Teen Books to Check Out

Susanna Loves London

2012-01-23T11:17:00.000-08:00

By Mary Hogan

Needless to say, Susanna's plans don't always go as, well, planned. But nothing is going to stop this reporter from getting a great story for the London edition of Teen Scene - not Francesca, her snooty arch-nemesis, not her crush on the boy in the local chip shop, and definitely not the fact that the bright lights of the city seem very far away from the small Kent village where she's staying.

YA PB HOG

What You Wish For: A Book for Darfur

2012-01-23T11:12:00.000-08:00

Short stories that revolve around wishes form this volume created to raise money for Book Wish Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to build libraries for Darfur refugees living in Chad. Mixing poems, stories, and even a comic, the book includes offerings from 18 all-star authors such as Meg Cabot, Alexander McCall Smith, Cornelia Funke, Joyce Carol Oates, Nikki Giovanni, Ann M. Martin, and R.L. Stine. Works range from humorous to poignant, but the theme of wishing unites the volume. Cynthia Voigt’s retelling of Cinderella, which puts her stepfamily at the forefront, is a standout; others include Francisco X. Stork’s heart-wrenching story of a 15-year-old living in a group home while his mother is in prison, and John Green’s profound and funny contribution, told in lists, about a boy who falls for the picture of the orphan his mother is supporting in Kashmir.

Every teen will find something to enjoy reading in this volume.

Y WHA

Woods Runner

2011-08-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

by Gary Paulsen

Thirteen year old Samuel returns from a hunting trip in the woods only to find his home burned and his family missing. Samuel begins running the woods, searching for some kind of clues that will tell him what happened to his family.

Y PAU

Tiger's Curse

2011-03-08T12:13:00.000-08:00

by Colleen Houck

The last thing Kelsey Hayes thought she would be doing this summer was trying to break a 300-year old Indian curse, with a mysterious tiger named Ren, halfway around the world.

A first volume in an epic fantasy-romance that will leave you breathless.

When You Reach Me

2010-12-01T12:19:00.000-08:00

By Rebecca Stead

Winner of the 2010 Newberry Award, the most prestigious book award in the United States!

In sixth grade Miranda and her best friend Sal are learning how to navigate their neighborhood. They know where it's safe, and they know what areas to avoid. But one day, Sal gets punched by someone for no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. Miranda's life starts to unravel, strange notes start to arrive, and all of a sudden she feels like she is part of a threatening mystery where only she can prevent something tragic from occurring.

For readers of all ages, especially those who like a bit of sci-fi.

MockingJay

2010-10-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

by Suzanne Collins
The last book in the Hunger Games series. When the book opens, Katniss has survived her ordeal at the Quarter Quell and she and her family are safe in District 13. But, she learns that she has been a pawn and that she may be held personally responsible for a climbing death toll.
Y COL

Things I Know About Love

2010-10-19T13:39:00.000-07:00

by Kate Le Vann

Cancer-free for over a year, Livia is ready to start her dating life, in New York City! What she finds out --

1. People don't always tell you the truth about how they feel.
2. Nothing that happens between two people is guaranteed to be private.
3. I don't know if you ever get over having your heart broken.

Y LEV

Malice

2010-02-01T18:45:00.000-08:00

By Chris Wooding

Everyone's heard the rumours, call Tall Jake and he'll take you to Malice, a world that exists inside a horrifying comic book. A place most kids never leave. Seth and KAdy think it's a silly myth. But then their friends disappear, and suddenly the rumours don't seem so silly. . .

Y WOO

Dragonfly

2010-02-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

By Julia Golding

Princess Taoshira of the Blue Crescent Islands is appalled when she is ordered to marry Prince Ramil of Gerfal in order to unite their lands. And he's not too pleased, either. They hate each other on sight. So, when Tashi and Ramil are kidnapped, they fear there's no escape -- from their kidnappers or from eah other. Can they put aside their differences long enough to survive ambush, unarmed combat, brainwashing, and imprisonment?

Y GOL

Going Bovine

2010-02-01T12:12:00.000-08:00

By Libba Bray

"All 16-year-old Cameron wants is to get through high school -- and life in general--with a minimum of effort. It's not a lot to ask. But that's before he's given some bad news: he's sick and he's going to die. Which totally stinks. Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there's a cure if he's willing to go in search of it. With the help of a death-obsessed video-gaming dwarf and a yard gnome, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America into the heart of what matters most."

Y BRA

Struts & Frets

2009-11-24T18:04:00.000-08:00

By Jon Skovron

Theren are three things that keep Sammy awake at night: thinking about making music, trying to understand girls, and keeping his family together. "Read this book if you like music, hate posers, or have ever sat up all night listening to a favorite album, wondering if you'd ever find your place in the world.

Y SKO

Breakfast at Bloomingdale's

2009-11-24T17:53:00.000-08:00

By Kristen Kemp

Cat's come to New York City with a dream -- to be a fashion designer and see her name on a label at Bllomingdale's. But she soon finds out that the competition and life in the city is tougher than she expected.

YA PB KEP

This Girl Isn't Shy, She's Spectacular

2009-10-30T13:32:00.001-07:00

By Nina Beck
Samantha Owens is tired of being a good girl and finds the high fashion world to be an exciting place where she can stay out all night with wild boys. But what happens when she actually finds someone she can really love?
Y BEC

NewsGirl

2009-10-30T13:22:00.000-07:00

By Liza Ketchum

When Amelia discovers that newsboys can make a fortune selling newspapers, she decides there has to be a way she can help her penniless family. Amelia cuts her hair and dresses herself as a boy. But suddenly she finds herself in a runaway balloon that lands in a gold field. What a story this will make -- if she can survive.
Y KET

Dare To Be Scared 4

2009-10-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

By San Souci, Robert D.

Tales of terror just for you! Thirteen brand new stories that will keep you up at night -- witches, werewolves, ghosts, and monsters.

Y SAN

Ash

2009-10-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

By Malinda Lo

In the wake of her father's death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

Y LO

Fairest of All

2009-08-31T14:24:00.000-07:00

By Serena Valentino

Fairest of All is the story of the Wicked Queen, who she was before, and who she longed to be before she was destroyed by her vanity and the need to murder her daughter Snow White. It is a bloody tale of abuse, heartbreak, love and grief, and the lure of a mysterious man in an enchanted mirror.

Chicken Soup For The Soul: Extraordinary Teens

2009-08-31T13:51:00.001-07:00

By Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Kent Healy
This book includes personal stories from many well-known young professional athletes, business entrepreneurs, motivational speakers, actors, writers, and filmmakers. Every person shares his or her story along with priceless advice that will show you how you too, can achieve something extraordinary.

Geektastic: Stories From the Nerd Herd

2009-08-31T12:43:00.000-07:00

Edited by Holly Black

Geek is the new cool! Read stories written just for you from the geekiest (coolest) authors around.

Geek Charming

2009-08-31T12:38:00.000-07:00

By Robin Palmer

Dylan Shoenfield is the princess of L.A.’s posh Castle Heights High. She has the coolest boyfriend, the most popular friends, and a brand-new “it” bag that everyone covets. But when she accidentally tosses her bag into a fountain, this princess comes face-to-face with her own personal frog: selfprofessed film geek Josh Rosen. Will the frog help Dylan get her life back on track?

Another Faust

2009-08-31T12:29:00.000-07:00

By Daniel & Dina Nayeri

What do you want so much that you would sell your soul for it? To be a super-beauty, a super jock? A modern day retelling of an old story, this tale of high school competition is both funny and wicked.

Girlfriend Material

2009-06-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

By Melissa Kantor

Kate's never even had a boyfriend, and she'll be wasting her summer abetting her mother's lame ploy to make her Dad jealous by running off to Cape Cod and hanging out with wealthy friends. When Kate gets thrown in with the beautiful Sarah and her cute friend Adam. what starts out as a pretend "fling" gets a lot more complicated. Will Kate take the risk and tell Adam her real feelings?

Dead Is So Last Year

2009-05-01T12:46:00.000-07:00

By Marlene Perez

Something very strange starts happening in Nightshade the summer that the eldest Giordano sister, Rose, gets a job working at Dr. Franken's research laboratory. People are starting to see double. Doppelgängers of Nightshade residents are popping up all over town. Daisy, Rose and Poppy think it's a coincidence, until the rumors start that their father, who disappeared several years ago, has been spotted in town. Can the girls have a summer job, spend days at the beach, and still solve all the mysteries?

YA PB PER

War Is. . .Soldiers, Survivors, and Storytellers Talk About War

2009-05-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

Edited by Marc Aronson

Twenty different stories, both fiction and nonfiction, told through essays, a "miliblog", interviews, and more.

Y810.8 WAR

Distant Waves

2009-05-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

A Novel of the Titanic

By Suzanne Weyn

Four sisters and their mother make their way from a spiritualist town in New York to London, becoming acquainted with journalist W. T. Stead, scientist Nikola Tesla, and industrialist John Jacob Astor. When they all find themselves on the Titanic, one of Tesla's inventions dooms them...and one could save them. This book has it all--romance, science, spiritualism, and history.
Y WEY

Santa Claus in Baghdad

2009-05-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

And Other Stories About Teens in the Arab World

By Elsa Marston
Eight short stories that tell what it is like to be a teen living in the Arab world today. Find out what different issues they struggle with, and see also how similar their lives can be to yours.
Y MAR

No Cream Puffs

2009-05-01T11:52:00.000-07:00

By Karen Day

Madison is not your average 12-year-old girl from Michigan in 1980. She doesn’t use lipgloss, but she loves to play sports, and joins baseball for the summer—the first girl in Southern Michigan to play on a boys’ team. The press call her a star and a trailblazer, but Madison just wants to play ball. Who knew it would be so much pressure?

Y DAY

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2009-02-24T15:49:00.000-08:00

A Graphic Novel

Originally by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A strange tale of a man who is "born" 70 years old and ages in reverse. This book is funnier than the movie!

Y FIT

Belle

2009-01-30T13:28:00.000-08:00

By Beverly Jenkins

After a gruelling escape to the north, Belle Palmer is free, yet lost and alone. Separated from her father on the harrowing journey, she has no where to turn until she finds shelter with the Bests, the first free family she has ever known.

YA PB JEN

Prayed Up

2009-01-30T13:25:00.000-08:00

By Stephanie Perry Moore

Now that he's taken his relationship with Savoy to the next level, Perry is having some major regrets--and all this anxiety is starting to affect his game. When he drops a pass during the season opener, the press has a field day and Perry is distraught. Quickly, things are put into perspective when, on the flight home, their plane has to make an emergency landing. Suddenly, Perry starts seeing things clearly. Admitting that he's let God and his team down, he makes a solemn vow to stay pure and give his all to the game.

YA PB MOO

Science Versus Crime

2009-01-20T13:03:00.000-08:00

Essentials of Forensic Science / Facts on File

By Max M. Houck

Learn how forensic science can determine how a crime is solved and charged.

Y 363.25 HOU

Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith

2009-01-20T12:58:00.000-08:00

By Deborah Heiligman

Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species. This biography looks at the personal life of Charles and his wife -- discussing the beliefs they held that influenced their professional writings. A great book for a school report!
Y 576.82DAR

The Fetch

2009-01-20T12:53:00.000-08:00

A Supernatural Romance

By Laura Whitcomb

Calder is a Fetch, a Death Escort, who has stepped back from Heaven to Earth. Now he has fallen in love with a mortal girl, and could cause a revolution in the spirit world.

Y WHI

EON: Dragoneye Reborn

2009-01-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

by Alison Goodman

Twelve year old Eon has been practicing Dragon Magic, an East Asian study that involves sword skills and magical attitude. Soon his skills will be tested, but will his secret be exposed? Eon is really Eona -- a sixteen year old girl that is forbidden to compete.

Does This Book Make Me Look Fat?

2009-01-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

edited by Marissa Walsh

Do you feel fat, ugly, skinny, round, bad, or good? Young Adult writers sound off on body image., self-esteem, diets, eating disorders, boys, fashion magazines, and why trying on jeans is a bad experience for everyone.

Y DOE

Forever Princess

2009-01-10T12:16:00.000-08:00

By Meg Cabot

It's Mia's senior year -- and things should be fabulous! But, with Genovia's and her own future hanging in the balance, Mia's got some decisions to make: Which college? Which guy? How can she choose? Especially when what she decides might determine not just the next four years, but . . . forever!

Y CAB

The Rock and the River

2009-01-10T11:39:00.001-08:00

By Kekla Magoon
Sam wants to believe that his father is right: You can effect change without using violence. But as time goes on, Sam grows weary of standing by and watching as his friends and family suffer at the hands of racism in their own community. Sam beings to explore the Black Panthers, but soon he's involved in something far more serious -- and more dangerous -- than he could have ever predicted. Sam is faced with a difficult decision. Will he follow his father(civil rights activist Roland Childs) or his brother? His mind or his heart? The rock or the river?
Y MAG

Sucks To Be Me

2009-01-10T08:27:00.000-08:00

By Kimberly Pauley

"The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe)"

Everyone thinks their parents are weird, but Mina's are true bloodsucking vampires. They even make her attend vampire calsses, and she is not allowed to let her regular classmates in on the secret. It's hard to keep real friends (especially boys), or concentrate on important issues like the prom when her parents are waiting for her to make the "big decision." Does Mina really have a choice?

Y PAU

Pretty Face

2008-11-17T10:14:00.000-08:00

by Mary Hogan

Sixteen year old Hayley hates southern California because she is either thirty pounds too heavy or several inches too short -- not like all those other skinny blond girls. Hayley's Mom is so wooried about her that she sends her off to visit a friend in Italy. A great story about a girl who learns to be comfortable with herself.

HOG

Antsy Does Time

2008-11-17T10:11:00.000-08:00

by Neal Shusterman
"It was a dumb idea, but one of those dumb ideas that accidentally turns out to be brilliant–which, I’ve come to realize, is much worse than being dumb. My name’s Antsy Bonano–but you probably already know that–and unless you got, like, memory issues, you’ll remember the kid named the Schwa, who I told you about last time. Well, now there’s this other kid, and his story is a whole lot stranger. It all started when Gunnar Ümlaut and I were watching three airborne bozos struggle with a runaway parade balloon. That’s when Gunnar tells me he’s only got six months to live. Maybe it was because he said he was living on borrowed time, or maybe it was just because I wanted to do something meaningful for him, but I gave him a month of my life . . . "

Ten Mile River

2008-11-17T10:05:00.000-08:00

by Paul Griffin

Two friends that have survived foster care and juvenile detention are hiding out from the system. They're hiding in a stationhouse in New York City's Ten Mile Park and depending on each other's friendship to keep going. What turn of events will make this world even more dangerous?

Living Dead Girl

2008-11-17T09:56:00.000-08:00

by Elizabeth Scott
"Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared.
Once upon a time, my name was not Alice.
Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was.

When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends -- her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over.
Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.
This is Alice's story of abduction. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget."

Revelations

2008-11-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

by Melissa de La Cruz
Book 3 Blue Bloods

"Have you ever wondered what secrets lurk behind the closed doors of New York City's wealthiest families? They're powerful, they're famous... they're undead.
Schuyler Van Alen's blood legacy has just been called into question--is the young vampire in fact a Blue Blood, or is it the sinister Silver Blood that runs through her veins? As controversy swirls, Schuyler is left stranded in the Force household, trapped under the same roof as her cunning nemesis, Mimi Force, and her forbidden crush, Jack Force.
The stakes are high; the battle is bloody; and through it all, Carnavale rages on. And in the end, one vampire's secret identity will be exposed in a revelation that shocks everyone. "

Nation

2008-11-17T09:27:00.000-08:00

by Terry Pratchett
"The sea has taken everything.
Mau is the only one left after a giant wave sweeps his island village away. But when much is taken, something is returned, and somewhere in the jungle Daphne—a girl from the other side of the globe—is the sole survivor of a ship destroyed by the same wave.
Together the two confront the aftermath of catastrophe. Drawn by the smoke of Mau and Daphne's sheltering fire, other refugees slowly arrive: children without parents, mothers without babies, husbands without wives—all of them hungry and all of them frightened. As Mau and Daphne struggle to keep the small band safe and fed, they defy ancestral spirits, challenge death himself, and uncover a long-hidden secret that literally turns the world upside down. . . . "

A great adventure!
Y
PRA

Triple Shot Betty

2008-10-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

By Jody Gehrman

Three people are working at the Triple Shot Betty Coffee cafe -- but that doesn't mean they like each other! A fun story of mistaken identities, crazy happenings, and "hot guys."

Order of Odd-Fish

2008-10-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

By James Kennedy

This is Jo. Please take care of her. But beware. This is a dangerous baby.
That's how Jo's life started out -- found in a laundry room with a note pinned to her. Her life really doesn't get strange, however, until she attends Aunt Lily's costume party --where a boy in a hedgehog costume shoots a Russian colonel; a talking cockroach is found in the basement; and a box falls fom the sky adressed to Jo from the order of Odd-Fish. All of a sudden Jo and Lilly leave California and enter the fantastical world of Eldritch City.. There Jo will learn the scandalous truth about who she is and what her destiny might be.
Y KEN

Wings of a Bee

2008-10-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

By Julie Roorda

Bronwyn doesn't see things quite like the rest of the girls do. she explores the world of bees through her movie camera and dreams up poltergeists in her home. Most of the neighborhood is a bit scared off by her -- except for Carey. But when Carey's cerebral palsy begins to make her sicker, Bronwyn finds it hard to cope alone with her own life.
YA PB ROO

The Hunger Games

2008-09-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

By Suzanne Collins
Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When her sister is chosen by lottery, Katniss steps up to go in her place.
Y COL

The Shepherd's Granddaughter

2008-09-23T18:33:00.001-07:00

By Anne Laurel Carter

From the land of Pakistan, a coming-of-age story that captures the suffering of the people. This is the story of Amani, who discovers that the Israeli's are secretly planning to build a settlement on disputed land. Will the military be the ones to stop this -- or will help come from a more peaceful source?
Y CAR

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

2008-09-09T07:20:00.000-07:00

Frankie Landau-Banks blossomed during the summer between her freshman and sophomore year and she is sick and tired of being underestimated. Her new boyfriend keeps ditching her at important times and lying about where he is going. When she follows him one night and discovers that her boyfriend has been keeping from her that he is a member of their school's secret all-male society The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, she comes up with a plan. Instead of demanding they let her in or secretly infiltrating their ranks, she decides to become their leader.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is laugh out loud funny, heart poundingly exciting, and it makes you want to stand up and cheer.

Find The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks shelved under Y LAN

Saving Zoë by Alyson Noël

2008-09-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

One year ago, Echo's older sister Zoë was murdered. She is trying to rebuild her life when her Zoë's boyfriend shows up with Zoë's old diary. Echo and her sister were close, so at first she does not want to read the diary. What could possibly be in there that she doesn't already know? But quiet, academic Echo longs for wild child Zoë so fiercely that curiosity gets the better of her. What she finds is a second chance at knowing the sister who had been so much a part of her life yet so elusive, especially during those last few months.

Find Saving Zoë shelved under YA PB NOË

Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples

2008-09-02T08:52:00.000-07:00

Welcome back for more of our One Library, One Book related Teen Books to Check Out. The Teen Book Club will be reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Relin for our November 3rd Book Club, but if you've already read it and are itching for more books about Pakistan, check out Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples.

Najmah's father and brother were taken away by the Taliban and her mother and baby brother were killed by a bomb during the Afghan War. Najmah decides to make the perilous journey from Afghanistan to Peshawar, Pakistan, disguised as a boy. On the other side of the border, Nusrat has travelled to Pakistan from America with her Afghan doctor husband to set up clinics, but the two became separated so she starts running a school for Afghan refugee children that have come across the border. When the two women meet, they share a friendship borne out of loss and hope and a love of the night sky.

Check out Under the Persimmon Tree shelved under Y STA

Beneath My Mother's Feet by Amjed Qamar

2008-08-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

Our One Library, One Book has started. The Teen Book Club will be reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Relin for our November 3rd Book Club, but if you've already read it and are itching for more books about Pakistan, check out Beneath My Mother's Feet by Amjed Qamar.

Fourteen year old Nanzia has always been the perfect daughter. Her parents have worked hard to make a life and dowry for her, and obedience is the least she can give to her mother. When her father gets into an accident at work, her older brother dissapears, and her dowry is stolen, Nanzia remembers the words of the Prophet Muhammad. "All children know that the gates of heaven lie beneath their mother's feet." She drops out of school to become a live in maid with her mother in their town of Karachi, Pakistan. Being a maid, though, is a shameful occupation and Nanzia worries that no one will want her for a daughter-in-law. Losing everything, though, Nanzia finds she has gained a wonderful kind of freedom. What is she willing to sacrifice?

Find Beneath My Mother's Feet shelved under Y QAM.

Up All Night

2008-08-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

Up All Night is a book of six unusual short stories by six popular YA authors: Peter Abrahams, Libba Bray, Devid Levithan, Patricia McCormick, Sarah Weeks, and Gene Luen Yang. Each story has a common theme. The characters are up all night - and the results are life changing. Each story is different. One is a ghost story, one a romance, one told in comics, but in each a single night changes the course of the lives.

Inspired by the book to write a short story about being up all night? Harper Collins is looking for a teen to write a seventh short story for the paperback version of this book! Click here to find the registration form. Be sure to get it in the mail by October 1, 2008!

Find Up All Night shelved under Y UP

Shift by Jennifer Bradbury

2008-08-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

The summer after high school, Honor Role student Chris and his goofball best friend Win decide to go on a cross country bike-trip. Halfway through, Chris stops to change a flat tire and Win keeps on going. Chris doesn't hear from him again, and then the FBI show up asking all sorts of questions.

Shift alternates between Chris starting college and being questioned by the FBI, and his flash backs to their bike-trip. As he recounts what happened on their journey, Chris is noticing layer upon layer of things he'd never noticed in Win's behavior. Will Chris be able to solve the mystery of what happened to Win, take himself out from under the umbrella of suspicion, AND stay loyal to his best friend?

Find Shift shelved under Y BRA

Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge

2008-08-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

Mosca Mye is considered strange in her village, mostly because of her ability to read. When the strange con artist Eponymous Klent comes into town, throwing fancy words around like water and filling everyone's head with stories, Mosca sees her chance. She frees him from the stocks and together they flee to the great city of Mandelion! There Mosca meets the Duke's sister Lady Tamarind and gets caught up in a web of illegal printing presses, twin queens, floating coffee houses, and homicidal geese. Will she be able to sort out the strings and make everything right before she loses her head?

Find Fly by Night

The Squad: Perfect Cover by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

2008-07-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

Toby Klein is not exactly stereotypical cheerleader material. She's a computer hacker with a black belt in karate and an attitude problem. Never one to back down from a challenge, Toby quickly realizes that the A-list cheerleaders are actually a front for highly trained, athletically invincible operatives for the United States government. Can Toby handle the makeover? And can the squad handle her?

Find Perfect Cover and it's sequal Killer Spirit shelved with the paperbacks at YA PB BAR

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Peterson

2008-07-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

Fifteen year old Guest Blogger Sarah loved Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Peterson so much that she drew some beautiful fan art for it, and was happy to write a review to go along with it! She wrote:

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 is a graphic novel about the protectors of mouse society: the mouse guard. Three brave mice of the guard set out on a normal mission, but discover a conspiracy!

I loved seeing these awesomely drawn mice fight evil in their own mouse-y way. I also enjoyed how much color was in this graphic novel! In many of the graphic novels that I have read, all of the artwork was in black, white, and grey tones. I loved being able to see the action in full-color in Mouse Guard. This story is exciting, full of adventure, and WAY fun to read.

The One Where the Kid nearly Jumps to his Death and Lands in California by Mary Hershey

2008-07-09T08:06:00.000-07:00

Beyond just having an awesome title, Mary Hershey's book The One Where the Kid nearly Jumps to his Death and Lands in California is a fantastic summer read. When Alastair was 8, he jumped off of a ski-lift and broke his right leg so badly they had to cut it off. Now, five years later, he's spending the summer with his father in California and his plan is to be the worst, most obnoxious son ever ...

Check it out at Y HER!

Runemarks by Joanne Harris

2008-07-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

It has been 500 years since Ragnarok. The old gods tales are not remembered and magic has been outlawed. Maddy, however, was born with a runemark on her face, and she has powers that frighten the villagers. Then old One-eye sends her on a quest that throws her world into Chaos. Are the old gods coming back? Who is One-eye anyway?

Find Runemarks shelved at Y HAR

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

2008-06-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

Teen Anthony D requested that we put To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee on our blog. The book follows Scout during the summers of the great depression. Her father Atticus is a lawer. Anthony writes that "a black man is accused of rape and Atticus has to defend him in an all white town." Scout and her family deal with the tauntings of the townsfolk and estrangement from many they thought were their friends.

Find this book is Y PB LEE

Defining Dulcie by Paul Acampora

2008-06-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

After the tragic accidental death of her father, Dulcie’s mother decides that they are moving away from Dulcie’s beloved Connecticut to far off California. Then her mother does the unthinkable. She tells Dulcie she’s selling her father’s beloved truck for $300. Dulcie does the unthinkable in return. She steals her dead dad’s Chevy pickup truck and heads back home to Connecticut. There, under the supervision of a larger than life grandfather, she meets Roxanne Soule, a girl whose scary home life makes Dulcie realize that her own situation might not be so bad.

Check out Defining Dulcie at Y ACA

The Battle of Jericho by Sharon M. Draper

2008-06-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

When Jericho is invited to pledge his high school's exclusive club the Warriors of Distinction, he thinks this is his ticket to popularity, gorgeous girls, and their swanky silk jackets. The pledge activities, though, are getting rougher and more dangerous. Is this pledging or hazing? And can Jericho stand up for himself before it goes too far?

Check this book out at Y DRA or listen to the CD at CD Y DRA

Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins

2008-06-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

In Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins, Debbie wishes on her necklace that something would happen. Her friend Hector, across town, realizes that there could be more to his life and decides to learn to play the guitar. Together with their childhood friends, Debbie and Hector have a quiet yet eventful summer full of learning to drive, loosing a necklace, finding a brief romance, and figuring out more about who they are.

Find Criss Cross at Y PER or listen to the audio at CD Y PER.

Something to Blog About by Shana Norris

2008-05-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

After a particularly trying day in which she sets her hair on fire in chemistry class in front of her crush, Libby Fawcett decides to start an online journal. A password protected for her eyes only type of online journal, not a public blog. She can type faster than she can write, and her written journals have a tendency to get lost and read by others. She spends a month pouring her heart out to this blog, telling it secrets about the crushes her friends have, how her arch nemesis Angel Rivera is ruining her life, and about her blossoming friendship with her crush. Then Angel Rivera pulls her worst prank yet ... she steals the password to Libby's blog and posts her secrets all over school. Will Libby ever be able to show her face again? And will her friends ever forgive her?

Check it out at Y NOR!

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

2008-05-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for something fun and funny to start off your lazy summer days, The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett might just be the perfect book for you. Tiffany Aching lives on a farm, makes very good cheese, and wants to be a witch when she grows up. When the monsters of Fairyland start invading her land, Tiffany grabs her trusty frying pan and sets out to defend her home. She has befriended a small, angry tribe of blue skinned "pictsies" called the Nac Mac Feegle or the Wee Free Men who will follow her as far as she will lead them (as long as there is a chance for stealin' and drinkin' and fightin' along the way) to help her defeat the Queen of Fairyland.

Find this book shelved under Y PB PRA

Mouse Guard Fall 1152 by David Petersen

2008-05-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

I tagged Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Peterson with "Super Heroes," but these mice aren't super heroes in the traditional sense. They don't have special powers and they don't wear spandex, but give them a cloak and a sword and they WILL save mousedom.

The Mouse Guard was created years ago to bring down the evil Weasel Warlord and ever since they have defended the kingdom. Now they find they have a traitor in their midst who has stolen their secrets and given them to a strange shadowy power bent on the destruction of the Mouse Guard.

Discover this fantastic graphic novel at Y PET GN

Street Love by Walter Dean Myers

2008-05-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

In Street Love Walter Dean Myers takes his talent for words into the romance genre by giving us this gritty, realistic story of two teenagers in love on the streets of Harlem. Damien has broken free of the gang-infested streets he lives on and his parents are excited about him being on the fast track to getting "A PhD in mucho buckology." Damien, however, has his sights set on the quiet Junice he's seen around. Junice's life couldn't be more different from Damien's. Her mother is in jail, her grandmother failing to Alzheimer's, she is left to take care of her younger sister and her grandmother all while trying to finish high school.

When their two worlds collide, something amazing happens. Check it out at Y MYE

Emma by Kaoru Mori

2008-04-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

If you enjoyed The Luxe at the beginning of the month, you might want to check out Emma by Kaoru Mori. Emma was saved from a life on the streets and brought up to be a proper ladies maid. When Emma meets William Jones, the handsome youngest son of a very wealthy merchant, she realizes that the London of 1895 has very definite ideas about place and class distinction.

Check Emma out at Y MOR GN

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

2008-04-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale is the journal of Dashti, the maid to the Lady Saren. Saren has been sentenced to be shut in a tower for seven years because of her refusal to marry the man her father has chosen for her, and Dashti is to take care of her during her imprisonment.

Dashti is helpful, strong, and fearless. Lady Saren has seen too much and is timid, quiet, and demanding. Shannon Hale took the oft forgotten folk tale "Maid Maleen" and made it something new, exciting, and hard to put down. Check it out at Y HAL

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

2008-04-09T08:38:00.001-07:00

Those readers of this blog who are wondering what to read next now that Gossip Girl has run it's course might want to check out The Luxe by Anna Godbersten. On October 8, 1899, Elizabeth Holland's funeral was held on the day she was to have married well known playboy Henry Schoolmaker. Why does her best friend Penelope Hayes, who was with Elizabeth when she fell into the Hudson river, not look nearly upset enough to appease the town gossips? And why did her sister Diana run into the funeral late - SMILING? As the story jumps back to show us the last two weeks of Elizabeth's life, we find that New York's upper crust was just as full of scandal and intrigue in 1899 as Gossip Girl tells us it is today.

Find this book at Y GOD

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie with art by Ellen Forney

2008-04-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

Junior is a Spokane Indian living on the rezervation who seemingly has everything working against him. He was born with water on the brain, suffered from debilitating seizures until he was 6, and even now at 14 has a stutter and a lisp. All of those are good reasons for everyone but his best friend (the toughest guy on the rez, Rowdy) to beat him up on a regular basis. Add to that the fact that he is dirt poor, and Junior seemingly has no hope. When he decides to give himself some hope and a future and go to school 22 miles away in the farmtown of Reardan (where the only other non-caucasian at the school is their Indian mascot), everything changes.

An aspiring cartoonist, Junior's voice is fresh, real, funny, and poignant. He peppers his story with cartoons and drawings. His accounts of the basketball games were pulse-poundingly exciting. Add in a hint of romance, and you've got something for everyone in this book.

The audio version of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is narrated by Sherman Alexie himself. While his narration is fantastic to listen to, you might want to pick up a copy of the book to flip through so you can read Junior's cartoons.

Find this book at Y ALE. Find the Audio version at CD Y ALE.

Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn

2008-03-25T07:33:00.000-07:00

When Ashley suggested this book for our blog, she described it as, "the story of a young relationship gone wrong." The story starts with Nick in a courthouse where his ex girlfriend is getting a restraining order against him. Talk about love gone wrong! Nick is rich, an honors student, a football player, the most popular guy in school. How did it come to this? His father hits him, so he knows better than to ever hit someone in return, right? Especially not Caitlin, his one true love. But somehow he did. Through court mandated family violence councelling and keeping a journal where he recounts his relationship with Caitlin, we grow to understand how he got to where he is and where he can go from there.

You can find this book at Y LIN

Chu Ju's House by Gloria Whelan

2008-03-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

Teen guess blogger Sarah recommended Chu Ju’s House. She said, “this book shows the life of a Chinese girl who needs to leave home so her parents will be allowed to have another child. I love Chu Ju’s courage and endurance throughout all of the adverse situations she lives through. This novel helped me understand the difficult situations many girls in China must live through."

In China, families are limited to two children so when fourteen-year-old Chu Ju's mother gets pregnant again the entire family prays for a boy. When a girl is born, Chu Ju overhears her grandmother trying to talk her mother into sending the baby to an orphanage so they can try again for a boy. To save her sister, Chu Ju runs away and thus begin her adventures in modern day China. She explores her country as she travels from one place she think might be her new home to the next, finally being taken under the wing of the gentle farmerwoman Han Na.

Find this book shelved under Y WHE

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson

2008-03-11T08:07:00.000-07:00

Bobby's sixteenth birthday brings change to his life, but not the usual sort of change. His girlfriend, Nia, is pregnant. The book alternates chapters between now, where Bobby is struggling to raise his baby Feather on his own, and then, the story of Bobby and Nia and how their family and friends deal with Nia's pregnancy. Bobby's love for Feather is achingly beautiful, and his attempts to balance school, work, a social life, and being a father are realistic, poignant, and provocative.

Find this book shelved under Y JOH on the Coretta Scott King shelf.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

2008-03-04T08:26:00.000-08:00

Coraline and her parents have just moved to a new house. The house is very large and has been divided up into four seperate apartments, so the door in her living room now opens up onto a boarded up wall. One night Coraline opens the door in the middle of the night and finds, instead of a wall, another apartment with another mother and another father. These creepy parents have shiny black buttons sewn on their eyes and want Coraline to stay with them. When she escapes back to her apartment she discovers that the Other Mother has kidnapped her real parents and she must go back over there and use all her cunning to rescue her parents. Coraline is a creepy, pulse pounding ghost story that will have you gripping the book and reading the whole thing in one sitting. Just be sure not to read it alone!

Find this book shelved at Y GAI.

Does My Head Look Big in This? By Randa Abdel-Fattah

2008-02-26T08:11:00.000-08:00

Over winter break, Austrailian teen Amal makes the biggest decision of her life. She decides to wear a hijab, the Muslim head scarf, full time. The decision was hers and hers alone, yet nobody seems to understand that. Many people, her principal included, are convinced that her parents are forcing her into it. Going to her snobby prep school day after day, while enduring classmates who ask her to give a speech to the whole school why terrorists do what they do and how Islam justifies it, is bad enough, but she also has to deal with all the other realities of being a high school girl. She has her first, serious mad crush on a boy, she fights with her parents, goes shopping with friends, and learns more about herself than she thought she would when she first put on the hijab.

Find this book shelved under Y ABD

Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems by John Grandits

2008-02-19T07:46:00.000-08:00

Is poetry just for old people and chumps? Never! These poems are fun and inviting, with strange shapes and a fantastic narrator. Jessie falls in love with blue lipstick, but decides it isn't for her, flashes with her brother, ends up with the worst of all possible bad hairstyles, turns in homework to her English teacher that her cat ate then ... "coughed" up, and still manages to write poetry with style and confidence.

Find this book shelved under Y 811 GRA.

Runaways vol. 1 Pride and Joy by Brian Vaughan

2008-02-12T13:48:00.000-08:00

Alex, Karolina, Gert, Nico, Chase, and Molly are thrust together once a year when their parents get together to choose which charities to send their extra money to. This year their lives take a turn for the surreal when they decide to spy on their parents boring cocktail party only to discover that their parents are actually mass-murdering super villains who call themselves "The Pride."

When they call the police to try and report the murder they witnessed, their parents are immediately notified and they discover The Pride has the entire city of Los Angeles under their thumb. The 11 - 16 year olds go on the run and discover that many of them have special powers or talents that their parents have kept hidden from them; Nico absorbs the Staff of One during the knock-down drag-out fight that inevitably ensues; Gert discovers a genetically altered dinosaur that her time travelling parents had created to be her body guard (and that was supposed to be given to her upon her parent's death); Karolina takes off the medic-alert bracelet her parents made her promise never to remove and she discovers that she is a rainbow-hued, flying alien; Chase puts on some gloves his parents invented and when he can't get them off he learns to use them as weapons; Alex, the brain, can think his way out of anything; Molly comes from a family of mutants and discovers a stregnth she never knew she posessed.

And so our six heroes set out to try to stay safe and perhaps right some wrongs, but is there a traitor in their midst?

Grab this book from the Teen Graphic Novels section under call number Y VAU Graphic Novel.

TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY by Jay Asher

2008-02-05T10:34:00.000-08:00

In Thirteen Reasons Why, Clay Jensen comes home from high school one day to find a shoebox with 7 tapes in it. When he starts to listen to the first tape, he is floored - Hannah Baker's voice is speaking too him. Clay had had a crush on Hannah since she moved to town, but two weeks ago she swallowed a handful of pills. Now her voice is on his stereo telling the story of why she did it and, worst of all, "if you're listening to these tapes, you're one of the reasons why."

Clay spends the rest of the night following Hannah's words around his small town from house to coffee shop to diner to house learning the stories of incidents and people that made her think she had no other choice but to end her life. With Clay, the reader will oscillate between fear, anger, and sadness as Hannah tells her story. "Everything affects everything," she says, and indeed the actions of others that seem to involve her only barely pile up with other events in her life to create a world that she does not feel is livable.

Find this book shelved under Y ASH

Cupid by Julius Lester

2008-01-29T16:17:00.000-08:00

Just in time for Valentine's Day, we bring you a new retelling of Cupid and Psyche's classic love story.

The basic story is the same as what you might remember from mythology class. Psyche's beauty steals the limelight from Venus the goddess of Love. In her vanity, Venus sends her son Cupid down to Kingdom-by-the-Great-Blue-Sea to teach Psyche a lesson. What Venus did not count on was Cupid being so taken by Psyche's beauty both inside and out that he too would fall in love with her. Their love seems doomed from the start - Psyche's sisters, Venus' hatred, and Cupid's pride all work against their happiness.

Julius Lester's rambling, friendly style of storytelling will be loved by some and hated by others. He fills in the gaps where he feels the story was missing important details and, in fact, gets into arguments with the story about which details are important and where he should just get on with telling the story.

A highly enjoyable read for both lovers of mythology and those looking for a good romance to snuggle up with.

Find this book shelved under Y LES

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

2008-01-22T17:50:00.000-08:00

After going back to the yearbook room for the camera, Naomi slips on the stairs and hits her head, erasing her memories since sixth grade. She finds herself in a world where her parents are suddenly divorced, she has a half sister she never knew about, she has never met her best friend, and her jock boyfriend wants more from her than she's willing to give.

While Naomi's amnesia makes her situation unique, she is very easy to identify with. The book is divided into three sections: "I was," "I am," and "I will be." Using her amnesia and the eventual return of her memories as a springboard to examine her life, Naomia looks at who she remembers herself being, who she has become, and where she wants to go. On a whim she cuts her hair, tries out for the school play, dumps her boyfriend, and persues James, the mysterious boy who found her unconcious at the bottom of the stairs.

Check this book out if you are looking for a sweet, sad, vulnerable read. There are moments when the book tries a bit too hard, but with this book that works because Naomi is trying so hard herself to find out who she is and where she fits in.

Find this book shelved under Y ZEV.

I'd Tell you I Love You but then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

2008-01-15T16:46:00.000-08:00

What isn't cool about going to spy-school? As a sophomore, Cammie Morgan is fluent in fourteen different languages, she has learned to blend into a crowd well enough to have earned the nickname "the Chameleon," and she's just starting her Covert Operations classes. During the third week of school, her Cov Ops class goes on assignment in town where she meets an ordinary non-spy boy - and one that sees HER!

When faced with romance, Cammie does what she has been taught. She hacks his computer, sorts through his trash, and follows him through town to try and determine his motives. Trying to be a normal girl, though, is not what Cammie has been trained for. Although the plot is sometimes predictable, the quick wit and easy humor make up for it. Although her background is unusual, Cammie is easy to relate to and easier to root for. Check this out for a fun, quick read that will have you giggling all night long.

Find this book shelved under Y CAR

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

2008-01-08T15:12:00.000-08:00

Teen guest blogger Sarah wrote this review after reading Uglies for our Teen Book Club which meets the first Monday of the month.

In the future, everyone gets plastic surgery when they turn sixteen. The people wiht plastic surgery are called "pretties" and before that, everyone is an "ugly." Tally can't wait to turn pretty and have all the advantages involved, but she meets a girl named Shay who changes all that. Tally gets swept into an adventure in the wild and she finds out what being "pretty" really means. I loved this exciting book. It's full of adventure, secrets, and an awesome story-line that kept me reading for hours at a time. And trist me when I say this, after reading Uglies, you'll want a hover board like you just can't stand it.

Find this book shelved under Y WES