Teens’ Top Ten Books Announced

After more than 8,000 teens voted in this years Top Ten award, the American Library Association has announced the ten winning books! These books received the most votes from teens between August 23 and September 17. We have all of these books in our young adult collection at EPL!

The Teens’ Top Ten is:

  1. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
  2. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
  3. Heist Society by Ally Carter
  4. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
  5. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
  6. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
  7. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
  8. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
  9. Fire by Kristin Cashore
  10. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Reminder: Ghost Hunting program this Thursday

Don’t forget about our program with local group Spirit Paranormal Investigations this Thursday at 7 p.m., where Kevin Sampron will discuss his organization’s ghost hunting efforts in Colorado. He’ll show off real tools of the trade and the audio and visual evidence they’ve collection at real sites in Colorado.There will be time for questions at the end of the presentation and of course there will be snacks and drinks!

Space is limited to 20 teens, so the best way to secure a spot is to register now by calling 303-762-2555 or stopping by the reference desk. I’ll talk walk-ins if I don’t get 20 sign-ups, but there’s no guarantee, so call asap!

Reminder: Teen Gaming Program Tomorrow!

We’ll be setting up the Wii for tomorrow, Thursday, October 14, from 4-5:30 p.m. (Sometimes if I can set up early, I’m ready to go at 3:45.) Stop by to play any of our multiplayer games and eat some snacks!

New Books – September 2010

You, by Charles Benoit. Y Benoit.
Fifteen-year-old Kyle discovers the shattering ramifications of the decisions he makes, and does not make, about school, the girl he likes, and his future.

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June, by Robin Benway. Y Benway.
After their parents’ divorce, teenaged sisters April, May, and June recover special powers from childhood and use them to cope with moving to a new home and high school, but wonder if the gifts have a greater purpose.

Clockwork Angel (Infernal Devices, Book One), by Cassandra Clare. Y Clare.
Sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray descends into Victorian London’s dark underworld to search for her missing brother, with the mysterious Shadowhunters as her only allies. Prequel to the Mortal Instruments series.

Mockingjay (Hunger Games, Book Three), by Suzanne Collins. Y Collins.
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe, in the powerful and haunting final installment of Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy.

Three Black Swans, by Caroline Cooney. Y Cooney.
In this riveting, heartrending story by thriller author Cooney, the truth changes the lives of three families–as the bonds of blood must withstand the strains of long-hidden secrets that are at last revealed.

The Walls Have Eyes (sequel to The Sky Inside), by Clare Dunkel. Y Dunkel.
Martin may have seen his sister, Cassie, to safety at the end of “The Sky Inside,” but his adventure is far from over. There’s still a totalitarian regime in place, murderous game shows on the air, and a couple of government agents on Martin’s tail, in this sequel.

Dark Song, by Gail Giles. Y Giles.
After her father loses his job and she finds out that her parents have lied to her, fifteen-year-old Ames feels betrayed enough to become involved with a criminal who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

The Julian Game, by Adele Griffin. Y Griffin.
In an effort to improve her social status, a new scholarship student at an exclusive girls’ school uses a fake online profile to help a popular girl get back at her ex-boyfriend, but the consequences are difficult to handle.

The Line, by Teri Hall. Y Hall.
In this compelling debut, Hall writes a futuristic urban novel about the lines one girl must cross, and what lengths she is willing to go in order to do what she thinks is right. Rachel thinks that she and her mother are safe working for Ms. Moore at her estate close to The Line, an invisible border of the Unified States, but when Rachel has an opportunity to Cross into the forbidden zone, she is both frightened and intrigued.

Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials, by Stephanie Hemphill. Y Hemphill.
A Printz Honor winner presents a fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials based on the real historical characters, told from the perspective of three young women living in Salem in 1692–Mercy Lewis, Margaret Walcott, and Ann Putnam Jr.

Fallout, by Ellen Hopkins. Y Hopkins.
Told in three voices and punctuated by news articles chronicling the family’s story, “Fallout” is the stunning conclusion to the trilogy begun in “Crank” and “Glass.”

Firelight, by Sophie Jordan. Y Jordan.
When sixteen-year-old Jacinda, who can change into a dragon, is forced to move away from her community of shapeshifters and start a more normal life, she falls in love with a boy who proves to be her most dangerous enemy.

More new books after the cut

White Cat, by Holly Black

Author: Holly Black
Genre: YA Paranormal Thriller
Pages: 310
Rating: 5 stars
Call number: Y Black

First line: “I wake up barefoot, standing on cold slate tiles. Looking dizzily down.”

Summary (ganked from Goodreads): Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they’re all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn’t got the magic touch, so he’s an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He’s noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he’s part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

What I thought: I’ve never read one of Holly Black’s novels before, but I’ve read her graphic novel series, The Good Neighbors, and a lot of her short stories, and one thing that’s always impressed me about her is that she’s not afraid to take risks. To do the unexpected and uncomfortable. To create a sympathetic character, one you can identify with, and have him or her do something terrible. To take readers to a truly dark place.

This is not a book for everyone, because it’s not a happy story or a fast-paced one. It’s dark and subtle and you get the wool pulled over your eyes several times. You’re kept distant from most of the characters because Cassel is distant (though I think that Cassel is likable, but I don’t think everyone would agree with me.) There’s not a ton of action until the end; in fact, the plot develops slowly and you have to have patience that it’s all going to come together. The meticulous pacing allows the faint, nagging sense that something is wrong to develop, until the foreboding gets so thick that it makes up for the lack of action. In this kind of book, just when you have an emotional payoff and you’re letting out your breath in relief, something happens to stop it entirely. It’s a horror story and a heist story rolled up into one, and one of the more impressive books I’ve read this year. I have no idea where the next one in the series will go but I can’t wait.