Discover This Week's Staff Picks: Books, Music & Movies!

Books, music, movies, and events! We’ve got something for everybody in this week’s Staff Picks!

A close-up view of colorful plastic Easter eggs in pastel shades, including pink, yellow, blue, and green, scattered together.

Library Easter Egg Hunt

The annual Library Easter Egg Hunt returns once more, starting today, March 27th, and running through April 12th! Bring the little ones to the Library during operating hours any of those days and see if they can find one of the colorful plastic eggs hidden throughout the Children’s Department. When they locate one, they can bring it to the Circulation Desk to choose a fun prize (limit one per child)! – Sean Farrell

A comic strip showing a group of diverse young people discussing plans for the weekend while one person uses a phone for a school project. Another panel depicts a school setting with students interacting, including one in a wheelchair, emphasizing inclusivity and technology.

The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World by Jonathan Haidt & Catherine Price

Haidt’s previous book, The Anxious Generation, which discusses the affects of technology and social media on youth, was extremely popular a couple summers ago. A local school even made it recommended reading for all staff! While that book is meant for an adult audience, The Amazing Generation is written to be accessible and attention-grabbing for youth. It’s recommended for ages 9-12, but its storytelling, firsthand accounts, approachable conveying of research, positivity, and quick pace, all expand that range for youth who are able to read with an adult. While Haidt & Price give plenty of attention to research and neurosicence (all expressed accessibly), their main focus is to offer readers ideas on how to choose activities and routines that will give them the experiences they want.

I highly recommend this title for all ages! Adults will get the abbreviated version of The Anxious Generation, will have a better understanding of how technology and social media affect the youth in their lives, and can utilize the ideas themselves. Youth will, even if they don’t absorb every morsel of data, be able to start making informed decisions right away and will have a starting point for conversations about social media and technology. I highly recommend utilizing this title as an intergenerational read – whether it’s sitting down and reading together or listening together on a road trip. There are conversational prompts throughout the book, and there will be plenty of other points where you’ll want to stop and discuss. Let the kids know it’s okay to stop and talk about something whenever they want, and you might be surprised by how much they have to say! – Mary Ecklund

Text graphic featuring the words 'sexi', 'robyn', and 'stential' in a stylized font against a blurred background.

Sexistential by Robyn

While her influence can be felt all over modern pop music, no one else can quite master Robyn’s winning formula. Years after her last album, the “Dancing On My Own” singer returns with a quick 30-minute blast of pining melodies exploring love and sex as a middle-aged mother over her signature 4/4 beats and electronic blips and bleeps. While nearly every song here deserves chart success, that isn’t what she aims for, instead going wherever her heart leads her, baring her soul, and making humanistic electronic music with a universal relatability. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait as long for her next album. – SF

A close-up of a dog with a wooden background and a lit lantern in the scene.

Good Boy

The innovative found footage horror movie focused on the perspective of a faithful dog has made its way to disc and is available at the Library. With a canine performance that is so good it has to be seen to be believed, this is one of the more enjoyable fright flicks released in recent years. In my original review last year I said it was, “Sweet, sad, tense, and engaging with some genuinely creepy moments and one of the greatest canine actors of all time, this will wind up being a Halloween favorite for a lot of people (and their furry friends).” – SF

An illustrated woman with long hair and glasses, wearing a black outfit, set against a colorful background.

Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line by Elle Cosimano

I can’t believe we’ve gotten to #6 in the Finlay Donovan series! I’m excited for every new installment in this mystery/humor series, and this title was a pleasure. If you’re looking for a couple new book friends and some fast paced, humorous mystery reads, I highly recommend starting at the beginning with Finlay Donovan is Killing It. The series is especially wonderful to listen to during car rides. And if you enjoy this, you’ll enjoy the TV show How to Get to Heaven from Belfast. – ME

Three people sitting on a wooden bench with a photo frame, against a blue gradient background.

How to Get to Heaven from Belfast

From the creators of Derry Girls comes this (humorous) murder mystery series – only 8 episodes long, very satisfying. When their childhood friend dies, 3 Irish women attend her wake – drudging up memories of a startling experience they had as teens and bringing up questions about her death. Fast moving, darkly funny, and fully enjoyable. Warning: Make sure Netflix starts you on episode 1 – it for some reason started us on the last episode and I almost stopped watching because it was so confusing. Starting at episode 1 is crucial! – ME