Dr. Frankenstein Has Entered A New Age... And His Monster Is A Hottie In A Hoodie

Broken

By A.E. Rought

http://www.aerought.com/

It’s unfortunate that this wonderful YA modern take on Shelley’s Frankenstein isn’t due to be released until January 2013.  I just finished reading it over the past few days and it is the perfect read for the month leading up to Halloween.  We are a country obsessed with the holiday -- anything for a good scare!  As I started reading the first chapter, I was thinking about how fun it would be as a read-a-loud to a group of high school students. 

The language in the first chapter is sad, beautiful, and haunting.  Emma has lost her boyfriend in a tragic accident and is wandering the graveyard where they used to hang out by a mausoleum.  He is supposed to be buried there, but for some unknown reason he isn’t.  Her pain oozes out in the language and it reads just like Juliette has lost Romeo and survived the tragedy only to meander her days zombie-like in continual mourning.  Teens will identify immediately with Emma.  She is a sympathetic character and sounds like she walked right out of the high school hallways in which I teach. 

The story continues with an interesting twist on the Shelley Gothic tale that keeps an edge to it by weaving in a mystery.  The novel is a page-turner that keeps up a steady pace right up until the very final pages.  It almost invites reading in a dark room with candles waiting for things to go bump in the night.  There is mild sexual content and so I would recommend that it be reserved for high school libraries. 

Melissa Singleton Josef, MLIS

Hanging Ten

Puerto Rico’s Surf Culture

By Steve Fitzpatrick

http://www.schifferbooks.com/newschiffer/sub_images.php?isbn=9780764341953

Fitzpatrick moved to San Juan after graduating from Boston College in 1988 and doing and extended tour of the Spanish Basque Country and the Canary Islands up through the summer of 1990.  During his college years, he’d made several surfing trips to San Juan and fell in love with the area.  This beautiful coffee table book is a culmination of his best surf images over 20 years.  The intro is a nice, concise history of Puerto Rico and several maps of the island are also included.  Lovers of Puerto Rico, surf culture, and island life will not be disappointed.  

Me hanging out with the "boys of eternal summer" in San Juan in February 2012

Dead Well Organized

The Archived

By Victoria Schwab

 http://www.victoriaschwab.com/

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3099544.Victoria_Schwab

Mackenzie Bishop has had to move an hour away from everything she knows and loves.  She has left behind her best friend and her tangible memories of her dead brother Ben for a dusty life of cardboard boxes in an old hotel converted into apartments called the Coronado so that her Mother can begin her latest project.  Her new home has her running with young Histories escaping as she jumps between the Outer and the Narrows to send them back to the Returns.  Mysteriously, however, names seem to be disappearing off her list without her capturing some of the Histories.  What’s going on at the Coronado?

I had the pleasure of meeting Victoria Schwab at ComicCon New York last week where she was part of a panel.  When she spoke about her book The Archived, I became so intrigued that I made a note to put it at the top of my NetGalley review list upon my return home.  Unfortunately, as a reviewer I only received a “sneak peak” of the first 108 pages, but it was enough for me to say that this is definitely an amazing read.  If you liked Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, you will enjoy this as well.  It has the same feel of mixing the worlds of living and dead that Gaiman used in his book although Schwab’s book is decidedly different with very different mix of characters.  Of course, as a librarian, I can’t help but love the library theme.  The idea of placing the dead in a library system is just way too cool for those of us who love things to be organized!  I can’t wait to read the rest of the book when it comes out in January!  (And Victoria, if you happen to have a way to swing any of this most awesome swag my way, I'D LOVE IT!  It is too cute not to show off!)

The Circle of Life

Children's Author and Illustrator Jon Klassen

I had the great pleasure of seeing Jon Klassen at a book signing yesterday where he read I want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat, and Extra Yarn.  He is really a very funny man.  The children in the audience were in fits of giggles.  I wish I could get my hands on one of the baseball caps that two of the little boys in the audience were wearing.  They had “This Is Not My Hat” embroidered on the back of the cap right at what I like to call the “ponytail hole” and other than that they were solid black.  My kind of hat!

  I love Klassen’s books.  They are among my favorite read-alouds at the elementary schools.  I find the controversy over the “violence” in I Want My Hat Back downright funny.  Kids don’t see any controversy.  It’s grown-ups who overanalyze the book.  Kids watch The Nature Channel.  They understand that big animals eat little animals. 

When my kids were really little we used to try to hide dead animals when we found them outside.  Unfortunately, we have an outdoor “barn” cat who is quite a killer and it was a little challenging to hide all of her kills.  She was particularly fond of killing chipmunks when she was younger and the chipmunks were prolific in our courtyard.  We would often find several dead ones in a given day.  Well, several parts of dead ones in a given day.  My daughter quickly became accustomed to seeing dead chipmunks and they never seemed to bother her.  When she was about three we walked into her pre-school class one day and she announced “Cleo died three chipmunks today.”  After a bit of embarrassment on my part I explained that Cleo was our barn cat and cleared up that there wasn’t some rampant human going around killing chipmunks at our house.

My point is that kids are not flustered by animals eating animals.  They certainly aren’t flustered by the completely non-graphic depiction in I Want My Hat Back.  I Want My Hat Back is FUNNY.  The bear goes through so much emotion in such a funny way.  It is classic humor.  OK.  Maybe in a way it is Three Stooges humor.  But it is funny.

 

I am truly amazed that This Is Not My Hat is able to pull off the same concept so cleverly.  It is almost a reverse order.  Again, the concept of big eats little is easy for kids to accept, although I found it interesting that some of the kids in our audience thought that the little fish survived.  I think that’s OK.  Hey, whatever a reader concludes is OK.  Same with the rabbit as far as I’m concerned.  If you think he ran away into the forest in fear, go for it.  The bear and the big fish got their hats back, that’s what’s important.  Stealing is bad.

The Strunk & White of Research Guides for Students

The Research Virtuoso

By The Toronto Public Library

Every teen could use a basic guide to research just as a reminder of the basic steps or as a way to keep on track during the research process.  The Research Virtuoso is the perfect guide to keep on the shelf.  It follows the basic research process so that if you do not have a librarian on hand or if you are at home and just need a little help you have a reference book that can keep you on track.  This is a reference book that will be especially helpful for students heading off to college where they will need a collection of basic reference books in order to write research papers.

What Do You Do When You Suddenly Come Face To Face With The Imaginary Friend In Your Head In An Elevator?

Unspoken

By Sarah Rees Brennan

Best friends Kami and Angela have just gotten approval to start up a school newspapaer and Kami want s to write the first story on the return of the town’s wealthy celebrity residents the Lynburns.  Just as she and Angela are talking about the article, the ever-so-handsome and charming Ash Lynburn happens to pop his head into their new newspaper HQ and offer to be the staff photographer.  In the meantime, Kami has had a life-long imaginary friend who speaks to her in her head named Jared.  She soon discovers that Jared is actually real…

Sarah Rees Brennan has stirred up a story filled with mystery, intrigue, magic, romance, adventure, and enough fun to keep you on your toes.  Unspoken is like running a race.  It is never dull or boring and there is always something lurking around the corner!  I was excited to find out that there is going to be a sequel after the cliffhanger at the end.  In fact, a trilogy (surprise, surprise) is planned!  I did love the little announcement I found by Sarah of said trilogy on the Internet.  I've included it for your reading pleasure below.

What Happens When We Start Custom-Ordering Our Human Servants?

Beta

By Rachel Cohn

http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781423157199

Elysia is Dr. Lusardi’s latest clone – a teen beta model.  She is stunningly beautiful and the Governor of Demesne’s wife just has to have her as a replacement for her daughter Astrid who is off on the mainland studying at the University.  Clones aren’t supposed to have emotions.  Clones aren’t supposed to be able to taste.  Clones are supposed to be obedient.  Clones aren’t human.  Are they?

Rachel Cohn does an excellent job with this dystopia of setting up a world that explores what it is to be human and poses some serious ethical questions.  Beta is an excellent book for classroom discussions in addition to being a nail biting read!  The surprise ending is clearly set up for a sequel. Five Stars!

Every Girl Loves A Bad Boy…Unless Kissing Him Means She’ll Kill Him

The Raven Boys

By Maggie Stiefvater

 http://maggiestiefvater.com/

Imagine being told from as long as you could remember by everyone you know, and some you wish you didn’t, that if you were to kiss your true love, he would die?  That is what Blue Sargent has lived with her entire life.  She has always lived with the dread of that literally fatal first kiss.

Then she is on the Corpse Road with Aunt Neeve on St. Mark’s Eve and she hears the voice.  She has never heard a voice before.  The others always hear the voices, not Blue.  But Blue definitely hears it.  “Gansey.”

Gansey. And he is a Raven Boy. 

Maggie Stiefvater has done it again.  Adventure, paranormal, excitement, and just enough romance without it throwing up all over everyone.  Raven Boys is wonderful! Five stars!

Is There Really Enough Food To Feed The World?

Food: The New Gold

By Kathlyn Gay

School librarians are always challenged with finding new and interesting non-fiction books that will capture the interest of young readers.  With the current focus on Core Curriculum requirements, we are doubly challenged to expand our non-fiction collections to support curriculum needs in reading for information. Kathlyn Gay’s new book makes an excellent addition to any middle or high school library collection. 

Drawing attention to the global food crisis, it opens with opulence of political leaders dining in style at the G8 summit and contrasts it with the number of people starving each day.  She goes on to cover up-to-date relevant issues such as climate, factory farming, and genetic modification and the impact on food production. Throughout the book Gay poses poignant questions that engage young readers to think about the world they live in and consider alternative viewpoints.  While Gay clearly has her own viewpoint in this book, it is still a wonderful resource that would sit well on any school library shelf.

Blood Lust…It Isn’t Just About Vampires

Seeing Red: The True Story of Blood

By Tanya Lloyd Kyi

I am a huge fan of the growing number of excellent graphic books available for young people.  The content is as eclectic as our school library collections!  Seeing Red is a perfect example of an excellent use of the graphic format.  The book covers the a wide range of the lore about blood from the history of blood in religion, culture, society to coming of age ceremonies, foods and vampires. The main character, Harker, questions issues at each chapter engaging the reader in thinking about the subject at hand.  The book is appropriate for middle school readers and would be excellent paired as a resource with Little Brown’s Blood & Guts.

Every Meal Has A Story To Tell You

The World In Your Lunchbox

By Claire Eamer

Claire Eamer’s diary style book takes a look at a hypothetical week of school lunches and follows each entry with historical facts about the contents of each lunch.  The book is fun and well-illustrated and would well paired with The Omnivore’s Dilemma for Kids.  Teachers in the middle school grades will find this book an excellent resource for starting off research projects in science or history class by using the book as an example.  

The Wonderful World of Kristen Cashore’s Fantasy Novels

Bitterblue 

by Kristen Cashore

http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/2011/10/bitterblue-news-ive-been-promising.html

I fell in love with the fantasy writing of Kristin Cashore with her debut novel Graceling and was equally pleased with her second novel Fire.  When I had the opportunity to meet her at a local book signing shortly after this year’s release of Bitterblue, I couldn’t resist.  It was fascinating listening to Kristen speak about her writing process.  She still writes all of her novels by hand in notebooks which she later dictates into a computer.  Even her revisions are done in her written notebooks.  Her handwriting is beautiful!

If you haven’t read these wonderful fantasy novels, Gracelings are humans who have special talents, called Graces, and they are marked by birth with two different colored eyes.  As they grow older, the Grace begins to emerge.  Sometimes it is apparently obvious to those around him or her, and sometimes it is not.  It can be anything from incredible skill at fighting to reading minds.

Kristen Cashore’s latest novel opens up with Bitterblue as the Queen of Monsea after the death of her father, King Leck, who had the Grace of being able to alter minds.  Most Graces seem to be put to use for good, but Leck was violent and committed horrible psychopathic acts with his Grace.  Bitterblue begins sneaking out of the castle at night to try and uncover the past that her insane father made everyone forget and in the process befriends two thieves who are stealing back things stolen in the past.   

Just like her other two novels, Cashore brings us another strong female heroine as well as reintroducing a few characters from past novels.  There is never a dull moment in the world she is building and as always, she leaves us sitting on our seats waiting for the next installment.