"Reading Challenge" Archive

Below are a few examples of the books in our collection with “classics” stickers.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (YA)

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Northanger Abbey, Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, and Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

The Time Machine and the Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (also available in JF)

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Stories by Edgar Allan Poe (also available in Adult, YA, and Juvenile graphic novels)

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (YA)

Cannery Row, East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Frankenstein, or, The modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley

Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, and The old curiosity shop by Charles Dickens (available in Adult, JF, YA, and audiobook)

Happy Reading!

The 2019 Reading Challenges are here!  Are you struggling with what to read in the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Reading Challenge categories? We can help! Throughout the year, we will highlight several juvenile, YA, and adult fiction (or non-fiction) books in most of the categories.

These aren’t the only books we have available in each category but are ideas that can help you spark inspiration, help clarify the category, and (hopefully) make your decision easier.

We’re continuing our discussion of books with the category “A nonfiction book about science.”

This category is wide-ranging and the options are nearly limitless. You can choose a book on medicine, the history of science, space flight, anthropology and archaeology, climate change, chemistry, or biology, to name just a few. The titles listed below are only suggestions; you shouldn’t feel restricted in what you choose and APL librarians can work with you to find a title that interests you, whether in our collection or by InterLibrary Loan.

The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic – and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Available on Overdrive)

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf (Available on Overdrive)

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore (Availble on Audiobook)

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli

Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man’s First Journey to the Moon by Robert Kurson

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong (Available on Overdrive)

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins by Susan Casey

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc by Hugh Aldersey-Williams (Available on Overdrive)

Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly

Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush

Happy Reading!

The 2019 Reading Challenges are here!  Are you struggling with what to read in the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Reading Challenge categories? We can help! Throughout the year, we will highlight several juvenile, YA, and adult fiction (or non-fiction) books in most of the categories.

These aren’t the only books we have available in each category but are ideas that can help you spark inspiration, help clarify the category, and (hopefully) make your decision easier.

We’re continuing our discussion of books with the category “A book where a character goes on a spiritual journey.”

Books about spiritual journeys don’t have to be unequivocally religious or Christian, but they can be. They may involve a visit to a holy site or a special revelation about one’s spiritual beliefs. Below are several fiction and non-fiction books in the APL collection that feature characters who go on a spiritual journey.

Eat, pray, love : one woman’s search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert, Call Number: 910.4 GILBERT, ELIZABETH

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Call Number: F COELHO, PAULO

The Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan by Enjeela Ahmadi-Miller, Call Number: 92 AHMADI-MILLER, ENJEELA

Hiking Naked: A Quaker Woman’s Search for Balance by Iris Graville,  Call Number: 508 GRAVILLE, IRIS

The Road to Grace: The Third Journal of the Walk Series by Richard Paul Evans, Call Number: F EVANS, RICHARD

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, ebook available on Overdrive.

Called Out of Darkness by Anne Rice, Call Number: 813.54 RICE, ANNE

A Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey by Jane Goodall, Call Number: 92 GOODALL, JANE

Happy Reading!

The 2019 Reading Challenges are here!  Are you struggling with what to read in the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Reading Challenge categories? We can help! Throughout the year, we will highlight several juvenile, YA, and adult fiction (or non-fiction) books in most of the categories.

These aren’t the only books we have available in each category but are ideas that can help you spark inspiration, help clarify the category, and (hopefully) make your decision easier.

We’re continuing our discussion of books with the category “A Book of Poetry.”

Under the Dewey Decimal System, poetry typically is classified as “non-fiction.” Below are a few selected poetry titles in our collection, but more may be found in the Non-Fiction section in the 800s.

Adult Non-Fiction

Shout by Laurie Anderson, Call Number: 811 ANDERSON, LAURIE

Doggerel: Poems About Dogs by Carmela Ciuraru, Call Number: 811 CIURARU, CARMELA

Women of the Plains, Call Number: 811 EARTHLY

To What Miserable Wretches Have I Been Born? Revenge Poetry for Babies and Toddlers by Suzanne Weber, Call Number 811 WEBER, SUZANNE

Emerson: Collected Poems and Translations by Ralph Emerson, Call Number: 811.3 EMERSON, RALPH

Chasing Weather: Tornadoes, Tempests, and Thunderous Skies in Word and Image by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Call Number: 811.54 MIRRIAM-GOLDBERG, CARYN

Field Guide to the End of the World by Jeannine Gailey, Call Number: 811.6 GAILEY, JEANNINE

Triangles by Ellen Hopkins (this is the only Fiction book on the list), Call Number: F Hopkins, Ellen

Juvenile Non-Fiction

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The Poetry of Mister Roger’s Neighborhood by Fred Rogers, Call Number: J 811 ROGERS, FRED

We are Shining by Gwendolyn Brooks, Call Number: J 811.52 BROOKS, GWENDOLYN

If it Rains Pancakes: Haiku and Lantern Poems by Brian Cleary, Call Number: J 811.54 CLEARY, BRIAN

Harlem: A Poem by Walter Myers, Call Number: J 811.54 MYERS, WALTER

A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein, Call Number: J 811 SILVERSTEIN, SHEL

Happy Reading!