New Feature: Content Controls in Libby

FCPL offers free access to downloadable eBooks, eAudiobooks, and eMagazines through Libby, an app managed by OverDrive. This week OverDrive introduced a new feature within Libby called "Content Controls."

The Content Controls feature allows users to manage access to titles in Libby based on the intended audience for each individual title. 

There are four audience categories in Libby: 

• Juvenile: Titles intended for readers ages 0–12
  
  
• Young adult: Titles written for readers ages 13–18
  
  
• General content: Titles written for adult readers or a general audience. This is the audience category for most titles.
  
  
• Mature content: Titles intended only for mature audiences due to the nature of their content

The Content Controls feature is found in the Settings section of the Libby app. OverDrive has created three presets for Content Controls that users can apply to their account settings in Libby. 

Revolutionary War Books

The Revolutionary War started 250 years ago this year. One book that has been getting publicity due in part to this anniversary is Rick Atkinson's The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777 - 1780. Atkinson's book is a military history covering much of the middle period of the Revolutionary War. The book covers events in the war such as the battles of Saratoga, as well as the siege of Savannah. This is the second book in a planned trilogy, with the first book being The British are Coming: The War for America, Lexington Princeton, 1775 - 1777. 

Readers who enjoy Atkinson's Revolutionary War titles may wish to check out his World War II trilogy. This series focuses on the role of the United States Army in western Europe and starts with the title An Army at Dawn: the War in North Africa, 1942 - 1943. This book is followed by two additional titles, The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943 - 1944, and The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944 - 1945, which cover the middle and ending stages of the war in western Europe.

Young readers may wish to check out the juvenile level title, Battle of the Bulge, also by Rick Atkinson, which was adapted from The Guns at Last Light. There is also a Teen Middle version of The British Are Coming. 

Jeff Fisher
FCPL Materials Services Manager

Staff Picks: The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters - Adult Fiction

 

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

Summer reading isn't just for lighthearted, easy reads. Are you like me and prefer your summer reads to be emotionally fraught, with important themes of loss, love, family ties, and memory? If so, then The Berry Pickers might be your next read. The debut novel of Canadian writer Amanda Peters was the winner of the 2024 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, 2023 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, 2024 Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence, and 2024 Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction. 

The story centers around Ruthie, a four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl from Nova Scotia, who goes missing while her family is berry picking in Maine. Alternating between the point of view of Ruthie and her brother, Joe, readers journey across the years to witness the effects of  trauma and family secrets. Ruthie (later known as Norma) tries to make sense of her childhood dreams that hint at the truth. Meanwhile, Joe spends his life trying to outrun his own demons. Ultimately, The Berry Pickers is a tale of the familial ties that bind, the enduring nature of love and family, and the lasting consequences of our actions. 

The audiobook version of the book is beautifully narrated by Aaliya Warbus and Jordan Waunch. 

Tracy MacNaughton

Information Specialist