What were the most checked out items for the year that was 2020?
The peanut butter falcon – An adventure story set in the world of a modern Mark Twain that begins when Zak, a young man with Down syndrome, runs away from a nursing home where he lives to chase his dream of becoming a professional wrestler and attending the wrestling school of The Salt Water Redneck, his idol. Through circumstances beyond their control, Tyler, a small-time outlaw on the run, becomes Zak’s unlikely coach and ally. (DVD – 26 checkouts)
DVDs remained our most popular items, and patrons had plenty of genres from which to choose:
Pain and glory – It tells of a series of reencounters experienced by Salvador Mallo, a film director in his physical decline. Some of them in the flesh, others remembered: his childhood in the ’60s, when he emigrated with his parents to a village in Valencia in search of prosperity, the first desire, his first adult love in the Madrid of the ’80s, the pain of the breakup of that love while it was still alive and intense. (Top foreign film – 17 checkouts)
Outlander. Season four – Season Four continues the story of Claire and Jamie Fraser as they try to make a home for themselves in colonial America. The Frasers in North Carolina are at another turning point in history, the edge of the American Revolution. Along the way, the Frasers cross paths with notorious pirate Stephen Bonnet in a fateful meeting that will haunt the family. Meanwhile, Brianna and Roger grow closer in the twentieth century but make a shocking discovery that has them following in Claire’s footsteps. (TV Series – 15 checkouts)
Honeyland – “Hatidze lives with her ailing mother in the mountains of Macedonia, making a living cultivating honey using ancient beekeeping traditions. When an unruly family moves in next door, what at first seems like a balm for her solitude becomes a source of tension as they, too, want to practice beekeeping, while disregarding her advice” (Non-fiction – 15 checkouts)
And there was a three-way tie for top British Series with 18 checkouts each….
Midsomer murders. Days of misrule
Vera. Set 7 and
Queens of mystery. [Series 1].
Books:
The most checked-out book at the Lititz Public Library was a graphic novel in our children’s section, Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man. Brawl of the wild. with 20 checkouts. This newest installment of Pilkey’s Dog Man series asks, “Is Dog Man bad to the bone? The heroic hound is sent to the pound for a crime he didn’t commit. While his pals work to prove his innocence, Dog Man struggles to find his place among dogs and people. Being a part of both worlds, will he ever fully fit in with one?”
(Other most popular children’s materials can be found here.)
The top checkouts for other genres and formats were:
The bridge to Belle Island / Julie Klassen. In 1819 England, “evidence from a mysterious death takes Benjamin to an island on the Thames. There Isabelle is trapped by fear and a recurring dream about a man’s death. Or is it a memory? When a second death brings everyone under suspicion, she realizes her island sanctuary will never be the same. (Inspirational Fiction – 17 checkouts)
The bitterroots : a novel / C.J. Box. Former sheriff’s investigator Cassie Dewell is starting her life over in private practice. When an old friend asks her to help exonerate a man accused of assaulting a young relative, Cassie reluctantly agrees. But out by the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana, twisted family loyalty runs deep, and there’s always more to the story. The Kleinsassers have ruled here for decades, and the Iron Cross Ranch is their stronghold. They want to see Blake Kleinsasser, the black sheep of the family, put away forever for the assault. As Cassie attempts to uncover the truth, she must fight against both the family, whose roots are tangled and deadly, and the ghosts of her own past. (Large Print – 17 checkouts)
The family upstairs / Lisa Jewell. Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life … She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well–and she is on a collision course to meet them. (Fiction – 16 checkouts)
The way I heard it / Mike Rowe [illustrations by Marcellus Hall]. Emmy-award winning gadfly Mike Rowe presents a ridiculously entertaining, seriously fascinating collection of his favorite episodes from America’s #1 short-form podcast, The Way I Heard It, along with a host of memories, ruminations, illustrations, and insights. It’s a delightful collection of mysteries. A mosaic. A memoir. A charming, surprising must-read. (Non-fiction – 14 checkouts)
Freckled : a memoir of growing up wild in Hawaii / TW Neal. Born in 1965 to hippie surfer parents who just want to ride waves, use substances, and hide from society, red-headed Toby grows up as one of only a few hundred Caucasian “haole” people on the rugged, beautiful North Shore of Kauai, Hawaii. “I wish I could turn time into honey, and watch it drip by.” Told from the immersive, first-person view of a child experiencing turbulent times as they occur, Freckled will take you on a journey you won’t soon forget as Toby catches an octopus with her bare hands to feed the family, careens on her first bike down a rugged dirt trail deep in the jungle, and makes money by selling magic mushrooms to a drug dealer. Through it all, a sensitive and resilient Toby clings to a dream of academic achievement and a “normal” life. (Biography – 13 checkouts)
and a two-way tie among Audiobooks, Emma / by Jane Austen and Talking to strangers : what we should know about the people we don’t know / Malcolm Gladwell each had 11 checkouts on the year.