The Librarian Writer

Title: Wildefire Author: Karsten Knight Publisher: Simon & Schuster Publication Date: July 26, 2011 ISBN-13: 978-1442421172 400 pp. Advanced reading copy via Galley Grab Wowohwowohwowohwow. Wildefire grabs you by the throat and doesn't let you go. There's action! Untimely death! Cute boys! Crazy-ass sisters! (not necessarily in that order) Ashline and her big sis Eve were adopted from an Polynesian orphanage and they've grown up in an upper middle class Jewish family in upstate New York. They were close ... until Eve runs away from home. And when she returns, bad stuff happens. Really. Bad. Stuff. Stuff so bad that Ashline decides her only chance at normalcy is to transfer to a boarding school across the country. And that's when stuff starts to get really weird. There are too many twists and turns to give away the plot, but the long and short of it is that Ashline discovers that she's the reincarnation of a volcano goddess. And her new fri...

My husband thinks I'm a total Harry Potter nerd, but that's not true. I've never: gone to a midnight book release party dressed up in character read one of the books in a single day created a fan video Now that the final movie has come out, I find myself unwilling to say good-bye. So I've collected some of my favorite Harry Potter videos to watch (over and over) again. (And it's quicker than re-reading all the books.) Enjoy! Harry Potter in 99 Seconds : The entire series for those with ADD. Literal Deathly Hallows Movie Trailer : Now that I've seen both parts, this is even funnier. A Very Potter Musical : This is just the first part, but worth watching the entire musical (with Glee 's Darren Criss as Harry!) Gandalf vs. Dumbledore Epic Rap Battles of History : OMFG. Hilarious. Potter Puppet Pals : There's a slew of these very funny videos, but I heart this one the most. Harry Potter and the Brokeback Gobl...

Title : Through Her Eyes Author : Jennifer Archer Publisher : HarperTeen Publication Date : April 5, 2011 ISBN-13 : 978-0061834585 384pp. Reading copy through public library When I was thirteen, my parents moved our family from our suburban home to a small desert town. Let's just say that I was not happy with this new arrangement. Which means I instantly sympathized with Tansy Piper, the protagonist of Through Her Eyes . Tansy is used to moving from town to town since her mom is a writer and likes to live in the cities where she sets her books. But instead of some place like Austin or Memphis or San Francisco, Tansy ends up in Cedar Canyon, Texas, the small town her grandfather grew up in. She loves her Papa Dan, who lives with her and her mom, since he's the one who understands her best and has been her best friend no matter where they are. But Papa Dan isn't doing well, rarely talking and barely eating. And moving into their creepy new home seems to be making P...

Summer has officially started and I managed half of my reading goals for June. As reviewed here , I did finish Possession by Elana Johnson, but I didn't get to reading a play for the month. (I checked out Invention of Love by Tom Stoppard, and it still sits forlornly on my bookshelf.) I've started Through Her Eyes by Jennifer Archer, which I'm really enjoying. The book review will be up soon. This, of course, still leaves me a month behind. I'm hoping to catch up with Wildefire by Karsten Knight, which I pulled from Galley Grab. I started the first couple of chapters of that and all I can say is ... wow. And that's about it for June. The days are longer, but it seems like I have less time to do stuff. How has your summer reading been going?

I recently won a query critique from an agented author in a charity auction. The feedback that I received was very positive. That made me feel fantastic. The author had a few notes for me (of course), but thought I was almost there. Yay me! How was I able to achieve such positive results? First, I've written the query at least a bajillion times (not a precise number), trying out different approaches until I felt I finally nailed the main question of my book in the shortest amount of words. (Hint: queries are about setting up the question of "what happens next" ... it doesn't give away the whole story). Second, I've had my critique group go over it, giving second and third and fourth pairs of eyes to help me see things I had missed. Third, research, research, research. There are a bajillion (again, not a precise number) different blog entries, websites, tweets, etc. about queries. Going through it all is time-consuming, so I've narrowed down some of the best fo...

Summer reading programs are starting and as I've mentioned before, the theme at the libraries where I work is One World, Many Stories . In addition to the books that I've previously listed , there are also some fabulous movies with multicultural stories that you might be interested in. Bend It Like Beckham : A Pakistani teen in London defies her parents by playing soccer. The Chorus (Les Choristes) : At a school for troubled boys in France, a music teacher changes their lives. Empire of the Sun : A young English boy tries to survive in a Japanese POW camp during World War II. Into the West : Two Traveller brothers find a mysterious white horse in their Irish slum. Osama : A 12-year-old girl disguises herself as boy after the Taliban takes over Afghanistan. Quinceanera : Magdalena gets kicked out of her home when she finds out she's pregnant, but finds a new home with her grandfather and gay cousin. Rabbit-Proof Fence : Three aboriginal girls escape government custody and at...

Title: Possession Author: Elana Johnson Publisher: Simon Pulse Publication Date: June 7, 2011 ISBN-13: 978-1442421257 416 pp. Reading copy from publisher via Galley Grab I don't give stars for my reviews, but if I did, I'd give 3 out of 5 for Possession by Elana Johnson . It fell in the middle for me ... somewhere between Across the Universe by Beth Revis, which I L-O-V-E-D and Bumped by Megan McCafferty, which I didn't finish. The basic story is that Violet (aka Vi) lives in the Goodlands, but she doesn't think much of being a Goodie. She breaks the rules of this particular dystopian world and ends up in prison with Jag, the swaggering and sexy Baddie from the Badlands. She breaks out of prison with Jag and finds out there's a Resistance, which she may or may not want to join. And then there's Zenn, the boy Vi was matched with back when she was a Goodie. He may be trying to help her, or he may be keeping her away from Jag. Vi doesn't know w...