Library News
Our Response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Posted on April 01, 2020
Steps For Curbside Pickup
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Sonoma County Library is committed to protecting our community members and employees. Under the “Stay Well Sonoma County” health order, we follow the County Health Officer’s recommendation to provide services via curbside pickup and remote/virtual activities. While library facilities are closed to the public for general use, we are here for you online, by phone and with curbside pickup!
- Curbside pickup is available at all library branches, Monday–Saturday. Visit our locations page for open hours and contact information. Curbside requests can be placed in the online catalog (and by phone) and delivered to your local library. You can also request tax forms – call your library for more information!
- Returns are accepted during curbside service hours or until the book drop is full. Please do not leave items if the book drop is locked or full. Because we quarantine returned materials, your items may not be “checked in” for up to a week or more. We do not charge fines for overdue materials.
- At this time, the library cannot accept book/media donations.
- Librarians are available to answer questions, help with digital resources and eBooks, update library accounts and explain services. Contact us by webform, email, phone, or text 707-632-4591.
- Looking for your next book? Request reading recommendations.
- Enjoy virtual programs like storytime, crafts, book clubs, and other online workshops, sign up for Summer Reading or try a creative challenge.
- Your 24/7 online library never closes! Check out films, TV shows, eBooks, databases, magazines, classes and much more, and try these expanded offers!
- Tell your story! Sonoma Responds: A Community Memory Archive is the Library's collective effort to document, preserve, and share our experiences, perspectives, and memories during the ongoing COVID pandemic.
- New to Sonoma County Library? Get a free library eCard online to use our resources right away.
- Stay updated about the library on our website, follow us on social media @sonomalibrary, and sign up for our newsletter.
Como recoger libros
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La Biblioteca del Condado de Sonoma se compremete a proteger a nuestra comunidad y empleados. Bajo la orden de salud “Manténgase saludable Condado de Sonoma" observamos la recomendación de la Oficial de Salud del Condado de Sonoma, de ofrecer servicios a través de la recogida en la acera y actividades remotas / virtuales. Aunque la biblioteca está cerrada al público para uso general, estamos aquí para ustedes en línea, por teléfono y para recoger desde la acera.
- El servicio de recoger desde la acera está disponible en todas las sucursales de la biblioteca, de lunes a sábado. Visite nuestra página de “Hours & Locations” para obtener información sobre horarios, direcciones y contactos. Puede pedir materiales del catálogo en línea (o por teléfono) y recoger en su biblioteca preferida. También puede solicitar formularios de impuestos. ¡Llame a su biblioteca para obtener más información!
- Las devoluciones se aceptan SOLO durante las horas de la recogida desde la acera, o hasta que el buzón esté lleno. Por favor no deje materiales si el buzón está lleno o cerrado. Los materiales serán puestos en cuarentena y no serán registrados de inmediato, hasta una semana o más. Hemos eliminado las multas por los prestamos vencidos.
- Actualmente no aceptamos donaciones de libros u otros materiales.
- Los bibliotecarios están disponibles de lunes a sábado para responder a preguntas, ayudar con recursos digitales y libros electrónicos, actualizar cuentas de la biblioteca y explicar servicios: formulario web, correo electrónico, teléfono, o mensaje de texto 707-632-4591.
- En busca de su próximo libro? Solicitar recomendaciones de lectura.
- Disfrute de programas virtuales como hora de cuentos, programas de manualidades, clubes de lectura y otros talleres en línea, inscríbase en Lectura de Verano o pruebe una reto creativo.
- ¡Su biblioteca en línea nunca está cerrada! Disfrute de películas y programas de televisión, libros electrónicos, recursos de aprendizaje, periódicos y revistas, cursos en línea y mucho más con servicios nuevos o ampliados.
- ¡Cuenta tu historia! Sonoma Responds: Un Archivo de Memoria Comunitaria es un esfuerzo colectivo para documentar, preservar y compartir nuestras experiencias, perspectivas y recuerdos durante la pandemia de COVID.
- ¿Nuevo en la biblioteca del condado de Sonoma? Obtenga una tarjeta electrónica en línea para usar los recursos de inmediato.¡Es gratis!
- Manténgase actualizado sobre la biblioteca en nuestro sitio web, síganos en las redes sociales @sonomalibrary y suscríbase a nuestro boletín.

CDC
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CDC Español
Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades

SoCo Emergency
Sonoma County Emergency and Preparedness Information
SoCo Emergency Español
Información acerca del nuevo coronavirus
All Sonoma County Library facilities are Closed
Posted on March 14, 2020
Effective 6 pm Saturday, March 14, 2020, all Sonoma County Library facilities are closed to the public.
This decision was not made lightly. It comes after a week of increasingly strict notices and advisories. We will continue to follow the recommendations of county and state officials, and will reopen as soon as we are told that it is safe to do so.
Book drops will be closed and locked. You are encouraged to hold onto and enjoy loaned items – due dates will be extended on all materials, including technology such as hotspots and Chromebooks. Our digital resources are available 24/7, as always.
I am confident that we will manage this crisis together, and I take comfort from your support for our libraries in this uncertain time.
Ann Hammond, Library Director
What's the Story? - Nov. 3 to Mar. 2
Posted on March 02, 2021
“What’s the Story?”
is a KRSH Radio podcast
Hosted by Joy Lanzendorfer and
co-sponsored by the Sonoma County Library
Listen to "What’s the Story"
Selection for March 3
Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad
An Emmy Award-winning writer and activist describes the harrowing years she spent in early adulthood fighting leukemia and how she learned to live again while forging connections with other survivors of profound illness and suffering.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
American Road Trip
by Patrick Flores-Scott
A road trip novel that explores the bonds of family, growing up, living through trauma and recovery.
Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved
by Kate Bowler
A divinity professor at Duke University found her life turned upside down in her mid-30s with a diagnosis of stage 4 colon cancer. Here, she chronicles her journey from what seemed a death sentence to surviving as a result of the effects of a clinical trial and a stalwart community of friends and family.
From Scratch
by Tembi Locke
A memoir of grief, love, food and home, narrated by the author in lyrical English and Italian.
No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality
by Michael J. Fox
In his fourth book, Fox expresses gratitude for the past and looks to the future with a firm grasp on how to be “both a realist and an optimist.” A moving account of resilience, hope, fear and mortality, and how these things resonate in our lives.
Halfway Normal
by Barbara Dee
Twelve-year-old cancer survivor Norah struggles to fit in at middle school after two years of treatment, but she finds her voice with the help of new friend Griffin, who shares her love of mythology.
Finding Balance
by Kati Gardner
Teenage cancer survivors Mari and Jase have flirted for years at Camp Chemo, but when she transfers to his high school their different approaches to their history cause trouble.
All the Water in the World
by Karen Raney
Sixteen-year-old Maddy, who has cancer, grapples with her first romantic relationship, searches for the father she has never met, and tests the limits of her relationship with her mother, all while facing an uncertain future.
We Own the Sky
by Luke Allnutt
When a devastating illness takes his beloved family from him, a man who once believed himself incredibly lucky takes solace in photographing the skyscrapers and cliff tops his son and he once visited before embarking on a powerful journey through forgiveness back to life.
Selection for February 23
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
In 1995 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on a rare family vacation, 7-year-old Nainoa Flores falls overboard a cruise ship into the Pacific Ocean. When a shiver of sharks appears in the water, everyone fears for the worst. But instead, Noa is gingerly delivered to his mother in the jaws of a shark, marking his story as the stuff of legends.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
Maya’s Notebook
by Isabel Allende
To escape a life of drugs, crime and prostitution, 19-year-old Maya Vidal flees California to a remote island off the west coast of Chile.
Ricky is a kid in foster care who lands at a new home, only for tragedy to strike, causing him to head out on his own. But the friends he makes along the way have him discovering what family, identity and home really mean for the first time. A tender and often hilarious story with unforgettable characters.
Little Fires Everywhere
by Celeste Ng
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
Dominicana
by Angie Cruz
Coral Pena narrates Cruz’ story of Ana’s fraught marriage, migration to the US and her struggles to support and honor her family back home in the Dominican Republic. The story is equal parts coming of age, an exploration of migration and identity, and a meditation on family ties.
The Path Made Clear: Discovering Your Life’s Direction and Purpose
by Oprah Winfrey
Everyone has a purpose. According to Oprah Winfrey, “Your real job in life is to figure out as soon as possible what that is, who you are meant to be, and begin to honor your calling in the best way possible.” That journey starts right here.
All of Us With Wings
by Michelle Ruiz Keil
Seventeen-year-old Xochi’s life changed when she became governess to precocious 12-year-old Pallas, but the duo unintentionally summons a pair of ancient creatures determined to right the wrongs of Xochi’s adolescence.
For the Time Being
by Annie Dillard
A compassionate, informative, and enthralling personal narrative that surveys the meaning and significance of life, from Pulitzer-winner Dillard.
Gabi, Fragmentos de una adolescente
Por Isabel Quintero. Gabi Hernández está en su último año de la preparatoria. Para entretenerse, escribe todo lo que le pasa en su diario: las solicitudes a las universidades, el embarazo de Cindy, cuando Sebastián salió del clóset, los chicos guapos de su clase, la adicción de su padre a la metanfetamina, y toda la comida que se le antoja. Pero lo mejor de todo lo que escribe es la poesía que la ayuda a ser quien es.
The Lightning Queen
by Laua Resau
On the Hill of Dust, in the remote mountains of Mexico, an 11-year-old Mixtec boy called Teo lives with his family and the animals that he has healed, but one day a Romany caravan rolls into town with a young girl who calls herself Esma, the Gypsy Queen of Lightning – it is the beginning of a life-long friendship that will change both their lives.
Selection for February 16
Citizen Reporters by Stephanie Gorton
A fascinating history of the rise and fall of influential Gilded Age magazine McClure’s and the two unlikely outsiders at its helm – and a timely, full-throated defense of investigative journalism in America.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
The Race for Paris
by Meg Waite Clayton
Determined to be the first photographer to capture images of Paris’ liberation from the Nazis, Liv defies orders and teams up with a fellow woman reporter and a British photojournalist to race to Paris ahead of Allied forces.
The Jungle
by Upton Sinclair
As Stephanie Gorton reveals in Citizen Reporters, McClure’s magazine was instrumental in paving the way for reporters to battle corruption and drive change in society. Read another example of groundbreaking investigative journalism with this title in which the horrifying conditions of the Chicago stockyards are revealed through this narrative of a young immigrant’s struggles in America.
We Say #Never Again: Reporting by the Parkland Student Journalists
edited by MSD teachers Melissa Falkowski and Eric Garner
This collection of essays looks at the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and the fight for gun control – as told by the student reporters for the school’s newspaper and TV station.
(DVD)
Creem: America’s only rock 'n' roll magazine
Capturing the messy upheaval of the ‘70s just as rock was re-inventing itself, the documentary explores the publication’s humble beginnings, follows its upward trajectory from underground paper to national powerhouse, then bears witness to its imminent demise following the tragic and untimely deaths of its visionary publisher, Barry Kramer, and its most famous alum and genius clown prince, Lester Bangs, a year later.
In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie
by Lindsey Hilsum
American journalist Marie Colvin’s experiences at the front lines of war zones in this inspiring, vivid biography.
Are You Somebody: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman
by Nuala O’Faolain
O’Faolain, a journalist for the Irish Times, was asked to collect her columns for publication, but the introduction she sat down to write eventually expanded into this beautifully cadenced and moving memoir.
Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business – and Won!
by Emily Arnold McCully
Tarbell investigated and published works about the Standard Oil Trust for McClure’s Magazine that informed the world of shady business dealings and skyrocketed her into the public eye.
La Ira de México: Siete voces contra la impunidad.
por Lydia Cacho, Sergio González Rodríguez, Anabel Hernández, Diego Enrique Osorno, Emiliano Ruiz Parra, Marcela Turati, Juan Villoro
Siete destacados periodistas mexicanos comparten relatos de víctimas de la violencia, corrupción, y violaciones de derechos humanos en México hoy en día. México continua ser uno de los países más peligrosos de ser periodista, y esas voces son feroces e importantes.
Selection for February 9
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
Meet 1920s flapper Lorelei Lee, aka Mabel Minnow from Little Rock, Arkansas. She has it all: a millionaire “benefactor,” a lavish lifestyle, and dazzling good looks. The problem is she may be falling in love with a man who is temporarily married—and permanently poor.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation
by Judith Mackrell
A biography of six women who declared their independence during the Jazz Age. British heiresses Diana Cooper and Nancy Cunard, Russian artist Tamara de Lempicka, African-American entertainer Josephine Baker, actress Tallulah Bankhead and aspiring writer Zelda Fitzgerald were daring women who defied expectations about what a woman's life should be.
(DVD)
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
A thoroughly entertaining Australian TV series about an unflappable woman detective solving crimes and righting wrongs in the backrooms of jazz clubs and speakeasies in 1920s Melbourne.
Jazz Moon
by Joe Okonkwo
Ben is a Harlem Renaissance poet swept up in the scene and winds up in Paris. This powerful debut novel explores tensions of race and class against the backdrop of the profoundly important cultural scene of the Harlem Renaissance and Jazz Age Paris.
The Wicked City
by Beatriz Williams
Moving into the building that once hid a speakeasy, Ella Hawthorne uncovers the Jazz Age story of a scandalous love triangle involving redheaded flapper Gin Kelly, a rugged Prohibition agent, and a wealthy debonair Princetonian.
Sex and Vanity
by Kevin Kwan
A more modern perspective on diamonds being a girl’s best friend. When George, the man with whom she had brief fling several years earlier, unexpectedly appears in East Hampton, newly engaged Lucie Churchill is drawn to him again and spins a web of deceit in an attempt to block him from her life – and her heart.
Flapper: The Notorious Life and Scandalous Times of the First Thoroughly Modern Woman
by Joshue Zeitz
An entertaining, well-researched and charmingly illustrated dissection of the 1920s flapper, who flouted conventions and epitomized the naughtiness of the Jazz Age as she “bobbed her hair, smoked cigarettes, drank gin, sported short skirts, and passed her evenings in steamy jazz clubs.”
Gods of Jade and Shadow
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The audiobook version of this novel, which NPR called a “best book of the year,” sparkles and crackles with the glitter of Jazz Age Mexico City and the power of Mayan gods. Yetta Gotteson narrates this book with careful skill, building out the characters’ force and energy as the story unfolds.
Speak Easy, Speak Love
by McKelle George
After she gets kicked out of boarding school, Beatrice goes to her uncle’s estate on Long Island. It’s a rundown old mansion, where Beatrice’s cousin, Hero, runs a struggling speakeasy out of the basement. As Beatrice and Hero throw all their efforts into planning a massive party to save the speakeasy, they are caught up in a romantic battle of wits that their friends might be quietly orchestrating in the background.
The Good Thieves
by Katherine Rundell
In 1920s New York City, a young girl with a deformed foot recruits her new friends, a female pickpocket and two circus performers, to help recover an emerald from her grandfather’s mansion in upstate New York after he loses his home to an unscrupulous tycoon.
Selection for February 2
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
George Saunders guides the reader through seven classic Russian short stories he's been teaching for 20 years as a professor in the prestigious Syracuse University graduate MFA creative writing program. Paired with stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, these essays are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it's more relevant than ever in these turbulent times.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
Mud and Stars: Travels in Russia with Pushkin, Tolstoy, and other Geniuses of the Golden Age
by Sara Wheeler
Russian literature fans will appreciate these nonfiction works on what makes for great writing. A Swim in a Pond analyzes short stories by the greats; Mud and Stars travels around Russia exploring the environment that produced Tolstoy, Gogol, and Turgenev.
A Night in the Cemetery: and Other Stories of Crime and Suspense
by Anton Chekhov
Take a deeper dive into Chekhov and Russian literature with this short story collection. Though billed as featuring crime and suspense, the volume has a broad range, including morality tales and stories of both dark and puckish humor.
Stalin's Scribe: Literature, Ambition, and Survival: The Life of Mikhail Sholokhov
by Brian Boeck
Sholokhov was an obscure 21-year-old short story writer when he wrote his classic novel, And Quiet Flows the Don. The first two volumes were bestsellers, but in 1930, his editor regarded further installments as insufficiently pro-revolutionary. Sholokhov refused to make changes but agreed to visit Maxim Gorky, the nation's literary idol, to discuss the matter. To his amazement, the meeting included Stalin. Grilled on the controversy, Sholokhov satisfied Stalin, who considered himself a patron of the arts. He not only approved publication, but gave the author his personal secretary's phone number. Like naïve patriots throughout history, Sholokhov considered his ruler blameless but betrayed by evil underlings, and he remained a protégé, producing fawning speeches and writing that he struggled to repress after Stalin's death.
Aetherial Worlds: Stories
by by Tatyana Tolstaya
Praised by Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky (1940–96) as “the most original, tactile, luminous voice in Russian prose,” Tolstaya, two decades on, is all that and more in this edgy, brash, slyly surreal, and mordantly funny short story collection, which begins with the sudden awakening of a woman’s literary imagination, an inherited gift.
A Gentleman in Moscow
by Amor Towles
This books guides the reader through Russian history and culture via the keenly observant eyes of a fallen member of the Russian aristocracy. The situations become more absurd and the characters more sympathetic as the story unfolds. Also in Spanish: Un caballero en Moscú.
(Print book, large type book, Spanish book, book on CD, eBook, eAudiobook)
Travels in Siberia
by Ian Frazier
Frazier himself narrates his account of his travels around Siberia, discovering the people, foods and history of the vast landscape. Humorous, informative and meditative at times, Frazier is a humble, self-deprecating guide to this land. An excellent road trip audiobook.
Diario de un joven médico
by Mikhail Bulgukov
Estas nueve narraciones muestran el nacimiento de la mente de un novelista, y son la materia prima que alimentó el surrealismo de la ficción posterior de Bulgákov.
Foreshadow: Stories to Celebrate the Magic of Reading and Writing YA
edited by Emily X. R. Pan and Nova Ren Suma
Presents an anthology of 13 short stories by contemporary young adult authors, ranging from fantasy to the experience of Mexican-Americans living in border cities. Each story is followed by an author's note, commentary by one of the editors on such topics as voice, imagery, and mood, and some, with story prompts.
Bookjoy, Wordjoy
by Pat Mora, illustrated by Raul Colon
An inspiring collection of the author's own glorious poems celebrating a love of words and all the ways we use and interact with them: reading, speaking, writing, singing, and storytelling.
Selection for January 26
When her favorite true-crime podcast host goes missing, an adrift young woman plunges headfirst into the wild backcountry of Northern California and her own dangerous obsession.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
Returning to her hometown after a long absence to investigate the murders of two girls, reporter Camille Preaker is reunited with her neurotic mother and enigmatic half-sister as she works to uncover the truth about the killings.
(Print book, large type book, Spanish book, eBook, eAudiobook, book on CD, DVD)
Lawyer Yolanda Vance becomes embroiled in espionage, activism, romance, and—you got it—a mysterious death that needs to be solved. De Leon’s spy thriller focuses on Vance’s rationale for wanting a comfortable life versus coming to terms with her own moral compass when working undercover for the FBI.
Struggling with memories over the loss of her own baby while investigating the discovery of an anonymous infant in the woods, journalist Molly Anderson traces a string of unreported assaults spanning 20 years.
I'll be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
For more than 10 years, a mysterious and violent predator committed 50 sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared. Three decades later, true crime journalist Michelle McNamara was determined to find the violent psychopath.
(Print book, large type book, eBook, eAudiobook, book on CD)
Cooper expertly crafts a twisted web of murder, mystery, and misogyny as she researches Harvard student, Jane Britton, whose violent death 50 years earlier continued to fuel the school's rumor mill.
In her small town, 17-year-old Delia “Dee” Skinner is known as the girl who wasn't taken. Ten years ago, she witnessed the abduction of her best friend, Sibby. At night, Dee deals with her guilt by becoming someone else: the Seeker, the voice behind the popular true crime podcast Radio Silent, which features missing persons cases and works with online sleuths to solve them.
The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel
Mars Patel’s friend Aurora has disappeared! His teachers are clueless. His mom is stressed out about her jobs. But Mars refuses to give up – after all, his own dad disappeared when Mars was a toddler. The clues seem to point toward eccentric tech genius (and Mars's hero) Oliver Pruitt, whose popular podcast now seems to be commenting on their quest.
Selection for January 19
The power of Adrienne Rich by Hilary Holladay
The first comprehensive biography of Adrienne Rich, feminist and queer icon and internationally revered National Book Award-winning poet.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun
by Angela Jackson
A look back at the cultural and political force of Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, in celebration of her 100th birthday.
Red Comet: the short life and blazing art of Sylvia Plath
by Heather Clark
Focuses on Sylvia Plath's remarkable literary and intellectual achievements, while restoring the woman behind the long-held myths about her life and art.
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
An artful and intimate meditation on the life and works of the acclaimed novelist.
(DVD)
Memorial Drive
by Natasha Trethewey
Trethewey's narration makes the audiobook version exceptionally powerful. With penetrating insight and a searing voice, the author explores the tragic course of her mother's life and the way her own life has been shaped by a legacy of fierce love and resilience.
These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of Emily Dickinson
by Martha Ackmann
Ackmann posits that decisive episodes in Dickinson's life contributed to her evolution as a strikingly singular voice in American poetry.
With a Star in My Hand: Ruben Dario, Poetry Hero
by Margarita Engle
A novel in verse about the life and work of Rubén Darío, a Nicaraguan poet who started life as an abandoned child and grew to become the father of a new literary movement.
A Poet's Revolution: The Life of Denise Levertov
by Donna Hollenberg
Asserting that the most important “facts” about a poet are her major poems, Hollenberg skillfully interweaves details concerning Levertov's life and works.
Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks
by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) is known for her poems about “real life.” She wrote about love, loneliness, family, and poverty – showing readers how just about anything could become a beautiful poem. This picture book biography explores the intersections of race, gender, and the ubiquitous poverty of the Great Depression.
Imagina
por Juan Felipe Herrera
Cuando Juan Felipe Herrera era niño, recogió flores, ayudó a su mamá a alimentar a los pollitos, durmió bajo el cielo centelleante y aprendió a decirles adiós a sus amiguitos cada vez que su familia seguía el camino campesino. Al crecer, Juan Felipe Herrera se convirtió en poeta. Su hermoso poema, "Imagina" y las sugerentes ilustraciones de Lauren Castillo le hablarán a cada lector y soñador que está buscando su lugar en la vida. ¿Quién podrías llegar a ser? Imagina...
Selection for January 12
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
A laugh-out-loud account of an outrageously rugged hike.
(Print book, large type book, eBook, eAudiobook, book on CD)
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
Dogtripping
by David Rosenfelt
A hilarious chronicle of moving 25 rescue dogs across the country in an RV and then starting a dog rescue foundation.
Horizon
by Barry Lopez
Distinguished natural history writer and explorer Lopez builds a winning memoir around books, voyages, and biological and anthropological observations.
Wild
by Cheryl Strayed
Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail after her mother's death and her own subsequent divorce, the author takes readers with her on the trail, and the transformation she experiences on its course is significant.
(Print book, DVD, Spanish book, book on CD, eBook, eAudiobook)
Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness
by Qing Li
The world's foremost expert in forest medicine shows how forest bathing can reduce your stress levels, strengthen your immune system, boost your mood, and even help you lose weight and live longer.
La Cocina del Bosque
por Erin Gleeson
Gleeson, desde su casa en Sebastopol, produce el blog "The Forest Feast" donde comparte recetas, fotos y más de su vida en una cabaña en el bosque. Sumérgete en el bosque con este libro delicioso.
The Secrets we Bury
by Stacie Ramey
Rather than be placed in a special school for psychologically-challenged students, Dylan, six months from turning 18, sets out on the Appalachian Trail, where he makes surprising connections with other hikers.
Prodigal Summer
by Barbara Kingsolver
Looking for fiction about the Appalachian Trail? Enjoy this vividly detailed Appalachian setting, in which wildlife biologist Deanna is caught off guard by an intrusive young hunter, while bookish city wife Lusa finds herself facing a difficult identity choice, and elderly neighbors find attraction at the height of a long-standing feud.
The Hike
by Drew Magary
Try this if you like Bryson's hilarious and engaging writing about nature, and also enjoy science fiction.
The Trail
by Meika Hashimoto
Toby and his friend Lucas made a list of things to do the summer before they entered middle school, but now Lucas is gone, and Toby sets out to fulfill the promise he made to his friend, to finish the list by hiking the Appalachian Trail from Velvet Rocks to Mt. Katahdin.
Selection for January 5
American Catch by Paul Greenberg
Paul Greenberg takes the same skills that won him acclaim in Four Fish to uncover the tragic unraveling of the nation's seafood supply, telling the surprising story of why.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World
by Patrik Svensson
Svensson, a Swedish journalist, melds the personal and scientific in this captivating look at the European eel. His book is a highly readable place to begin learning.
The Marauders
by Tom Cooper
After the BP oil spill devastates the Gulf Coast, the oddballs and lowlifes who live in the sleepy, working-class bayou town of Jeannette will do anything to reverse their fortunes.
Filmmaker and novice farmer John Chester chronicles the eight-year quest he and Molly Chester went on when they traded city living for 200 acres of barren farmland in the foothills of Ventura County and a dream to harvest in harmony with nature.
(DVD)
The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food
by Dan Barber
Moving beyond the organic farming and farm-to-table movements, Barber argues for the importance of the whole farm; an integrated, biodynamic system that sustains the richness and diversity of land and sea.
Goodnight, Texas
by William J. Cobb
In Goodnight, Texas, people struggle to survive job loss, severe over-fishing, and a looming hurricane. A lyrical, romantic, comic, and redemptive story.
Tales from the Inner City
by Shaun Tan
A collection of illustrated short stories, each one about the relationship of humans and the animals, both wild and domestic, that share the urban environment of the inner city.
The Great Shark Rescue: Saving the Whale Sharks
by Sandra Markle
Presents the story of whale sharks, the largest fish on the planet. Can volunteers and scientists help save the world's biggest fish before it's too late?
Selection for December 29
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tells the powerfully moving story of remarkable occurrences in the life and spirit of an ex-slave.
(Print book, large print book, Spanish book, book on CD, eBook, eAudiobook)
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
God Help the Child
by Toni Morrison
Morrison herself narrates the audiobook version of her searing, powerful novel of family trauma, childhood, and redemption.
Grace
by Natashia Deon
The dual stories of a mother, a runaway plantation slave and the child she never knew are woven through the historic events of the mid-19th Century.
Long Way Down
by Jason Reynolds
As 15-year-old Will sets out to avenge his brother Shawn's fatal shooting, seven ghosts who knew Shawn board the elevator and reveal truths Will needs to know.
(Print book, large print book, graphic novel, Spanish book, Playaway, book on CD, eBook, eAudiobook)
She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman
by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
A fresh take on this American icon blending traditional biography, illustrations, photos, and engaging sidebars that illuminate the life of Tubman as never before.
La esclava de Juana Inés
por Ignacio Casa
La esclava de sor Juana Inés de la Cruz fue también, a su modo, una discípula, la primera escucha de versos, sonetos y redondillas. Una mujer mulata cuyas aventuras y peripecias nos exaltan y nos llevan a descubrir los contrastes de la Nueva España del siglo XVII.
Sing, Unburied, Sing
by Jesmyn Ward
Living with his grandparents and sister on a Gulf Coast farm, Jojo navigates the challenges of his mother's addictions and his grandmother's cancer before the release of his father from prison prompts a road trip of danger and hope.
(Print book, large print book, book on CD, eBook, eAudiobook)
Narrative of Sojourner Truth
by Gilbert Olive
The autobiography of the pioneer for racial and sexual equality discusses her years as a slave in upstate New York and describes the spiritual revelations that turned her into an abolitionist.
Zora & Me: The Cursed Ground
by T. R. Simon
A fictionalized account of Zora Neale Hurston's childhood with her best friend Carrie, as they learn about life, death, and the differences between truth, lies, and pretending.
Selection for December 22
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
A luminous portrait of a marriage, a shattering evocation of a family ravaged by grief and loss, and a hypnotic recreation of the story that inspired one of the greatest masterpieces of all time.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
Black Tudors: the untold story
by Miranda Kaufmann
From long forgotten records, Kaufmann has unearthed the remarkable stories of Africans who lived free in Tudor England.
Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise
by Oscar Hijuelos
Another historical fiction title that examines real literary figures, this title chronicles the sojourn of journalist-explorer Henry Stanley; his wife, the painter Dorothy Tennant; and Mark Twain, Stanley's longtime friend, as they head for Cuba in search of Stanley's father.
Shakespeare's Wife
by Germaine Greer
Challenges popular beliefs about the estranged nature of Shakespeare's marriage to Ann Hathaway, placing their relationship in a social and historical context that poses alternative theories about her rural upbringing and role in the bard's professional life.
If you're just in the mood to immerse yourself in the Tudor world, and also want to get into the Christmas spirit, this BBC/PBS special might just be the thing. Lucy Worsley recreates how Christmas was celebrated during the age of Henry VIII.
(DVD)
The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women: A Social History
by Elizabeth Norton
A well-researched description of the lives of women in 16th-century Britain.
A Cloud of Outrageous Blue
by Vesper Stamper
After her parents' deaths, Edyth is sent to live in a priory, where she begins to make a new life--a life that will be threatened by the approach of the Great Plague.
Alice I Have Been
by Melanie Benjamin
Now in her twilight years, Alice Liddell looks back on a remarkable life. From a pampered childhood in Oxford to difficult years as a widowed mother, Alice examines how she became who she is – and how she became immortalized as Alice in Wonderland.
The Mersault Investigation
by Kamel Daoud
A love story and a political manifesto. He was the brother of "the Arab" killed by the infamous Meursault, the antihero of Camus’ classic novel. Seventy years after that event, Harun, who has lived since childhood in the shadow of his sibling’s memory, refuses to let him remain anonymous.
Midsummer’s Mayhem
by Rajani LaRocca
A contemporary retelling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream follows an 11-year-old Indian-American girl's effort to prepare a winning entry for a local baking contest, a competition that is challenged when her father mysteriously loses his sense of taste.
Selection for December 15
The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
The Dolans live by their wits, jumping freight trains and lining up for day work at crooked job agencies. The Cold Millions is a stunning portrait of class division and familial bonds. In this masterful historical take on the enduring saga of America's economic divide, Jess Walter delivers nothing less than another "literary miracle"
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
The Orchardist
by Amanda Coplin
Although The Cold Millions is more dramatic and The Orchardist is more haunting, young siblings follow different paths in both of these literary novels set in the Pacific Northwest during the turn of the century.
Music of the Mill
by Luis Rodriguez
In a story of three generations of an American family who built their lives around a decaying, late-twentieth-century steel industry, 30-year-old Azucena Salcido struggles with the cancer death of her father, the racial polarization of their community, and the corrupt power struggles among her neighbors, their employers, and their unions.
Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead
by Cecile Richards
In her autobiographical book on leadership, Richards, the quintessential cheerleader for activists of all ages, champions those who publicly take a stand for what they believe.
An Impossible Distance to Fall
by Miriam McNamara
1930. Birdie William's life has crashed along with the stock market. Her father's bank has failed, and he's disappeared along with his Jenny biplane. When she sees a leaflet for a barnstorming circus with a picture of Dad's plane on it, she goes to Coney Island in search of answers.
Sabrina & Corina
by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Kali Fajardo-Anstine's magnetic story collection breathes life into her Latina characters of indigenous ancestry and the land they inhabit in the American West.
Deep River
by Karl Marlantes
In the early 1900s, as the oppression of Russia's imperial rule takes its toll on Finland, the three Koski siblings – Ilmari, Matti, and the politicized young Aino ¬– are forced to flee to the United States. The brothers face the excitement and danger of pioneering the frontier wilderness while Aino devotes herself to organizing the industry's first unions.
How Much of These Hills is Gold
by Pam Zhang
Newly orphaned children of immigrants, Lucy and Sam are suddenly alone in a land that refutes their existence.
Las Aventuras de la China Iron
por Gabriela Cabezón Cámara
Este es un juego desenfrenado que lleva al lector desde la turbulenta cultura fronteriza de las pampas hasta los territorios indígenas. Traza las aventuras de la señora China Iron, la esposa abandonada de Martín Fierro, en sus viajes por la pampa en un carromato cubierto con su nueva amiga, que pronto se convertirá en su amante, una escocesa llamada Liz.
Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen
by Anne Nesbet
It's 1914, and 12-year old Darleen Darling has the most exciting job in the world – she gets to dangle from cliffs and stop moving trains and soar through the sky in runaway balloons! Yes, that's right: Darleen is a hero and a star – in the make-believe world of the movies ... but Darleen's fictional adventures collide with reality when a fake kidnapping intended as a publicity stunt becomes all too real.
Selection for December 8
Wine Girl by Victoria James
the obstacles, humiliations, and triumphs of America's youngest sommelier
An affecting memoir from the country's youngest sommelier, tracing her path through the glamorous but famously toxic restaurant world.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
Yes, Chef
by Marcus Samuelsson
The Top Chef: Masters winner and proprietor of Harlem's Red Rooster traces his Ethiopian birth, upbringing by an adoptive family in Sweden, and rise to a famous New York chef, sharing personal insights into his challenges as a black man in a deeply prejudiced industry.
Eat a Peach
by David Chang
The chef behind Momofuku and star of Netflix’s Ugly Delicious traces his upbringing in a deeply religious Korean-American family, his search for identity, struggles with manic depression and unlikely rise as one of his generation’s most influential chefs.
Hunger: A Memoir of (my) Body
by Roxane Gay
A heart-rending debut memoir from the outspoken feminist and essayist. The author exposes the personal demons haunting her life—namely weight and trauma—which she deems "the ugliest, weakest, barest parts of me."
The Gourmands' Way
Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy
by Justin Spring
Six American writers introduced French cuisine to American restaurants and home kitchens and were responsible for the nation’s postwar love affair with French food and wine.
Twelve-year-old Abe is an aspiring chef who wants his cooking to bring people together, but his half-Israeli, half-Palestinian family has never had a meal that didn't end in a fight. Ditching his traditional summer camp, Abe begins working with Chico, an adventurous street chef who encourages him to think outside his old cuisines. However, when Abe's deceit is uncovered, he must grapple with his family and his passions and whether even the most lovingly cooked family dinner can heal old wounds.
(DVD)
Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking
A memoir of food and longing
by Anya Von Bremzen
Born in a surreal Moscow communal apartment where 18 families shared one kitchen, the author grew up singing odes to Lenin, black-marketeering Juicy Fruit gum at school, and longing for a taste of the mythical West.
Alimentamos una Isla
by Jose Andres
Basándose en la perspectiva de Andrés, así como en reuniones, mensajes y conversaciones que tuvo durante su estadía en Puerto Rico, Alimentamos una isla describe de manera conmovedora cómo una red de cocinas comunitarias logró realizar un verdadero cambio, y cuenta una extraordinaria historia de esperanza ante los desastres, tanto los naturales y como aquellos causados por el ser humano.
Yasmin la chef
by Saadia Faruqi
La familia de Yasmin está organizando una gran fiesta, pero a Yasmin le preocupa que la comida tradicional que cocina su familia sea demasiado picante. Su familia sugiere que Yasmin invente su propio plato.
Brave Chef Brianna
by Sam Sykes
Brianna Jakobsson has big cooking dreams, and when her ailing father, a world-renowned chef, poses a challenge to his only daughter and 15 sons, she seizes the opportunity. She's going to have the best restaurant around and earn the family empire.
Selection for December 1
The Best American Short Stories 2020
A striking and nuanced collection, bringing to life awkward college students, disgraced public figures, raunchy grandparents, and mystical godmothers. To read these stories is to experience the transporting joys of discovery and affirmation, and to realize that story writing in America continues to flourish.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
A people's future of the United States
Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers
by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams
25 speculative stories imagining the future of America, with the collection featuring tales of both dystopias and utopias.
Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen
A collection of stories, written over a 20-year period, examines the Vietnamese experience in America as well as questions of home, family, and identity.
Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks
Opt for the audiobook version, narrated by the author/actor himself.
(Print book, large print book, book on CD, eBook, eAudiobook)
Flash!: Writing the Very Short Story by John Dufresne
Flash fiction is like the Twitter of the literary world. Dufresne offers an insightful guide to writing this increasingly popular form of fiction.
A Phoenix First Must Burn
Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope
Edited by Patrice Caldwell
From folktales retold to futuristic societies, this collection of stories centers on Black women and gender nonconforming individuals dealing with love and betrayal, strength and resistance.
A House is a Body Stories by Shruti Anna Swamy
Dreams collide with reality, modernity collides with antiquity, myth with true identity; women grapple with desire, with ego, with motherhood and mortality.
The Moths and other stories/Las Palomillas de la Noche by Helena Maria Viramontes
Beautifully translated Spanish-English bilingual version. Prejudice and the social and economic status of Chicanos form the backdrop for these haunting stories.
Stories from Suffragette City
Stories of a Fine and Proper Nuisance
by M. J. Rose and Fiona Davis
An anthology set during the Fifth Avenue women’s suffrage march of October 1915 includes depictions of leading rights advocates, from Ava Vanderbilt to Ida B. Welles.
Flying Lessons and Other Stories by Ellen Oh
From family fiascos to first crushes, this anthology, written by award-winning children's authors, celebrates the uniqueness and universality in all of us.
Super Puzzletastic Mysteries
Short Stories for Young Sleuths from Mystery Writers of America
Edited by Chris Grabenstein
A group of interactive short stories that invite the reader to solve the mystery themselves.
Selection for November 24
Brontë's Mistress by Finola Austin
Yorkshire, 1843: Lydia Robinson - mistress of Thorp Green Hall - has lost her precious young daughter and her mother within the same year. She returns to her bleak home, grief-stricken and unmoored. With her teenage daughters rebelling, her testy mother-in-law scrutinizing her every move, and her marriage grown cold, Lydia is restless and yearning for something more. All of that changes with the arrival of her son's tutor, Branwell Brontë, brother of her daughters' governess, Miss Anne Brontë and those other writerly sisters, Charlotte and Emily.
(Book)
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart by Claire Harman
An expert portrait of Charlotte’s life and writings, life at Haworth Parsonage and its eccentric inhabitants.
Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar
A historical novel examining the lives of Vanessa Bell, her sister Virginia Woolf, and the controversial and popular circle of intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury Group.
Glass Town by Isabel Greenberg
The entrancing story of the Brontë siblings' childhood imaginary world in graphic novel format.
Square Haunting: Five Writers in London Between the Wars by Francesca Wade
A gripping account of the lives of five women who lived at various times in the same square in London’s Bloomsbury district between 1916 and 1940.
Empress Orchid by Anchee Min
A fictional portrait of the last empress of China follows Orchid, a beautiful teenager from an aristocratic family, who is chosen to become a low-ranking concubine of the emperor and rises to a position of power in the Chinese court.
The Daring Ladies of Lowell by Kate Alcott
Moving to the mill city of Lowell in 1832 to escape farm life, young Alice is disillusioned by the local factory's harsh working conditions and struggles to advocate on their behalf while recklessly falling in love with the mill owner's son, a situation that is complicated by a murder and sensational trial.
Proust's Duchess by Caroline Weber
A brilliant look at the glittering world of turn-of-the-century Paris through the first in-depth study of the three women Proust used to create his supreme fictional character, the Duchesse de Guermantes.
Retrato en Sepia por Isabel Allende
Una saga familiar situada a finales del siglo XIX en Chile, narrada por una joven mujer. La novela explora los temas del amor y su traición, privilegio, y secretos de familia.
The Glass Town Game by Catherynne M. Valente
Inside a small Yorkshire parsonage, Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne Brontë have invented a game called Glass Town, where their toy soldiers fight Napoleon and no one dies. This make-believe land helps the four escape from a harsh reality.
Selection for November 17
Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh
Includes humorous stories from Allie Brosh's childhood, the adventures of her very bad animals, merciless dissection of her own character flaws, incisive essays on grief, loneliness, and powerlessness as well as reflections on the absurdity of modern life.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Andersen
Confronts head-on the horrors, anxiety, and awkwardness of modern adult life.
Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine
Collects six graphic stories that create a portrait of contemporary life, exploring the pride and disappointment of family, the anxiety and hopefulness of being alive, and the weight of love and its absence.
Furiously Happy: a Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson
The popular blogger presents a humorous and candid memoir about her lifelong battle with severe depression and anxiety, discussing how embracing both the flawed and the beautiful parts of life have enabled her to find joy in outrageous ways.
Why Grizzly Bears Should Wear Underpants by Matthew Inman
A collection of comics, facts, and instructional guides from the online cartoonist and #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author known as The Oatmeal.
Failure is an Option: An Attempted Memoir by Jon H. Benjamin
The lead voice behind Archer and Bob's Burgers helps us all feel a little better about our own failures by sharing his own in a hilarious memoir-ish chronicle of failure.
You Can Only Yell at Me for One Thing at a Time: Rules for Couples by Patricia Marx
An illustrated collection of love and relationship advice from New Yorker writer Patricia Marx, with illustrations from New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast.
The Odd 1s Out by James Rallison
Telling his own stories of growing up as the “odd one out,” the YouTube star, presenting his fan-favorite comics as well as some never-before-seen material, shares the life lessons he has learned on the road to adulthood.
The Bride Was a Boy by Chii
A diary comic with an upbeat, adorable flair that tells the charming tale of Chii, a woman assigned male at birth.
Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol
Her friends live in fancy houses and their parents can afford to send them to the best summer camps, but Vera’s single mother can’t afford that sort of luxury. There's only one summer camp in her price range—Russian summer camp. Nothing could prepare her for all the "cool girl" drama, endless Russian history lessons, and outhouses straight out of nightmares!
Selection for November 10
The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim
Margot Lee’s mother, Mina, isn’t returning her calls. It’s a mystery to 26-year-old Margot, until she visits her childhood apartment in Koreatown, LA, and finds that her mother has suspiciously died. The discovery sends Margot digging through the past, unraveling the tenuous invisible strings that held together her single mother’s life as a Korean War orphan and an undocumented immigrant, only to realize how little she truly knew about her mother.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.
Little Gods by Meng Jin
Explores the complex web of grief, memory, time, physics, history and selfhood in the immigrant experience, and the complicated bond between daughters and mothers.
The Seasons of My Mother by Marcia Gay Harden
An uplifting memoir that traces the story of Harden’s childhood and career using the imagery of flowers to represent the unique bond she shares with her mother, who now suffers from Alzheimer's disease.
Los Falcón by Melissa Rivero
Una impresionante novela debut sobre la lucha de una joven madre peruana indocumentada que está dispuesta a darlo todo por su familia y su nueva vida en Nueva York.
Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
A wrenching family drama about a Pakistani father and son making a home in the US in the aftermath of 9/11.
Almost American Girl by Robin Ha
A Korean teen struggles in a hostile blended home and a new school where she does not speak English before forging unexpected connections in a local comic drawing class.
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
Two families from different social classes are joined together by an unexpected pregnancy and the child that it produces.
A young Indian immigrant in America balancing the ties to where he came from and where he's living now.
(DVD)
A Cape Verdean woman travels to Lisbon to reunite with her husband, after two decades of separation, only to arrive mere days after his funeral.
(DVD)
I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day
Twelve-year-old Edie finds letters and photographs in her attic that change everything she thought she knew about her Native American mother's adoption.
Selection for November 3
Fathoms by Rebecca Griggs
When Griggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beachfront in Australia, she began to wonder how the lives of whales reflect the condition of our oceans. Here she blends natural history, philosophy, and science to learn about whales so rare they have never been named; whale songs that sweep across hemispheres in annual waves of popularity, and whales that have modified the chemical composition of our planet's atmosphere. She takes readers to Japan to board the ships that hunt whales, and delves into the deepest seas to discover how plastic pollution pervades our earth's undersea environment.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.

The Whale
by Philip Hoare
A lively travelogue through the history, literature, and lore of the king of the sea.
(Print book, eAudio)

Into the Deep
by Christy Peterson
Scientists are realizing that to address issues plaguing the ocean, we need to better understand this incredible feature of our planet.
(Print book, eBook)

Spying on Whales
by Nick Pyenson
A leading scientist dives into the secret lives of whales.
(Print book, eBook, eAudiobook)

Voices in the Ocean
by Susan Casey
A two-year global adventure to explore the nature of dolphins.
(Print book, eBook, eAudiobook)

The Soul of an Octopus
by Sy Montgomery
The author’s extraordinary experience bonding with three octopuses housed in the New England Aquarium.
(Print book, Audio CD, eBook, eAudiobook)

Mama's Last Hug
by F.B.M. Waal
The eminent primatologist takes readers deep into the world of animals to show us that humans are not the unique creatures we think we are.
(Print book, large print book, eBook)

Our Wild Calling
by Richard Louv
The renowned nature writer explores how we can find better ways to coexist with animals in the future.
(Print book, large print book, eBook)

Bowhead Whale
by Joanasie Karpik
In this book, kids will learn how bowheads raise their babies, where they live and other interesting information, like how they can eat when they don't have any teeth!
(Children's book)

Whale of the Wild
by Roseanne Parry
Vega and her brother Deneb are separated from their pod when a devastating earthquake and tsunami render the seascape unrecognizable.
(Children's book)

A filmmaker investigates his encounter with a 30-ton humpback whale that breached and almost landed on him while he was kayaking.
(DVD)
More Student Learning Support - Más recursos para apoyar a estudiantes
Posted on January 20, 2021
Your Sonoma County Library card now gives you access to more California State Library databases to support K-12 learning. Dive into this new suite of resources:
The ProQuest Suite, including CultureGrams. CultureGrams provides country and state reports that deliver a perspective on daily life and culture. Explore the background, customs, and lifestyles of the world's people! Also new in the ProQuest Suite are ProQuest Research Companion, eLibrary, SIRS Discoverer, and SIRS Issues Researcher.
Book Connections: An easy-to-use website that adds a multimedia dimension to the reading experiences of children's and young adult books. Book Connections is the public library version of TeachingBooks.net.
These new resources are an expansion of the previous state funded package that includes Britannica School, TeachingBooks.net, Escolar, and New York Times access.
All resources can be found on the A-Z list of eResources page.
Student OneCards and Educator Cards are also now able to access hoopla thanks to a generous donation from the Sonoma County Public Library Foundation. Hoopla is a one stop shop for your streaming digital media needs.
Su tarjeta de la Biblioteca del Condado de Sonoma ahora le da acceso a más bases de datos de la Biblioteca del Estado de California para apoyar el aprendizaje K-12. Revise estos nuevos recursos:
ProQuest Suite, incluidos CultureGrams. CultureGrams proporciona información nacional y estatal que ofrece una perspectiva de la vida y cultura diaria de la gente del mundo. Explore los antecedentes, costumbres y estilos de vida. También nuevo en ProQuest Research Companion, eLibrary, SIRS Discoverer y SIRS Issues Researcher.
Book Connections: un sitio web fácil de usar que agrega una dimensión multimedia a las experiencias de lectura de libros para niños y jóvenes. Book Connections es la versión de biblioteca pública de TeachingBooks.net.
Estos nuevos recursos son una expansión del paquete financiado anteriormente por el estado que incluye acceso a Britannica School, TeachingBooks.net, Escolar y New York Times.
Todos los recursos se pueden encontrar en la lista A-Z de la página de recursos electrónicos.
Student OneCards y las tarjetas para educadores ahora también pueden acceder hoopla gracias a una generosa donación de la Fundación de la Biblioteca Pública del Condado de Sonoma. Hoopla es una ventanilla única para sus necesidades de materiales digitales.
LumaCon 2021! - ¡LumaCon 2021!
Posted on January 15, 2021
LumaCon 2021 is all virtual this year, but that doesn’t mean you’ll miss out on any of the fun we have in person. Take some time to explore our website www.lumacon.net for all the fun.
What we have planned:
Contests:
- Cosplay as your favorite character on video and enter the contest on our site.
- Write a short (100 word) fanfiction or story.
- Join our readathon for a chance to win some great prizes!
Crafts:
Our wonderful children’s librarians are providing you the materials to make all of the fun crafts from previous years, including masks, capes, magnets, and shields. Come by the Petaluma Regional Library to pick up a superhero crafting kit to have fun crafting at home! Check out our awesome, instructional videos at LumaCon!2021 Crafts.
Starting January 19, come by the Petaluma Regional Library to pick up a sword making kit to have fun crafting and LARPing at home! Watch Christopher Melville’s wonderful instructional video at LumaCon!2021 Crafts.
We’ve also partnered with Rima Makaryan from the Monarch Project on another take home craft to paint beautiful butterflies. The butterfly craft bags are available at the Petaluma Regional Library between January 19 and January 29. Watch the Rima Makaryan's instructional video at LumaCon!2021 Crafts Return your artistic butterfly by February 6 to the library to be included in a public art display.
All crafting supplies are limited, first come, first served during curbside hours.
Showcase your art on Facebook or Instagram with #lumacon2021 and/or tag us @LumaCon2021 on Facebook and peta_lumacon on Instagram.
Panels:
- 10-11 AM LARPing During Quarantine with Christopher Melville.
- 12-1 PM Comic Mini-Workshop with Gio Benedetti.
- 2-3 PM Literary Disco Live Show with Tod Goldberg, Julia Pistell, and Rider Strong!!
Gaming:
Drawing:
Petaluma’s Towel Man will be spinning a wheel of prompts every hour on the hour of drawing prompts. Submit your artwork or lego creation to go with the prompt by tagging our Instagram (@peta_lumacon) in your own Instagram post for a ticket in our prize raffle.
Thank you to our Friends of the Library as well as many other local businesses who have supported ourLumaCon 2021!
LumaCon 2021 es virtual este año, pero eso no significa que te perderás nada de la diversión que tendríamos en persona. Visita nuestro sitio web lumacon.net para explorar toda la diversión.
¿Qué hemos planeado?
Concursos:
- Cosplay como tu personaje favorito en vídeo y participa en el concurso en Cosplay para LumaCon! 2021.
- Escribe una historia breve o un fanfiction de 100 palabras y participa en el concurso en Drabble Contest for LumaCon! 2021.
- Únate a nuestra LumaCon Readathon para tener la oportunidad de ganar premios.
Arte:
Nuestras maravillosas bibliotecarias para niños te están proporcionando los materiales para hacer todas las divertidas manualidades de años anteriores, incluidas máscaras, capas, imanes y escudos.
¡Ven a la Biblioteca Regional de Petaluma para recoger un kit de superhéroes para divertirte haciendo manualidades en casa! Mira nuestros increíbles videos instructivo en LumaCon!2021 Crafts.
También nos hemos asociado con Rima Makaryan del Proyecto Monarca en una manualidad para pintar hermosas mariposas. Las bolsas de manualidades de mariposas están disponibles en la Biblioteca Regional de Petaluma entre el 19 y el 29 de enero. Ve el video instructivo de Rima Makaryan en LumaCon!2021 Crafts Entrega tu mariposa artística en la biblioteca antes del 6 de febrero para que esté incluido en una exhibición de arte público.
Todos los materiales de arte son limitado, por orden de llegada, durante las horas del servicio desde la acera.
Muestra tu arte en Facebook o Instagram con #lumacon2021 y etiquetanos @LumaCon2021 en Facebook y peta_lumacon en Instagram.
Paneles:
Ve mensajes especiales durante todo el día de Endor Base y Rebel Alliance.
- 10-11 AM LARPing durante la cuarentena con Christopher Melville.
- 12-1 PM Taller de cómics con Gio Benedetti.
- 2-3 PM Literary Disco: Show en vivo a través de Zoom con Tod Goldberg, Julia Pistell y Rider Strong!!
Juegos:
Arte:
Towel Man de Petaluma hará girar una rueda de indicaciones de dibujo cada hora en punto. Envíe su obra de arte o creación de lego para acompañar el mensaje etiquetando nuestro Instagram (@peta_lumacon) en su propia publicación de Instagram para obtener un boleto para la rifa de premios.
Gracias a los Amigos de la Biblioteca de Petaluma y a los muchos negocios locales que han apoyado nuestro evento con premios.
Our Digital Magazines are Moving to OverDrive!
Posted on January 14, 2021
Starting February 19th, our digital magazines, currently available in the RBDigital app, will be available on OverDrive/Libby. We have access to over 3,000 magazines from around the world in many languages. This collection includes popular titles such as Us Weekly, The New Yorker, New Scientist, Newsweek, Cook’s Illustrated and many more! Magazines will not count towards your checkout limits in OverDrive/Libby. Explore and check out as many as you want!
New to Libby? Get started here: https://help.overdrive.com/en-us/1307.html
SLAM 2020
Posted on December 05, 2020
SLAM 2020: A Virtual Poetry Slam presented by the Sonoma County Library
Featuring Youth Poet Laureate Zoya Ahmed
2020 has been a wild ride…and what better way to close it out than with the talented young adults of Sonoma County? Community members are invited to SLAM 2020: A Virtual Poetry Slam on Saturday, December 12, from 3 to 5 p.m. This virtual event is open to performers between the ages of 13 to 19; teens will also serve as emcees and judges. All ages are welcome to attend to cheer on Sonoma County’s talented teens.
Sonoma County Youth Poet Laureate Zoya Ahmed is the slam’s featured poet. Ahmed was not only a 2019 California Poetry Out Loud finalist, she won the 2019 California’s Poetry Ourselves competition with her original poem “A Concerto of Spice.” With her passion for social justice, she also directed and performed in the 2020 Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly at Maria Carrillo High School. Ahmed said that she attempts to embrace her rich South Asian ancestorhood, and confront the minutiae of privilege and power, microaggressions and the facade of the American Dream. She hopes that her poems give a voice to all those who are silenced.

A poetry slam is a competition in which individuals perform their own poetry before an audience. The poems and the artists' performances are scored by volunteer judges. A typical poetry slam might include many styles of poetry; love poems, critical social commentary, hilarious comic poems and moving personal confessions. For this virtual slam, poets will submit two pre-recorded videos of their poems, which will be played at the live event and scored by teen judges. Prizes will be awarded to the three top-scoring poets.
The library Poetry Slam offers teens a platform to speak their truth and share their creativity with the larger community. Organizers encourage teens to be inspired to engage in, perform and experience the world of poetry—particularly spoken word poetry.
Register for the event at https://events.sonomalibrary.org/event/4593642.
SLAM 2020: Un concurso virtual de poesía organizado por la Biblioteca del Condado de Sonoma
con una interpretación especial de la joven poeta premiada, Zoya Ahmed
Este año 2020 ha sido un viaje difícil. ¿Y qué mejor manera de cerrarlo que con los talentosos jóvenes del condado de Sonoma? Se les invita a los miembros de la comunidad al SLAM 2020: Un concurso virtual de poesía de las 3 a 5 de la tarde el sábado 12 de diciembre. Este evento virtual está abierto a artistas de 13 a 19 años de edad. Los adolescentes también servirán como maestros de ceremonia y jueces. Todas las edades están bienvenidas a animar a los jóvenes talentosos del condado de Sonoma.
Zoya Ahmed, la joven poeta premiada del condado de Sonoma es la poeta invitada al concurso. Ahmed fue finalista del concurso de California Poetry Out Loud del 2019 y también ganó la competición Poetry Ourselves de California del 2019 con su poema original “A Concerto of Spice” (Un concierto de especias). Su pasión por la justicia social la llevó a dirigir y actuar en la Asamblea de Martin Luther King Jr. del 2020 en la escuela secundaria de Maria Carrillo High School. Ahmed dijo que intentara meterse en la rica herencia de sus antepasados surasiáticos y afrontar los beneficios del privilegio y poder, las microagresiones y la fachada del sueño americano. Ella espera que sus poemas les den voz a todos los silenciados.
Un “slam” de poesía es una competición en la cual individuos interpretan su propia poesía ante una audiencia. Los poemas y las interpretaciones por los artistas son calificados por jueces voluntarios. Un “slam” de poesia típico tal vez incluirá a múltiples estilos de poesía, como poemas de amor, comentarios que critican lo social, poemas cómicos graciosos y confesiones personales conmovedores. Para este “slam” virtual, poetas entregarán dos videos pregrabados de sus poemas, que estarán sintonizados en el evento en vivo y calificados por jueces jóvenes. Los premios serán otorgados a los tres poetas con las calificaciones más altas.
La biblioteca Poetry Slam ofrece a los adolescentes una plataforma para decir su verdad y compartir su creatividad con la comunidad en general. Los organizadores animan a los adolescentes a inspirarse para participar, actuar y experimentar el mundo de la poesía, especialmente la poesía hablada.
Regístrense para el evento aquí: https://events.sonomalibrary.org/event/4593642.
Library Videos & Virtual Events
Posted on November 07, 2020

Sonoma County Library staff works hard to engage with our community with programs that supports literacy,
civic engagement, skill development, and community-building. Since the pandemic has limited public access to our buildings, our creative staff has found many new ways to provide services through Virtual Programming.
Video Programming from the Library
Are you curious about science, or looking for artistic inspiration or cooking tips? How about new story times for the kids?
We have hundreds of staff-recorded YouTube videos to amuse, entertain, inspire and educate. Our videos are relevant
and frequently focus on current seasons, news, trends, and commemorative observances, such as heritage months.
Our collection is always expanding, so bookmark this page or subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Virtual Events with the Library
We regularly schedule Virtual Events, which are live presentations with a librarian or other presenter.
These differ from recorded-video events because participants can interact with librarians as well as with the other patrons.
Most virtual events are hosted on the Zoom platform and require advance registration to protect patron privacy.
Check the library's virtual events calendar for dates and times, and to register to attend.
Virtual Readers’ Advisory
Do you miss browsing books in the library to find new reading materials? Are you wishing for one-on-one book
recommendations tailored just for your reading interests? Check out these virtual avenues to connect with library
staff to learn about something new, read something you’ve never read before and maybe even get a surprise!
Podcasts are the future!
New Podcasts to come!
What’s the Story? - October 27
Posted on October 24, 2020
“What’s the Story?”
is a KRSH Radio podcast
Hosted by Joy Lanzendorfer and
co-sponsored by the Sonoma County Library
Listen to "What’s the Story"
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers--and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.
Do you enjoy this genre?
Similar reads and films are listed below, always free with a Sonoma County Library card.

Things We Lost in the Fire
by Mariana Enriquez
A haunting collection of short stories all set in Argentina.
(Print book, eBook & eAudiobook)

Las Cosas que Perdimos en el Fuego
by Mariana Enriquez
Una colección inquietante de historias cortas ambientadas en Argentina.
(Print book & eBook)

House of Leaves
by Mark Z. Danielewski
A blind old man, a young apprentice working in a tattoo shop, and a mad woman haunting an Ohio institute narrate this story of a family that encounters an endlessly shifting series of hallways in their new home, eventually coming face to face with the awful darkness lying at its heart.
(Print book)

The Good House
by Tananarive Due
Award-winning author Due's spine tingling tale of supernatural suspense weaves a stronger net than ever as a woman searches for the inherited power that can save her hometown from the forces of evil.
(Print book)

Mexican Gothic
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
A reimagining of the classic gothic suspense novel follows the experiences of a courageous socialite in 1950s Mexico who is drawn into the treacherous secrets of an isolated mansion.
(Print book, eBook, or eAudio)

The Turn of the Screw
by Henry James
A governess comes to believe her two charges, ten-year-old Miles and eight-year-old Flora, are being haunted by the ghosts of former servants.
(Print book, eBook, eAudio, or DVD)
Santa Rosa ZINE Fest 2020
Posted on October 17, 2020
What: Santa Rosa Zine Fest 2020
When: Saturday, November 7, 2020, 2pm - 5pm
Where: Virtual (Zoom) / Sonoma County Library
Sonoma County Library and the volunteer collective SRZF are excited to announce Santa Rosa Zine Fest 2020 (#SRZF2020), a free online event for all ages happening on Zoom on November 7, 2020 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Santa Rosa Zine Fest will feature an interactive artist conversation between Amanda Ayala and RJ Simon, a discussion between authors Maia Kobabe and Tessa Hulls, a workshop by Yael Levy, and a digital artists’ alley in celebration of zines, mini-comics and local talent.
If you haven't received your Zoom log-in by 1pm, email zdelgado@sonomalibrary.org.
Attendance is limited to 100 participants per session, and sessions will be recorded and made available on YouTube after the event.
Spanish interpretation will be available for all sessions.
Schedule of Events - Saturday, November 7, 2020
Registration is now open: https://events.sonomalibrary.org/event/4599247.
- Session 1, 2:00 - 3:00pm
RJ Simon (he, him, they, them) & Amanda Ayala (she, her) in Conversation
Register for this session
RJ and Amanda will be hosting a workshop and discuss their different processes when creating art! They will go over what kinds of art they make and how they go from idea to finished art piece. - Session 2, 3:00 - 4:00pm
Panel Discussion with Maia Kobabe (e, em, eir) & Tessa Hulls (she, her)
Register for this session
Both Maia and Tessa have been creating powerful political art during this tumultuous time. But how do personal projects and self care fit into the art of protest? This discussion will be moderated by an SRZF organizer. If you would like to ask Maia or Tessa questions during this discussion, please submit them via the Q&A. We will do our best to answer as many questions as we can. - Session 3, 4:00 - 5:00pm
Zine Demo by Leah Yael Levy (she, her)
Register for this session
Yael will be hosting an all ages zine demo. Whether you’ve been drawing comics for years or you’ve never drawn in your life, Yael’s enthusiastic and expressive teaching is sure to inspire you. Grab some pens and paper and get creative!
See one of Yael’s zines here.
Digital Artists’ Alley
This artists’ showcase will be available on YouTube in late October.
Celebrate local talent in a pre-recorded artists’ showcase!
What are Zines?
Zines (rhymes with greens) are small do-it-yourself publications that can be about anything—how-to guides, comics, a collection of poetry, an art book, etc. These DIY publications are generally reproduced and distributed in small batches.
The history of zinemaking is closely tied to social and political movements because as the Milwaukee Zine Fest organizers state, “Zines provide a safe, independent platform of expression for underrepresented and marginalized voices: Black, Indigenous & People of Color, young people, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ(+) community, persecuted religious groups, and people with limited economic resources” (https://www.binderymke.com/what-is-a-zine).
You Are Invited To Create A Zine!
DIY zine starter kits will be available for individuals aged 12 to 18 in limited quantities for curbside pick-up at the Central Santa Rosa, Guerneville Regional, Northwest Santa Rosa, Roseland Regional, Rohnert Park-Cotati, Sebastopol Regional, and Windsor Regional Library branches.
Please call your nearest branch to reserve a kit.
Each kit includes:
- Zine template (Feel free to use or create your own!)
- Paper
- Sharpie
- Glue stick
- Pencil
- Official Santa Rosa Zine Fest 2020 sticker
- Zine donation form
- A stamped envelope to submit your zine to the archive
Share and Archive Your Zine!
The Library wants to preserve your zines! You may submit your SRZF creation to be archived in the library’s special collections.
Submitted zines will be made into a collective zine of 2020 memories!
You may submit in two ways:
- Scan your zine or save a digital copy of your zine and upload to the Sonoma Responds portal.
- Sign the Zine donation form and send your zine through the mail to:
SR Zine Fest
PO Box 9635
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
Digital and physical submissions agree to the Sonoma Responds Terms and Conditions.
Email the Sonoma Responds team with questions about archiving your zines, sonomaresponds@sonomalibrary.org
Resources
Here are some staff curated resources about zines! Want more resources? Use the library’s What to Read Next service!
Books about Zines

Make a Zine!
When Words and Graphics Collide
by Bill Brent
(Available as
an ebook)

Notes from Underground Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture
by Stephen Duncombe
(Available as
an ebook)

Constant Rider Omnibus
Stories From
The Public Transportation Front
by Kate Lopresti
(Available as
an ebook)

Future Generation
The Zine-Book for Subculture Parents, Kids, Friends & Others
by China Martens
(Available as
an ebook)

From Girls to Grrlz
A History of Women's Comics from Teens to Zines
by Trina Robbins
(Available as
a print book)

Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?
The Art of Making Zines and Mini Comics
by Mark Todd & Esther Pearl Watson
(Available as
a print book)
Articles
D.I.Y. Until We Die: Support These Zines Made by BIPOC Artists by Mary Elizabeth
In zines, LGBTQ creators find a place to tell their own stories by Dorothy Hastings
9 Zines by Black and PoC Artists That You Need to Read Right Now by Antwaun Sargent
What Do We Do About Whiteness and the ZINE Scene? by Rabeea Syed
Need Inspiration? Explore these zine libraries:
- Zines on the Internet Archive
- Zines on Calisphere
- Queer Zine Archive Project
- Zine gallery at San Francisco Public Library
- The People’s Zine Library
- POC Zine Project
- Printed Matter: Free Protest PDFs: ZINES and Pamphlets