The Melendys are ready for adventure! Are you?

In The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright, siblings Mona, Rush, Randy (short for Miranda) and Oliver decide to pool their allowances so one sibling at a time can go on an adventure each Saturday – and so the Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club (I.S.A.A.C.) is born. You’ll be swept right along with Melendys to art museums, circuses, tea parties and more. Pamela Dillman’s excellent narration, complete with some fantastic accents, really brings the Melendys’ world to life.

The series continues with The Four-Story Mistake, Then There Were Five and Spiderweb For Two: A Melendy Maze.

Professional cellist Edward Kelsey Moore, whose short story "Grandma and the Elusive Fifth Crucifix" was selected as an audience favorite on NPR's Stories on Stage series just published his first novel. He lives in Chicago (website).

I sincerely hope you are not expecting The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat * being Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, and Diana Ross, - the sensation from Detroit's Brewster-Douglass public housing project that helped put Motown Records on the map in the 1960s. But seriously, you won't be too disappointed once you've met Odette, Clarice, and Barbara Jean.

Dubbed "The Supremes" since their high school days, these Plainsview (IN) mavens have weathered life's storms together arm-in-arm. Dutiful, proud, and talented Clarice must struggle to keep up appearances as she deals with her husband's infidelities. Beautiful, fragile Barbara Jean must try to live with a youthful mistake that continues to haunt her. Fearless Odette engages in the most terrifying battle of her life while entertaining visitations from her (dead) pot-smoking mother and an inebriated Eleanor Roosevelt. For four decades, what sustain these strong, funny women through marriages, children, happiness, and disappointments, is their Sunday table at Earl's Diner, the first black-own business in this racially divided town, where they can count on good food, gossip, occasional tears, uproarious banter and each other.

"With wit and love, style and sublime talent, Edward Kelsey Moore brings together four intertwined love stories, three devoted allies, and two sprightly earthbound spirits in a big-hearted debut novel that embraces the lives of people you will never forget."

Poised to give Waiting to Exhale, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Steel Magnolias a run for their money. Readers might also enjoy works by Pearl Cleage, and April Sinclair, or other novels on women's friendship.

* = starred review

Spider magazine is filled with stories, poems, and activities that are designed for newly independent readers ages 6-9 years old. Spider is the winner of the 2013 Parents' Choice Silver Honor for its advertising-free fiction, nonfiction, multicultural folktales, humor, recipes, games, activities, and puzzles. Take a look at an interactive Spider magazine sampler by clicking here.

The March 2013 issue features the story, Super Tulip, by award winning author Kate DiCamillo, as well as the Doodlebug & Dandelion series by Pamela Dell, The Giant's Wife, an Irish Folk Tale Retold by Laura Helweg, and the Tanner Mystery by Bonnie Katz, in addition to other engaging stories and activities.

26 yr.-old Claire is immediately drawn to Harry and Madelein Winslow during a summer visit to the Hamptons. The charmed couple is sophisticated, beautiful and talented (Harry is a National Book Award-winning author), and Maddy is sweet and old-moneyed. They in turn are drawn to Claire's youth, naivety and easy manners. Over the course of the summer, reverence transforms into dangerous desire.

The affair between Harry and Claire and the devastation unleashed on their circle of family and friends, especially on Maddy, is narrated by Walter, her childhood friend who also harbors his own secrets.

Charles Dubow in his first novel Indiscretion*, "proves himself to be an elegant writer... Glamorous settings, old money, and steamy sex all combine to make this one a totally addictive read". Rules of Civility meets Fatal Attraction .

"Dubow crafts an epic novel of friendship, betrayal and undying love".

* = Starred review

The Nebula Awards, voted on by notable Scifi/Fantasy writers, are to be awarded in May and the nominees for best adult novel are:

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed: Fantasy writing doesn't get much better than this. World building that takes place in a medieval city that reminds one of an Arabian fairy tale for adults or a Ray Harryhausen adventure. One reviewer described it as, "...swashbuckling mythos mania."

Ironskin by Tina Connolly: Fey scarred Jane finds employment as a governess for a fey child following a war between fey and humans in this alt-Victorian, Jane Eyre-inspired fantasy. Great pick for older teens too!

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin: Some may know Jemisin from her Inheritance trilogy, nominated for multiple awards, this book is the first of the Dreamblood series, rich in character and substance (Jungian psychology, Egyptian history)

The Drowning Girl, by Caitlín R. Kiernan: Taking a real world subject like schizophrenia and creating a fantasy element around it can be difficult to say the least, but Kiernan accomplishes both with the character, Imp, who has 'hauntings', missing timelines, & odd coincidences

Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal: Sequel to Shades of Milk and Honey set in an alternate Regency-era with some romance, lots of magic, & a bit of espionage to boot. You can place holds on the 3rd book in this series Without a Summer due out in April. Jane Austen fans take note of this inspired novel!

2312, Kim Stanley Robinson: My pick for winner. This is a brilliant, thought-provoking novel. It has real world building since Earth is eeking by from severe climate changes, terra-forming Mars, Mercury, & Venus has happened. The main character, Swan, is pulled into a plot involving personal artificial intelligences (qubes) and the destruction of the worlds. Award-winning author, Robinson, continues to amaze with some realistic possibilities for our distant future. Read the transcript or listen to the podcast with him from Wired here.

Four new Book Clubs to Go titles will be available soon! Follow the title links below to jump on the waiting list.

In Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, the best-selling author of Blink identifies the qualities of successful people, posing theories about the cultural, family, and idiosyncratic factors that shape high achievers, in a resource that covers such topics as the secrets of software billionaires, why certain cultures are associated with better academic performance, and why the Beatles earned their fame.

We the Animals by Justin Torres is a short novel that follows three brothers who tear their way through childhood -- smashing tomatoes all over each other, building kites from trash, hiding out when their parents do battle, and tiptoeing around the house as their mother sleeps off her graveyard shift. Life in this family is fierce and absorbing, full of chaos and heartbreak and the euphoria of belonging completely to one another.

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward: Enduring a hardscrabble existence as the children of alcoholic and absent parents, four siblings from a coastal Mississippi town prepare their meager stores for the arrival of Hurricane Katrina while struggling with such challenges as a teen pregnancy and a dying litter of prize pups.

The Submission by Amy Waldman: When a Muslim architect wins a blind contest to design a Ground Zero Memorial, a city of eleven million people takes notice. Waldman, a former bureau chief for the New York Times, explores a diversity of viewpoints around this fictional event, bringing in politicians, businessmen, journalists, activists, and normal people whose lives -- whether by happenstance, choice, or even due to their country of origin -- get caught up in the controversy.

Book Clubs to Go (BCTG) is a service of the AADL that provides local book clubs with the convenience of complete kits for book discussions. Included in each BCTG are 10 copies of the featured book for discussion (or 10 each of two related titles), 1 copy of movie DVD if available, a resource folder containing the following: summary information and reviews of the title(s); author biography; a list of suggested discussion questions and read-alikes; tips for book groups; and evaluation forms so you can let us know what you think of the service.

Boy21 is a novel about basketball and so much more, encompassing male friendship, poverty, the Irish mob, grief, and love. I highly recommend this fast read by Matthew Quick, who became one of my favorite teen authors with his 2010 book Sorta Like a Rock Star.

Quick's latest novel, published in 2012, opens in ugly, tough Bellmont, Pennsylvania, where quiet, obedient Finley lives with his wheelchair-bound grandfather and widowed father. Finley -- whose childhood is a mystery until late in the book -- is flourishing as the only white kid on the high school basketball team. When the coach asks him to mentor a hot new -- and very mysterious -- player from California, Finley does, but suddenly luck and life seem to turn against him and toward the new guy. Nonetheless, Finley continues to support his friend, "Boy21," and their friendship grows, until Finley's girlfriend Erin is injured and Finley can't stand it anymore.

This book offers strong characters, action, dialogue, and -- hard to believe with all the bad luck going around -- a semi-happy, if old-fashioned ending. Particularly appealing to me were the threads of responsibility, loyalty and friendship among two extraordinary young men.

This is Not My Hat is a clever, gorgeous picture book, a 2013 Caldecott Medal book, and a must-read for anyone connected with children in preschool through first grade and beyond. Jon Klassen repeats the theme from his 2011 bestseller I Want My Hat Back and adds a smart twist. The story opens with the memorable lines "This hat is not mine. I just stole it," spoken by a brave little fish who has lifted a blue bowler hat from a big sleeping fish. Little fish swims quietly to a hiding place, not knowing -- but we know -- that the big fish is chasing him. When the two fish vanish into seaweed, the words stop, and big fish reemerges with the blue hat on his head. The story is simple and works beautifully.

A six-year-old Amazon reviewer echoes what many people, young and older, are saying about this gem of a book: "I liked the story and I liked the big fish. The bubbles create movement. The little fish was bad and the big fish was just a big fish. You don't steal from a big fish."

Kate Cross opens her Clockwork Agents series with Heart of Brass (2012), and quickly follows with Touch of Steel * (2013).

In Heart, set in 1898 London, Lady Arden Grey is an undercover agent for one of the most powerful organizations of this steam powered world - the Wardens of the Realm, a group with extraordinary abilities, dedicated to protecting England against evil.

Her husband and fellow agent Lucas Grey, Earl Huntley disappeared during a secret mission. Now, Arden is being stalked by an assassin working for their rival - The Company who is none other than Luke.

"Cross has imagined a fascinating world of science in Victorian England. Her characters are three-dimensional and sympathetic; the devices (including the first vibrator) add punch to an already rich love story. Inventive and extremely clever dialog and situations make this series debut an enthralling read".

In Touch, reeling from her brother's death, American spy Claire Brooks has vowed revenge on the member of The Company who she believes to be responsible: Stanton Howard. But when she chases the man to London, Claire is captured by the Wardens of the Realm and placed in the custody of the Earl of Wolfred, the dashing Alistair Payne.

Seeing the prospect of retribution slipping away, Claire convinces Alistair that she has defected and will help him take down The Company. As they travel via steam liner, Claire and Alistair must pretend to be engaged, neither could deny the growing attraction between them.

Kate Cross also writes as Kathryn Smith. Writing steampunk allows her to combine her love of fashion, history and science fiction.

For fans of The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook (A Novel of the Iron Seas).

*= starred review

Maria Semple's Where’d You Go, Bernadette is a witty, satirical and highly entertaining novel. The story follows the antics of Bernadette Fox – best friend and mother to 15-year-old Bee Branch, opinionated and idiosyncratic wife to Microsoft-guru Elgin Branch, and enemy to all meddling and annoying "gnats" of Seattle private-school society – from the Emerald City to the Great White Continent.

When Bernadette's daughter Bee aces her report card and makes plans to collect her promised reward – a family trip to Antarctica – her mother is forced to face the unthinkable: a three-week trip on a boat full of strangers, across the most treacherous body of water on earth, to an unforgiving land of ice and snow. Days before the trip Bernadette disappears, sending Bee on a journey to find the one person on whom she could always depend.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette is told in a flowing collection of emails, FBI documents, letters, faxes, and newspaper article clippings gathered by Bee to tell the tale of how the agoraphobic Bernadette, a once brilliant and revered architect, haunted by the past and unsure of the future, escaped her quickly deteriorating life to find herself – at the end of the world.