Samir Iydroose Photo.
This article is a companion piece to a recently published article covering the Summer Reading Challenge at the Hamden Public Library. The challenge incorporates special activities and tasks for children, teens, and adults. While the book recommendations listed below are organized by those corresponding age groups, these books aren’t restricted to a particular demographic.
Children
Book: One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey.
Recommended by: Marcy Goldman, head of the children’s department at the Hamden Public Library
Why she chose it: Goldman said she made her parents read it to her “over and over and over” again as a child. The story, in a picture book, follows a girl named Sal (as in, McCloskey's beloved book Blueberries for Sal) and her family, as she loses a tooth.
Book: I’m So Happy You’re Here: A Celebration of Library Joy, written by Mychal Threets and illustrated by Lorraine Nam.
Recommended by: Soma Mitra, children’s librarian at the New Haven Public Library
Why she chose it: Mitra said that the picture book is easy to understand. The book is about going to the library, and highlights diversity, making it a top pick for storytimes at the library.
Book: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney.
Recommended by: Soma Mitra, children’s librarian at the New Haven Public Library
Why she chose it: Mitra said that this series of “novels with cartoons” is “so funny” and that she thinks many kids could enjoy it. The series follows Greg Heffley, a middle-school student as he grows up, navigating the various aspects of adolescent life. The books have also been adapted into several live-action movies.
Book: Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead.
Recommended by: Marcy Goldman
Why she chose it: Goldman said that Liar & Spy appeals to a wide variety of readers, as it has “a little bit of everything,” with historical elements and mystery. The chapter book follows two boys, as they create a spy club.
Teens
Book: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Recommended by: Matt McGregor, digital navigator at the Hamden Public Library. McGregor was also responsible for creating the adult sections of the summer reading challenge.
Why he chose it: McGregor said that he enjoyed the book when he was in school, because of the epic scope, great action, and believable characters.
“The characters in Ender’s Game were believably intelligent,” he said. “You know, Sherlock Holmes is an unbelievably intelligent character, he’s too smart, but the characters in this novel are plausible. It is a classic.”
The book follows a future in which earth is sieged by an insectoid race, and a brilliant young boy is inducted into the military to fight the aliens.
Book: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Recommended by: Danielle Sekas, head of teen services at the Hamden Public Library.
Why she chose it: Sekas said she chose the book because it is a “timeless and enduring piece.” The dystopian novel takes place in a society in which books are burned by people called firemen, and one of these firemen rebels against his society. It is a meditation on censorship, and provokes a lot of thought.
Book: The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum.
Recommended by: Emily Raymond, teen librarian at the Ives branch of the New Haven Public Library
Why she chose it: This young-adult book is about a boy named Hollis who gets possessed by a ghost with unfinished business, and hijinks ensue. The book is also interspersed with recipes, a few of which Raymond herself had completed. “I made one of the recipes and it was very delicious,” she said. She added that the themes of sexuality and how the past impacts the present make it fairly popular.
Book: Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
Recommended by: Danielle Sekas
Why she chose it: Sekas said she chose Heartstopper because it is one of, if not the most, popular graphic novels for teens. The story follows two schoolboys, Nick and Charlie, who develop feelings for each other, and all that that entails.
Book: All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Recommended by: Matt McGregor
Why he chose it: McGregor described the plot as “if the terminator if it got free will but all it wanted to do was to watch K-dramas, but had to save the world.” He also said he thought its short length and humor would make it appealing to a wide audience.
Book: To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Recommended by: Sam Burton, an employee at Grey Matter Books in New Haven
Why he chose it: Burton said that he read To The Lighthouse in high school, and “the prose blew [his] mind,” and expanded his perception of what a book could be.
This modernist novel uses a stream-of-consciousness technique to explore the dynamics of the Ramsay family, and their annual vacations. Burton also highlighted Mrs. Dalloway as an approachable starting point to Woolf, but said that To the Lighthouse was better.
Adults
Book: Any of the books written by David Baldacci
Recommended by: Eileen Heitz, a volunteer at the Second Hand Prose used book store, operated by the Friends of Hamden Library
Why she chose it: Heitz said she appreciates mysteries and thrillers as a genre, as they are a “timeout from reality.” She likes the series written by Baldacci particularly, because of the pacing.
“Lots of books have a dull section that you just have to get through to get back to the interesting sections but there aren’t those kind of sections in his books,” she said.
Book: Go Down Moses by William Faulkner.
Recommended by: Danté Gonzales, an English teacher at Hamden High school
Why he chose it: Gonzales said that he wanted to recommend Go Down Moses as it was a book that fundamentally changed his perception of what a book can be.
“Tackling Faulkner is very difficult, but once you have it, it turns into one of the most interesting, captivating, and lasting relationships you will have with a written piece of literature, especially when you start making the connections between the various storylines, characters, and families within,” he said.
Go Down Moses is a collection of seven interrelated short stories that functions more like a novel, which grapples with various changing aspects of Southern life and race, in Faulkner’s fiction Yoknapatawpha county.
Gonzales also said that the characters and themes are very relatable. “Ike will always be a character that I can see myself in, as he faces various conflicts with pride, lineage, fear, and man's relationship, stewardship, and destruction of nature,” he said.
Book: White Noise by Don DeLillo
Recommended by: Sam Burton
Why he chose it: Burton said that White Noise was a widely appealing, “brilliantly written literary work of art.”
“You know, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy isn’t for everyone because of the violence or the language but White Noise is for everyone,” he said. “It is hard to imagine someone who likes reading and ideas to not get through it, much less not enjoy it.”
The book follows a professor and his family, as they go about their life.
Book: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Recommended by: Matt McGregor
Why he chose it: McGregor said that Catch-22 was the best written book he’s ever read. The satirical novel follows a soldier in World War II, as he tries to survive the absurdity of war. McGregor also highlighted the humor of the book, and how “it turns out to be very funny.”
Book: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Recommended by: Melissa Canham-Clyne, Director of the Hamden Public Library
Why she chose it: Canham-Clyne said she chose to recommend Gilead as it contains so many relatable themes: forgiveness, self compassion, social justice, and faith. The epistolary, Pulitzer-prize winning novel is told in a long letter from a dying minister to his son.
Book (actually, a play): Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Recommended by: Emily Raymond
Why she chose it: Raymond, who studied Shakespeare in college, said that Much Ado About Nothing was her favorite comedy, and listed Macbeth as her favorite tragedy (as “Lady Macbeth is an icon).
She said that Much Ado About Nothing is a “timeless story that still resonates 400 after it was written.” She also spoke about how the relationship between Benedick and Beatrice is so fun, and that their dialogue is hilarious.
The play follows two couples, Benedick and Beatrice, and Hero and Claudio, as they fall in love, despite the machinations of the villainous Don John. Raymond also suggested watching the 1993 adaptation of the play, with Emma Thompson as Beatrice.
This article comes from the ninth and current cohort of the Arts Council's Youth Arts Journalism Initiative (YAJI). From June 29 through August 21, YAJI students pitch, report, write and edit stories with Arts Paper Editor Lucy Gellman, Program Assistants Abiba Biao and Grayce Howe and Mentor Ruby Szekeres. Samir Iydroose is a rising junior at Hamden High School.