I hope you enjoyed last week’s book recs from the library’s student assistants! Here’s this week’s installment.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, reviewed by Catie Drahmann
I would recommend this book to anyone, at almost any age. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman follows the retrospective journey of a child, forced into dark, dangerous situations with no adults to turn to. The little boy meets a mysterious family of women, all with the miraculous ability of driving the bad things away. As the boy’s home life steadily worsens, his only comfort rests in these women, his neighbors at the end of the lane. It’s a very dark book, but manages to be whimsical as well, and maintains a child’s perspective without sounding childish. A very short, gratifying read.
The Help, reviewed by Hannah Bunting 
The Help by Kathryn Stockett was an amazing read. The novel talked about black domestic servants working in white Southern homes in the 1960s. It focused on the racial differences between blacks and whites during this time and how they were intensely segregated in society. Although the novel was an easy read since it was not dense, the story line was very interesting. It focused on one particular character named Miss Skeeter, who was a white woman. However, she was different than the other white women in the book. She worked much harder and completed many of the duties that were reserved for black servants of the time. The story goes on to follow Miss Skeeter’s writing endeavors and the reader ultimately sees Miss Skeeter become an effective advocate of the equal treatment of blacks in her local society.