KHCPL 2021 Read or Dare Challenge
You may notice that this year we are having a KHCPL Read or Dare Challenge and some of you may be wondering what we mean by Dare. Well, KHCPL is challenging our staff to be more proactive about readers advisory. For those unfamiliar with the term readers advisory, it simply means helping our readers find materials they want to read in our library. This includes displays, social media posts, podcasts, book videoes, book marks, bibliographies, and many other ways of making our materials and books discoverable to our patrons. To get our staff thinking more about Readers Advisory, we offered to let them have freebies on some of our more challenging book categories by participating in a Dare to actively promote our book collections. So this year, they can read or step up their game by participating in a Dare. We invite our patrons to participating in our reading challenge, you can print a copy of the challenge by clicking one of the images below, or you can track your challenge in Beanstack online or with the app. If you have ideas for our Dares, you are welcome to send them to our Readers' Advisory Librarian, Melissa at mwheelock@khcpl.org.
NextRead Newsletters
If you need books for your 2021 Reading Challenge, try signing up for our NextRead Newsletters! Receive updates on books coming out in your favorite genres as well as other titles you might have missed. You control which newsletters you receive. Most NextReads Newsletters only come out monthly, though the New York Times Bestsellers are updated weekly.
January 2021 Books on Our Radar
Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour
For fans of Sorry to Bother You and The Wolf of Wall Street—a crackling, satirical debut novel about a young man given a shot at stardom as the lone Black salesman at a mysterious, cult-like, and wildly successful startup where nothing is as it seems.
There’s nothing like a Black salesman on a mission.
An unambitious twenty-two-year-old, Darren lives in a Bed-Stuy brownstone with his mother, who wants nothing more than to see him live up to his potential as the valedictorian of Bronx Science. But Darren is content working at Starbucks in the lobby of a Midtown office building, hanging out with his girlfriend, Soraya, and eating his mother’s home-cooked meals. All that changes when a chance encounter with Rhett Daniels, the silver-tongued CEO of Sumwun, NYC’s hottest tech startup, results in an exclusive invitation for Darren to join an elite sales team on the thirty-sixth floor.
After enduring a “hell week” of training, Darren, the only Black person in the company, reimagines himself as “Buck,” a ruthless salesman unrecognizable to his friends and family. But when things turn tragic at home and Buck feels he’s hit rock bottom, he begins to hatch a plan to help young people of color infiltrate America’s sales force, setting off a chain of events that forever changes the game.
Black Buck is a hilarious, razor-sharp skewering of America’s workforce; it is a propulsive, crackling debut that explores ambition and race, and makes way for a necessary new vision of the American dream. (From Publisher)
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict
In December 1926, Agatha Christie goes missing. Investigators find her empty car on the edge of a deep, gloomy pond, the only clues some tire tracks nearby and a fur coat left in the car--strange for a frigid night.
Her husband and daughter have no knowledge of her whereabouts, and England unleashes an unprecedented manhunt to find the up-and-coming mystery author. Eleven days later, she reappears, just as mysteriously as she disappeared, claiming amnesia and providing no explanations for her time away.
The puzzle of those missing eleven days has persisted. With her trademark exploration into the shadows of history, acclaimed author Marie Benedict brings us into the world of Agatha Christie, imagining why such a brilliant woman would find herself at the center of such a murky story.
What is real, and what is mystery? What role did her unfaithful husband play, and what was he not telling investigators?
A master storyteller whose clever mind may never be matched, Agatha Christie’s untold history offers perhaps her greatest mystery of all. (From Publisher)
Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant
Jane the Virgin meets To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before in this charming debut romantic comedy filled with Black Girl Magic. Perfect for fans of Mary H. K. Choi and Nicola Yoon, with crossover appeal for readers of Jasmine Guillory and Talia Hibbert romances.
Sixteen-year-old Tessa Johnson has never felt like the protagonist in her own life. She’s rarely seen herself reflected in the pages of the romance novels she loves. The only place she’s a true leading lady is in her own writing—in the swoony love stories she shares only with Caroline, her best friend and #1 devoted reader.
When Tessa is accepted into the creative writing program of a prestigious art school, she’s excited to finally let her stories shine. But when she goes to her first workshop, the words are just...gone. Fortunately, Caroline has a solution: Tessa just needs to find some inspiration in a real-life love story of her own. And she’s ready with a list of romance novel-inspired steps to a happily ever after. Nico, the brooding artist who looks like he walked out of one of Tessa’s stories, is cast as the perfect Prince Charming.
But as Tessa checks each item off Caroline’s list, she gets further and further away from herself. She risks losing everything she cares about—including the surprising bond she develops with sweet Sam, who lives across the street. She’s well on her way to having her own real-life love story, but is it the one she wants, after all? (From Publisher)
January Book Page Now Available
The January issue of Book Page is now available. Read it by clicking on image below, or stop by any library location to pick up your copy. The January issue features their 2021 Preview, personal favorites of the Book Page editors, Q&A with the husband and wife writing team that publishes under the name Ellery Lloyd, and much more.
You can also get emails from Book Page by signing up for their newsletter.
