Books

Their newest book teaches a foundational approach to understanding dogs’ needs and our role as providers for their needs. Read more about In February's Book Pick, the Monks of New Skete Help You Understand Your Dog's Needs

Christine Bauer shares a series of life-altering moments in her book, Those Three Words. Read more about Author Shares Her Story of Choice, Chance and Motherhood

In Melanie Heuiser Hill’s The Giant Pumpkin Suite, Rose and Thomas are 12-year-old twins, who are very different from one another. Read more about First-time Author Pens a Yarn with a Minnesota Tie-in

Growing up isolated in the mountains of Idaho, formal education was absent from Tara Westover’s childhood. By sheer willpower, she overcame the survivalist mentality of her tight-knit family and earned a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Her story of how she reinvented herself reveals brutally honest accounts of a family, who never saw a doctor and fiercely resisted outside help, even when her older brother became violent. Readers of Jeanette Weaver’s The Glass Castle and J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy will find similar themes to explore.
Read more about Isolation and Reinvention Are Explored in Educated: A Memoir

Summer is upon us, and what is there to do? Maple Grove public schools encourage a period of reading every school day, and it’s a great habit to continue throughout the non-school months. Dawn Nelson, library media specialist at Oak View Elementary, suggests the following books for each grade level as a kick-start to a summer of great reads.

Kindergarten Read more about Summer Vacation Reads

Something incredible happened to Andrew West from November 23rd, 2015 to November 25th, 2016. Every night, this now-22-year-old who grew up in Maple Grove had vivid dreams that continued where they left off the night before. “I remember going to sleep and being so excited to see it every night,” West says. He wrote down every dream he had, accumulating 8,039 pages, and is currently editing the dreams into a series of eight books called the Heaven’s Gate series.
Read more about Heaven’s Gate: A Book From Dreams

Killing It: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Heart
by Sheryl O’Loughlin

A great read for any entrepreneur. As the former CEO of Clif Bar, O’Loughlin gives tips to preserve emotional well-being on the path to success.

Breakthrough: How One Teen Innovator Is Changing the World
by Jack Andraka Read more about Resources to Inspire Innovation and Success in Entrepreneurship

Fredrik Backman’s debut novel, A Man Called Ove, made me irritated, confused, sad and surprised. I laughed out loud, covered my mouth and stopped reading to let the moment sink in. I cried and learned something about Swedish culture, frustrating government policy and the nature of memory. It’s a quick read, but if you can’t bring yourself to pick up the book, the film version, which played at the Landmark Theatre last fall, is now available online. And yes, it is in Swedish…the subtitles are a humorous revelation on their own. Read more about Swedish Sensation

It’s January and that means many of us have made New Year’s resolutions to be healthier. However, sometimes it’s hard to stay on track. Rose Ryan, a librarian at the Maple Grove Library, recommends two great health-related books that may help you stay on track.

The Love & Lemons Cookbook: An Apple-to-Zucchini Celebration of Impromptu Cooking by Jeanine Donofrio. Enjoy what Ryan calls “a highly anticipated book.” Learn healthy and stylish cooking techniques that you will be able to execute with ease. Read more about Great Health Reads

Megan Bearce, a Maple Grove resident and member of the Women of Words writing group, is the author of Super Commuter Couples: Staying Together When a Job Keeps You Apart. A mom of two children, ages 6 and 8, and wife of a super commuter, Bearce’s inspiration for the book is based on her own experience. In 2010, her husband was offered a job opportunity in New York and started “super commuting” regularly between Minnesota and New York. “We bought a house in Minnesota, and my family is in Minnesota; we thought we would try super commuting for a year,” Bearce explains. Read more about Super Commuter Couples