I'm sure that all you are ready for some very yummy food next week. I know I am. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, rolls, pumpkin pie, chocolate pie, that fruit salad that always seems to be there... Yep, I'm ready.

This is just a quick reminder that the Kern County Library will be CLOSED Thursday thru Saturday (November 25th - 27th). Enjoy your holidays, eat lots of food, hang out with the family, and maybe squeeze in a little Black Friday shopping.  :)

Cheers!
~Rachel

Bad things don't happen in Gentry. No floods, tornadoes, or earthquakes. No disease reaches the people of Gentry. Nothing bad happens.

Unless you count the children stolen from their cribs in the night, and offered up as human sacrifices days later. This is the price the town pays for their safety. Once a year, a child is taken and something else, something unnatural, is left in its place. The replacement is fragile, and usually doesn't survive. Parents bury the replacement and provide a headstone with their child's name on it.

That's what should have happened to Malcolm Doyle. Well, the replacement of Malcolm, anyway.

Mackie hates what he is. He lives his life just trying to blend in, and it generally works until Tate's sister is taken. Tate is determined to get her sister back, and she suspects that Mackie might be able to help her. Now, Mackie has to decide if he is willing to risk everything for Tate, by confronting the very monsters who left Mackie to die in a stranger's crib. Or will he, like the rest of the people in Gentry, choose to let Tate's sister pay the price for their safety?

In the blink of an eye, Mia's entire life is forever changed. A day that begins as a cherished "snow day," one of those days where the universe grants you a special gift, no school, soon turns in to the worst day of Mia's life. One that takes everything she has. Now she must decide if she is strong enough to survive, or if she even wants to.

Witnessing her damaged body being pulled from the wreckage of her family's car is just the beginning. She listens as friends tell her it's okay to go, and as others tell her to stay. Intensely moving, this book explores the life that Mia had and what she has lost. If I Stay is a witty and fun book that manages to take a serious situation and turn it into a beautiful discovery. I highly recommend this book, and am looking forward to the sequel Where She Went which will be available April 2011. (Already available for requests!)

-Rachel