Photo A. Bartlett

A new book in the library.

We don’t get new books in the library very often, and while I personally think that should change, we did get 107 new books recently. Particularly books in Spanish and Arabic, as well as graphic novels, which we were originally lacking in comparing to some other genres.

“I’m always looking for graphic novels and manga because everyone is always asking for them. But I try to focus [when buying books] on one area of the library and also the latest fiction,” media specialist Shannon Chamberlain said.

Some of the notable books that were added were the “Heartstopper and Fangirl” books, but personally, I found “Swarm” by Jennifer D. Lyle and “Between Shades of Gray” by Andrew Donkin and Ruta Sepetys to be super interesting and some of the best books I’ve read in a while.

“Swarm” is a fictional horror novel about carnivorous butterflies. Every chapter just made me want to read more; I was thinking about the book all the time even when I wasn’t reading it. I specifically liked the structure of the book and how instead of putting all of the key details and world-building at the beginning it was evenly distributed, I think it really added to the horror aspect.

“Between Shades of Gray” was also a really good historical thriller graphic novel that was just added. I feel like I never find anything good in the history genre, but I think the graphic novel element really made it more enjoyable and enticing. It follows the story of a Lithuanian girl named Lina and her being forced to go to Siberia with her family and the harsh conditions she was put through. It was heart wrenching until the end, and I absolutely recommend it.

To make room for the new books a bunch of books also had to go, mostly in the history section where some of the books had first arrived in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. These books were being checked out once, twice, or maybe never. This wasn’t the only way that books were leaving the shelves forever though.

“I actually need to go back to reorder Jenny Han’s books because they’re all checked out—they’re not coming back, people aren’t returning them—so if they are not returning them no one else can read them,” Chamberlain said.

This caused some of the other books, such as “Fangirl” to be bought as a paperback instead of hardcover, so it would be less money lost if they were stolen. Personally, I wish that more of the popular library books were hardcover so they would last longer. Stealing books stops the library completely wastes its money, and it causes more reasons to buy less books and books that wouldn’t last nearly as long. Besides, there are free books that have been sitting in the cart outside of the library for weeks, if you want a free book look there.

In addition to the newly added books, the graphic novels were moved to a new home in the very back of the library as opposed to the left-hand side when you walk in. It was so that way all of the other books would be noticed on the way, like how the milk is put in the back of the grocery store so you have to go through the chip aisle to get to it. It fills in more of the empty parts of the library which makes it feel homier to me somehow.

There were a bunch of great titles added though, and I’m sure if you don’t know where to look for a good book, ask around, I’m sure you can find someone. If you can’t, my first stop would be Chamberlain.