About Teen Read Week

Teen Read Week is an initiative of the  Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Teen Read Week started in 1998. This year’s theme is Picture It @ your library®, which encourages teens to read graphic novels and other illustrated materials, seek out creative books, or imagine the world through literature, just for the fun of it. Libraries across the world celebrate Teen Read Week with a variety of special events and programs aimed at encouraging teens to read for pleasure and to visit their libraries for free reading materials.

Best-selling author, Jay Asher is the spokesperson for 2011 Teen Read Week.  Learn more about Jay. Artwork was created by Gareth Hinds. Learn more about Gareth.

Why is it important to celebrate? For a lot of reasons! Teens have so many options for entertainment, so it’s important to remind them to spend time reading for pleasure: it’s free, fun, and can be done anywhere! Research shows that teens who read for fun have better test scores and are more likely to succeed in the workforce. Also, it’s a great chance to let your school or your public library communities know how important teen services are! Let teens know the possibilities that exist within your doors, and within the covers of books.

Here are a few book ideas to get your teen reading!

Happy Reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: When this worlds got you down…step into a new one.

Milrose Munce and The Den of Professional Help

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Product Description

No one except Milrose Munce knows that ghosts of former students live in his school. Not only is Milrose aware of these ghouls – he’s on a first-name basis with all of them. Of course, some are more likeable than others: the third floor is the home to nearly all of his good friends. Most of them – like Imploded Ig, Deeply Damaged Dave, and Toasted Theresa – were the victims of science experiments gone wrong though they do manage to maintain a sense of humour about their demise. Then there are the ghost athletes who lurk in the basement – a pretty disagreeable group, the majority of them having died after a particularly clumsy manoeuvre on the school’s sports field.

After Milrose is given yet another detention for offering his teacher an answer that was just a bit too clever, his life takes an unexpected turn. He is sent to a hidden den in the school’s basement to receive Professional Help. Here, he and the quick-witted Arabella, a fellow captive, are put under round-the-clock supervision of the maniacal Massimo Natica. Fortunately for Milrose and Arabella, once they join forces with their ghostly friends, Massimo Natica doesn’t stand a chance.

In the tradition of Edward Gorey and Roald Dahl, the dark comedy and imaginative brilliance of Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help will appeal to adults as much as it will to younger readers.

“Kevis Hendrickson” sent me a copy of “The Legend of Witch Bane” a few weeks ago and I was excited to get it.  Not because I had ever heard of it but because I love adventure, and once I finally found the time to read it…boy it was so much more than just an adventure, it was an experience.

Kodobos, Anyr, and Laris are only children, but when a terrible curse causes their homeland of Kalden to lapse into a permanent slumber, these 3 very determined and very different siblings take it upon themselves to find out what happened. Discovering that the evil High Queen Rhiannon is behind their towns horrible fate they set out on a quest to topple her kingdom and bring peace to their lands, but what starts out to be a hike in the woods quickly turns into an epic battle for their lives.  Can these 3 tiny souls find the strength they need to free their people? How in the world will they ever defeat so many minions and what exactly IS the legend of Witch Bane?

“Kendrickson’s” ability to weave “known fairy tales” with a new and exciting plot line was genius, and his attention to the tiny details that make adventure books come to life was equally flawless.  Here is an author that dared to ask the question…can a child save the world?  Each of the main characters had their own individual personality and he used their weaknesses and strengths to feed the plot line.  Children’s fantasy is (admittedly) difficult to write, there must be an equal balance of impending doom and life lessons and “The Legend of Witch Bane” spouted both with perfect form.

There were ice breathing dragons, ogres who think they are giants, greedy treasure stealing dwarfs, children who never grow old,  a mysterious spirit, and so many battles it was actually hard to keep track of them.

This is a must buy for your Tiny Tots and Tween! Turn off the TV and give them the adventure of a lifetime…inside of their imaginative little minds.

Happy reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: When THIS worlds got you down…step into a NEW one.

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***** (5/5)

Book Trailer

Happy Reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: When THIS worlds got you down, step into a NEW one.

We The Children (The Keepers of The School)

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From Booklist

This first novel in the new Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School series centers on young Benjamin’s efforts to save his historic elementary school from amusement-park developers. The school was founded in the late eighteenth century by an eccentric sea captain, Duncan Oaks. In their attempt to save the school, Benjamin and his friend Jill uncover a long string of clues and discover that the school’s janitor is not as innocent as he appears. Jill and Benjamin have still not fit together all the missing pieces toward the end of the story, when Clements sends Benjamin on an exciting side trip to a sailing regatta, where he competes and saves a fellow racer. Several other youth novels feature kids facing off against greedy, nefarious developers. What sets this title apart is the skillful way that Clements conveys Benjamin’s growing appreciation of his seaside hometown’s landscape and history. Readers will look forward to finding out how the disparate clues come together in coming installments. Grades 4-6. –Todd Morning

Happy reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: When THIS worlds got you down…step into a new one.

Ghostgirl

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Product Description

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

And if I should die before I awake,

I pray the popular attend my wake.

Charlotte Usher feels practically invisible at school, and then one day she really is invisible. Even worse: she’s dead. And all because she choked on a gummy bear. But being dead doesn’t stop Charlotte from wanting to be popular; it just makes her more creative about achieving her goal.

If you thought high school was a matter of life or death, wait till you see just how true that is. In this satirical, yet heartfelt novel, Hurley explores the invisibility we all feel at some times and the lengths we’ll go to be seen.

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 7 Up—Charlotte User, an invisible loser, dies just before enacting a plan to catch the cutest guy in school and achieve popularity. She refuses to accept her fate (death by gummy bear) and returns as a ghost with a mission: to go to the Fall Ball with Damen and get a midnight kiss. Hurley combines afterlife antics, gothic gore, and high school hell to produce an original, hilarious satire. Charlotte ambles through death’s door and remains a pitiable, selfish, and somewhat annoying heroine. Readers root for her, but cringe at her blunders, too. She blows off her new dead-kid school and classmates, unable to give up her living, breathing crush. Hurley’s pitch-perfect dialogue and clever names (Petula, Rotting Rita, Principal Styx) keep readers laughing. Dark, meditative song lyrics and poetry start each chapter while campy, Gothic illustrations frame the pages. Tim Burton and Edgar Allan Poe devotees will die for this fantastic, phantasmal read.—Shelley Huntington, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Praise for ghostgirl:

* Polished dark-and-deadpan humor, it’s a natural fit with Gen Y, too.”–Publishers Weekly (starred review)

* “[Tonya] beats out witty teen-speak like a punk-band drummer, keeping the narrative fast-paced and fun yet thought-provokingly heartwarming. Goofy, ghastly, intelligent, electrifying.”–Kirkus (starred review)

*”Tim Burton and Edgar Allan Poe devotees will die for this fantastic, phantasmal read.”–School Library Journal (starred review)

* “Readers with a taste for black humor and satire will feast on Hurley’s crisp, wise dialogue. Anticipate a well deserved cult following.” –VOYA (starred review)

“Written with deadpan wit…this is a ‘Wonderful Life’-like tale.” -New York Post

“A sincere (and humorous) exploration of how we all feel invisible at one time or another…perfect read.” -CosmoGirl

I know I have missed the last 2 weeks with “It’s A Tween Thing” but I was searching desperately for a new series to get your someone little ones involved. Starting a series with your child won’t only help in getting them involved in a story but in the long run in can be helpful with comprehension! Here is one that is geared more towards the boys in your life, (I will look for a good girly series next) just make sure you are paying very close attention to the volume before you run right out and purchase the first one you see.

To Help… here is book one.

Happy reading and remember: When THIS worlds got you down, step into a new one!

The Chronicles of Prydain

Book 1 “The Book of Three”

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Amazon.com Review

Review

“A very funny adventure tale set in an imaginary kingdom… The writing is sophisticated.”--Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
— Review

–This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Keeping that in mind… today is Thursday and that means its time for “It’s a Tween Thing”

I always loved Science as a child, lets face it, mixing things together and seeing what happens is just plain fascinating! So…for a new twist on a old subject here is Science with FOOD!

Happy Reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: When THIS worlds got you down…Pick up a new one!

p.s. I’ll post the review for “World War Z” tomorrow.

Science Experiments You Can Eat!

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Product Description

About the Author

Vicki Cobb is a pro at explaining the cohesive and adhesive properties of water. but she can never seem to remember that plants like water too! She finally had to decorate her home with artificial plants to keep from killing the live ones.

Ever since Science Experiments You Can Eat, Vicki Cobb has been delighting children, parents, and teachers with the fun of making science discoveries. Now, with the new Science Play series, she sets her sights on the youngest children. who are natural scientists and are always experimenting. Vicki Cobb and her husband divide their time between their homes in White Plains, New York. and Manchester, Vermont.

Happy Reading my fellow Tweeny-Boppers and remember: When THIS worlds got you down, pick up a new one!

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

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From School Library Journal

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Growing up with six brothers in rural Texas in 1899, 12-year-old Callie realizes that her aversion to needlework and cooking disappoints her mother. Still, she prefers to spend her time exploring the river, observing animals, and keeping notes on what she sees. Callie’s growing interest in nature creates a bond with her previously distant grandfather, an amateur naturalist of some distinction. After they discover an unknown species of vetch, he attempts to have it officially recognized. This process creates a dramatic focus for the novel, though really the main story here is Callie’s gradual self-discovery as revealed in her vivid first-person narrative. By the end, she is equally aware of her growing desire to become a scientist and of societal expectations that make her dream seem nearly impossible. Interwoven with the scientific theme are threads of daily life in a large family—the bonds with siblings, the conversations overheard, the unspoken understandings and misunderstandings—all told with wry humor and a sharp eye for details that bring the characters and the setting to life. The eye-catching jacket art, which silhouettes Callie and images from nature against a yellow background, is true to the period and the story. Many readers will hope for a sequel to this engaging, satisfying first novel. Grades 4-7. –Carolyn Phelan

Happy reading and remember, when THIS worlds got you down…pick up a new one.

The Graveyard Book

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Amazon.com Review

Grade 5–8—Somewhere in contemporary Britain, “the man Jack” uses his razor-sharp knife to murder a family, but the youngest, a toddler, slips away. The boy ends up in a graveyard, where the ghostly inhabitants adopt him to keep him safe. Nobody Owens, so named because he “looks like nobody but himself,” grows up among a multigenerational cast of characters from different historical periods that includes matronly Mistress Owens; ancient Roman Caius Pompeius; an opinionated young witch; a melodramatic hack poet; and Bod’s beloved mentor and guardian, Silas, who is neither living nor dead and has secrets of his own. As he grows up, Bod has a series of adventures, both in and out of the graveyard, and the threat of the man Jack who continues to hunt for him is ever present. Bod’s love for his graveyard family and vice versa provide the emotional center, amid suspense, spot-on humor, and delightful scene-setting. The child Bod’s behavior is occasionally too precocious to be believed, and a series of puns on the name Jack render the villain a bit less frightening than he should be, though only momentarily. Aside from these small flaws, however, Gaiman has created a rich, surprising, and sometimes disturbing tale of dreams, ghouls, murderers, trickery, and family.—Megan Honig, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Trailer

Happy Reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: When THIS world’s got you down…pick up a new one.

A Wrinkle In Time

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Product Description (From Amazon)

It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.

“Wild nights are my glory,” the unearthly stranger told them. “I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I’ll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract.”

A tesseract (in case the reader doesn’t know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L’Engle’s unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O’Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg’s father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.

Synopsis (From B&N)

Father is missing! His top secret job as a physicist for the government has taken him away–but where?–and how? Meg and her younger brother, Charles Wallace, set out with their friend Calvin on an exciting adventure through time and space to search for him. With the help of the mysterious Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which, the youngsters learn to expect the unexpected as they move in the fifth dimension known as the “tesseract”.

With this award-winning story, Madeline L’Engle has captivated millions of readers throughout the world. Her universal themes of courage, perseverance, and love are interwoven with imagination and suspense. A Wrinkle in Time, published in 1962, won the distinguished Newbery Medal for children’s literature in 1963.

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Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, January 2010 They don’t call it middle school for nothing. Reggie McKnight (aka “Pukey”) is trying hard to stay under the radar after a really embarrassing start to the school year. But, he’s somehow been drawn into the middle of a big school election, a volunteer project at the local homeless shelter, and the role of “Big Buddy” for a kid in the neighborhood. How will he ever find time to finish his comic book, Night Man? Reggie might see himself as a wimpy kid, but he’s anything but as steps up to new challenges and confronts big questions about doing the right thing in a tough world. Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich’s debut novel is a smart and satisfying read for teens and ‘tweens. –Lauren Nemroff

Product Description

Ever since a deeply unfortunate incident earlier this year, Reggie’s been known as “Pukey” McKnight at his high-intensity Brooklyn middle school. He wants to turn his image around, but he has other things on his mind as well: his father, who’s out of a job; his best friends, Ruthie and Joe C.; his former best friend Donovan, who’s now become a jerk; and of course, the beautiful Mialonie. The elections for school president are coming up, but with his notorious nickname and “nothing” social status, Reggie wouldn’t stand a chance, if he even had the courage to run.

Then Reggie gets involved with a local homeless shelter, the Olive Branch. Haunted by two of the clients there–George, a once-proud man now living on the streets, and Charlie, a six-year-old kid who becomes his official “Little Buddy”–he begins to think about making a difference, both in the world and at school. Pukey for President? It can happen . . . if he starts believing.

The Magician’s Elephant

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Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best of the Month, September 2009: Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo–author of The Tale of Despereaux and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane– has crafted another exquisite novel for young readers. The Magician’s Elephant tells the tale of Peter Augustus Duchene, a ten-year-old orphan who receives an unbelievable piece of information from the local fortuneteller. Peter learns that his fate is tied to an elephant that has inexplicably fallen from the sky when a magician’s trick goes terribly wrong. Why did it happen? And, how can an elephant possibly change the course of Peter’s life? This darkly atmospheric, yet hopeful tale, demonstrates that when the answers to life’s big questions are opaque or unforthcoming, all is not lost. DiCamillo’s rhythmic writing, combined with Yoko Tanaka’s mysterious black-and-white illustrations, enchants and calls out to our sincerest wishes and dreams (recommended for readers ages 8-13). –Lauren Nemroff

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 4–6—On a perfectly ordinary day, Peter Augustus Duchene goes to the market square of the city of Baltese. Instead of buying the fish and bread that his guardian, Vilna Lutz, has asked him to procure, he uses the coin to pay a fortune-teller to get information about his sister, whom he believes to be dead. He is told that she is alive, and that an elephant will lead him to her. That very night at a performance in the town’s opera house, a magician conjures up an elephant (by mistake) that crashes through the roof and cripples the society dame she happens to land on. The lives of the boy, his guardian, and the local policeman, along with the magician and his unfortunate victim, as well as a beggar, his dog, a sculptor, and a nun all intertwine in a series of events triggered by the appearance of the elephant. Miraculous events resolve not only the mystery of the whereabouts of Peter’s sister, but also the deeper needs of all of the individuals involved. DiCamillo’s carefully crafted prose creates an evocative aura of timelessness for a story that is, in fact, timeless. Tanaka’s acrylic artwork is meticulous in detail and aptly matches the tone of the narrative. This is a book that demands to be read aloud.—Tim Wadham, St. Louis County Library, MO
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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