Teen Book Club December Meeting and Year in Review!

Hey YAs, yesterday the TBC met to discuss this month's book, Stardust by Neil Gaiman and to watch the movie to compare!

Here are the discussion questions we used:

Pre-Movie

1.  What did you think of the book in general?
2.  Did you have a favorite character or scene?
3.  What do you think of Victoria Forester?  Is she worthy of Tristran's love?  Does Tristran love her?
4.  Have you seen the movie before?  What parts of the book are you most excited to see in the movie?
5.  Rating and final thought for the book.

Post-Movie

1.  What did you think of the movie in general?
2.  What are some of the changes between the book and the movie?  Which did you like, dislike?  Why do you think these changes were made?
3.  Were the characters how you imagined them?  Better, worse?
4.  This story is available in many forms; book, movie, audiobook, and graphic novel.  How does the format change the story?
5.  Rating and thought about the movie compared to the book?

Melanie: 10!  I love the writing and found it amazing how he could fit such a wonderful adventure story into as little as roughly 200 pages.
Miss G: 9  I listened to this on the audiobook version and loved it, but not quite as much as I love the movie.  They're almost two different stories, because of some major changes in the movie.

For January we are reading...

Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories by various

A collection of fourteen fantasy stories by well-known authors, set in the age of steam engines and featuring automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never existed.

Meeting, discussion, and snack on Wednesday, January 29th 5:30-6:30pm

Now...for the year in review.  A reminder, here is what the book club read in 2013~

Everyone voted on their favorites, so, here are the overall rankings~

1.  Seraphina

2.  The Year of the Gadfly

3.  Stardust

4.  Delirium

5.  Code Talker

6.  Life as we Knew it

7.  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

8.  Nobody’s Princess

9.  Bloody Jack

10.  Zom-B

11.  Skinned

12.  Trapped

Individual favorites were...

Melanie

1.  Code Talker

2.  Stardust

3.  Seraphina

Catherine

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

2. Seraphina

3.  The Year of the Gadfly

Clare

1.  Seraphina

2.  The Year of the Gadfly

3.  Delirium

MissG

1.  Seraphina

2.  Delirium

3.  Stardust

Now on to the new year!

Teen Book Club Recap - June - Skinned

Heya YAs,  the TBC met this Tuesday to discuss our latest read, Skinned by Robin Wasserman.  Here are the questions we discussed:

1. General impressions, did you enjoy the book?
2. What did you think of Lia?  What differences do you think there are between her after her accident and before?
3. Besides Lia, who were your favorite and least favorite characters?
4. Did you have  favorite scene or part in the book?
5. Discuss how Lia is treated after her accident by her family, friends, and the general public.  Why do you think people react the way they do?
6. How does Lia feel about Auden?  How does Auden feel about Lia?
7. Discuss Jude and the other mech heads/skinners/downloads.
8. What did you think of the writing in the book?  Would you go on to read more by Robin Wasserman?
9. If the download process was available now, would you take the opportunity if you were injured?  Would you want a loved one to take it?  Why or why not?
10. Ratings and final thoughts.

Here are our ratings!

Clare - 5/10 - Overall this was a pretty average, pretty boring book.  I wasn't very interested in the characters and wouldn't continue the series.
Catherine - 5/10 - Liked the concept of the book.  If you're looking for a casual scifi/existential read then this is ok.
Melanie - 5/10 - There were only a few characters that I liked, otherwise the book didn't have enough emotion.  (Melanie also said something else interesting, she thought this book would have more appeal to younger teens rather than older ones)

At our meeting we also voted on the genres of the books we will read this Fall.  We decided on comedy for September, zombies for October, war for November, and a book that has already been made into a movie for December.  We will vote on books for these months at our next meeting.

Our book for July is...

A budding teen journalist and her enigmatic science teacher separately work to locate and infiltrate a secret society that threatens their elite prep school with a shady tragedy from the past, an event that challenges the student's allegiances.

You can pick up a copy of The Year of the Gadfly at the front desk.  Our discussion will be on Wednesday, July 24th at 6:30pm.  This will be a very special Teen Book Club meeting because we will be skyping live with the author to ask her questions!  Don't miss out!

Happy birthday Robin Wasserman!

The fabulous author herself, and some sciency themed cupcakes!  I hope she has cupcakes for her birthday today!  Pictures from her website, www.robinwasserman.com

Happy birthday Robin!  We are actually reading one of her books for the Teen Book Club for June.  Here are all her (YA) books that we have here at Durham~

Chasing Yesterday series - Some things are too painful to remember--and too deadly to forget. Found: One girl, age 13. Unconscious. Unharmed. Unclaimed. Unidentified. Lost: Everything. J.D. may not know the truth about her past, but she knows she's in danger, and she can't shake the dark visions haunting her dreams. She won't be safe until she figures out who she is and where she came from. She can trust no one, not even herself--especially not herself. Because it turns out there's one thing even more terrible than forgetting her past: remembering. (Book 1 - Awakening)

Hacking Harvard - It's the ultimate challenge: breaking into the Ivy League. The hack: To get one deadbeat, fully unqualified slacker into the most prestigious school in the country. The crew: Eric Roth -- the good guy, the voice of reason. Max Kim -- the player who made the bet in the first place. Schwartz -- the kid genius already on the inside...of Harvard, that is. Lexi -- the beauty-queen valedictorian who insists on getting in the game. The plan: Use only the most undetectable schemes and techno-brilliant skills. Don't break the Hacker's Code. Don't get distracted. Don't get caught. Take down someone who deserves it. The stakes: A lot higher than they think. They've got the players, the plot, and soon -- the prize. It's go time.

 

 The Skinned Trilogy - Lia Kahn was perfect: rich, beautiful, popular -- until the accident that nearly killed her. Now she has been downloaded into a new body that only looks human. Lia will never feel pain again, she will never age, and she can't ever truly die. But she is also rejected by her friends, betrayed by her boyfriend, and alienated from her old life. Forced to the fringes of society, Lia joins others like her. But they are looked at as freaks. They are hated...and feared. They are everything but human, and according to most people, this is the ultimate crime -- for which they must pay the ultimate price. (Book 1 Skinned is the Teen Book Club book for June!)

The Book of Blood and Shadow - While working on a project translating letters from sixteenth-century Prague, high school senior Nora Kane discovers her best friend murdered with her boyfriend the apparent killer and is caught up in a dangerous web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all searching for a mysterious ancient device purported to allow direct communication with God.

So let's all celebrate her birthday by reading one of her books (we have lots of copies of Skinned if you want to get in on the Teen Book Club fun!) and having cupcakes.  Because you really need to have a cupcake while reading one of her books to truly celebrate.

Teen Book Club - May

heys~

We had the May meeting of the Teen Book Club last night and we discussed Seraphina by Rachel Hartman.  Here are the questions we discussed:

1. What did you think of the book?  General impressions.

2. Who was your favorite character and why?  Who was your second favorite character?  Least favorite?

3. Did you have a favorite scene or part in the book?

4. What did you think of the dragons in this book?  How did they compare to dragons you’ve read about in other books?

5. How important was music in Seraphina’s life?  How important was music over all in the book?

6. What did you think of the writing and the pacing in the book?

7. What did you think of the ending?  Will you be looking forward to book 2? (Shadowscale, February of next year)

8. This was Rachel Hartman’s first book and she won an award for it as the best debut of the year.  This will definitely be a series, but what did you think of her as a new author?  If this wasn’t going to be a series, would you read more books by her?

9. Ratings and final thoughts!

Here are the ratings!

Melanie - 10/10 - Really happy that this book was written because it made me remember why I love dragons and fantasy.

Catherine - 9.5/10 - This book is imaginative, well written, detailed, exciting, and I definitly want to read the next book!

Clare - 9.5/10 - It had amazing original characters, could have been a standalone novel, but totally want to read the next book. Great fantasy! 

Miss G - 10/10 - It was one of the first books I read this year and still probably my favorite, a lush, rich fantasy with excellent characters and a page turning plot!

For June we are reading...

To save her from dying in a horrible accident, Lia's wealthy parents transplant her brain into a mechanical body.

Books available at the front desk!

New Book Time - June Post 2

The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

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While working on a project translating letters from sixteenth-century Prague, high school senior Nora Kane discovers her best friend murdered with her boyfriend the apparent killer and is caught up in a dangerous web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all searching for a mysterious ancient device purported to allow direct communication with God.

Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen

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Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past.

Is the End of the World Near?:  From Crackpot Predictions to Scientific Scenarios by Ron Miller

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Introduces end of the world scenarios, including self-destruction through nuclear war or continued environmental exploitation, humanity wiped out by a pandemic, or an asteroid or comet strike destroying Earth.

Twisted by Sara Shepard
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Even though the disappearance of Alison DiLaurentis has been solved, Spencer, Emily, Hanna, and Aria harbor other secrets which could interfere with their perfect lives, as they try to forget what happened to them in Jamaica last spring.

Underworld by Meg Cabot
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John Hayden, a death deity, takes seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera back to the Underworld against her will to keep her safe from the Furies, but her family is still at risk and she, herself, may never escape his captivity.