![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/instagram-new-puzzles-1024x1024.png)
mfoley
More Board Games
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Feature-Image-Board-Games.png)
Here are some of our new additions. Check our Board Game Page for a complete list.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/5-Second-Rule-1024x955.jpg)
5 Second Rule
3-6 Players ages 10+
It should be easy to name 3 breeds of dogs – but can you do it under the pressure of 5 seconds twisting down, and with the other players staring at you, waiting for you to get flustered? Time’s not on your side, so just say what comes to mind and risk ridiculous answers slipping out as time twirls down on the unique twisted timer! It’s all in good fun with this fast-paced game where you have to “Just Spit It Out!”
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Clue.jpg)
Clue
2-6 Players ages 8+
The classic detective game! In Clue, players move from room to room in a mansion to solve the mystery of: who done it, with what, and where? Players are dealt character, weapon, and location cards after the top card from each card type is secretly placed in the confidential file in the middle of the board. Players must move to a room and then make a suggestion against a character saying they did it in that room with a specific weapon. The player to the left must show one of any cards mentioned if in that player’s hand. Through deductive reasoning each player must figure out which character, weapon, and location are in the secret file. To do this, each player must uncover what cards are in other players hands by making more and more suggestions. Once a player knows what cards the other players are holding, they will know what cards are in the secret file, and then make an accusation. If correct, the player wins, but if incorrect, the player must return the cards to the file without revealing them and may no longer make suggestions or accusations. A great game for those who enjoy reasoning and thinking things out.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Count-Your-Chickens.jpg)
Count Your Chickens
2-4 players ages 3+
The baby chicks have flown the coop! All players work together to help Mother Hen collect her chicks and bring them back to the coop. To start, players place the 40 baby chicks all around the board. Mother Hen is on start. The object of the game is to get all 40 baby chicks back inside the coop before Mother Hen gets to the last space on the board. Players spin and move Mother Hen, counting the number of spaces she travels. For each space travelled, players collect that number of baby chick markers and place them in the coop. But watch out for the fox! If the spinner lands on the fox a baby chick is removed from the coop. Players take turns, but work together – players count aloud together, collect the number chicks together and, if they collect them all, players win together!
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Lehigh-Valley-in-a-box-1024x532.jpg)
Leigh Valley in•a•box
2-6 players ages 8+
Romantic covered bridges, rich Moravian heritage, and a door to the beginning of the industrial revolution, welcome to the Lehigh Valley! A treasure of nostalgia, culture and modern industry, she is also a region of natural splendor. Music is celebrated, wine is relished, and colors are born here. In this valley lies a one-of-a-kind sense of challenge on the Appalachian Trail, in the Velodrome, and in the river itself. The Lehigh Valley holds within it the glory of all that was, all that is, and all that will be. Advertising space was not for sale on this game. The board includes authentic landmarks only.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Mad-Gab-1024x760.jpg)
Mad Gab
2-12 players ages 10+
Read a group of simple words aloud, like “ASK RUDE ARRIVE HER”. Do you “hear” the answer? Try saying them again. Sound familiar? Quick, the timer’s tickin’. Did you hear yourself say “A Screwdriver”?!
You and your teammates have 30 seconds to sound out three puzzles. Guess right and snatch that card! Miss it and the other team can steal the point!
O.K., the timer is set, the card flipper is loaded, and everyone’s ready for a laugh riot! Just remember, that when it comes to scoring points in MAD GAB…
“It’s Not What You SAY, It’s What You HEAR!”
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Mancala-768x1024.jpg)
Mancala
2 players ages 5+
The game is played on a board of two rows, each consisting of six round pits. The rows have a large store at either end called the Kalah. A player owns the six pits closest to them and the Kalah on their right side.
The game is started with four (4) seeds in each pit. A player takes all the seeds from one of their pits, and then they are distributed one by one, counterclockwise, in the pits and the player’s own Kalah, but not into the opponent’s store (Kalah). If the last seed is dropped into an opponent’s pit or a non-empty pit of the player, the move ends without anything being captured. If the last seed falls into the player’s Kalah, they must move again. If the last seed is put into an empty pit owned by the player, they capture all contents of the opposite pit together with the capturing piece and puts them in their Kalah. If the opposite pit is empty, nothing is captured. A capture ends the move.
The game ends when one player no longer has any seeds in any of their holes. The remaining pieces are captured by their adversary. The player who has captured the most pieces is declared the winner.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Really-Loud-Librarians.jpg)
Really Loud Librarians
2-12 players ages 8+
In this game, your useless knowledge will win you useful points.
Think fast, not hard in this merciless word-shouting board game. Start by drawing a category card. Your team will then shout words from that category that begin with the letter on the race track. Move along the track every time you get a word right and race against your opponents to win. This is a simple game for versatile occasions. Play it as a two-player game for a casual night-in or bring it along as a party game for big groups.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Rorys-Story-Cubes.jpg)
Rory’s Story Cubes
1-12 players ages 6+
Players roll the cubes to get pictures of characters, places, and animals that they can use to create and share stories in this game of imagination.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Taco-Vs-Burrito.jpg)
Taco vs Burrito
2-4 players ages 7+
Taco vs. Burito is a deliciously unpredictable card game where players compete to create the weirdest, wildest meal. On your turn:
Draw one card and:
- Add an ingredient card to a Taco/Burrito – or –
- Add Tummy Aches to reduce the value of a meal -or-
- Add a Hot Sauce Boss to double the value of a meal!
– or –
Play an action card
But beware! The Health Inspector and Order Envy can ruin your meal.
Gameplay continues clockwise with players drawing and playing cards until the draw pile is gone. Once any one player is out of cards the game is instantly over and the player with the most points wins!
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Twister-1024x994.jpg)
Twister
2-4 players ages 6+
A large vinyl playing mat is placed on the floor, with a 6 x 4 array of spots, each spot about 6 inches in diameter. The spots are colored red, blue, yellow, and green. A player is chosen to moderate, and the rest of the players, up to 4, stand on the play mat with their feet on different spots.
Each turn consists of the moderator spinning a spinner, which gives a result matching a random color with a random element from the set (left hand, right hand, left foot, right foot). Each player must put the relevant bodypart on the relevant color spot. If the bodypart is already on a spot of that color it is moved to another spot of the same color. No two players bodyparts can share the same spot. If a player falls or touches an elbow or knee to the ground they are eliminated.
Iterate until one player remains.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Worst-Case-Senario.jpg)
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Game Junior
2-6 players
How do you keep from spreading your poison oak rash? How do you get an alligator to let go of your friend’s foot? Based on the best-selling books and games, this game brings the Worst-Case concept to kids, to amaze and educate a whole new way. Players have Tool Cards, that feature common items like a broom or water bottle. The kids hear a scenario and decide which tool can get them out of it. Tap the alligator on the nose with the broom to release your friend’s foot. Use the water bottle to rinse off the plant oil and your poison ivy rash isn’t contagious anymore! Just for fun, What’s Worse? Cards give kids icky choices. Like, What’s Worse: giving your cat a bath by licking it all over OR eating a giant bowl of dog food? Comes with a game board, 50 Tool Cards, 170 Game Cards, six What’s Worse Chips, playing pieces and a die. For 2 to 6 players.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/image.jpeg)
Yahtzee
2-10 players ages 6+
Yahtzee is a classic dice game played with 5 dice. Each player’s turn consists of rolling the dice up to 3 times in hope of making 1 of 13 categories. Examples of categories are 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, straight, full house, etc. Each player tries to fill in a score for each category, but this is not always possible. When all players have entered a score or a zero for all 13 categories, the game ends and total scores are compared
How Do You Like Your Mysteries?
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Murder-Mystery-Dinner.png)
How do you like your mysteries? Whodunits? Cozies? Police procedurals? We asked our staff how they liked their mysteries and they gave some books and DVDs you might like.
Reading a Mystery
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/The-Maltese-Falcon.jpg)
The Maltese Falcon
by Dashiell Hammett
Sam Spade is hired by the fragrant Miss Wonderley to track down her sister, who has eloped with a louse called Floyd Thursby. But Miss Wonderley is in fact the beautiful and treacherous Brigid O’Shaughnessy, and when Spade’s partner Miles Archer is shot while on Thursby’s trail, Spade finds himself both hunter and hunted: can he track down the jewel-encrusted bird, a treasure worth killing for, before the Fat Man finds him?
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/THe-Black-Tower.jpg)
The Black Tower
by PD James
Commander Dalgliesh is recuperating from a life-threatening illness when he receives a call for advice from an elderly friend who works as a chaplain in a home for the disabled on the Dorset coast. Dalgliesh arrives to discover that Father Baddeley has recently and mysteriously died, as has one of the patients at Toynton Grange. Evidently the home is not quite the caring community it purports to be. Dalgliesh is determined to discover the truth of his friend’s death, but further fatalities follow and his own life is in danger as he unmasks the evil at the heart of Toynton Grange.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Then-She-Was-Gone-678x1024.jpg)
Then She Was Gone
by Lisa Jewell
Ellie Mack was the perfect daughter. She was fifteen, the youngest of three. She was beloved by her parents, friends, and teachers. She and her boyfriend made a teenaged golden couple. She was days away from an idyllic post-exams summer vacation, with her whole life ahead of her. And then she was gone. Now, her mother Laurel Mack is trying to put her life back together. It’s been ten years since her daughter disappeared, seven years since her marriage ended, and only months since the last clue in Ellie’s case was unearthed. So when she meets an unexpectedly charming man in a cafe, no one is more surprised than Laurel at how quickly their flirtation develops into something deeper. Before she knows it, she’s meeting Floyd’s daughters–and his youngest, Poppy, takes Laurel’s breath away. Because looking at Poppy is like looking at Ellie. And now, the unanswered questions she’s tried so hard to put to rest begin to haunt Laurel anew. Where did Ellie go? Did she really run away from home, as the police have long suspected, or was there a more sinister reason for her disappearance? Who is Floyd, really? And why does his daughter remind Laurel so viscerally of her own missing girl?”
Book/Large Print/Hoopla Audiobook/Libby eBook/Libby Audiobook
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/A-Simple-Murder.jpg)
A Simple Murder
by Linda Castillo
While on vacation with her partner John Tomasetti in Long Lost, Kate discovers that the old house where they’re staying is haunted by a girl who disappeared decades before… An abandoned baby is discovered on the Amish bishop’s front porch in A Hidden Secret, and Kate is called in to investigate. Seeds of Deception unearths the secrets of Kate Burkholder’s own Amish past–and lays the groundwork for her future career in law enforcement. In the midst of a power outage in Painters Mill, a teenage girl is attacked at an Amish party in Only the Lucky. In Dark Company is the story of an injured woman with amnesia who seeks Kate’s help in trying to remember her attacker’s identity…and her own. In Plain Sight leads Kate to what she believes is a straightforward hit-and-run accident–but she soon uncovers a story of teenage passion that may have led to attempted murder.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Dog-On-It.jpg)
Dog On It
by Spencer Quinn
Chet and Bernie investigate the disappearance of Madison, a teenage girl who may or may not have been kidnapped, but who has definitely gotten mixed up with some very unsavory character
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Gorky-Park.jpg)
Gorky Park
by Martin Cruz Smith
A triple murder in a Moscow amusement center: three corpses found frozen in the snow, faces and fingers missing. Chief homicide investigator Arkady Renko is brilliant, sensitive, honest, and cynical about everything except his profession. To identify the victims and uncover the truth, he must battle the KGB, FBI, and the New York City police as he pursues a rich, ruthless, and well-connected American fur dealer. Meanwhile, Renko is falling in love with a beautiful, headstrong dissident for whom he may risk everything.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Murder-in-the-Reading-Room.jpg)
Murder in the Reading Room
by Ellery Adams
In order to save her boyfriend, who has been kidnapped, Jane Steward is forced to lead his captor to a historic estate that he believes houses Ernest Hemingway’s lost suitcase, a search that leads instead to murder.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Sidetracked.jpg)
Sidetracked
by Henning Mankell
Kurt Wallander is called to a nearby rapeseed field where a teenage girl has been loitering all day long. He arrives just in time to watch her douse herself in gasoline and set herself aflame. The next day he is called to a beach where Sweden’s former Minister of Justice has been axed to death and scalped. The murder has the obvious markings of a demented serial killer, and Wallander is frantic to find him before he strikes again. But his investigation is beset with a handful of obstacles—a department distracted by the threat of impending cutbacks and the frivolity of World Cup soccer, a tenuous long-distance relationship with a murdered policeman’s widow, and the unshakably haunting preoccupation with the young girl who set herself on fire.
Book/Hoopla ebook/Hoopla Audiobook/Libby eBook/Libby Audiobook
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/The-Complaints.jpg)
The Complaints
by Ian Rankin
Nobody likes The Complaints–they’re the cops who investigate other cops. It’s a department known within the force as “The Dark Side,” and it’s where Malcolm Fox works. His new case: investigate a cop named Jamie Breck. As Fox takes on the job, he learns that there’s more to Breck than anyone thinks–dangerous knowledge, especially when a vicious murder takes place far too close to home.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/11177650.gif)
The Bodies in the Library
by Marty Wingate
Hayley Burke has landed a dream job. She is the new curator of Lady Georgiana Fowling’s First Edition library. The library is kept at Middlebank House, a lovely Georgian home in Bath, England. Hayley lives on the premises and works with the finicky Glynis Woolgar, Lady Fowling’s former secretary. Mrs. Woolgar does not like Hayley’s ideas to modernize The First Edition Society and bring in fresh blood. And she is not even aware of the fact that Hayley does not know the first thing about the Golden Age of Mysteries. Hayley is faking it till she makes it, and one of her plans to breathe new life into the Society is actually taking flight–an Agatha Christie fan fiction writers group is paying dues to meet up at Middlebank House. But when one of the group is found dead in the venerable stacks of the library, Hayley has to catch the killer to save the Society and her new job.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/A-Memory-Called-Empire.gif)
A Memory Called Empire
by Arkady Martine
During a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court, Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn’t an accident–or that Mahit might be next to die. Now Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan’s unceasing expansion–all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret–one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life–or rescue it from annihilation
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Nate-the-Great.jpg)
Nate the Great
by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
Nate the Great has a new case! His friend Annie has lost a picture. She wants Nate to help her find it. Nate the Great must get all the facts, ask the right questions, and narrow the list of suspects so he can solve the mystery.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/The-case-of-the-left-handed-lady.jpg)
The case of the left-handed lady : an Enola Holmes mystery
by Nancy Springer
Pursued by her much older brother, famed detective Sherlock Holmes, fourteen-year-old Enola, disguised and using false names, attempts to solve the kidnapping of a baronet’s sixteen-year-old daughter in nineteenth-century London.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/One-of-us-is-lying.jpg)
One of Us is Lying
by Karen McManus
When the creator of a high school gossip app mysteriously dies in front of four high-profile students all four become suspects. It’s up to them to solve the case.
Mystery on the Screens
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Sherlock-683x1024.jpg)
Sherlock
The quirky spin on Conan Doyle’s iconic sleuth pitches him as a “high-functioning sociopath” in modern-day London. Assisting him in his investigations: Afghanistan War vet John Watson, who’s introduced to Holmes by a mutual acquaintance.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Shetland.jpg)
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Kolchak.gif)
Carl Kolchak is a reporter for a Chicago newspaper. Through more accident than design he ends up investigating homicides, many of which involve supernatural forces. Ultimately, rather than reporting on the crimes, he solves them.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Mare-of-Easttown.gif)
Academy Award-winner Kate Winslet plays Mare Sheehan, a small-town Pennsylvania detective who investigates a local murder as life crumbles around her. From creator and writer Brad Ingelsby, with all episodes directed by Craig Zobel, the seven-part limited series is an exploration into the dark side of a close community and an authentic examination of how family and past tragedies can define our present.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Dagla.gif)
Based on P.D. James’s global bestsellers, this riveting mystery series stars Bertie Carvel as enigmatic Inspector Adam Dalgliesh. A recent widower and acclaimed poet, Dalgliesh is a cerebral, reserved man but possessed of exceptional empathy and insight. As he investigates complex crimes in 1970s England, he plumbs the darker depths of the human psyche in his pursuit of justice.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/CSI.gif)
Horatio Caine heads a group of investigators who work crimes amid the tropical surroundings and cultural crossroads of Miami. Together, the investigators collect and analyze the evidence to solve the crimes and to vindicate those who often cannot speak for themselves, the victims.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/857439.gif)
Follows the young homicide detective/psychologist as he meets his match in a serial killer. The two face off in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, but when the mission gets personal, Cross is pushed to the edge of his moral and psychological limits in this taut and exciting action thriller.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Knives-Out.gif)
A tribute to mystery mastermind Agatha Christie and a fun, modern-day murder mystery where everyone is a suspect. When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan’s dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan’s untimely death.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Jack-Reacher.gif)
Ex-military investigator Jack Reacher leaps off the pages of Lee Child’s bestselling novel and onto the big screen in this explosive thriller. When an unspeakable crime is committed, all evidence points to the suspect in custody who offers up a single note in defense: Get Jack Reacher! The law has its limits, but Reacher does not when his fight for the truth pits him against an unexpected enemy with a skill for violence and a secret to keep.
Hot Summer Reads
We asked our staff what books they were looking forward to reading this summer. Here are their answers.
Join the Adult Summer Reading Club to log what you read and win prizes.
Fiction
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Hester.jpg)
Hester
By Lauire Lico Albanese
Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress carrying generations of secrets when she sets sail from Scotland in the early 1800s with her husband, Edward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opium, his pile of debts have forced them to flee Edinburgh for a fresh start in the New World. But only days after they’ve arrived in Salem, Edward abruptly joins a departing ship as a medic––leaving Isobel penniless and alone in a strange country, forced to make her way by any means possible.
When she meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are instantly drawn to each other: he is a man haunted by his ancestors, who sent innocent women to the gallows––while she is an unusually gifted needleworker, troubled by her own strange talents. As the weeks pass and Edward’s safe return grows increasingly unlikely, Nathaniel and Isobel grow closer and closer. Together, they are a muse and a dark storyteller; the enchanter and the enchanted. But which is which?
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/The-Guest.jpg)
The Guest
By Emma Cline
Summer is coming to a close on the East End of Long Island, and Alex is no longer welcome.
A misstep at a dinner party, and the older man she’s been staying with dismisses her with a ride to the train station and a ticket back to the city.
With few resources and a waterlogged phone, but gifted with an ability to navigate the desires of others, Alex stays on Long Island and drifts like a ghost through the hedged lanes, gated driveways, and sun-blasted dunes of a rarified world that is, at first, closed to her. Propelled by desperation and a mutable sense of morality, she spends the week leading up to Labor Day moving from one place to the next, a cipher leaving destruction in her wake.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/The-Wishing-Game.jpg)
The Wishing Game
By Meg Shaffer
Years ago, a reclusive mega-bestselling children’s author quit writing under mysterious circumstances. Suddenly he resurfaces with a brand-new book and a one-of-a-kind competition, offering a prize that will change the winner’s life in this absorbing and whimsical novel.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/The-Violin-Conspiracy-678x1024.jpg)
The Violin Conspiracy
By Brendan Slocumb
Ray McMillian loves playing the violin more than anything, and nothing will stop him from pursuing his dream of becoming a professional musician. Not his mother, who thinks he should get a real job, not the fact that he can’t afford a high-caliber violin, not the racism inherent in the classical music world. And when he makes the startling discovery that his great-grandfather’s fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, his star begins to rise. Then with the international Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music—fast approaching, his prized family heirloom is stolen. Ray is determined to get it back. But now his family and the descendants of the man who once enslaved Ray’s great-grandfather are each claiming that the violin belongs to them. With the odds stacked against him and the pressure mounting, will Ray ever see his beloved violin again?
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/In-The-Lives-of-Puppets-656x1024.jpg)
In The Lives of Puppets
By TJ Klune
In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots–fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe.
The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled “HAP,” he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio-a past spent hunting humans.
When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/The-Dry.jpg)
The Dry
By Jane Harper
In the grip of the worst drought in a century, the farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily when three members of a local family are found brutally slain.
Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk reluctantly returns to his hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend, loath to face the townsfolk who turned their backs on him twenty years earlier.
But as questions mount, Falk is forced to probe deeper into the deaths of the Hadler family. Because Falk and Luke Hadler shared a secret. A secret Falk thought was long buried. A secret Luke’s death now threatens to bring to the surface in this small Australian town, as old wounds bleed into new ones.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/The-Lie-Maker.jpg)
The Lie Maker
By Linwood Barclay
In this twisty, fast-paced thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Find You First and Take Your Breath Away, a man desperately tries to track down his father–who was taken into witness protection years ago–before his enemies can get to him.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/62313333.png)
The benevolent society of ill-mannered ladies
By Alison Goodman
A high society amateur detective at the heart of Regency London uses her wits and invisibility as an ‘old maid’ to protect other women in a new and fiercely feminist historical mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Alison Goodman.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/22733729.jpg)
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
By Becky Chambers
Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space-and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe-in this light-hearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star.
Nonfiction
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/60965426.jpg)
The creative act : a way of being
By Rick Rubin
The Creative Act is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow. It distills the wisdom gleaned from a lifetime’s work into a luminous reading experience that puts the power to create moments–and lifetimes–of exhilaration and transcendence within closer reach for all of us.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/58817755.jpg)
A Trillion Trees
By Fred Pearce
Trees keep our planet cool and breathable. They make the rain and sustain biodiversity. They are essential for nature and for us. And yet, we are cutting and burning them at such a rate that many forests are fast approaching tipping points beyond which they will simply shrivel and die. But there is still time, and there is still hope. If we had a trillion more trees, the damage could be undone. So should we get planting? Not so fast. Fred Pearce argues in this inspiring new book that we can have our forests back, but mass planting should be a last resort. Instead, we should mostly stand back, make room and let nature — and those who dwell in the forests — do the rest.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/63428581.jpg)
The Greatness Mindset
by Lewis Howes
Through his New York Times best-selling book and podcast The School of Greatness, Greatness Academy, and inspirational events, entrepreneur Lewis Howes has provided millions worldwide with the tools they need to define their mission, craft specific goals, and develop a game plan to get the results they want. In The Greatness Mindset, Lewis takes his results-driven system one step further by taking a deep dive into the mindset shifts you need to truly see and acknowledge your own greatness and allow it to reach its fullest potential.
![](https://www.allentownpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/The-Wager.jpg)
The Wager
By David Grann
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.
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Quietly hostile
By Samantha Irby
The success of Irby’s career has taken her to new heights. She fields calls with job offers from Hollywood and walks the red carpet with the iconic ladies of Sex and the City. Finally, she has made it. But, behind all that new-found glam, Irby is just trying to keep her life together as she always had.
Her teeth are poisoning her from inside her mouth, and her diarrhea is back. She gets turned away from a restaurant for wearing ugly clothes, she goes to therapy and tries out Lexapro, gets healed with Reiki, explores the power of crystals, and becomes addicted to QVC. Making light of herself as she takes us on an outrageously funny tour of all the details that make up a true portrait of her life, Irby is once again the relatable, uproarious tonic we all need.
Juvenile
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The Swifts : a dictionary of scoundrels
By Beth Lincoln
In her family, Shenanigan Swift has always been synonymous with mischief. As Arch-Aunt Schadenfreude always says, “She can’t help her name.” When a family reunion suddenly turns into a murder mystery, Shenanigan is determined to catch the perpetrator. A celebration of words and individuality, this remarkable debut is both brilliantly contemporary and instantly classic.
Young Adult
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Four Found Dead
By Natalie D. Richards
Tonight, Tempest Theaters is closing forever, the last remaining business in a defunct shopping mall. The moviegoers have left, and Jo and her six coworkers have the final shift, cleaning up popcorn and mopping floors for the last time.
But after an unexpected altercation puts everyone on edge, the power goes out. Their manager disappears, along with the keys to the lobby doors and the theater safe, where the crew’s phones are locked each shift. Then, the crew’s tension turns to terror when Jo discovers the dead body of one of her co-workers.
Now their only chance to escape the murderer in their midst is through the dark, shuttered mall. With its boarded-up exits and disabled fire alarms, the complex is filled with hiding places for both pursuer and pursued. In order to survive this night, Jo and her friends must trust one another, navigate the sprawling ruins of the mall, and outwit a killer before he kills again.
Adult Summer Reading Community Partners
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Free Passes to the wonderful museum that offers entertaining and engaging ways to understand and appreciate the history and science behind transportation technology.
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Free Passes to the Da Vinci Science Center whose mission it is to bring science to life and lives to science.
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Two Tickets to this season’s performances. See great productions of Henry IV, In the Heights, The Tempest and More. Visit their website to see all shows and dates.
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A Dinner for Two at Urban Table. Their menu captures flavors from a myriad of culinary regions with offerings including prime beef burgers, cauliflower steak, gumbo, and more.
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Rock the Walk mugs and gift cards to the Downtown Allentown Market to help you experience all Downtown Allentown has to offer.
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A Gift Card to this grocery store that is dedicated to helping people live healthier, better lives through exceptional food
Staff Picks: New Years Resolutions
We asked our staff for their new years resolutions and some books that will help fulfill them. This is what they answers
New Years Resolutions
- Döstädning, which in Swedish, is ‘death cleaning’
- Acknowledge joy each day
- Make healthy choices a habit
- Believe in hope
- Practice a little bravery
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The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning
by Margareta Magnusson
A charming, practical, and unsentimental approach to putting a home in order while reflecting on the tiny joys that make up a long life.
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52 ways to walk
By Annabel Street
52 Ways to Walk is a short, user-friendly guide to attaining the full range of benefits that walking has to offer–physical, spiritual, and emotional–backed by the latest scientific research to inspire readers to develop a fulfilling walking lifestyle.
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Forest bathing
By Qing Li
Shinrin-Yoku or forest bathing is the practice of spending time in the forest for better health, happiness and a sense of calm. A pillar of Japanese culture for decades, Shinrin-Yoku is a way to reconnect with nature, from walking mindfully in the woods, to a break in your local park, to walking barefoot on your lawn.
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It’s hard to beat the satisfaction of traveling on foot – settling into a steady rhythm, surrounded by incredible scenery, with the freedom to stop wherever takes your fancy. This endlessly rewarding – and sustainable – activity is joyously celebrated in Hike, which reveals 125 of the most scenic and spectacular walking trails across the globe. It’s the ultimate inspiration for exploring under your own steam: ramble along coastal paths in Europe, scale soaring mountain peaks in Africa and trek through amber-hued canyons in North America.
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Six Questions of Socrates
by Christopher Phillips
What is virtue? What is moderation? What is justice? What is courage? What is good? What is piety? Socrates thought that understanding the perspectives of others on these six great questions would help him become a more excellent human being. Following in Socrates’s footsteps, Christopher Phillips investigates these same questions.
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Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life
by Thich Naht Hanh
Too many of us are in a cycle of shame and guilt. We spend countless hours worrying about what we ate or if we exercised enough, blaming ourselves for actions that we can’t undo. We are stuck in the past and unable to live in the present–that moment in which we do have the power to make changes in our lives.
With Savor, world-renowned Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh and Harvard nutritionist Dr. Lilian Cheung show us how to end our struggles with weight once and for all.
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Eat that frog! : 21 great ways to stop procrastinating and get more done in less time
by Brian Tracy
The legendary Eat That Frog! provides the 21 most effective methods for conquering procrastination and accomplishing more.
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Stillness is the Key
by Ryan Holiday
In his new book, Stillness Is the Key, Holiday draws on timeless Stoic and Buddhist philosophy to show why slowing down is the secret weapon for those charging ahead.
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10% Happier
by Dan Harris
A spiritual book written for–and by–someone who would otherwise never read a spiritual book, 10% HAPPIER is both a deadly serious and seriously funny look at mindfulness and meditation as the next big public health revolution
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Atomic Habits
by James Clear
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving—every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
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Breath : the new science of a lost art
By Nestor James
There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.
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Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking
by Susan Cain
In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.
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Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
by Matthew Walker
Neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night’s sleep every night.