Next Program: “Date or Hate” Book Speed Dating

Date or Hate – Book Speed Dating Sunday
February 12, 2-3 p.m., Altenbach Room

When was the last time you fell in love with a book? It can be tough to find your perfect match, but life’s too short to read books you don’t like. Come fall in love with a new book at our book speed dating event, “Date or Hate”, where you’ll spend a few minutes each with several books new and old to see if you can find your perfect match. Take home the ones you want to date; leave the ones you hate. Food and drinks will be provided; you bring the attitude. For teens ages 12-18.

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2012 Youth Media Awards Madness

I had the fortune to actually attend the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards (where they announce such awesome book awards as the Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz) in Dallas, TX, this Monday. This event is like the Super Bowl for writers, publishers, and librarians, and it was so wonderful to be in a huge room full of people totally invested in recognizing the power of stories to influence lives. Every time a book was announced, whether it be a winner or an honor book, people cheered, and clapped, and whistled, and called out stuff like “Yeah!”, and I felt like I was at a sporting event or a concert, but for BOOKS. It may make be a big book nerd, but it was super fun. The full list of awards announced are here at the ALA web site but below I want to highlight the Michael L. Printz award for best teen fiction and the William C. Morris award for best teen debut fiction.

This has never happened before, as far as I know, but the same amazing book won both of these big awards, and it’s one I recently highlighted on my Top Books for 2011. Here’s what I recently wrote about it: Where Things Come Back, by John Corey Whaley, is a strange one, but its strangeness is why I love it so. This literary novel tells intertwining stories of people searching for meaning and redemption in a messed up world. Cullen Witter lives in a tiny Arkansas town that is experiencing a revival after a birdwatcher claims to have seen a woodpecker long thought to be extinct. But while the townspeople are obsessed with searching for this mythical bird, Cullen is desperately searching for his missing younger brother, who disappeared at the same time. Meanwhile, Benton Sage, a missionary traveling in Africa, becomes disillusioned with his calling and sets up a chain reaction of events that dovetails perfectly with Cullen’s story. This excellent debut novel is both funny and meaningful. I urge anyone looking for something different to give it a try.

Four other books were named as Printz honors:

Why We Broke Up, written by Daniel Handler
The Returning, written by Christine Hinwood
Jasper Jones, written by Craig Silvey
The Scorpio Races, written by Maggie Stiefvater

Also, four other books were Morris honors:

The Girl of Fire and Thorns, written by Rae Carson
Paper Covers Rock, written by Jenny Hubbard
Under the Mesquite, written by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Between Shades of Gray, written by Ruta Sepetys

All of these books are available at our library, so read some award winners today!

Some more excellent places to look for good, new reads:

ALA’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults
ALA’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens Top Ten List
ALA”s Alex Awards (best adult fiction for teen readers)

My Top 2011 Teen Reads

I read close to 160 books in 2011 (I know, right?) and the majority were teens books. Here are my top five favorite teen books from 2011. If you’re looking for great reads to start our the new year, try one of these.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor. Y Taylor.

Karou leads a double life: in one, she is an art student in Prague; in another, she is an errand runner for Brimstone, a chimaerae (demon) who barters teeth for wishes. Her worlds collide when she meets beautiful Akiva, who is on the other side of a centuries old war between angels and demons. This is a dark, romantic, suspenseful grown-up fairy tale, and it’s my favorite book of 2011.

The Isle of Blood (The Monstrumologist, Book Three), by Rick Yancey. Y Yancey.

Young Will Henry and his monster-hunting mentor, Dr. Warthrop, are back in their third adventure, where they travel to the Isle of Blood in search of the monster to end all monsters. If you are looking for something scary, gory, but also highly literate and thoughtful, look no further than Rick Yancey’s Monstrumologist series. A fourth book will happily be coming in the next year or so, so catch up while you still have time.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Cat Valente. Y Valente.

Twelve-year-old September leaves behind her mundane life in Omaha to travel to Fairyland with the Green Wind, where she comes into conflict with the Marquess, whose fickle rule has caused problems for Fairyland’s inhabitants. This is a truly inventive, idiosyncratic story with beautiful illustrations.

A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness. Y Ness.

Grab some tissues, people! This is a heartbreaking yet life-affirming story of coping with loss, and the haunting, evocative black and white illustrations elevate the story to true art. Ever since Conor’s mother has been diagnosed with cancer, Conor’s been having nightmares of a terrible monster, but when the monster finally shows at midnight, it isn’t the one he expects. This monster, full of ancient wisdom, insists on telling Conor three stories in exchange for one story of Conor’s: the one story – the truth – that he doesn’t want to tell.

Where Things Come Back, by John Corey Whaley. Y Whaley.

This is a strange one, but its strangeness is why I love it so. This literary novel tells intertwining stories of people searching for meaning and redemption in a messed up world. Cullen Witter lives in a tiny Arkansas town that is experiencing a revival after a birdwatcher claims to have seen a woodpecker long thought to be extinct. But while the townspeople are obsessed with searching for this mythical bird, Cullen is desperately searching for his missing younger brother, who disappeared at the same time. Meanwhile, Benton Sage, a missionary traveling in Africa, becomes disillusioned with his calling and sets up a chain reaction of events that dovetails perfectly with Cullen’s story. This excellent debut novel is both funny and meaningful.

Next week I’ll post my “Best of the Rest” list — books I really loved but didn’t make the top five.

October & November 2011 New Books

Sign Language, by Amy Ackley. Y Ackley.
Teenaged Abby must deal with her feelings about her father’s cancer and its aftermath while simultaneously navigating the difficult problems of growing up.

Populazzi, by Elise Allen. Y Allen.
When awkward, socially inept Cara moves to a new school just before junior year, her best friend urges her to seize the opportunity and change her life using “The Ladder”–a concept that will allow her to climb to the top of the social order by transforming herself into the perfect girlfriend for the most popular boy in school.

Ultraviolet, by R.J Anderson. Y Anderson.
Almost seventeen-year-old Alison, who has synesthesia, finds herself in a psychiatric facility accused of killing a classmate whose body cannot be found.

Absolute Midnight, by Clive Barker. Y Barker.
Candy Quackenbush of Chickentown, Minnesota, is the only person who can stop the evil Mater Motley who, now that the hour of midnight has come, is prepared to unleash the end of the world.

Anna Dressed in Blood, by Kendare Blake. Y Blake.
For three years, seventeen-year-old Cas Lowood has carried on his father’s work of dispatching the murderous dead, traveling with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat, but everything changes when he meets Anna, a girl unlike any ghost he has faced before.

Lie, by Caroline Bock. Y Bock.
Told in several voices, a group of Long Island high school seniors conspire to protect eighteen-year-old Jimmy after he brutally assaults two Salvadoran immigrants, until they begin to see the moral implications of Jimmy’s actions and the consequences of being loyal to a violent bully.

Bronxwood, by Coe Booth. Y Booth.
Sixteen-year-old Tyrell, accustomed to being the man of the family, has mixed feelings when his father comes home from jail, but he knows he cannot just go back to being a little boy, especially after losing his younger brother to foster care, getting involved with drug dealers, learning about his mother’s infidelity, and developing a relationship with Jasmine.

The Slayer Chronicles, by Heather Brewer. Y Brewer.
The summer before ninth grade, when Joss sets off to meet his uncle and hunt down the beast that murdered his younger sister three years earlier, he learns he is destined to join the Slayer Society.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns, by Rae Carson. Y Carson.
A fearful sixteen-year-old princess discovers her heroic destiny after being married off to the king of a neighboring country in turmoil and pursued by enemies seething with dark magic.

Destined (House of Night, Book Nine), by P.C. Cast. Y Cast.
Zoey, safe at home with her guardian warrior Stark, confronts new forces at work in the House of Night, including Aurox, a devastatingly handsome teenage boy, created by Neferet as her greatest weapon.

Shelter, by Harlan Coben. Y Coben.
After tragic events tear Mickey Bolitar away from his parents, he is forced to live with his estranged Uncle Myron and switch high schools, where he finds both friends and enemies, but when his new girlfriend, Ashley, vanishes, he follows her trail into a seedy underworld that reveals she is not what she seems to be.

Crossed (Matched, Book Two), by Ally Condie. Y Condie.
Cassia, having arrived in the Outer Provinces in search of Ky, learns he has escaped from the Society and follows a series of clues he left, which result in rebellion, betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander.

The Death Cure (Maze Runner, Book Three), by James Dashner. Y Dashner.
As the third Trial draws to a close, Thomas and some of his cohorts manage to escape from WICKED, their memories having been restored, only to face new dangers as WICKED claims to be trying to protect the human race from the deadly FLARE virus.

Lost in Time (Blue Bloods, Book Six), by De la Cruz, Melissa. Y Delacruz.
Schuyler Van Alen and her love Jack Force go their separate ways after their trip to Florence, Italy, with Schuyler going to Egypt to fulfill the Van Alen legacy, while Jack returns to Manhattan to face his twin sister, Mimi, but things get even more complicated when Mimi jets off to Egypt while the Coven threatens to fall apart around her.

You Against Me, by Jenny Downham. Y Downham.
When eighteen-year-old Mikey’s younger sister claims to have been raped and he seeks to avenge the crime, he meets Ellie, the sister of the accused, and befriends her, complicating the situation considerably for all of them.

The Outcasts (Brotherband Chronicles, Book One), by John Flanagan. Y Flanagan.
Hal, Stig, and the other outcasts do not have the size and strength of the Skandians, but when they face off against the Wolves and the Sharks in an ultimate race for survival, they hope that their courage and cunning are enough to help them win in a game that everyone seems to think is a matter of life and death.

Check under the cut for more new books

Breaking Dawn release party winners!

The first and second place prizes for our Breaking Dawn trivia contest have been chosen, and the winners have already picked up their prizes: a $25 Regal Cinema gift card for first place, and a goodie bag of vampire-inspired treats for second place. Congrats to Rosa and Aliah for doing so well on the (pretty hard, if I do say so myself) quiz, and thanks to everyone for making our Eclipse showing a blast.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor

Author: Laini Taylor
Genre: YA Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Rating: 5 stars
Call number: Y Taylor
Book released September, 2011

“Wishes are not for foolery, child.”
“Well, what do you use them for?”
“Nothing,” he said. “I do not wish.”
What?” It had astonished her. “Never?” All that magic at his fingertips! “But you could have anything you wanted—“
“Not anything. There are things bigger than any wish.”
“Like what?”
“Most things that matter.”

Summary: Karou has always been aware of the power of wishes, growing up as she did in the Wishmonger Brimstone’s shop, learning his trade: the bartering of teeth – all kinds of teeth, from all manner of creatures – for wishes. Brimstone is a chimaera, what humans would call a monster, a devil, but to Karou he and his associates — Issa, Yasri, Twiga, and Kishmish — are her only family; he raised her after finding her abandoned as a baby. Now a talented art student in Prague and living in her own apartment, Karou’s had a ready supply of small wishes at her disposal since childhood, wishes she’s used to give herself blue hair and tattoos, erase pimples, and take small but hilarious revenge on a cheating ex-boyfriend. To earn her wishes, Karou runs errands for Brimstone, using the door in his shop, which exists Elsewhere and can open all around the world, to visit tooth traders: poachers, grave robbers, murderers, and worse. No one knows better than she the terrible, desperate things people will do for their heart’s desire. Even though Brimstone is always trying to impress upon Karou the importance of using her wishes for good, not on petty or frivolous matters, she finds his concerns unfounded, since the people he trades with are the dregs of humanity. Of course she is better than them. What she doesn’t know is what the teeth are for, and how they power the wishes she takes for granted. Still, she’s been raised to this mysterious, magical life, and she’ll fight to protect it when mysterious black hand-prints begin appearing on the human side of all of Brimstone’s doors, left there by creatures even Brimstone seems to fear: angels. Her first meeting with the angel Akiva doesn’t go well – he tries to kill her, and she reciprocates, with swords – but they eventually acknowledge their mutual intense curiosity about each other and begin to perceive each other as something other than Enemy.

My thoughts under the cut

Next Program: Breaking Dawn release party

Join us October 30 from 1-5 p.m. for a vampire and werewolf-themed Twilight party to celebrate Halloween and the release of Breaking Dawn Part One on November 18! We will have a trivia contest (with prizes!), giveaways, and a showing of Eclipse on our library’s new flat-screen television, as well as plenty of snacks, drinks, and decorations.

Check back for more details, to be posted soon. In the meantime, sign-up at the reference desk or call 303-762-2555, or just comment on this post and I will add you to the list.

Update: First prize for the contest will be a $25 gift card to Regal Cinema to spend on movie tickets and snacks for one winner. (Don’t have your tickets to Breaking Dawn yet? Here’s your chance!)

September 2011 New Books

Queen of Hearts, by Martha Brooks. Y Brooks.
Shortly after her first kiss but before her sixteenth birthday in December, 1941, Marie Claire and her younger brother and sister are sent to a tuberculosis sanatorium near their Manitoba farm.

Wolfsbane (Nightshade, Book Two), by Andrea Cremer. Y Cremer.
Alpha wolf Calla Tor forges an alliance with her masters’ enemies and tries to rescue her pack from imprisonment in Vail.

Sixteenth Summer, by Michelle Dalton. Y Dalton.
Sixteen-year-old Anna falls for Will, a New Yorker visiting her resort island for the summer, but she isn’t sure if one summer of love will be worth her heart breaking when he leaves at the end of August.

Rip Tide (Dark Life, Book Two), by Kat Falls. Y Falls.
Ty and Gemma return to the subsea frontier when Ty’s parents are kidnapped by the mysterious Surfs, an abduction that forces the teens into an alliance with the outlaws of the Seablite Gang.

How I Stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Boyfriend, by Gary Ghislain. Y Ghislain.
Fourteen-year-old David, the son of a famous French psychologist, falls in love with Zelda, a new patient who believes she is from outer space, and soon they are tearing through Paris in search of her chosen one, Johnny Depp, so that she can take him to her home planet, Vahalal.

Sister Mischief, by Laura Goode. Y Goode.
Esme Rockett, also known as MC Ferocious, rocks her suburban Minnesota Christian high school with more than the hip-hop music she makes with best friends Marcy ( DJ SheStorm) and Tess (The ConTessa) when she develops feelings for her co-MC, Rowie (MC Rohini)

The Girl is Murder, by Kathryn Haines. Y Haines.
In 1942 New York City, fifteen-year-old Iris grieves for her mother who committed suicide and for the loss of her life of privilege, and secretly helps her father with his detective business since he, having lost a leg at Pearl Harbor, struggles to make ends meet.

Voice of the Undead (Alex Van Helsing, Book Two), by Jason Henderson. Y Henderson.
After a fire damages his boarding school in Switzerland, fourteen-year-old Alex and his friends move to the girls’ school across the lake, where supernatural happenings are disturbing the peace, and in the meantime, more Van Helsing family secrets are revealed.

More new books under the cut

Blue Spruce Award 2012 Nominees

Check out these nominees for the 2012 Blue Spruce awards, one of the only state awards chosen by teens. All you have to do to vote for the winner is read at least three of these books (you can always read more!), then find me at the library and tell me you want to vote. I will give you a ballot you can fill out right there. You have until January 13, 2012, so there’s still plenty of time (and I bet you’ve read a lot of these titles already).

1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20
21

Click here to read summaries for these books

August 2011 New Books

Trial by Fire (a Raised by Wolves novel), by Jennifer Barnes. Y Barnes.
Bryn, the new alpha of her werewolf pack, must deal with an opposing pack led by her friend when a runaway begs her for help and protection from abuse.

Fins are Forever (sequel to Forgive My Fins), by Tera Lynn Childs. Y Childs.
Mermaid princess Lily is about to renounce her place in the royal succession of the undersea kingdom of Thalassina and spend her life on land with the boy she loves, until her annoying cousin appears and throws her decision into doubt.

The Gray Wolf Throne (Seven Realms Book Three), by Cinda Williams Chima. Y Chima.
Thief-turned-wizard Han Alister joins forces with Raisa ana’Marianna, heir to the Queendom of the Fells, to defend her right to the Gray Wolf Throne.

Texas Gothic, by Rosemary Clement-Moore. Y Clement-Moore.
Seventeen-year-old Amy Goodnight has long been the one who makes her family of witches seem somewhat normal to others, but while spending a summer with her sister caring for their aunt’s farm, Amy becomes the center of weirdness when she becomes tied to a powerful ghost.

Spoiled, by Heather Cocks. Y Cocks.
When her mother dies, sixteen-year-old Molly moves from Indiana to California, to live with her newly discovered father, a Hollywood megastar, and his pampered teenaged daughter.

The Margrave (Relic Master Book Four), by Catherine Fisher. Y Fisher.
Their quest to find a secret relic with great power leads Master Galen and his sixteen-year-old apprentice Raffi into the Pit of Maar and the deep evil world at the heart of the Watch.

Don’t Stop Now, by Julie Halpern. Y Halpern.
Recent high school graduates Lil and Josh leave Illinois for Oregon seeking Lil’s sort-of friend Penny, who faked her own kidnapping to escape problems at home and an abusive boyfriend, but Lil also wants to find out if she and Josh are meant to be more than friends.

Bad Taste in Boys, by Carrie Harris. Y Harris.
Future physician Kate Grable is horrified when her high school’s football coach gives team members steroids, but the drugs turn players into zombies and Kate must find an antidote before the flesh-eating monsters get to her or her friends.

Haunting Violet, by Alyxandra Harvey. Y Harvey.
Sixteen-year-old Violet Willoughby has been part of her mother’s Spiritualist scam since she was nine, but during an 1872 house party in Hampshire, England, she is horrified to learn that she can actually see ghosts, one of whom wants Violet to solve her murder.

Kiss of Death (Kiss Me Kill Me series), by Lauren Henderson. Y Henderson.
Scarlett has finally put Dan McAndrew’s murder behind her and started a new life at a new school, but when she encounters her old friends, including Dan’s twin Callum, while on a field trip, Scarlett realizes someone is still trying to punish her for past mistakes.

Hereafter, by Tara Hudson. Y Hudson.
Amelia, long a ghost, forms a strong bond with eighteen-year-old Joshua, who nearly drowned where she did and who awakens in her long-forgotten senses and memories even as Eli, a spirit, tries to draw her away.

Five 4ths of July, by Pat Hughes. Y Hughes.
On July 4th, 1777, fourteen-year-old Jake Mallory and his friends are celebrating their new nation’s independence, but over the next four years Jake finds himself in increasingly adventurous circumstances as he battles British forces, barely survives captivity on a prison ship, and finally returns home to Connecticut, war-torn and weary, but hopeful for America’s future.

The Anti-Prom, by Abby McDonald, Y McDonald.
On prom night, Bliss, Jolene, and Meg, students from the same high school who barely know one another, band together to get revenge against Bliss’s boyfriend and her best friend, whom she caught together in the limousine they rented.

Luminous, by Dawn Metcalf. Y Metcalf.
Sixteen-year-old Consuela suddenly and inexplicably finds herself in the parallel universe of the Flow, where she and other teens with extraordinary abilities safeguard a world where they no longer belong.

Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn’t Have), by Sarah Mlynowski. Y Mlynowski.
Sixteen-year-old April, a high school junior, and her friend Vi, a senior, get a crash course in reality as the list of things they should not do becomes a list of things they did while living parent-free in Westport, Connecticut, for the semester.

Forgotten, by Cat Patrick. Y Patrick.
Sixteen-year-old London Lane forgets everything each night and must use notes to struggle through the day, even to recall her wonderful boyfriend, but she “remembers” future events and as her “flashforwards” become more disturbing she realizes she must learn more about the past lest it destroy her future.

My Misadventures of a Teenage Rock Star, by Joyce Raskin. Y Raskin.
Fourteen-year-old Alex, a short, pasty, shy, greasy-haired girl with acne, gains self-confidence when her brother convinces her to play bass in a rock band, but she finds that being “cool” has its drawbacks.

Withering Tights, by Louise Rennison. Y Rennison.
Self-conscious about her knobby knees but confident in her acting ability, fourteen-year-old Tallulah spends the summer at a Yorkshire performing arts camp that, she is surprised to learn, is for girls only.

Dead Rules, by Randy Russell. Y Russell.
When high school junior Jana Webster dies suddenly, she finds herself in Dead School, where she faces choices that will determine when she, a Riser, will move on, but she strives to become a Slider instead, for the chance to be with the love of her life–even if it means killing him.

The Near Witch, by Victoria Schwab. Y Schwab.
Sixteen-year-old Lexi, who lives on an enchanted moor at the edge of the village of Near, must solve the mystery when, the day after a mysterious boy appears in town, children start disappearing.

White Crow, by Marcus Sedgwick. Y Sedgwick.
Sixteen-year-old Rebecca moves with her father from London to a small, seaside village, where she befriends another motherless girl and they spend the summer together exploring the village’s sinister history.

Never Have I Ever (The Lying Game, Book Two), by Sara Shepard. Y Shepard.
When Emma Paxton steps into the life of her long-lost twin Sutton to solve her murder, she finds new suspects at every turn, while Sutton looks on from her afterlife.

Imaginary Girls, by Nova Ren Suma. Y Suma.
Two years after sixteen-year-old Chloe discovered classmate London’s dead body floating in a Hudson Valley reservoir, she returns home to be with her devoted older sister Ruby, a town favorite, and finds that London is alive and well, and that Ruby may somehow have brought her back to life and persuaded everyone that nothing is amiss.

Ashes, Ashes, by Jo Treggiari. Y Treggiari.
In a future Manhattan devastated by environmental catastrophes and epidemics, sixteen-year-old Lucy survives alone until vicious hounds target her and force her to join Aidan and his band, but soon they learn that she is the target of Sweepers, who kidnap and infect people with plague.

The Vampire Stalker, by Allison Van Diepen. Y Van Diepen.
Amy is in love with Alexander Banks, the main character in her favorite series of vampire books, but when she meets Alexander in real life after he escapes from the pages of his story, she agrees to help him track down a wicked vampire named Vigo and return to his fictional world.

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