Library Research: My Perfect Read: Jill Burgard

Jill Burgard

I'm reading.

I’ve always loved stories about fantastical and far-away places, particularly those based in mythology and folklore. From my earliest favorite chapter books (C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, Lloyd Alexander, Diana Wynne Jones) there were great stories that took me to the most amazing places and gave me fascinating things to consider. I’m drawn to stories that feature strong female protagonists who use their own ingenuity and resourcefulness to succeed.

I love talking about books, learning about someone’s likes and dislikes, and the challenge of finding books they haven’t read yet that would be a good fit. I particularly enjoy doing readers’ advisory for children, especially when they are reluctant readers. I want to find a child’s “home run” book, the pivotal reading experience that turns them into lifelong readers. Many book lovers can pinpoint their home-run book – I love that! What makes my day is someone coming to the library to let me know that they loved a book I recommended.

Genres of Interest:

Audiobooks
Cookbooks
Fantasy
Graphic Novels
Historical Mysteries
Humor
Middle-Grade Fiction
Mysteries
Science Fiction
Young Adult Fiction

My most recent favorite reads:

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts (adult fiction) by Kate Racculia
ISBN: 9780358023937
From the award-winning author of Bellweather Rhapsody, a delightfully clever novel following one woman and a supporting cast of misfits, dreamers and foes as they race to win a treasure hunt inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, left behind by a dying billionaire.
The Dark Lord's Daughter (middle-grade fantasy) by Patricia C. Wrede
ISBN: 9780553536201
When ordinary fourteen-year-old Kayla discovers she is the heir to a dark throne, she must find her place between her life on Earth and her magical inheritance.
Just Jerry (middle-grade biography) by Jerry Pinkney
ISBN: 9780316383851
erry Pinkney, Caldecott Medal winner and illustrator of over one hundred books, tells the story of his childhood and how he developed his artistic talent.
Mother-Daughter Murder Night (adult mystery) by Nina Simon
ISBN: 9780063315044
Nothing brings an estranged family together like a murder next door. High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of: her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she's built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage - and hoping that boredom won't kill her before the cancer does. Then Jack - tiny in stature but fiercely independent - stumbles upon a dead body while kayaking near their bungalow. Jack quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation, and the Rubicon women are thrown into chaos. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She'll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family, and prove she still has power. With Jack and Beth's help, Lana uncovers a web of lies, family vendettas, and land disputes lurking beneath the surface of a community populated by folksy conservationists and wealthy ranchers. But as their amateur snooping advances into ever-more dangerous territory, the headstrong Rubicon women must learn do the one thing they've always resisted: depend on each other.
Vespertine (YA fantasy - also adult appeal) by Margaret Rogerson
ISBN: 9781534477117
The dead of Loraille do not rest. If the bodies of the deceased are not cleansed so their souls can pass on, they will rise as spirits with a ravenous hunger for the living. When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint's relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being that threatens to possess her the moment she drops her guard. But Artemisia is desperate against the soldiers, and turns to the last remaining expert for help: the revenant itself.
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Adult fantasy - first in series) by Heather Fawcett
ISBN: 9780593500132
In the early 1900s, a curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town to study faerie folklore, where she discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love. Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on dryadology, the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encylopedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--much less get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog Shadow, and the Fair Folk to that of friends or lovers. So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hransvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: the dashing and insufferably handsome Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of her research, and utterly confound and frustrate Emily. But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.
Creepy Cat Vol. 1 (YA fantasy graphic novel/manga) by Cotton Valent
ISBN: 9781648277870
Flora moves into a mysterious mansion and finds it inhabited by a strange creature--Creepy Cat! Thus begins her strange and sometimes dangerous life with a feline roommate. This Gothic comedy brings the chuckles ... and the chills!
How to Solve Your Own Murder (adult mystery) by Kristen Perrin
ISBN: 9780593474013
A dual narrative, feel good mystery in which a woman, Frances, spends a lifetime trying to prevent her murder as predicted by a fortune teller at a country fair when she was just 17. When she is in fact murdered nearly 60 years later, her great niece Annie must solve the crime to avenge her great aunt's death, and in so doing uncovers the dark heart of the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, where she might just find herself in the path of the killer.
Danger and Other Unknown Risks (Teen science fiction graphic novel) by Ryan North; Erica Henderson (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9780593224847
Here's the deal--on midnight of January 1st, 2000, the world ended. But it wasn't technology that killed it: It was magic. Now, years later, the Earth has transformed. Magic works (sort of). People are happy (sort of). But this new world isn't stable, and unless Marguerite de Pruitt and her canine pal, Daisy, do something about it, it'll tilt into deadly chaos. Good thing they've been training their whole lives for this and are destined to succeed. Or so they think...
The Skull (middle grade fiction - fantasy/folktale) by Jon Klassen (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781536223361
This is an old story. It is about a girl named Otilla who runs away. It is also about a house in the woods, and a skull who lives there, and a secret the skull has, and the night that Otilla finds out what that secret is.
The Mystery of Hollow Places (teen mystery) by Rebecca Podos
ISBN: 9780062373342
A mystery writer's daughter sets out to find her missing father and, along the way, begins to understand the loneliness that has gripped them both since her mother abandoned them years before.
Nonna Maria and the Case of the Missing Bride (adult mystery) by Lorenzo Carcaterra
ISBN: 9780399177620
When a crime on a beautiful Italian island stumps the police, locals locals turn to the nosy, elderly widow Nonna Maria in this transporting mystery from author Lorenzo Carcaterra. Nonna Maria has lived in Ischia, a little island in the Gulf of Naples, her entire life. Recognizable by the widow's black she's worn every day for decades, Maria always has pasta on the stove and espresso in the pot for the neighbors who stop by to ask her advice on life and love. Everyone knows her, and she knows everyone's business. So when something goes wrong, islanders look to her, and not the local carabinieri, to find the solution. A man's fiancé disappears the night before the wedding. Is it a case of cold feet, or is something more sinister in play?
Things in the Basement (middle grade fantasy) by Ben Hatke
ISBN: 9781250836618
"It was supposed to just be a normal basement--some storage boxes, dust, you know, the usual basement stuff. But when Milo is sent by his mother to fetch a sock from the basement of the historic home they've moved into, Milo finds a door in the back that he's never seen before. Turns out that the basement of his house is enormous. In fact, there is a whole world down there. As Milo travels ever deeper into the Basement World, he meets the many Things that live in the shadows and gloom...and he learns that to face his fears he must approach even the strangest creatures with kindness.

In my part-time Youth Services position at the Martha Washington Library, my hours vary from week to week, but I will get back to you as quickly as I can.

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My Perfect Read

Jill Burgard

Genres of Interest:

Middle Grade

Middle Grade Graphic Novels:

Young Adult

Young Adult Graphic Novels

Adult

Adult Graphic Novels

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