Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Most Popular Reads for Teens from 2009

The following is a list of the most popular teen reads in Bartlett.
Good-by 2009. Hello 2010! Happy Reading

Friday, December 11, 2009

I am a GENIUS!

Do you know someone just like this character? Oliver Watson has everyone convinced that he is extremely stupid and lazy, but he is actually a very wealthy, evil genius. When he decides to run for seventh-grade class president, nothing will stand in his way.

Jon Stewart from the Daily Show on television describes the story of Oliver this way: "If War and Peace had a baby with the Breakfast Club an then left the baby to be raised by wolves, this book would be the result. I loved it."

I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I want to be your Class President by Josh Lieb

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Angry Management by Chris Crutcher

Mr. Nak's Angry Management group is a place for misfits and their stories. Three characters from Crutcher’s novels tell their stories with raw emotion as they face insecurity, anger, and prejudice as well as love, freedom, power and surviving. Fans of edgy realistic fiction will want to read this Angry Management!

Leona

Friday, October 30, 2009

If you liked Hunger Games . . .

You're going to love Catching Fire,the second in the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

We all have a pretty good idea that the title, Catching Fire, has to do with radical ideas that ignite into revolution in this futuristic dystopia, but without spoiling the story, wait till you see what the title also means! The pin Katniss wears to her first hunger game symbolizes many things as well. Adventure, survival, political suspense, and conflicted romance are what binds this story to our hearts. There are many rewards for the reader in this sequel that imaginatively recaps the first book without weighing down the sequel. Be sure to put your name on the reserve list for this popular book. Now we can't wait for the third and final page-turner in this series.
Leona

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Do identical twins really share something special?

Do identical twins really share something special?

Meredith and Mallory Brynn are mirror twins born on either side of midnight one New Year's Eve. They have always been inseparable. However, in many ways they are very different. One is shy and the other outgoing. One is athletic and the other is delicate. It is as if they are each half of a perfect whole. And they share everything…

But just before the girls’ 13th birthdays, Mallory dreams about dying in a house fire—a vision her sister doesn’t share. After they are nearly killed in this mysterious fire, the bond that has always joined them unravels. They begin to have visions and dreams that reveal the deep secrets kept by the people around them.

Meredith and Mallory realize they have each been given a gift: Mallory can see deep into the past, Meredith can see the future. But when they discover that one boy is not what they imagined, they know their lives will be changed forever. If they survive...

Find out what happens to the twins in the first of a new series, The Midnight Twins, by Jacquelyn Mitchard.

Karen

Midnight Twins by Jacquelyn Mitchard Young Adult MIT

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Found a new book by Margaret Haddix

Thirteen years ago a very mysterious event occurred at an airport. Suddenly, a jet plane materialized at a gateway. Aboard the plane there were thirty-six babies. No crew. No adults. This bizarre occurence was covered-up by the government, which secretly placed the babies in adoptive homes. Their new parents did not know that there was anything unusual about their children.

Jonah was one of these adopted children. Now a seventh grader, Jonah began receiving strange messages in the mail. The first one read, "You are one of the missing." The second message was more threatening, "Beware! They're coming back to get you." Jonah's friend Chip who didn't know he was adopted until now, also receives the messages. Chip, Jonah, and Jonah's sister Katherine decide to investigate and they locate more thirteen-year-old adopted children right in their area. Events soon turn terrifying.

This is a great beginning to a new series by Margaret Peterson Haddix, author of Among the Hidden and many other popular novels.

Found by Margaret Haddix - J HADDIX

Karen

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Punkzilla

Told in a series of letters, Punkzilla follows the exploits of fourteen-year-old Jamie, who is taking buses and hitchhiking from Portland, Oregon to Memphis, Tennessee to visit his terminally ill brother. Along the way he meets a series of bizarre characters, some of whom want to help him and some who would rather take advantage of Jamie’s youth and vulnerability out on the road. He even ends up taking a trip to Santa’s Village in nearby East Dundee with a troubled woman. Jamie also recounts the unpleasant experiences he was subjected to at a military academy and how he went AWOL from there. This edgy novel is not for the faint of heart but is sure to keep adventurous readers turning pages.

John

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Looking for a good mystery? Peeled!

Hildy is looking for a chance to prove herself and finds her opportunity as a reporter for the high school newspaper. She is drawn to the town’s biggest story surrounding the haunting of the old Ludlow house. The mystery unfolds as Hildy takes a deeper look into eerie happenings and ghostly sightings to find the truth.

Bauer, Joan. Peeled. Gr. 6-10 Young Adult BAU

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Ghost of Spirit Bear

After a year in exile on an Alaskan island as punishment for severely beating a fellow student, Cole Matthews returns to school in Minneapolis having made peace with himself and his victim--but he finds that surviving the violence and hatred of high school is even harder than surviving in the wilderness.

Mikaelsen, Ben. Ghost of Spirit Bear. Gr. 5-8 Young Adult MIK

Monday, June 8, 2009

The Hand You're Dealt by Paul Volponi

When Huck Porter's dad suddenly dies, it feels like nothing will ever make sense again. Huck's "best friend" thinks that Huck should just get over it, the girl he likes won't give him the time of day, and his mom now works all hours at a roadside diner to make ends meet. The only thing that still makes sense for Huck is the game his dad taught him, the game they spent hours playing together: Texas hold'em.
Worse than all of that, though, is Huck's math teacher, Mr. Abbott -- a hungry card shark with an ego to match his appetite. He now wears the local poker tournament's first prize, a silver watch that Huck's dad wore proudly for three years. So Huck hatches a plan to knock Abbott off his throne and win back the watch. Only, bluffing his way into the tournament will mean lying to everyone Huck knows. But as Huck gets deeper in the tournament and starts to lose himself in the cards, he begins to wonder who he'll be when the last hand is played.

Volponi, Paul. The Hand You’re Dealt. Gr. 7-up Young Adult VOL

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Join Now!


Teen Summer Reading Club
Bartlett Public Library District

☺To join Read on the Wild Side! reading program, read a book and then register at the Reference Desk starting June 8 through Aug. 1, 2009.
☺You will receive a prize after reading five, ten, fifteen, and twenty books.
☺Enter the weekly drawings for more prizes.
☺For every five books read, you will also receive a coupon for the final prize drawing.
☺First prize will be a $75 gift certificate to a shopping mall.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Fantasy

If you had the power to kill with your bare hands, what would you do with it?
Graceling takes readers inside the world of Katsa, a warrior-girl in her late teens with one blue eye and one green eye. This gives her haunting beauty, but also marks her as a Graceling. Gracelings are beings with special talents—swimming, storytelling, dancing. Katsa's Grace is considered more useful: her ability to fight (and kill, if she wanted to) is unequaled in the seven kingdoms. Forced to act as a henchman for a manipulative king, Katsa looks for the moral courage to stand up to evil rulers and fight for what is right.

Cashore, Kristin. Graceling. Gr 7-up Young Adult CAS

Love a Mystery?

Bauer, Joan. Peeled. Gr. 6-10 Young Adult BAU

Hildy is looking for a chance to prove herself and finds her opportunity as a reporter for the high school newspaper. She is drawn to the town’s biggest story surrounding the haunting of the old Ludlow house. The mystery unfolds as Hildy takes a deeper look into eerie happenings and ghostly sightings to find the truth.

A New Sisterhood!

Brashares, Ann. 3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows. Gr. 7-up Young Adult BRA

3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows is written by Ann Brashares who wrote the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. In this story we follow three girls who take time over the summer to grow. Polly “plants the seeds” for a glamorous life; Jo “puts down roots” as she spends the summer at her family’s beach house; and Ama finds out what it’s like at a wilderness camp, not the academic camp she had requested. Read 3 Willows to experience the summer with the new sisterhood.

Monday, April 6, 2009

What famous person was born on 2/12/1809?

Pop quiz! What other famous person was born on February 12, 1809? That’s right, it was Charles Darwin.
The biography “Charles and Emma: the Darwins’ Leap of Faith” by Deborah Heiligman shows how Charles’ family life impacted his research. It also depicts the struggle between religion, as represented by devout Emma, and science, as represented by the agnostic Charles, that we still face today. But it provides a beacon of hope, as Charles and Emma were completely devoted to each other and kept open minds regarding each other’s attitudes on the matter. If nonfiction reading is your forte, then be sure to check out this timely title.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Nation by Terry Pratchett

“One person is nothing. Two people are a nation.”

The Wave comes while Mau is returning to his home. He should have come home to his family and friends; he should have become a man. Instead, there is no one, after the wave. Mau is no longer a boy; he left his boy soul on the Boy’s Island. And there is no one left in the Nation to give him his man soul. Mau is alone.

Ermintrude’s journey back to her father aboard the Sweet Judy stops abruptly during the terrible storm at sea. A great wave lifts the vessel and sends it crashing into the forest of an island. Ermintrude is lucky to survive, but no one else aboard does. Except for a parrot which knows some very filthy language indeed.

Mau begins to wonder if the gods have abandoned the Nation, or even existed at all, when he meets the ghost girl, Ermintrude. And soon the two of them together must help the survivors from other nearby islands who are drawn to the fire that Mau keeps burning on the beach. But what if the fire draws the violent Raiders too?

Nation is Terry Pratchett’s most recent novel, and explores ideas of survival and belief with the wit and humor readers of his other books have come to expect.

Jason

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Calling All Caped Crusaders!

We are saving you a front row seat for Russell Lissau's program about how he writes Batman Strikes comics on Saturday, March 7th from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. Lissau will also show you how you can write your own comic using three-act structure, pacing, and the layout process of creating a comic book. It's a lot of fun! This workshop will show you how to write and draw a story of your own in three panels. The audience will also be invited to write the dialogue for -- and letter -- a page from one of Lissau's Batman Strikes issues.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Follow the Pack to the Library!

Deadline Feb 28th
Winter Reading Club 2009
Bartlett Public Library District
Teen Services Department

Prizes
First 5 Books Read
1. Pencil for the first book.
2. Pen for the second book.
3. Wolves Bobble-head figure for the third book.
4. Wolves hat for the fourth book.
5. One Final Drawing Coupon, paperback book (Substitute prizes may be awarded, if supplies run out.)

Additional 5 Books Read
Final Drawing Coupon for each additional five books read.

FINAL DRAWING PRIZES
Drawing will be held Saturday, February 28.
Winners will be notified by phone.
First Prize $30 Gift Certificate to a Bookstore & Wolves tickets
Second Prize $25 Gift Certificate to a Bookstore & Wolves tickets
Third Prize $20 Gift Certificate to a Bookstore & Wolves tickets

Monday, February 9, 2009

Gemma Malley's newest book - The Resistance

Anna and Peter, who first appeared in The Declaration, are now “Legal” and living in London. They are taking care of Anna’s baby brother, Ben, and life is still pretty shaky for them. Even though they are no longer Surpluses, people look at them strangely because of their youth. Strangely and angrily, because even though Longevity drugs give you eternal life, they do not give you eternal youth.

Both Anna and Peter still have ties to the Underground, a network of people who have not signed the Declaration but instead will die naturally. In order to help their cause, Peter takes a job at Pincent Pharma, the company his grandfather owns. The company develops and manufactures Longevity drugs. Peter pretends to have changed to get on his grandfather’s good side and find out what’s going on behind closed doors.

Peter does find out what’s going on. And it’s bad. Very, very bad.

Can Peter, with the help of a few friends and a long-lost half-brother, make a difference? Find out in The Resistance, by Gemma Malley.

Karen

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Meg Cabot's newest...

Emerson Watts is the COMPLETE opposite of all things considered acceptable at her preppy high-school: geeky, game-loving, and not stressed about her looks. She would much rather hang out with her best friend, Christopher, than obsess over the latest fashion trends. And Em is certainly no Nikki Howard, her Cosmo Girl-brainwashed little sister Frieda’s idol, Nikki Howard. Well, Nikki Howard is everything Em hates, supermodel-gorgeous, rich, with a ridiculous line of BFFs following her around. But when Em is forced to chaperone Frieda to the SoHo Stark Megastore opening, she finds her life about to be changed forever. One fatal moment of selflessness will cause Emerson Watts to fall down into a strange new world, never to return. And the Nikki Howards of the world will not be at all as Em expected.
Karen

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Book Break - Book Discussion and Snack

Join us for a book discussion on
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
on Thursday, February 19th from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
in the library meeting room.
Also, we will be comparing and contrasting
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen to The Call of the Wild
on Thursday, February 26th from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
in the library meeting room.
To pick up books for the discussions, stop by the Bartlett Public Library Reference Desk.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Games @ the Library

Last Saturday, we had a great time at Games@ the Library. We played Rock Band on the PS3, DDR on the PS2, and Mario Kart and Monkey Ball on the XBOX. Next time, you should join us! See you over spring break.
Games @ the Library
Monday, March 24th and Tuesday March 25th
from 1-4:00 in the library meeting room.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness



In an age filled with instant messages, social networks, and spam emails, imagine a world where you can hear everyone’s thoughts --- even the dog’s. This is the dystopian world where Todd Hewitt realizes, as he approaches his birthday, that the men in town are hiding something sinister and disturbing from him. As secrets begin to unfold, Todd is forced to run, fight, and survive in the wilderness of a newly colonized planet in his search for safety and truth. But can he do it? Find out in The Knife of Never Letting Go.

Karen