Explore History with Books on the Holocaust at the Warren Township Library

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is an international memorial day on January 27 commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. Explore history with these books available at the Warren Township Library and other branches of the Somerset County Library system.

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti - In October 1942, 17-year-old Helmuth Hubener, imprisoned for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets, recalls his past life and how he came to dedicate himself to bring the truth about Hitler and the war to the German people. (Middle School Readers)

We Are Witnesses: Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust edited by Jacob Boas - Diary entries written by five Holocaust victims document the ordeals suffered in Nazi-occupied Lithuania, Hungary, Belgium and Holland. (High School Readers; Middle School Readers)

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A Fable by John Boyne - Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in 1942, Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer, befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wife fence. (High School Readers; Middle School Readers; also available as an e-book)

Once by Morris Gleitzman - After living in a Catholic orphanage for nearly four years, a naive Jewish boy runs away and embarks on a journey across Nazi-occupied Poland to find his parents. (Middle School Readers)

Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz - Based on the life of Jack Gruener, this book relates his story of survival from the Nazi occupation of Krakow, when he was 11, through a succession of concentration camps, to the final liberation of Dachau. (Middle School Readers; also available as an e-book)

Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene - Sheltering an escaped German prisoner of war is the beginning of some shattering experiences for a 12-year-old Jewish girl in Arkansas. (Middle School Readers)

Torn Thread by Anne Isaacs - In an attempt to save his daughter's life, Eva's father sends her from Poland to a labor camp in Czechoslovakia, where she and her sister, Rachel, are forced to make blankets and uniforms for the German army. (Middle School Readers)

Stones in Water by Donna Jo Napoli - After being taken by German soldiers from a local movie theater along with other Italian boys including his Jewish friend, Roberto is forced to work in Germany. He escapes into the Ukrainian winter before desperately trying to make his way back home to Venice. (Middle School Readers)

Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus - In Nazi-occupied Norway, 14-year-old Espen joins the resistance movement, graduating from deliverer of illegal newspapers to courier and spy. (Middle School Readers)

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys - In 1941, 15-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. (High School Readers; also available as an e-book)

Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow - In 1936 Berlin, 14-year-old Karl Stern, considered Jewish despite a non-religious upbringing, learns to box from the legendary Max Scheming while struggling with the realities of the Holocaust. (High School Readers; Middle School Readers)

Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman - Spiegelman, the child of Holocaust survivors and a well-known cartoonist, addresses his family's plight in the frames of a comic strip in this dark and unusual work for more mature readers. (High School Readers)

Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli - Set in Nazi-occupied Poland just before the Warsaw ghetto uprising, Spinelli's first historical novel tells a tale of heartbreak, hope and survival through the eyes of a young orphan. (Middle School Readers; also available as an e-book)

The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen - Hannah resents the traditions of her Jewish heritage until time travel places her in the middle of a small Jewish village in Nazi-occupied Poland. (Middle School Readers; also available as an e-book)

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak - Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel, a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors. (High School Readers;  also available as an e-book)

Check out other Suggested Reading lists here, including Teen Reads, High School books and Middle School books.

Fantasy Books Available at the Warren Township Library

Visit new and amazing worlds with these fantasy novels available at the Warren Township Library and other branches of the Somerset County Library System.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard - When her supernatural powers manifest, Mare, a thief in a world divided between commoners and superhuman, is forced to assume the role of lost princess before risking everything to help a growing rebellion. (High School Readers; also available as an e-book)

White Cat by Holly Black - When Cassel Sharpe discovers that his older brothers have used him to carry out their criminal schemes and then stole his memories, he figures out a way to turn their evil machinations against them. (High School Readers)

School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainini - Best friends Sophie (princess wannabe) and Agatha (witchy loner) are headed to the School for Good and Evil, but their assumed destinies are reversed. (Middle School Readers; also available as an e-book)

The Dark City by Catherine Fisher - In a devastated world where ancient relics possess advanced powers, Master Galen and his 16-ear-old apprentice, Raffia, enter the ruined city of Tasceron seeking a relic that could save the world while evading the Watch. (Middle School Readers; also available as an e-book)

The Ruins of Gorian by John Flanagan - When 15-year-old Will is rejected by battle school, he becomes the reluctant apprentice to the mysterious Ranger Halt, and winds up protecting the kingdom from danger. (Middle School Readers; also available as an e-book)

The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove - In 1891, in a world transformed by 1799's Great Disruption, 13-year-old Sophia Tims and her friend Theo go in search of Sophia's uncle, Shadrack Elli, Boston's foremost cartologer, who has been kidnapped. (Middle School Readers; also available as an e-book)

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman - In a world where dragons and humans coexist in an uneasy truce and dragons can assume human form, Seraphina, whose mother died giving birth to her, grapples with her own identity amid magical secrets and royal scandals. (High School Readers; also available as an e-book)

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas - After she served a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier  for her crimes, Crown Prince Dorian offers 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien her freedom on the condition that she acts as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. (High School Readers; also available as an e-book)

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen - In the country of Cathy, a devious nobleman engages four orphans in a brutal competition to be selected to impersonate the king's long-missing son in an effort to avoid a civil war. (Middle School Readers; also available as an e-book)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - A horrific family tragedy sends 16-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of an old orphanage that was home to children who were more than just peculiar, but possibly dangerous - and who may still be alive. (High School Readers; also available as an e-book)

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir - When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's greatest military academy in exchange for the assistance of rebel Scholars in saving him from execution. (High School Readers; also available as an e-book)

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - 17-year-old Karou carries a sketchbook of hideous, frightening monsters - the chimaerae who form the only family she has ever known. (High School Readers; also available as an e-book)

Other recommended authors:
Leigh Bardugo
Kristin Cashore
Cinda Williams Chima
Cassandra Clare
Neil Gaiman
Robin McKinley
Garth Nix
Tamora Pierce
Terry Pratchett
Patricia C. Wrede

For more book suggestions, check out Middle School Reader books and High School Reader books. 

GLBT Books Available at the Library

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender books are available at the Warren Township Library and at other branches of the Somerset County Library System.

I Am J by Cris Beam - J, who feels like a boy mistakenly born as a girl, runs away from his best friend who has rejected him and the parents he thinks do not understand him when he finally decides that it is time to be who he really is. (High School Reader)

Fat Angie by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo - Angie overeats to cope wth the taunts of the ultra-mean girls, her attempted suicide in front of a packed gym, and the status of her captured war-hero sister, until KC Romance comes to town and sees Angie for who she really is. (High School Reader; also available as an e-book)

This Book is Gay by James Dawson - Offers basic information about the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience. (High School Reader; also available as an e-book)

Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan - Having never developed romantic feelings before her junior year in high school, Persian-American Leila forges deeper bonds with supportive classmates after confiding in them her newfound attachment to a girl. (High School Reader)

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle - An eighth-grader who dreams of performing in Broadway musical concocts a plan to run away to New York and audition for the role of Elliot in the musical version of "E.T." (Middle School Reader; also available as an e-book)

Totally Joe by James Howe - As a school assignment, a 13-year-old boy writes an alphabiography - life from A to Z - and explores issues of friendship, family, school and the challenges of being a gay teenager. (Middle School Reader)

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King - Imagining that she is sending love to passengers in airplanes flying overhead, Astrid Jones, a teen from a small town torn by gossip and narrow-mindedness, struggles with her family's dysfunction and hides her love for another girl. (High School Reader)

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin - An honest look at the lives, loves and struggles of transgender teens. (High School Reader; also available as an e-book)

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan - A chorus of men who died of AIDS observes and yearns to help a cross-section of today's gay teens who navigate new love, long-term relationships, coming out, self-acceptance, and more in a society that has changed in many ways. (High School Reader; also available as an e-book)

Marco Impossible by Hannah Moskowitz - Two best friends attempt to break into the high school prom so that one of them can confess his love for the adorable bass player of the prom band. (Middle School Reader)

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson - A story of first love and family loss follows the estrangement between daredevil Jude and her loner twin brother, Noah, as a result of a mysterious event that is brought to light by a beautiful, broken boy and a new mentor. (High School Reader; also available as an e-book)

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters - When her girlfriend dies suddenly at age 17, Colorado teenager Alix struggles with grief as painful secrets are revealed. (High School Reader)

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky - Hiding the truth about her awareness that she is a girl trapped inside a male body, Grayson finds new strength to embrace her true identity from an unexpected friendship and a supportive teacher.(Middle School Reader)

Tomboy by Liz Prince - Eschewing female stereotypes throughout her early years and failing to gain acceptance on the boys' baseball team, Liz learns to embrace her own views on gender as she comes of age, in an anecdotal graphic novel memoir. (High School Reader)

Boyfriends with Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez - When Lance begins to date Sergio, who's bisexual, he's not sure that it'll work out, and when his best friend Allie, who has a boyfriend, meets Sergio's lesbian friend, she has unexpected feelings which she struggles to understand. (High School Reader)

For more book recommendations, please visit here.

Halloween Books for Readers of All Ages

Get into the "spirit" of Halloween with some great books with this list from the Warren Township Library. These books are available in the Somerset County Library System.

For Younger Kids(Perfect for little ones; elementary school kids also will enjoy these)
Skeleton for Dinner by Margery Cuyler
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
Bone Soup by Cambria Evans
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds
Fright Club by Ethan Long

Frankenstein a Monstrous Parody by Rick Walton
Peanut Butter and Brains by Joe McGeeHalloween Hustle by Charlotte Gunnufson
Welcome to Monster Town (Christy Ottaviano Books) by Ryan Heshka
Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks

Ghosts in the House! by Kazuno Kohara
AlphaOops: H is for Halloween by Alethea Kontis
Porkenstein by Kathryn LaskyThe Monstore by Tara Lazar
Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis
Fright Night Flight by Laura Krauss Melmed
Goodnight Goon and Runaway Mummy by Michael Rex
Vunce Upon a Time by J. Otto Seibold & Siobhan Vivian

Sheep Trick or Treat by Nancy E. Shaw
One Hallooween Night by Mark Teague
Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas
Whooo's Haunting the Teeny Tiny Ghost? by Kay Winters
Two Little Witches: A Halloween Counting Story by Harriet Ziefert

School-Age Kids
Ghosthunters and The Totally Moldy Baroness! by Cornelia Funke (Ages 6-9) (part of a series)

Bunnicula the Vampire Bunny by James Howe

Bed, Bats, & Beyond (Darby Creek Exceptional Titles) by Joan Holub
Magic Tree House #42: A Good Night for Ghosts (A Stepping Stone Book) by Mary Pope Osborne (ages 6-9) (part of a series)
This Book Is Haunted (An I Can Read Book, Level 1) by Joanne Rocklin
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, retold by Jane Mason
Cinderella Skeleton by San Souci (Gr 3-7)

Young AdultThe World's Most Haunted Places: From The Secret Files of Ghostvillage.com by Jeff Belanger
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney (Book One of the Last Apprentice series)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn
The Enemy Charlie Higson (Book One of the Enemy series)
The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan PoeThe Intruders by E.E. Richardson
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Alvin Schwartz
More scary stories for Stormy Nights by Scott Ingram (Gr 4-6)

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Nightwood by Patricia Windsor
The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror (Graphic Novels, various titles)
Get into the crafty spirit of Halloween with these books:
Spooky Things (Making Pictures) by Penny King
Crafts to Make in the Fall by Kathy Ross
Halloween Fun for Everyone by Ferida Wolff and Dolores Kozielski
Ralph Masiello's Halloween Drawing Book by Ralph Masiello

Adults can get their Halloween fix with truly spooky stories and haunting fiction. For Day of the Dead books, please go here.

Audiobooks Available at Warren Library

Too busy to read? Try an audiobook! There are a variety of genres and authors available including:

A Country Road, A Tree
by Jo Baker; narrated by David Rintoul 

Adult Fiction. In 1939, struggling writer Samuel Beckett leaves his family's home in Ireland for Paris, where he befriends James Joyce, begins a relationship with future wife Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil, and -- after the Nazis occupy the city -- becomes involved with the French Resistance. In spare, evocative language, this biographical novel by the author of Longbourn examines how Beckett's life shaped his unique style and body of work. In this audio version, David Rintoul clearly distinguishes the different characters through his thoughtfully paced narration.

The After Party
by Anton DiSclafani; narrated by Dorothy Dillingham Blue

Adult Fiction. In the posh suburb of River Oaks, the socialites of 1950s Houston, Texas drown their sorrows with the many luxuries oil money affords. Against an atmospheric backdrop of debutante balls, cocktail parties, and garden-club luncheons, The After Party explores the complicated bond between rebellious glamour girl Joan Fortier and Cece Buchnan, her inseparable friend since childhood -- though as they grow older Joan's increasingly alarming behavior pulls the two apart. Narrator Dorothy Dillingham Blue effectively renders Cece's voice as she relates this vividly detailed story of a flawed reality lurking just below the socially respectable surface.

The Second Life of Nick Mason
by Steve Hamilton; narrated by Ray Porter

Adult Fiction. Rumors abound that this intriguing novel is a series debut; fans of brooding anti-heroes are likely to hope the rumors are true. Imprisoned for a murder he didn't actually commit, Nick Mason has accepted a dubious offer: get out 20 years early and live a life of comfort...if he agrees to follow the orders of an incarcerated crime boss without question. As the demands placed on him get ever more unconscionable (and more dangerous), Nick is increasingly ready to go straight. But of course it's not that easy. Narrator Ray Porter clearly differentiates among the voices of distinct characters in this Chicago-set novel.

A Buccaneer at Heart
by Stephanie Laurens; narrated by Steve West

Adult Fiction. After a decade of service to the Crown, Captain Robert Frobisher decides it's time to marry and start a family. But before he can take a wife, he must complete one last covert mission: investigate rumors of a slavers' camp in the Freetown Colony of West Africa (Sierra Leone). There, Robert meets Miss Aileen Hopkins, who's searching for her missing brother, a young naval officer. Since Aileen won't be dissuaded from seeking out danger, Robert agrees to assist her in her quest. A Buccaneer at Heart is the 2nd installment of the Adventurers Quartet, which follows the seafaring Frobisher family.

Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul
by James McBride; narrated by Dominic Hoffman

Adult Nonfiction. Prompted by a comment from James Brown's grandson, author James McBride decided to look into the complex life and legacy of the Godfather of Soul. With input from Brown's friends, family members, and colleagues, McBride paints a picture not just of the founder of funk but of the world that made him; musings on race, identity, influence, and the American South abound. While there are other, more traditional biographies of James Brown available, this one is unique as it adds cultural history, context, and a personal perspective. In the audiobook, narrator Dominic Hoffman's "determined to get it right" (Publishers Weekly) as he recreates Brown's maxims and slogans. 

Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor
by Clinton Romesha; narrated by Will Damron

Adult Nonfiction. In 2009, the U.S. military decided to close a vulnerable string of outposts in Afghanistan that were meant to deter Taliban insurgents from free movement across the Pakistan border. Just as the closures were beginning, the Taliban launched a deadly, all-out assault at one location, Command Outpost Keating. In Red Platoon, Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha recounts the firefight, preceding the account with a description of his own training, his troops' capabilities, and the conditions that exacerbated Keating's vulnerability. His riveting description of the battle itself provides vivid and sobering detail. Military history buffs and readers concerned about the war in Afghanistan will appreciate this book, clearly voiced by 2015 Voice Arts Award Winner Will Damron.

The Last Painting of Sara De Vos
by Dominic Smith; narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

Adult Fiction. Parallel narratives unfold and eventually converge in this multi-layered novel, which explores the legacy of fictional 17th-century Dutch painter Sara de Vos, whose creation of her masterpiece At the Edge of a Wood provides one thread of the story. The other threads connect the 1957 theft of de Vos' masterpiece, its most recent owner, and the thief. In the audio version Edoardo Ballerini weaves the storylines together while skillfully imparting a "thrill of foreboding" (Publishers Weekly) as secrets are gradually revealed.