Cynthia Lord

Touch Blue and your wish will come true.
"Why take chances?" says eleven-year-old Tess Brooks. "Especially when it's so easy to let the universe know what you want by touching blue or turning around three times or crossing your fingers."
But Tess is coming to know that it's not always that simple.
The state of Maine plans to shut down her island's schoolhouse, which would force Tess's family to move to the mainland--and Tess to leave the only home she has ever known. Fortunately, the islanders have a plan increase the numbers of students by having several families take in foster children. So now Tess and her family are taking a chance on Aaron, a thirteen-year-old trumpet player who has been bounced from home to home. And Tess needs a plan of her own--and all the luck she can muster. Will Tess's wish come true or will her luck run out?
Newbery Honor author Cynthia Lord offers a warm-hearted, humorous, and thoughtful look at what it means to belong--and how lucky we feel when we do. Touch Blue, sure as certain, will touch your heart.
Honors for Touch 
2011 Lupine Award, Maine Library Association.
2011 Maine Literary Award, Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.
2010 Best Books For Children, Christian Science Monitor.
Best Children's Books of 2010, Book Page.
Best Children's Books of the Year (2011), Bank Street College (starred for outstanding merit)Editor's Pick, Adoptive Families magazine.

Nominated 
Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Award
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award (Vermont)
Rhode Island Children's Book Award Rhode Island Teen Book Award
Indian Paintbrush Award (Wyoming)
North Carolina Children's Book Award
The Charlotte Award (New York)
Louisiana Young Readers Choice Award
Horn Toad Tales, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, Texas

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Arkansas

An exquisite second novel from the Newbery Honor author of RULES! TOUCH BLUE, sure as certain, will touch your heart.

The state of Maine plans to shut down her island’s schoolhouse, which would force Tess’s family to move to the mainland--and Tess to leave the only home she has ever known. Fortunately, the islanders have a plan too: increase the numbers of students by having several families take in foster children. So now Tess and her family are taking a chance on Aaron, a thirteen-year-old trumpet player who has been bounced from home to home. And Tess needs a plan of her own--and all the luck she can muster. Will Tess’s wish come true or will her luck run out?

Newbery Honor author Cynthia Lord offers a warm-hearted, humorous, and thoughtful look at what it means to belong--and how lucky we feel when we do. Touch Blue, sure as certain, will touch your heart.


Touch Blue

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Sarah Blake

Texas

A Novel

Instant New York Times Bestseller “The Guest Book is monumental in a way that few novels dare attempt.” —The Washington Post The thought-provoking new novel by New York Times bestselling author Sarah Blake A lifetime of secrets. A history untold. No. It is a simple word, uttered on a summer porch in 1936. And it will haunt Kitty Milton for the rest of her life. Kitty and her husband, Ogden, are both from families considered the backbone of the country. But this refusal will come to be Kitty’s defining moment, and its consequences will ripple through the Milton family for generations. For while they summer on their island in Maine, anchored as they are to the way things have always been, the winds of change are beginning to stir. In 1959 New York City, two strangers enter the Miltons’ circle. One captures the attention of Kitty’s daughter, while the other makes each of them question what the family stands for. This new generation insists the times are changing. And in one night, everything does. So much so that in the present day, the third generation of Miltons doesn’t have enough money to keep the island in Maine. Evie Milton’s mother has just died, and as Evie digs into her mother’s and grandparents’ history, what she finds is a story as unsettling as it is inescapable, the story that threatens the foundation of the Milton family myth. Moving through three generations and back and forth in time, The Guest Book asks how we remember and what we choose to forget. It shows the untold secrets we inherit and pass on, unknowingly echoing our parents and grandparents. Sarah Blake’s triumphant novel tells the story of a family and a country that buries its past in quiet, until the present calls forth a reckoning.

The Guest Book

5f0bd5dc-3dbc-4283-bbe9-a730f1023115-1

Kerri Arsenault

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Ohio

Reckoning with What Remains

A galvanizing and powerful debut, Mill Town is an American story, a human predicament, and a moral wake-up call that asks: what are we willing to tolerate and whose lives are we willing to sacrifice for our own survival? Kerri Arsenault grew up in the rural working class town of Mexico, Maine. For over 100 years the community orbited around a paper mill that employs most townspeople, including three generations of Arsenault’s own family. Years after she moved away, Arsenault realized the price she paid for that seemingly secure childhood. The mill, while providing livelihoods for nearly everyone, also contributed to the destruction of the environment and the decline of the town’s economic, moral, and emotional health in a slow-moving catastrophe, earning the area the nickname “Cancer Valley.” In Mill Town, Arsenault undertakes an excavation of a collective past, sifting through historical archives and scientific reports, talking to family and neighbors, and examining her own childhood to present a portrait of a community that illuminates not only the ruin of her hometown and the collapse of the working-class of America, but also the hazards of both living in and leaving home, and the silences we are all afraid to violate. In exquisite prose, Arsenault explores the corruption of bodies: the human body, bodies of water, and governmental bodies, and what it’s like to come from a place you love but doesn’t always love you back.

Mill Town

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(New).   When an opportunity arises for the tearoom to host a special event with famed puzzle maker Bill Markham, Jan is elated! The event brings in puzzle lovers from all over Lancaster, Maine, but at Tea for Two, mystery often lurks in unexpected places.
When Katelyn Grande begins her puzzle, she quickly realizes that it was made specifically for her—as a declaration of love!
As Jan and Elaine set out to discover who the would-be paramour might be, they quickly find the clues more challenging and cryptic—than any of Bill’s legendary puzzles. Meanwhile, when Jan’s granddaughter Avery begins practicing her cello after school at the tearoom, she confides in Elaine about problems she’s having with a friend.
Can Elaine draw on the wisdom she gained raising her own children to help the girl navigate the difficult waters of preteen angst?

Michigan

 Tea Room Mysteries Guideposts #4 B09H7SHHFH

Crosswords and Chamomile 

#NewEngland #PageTurner #paperback #thrilling #fiction #love #maine #BeachRead 

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Colorado

“An exceptional novel - thrilling, taut, austere: this is extraordinary writing of a tense, crystalline beauty.

In a small town called Dundee on the coast of Maine, an old woman named Hannah Gray begins her story: "Somebody said 'true love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen.' I've seen both and I don't know how to tell you which is worse." Hannah has decided, finally, to leave a record of the passionate and anguished long-ago summer in Dundee when she met Conary Crocker, the town bad boy and love of her life. This spare, piercing, and unforgettable novel bridges two centuries and two intense love stories as Hannah and Conary's fate is interwoven with the tale of a marriage that took place in Dundee a hundred years earlier.

More Than You Know

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Melinda Metz

New Jersey

The charming village of Fox Crossing, Maine (founded 1805) is the last bit of civilization before the 100-mile wilderness, the wildest and arguably most beautiful stretch of the Appalachian Trail. The little town has something else to offer as well... something rare, something that a few even call magic. It has The Fox. Crossing paths with a black cat is said to bring bad luck. But crossing paths with The Fox is a whole other story...

Crossing paths with a black cat is said to bring bad luck.
But crossing paths with The Fox is a whole other story . . .

SOME SAY THE FOX IS GOOD LUCK
In the mountain village of Fox Crossing, Maine, everyone knows the story of The Fox. According to local legend, one of the town's founders crossed paths with a curious-looking fox with a distinctive white ear and paw. The unusual fox sighting not only inspired the town's name, it sparked a fantastical piece of folklore that's been passed down for generations. Some people say that whoever sees The Fox will be rewarded with good fortune, love, and happiness. Others say it's just a silly folk tale . . .

WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?
Annie Hatherley doesn't believe The Fox legend--even though it was her great-great-great-grandmother who spotted the critter centuries ago. But now it's part of Annie's legacy, along with her family business, Hatherley's Outfitters. For years, Annie's been selling gear to hikers on the Appalachian Trail. But she's never seen The Fox--until now. Out of nowhere, this little white-eared vixen leads her to Nick Ferrone, a woefully unprepared hiker who needs her help. The Shoo Fly Bakery owner also spots the sly creature--who takes him to a homeless dog that needs his love. Annie can't deny that something magical is happening--because she's starting to fall for a certain foxy hiker named Nick . . .

Praise for Melinda Metz's Talk to the Paw

"Filled with romance and adorable kitty antics . . . a light and cozy read that is awesome to curl up with, particularly alongside your own mischievous cat!"
--Modern Cat

"Surpassingly cute story of a matchmaking cat determined to pair off his human with a neighbor through the power of stinky laundry."
--Kirkus Reviews

Fox Crossing

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#hardcover #fiction #mystery #maine #thriller #suspense #crime #action #adventure 

Mike Bowditch is fighting for his life. After being ambushed on a dark winter road, his Jeep crashes into a frozen river. Trapped beneath the ice in the middle of nowhere, having lost his gun and any way to signal for help, Mike fights his way to the surface. But surviving the crash is only the first challenge. Whoever set the trap that ran him off the road is still out there, and they're coming for him.Hours earlier, Mike was called to investigate the suspicious drowning of a wealthy professor. Despite the death being ruled an accident, his elegant, eccentric daughter-in-law insists the man was murdered. She suspects his companion that day, a reclusive survivalist and conspiracy theorist who accompanied the professor on his fateful duck-hunting trip--but what exactly was the nature of their relationship? And was her own sharp-tongued daughter, who inherited the dead man's fortune, as close to her grandfather as she claims? The accusations lead Mike to a sinister local family who claim to have information on the crime. But when his Jeep flies into the river and unknown armed assailants on snowmobiles chase him through the wilderness, the investigation turns into a fight for survival. As Mike faces a nightlong battle to stay alive, he must dissect the hours leading up to the ambush and solve two riddles: which one of these people desperately want him dead, and what has he done to incur their wrath?

Dead by Dawn

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#mystery #maine #stonypoint #anniesattic #janfields

Annie Dawson and her friends in the Hook and Needle club are preparing for the social event of the year, a masquerade ball hosted by the Stony Point Historical Society. Searching the expansive attic of Grey Gables to find gowns and accessories for the ball, they discover an antique set of faux-emerald jewelry. The set is the perfect complement to Annie's own gown, but little does she know where the discovery will lead her and her friends.

Emeralds in the Attic

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S. M. Parker

Unearthing years of buried secrets, Rilla Brae is haunted by ghostly visions tied to the tainted history of a mysterious island in this haunting novel from the author of "The Girl Who Fell."

The Rattled Bones

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#paperback #bookclubbook #familyrelationships #familysecrets #fiction #historicalfiction #maine 

West Virginia

"Divine....A delicious summer read." ---Elin Hilderbrand, author of Beautiful Day Spending the summer of 1928 in a big house on the Maine coast with his 10 older cousins and a gaggle of aunts and uncles seems like a dream come true to lonely 13-year-old Richard. But as he wanders through the bustling house, Richard witnesses the family he adores disintegrate into a tangle of lust, jealousy, and betrayal. Merely an avid spectator as the summer begins, Richard soon finds himself drawn into the confusion, battling with his own first experience of infatuation, and forced to cover for his relatives' romantic intrigues. With jump-off-the-page characters and a captivating sense of place, SHORECLIFF examines the loyalty and rivalry that can both knit a family together and drive it apart.

Shorecliff

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Joan Hiatt Harlow

Mississippi

During World War II, fourteen-year-old Jill Winters arrives in the town of Winter Haven, Maine to stay with her grandmother and, while exploring her new surroundings, stumbles upon a carrier pigeon with a coded message--a discovery that plunges her into a dangerous game of treason and betrayal. Reprint.

Shadows on the Sea

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Bernd Heinrich

Why should ravens--which are usually solitary birds--share valuable food in the dead of winter? How clever are these birds? Do they have a language? These are some of the riddles that noted sociobiologist Bernd Heinrich, author of Bumblebee Economics and winner of the John Burroughs Medal, explores in this intriguing book, along with myths and lore surrounding this bird.  16 pages of drawings.

Book is in like new condition, however, does have some staining on the outer top and bottom pages due to shelving. Does not affect the inside Pages.

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Maryland

Why should ravens--which are usually solitary birds--share valuable food in the dead of winter? How clever are these birds? Do they have a language? These are some of the riddles that noted sociobiologist Bernd Heinrich, author of Bumblebee Economics and winner of the John Burroughs Medal, explores in this intriguing book. 16 pages of drawings.

Ravens in Winter

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Elizabeth Strout

Pennsylvania

Fiction

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • The beloved first novel featuring Olive Kitteridge, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Oprah’s Book Club pick Olive, Again “Fiction lovers, remember this name: Olive Kitteridge. . . . You’ll never forget her.”—USA Today NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post Book World • USA Today • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • Seattle Post-Intelligencer • People • Entertainment Weekly • The Christian Science Monitor • The Plain Dealer • The Atlantic • Rocky Mountain News • Library Journal At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse. As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life—sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition—its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires. The inspiration for the Emmy Award–winning HBO miniseries starring Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins, and Bill Murray

Olive Kitteridge

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Bottom left corner of back cover has a bend, see photo.

Barbara Delinsky

New York

WHAT COMES AFTER THE MOMENT THAT FOREVER CHANGES YOUR LIFE? This is the question that haunts Julia Bechtel, Noah Prine, and Kim Colella, the only survivors of a terrible boating accident off the coast of Maine that claimed the lives of nine other people. Julia, a forty-year-old wife and mother, has always taken the path of least resistance. Pigeonholed by her controlling family and increasingly distant husband as "loyal" and "obedient," she realizes in the aftermath of her brush with death that there is more to her -- and to the world around her -- than she ever imagined. Feeling strangely connected to Noah, the divorced, brooding lobsterman who helped save her life, and to Kim, a twenty-one-year-old whose role in the accident and subsequent muteness are a mystery, Julia begins to explore the unique possibilities offered by the quiet island of Big Sawyer, Maine. Suddenly, things that once seemed critical lose significance, and things that seemed inconsequential take on a whole new importance. With each passing moment, each new discovery, Julia grows more sure that after coming face-to-face with death, she must have more from life. Resolving to make things right for the future and drawing on an inner strength she never knew she possessed, Julia passionately awakens to a new world, fearlessly embracing uncertainties in a way she couldn't have imagined only a few weeks ago. Set in a beautifully rendered island off the coast of Maine, where lobstermen leave with the tides each morning to haul and reset their traps, and neighbors gather each night to feast on the catch of the day, Barbara Delinsky's The Summer I Dared is a deeply moving story of the risky but rewarding search for self, a story of survival, and of the irrepressible ability of the human spirit to rebound from disaster and to create life anew.

The Summer I Dared

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#paperback #drama #fiction #1940s #historicalfiction #loss #love #transformation #maine 

!AIn October 1947, after a summer long drought, fires break out all along the Maine coast and are soon racing out of control from town to village. Five months pregnant, Grace Holland is left alone to protect her two toddlers when her husband, Gene, joins the volunteer firefighters. Along with her best friend, Rosie, and Rosie's two young children, Grace watches helplessly as their houses burn to the ground, the flames finally forcing them all into the ocean as a last resort. The women spend the night frantically protecting their children, and in the morning find their lives forever changed.

The Stars Are Fire

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#paperback #sharoncreech #bestseller #childrensfiction #nytimesbestseller #maine #moo 

This uplifting New York Times bestseller reminds us that if we're open to new experiences, life is full of surprises.

Fans of Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech's Love That Dog and Hate That Cat will love her newest tween novel, Moo. Following one family's momentous move from the city to rural Maine, an unexpected bond develops between twelve-year-old Reena and one very ornery cow.

When Reena, her little brother, Luke, and their parents first move to Maine, Reena doesn't know what to expect. She's ready for beaches, blueberries, and all the lobster she can eat. Instead, her parents "volunteer" Reena and Luke to work for an eccentric neighbor named Mrs. Falala, who has a pig named Paulie, a cat named China, a snake named Edna--and that stubborn cow, Zora.

This heartwarming story, told in a blend of poetry and prose, reveals the bonds that emerge when we let others into our lives.

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Planet Lonely

Arizona

New England 

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Stuart Woods

California

Stone Barrington faces down danger on all sides in the latest thriller from perennial fan favorite Stuart Woods.

Stone Barrington is settling in for a stretch in New York when he receives news that demands immediate action. An old family matter has unexpectedly resurfaced, and Stone must decamp to the craggy shores of Maine to address the issue head-on.

There, Stone finds that a dual-pronged threat is hiding in plain sight among the stately houses and exclusive coastal clubs, and the incursion isn't easily rebuffed. These enemies have friends in high places, funds to spare, and a score to settle with Stone . . . and only the cleverest plot will draw them out into the open. From luxuriously renovated homes to the choppy ocean waters, the pursuit can only lead to an explosive end.

Double Jeopardy

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#paperback #maine #local #newengland #seafood #coast p6-avvd

Massachusetts

Best Local Specialties, Markets, Recipes, Restaurants and Events

The ultimate guide to Maine's food scene provides the inside scoop on the best places to find, enjoy, and celebrate local culinary offerings. Written for residents and visitors alike to find producers and purveyors of tasty local specialties, as well as a rich array of other, indispensable food-related information including: food festivals and culinary events; specialty food shops; farmers’ markets and farm stands; trendy restaurants and time-tested iconic landmarks; and recipes using local ingredients and traditions.

Maine

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Linda Greenlaw

Life on a Very Small Island

Declared a triumph by the New York Times Book Review, Linda Greenlaw's first book, The Hungry Ocean, appeared on nearly every major bestseller list in the country. Now, taking a break from the swordfishing career that earned her a major role in The Perfect Storm, Greenlaw returns to Isle au Haut, a tiny Maine island with a population of 70 year-round residents, 30 of whom are Greenlaw's relatives.

With a Clancy-esque talent for fascinating technical detail and a Keillor-esque eye for the drama of small-town life, Greenlaw offers her take on everything from rediscovering home, love, and family to island characters and the best way to cook and serve a lobster. But Greenlaw also explores the islands darker side, including a tragic boating accident and a century-old conflict with a neighboring community. Throughout, Greenlaw maintains the straight-shooting, funny, and slightly scrappy style that has won her so many fans, and proves once again that fishermen are still the best storytellers around.

The Lobster Chronicles

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Elizabeth Gilbert

The "wonderful first novel about life, love, and lobster fishing" (USA Today) from the #1 bestselling author of Eat Pray Love, Big Magic and City of Girls Off the coast of Maine, Ruth Thomas is born into a feud fought for generations by two groups of local lobstermen over fishing rights for the waters that lie between their respective islands. At eighteen, she has returned from boarding school-smart as a whip, feisty, and irredeemably unromantic-determined to throw over her education and join the "stern men"working the lobster boats. Gilbert utterly captures the American spirit through an unforgettable heroine who is destined for greatness-and love-despite herself in this the critically acclaimed debut.

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Cynthia Lord

Touch Blue

Sarah Blake

The Guest Book

Kerri Arsenault

Mill Town

Elizabeth Adams

Crosswords and Chamomile

Beth Gutcheon

More Than You Know

Melinda Metz

Fox Crossing

Paul Doiron

Dead by Dawn

Jan Fields; Ken Tate (Editor)

Emeralds in the Attic

S. M. Parker

The Rattled Bones

Ursula DeYoung

Shorecliff

Joan Hiatt Harlow

Shadows on the Sea

Bernd Heinrich

Ravens in Winter

Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge

Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge

Barbara Delinsky

The Summer I Dared

Anita Shreve

The Stars Are Fire

Sharon Creech

Moo

Lonely Planet

New England

Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge

Stuart Woods

Double Jeopardy

Margaret Hathaway

Maine

Linda Greenlaw

The Lobster Chronicles

Elizabeth Gilbert

Stern Men

Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge