With a never ending selection of great fiction, this group reads popular titles and meets to discuss every third Wednesday of the month at 7:00 PM. Meeting format and space varies with weather and ongoing procedures at the library.
Boost independence and develop social skills at this interactive storytime that helps to support your child's rapidly developing skills. For ages 2-3 and their caregiver. Siblings are welcome to attend.
Disclaimer(s)
The library makes every effort to ensure our programs can be enjoyed by all. If you have any concerns about accessibility or need to request specific accommodations, please contact the library.
This program is designed for children and accompanying adults. Please plan to attend and be engaged with your child for this program. Drop offs will not be permitted.
Boost independence and develop social skills at this interactive storytime that helps to support your child's rapidly developing skills. For ages 2-3 and their caregiver. Siblings are welcome to attend.
Disclaimer(s)
The library makes every effort to ensure our programs can be enjoyed by all. If you have any concerns about accessibility or need to request specific accommodations, please contact the library.
This program is designed for children and accompanying adults. Please plan to attend and be engaged with your child for this program. Drop offs will not be permitted.
Practice reading with one of our trained therapy dogs. Not reading yet? That’s okay, they would still love for you to pet and talk to them as well. No registration needed.
Disclaimer(s)
The library makes every effort to ensure our programs can be enjoyed by all. If you have any concerns about accessibility or need to request specific accommodations, please contact the library.
Learn how to create free legal documents (including resumes, lease agreements, power of attorney, wills, and more), with our new library resource LawDepot!
The book and puzzle sale kicks off with a Friends Members' Preview Night! Friends members are invited to get a first look at this year's sale from 5:00 - 7:00pm. Not a member?
Fill your shelves with new-to-you books for all ages while supporting the Friends of New Berlin Public Library! Books, puzzles, movies, and music available for purchase.
*cash and checks accepted as payment
Half Price and $5 Bag sale today! Fill your shelves with new-to-you books for all ages while supporting the Friends of New Berlin Public Library. Books, puzzles, movies, and music available for purchase.
Recommended Reads
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No Friend to This House
A Best Book of the Year from The Observer
No Friend to This House is an extraordinary reimagining of the myth of Medea from the New York Times bestselling author of Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes.
This is what no one tells you, in the songs sung about Jason and the Argo. This part of his quest has been forgotten, by everyone but me . . .
Jason and his Argonauts set sail to find the Golden Fleece. The journey is filled with danger, for him and everyone he meets. But if he ever reaches the distant land he seeks, he faces almost certain death.
Medea--priestess, witch, and daughter of a brutal king--has the power to save the life of a stranger. Will she betray her family and her home, and what will she demand in return?
Medea and Jason seize their one chance of a life together, as the gods intend. But their love is steeped in vengeance from the beginning, and no one--not even those closest to them--will be safe.
Based on the classic tragedy by Euripides, this is Medea as you've never seen her before . . .
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Upward Bound: A Read with Jenna Pick
A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A wondrous, deeply affecting portrait of the interlocking lives at an adult day care center in Southern California, depicting an often overlooked community with extraordinary wit and grace—“an explosive novel” (Ron Charles) by a major new literary voice hailed as a “groundbreaking debut novelist” (Publishers Weekly)
“[A] singular debut novel.”—The New York Times
“Triumphant . . . funny and moving and ringing with life.”—The Guardian
“Implosive and wonderfully inspirational.”—Paul Beatty
“Great characters, great pace, great story—reading Upward Bound is a complicated joy.”—Roddy Doyle
“It will change the way you look at the world.”—Angie Kim
“A moving, illuminating glimpse into a world we rarely have access to.”—Good Housekeeping
“Woody Brown accomplishes the seemingly impossible.”—Mona Simpson
“This captivating work illuminates a world too often ignored.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
A Most Anticipated Book: The New York Times, Time, Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire, Alta Journal, Publishers Weekly, Literary Hub, Publishers Lunch
Upward Bound is not a place anyone dreams of spending their days. The dreary adult daycare center for Los Angeles’s disabled community is, for many of its clients and staff, a place of last resort. This includes Carlos, a young aide who lost his mother as a boy and now works there alongside his beloved sister, Mariana; Jorge, the gentle nonspeaking giant whom Carlos seeks to befriend (and prevent from escaping); Tom, a beautiful young man with cerebral palsy who pines for Ann, the summer lifeguard at the center’s pool who feels out of her depth. Then there’s Dave, Upward Bound’s director, who came to L.A. to pursue an acting career but now channels his passion into staging an overly ambitious holiday show starring the center’s irrepressible clients. Framing these intertwined narratives—and connecting them in surprising, shattering ways—is the riveting and sometimes ironic testimony of Walter, a recent community college graduate who, after a family tragedy, must return to the company of his disabled peers.
In Upward Bound, Woody Brown has created an indelible, authentic, and profoundly moving group portrait of autism and other disabilities, all illuminated by his empathy, sly sense of humor, and enormous gifts as a novelist. With remarkable sophistication, insight, and creativity, Brown depicts a community too-often invisible in literature and society. Filled with characters you won’t soon forget, Upward Bound will inspire and touch you, teaching you as much about yourself as the tender, miraculous world behind the center’s doors. -
This Story Might Save Your Life
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"Both a riveting mystery and a love story, This Story Might Save Your Life is one of the best thrillers I’ve read this year." —Amy Tintera, bestselling author of Listen for the Lie
“A heart-pounding thriller and a heart-melting romance, this is the most compelling novel I’ve read in years.” —Annabel Monaghan, New York Times bestselling author of It’s a Love Story
Best friends Benny and Joy like to say they’ve been saving each other’s lives since the moment they met. Until the day Joy disappears and Benny is suspected of murder . . .
Benny Abbott and Joy Moore host one of the most beloved podcasts in the world. Each week, they delight listeners with a different “against all odds” survival story, gleefully finding the weird, life-affirming humor in near-death experiences. Since their first episode on Joy’s experience with severe narcolepsy, they’ve been the best friends everyone wants to befriend—and thanks to the meticulous management of Joy’s husband, Xander, they’ve built a lucrative empire.
The problem is, their next survival story may be their own. When Benny arrives at Joy and Xander’s one morning to record, he finds shattered glass and an empty house. The one clue shedding light on the couple’s disappearance is the incomplete, previously unseen first draft of Joy’s memoir. Benny is desperate to find them, even when the police soon zero in on him as their prime suspect.
Millions of devoted listeners think they know the “real” Benny and Joy. But as the hours tick by, and the odds seem increasingly stacked against Joy and Xander being found alive, not even the most devoted fans could guess the terrible secrets their favorite famous BFFs have hidden from the world—and from each other.
“I truly loved reading This Story Might Save Your Life. The pace was terrific, and it was so smart and engrossing. The pages practically turn themselves in this nuanced thriller. I couldn't put it down!”
—Nina Simon, bestselling author of Mother-Daughter Murder Night -
Sourdough Everything
A step-by-step guide to baking and designing beautiful sourdough breads, treats, and sweets with sourdough superstar Rachel Pardoe.
While it's part science and part craft, baking sourdough is actually very easy: create a starter, feed it with care, and then combine it with a few simple ingredients to make something truly magical. Even if you already have your own starter languishing in the fridge, Sourdough Everything will reinvigorate your sourdough experience and elevate your baking skills with an array of recipes ranging from artfully crafted loaves to flavorful rolls, sweet breads, and pastries.
Featuring over 70 recipes, including sourdough raisin bread, pumpkin chocolate rolls, French crullers, and sourdough pretzels, Sourdough Everything will help you slow down and savor the experience of creating flavorful sourdough that is also a feast for the eyes.
With step-by-step instructions, you'll learn how to
- Create and care for your starter
- Use proper baking techniques
- Confidently navigate more advanced recipes
- Use simple, everyday tools to create beautiful designs
This is not just another sourdough cookbook with nothing but bread recipes, this is a cookbook that will help you discover the creative baker that resides inside you! -
This Land is Your Land
Pulitzer Prize–winning author of G-Man and acclaimed historian Beverly Gage takes the ultimate road trip into the American past.
Ride along with Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Beverly Gage as she travels the country to see the museums, historic sites, roadside attractions, reenactments, and souvenir shops where Americans learn—and fight—about our history. From the birth of the nation in Philadelphia to Disneyland and the California dream, This Land Is Your Land offers a guided tour of thirteen places and thirteen key moments that define America’s greatest successes and challenges.
The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a document that proclaimed the liberty and equality of all human beings, but produced a country that often failed to agree upon—or live up to—those ideals. This Land Is Your Land is for everyone who wants to find that history—to experience it and confront it, to celebrate it and condemn it—in the places where it happened.
Gage shows that Americans can face their past and still love their country. Toss the book in the back seat—or listen on audio with the windows down—and join the journey. -
A Lady for All Seasons
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER • From the acclaimed author of Chef’s Kiss and A Gentleman’s Gentleman comes a riotous Regency romp, featuring a charming and unforgettable genderfluid lead.
“The perfect blend of rich Regency romance and frothy screwball, Alexander has brewed a queer and cozy cup of something sure to delight.”
—L.C. Rosen, author of Lavender House
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a woman who has lost her fortune must be in need (not want) of a husband. Beautiful, cunning Verbena Montrose must marry to save herself and her odious family from abject poverty. Fortunately, what she lacks in a dowry, she makes up for in the currency of gossip.
When she hears an alarming rumor about her very dear, very queer friend Étienne that could ruin him, she comes to his aid with a proposal—for a marriage of convenience, that is. But when Verbena discovers that a mysterious and celebrated poet by the name of Flora Witcombe has been publishing verses that hint she is onto their scheme, Verbena has no choice but to pretend to be a poet herself to confront her in a local salon. And—unexpectedly—be charmed by her.
Flora, in turn, is terrified by and smitten with Verbena in equal measure. But she holds a secret of her own: he is also William Forsyth, a struggling novelist and fifth son of a minor noble family. And if circumstances don’t allow Flora to woo Verbena, perhaps William can. Faced with two suitors and a fiancé, Verbena, who has always had to be clever to survive in society, starts to realize she may need to think outside of society’s constraints to find true happiness. -
American Fantasy
“American Fantasy has everything we need right now: '90s nostalgia, humor, and it is a great escape.” —Jenna Bush Hager on NBC Today Show
"I can hardly remember the last time I read anything that brought me such pure joy.” —Ann Patchett
“American Fantasy is such a fun, delicious, big-hearted book.” —Taylor Jenkins Reid
“Comedy and redemption on the high seas...breezy, tenderhearted.”—New York Times
From New York Times bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow, an irresistible story about what happens when your teenage fantasy comes true after you’re already an adult.
When the American Fantasy cruise ship sets sail for a four-day themed voyage, aboard are all five members of a famous, nineties-era boy band and three thousand screaming women who have worshipped them since childhood.
Feeling slightly out of place amid this crowd is Annie, here on a lark to appease her sister. Yet when the lights come up and the idols of her youth begin to sing, something is unlocked. Call it memory. Call it nostalgia. Call it the chemical reaction of hormones, hope, and sexual reawakening. Between the slushy alcoholic drinks, the familiar music, and the throngs of middle-aged women acting like lovesick teenagers, Annie finally reconnects to a long-submerged part of herself. By the time she meets one of the band members—not just a celebrity but someone in need of a friend—she has accessed a new sense of possibility.
In a smart and incisive book packed with laugh-out-loud reflections on fame, aging, and marriage, Emma Straub delivers a richly textured story that shows us real passion is never truly lost, that what we love makes us who we are, and that deep meaning can sometimes be found in a sea of screaming fans. -
Meet the Newmans
From #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING author Jennifer Niven, a novel about America’s favorite TV family, whose perfect façade cracks
"I LOVED Meet the Newmans!" —Judy Blume, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"[A] WITTY AND MOVING novel." —People
"Fans of LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY will love Meet the Newmans." —Woman's World
For two decades, Del and Dinah Newman and their sons, Guy and Shep, have ruled television as America’s Favorite Family. Millions of viewers tune in every week to watch them play flawless, black-and-white versions of themselves. But now it’s 1964, and the Newmans’ idealized apple-pie perfection suddenly feels woefully out of touch. Ratings are in free fall, as are the Newmans themselves. Del is keeping an explosive secret from his wife, and Dinah is slowly going numb—literally. Steady, stable Guy is hiding the truth about his love life, and the charmed luck of rock ‘n roll idol Shep may have finally run out.
When Del—the creative motor behind the show—is in a mysterious car accident, Dinah decides to take matters into her own hands. She hires Juliet Dunne, an outspoken, impassioned young reporter, to help her write the final episode. But Dinah and Juliet have wildly different perspectives about what it means to be a woman, and a family, in 1964. Can the Newmans hold it together to change television history? Or will they be canceled before they ever have the chance?
Funny, big-hearted, and deeply moving, Meet the Newmans is a rich family story about the dual lives we lead. Because even when our lives aren’t televised weekly, we all have a behind-the-scenes. -
The Beheading Game
Disgraced. Beheaded. And out for revenge . . .
We all know what happened to Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn. But what if she woke up the day after her execution and took it upon herself to seek justice?
“Fabulous! A marvelously inventive and mythic reworking of the story of Anne Boleyn. I loved it.”—Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love
“Nobody was surprised at Anne’s conviction. The world loves to put a woman in her place.”
The Beheading Game begins in the hours after Anne Boleyn’s beheading, when she wakes to find herself unceremoniously laid to rest in a makeshift coffin, her head wrapped in linen at her knees. Discarded by King Henry VIII for being unable to give him a male heir and reviled by Cromwell for being too smart for her own good, she was ultimately executed based on trumped-up charges of adultery, incest, and high treason.
Anne escapes the Tower of London, sews her head back on, then sets out on a quest to kill Henry VIII before he can marry her own lady-in-waiting Jane Seymour. The stakes are high—if Jane gives birth to a rival heir, Anne’s daughter, Elizabeth, will lose her claim to the throne. Traveling the streets of London in the guise of a commoner, with the help of a prostitute who becomes a trusted friend (and perhaps something more), Anne soon realizes how little she knew about life in the real world.
A fantastical journey through the wilds of England and Tudor history, filled with danger and magic and steeped in Arthurian legend, The Beheading Game is a prescient reminder that “mouthy” women have always been punished. Now, thanks to debut novelist Rebecca Lehmann, nearly five hundred years after Anne Boleyn’s death, one of history’s most maligned women finally has the chance to tell her story.