tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57693302007-07-07T15:56:29.166-04:00The Hip Librarians' Book BlogAprilMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09343243946541154765noreply@blogger.comBlogger189125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1116878603546471672005-05-23T16:00:00.000-04:002005-05-23T16:03:23.553-04:00Visit our new blog!http://hiplibrariansbookblog.blog-city.com/AprilMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09343243946541154765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1115480782343773882005-05-07T11:41:00.000-04:002005-05-07T11:46:22.350-04:00I just did a presention of booktalks to 9th and 10th graders at an alternative high school. They are studying memoirs and writing their own, so the teacher asked me to booktalk memoirs geared to teen readers. Thanks to Reading Rants and some other great recommendations, this is the list that I came up with. I put stars by my favorites:
*The air down there: True Tales from a South Bronx Allihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13299235218319974620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1115135401690408012005-05-03T11:42:00.000-04:002005-05-03T13:06:38.786-04:00I have been reading something I should have read long ago. But this way I can talk up a classic YA series.
Over the weekend I flew through the first three books in the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce. I had been introduced to Pierce last summer when I had to review Trickster's Queen for SLJ. I of course had to read Trickster's Choice first, and I was totally engrossed and thoroughly loving Anna M. Nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147861067103951279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1115089760248968952005-05-02T22:42:00.000-04:002005-05-02T23:09:20.250-04:00So excited to finally get our copy of Luna by Julie Anne Peters. It's the story of Liam (17 or 18 yrs old) who has felt like a girl trapped in a boy's body his entire life. His story, the story of his transformation into Luna, his true female self, is actually told by Regan, Liam's younger sister. In this way I think the author was able to appeal to a wider audience. Regan is a very appealingAprilMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09343243946541154765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1114983463319629892005-05-01T17:22:00.000-04:002005-05-01T17:37:43.320-04:00I finally got my hands on an advanced reader’s copy of the third installment in Suzanne Collins’ Underland Chronicles: Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods. I’m a big fan of the series thus far and this book did not disappoint. Gregor once again returns to the underground world to play out his part in the mysterious Prophecy of Blood. A deadly disease threatens the lives of all who inhabit thisTheresanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1114905057069026432005-04-30T19:39:00.000-04:002005-04-30T19:50:57.070-04:00I recently read Stained by Jennifer Richard Jacobson.
Stained is set in a small New England town in the seventies and deals indirectly with sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church. The main character sometimes feels like an outsider because her father left when she was young and her mother raised her without religion. The local priest is telling her boyfriend that he should stop seeing Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15353743389479041742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1114356763759406492005-04-24T11:24:00.000-04:002005-04-24T11:32:43.763-04:00Recent Reads in Denver:
Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson
Reading this on the flight from Philadelphia to Denver was a great experience. The book's setting is a working class neighborhood of Philly and Anderson did a great job of catching the Philly flavor (including the TastyCakes) in her novel.
The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman
How is it that the Schwa can be standing right in front of youAllihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13299235218319974620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1113855153029933732005-04-18T15:56:00.000-04:002005-04-19T12:54:05.926-04:00I finished reading Prep by Curtis Sittenfield this weekend. It is about a girl named Lee Fiora who decides at the age of 13 to apply to boarding school. She gets in, and even gets an almost total financial aid package, which is good because her family in South Bend, Indiana, doesn't have a lot of dough. So Lee leaves for Ault, a prestigious prep school in Massachusetts.
This story had the Anna M. Nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147861067103951279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1113772977978967622005-04-17T17:10:00.000-04:002005-04-17T17:22:57.980-04:00I haven't posted in awhile... I think I haven't read anything outstanding or maybe I am just in a funk.
Finished Prom today by Laurie Halse Anderson. I think there is an audience for this book that has been untapped... the "normal" kid who isn't college bound, has a kooky family (she seems to resent them more than they deserve), and has sex with her boyfriend without getting pregnant or dumped AprilMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09343243946541154765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1112734345766953392005-04-12T16:35:00.000-04:002005-04-12T19:59:07.096-04:00April, cool about Kelly DiPucchio!
I too have had an author communication recently, from someone who read a review I posted here in which I mentioned that I love Richard Russo's work. The someone, a first-time author named Jason Headley, told me that his novel Small Town Odds had been compared to Russo's novels and invited me to take a look.
I was engrossed in this book from the first chapter,mainermacenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1113310724295203912005-04-12T08:49:00.000-04:002005-04-12T08:59:14.093-04:00Over the weekend I read a really interesting grown-up book. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell is not your typical history lesson. Vowell, who writes for McSweeney's and is a contributing editor the NPR's This American Life is obsessed with death. In this book, she focuses particularly on the three presidents assassinated before Kennedy. Can you name them all? Well, there's Lincoln....yeah, Anna M. Nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147861067103951279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1112963316294231242005-04-08T08:15:00.000-04:002005-04-12T08:58:56.510-04:00Last night I finished So B. It by Sarah Weeks. It is the story of Heidi, a 12-year-old who lives with her mother (who has a "bum brain") and Bernadette (Bernie, a woman with agoraphobia who took in Heidi and her Mom when Heidi was about a week old). Heidi leads a very isolated life - she does not go to school, and has no real friends her own age. But she also has a great lucky streak - when the Anna M. Nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147861067103951279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1112816999500085262005-04-06T15:35:00.000-04:002005-04-06T15:49:59.503-04:00For those teens who like memoirs and diaries such as Go Ask Alice, A Child Called "It" and Stick Figure, I highly recommend The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon. In the 1980s, Brent was a severely depressed eighth grader who attempted suicide many times. His final attempt at killing himself by lighting himself on fire was not successful, but it did burn 85% of his body. He spent months in Allihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13299235218319974620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1112670805863769212005-04-04T23:12:00.000-04:002005-04-04T23:13:25.863-04:00I just finished listening to The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood, which has been on my mental "to read" list since it was published. I love the audio version and can easily see myself restricting my listening to British novels since I am in love with the accents (one strong perk of listening to Bindi Babes on audio which was fun). In this story (which continues with at least 2 sequels I am AprilMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09343243946541154765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1112476610590735522005-04-02T16:03:00.000-05:002005-04-02T18:08:38.630-05:00The Beacon Street Girls series has become wildly popular in my library, and I guess in my area as well, there was a recent article about the series and the author, Annie Bryant, in the Globe. I admit to being a little skeptical at first since we all know how some series lack quality where they are strong on quantity. I had also read the article and perused the website www.beaconstreetgirls.com AprilMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09343243946541154765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1112238484402686272005-03-30T22:03:00.000-05:002005-03-31T21:56:55.070-05:00Recent Reads that I liked:
Rock Star Superstar by blake Nelson
For those interested in music, being in a band and the recording industry, this is a great read. For those who like great teen novels, this is a great read. Pete's life is all about music, and high school, and music, and his girlfriend Margaret, and music, and his Dad, and music. Get the picture?
The Books of Fell by M.E. Kerr
Allihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13299235218319974620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1112047067322038932005-03-28T16:40:00.000-05:002005-03-28T16:57:47.323-05:00I just submitted a review to SLJ for the book Ten Thousand Charms by Leander Watts. I didn't like this book at all, and there are many reasons I have to justify this statement. Reason #1: The plot was not believable. It is sort of a cross between a fairy tale and historical fiction, although there are no markers to place the story in the context of history. It is about the king of a Anna M. Nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147861067103951279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1111520206550771282005-03-22T14:34:00.000-05:002005-03-22T14:36:46.550-05:00I am probably the last person to know about this, but I found a really neat blog today through YALSA-BK. It is at: http://yaarc.blogspot.com/ and it is for YA Librarians who have ARCS and are willing to share! If you browse through and see something you are dying to read, you just leave a comment with your name and address, and the ARC will be sent to you! Of course, you can't keep them, but Anna M. Nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147861067103951279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1111174128558144522005-03-18T14:00:00.000-05:002005-03-18T14:32:27.550-05:00How cool that Kelly DiPucchio checked out your review! I love Bed Hogs , it's been such a hit at storytime. Also, I have flagged Liberty's Journey as a title to booktalk at the elementary schools in May. How cool!
I fell in love with some new picture books...
Ish by Peter Reynolds
Were you ever told that you weren't good at something and then never wanted to do it again? Well, that's what Allihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13299235218319974620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1111076980071822522005-03-17T11:25:00.000-05:002005-03-17T11:29:40.073-05:00Hey, Kelly DiPucchio just sent me a lovely email thanking me for the review of What's The Magic Word ... which means 2 things, 1 she is nice and cool and you should really buy the book now for your library and as a gift for any young children you know and 2 PEOPLE read our blog! besides us I mean!
And also here is a plug for her website which is funny (esp the bio) and fun and colorful.
http://AprilMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09343243946541154765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1110419098718970392005-03-09T20:09:00.000-05:002005-03-09T21:59:01.506-05:00Fish by L.S. Matthews is a captivating read. The story is timeless with its unnamed characters, unnamed setting, unnamed war and a mysterious Fish. A boy and his parents, who seem to be employed by a group similar to "Doctors Without Borders," are attempting to escape the war torn country that they have been living in for years. They hire a guide, known as Guide, and start trekking on foot to Allihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13299235218319974620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1110392097214903202005-03-09T13:03:00.000-05:002005-03-09T13:14:57.216-05:00Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood by Jennifer Traig
The first chapter of this book is so sad and crushing that I almost didn't go on. Jenny Traig is a woman who had undiagnosed Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder at a time (the early 80's) when the disease was hardly known about. And to top it off, Traig also had a form of the disorder called scrupulosity which is OCD with a Anna M. Nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147861067103951279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1110324172735495612005-03-08T18:19:00.000-05:002005-03-08T18:25:45.816-05:00What's the Magic Word by Kelly DiPucchio
Join Little Bird on a windy adventure through the barnyard. Newly hatched this fluffy little fellow is swept up by a gush of wind and plunked down in front of a stall. Little Bird wants in but he doesn't know the magic word ... which according to the cow in the stall is "moo moo". When the wind sweeps him up again and drops him in front of a hive Little AprilMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09343243946541154765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1109717200579718082005-03-01T17:38:00.000-05:002005-03-01T17:46:40.580-05:00Amber, Jazz and Geena have it all. The newest styles, mobile phones, all the coolest music. Their Dad gives them whatever they want, whenever they want it. They are the epitome of cool in Bindi Babes by Narinder Dharmi. The girls are good at everything; they get good grades, they have good friends and things are just about perfect. But hidden under that perfect image is a lot of sadness. Allihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13299235218319974620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769330.post-1109616909926354452005-02-28T13:47:00.000-05:002005-02-28T15:18:32.190-05:00Last week I finished So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld. In it we read about Hunter, who is aptly named, as he is a "cool hunter" in New York. He goes out and takes pictures of the up to the second fashion trends for market researchers. It was an amazing book that really made you think. And there were such delightful bits of trivia mixed in. Like did you know the Phonecians were a bunch of Anna M. Nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08147861067103951279noreply@blogger.com