Minnesota authors are the best authors! (Or, in a pinch, books set in Minnesota are the best books!)
Check out our July Year in Reading Challenge to read all the best things Minnesotan.
You can also win cute virtual badges just by reading in our Beanstack challenge, found here: https://griver.beanstack.com/reader365
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The art of the Saint John's Bible
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Description:
v. 1. A reader's guide to Pentateuch, Psalms, Gospels, and Acts -- v. 2. A reader's guide to Wisdom books and Prophets
Format:
Book
Call Number:
745.67 Sin
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Description:
Eleven-year-old Niah "Silver" Lee has anxiety about starting at a new school, but with the help of her family, she will try to overcome her negative thoughts.
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Book
Call Number:
J FIC Yan
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Description:
"Once Leigh and Susy were close friends and teammates bound for Olympic hockey gold, but when Leigh's surefire plan to make the final roster backfired, she left everything behind to start over, including the one person who knew her secret. Two decades later, Leigh's a successful investment banker, happily married, and the mom of a hockey prodigy, so when a career opportunity lands the family back in Minnesota, she takes the shot for her kid. Back in the ultracompetitive world she left behind, Leigh finds herself in Susy's orbit, a daily reminder of how Leigh watched from the sidelines as her former teammate went on to Olympic glory. Despite the coldness between them, Susy can't help but hope that Leigh might lace up her skates and join her in the coaches' box--after all, Leigh knows better than anyone how hard it is to be a woman in this world. Susy knows her daughter, Georgie, will soon be seen as a "girl athlete," relegated to the B team, with less support and opportunity to advance. But Leigh believes keeping Susy at arm's length is the only way to hide her history with her former coach, Jeff Carlson. When he hints about new favors in exchange for her son's ice time, Leigh is caught in the ultimate bind: come clean about what happened when she was an Olympic hopeful and risk her marriage, or play Jeff's game. In a moment of desperation, Leigh realizes the one person she thought was her biggest competitor--her former teammate--might turn out to be her biggest ally" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Wes
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Description:
Abram Cooper has ten months to turn rough Minnesota country into a vibrant town, or his sister-in-law will take his three sons back to Iowa with his blessing. Until then, Charlotte Lee has agreed to keep house and help raise his children as part of their bargain. But can the single father fulfill Charlotte's requirements in time to make sure that she and his boys don't leave--and take his heart with them? Charlotte is convinced that the wilderness is no place to raise her nephews. But as she watches the community slowly develop, she sees that Abram just might be able to make it blossom. With three little matchmakers bringing her and Abram together, Little Falls could become not just a flourishing town, but the perfect home for their patchwork family.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Mey
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Passing through a prairie country : a novel
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Description:
"For decades, a dark force has terrorized the Languille Lake reservation. Only spoken of in whispers as "the sandman," he lurks in the Hidden Atlantis Lake Resort and Casino, the reservation's main attraction and source of revenue, leeching its patrons' dreams and ambitions and also preventing the ghosts that linger there from moving on. Fleeing a breakup, Marion Lafournier, a mid-twenties Ojibwe, seeks solace in the slot machine's siren song. Here he falls afoul of the sandman, an encounter Marion barely escapes through the timely intervention of his cousins Alana and Cherie, who both work at the casino and are intimately aware of the sandman's power. Meanwhile, Glenn Nielan, only recently out of the closet and an aspiring documentarian, hopes to capture the faces of the Ojibwe land while experiencing the casino's thrills. But he will learn that all who choose to play the sandman's games are in danger of falling into his grasp" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Sta
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Description:
When the guns fall silent on April 19, 1775, Whitley Endicott is elbows deep in blood. Haunted by the ghosts of those who died for the cause, the young surgeon is determined to save lives and free the spirits of the dead. The only obstacle: she isn't a man. Men's clothes conceal her gender but can't hide her skills, which earn her a place of trust at Fort Ticonderoga as the American Revolution unfolds. Officers and soldiers alike recognize her innate sense of honor, entrusting her with their lives--and their secrets. When her twin brother and best friend confide in her, Whitley seeks to protect them from any who would do them harm. American ambition marches the fledgling army into Canada as winter descends, and Whitley strives to keep the soldiers alive despite supply shortages, starvation, and smallpox. Worried her smallest mistake might betray her true identity or endanger those she loves, Whitley must ask herself, who is worthy of trust?
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Mak
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Description:
Noche Villanueva's world is falling apart because the love of her life is dead. Noche is a Lechuza, an ethereal black owl responsible for carrying the souls of the dead to the afterlife--but she now ignores that duty, choosing instead to visit Dante's spirit every night. The two of them speak for hours, two girls in love, tethered to infinite possibilites--but death spares no one, not even the dead. With each passing day on earth, Dante's soul is at risk of disappearing forever, but Noche cannot let her go, not even when someone new makes her heart thrum like it did once before. Jax Vang is the new kid in town, another science nerd like Noche. They connect in a way she can't ignore. For the first time, Noche begins to imagine a life without Dante. Then she finds herself at risk of losing both Jax and Dante, and Noche is forced to question her purpose as Lechuza and everything she has ever believed in.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Tor
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Rings of heartwood : poems on growing
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Description:
Growth is the excitement of something new, like a two-wheeled bicycle or a bigger pair of shiny shoes. In nature, growth shows up in new rings on a tree trunk, or a snake shedding its skin. Growing means a kid's first day in a new school, and a baby bird's first bounds out of its nest. We all grow, and sometimes, for all of us, it can be hard. In Rings of Heartwood, twelve poems about woodland, wetland, and prairie dwellers explore different kinds of growth. A tadpole grows legs and lungs and transforms into a frog. A fern unfurls from fiddlehead to frond. A spotted fawn hides in dappled sunlight; soon its coat will grow darker and thicker, ready for winter--it will never sport spots again.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J 811.6 Gri
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Description:
Doris Grandfelt, an employee at an accounting firm, was brutally stabbed to death... but nobody knew exactly where the crime took place. Her body was found the next night, dumped among a dense thicket of trees along the edge of an urban park, eight miles east of St. Paul, Minnesota. Despite her twin sister Lara Grandfelt's persistent calls to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the killer was never found. Twenty years later, Lara has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Confronted with the possibility of her own death, she's determined to find Doris's killer once and for all. Finally taking matters into her own hands, she dumps the entire investigative file on every true-crime site in the world and offers a $5 million reward for information leading to the killer's arrest. Dozens of true-crime bloggers show up looking for both new evidence and "clicks," and Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to review anything that might be a new lead. When one of the bloggers locates the murder weapon, Lucas and Virgil begin to uncover vital details about the killer's identity. But what they don't know is the killer lurks in plain sight, and with the true-crime bloggers blasting every clue online, the killer can keep one step ahead. As the nation maneuvers the detectives closer to the truth, Lucas and Virgil will find that digging up Doris's harrowing past might just get them buried instead.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC San
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Description:
Who was James Putnam? Answering that question may mean salvation for Alexander Rupert, a Minnesota detective whose life is in a serious downward spiral. A Medal of Valor winner, Alexander is now under subpoena by a grand jury on suspicion of corruption. He's been reassigned to the Frauds Unit, where he is shunned by his fellow detectives, and he fears his status-seeking wife may be having an affair. When he happens across a complex case of identity theft, Alexander sees an opportunity to rehabilitate his tattered reputation. But the case explodes into far more than he could have expected, putting him in the path of trained assassin Drago Basta, a veteran of the Balkan wars who has been searching for "James Putnam" for years. As his life spins out of control, Alexander's last hope may be his older brother, Max, a fellow police detective who steps in to try to save his brother from the carnage his investigation has let loose.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Esk
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Description:
Somewhere in rural Pine County Minnesota, a man of evil hides by day and stalks his female victims at night. His gruesome acts of rape and murder point to a demented personality, yet his ability to elude the police shows the man to be of high intelligence and cunning. Undersheriff Dan Williams and his deputies use every investigative technique, yet the man seems to be invisible. As they seek him out, Williams and his deputies become obsessed with a personality turned from young innocence to enraged sadism.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Hov
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Author(s):
Description:
Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other's out, and they'll both go on to find the love of their lives. It's a bonkers idea... and it just might work. Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka. It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected--including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?
Format:
Large Print
Call Number:
LP FIC Jim
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Traveling in wonder : a travel photographer's tales of wanderlust
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Description:
"Traveling in Wonder is not your typical travel journal turned book--it's not even a travel guide. Instead, Traveling in Wonder: A Travel Photographer's Tales of Wanderlust reads like a letter from Autumn to the many countries she's visited, first as a student traveling abroad, then as a flight attendant, a travel agent, and more recently, a travel photographer. With a gift for storytelling, Autumn invites the reader into what she was experiencing in each country. She also weaves in reflections on a broader level--her thoughts on being bullied, anxiety, falling in love, and how we're all more alike than we may believe. Explore Autumn's words for tips and best practices on traveling. Discover Autumn finding her identity not in her goal of 30 countries within 30 years but in who she became because of the people she met, both abroad and at home, and what they taught her about life. Traveling in Wonder is also a love letter to self, and the courage it takes to get on a plane and go, but also in choosing not to run away from your problems in the present, and equally, letting ordinary days teach you more about yourself."
Format:
Book
Call Number:
910.4 Aut
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Author(s):
Description:
"Photographer and film buff Daniel Sanchez learned a long time ago that the only way to get by in an allistic world is to mask his autism and follow the script. Which means he knows that boisterous, buff, and beautiful soccer superstars like his best friend, Mona Sinclair, shouldn't be wasting time hanging out with introverts who prefer being behind the camera. So when Daniel meets a new classmate, Gabe Mendes, who is tall, mysterious, nonbinary, and--somehow--as cool as Mona, Daniel knows exactly how this is going to play out. Mona and Gabe will meet cute, win their nominations for Homecoming Court, and ride off into the sunset together. Daniel just needs to do a little behind-the-scenes directing. But matchmaking means stepping into the mystifying and illogical world of love, dating, and relationships, where nothing is as it seems and no one knows their lines. And when Daniel finds himself playing a starring role in this romance, he’ll question everything he thought he knew about himself and his place in the world" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Ram
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The God of wild places : rediscovering the divine in the untamed outdoors
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Description:
"A generation of Americans, disillusioned with organized religion, still longs for meaning and transcendence. In The God of Wild Places, theologian and former pastor Tony Jones traces his own journey out of the church and into the woods, guiding readers to reflect on their own experience of the divine in the wilderness"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
261.88 Jon
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Reimagining police : the future of public safety
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Description:
"Readers will learn about the history of law enforcement, approaches to public safety, and strategies for building a more just and inclusive society in this survey of policing and reform in the United States"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA 363.2 Tyn
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Black achievements in politics : celebrating Shirley Chisholm, Barack Obama, and more
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Description:
Black politicians have served in all levels of the United States government. As mayors, congresspersons, president, and more, Black politicians have created policies and initiatives to better serve community members. They have also addressed issues such as access to education, criminal justice, and affordable housing.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J 920 Tyn
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Description:
“Just do this one thing for me.” Drew's mother says it more often than good morning. Heidi Hill has been juggling shady side hustles for all of Drew’s seventeen years, and Drew knows that “one thing” really means all the necessary things her mother thinks are boring, including taking care of her fifteen-year-old sister and eight-year-old brother. In fact, Drew is the closest thing to a responsible adult they’ve ever known. When their mother disappears on the way to a New Year’s Eve concert in Mexico and her schemes start unraveling, Drew is faced with a choice: Follow the rules, do the responsible thing, and walk away--alone--from her mother's mess. Or hope the weather stays cold, keep the cons going, and just maybe hold her family together.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Zim