May 2021 – Bensenville Community Public Library

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Remembering Eric Carle

Eric Carle, beloved artist, illustrator, and writer, passed away on May 23, 2021. Eric was 91.

Eric Carle is renowned for his multi-dimensional practice, spanning a large body of fine art works in collage, painting, works on paper and fabric, and sculpture; theater and furniture design; and the stories he envisioned in over 70 brilliantly illustrated and designed children’s picture books. The books Eric created across more than 5 decades and include timeless classics such as Do You Want to Be My Friend? (1971), The Grouchy Ladybug (1977), Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me (1986), “Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,” said the Sloth (2002), The Very Quiet Cricket (2017), and so many more. His best-known work, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has been translated into over 70 languages and shared around the world since its publication in 1969.

All of the titles featured here we have in our collection. To see if an item is available to check out or place on hold, click the cover image or button to the right of the description.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Carle’s classic tale of a voracious caterpillar who eats his way through the days of the week and then turns into a beautiful butterfly.

The Grouchy Lady Bug

As children follow the Grouchy Ladybug on her journey, they will learn the important concepts of time, size, and shape, as well as the benefits of friendship and good manners. For generations, The Grouchy Ladybug has delighted readers of all ages with the story of a bad-tempered bug who won’t say “please” or “thank you,” won’t share, and thinks she is bigger and better than anyone else. Readers will love how this testy ladybug introduces them to many new animals and learns that maybe being grouchy isn’t always the best option.

Hello Red Fox

It’s Little Frog’s birthday, and Mama Frog gets a big surprise when the guests show up for his party—all the animals are the wrong color! Little Frog tells her she’s not looking long enough, and he’s right.

Does A Kangaroo have a Mother, Too?

Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? answers curious kids who wonder whether lions, bears, and monkeys have mothers, too. Bright collage illustrations and simple text reinforce the theme that everyone has a mother, and every mother loves her child. Meet the little joey bouncing in mother kangaroo’s pouch. Watch little cubs prance around mother lion. Swim with a baby dolphin calf in the deep blue sea. Eric Carle’s classic, colorful collages of baby animals and their mothers will delight and comfort young readers.

The Very Quiet Cricket

One day, a little cricket is born and meets a big cricket who chirps his welcome. But the little cricket cannot make a sound. The cricket meets many insects, but it isn’t until he meets a beautiful female cricket that he can finally chirp “hello!”

From Head to Toe

Giraffes can bend their necks, monkeys can wave their hands, and donkeys can kick their legs. And so can you! Through Carle’s vibrant collages and simple instructions, children will learn the importance of listening, exercising, and taking on a new challenge. Join the giraffes, monkeys, donkeys, seals, and more for a frolicking, fun adventure!

"Slowly, Slowly, Slowly", Said the Sloth

Slowly, slowly, slowly . . . that’s the way the sloth moves. Slowly, it eats and then, slowly, it falls asleep. “What strange kind of creature is this?” the other animals wonder. Why doesn’t it run or fly or play or hunt like the rest of us? “Why are you so slow?” the howler monkey inquires. But the sloth doesn’t answer any questions until the jaguar asks, “Why are you so lazy?”

Anyone who has ever felt too busy will appreciate the sloth’s peaceful lifestyle and realize that it’s okay to take time to enjoy life. Eric Carle’ s dazzling collage illustrations introduce readers to the exotic beauty of the Amazon rain forest and the many unusual animals living there.

The Very Lonely Firefly

When a very lonely firefly goes out into the night searching for other fireflies, it sees a lantern, a candle, and the eyes of a dog, cat, and owl all glowing in the darkness. It even sees a surprise celebration of light. But it is not until it discovers other fireflies that it finds exactly what it’s looking for–a surprise sure to bring smiles to anyone who turn the final page!

Mister Seahorse

When Mrs. Seahorse lays her eggs, she does it on Mr. Seahorse’s belly! She knows he will take good care of them. While he swims waiting for the eggs to hatch, he meets other underwater fathers caring for their babies.

House for Hermit Crab

Join Hermit Crab as he learns an important lesson about growing up: For every friend and adventure left behind, there are new ones just ahead!

Want more recommendations?

You can check out all of our online booklists (for kids and for adults), or reach out to us! Our staff is ready and willing to make reading, listening, or viewing recommendations to you! Email us at reference@benlib.org or contact us via our online form!

Rock & Roll Fiction

By bcplweb Booklists, Booklists

All of the titles featured here in this booklist we have in our collection! To see if an item is available to check out or to place a hold, click on the cover image or button to the right of the description.

Daisy Jones & The Six

by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things. Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road. Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

Utopia Avenue

by David Mitchell

Utopia Avenue is the strangest British band you’ve never heard of. Emerging from London’s psychedelic scene in 1967, and fronted by folk singer Elf Holloway, blues bassist Dean Moss and guitar virtuoso Jasper de Zoet, Utopia Avenue embarked on a meteoric journey from the seedy clubs of Soho, a TV debut on Top of the Pops, the cusp of chart success, glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome, and a fateful American sojourn in the Chelsea Hotel, Laurel Canyon, and San Francisco during the autumn of ’68.

David Mitchell’s kaleidoscopic novel tells the unexpurgated story of Utopia Avenue’s turbulent life and times; of fame’s Faustian pact and stardom’s wobbly ladder; of the families we choose and the ones we don’t; of voices in the head, and the truths and lies they whisper; of music, madness, and idealism. Can we really change the world, or does the world change us?

A Song for a New Day

by Sarah Pinsker

In the Before, when the government didn’t prohibit large public gatherings, Luce Cannon was on top of the world. One of her songs had just taken off and she was on her way to becoming a star. Now, in the After, terror attacks and deadly viruses have led the government to ban concerts, and Luce’s connection to the world–her music, her purpose—is closed off forever. She does what she has to do: she performs in illegal concerts to a small but passionate community, always evading the law.

Rosemary Laws barely remembers the Before times. She spends her days in Hoodspace, helping customers order all of their goods online for drone delivery—no physical contact with humans needed. By lucky chance, she finds a new job and a new calling: discover amazing musicians and bring their concerts to everyone via virtual reality. The only catch is that she’ll have to do something she’s never done before and go out in public. Find the illegal concerts and bring musicians into the limelight they deserve. But when she sees how the world could actually be, that won’t be enough.

Loudmouth

by Robert Duncan

Thomas Ransom, born to a severely dysfunctional southern family transplanted to New York City, is left to his own devices by neglectful parents, and spends his childhood shadowing his criminally-inclined half-brother and roaming the city with hard-drinking teenage pals. He eventually finds an outlet as the flamboyant singer of a downtown rock band, and later as the young editor of the Detroit-based magazine that invented punk, only to return to New York, at the height of the 1970s bacchanal, and crash. But it isn’t music that saves him. It’s a soft-spoken painter, who turns out to be the most outrageous character of all. With echoes of Almost Famous and Just Kids, Loudmouth tracks an impassioned musician and writer out among the punks, hippies, and wild geniuses of rock when music was the center of the world.

A Visit from the Goon Squad

by Jennifer Egan

Bennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs. With music pulsing on every page, A Visit from the Goon Squad is a startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption.

National Bestseller
National Book Critics Circle Award Winner
PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist
A New York Times Book Review Best Book

Destroy All Monsters: The Last Rock Novel

by Jeff Jackson

An epidemic of violence is sweeping the country: musicians are being murdered onstage in the middle of their sets by members of their audience. Are these random copycat killings, or is something more sinister at work? Has music itself become corrupted in a culture where everything is available, everybody is a “creative,” and attention spans have dwindled to nothing?

With its cast of ambitious bands, yearning fans, and enigmatic killers, Destroy All Monsters tells a haunted and romantic story of overdue endings and unlikely beginnings that will resonate with anybody who’s ever loved rock and roll.

Like a classic vinyl single, Destroy All Monsters has two sides, which can be read in either order. At the heart of Side A, “My Dark Ages,” is Xenie, a young woman who is repulsed by the violence of the epidemic but who still finds herself drawn deeper into the mystery. Side B, “Kill City,” follows an alternate history, featuring familiar characters in surprising roles, and burrows deeper into the methods and motivations of the murderers.

Hairstyles of the Damned

by Joe Meno

Hairstyles of the Damned is an honest, true-life depiction of growing up punk on Chicago’s south side: a study in the demons of racial intolerance, Catholic school conformism, and class repression. It is the story of the riotous exploits of Brian, a high school burnout, and his best friend, Gretchen, a punk rock girl fond of brawling. Based on the actual events surrounding a Chicago high school’s segregated prom, this work of fiction unflinchingly pursues the truth in discovering what it means to be your own person.

How to Build a Girl

by Caitlin Moran

What do you do in your teenage years when you realize what your parents taught you wasn’t enough? You must go out and find books and poetry and pop songs and bad heroes—and build yourself.

It’s 1990. Johanna Morrigan, fourteen, has shamed herself so badly on local TV that she decides that there’s no point in being Johanna anymore and reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde—fast-talking, hard-drinking Gothic hero and full-time Lady Sex Adventurer. She will save her poverty-stricken Bohemian family by becoming a writer—like Jo in Little Women, or the Bröntes—but without the dying young bit.

By sixteen, she’s smoking cigarettes, getting drunk and working for a music paper. She’s writing pornographic letters to rock-stars, having all the kinds of sex with all kinds of men, and eviscerating bands in reviews of 600 words or less.

But what happens when Johanna realizes she’s built Dolly with a fatal flaw? Is a box full of records, a wall full of posters, and a head full of paperbacks, enough to build a girl after all?

Imagine The Bell Jar written by Rizzo from Grease. How to Build a Girl is a funny, poignant, and heartbreakingly evocative story of self-discovery and invention, as only Caitlin Moran could tell it.

Want more recommendations?

What to read after you’ve watched Shadow and Bone on Netflix | YA High Fantasy

By bcplweb Booklists, Booklists

Netflix’s highly anticipated fantasy series Shadow and Bone, adapted from Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse books, draws fans into the world of Ravka, a country populated with element-manipulating powers and divided by a region of tangible darkness filled with monsters called the Shadow Fold.

Loving season one so far? Check out these Young Adult fantasy read-alikes!

All of the titles featured here we have in our collection. To see if an item is available to check out or place on hold, click the cover image or button to the right of the description.

Shadow and Bone

by Leigh Bardugo

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee. Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free.

Truthwitch

by Susan Dennard

On a continent ruled by three empires, some are born with a ‘witchery,’ a magical skill that sets them apart from others. In the Witchlands, there are almost as many types of magic as there are ways to get in trouble—as two desperate young women know all too well.

Throne of Glass

by Sarah J. Maas

After she has served a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, Crown Prince Dorian offers eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien her freedom on the condition that she act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

The Young Elites

by Marie Lu

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

There Will Come a Darkness

by Katy Rose Pool

For generations the Seven Prophets guided humanity with their visions, ending wars and uniting nations–until the day they vanished, leaving behind the promise of a looming Age of Darkness and the birth of a Prophet who could be the world’s salvation…or the cause of its destruction.

Dance of Thieves

by Mary E. Pearson

A formidable outlaw family that claims to be the first among nations. A son destined to lead, thrust suddenly into power. Three fierce young women of the Rahtan, the queen’s premier guard. A legendary street thief leading a mission, determined to prove herself. A dark secret that is a threat to the entire continent. A dark secret that is a threat to the entire continent. When outlaw leader meets reformed thief, a cat-and-mouse game of false moves ensues, bringing them intimately together in a battle that may cost them their lives—and their hearts.

Falling Kingdoms

by Morgan Rhodes

In the three kingdoms of Mytica, magic has long been forgotten. And while hard-won peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest now simmers below the surface. As the rulers of each kingdom grapple for power, the lives of their subjects are brutally transformed…and four key players, royals and rebels alike, find their fates forever intertwined. Cleo, Jonas, Lucia, and Magnus are caught in a dizzying world of treacherous betrayals, shocking murders, secret alliances, and even unforeseen love.

Children of Blood and Bone

by Tomi Adeyemi

Seventeen-year-old Zélie, her older brother Tzain, and rogue princess Amari fight to restore magic to the land and activate a new generation of magi, but they are ruthlessly pursued by the crown prince, who believes the return of magic will mean the end of the monarchy.

The Belles

by Dhonielle Clayton

In a world where Beauty is a commodity only a few control, one Belle will learn the dark secrets behind her powers, and rise up to change the world.

Want more recommendations?

Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

By bcplweb Booklists, Booklists, Booklists

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! This is the celebration and recognition of the contributions and influence of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States.

The month of May was officially designated as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month by the U.S. Congress in 1992. Learn more at asianpacificheritage.gov.

Scroll through the titles below to explore a booklist compiled by our staff that honors AAPI characters, authors, history, and culture! There’s something for all age groups — picture books, graphic novels, fiction, and non-fiction.

Fiction | Adult

When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.

A send-up and takedown of the rituals, routines, and missed opportunities of contemporary life, Ling Ma’s Severance is a moving family story, a quirky coming-of-adulthood tale, and a hilarious, deadpan satire. Most important, it’s a heartfelt tribute to the connections that drive us to do more than survive.

A powerful and taut novel about racial tensions in Los Angeles, following two families—one Korean-American, one African-American—grappling with the effects of a decades-old crime.

FINALIST FOR THE 2017 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION Lisa Ko’s powerful debut, The Leavers, is the winner of the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Fiction, awarded by Barbara Kingsolver for a novel that addresses issues of social justice.

2020 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER Infinitely inventive and deeply personal, exploring the themes of pop culture, assimilation, and immigration—Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterful novel yet.

A big hearted debut novel following an undocumented Filipino son as he navigates his relationship with his mother, an uncertain future, and the place he calls home. Thrumming with energy and at once critical and hopeful, a luminous story of a mother and son testing the strength of their bond to their country—and to each other.

An increasingly relevant story told with startling lucidity, humor, and an uncanny ear for the intimacies and shorthand of family ritual, this is a soulful debut about three generations of women in one family struggling to balance the promise of the American dream and the unshakeable grip of history.

Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction | Winner of the 2016 Edgar Award for Best First Novel | Winner of the 2016 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction With the pace and suspense of a thriller and prose that has been compared to Graham Greene and Vladimir Nabokov, The Sympathizer is a sweeping epic of love and betrayal.

A magical realist coming-of-age story, Gold Diggers skewers the model minority myth to tell a hilarious and moving story about immigrant identity, community, and the underside of ambition.

This is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation.

A riveting debut novel set in contemporary Seoul, Korea, about four young women making their way in a world defined by impossible standards of beauty, after-hours room salons catering to wealthy men, ruthless social hierarchies, and K-pop mania.

Award-winning author Sonali Dev launches a new series about the Rajes, an immigrant Indian family descended from royalty, who have built their lives in San Francisco...

Non-Fiction | Adult

A remarkable life story rooted in two different worlds. Iinsights into Priyanka Chopra Jonas’s childhood in India; her formative teenage years in the United States; and her return to India, where against all odds as a newcomer to the pageant world, she won the national and international beauty competitions that launched her global acting career.

From the indie rockstar of Japanese Breakfast fame, and author of the viral 2018 New Yorker essay that shares the title of this book, an unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity.

A compelling account of the killing of Vincent Chin, the verdicts that took the Asian American community to the streets in protest, and the groundbreaking civil rights trial that followed.

A revelatory biography of the first Black and Asian American woman to stand for Vice President, charting how the daughter of two immigrants in segregated California became one of this country’s most effective power players.

The compelling and moving account of a woman coming into her own power over the course of a lifetime in public service, and of the mother whose courageous choices made her life possible, Heart of Fire is the story of a uniquely American journey, told by one of those fighting hardest to ensure that a story like hers is still possible in this country.

From the chef behind Momofuku and star of Netflix’s Ugly Delicious—an intimate account of the making of a chef, the story of the modern restaurant world that he helped shape, and how he discovered that success can be much harder to understand than failure.

With warmth, candor, and startling insight, Nicole Chung tells of her search for the people who gave her up, which coincided with the birth of her own child. A profound, moving chronicle of surprising connections and the repercussions of unearthing painful family secrets—vital reading for anyone who has ever struggled to figure out where they belong.

A provocative blend of memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, vulnerable, humorous, and provocative—its a relentless and riveting pursuit of vital questions around family and friendship, art and politics, identity and individuality.

In this dazzling collection of nine entirely original essays, written with a rare combination of give and sharpness, wit and fearlessness, Trick Mirror is an enlightening, unforgettable trip through the river of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives.

Powerful, affecting essays on mental illness, winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize and a Whiting Award An intimate, moving book written with the immediacy and directness of one who still struggles with the effects of mental and chronic illness, The Collected Schizophrenias cuts right to the core.

Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, called “the most famous undocumented immigrant in America,” tackles one of the defining issues of our time in this explosive and deeply personal call to arms.

Ali Wong’s heartfelt and hilarious letters to her daughters (the two she put to work while they were still in utero) cover everything they need to know in life, like the unpleasant details of dating, how to be a working mom in a male-dominated profession, and how she trapped their dad.

Picture Books | Kids

Binny's class is learning about different holiday traditions, and today it is time for Binny to share the story of her favorite holiday, Diwali, the Festival of Lights--and she even has some special treats to give her classmates.

Six-year-old Bilal is excited to introduce his friends to his favorite dish—daal!—in this charming picture book that showcases the value of patience, teamwork, community, and sharing.

When Daisy's grandfather, or Yeh-Yeh, visits from China, she does everything she can think of to make him smile and finally finds a way. Includes glossary of Chinese words and recipe for fried rice.

A Chinese American family prepares for and celebrates the Lunar New Year. Each family member lends a hand as they sweep out the dust of the old year, hang decorations, and make dumplings. There will be fireworks and lion dancers, shining lanterns, and a great, long dragon parade at the end!

Harpreet Singh loves his colors—but when his family moves to a new city, everything just feels gray. Can he find a way to make life bright again?

It's Chinese New Year, and Goldy Luck’s mother wants her to take a plate of turnip cakes to the neighbors. The Chans aren’t home, but that doesn’t stop Goldy from trying out their rice porridge, their chairs, and their beds—with disastrous results.

Diwali has arrived! Rangoli art decorates the floor and strings of flowers hang around the doors. Now it's time to ring the bells, light the lamps, and welcome the new year with family and friends. A sweet introduction to the Hindu festival of lights.

A little girl sees her mother's sari as "long like a train" and that it "fills the air with color when I dance and sing." A blue sari is a "river"; a patterned one is a place to hide with her friends. Best of all, the youngster wraps herself in the vivid cloth because she loves how it makes her dream.

A Chinese-American girl provides rhyming descriptions of the great variety of colors she sees around her, from the red of a dragon, firecrackers, and lychees to the brown of her teddy bear.

Reimagine the cycles of the moon as a mother bakes a Big Moon Cookie and, despite Mama's request to wait, Little Star begins nibbling at it every night.

An original story based on Hindu mythology, this book tells the story about how Ganesha's love of sweets led to a broken tusk and the writing of the epic poem, the Mahābhārata.

June's father is like a goose -- he flies away for long periods of time, which means that June doesn't get to see him very often. So he is happy when Father comes home from his journeys, and happier still when the family plants a tangerine tree together and Father tells June, "Next time I am here, this tree will be bigger, and so will you."

For Luna's birthday the whole family goes out for dim sum, but when Luna drops her pork bun she and her two brothers argue over how to divide up the remaining buns.

Worshipped by millions of Hindus worldwide, Shiva (“the auspicious one”) is the god of love, righteousness, forgiveness, longevity, protection, health, and prosperity. Demi presents the life and teaching of this central god within the Hindu pantheon with stunning illustrations that reflect the ancient traditions of Hindu painting and iconography.

When her father and brother are called away to war, Ma Jiang finds a unique way to trap the orange ants that her mother sells in order to make a living.

Graphic Novels | Youth and Teens

Indian-American teen, Priyanka "Pri" Das, attempts to reconnect with her mother's homeland through a magical pashmina shawl.

Growing up in the same Chinese-American suburb, perfectionist Christine and artistic, confident, impulsive Moon become unlikely best friends, whose friendship is tested by jealousy, social expectations, and illness.

Tiến loves his family and his friends…but Tiến has a secret he’s been keeping from them, and it might change everything.

A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei's childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II.

A teenager is pulled back in time to witness her grandmother's experiences in World War II-era Japanese internment camps in Displacement, a historical graphic novel from Kiku Hughes.

Willow, who has been struggling with her emotions since her mother's death, runs away into the woods and meets Pilu, a lost tree spirit who cannot find her way back home.

Searching for their missing grandmother, two Korean children follow tracks into a fantastic world filled with beings from folklore who speak in Korean. Includes translations and information about the folkloric characters.

A funny and poignant neighborhood story about unexpected friendships.

Fiction | Teens

Jason Zhou survives in a divided society where the elite use their wealth to buy longer lives.

Adelina is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings.

Laia is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's greatest military academy.

When Dimple and Rishi meet at a University summer program, Dimple is avoiding her parents' obsession with "marriage prospects" but Rishi hopes to woo her into accepting arranged marriage with him.

Bao and Linh’s families have competing pho restaurants, but after a chance encounter, sparks fly. Can this relationship survive their families' feud?

Lara Jean writes love letters to all the boys she has loved and then hides them in a hatbox until one day those letters are accidentally sent.

High school senior Frank Li takes a risk to go after a girl his parents would never approve of, but his plans will leave him wondering if he ever really understood love-or himself-at all.

2002. A year after 9/11, it's an extremely turbulent time politically for Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who's tired of being stereotyped.

Maya is caught between her India-born parents world of college and marrying a suitable Muslim boy and her dream world of film school and dating her classmate, Phil, when a terrorist attack changes her life forever.

A freshman at MIT, seventeen-year-old Mei Lu tries to live up to her Taiwanese parents' expectations, but no amount of tradition, obligation, or guilt prevent her from hiding several truths.

Rachel Kim confronts the dark underbelly of the K-pop world as she strives to become a K-pop star.

Kiranmala considered herself an ordinary sixth-grader in Parsippany, New Jersey, but then her parents disappear and a drooling rakkhosh demon shows up in her kitchen, and soon she is swept into another dimension!

Fiction | Youth

Mia Tang has a lot of secrets. Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. Number 3: She wants to be a writer.

Just when twelve-year-old Summer thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong in a year of bad luck, an emergency takes her parents to Japan, leaving Summer to care for her little brother while helping her grandmother cook and do laundry for harvest workers.

Eager to do something her big sister has not done first, Jasmine decides to pound mochi with the boys when her family gets together for New Year's.

A young boy who loves superheroes and comes from a long line of brave Chinese farmer-warriors, wants to make friends, but first he must overcome his fear of everything.

A Pakistani-American Muslim girl struggles to stay true to her family's vibrant culture while simultaneously blending in at school after tragedy strikes her community

When Yumi Chung stumbles into a kids' comedy camp she is mistaken for another student, so she decides to play the part.

Life is full of great expectations for Korean American Pippa Park. It seems like everyone, from her family to the other kids at school, has a plan for how her life should look.

Sent to Cincinnati when her Syrian hometown is overshadowed by violence, Jude worries for the family members who were left behind as she adjusts to a new life with unexpected surprises.

Minli buys a magical goldfish, and then joins a dragon who cannot fly on a quest to find the Old Man of the Moon in hopes of bringing life to Fruitless Mountain and freshness to Jade River.

Harper doesn't trust her new home from the moment she steps inside, and the rumors are that the Raine family's new house is haunted.

Aru’s classmates and mother are frozen in time by a curse, and it's up to her to save them. The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the legendary Pandava brothers and journey through the Kingdom of Death.

You can find all of the titles above available in either our collection via the online catalog, or through our digital resources, OverDrive and Axis360.

- Don’t have a Bensenville library card account? Get instant access to our digital resources with an online library card.
- Need help getting started on OverDrive or Axis360? Email our librarians at reference@benlib.org; we’ll be happy to help.
- Have questions? Call us at (630) 766-4642, or contact us.

We’re Fine Free!

By bcplweb News

The Library is officially Fine Free! The Bensenville Community Public Library will no longer charge fines for overdue items to any patrons who check out those items at our library. Below are a few frequently asked questions about going fine free.

If you have any questions about anything related to fines, circulation policies, or going fine free, please contact the the Circulation Department at (630) 766-4642.

What happens if I lose or damage an item I checked out?

You will be charged a fee to replace the item.

What if I use my Bensenville Library card to check out an item from another library?

If you check out an item from a library that does charge fines, you’re still responsible for paying any fines to that lending library.

Are all items fine free?

A few types of items are subject to fines, including hotspots and specialty items.

Will I have to wait longer for popular items to be returned?

Libraries that have gone fine free have not seen any difference in when items are returned. Most items are returned within a week of their due date.

How will overdue items be treated now?

Each item will still have a due date, and you are still responsible for honoring the due date. When you return items on time, it helps your neighbors borrow items sooner! Items borrowed from other libraries are subject to the lending policies of their home libraries.

How will the library recoup the funds received from late fees?

Fines account for only a very small percentage (approximately .1%!) of our operating budget, and this number has decreased over time. When we implemented our popular auto-renewal policy, we saw a dramatic reduction in overdue fines.