Our YA pick this week is Puddin’ by Julie Murphy, a cozy, realistic fiction about unexpected friendship, romance, finding your own voice, and Texas-size girl power.

Millie Michalchuk has gone to fat camp every year since she was a little girl. Not this year. This year she has new plans to chase her secret dream of being a newscaster—and to kiss the boy she’s crushing on.

Callie Reyes is the pretty girl who is next in line for dance team captain and has the popular boyfriend. But when it comes to other girls, she’s more frenemy than friend.

When circumstances bring the girls together over the course of a semester, they surprise everyone (especially themselves) by realizing that they might have more in common than they ever imagined.

This episode of First Chapter Fridays with ACL was recorded by Youth Services Librarian Hailee. Puddin’ was written by Julie Murphy and published by Balzer + Bray. To get your copy, click here! 

The Girl Who Drank the Moon is a 2017 Newbery Medal-winning novel by Kelly Barnhill. In this book, we follow the story of Luna, who, after being raised by a witch, must figure out how to handle the magical powers she was accidentally given. She must control her powers before it's too late.

This book may be placed on hold via the Valley Libraries catalog. The e-book may be placed on hold via OverDrive, or borrowed on Hoopla Digital. The e-audiobook may also be borrowed on Hoopla Digital.

This week’s first chapter for adult listeners is Born a Crime: Stories from an Authentic South African Childhood by Trevor Noah. 

This memoir documents Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to stand up comedy to eventually taking over as host of Comedy Central’s the Daily Show. Candid, reflective, and smart, Noah’s stories feature everything from high school heartbreak to a botched kidnapping to his mother’s unwavering determination. You can find Born a Crime on CD, in print, and as an eBook. 

This episode was read by Churchville Library branch manager Ali McCue. Born a Crime was written by Trevor Noah and published by Spiegul & Grau, an imprint of Random House, division of Penguin Random House, LLC.

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For adult listeners this week. we're reading The Rosie Project by Australian author Graeme Simsion. 

In this lighthearted romantic comedy, socially challenged genetics professor Don Tillman concocts a thorough, scientifically sound method for finding himself a wife. Then, he meets Rosie, who defies all logic and throws everything laughably on its head. This chapter does feature adult language and content.

Find yourself a copy here!

This week's First Chapter Fridays was read by Churchville Library Branch Manager Ali. The Rosie Project was written by Graeme Simsion and published by Simon & Schuster. 

Thanks for listening!

This week we are featuring Jackaby by William Ritter.  The 1st book in an exciting YA supernatural detective series.  A serial killer is on the loose in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892. Abigail Rook, a newly hired assistant, helps R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained. The police are convinced it's an ordinary villain, but Jackaby--who has the ability to see supernatural beings--is convinced that the foul deeds are the work of a supernatural creature.

Jackaby is available in print and audiobook formats at your local library.  This episode of First Chapter Fridays was recorded by Adult Services Librarian Rachael.  Jackaby was written by William Ritter and published by Algonquin Young Readers, an imprint of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

For our middle-grade pick this week, we have chosen a title by a Native author in celebration of National Native American Heritage Month.

In her debut middle grade novel I Can Make This Promise—inspired by her family’s history—Christine Day tells the story of a girl who uncovers her family’s secrets—and finds her own Native American identity.

Pick up your copy here! 

This episode of First Chapter Fridays with ACL was recorded by Youth Services Librarian Hailee. I Can Make This Promise was written by Christine Day and published by Harper Collins.

Thanks for listening!

To celebrate Halloween, Youth Services Librarian Hailee and Library Aide Vicki will be reading from three spooky short story collections! 

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was written by Alvin Schwarts and published by Harper Collins. 

Through the Woods was written and illustrated by Emily Carrol and published by Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster children’s Publishing Division. Both stories were read by youth services librarian Hailee.

Ghosty: A Collection of Ghost Stories was edited, illustrated, and introduced by Audrey Niffenegger. It was published by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and was read for you today by Library Aide Vicki.

Tune in next week for a fun, middle-grade ghost story that is CoCo meets Stranger Things with a hint of Ghostbusters.

Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward the twentieth century. Daniel Hudson Burnham, a renowned architect, was the brilliant director of works for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor, was the satanic murderer of scores of young women in a torture palace built for the purpose near the fairgrounds.

The Devil in the White City is available in print, on CD, and as an ebook on Libby.

The Devil in the White City was written by Erik Larson, and published by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

It was supposed to be a publicity stunt: four famous horror authors spending the night in one of the world’s most notorious haunted houses. But the house on Kill Creek has sinister plans for its visitors that will follow them further than they can imagine. 

Kill Creek by Bram Stoker award nominee Scott Thomas is available in print at the Fishersville and Middlebrook libraries. If you liked Kill Creek, you can find Scott Thomas's newest novel, Violet, at the Fishersville, Churchville, and Waynesboro libraries, 

This episode of First Chapter Fridays with ACL was recorded by Churchville Branch Manager Ali. Kill Creek was written by Scott Thomas and published by Inkshares, Inc. 

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free. Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.  It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do. But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy. There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

This book is available in print at ValleyLibraries.org, as an audiobook, as an e-audiobook on OverDrive, and as an e-book on OverDrive.

An Ember in the Ashes was written by Sabaa Tahir and published by Razorbill.