The Learned Owl Book Shop, January 15, 2015
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Kate's Corner

It's hard to believe we are midway through January already. The weather outside is pretty frightful. It's a good thing there are so many wonderful new books coming out this month.

Looking to revisit a classic? Try To Kill a Mockingbird and come out to one of the many events the library has planned for Mockingbird Month. We have been working very hard with the library to put together a trial version of a One Community One Read based around Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird. Your participation and feedback are greatly appreciated. We would really like to make this a yearly event, so please be sure to let us know what you think.

Until next month, stay warm and happy reading!

- Kate
Winter hours

Mon.-Fri.: 9 AM-7 PM
Saturday: 10 AM-7 PM
Sunday: Noon-5 PM

We will be CLOSED from 5 PM January 31 through Sunday, February 1, for inventory. We will reopen at 9 AM on February 2.
Authors, book groups, & storytimes

January 16-31
In conjunction with the Hudson Library's Mockingbird Month, The Learned Owl and other Merchants of Hudson businesses will be hosting a Scavenger Hunt. Stay tuned for details!

Saturday, Jan. 17, 1-3 PM (at The Owl)
History Press author Alan Dutka with his book AsiaTown Cleveland: From Tong Wars to Dim Sum.

Sunday, Jan. 18, 2 PM
(at The Owl)
The Learned Owl's History Book Club will meet to discuss the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Read any book on this subject and join the discussion! [more]

Thursday, Jan. 22, 7 PM (at Viva Bene Gourmet, behind All Brides Beautiful)
Join us for a wine tasting/book discussion as our Book Club in a Bar discusses The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie.

Saturday, Jan. 24, 11 AM (at The Owl)
Children's book author Liliana Leone with Les Cinq Eiffels / The Five Eiffels, a story of five magical creatures who live at the Louvre in Paris. Educational and entertaining, the book will capture your child's imagination!

Tuesday, Jan. 27, 7 PM
(at the Hudson Library)
Marja Mills speaks about her book The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee. Register for this free program online or call (330) 653-6658
x 1010. This is part of the library's Mockingbird Month.

Saturday, Jan. 31, 1-3 PM (at The Owl)
Author Mary Lee Corlett and illustrator Sophie Cayless will share their children's book Belle's Wild Ride: The Artful Adventure of a Butterfly and a Cabbie, which was written to encourage a greater understanding and appreciation of art in children.

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 7 PM
(at the Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library)
Meet award-winning journalist, sports columnist and author Terry Pluto. Terry will discuss his newest book which he coauthored with Tom Hamilton, Glory Days in Tribe Town. Register here for this event.

Friday, Feb. 13, 7 PM (location TBA)
Our Book Club in a Bar is very excited to welcome author Michael Sears, whose new book, Long Way Down, will be released in February. Stay tuned for details!
Quick Links
New & coming soon, for teens

Kate recommends:
The Conspiracy of Us The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall
[Putnam Publishing Group, $17.99]
A fast-paced international escapade, laced with adrenaline, glamour, and romance - perfect for fans of Ally Carter.
Avery West's newfound family can shut down Prada when they want to shop in peace, and can just as easily order a bombing when they want to start a war. Part of a powerful and dangerous secret society called the Circle, they believe Avery is the key to an ancient prophecy. Some want to use her as a pawn. Some want her dead.
To unravel the mystery putting her life in danger, Avery must follow a trail of clues from the monuments of Paris to the back alleys of Istanbul with two boys who work for the Circle: beautiful, volatile Stellan and mysterious, magnetic Jack. But as the clues expose a stunning conspiracy that might plunge the world into World War 3, she discovers that both boys are hiding secrets of their own. Now she will have to choose not only between freedom and family, but between the boy who might help her save the world and the one she's falling in love with.
Buy the bookBuy the eBook

Fairest
Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles: Levana's Story by Marissa Meyer

[Feiwel & Friends, $17.99; available Jan. 27]
Mirror, mirror on the wall, Who is the fairest of them all? 
Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her "glamour" to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story - a story that has never been told... until now.
Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.
Preorder bookPreorder eBook 

All the Bright Places All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
[Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, $17.99]
Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.
Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's recent death.
When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it's unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the "natural wonders" of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It's only with Violet that Finch can be himself - a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who's not such a freak after all. And it's only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet's world grows, Finch's begins to shrink.
This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Gayle Forman, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA.
Buy the bookBuy the eBook

Half Bad Now in paperback! Kate recommends:
Half Bad by Sally Green
[Speak, $9.99]
In modern-day England, witches live alongside humans: White witches, who are good; Black witches, who are evil; and sixteen-year-old Nathan, who is both. Nathan's father is the world's most powerful and cruel Black witch, and his mother is dead. He is hunted from all sides. Trapped in a cage, beaten and handcuffed, Nathan must escape before his seventeenth birthday, at which point he will receive three gifts from his father and come into his own as a witch - or else he will die. But how can Nathan find his father when his every action is tracked, when there is no one safe to trust - not even family, not even the girl he loves?
In the tradition of Patrick Ness and Markus Zusak, Half Bad is a gripping tale of alienation and the indomitable will to survive, a story that will grab hold of you and not let go until the very last page.
by Ally Carter
[Scholastic Press, $17.99; available Jan. 20]
Grace Blakely is absolutely certain of three things:
1. She is not crazy.
2. Her mother was murdered.
3. Someday she is going to find the killer and make him pay.
As certain as Grace is about these facts, nobody else believes her - so there's no one she can completely trust. Not her grandfather, a powerful ambassador. Not her new friends, who all live on Embassy Row. Not Alexei, the Russian boy next door, who is keeping his eye on Grace for reasons she neither likes nor understands.
Everybody wants Grace to put on a pretty dress and a pretty smile, blocking out all her unpretty thoughts. But they can't control Grace - no more than Grace can control what she knows or what she needs to do. Her past has come back to hunt her... and if she doesn't stop it, Grace isn't the only one who will get hurt. Because on Embassy Row, the countries of the world stand like dominoes, and one wrong move can make them all fall down.
by Shaun David Hutchinson, illustrated by Christine Larsen
[Simon Pulse, $17.99; available Jan. 20]
Andrew Brawley was supposed to die that night, just like the rest of his family.
Now he lives in the hospital, serving food in the cafeteria, hanging out with the nurses, sleeping in a forgotten supply closet. Drew blends in to near invisibility, hiding from his past, his guilt, and those who are trying to find him. His only solace is in the world of the superhero he's created: Patient F.
Then, one night, Rusty is wheeled into the ER, half his body burned by hateful classmates. Rusty's agony calls out to Drew like a beacon, pulling them both together through all their pain and grief. In Rusty, Drew sees hope, happiness, and a future for both of them. A future outside of the hospital, and away from their pasts.
But to save Rusty, Drew will have to confront Death, and life will have to get worse before it gets better. And by telling the truth about who he really is, Drew risks destroying any chance of a future.
Ages 14 and up.
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Thanks for supporting The Learned Owl Book Shop. Happy reading!