Teens Blog : books

He Says, She Says -- Getting Both Sides of the Story

kiya@evpl — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:46:00 GMT

It's intriguing to hear both sides of a story - especially if you aren't personally involved, or stuck in the middle.

I like books which cover the same events from two or more perspectives. There are a lot of books coming out now which show multiple viewpoints, and the ones I've found have been enjoyable:

Notes from the blender / Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin
Will Grayson, Will Grayson / John Green & David Levithan

Girl meets boy : because there are two sides to every story / edited by Kelly Milner Halls

Jenna & Jonah's fauxmance / Emily Franklin & Brendan Halpin

Boy Girl Boy / Ron Koertge

Sometimes the author will use two (or more) books to show the different sides of a story.

James Howe: The Misfits / Totally Joe / Addie on the Inside

Orson Scott Card: Ender's Game / Ender's Shadow

Stephanie Meyer had intended a fifth book in the Twilight series: Midnight Sun, which told the story of the first book again, but from Edward's point of view, rather than Bella's. When someone leaked the first part of the manuscript as she was writing it, Meyer stopped work on the project, and posted the work-in-progress on her website. As far as I know, she has no plans to go back and finish it.

If you have other titles to suggest that show two or more viewpoints, I'd like to hear them. Movies, too - I can only think of one right now.

Finding a Good Book

kiya@evpl — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 20:14:00 GMT

How do you hear about new books to read? Friends' suggestions? YouTube book trailers? Recommendations from Amazon? Best seller lists? Just browsing at the bookstore? Authors' blogs? [Here's a link to one of my favorite author blogs.] Asking your librarian? NoveList Plus from the EVPL databases and catalog?

I found a new place the other day to look for a new book: http://flamingnet.com/index.cfm.

Flamingnet is a website started by a teen reviewing Young Adult books for other teens. It now has thousands of reviews by reviewers across the US. You can browse the latest reviews, or search for specific authors or titles.

Several of my friends use Good Reads as a place to share and discuss books. Similar sites are Library Thing and Shelfari.

One of the blogs I found is Teen Fiction Café, which is written by 12 authors of Teen Fiction, all talking about the books they love to read. Below are some of the books the library has with suggestions for reading.

Let me know what you like to read, and how you find those books, or if you have one to recommend.

The Hunger Games Series!

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:09:00 GMT

Last fall when I was preparing my presentations for Teen Read Week, I came across the book Catching Fire. I did not think much of it as I added it to the list of books to talk about in the schools I was visiting. Then Teen Read Week came and my visits started. In each classroom I showed the Catching Fire book trailer, and I began to notice that the teens sat up a little taller and I had their attention a little bit more. I didn't understand. What was the big deal about this book?

Then I finally started reading The Hunger Games. And I was hooked. For those of you new to the series, The Hunger Games is the first book in the trilogy. Katniss Everdeen lives in the 12th district of the country of Panem, and this district is located in what was once called the Appalachian Mountains. In this new nation of Panem, each district is separated by industry and importance, and the 12th district is the poorest of them all. Every year the districts draw two names- one boy and one girl- to participate in The Hunger Games, a fight to the death in which the victor is the last person standing.

I don't want to give too much away because this series is one that I think everyone should read. Similar to the Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games trilogy will catch the interest of young and old readers. To all those teens out at Thompkins and Plaza that loved this series long before I did: thank you from this librarian.

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:27:00 GMT

Junior year is drawing to a close when Valerie's boyfriend, Nick, comes to school one morning and begins to shoot people in the Commons. At the end of the shooting spree, six people are dead and many are wounded, including Valerie. Within hours the police have searched Nick and Valerie's homes and discovered a "Hate List" the two created. Many of the students targeted that morning were on this list. Valerie becomes a suspect in the investigation. Was she part of Nick's plan? Was it a double suicide that went wrong? Was Valerie really shot trying to stop Nick? All of these are questions the students, teachers, parents, community, and the nation are asking.

For Valerie, the list was a way to vent her frustrations with the bullying she endured day after day at school. She never meant anything by it, but she will be haunted by the list and by what Nick did that morning for the rest of her life. After being cleared by the police, Valerie spent summer vacation isolated from the outside world. Now that a new school year has begun, Valerie is going back to school to face her demons. HIGHLY recommended.

Similar reads: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and Undone by Brooke Taylor

Celebrate Teen Read Week Oct. 17-23

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 16:50:00 GMT

**The Teen Read Week Contest will end Sunday, October 31 at 5pm. Make sure you vote on the Teens' Top Ten in Central's Teen Zone.**

Books with Beat @ EVPL! October 17-23. Stop by the Teen Zone at Central Library during Teen Read Week and check out our Books with Beat! Pick up books and other materials about poetry, music, and more or listen to an audiobook. You can help pick the 2010 Teens’ Top Ten by voting at the display located in the Teen Zone. If you vote, you will be entered to win a Visa giftcard! Stop by today and find a page turner that you can read or listen to, just for the fun of it!

The Maze Runner

bookchick@evpl — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:47:00 GMT

Imagine waking up in pitch blackness in a moving box with no memory of how you got there. In fact you have no memory of anything at all before the box. Just your name and a few impressions of memory that you can't quite hold onto long enought to decipher their meaning.

This is exactly what happened to all of the boys living in the Glade. The Glade that happens to be located in the center of a massive Maze. The only hope is to somehow, gather enough information to solve the puzzle of the maze and be rewarded with going home. Easier said than done when the walls rearrange every night. And then there are the Grievers. Especially nasty creatures who kill when they can and inject venom when they can't. Every day the same, run the Maze looking for exits and avoiding Grievers, until one day the box arrives with a very disturbing cargo. The first and only female ever to be introduced into the Glade. Her arrival triggers a series of events that make solving the Maze more crucial than ever before. Time is running out. But the Maze seems unsolvable.

Who built the Maze and for what purpose? How do you solve the seemingly unsolvable and, if you do, what then?

If you liked Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Susanne Collins I think you will like this new trilogy of books by James Dashner starting with The Maze Runner.

You can Check out the authors blog at: http://jamesdashner.blogspot.com

One Book Leads to Another

kiya@evpl — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:23:00 GMT

I was intrigued by the story of Gregory William's life in Life on the Color Line, and decided to look for other books about folks who cross racial lines.

In fiction, I found 3 titles:

Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) by Justina Chen Headley

Patty Ho (yes, she's heard all the jokes about her name) is finishing up her freshman year of high school, wondering how she will get through the summer with her demanding mother. Patty's mother was a Taiwanese student when she fell in love with an American man studying in Taiwan. They married, and had two kids, moving to the United States. And then things fell apart. Patty's dad left when she was two, and she is finding it hard to live up to her mother's expectations. Math camp at Stanford wasn't her first choice, but when she realizes it will get her 900 miles away from her mom, she thinks it may work out after all. And it does, though not the way she had imagined.

Face Relations: 11 stories about seeing beyond color edited by Marilyn Singer

Eleven stories by well-known authors, all about exploring the possibility of tearing down the walls between us. Some funny, some sad, but all are hopeful.

Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet by Sherri L. Smith

Ana Shen is about to graduate from eighth grade, which would be a good thing if it didn't mean that both sides of her family were there to celebrate. Ana loves her parents, and her grandparents, but there is discomfort and competition between her Chinese grandparents and her African-American grandparents. Not to mention the Japanese-American parents of the guy she's crushing on. There is much to think about, as well as lots to laugh at, in this tale of Ana's graduation day.

In non-fiction, I found One drop : my father's hidden life--a story of race and family secrets, written by Bliss Broyard after her father disclosed to her and her brother, that both his parents were mixed race, and that he had been "passing" for white most of his adult life. Bliss began her own search to understand her father, meeting relatives she had never known, visiting New Orleans, where her father was born, and coming to grips with what race does and doesn't mean to her.

Previously, I had read Shirley Taylor Haizlip's memoir: The Sweeter the Juice: a family memoir in black and white and Loving Across the Color Line: a white adoptive mother learns about race by Sharon E. Rush.

What have you read on the subject? Anything you recommend?

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:30:00 GMT

How would you feel if your life was defined by a mistake you made over three years ago? Especially when three years ago, you did not fully comprehend the consequences of what you were doing or realize how long that mistake would follow you. Deanna's father caught her in the backseat of seventeen-year-old Tommy's car when she was just thirteen. Three years later, Deanna's life is still be defined by that moment in time. Her father won't look her in the eyes, the kids at school call her names, and Deanna tries to pretend that it doesn't matter.

It does matter, however, and trying to be tough is taking its toll on Deanna. Her brother and his girlfriend are living in the basement with their baby, Deanna's mom is always tired from working so hard, her best friends are now dating, and Deanna's summer job forces her to work with Tommy. The only time Deanna can express how she really feels is through her writing, which we catch glimpses of throughout Sara Zarr's Story of a Girl

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:28:00 GMT

I was almost late coming back from my break yesterday to finish if I stay by Gayle Forman. The story stayed with me long after I returned it. Even when I went home last night, I was still thinking about this exceptional book.

Imagine if you had to choose between living the rest of your life without your family and joining them in death? Seventeen-year-old Mia last remembers driving down the road with her parents and little brother listening to the radio. Her head was rested against the window in the backseat as she sat back enjoying the sound of the music and her family's voices. In one short moment, Mia is now standing on the side of the road and sees her family's car smashed, her parents lying dead on the road, and paramedics rushing to save her and her younger brother. She wonders "Am I dead?" as she watches her body being rushed to the hospital.

Thus begins the toughest decision Mia will ever have to make. As she hovers over her body as it struggles to heal, Mia has to decide if she wants to wake up and join her grandparents, best friend, and boyfriend or if she wants to join her parents and brother wherever they are now. One-by-one Mia's friends and family come to her bedside. Some ask her to stay; others tell her that it is her decision. Mia watches as her grandpa sobs at her bedside and her boyfriend struggles with the nurse to be admitted to the ICU.

As I read through the pages of Mia's story and her decision to whether stay or to go, it made me wonder what in my life is worth living for. I highly recommend you check this book out.

Twilight Series not part of my Highlights

E-Ville Librarian@evpl — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:03:00 GMT

I have to say up front I listened to these books on audiobook, so no skipping the repetition. I wanted to like this book for being a huge success for the publishing world and furthering the public's interest in such fantastical goings on, but couldn't get past the juvenile nature of our protagonist Bella. I gotta say it is a good thing Edward can't read her mind, because he may be bored by her unoriginal shallowness. Aside from the fact this young lady can easily accustom herself to mythical realities, she isn't a very bright character. Let's keep it real, it took her half of book one to even come to the realization that the love of her life is a vampire, even after he stops a truck with his bare hands, never comes out on sunny days, has hypnotic eyes, has a clan of "siblings" that are extraordinarily beautiful, and can read other people's minds. In fact, it took the other man in her life, werewolf Jake, to tell her what they are before she even realizes it. Is there anyone in the United States who has never seen a vampire movie or read an occult book? As soon as someone stops a truck barehanded, I know something is afoot. When I find out the local hotties are Nosferatu, you better believe I'm gonna believe in every fairytale I've ever heard. The naive nature of Bella does not jive with what I believe would be nearly everyone on Earth's response to nightmares walking into their life. But I guess that is why the story is about her.

The entertaining aspects of this series are the new legends Meyer creates through the frame of this strange romance. Indian werewolves, the vampire equivalent of the Cosa Nostra and vampire wars in Mexico are all just side notes to a 100-year-old man (albeit a vampire) making the moves on an 18 year-old. Where's Nabokov when you need him? Keepin it real, there are a few well-crafted characters who are interesting enough to warrant continuing with this series. Still keepin it real, I'd be very surprised if Stephenie Meyer had the skill to create another world that could pull as many readers as this one has, if not for her new-found fame. I haven't seen the movie, but I have to wonder how entertaining it could have been. With near-to-nil action and gloomy scenery, a truely forbidden (by the law) romance is all we're left with. How long can chaste kisses keep the attention ofthe 21st Century set? Is Chivalry cool again?

Bottom line, this could have been way better. Interesting tidbits aside, this is a creepy May/December whose only horror lies in the amount of rehashing of everyone's feelings.

Can you imagine?

TeenLibrarian@evpl — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:19:00 GMT

Life as you know it totally and forever changed due to natural disaster. Rebuilding infrastructure, restoring power and being reduced to basic survival.

As Evansville rebuilds, cleans up, and moves on after remnants of Hurricane Ike hit, consider the courage of Miles and Seth, two teens who survive deadly hurricanes - their uncertainty, their loss, their choices, their future.

In Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi (Black and White, Rooftop, Rucker Park Setup) Miles moves from Chicago to New Orleans to live with his father two months before Hurricane Katrina struck. Father and son must put aside their differences in order to survive Katrina and life inside the Superdome.

In Dark Water Rising by Marian Hale, Seth and his family are also newly arrived residents of Galveston, TX. On September 8, 1900 a deadly hurricane hits. "This coming-of-age story describes how Seth struggles to reach safety, works for his own survival and that of others, and comes to terms with change and loss."

Check our catalog for availability.

Two pieces of news from Stephenie Meyer about the Twilight series:

kiya@evpl — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:57:00 GMT

1/ Twilight (movie) release 3 weeks earlier than planned.

When Warner Brothers decided (on their own) to postpone the new Harry Potter movie, that decision left an opening in the Fall schedule, so the Twilight movie starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart as Edward and Bella will now be in theaters November 21, 2008.

Official movie website

2/ Midnight Sun indefinitely postponed.

Book 5, Midnight Sun, which is Edward's version of the events in Twilight, has been indefinitely postponed after a portion of an early draft of the novel was released on the Internet by someone the author had trusted.

Go to the site below to read Meyer's explanation, and find her link to the leaked material.

Midnight Sun

Check out Stephenie Meyer's website for lots of extras from the books, including:

scenes that didn't make it into the final versions,
playlists of the music she associates with each book,
pictures of the cars and motorcycles the various characters drive/ride,
links to fansites and places to buy shirts and jewelry,
the book covers she designed and used when the books were works in progress, and
lots of other great stuff!

Stephenie Meyer's books are available at EVPL in print, on CD, as downloadable audiobooks, and as e-books.

Read it...before you see it!

TeenLibrarian@evpl — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:30:00 GMT

The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly (#1107/1008 August 22/29, 2008) is on the shelf; it's a special double issue previewing the fall movie releases. Inside are some excellent books that have been adapted to film.

Looking for something to read? Read or re-read the book (short story) before the movie is released. There are some interesting titles, some you've surely read, others you've wanted to, and a few surprises. So read the book, read the articles, view the trailer, and give us your grades.

I've listed the book titles below. Either check out the print version of EW or their website for information about the movies. In some cases full articles have been written, in others short movie descriptions with "our two cents" (what the author thinks about the upcoming release). But, what do you think?

September

Miracle at St. Anna by James McBride

October

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

November

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

December

Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan

Curious Case of Benjamin Button short story in Six Tales of the Jazz Age, and other stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo ; illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering

I didn't include Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince because it has been moved to next summer (2009).

Many of these titles are popular choices for teens and/or adults, probably why they were adapted into films - ya think! Also listed are some titles that you may have overlooked. Update your fall reading lists to read/re-read these titles before the movies are released. In the meantime, check out the trailers and give us your grades. For those film critics and movie buffs among us who sometimes say, "I could've written a better movie than that!" read the books, try your own adaptations, and compare your vision to the films direction.

Things Fall Apart

TeenLibrarian@evpl — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:43:00 GMT

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Chinua Achebe's, Things Fall Apart - an account of European colonialism in Nigeria written from an African perspective. Orignally published in 1958, it was Chinua's first novel, an all-time African fiction bestseller and the most translated literary work by any African witer. I highly recommend this book.

I listened to Things Fall Apart several years ago. I literally felt like a kid at storytime. Not only was the story captivating, the reader did an excellent job accentuating and articulating the emotion, mood, and feeling of the story. I hated arriving at my destination and would often steal a few extra minutes, car door open, with one foot dangling in the street trying to find a good place to stop the story. One good thing was, it didn't take me long to finish the six hour and thirty minute recording commuting in San Fransico Bay Area traffic.

When I heard of the anniversary, I immediately wanted to read the book this time for a different experience with the text. Reflecting on my experience with the audiobook has also made me want to listen to other books read by Peter Francis James. Can he deliver another dynamic performance? I shall set out on my quest to accomplish these two tasks in celebration of the 50th anniversary.

Have you read Things Fall Apart? If not celebrate by doing so. Unfortunately, EVPL doesn't own an audio version (yet?).

Have you listened to anything by Peter Francis James?

Check out:

Things Fall Apart in our catalog.