Friday, October 21, 2011

Hot Fall Releases



This fall we've seen several large releases in YA fiction with multiple titles completing or continuing popular series. On November 8th Christopher Paolini will finish off the Inheritance Cycle, a few weeks ago James Dashner completed his Maze Runner series with The Death Cure and Rick Riordan released yet another eagerly anticipated title in the Heroes of Olympus series, The Son of Neptune.

In addition to the return of so many favorite characters several new authors and titles are getting a lot of press. Glow, Amy Kathleen Ryan's first book in the Sky Chasers series has been getting a lot of attention as well as Hourglass by Myra McEntire, and Wisdom's Kiss by Catherine Gilbert Murdock.

Escape the rainy days of fall and curl up with a good book! Let us know what titles you enjoyed and also what titles you think deserve more attention. Look for these and other teen titles in the library catalog or see if they are available for download through OWWL2Go. Happy Reading!



Thursday, August 4, 2011

Fun Reads for the Summer

The following books have been read and reviewed by teens this summer. Stop by the teen area and drop off your reviews today!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins 5/5 Stars

Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex
by Eoin Colfer 4/5 Stars

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins 4/5 Stars

Cryptonomicon
by Neal Stephenson 5/5 Stars

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares
by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan 4/5 Stars

Falling for Romeo
by Jennifer Laurens 3/5 Stars

The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins 5/5 Stars

L.A. Candy
by Lauren Conrad 4/5 Stars

The Lightning Thief
by Rick Riordan 5/5 Stars

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel 5/5 Stars

Lovestruck Summer by Melissa Walker 4/5 Stars

Mocking Jay by Suzanna Collins 4/5 Stars

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Teen Volunteers

TONIGHT was the teen volunteer informational meeting. If you missed it there's still time to participate! Stop by the library and ask for a volunteer sign-up form and activities calender. We have lots going on this summer at the library!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Summer Reading List













As summer is fast approaching my reading list continues to grow! Here are some of the books I hope to read summer 2011:


Abandon by Meg Cabot
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (read in July - 3/5 stars)
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Divergent by Veronica Roth (read in June - 4/5 stars)
Uncommon Criminals by Allie Carter
The Warlock by Michael Scott
Whatever Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen (read in June - 4/5 stars)
White Cat & Red Glove by Holly Black

The library does not currently own all of these titles (several of them have not been published) but they will all be on the shelves this summer. If you can't find what you are looking for let us know and we will reserve a copy for you!

Teen Volunteers Needed!


Are you going into grade 7 or above this summer? Do you like working with kids? Do you have a few hours a week available to volunteer between June 27th and August 12th?

Volunteer opportunities include helping with and preparing for craft programs, folding flyers, monitoring children at events, helping decorate for the reading program, working on the teen blog, and more. If you are interested there is a brief (15 minute) orientation meeting on Thursday, June 23rd at 7:00 p.m. Please bring a calender.

We hope to see you there!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Exciting Upcoming & New Releases


I am really excited about some of the new teen titles coming out this spring! Here's a quick preview of some books to watch for in the coming months.

Close to Famous by Joan Bauer
Release date: February 3rd
Twelve-year-old Foster McFee and her mother leave Memphis in the middle of the night, fleeing the mother’s abusive boyfriend. Foster has a severe learning disability, a pillowcase full of mementos of her dead father, and a real gift for baking. When she and her singer mother relocate to a tiny, rural West Virginia town, they discover a friendly and welcoming population of delightfully quirky characters. Foster finally learns to read from a reclusive, retired movie star; markets her baked goods at Angry Wayne’s Bar and Grill; helps tiny but determined Macon with his documentary; and encourages her mother to become a headliner rather than a backup singer, all the while perfecting her baking technique for the time when she gets her own cooking show like her TV idol, Sonny Kroll. Bauer gently and effortlessly incorporates race (Foster’s mother is black; her father was white), religion, social justice, and class issues into a guaranteed feel-good story that dodges sentimentality with humor. Readers who want contemporary fiction with a happy ending will find it here. Booklist, Grades 5-8. --Debbie Carton

I love Joan Bauer! One of my favorite teen authors. One of her earlier books Rules of the Road was one of the first books that began my journey into children and young adult literature. I laughed out loud reading that book and I can't wait to read her latest!

Strings Attached
by Judy Blundell

Release date: March 1st
From National Book Award winner Judy Blundell, the tale of a sixteen-year-old girl caught in a mix of love, mystery, Broadway glamour, and Mob retribution in 1950 New York.

When Kit Corrigan arrives in New York City, she doesn't have much. She's fled from her family in Providence, Rhode Island, and she's broken off her tempestuous relationship with a boy named Billy, who's enlisted in the army.The city doesn't exactly welcome her with open arms. She gets a bit part as a chorus girl in a Broadway show, but she knows that's not going to last very long. She needs help--and then it comes, from an unexpected source.

Nate Benedict is Billy's father. He's also a lawyer involved in the mob. He makes Kit a deal--he'll give her an apartment and introduce her to a new crowd. All she has to do is keep him informed about Billy . . . and maybe do him a favor every now and then.- Amazon

This book caught my interest several months ago and I've been waiting for the release date. Blundell received a lot of praise for her last book What I Saw and How I Lied and I'm curious to see if this lives up to the hype.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman Release Date: April 5th

It's been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever. Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the futureÑand each other. Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.- Amazon

If I Stay is one of my favorite teen novels of all time. I loved every moment spent listening to that book (on audio CD) and I was thrilled to find out there was going to be a sequel. If I could only read one book this spring, this would be it.

If you get a chance to read any of these this spring, leave a comment and let me know what you thought! Also, if you have any recommendations, let me know those as well, I'm always looking for new favorites.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Michael L. Printz Award 2011


The Printz Award, for excellence in literature written for young adults was awarded today to Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi. The book is published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Four Printz Honor Books also were named:
Stolen by Lucy Christopher
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
Nothing by Janne Teller