Monthly Staff Pick | December, 2025

December 1, 2025 Clare Brooks

December’s batch of Monthly Staff Picks have arrived!

We’ve got a perfect pairing of Adult selections celebrating books this month with Keith Houston’s ‘The Book’ which chronicles the origins and evolutions of the book in this fascinating and joyous history title; plus, Helene Hanff’s classic ‘84, Charing Cross Road’ following the New York freelance writer and her decades long correspondence with a used-book dealer in London and is a heartwarming showcase of the power of books. Both of these titles make a great gift for the readers and book lovers on your holiday shopping list.

For Picture book fans this month we have ‘Charley Mouse Cleans House’ written and illustrated by Katerina Gorelik. This visual delight follows Charley, who has a love for cleanliness and order, as they set out for their week helping to clean the homes of her friends and neighbors. Full of familiar fairytale faces and plenty of little details to spot in the art, this book is cozy fun for picture book fans of all ages.

‘Anne Arrives’ is an early reader’s introduction into L.M. Montgomery’s beloved Green Gables, and our Chapter Book selection this December. This retelling of the classic following Anne Shirley features full-color illustrations and is a perfect introduction for fans old and new alike.

And finally, this month’s Young Adult pick is ‘The Reappearance of Rachel Price’. From the bestselling Holly Jackson, this mystery follows Bel and family as they agree to a true-crime documentary about the disappearance of Rachel Price only for her to come back into their lives as the cameras are rolling.

Visit us this December for 20% off this month’s selections, while supplies last!

Monthly Staff Pick | November, 2025

November 2, 2025 Clare Brooks

We’ve got a unique selection of Monthly Staff Picks for November that are perfect for those looking for something a little different or make a great gift no matter the season.

Our Adult Monthly Staff Pick is ‘Polostan’ from acclaimed Science Fiction author Neal Stephenson and the opening entry in his Bomb Light series. While bite-sized in comparison with his usual tomes, this historical epic is just as full of big ideas as we follow a young woman, Dawn Rae Bjornberg, born in America and raised in Russia, amid the intrigue and espionage of a world racing towards the Atomic Age.

The classic ‘D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths’ is our selection for Middle Readers. Greek Mythology takes on new life in the words and illustrations of Ingri and Edgar D’Aulaire in this timeless take that also makes a great read aloud tale for adventurous younger book lovers.

‘Gilbert the Moose Learns to Ski’ is our Picture Book selection this November. Written by Heidi Shadix-Pieros with photography by Rick Pieros and illustrations by Corbet Curfman, this delightful tale follows the young moose as he takes to the slopes and finds that friends make learning something new much easier.

And, for the Young Adult reader this month we have E. Lockhart’s ‘We Were Liars’. This modern YA classic is a New England set family drama and psychological thriller. Whether you’ve seen the recent television series based on the book or are just looking for a clever read, ‘We Were Liars’ is the first entry in this twist filled series with the latest entry hitting shelves this month!

Visit us in-store for 20% off all four of our selections this November, while supplies last!

Reefer Wellness Event Update!!!

June 15, 2025 Clare Brooks

Friday's book signing event was a huge hit! Thank you to everyone that took the time to come down and to everyone who made the event possible. A huge thank you to the author, Dr. Riley Kirk, it was an absolute pleasure!!!

If you'd like to snag a copy of Reefer Wellness for yourself we currently have a few copies in-store and if you're more of a homebody you can snag a copy on Bookshop.org!

Are you canna-curious? Put aside the stigma and discover the powerful potential of weed.

For centuries, the marijuana plant has been revered for its healing properties, but it's also been criminalized, abused, and misunderstood. Although cannabis is now legal in much of the United States, many people are still confused about how to access it and unsure about how to use it safely and effectively. Enter Reefer Wellness, an all-encompassing guide to cannabis from scientist and researcher, Dr. Riley Kirk.

With colorful illustrations and everyday language, Reefer Wellness challenges the stereotypes about pot use and breaks down the complexities of cannabis for anyone who's ever wondered if weed could help them relax or relieve chronic ailments. Whether you're an everyday user or just starting out on your healing journey with cannabis, you'll find answers to your questions and science-backed evidence to support your use. In it, you'll get:

An introduction to the endocannabinoid system (ECS), the powerful regulatory system in the human body that controls everything from hunger signals to pain
A clear, visual explanation of how the molecular components of cannabis interact with the ECS, making it a uniquely powerful tool for healing
Guidance on how to consume cannabis, including the pros and cons of different delivery systems and how to customize your dosage
An overview of ailments that can be addressed with cannabis, such as chronic pain, sleep disorders, and insomnia
Tips for minimizing the side effects of marijuana use, like munchies, bloodshot eyes, and cottonmouth

Let Reefer Wellness jumpstart your deep and meaningful journey into the wonderful and nuanced world of modern cannabis and get ready to unlock its incredible healing potential.

This Month's Staff Pick Sale & A Special Announcement...

June 2, 2025 Clare Brooks

Last month’s selection, ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’, was our most successful Monthly Staff Pick so far (even surpassing favorite titles like ‘Once There Were Wolves’ and ‘Demon Copperhead’), which makes it the perfect time for a little announcement…

Monthly Staff Picks for All Ages are finally here at Little Village Toy & Book Shop! After over two years of success with our Monthly Staff Picks, we are thrilled to launch Young Adult, Early & Middle Grade, and Picture Book selections this June. All of our selections each month are 20% off, while supplies last, so keep reading to learn more about our picks for June, and visit us soon to pick up a copy of one (or all!) of our picks this month.

To kick things off, our next Adult selection is last year’s bestselling ‘Sandwich’ by Catherine Newman, which is now available in paperback. This Cape Cod-set family ensemble makes a perfect beach or travel read, full of humor and sure to move you. Read it before this favorite family returns in ‘Wreck’ this Fall.

For kids of all ages, our first Picture Book Pick is, the Caldecott Honor Book, ‘Bear Came Along’ by Richard T. Morris with illustrations by LeUyen Pham which follows Bear on a river adventure as he makes new friends and, together, they discover how life connects us all.

Our new picks will also include either a middle reader, chapter book, or kids graphic novel each month. This June we’ve selected ‘Lost on a Mountain in Maine’ by Donn Fendler. A true story of adventure and survival that follows twelve-year-old Donn in 1939 after he gets separated from his companions on the summit of Maine’s highest peak. This New England tale is a favorite of both locals and visitors alike!

And finally, for YA readers, of all ages, our inaugural Young Adult Monthly Staff Pick is Adam Silvera’s ‘They Both Die at the End’. The beloved novel that launched the series (which just saw its third entry released last month) and introduced readers to Death-Cast, alternates between two young men as they choose to live their last day as fully as possible.

Two recent favorites are now in paperback… and 20% off for the month of April!

April 1, 2025 Clare Brooks

Two recent favorites are now in paperback… and if that wasn’t enough to celebrate, they’re BOTH this April’s Monthly Staff Pick because how could we choose just one!

Our first selection this month comes from one of America’s most treasured living writers, who, after 2019’s Pulitzer Prize finalist ‘The Dutch House’, returns to fiction with ‘Tom Lake’. Perhaps Ann Patchett at the culmination of her literary powers, this thoughtfully quiet novel explores family, love, and life in ways only Patchett can set amidst the backdrop of the unraveling of the Spring of 2020.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK
In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America's finest writers.
"Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature." --The Guardian
In the spring of 2020, Lara's three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.

The second selection this month comes after three long years in hardcover (a small eternity in the world of books) as Bonnie Garmus’s debut ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ has finally arrived in paperback! This zippy, fish out of water, 1960s Southern California story that follows Elizabeth Zott as she traverses the worlds of chemistry labs and television cooking sets is a feminist tale of the past with a message that echoes strongly in the present.

#1 GLOBAL BESTSELLER WITH MORE THAN 8 MILLION COPIES SOLD - Meet Elizabeth Zott: "a gifted research chemist, absurdly self-assured and immune to social convention" (The Washington Post) in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show. - STREAM ON APPLE TV+
This novel is "irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel" (The New York Times Book Review) and "witty, sometimes hilarious...the Catch-22 of early feminism" (Stephen King, via Twitter).

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Daily, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with--of all things--her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ("combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride") proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.
Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.

Visit us this month for 20% off of both ‘Tom Lake’ & ‘Lessons in Chemistry’, while supplies last!

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Did you know that you can support Little Village Toy & Book Shop wherever you are and however you read? We’re proud partners of Bookshop.org, offering online shopping and Ebooks, as well as Libro.fm, offering audiobooks.

"A tale of books, birthdays, and burn-out that follows bookseller (and witch) Belladonna Blackthorn as she spends October facing the ultimate trial to prove herself to her coven..."

October 4, 2024 Clare Brooks

This October’s Monthly Staff Pick is the perfect cozy fantasy romance to settle down with during these early fall evenings. ‘Rewitched’, the debut novel from Lucy Jane Wood, is a tale of books, birthdays, and burn-out that follows bookseller (and witch) Belladonna Blackthorn as she spends October facing the ultimate trial to prove herself to her coven… or risk losing her magic permanently. The delightful tale of female friendship and power, with a little bit of romance thrown into the mix, is just the thing to warm you up from the chill lingering in the air.

‘Rewitched’ is available for 20% off through October, while supplies last. Visit us for this and plenty of other seasonal romances to add to your TBR pile this month!

In this spellbinding warm and cozy debut novel, a burned-out witch will need to turn to her friends and trust in herself to find the magic in her own life again.

Belladonna Blackthorn hasn't lost her magical spark, precisely . . . but she hasn't seen it in a while either.

With her witchcraft under wraps and a toxic boss making her days miserable, Belle is struggling to keep her beloved Lunar Books afloat and just make it through the day. The last thing she has time for is perfecting her magic.

So when her thirtieth birthday brings a summons from her coven and a trial that tests her worthiness as a witch, Belle fears the worst. With only the month of October left to prove herself or risk losing her magic forever, Belle will need all the help she can get--from the women in her life, from an unlikely mentor figure and even from an infuriating coven watchman who's sworn to protect her...

Tom Lake - Ann Patchet

Lessons In Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus