Since September 2021, I have been writing monthly book recommendation columns for local Socorro County Newspaper, El Defensor Chieftain. -Ivy Stover, Library Director

April is my birthday month! To celebrate, this month, I’m choosing some of my favorite ever books. All of them are available to check out from the Magdalena Public Library and I cannot recommend them enough.

Before I was a librarian, I spent a year as a substitute teacher in Socorro. Quick shout-out to all of the kiddoes I met and taught. I hope you’re all doing great! I read this book to several classes that year, and it's one of my favorite memories. Mr. Panda is a great, simple book, perfect for reading aloud, with a great message.

Not bad for my first I Spy rhyme! The first video game I remember loving was I Spy Spooky Mansion, a computer game based on this book. A narrator would read the riddles and fun sound effects triggered when you clicked on the items. I was enamored with it! It was so cool to play a game that was just like the book I read at school.

We just got in all of the I Spy titles at the library, and they’re being checked out fast!

I have loved Winnie-the-Pooh ever since I got my first Pooh teddy bear at three years old. While I mostly grew up on the Disney version, the original book is just as sweet and wholesome. I dearly love that “Silly old bear.”

We have the first two original Milne books, Winnie-the-Pooh and A House at Pooh Corner, at the library, and I wholeheartedly recommend both!

I can’t remember which movie was the first to make me cry. But this one was definitely the first to make me look at my mother in betrayal. Despite all of that, I did truly love the story. So much, that I begged her to buy me a copy of the book. I cried while reading it too. But I still carry the messages of love and friendship, moving on after grief, and the importance of remembering all the best parts of a person, with me.

So grab a box of tissues, take a deep breath, and give it a try yourself. We have the book and the movie at the library, so you can try both like I did.

I read this book for a Gothic Literature class in college. With The Munsters in mind, you might not think it scary at all. But Shelley’s original story has its fair share of terrifying moments. A pioneer for both Horror and Science Fiction, the book is a must read for fans of either genre. Who is the monster and who is the man? Trick question. They’re both monsters.

At least according to me. Read it for yourself and see if you agree. We’ve got two versions of this book at the library.

This might be my favorite book of all time. I loved Miller’s The Song of Achilles dearly, but Circe just spoke to me in a whole different way. The mythological elements are deftly woven into an intricate story of identity, self-worth, and self-empowerment. In a story with gods and monsters, it’s really about what it means to be human.

“Circe, he says, it will be alright… He does not mean that we are not frightened. Only that: we are here. This is what it means to swim in the tide, to walk the earth and feel it touch your feet. This is what it means to be alive.”