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  • Volunteer of the Year: Gwen Adams

    From Circulation to the Friends of the Library, the ESL & Literacy Office to Kids’ World, volunteers help across the board at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, providing essential support needed for library services all year long. 

    It is thanks to the contributions from volunteers like Gwen Adams that allow the library to be what it is today. Adams is the library’s 2023 Volunteer of the Year, contributing 630 hours of service in 2023. She is also being recognized for achieving volunteer milestones for both 3,500 and 4,000 hours of service.

    The library world has always played a huge role

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  • Check out the April library highlights

    The Arlington Heights Memorial Library (AHML) is the community's place to read, learn and gather! Each month, the library compiles a director's report which highlights the most recent statistics and trends in library usage, programs and other initiatives that impact our community and support the library's overall strategic goals and plan. Highlights from April's report include:

    • AHML Celebrates Women’s History Month (pages 1-2)
    • Staff Member Honored as Local Business Person of the Year (page 4)
    • Increase in Diversity of Library Collection (page 6)
    • Makerplace Supports Local Inventor (page 8)
    • Former Hub Regular Helps Launch Inaugural Convention Inspired by AHML’s
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  • Arlington Heights marvels at Solar Eclipse Viewing Party

    Wonder and awe filled North School Park today as close to 700 people joined in the library's Solar Eclipse Viewing Party and witnessed a rare celestial event together- the moon passing between the sun and Earth, blocking the sun's light. 

    "It's such as unusual, once-in-a-lifetime occurance for many people," said Arlington Heights resident Jane Born, a former teacher who came to North School Park with her friend, and former colleague, Marcia Becker. "It's so nice to be able to see it locally too and to share in the experience with so many people. It's really amazing and fun!"  

    The event, presented

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NEW TO THE LIBRARY

How to plot a payback
Ferguson, Melissa, 1985-
"She's been muddling his plans for years-now he's the writer for the beloved character she plays on television, and it's time for payback"--
A better world
Langan, Sarah,
"You'll be safe here. That's what the greasy tour guide tells the Farmer-Bowens when they visit Plymouth Valley, a walled-off company town with clean air, pantries that never go empty, and blue-ribbon schools. On a very trial basis, the company offers to hire Linda Farmer's husband, a numbers genius, and relocate her whole family to this bucolic paradise for the .0001%. Though Linda will have to sacrifice her medical career back home, the family jumps at the opportunity. They'd be crazy not to take it. With the outside world literally falling apart, this might be the Farmer-Bowens last chance. But fitting in takes work. The pampered locals distrust outsiders, cruelly snubbing Linda, Russell, and their teen twins. And the residents fervently adhere to a group of customs and beliefs called Hollow...but what exactly is Hollow? It's Linda who brokers acceptance by volunteering her medical skills to the most powerful people in town with their pet charity, ActHollow. In the months afterward, everything seems fine. Sure, Russell starts hyperventilating through a paper bag in the middle of the night, and the kids have drifted like bridgeless islands, but living here's worth sacrificing their family's closeness, isn't it? At least they'll survive. The trouble is, the locals never say what they think. They seem scared. And Hollow's ominous culminating event, the Plymouth Valley Winter Festival, is coming. Linda's warned by her husband and her powerful new friends to stop asking questions. But the more she learns, the more frightened she becomes. Should the Farmer-Bowens be fighting to stay, or fighting to get out?"--
Sweetness in the skin
Robinson, Ishi,
"A winning debut novel about a young teenage girl in Jamaica determined to bake her way out of her dysfunctional family and into the opportunity of a lifetime."
The lady with the dark hair
Bartels, Erin, 1980-
"Esther's family has always believed they were descended from a great, though scandalously underappreciated Impressionist-era artist. But when questions arise about her ancestor's greatest work--The Lady with the Dark Hair--her once-solid family history rests on shaky ground as a search for the truth begins"--
Firebugs
Bulling, Nino, 1986-
Everything is changing-but everything is also exactly the same. Ingken can't ignore it: ice caps stained brown from forest fires, pipeline construction, drought... the whole world somehow persists despite the slow erosion of stability. After a trip to Paris, Ingken returns home ready for a break from drugs. Their supportive partner, Lily, is flushed, excited about a new connection she's made. Although Ingken wants to be happy for her, there's a discomfort they can't shake. Sleepless nights fill with an endless scroll of images and headlines about climate disaster. A vague dysphoria simmers under their skin; they are able to identify that like Lily, they are changing, but they're not sure exactly how and at what pace. Everyone keeps telling them to burn themself to the ground and build themself back up but they worry about the kind of debris that fire might leave behind. Nino Bulling's artwork is immediately familiar. Like a conversation with a good friend, their story is told as quiet as it can be loud. Crowds and landscapes squiggle in expressive black and white. Red cuts through panels with energy and persistence, bringing life to what might seem dead. In its most intimate moments, Firebugs asks what it means to transition in a transitioning world
Dominoes
McIntosh, Phoebe,
"Dominoes opens in London, twenty-nine days before the wedding of a young couple. Layla is a mixed-race woman--with a Black, Jamaican mother, and a white father she's never met--and Andy is a white man of Scottish descent. When they first meet at a party, they can't believe how instant their chemistry is, and how quickly their relationship unfolds. But the commonalities between the two outweigh their differences; funnily enough, they even share a last name: McKinnon. Layla's best friend, Sera, isn't so sure--about Andy, or the fact that her best friend is engaged to marry a white man. As Layla's wedding date approaches, Sera prompts her friend to research her heritage more, and in the process Layla makes a shocking discovery: It's not just possible but extremely likely that Andy's ancestors enslaved Layla's in Jamaica, and that the money from that enslavement helped build his family's wealth. What seemed like a fairy-tale romance is suddenly derailed as Layla begins to uncover parts of her history and identity that she never could have imagined--or had simply learnt to ignore. The process takes her to Jamaica for the first time, where she meets family members she's never known, and uncovers truths about her family's history that will change the way she thinks about herself and her future. As the clock ticks down to her wedding--four days, three days, two days--Layla must make a decision: commit to the man she loves, or expose a shameful history that has gone unspoken for far too long"--
The horror
Jacobson, Lars, 1978-
"Travel with Kurtz and his family as they enter the "heart of darkness" on a humanitarian mission for Belgian King Leopold's Congo Free State, opening a trading post in the uncharted interior of the Congo jungle to promote free markets and end slavery. With the help of a local tribe, they establish the post, but to survive in this lawless jungle, they must contend with murderous slave traders from Zanzibar, corrupt Belgian officials, evil imperialists, psychotic explorers, and cannibalistic tribes. Along the way, however, they encounter a primordial evil whose origins and mythology date back to the womb of civilization, perverting minds and corrupting souls while preying on the worst instincts of mankind. The locals speak of this insidious evil in fearful whispers, calling it, "The Horror.""--
Someone you can build a nest in
Wiswell, John, 1981-
"A creepy, charming monster-slaying fantasy romance-from the perspective of the monster-by Nebula Award-winning debut author John Wiswell"--
Reunion
Juska, Elise,
"A novel about three friends' midlife reckonings at a college reunion in coastal Maine"--
The auctioneer
Samson, Joan, 1937-1976
"Harrowing tensions explode in a series of events that could happen to anyone, just as they do to John Moore -- whose days of freedom run out, who is stripped of his possessions, his courage, and his hopes, by the ominous presence of a stranger impossible to resist..." --
The Titanic Survivors Book Club
Schaffert, Timothy,
"For weeks after the sinking of the Titanic, Yorick spots his own name among the list of those lost at sea. As an apprentice librarian for the White Star Line, his job was to curate the ship's second-class library. But just as he was about to board to tend to his library throughout the passage, a superior takes his place, leaving Yorick stranded at the dock. The Titanic was not Yorick's first brush with death, but as with every near-miss he manages to escape into the world of books. After he learns of the ship's sinking, he takes this twist of fate as a sign to follow his lifelong dream of owning a bookshop in Paris. It's at his shop that he receives an invitation to a secret society of survivors where he encounters other ticket-holders who didn't board the ship. Haunted by their good fortune, they decide to transform their group into a book society, where they can grapple with their own anxieties through the guise of discussing contentious works such as The Awakening or The Picture of Dorian Gray. Of the ragtag group of survivors, Yorick finds himself particularly drawn to the wealthy candy heiress Zinnia and the mysterious and alluring Haze. Yorick feels like an outsider looking in, falling hopelessly for Haze as Haze courts Zinnia; a tangled triangle of love and friendship forms between them. Yet with the Great War looming, their close-knit group is shattered, only brought back together once the death of a fellow book club member leaves them wondering what fate has in store for each of them"--
The songbird of Hope Hill
Sawyer, Kim Vogel,
"A young woman longs to know true love after escaping from a hopeless situation at a house of ill repute in this heartwarming novel inspired by historical events-from the bestselling author of A Tapestry of Grace"--
Michelangelo at midlife : chasing the tomb of Julius II
Openshaw, Gene,
"His artistic ambitions crumbling as fast as his marriage, Sam careens through Europe seeking inspiration in the great Michelangelo who, for all his success, struggled to complete what was to be his magnum opus. Sam teams up with an intriguing Italian woman who opens his eyes to the deeper meaning of the Tomb: how Michelangelo's grand ambitions got continually derailed. The result? A profound "midlife crisis." Incredibly, Michelangelo at Midlife is the only non-academic book about the Tomb. Sam travels from Florence, where Michelangelo began the project, to the quarries of Carrara where he dreamed up a colossal 50-foot pyramid studded with David--sized statues. From Paris to Venice, the Sistine to Amsterdam, Sam chases the tangled 40-year tale of the Tomb. The story takes on added life with 180 COLOR illustrations, including graphics of the Tomb's evolution. The author, Gene Openshaw, has also written numerous best-selling books and PBS TV shows with travel guru Rick Steves."--Publisher description
The dead guy next door
Score, Lucy,
"A nice, normal life. Is that too much to ask? For Riley Thorn it is. Divorced. Broke. Living with a pack of elderly roommates. And those hallucinations she's diligently ignoring? Her tarot card-dealing mom is convinced they're clairvoyant visions. Just when things can't get worse, a so-hot-it-should-be-illegal private investigator shows up on her doorstep looking for a neighbor...who turns up murdered. Nick Santiago doesn't play well with others. Unless the "others" are of the female persuasion. Wink. He's a rebel, a black sheep, a man who prefers a buffet of options to being stuck with the same entrée every night, if you catch his drift. When the pretty, possibly psychic Riley lands at the top of the list of suspects, Nick volunteers to find out whodunit. Only because he likes solving mysteries not because he wants to flex his heroic muscles for the damsel in distress. All they have to do is figure out who pulled the trigger, keep the by-the-book detective with a grudge at bay, and deal with a stranger claiming he was sent to help Riley hone her psychic gifts. All before the killer discovers she's a loose end that requires snipping"--
Deadpool. Badder blood
Liefeld, Rob,
"Rob Liefeld returns - and he's bringing some of Deadpool's frenemies along for the ride! When the villainous Thumper returns to take out the man who created him, Wolverine and Cable step in for a daring rescue mission. But as Deadpool becomes embroiled in nefarious criminal machinations in Madripoor, will the trio be able to join forces - or will Thumper's agenda put an end to their efforts? The Merc with a Mouth thinks he's pretty good with a sword - but is he good enough to trounce the mysterious, blade-brandishing Shatterstorm?! And, win or lose, will wascally Wade have what it takes to navigate the Terrors of Killville? Plus: The Imperial Guard! Zabu of the Savage Land! And, would you believe, Venompool?! But who is Arcata - and what are her plans for Deadpool?"--Amazon

Items Coming Soon

  DVDs  

   Blu-rays  

    Books    

 

 
 

Upcoming Programs

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5
May

Teen Advisory Board (TAB) and Middle School Volunteer Panel (MVP)
- /Cardinal Room

5
May

Makerplace Sewing Essentials: Sew a Tote Bag
- /Makerplace - Sewing and Quilting

5
May

I Can Read
- /Kids' World

6
May

Stay & Play
- /Full Hendrickson Room

6
May

Beginning Computing with Windows 11
- /Training Center

6
May

Culture & Conversation (level: intermediate)
- /Cardinal Room
View full calendar ›