Earlier this week I received a text from my 20-something niece, “Do you know what a sleestak is?” If you’re a certain age, that word might ring a bell. It only took a quick Google search for me to recall the 1970s television show, “The Land of the Lost.” It took another 23 minutes to watch a full episode on YouTube with my 22-year-old daughter. (For the uninitiated, sleestaks, along with dinosaurs, were creatures that the protagonists of this truly bad show tried their best to avoid. I strongly recommend you watch, at the very least, the opening credits.)
You may spot more images of dinosaurs this summer as the library’s annual all-ages summer reading program, “Unearth a Story,” has begun. Hundreds of local kids and teens look forward to receiving prizes, including coupons for free ice cream, books, and stickers, through this perennial popular program. Adults who complete the challenge can look forward to being entered into a prize drawing for an annual pass to either the American Museum of Natural History or Grounds for Sculpture; a $100 gift card to a Princeton restaurant; or a $50 gift card to Labyrinth Books.
Adults are encouraged to unearth stories in different categories, including the arts, science, history and food. Below are sample titles from each category of custom book lists our staff have created. Regardless of your age, we encourage you to read with us this summer.
In “Bring the House Down” by Charlotte Runcie, readers travel to the Edinburgh Film Festival, where an actress has a one-night stand with a theater critic who has written a scathing anonymous review of her one-woman show.
From Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of “Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers,” comes “Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block.” When 63-year-old Mebel’s husband announces that he is leaving her for their private chef, Mebel sets out to win him back by enrolling in culinary school. The oldest student in the class, Mebel soon finds her groove, growing in confidence and jumping into action to investigate when a new friend goes missing.
Christina Baker Kline’s “The Foursome” reimagines the lives of her distant cousins, Sarah and Adelaide Yates. In 1840 North Carolina, the sisters wed conjoined twins Eng and Chang Bunker. The brothers immigrated to Wilkes County from Siam (now known as Thailand), opened a general store, and bought land to build a plantation. Told from the perspective of the sisters, the novel is a riveting account of these two extraordinary marriages.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go into space? Leroy Chiao, former NASA commander, veteran of four space flights, and one the first Asian American astronauts in history, invites readers to pull up a chair and have “Dinner with an Astronaut.”
Kids and teens are invited to take a 20-day reading challenge. Youth Services staff have put together a dino-mite book list for kids, including titles like “Trapped in the Tar Pit: How Paleontologists Unearthed a City’s Prehistoric Past,” “We’re All Gonna Die-nosaur!,” and “The Dino Door.”
Some suggestions for teens include “Vesuvius,” by Cass Biehn, which transports readers to the ancient city of Pompeii as Felix, a thief, and Loren, a temple attendant, realize they need to work together to escape the burning city; and “We Fell Apart,” by E. Lockhart, in which 18-year-old Mathilda is invited to spend the summer with the father she has never met and discovers more than she ever imagined.