...

Welcome to Centerburg! Where you can win a hundred dollars by eating all the doughnuts you want; where houses are built in a day; and where a boy named Homer Price can foil four slick bandits using nothing but his wits and pet skunk. The comic genius of Robert McCloskey and his wry look at...