Bring in your suggestions for the April ballot to this meeting.

While reading, please consider: What happens to the characters that carry their stories with them, both physically and mentally? What happens when we try to forget our past? How much control over their own stories do the characters in the book seem to have?

The next gathering of Beebe Library’s book discussion group, Books By the Lake, will discuss Chris Cleave’s Little Bee. In this discussion group favorite, Little Bee, a young Nigerian refugee, has just been released from the British immigration detention center where she has been held under horrific conditions for the past two years, after narrowly escaping a traumatic fate in her homeland of Nigeria. Alone in a foreign country, without a family member, friend, or pound to call her own, she seeks out the only English person she knows. Sarah is a posh young mother and magazine editor with whom Little Bee shares a dark and tumultuous past. A sense of humor and an unflinching moral compass allow each woman, and the reader, to believe that even in the face of unspeakable odds, humanity can prevail.

For a schedule of the 2012 titles, please look on Books By the Lake’s web page.

**Highly Recommended by readers

Black, Cara. Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis Aimee LeDuc series; bk.7

Block, Lawrence. A Drop of the Hard Stuff. Matthew Scudder series; bk.17

Brandman, Michael. Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues. Jesse Stone series; bk.10.
First title is series written by Brandman based on Parker’s character.

Childs, Lee. The Affair. Jack Reacher series; bk.16
Reacher’s first case.

**Cotterill, Colin. Killed at the Whim of a Hat. Jimm Juree series; bk.1 Thailand
—.Slash and Burn. ?Final Dr. Siri Paiboun series; bk.8 Laos

DeMille, Nelson. Plum Island. John Corey series; bk. 1

Gerritsen, Tess. Body Double. Rizzoli & Isles series; bk.4

Grafton, Sue. V is for Vengeance. Kinsey Millhone series; bk.22

**Hart, John. The Last Child.

**Kaaberbol, Lene & Agnete Fris. The Boy in the Suitcase.
Denmark thriller being compared to Steig Larsson

MacDonald, Patricia. Stranger in the House.

**Mina, Denise. Still Midnight. Alex Morrow series, bk.1
—. The End of the Wasp Season.; bk.2
Glasgow, Scotland

**Perry, Douglas. Girls of Murder City: Fame. Lust and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago. Non-Fiction.

Stevens, Taylor. The Informationist.
Billed as a thriller–Steig Larsson wannabe falls short

**Willett, Sabin. The Deal.
Boston law firm suspense

Allingham, Margery. (Albert Campion; bk.8)

• Dancers in Mourning. (1937) Musical Comedy
  also found in The Crime and Mr. Campion (1937) NOTE: Readers question whether this has enough music in the plot to be on this list.

Anderson, J.R.L. (Piet Deventer; bk.2)

• Festival (1979) Rock Festival

Atkins, Ace. (Nick Travers)

1. Crossroad Blues (1998)
2. Leavin’ Trunk Blues (2000)
3. Dark End of the Street (2002)
4. Dirty South (2004)

Barnard, Robert.

• Death on the High C’s (1977) Opera
• Death and the Chaste Apprentice (1989) (Charlie Peace; bk.1) Opera NOTE: Readers question whether this has enough music in the plot to be on this list.

Bowen, Rhys. (Constable Evans; bk.3)

• Evanly Choirs (1999)

Cash, Dixie. (Domestic Equalizers; bk.7)

• I Can’t Make You Love Me, But I Can Make You Leave. (2011) Country Music

Charles, Paul. (Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy)

1. I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass (1997) Record Company
2. The Hissing of the Silent Lonely Room (2001) bk.3 American musician

Crispin, Edward. (Gervase Fen)

• Swan Song (1947) bk.4; Opera

Dill, Stuart. (Music Industry Thriller)

• Murder on Music Row (2011)

Duchin, Peter and John Morgan Wilson. (Philip Damon) Bandleader

1. Blue Moon (2002)
2. Good Morning, Heartache (2003)

Elias, Gerald. (Daniel Jacobus) Violin Teacher

1. Devil’s Trill (2009)
2. Danse Macabre (2010)
3. Death and the Maiden (2011)

Friedman, Kinky.

• Musical Chairs (1999) (Kinky Friedman; bk.5 Country Music)
• Roadkill (1997)(Kinky Friedman; bk.10 Willie Nelson)
• Blast from the Past (1998) (Kinky Friedman; bk.11 Prequel to Roadkill)

Fulmer, David. (Valentin St. Cyr; bk.1)

• Chasing the Devil’s Tail. (2001) Storyville, New Orleans

Grabien, Deborah. (J.P. Kincaid)

1. Rock and Roll Never Forgets (2008)
2. When My Guitar gently Weeps (2009)
3. London Calling (2010) Not in NOBLE
4. Graceland (2011)

Grabien, Deborah. (English Ballad Mysteries)

1. The Weaver and the Factory Maid (2003)
2. The Famous Flower of Serving Men (2004)
3. Matty groves (2005)
4. Cruel Sister (2006)
5. New Slain Knight (2007)

Hare, Cyril.

• When the Wind Blows (1950) Violinist

Hewson, David. (Daniel Forster)

• Lucifer’s Shadow (2004) Lost musical masterpiece

Klein, Daniel. (Elvis Presley)

1. Kill Me Tender (2000)
2. Blue Suede Clues (2002)
3. Viva Las Vengeance (2003)
4. Such Vicious Minds (2004) Not in NOBLE

Holmes, Rupert.

1. Swing (2005) Jazz Musician/1940 World’s Fair

Kellerman, Faye.

1. Gun Games (2011) (Decker/Lazarus series; bk.20) Musical Prodigy

Leon, Donna. (Guido Brunetti Mysteries; bk.1)

1. Death at La Fenice (1992) Opera

Peters, Ellis. (Inspector George Felse; bk.6)

• Black is the Colour of My True Love’s Heart (1967)

Moody, Bill. (Evan Horne)

• Solo Hand (1994)
• Death of a Tenor Man (1995)
• The Sound of the Trumpet (1996)
• Bird Lives! (1999)
• Looking for Chet Baker (2002)
• Shades of Blue (2008)
• Fade to Blue (2011) Not in NOBLE.

Ross, Kate. (Julian Kestral; bk.4)

• The Devil in Music (1997)Historical Mystery–Passion for Great Music

Saulnier, Beth. (Alex Bernier mysteries; bk.5)

• Ecstasy (2003) Rock Band

Slater, Harrison.

• Nightmusic (2002) Mozart’s diary

Stace, Wesley.

1. Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer (2011)

Sublett, Jesse. (Martin Fender)

1. The Rock Critic Murders (1989)
2. Tough Baby (1990)
3. Boiled in Concrete (1992) Not in NOBLE

Walpow, Nathan. (Joe Portugal mysteries; bk.3)

• One Last Hit (2003) Rock Band

Wilson, Eric P. (Aramis Black mysteries; bk.2)

• A Shred of Truth (2007) Country Music

Berg, Elizabeth. We Are All Welcome Here. (2006) ISBN: 9780812971002 $15.00 pbk
Set in Tupelo, Mississippi during the summer of 1964, 13-year-old Diana butts heads with an African-American caregiver helping her to look after her mother, who has been paralyzed since she contracted polio shortly before Diana was born.

Blake, Sarah. The Postmistress. (2010) ISBN: 9780425238691 $15.00 pbk
The stories of a small Cape Cod postmistress and an American radio reporter stationed in London collide on the eve of the US’s entrance into WWII, a meeting that is shaped by a broken promise to deliver a letter. Also appeals to fans of Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society.

Cook, Claire. The Wildwater Walking Club. (2009) ISBN: 1401341233 $13.99 pbk
This is a character-driven and witty novel in which friendship is a main topic. Three women who are neighbors share their struggles with unfaithful men, rebellious children, and parental expectations while taking long walks near their homes on Wildwater Way.

Devoto, Pat C. The Summer We Got Saved. (2005) ISBN: 9780446697156 $21.99 pbk
While Tab Rutland secretly learns about the Civil Rights movement from her aunt, her African American friend Maude helps her Alabama neighbors prepare for voter registration, and her father considers going against his fellow farmers and voting against George Wallace in the upcoming election.

Feldman, Ellen. Next to Love. (2011) ISBN: 9780812992717 $25.00 HC
Follows the stories of three young couples whose lives are irrevocably changed in the years following World War II, a period during which they struggle with difficult losses and witness profound transformations in American culture.

Jordan, Hillary. Mudbound. (2008) ISBN: 9781565126770 $13.99 pbk
Laura McAllan, a white woman and her family move to a Mississippi farm after WWII to endure a life of privation made worse when her racist father-in-law moves in with them. When Laura’s nephew, a veteran, befriends another veteran – a black man – tragedy ensues.

Marshall, Bev. Right as Rain. (2004) ISBN: 9780345468420 $13.95 pbk
A book that explores issues arising from racial and class boundaries in the South from the 1940s to the 1960s, using interracial friendships to portray challenges to the white-dominated class structure. This is fast-paced, moving Literary or Domestic fiction set in the mid-twentieth century American South. The author also uses strong female characters to explore issues of race, class, and gender within communities undergoing profound societal changes.

Mayhew, Anna Jean. The Dry Grass of August. (2011) ISBN: 9780758254092 $15.00 pbk
A white teenage girl discovers the effects of racism on black women in the mid-1950s South.

Naslund, Sena Jeter. Four Spirits. (2003) ISBN: 006093669X $14.95 pbk
In the wake of racial tensions in 1960s Alabama, sheltered white college student Stella participates in her first freedom movement and finds her life changed in several ways when she develops friendships with local African Americans.

Nicholas, Denise. Freshwater Road. (2005) ISBN: 9781416571230 $7.99 pbk
Celeste Tyree, a black 19-year-old college student, travels to Mississippi to take part in the 1964 summer campaign to register disenfranchised African American voters.

Smith, Lee. The Last Girls. (2002) ISBN: 9780345464958 $15.00 pbk
Smith builds this absolutely inviting, completely compelling novel around the idea that “whatever you’re like in your youth, you’re only more so with age.” Thirty-five years after a trip down the Mississippi on a raft with their classmates, four women are reunited to cruise the river once again where they plan to release the ashes of a fellow rafter, Margaret “Baby” Ballou.

Stefaniak, Mary Helen. The Califfs of Baghdad, Georgia. (2010) ISBN: 9780393341133 $15.95 pbk
In this inventive and comic story, eleven-year-old Gladys Califf and her Depression-era community are turned upside down when a worldly teacher, who is fascinated with all things Arabian, moves into the small town. Though set a generation earlier and in a different sociological stratum, this novel should appeal to fans of The Help.

Umrigar, Thrity. The Space Between Us. (2006) ISBN: 9780062067890 $16.99 pbk
In contemporary India, housewife Sara and her maid Bhima see each other through the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood, until a secret is exposed and they can no longer ignore the class line drawn between them.

Murray, Alison. Apple Pie ABC. (2010) ISBN 9781423136941 $16.99 HC
When an apple pie arrives piping hot on the kitchen table, a little pup does everything from A to Z to get his paws on it. He Ogles it. He Pines for it. But will his ABC antics land him a slice? Apple Pie ABC is a delicious twist on traditional verse brought to life by Alison Murray’s simple words and whimsical illustrations. Sure to delight readers of all ages, it’s a book to savor again and again.

Lichtenheld, Tom and Ezra Fields-Meyer. E-Mergency. (2011) ISBN 9780811878982 $16.99 HC
So often it’s the simplest ideas that are the best—and the funniest. In this alphabetically audacious romp, the letter E has an accident, and while it is recovering, the letter O takes its place (with comodic rosults). The pages are jam-packed with so many linguistic puns, acronyms, and jokes that readers may not realize how much they’re learning about language along the way. Throo choors!

Fisher, Valorie. Everything I Need to Know Before I’m Five. (2011) ISBN 9780375868658 $17.99 HC
Everything? Believe it. Fisher introduces readers to a wealth of concepts—numbers, letters, colors, shapes, weather, and more—and does so using cleverly composed photographic tableaus made up of vintage toys, knickknacks, thrift-store finds, and other odds and ends. This book is thorough, fun, and as one-of-a-kind as the objects that fill its pages.

Smith, Lane. Grandpa Green. (2011) ISBN 9781596436077 $16.99 HC
This may be Smith at his most earnest—a boy wanders through his great-grandfather’s topiary garden, the sculpted hedges reflecting the elder’s story, from a rural childhood to war and finding love. Grandpa Green isn’t dead, but he is in decline, and Lane’s young narrator serves as a poignant reminder that the things we create—stories, memories, art (in whatever form it might take)—endure long after we do.

Willems, Mo. Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator! (2011) ISBN 9780062004000 $17.99 HC
Willems excels at putting his audience first, and the six and a half stories that make up this pitch-perfect collection are no exception. Friendship is friendship, whether with another child or with a blue toy alligator, and Willems treats the highs and lows of Amanda and her alligator’s relationship with honesty and humor, evoking such classic pairings as Charlie Brown and Snoopy or Calvin and Hobbes.

Klassen, Jon. I Want My Hat Back. (2011) ISBN 9780763655983 $16.99 HC
With deadpan humor and a hint of wickedness, illustrator Klassen makes his debut as an author with the deceptively simple story of a bear who just wants to find his missing hat. Don’t let the pared-down art and narration fool you: a wealth of emotion and personality hides behind the deadened eyes of Klassen’s woodland creatures, from anxiety to rage, stupefaction to satisfaction.

Castillo, Lauren. Melvin and the Boy. (2011) ISBN 9780805089295 $16.99 HC
When a little boy sees a turtle basking in the sun at the park, he thinks he’s found the perfect pet. But when they get home, the boy soon discovers that the only time the turtle comes out of his shell is at bath time. Is it possible that the turtle would be happiest back in the pond? After all, it’s always bath time there! Lauren Castillo’s beautiful art gives this gentle story about finding the right pet–and, in the end, doing what’s right for that pet—a timeless, classic feel.

Burkert, Rand and Nancy Eckholm Burkert. Mouse & Lion. (2011) ISBN 9780545101479 $17.95 HC
Retellings of the classic Aesop’s fable of good deeds rewarded are legion, but few are as elegantly and richly conceived as this mother-son collaboration. To say that the naturalistic and astonishingly detailed illustrations bring the African savannah to life hardly does them justice—paired with the story’s spare prose, each spread forms an intimate, perfectly framed vignette, charged with emotion.

Dean, James and Eric Litwin. Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes. (2010) ISBN 9780061906220 $16.99 HC
Pete the Cat goes walking down the street wearing his brand new white shoes. Along the way, his shoes change from white to red to blue to brown to WET as we steps in piles of strawberries, blueberries and other big messes! But no matter what color his shoes are are, Pete keeps movin’ and groovin’ and singing his song…because it’s all good.

Tullet, Hervé. Press Here. (2011) ISBN 9780811879545 $14.99 HC
If Lane Smith’s It’s a Book was last year’s rallying cry in defense of the printed book, 2011 belongs to Tullet’s elementally simple and playfully interactive offering, which invites readers to press, shake, and turn it—and see the results on the next page. Let the apps proliferate: books like this prove that there will always be a place for smart, well-executed, and proudly low-tech picture books.

Sayre, April Pulley. Rah, Rah, Radishes! A Vegetable Chant. (2011) ISBN 9781442421417 $15.99 HC
Know any kids who don’t like veggies? Here is a book that’s sure to change their hungry minds! With a raucous rhyming text, Rah, Rah Radishes celebrates fresh vegetables, nature’s bright colors, and the joy of healthy eating. The book’s interactive spirit encourages kids to join in on the read-aloud fun, and little ones won’t be able to resist the book’s vibrant photographs–they’re a feast for the eyes!

Nolan, Dennis. Sea of Dreams. (2011) ISBN 9781596434707 $16.99 HC
Wordless stories have a magic all their own, and that’s especially true of Nolan’s maritime fantasy, in which a child’s sand castle is besieged by the tide, setting in motion a dramatic escape for the miniature family that lives within. Nolan’s lush spreads provide abundant ammunition for readers’ imaginations, giving them an enchanting world in which to lose themselves.

Savage, Stephen. Where’s Walrus? (2011) ISBN 9780439700498 $16.99 HC
A triumph of design, Savage’s wordless game of cat-and-mouse (or rather walrus-and-zookeeper) demonstrates how much one can do with a few simple forms, some repetition, and an effortlessly charming tusked hero. The delight comes not from finding Walrus (that’s easy), but in seeing the ways in which his swoopy gray curves mimic the mannequins, firemen, and can-can dancers he tries to blend in with.

*A special Thank You to Stephanie Tournas for this list*