Here Come the New Books for May 2016! (part 6)

My Kind of Crazy by Robin Reul

Contemporary Fiction 

Despite the best of intentions, seventeen-year old, wisecracking Hank Kirby can’t quite seem to catch a break. It’s not that he means to screw things up all the time, it just happens. A lot. Case in point: his attempt to ask out the girl he likes literally goes up in flames when he spells “Prom” in sparklers on her lawn…and nearly burns down her house. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Peyton Breedlove, a brooding loner and budding pyromaniac, witnesses the whole thing. Much to Hank’s dismay, Peyton takes an interest in him—and his “work.” The two are thrust into an unusual friendship, but their boundaries are tested when Hank learns that Peyton is hiding some dark secrets, secrets that may change everything he thought he knew about Peyton.

Nora & Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

Historical Fiction 

 Seventeen-year-old Kettle has had his share of adversity. As an orphaned Japanese American struggling to make a life in the aftermath of an event in history not often referred to--the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the removal of children from orphanages for having "one drop of Japanese blood in them"--things are finally looking up. He has his hideout in an abandoned subway tunnel, a job, and his gang of Lost Boys. Desperate to run away, the world outside her oppressive brownstone calls to naïve, eighteen-year-old Nora--the privileged daughter of a controlling and violent civil rights lawyer who is building a compensation case for the interned Japanese Americans. But she is trapped, enduring abuse to protect her younger sister Frankie and wishing on the stars every night for things to change. For months, they've lived side by side, their paths crossing yet never meeting. But when Nora is nearly killed and her sister taken away, their worlds collide as Kettle, grief stricken at the loss of a friend, angrily pulls Nora from her window. In her honeyed eyes, Kettle sees sadness and suffering. In his, Nora sees the chance to take to the window and fly away. 

 Ouran High School Host Club vol 3 by Bisco Hatori

Manga (Japanese Graphic Novel) 

It's summer break, and the Host Club crew head to the beach, dragging our reluctant heroine with them.  When Haruhi stands up to some local bullies and gets tossed into the ocean, Tamaki, the Host Club King, rescues her.  But afterward, he's so mad that he won't speak to her until she apologizes.  Trouble is, Haruhi can't figure out what she should be sorry for!

Railhead by Philip Reeve

Science Fiction 

In a world of drones and androids Zen Starling is a human thief, but mostly he just likes to ride the Interstellar Express, the sentient trains that travel through the K gates from planet to planet, something only the Guardians understand--but now the mysterious Raven wants him to steal the Pyxis, an object that could either open up a new gate, challenging the Guardians, or put the entire gate system, and the universe itself in danger.

 

 The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Paranormal 

Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

 

 

Happy birthday to me! ~ New Books for March (part 5)

Playlist for the Dead by Michelle Falkoff

Contemporary Fiction 

After his best friend, Hayden, commits, suicide, fifteen-year-old Sam is determined to find out why--using the clues in the playlist Hayden left for him.

Polly and the One and Only World by Don Bredes

Science Fiction 

Set in a much-diminished future America called the Christian Protectorates, a poor country ravaged by coastal flooding, drought, and cataclysmic social upheaval, the story features 15-year-old Polly Lightfoot, a maiden witch of rich heritage and tender ability in the craft.  When the story opens, Polly is forced to flee New Florida, where she has taken temporary refuge to escape a military purge of the country’s infidels, pagans, and followers of false creeds.  With the help of her steadfast familiar, Balthazar, a raven, and her brave teenage companion, Leon, whom she meets on the way, Polly undertakes an epic journey from the deep south to the wild north to be reunited in Vermont with her family and to save her ancient craft from obliteration.

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen

Nonfiction

Stuck at the bottom of the social ladder at 'pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren't paid to be here,' Maya Van Wagenen decided to begin a unique social experiment: spend the school year following a 1950s popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell. Can curlers, girdles, Vaseline, and a strand of pearls help Maya on her quest to be popular? The real-life results are painful, funny, and include a wonderful and unexpected surprise-meeting and befriending Betty Cornell herself. 

The Prey by Tom Isbell

Science Fiction 

After the apocalyptic Omega, a group of orphaned teen boys learn of their dark fate and escape, joining forces with twin girls who have been imprisoned for the 'good of the republic.' In their plight for freedom, these young heroes must find the best in themselves to fight against the worst in their enemies.

The Prince of Venice Beach by Blake Nelson

Contemporary Fiction 

Robert "Cali" Callahan, seventeen, gets swept up into the private-investigator business and must deal with the ramifications of looking for fellow runaways who may not want to be found--and with falling in love with one of them.

New Books for October ~ Part 6

In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever.  Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily. Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town's most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept "separate but equal." Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

Shay Remby arrives in Hollywood with $58 and a handmade knife, searching for her brother, Odin. Odin's a brilliant hacker but a bit of a loose cannon. He and a group of radical animal-rights activists hit a Singular Corp. research lab in Eugene, Oregon. The raid was a disaster, but Odin escaped with a set of highly encrypted flash drives and a post-surgical dog. When Shay gets a frantic 3 a.m. phone call from Odin--talking about evidence of unspeakable experiments, and a ruthless corporation, and how he must hide--she's concerned. When she gets a menacing visit from Singular's security team, she knows: her brother's a dead man walking. What Singular doesn't know--yet--is that 16-year-old Shay is every bit as ruthless as their security force, and she will burn Singular to the ground, if that's what it takes to save her brother.

For a responsible sixteen-year-old, Michael Wilson has a lot of problems--his father was killed in Afghanistan in 2005, his overworked and overprotective mother will not talk about their situation, and does not want him playing football, and he has suddenly started to receive letters that his father wrote before his death.

After he joins the new football team, Jack, a new junior and a skilled piano player at a preparatory boarding school, must decide how far he is willing to go to fit in with his new teammates, and how much he is willing to compromise himself to play the kind of music the school expects him to.

After a synthetic hormone in beef kills fifty million American women, seventeen-year-old Avie struggles for a normal life in a world where teenage girls are a valuable commodity, but when her father contracts her to marry a rich, older man, Avie decides to run away with her childhood friend and revolutionary, Yates.

New Books ~ August 2014 ~ Part 4

Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater

Sinner follows Cole St. Clair, a pivotal character from the #1 New York Times bestselling Shiver Trilogy. Everybody thinks they know Cole's story. Stardom. Addiction. Downfall. Disappearance. But only a few people know Cole's darkest secret -- his ability to shift into a wolf. One of these people is Isabel. At one point, they may have even loved each other. But that feels like a lifetime ago. Now Cole is back. Back in the spotlight. Back in the danger zone. Back in Isabel's life. Can this sinner be saved?

Kewl Bites: 100 Nutritious, Delicious, and Family-Friendly Dishes by Reed Alexander

As a busy teen star, Reed Alexander's life is a balancing act. Several years ago, as he juggled career commitments and school, he lost sight of how to eat right, became overweight, and as a result, was exhausted and lethargic. Too tired to keep up with his hectic schedule, he decided to reclaim his health by changing his diet. A can-do guy, his first step was to learn how to cook for himself. Unable to find any recipes suited to a teenager's tastes, he rolled up his sleeves and set to work in his kitchen, developing healthy versions of the foods he loves. Along the way, he became a dedicated cook, sharing his culinary discoveries with his fans and friends on his Web site, KewlBites.com.

Graffiti Knight by Karen Bass

After a childhood cut short by war and the harsh strictures of Nazi Germany, sixteen-year-old Wilm is finally tasting freedom. In spite of the scars World War II has left on his hometown, Leipzig, and in spite of the oppressive new Soviet regime, Wilm is finding his own voice. It's dangerous, of course, to be sneaking out at night to leave messages on police buildings. But it's exciting, too, and Wilm feels justified, considering his family's suffering. Until one mission goes too far, and Wilm finds he's endangered the very people he most wants to protect.

The Falconer by Elizabeth May

In 1844 Edinburgh eighteen-year-old Lady Aileana Kameron is neither an ordinary debutante, nor a murderess--she is a Falconer, a female warrior born with the gift for hunting and killing the faeries who prey on mankind and who killed her mother.

Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science by Marc Aronson & Marina Budhos

When this award-winning husband-and-wife team discovered that they each had sugar in their family history, they were inspired to trace the globe-spanning story of the sweet substance and to seek out the voices of those who led bitter sugar lives. The trail ran like a bright band from religious ceremonies in India to Europe's Middle Ages, then on to Columbus, who brought the first cane cuttings to the Americas. Sugar was the substance that drove the bloody slave trade and caused the loss of countless lives but it also planted the seeds of revolution that led to freedom in the American colonies, Haiti, and France. With songs, oral histories, maps, and over 80 archival illustrations, here is the story of how one product allows us to see the grand currents of world history in new ways.

Teen Book Club - February

The TBC met tonight to discuss Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah.

A riveting memoir of a girl's painful coming-of-age in a wealthy Chinese family during the 1940s. A Chinese proverb says, "Falling leaves return to their roots." In Chinese Cinderella , Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful childhood and her ultimate triumph and courage in the face of despair. Adeline's affluent, powerful family considers her bad luck after her mother dies giving birth to her. Life does not get any easier when her father remarries. She and her siblings are subjected to the disdain of her stepmother, while her stepbrother and stepsister are spoiled. Although Adeline wins prizes at school, they are not enough to compensate for what she really yearns for -- the love and understanding of her family.

 Here are the discussion questions we used:

1. What did you think of the book in general?
2. Why did Adeline's family have some negative feelings about her?  How do her siblings act toward her?
3. What was Niang/Jean (Adeline's stepmother) like?  Why do you think she acts the way she does?
4. How does Adeline feel about school throughout the book?  What does going to school mean for her?
5. Who was PLT?  What happened with PLT and why did it upset Adeline so much?
6. How does Adeline's father feel about her?  Why do you think he feels this way?
7. Who are the people who support Adeline at different times throughout her childhood?
8. What did you learn about Chinese history from reading this book?
9. Did you enjoy reading nonfiction?  Would you want to read more nonfiction like this?  (memoirs/biographies)
10. Ratings and final thoughts!

 Melanie gave it an 8/10 and said "It really opened my eyes to what sad things happen in the world, and it was amazing to see this girl still had hope."
MissG gave it an 8/10 and said "A totally riveting story of an unhappy childhood, but so inspiring to see this girl still work hard and never give up."

For March we are reading a graphic novel!

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki

Nausicaä , a gentle but strong-willed, young princess, has an empathic bond with the giant insects that evolved as a result of the ecosystem's destruction. Growing up in the Valley of the Wind, she learned to read the soul of the wind and navigates the skies in her glider. Nausicaä and her allies struggle to create peace between kingdoms torn apart by war, battling over the last of the world's precious natural resources.

Our meeting will be on Wednesday, March 19th at 6:00pm.

First New Books of 2014~ Part 4

Asylum by Madeleine Roux

Three teens at a summer program for gifted students uncover shocking secets in the sanatorium-turned-dorm where they're staying--secrets that link them all to the asylum's dark past.

 Muckers by Sandra Neil Wallace

Felix O'Sullivan, standing in the shadow of his dead brother, an angry, distant father, and racial tension, must lead the last-ever Muckers high school football team to the state championship before a mine closing shuts down his entire town.

 Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrongby Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks

Charlie is the laid-back captain of the basketball team. Nate is the neurotic, scheming president of the robotics club. Their unlikely friendship nearly bites the dust when Nate declares war on the cheerleaders and they retaliate by making Charlie their figurehead in the ugliest class election campaign the school has ever seen. At stake is funding that will either cover a robotics competition or new cheerleading uniforms-- but not both. Bad sportsmanship? Sure. Chainsaws? Why not. Running away from home on Thanksgiving? Nothing can possibly go wrong...

Navy Seal Dogs by Mike Ritland

Navy SEAL Dogs is the true story of how Mike Ritland grew from a skinny, bullied child, to a member of our nation's most elite SEAL Teams, to the trainer of the world's most highly skilled K9 warriors.

  Fire & Ash by Jonathan Maberry

When Benny and his friends learn that a scientist may have discovered a cure for the zombie plague, they mount a search and rescue mission, unaware that the reapers want the cure to wipe humanity off the face of the earth.

New School Year...New Books for September! (part 3)

45 Pounds (more or less) by K. A. Barson

When Ann decides that she is going to lose 45 pounds in time for her aunt's wedding, she discovers that what she looks like is not all that matters.

 Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am by Harry Mazer

Wounded in Iraq while his Army unit is on convoy and treated for many months for traumatic brain injury, the first person Ben remembers from his earlier life is his autistic brother.

 Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff

Join troublemaker Delilah Dirk for a headlong plunge into adventure!Lovable ne'er-do-well Delilah Dirk is an Indiana Jones for the 19th century. She has traveled to Japan, Indonesia, France, and even the New World. Using the skills she's picked up on the way, Delilah's adventures continue as she plots to rob a rich and corrupt Sultan in Constantinople. With the aid of her flying boat and her newfound friend, Selim, she evades the Sultan's guards, leaves angry pirates in the dust, and fights her way through the countryside. 

The How-To Handbook by Martin Oliver

Whether you plan on spending your life playing sports, serving clients, running businesses, or flying to the moon, there are certain things that everyone just has to know how to do: unjamming a jar, for instance, fixing a flat tire, and removing a particularly embarrassing stain. They may seem simple in retrospect, but you don’t have to turn all your laundry pink more than once before you learn that it’s best just to get things right the first time. The How-To Handbook packs over 50 essential life skills into one handy reference book.

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

Josie, the seventeen-year-old daughter of a French Quarter prostitute, is striving to escape 1950 New Orleans and enroll at prestigious Smith College when she becomes entangled in a murder investigation.

New Audiobooks today

Here are the audiobooks we just put out today~

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

Check the Catalog

Follows a fourteen-year-old American girl whose life unexpectedly transforms when she moves to London in 1952 and gets swept up in a race to save the world from nuclear war.

 What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

Check the Catalog

In 1947, with her jovial stepfather Joe back from the war and family life returning to normal, teenage Evie, smitten by the handsome young ex-GI who seems to have a secret hold on Joe, finds herself caught in a complicated web of lies whose devastating outcome change her life and that of her family forever.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Check the Catalog

Nineteen-year-old returning champion Sean Kendrick competes against Puck Connolly, the first girl ever to ride in the annual Scorpio Races, both trying to keep hold of their dangerous water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.

Presents for my YAs! December books - part 2

The Little Black Dress and Zoot Suits by Alison Marie Behnke

Check the Catalog

Fashions from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.  Lots of pictures and tons of information.  Great for the fashion minded looking for some vintage inspiration.

The File on Angelyn Stark by Catherine Atkins

Check the Catalog

Angelyn Stark has a secret.  One day, her neighbor and friend, Nathan, saw something happen. Something between Angelyn and her stepfather. Then he told his grandmother, who was always looking out for Angelyn, and it turned into a mess. But Nathan didn't know what he was talking about then, and he doesn't know now. Three years later, Angelyn is in high school and she thinks she's getting along fine--but there's a young teacher who wants to help her. He says she has potential she isn't living up to. Nobody has ever cared this way about Angelyn, not since Nathan's grandmother, anyway. But what does Mr. Rossi really want from her? And once Angelyn starts falling for him, does she really care?

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
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Ostracized or incarcerated her whole life, seventeen-year-old Juliette is freed on the condition that she use her horrific abilities in support of The Reestablishment, a post-apocalyptic dictatorship, but Adam, the only person ever to show her affection, offers hope of a better future.

 The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler
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It's 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They've been best friends almost as long - at least, up until last November, when Josh did something that changed everything. Things have been weird between them ever since, but when Josh's family gets a free AOL CD in the mail, his mom makes him bring it over so that Emma can install it on her new computer. When they sign on, they're automatically logged onto their Facebook pages. But Facebook hasn't been invented yet. And they're looking at themselves fifteen years in the future. By refreshing their pages, they learn that making different decisions now will affect the outcome of their lives later.

 Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez
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Just before the most important violin competition of her career, seventeen-year-old prodigy Carmen faces critical decisions about her anti-anxiety drug addiction, her controlling mother, and a potential romance with her most talented rival.