Thursday, July 8, 2010

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Val created the Hate List with her boyfriend, Nick, who used it as a hit list in a school shooting. Though Val had a hand in creating the list, she tried to stop Nick and was wounded in the process. This gut-wrenching, powerful novel explores Val's guilt and recovery from this horrific incident.
MA

Friday, May 14, 2010

Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve

Fever Crumb is a most unusual member of the Order of Engineers. That her eyes are different colors is one thing, but the fact that she is female is exceptionally strange. In fact Fever is the only female member of the Order. When Kit Solent, an ex-Engineer, asks for help with his newest archeological find, the Order sends Fever, both because of her unusual nature and her promise as an excellent Engineer. But is it coincidence that she’s mistaken for a Scriven, one of London’s former mutant overlords, the first time she goes out into town? And what of the strange memories that surface once Fever begins working with Kit?
Whether you’ve already read the Hungry City Chronicles and want to know more of the history, or if you’re looking for a post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel, Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve is a great choice.

Jason

Monday, May 10, 2010

The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott

The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott
Everyone knows the unwritten rule: You don’t like your best friend’s boyfriend. Sarah knows that and she doesn’t want to like Ryan but she just can’t help it. She’s liked him forever. Except now Ryan is dating Sarah’s beautiful best friend Brianna and Sarah must accept their relationship and forget about him. But something happens one night that makes Sarah question everything from her loyalty and friendship with Brianna to the depths of her feelings for Ryan.

Kimberly

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr



15-year-old Sam has always been defined as the pastor’s daughter. But not all is well behind closed doors. Under the pressure of being a pastor’s wife, Sam’s mother is an alcoholic who after one too many DUI’s is now in treatment. But it’s not a fact that Sam wants her friends (who often don’t invite her along to less questionable activities – you know – the whole being the pastor’s daughter thing) to know about nor is it something that Sam and her father openly talk about with each other.
It is during this crisis in her family that her community faces a crisis of its own. A young girl in the church has mysteriously gone missing and no one is free from suspicion including her own father and the girl’s older brother, whom Sam has always crushed on. This family and community crisis shakes Sam to her inner-core where she also experiences her own personal crisis – one that questions her faith, hope, and belief in something that is bigger than she is.

for a great rad, try Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr.

Karen

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

No one from the Outside enters and no one from the Inside escapes. Incarceron is a living prison that controls the fate of its prisoners and, for the past three years, it is the only world Finn has known. With no recollection of his life before prison, Finn must rely on Claudia, a girl from the outside, to help him escape and discover his past, but Claudia has perils of her own to face, namely her father, the Warden of Incarceron, and an arranged marriage to the future king of the realms. Will Incarceron allow them to escape their destinies or will the mysteries of Incarceron destroy them both?

Kimberly

Monday, January 18, 2010

Printz Award Winners for 2010

2010 Printz Award winners 2010
The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association.

Going Bovine
by Libba Bray
YA BRAY

2010 Printz Honor Books
The committee also named four Printz Honor Books:

Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith
by Deborah Heiligman
Biog. DARWIN
Once Charles Darwin sets his rational mind to marry the religious Emma Wedgeworth, they both must take a leap of faith in order to build a life together.

The Monstrumologist
by Rick Yancey
YA YANCEY
Will Henry, orphan and assistant to a monstrumologist, races against time to save his town (and himself) from the anthropophagi, a pod of monstrous creatures who prey on humans.

Punkzilla
by Adam Rapp
YA RAPP
Fourteen-year-old runaway Jamie, homeless and strung out, embarks on a harrowing journey to reach his dying brother.

Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973
by John Barnes
Karl Shoemaker wants to begin his senior year with a new identity separate from his counseling group, his alcoholic mother and the legacy of his dead father.

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/printzaward/Printz.cfm

Monday, January 11, 2010

Sometimes the truth is a long way down.

As the book jacket states, "What really happened on the cliff that night? Three students went up to the cliff -- but only two came back alive." Find out what really happened to Russell and why Luke and Hayden have to come to terms with the decisions they made and the following consequences.
Freefall by Ariella Anhalt. 9th-12th grades. YA ANHALT