Not Your Mother's Library

This National Gratitude Month, we feel thankful for the following books:

"But You Have Friends" by Emilia McKenzie with readalike "It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth" by Zoe Thorogood. "Weyward" by Emilia Hart with "The Ten Thousand Doors of January" by Alix Harrow. "Shrink: Story of a Fat Girl" by Rachel M. Thomas with readalike "Hungry Ghost" by Victoria Ying. The three series "A Court of Thorns and Roses," "Throne of Glass," and "Crescent City" by Sarah J. Maas. "Lagom: Not Too Little, Not Too Much: The Swedish Art of Living a Balanced, Happy Life" by Niki Brantmark with similar philosophies 'Hygge' and 'Sisu'. Finally, "Meet Me in Another Life" by Catriona Silvey.

To access complete transcripts for all episodes of Not Your Mother's Library, please visit: oakcreeklibrary.org/podcast

Check out books, movies, and other materials through the Milwaukee County Federated Library System:

countycat.mcfls.org

wplc.overdrive.com

oakcreeklibrary.org

We are going to get scared as we celebrate the spooky season. 🎃

Join us for "Mysterious Creatures of Wisconsin" presented by Chad Lewis on October 13, and tell your own scary story at "Haunted Library Open Mic with Haunted US" on October 9. Details about these free library programs are available @ oakcreeklibrary.org/events-calendar.

Check out what we talked about: The episode "Legend Trippers" from the television series "A Haunting." "The Watchers" by A.M. Shine with readalike "Seed" by Ania Ahlborn. “Ocultos," "Tótem," and "Nocturnos" by Laura Pérez with readalike series "Supernatural Sourcebooks" by Julie Légère. "Little Eve" by Catriona Ward with readalike "Little Heaven" by Nick Cutter. Horror anthology podcasts "Thirteen," "Scary Stories Told in the Dark," and the latest season of "Caledonian Gothic." "Intercepts" by T.J. Payne with readalike "The Invisible Man" by H.G. Wells. "The Spectre Bride" by William Harrison Ainsworth.

To access complete transcripts for all episodes of Not Your Mother's Library, please visit: oakcreeklibrary.org/podcast

Check out books, movies, and other materials through the Milwaukee County Federated Library System:

countycat.mcfls.org

wplc.overdrive.com

oakcreeklibrary.org

Celebrate the United States of America's 250th anniversary by reading about American history and historical fiction.

Visit Oak Creek Public Library from November 4 - 25, 2026 and experience the "Patriots of the American Revolution: Legacies in Wisconsin” exhibit.

Check out what we talked about: "A People’s History of the United States" by Howard Zinn with readalike "History: A Very Short Introduction" by John H. Arnold. "Fever 1793” by Laurie Halse Anderson with readalike "Yellow Fever: A Deadly Disease Poised to Kill Again" by James L. Dickerson. The "American Girl" children's series by various authors with readalike Scholastic series "Dear America." "A Girl Called Samson" by Amy Harmon with readalike "The Tory Widow" by Christine Blevins. "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era" by James M. McPherson from "The Oxford History of the United States" series. "The Frozen River" by Ariel Lawhon with readalike "The Whiskey Rebels" by David Liss.

To access complete transcripts for all episodes of Not Your Mother's Library, please visit: oakcreeklibrary.org/podcast

Check out books, movies, and other materials through the Milwaukee County Federated Library System:

countycat.mcfls.org

wplc.overdrive.com

oakcreeklibrary.org

We're back from summer break just in time to help you prepare for the new school year.

(We apologize for the subpar audio quality this episode. :( The mic settings were changed without prior knowledge, but that issue has since been fixed and things will sound normal again next time.)

Check out what we talked about: The series “Crave" by Tracy Wolff with readalike series "Zodiac Academy" by Caroline Peckham. The "Atlas" trilogy by Olivie Blake with readalike "Vicious" by V.E. Schwab. "Girl in Ice" by Erica Ferencik with readalike "The Archivist" by Martha Cooley. The series "Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children" by Random Riggs with a graphic novel duology and a film adaption of the same name. "What You Wish For" by Katherine Center with readalike "Teach Me" by Olivia Dade. "Cat Among the Pigeons" by Agatha Christie.

To access complete transcripts for all episodes of Not Your Mother's Library, please visit: oakcreeklibrary.org/podcast

Check out books, movies, and other materials through the Milwaukee County Federated Library System:

countycat.mcfls.org

wplc.overdrive.com

oakcreeklibrary.org

Unearth a Story during this year's dino-themed Summer Reading Challenge! Registration opens June 13 at oakcreeklibrary.org/src. See what events we have on offer for all ages by visiting oakcreeklibrary.org/events. Learn more about our collection of Tonies at oakcreeklibrary.org/library-of-things.

Check out what we talked about: “Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time" by James Gurne with its sequels as readalikes. The "National Geographic Kids: Dinosaur Tonie” character with readalike graphic novel “Dinosaurs: Fossils and Feathers” by M.K. Reed and Joe Flood. "Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life" published by the Smithsonian Institute with readalike "Prehistoric Life" by DK Publishing, Inc. "The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions" by Peter Brannen with readalike "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History" by Elizabeth Kolbert. Also mentioned were the TV miniseries "Dinotopia" as well as the video game "Death Stranding" by Hideo Kojima.

To access complete transcripts for all episodes of Not Your Mother's Library, please visit: oakcreeklibrary.org/podcast

Check out books, movies, and other materials through the Milwaukee County Federated Library System:

countycat.mcfls.org

wplc.overdrive.com

oakcreeklibrary.org

This time on Not Your Mother’s Library, we recommend authors whose books are perfect for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month...or any time of the year!

Check out what we talked about: “On Such a Full Sea” written by Chang-rae Lee with readalike “Native Speaker” by the same author. “The Fortunes of Jaded Women” by Carolyn Huynh with readalike “The Original Daughter” by Jemimah Wei. “The Vagrants” by Yiyun Li with readalike “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” by the same author. “The Faceless” by Vanda Symon with readalike “Arsenic and Adobo” by Mia P. Manansala. “Poūkahangatus” by Tayi Tibble with readalike “Rangikura” by the same author. “The Tiger Mom’s Tale” by Lyn Liao Butler with readalike “The Bone People” by Keri Hulme.

To access complete transcripts for all episodes of Not Your Mother's Library, please visit: oakcreeklibrary.org/podcast

Check out books, movies, and other materials through the Milwaukee County Federated Library System:

countycat.mcfls.org

wplc.overdrive.com

oakcreeklibrary.org

April is National Poetry Month, so Mary and Rachel discuss a wide variety of poems written by poets from all walks of life.

Check out what we talked about:

"Beautiful Chaos: On Motherhood, Finding Yourself and Overwhelming Love" by Jessica Urlichs with readalike "Paper Flowers: Poetry on the Mother Wound" by Jessica Jocelyn. "Dream Boogie: Variation" by Langston Hughes with readalike "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks. "Night Sky with Exit Wounds" and "On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous" by Ocean Vuong with readalikes "Bright Dead Things" by Ada Limón and "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins. "The Divine Comedy" including "Inferno," "Purgatory," and "Paradise" by Dante Alighieri with readalike "Paradise Lost" by John Milton. "Portrait of a Dog as an Older Guy" from "Cossacks and Bandits" by Katia Kapovich and "There are Birds Here" from "The Big Book of Exit Strategies" by Jamaal May. "In Memoriam A. H. H." by Alfred Lord Tennyson with readalike "Anacreon’s Grave" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Submit an original work of your own to the annual OCPL Poetry Contest and/or register for our Poetry Open Mic Night on May 29, 2026: oakcreeklibrary.org/events

To access complete transcripts for all episodes of Not Your Mother's Library, please visit: oakcreeklibrary.org/podcast

Check out books, movies, and other materials through the Milwaukee County Federated Library System:

countycat.mcfls.org

wplc.overdrive.com

oakcreeklibrary.org

Today we are bringing you books that are set out in the country! Stories in the middle of nowhere...tales from beyond the city limits.

Check out what we talked about:

"The Golden Hour" by Niki Smith with readalike "Essex County" by Jeff Lemire. Netflix series "In the Tall Grass" based on a novella of the same name by Stephen King and Joe Hill with readalike "The Farmhouse" by Chelsea Conradt. James Herriot’s series "All Creatures Great and Small' with two watchalike TV series of the same name from the BBC and Channel 5. "A Thousand Acres" by Jane Smiley with readalike "True Colors" by Kristin Hannah. "Grass Kings" by Matt Kindt with readalike "Revival" by Tim Seeley. "Queen Sugar" by Natalie Baszile with readalike "Cane River" by Lalita Tademy.

To access complete transcripts for all episodes of Not Your Mother's Library, please visit: oakcreeklibrary.org/podcast

Check out books, movies, and other materials through the Milwaukee County Federated Library System:

countycat.mcfls.org

wplc.overdrive.com

oakcreeklibrary.org

Winter is cold, dark, and a little creepy...but it can also be cozy! Rachel and Mary recommend their favorite reads during this strange season.

Check out what we talked about:

"A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens with readalike "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James. "Welcome to Night Vale," "The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home," and "It Devours!" by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. "Cackle" by Rachel Harrison with readalike "In the Company of Witches" by Auralee Wallace. The 1987 film "The Monster Squad" with watchalike film "The Goonies" from 1985. "Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery" by Gerald Brom with readalike "My Darling Dreadful Thing" by Johanna van Veen. The 2019 video game "Jenny LeClue" with playalike video game series "Duck Detective."

Briefly mentioned were Netflix series "The Haunting of Bly Manor," the 2020 film "The Turning," radio show "A Prairie Home Companion," and the 1996 film "Matilda."

To access complete transcripts for all episodes of Not Your Mother's Library, please visit: oakcreeklibrary.org/podcast

Check out books, movies, and other materials through the Milwaukee County Federated Library System:

countycat.mcfls.org

wplc.overdrive.com

oakcreeklibrary.org

Who could have predicted that we would reach four blooper reels? Not us!

To access complete transcripts for all episodes of Not Your Mother's Library, please visit: oakcreeklibrary.org/podcast

Check out books, movies, and other materials through the Milwaukee County Federated Library System:

countycat.mcfls.org

wplc.overdrive.com

oakcreeklibrary.org