Book review: Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline Cooney

Diamonds in the Shadow is an exciting and suspenseful book about what happens when an African refugee family ends up living with an American family in suburban Connecticut. Jared Finch, a typical American teenager, does not want to share his life or his room with a boy he has never met. The Amabo family seems overwhelmed by American life. They cannot believe the generosity of the church for sponsoring them and the Finches for helping them acclimates to American life. As time goes on Jared begins to notice odd things about the Amabo family and begins to wonder if these are the people that the Finches were suppose to host or has someone made a mistake? Diamonds in the Shadow is a book that deals with the realities of life in a war torn African country and its impact on its inhabitants.

To request this book from Wake County Libraries click here.

Review by Marci @ Duraleigh Road Library

Hey Teens Wanna Change the World?

Test your vocabulary skills while you feed the hungry. FreeRice will donate 10 grains of rice to hungry people if you play their vocabulary game. Neat, huh? Play here. It helps you study for the SATs or just learn cool new words to impress your friends. There is an FAQ you can read to learn how it works.

Book Review: Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf

Ginny Davis and her 7th grade year of school is the subject of this book, which uses notes, report cards, newspaper clippings, birthday cards, and other miscellaneous texts to tell her story.

This is one of many books that has come out recently that uses a multi-media approach to storytelling. One look at the cover, which sports meatloaf and tater tots, is enough to make anyone quote Napoleon Dynamite: “Give me your tots.”

Holms is successful in telling this tale. I found myself smiling at Ginny’s misfortunes. She lists people she could babysit for, the last one being Tiffany Kurtz, who bites. Of course, it is Mrs. Kurtz that ends up calling Ginny to babysit.

But the story isn’t all humor. Her older brother, Henry, gets into some serious trouble. And at one point, Ginny’s grades drop noticeably from almost all A’s to C’s.

This is sure to be grabbed off the shelf often. The audience here is clearly lower middle school.  To order it from your library, click here.

Book Review: The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

It’s a podcast booktalk!  Should it be a podtalk or a bookcast?  Anyway, take a listen.

To request this book from the library, click here.

LOL Teen Video Contest – West Regional Library Winner

We had a contest to celebrate Teen Read Week – congrats to our winner, Victor!

Final Post: The Teens’ Top 10

Well, YALSA moved fast and has already announced the national Teens’ Top 10!  The winners listed are in order of most votes to least.

Congratulations to all of the Top 10 authors, especially Stephanie Meyer and New Moon, which received the most votes from teens all over the country.

The 2007 Teens’ Top Ten is (Clicking on the linked title will send you to our catalog, where you can place a request to get a copy of each book):

• New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2006).
• Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (Viking Children’s Books, 2006)
• How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles (Flux, 2006).
• Maximum Ride: School’s Out – Forever by James Patterson (Hachette Book Group USA/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2006).
• Firegirl by Tony Abbott (Hachette Book Group USA/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2006).
• All Hallows Eve (13 Stories) by Vivian Vande Velde (Harcourt, 2006).
• Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt, 2006).
• River Secrets by Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury, 2006).
• Bad Kitty by Michele Jaffe (HarperCollins, 2006).
• Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks (Chicken House, 2006).

Thanks to all of our teen readers who placed votes!  To see a list of the top ten for Wake County teens, click here.

Teen Read-In @ Triangle Town Center

Read-in: /’reed – in/ (n.) a form of direct action that involves one or more persons nonviolently occupying an area for reading, often to promote social change.

On Friday, October 19, teens from Wake Forest, Wendell, East Regional and Eva Perry libraries gathered at Triangle Town Center for a read-in. Teens read, shared books with their friends as they sipped on donated Starbucks coffee. (Thanks, Starbucks!) Some of the teens had even made tee shirts to promote the event, and wore them to the mall for the read-in!

The read-in was just one of dozens of teen reading events held across Wake County during Teen Read Week. Thanks to all the teens who participated and had fun!

Click here for more photos of the Teen Read-In!

Teens’ Top Ten Roundup

Thanks to everyone who voted in our Wake County poll for the Teens’ Top Ten Reads! The Top Ten that Wake County teens selected are:

Firegirl by Tony Abbott
The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks
Secrets of My Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
How To Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Ekeles
The Christopher Killer: A Forensic Mystery by Alane Ferguson
Born To Rock by Gordon Korman
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Prom Anonymous by Blake Nelson
Maximum Ride: School’s Out — Forever by James Patterson
All Hallow’s Eve: 13 Stories by Vivian Vande Velde

Okay, okay, that’s actually 11 titles, but there was a tie! So, there you have it. If you are interested, the title with the most votes was Just Listen by Sarah Dessen. Now, those are Wake County’s results, but the national results will not be announced until early November by YALSA. The national vote results come from votes cast by teens all over the country, so the YALSA Top Ten might look a bit different from ours. Check the Teens’ Top 10 website for the national results!

Don’t forget to click the titles to request your copies of our winners today!

Teens’ Top 10: Let the Voting Begin

Don’t forget to place your vote for the Teens’ Top 10 anytime online from October 14-20, 2007.  Vote here by scrolling down and clicking on the VOTE button.  You will vote twice:  once in the Wake County vote and once in the national vote.  Click here to vote.  This way we can know what OUR teens love.  Get out and VOTE.  VOTE.  VOTE.

Have a Happy Hallow-Wii

Join Mirrorstone and Hallowmere to celebrate Teen Read Week (Oct. 14-20) and enter a Hallowmere virtual fan contest. Your entry could win a Nintendo Wii for your library or an iPod just for you. Visit Mirrorstonebooks.com for complete info on the contest!

Hallowmere is an all-new fantasy series for teens. In the 10 book series, six girls from around the world are drawn together to rescue their missing classmates and prevent catastrophe in an epic battle between dark Fey and the mortal world.

Get caught reading at Triangle Town Center!

 

Fri/10.19.07/5-7PM

Teens Read! Meet some other teen readers from around Wake County when they gather on the lower level outside of Saks Fifth Avenue in Triangle Town Center Mall and get caught reading. More teens = more impact! Get out of the library. Get out of the house. Get to the mall and read! Bring your favorite book and some friends for this silent read-in. Giveaways and fun stuff for participants. For grades 6-12.

Connect with teen authors!

31 Flavorite Authors

Every evening during the month of October at 8 PM teens can connect with a different popular and critically-acclaimed authors at http://groups.myspace.com/readergirlz. Some of the authors include Meg Cabot (Princess Diaries), Chris Crutcher (realistic sports fiction) and Ann Brashares (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants). Have fun chatting! Also check out their blog at readergirlz.livejournal.com!

Teens’ Top 10 Vote

Now that you have read review of all of the nominated titles for the Teens’ Top 10, it’s time to make sure you have read as many of the titles as you can, in order to be an informed voter. 

Here’s a couple of libraries that will be doing special events surrounding the Teens’ Top 10 vote.  Voting starts Sunday, October 14th.  You can vote online anytime during Teen Read Week, October 14th-2oth.  But if you want to come into the library to vote, consider visiting . . .

Southeast Regional Library on Monday, October 15th, from 3-9 pm for the Teen Read Week Open House Kick-Off.  As well as having a place for you to vote, the library will have puzzles, games, snacks, and a prize drawing

or

Eva Perry Library on Monday, April 15th from 3-7 pm to vote at a special voting station.  Everyone who votes on Monday will receive an I VOTED sticker to show that you rocked the vote

Book of the Day: Skin by Adrienne Vrettos

Donnie feels himself disappearing as his sister starves herself to death.  Donnie and big sister, Karen, are both sick, literally, of their parents fighting.  We find out mid-way through the book that Donnie is on some kind of medication, and Karen doesn’t like to eat . . . ever.  But this books is not really about anorexia.  It’s part of the story, but there is not the usual focus that an anorexia book would have with lots of details about how a person with an eating disorder would think, act, and feel, like there is in say The Best Little Girl in the World by Levenkron.

Instead, this is told through Donnie’s eyes, and we see snippets of Donnie’s life.  The story is not told in a continuous way.  There are often large gaps between chapters.  This  allows the reader to get a wide lens view of what happens to this family.  This story is really about a little boy with no one that sees him.  His parents fight with each other and pick on Karen about her eating.  Donnie gets a scrap of attention when he is running a fever.  But most of the time, he feels invisible.  He turns it into a game where he tries to make sure no one speaks to him at school.  Everyone complies, except for a new set of twins from his school who insist on saying hi to him at least once a day.

As Karen’s body disappears and becomes just skin, Donnie feels himself disappearing into her disease.

Skin is a nominee for the Teens Top 10. To request it from the library, click here. If it’s your favorite, don’t forget to place your vote during Teen Read Week, October 14-20, 2007.

Review by Lindsey @ Eva Perry Library

Book of the Day: Prom Anonymous by Blake Nelson

Laura, Jace and Chloe are high school juniors who have been friends since childhood. Laura is the type-A organizer who considers herself an expert. After all, she did go to prom with her popular senior boyfriend, Mike, the year before. Jace, the jock, wants to ask Paul, the new hot guy on the tennis team with a mysterious past. Chloe, the artistic one, lives on the fringe – reading from dead poets, wearing black, and hanging out in the world history section at Barnes and Noble. Chloe, in an unguarded moment, agrees to go to prom, and Laura makes it her life’s mission to find Chloe a date in the twenty one days before the big event.

The story is told with a lot of humor and some drama, and highlights the excitement that leads up to the “big event.” Finally, the three girls are ready for prom – but will it turn out as expected? Will Laura have the super romantic evening she’s planned for her and Mike? Will Jace discover Paul’s secret past? How will Chloe handle her first date ever with Zach?

Prom Anonymous is a nominee for the Teens Top 10. To request it from the library, click here. If it’s your favorite, don’t forget to place your vote during Teen Read Week, October 14-20, 2007.

Review by Heidi @ West Regional Library

Book of the Day: Shock Point by April Henry

Cassie Streng has just discovered how and why three teens mysteriously died but never has the chance to prove it.  Her psychiatrist stepfather has been injecting “out of control” teens with an experimental drug without their parents consent. When Cassie realizes what has happened, she is suddenly sent to a “resort” school, which turns out to be a prison camp! She needs to escape, but the harsh living and authoritative leaders hinder her attempts. Cassie learns about self-preservation and who she can really trust. It’s a fun book to read, but there are definitely holes in the plot. If you are ready for a good suspense/action book, this one may fit the bill.  

Shock Point is a nominee for the Teens Top 10.  To request it from the library, click here.  If it’s your favorite, don’t forget to place your vote during Teen Read Week, October 14-20, 2007. 

Review by Andrea @ East Regional Library

Book of the Day: The Unresolved by T.K. Welsh

The Unresolved is a historical mystery about the General Slocum steamboat fire. The steamboat fire was the worst disaster in New York City until the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001. Sadly, this fire and shipwreck, in which over 1,000 people lost their lives, has largely been forgotten today. The cause of the fire was never determined.

On June 14, 1904, members of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church boarded the steamboat on the way to their annual end of Sunday School class picnic. Most members of St. Mark’s were German immigrants. The story is told by the ghost of one of the trip takers, fifteen-year-old Mallory Meer. Mallory has a secret rendezvous to meet Dustin, a young Jewish boy she has a crush on and who also happens to be her father’s apprentice. Their secret meeting does not last very long, because soon after the immigrants board the ship, the fire starts. The life jackets were made of cork, and they disintegrated, allowing people to drown instead of float. The life boat bolts were rusted to the side of the boat and all water hoses burst making both items of no use to the trapped passengers.

Mallory’s ghost chronicles the aftermath of the fire and shipwreck. She attends the coroner’s inquest, which were of great interest to the community. Historical records indicate that over 600 families lost someone in the fire and shipwreck. Mallory follows the life of the key players of the shipwreck throughout the course of the rest of their lives. The Unresolved is a great quick read for those who like historical fiction or who want to know more about this forgotten tragedy.

The Unresolved is a nominee for the Teens Top 10. To request it from the library, click here. If it’s your favorite, don’t forget to place your vote during Teen Read Week, October 14-20, 2007.

Review by Marci @ Duraleigh Road Library

Book of the Day: All Hallows’ Eve: 13 Stories by Vivian Vande Velde

A titillating read containing 13 short stories with twists, turns and unexpected endings! This book is full of fun but scary stories that will tingle your spine. My personal favorite told the tale of a psychic who read a few teens futures.  By the end of the story, his predictions mysteriously came true. Vivian Vande Velde is famous for her ghost stories and this one of her best! This quick read is great to read and share with friends. 

All Hallow’s Eve is a nominee for the Teens Top 10.  To request it from the library, click here.  If it’s your favorite, don’t forget to place your vote during Teen Read Week, October 14-20, 2007. 

Review by Andrea @ East Regional Library

Book of the Day: New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

 

Bella has now recovered from her terrible attack in Arizona, and she is dragged to her own birthday celebration by her perfectly gorgeous vampire boyfriend, Edward. Amidst the celebration, clumsy Bella cuts herself, and Edward realized just how dangerous it is to have Bella among them.

So he retreats, causing Bella to suffer a deeper and deeper depression in which she continually puts herself in danger… only to hear Edward’s voice begging her not to harm herself. As the story progresses, her friendship with Jacob gets awfully close to romantic, until she finds out the ancient truth of Jacob’s family. If you haven’t read this series yet, start with Twilight, enjoy this title, then pick up the latest in the saga, Eclipse.

New Moon is a nominee for the Teens Top 10. To request it from the library, click here. If it’s your favorite, don’t forget to place you vote during Teen Read Week, October 14-20, 2007.

Review by Elizabeth @ Eva Perry Library

Book of the Day: The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson

 

The Christopher Killer is an exciting and fast-paced book for all those CSI fans out there. Cameryn Mahoney is an average teenager in Silverton, CO, with a burning desire to pursue a career as a forensic pathologist. To help further her career path, she convinces her coroner father to hire her as his assistant. He reluctantly agrees over the objections of her grandmother, with whom Cameryn and her father live.

The first case Cameryn is called upon to assist with involves the murder of her friend Rachel. Rachel’s case is made all the more intriguing when there is evidence the crime was committed by a serial killer. A psychic who believes she predicted Rachel’s murder comes to town under the belief he can help police solve the crime. The psychic and the supernatural do not sit well with Cameryn’s scientific mindset. Another mystery in Cameryn’s life is the new-to-town deputy Justin and his link to her absent mother. Can she and her mother patch things up?

Can Cameryn solve the case of The Christopher Killer in time or will she end up being his next victim? For forensic mystery readers The Christopher Killer is a must read.

The Christopher Killer is a nominee for the Teens Top 10. To request it from the library, click here. If it’s your favorite, don’t forget to place your vote during Teen Read Week, October 14-20, 2007.

Review by Marci @ Duraleigh Road Library