The Librarian Writer

Title: Winger Author: Andrew Smith Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Publication Date: May 14, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-1442444928 448 pp. ARC provided by publisher This book should come with a disclaimer. Something like WARNING: May cause spontaneous laughter. May also cause uncontrollable weeping. Winger by Andrew Smith starts off as a boarding school romp about a 14-year-old genius who plays rugby and dreams about dating his best friend, Annie, who seems out of his league because she's two years older. Ryan Dean (that's his first name) narrates the story of his junior year at a fancypants private school in the Pacific Northwest. His rugby nickname is Winger and though he call himself a skinny-ass bitch, he never backs down from a fight. He is hilarious in his accounts of life at school and they're often punctuated by the comics he draws. What could have been a delightfully fun story about Ryan Dean and his pursuit of Annie and surviv...

Title: The Theory of Everything Author: Kari Luna Publisher: Philomel Publication Date: July 11, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0399256264 320 pp. ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley With a cover like this, you hope that the book will be as fun as it promises. Thankfully, The Theory of Everything by Kari Luna delivers on that promise. Sophie Sophia is a fourteen year old girl who moves into a new town with her mom. Again. Ever since Sophie's genius physicist dad disappeared, Sophie has been having hallucinations, or "episodes", where hearts roll off of sleeves or the school cafeteria becomes a Ramones rock video. Then Sophie meets Walt, her shaman panda, who is supposed to help guide her. Guide her to what, Sophie isn't sure, but she hopes it's her dad. Along the way, Sophie befriends Finny, who becomes her gay BFF, and cute boy Drew, who holds out a hope of normalcy for Sophie. The Theory of Everything is cute, quirky, and a mixed tape of BIG IDE...

Title: The Lord of Opium Author: Nancy Farmer Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers Publication Date: September 3, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-1442482548 432 pp. ARC provided by publisher I'm back from my summer hiatus and so happy to be able to review this book for you! I'm a huge fan of The House of Scorpion , which I listened to on audio , and am thrilled that Nancy Farmer is continuing Matt's story. I don't think it's much of a secret now that Matt is actually the clone of an evil drug lord known as El Patron and Matt was raised to be his organ donor. El Patron dies at the end of The House of Scorpion and Matt becomes the new Lord of Opium.   The Lord of Opium literally starts the next day after The House of Scorpion ends. If you haven't read The House of Scorpion , you can follow along well enough, but I highly suggest reading The House of Scorpion first. It's a different type of storytelling because it starts when Matt is very y...