Book of the Week (5/11/2026)

Dead Horse Soup: Frank Barker's Klondike Gold Rush by Thomas Haynes (Historical Society of Cheshire County, 2026)

Frank Barker first learned about the rush to the Klondike gold fields through his local Keene, New Hampshire newspapers. For months, beginning on July 17, 1897, the almost daily references to the Klondike promoted a story that anyone with the right fortitude and determination could find gold. As a young working-class man seeking adventure and wealth after living through the depression of the mid 1890s, this was an opportunity he was not going to pass up.

For seven months Frank Barker planned his trip to the Klondike, which included finding the right people to accompany him, organizing what food, tools, and equipment to bring, transportation, and raising enough money to cover the expedition’s costs.

With his plans complete, Frank Barker leads his three partners on a once in a lifetime adventure to live out their dreams of becoming wealthy miners, while enduring the many hardships on their two-year quest for gold in the Klondike.

After reading about the gold rush to the Klondike through his local Keene, New Hampshire newspapers, Frank Barker begins to dream about becoming a wealthy gold miner. After much planning, Barker’s dream turns real in February of 1898, when he leads three partners on a once in a lifetime adventure to the Klondike. Using Barker’s own words from the letters he wrote home and the photographs he took of the journey, his story reveals the excitement and hardships they experience on their two-year quest for gold in the Klondike. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Tom Haynes is a Keene, NH author. Previous works include "The Power of Water : the History of Water Powered Mills in the Monadnock Region" in which he was editor.

2026 Great Stone Face Award winner!

Faker by Gordon Korman is the winner of this year's Great Stone Face Award with almost 400 votes!

"Trey knows how the trick works: His dad gets him into a school full of kids with rich parents. Trey makes friends, and his father makes connections. Soon, there’s the con, where Trey’s dad suckers the other parents into giving him money for one of his schemes. Once the money’s in the bank, Trey, his sister, and their dad go on the run … until they set up somewhere else and start again.

Trey believes his father when he says no one’s getting hurt. After all, these parents have money to spare. Still, Trey’s getting tired of running … and lying … and never having a friend longer than a few months. But how do you get your family to stop lying when your lives depend on it?" --Publisher's blurb

For more information about this award, visit: https://www.nhlibrarians.org/CLNH-Book-Awards

2026 Isinglass & Flume Award winners!

The votes are in and the 2026 Isinglass and Flume Award winners have been announced!

This year's Isinglass (7th and 8th grade) winner is:

 Under the Surface by Diana Urban

"Ruby is terrified to cave to her feelings for Sean and risk him crushing her heart.

Sean is pumped to spend a week with Ruby in Paris on their senior class trip, and he’ll wait however long until she’s ready to take things further.

But when Ruby’s best friend sneaks out the first night to meet a mysterious French boy, Ruby goes after her with two classmates, but caves to another temptation: attending mystery boy’s exclusive party in the Paris catacombs, the intricate web of tunnels beneath the city, home to six million long-dead Parisians. Only they never reach the party.

Underground, as something sinister chases them, they get lost in the endless maze of bones, uncovering dark secrets about the catacombs…..and each other. And if they can’t find a way out, they’ll die in the dark beneath the City of Light.

Aboveground, Sean races to find the girl he loves as a media frenzy over the four missing teens begins." -- Publisher's blurb

 

This year's Flume (9th-12th grade) winner is:

The No-Girlfriend Rule by Christen Randall

"Hollis Beckwith isn’t trying to get a girl—she’s just trying to get by. For a fat, broke girl with anxiety, the start of senior year brings enough to worry about. And besides, she already has a boyfriend: Chris. Their relationship isn’t particularly exciting, but it’s comfortable and familiar, and Hollis wants it to survive beyond senior year. To prove she’s a girlfriend worth keeping, Hollis decides to learn Chris’s favorite tabletop role-playing game, Secrets & Sorcery—but his unfortunate “No Girlfriends at the Table” rule means she’ll need to find her own group if she wants in.

Enter: Gloria Castañeda and her all-girls game of S&S! Crowded at the table in Gloria’s cozy Ohio apartment, the six girls battle twisted magic in-game and become fast friends outside it. With her character as armor, Hollis starts to believe that maybe she can be more than just fat, anxious, and a little lost.

But then an in-game crush develops between Hollis’s character and the bard played by charismatic Aini Amin-Shaw, whose wide, cocky grin makes Hollis’s stomach flutter. As their gentle flirting sparks into something deeper, Hollis is no longer sure what she wants…or if she’s content to just play pretend." -- Publisher's blurb

Please keep encouraging teens to apply for the Flume and Isinglass Committee! 

Teen Application Link: https://forms.gle/MRUupeXa4WxNgqYs7

Librarian Application Link: https://forms.gle/3VLKDzaLxtY9NW8o6

Teen Recommendation Link: https://forms.gle/MsTdS3VkirFoH5Yd9

Book of the Week (5/4/2026)

The Chosen City: The Owner, the Players, and the New Hampshire City that Integrated Baseball in the United States by Bill Ranauro (Spines, 2026)

This is the story of an audacious owner, two talented Black ballplayers, and a small city in New Hampshire. Together, they undid almost six decades of injustice. In the spring of 1946, Brooklyn Dodgers owner and General Manager Branch Rickey signed African American players Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe. Rickey’s signing of the two players has been largely overlooked because Jackie Robinson had been signed just several months before. But Robinson played in Montreal, Canada in 1946 while Campanella and Newcombe were assigned to play in Nashua, New Hampshire. This meant Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe became the first Black players since 1887 to play on a professional baseball team in the United States. Just as importantly the Nashua Dodgers became the first United States based team in organized baseball to employ Black players in the twentieth century. This is the story of how the owner, the players, and the city made baseball history together. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Bill Ranauro is a retired high school History teacher and football coach from New Hampshire. In addition to six books, Bill has authored articles in Scholastic Coach magazine and The Forum, a journal for the New England History Teachers Association. He was honored as the Social Studies Teacher of the Year in New Hampshire in 2007 and was inducted into the New Hampshire Coaches Hall of Fame in the same year. Bill is an avid follower of all Boston sports teams and enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with his family. He lives in Walpole, New Hampshire, with his wife Lisa.

3 on a Theme: Girls & Boys

Katie Girl: Deadly Germs, Modern Medicine, and a Family's Fight by John S. Bentley

Mule Boy by Andrew Krivak

The Boy Who Fell To Shore: The Extraordinary Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Thomas Thor Tangvald by Charles J. Doane

Book of the Week (4/27/2026)

My Sister, the Freak: A Graphic Novel by Dani Jones (HarperAlley, 2026)

From New York Times bestselling illustrator Dani Jones comes a heartfelt exploration of sisterhood, forgiveness, and outer space invasions.

Mary Seaver lives in her own world. It’s not her fault if sometimes her enthusiasm creates chaos. To Mary, that’s what being 10 years old and a huge science fiction fan is all about. Allison “Al” Seaver is Mary’s older sister—and she’s everything that Mary is not: cool, calm, collected, and super popular.

So it makes sense that when aliens invade their hometown of Pleasant Valley, Mary’s trying to warn everyone about the end of the world while Al’s just hoping it will all go away before the spring dance. But when a secret emerges from their family’s past, Mary and Al find themselves turning to their most unlikely ally: each other.

Dive into Dani Jones's debut original graphic novel, a hilariously tender investigation of sibling dynamics, aliens, and what it is that makes us human. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Dani Jones is an illustrator, artist, and writer based in New Hampshire. She is the creator of the children's book MONSTERS VS. KITTENS (Stan Lee's Kids Universe) and the comic MY SISTER THE FREAK. She loves to draw silly creatures, cute animals, and pictures for kids. Her hyper cat is named Charles and he loves to sit with her at her desk while she draws.

Book of the Week (4/20/2026)

Bonebag by E. M. Elliott and David Elliott (Astra Young Readers, 2026)

Trapped in a dark forest with his cold-hearted parents, Bonebag leads a cruel and isolated existence. However, he feels deep in his bones that things weren’t always this way: he has known happiness before. Why does it feel like it was in a past life?

When Bonebag discovers a locket that burns him to the touch, and a ghostly girl beckons him into the deep woods, he must grapple with the riddle of where he came from and how he came to be. Only then can he begin to rewrite his fate.

From New York Times bestselling author David Elliott and his son, E.M. Elliott, this powerful middle-grade fantasy will take readers on a quest that tackles the mystery of belonging with high-octane twists and turns along the way. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

David Elliott lives in New Hampshire with his wife and a Dandie Dinmont terrier. David is a New York Times bestselling author with over 35 published or soon-to-be published books to his name. These include, his provocative novels-in-verse Bull, and Voices, as well as many picture books and middle-grade novels. Bonebag is his first book to be co-written with his son, E.M. Elliott.