BOOK: THE HUNGER GAMES
On Monday I finished reading a preview copy of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (author of the Gregor the Overlander series) -- and what a read it was!
In a future North America, the Capitol rules harshly over what was once 13, now 12, outlying districts. Every year, in order to remind the citizens of its power, the Capitol requires each district to send one boy and one girl as tributes to participate in a nationally televised reality show -- the Hunger Games -- in which 24 teenagers are trapped in a remote environment and forced to fight to the death on live TV. The last one alive brings wealth and glory to their district. When her younger sister is chosen as a tribute, Katniss volunteers in her place, knowing that she will probably not survive. But once the Hunger Games begin, she becomes a real contender, struggling to survive and win while retaining her humanity and stick it to the system.
My first reaction to this book was that it's harsh! My second was that it was similar in content to many stories that I enjoy reading about the end of our world as we know it -- all those futuristic dystopia tales of hardship and struggle and a controlling centralized government. So despite the difficult premise and the hanging ending (this is the first book in a trilogy), I liked it; read it in about a day. Not for the faint-hearted, however -- there's blood and death and weapons -- but there's also love and redemption.
We don't actually own it yet -- it doesn't get published until October, but be looking for it then!
Until then, try reading the Longlight Legacy trilogy by Dennis Foon.

Labels: book news, book review, good books, new books, teen issues

~emily - 12:53 PM~
0 comments

BOOKENDS: 2 BOOKS
The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
Elizabeth Holland is one of the social ruling class of Manhattan in 1899. She is well-mannered, rich, from an important family, and of course, very beautiful. Her best friend is her greatest rival, her personal maid is jealous and vindictive, her sister finds her bland and weak-willed. When her mother tells her that their family has been left with heavy debts after the death of Elizabeth's father, it becomes Elizabeth's responsibility to save the family from poverty by marrying a young man of high social status and wealth -- a cad who has his own reasons for marrying her. But Elizabeth has a secret, a dangerous secret that could turn her family to ruin and must make her decide between true love and family responsibility. As events start turning, rumours, misunderstandings, and small tragedies abound, all leading up to the fateful day that was to be her wedding day....
If you like prince-to-pauper stories of social status, gossip, passion, mystery, tragedy, love, infatuation, pettiness, and wealth, this will be just the book for you. Set in Manhattan at the turn of the last century, it blends historical fiction with the difficult life of a teen socialite with heavy responsibilities and her own dreams for happiness. Each chapter is headed with a newspaper clipping or quotation from a magazine, and each chapter is told from a different viewpoint. It's a fun read that sweeps the reader along, almost like reading a gossip column or a tabloid.
The few sexual encounters are quickly glossed over and left fairly vague.
Y FICTION Godberson


Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Terrorists have attacked San Francisco, blowing up the Bay Bridge. Marcus and his friends, skipping school in favour of playing a game, are picked up by the Department of Homeland Security and taken to a prison where they are questioned and threatened. When all but one of them are let out and they find that their hometown has turned into a police state with every move of every person monitored every day, Marcus is determined to do something -- he wants to get back at the DHS for kidnapping his friends and torturing them. He believes that the government has overstepped its bounds of authority in taking away his freedoms and the freedoms of everyone else in San Francisco. So he starts his own private war, setting up an untapped internet and starting a movement that soon builds a life of its own.
A fascinating look at terrorism, technology, government policies and practices, and the rights of American citizens. The pacing was good, the story was good, and overall, it was mostly believable -- it reads like something that could happen today, tomorrow, or next year. I found it a hard book to put down and was even interested in the short technological tangents about hacking and software and gaming and such. A great book for techno-geeks, free spirits and freedom lovers, and fans of books like 1984 and Animal Farm. Of course, others will like it a lot, too. Recommended.
Sexual scenes and conversations included.
Y FICTION Doctorow
(For more on Little Brother, or for the audio download, see previous posts.)

Labels: book review, books for boys, books for girls, chick lit, friends, good books, historical teens, mysteries, new books

~emily - 9:08 AM~
0 comments

LITTLE BROTHER -- DOWNLOADABLE BOOK
We just received a new book: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, which I've checked out to start reading -- it's been getting pretty good reviews and sounds interesting. Here's a blurb:

Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is 17 years old, and he already knows how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, outmaneuvering his high school’s surveillance systems is like playing an antique computer game.
But while he and his friends are skipping school one afternoon, they find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re ruthlessly interrogated for days.
When the DHS finally lets them go, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state and every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that he has only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

Here's a cool thing about this book -- you can download for free at the author's site/blog: http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/
Download, read, and enjoy!

Labels: book news, new books, school

~emily - 1:11 PM~
0 comments

NEW BOOKS
It's been a while since I've made an announcement about new books, probably because there's the pictorial list in the navbar about it -- the one that links back to my LibraryThing list. But we just received a bunch of new and interesting looking titles, so I thought I'd highlight a couple of them for you.
Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion: are you a fan of space opera and BG? Here's the official companion book with exclusive interviews, unseen photos, episode guide, and more!
Smallville, Season 5: Another official companion, with excerpts from newspapers, color photos, interviews, and... more!
Game by Walter Dean Myers: another great sports book (basketball) by Myers -- need I say more?
Castaways by Vollmar and Callejo: a graphic novel recounting the story of a young boy who hops a train in order to escape the harrowing poverty of rural life during the Great Depression.
Me, the Missing, and the Dead by Jenny Valentine: Lucas finds himself in possession of an urn -- with somebody's ashes inside! He soon becomes convinced that person belonging to the ashes is trying to tell him something about his missing father...
We also have Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor, in which all Anna wants is a normal life, but her mom makes that practically impossible;
The Declaration by Gemma Malley, where children born outside the Declaration are considered surplus and criminals -- simply for being born!
and Saturday Night Dirt by Will Weaver, about what happens at the Speedway in a small Minnesota town.

Our new book display is filled to practically overflowing -- hope you make it in this weekend to discover some of these fabulous books!

Labels: books for boys, books for girls, new books, television

~emily - 9:08 AM~
0 comments

BOOKENDS: Unwind
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
After the second Civil War, the Bill of Life was created, making it possible and legal for guardians to give up their child of 13-17 years for unwinding -- that is, the bodies of troublesome or unwanted teens could be harvested for parts, legally and lawfully. Connor, Risa, and Lev are three of these teens -- and they become unlikely companions when two of them try to escape their unwinding. Together they run from the authorities and discover the Graveyard, but not before their group is torn apart by betrayal.
The premise and plot of this book are wonderful -- gripping, thrilling, intriguing. Begs the question "How would I feel if my parents authorized my unwinding?" And I enjoyed the book -- I was definitely kept interested. The style of the telling I found a little difficult to handle -- every couple pages the point of view changes between characters, and not just the main characters, which is good and bad. Also, a number of typos distracted. Overall, however, a great futuristic thriller adventure.
Y FICTION Shusterman

Labels: book review, books for boys, books for girls, new books, teen issues

~emily - 4:33 PM~
0 comments

NEW MANGA
Whoa! We've just been inundated by a whole big bunch of new manga! I put out nine new volumes last night, four more this morning, and I still have at least six more to go before the end of the day! If you like manga, you may want to head over to the library sometime this weekend, before it all disappears! New titles include Heaven, Beet the Vandel Buster, Beck Mongolian Chop Squad, and more!
And if you like this kind of thing, don't forget about the fabulous Super Anime Day during February vacation week!

Labels: manga, new books

~emily - 11:32 AM~
0 comments

BOOKENDS
Taken by Edward Bloor
Kidnapped. Charity Meyers wakes up in the back of a van, strapped to a stretcher. She has been taken. By the clock set up in front of her, she realizes that she probably only has 12 more hours for her parents to follow the instructions of the kidnappers before something terrible happens to her. Kidnapping is big business in 2036, and students are taught in school what to do and how to act, should they be kidnapped, and Charity goes over these lessons over and over again -- she wants to be let go, returned to her life. But as the minutes tick by and she is not freed, the worries and fears begin to increase....
As I mentioned before, I took interest in this book mostly because of the Unshelved Comic I saw one Sunday (see below), so I picked up the book and took it home. The premise is definitely interesting, but despite the action-based plot, the story gets off to a bit of a slow start. It doesn't really pick up and start moving until about halfway through, but even then the tension and action don't seem to be where they could be.
And don't be fooled by the cover -- it has little to do with the story -- chess is mentioned but is not a major part of the book, though it works as a metaphor.
Y FICTION Bloor

Labels: book review, new books

~emily - 9:03 AM~
0 comments

FEBRUARY
Happy February to you! I realize that this past week has been a little weak on the posting front, and I apologize for that. I've had odd hours in Reference and in between times have been trying to organize for an office move. I feel like I'm completely scattered around the library.

I did finish reading Tangent Comics; after a slow beginning with action but too much background plot, the stories finally started to take off about halfway through, and I enjoyed the tales of the superheroes.
Now I'm reading Taken by Bloor; Unshelved Comics did a Sunday strip on the book, which made me interested -- you can see the Unshelved strip at the library in the YA area or by clicking on that link above.

Labels: comics, graphic novels, new books

~emily - 9:20 AM~
0 comments

AND THE BIG WINNERS ARE...
The book awards were announced yesterday. Winners are as follow:

Michael L Printz Award -- literary excellence for Young Adults~
(WINNER) The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
(Honor) Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet by Elizabeth Knox
(Honor) One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke
(Honor) Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins
(Honor) Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Setphanie Hemphill

Margaret A Edwards Award -- a lifetime of excellent writing for young adults~
Orson Scott Card

Alex Awards -- honors for 10 adult books with appeal to teens
American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China by Matthew Polly
Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
Essex County Volume 1: Tales from the Farm by Jeff Lemire
Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden
The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Night Birds by Thomas Maltman
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

Other Winners:
Coretta Scott King Award -- (Honor) November Blues by Sharon M Draper
Pura Belpre Award -- (WINNER) The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle
(Honor) Frida: Viva la Vida! by Carmen T Bernier-Grand
Odyssey Award -- (Honor) Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy (Listen & Live Audio)
(Honor) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Listening Library)
(Honor) Treasure Island (Listening Library)
Schneider Family Book Award -- (Teen Award) Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby
Robert F Sibert Informational Book Award -- (Winner) The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis

For the way complete list, visit the ALA.org site.

Labels: awards, book news, new books

~emily - 9:12 AM~
0 comments

MYSTERIES & SHERLOCK HOLMES
Are you a Sherlock Holmes fan?
Do you love a good mystery?
If you answered yes to either of these questions, the new book Eye of the Crow may be just the book you've been waiting for. Author Shane Peacock tells the story of Sherlock's first case, while weaving the history of his young life.
A quick summary of the book?: A woman is found stabbed to death in London; the young Sherlock Holmes is drawn to the scenes and investigates the murder -- then he becomes a suspect himself.
Looking for another spinoff book? Orson Scott Card has written another Ender book. Find out about it here.

Labels: mysteries, new books

~emily - 2:06 PM~
0 comments

NEW STUFF
So we got a lot of cool new stuff in today -- a video on the history of Coca-Cola, two box sets of the Prince of Tennis anime, the Manga Cookbook, some new manga, Libba Bray's new book....

For a bigger listing of new books, see the menu bar on the left of this blog and check the LibraryThing page for FPLTeenLib -- it's got all the newest stuff.

Labels: new books

~emily - 2:03 PM~
0 comments

TODAY'S BOOK
At least a few times, I'm going to highlight a book here that I highlighted that day on my Facebook page. Today it's Zen and the Art of Faking It by Sonnenblick (who also wrote Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie and Notes from the Midnight Driver).
Which reminds me -- have you made me your friend yet? Why not?

Labels: new books

~emily - 12:38 PM~
0 comments

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~
0 comments

JUST IN!
A number of books are being put on the various new shelves today. I thought I'd give you a preview:
In fiction today, we have Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, Wyvernhail by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, and Kissing the Bee by Kathe Koja.

In nonfiction, we have Vera Wang, Interracial Relationships, and Confessions by a Teenage Witch by Gwinevere Rain.

In graphic novels, we have Naruto vols 19-21, Confessions of a Blabbermouth (minx), and Ultimate Spider-man vol 18.

There's lots of great stuff -- come get it!

Labels: fantasy books, graphic novels, manga, new books

~emily - 11:28 AM~
0 comments

BOOKENDS: DRAGONHAVEN
Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley
When Jake goes out on his first solo overnight in Smokehill National Park, he hopes to find some trace of dragons. What he doesn't expect is to find a dying mother dragon and dead dragonlets -- and one lone live dragonlet in need of a mother. Jake picks up the dragonlet, hides it in his shirt, and gets it back to his camp, exhausting himself in the process. But in a country where killing a dragon is illegal, keeping one alive is also illegal, so despite the fact that he and his father live on a dragon preserve, the secret of the little dragon must be kept from as many people as possible. Recounting his own experiences of finding and raising a baby dragon (dragonlet) on the preserve where his father works, Jake shares a story of loneliness, intelligence, and dedication.

I'm a huge fan of Robin McKinley, and I was completely excited to read her newest book, but I admittedly had a difficult time getting through this one -- it's completely different than her retellings and high fantasies and anything else she's written. So it's a complete turn from what she's written in the past, but it's a worthwhile read -- especially if you're not expecting one of her classics. Dragonhaven has an environmental twist to it -- the preservation of animals and land and how easily humans destroy the natural wonders of the earth -- and will be good for dragon lovers and environmentalists and realistic fiction readers alike.
Y SCIENCE FICTION McKinley

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

~emily - 10:15 AM~
0 comments

NEWSBITS FROM THE LIBRARY FRONT
...The garage is still being repaved, so parking is still completely on the street.
...Today we're having our first NaNoWriMo write-in. We'll have a few basic snacks, but you can bring other snacks to share, if you'd like.
...We have a few new books in today, including The Wall by Peter Sis, If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko (who wrote Al Capone Does My Shirts), and Slam by Nick Hornby.
I've linked all of these to the catalog, where you can find out if they're available, see pictures of the covers, add your reviews, and request them.

Don't forget to join us Thursday afternoons at the high school library after school!

Labels: calendar, library news, new books, programs, writing

~emily - 9:32 AM~
0 comments

ANIME!
Just in -- 7 new cases of anime, constituting 11 new DVDs in total! We have Naruto Uncut Box Set #3, FullMetal Panic Complete Collection, PaniPoni Dash 1 & 2 (we got #3 last week), The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2&3, and Kodocha 13.

And while I'm talking new stuff, we also received today A Field Guide to High School and Robin McKinley's new Dragonhaven (which I just checked out).

Labels: anime, manga, new books

~emily - 11:56 AM~
0 comments

BOOKENDS: White Tiger
White Tiger: A Hero's Compulsion by Tamora Pierce, et al
After her FBI partner is murdered, after her superhero uncle is killed, after she is compelled to leave the job she loved, and after her mentor is jailed, Angela del Toro feels lost -- but she is still determined to bring law and order to her new neighbourhood. When she mysteriously receives the mystical amulets that made her uncle the powerful White Tiger, she discovers that she has new strengths and prowess. With a new costume and a new investigation, Angela soon becomes the new White Tiger, set to bring down a powerful criminal
I picked this up mostly because I'm a fan of Tamora Pierce, but it wasn't anything like what I was expecting -- mostly because of the heavy tie-ins with many Marvel characters (DareDevil, Spider-Man, Cobra, and others) and Marvel storylines. I wasn't convinced at the start that I would like it, but as the plot moved on and the story developed, I started enjoying it more and more. I didn't get a strong flavour of Pierce from the writing, except for the personality of a strong female character who defies the odds to put good over evil and take down the bad guys. Overall, I liked it -- it was a good reminder that I enjoy a good superhero comic/gn.
Parental Advisory on the back cover; there's definitely violence.
Y GRAPHIC NOVEL Pierce

Labels: book review, graphic novels, new books

~emily - 9:08 AM~
0 comments

And here it is -- our beautiful new display cube! Here you see all four sides, and a close-up of the top of the New Books display. Click on the picks to get larger views -- or come to the library to see it in person!

Labels: displays, new books

~emily - 2:30 PM~
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~
0 comments