One of my favourite parts of my job is finding a new book for a fellow bookworm, or what we library folk call Readers Advisory. The library has many resources for helping you find your new favourite title or author.
Each library has binders that have pages upon pages of suggestions. If you can’t find them just ask us and we’ll point you in the right direction. I’ve been updating our Young Adult advisory binders and have found some excellent lists, as well as some new books that sound like absolute gems! Looking for books about fairies? Spies and espionage? The latest Eisner Award winners? We’ve got lists for all of these topics and so much more!
As for the gems? I’ve added Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalo to my mental bookshelf of things to read; I found it on our “Gothics” list.. The series is about Audrey Wadsworth who is very affluent thanks to her father’s wealth. Audrey’s world is changed though when she begins investigating multiple murders in her city. Thankfully, Audrey has a pretty serious side hustle that involves studying forensics with her Uncle.
Another one I discovered in our “Cyborgs, Androids and Clones” list is Project Cain by Geoffrey Girard. Goodreads.com describes it best: “Fifteen-year-old Jeff Jacobson learns that not only was he cloned from infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s blood as part of a top-secret government experiment, but there are other clones like him and he is the only one who can track them down before it is too late.”
Don’t those books sound great? It’s always interesting to see the overlap between categories. Both are also perfect for anyone who likes the Netflix craze about serial killers.
A great way to find books that are similar to what you like is to use our online service called Novelist. You can access it through our main website by clicking the research tab and then clicking research again! Novelist works similar to Goodreads where it tells you the basics about the book including genre, character, tone, and pacing. However, Novelist really shines by giving you a breakdown of each book’s genres and themes that you can select. If you liked the Hunger Games for example, you could scroll down and select the aspects you liked about the book, click search and boom — you have more books. You can also do the same for authors or series! Plus it tells you the book’s Goodreads rating!
On top of Novelist and our binders we have an online service called Book Butler. Book Butler uses a survey system to figure out what you like to read and sends it to our staff. We then try to find books that match the criteria you’ve given us and send you the titles via email. You can find the survey at www.tbpl.ca/bookbutler
If you want to see what new young adult books the library has you can also check out www.tbpl.ca/teens, which is updated monthly. That link, as well as @tbplteens on Instagram, can keep you up to date on all of the free programs running for teens and tweens and any volunteer opportunities! Come visit us and don’t be afraid to ask us for suggestions — Some of us love reading young adult books as much as you do!
Nicole – www.tbpl.ca. If you have a comment about today’s column, we would love to hear from you. Please comment below!
Thunder Bay Public Library's Book Blog 
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