The Librarian Writer

Title: The Leftovers Author: Tom Perrotta Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris Publisher: Macmillan Audio Publication Date: August 30, 2011 Listening copy via library This isn't YA by any means, although older teens might be interested in it because of the upcoming HBO television series . I was interested in it because I grew up in a house where the Rapture was a given and I wanted to see what Tom Perrotta did with it. What he did with it was to make it clear right away that it isn't the Rapture. Some people, readers as well as characters, may argue otherwise, but I think Perrotta wants this to be SOMETHING ELSE. SOMETHINGE ELSE is more challenging than the Rapture because there's no Biblical guideposts for what happens next, no Mark of the Beast, no Anti-Christ, no Apocalpyse. SOMETHING ELSE means life will go on, pretty much as before, if you can get over the loss. And that's what the story is really about. Loss. How people cope, or don't cope, w...

Title: Save the Enemy Author: Arin Greenwood Publisher: Soho Teen Publication Date: November 12, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-1616952594 288 pp. ARC provided by publisher I think the marketing department got this one wrong. If you look at the cover, you'd think it's an intense thriller. But, really, it's a comedy. Zoey Trask is a senior at a private school in Washington, D.C., but she's the New Girl, and she's also the Tragedy Girl, since her mom was recently murdered during a mugging. She has a younger brother who's a somewhat high-functioning autistic and a kooky libertarian dad. She's crushing on cute boy Pete and wondering if she'll get into Berkeley when her dad is kidnapped. The kidnappers are demanding the J-File, although Zoey has no idea what that is. Except her brother has been getting messages in his dreams from their dead mother that help might explain what and where the J-File is. That synopsis sounds like a thriller, right? But Zoey...

Title: Peanut Author: Ayun Halliday Publisher: Schwartz & Wade Publication Date: December 26, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-0375865909 216 pp. ARC provided by publisher Peanut by Ayun Halliday is a graphic novel about a girl transferring to a new high school and who decides to fake a peanut allergy. Why? Because she's the new girl. Again. And a lie gives Sadie a chance to create a persona that fits in. Really, the lie could have been anything, but Sadie thought a peanut allergy would be easy enough to fake. Except it's not. Sadie uses the lie as an opening to talk to others at her new school and finds a group of friends, including cute boy Zoo. She's fitting in and getting comfortable. And that's when the problems start. Her friends are more vigilant about protecting her from her allergy than she is and the school's nurse hounds her for medical information. Sadie wants to come clean, but she's afraid she'll lose everything. Peanut is a fu...