Our Library Is An Open Book |
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Libraries change and evolve to meet the needs of their community and adapt to new technologies. At Phillips Free Library though one thing is constant - we exist to create an equitable world. Our mission is to empower and inspire all people to grow and connect with one another to create a better world for all. Here are some ways to connect with your community at the library this month!
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Signal Fires
by Dani Shapiro
Signal Fires opens on a summer night in 1985. Three teenagers have been drinking. One of them gets behind the wheel of a car, and, in an instant, everything on Division Street changes. Each of their lives, and that of Ben Wilf, a young doctor who arrives on the scene, is shattered. For the Wilf family, the circumstances of that fatal accident will become the deepest kind of secret, one so dangerous it can never be spoken.
On Division Street, time has moved on. When the Shenkmans arrive—a young couple expecting a baby boy—it is as if the accident never happened. But when Waldo, the Shenkmans’ brilliant, lonely son who marvels at the beauty of the world and has a native ability to find connections in everything, befriends Dr. Wilf, now retired and struggling with his wife’s decline, past events come hurtling back in ways no one could ever have foreseen.
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Our Missing Hearts
by Celeste Ng
Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture” in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old.
Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn’t know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn’t wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.
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Adult Fiction out now or by the end of October |
Anywhere you Run by Wanda M. Morris, Bad Day at the Vulture Club by Vaseem Khan, The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews, Built to Last by Erin Hahn Dashing Through the Snowbirds by Donna Andrews, Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet, The Furies by John Connolly The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik, Happily Ever Amish by Shelley Shephard Gray, The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken, Is Mother Dead by Vigdis Hjorth, The Last Chairlift by John Irving, Liberation Day by George Saunders, Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, Malice House by Megan Shepherd, Out of the Clear Blue Sky by Kristan Higgins, The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy, The Plot and the Pendulum by Jenn McKinlay, Poster Girl by Veronica Roth, The Singularities by John Banville, Thief of Fate by Jude Devereaux, Unexpected Guests at Blackbird Lodge by Joyce Hicks, The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
All books with a bold title have the link to place a hold on that book. Books that are not bolded should arrive at the library by the end of the month. Please use the catalog to find more books here. |
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Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto
by Tricia Hersey
What would it be like to live in a well-rested world? Far too many of us have claimed productivity as the cornerstone of success. Brainwashed by capitalism, we subject our bodies and minds to work at an unrealistic, damaging, and machine‑level pace –– feeding into the same engine that enslaved millions into brutal labor for its own relentless benefit.
In Rest Is Resistance, Tricia Hersey, aka the Nap Bishop, casts an illuminating light on our troubled relationship with rest and how to imagine and dream our way to a future where rest is exalted. Our worth does not reside in how much we produce, especially not for a system that exploits and dehumanizes us. Rest, in its simplest form, becomes an act of resistance and a reclaiming of power because it asserts our most basic humanity. We are enough. The systems cannot have us.
Rest Is Resistance is rooted in spiritual energy and centered in Black liberation, womanism, somatics, and Afrofuturism. With captivating storytelling and practical advice, all delivered in Hersey’s lyrical voice and informed by her deep experience in theology, activism, and performance art, Rest Is Resistance is a call to action, a battle cry, a field guide, and a manifesto for all of us who are sleep deprived, searching for justice, and longing to be liberated from the oppressive grip of Grind Culture.
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Visual Thinking: This Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns and Abstractions
by Temple Grandin

A quarter of a century after her memoir, Thinking in Pictures, forever changed how the world understood autism, Temple Grandin—the “anthropologist on Mars,” as Oliver Sacks dubbed her—transforms our awareness of the different ways our brains are wired. Do you have a keen sense of direction, a love of puzzles, the ability to assemble furniture without crying? You are likely a visual thinker.
With her genius for demystifying science, Grandin draws on cutting-edge research to take us inside visual thinking. Visual thinkers constitute a far greater proportion of the population than previously believed, she reveals, and a more varied one, from the photo-realistic object visualizers like Grandin herself, with their intuitive knack for design and problem solving, to the abstract, mathematically inclined “visual spatial” thinkers who excel in pattern recognition and systemic thinking. She also makes us understand how a world increasingly geared to the verbal tends to sideline visual thinkers, screening them out at school and passing over them in the workplace. Rather than continuing to waste their singular gifts, driving a collective loss in productivity and innovation, Grandin proposes new approaches to educating, parenting, employing, and collaborating with visual thinkers. In a highly competitive world, this important book helps us see, we need every mind on board.
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Additional adult non-fiction out now or by the end of October |
All books with a bold title have the link to place a hold on that book. Books that are not bolded should arrive at the library by the end of the month. Please use the catalog to find more books here. |
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Greywaren (The Dreamer Trilogy #3)
by Maggie Stiefvater
available October 18
The majestic conclusion to Maggie Stiefvater’s Dreamer Trilogy.This is the story of the Lynch family.
Niall and MĂłr escaped their homeland for a new start, and lost themselves in what they found.
Declan has grown up as the responsible son, the responsible brother--only to find there is no way for him to keep his family safe.
Ronan has always lived on the edge between dreams and waking... but now that edge is gone, and he is falling.
Matthew has been the happy child, the brightest beam. But rebellion beckons, because it all feels like an illusion now.
This world was not made for such a family--a family with the power to make a world and break it. If they cannot save each other or themselves, we are all doomed.
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The First to Die at the End
by Adam Silvera
It’s the night before Death-Cast goes live, and there’s one question on everyone’s mind: Can Death-Cast actually predict when someone will die, or is it just an elaborate hoax?
Orion Pagan has waited years for someone to tell him that he’s going to die. He has a serious heart condition, and he signed up for Death-Cast so he could know what’s coming.
Valentino Prince is restarting his life in New York. He has a long and promising future ahead and he only registered for Death-Cast after his twin sister nearly died in a car accident.
Orion and Valentino cross paths in Times Square and immediately feel a deep connection. But when the first round of End Day calls goes out, their lives are changed forever—one of them receives a call, and the other doesn’t. Though neither boy is certain how the day will end, they know they want to spend it together…even if that means their goodbye will be heartbreaking.
Told with acclaimed author Adam Silvera’s signature bittersweet touch, this story celebrates the lasting impact that people have on each other and proves that life is always worth living to the fullest.
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Young Adult Fiction out now or by the end of October |
All books with a bold title have the link to place a hold on that book. Books that are not bolded should arrive at the library by the end of the month. Please use the catalog to find more books here. |
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The Rat Queen
by Pete Hautman
For Annie’s tenth birthday, her papa gives her a pad of paper, some colored pencils, and the Klimas family secret. It’s called the nuodeema burna, or eater of sins. Every time Annie misbehaves, she has to write down her transgression and stick the paper into a hidey-hole in the floor of their house. But Annie’s inheritance has a dark side: with each paper fed to the burna, she feels less guilty about the mean things she says and does. As a plague of rats threatens her small suburban town and the mystery of her birthright grows, Annie—caught in a cycle of purging her misdeeds—begins to stop growing. It is only when she travels to her family’s home country of Litvania to learn more about the burna that Annie uncovers the magnitude of the truth.
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A Rover's Story
by Jasmine Warga
Meet Resilience, a Mars rover determined to live up to his name.
Res was built to explore Mars. He was not built to have human emotions. But as he learns new things from the NASA scientists who assemble him, he begins to develop human-like feelings. Maybe there’s a problem with his programming….
Human emotions or not, launch day comes, and Res blasts off to Mars, accompanied by a friendly drone helicopter named Fly. But Res quickly discovers that Mars is a dangerous place filled with dust storms and giant cliffs. As he navigates Mars’s difficult landscape, Res is tested in ways that go beyond space exploration.
As millions of people back on Earth follow his progress, will Res have the determination, courage—and resilience—to succeed… and survive?
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Middle Grade Fiction out now or by the end of October
All books with a bold title have the link to place a hold on that book. Books that are not bolded should arrive at the library by the end of the month. Please use the catalog to find more books here. |
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The Three Billy Goats Gruff
by Mac Barnett
available October 18

Once there was a bridge and a terrible and VERY hungry troll lived underneath it. When the three Billy Goats Gruff decide to clip-clop across the bridge to get to the grassy ridge, the troll is already imagining all the way to prepare a delicious goat dinner. But the troll underestimates those seemingly sweet but oh-so-savvy goats! This is the first in a groundbreaking new collection of fractured fairy tales crafted by one of today's most celebrated and acclaimed authors, Mac Barnett, and brought to stunning visual life by award-winning and beloved creator of I Want My Hat Back, Jon Klassen.
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Payden's Pronoun Party
by Blue Jaryn
“I’m not sure I’m a boy… so maybe he is not best for me.”
Payden has always used he/him pronouns, until one day Payden realizes those words might not fit. Payden’s parents promise to throw a big party to introduce whatever pronouns Payden chooses―but which pronouns are the best match? On a colorful quest, Payden talks to friends about a rainbow of possibilities: he, she, they, ze, and so many more! The right pronouns are just waiting to be tried on.
Put on your party hats and learn about the magical variety of pronouns in this thoughtful story that imagines a world of unquestioning support for gender exploration, celebrates all the different ways a person can present, and provides a blueprint for people of any age who are pondering what gender means to them.
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Picture Books out now or by the end of October
Books Aren't For Eating by Carlie Sorosiak, Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall, Gold by David Shannon, I am Me by Susan Verde, I Cannot Draw a Horse by Charise Mericle Harper, In the Neighborhood by Rocio Bonilla, A Library by Nikki Giovanni, Like by Annie Barrows and Leo Espinosa, The Most Magnificent Idea by Ashley Spires, Mushroom Lullaby by Kenneth Kraegel, My Poet by Patricia MacLachlan, Sal Boat by Thyra Heder, This Book is Not a Present by Max Greenfield, The Twilight Library by Carmen Oliver, When You Open a Book by Caroline Derlatka, Yellow Dog Blues by Alice Faye Duncan
All books with a bold title have the link to place a hold on that book. Books that are not bolded should arrive at the library by the end of the month. Please use the catalog to find more books here. |
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37 South Main Street
Homer, NY 13077
607-749-4616
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