Staff Selections: Stephanie

Last Updated on Thursday, 25 October 2012 14:55

Norman - Check this out!

Stephanie serves as our “Staff Selections” guest columnist this month!  She is a reference and outreach librarian in the Children’s department at Norman Public Library, where she has worked since January 2012.

Stephanie spent her early years in Oklahoma City and graduated from Norman High School in 1999. “My first love was Gone With the Wind; I thought I was Scarlett O’Hara, but the corsets were terrible, and the dresses kept getting covered in red dirt,” she says, laughing.  “My second love was The Outsiders, and I found that I liked jeans better anyway.” 

After “bouncing around the country for a bit,” she completed a degree in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Oklahoma, then got a job at OU’s Center for Social Justice.  “I got to work closely with amazing people, activists from Oklahoma and around the world,” she says.  “They were some of the most inspiring and dedicated folks I’ve ever met.”

As for her reading tastes, Stephanie says “I will try most things at least once, and that includes genres, but I prefer to read whatever other people are talking about - fiction, narrative non-fiction, and YA mostly.  If you’ve heard of it, I want to read it!” 

Here are a few of her preferred recent reads:

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Stephanie: “Augustus and Hazel fall in love after meeting in a support group for kids who have terminal cancer.  Anyone who has ever read John Green, been a teenager, or been in love should read this book.  It is so cruel, so raw, and so beautiful -  one of the best books I’ve ever read.”

Also available in:  large print    compact disc

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

Stephanie:  “If you are a lexophile sentimental for epic fairytales, have I got a book for you!  Twelve-year-old September is very bored with her life, until she is sent to Fairyland on the back of a Leopard by a Green Wind.  Once there, she meets fantastical characters, and learns important lessons.  Travel to Valente’s fairyland with September- you won’t regret it!”

Also available in:  downloadable audiobook

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot  

Stephanie: “Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer in 1951, but her cells live in laboratories all over the world today.  Skloot’s book is a thoroughly engaging work of narrative nonfiction, raising important issues regarding science, ethics, race, and class. “

Also available in:   large print   compact disc   ebook   downloadable audiobook

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern  

Stephanie: “Two young magicians battle to the death at a mysterious circus open only at night.  If you like romance, fantasy, confusing plots, duels, and old magic, this is a circus you will want to visit.  I was swept away by the lush imagery.”

Also available in:   large print    compact disc    ebook   downloadable audiobook

The Passage by Justin Cronin

Stephanie: “The Passage introduces a group of people infected with a mysterious virus.  So many people have become victims to these monsters that life for the survivors is nothing like our current reality. This book can be called many things: epic, supernatural, dystopian, horror, science fiction, fantasy, – I don’t care what you call it, it is worth reading.  The sequel, The Twelve, comes out in October 2012.”

Also available in:   large print    compact disc    ebook   downloadable audiobook