Kate is struggling with a commitment to marriage with her beau, Rowan, even after four years of dating.  For the first time in her life, she also knows that she won’t fully love until she confronts her past. It’s time to act.  Told in alternating time periods, we find that from the tender age of fourteen, Kate and Jack fell in love, but never fell out.  Today, Kate fears that her heart may still belong to Jack, the man who fathered their child, a little girl she gave up for adoption thirteen years ago.  When the mistakes have been made, and the running is over, it’s time to face the truth.  Can she travel to the place where it all began, to the one who shares her secret?  Can the lost ever be found?

And Then I Found You gives new life to the phrase “inspired by a true story.”  Patti bases her novel on a period in her family’s life and exposes the price of a selfless act.

Caroline Paul was recovering from the crash of her small experimental plane. She was depressed, in a daze from painkillers  and thought things couldn’t get worse.  But her beloved cat, Tibby, disappeared.  She and her partner, illustrator Wendy McNaughton,  mourned his loss. After five weeks of calling his name, placing flyers, consulting a psychic,Tibby waltzed back into their lives, fat and healthy.  His owners were overjoyed, but they were mystified.Tibby refused to eat and disappeared for a time every day.  Where had their sweet anxious cat been and where is he going?  This amusing and poignant memoir, Lost Cat,  follows their search. Using a GPS unit and a kitty-camera, they tracked his movements around their San Francisco neighborhood. In the process, they managed to cure Caroline’s depression, meet their neighbors and finally figured out where the adventurous Tibby had been.

What does a perfect life look like?  Libby, Justin and their beautiful teenage daughter, a gorgeous townhouse in Boston, a multmillion dollar construction business–What more could one want?  But, after 16 years, their marriage is falling apart.  On a “date” to discuss their personal problems, Justin and Libby arrive home, find the door open, the alarm off –and three menacing men waiting for them.  Just as they hear their daughter scream, a touch of a taser changes their lives.Waking from a drug-induced sleep, all  three are caged in a small cell in a now-abandoned  prison built by non-other than Justin himself.  The dark secrets they each harbor threaten everything they hold dear.  Tessa Leone, a private investigator and Wyatt Foster, the local sheriff along with the FBI are trying to recover the kidnapped family alive.  Why were all three taken?  Why are there no calls, no ransom notes?  Their lives hang in the balance in Touch and Go.

In a compelling memoir, Bouton, a former senior editor of the New York Times, chronicles her twenty-two year struggle with hearing loss. It started when she had difficulty hearing what her colleagues were saying and it was getting worse. She became profoundly deaf in one ear, and the other had a severe loss.  She says hearing loss follows the traditional stages of grief:  denial, anger, depression and finally a grudging acceptance. She speaks with doctors, audiologists and a variety of people struggling to cope with hearing loss.  She concludes on an encouraging note about ongoing research for a biological cure. Shouting Won’t Help is a deeply felt look at a widespread and misunderstood phenomenon. At present, some 50 million Americans suffer some degree of hearing loss.

Others may dread the chill of winter, but he relishes it.  The way the frigid water preserves his victims, the feel of their icy skin beneath his fingers…And soon the world will see his victims’ beauty and behold his vengeance.

The town of Grizzly Falls is on edge in the wake of a serial killer, and Detective Selena Alvarez is no exception. A new nightmare is about to unfold.  Two victims so far bodies found frozen solid and naked bodies publicly displayed.  Both are women she knows and each wears a piece of Selena’s jewelry.

Selena’s partner, Detective Regan Pescoli, the entire department and PI Dylan O’Keefe are on the case.  This killer knows too much about Selena’s secret terror, her flaws and the past she has hidden. Soon, he’ll show her she has every reason to be Afraid to Die.

C.J. Box’s Joe Pickett series is a very popular mystery series, but Box has also written stand-alone novels, including Back of Beyond and Blue Heaven. Police from California are drawn to living in Idaho after retirement, so much so that it is known as Blue Heaven. A group of retired policemen are arguing in a wooded area when Annie and William, children who are heading to a creek to go fishing, witness the men shoot and kill one of the group. One of the men sees them and the children run for their lives. They manage to evade the killers and hide in a barn owned by rancher Jess Rawlins. Jess isn’t sure whether to believe their story, but hides them from search parties and the killer until he investigates. What he uncovers goes beyond their small town and involves conspiracies, bank robbery and murder. Box excels at evoking a stong sense of place in his novels–in this story his descriptions of the dark, damp forests filled with underbrush and dripping with rain add to the sense of suspense in the story line.  Box has crafted a gripping thriller filled with action and suspense–a powerful novel about character, integrity and trust.

Sheriff Joanna Brady’s daughter, Jenny, stumbles across the body of her high school principal, Debra Highsmith, in the Arizona desert near their home. The Cochise County Sheriff’s  personal and professional worlds collide, forcing her to tread the difficult middle ground between being an officer of the law and a mother.  The search for justice leads straight to her own door and forces her to face the possibility that her beloved daughter may be less perfect than she hoped–especially when a photo from the crime scene ends up on Facebook–a photo that only one person could have taken. The gruesome picture is just the tip of the iceberg.  The details build, from a hushed-up student suspension, to a group of teenagers with a grudge against the late Ms. Highsmith, to a hateful video call for the principal’s death.  Judgment Call is the fifteenth entry in Jance’s Joanna Brady series.  The series begins in Desert Heat when Joanna’s Sheriff husband is killed in the line of duty and Joanna takes over the job.

Flying to America from London for a holiday, Stephanie Harker watches helplessly as her young charge, Jimmy, is kidnapped from the airport security checkpoint. But this is no ordinary abduction–Jimmy is the son of Scarlett, a reality TV star in London.  Scarlett, dying of cancer, and estranged from her unreliable family, entrusts her son to her best friend and ghost writer of her biography, Stephanie.  Assisting the FBI to recover the missing boy, Stephanie reaches into the past.  Has Jimmy been taken by one of his own relatives?  Is Stephanie’s obsessive ex-lover trying to teach her a lesson?  Has one of Scarlett’s stalkers come back to haunt them? In Vanishing Point, McDermid draws readers into a country where afternoon tea and biscuits may differ from American fare, but her riveting read reaches across cultures.

Did you enjoy R.L. Stine’s teen series, Goosebumps and Fear Street?  Stine has a new adult chiller, Red Rain!  On an isolated island of the Carolina coast,  travel blogger, Lea Sutter, witnesses a mysterious ritual supposed to bring back the dead. Soon after, a massive hurricane devastates the island.  Among the few survivors, Lea sees two young orphaned boys and decides to take them back to her family and adopt them. Back home, her husband and two children are apprehensive about these beautiful blond children.  Soon, a murder occurs. And then another.  Stine’s brutal  story of  evil children is a gory but  fun read, with an unpredictable outcome.

Uncle Sam wants Deputy U.S. Marshall Matt Battles …to be an outlaw!  Battles is blackmailed by President Chester A. Arthur who needs an undercover agent to discover why Hatfield J. Warful is gathering every notorious gunslinger to his home in Slaughter Canyon. Thanks to a false news report planted by the Secret Service, Battles is wanted for robbery and murder, leaving him no choice but to infiltrate Warful’s gang–but the trigger happy gunfighters share unpleasant history with the supposed ex-marshall. A target from both the law and the outlaws, Battles faces the challenge of his life. If his particular mission fails, the result could be a second Civil War.

Close Your Eyes, another suspense novel from Iris Johansen  involves Kendra Michaels who was blind the first 20 years of her life. A miraculous new procedure has restored her sight and her other senses remain much keener than any normal person’s.  Kendra is a music therapist and uses her unusual skills to help troubled kids find a sense of peace through music.  Her keen senses some in hand with law-enforcement groups and now the FBI is knocking on her door–again.  She doesn’t want to get involved in another case after experiencing a devastating search for a lost child.  But, into her life walks Adam Lynch, not an FBI agent, but a consultant who specializes in getting jobs done at any cost.  He is charismatic and manipulative.  The case at hand involves her ex-boyfriend, Jeff, an agent himself, who has disappeared. When it becomes apparent he might be the next person on a serial killer’s hit list, Kendra gets sucked in–

>By Janene Hill
Young Adult Librarian, Manhattan Public Library

In 1962, Manhattan’s Douglass School was closed, allowing for the complete integration of Manhattan elementary schools.  The 2012 Martin Luther King, Jr. Art, Writing, and Video contests focuses that 50-year anniversary with the theme:  Looking Back, Looking Forward:  50 Years of Change. This theme encourages contest participants to look at their community, their family, and their lives and how the past 50 years have changed, or not changed, in regards of Dr. King’s overriding message of non-violence, social justice, and building bridges between racial and ethnic divisions.

Each year, the MLK Contest Committee directs the contest with support from Manhattan’s MLK Memorial Committee and sponsored by Manhattan Public Library, the Caroline Peine Charitable Foundation, Manhattan Library Association, and The Gallery for Peace and Justice.

Added Features
For 2012, the Contest Committee decided to add two new aspects to the contest: 1) a video category, and 2) a group entry option.
Video submissions will be accepted written to disc to be played on computer or DVD player. Three to five minute videos can be in any style. While the Contest Committee envisioned short narratives, interviews, reenactments, or even something set to music, this category will allow budding videographers to express their creativeness in numerous ways.
Group entries will be allowed for the first time, allowing for small groups or classrooms to work on a project together and submit the work. After much consideration, the Contest Committee decided group entries could, in many cases, be the easiest way for teachers or group leaders to get many kids involved in a teachable project at the same time. All members must be listed on the entry form but only one prize will awarded per entry. The group should enter grade category based on average participant age.

General Information
As always, all participants must live or attend school in Riley or adjacent counties in Kansas.
Participants of all ages are encouraged! This includes KSU students, parents, teachers, and community members who can enter the post-High School age group. Entries will be judged in five age groups:  K-2nd grade, 3rd-5th, 6-8th, 9th-12th grade, and post High School.
Entry deadline for all entries is 6 p.m., Sunday, January 8, 2012 at Manhattan Public Library, 629 Poyntz Avenue. Entries will not be accepted after this time as judging will take place the following day.
 
Submission Requirements
All submissions must be original works created by the entrant. A completed entry form must be attached to the work. Only one writing in each category will be accepted by any person or group.

Artwork
Entries can be in any medium on a two-dimensional scale and must be no larger than 20 inches by 30 inches.
Artwork is judged based on:  artistic quality, originality, creativity, presentation of theme, content, and relevance.

Writing
May be a letter, poem, memoir, story of a personal experience, or other appropriate form no longer than 500 words. Entries must be typed or legibly written. Writing is judged based on: writing style, originality, creativity, presentation of theme, content, and relevance. Writing entries will be subject to plagiarism checks.

Videos
A three to five minute piece, which may be an interview, reenactment, musical or theatrical performance, movie short, animation, or other appropriate form. Entry should be written to disc to be played on computer or DVD player. Copyright laws must be followed and all persons appearing must give consent.
Videos are judged based on:  production value, originality, creativity, presentation of theme, content, and relevance. Video entries will be subject to copyright checks.

Prizes
First place and honorable mention awards given in each of the five age groups, with one Best of Show winner recognized from all entries for each of the three categories.
Winners will be contacted by Wednesday, January 11. Creators of winning entries will be asked to participate in the MLK Youth Celebration sponsored by HandsOn Kansas State on Sunday, January 15, and an awards ceremony during the Martin Luther King, Jr. community celebration on Monday, January 16 at Manhattan Town Center.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Caroline Peine Charitable Foundation, over $1000 worth of prizes will be awarded through individual prizes and educational supplies for winners’ classrooms.
With signed permission, selected entries may be published, broadcast and/or displayed throughout the Manhattan community. Winning and selected entries may also be used for publishing in a calendar and/or greeting cards developed and distributed by The Gallery for Peace and Justice.
For more information, click the MLK Contest link on the MPL homepage, or call 776-4741 ext. 170.

>For years, Lady Poppy Smith-Barnes has pined for her true love, the Duke of Drummond.  At least that’s what she’s been telling all her suitors so that she could maintain her spinster status.  The imaginary duke that her cook created for the use of fairy tales and love stories served Poppy well, until the day the man himself walked into a ball and asked her to dance.  Drummond, who has come to London from his quiet life in the North because he has been ordered to find a bride, sees his opportunity and quickly traps Poppy in her own lie.  Their betrothal pulls them both into a world of deception and intrigue, forcing them to work together and revealing their common thirst for adventure.  With plenty of spice and wit, Dukes to the Left of Me, Princes to the Right continues Kramer’s Impossible Bachelors series in fine form.