The Librarian Writer

Hey everyone! Summertime is the perfect opportunity to catch up on the Teens' Top Ten nominees. Check out the video below for the 2016 nominees. Happy reading!

Title: Secret Coders Author: Gene Luen Yang Illustrator: Mike Holmes Publisher: First Second Publication Date: September 29, 2015 ISBN-13: 978-1626720756 96 pp. ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley Secret Coders is exactly the kind of book I love to booktalk, especially when promoting Summer Reading Club. It has a mystery, it has a diverse cast, it has basketball, it has a friendship theme, and it has STEM. And best of all, it's a graphic novel. Graphic novels are my go-to booktalk because they appeal to kids who say they don't like to read. These kids may have reading difficulties, they may be English learners, or maybe they just haven't found the right book yet. But a graphic novel, especially one like Secret Coders , has the visual appeal to grab their interest and keep them turning pages. Mike Holmes delivers a lively and cartoony style. His artwork during the coding explanations are clear and accessible. Secret Coders is the first in a se...

Title: The Sculptor Author: Scott McCloud Publisher: First Second Publication Date: February 3, 2015 ISBN-13: 978-1596435735 496 pp. ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley Comic book authority Scott McCloud wrote and illustrated the graphic novel The Sculptor , his first work of fiction in over 20 years. The fact that it's already in development for a film should give you a clue that it's a hot property. David is the titular sculptor, a once-rising artist in the New York art scene. But he's kind of a dick and he alienates his patron and most of his friends. Now he's broke and desperate. So, of course, he makes a deal with a devil. The Sculptor is an amazing piece of work, a Faustian tale for the 21st century. David is flawed, certainly, but flawed in the way most artistic types are. He cares more about art than people. But then he meets Meg, an aspiring actress, with flaws of her own, and David begins to regret his deal with the devil. Readers...

Title: Wildlife Author: Fiona Wood Publisher: Poppy Publication Date: September 16, 2014 ISBN-13: 978-0316242097 400 pp. ARC provided by publisher Wildlife is Australian author Fiona Wood's US debut, and my love for Australian YA grows. Wildlife is a dual narration novel, with Sibylla telling one story and Lou telling another. Both live in the same dorm during a wilderness semester at school, which is a pretty interesting background to begin with. The teens are supposed to learn appreciation for nature and self-reliance, but of course they learn so much more. Sibylla is a bit of nerd, but recently became popular due to a fluke that got her a modelling gig. Now cute-boy Ben is unofficially her boyfriend and out in the woods, kissing may become something more. Lou is an outsider, literally and figuratively. She's the new girl at school and she deliberately pushes away any attempts at friendship. That's because Lou has had her heart broken, in the mos...

Title: El Deafo Author: Cece Bell Publisher: Harry N. Abrams Publication Date: September 2, 2014 ISBN-13: 978-1419712173 248 pp. ARC provided by publisher I am so happy that Cece Bell's El Deafo got some Newbery love as it was named an Honor Winner earlier this month. This graphic novel is funny, sweet, honest, touching, and true. It deserves all the accolades and awards and fans that it has. Cece Bell got meningitis when she was four years old and became profoundly deaf. She has used this life experience to create El Deafo , which was the nickname she gave herself. She went to a regular school and to help her hear the teacher, she wore a Phonic Ear. The device amplified the teacher's voice, but unknown the the teacher, Cece was able to hear the teacher wherever she went throughout the school. Including the bathroom! Cece thought of this as her superhero power, but it was a secret power that she didn't share with anyone. She was ashamed of the Phonic...

Title: Teen Titans: Earth One, Volume 1 Author: Jeff Lemire Illustrators: Rachael Dodson & Terry Dodson Publisher: DC Comics Publication Date: November 25, 2014 ISBN-13: 978-1401245566 144 pp. ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley I cannot begin to tell you how much I LOVED The New Teen Titans . I mean, seriously, this book saved me when I was a teenager. "A freak among freaks," Vic Stone says in the first issue and I knew this comic was for me. One of my proudest moments was getting a Letter to the Editor published. And here's me with Marv Wolfman at ComicCon a few years back: Marv Wolfman was instrumental in defining my story sense, taught me how to develop character arcs, and showed me how comics could be smart, funny, and incredibly human. Plus with George Perez's illustrations, The New Teen Titans was a thing of beauty from the cover to the last panel. Then it started to suck. George left. Stories were boring. And I was in college ...

Title: Panic Author: Lauren Oliver Publisher: HaperCollins Publication Date: March 4, 2014 ISBN-13: 978-0062014559 416 pp. ARC provided by publisher Panic by Lauren Oliver is a YA contemporary about a group of teens in a high-stakes game of dares. They live in a crappy town and the money that seniors are forced to pony up throughout the school year goes to the winner of Panic. Because, apparently, in this town, no one is smart enough or athletic enough to get a scholarship. Or, you know, a part-time job. I know that sounds harsh, but if you're willing to buy into the premise, Panic is a fast read. It's told from the POV of Heather, a girl who's trying to protect her sister from their druggie mom, and Dodge, a guy who's out for revenge. There are secrets among the players, most of them obvious. But there is also action, as the players have to go through contests that test their fearlessness. These are probably the best parts of the book, as I caught ...

Celebrate Teen Literature was on Thursday, and YALSA announced this year's nominees for Teens' Top Ten. This is a teen choice list, selected by participating teen book groups throughout the country, and their top 25 titles are this year's nominees. Starting in August, any teen can vote online for their favorite nominee and the final Top Ten will be announced during Teen Read Week in October. I promote Teens' Top Ten nominees as much as I can in the library because I know these are books that teens already love. I already had most of the nominees on the shelves and only had to order a few to round out the list. But what I found interesting is that the few I hadn't ordered had mixed or even bad reviews from the publications I use most to select books - Kirkus , Publishers Weekly , School Library Journal , and VOYA . The main complaint with the reviewers was that they couldn't connect with the main character, and therefore, couldn't connect to the sto...

Title: The Ocean at the End of the Lane Author: Neil Gaiman Narrated by: Neil Gaiman Publisher: HarperAudio Publication Date: June 18, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0062263032 Listening copy via public library I've written before about my love for Neil Gaiman (and Doctor Who) and fans will not be disappointed by Neil's latest work. The Ocean at the End of the Lane has tropes familiar to both the author and the Doctor: a thing that is bigger in the inside, transformation of a harmless thing into a creature of terror, an offer to help that is spurned and will lead to the creature's ultimate demise. And while it is not a groundbreaking work, it is still a delightful mix of the eerie and the everyday. The unnamed protagonist remembers a time when he was seven years old and he meets a strange girl under strange circumstances who lives at the end of the lane. She has a pond on her farm that she calls an ocean, and the little boy almost believes her. Together, they ...

Title: Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock Author: Matthew Quick Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Publication Date: August 13, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0316221337 288 pp. ARC provided by publisher Matthew Quick has had a lot of heat since the film adaptation of Silver Linings Playbooks came out, and I was as eager as anyone to read Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock . It's Leonard Peacock's eighteenth birthday and he plans to go to school and kill his former best friend and then commit suicide. As the day progresses, we learn why Leonard has decided this is the best way to escape the loneliness and hopelessness of his shitty life. His self-absorbed Mom doesn't even remember it's his birthday, so he knows he's not going to get any presents, but he gives presents to four people he thinks of as friends, although he doesn't really have any friends. These four people react to Leonard's gifts in different ways, including anger and suspicion. But one ...

Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays!  I appreciate everyone who stops by this blog and I hope all of you have love, warmth, and laughter to share with others. And I'd like to share this with you: Lil BUB's Yule Log:

I hope you're excited for the announcement of the Teens' Top Ten during the week of October 21st! There were 28 nominees this year and I promoted them with displays and bookmarks at my library. These are proven teen-approved titles that make Readers' Advisory easy-peasy. Many of the titles are part of series, so you can hook a voracious reader with the promise of more awesome books. I haven't gotten to all of the nominees, but you can check out my reviews of Butter , Code Name Verity , Of Poseidon , and The Raven Boys . All of the Teens' Top Ten nominees are included here:

"I don't think Elphaba's that bad." Another crazy busy month is almost over. But I did manage to get some reading in. I finished reading Scarlet by Marissa Meyer and now I'm almost done reading Don't Expect Magic by Kathy McCullough (review forthcoming). In audibooks, I listened to the delightful (and incredibly short) I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. I also listened to Wicked by Gregory Maguire . I haven't seen the musical, but I know a few of the songs and have a rough idea of what it's about. The book is substantially different from what I thought I knew. The novel's world-building is phenomenal and its characters are rich and complex. Elphaba grows up to be the Wicked Witch of the West, but "wicked" is a dubious term. The novel starts shortly before her birth and continues to her inevitable death. Elphaba is outcast from the moment she's born because of her green skin. But when she makes the wrong choices, does it...

"Patrick Stewart should play the Major." I'm starting to get slammed at work with planning summer reading and other programming, so I haven't been able to read as much as I'd like. I am almost done with Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, Book 2 in The Lunar Chronicles. It's been a lot of fun so far and a review will be forthcoming. In audiobooks, I took a break from YA books last month. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson has been on my TBR pile for awhile, so I decided to listen to it instead. What a charming story! It hits every Anglophile button for me. There's wit and social satire and quaint village life and romance. In this case, the romance is between sixty-something Major Pettigrew and his Pakistani neighbor, Mrs. Ali, who runs the village shop. Both are widowed and what starts out as a friendship turns into something more. Of course there are obstacles, most notably Mrs. Ali's nephew and Major Pettigrew's country club f...

"Wasn't this supposed to be a 3-hour tour?" I hope 2013 is treating you well so far! I'm still behind on some book reviews, but I hope to catch up on those later this month. The most recent book I've added to my to-be-reviewed pile is Altered by Jennifer Rush. Also on the to-be-reviewed pile is Safekeeping by Karen Hesse. I've barely cracked open the first few chapters of Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, but lots of fun packed into those beginning pages. Lately, I've had some trouble with audiobooks (the downside to borrowing them from the library is that you can get a couple of discs in and then get a disc that WILL NOT PLAY). *sigh* But I did get to listen to the complete audiobook of Nation by Terry Pratchett. Librarian confession: I've never actually read a Terry Pratchett novel before. Love Doug Adams and Neil Gaiman, but Terry Pratchett has escaped me. So happy I finally got a chance to experience Terry Pratchett with Nation . It'...

Title: Tune Book 1: Vanishing Point Author: Derek Kirk Kim Publisher: FirstSecond Publication Date: November 13, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-1596435162 160 pp. ARC via Netgalley Another graphic novel book review for graphic novel fans! Derek Kirk Kim's Tune is a webcomic about Andy Go, an art school drop-out whose life gets considerably worse and wacky after he meets a couple of aliens. Tune Book 1: Vanishing Point is the print version of the first ten chapters of Andy's adventure. Chances are you know at least one person who is like Andy, a pop culture geek who thinks he's talented enough to drop out of school and become successful overnight. When that doesn't happen, Andy is pressured to find a job, any job, by his parents. Having realized that he is qualified for absolutely nothing, Andy decides to apply for a job at a zoo. Except he doesn't know that this zoo is in another dimension and he's the exhibit. And, oh yeah, he finds his long-time cr...

"Damn, I feel sorry for Death." I know this entry is long overdue. Been busy, busy with all sort of projects (more about that later). But in October (remember way back then?) , I did manage to finish Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein ( book review here ) and I started Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough (book review pending). I also listened to the audiobook of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Narrated by Death, it's the story of a young German girl during World War II. And it's a bit awkward crying your eyes out while you're stopped at a light. Hard to explain to the car next to you that this story is just so ... no word adequately explains the punch to the solar plexus this book delivers. But I do have a bonus video of Markus Zusak explaining how the book came to be. Bonus video: Markus Zusak talks about The Book Thief Happy reading!

As I've mentioned before on the blog, I'm a Neil Gaiman fan . And you should be, too. So here's some free, cool stuff to get you started. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Neil Gaiman's award-winning Coraline , you can enjoy listening to the entire novel, one chapter at a time, as read Neil, Lemony Snicket, Adam Rex, Holly Black, and other famous authors. Coraline is the story of a young girl who moves into a ramshackle house and discovers a doorway to an alternate reality that's a little too perfect. There's a talking cat and a witch, but this ain't Narnia. If that's not enough awesome for you, Neil is offering a free download of his short story, " Click-Clack the Rattlebag ," as performed by Neil, on Audible.com. Plus, Audible will donate $1 for each free download to DonorsChoose.org if you dowload by October 31. And Neil also started All Hallow's Read , which is a new Halloween tradition where you give someone a scary b...

"I'd change my name to Lola."  Oh, August, with your heat and humidity, I can't say I'm sorry to say good-bye to you. It was a pretty good reading month, though. I read Send Me a Sign by Tiffany Schmidt (review pending) and I'm almost finished with Amish-meets-vampires horrorfest The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle. I also got onto the audiobook bandwagon. They are the perfect antidote to road rage during my commute. For starters, I listened to Jesse Eisenberg do a good job as Cassel in Holly Black's White Cat. I also listened to What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen . It's a nominated Teens' Top Ten book, and I can see why. The books centers on McLean, a girl whose parents have gone through a bitter divorce and who recreates herself each time she moves into a new town with her dad. Until the one town where she ends up having to be herself. Whoever that is. Bonus video: Sarah Dessen talks about What Happened to Goodbye Happy ...

"I'm glad I'm off the grid." --> June turned out to be a month of middles. I finished reading Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear (review pending), but mostly got to the middle of other books I’m reading. I did finish A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but that hardly counts because it’s a novella. And now I’m in the middle of The Sign of Four . I’m in the middle of Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. This book is one that I come to every now and then for inspiration rather than something I want to barrel right through. I’m in the middle of Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. I downloaded this title ages ago when I found it was available for free , but never got around to reading it. I did finally get around to transferring it from my computer to my Nook, so hopefully I’ll finish it soon(ish).   Here's a bonus video of Cory talking about Little Brother :