READ @ MPL

The Everything Managing People Book: Quick and Easy Ways to Build, Motivate, and Nurture a First-rate Team is an excellent book for first time mangers or anyone who may need to refresh their management skills:

Life as a Manager
-As a manager one must be aware of personal limitations and must be able to set realistic goals for themselves and their employees. Managers are expected to "walk on water" when it comes to knowing their jobs, the jobs of their employees and their individual needs. Managers are required to wear various hats and must hold down the front lines when needed.
-Office friendships and socializing outside of the office is rare between managers and employees. Many employees (speaking honestly from experience) are hesitant to form any type of friendship with managers. For some managers it can be pretty lonely at the top.

Check your Baggage at the Door
-Personal situations always seem to sneak their way into the workforce, and no matter how much we try to forget about the argument we had the night before with our spouse or children it can sometimes show in our job performance. Managers must be focused regardless of what may be happening outside of work.
-Managers are human with human emotions just like everyone else. We all have certain things that rub us the wrong way, and the key to keeping our personal feelings to a minimum is by knowing exactly what those things are. Managers must understand that personalities are different and that some may collide and some may crash and burn.

Guiding your Career
-Becoming a manager is at times the final career goal for some individuals. All of their hard work, diligence, and patience have paid off. But for some the road to management does not stop once they land the corner office. Achieving management status is just the beginning. By keeping ones skills sharp, staying up-to-date and setting goals, a manager can easily find their way on a road to upward success.

Submitted by: Sha'Nese

Narrated by high school student Clay Jenkins, this story is disturbing, haunting and full of regret. It all starts when Clay mysteriously receives thirteen cassette tapes in the mail recorded by a girl, Hannah, who recently committed suicide. Readers will find this story gripping as it races toward Hannah's unfortunate demise. Author Jay Asher leaves us in deep thought about our own past interactions with acquaintances, friends and family and how actions, perhaps unknowingly, cause intense reactions for better or worse.

I listened to the audio book, read by both a female and male, which makes you feel like you are listening to Hannah's tapes too as an eerie participant of the story. Check catalog for availability.

Submitted by Paula @ MPL Central

In Rachman's debut, The Imperfectionists, his experience as a foreign correspondent and editor aptly shape the jaded lives of his characters. Each chapter is a different person's tale; a few of my favortites:

• The reader who scans every word of every paper, but slowly, so she is more than a decade behind. In her home it is merely April, 1994 and she knows nothing of history beyond that point.
• Obit writer, Arthur Gopal, is sent to Switzerland to interview Gerda Erzberger, an Austrian intellectual. "Claw your way to the bottom, did you?" she asks, but he doesn't mind because this is all he aspires to.
• The Paris correspondent who doesn't realize he's past his prime.
• The female chief financial officer who ends up on a transatlantic flight sitting next to a man she fired.
• A naïve fellow competing for a stringer's job in Cairo who is completely taken for a ride by an older and wiser cohort.

The chapters read like short stories, but intertwine the origins and development of a newspaper in Rome. This dysfunctional group shows a picture of the imperfection that dogs and yet upholds people. Also of interest is the recently published The Room and the Chair by Lorraine Adams; it has a newsroom similar to Rachman's. And, The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault, which is about lexicographers rather than newspeople, but has melancholy characters.

Submitted by Jacki @ MPL Central

As the TwilightMoms and hordes of grown-up Harry Potter aficionados can tell you, young adult lit isn't just for teens anymore. Thrilling plots, compelling characters, and plain old good writing transcend the little "YA" stuck on the spine label. Here's how to find teen books just too good to miss - whether you're 16 or 60.

Check out the Printz Award , given annually for excellence in young adult literature. These books tend to be exceptionally well-written. This year's winner, Libba Bray's Going Bovine , manages to be both wacky and profound at the same time. Think Douglass Adams, but with fewer aliens and more smoothies.

There are also some great lists available online - apparently, I'm not the only one harboring an obsession with great teen lit! Try this article from Library Journal, this list on Amazon, or these suggestions on GoodReads.

And, of course, you can ask your friendly neighborhood librarian. We love to talk about fantastic books for any age! Case in point - even with all these fabulous resources to help you find a teen book you'll love, I can't help mentioning one of my all-time favorite series. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins contains some of the most gripping, absorbing books I've read in ages. (The final installment, Mockingjay, was just released on August 24th. Place your holds now!)

So if you've never ventured into the YA area of your library, or if you're a closeted YA fan afraid to whip out the newest Laurie Halse Anderson on the bus, be liberated! No matter what your age, there's a whole world of riveting, poignant, funny, creative teen lit for you to explore.

Submitted by Audrey @ Central

Chick Ink : 40 Stories Of Tattoos -- And The Women Who Wear Them. Edited by Karen L. Hudson.

No longer are tattoos just for rebels and soldiers. More and more men and women are getting them and society is slowly starting to accept this art form. Perhaps? I found the stories in Chick Ink unique and fascinating. Each chapter focuses on a different woman who speaks about her reasons for permanently adorning her skin with images and words. At the end of the book I had one lingering question. How was the author able to limit the book to only 40 stories?

Submitted by Paula @ Central