SYNC YA Literature into Your Earphones

2 Free Audiobook Downloads Each Week

June 23 - August 17, 2011

Teens and other readers of Young Adult Literature will have the opportunity to listen to bestselling titles and required reading classics this summer. Each week from June 23 - August 17, 2011, SYNC will offer two free audiobook downloads.

The audiobook pairings will include a popular YA title and a classic that connects with the YA title's theme and is likely to show up on a student's summer reading lists. For example, Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, the first book in a popular series with strong allusions to Romeo & Juliet, will be paired with Shakespeare's classic.

To find out when you can download titles to listen to on the run this summer, visit www.AudiobookSync.com.

SYNC Titles

Summer 2011

6/23/11 - 6/29/11

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare

6/30/11-7/6/11

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

The Trial by Franz Kafka

7/7/11-7/13/11

Where the Streets Had a Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah

A Passage to India by E. M. Forster

7/14/11-7/20/11

The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney

Beowulf by Francis B. Gummere [Trans.]

7/21/11-7/27/11

Chanda's Secrets by Allan Stratton

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

7/28/11-8/3/11

Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari

Rescue: Stories of Survival From Land and Sea by Dorcas S. Miller [Ed.]

8/4/11-8/10/11

Immortal by Gillian Shields

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

8/11/11-8/17/11

Storm Runners by Roland Smith

The Cay by Theodore Taylor

GLBTQ books at the library - update

I've just updated (for the third time) the GLBTQ books at the library post that I originally published in January 2009. According to the statistics for this blog, it's one of the most popular posts so I thought some new content would be helpful.

Student request

A student suggestion box for PRHS has found a home in the library, and one of the suggestions was for me:

Different variety of books! More historical/thrillers/adult.

This was a fun one to do, especially as I just received a donation from the Student Council. It is also apt since we don't have many adult books or thrillers, although we have a fair amount of historical novels (which I need to promote more, it seems!). So here is an abridged list of books at the library - some new to the library with more still to come - that fit this request.

Historical Fiction

(You can view a nearly complete list of historical fiction at the library, as well as lists of World War 1 and World War 2 fiction on GoodReads.)

Crossley-Holland, Kevin. Arthur trilogy.

Gardner, Sally. The red necklace.

Hooper, Mary. Newes from the dead.

Jefferson, Joanne K. Lightning and blackberries.

Roberts, Judson. The strongbow saga.

Smith, Sherri. Flygirl.

Speare, Elizabeth George. The witch of Blackbird Pond.

Sutcliff, Rosemary. The Eagle of the Ninth.


Adult Fiction (full list)

Bradley, Alan. The sweetness at the bottom of the pie.

Brightwell, Geri. The dark lantern. (This book is actually an adult historical thriller!)

Ford, Jeffery. The shadow year.

Hill, Lawrence. The book of Negroes.

Mankell, Henning. Chronicler of the winds.

O'Flynn, Catherine. What was lost.


Thrillers (full list)

Abrahams, Peter. Reality check.

Bowler, Tim. Frozen fire.

Duncan, Lois. Killing Mr. Griffin.

Hamilton, Steve. The lock artist.

McNamee, Graham. Bonechiller.

Ness, Patrick. The knife of never letting go.

GSA Awareness Week, November 22-26

Over the past 3 years, I have made a concerted effort to expand the library's collection of resources with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning material and characters. The collection now includes 30 novels (with more on the way) and 3 nonfiction books, and these will be displayed in the school lobby during GSA Awareness Week. Below is a small selection with the entire list displayed at the bottom of this post.

Freak show by James St. James is about Billy Bloom, who moves in with his father in Florida and the people at his new high school don't know how to respond to him, from his fabulous outfits to the fact that his "sexuality is still largely theoretical" (p.11). Unfortunately, their responses include incessant and increasingly brutal bullying, and while Billy's experiences are unfortunately commonplace his perseverance is truly inspiring.

Down to the bone by Mayra Lazara Dole tells the story of Laura, also living in Florida, who gets kicked out of Catholic high school and her home after one of her teachers reads a love note from Laura's girlfriend of 2 years in front of the class. Over the course of the next year, Laura finds comfort and support from friends old and new while she discovers her sexuality.

For a novel that shows the flip side of the homophobic-high-school coin, try Boy meets boy by David Levithan wherein Paul deals with his break-up with Noah and the school's star quarterback is a drag queen.

The full spectrum is a collection of nonfiction essays and poems written by queer young adults, all aged 13-23.

Online resources: I have over a dozen websites collected on the library's Delicious account, including the following:

I'm from Driftwood - Every day, new true stories are posted from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered individuals about their experiences.

ItGetsBetterProject.com "is a place where young people who are gay, lesbian, bi, or trans can see with their own eyes how love and happiness can be a reality in their future. It's a place where LGBT adults can share the stories of their lives, and straight allies can add their names in solidarity and help spread our message of hope."

PRHS's glbtq book montage

PRHS's favorite books »

Brand new books

A load of books arrived today, and several have been borrowed in the 3 hours since I put them on the new book display shelf.

Fiction

The demon's lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan

The crossbones (Skeleton Creek #3) by Patrick Carman

Beautiful creatures by Kami Garcia

Paper towns by John Green

The enemy by Charlie Higson

Dairy queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Before I fall by Lauren Oliver

Marcelo in the real world by Francisco X. Stork

Cracked up to be by Courtney Summers
Lips touch: three times by Laini Taylor

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Nonfiction

A visual dictionary of architecture by Francis D. K. Ching

Why dogs eat poop: & other useless or gross information about the animal kingdom by Francesca Gould

Photojojo!: insanely great photo projects and DIY ideas by Amit Gupta

Lights on Broadway: a treasury of theatre from A to Z by Harriet Ziefert

Winterdance: the fine madness of running the Iditarod by Gary Paulsen

Iraqigirl: diary of a teenage girl in Iraq edited by Elizabeth Wrigley-Field

Most frequently borrowed books, part 2

Almost two years ago I did a post on the most frequently borrowed books at the PRHS library and according to the blog statistics, it is the page that gets the most hits. So I thought I'd do another and, lo and behold, the most borrowed book is the same.

The books below have all been borrowed since the beginning of this school year, and the bold number is how many times the book has been borrowed, and any book with a star is an Orca Soundings book.

1. *Saving Grace by Darlene Ryan - 33.

2. *Dead-end job by Vicki Grant - 25.

3. Trials of death by Darren Shan - 22.

4. Exit point by Laura Langston - 19.

5. Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy - 18.

6. Tie: *Home invasion by Monique Polak, *Tough trails by Irene Morck, and Lord Loss by Darren Shan - 17.

9. *Thunderbowl by Lesley Choyce - 16.

10. *Zee's way by Kristin Butcher - 15.


As a comparison the top 15 all-time, doesn't-matter-when-they-were-last-borrowed Most Borrowed Books are below:

1. *Saving Grace by Darlene Ryan - 33.

2. New moon by Stephenie Meyer - 29.

3. Guinness World Records 2006 - 26.

4. *Dead-end job by Vicki Grant - 25.

5. Tie: *The trouble with Liberty by Kristin Butcher and Trials of death by Darren Shan - 22.

7. *Snitch by Norah McClintock - 21.

8. Tie: *Bang by Norah McClintock and Uglies by Scott Westerfeld - 20.

10. Tie: *I.D. by Vicki Grant and *Exit point by Laura Langston - 19.

12. Tie: Tithe by Holly Black, Cirque du Freak: the saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan, Ninth key (Mediator series) by Meg Cabot, and Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy - 18.


Orca Soundings are still far and away the most popular books in the library, but I find it interesting that all the non-Orca books on the list (except Guinness World Records) are fantasies or paranormal romances.

Intense books

A couple of students were in the library recently looking for "intense books," which they defined as being edge-of-your-seat emotional reading but not particularly scary in the usual horror sense. I found a few books for them right off the bat (The rules of survival, Such a pretty girl), but after they left more and more books kept coming to mind. The list I have thus far is below, with book cover images linking to the PRHS library catalogue.

Booklist: Dystopian novels

Dystopian fiction addresses possible futures of human society and the planet earth, and it's usually pretty grim. One example that many students are familiar with is The Giver by Lois Lowry, and PRHS has a number of other dystopian novels available as well.

**April 9, 2010: updated to include new books and websites.

Feed by M. T. Anderson

The handmaid's tale by Margaret Atwood

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The Hunger Games (read my review) and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

The city of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Gone by Michael Grant

Green angel by Alice Hoffman (read my review)

Devil on my back by Monica Hughes

Brave new world by Aldous Huxley

The giver by Lois Lowry

The declaration by Gemma Malley

The secret under my skin by Janet McNaughton

The knife of never letting go by Patrick Ness (read my review)

Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer (read my review)

How I live now by Meg Rosoff

The forest of hands and teeth by Carrie Ryan

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Skinned by Robin Wasserman

Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld (read my review)

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

Clicking on the linked title will take you to the PRHS library catalogue so you can see if the book is checked in.

More dystopian booklists:

Best dystopian novels for teens
Dystopian fiction
Dystopian fiction for youth
Dystopias booklist (includes adult novels)
Top 10 dystopian novels list