Looking for a magazine?

The Teen Zone can help!  We have lots of great magazines in stock and ready to be checked out.  Everything from Bike to Mad, Seventeen to J-14 is available in the Teen Zone.  Just ask Kristi or Travis to point you in the right direction!

If you're looking for a magazine written for teens by teens, check out Teen Ink!  It's a great resource for reviews, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction articles submitted by teenage writers, and we have several issues here in the library.  Check out their website for more information, and maybe submit some of your own work!  And if you're on Twitter, you can follow them: @teenink.

YALSA's Best Books for Young Adults - 2012 List!

YALSA has announced their selections for the best books for Young Adults in 2012, and lots of them are available here at the Booth and Dimock Memorial Library!  Be sure to check out our selection today!

Aguirre, Ann - Enclave
Bauer, Joan - Close to Famous
Beam, Chris - I am J
Billingsley, Franny - Chime
Blundell, Judy - Strings Attached
Bray, Libba - Beauty Queens
Brezenoff, Steve - Brooklyn, Burning
Brown, Jennifer - Bitter End
Chow, Cara - Bitter Melon (available as an audiobook)
Cohen, Joshua C. - Leverage
Cooper, Michelle - The FitzOsbornes in Exile
Dessen, Sarah - What Happened to Goodbye (available in print and as an audiobook)
DeStefano, Lauren - Wither
Deuker, Carl - Payback Time
Dixon, Heather - Entwined (available as an audiobook)
Downham, Jenny - You Against Me
Edwardson, Debby Dahl - My Name is Not Easy
Forman, Gayle - Where She Went
Gantos, Jack - Dead End in Norvelt (available in print and as an audiobook)
Gier, Kerstin - Ruby Red
Herback, Geoff - Stupid Fast
Johnson, Maureen - The Last Little Blue Envelope
Johnson, Maureen - The Name of the Star
King, A.S. - Everybody Sees the Ants
Leavitt, Lindsey - Sean Griswold's Head
Lu, Marie - Legend
McMann, Lisa - Cryer's Cross
Myracle, Lauren - Shine
Ness, Patrick - A Monster Calls
O'Brien, Caragh - Prized
Okorafor, Nnedi - Akata Witch
Oliver, Lauren - Delirium
Oppel, Kenneth - This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein
Perera, Anna - Guantanamo Boy
Perkins, Stephanie - Lola and the Boy Next Door
Riggs, Ransom - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Resau, Laura & Maria Virginia Farinango - Queen of Water
Riordan, Rick - The Lost Hero
Roth, Veronica - Divergent
Schmidt, Gary - Okay for Now
Selznick, Brian - Wonderstruck
Sepetys, Ruta - Between Shades of Gray (available in print and as an audiobook)
Smith, Andrew - Stick
Stiefvater, Maggie - The Scorpio Races
Taylor, Laini - Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Valente, Catherynne M. - The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Van Draanen, Wendelin - The Running Dream (available in print and as an audiobook)
Venkatraman, Padma - Island's End
Wynne-Jones, Tim - Blink and Caution
Young, Moira - Blood Red Road (coming soon!)
Yovanoff, Brenna - The Space Between
Zarr, Sara - How to Save a Life

Win an autographed copy of John Green's new book!

 

Want to win your very own copy of John Green's new book, The Fault in Our Stars?  It's easy!  Just pick up an entry slip at the library and write two or three sentences about a book you read recently and loved.  The winner will be chosen at random from the entries we receive by February 7th, so come to the library ASAP!

Reading with the Teen Librarian: Nutmegs 2012, Part 2

Pop by Gordon Korman


Nutmeg Synopsis: Quarterback Marcus Jordan has a big problem: his new school isn’t interested in adding Marcus to their winning football team. Practicing in the park, Marcus meets a childlike 50-year-old man named Charlie with startling football abilities. Charlie’s pranks and spotty memory make Marcus wonder what Charlie’s story is.

The Teen Librarian's Review: This isn't just another football book, and I really enjoyed that. Yes, football was a huge part, but Marcus's investigation into Charlie's life and daily life at an unwelcoming school made this book great for everyone.


Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray


Nutmeg Synopsis: After their best friend Ross dies, English teenagers Blake, Kenny, and Sim plan a proper memorial by taking his ashes to Ross,
Scotland, an adventure-filled journey that tests their loyalty to each other and forces them to question what friendship means.

The Teen Librarian's Review: I put off reading this book for as long as I could. It wasn't until I tried listening to Ostrich Boys (the Booth & Dimock Memorial Library owns the audio book) that I really became interested. I highly recommend listening to the audio copy. All of the voices have British accents and hearing them helps to follow their story and really enjoy their journey. Their road trip is an exciting adventure, including trains, cars, bungee jumping and girls.



The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon

Nutmeg Synopsis: The year is 1968 and the Civil Rights Movement is in full swing in Chicago, Illinois. Teenager Sam Childs is caught between his
father, who follows the non-violent path of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and his older brother who has joined the Black Panther Party and its sometimes violent methods. Will Sam choose the rock or the river?

The Teen Librarian's Review: This is a look at the civil rights movement that is not often seen in Teen Literature. Sam is torn between is father, his brother and his conscience.


Viola in the Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani


Nutmeg Synopsis: Aspiring filmmaker 14-year-old Viola is the child of devoted documentary filmmakers, but her parents’ overseas assignment brings
her to Prefect Academy, a boarding school for girls. Viola is sure that she’ll hate Prefect, but she befriends her roommates, learning that she can flourish in a new environment.

The Teen Librarian's Review: This is a perfect chick-lit book. Viola has friend trouble, boy trouble, theater and film. If you are tired of the many distopian novels on this year's nutmeg list, read Viola in the Reel Life and watch out for the sequel Viola in the Spotlight.



The Compound by S.A. Bodeen

Nutmeg Synopsis: Nine-year-old Eli, his sisters, and parents move into the Compound, an expansive underground bunker built by Eli's billionaire
father as a refuge from nuclear attack. Waiting for the outside environment to be safe to reenter, fifteen-year-old Eli is starting to have doubts about his father's motives, explanations, and sanity. Can Eli trust his father?

The Teen Librarian's Review: Eli's situation is horrifying. Even though he has is family, he has grown away from them, locked in a bunker, certain the the outside world has been destroyed. When things take a turn for the worse inside the shelter, Eli has to work with his family to find away to escape.

Reading with the Teen Librarian: Jump by Elisa Carbone

Jump by Elisa Carbone

Critter isn't insane.
P.K. doesn't want to go to boarding school.
Both need to escape their lives.

When P.K. decides to run away, out west, to go rock climbing, Critter, who has just escaped from the hospital, tags along. With the cops looking for them both, this book is an adventure from begining to end.



***This will be our Book Club Book on April 14th, Support Teen Literature Day. Grab a copy from the Teen Zone!"***

Reading with the Teen Librarian: Nutmegs 2012, Part 1

Scat by Carl Hiaasen


Nutmeg Synopsis: After mean Mrs. Starch goes missing during a class field trip to the Black Vine Swamp, two of her students, Nick and Marta, believe her disappearance is mysterious and that there is something strange about the note that she left behind. Can Nick and Marta solve the mystery of the missing teacher?

The Teen Librarian's Review: Carl Hiaasen's books tend to have a focus on Florida, environmentalism and conservation--Scat doesn't disappoint. Hiaasen is hilarious. Mrs. Starch seems horrible, the villains are diabolical and the mystery is intriguing.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner


Nutmeg Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up in an elevator with no memory except for his first name. He’s arrived in “the glade,” an area surrounded by stone walls that open to a maze every morning.  With him in the glade are about 60 boys, all searching for an escape route. And then a girl appears with a  message, and things begin to change.

The Teen Librarian's Review:  This fantastic dystopian novel starts out slow but ends with the reading dying for the next installment. Thomas may have no memory but everyone seems to think he knows more about the maze than he does--especially after he does what has never been done before: stay alive overnight in the maze and defeat three terrifying grievers.

I Am A Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want To Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb


Nutmeg Synopsis: Running for seventh-grade class president looks easy to Oliver Watson. With his good looks, intelligence, and wealth, he can control his classmates, teachers, and parents. But can he control the outcome of an election?

The Teen Librarian's Review:  Oliver Watson isn't the dumb boy he pretends to be. He is secretly the world's richest man and head of a world wide empire. They only person he actually cares about is his mom and his nemesis is his father. So how does this evil genius take on his nemesis? He runs for class president. But can he win?

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George


Nutmeg Synopsis: Galen, a soldier recently returned from the war, now works in the royal palace, where he meets 12 beautiful princesses. As innocent as the king’s twelve daughters seem, they harbor a secret. Will  Galen be the one to uncover the activity that leaves their slippers in tatters, as if worn for years? Or will he, like the others, fail… and die for his trouble?

The Teen Librarian's Review: This book is a take on one of my favorite fairy tales, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. In that story, the king invites all the princes to try and discover why his 12 daughter's dancing slippers are worn out every morning. The prince who can discover their secret will get to choose a princess to marry.

Princess of the Midnight Ball stays true to this tale, which is told by both the eldest princess, Rose, and a palace gardener and former soldier, Galen. Each night the princesses are forced to dance the night away in an underground realm.


The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Nutmeg Synopsis: In the ruins of North America lies the nation of Panem, a capitol surrounded by twelve districts. Each year, the districts send one boy and one girl to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal fight to the death televised for Panem’s entertainment. Sixteen-year-old Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister
in the Hunger Games, hoping to survive the competition.

The Teen Librarian's Review: I could not put this down, and had reserved the second book before I finished the first. This book has it all: Action--a brutal fight for survival, Love--you must have heard some of the love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale by now, and Horror--how can a society ask this of their children.

Reading With the Teen Librarian: The Grimm Legacy

Here is the Teen Librarian's Review of The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman from GoodReads.com

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Who doesn't wish that fairy-tales were real?



The main character writes a paper on the history behind fairy-tales and ends up with a job as a page in the New-York Circulating Material Repository, home to the secret Grimm Collection. The Repository stores and lends items such as tea sets, tools and straight from the Grimm Collection: the slippers of the 12 Dancing Princesses.

However, someone is stealing from the Grimm Collection and their is a giant bird following the pages. When one of her friends goes missing, everyone suspects one another and Elizabeth doesn't know who to trust, just that she needs to save her friend.

The Grimm Legacy is part fantasy and part mystery but utterly delightful. I even loved the cover. This book needs to find its way into the hands of everyone who loves fairy-tales, mythology and libraries.

Reading with the Teen Librarian: "Countdown" & "Annexed"

Earlier this month I posted that I would be participating in the YA Historical Fiction Challenge.

So far, I have read two of my proposed 5 books:

Annexed by Sharon Dogar & Countdown by Deborah Wiles

 
My Reviews:

Countdown is told by an eleven year old girl (Franny), wise beyond her years living through the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fear of Nuclear War and the rise of Communism. Her Dad is an active member of the Air Force, her uncle a war veteran with obvious post-traumatic stress syndrome, she has an older sister who is keeping secrets, a terrified younger brother and a mother who is trying to hold the family together. The President's announcement of the nuclear threat pushes into all aspects of lives of this family, and yet, the family is expected to continue their daily lives.


I have hear this book called as a Documentary-Novel and it certainly fits. Through Franny's eyes we see how the political climate is affecting her and her family; but, through the pages of photographs, news stories, quotes and song lyrics the reader sees what Franny and her family saw. Through these "extras" the reader is able to experience the 1960s and understand the actions of the characters.

There were parts of Franny's story that I would have like to see developed further, but overall I am very impressed by this book and recommended it to all fans of historical fiction or real-life dramas.

 -----------------------------------------

Annexed is the story of Peter Van Pels the boy in the attic with Anne Frank. We follow Peter as he makes his way to the Annex and as he grows up with a limited number of people in his daily life. We learn how he is encourage to continue his studies while outside other Jews are being sent away and while he grapples with the hope that he one day will be free or the despair that one day he might not be. The annex was of course discovered, and Peter also brings the reader to Auschwitz.

Peter's story is very moving. The characters ultimate fate is already known, but that won't stop readers from routing for their escape and survival and from succumbing to their obvious depression. Above all, this book is a character study of what it must have been like to be locked away, uncertain of your future and those of your friends you left behind.

Read with the Teen Librarian: Historical Fiction

I want to have a way to share what I am reading (or at least some of it--because I read a lot) so I am going to start this semi-regular feature in the blog letting you know the YA books I've read recently, or maybe just talk about a book or two.

To kick off the new year, I am also going to join a reading challenge for 2011. There are lots of challenges out there based on genres, number goals, you get the idea.

Historical Fiction is one of my favorite genres, so I am going to try the YA Historical Fiction Challenge, hosted by YA Bliss.
 
 
There are three levels of this challenge and I am going to start with Level 1 (read 5 books) and upgrade as I find more YA Historical Fiction I want to read.


 



Here are my 5 books: 

Annexed by Sharon Dogar 
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill
Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa M. Klein
Countdown by Deborah Wiles


In case you want to try and read a historical fiction novel this year, you can use this list of YA Historical Fiction at the Booth & Dimock Memorial Library to find a great book. Keep in mind, this list doesn't include all the books out there or that we have. Let me know if you find one you think I should add to the list.