End of the year

Have a wonderful summer everybody! See you in September.

Summer reading

Summertime is always one of my favourite times for reading (not much beats laying on the beach with a good book). There are many reading lists for teens floating around the internet, and I've listed some of them below. Lots of books to choose from!

Good Comics for Kids summer 2009 reading list (scroll down to get to the teen section)

Graphic novel titles from Get Graphic

Pop Candy: twenty-five great high school books - and there are even more recommendations in the comments.

Rainbow List 2009 - list of recently published GLBTQ books, and don't forget to check out the 2008 list too.

School Library Journal's Best Books 2008 - a great list of very good books published in 2008.

Summer Reading List - this summer reading list from a school district in the U.S. has tons of great books suggested for grades 6-9. This is their list for grades 10-12.

Top 10 dystopian novels for teenagers - a list by a British author who writes (you guessed it) dystopian novels for teens. View my own top 10 list of dystopian novels. This list of dystopian novels from Booklist is most excellent as well. (Can you tell I have a weakness for this genre?)

YALSA book lists and book awards - you'll never be stuck for books to read if you have a look around this site that provides many book lists and awards. Definitely take a look at the Printz and Alex awards, and the Best Books and Teens' Top 10 lists.

And don't forget that the Cumberland Regional Library is having a summer reading program with prizes!

New bookmarks in June

It's that time of year again

...new books time! A couple of quick orders and a generous donation (of 5 books from the Bluford High series) have brought some new fiction into the library in the past couple of weeks.

The diary of Pelly D by L. J. Adlington

The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Darkside by Tom Becker

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

The ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1) by John Flanagan

Ten cents a dance by Christine Fletcher

Right behind you by Gail Giles

Newes from the dead by Mary Hooper

Payback (from the Bluford High series) by Paul Langan

The declaration by Gemma Malley

The fountainhead by Ayn Rand

Lost and found, Secrets in the shadows, Someone to love me, and Until we meet again (all from the Bluford High series) by Anne Schraff

Inside the cage by Matt Whyman

Hush by Jacqueline Woodson

New Delicious links in May

Review: The knife of never letting go

The knife of never letting go: Chaos walking, book 1 by Patrick Ness

Todd Hewitt is the youngest boy in Prentisstown, where all the women died of a virus shortly after he was born, and the virus caused all the men and boys to hear each other's thoughts and the thoughts of animals as well. Todd is a month away from turning 13 and becoming a man, when one day he "hears" silence in the swamp when he's gathering apples. It turns out the silence is a girl, Viola - the first one he's ever seen.

When the other members of the town hear about Todd's encounter with silence, his caregivers tell him to run away. Todd doesn't understand but he and his dog Manchee go and take Viola with them.

Off they run, beyond the limits of the town to where Todd has never been and he believes nothing - and nobody - else is out there. Turns out that is the least of the lies he has been told: not only are there other towns, but there are women who are alive. With crazy Prentisstown preacher Aaron and an army of Prentisstown men on their tail, Todd, Viola and Manchee set out to make it to the city Haven while they still can.

The knife of never letting go was a fast read. Even though it is almost 500 pages long I whipped through it in 2 days, staying up late to finish it. But wow, is it ever dark! It even seems to me that it's darker than The Hunger Games, but perhaps that was because, apart from Todd's dog Manchee ("Poo. Poo, Todd."), there was not much lightness or humour in the book. I did find it amusing that the only thing sheep think is "sheep!", though. Heh.

This is not a book for the faint of heart. It is a testament to Ness's abilities that the story could wrench my heart so acutely, because it really did some serious wrenching. One scene made me gasp aloud and put the book down for a moment to regain my composure. As awful and painful as this book can be, it is masterfully done, and Todd is a wonderful and compelling character.

This is the first book in a trilogy and it ends on a huge cliffhanger. The second book is out in the fall, so if you find cliffhangers frustrating then you'll want to wait to read it. Otherwise, I highly recommend it.

4.5 stars out of 5 for The knife of never letting go: Chaos walking, book 1.

The knife of never letting go won the Guardian Children's Book Prize in the United Kingdom.

The Hunger Games wins the Battle!

I am very happy about this, so I thought I would share.

If you haven't read The Hunger Games yet, you should. You can get it here at the library.

A few new books

A few new fiction books have come in this week. Hopefully there will be many more coming later this month from orders I sent a couple of weeks ago. Can't wait!

Go ask Alice by Anonymous

Girls in pants: the third summer of the sisterhood by Ann Brashares

The knife of never letting go (Chaos walking, book 1) by Patrick Ness

The ghosts of Kerfol by Deborah Noyes

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Review: Need

Need by Carrie Jones

After her beloved step-father's death, Zara's mother sends her to live in rural Maine with her grandmother. Strange things start happening immediately: teenage boys are disappearing from the town and there is a creepy pointing man in the woods who calls to her. On the other hand, there are two gorgeous guys interested in her and they both distrust the other one. Zara's not sure what to think.

Things get interesting when Zara and her new friends discover why the creepy pointing guy leaves gold dust in his wake: he's a pixie. And not a friendly one. In fact, he's looking for a queen and has targeted Zara. Luckily, Nick takes on the role of protecting Zara but he has some secrets, too.

Need is basically a combination of Twilight and Wicked Lovely: a girl moves away from her mother to a small town with a pixie king who is hunting her. As such, I rather enjoyed it. Zara's obsession with phobias was fun and each chapter was named after a phobia - my favourite chapter title was "Pixiophobia, a fear of pixies. I made this up, but believe me it should be a word because it sure is a legitimate fear." Heh heh.

Zara was more like Aislinn in Wicked Lovely than Bella in Twilight with her spunkiness, bravery, and nerve. Sure, she was a bit reckless and needed Nick to swoop in and save her once or twice, but at least Nick didn't watch her sleep. Zara was likeable and funny and believable, and her grandmother Betty was fantastic.

Four stars out of five for Need.

Book website.

Battle of the (Kids') Books update

It's down to two:The Hunger Games vs. The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the nation, Volume II: The kingdom on the waves. The final Battle of the (Kids') Books judge is Lois Lowry and she will have her decision posted next week. Oh, the tension!

My pick, Graceling (which is on order for the library), was eliminated a while back, but my #2 pick was The Hunger Games so here's hoping it wins! These girls are hoping so too.