Book of the Week (3/3/2025)

Forest Magic for Kids: How to Find Fairies, Make a Secret Fort, and Cook Up an Elfin Picnic by Susie Spikol (Gibbs Smith, 2025)

Your enchanted guide to 50+ magical activities for everything from finding hidden flower fairies in your own backyard and making a special wizard staff to creating a tiny woodland village and making your own forest potions.

Come discover the wild magic tucked into the nooks and crannies of forests, thickets, and meadows. Search for fairy dusted glow-in-the-dark mushrooms. Find secret worlds hidden in trees and uncover the tunnels, trails, and dens of gnomes and trolls, and mice and moles. Learn to listen to the forest, make sun-warmed pine tea, and wear an evergreen crown to an elf picnic.

Look inside to learn how to:

• Keep a secret notebook filled with maps, notes, and pockets for all your discoveries
• Go on a quest for wild treasures
• Follow a queen bumblebee to her castle
• Make your own forest teas and potions
• Become best friends with a tree
• Create tiny gnomes and build cozy gnome homes
• Seek where mushrooms grow after a fairy dance
• Carve a walking stick wizard staff
• Build your own hidden forest fort

--Publisher's blurb

About the Author:

Susie Spikol is a naturalist at the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, New Hampshire. A lifelong animal lover, Susie now helps people of all ages connect with the natural world. She is the author of The Animal Adventurer's Guide (Roost Books, 2002).

3 on a Theme: Historical Fiction 2

• Malice Aforethought: A True Story of the Shocking Double Crime That Horrified Nineteenth-Century New England by Avree Kelly Clark
• BETTY: A Life Interrupted: The Untold Story of Betty Hill's Extraterrestrial Life by Dave O. Dodge
• The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore

Ladybug 2025 Shortlist

The first round of Ladybug Picture Book Award voting closed earlier this week and we are ready to move on to round 2.

One hundred and eight people weighed in on the long list of nominees and we have eliminated from consideration any title that did not get at least 10% of the total votes cast. This left us with a shortlist of 16 titles from which NH librarians are invited to vote for the 9 titles that they think should be nominated for the 2025 Ladybug Picture Book Award.
 
The Final Round 2025 Ladybug Nomination Survey is now open and will remain open until Sunday, 3/23/2025.

PLEASE NOTE that you can only vote once from your device (phone, computer, whatever you use to browse the web) so don't preview the survey, as you will not be able to go back again to vote.

To help make sure as many people as possible in the NH library community have an opportunity to check out these books before voting for the final nominees, we have linked each of the titles below to a video of the book being read. We did not create any of these videos; they are from a variety of sources. Where there was a version available read by the author, we chose that, otherwise we chose the best depiction of the book that we could find.
 
2025 Ladybug Picture Book Award Shortlist 

• Ahoy! by Sophie Blackall
• The Bakery Dragon by Devin Elle Kurtz
• The Book that Almost Rhymed by Omar Abed and Hatem Aly
• Buffalo Fluffalo by Bess Kalb and Erin Kraan
• Dog vs Strawberry by Nelly Buchet and Andrea Zuill
• Flat Cat by Tara Lazar and Pete Oswald
• I am a Dragon! by Sabina Hahn
• I'm Sorry You Got Mad by Kyle Lukoff and Julie Kwon
• Lefty: A Story That Is Not All Right by Mo Willems and Dan Santat
• The Man Who Didn't Like Animals by Deborah Underwood and LeUygen Pham
• Millie Fleur's Poison Garden by Christy Mandin
• Mr. S: A First Day of School Book by Monica Arnaldo
• No Cats in the Library by Lauren Emmons
• The Teeny-weeny Unicorn by Shawn Harris
• We Are Definitely Human by X. Fang
• The Yellow Bus by Loren Long

Book of the Week (2/24/2025)

A Secret Shared with Sirens by Ariella Isabella (Daggers & Diatribes Publishing, 2025)

“She was the endless darkness between life and death. Bitter, and consuming. A poison I couldn’t stop drinking, and a cold lake I wanted to drown in.”

Rescued by the bloodthirsty sirens after an elven shipwreck, Isolde finds herself in a world of monstrous creatures, including Achelous, the Father of Sirens, who seeks revenge on the Elf King. But as the darkness inside her grows louder, Isolde faces the devastating truths about her power, her past, and the blood-soaked battle ahead. With the treacherous Queen Athalia on the throne and war looming, Isolde must decide where her loyalties lie, even if it means sacrificing everything she loves.

Death knows the price of the deal she’s made, and he fears Isolde’s growing strength could be the end of everything. Now that she's finally in his arms, Death can't afford to lose the one thing that brings light into his endless world of shadows and phantoms. With treachery at every turn and the gods themselves pulling strings, Isolde’s fight for survival might cost her soul. In a world ruled by villainous gods and treacherous creatures, Isolde may become the greatest threat of all—if she doesn’t lose herself to the darkness first. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Living with her partner and an array of animals in New Hampshire, Ariella Isabella enjoys traveling the world and writing stories that make your heart hurt and question your morals. She was influenced by the rise of Anne Rice, dark southern gothics, and epic fantasies by Carissa Broadbent. 'A Secret Shared with Sirens' is her second book in the Gods from the Oblivion Series.

Join Ariella at Gibson's Bookstore on Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 6:30 pm where she will be discussing her latest book!

Book of the Week (2/17/2025)

No One Has To Die: Inside the Longest Armed Standoff in the History of the U.S. Marshals by Steve Monier (Genius Book Publishing, 2024)

On January 12, 2007, what began as a felony tax trial for Ed and Elaine Brown in Plainfield, New Hampshire, spiraled into the longest armed standoff in U.S. Marshals history. Refusing to appear in court and surrender to federal authorities, the Browns transformed their home into a fortress, drawing support from militia groups and anti-government activists nationwide.

No One Has To Die offers an in-depth look at the tense and perilous nine month standoff that tested the resolve and tactics of the U.S. Marshals Service. Steve Monier, with contributions from Gary DiMartino and Dave Dimmitt, recounts the meticulous planning and tactical negotiations aimed at resolving the situation peacefully, against a backdrop of rising militia activity and public scrutiny.

This compelling narrative dives into the Browns' extremist beliefs, the challenges faced by law enforcement, and the strategies employed to prevent another Waco or Ruby Ridge. Through detailed accounts and personal insights, the book highlights the importance of communication, patience, and strategy in averting violence and ensuring that no one has to die. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Stephen R. Monier is a graduate of St. Anselm College, where he received his B.A. degree in 1974. Marshal Monier is also a graduate of the Delinquency Control Institute at the University of Southern California, and the National Crime Prevention Institute at the University of Louisville. He began his law enforcement career with the Goffstown, NH Police Department in 1969, rising through the ranks until his appointment as Chief of Police in 1984. He served as Chief until his retirement in January of 1999.

On April 15, 2002, President George W. Bush nominated Stephen Monier to serve as United States Marshal for the District of New Hampshire. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 7th, 2002. He served as the U.S. Marshal until November 1, 2009.

Join the author at Gibson's Bookstore on Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 6:30 pm where he will discuss his new book.

Book of the Week (2/10/2025)

A History Lover's Guide to New Hampshire by Kathleen D. Bailey & Sheila R. Bailey (The History Press, 2025)

New Hampshire has always been fiercely independent, and its history, museums and festivals reflect that trait. Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe broke baseball’s color barrier with the Nashua Dodgers in 1946, and Holman Stadium is now a stop on the Black Heritage Trail. Three of the state’s historic mansions―the Fells, the Castle in the Clouds and the Saint-Gaudens historic site―remain as impressive today as when they were built. Portsmouth’s historic homes give a portrait of life in colonial and Revolutionary times. From the New England Telephone Museum in Warner to the Exeter UFO Festival, the state has a wealth of history on display.

Kathleen D. Bailey and Sheila R. Bailey lead a trip through the past and present of the Granite State’s most memorable sites. --Publisher's blurb

Join author Kathleen D. Bailey at Gibson's Bookstore on Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 6:30 pm where she will discuss her newest book.

About the authors:

Kathleen D. Bailey is a journalist and novelist with forty years’ experience in the nonfiction, newspaper and inspirational fields. While she’s always dreamed of publishing fiction and has three novels in print, her three previous Arcadia projects―Exeter: Past and Present, New Hampshire War Monuments and Growing Up in Concord―made her fall in love with nonfiction and telling real people’s stories. 

Sheila R. Bailey was a freelance photographer living in Concord, New Hampshire. She recently co-authored Exeter: Past and Present along with shooting the contemporary photos for New Hampshire War Monuments: The Stories Behind the Stones and Growing Up in Concord, New Hampshire. She recently passed away from cancer.

Ladybug Longlist: School

Mr. S: A First Day of School Book by Monica Arnaldo

"This book is hilarious.  My kiddos crack up when reading how the students in the story think that the sandwich on their teacher's desk is their new teacher while readers can see all the crazy things happening in the parking lot with their actual teacher.  The ending had a funny twist that is sure to stay with readers for a long time." -- nominator

Rick the Rock of Room 214 by Julie Falatko

"Rick the Rock dreams of adventure away from the Nature Finds shelf of Room 214. He makes his dreams come true, but then realizes things aren't always greener on the other side. Told with humor and a dash of geology, I know I was rooting for Rick to find his way back home. " -- nominator

The Yellow Bus by Loren Long

"I loved the way the bus was "filled with joy" whether it carried people "from one important place to another" or not. Also, the impact of the color yellow from the bus on the black and white drawings was stunning. The simple text and detailed illustrations tells the story of the life of a school bus and the many ways it serves the community." -- nominator

This post is one of a series of 15 "bite-sized" pieces into which we have divided the 2025 Ladybug Picture Book Award Long List to help NH librarians consider all the potential nominees. Please review the full list (or wait until we have covered all the titles) before you cast your vote as you can only vote once.