In honor of Earth Day, we’re exploring another 2024 Amazing Book Challenge category: Our Planet.
Naperville Public Library’s Amazing Book Challenge encourages adult and teen readers to broaden their reading interests by discovering new subjects, series or authors — something they may otherwise read on their own. Dive into our incredible “blue planet” and celebrate the connection between plants, animals, and people with one of these titles.
For the full list of recommendations and to see the rest of this year’s themes, visit www.naperville-lib.org/ABC.
“South Pole Station” by Ashley Shelby
Cooper Gosling, adrift at age 30, applies to the National Science Foundation Artists & Writers Program and flees to Antarctica, where she encounters a group of misfits motivated by desires as ambiguous as her own. There’s Pearl, the cook with Machiavellian ambitions; the oxymoronic Sal, and Tucker, the only gay Black man on the continent. The only thing they have in common is the conviction that they don’t belong anywhere else. Enter Frank, a climatologist with unorthodox beliefs, who throws the entire station into chaos, dragging Cooper into a global controversy threatening their icy home and a precious 800-million-year-old ice core.
“Solar” by Ian McEwan
When Nobel Prize-winning physicist Michael Beard’s personal and professional lives begin to intersect in unexpected ways, an opportunity presents itself in the guise of an invitation to travel to New Mexico. Here is a chance for him to extricate himself from his marital problems, reinvigorate his career and very possibly save the world from environmental disaster.
“How Fast Did T. Rex Run?” by David Hone
This book dives into exciting discoveries about dinosaurs, from their ways of communicating to their mating habits, the color of their skin, their migration patterns and their extinction. “How Fast Did T. Rex Run?” reveals everything we now know about dinosaurs — and everything we don’t — and charts thrilling new directions for tomorrow’s generation of dinosaur scientists.
“The Inner Life of Animals” by Peter Wohlleben
Through vivid stories of devoted pigs, two-timing magpies and scheming roosters, “The Inner Life of Animals” weaves the latest scientific research into how animals interact with the world with Peter Wohlleben’s personal experiences in forests and fields. We learn that horses feel shame, deer grieve and goats discipline their kids. Ravens call their friends by name, rats regret bad choices and butterflies choose the very best places for their children to grow up.
“Some Assembly Required” by Neil Shubin
Building on “Your Inner Fish,” Neil Shubin explores life’s major transformations — from water to land, single cells to complex bodies. He examines how these weren’t preordained steps but surprising adaptations driven by genetics. This book raises the question: Is our existence a fluke or an inevitable outcome?
“Slow Birding” by Joan Strassmann
Many birders travel far and wide to popular birding destinations to catch sight of rare or “exotic” birds. In “Slow Birding,” evolutionary biologist Joan E. Strassmann introduces readers to the joys of birding right where they are. In this inspiring guide, Strassmann tells colorful stories of the most common birds found in the United States — birds we often see but might not have considered before.
Ashlee Conour is the marketing specialist at Naperville Public Library.
