Mount Prospect


Book Description

In 1874, Ezra Eggleston bought much of the land that is now downtown Mount Prospect and began to plan a village. He named the town after its position on the highest elevation in Cook County and in anticipation of the prospects awaiting future residents. However, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the Panic of 1873 combined to make sales of new land difficult. Ezra sold his interest in the town, but soon after, people began to build stores and houses. By the 1900s, the area was flourishing. In 1917, Mount Prospect was incorporated. The 20th century has continued to bring great changes and development to the area as it evolved from a modest village to a major suburban community.




Mount Prospect Historic Sites


Book Description

Mount Prospect has undergone dramatic changes since its incorporation as a village in 1917. At that time, it was a small rural community of 300 people, but after population booms in the 1920s, 1950s, and 1960s, the town blossomed into a bustling suburb of Chicago. Out of these changes came landmarks like Randhurst Shopping Center and beloved local businesses like Hotter Than Mother's Music. These new additions sprang up alongside--and in place of--older sites. The transformation continues to this day, making each generation familiar with a different version of the town. Such significant developments can sometimes make local historic sites difficult to locate; the history, however, has not disappeared. It remains in the landscape, the bits and pieces left behind, and the collective memories of its residents. Mount Prospect Historic Sites aims to connect people to the history that can still be found all around Mount Prospect.




Carnivores


Book Description

A lion, a great white shark, and a timber wolf, all meat-eaters who have been hurt by the cruelty of plant-eaters, form a support group which has limited success until their newest member, a great horned owl, shares some advice.




Interlibrary Loan Policy


Book Description




Destiny of the Republic


Book Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The extraordinary account of James Garfield's rise from poverty to the American presidency, and the dramatic history of his assassination and legacy, from the bestselling author of The River of Doubt. "Crisp, concise and revealing history.... A fresh narrative that plumbs some of the most dramatic days in U.S. presidential history." —The Washington Post James Abram Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, a renowned congressman, and a reluctant presidential candidate who took on the nation's corrupt political establishment. But four months after Garfield's inauguration in 1881, he was shot in the back by a deranged office-seeker named Charles Guiteau. Garfield survived the attack, but become the object of bitter, behind-the-scenes struggles for power—over his administration, over the nation's future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic brings alive a forgotten chapter of U.S. history. Look for Candice Millard’s latest book, River of the Gods.




Friends Forever


Book Description

Following up their mega-bestselling Real Friends and Best Friends graphic memoirs, Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham are back with Friends Forever, a story about learning to love yourself exactly as you are. Shannon is in eighth grade, and life is more complicated than ever. Everything keeps changing, her classmates are starting to date each other (but nobody wants to date her!), and no matter how hard she tries, Shannon can never seem to just be happy. As she works through her insecurities and undiagnosed depression, she worries about disappointing all the people who care about her. Is something wrong with her? Can she be the person everyone expects her to be? And who does she actually want to be? With their signature humor, warmth, and insight, Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham have crafted another incredible love letter to their younger selves and to readers everywhere, a reminder to us all that we are enough.




The Other Wes Moore


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the governor of Maryland, the “compassionate” (People), “startling” (Baltimore Sun), “moving” (Chicago Tribune) true story of two kids with the same name: One went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison. The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his. In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore. Wes just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen? That letter led to a correspondence and relationship that have lasted for several years. Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Wes discovered that the other Wes had had a life not unlike his own: Both had had difficult childhoods, both were fatherless; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and both had run into trouble with the police. At each stage of their young lives they had come across similar moments of decision, yet their choices would lead them to astonishingly different destinies. Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.




Ordinary Grace


Book Description

Includes an excerpt from William Kent Krueger's "This tender land."




Lost Mount Prospect


Book Description

Mount Prospect dates back to the 1840s. The village has a fascinating legacy as an immigrant community, an ambitious small town, an early progressive suburb, and a classic postwar community. However, few of todays residents are aware of this legacy. Much of Mount Prospects past has been overshadowed by the incredibly rapid development of the past half century. The population of Mount Prospect in 1950 was around 4,000 people, the population was almost 19,000 by 1960, and today it approaches 60,000. This amazingly rapid development fundamentally changed how Mount Prospect saw itself and redefined the communitys landscape. Many of the older buildings were demolished to make way for new developments or were modernized and are now hard to identify. The farms and early industries were replaced with houses and shopping areas. By the time this rapid development was over, it was hard to see what had been here before. Lost Mount Prospect is an examination of this history. It is a look at the village through the lens of what no longer exists. Mount Prospect dates back to the 1840s. The village has a fascinating legacy as an immigrant community, an ambitious small town, an early progressive suburb, and a classic postwar community. However, few of todays residents are aware of this legacy. Much of Mount Prospects past has been overshadowed by the incredibly rapid development of the past half century. The population of Mount Prospect in 1950 was around 4,000 people, the population was almost 19,000 by 1960, and today it approaches 60,000. This amazingly rapid development fundamentally changed how Mount Prospect saw itself and redefined the communitys landscape. Many of the older buildings were demolished to make way for new developments or were modernized and are now hard to identify. The farms and early industries were replaced with houses and shopping areas. By the time this rapid development was over, it was hard to see what had been here before. Lost Mount Prospect is an examination of this history. It is a look at the village through the lens of what no longer exists.




The Unexpected Education of Emily Dean


Book Description

In 1944 Emily Dean is dispatched from Melbourne to stay with her father’s relatives in rural Victoria. At the family property of Mount Prospect, Grandmother is determined to keep up standards despite the war, while Emily’s young aunt – the beautiful, fearless Lydia – refuses to befriend her. Feeling lonely and isolated, Emily can’t wait to go home. But things start to improve when she encounters Claudio, the Italian prisoner of war employed as a farm labourer. And become more interesting still when her uncle William returns home wounded. He’s rude, traumatised and mostly drunk, yet a passion for literature soon draws them together. A delightfully wry novel about desire, deceit and self-discovery. ‘A rich evocation of an era and a beautiful insight into the process of emerging from childhood into womanhood. Such a great read!’ —Margaret Pomeranz ‘A resonant and engaging story – illuminating and subtly compelling.’ —Rosalie Ham ‘This uplifting story of transformation should resonate with readers who like coming-of-age stories.’ —Books+Publishing ‘Funny and poignant and wise, it’s a tale of self-discovery and emotional intricacy, full of brilliantly written, complex women.’ —The Sydney Morning Herald