Summer Reading

Nothing tastes better than herbs harvested fresh from the garden!

Grow Your Own Herbs shares everything you need to know to grow the forty most important culinary herbs. You’ll learn basic gardening information, including details on soil, watering, and potting. Profiles of 40 herbs—including popular varieties like basil, bay laurel, lemon verbena, tarragon, savory, thyme, and more—feature tasting notes, cultivation information, and harvesting tips. Additional information includes instructions for preserving and storing, along with techniques for making delicious pastes, syrups, vinegar, and butters. If you are new to gardening, have a limited space, or are looking to add fresh herbs to their daily meals, Grow Your Own Herbs is a must-have.

Best-selling gardening author Barbara Pleasant makes organic vegetable gardening easy, fun, and rewarding with detailed planting and care designs for 24 beginner-friendly gardens to fit any site, whether it's a tiny side yard, a border, a trellis alongside the house, or a front yard. From exactly what plants (and how many) to buy, where and when to plant them, and how to care for each vegetable throughout the season, Pleasant encourages readers to start small, grow the food they love, and expand their plant selection as their skills develop. Specially tailored plans offer choices to fit a wide range of sites and food preferences, from the Front-Yard Food Supply to the Marinara Medley, Sweet Corn & Company, and High-Value Verticals.There's a plan and plant selection to fit every gardener's passion. Detailed plot plans show progressive stages for how each garden can be expanded gradually over the course of three years, ensuring that beginning gardeners will experience success and satisfaction without being overwhelmed by an over-ambitious plan at the start. 

"Two former Texas Rangers, Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call, leave their Texas ranch to lead a cattle drive to Montana, encountering outlaws, Native Americans, and ex-loves along the way." *** "Two former Texas Rangers have been running a ramshackle stock operation near the Mexican border with a lot of work and not much success. When they hear rumors of freewheeling opportunities in the newly opened territory, they decide to break camp, pull up stakes, and head north. Their dusty trek is filled with troubles, violence, and unfilled yearning." Booklist. *** "'Lonesome Dove' shows, early on, just about every symptom of American Epic except pretentiousness. McMurtry has laconic Texas talk and leathery, slim-hipped machismo down pat, and he's able to refresh heroic clichés with exact observations about cowboy prudery, ignorance and fear of losing face." Newsweek. *** Followed by 'Streets of Laredo' (1993) and Dead Man's Walk' (1995) *** Made into a Motion Picture directed by Simon Wincer, starring Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Diane Lane, Robert Urich, Rick Schroder, Anjelica Huston and more. Epic love story/ adventure.

The author of the bestselling French Women Don't Get Fat shares the secrets and strategies of aging with attitude, joy, and no surgery.

With her signature blend of wit, no-nonsense advice, and storytelling flair, Mireille Guiliano returns with a delightful, encouraging take on beauty and aging for our times. For anyone who has ever spent the equivalent of a mortgage payment on anti-aging lotions or procedures, dressed inappropriate for their age, gained a little too much in the middle, or accidentally forgot how to flirt, here is a proactive way to stay looking and feeling great, without resorting to "the knife"-a French woman's most guarded beauty secrets revealed for the benefit of us all!

Not even the Civil War can smother the spirit of Christmas, especially in the town of Decatur, Illinois, in 1862, where the ladies of the Basket Brigade board trains to minister to Union soldiers, offering fried chicken, pickled peaches, pound cake, and other dainties to men who haven't eaten a home-cooked meal since enlisting. Join Sarah, Lucy, and Zona, three compassionate members of the brigade, as they care for wounded heroes--and find love along the way.
 

A laugh-out-loud funny picture book about a dog who doesn't know how many pairs of pants to wear (or where to wear them!) by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Day the Crayons Quit.

One pair of pants? Two pairs? Three? How many pants should Little Freddie wear? And where should he put them? What about underpants? Where do they go?

In a book with text and art that are sure to induce giggles, Drew Daywalt and Lucy Ruth Cummins settle the age-old question: Do a dog’s front legs deserve pants, too?

Father and child become buzzing bees, rustling trees, and more in this delightful make-believe romp from Caldecott Honor winner Shawn Harris.

The only thing better than playing make believe is playing make believe with your favorite grown-up! Especially when that grown-up’s imagination is as big as yours, and you both get to make all kinds of funny sounds. 

Fans of Shawn Harris’s Caldecott Honor-winning debut Have You Ever Seen a Flower? and illustrations in the Newbery Medal-winning The Eyes and the Impossible will find a new instant favorite in Let’s Be Bees. With bright, bold crayon illustrations, lilting, rhythmic words, and endless fodder for playing along, this is a read aloud guaranteed to bring on the giggles and requests to do it all again.

A Caldecott Honor Book
Five starred reviews!
“An arm-pumping, truck-horn toot to each person reveling in their own ‘garbage.’” —BCCB (starred review)

From the creator of I’m Going to Build a Snowman comes a “enthusiastic, delightful” (BookPage, starred review) celebration of community helpers that captures the joy and wonder of being a kid, centering around a precocious girl whose favorite day of the week is Monday.

Every Monday, Mabel wakes up early and peeks out her window to make sure she didn’t miss the one thing she’s been looking forward to the whole week. She drags her chair down the hallway, past her big sister and Mom and Dad, out the door, and waits.

What is Mabel waiting for every Monday? According to Mabel, it’s the best thing in the world. But no one else in her family seems to understand…until they see what’s honking down the street!

Bear can't find his glasses. He must have left them at Giraffe's house.

On the way over, Bear sees all kinds of animals he didn't notice last time: an elephant, a crocodile, a flamingo, a deer. And who's this long spotty snake lying on Giraffe's deckchair?

The patient Giraffe finds Bear's glasses—right where glasses always get lost, perched on his head. Then Bear takes Giraffe to meet these wondrous animals that he found on the way.

Leo Timmers' details are full of expression and humor—the angle of Giraffe's neck and lift of his eyebrows, hiding his skepticism as he helps his friend, the dear, artless bear.

Through an ingenious telling of this classic comical situation, Leo Timmers shows us how to enjoy the world through different eyes.

Pizza lovers and grill masters, get ready for a game-changer! Pizza on the Grill by Bob Blumer is packed with over 100 fire-roasted recipes that will revolutionize your pizza-making experience.



Whether you're using gas or charcoal, this expanded edition brings the bold flavors of wood-oven pizza straight to your grill, complete with step-by-step instructions for both traditional and gluten-free dough.



Perfect for pizza fans and grilling enthusiasts alike, Pizza on the Grill ensures you'll serve up delicious, crispy pies with ease. Fire up your grill and get ready for a pizza party that's out of this world!

Key Features:

• Expanded Edition: Includes a brand-new gluten-free dough recipe, making this book perfect for anyone with dietary restrictions.
• 100+ Creative Recipes: From classic All-American Pepperoni Pizza to indulgent Kung Pao Cashew Chicken Pizza, this collection offers endless inspiration.
• Dessert and Brunch Pizzas: Surprise your guests with unique options like Caramelized Pear and Roasted Walnut Pizza or Artichoke Benedict Pizza.
• Tips and Pairings: Discover wine and beverage pairings, plus easy side dishes and appetizers to round out your meal.
• For Every Occasion: Whether it's dinner, brunch, or dessert, you'll find pizza recipes to satisfy any craving.