New School Year, New Books! September New Books (part 6)

Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell

Fantasy 

A retelling of Cinderella about an indomitable inventor-mechanic who finds her prince but realizes she doesn't want a fairy tale happy ending after all.

Ms. Marvel vol 3: Crushed by Willow Wilson

Graphic Novel 

Love is in the air in Jersey City as Valentine’s Day arrives! Kamala Khan may not be allowed to go to the school dance, but Ms. Marvel is! Well sort of — by crashing it in an attempt to capture Asgard’s most annoying trickster! Yup, it’s a special Valentine’s Day story featuring Marvel’s favorite charlatan, Loki! 

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Wanga

Contemporary Fiction 

Seventeen-year-old Aysel's hobby--planning her own death--take a new path when she meets a boy who has similar plan of his own.

Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid

Contemporary Fiction 

Never date your best friend 

Always be original 

Sometimes rules are meant to be broken...

 Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliché high school kids-the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they'd never, ever do in high school. Some of the rules have been easy to follow, like #5, never die your hair a color of the rainbow , or #7, never hook up with a teacher . But Dave has a secret: he's broken rule #8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school . It's either that or break rule #10, never date your best friend . Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember. Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover that by skipping the clichés, they've actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.

The New Order by Chris Weitz

Action/Adventure 

Old friends are separated when Jefferson tries to bring a cure for the mysterious Sickness back to the Washington Square tribe in New York City while Donna faces an unimaginable new world in England, but an even greater disaster than the Sickness looms.

Thanks for the New Books! ~ November New Books Part 10

Splintered by A. G. Howard

A descendant of the inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, sixteen-year-old Alyssa Gardner fears she is mentally ill like her mother until she finds that Wonderland is real and, if she passes a series of tests to fix Alice's mistakes, she may save her family from their curse.

The Stepsister's Tale by Tracy Barrett

Jane cares for her mother and sister until her stepfather dies, leaving nothing but debts and Jane's spoiled stepsister behind, but a mysterious boy from the woods and an invitation to a royal ball are certain to change her fate.

Sway by Kat Spears

High school senior Jesse Alderman, or "Sway," as he's known, could sell hell to a bishop. He also specializes in getting things people want---term papers, a date with the prom queen, fake IDs. He has few close friends and he never EVER lets emotions get in the way. For Jesse, life is simply a series of business transactions. But when Ken Foster, captain of the football team, leading candidate for homecoming king, and all-around jerk, hires Jesse to help him win the heart of the angelic Bridget Smalley, Jesse finds himself feeling all sorts of things. While following Bridget and learning the intimate details of her life, he falls helplessly in love for the very first time. He also finds himself in an accidental friendship with Bridget's belligerent and self-pitying younger brother who has cerebral palsy. Suddenly, Jesse is visiting old folks at a nursing home in order to run into Bridget, and offering his time to help the less fortunate, all the while developing a bond with this young man who idolizes him. Could the tin man really have a heart after all? 

Sweet Tooth: Out of the Deep Woods by Jeff Lemire

The first five issues of Jeff Lemire's acclaimed new series introduce Gus, a rare new breed of human/animal hybrid who was raised in isolation following a pandemic that struck a decade earlier. Now, with the death of his father, he's left to fend for himself . . . until he meets a hulking drifter named Jepperd, who promises to help him. Jepperd and Gus set out on a post-apocalyptic journey into the devastated American landscape to find 'The Preserve,' a refuge for hybrids.

Tabula Rasa by Kristen Lippert-Martin

The Bourne Identity meets Divergent in this action-packed debut thriller with a Katniss-esque heroine fighting to regain her memories and stay alive, set against a dystopian hospital background.Sarah starts a crazy battle for her life within the walls of her hospital-turned-prison when a procedure to eliminate her memory goes awry and she starts to remember snatches of her past. Was she an urban terrorist or vigilante? Has the procedure been her salvation or her destruction?The answers lie trapped within her mind. To access them, she'll need the help of the teen computer hacker who's trying to bring the hospital down for his own reasons, and a pill that's blocked by an army of mercenary soldiers poised to eliminate her for good. If only she knew why . . .

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.

New books for the new year part 5

Tankborn by Karen Sandler

Check the Catalog

Kayla and Mishalla, two genetically engineered non-human slaves (GENs), fall in love with higher-status boys, discover deep secrets about the creation of GENs, and find out what it means to be human.

 Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

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The Empyrean is the only home 15-year-old Waverly has ever known. Part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space, she and her boyfriend Kieran will be pioneers of New Earth. Waverly knows she must marry young in order to have children who can carry on the mission, and Kieran, the handsome captain-to-be, has everything Waverly could want in a husband. Still, there's a part of Waverly that wants more from life than marriage, and she is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth. Suddenly, Waverly's dreams are interrupted by the inconceivable - a violent betrayal by the Empyrean's sister ship, the New Horizon. The New Horizon's leaders are desperate to populate the new planet first, and will do anything to get what they need: young girls. 

and the book that Miss G is most excited for...

  Cinder by Marissa Meyer

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As plague ravages the overcrowded Earth, observed by a ruthless lunar people, Cinder, a gifted mechanic and cyborg, becomes involved with handsome Prince Kai and must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect the world in this futuristic take on the Cinderella story. (Jan 3rd)