Renee's Pick: Saturn Apartments

In the manga Saturn Apartments, Mitsu has joined the window washers guild, which takes care of the multilevel glass ring habitation that circles the Earth. As Mitsu begins his job, he gains a new view of the world, which unlocks secrets in his life and the lives around him.

Renee's Pick: The School of Essential Ingredients

The School of Essential Ingredients is a quick, fulfilling read. Every Monday, eight aspiring students go to cooking class at Lillian’s Restaurant. Each student narrates a chapter which delves into their background, how they came to the class and how the meals they cook touch their own and other people’s lives.

Renee's Pick: The Family Fang

The Family Fang is definitely not about vampires. Caleb and Camille Fang are famous performance artists who involve their children in their art. So what happens to the kids of performance artists? It involves pictures on the internet, a potato gun and their parents’ greatest artistic creation ever…

Candor

Renee of the Fiction/AV/Teen Department recommends Candor by Pam Bachorz:

Always be courteous.
Academics are the key to success.
Healthy breakfasts make for smart minds.

What if subliminal messages like these ran through your head all day? Then you’d be living in Candor. Through brainwashing, teenagers in Candor love to do chores, they get straight A’s and no one is ever an outsider. Oscar is handsome, smart, popular and…different. He’s learned to turn off the messages in his head and makes money helping other kids do the same, so they don’t walk around like programmed drones for the rest of their lives. Oscar’s latest target for business is Nia, except that Oscar finds himself completely smitten by her. Does he save Nia from the messages and never see her again or keep her close and risk exposing everything?

Renee's Pick: The Forgotten Garden

After Cassandra’s grandmother, Nell, dies, Cassandra goes to England to uncover the story behind Nell’s secret cottage. While there, Cassandra stumbles upon Nell’s mysterious past, which effects her own lineage. The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton, is told from alternating perspectives that wrap you up in a marvelous, twisting tale.

Renee's Pick: Wild China

Wild China, a Planet Earth-like series, focuses on the relationship between humans and the environment. See how people adapt to the nature surrounding them in China, from the deserts beyond the great wall, to the green rice paddies of Southern China to the vast bamboo forests where pandas hang out.