Book of the week 2008-2009
Posted by: lhslibrary on: October 7, 2008
LHS Library - What are you reading?
You may have noticed in the Daily Bulletin I have started showcasing a different book each week. I will post information here as well so if you missed one you can catch up. Click on the comments button to see the book titles from previous weeks.
So many books – so little time!!!
29 Responses to "Book of the week 2008-2009"
October 7, 2008 at 2:33 pm
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Oct 6, 2008
Each week I will highlight one of the new books that we have received this year.
These books are available for checkout from our library.
This week’s book is titled The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. A slightly different take on Alice in Wonderland: When she is cast out of Wonderland by her evil aunt Redd, young Alyss Heart finds herself living in Victorian Oxford as Alice Liddell and struggles to keep memories of her kingdom intact until she can return and claim her rightful throne.
A review from School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up—Frank Beddor’s clever novel (Dial, 2006) puts Lewis Carroll’s heroine—along with her loony, puzzle-riddled world—into a new and wholly satisfying frame. In this version, most of Alyss Heart’s family and friends are ruthlessly killed by her evil Aunt Redd. Alyss escapes through the Pool of Tears, which is actually a portal between worlds, and winds up in Victorian England and is renamed Alice. At first, the child tries to tell ordinary humans about her world and the power imagination actually effects in Wonderlandia, but they gently chide her for telling stories. She believes that she’s found a sympathetic ear in a young Oxford don who is a friend of her adopted family, but he turns her story into the travesty we all know as “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Meanwhile, Hatter Madigan, a member of Wonderlandia’s Millinery, who also escaped through the Pool, searches for Alyss across continents and time, until he finds her more than a dozen years later. Back home in Wonderlandia, the few who have escaped evil Redd’s soldiers plot to retake the land. Fans of Carroll’s stories will flock to this and those who have managed to miss that less violent classic can get to it while waiting for the next volume in this exciting and humorous trilogy.—
October 17, 2008 at 3:01 pm
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Oct 13, 2008
Each week I will highlight one of the new books that we have received this year.
These books are available for checkout from our library.
This week’s book is titled Secrets of my Hollywood life by Jen Calonita.
When you are one of Teen People’s “25 Hottest Stars under 25” a normal life is not something you can expect. Kaitlin Burke is one of those Hottest Stars, overworked and tired of the Hollywood scene. She would really like to experience the life of a “normal” teenager. So she assumes a false identity and begins to attend a local high school. But life really can’t be normal when you are hiding the fact that you are famous! And sometimes high school can be as harsh as cutthroat Hollywood. Especially when your competitive costar, who has been making your life difficult, is asked to be the host of the school’s spring fling. Will Kaitlin be able to continue or will it all come apart?
From Amazon.com
Juicy Hollywood secrets appear throughout. Combining the vicarious star-studded glamour of the New York Times bestselling A-List with the innocence of The Princess Diaries, this is an engrossing look behind the velvet ropes of stardom.
October 20, 2008 at 8:36 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Oct 20, 2008
Each week I will highlight one of the new books that we have received this year.
These books are available for checkout from our library.
This week’s book is titled Before I die by Jenny Downham.
You know you are going to die – what do you do? If you are Tessa Scott you make a list. Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It’s her To Do Before I Die list. Released from the constraints of ‘normal’ life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Tessa’s feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, and her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallised in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time finally runs out.
From Amazon.com
Review, NYTBR, October 14, 2007:
“This may sound too depressing for words, but it is only one indication of the inspired originality of Before I Die, by Jenny Downham, that the reader can finish its last pages feeling thrillingly alive … I don’t care how old you are. This book will not leave you.”
—John Burnham Schwartz
Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2007
“Lucid language makes a painful journey bearable, beautiful and transcendent.”
Starred Review, Publisher’s Weekly, August 6, 2007
“The eloquent dying teen can seem a staple of the YA novel, but this British debut completely breaks the mold. Downham holds nothing back in her wrenching and exceptionally vibrant story.”
Review, Entertainment Weekly, September 21, 2007
“Bound For Glory: This fall, five young authors deliver breakout books packed with razor-sharp writing.”
Review, Entertainment Weekly, September 28, 2007
“In luminous prose that rings completely true, Downham earns every tear she wrings from her readers. I trust there will be many of them—many readers, and of course, many tears. A-”
October 24, 2008 at 3:07 pm
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Oct 27, 2008
This week’s book is titled
An abundance of Katherines by John Green
Having been recently dumped for the nineteenth time by a girl named Katherine, recent high school graduate and former child prodigy Colin sets off on a road trip with his best friend to try to find some new direction in life while also trying to create a mathematical formula to explain his relationships.
Amazon Editorial Reviews:
From Booklist
Gr. 9-12. Green follows his Printz-winning Looking for Alaska (2005) with another sharp, intelligent story, this one full of mathematical problems, historical references, word puzzles, and footnotes. Colin Singleton believes he is a washed-up child prodigy. A graduating valedictorian with a talent for creating anagrams, he fears he’ll never do anything to classify him as a genius. To make matters worse, he has just been dumped by his most recent girlfriend (all of them have been named Katherine), and he’s inconsolable. What better time for a road trip! He and his buddy Hassan load up the gray Olds (Satan’s Hearse) and leave Chicago. They make it as far as Gutshot, Tennessee, where they stop to tour the gravesite of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and meet a girl who isn’t named Katherine. It’s this girl, Lindsey, who helps Colin work on a mathematical theorem to predict the duration of romantic relationships. The laugh-out-loud humor ranges from delightfully sophomoric to subtly intellectual, and the boys’ sarcastic repartee will help readers navigate the slower parts of the story, which involve local history interviews. The idea behind the book is that everyone’s story counts, and what Colin’s contributes to the world, no matter how small it may seem to him, will, indeed, matter. An appendix explaining the complex math is “fantastic,” or as the anagrammatically inclined Green might have it, it’s enough to make “cats faint.” Cindy Dobrez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
Fully fun, challengingly complex and entirely entertaining. — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Laugh-out-loud funny… coming-of-age American road trip that is at once a satire of and tribute to its many celebrated predecessors. — The Horn Book Magazine, starred review
October 31, 2008 at 11:36 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Nov 3-7, 2008
This week’s books are titled:
The Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz
Stormbreaker, Point Blank, Skeleton Key, Eagle Strike, Scorpia, Ark Angel and Snakehead.
A “James Bond” series for the younger set; this series is about young Alex Rider who at the age of 14 begins his career with the British Intelligence Agency MI6. The series begins with the book Stormbreaker. After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, Alex is coerced to continue his uncle’s work. Not as the bank vice-president he appeared to be, but as a spy for the British government. Alex’s first task is to investigate Sayle Enterprises, a company that is donating computers to every secondary school in Britian. It’s a nice gesture that is covering a plot to murder school children with a biological virus implanted in every computer. Alex is trained, given many fun gadgets, and then sent undercover as a student computer wiz to expose the plot. The Alex’s adventures continue with the other books in the series: Point Blank, Skeleton Key, Eagle Strike, Scorpia, Ark Angel and Snakehead.
November 10, 2008 at 9:50 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Nov 10-14, 2008
Each week I will highlight one of the new books that we have received this year.
These books are available for checkout from our library.
To see books from previous weeks click here
This week’s book is titled
The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga
Fanboy has never had it good, but lately his sophomore year is turning out to be its own special hell. The bullies have made him their favorite target, his best (and only) friend seems headed for the dark side (sports and popularity), and his pregnant mother and the step-fascist are eagerly awaiting the birth of the alien life form known as Fanboy’s new little brother or sister.
Fanboy, though, has a secret: a graphic novel he’s been working on without telling anyone, a graphic novel that he is convinced will lead to publication, fame, and—most important of all—a way out of the crappy little town he lives in and all the people that make it hell for him.
When Fanboy meets Kyra, a.k.a. Goth Girl, he finds an outrageous, cynical girl who shares his love of comics as well as his hatred for jocks and bullies. Fanboy can’t resist someone who actually seems to understand him, and soon he finds himself willing to heed her advice—to ignore or crush anyone who stands in his way.
Amazon Review from School Library Journal:
Starred Review. Grade 9 Up–On good days, Fanboy is invisible to the students at his high school. On bad ones, he’s a target for bullying and violence. When a classmate is cruel to him, Fanboy adds him to The List and moves on. His only real friend, Cal, is a jock who can’t be seen with him in public. Their love of comics, though, keeps them close friends outside of school. Reading comics and writing his own graphic novel, Schemata, are the only things that keep him sane. He dreams of showing his work to a famous author at a comic-book convention and being discovered as the next great graphic novelist. When Goth Girl Kyra IMs him with photos of him being beaten up, he’s skeptical. Why does she care what happens to him? He learns, though, that she’s as much an outsider as he is. The two form a tentative friendship based on hatred of their classmates, particularly jocks, and her interest in Schemata. Fanboy is a rule follower, but Kyra is a rebel with a foul mouth. She teaches him to stand up for himself, and gives him the confidence to do it. Lyga looks at how teens are pushed to their limits by society. Though he toys with such concepts as teen suicide and Columbine-like violence, the novel never turns tragic. His love of comics carries over into all three teen characters, breathing animation into a potentially sad but often funny story. This is a great bridge book for teens who already like graphic novels.–Stephanie L. Petruso, Anne Arundel County Public Library, Odenton, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
November 14, 2008 at 1:00 pm
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Nov 17-21, 2008
This week’s book is titled
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Five sisters who live with their merchant father in Transylvania use a hidden portal in their home to cross over into a magical world, the Wildwood.
From School Library Journal:
Starred Review. Grade 8 Up—This riveting story about 16-year-old Jenica; her pet frog, Gogu; and her four sisters takes place between the fairy world and the family’s Romanian estate of Piscul Dracului. When the girls were young, they discovered a mysterious portal that appears every full moon and allows them access to the Dancing Glade in the Other Kingdom. They dress in the finest gowns and spend all night dancing with a host of bizarre and enchanting fairy creatures. Unfortunately, the girls’ simple and carefree lives change drastically when their father becomes ill and must spend the winter in the milder climate of Constanta. Jenica takes charge of the estate and the family’s merchant business but their overbearing, power-hungry cousin, Cezar, interferes with their affairs and questions the sisters’ knowledge of the Other Kingdom. As he tightens the noose around them, everything Jenica has come to love-her sisters, her frog, her home, and the Dancing Glade-is in jeopardy. To make matters worse, her sister Tatiana has fallen in love with one of the mysterious and feared Night people. This relationship is doomed from the start and it is up to Jenica to make things right-but to do so she will be put to the ultimate test. Strong characters, two fully realized settings, and a fast-moving plot guarantee that readers will be spellbound by this page-turner.—Donna Rosenblum, Nassau Boces School Library System, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
December 1, 2008 at 10:40 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Dec 1-5, 2008
This week’s book is titled
Freaky Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates
Fourteen-year-old Frankie relates the events of the year leading up to her mother’s mysterious disappearance and her own struggle to discover and accept the truth about her parents’ relationship.
From Booklist at Amazon.com
Gr. 7-10. Freaky Green Eyes is the name 15-year-old Franky gives to her stronger self, the part that has to deal with the enigma that is her parents’ relationship. With a nod to the O. J. Simpson case, Oates pulls readers into a fast-paced, first-person thriller that begins when Franky’s mother, an artist, begins spending alone time at her cabin. It’s immediately clear that her situation isn’t idyllic; Franky’s father, former football hero and popular sportscaster Reid Pierson, is calling the shots as to when his wife can come and go. There’s no nuance to Reid’s character. He’s a charming, controlling bully who rules his family; should his will be thwarted, he gets physical. When Mrs. Pierson and a male friend disappear, there’s also no mystery about who’s behind the abduction; the clues, if that’s what they are meant to be, are awkwardly dropped. Yet what could have been a predictable plot in the hands of a less-experienced writer becomes an absorbing page-turner as Franky slowly lets herself accept the violence that has always been in her family and finds the courage to stand up to her father.
Ilene Cooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
December 8, 2008 at 11:27 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Dec 8-12, 2008
This week’s book is titled
Sundays at Tiffany’s by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
Jane, who spends a lot of time alone as a child while her mother works as head of a Broadway theater company, develops a friendship with an imaginary man named Michael, and meets him again when she is in her thirties.
From Amazon.com: Product Description
As a little girl, Jane has no one. Her mother, the powerful head of a Broadway theater company, has no time for her. She does have one friend-a handsome, comforting, funny man named Michael-but only she can see him.
Years later, Jane is in her thirties and just as alone as ever. Then she meets Michael again-as handsome, smart and perfect as she remembers him to be. But not even Michael knows the reason they’ve really been reunited.
SUNDAYS AT TIFFANY’S is a love story with an irresistible twist, a novel about the child inside all of us-and the boundary-crossing power of love.
January 12, 2009 at 11:03 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Jan. 12-16, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
Just like that by Marsha Qualey
Deeply affected by an encounter with two teens shortly before their tragic death at the lake, Hanna uses her talent as an artist to explore conflicted feelings of guilt, disengagement, and secrecy; art becomes both obsession and therapy.
Reviews and comments from Amazon.com:
From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up–Hanna Martin, 18, is independent, opinionated, and fierce. Yet, even for her, taking a walk late at night, alone, along Lake Calhoun is definitely near the top of her list of dumb things to do, and that act has serious consequences for her. Deeply affected by an encounter with two teens shortly before their tragic death at the lake, Hanna uses her talent as an artist to explore conflicted feelings of guilt, disengagement, and secrecy; art becomes both obsession and therapy. Her best friends Maura and Kelsey react to her distress in ways that begin to unravel the skein of their long friendship. Her mother is astute and caring, but Hanna will not confide in her. When Hanna encounters Will, who was also connected to the fateful events of that night on the lake, their reactions to one another ring true: attracted, confused, hopeful. Qualey writes with quiet fierceness, giving her characters depth and the plot complexities that transcend the sometimes hackneyed trend toward grim realism in YA novels. Previous novels feature poignant characters and out-of-the-ordinary plots. With this new offering, Qualey does not disappoint.–Roxanne Myers Spencer, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 9-12. Eighteen-year-old Hanna believes that she may have been able to save two teens before they died on a subzero Minneapolis night. Consumed with guilt, she visits the tragedy’s site, where she spots Will, a boy who harbors his own shame about the deaths. Will tracks Hanna down, the teens find solace and a strong attraction when they share their stories, and, just hours after they meet, have sex, which is depicted in a skillfully authentic and nonexplicit scene. Then, Hanna is horrified to learn that Will is 14. Although she breaks off a romance immediately, she is drawn into his family, which, like her own, struggles with tragedy and secrets. Qualey’s uneven novel is crowded with contrived connections, and Hanna’s motivations aren’t always clear, despite her strong first-person narration. Even so, many YAs, particularly those who share Hanna’s prodigious artistic talents, will see themselves in the unhurried, absorbing portraits of sensitive teens who are learning to forgive their own mistakes and make choices for an independent life. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
January 23, 2009 at 2:34 pm
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Jan. 20-24, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
Harmless by Dana Reinhardt
Instead of telling the truth about why they are home late, fourteen-year-old private school students Emma, Anna, and Mariah lie and say a strange man attacked one of them, and the untruth results in a slew of problems for themselves, their families, their community, and the wrongly accused man.
January 23, 2009 at 2:38 pm
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Jan. 26-30, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
Princess : a true story of life behind the veil in Saudi Arabia
by Jean Sasson
A non-fiction book – A Saudi Arabian princess tells of her life, from her turbulent childhood to her arranged marriage, revealing the true role designated to women by men in her country.
January 23, 2009 at 2:40 pm
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Dec 15-19, 2008
This week’s feature is a magazine, not a book, titled
Teen Ink
Printed once a month during the school year, this magazine features writing and art from teenagers across the nation.
From the Teen Ink Website:
About Us
Welcome to Teen Ink, a national teen magazine, book series, and website devoted entirely to teenage writing and art. Distributed through classrooms by English teachers, Creative Writing teachers, Journalism teachers and art teachers around the country, Teen Ink magazine offers some of the most thoughtful and creative work generated by teens and has the largest distribution of any publication of its kind. We have no staff writers or artists; we depend completely on submissions from teenagers nationwide for our content.
We offer teenagers the opportunity to publish their creative work and opinions on the issues that affect their lives – everything from love and family to teen smoking and community service. Hundreds of thousands of students have submitted their work to us and we have published more than 25,000 teens since 1989.
The Young Authors Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that supports all Teen Ink publications. The foundation is devoted to helping teens share their own voices, while developing reading, writing, creative and critical-thinking skills. All proceeds from the print magazine, website and Teen Ink books are used exclusively for charitable and educational purposes to further our goal.
February 2, 2009 at 10:48 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Feb 2-6, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
Perfect you by Elizabeth Scott
Kate Brown feels her life is spiraling out of control as she deals with her father’s new job, her best friend’s betrayal, and her own mixed feelings about Will, and decides the best thing to do is isolate herself, but she soon learns that good things can happen if she only lets them.
Reviews and comments from teenbookreview.wordpress.com
Kate’s life is pretty miserable. Her best friend has dumped her. Her father quit his job to sell infomercial vitamins in the mall. Her family, as a result, is having some serious money troubles that can only be resolved by her grandmother coming to stay. Of course, Grandma being around just makes everything more tense and more stressful. Kate is also lusting after a boy who has done nothing but torment her since they met in ninth grade. Will also has a bit of a reputation around school for hooking up with every girl he sees. Kate likes Will, but she doesn’t want to, and when he starts to act like he might be interested, she certainly doesn’t want to be just another name on the long, long list of girls that Will has been with…does she?
I loved Elizabeth Scott’s other two books, bloom and Stealing Heaven, but Perfect You just might be my favorite! It’s a close call as to which is the best, but Perfect You is in no way disappointing, and in many ways awesome. Kate is an awesome main character, but I loved all of the characters, and the complicated relationships they had with each other. Perfect You is a fresh, funny, and honest story that is everything readers will expect from this talented writer, and more! Honestly, I can’t recommend highly enough this fantastic story about family, romance, friendship, love, life, and growing up.
February 9, 2009 at 10:50 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Feb 9-13, 2009
This week we feature:
The most checked out books from 2nd Quarter
#1 – D.N. Angel series
Tied for #2
True Colors Series: Torch Red, Moon White and Harsh Pink
Crank
Vampire Kisses
Tied for #3
Betrayed
My sister’s keeper
Cirque Du Freak series – Tunnels of love
Tied for #4
Cross my heart and hope to spy
My name is Chloe
Not so simple life
Blue Bloods
The boyfriend list
Wicked lovely
Hit and run
Eclipse
TTFN
Brisingr
Lord Loss
Journey to the center of the earth
February 17, 2009 at 10:06 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Feb 17-20, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
Amazing Grace by Megan Shull
Teen superstar Grace Kincaid telephones her mother that she wants out of the multi-million dollar endorsements and celebrity, and soon she finds herself in hiding with a new name and a new identity.
Editorial Reviews from Amazon.com
From School Library Journal
Grade 7-10–Teenage tennis-star Grace Ace Kincaid has the talent and looks that make her a hit both on the court and on Madison Avenue. But she is falling apart, breaking under the tremendous pressure of worldwide fame. She wants OUT. And she gets her wish–a total break from her lifestyle and identity. She becomes Emily O’Brien, everyday teenager, with nose-ring intact. She is transported to remote Medicine Hat, AK, where she lives with her new guardian, retired FBI-agent Ava Grady, in a rustic cabin, complete with outhouse and freezing-cold showers. At first shocked by her surroundings, Grace comes to love them, as it is here that she experiences a sense of normalcy in her life, including a love interest, solid friendships, and much-needed support from the local therapist. Shull’s very short chapters with headings such as three zillion years later, are catchy, fun, and full of the ever-changing world of adolescent emotions. The novel offers a consistent sense of delight and the feeling that, no matter what, Grace will always come out on top. This is due in large part to her many fairy godmothers along the way, steering her toward a level of comfort with herself, her talents, her feelings, and her desire to live life on her own terms. A Cinderella story for this day and age, indeed.–Tracy Karbel, Glenside Public Library District, Glendale Heights, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Gr. 7-9. “I want out.” When teenage tennis phenom Grace “Ace” Kincaid calls her mom from the U.S. Open, asking to retire, things move fast. Sporting a new hairstyle, a pierced nose, and a new name–Emily O’Brien–the girl is spirited away by Aunt Ava to a remote cabin in Alaska to avoid the paparazzi. The pampered star adapts a tad too easily to wilderness life with its cold showers, outhouse, and cramped quarters; but Emily is obviously ready for a real life and relishes her freedom. Her first foray into town results in a bicycle crash with a moose, but when she opens her eyes, she sees the gorgeous face of local boy Teague. He and his cousin Fisher help Emily navigate the local scene with only a few missteps as Em grapples with discovering her real self. Short chapters and a snappy storytelling style will have teens racing to the satisfying conclusion. Cindy Dobrez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
See Amazon.com for additional reviews about this book.
February 23, 2009 at 10:10 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Feb 23-27, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
Touching the void: the true story of one man’s miraculous survival by Joe Simpson
Read the book that inspired the movie… Joe Simpson shares the story of his miraculous survival after he was injured while climbing in the Andes in 1985 and left for dead by his partner.
Amazon.com Review
Concise and yet packed with detail, Touching the Void, Joe Simpson’s harrowing account of near-death in the Peruvian Andes, is a compact tour de force that wrestles with issues of bravery, friendship, physical endurance, the code of the mountains, and the will to live. Simpson dedicates the book to his climbing partner, Simon Yates, and to “those friends who have gone to the mountains and have not returned.” What is it that compels certain individuals to willingly seek out the most inhospitable climate on earth? To risk their lives in an attempt to leave footprints where few or none have gone before? Simpson’s vivid narrative of a dangerous climbing expedition will convince even the most die-hard couch potato that such pursuits fall within the realm of the sane. As the author struggles ever higher, readers learn of the mountain’s awesome power, the beautiful–and sometimes deadly–sheets of blue glacial ice, and the accomplishment of a successful ascent. And then catastrophe: the second half of Touching the Void sees Simpson at his darkest moment. With a smashed, useless leg, he and his partner must struggle down a near-vertical face–and that’s only the beginning of their troubles. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“A gripping narrative that should excite armchair adventurers everywhere.” — –Cleveland Plain-Dealer
“A truly astounding account of suffering and fortitude.” — The Times (London)
“Simpson touches a nerve of the mountaineering community and the hearts of others.” — –Los Angeles Times
“Told with lyrical quality and stunning immediacy, Touching the Void transcends its genre and becomes accessible to readers who have never had any desire to climb a glacier.” — New York Newsday –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
March 2, 2009 at 9:31 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
March 2-6, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
D.N. Angel by Yukiru Sugisaki
From our Manga section, this is first in the D.N. Angel series that was the most checked out book of 2nd quarter. Middle school student Daisuke Niwa inherits a family condition that causes him to turn into his alter ego Phantom Thief Dark every time he looks at his crush Risa, and the problem is compounded when Dark develops a passion for Risa’s twin, Riku.
Translated from the Japanese.
“This book is printed ‘manga-style’ in the authentic Japanese right-to-left format”
Amazon.com Review
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Finally! DNAngel is here!, April 9, 2004
By R. Dauthi “Raph” (Texas) – See all my reviews
DNAngel is one of the most highly anticipated series on Tokyopop’s large manga line-up, and for very good reason. This is the manga that started the hit anime series; and to be blunt (and just because double negatives amuse me), the anime series ain’t got nothin’ on the manga.
The story revolves around Daisuke Niwa, your everyday ‘normal’ kid. That is, he’s ‘normal’ until his fourteenth birthday, in which he then proceeds to turn into the legendary thief Dark, complete with a very cool persona and a nice pair of black wings to boot, everytime he looks at his crush, Risa Harada. Of course, the last thing poor little Daisuke wants to do is live the life of a thief, and the only way to stop this family ‘curse’ is to make Risa fall in love with him. But that’s easier said than done. To top it all off, there’s another twist: Daisuke’s alter-ego Dark has a crush on Riku Harada…Risa’s twin! And when Dark sees HIS crush, he quickly changes right back to Daisuke.
O what a tangled web we weave.
If the cover doesn’t give it away, a look into the pages of the manga will…the art is absolutely wonderful. High-quality. Top-notch. The manga-ka has obviously paid painfully detailed attention to every single panel, and the result definitely pays off. The script is also very good, something that I’ve come to expect from Tokyopop now.
Check out this manga. It’s beautiful, it’s funny, it has a great plot (which foreshadows more to come), and it’s just plain addictive.
March 9, 2009 at 8:25 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
March 9-13, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
ADHD & me : what I learned from lighting fires at the dinner table by Blake Taylor
From the biography section: teenager Blake Taylor chronicles his experiences with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder since the age of three, discussing his challenges and providing guidance for others.
Amazon.com Review
From Publishers Weekly
A college freshman this fall, Taylor was five when he was diagnosed with ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He’s been medicated all these years, but even when he remembered to take his pills, that’s only been a small part of his learning to cope with ADHD. Taylor’s still more impulsive, more hyperactive and more open to distractions than others. He can also be more energetic and more passionate than anyone else. He has learned to see his neurological differences as a mixed blessing—yes, he’s obsessive, but channeled toward a good cause, that can translate to hyperfocused. He veers off the subject, but that can spur creativity, thinking outside the box. Taylor relates the stories of his ADHD mishaps in no special order—how he set fire to the dining room in ninth grade, how he was bullied in sixth grade, how he was victimized by his first-grade teacher—as if to emphasize that a variety of problems can always happen. After describing each incident, he follows up with a cause and effect discussion of what he learned from what went wrong, followed by a solutions section, a few brief tips for other kids to try. Taylor speaks to fellow teens and their families with an authority few experts can muster. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
March 16, 2009 at 9:15 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
March 16-20, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
You, maybe : the profound asymmetry of love in high school
by Rachel Vail
Josie, a fifteen-year-old high school sophomore, is smart, funny, and very much her own person, but when popular senior Carson Gold starts wooing her, she cannot resist his attention.
Amazon.com Review
From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up–Josie is an independent, self-assured sophomore who doesn’t care what anyone thinks about her–until Carson Gold, senior and hottest guy around, suddenly shows an interest. Neither Josie nor her best friends quite understand why she tentatively indulges his attention. At first, she makes out with both Carson and Michael, her neighbor and longtime best friend, following her own philosophy of not getting too involved with one person. Though her friends discourage the relationship, pointing to Carson’s fame as a heartbreaker, Josie still finds herself falling for him and his lifestyle. She begins to dress to impress and alters her behavior to fit in with the Beautiful People. Pleased to see Josie taking an interest in her appearance, and also impressed by Carson, her mother approves Josie’s request to go on a trip with him and his friends. Several traumatic events during the weekend lead Josie to rediscover what is really important to her. Ultimately, she proves that she is the bright, secure person her friends have always admired. Throughout her first-person narrative, confident vs. insecure Josie argues with herself about all of her relationships, giving readers a true glimpse of her confusion. Her friends are realistically portrayed and their reactions to her romance add to the story’s development. Josie shows what often happens to a smart, young woman when a charismatic young man starts paying attention to her. This cautionary tale begs to be read by girls everywhere, before, during, and after they fall in love.–Linda L. Plevak, Saint Mary’s Hall, San Antonio, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
March 23, 2009 at 8:21 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
March 23-27, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
The Graveyard book
by Neil Gaiman
The Graveyard book is this year’s Newbery Award Winner. It is the story of the orphan Bod, short for Nobody, who is taken in by the inhabitants of a graveyard as a child of eighteen months and raised lovingly and carefully to the age of eighteen years by the community of ghosts and otherworldly creatures.
Amazon.com Review
In The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman has created a charming allegory of childhood. Although the book opens with a scary scene–a family is stabbed to death by “a man named Jack” –the story quickly moves into more child-friendly storytelling. The sole survivor of the attack–an 18-month-old baby–escapes his crib and his house, and toddles to a nearby graveyard. Quickly recognizing that the baby is orphaned, the graveyard’s ghostly residents adopt him, name him Nobody (“Bod”), and allow him to live in their tomb. Taking inspiration from Kipling’s The Jungle Book, Gaiman describes how the toddler navigates among the headstones, asking a lot of questions and picking up the tricks of the living and the dead. In serial-like episodes, the story follows Bod’s progress as he grows from baby to teen, learning life’s lessons amid a cadre of the long-dead, ghouls, witches, intermittent human interlopers. A pallid, nocturnal guardian named Silas ensures that Bod receives food, books, and anything else he might need from the human world. Whenever the boy strays from his usual play among the headstones, he finds new dangers, learns his limitations and strengths, and acquires the skills he needs to survive within the confines of the graveyard and in wider world beyond. (ages 10 and up) -–Heidi Broadhead
Review
“”The Graveyard Book manages the remarkable feat of playing delightful jazz riffs on Kipling’s classic Jungle Books. One might call this book a small jewel, but in fact it’s much bigger within than it looks from the outside.” — Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn
“After finishing The Graveyard Book, I had only one thought — I hope there’s more. I want to see more of the adventures of Nobody Owens, and there is no higher praise for a book.” — Laurell K. Hamilton, author of the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter novels
“It takes a graveyard to raise a child. My favorite thing about this book was watching Bod grow up in his fine crumbly graveyard with his dead and living friends. The Graveyard Book is another surprising and terrific book from Neil Gaiman.” — Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler’s Wife
“The Graveyard Book is endlessly inventive, masterfully told and, like Bod himself, too clever to fit into only one place. This is a book for everyone. You will love it to death.” — Holly Black, co–creator of The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Graveyard Book is everything everyone loves about Neil Gaiman, only multiplied many times over, a novel that showcases his effortless feel for narrative, his flawless instincts for suspense, and above all, his dark, almost silky sense of humor — Joe Hill, author of Heart–Shaped Box
April 6, 2009 at 9:32 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
April 6-10, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
The Hunger games
by Suzanne Collins
Set in the not to distant future – sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen accidentally becomes a contender in the annual Hunger Games, a grave competition hosted by the Capitol where young boys and girls are pitted against one another in a televised fight to the death.
Amazon.com Review
From Booklist:
*Starred Review* This is a grand-opening salvo in a new series by the author of the Underland Chronicles. Sixteen-year-old Katniss poaches food for her widowed mother and little sister from the forest outside the legal perimeter of District 12, the poorest of the dozen districts constituting Panem, the North American dystopic state that has replaced the U.S. in the not-too-distant future. Her hunting and tracking skills serve her well when she is then cast into the nation’s annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death where contestants must battle harsh terrain, artificially concocted weather conditions, and two teenaged contestants from each of Panem’s districts. District 12’s second “tribute” is Peeta, the baker’s son, who has been in love with Katniss since he was five. Each new plot twist ratchets up the tension, moving the story forward and keeping the reader on edge. Although Katniss may be skilled with a bow and arrow and adept at analyzing her opponents’ next moves, she has much to learn about personal sentiments, especially her own. Populated by three-dimensional characters, this is a superb tale of physical adventure, political suspense, and romance. Grades 9-12. –Francisca Goldsmith
April 13, 2009 at 9:16 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
April 13-17, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
Barack Obama: the politics of hope
by William Michael Davis
Chronicles the life of President Barack Obama, discussing his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia, schooling, thoughts on race and identity, political career, 2008 presidential campaign, and other related topics.
Customer review from
Amazon.com
5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkably extensive biography for young adults about the charismatic African-American state senator, November 4, 2007
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) – See all my reviews
Part of the “Shapers of America” series, Barack Obama: The Politics of Hope is a remarkably extensive biography for young adults about the charismatic African-American state senator from Illinois who has become one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent figures. Tracing the journey of his life from Hawaii and Indonesia to Harvard Law School, Chicago’s South Side, and the halls of Congress, Barack Obama is illustrated throughout with black-and-white as well as color photography. Chapter notes and an index round out this highly accessible resource especially recommended for school and community library collections.
April 20, 2009 at 9:27 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
April 20-24, 2009
This week we present:
The most checked out books from 3rd Quarter
#1 Kissing Coffins by Ellen Schreiber
Book 2 in the Vampire Kisses Series
Sixteen-year-old Raven, a vampire-obsessed goth girl, searches for her true love, Alexander, who she has learned is a real vampire.
#2 Zigzag by Ellen Wittlinger
A high-school junior makes a trip with her aunt and two cousins, discovering places she did not know existed and strengths she did not know she had.
Tied for #3
Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
Cal Thompson is a carrier of a parasite that causes vampirism, and must hunt down all of the girlfriends he has unknowingly infected.
Impulse by Ellen Hopkins
Three teens who meet at Reno, Nevada’s Aspen Springs mental hospital after each has attempted suicide connect with each other in a way they never have with their parents or anyone else in their lives.
April 27, 2009 at 11:01 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
April 27-May 1, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
Cybele’s Secret
by Juliet Marillier
Scholarly eighteen-year-old Paula and her merchant father journey from Transylvania to Istanbul to buy an ancient pagan artifact rumored to be charmed; but others, including a handsome Portuguese pirate and an envoy from the magical Wildwood, want to acquire the item as well.
Amazon.com Review
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Adult-market fantasist Marillier enlarged her teen following with her first YA novel, Wildwood Dancing (2007), about five Transylvanian sisters with ties to the mercurial Other Kingdom. In this honeyed draught of a companion novel, bookish, 17-year-old Paula travels to Istanbul to assist her father in delicate negotiations for Cybele’s Gift, a pagan totem raising a hue and cry among the city’s Muslim clerics. Every bidder risks danger, so Paula and her father hire a bodyguard, Stoyan, who gradually becomes an active partner in Paula’s efforts to decipher portents from the Other Kingdom—a plotline predicated on the first book’s fairy world building but readily accessible to newcomers. Marillier embroiders Ottoman Empire cultural details into every fold and drape of her story, which also interweaves pirates, eunuchs, hidden currents of feminine power, and turbulent journeys across sea and land. Not every thread is neatly knotted, with slow-burning questions about Stoyan’s long-lost brother and Paula’s exiled sister are too hastily dispatched. Of greater importance to teens, though, will be Paula’s determination to be more than merely “curves and smiles, blushes and modest speech,” and her incremental, often-muddled acknowledgment of her deepening feelings for earthy, solid Stoyan. Teens who didn’t know Marillier when they started this sandalwood-scented adventure will rapidly place her alongside the likes of romantic-fantasy idols Shannon Hale and Sharon Shinn. Grades 7-10. –Jennifer Mattson
May 4, 2009 at 8:48 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
May 4-8, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
The Singing: the fourth book of Pellinor
by Allison Croggon
This book presents a stunning conclusion to the epic “Pellinor” series – four books telling an extraordinary tale of another world. “The Singing” follows the separate journeys of Maerad and Cadvan, and their brother Hem, as they desperately seek each other in an increasingly battle-torn land. The Black Army is moving north and Maerad has a mighty confrontation with the Landrost to save Innail. All the Seven Kingdoms are being threatened with defeat. Yet Maerad and Hem hold the key to the mysterious Singing and only in releasing the music of the Elidhu together may the Nameless One be defeated. Can brother and sister find each other in time to fight the Nameless One, and are they strong enough to defeat him?
Books one, two and three are also available in our library.
http://www.alisoncroggon.com/fantasy/
Alison Croggon’s acclaimed fantasy quartet, The Books of Pellinor, has been steadily growing in popularity worldwide since the first volume was released in Australia in 2002.
The story begins with The Gift (published in the US as The Naming), which was shortlisted for two Aurealis Awards, and continues with The Riddle and The Crow. Since its initial publication, it’s been released in the UK and in the States, where the series has received critical raves and popular acclaim. The saga continues with the release of the Pellinor series in Germany in 2007 and 2008.
Part IV, The Singing, the final book in the series, is now out in Australia and is due in September in the UK and March 2009 in the US.
May 11, 2009 at 9:21 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
May 11-15, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
Knucklehead : tall tales & mostly true stories about growing up Scieszka
by Jon Scieszka
Presents a memoir of what it was like to grow up in the 1950s and other almost true stories by American children’s author Jon Scieszka.
How did Jon Scieszka get so funny, anyway? Growing up as one of six brothers was a good start, but that was just the beginning. Throw in Catholic school, lots of comic books, lazy summers at the lake with time to kill, babysitting misadventures, TV shows, jokes told at family dinner, and the result is Knucklehead. Part memoir, part scrapbook, this hilarious trip down memory lane provides a unique glimpse into the formation of a creative mind and a free spirit.
Listen as author Jon Scieszka reads from and talks about his book Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka.
http://media.barnesandnoble.com/?fr_story=b02ae0773f053121d289290eb8e715f39ea0b9d6&rf=sitemap
May 18, 2009 at 8:32 am
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
May 18-22, 2009
This week’s book is titled:
Stolen in the night: the true story of a family’s murder,
a kidnapping and the child who survived
by Gary C. King
Joseph Duncan had been convicted of raping and torturing a 14-year-old boy in Tacoma, Washington. On the Internet he proudly boasted of his perversions. But the system turned Duncan loose, and no one would stop him from committing an even more horrifying act…
This time, he prepared meticulously. He chose his getaway car. He chose his murder weapon and loaded a video camera. Then, when he saw young Shasta and Dylan Groene playing outside their Idaho home, he struck—killing their mother and her boyfriend, and their older brother…and vanishing into the night with Shasta and Dylan.
Detectives pored over the bloody murder scene. The FBI scrambled to find the children and the abductor. And even when Duncan was finally located, the story was not yet over: Dylan was still missing…and the depth of one man’s evil was still coming horribly to light….
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October 7, 2008 at 2:32 pm
***Now appearing at the LHS Library***
Each week I will highlight one of the new books that we have received this year.
These books are available for checkout from our library.
The first book is titled Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson. A National Bestseller with starred reviews, it is the story of three girls from very different backgrounds who are thrown together to pick peaches in a Georgia orchard. Birdie would rather eat Thin Mints and sulk in the A/C than be out picking peaches. Leeda would prefer to sneak off with her boyfriend Rex. And Murphy would much rather cause a little mischief. They spend the summer in pursuit of the right boy, the truest of friends and the perfect peach.
A review from Booklist on Amazon states:
Gr. 8-11. Anderson’s debut reads like a first cousin to Ann Brashares’ Traveling Pants series. Here, rather than the perfect pair of jeans, it’s an intoxicating peach orchard that works its magic on three teens, brought together to pick fruit in the summer before their last year of high school. Shy, awkward Birdie, the homeschooled daughter of the Darlington Orchard’s owners; Leeda, Birdie’s gorgeous, wealthy, “kind of cold and uptight” cousin; and restless, rebellious Murphy discover in one another a strong, unlikely friendship that helps each girl move past her own limitations and open herself to thrilling possibilities. The Darlington’s financial troubles, overtures from a sleazy developer, and several dreamy romantic interests add tension and intrigue to the friendship story. Interspersed vignettes of momentous scenes from the orchard’s past add to the setting’s mysterious aura, and Anderson’s vivid descriptions of the scented rows of trees, buzzing with heat and life, echo the restlessness of her well-drawn teen characters. A charming, breezy choice for strong and reluctant readers alike. Gillian Engberg Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved