Ferndale Library Staff Recommends: Lindsey's Picks

Lindsey Harnish animates ’s circulation desk, juggling the piles of incoming and outgoing media, getting shiny new books ready for you to borrow and resuscitating the damaged ones. She is on the library’s Arts and Exhibition Committee, which will soon be bringing you art exhibitions, lectures, fresh art books and more.

Ferndale has been her home since 2005, where she spends much of her time making fantastic paintings (facebook.com/LynzCreates) and giving her husband, houserabbit and alien cat roughly half of the attention they deserve.

Lindsey's Top 5 Library Picks

By Lindsey Harnish

1. And Then It’s Spring
   Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Erin E. Stead
   JE FOG
   With the ubiquitous mud and the dried tufts of last year’s foliage, March strikes me as rather a dreary month (this freakish one being the exception). And Then It’s Spring chronicles the patient expectation of a little boy and his animal companions (dog and rabbit, respectively) observing the gradual unfurling of spring. The text is minimalist and poetic, with lines like “It was still a very hopeful shade of brown” and is a pleasure to be read aloud.
   Erin E. Stead (Sick Day for Amos McGee) accompanies the text with her demure illustrations rife with charming details to discover.
2. Friends with Boys
   Erin Faith Hicks
   YA Graphic Hicks
   The first day of school is never easy, particularly when you are fourteen and a ghost persists in trailing you. This is the lot of former homeschooler Maggie McKay as she enrolls in public high school for the first time. The confusion of this landmark day is only made the worse by her brothers abandoning her to navigate alone. Lucky for Maggie, she’s confident and strong. She’ll find her way. A clever and poignant written story about losing and finding your kindred.
3. Life in a Day
   DVD 920 L
   Revisit summertime, July 24, 2010, as chronicled in footage by 80,000 different lives from all over the world. National Geographic pieces this together in a montage that is kinetic and glorious. We are reminded of the hundreds of ways the daily lives of others are so different from our own, and yet how very much they are indubitably the same.
4. Detroit: 138 Square Miles
   Julia Reyes Taubman
   977.434 T
   Under such an expansive title, one shouldn’t be surprised at the sheer weight of this volume of photographs. The chronicling of Detroit from East to West is comprehensive--for once, not focusing the lens solely on the decay and destruction in the city. Real folks that live here and the real treasures that we celebrate here get represented as well. An interesting focus and an unexpected angle keeps even familiar places fresh and reveals surprising subtleties in the landscape.
5. Strange Hearts
   Secret Cities
   CD SECRET CITIES
   I am at a loss to describe this new favorite CD I encountered at the library: Bittersweet. Winsome. Peculiar. Blithely catchy. Lo-fi melodies that recall those golden oldies, but with modern textures and effects that keep it vibrant. Ridiculously addictive. A fantastic listen for these warm, sunny days.

Ferndale Patch thanks Lindsey Harnish and the Ferndale Public Library for these recommendations! Check back soon for more ideas from library staff. Are you looking for recommendations on something specific? Email jessica.schrader@patch.com, and we'll pass on your questions to the library.