ONLY THE VERY BEST

I've just put out a new display on the fiction end -- a display which should highlight the best books YA fiction has to offer -- and it will be a display that will keep changing to offer new great titles as the next couple of months float along. Be sure to take a look at the display if you're stuck for finding something great to read.

Labels: booklists, books for boys, books for girls, displays, fantasy books, good books

~emily - 3:21 PM~
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TWILIGHT READ-ALIKES
I've been rushing around like a madwoman for the last week trying to get some tasks accomplished before the end of this week, which is fast approaching. So, I've been delegating some things off to my marvelous intern -- including this list:
Can't Get Enough Twilight? Try these read-alikes!
Now, I'm only including a few of the books on this blog post, but the others are posted at the library in the fiction shelves and also in the booklist binder. See what we've got to tide you over until the movie comes out and another book is born!

Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber
Thirsty by M. T. Anderson
Got Fangs? by Katie Maxwell
High School Bites by Liza Conrad
The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause
Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Sweetblood by Pete Hautman
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Vampire High by Douglas Rees

This is some good stuff - -she did a great job!

Labels: booklists, books for girls, chick lit, fantasy books, good books

~emily - 2:14 PM~
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READING NOTES
Just a couple of notes on a few things I've read recently.

I took a summer vacation last week, and what better to read than a mystery! I read Dead Days of Summer by Carolyn G Hart -- a Death on Demand mystery. I started reading Death on Demand mysteries way back when Hart started writing them, and I've been enjoying them ever since. I'm a little behind on the series, but that's OK. The series centers around a mystery bookstore on an island, and the owner-turned-sometime-sleuth, Annie Darling (though she doesn't start out as darling). There's mystery, death, books, and a bit of romance in these enjoyable mysteries; I definitely recommend them!

Next on my vacation reading list was Moonheart by Charles de Lint -- a fine modern fantasy combining the world of Ottawa, Canada with the Otherworld and time travel, and including wonderful interpretations of myth and legend. The perfect reading-in-the-woods-while-camping book, this is truly a magical title superbly written. An excellent advanced fantasy.

And last night I finished off by reading the newest Minx book, Water Baby. Up until now I have liked the Minx books for the most part, but this one didn't thrill me. It's a realistic fiction piece about a girl who gets her leg bitten off by a shark and is learning to cope with the adjustment. It's also about friendship and relationships. I was hoping to like it, but it left me feeling dull and empty.

Labels: book review, booklists, fantasy books, good books, graphic novels, mysteries

~emily - 1:18 PM~
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EMILY'S SUMMER READING PICKS
I've taken it upon myself to choose 1-2 favorite books from each grade list of the Framingham Public Schools. Many of the lists have more than 2 books that I like, but I'll just recommend a couple (except from the MS long list), anyway. Here goes....

Grade 6:
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
Surviving the Applewhites

Grade 7:
Pictures of Hollis Woods
Petey

Grade 8:
Hope Was Here
Monster

Long List:
Supernaturalist
Coraline
Silent to the Bone
Hero and the Crown
Flush

Grade 9:
Ender's Game
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
(Also, Twilight & The Book Thief)

Grade 10:
Golden Compass
*Into the Wild

Grade 11:
Angel of Darkness
*The Third Witch

Grade 12:
Brave New World
Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter

* denotes a book I haven't read yet, but hope to!

(I especially love the lists for grades 7-9 -- so if you're reading from one of these lists, you're lucky!)

So there you have it -- what I would read for summer reading this year, if I were to read two books from each list. Hope it's useful for you -- there are SO many great options! Happy Summer Reading!

Labels: booklists, summer reading

~emily - 11:23 AM~
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UPDATES & READING REMINDERS
I quickly wanted to mention a few things -- perhaps they are reminders, perhaps they are news....
First of all, my twitter posts have another new viewing location -- the teen page of the Framingham Public Library website. So from the website, you can now chat with me (have homework questions?) and read the twitter updates. You can do both of those things here, too, but now you have options! :-)

Secondly, this is a reminder that the fantasy wiki More Than Magic Mirrors is a good place to find fantasy books to read -- and a good place to leave your opinions about them. Grab a few friends and make a visit to the site -- there are probably even books you've read that aren't there that you could share!

Thirdly, if you're looking for something else to read, visit the tag cloud at the bottom of this blog page and click on a link you might be interested in -- we have adventure books, dragon books, love stories and more. Books bookmarked in blinklist. You can also find lots of booklists on the Teen Reads page.

Labels: booklists, books for boys, books for girls, fantasy books, library news, links

~emily - 2:27 PM~
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TAG CLOUD
For the next few days (or weeks!), you may see a few changes and messes at the bottom of this blog page -- I'm working on a tag cloud for books I've either bookended on this blog, or books in lists posted on the FPL Teen Reading Page, or just random books I want to add to the list. The tag cloud will help you find books that I've talked about that may be of interest to you, based on keywords from the book description. (The tag cloud isn't for blog posts in general.) The disarray comes from my not being sure of which bookmarking tool I want to use -- there are lots of great ones out there with different functionalities, appearances, and alliances. I'm currently looking at del.icio.us, Blinklist, and Furl, but there may be others as well. Eventually I'll just pick one and deal with the quirks, but in the meantime, have patience -- and give the tag cloud a try! Let me know what you think!

Labels: book news, booklists, books for boys, books for girls, graphic novels, links

~emily - 10:22 AM~
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POST-APOCALYPTIC
Periodically I do a list of books about the end of the world or about dystopic societies -- and these often are stories about the world post-apocalypse -- what happens to our world when everything we know is destroyed? Who seeks to control the people who are left? What is the government like? What do people eat? What kinds of technology exist? Have the people and animals mutated? How do they communicate? Is it safe to live above ground, or is there disease and pollution in the air?
Depending on how the world ended (nuclear disaster, war, disease, flood, etc.) will determine the answers to most of these questions, and I usually enjoy well-written fiction books that speculate on such a world.
I just recently finished Shadow Speaker, one such book set in Africa just a generation after a nuclear & environmentalist war that has destroyed continents, changed technology, and given some people new abilities. It's a coming of age adventure, with magic, technology, and different worlds. A great story with good action and odd little pieces of imagination.

Now that I've finished that one, I'm working on the Longlight Legacy Trilogy -- I'm almost finished with the second book. Good good stuff. I had read the first book some years ago and quite liked it, but I realized when I read it again this past weekend, that I had forgotten most of it. A few generations after much of the earth has been destroy, Roan and his sister are the only survivors of an attack on their peaceful village. His sister is taken, and Roan is left on his own to discover why the two of them are so important to The City and to other gatherings of people outside The City. What he finds out on his quest -- his abilities to travel into the Dreamworld, strange creatures that inhabit the world outside his village, children being taken from their parents to be sold for parts, and so much more -- leaves him with more questions and responsibilities, and turns him into a guy with a mission.
We have all three books at the library -- I suggest you check them out if you've read and enjoyed things like the Uglies series by Westerfeld or the Hungry City Chronicles by Reeves. Check out a few more options here.
Enjoy the end of the world!

Labels: book review, booklists, books for boys, books for girls, green, science fiction

~emily - 2:56 PM~
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HAPPY GREEN DAY
I know it's not earth day or anything, but in pseudo-celebration on this day in which millions of Americans wear green, I decided to focus on two greens -- a few green books and a couple of ways to green the day.
The Turning
Love, Football, and Other Contact Sports
Now You See Her
Each of these books is quite green.
And now for a few green tips.
It's March, a good time to start consider planting native flowers and plants. Native-area plants are good for the local environment, which helps the environment overall.
It's also a good time for spring cleaning -- and when you're cleaning out those closets full of wintry stuff you don't want anymore, reconsider -- can you chop that sweater, sew that scarf, accessorize those pants to be used again? No? Then be sure to recycle them at a thrift store!

Labels: booklists, green

~emily - 12:14 PM~
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BOOK OF THE DAY
I thought I'd share a few of the recent Books of the Day that I have posted on my Facebook and my MySpace bulletins:

Here Lies the Librarian
Mortal Engines
Elantris
On Fortune's Wheel
Troy
The Language of Goldfish
Click
Confessions of a High School Word Nerd

When you get the Facebook notices, you can also read the description and get a picture of the book cover (both of which you can also see by clicking on the links above).

Labels: booklists, books for boys, books for girls, fantasy books, good books, science fiction

~emily - 12:29 PM~
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LOVE STORIES
Get in the Mood













Less then two weeks before Valentine's Day -- and we have love stories -- a whole display of them! Come check them out and get in the mood (or not, as the case may be).

These and many many more~!

Labels: booklists, books for boys, books for girls, displays, good books

~emily - 9:37 AM~
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LIBRARY THING & DAILY BOOKS
Library Thing -- a place to catalog and share your books. Well, the Framingham Public Library already has a way to catalog our books (see The Catalog), but I've decided to use Library Thing to share them. Check down the sidebar of this blog to see four of the newest books added to the YA collection. Want to see more? Click on the LibraryThing link on the sidebar or visit http://www.librarything.com/catalog/fplteenlib. There will be additions almost every day, so be sure to check back often!

Also, I'm going to try to highlight a different book from the collection every day on my Facebook page. So, if you haven't yet included me in your friends, get going on that quick -- we have a lot of good books, and you're not going to want to miss out on any of them!

Labels: booklists, new books

~emily - 9:45 AM~
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NEW LIST -- SCIENCE & FICTION?
Looking for some fiction books that deal with biology or evolution or genetics or some other realm of the sciences? We've brought some together and put them all into a list for you. You can find the Science-With-Your-Fiction list here.

Labels: booklists

~emily - 9:42 AM~
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JOHN FEINSTEIN & SPORTS
I've been listening to NPR on my way to work in the mornings to help pass the time when all the songs on the radio and my iPod start sounding the same. However, since this is an irregular and recent thing, I was pleased when I heard John Feinstein give his reviews on the weekly sports. He's been on every week since 1988. Now, one may wonder why I was pleased to hear him -- but it's because one of my recent purchases in the YA department was his newest book Cover-up: Mystery at the Super Bowl, which joins a couple of his other sports mysteries -- Last Shot: a Final Four Mystery and Vanishing Act: Mystery at the US Open.

It's fun to have someone with such a sports pedigree writing these fun sports mysteries for teens -- if you're a sports fanatic, you can be assured that this author knows what he's writing about!

Labels: author news, booklists, links, mysteries

~emily - 10:46 AM~
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NOTES ON A FRIDAY -- and another new poll!
So it's finally Friday -- and the last day of November -- which also means the last day of NaNoWriMo, for those of you participating. Congratulations!

A new display went up yesterday -- "When Utopias Go Bad" -- a selection of futuristic, familiar, dystopic books, including things like Feed, 1984, Big Empty series, the Giver series, and others similar. I love these books.
The above display joins our "Space Fiction" display and our "A Little Romance for the Holidays" displays.

What do you like to read during the holiday season? I'll admit that I begin considering the holidays -- time off and such -- I get the craving for big fat epic fantasies. I just finished East, which I reviewed some time ago. Today I checked out The Naming and The Riddle by Croggon. Here's hoping they're as good as they sound!
What do you like to read during the holidays?

CoolWebPoll

Labels: booklists, displays, poll

~emily - 12:45 PM~
2 comments

MARK. SET. WRITE.
I'm going to hammer this pretty frequently for the next few weeks -- I want to make sure that any teen writers out there get the message.
We're making November writing month in the YA area, in honor of National Novel Writing Month. We're having two writing workshops at the public library (Nov 6 & 27 @ 4.30pm) , and all teens are welcome whether you're writing for NaNoWriMo or not -- if you like to write, come!
Also, for interest's sake, there is a new display in the YA area on writing and writers -- books like Moe's Cafe: 48 Decidedly Different Creative Writing Projects,
Confessions of a High School Word Nerd,
Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy,
Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly,
and Inventing the Truth: The Art & Craft of Memoir
-- plus bios and autobios on Roald Dahl, Orson Scott Card, Joan Lowry Nixon, Sandra Cisneros, Gary Paulsen, and more!
(And yes, I know it's not November yet, but it never hurts to get an early start -- especially if you're participating in NaNoWriMo!)
By the way -- there will also be at least 1 writing workshop at the high school library in November, also.

Labels: booklists, calendar, writing

~emily - 12:14 PM~
0 comments

BOOK DISPLAY
As of this morning I have removed the "Best Books for YAs" and replaced it with "Vampires, Werewolves, and Monsters, oh my!" in honour of the wonderful month of October.

And don't forget to pick up a banned book this week -- there are some fab books on that list!

Labels: booklists, displays

~emily - 12:52 PM~
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BANNED BOOKS WEEK
Today is the opening of Banned Books Week. The top ten challenged books in 2006 were these:

"And Tango Makes Three" by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, for homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group;

"Gossip Girls" series by Cecily Von Ziegesar for homosexuality, sexual content, drugs, unsuited to age group, and offensive language;

"Alice" series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for sexual content and offensive language;

"The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things" by Carolyn Mackler for sexual content, anti-family, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;

"The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison for sexual content, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;

"Scary Stories" series by Alvin Schwartz for occult/Satanism, unsuited to age group, violence, and insensitivity;

"Athletic Shorts" by Chris Crutcher for homosexuality and offensive language.

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky for homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuited to age group

"Beloved" by Toni Morrison for offensive language, sexual content, and unsuited to age group;

"The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier for sexual content, offensive language, and violence.

If you want a few more links to interesting challenged and banned books, here is one for the top ten challenged books between 2000-2005 and the 100 most challenged from 1990-2000. I would make a quick guess that at least 2/3 of the books are YA/teen books.
So celebrate your freedom to read this week and pick up a banned or challenged book from the library (I have lots of them out on display!).

Labels: book news, booklists, displays, links

~emily - 10:38 AM~
0 comments

SHOWING OFF
I'm a bit tickled this afternoon -- my brand-new display furniture was delivered and placed today! Out with the ugly old bin for my "new" fiction books and in with a shiny new four-sided display piece. With a few hours off the reference desk this morning, I took to task and filled all four sides of shelves with the following:

Side 1: New fiction (same as before, but lots more face-out)
Side 2: Banned & challenged books for Banned Books Week
Side 3: the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults, 2007
Side 4: Anime & *new manga

This should definitely help tease out the great books in the teen section, showing them off nicely. So, come to the library to check out the new furniture, and while you're at it, take a book or five and help empty those displays so I can put out some more!
(Pictures to come in the future!)

Labels: booklists, displays, new books

~emily - 4:26 PM~
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MYSTERIES LIST
Get a clue -- read a mystery!
The Teen Spies & Detectives quicklist has been updated on the FPL teen reads website. A few new series have been added (like C.H.E.R.U.B. and Traces) and a couple new titles. Take a look if you're in the mood.

We also still have our mysteries on display behind the new books featuring selections like:
Ruby In the Smoke
The Callender Papers
Last Shot
SilverFin
Black Mirror

Find all kinds of mysteries in the YA area by clicking here or here.

Labels: booklists, catalog, mysteries

~emily - 11:22 AM~
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