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Living in Chicago: Book 1
A Long Way from Chicago
A Novel in Stories
by Richard Peck
Join Joey and his sister Mary Alice as they spend nine unforgettable summers with the worst influence imaginable—their grandmother!
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Living in Chicago: Book 2
A Year Down Yonder
by Richard Peck
Mary Alice's childhood summers in Grandma Dowdel's sleepy Illinois town were packed with enough drama to fill the double bill of any picture show. But now she is fifteen, and faces a whole long year with Grandma, a woman well known for shaking up her neighbors-and everyone else! All Mary Alice can know for certain is this: when trying to predict how life with Grandma might turn out . . . better not. This wry,... (more)
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Extra Credit
by Andrew Clements
extra credit is a mellow story about a girl who lives in illinios and a boy who lives in afgansitan
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Across Five Aprils
by Irene Hunt
This beautifully written novel offers valuable insights into the difficulties faced by families and communities caught up in the political, economic, and personal upheavals of war. The events of the Civil War unfold Across Five Aprils in this moving story by Newbery Award winner, Irene Hunt. It is set in southern Illinois where Jethro Creighton, an intelligent, hardworking boy, is growing into manhood as his... (more)
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Spoon River Anthology
by Edgar Lee Masters
The inhabitants of Spoon River narrate their own epitaphs from the cemetery where they lie buried. The free-verse monologues are often more cynical than the pious and optimistic epitaphs commonly inscribed on gravestones.
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Best Friends Forever
by Jennifer Weiner
Some bonds can never be broken... Addie Downs and Valerie Adler will be best friends forever. That's what Addie believes after Valerie moves across the street when they're both nine years old. But in the wake of betrayal during their teenage years, Val is swept into the popular crowd, while mousy, sullen Addie becomes her school's scapegoat. Flash-forward fifteen years. Valerie Adler has found a measure of fame... (more)
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The River Between Us
by Richard Peck
The year is 1861. Civil war is imminent and Tilly Pruitt's brother, Noah, is eager to go and fight on the side of the North. With her father long gone, Tilly, her sister, and their mother struggle to make ends meet and hold the dwindling Pruitt family together. Then one night a mysterious girl arrives on a steamboat bound for St. Louis. Delphine is unlike anyone the small river town has even seen. Mrs.... (more)
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Jane Jeffry Mysteries: Book 12
Mulch Ado About Nothing
by Jill Churchill
Suburban mom Jane Jeffry and her equally green-thumbless best friend Shelley Nowack could kill plastic plants. But their scheme to improve themselves vegetatively dies on the vine when the celebrated botanist slated to teach a class at the local Community Center is mysteriously beaten into a coma -- and her replacement turns out to be Dr. Stewart Eastman, an arrogant, self-promoting boor. Did Dr. Eastman or a... (more)
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Scumble River Mystery: Book 1
Murder of a Small-Town Honey
by Denise Swanson
When Skye Denison left Scumble River years ago, she swore she'd never return. But after a bout with her boyfriend and credit card rejection, she's back to home sweet-homicide.... Advance praise for Murder of a Small Town Honey : "A delightful mystery that bounces along with gently wry humor and jaunty twists and turns... School psychologist, Skye Denison, is the quintessential amateur sleuth: bright, curious... (more)
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Friendship Bread
by Darien Gee
An anonymous gift sends a woman on a journey she never could have anticipated. One afternoon, Julia Evarts and her five-year-old daughter, Gracie, arrive home to find an unexpected gift on the front porch: a homemade loaf of Amish Friendship Bread and a simple note: I hope you enjoy it. Also included are a bag of starter, instructions on how to make the bread herself, and a request to share it with others. ... (more)
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The Rock and the River
by Kekla Magoon
The Time: 1968 The Place: Chicago For thirteen-year-old Sam it's not easy being the son of known civil rights activist Roland Childs. Especially when his older (and best friend), Stick, begins to drift away from him for no apparent reason. And then it happens: Sam finds something that changes everything forever. Sam has always had faith in his father, but when he finds literature about the Black Panthers under... (more)
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Scumble River Mystery: Book 2
Murder of a Sweet Old Lady
by Denise Swanson
Second in the delightful new Scumble River mystery series... When school pyschologist Skye Denison's beloved grandma is found dead in her bed, an autopsy proves it was murder. And Skye is determined to find out whodunit, even if the answer lies in the rotten roots of her own family tree.
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Snakewoman of Little Egypt
by Robert Hellenga
On the morning of her release from prison, Sunny, who grew up in a snakehandling church in the Little Egypt region of Southern Illinois, rents a garage apartment from Jackson. She's been serving a five-year sentence for shooting, but not killing, her husband, the pastor of the Church of the Burning Bush with Signs Following, after he forced her at gunpoint to put her arm in a box of rattlesnakes. Sunny and... (more)
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Catch
by Will Leitch
Everything comes easy for Tim Temples. He’s got a sweet summer job, lots of love from the ladies, and parties with his high school buddies.Why does he need to go to college? Then Tim falls hard for Helena—a worldly and mysterious twenty-twoyear- old. Their relationship opens his eyes to life outside the small town of Mattoon, Illinois. Now Tim has to choose:Will he settle for being a small town hero, or... (more)
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The Adventures of Augie March
by Saul Bellow
Bold, expansive,and keenly humorous, The Adventures of Augie March blends street language with literary elegance to tell the story of a poor Chicago boy growing up during the Great Depression. A "born recruit," Augie makes himself available for hire by plungers, schemers, risk takers and operators, compiling a record of choices that is — to say the least — eccentric.
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The Devil in the White City
Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
by Erik Larson
Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America’s place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative... (more)
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Native Son
by Richard Wright
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness... (more)
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The Dresden Files: Book 1
Storm Front
by Jim Butcher
HARRY DRESDEN—WIZARDLost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Or Other EntertainmentHarry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is... (more)
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Jane Jeffry Mysteries: Book 2
A Farewell to Yarns
by Jill Churchill
Life is hectic enough for suburban single mom Jane Jeffrey this Christmas season--what with her having to survive cutthroat church bazaar politics and finish knitting the afghan from Hell at the same time. The last thing the harried homemaker needs is an unwelcome visit from old acquaintance Phyllis Wagner and her ill-mannered brat of a teenage son. And the Wagner picture becomes even more complicated when a... (more)
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The Fall of a Sparrow
by Robert Hellenga
Robert Hellenga, bestselling author of The Sixteen Pleasures, once again reveals his profound understanding of the strength and resilience of the human spirit in a compelling and masterful novel. Alan Woodhull ("Woody"), a classics professor at a small Midwestern college, finds himself convinced that life has taught him all the lessons he has to learn: After the tragic death of his beloved oldest daughter... (more)

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