Ferndale Library Recommends: Gabriel’s Sophisticated Summertime Suggestions
Jeff Milo – Circulation Specialist
It’s Summer Reading time at the Ferndale Area District Library. This is the time of year when we host fun and engaging programs for kids, teens (and grown-ups) to encourage everyone to continue reading during the summer months.
Gabriel Bray, our high-school age library Page, is an exemplary reader this month. He’s diving into late 19^th century suspense with Henry James, a haunting history of a Vienna prince and one of Neil Gaiman’s best works for young readers.
If you want to learn more about Summer Reading and the special prizes up for grabs, follow the Ferndale Library’s Kids Corner on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ferndalekids?fref=ts
Gabriel’s Picks
Song of the Sea
Call Number: DVD CHILDREN’S S
Song of the Sea is easily my favorite new movie of the year so far. The blissfully beautiful animation combines with a touching and unique story to make this a breathtaking experience. Based on the Irish legend of the Selkie, a seal-woman spirit, the story focuses on a young lad named Ben who must overcome his resentment of his younger sister Saoirse when they embark on a quest to save the spirit world from obliteration. It is simply delightful and a real treat for all ages. FIND IT: http://bit.ly/1fmHqOJ
A Nervous Splendor: Vienna, 1888-1889 – Frederic Morton
Call Number: 943.6 M
Frederic Morton, who sadly passed away this past April, here chronicles a one-year period in the life of Vienna, and he does a perfect job capturing the mysterious and alluring atmosphere of the period, as the Austrian Empire, an essentially impossible state, attempts to hide the decaying of its society behind a spectacular Imperial facade, a facade which is put under stress following the suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf at his Mayerling hunting lode. It also provides a fascinating cross-section of the fin de siécle generation’s brightest minds, including Mahler, Klimt, Freud, and an epic cameo by a fifteen-year-old Arnold Schoenberg on page 18.  FIND IT:http://bit.ly/1JQzX4w
The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
Call Number: FIC JAMES
You can’t go wrong with this classic Henry James psychological thriller. It tells the tale of a young governess caring for young Miles and Flora who becomes increasingly immersed in a series of paranormal occurrences at Bly House. Told from the governess’s point of view, its style is ambiguous enough to make the reader question whether the events that unfold actually happen or whether we are witnessing the mental breakdown of the main character. Also to its credit, it served as the inspiration for the brilliant Benjamin Britten opera of the same name.  FIND IT: http://bit.ly/1HJ3qhx
The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
Call Number: J GAIMAN (Audiobook: J CD BK GAIMAN)
The wonderful Neil Gaiman wrote this a sort-of update of The Jungle Book that focuses on the adventures of a human, Nobody Owens, who is raised in a graveyard among a cast of ghosts, witches, vampires, ghouls, and werewolves. It manages to be simultaneously charming and somewhat dark and macabre, as well as totally enthralling. It is also available as an audiobook read by the author, which is definitely worth checking out. FIND IT: http://bit.ly/1eA1tIC
The Echoing Air – Henry Purcell
Call Number: CD CLASSICAL PURCELL
This compilation of sundry songs and short pieces by English Baroque composer Henry Purcell as rendered by soprano Sylvia McNair and Christopher Hogwood’s Academy of Ancient Music takes its title from one of the featured tracks: “Hark! Hark! the Echoing Air” from Purcell’s opera The Fairy Queen. The performances are outstanding, the music is brilliant and pure, and the selections, while not comprehensive, give a good general portrait of Purcell as a composer. FIND IT: http://bit.ly/1HbX4W9