Bucks Read to Achive Starts Janurary 2nd, 2010

It's time for the 2010 Bucks Reading Challenge!

If you are in 3rd-10th grade, stop in the library beginning Saturday January 2nd to register and pick up your reading log. Students in 3rd-6th grade need to register at the Children's Reference Desk, and those of you in 7th-10th grade should register at the Adult Information Desk. (This program is limited to those of you in 3rd-10th grade. We didn't make the rules for this one.)

Here's what you need to do: Read! Once you sign up, we will give you a reading log where you will keep track of the pages you've read starting on January 2nd. Once you've reached 500 pages, come back to the library (with your reading log) and we will give you a voucher for a free ticket to a Milwaukee Bucks' Basketball game!*

Once you reach 500 pages, keep reading. Students who read 750 pages are entered to win "Overtime" prizes, including an autographed Milwaukee Bucks basketball!

Bucks Read to Achieve runs from January 2nd-February 13th 2010, and stop by the reference (or information) desk for more information!

I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (Reading Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern )

*There are two games to choose the ticket from, and you are responsible for sending in the voucher for your ticket. We'll give you all the information when you come in and register.

Book Review: Fat Cat by Robin Brande

Mr. Fitzer's Special Topics in Research Science class is legendary. This is the class that can make or break a career in science research. Those who do well end up with college offers from MIT, Duke and Harvard. Those who fail end up in no name labs wishing they could have done better.

Cat is ready for the challenge, all right, epically since her former best friend Matt McKinney is her main competition. When Cat goes up to blindly choose the picture that will shape the course of her research and the next seven months, she hears Matt laughing, surly at the fact that her butt has only gotten bigger over the summer. Her picture? Naked hominids. Naked hominids standing around raw meat, stealing it from hyenas. That's when inspiration hits- what if she could look like that woman, not thin but athletic, and definitely not fat?

What is Cat to do, other than decide she will live like prehistoric humans . No more Diet Cokes and Snickers bars, no more surfing the net or watching TV. Her best friend and mom think she will fail (or end up in the hospital). But Cat knows this is do or die- she can't lose this competition to Matt, again, and if she can lose a few pounds in the process of winning, how can that be a bad thing?

Cat's observations over the course of the experiment run from the pain and suffering of caffeine withdraw, to the fact that Cat goes from being "fat" to a knockout, garnering the attention of many young men (including former friend and current nemesis Matt).

Reading about Cat's adventures in natural eating, her enforced exercise and her great transformation are hysterical and honest. Whether you are happy with the way you look, or think you need a complete make over, Cat's transformation inside and out is one that you will support. She's not just doing this to be a size eight pretty girl (but wouldn't that be nice). Cat's doing this for science, and maybe a little bit for herself.

I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (Hoping to finish Almost Perfect and Marcello in the Real World before the new year!)

Book Review: Waiting for You by Susane Colasanti

Marisa is ready for her sophomore year in high school. She can feel that this is going to be the year she finally gets a boyfriend. With help from her best friend Sterling, she knows that she will make it though the year, hopefully with Derek the cute boy from art class as her boyfriend.

Derek may be perfect for her, but he does have a girlfriend. And what help is a best friend, if she's too busy chatting to guys online? Marisa seems like an average high school student depending on her smart chemistry partner Nash to help her pass, and with dreams of being concertmaster in the high school orchestra. It's just that she an anxiety disorder, which makes her over analyze things, and then fall into a spiral of downward thinking, and last year she had to take time off from school to get the help she needed.

Marisa also notices that things are not right with her parents, like her dad's belongings are slowly disappearing, and her mom is acting different. Of course she has nothing to worry about, because these things will work out.

Waiting for You is one of those wonderfully insightful and quiet stories that realistically shows how complex it is being a high school student. Marisa is so normal, and so conflicted at the same time, and you see how and why she thinks the way she does. She wants what every high school student wants, to fit in and be liked, she just gets caught in her own mind. Of course the you and I know that Nash is the perfect boy for her from their interview in chemistry, however blinded she is by Derek!

Waiting for You is recommended to fans of Sarah Dessen, Sara Zarr and other realistic "girl" fiction.

I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (Reading in the New Year, with Fat Cat by Robin Brande)

Book Reveiw: Peace, Love and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle

Carly is back from a summer trip in Tennessee where the shower was a lake, and every day started with a 13 mile hike to a work site. Now back to her privileged life, she's excited to show her little sister the ropes at high school.

Of course, things are never as simple as they seem. Carly seems to cause more trouble than she means to with her new independent thinking that is very different from her classmates. Anna isn't quite ready to stand up for her self at school. These two sisters need to figure out how to be sisters and friends at the same time. Of course, there are always boys to worry about, especially cute Cole who is perfect for Carly, with his soulful eyes and great taste in music.

Told from Carly's point of view, Peace, Love and Baby Ducks is one of those feel good books, that will resonate with anyone who has a sister, younger or older. Carly wants to look out for Anna, but wants to have a life that is separate from her as well. Anna wants to be independent from Carly, but not completely written out of her life. Lauren Myracle creates the dynamics between the sisters so well, that you're going to wonder what happens next.

With a little romance, a little bit of family conflict and a whole lot of fun, this is a great read for those of you looking for a fast winter break read. Fans of Lauren Myracle won't be disappointed, and anyone with a sister will understand and appreciate this book!

I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (Reading Hero Type- another Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee!)

Book Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Maragaret Stohl

Ethan Wait has spent his entire life in small, southern Gatlin, South Carolina - a place where the Civil War is remembered as the War of Northern Agression, where everybody knows everybody else and nothing ever changes, and where newcomers are most definately not welcome. He can't wait to get out, especially since his mom died in a tragic car accident the year before, and his dad is now a shadow that only emerges from his library, and his grief, for the occasional bowl of shredded wheat.

And then there are the dreams.

Dreams of a girl Ethan's never seen, a girl who screams as she falls through his fingers, drowing in dirt, a girl he's desperate to save, a girl he's in love with. Every morning, he wakes with dirt in his sheets, his wrists bruised and scratched from where she tried to hold on, but couldn't.

Until the morning Ethan wakes with a mysterious song he's never heard of on his iPod. A song he can't get out of his head. Until he gets to school, and the whole student body is buzzing with the news - there's a new girl, the niece of town shut-in Macon Ravenwood. She's gorgeous, she's strange, and she's definately not welcome. And when Ethan first lays eyes on Lena Duchannes, he knows he's sunk, because she's the girl from his dreams.

Lena clearly isn't interested in getting to know anyone, especially Ethan. But, drawn like a moth to an especially bright flame, he can't stay away. When the two discover an old locket that unlocks visions of the past, Lena can no longer deny their connection, or continue to resist Ethan's pull on her. But Lena, and her family, hold dark secrets, secrets that will reveal their terrible power on Lena's rapidly approaching 16th birthday. When Ethan discovers what Lena truly is, and what she has the potential to become, will their love for each other be enough to keep Lena safe from her future?

Nominated for the Morris Award for first-time authors, Beautiful Creatures was a paranormal romance you won't be able to resist sinking into. Told from Ethan's point of view, you'll love to watch as he falls for Lena, a girl whose family has been cursed with magic gone horribly dark since the Civil War. With magic galore, a mystery to be unlocked, doomed romance, a secret library beneath the earth (and it's awesome librarian!), mean girls, shape-shifters, an eerily human dog (for you lit geeks, ironically named Boo Radley!), and two sets of star-crossed lovers, Beautiful Creatures is full of all the things I love to love.

Megan
(who just finished devouring Ash by Malinda Lo, another Morris nominee and one of the most gorgeously written books I have ever read!)

Book Review: Food, Girls and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff

It's tough being the fat kid, just ask Andrew Zansky. It doesn't help that his pants size is printed on the back of his pants, and he knows this year that number is 48, and 48 is the biggest number available. With a new school year coming up there isn't much he is looking forward to. That is until he meets April, a cute girl at an event his mom is catering.

What once was a comfortable life of eating, participating in Model United Nations, and hanging out has now been turned upside down thanks to a few lies, an amazing soccer play, and an accidental football tryout. Now the center for the varsity football team, Andy finds himself popular and well-liked, in spite of his weight.

Andy's new life revolves around keeping football a secret from him mom (you'll get hurt!), impressing his lawyer dad (billing by the hour, even his own son) and not alienating his (former?) best friend. What Andy needs to do is figure out why he is playing football.

Food, Girls and Other Things I Cannot Have is a laugh out loud funny book about a high school aged boy trying to find where he fits in, and figure out what he wants. Author Allen Zadoff gets voices Andy just perfectly, that you can't help laughing with him and cheering him on in the end . Similar to Carter Finally Gets It, and Sleeping Freshman Never Lie, this another hysterical look at the inner workings of a normal high school boy.

I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (Finally reading Lauren Myracle's Peace Love and Baby Ducks, one of the MCTBA Nominees!)

Friday Fun with the Geektastic Game!

Taking a break from holiday shopping sprees? Need some brain candy after finals? Trying to find a way to distract yourself from eating the piles of sugar cookies in your kitchen? Look no further than Little Brown's website for The Great Geek Escape game!

Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd edited by Holly Black and Ceceil Castellucci, one of our Milwaukee County Teen Book Award nominees (and a favorite of both Katie's and mine!) is a laugh-out-loud collection of short stories about geeks big and small - math nerds, band geeks, Jedi knights and Klingons, LARPers, and the Dawn Summers inside all of us. The Great Geek Escape is more fun than Farmville, as you take your superhero or band geek through the halls of high school, gathering snacks and avoiding the paths of the jocks and the mean girls, to rescue one of the Nerd Herd. So read the book, play the game (in no particular order!), and get your geek on!

Megan
( looking forward to starting Ash by Malinda Lo, one of the Morris nominees, when I get home tonight!)

2010 Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominees Announced!

There's an awesome new book award in town - the Milwaukee County Teen Book Award! Why a(nother) book award, you ask? Easy! Started to promote teen reading and literature by spotlighting books of both quality and appeal published for teens, the Milwaukee County Teen Book Award (or MCTBA, for short) looks to highlight those books that are both made of awesome AND have special appeal to teens in Milwaukee County. And the really cool thing? You guys get to vote for your favorite!

What was eligible? Books published for teens between September 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009. So, here you guys go - the top fifteen books for Milwaukee County teens, the 2010 MCTBA nominees!

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
King of the Screw-Ups by K.L. Going
Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles
Hero Type by Barry Lyga
Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Burn by Suzanne Phillips
Response by Paul Volponi
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

Want more info? The MCTBA's got its own website, so head over there to see what's going on. We've also included links to the website and voting ballot in the sidebar, so you don't have to dig up this post every time you want to check out the list.

Want to know how to vote? Check out the MCTBA ballot for more info and when, where, and how, and stay tuned to waplteens and the MCTBA website. And keep your eyes open at your local Milwaukee County library - we'll have posters, a ballot box, and more info about the books available on-site at the WAPL!

Voting starts now, and ends March 1, 2010. The winner will be announced April 1, 2010.

Megan
(Who has absolutely no idea which one I would pick as my favorite - good thing you can vote as many times as you'd like! One vote per ballot.)

Warm Summer Reads, for Cold Winter Days

The weather outside may be frightful, but inside the library we have tons of fun summer books to help you escape the cold and snow!

Summer Girls by Hailey Abbot: Summer vacation in Maine is all about boys and the beach for these cousins.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han: Belly loves her summers spent at the beach with her mom and brother, but it's the summer when she is 16 that things start to change for her.

Summer of Kings by Han Nolen: The Summer of 1963 turns out to be far from ordinary for Esther Young, when King-Roy Johnston comes to live with her family.

Project Sweet Life by Brent Hartinger: When forced to find summer jobs, these boys choose to do anything but work to make money.

Copper Sun by Sharon Draper: Two girls escape from a Carolina Plantation in search of freedom in Fort Moses Florida.

Grab a book, your snuggie and a cup of hot tea and get ready for a warm winter read!

I'll see you @ the library
Katie (Who's coming to Duct Tape Craft Night? I'll see you Tuesday December 15th at 7PM!)

Twi-Likes, Part V: New Reads after New Moon

Love New Moon? Already read the Twilight Saga more times than you can count? Here are six new novels chock full of dark romance, immortality, a few vampires, and paranormal twists that'll keep you thirsting for more!

Immortal by Gillian Shields
Sent to boarding school as a scholarship student at the oppresive, gothic Wyldcliffe Abbey School for Young Ladies, Evie has never been more lonely. But when she literally runs into Sebastian, a mysterious, brooding boy on the moors by the school, she is inexplicably drawn to him, and to the magic that surrounds him. Meeting only at night, Evie slowly comes to realize that this beautiful boy is somehow connected to the school, and to her own past. But is her beloved Sebastian an angel, or a demon in disguise?

Sea Change by Aimee Friedman
When Miranda's grandmother Isadora dies, she and her mother leave New York to spend the summer on Selkie Island, off the coast in Georgia, to sort through the contents of the mansion Isadora left them. Full of myths and legends of mythical creatures (like sea serpents, the kraken, and merfolk), future scientist Miranda has no patience for the rich folklore of Selkie Island that seems to accost her at every turn. Until she meets local boy Leo in the fog on Siren Beach one evening. As Leo shows her his island home, Miranda finds herself falling hard for him. But when it seems that Leo may be hiding something... supernatural about his true nature, Miranda isn't sure if she's going crazy, or if mythical sea creatures really do walk the beaches of Selkie Island.

The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales
In this fabulous collection of short stories, vampires are everywhere, and they're usually very, very thirsty. With authors like Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, and Melissa de la Cruz, you know you're in for a treat with this one! Sword wielding vampire hunters, reluctant vampires, vampires on the run, and vampire Healers are all featured in these vampire tales - if you're a fan of the Volturi, you're definately gonna want to check this out.

Raven by Allison van Diepen
Zin dances with a dark fire, and Nicole has been in love with him since the first time she laid eyes on him. The pair are everything to each other - everything they can be while remaining best friends. Zin has a dark secret that keeps him always at a distance from Nic, a dark secret he shares with others at the club. When Nic discovers what Zin truly is, will they finally be able to be together? Or will Zin's secret destroy everything they have?

Shadowland by Alyson Noel
In this third book of The Immortals series, Ever has yet to reveal to her beloved Damen the terrible secret she carries, the curse that resulted from her desperate race to save his life, and his soul, in Blue Moon. The terrible truth that any touch between them, the brush of their hands, will send Damen to the Shadowlands, where his soul will be lost forever. But in her search for a way to break the curse, Ever meets Jude. Srangely familar to her, Ever is drawn to this boy with a mysterious past. Who is Jude? As Damen grows more distant, and Jude closer, Ever finds herself questioning everything she believes to be true - even the certainty that Damen is her one true love for all eternity.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Ethan Wate has lived in small Southern town Gatlin his entire life, where nothing ever changes. Until Lena Duchannes appears in school one day - the same girl who has been haunting Ethan's dreams for months. Beautiful, mysterious, and outcast, Lena lives with her uncle, the town recluse. Despite Lena's attempts to keep Ethan out of her life, the two are drawn to each other. When they discover a mysterious locket that plunges them, together, into visions of the past, Ethan is more determined than ever to discover the source of their connection, and the dark secret lurking in their past. A secret that has the power to tear them apart, and plunge Lena into darkness.

Megan
(Finishing up Beautiful Creatures, and looking forward to reading Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick and Fallen by Lauren Kate, two new paranormal romances about fallen angels!)

Duct Tape Craft Night Tuesday December 15th 7 PM

Next week, Tuesday December 15th we are having a Duct Tape Craft time, just for you! Starting at 7 PM we will open the Constitution Room for Milwaukee County Teens to create with duct tape.

We will have Duct Tape, ideas and other supplies. You make some awesome stuff to keep and use, or give away (not that there are any holidays coming up you might need a gift for!).

I've already figured out how to make a wallet, basketball hoop, bracelet, picture frame and roses . There still a tie, basket and purse to try, and is anyone brave enough to make a pair of duct tape flip flops for this winter weather?

Show up ready to craft!
I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (Reading Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher)

Book Review: Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor

What happens when a first kiss becomes something... more? More magical, more forbidden, more deadly? In this stunner of a book, three kisses do just that.

Goblin Fruit
What if goblins were real? And not just real, but living among us, craving a certain kind of girl? A girl who's never been kissed? All her life, Kizzy has heard the tale of how her grandmother, with only her knife and the strength of her will, won her sister back from the goblins when she was young. But now her grandmother is gone, and there's a new boy at school. A gorgeous, too-good-to-be-true boy, who makes her head spin, her blood fizz, her heart sing. A boy who isn't quite... human. What will happen if, when, he kisses Kizzy? Will it be her first kiss? Or her last?

Spicy Little Curses Such as These
At her christening party, Anamique was cursed with the most beautiful voice to ever pass human lips - a voice that will kill anyone who hears it. For almost 18 years, Anamique has remained silent and soundless, pouring her thoughts out into only her diary. Until James, a soldier, discovers the diary, lost between the seats in a train car, and falls in love with the girl whose words he reads. And when he meets Anamique at a party, purely by chance, he finds himself even more in love.

James does not believe in the curse, and at every opportunity, he whispers in her ear, imploring her to speak to him. With each day that passes, Anamique can feel her voice inside her, struggling to get out. Will Anamique be able to remain silent? Is the curse real? What will happen if she allows her voice to escape? And could a kiss be enough to stop its deadly power?

Hatchling
When Esme wakes at dawn to the sound of wolves howling, her left eye ed from warm brown to a clear ice blue, everything is different. She has memories that she is sure aren't hers, memories of a beautiful man she's never seen before, and a kiss that tastes like a frozen river. And when her mother, Mab, tells her the wolves are hunters, demon Druj without souls, tracking them from another world, her life is turned upside down.

Mihai has been watching Esme and Mab since they first left his world to escape to ours. When he hears the wolves at dawn, he knows it's time. A solitary, exhiled Druj, he has been waiting for the right moment. When Mihai suddenly appears, taking Esme with him, back to his world, Mab realizes that it isn't her the Druj have been tracking for the last 14 years, but her daughter, and what lies hidden within her, waiting to hatch. A creature that only Mihai can release.


Nominated for the 2009 National Book Award, these three tales of supernatural kisses are some of the best fantasy fiction I've read all year. With a series of gorgeous illustrations introducing each story, the tension builds toward three sweet, spicy, and altogether delicious kisses, each one delivered with a twist. Lyrical, lush, and darkly romantic, Lips Touch is not to be missed by fans of Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, and Melissa Marr.

Megan
(now savoring Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Maragaret Stohl, one of the Morris nominees!)

2010 Morris Award Nominees Announced

The William C. Morris Award might just be my favorite award given by the American Library Association! Given to one first-time author of a debut book for teens each year, the Morris Award honors newbies for compelling writing and/or illustrations, integrity of the writing, and teen appeal. Last year, A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce took home the 2009 award, and the four runners-up provided some pretty serious competition!

This year, the five titles in the running for the 2010 Morris look like real stunners. So, without further ado, the nominees for the 2nd annual William C. Morris YA Debut Award are...








Ash by Malinda Lo, a Cinderella story with a twist.








Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the gothic tale of a girl haunted by an ancient curse, and a boy haunted by dreams of a girl he has never met.








The Everafter by Amy Huntley, a story that begins with a dead girl surrounded by all the things she lost in life, things that give her the power to live, and even change, a few moments again.








Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan
When you have a girlfriend and a best friend who's a girl, what happens when one needs you more than the other?








Hold Still by Nina LaCour
How do you go on living, when the person you love most chooses to die?

For more info on the titles, check out the Morris Award page. The winner will be announced during the American Library Association's Midwinter Youth Media Awards in January!

Megan
(who can't wait to start my copy of Beautiful Creatures!)

Duct Tape Craft Night: December 15th 7PM

Need a new wallet? What about a belt? How about a tie to give to dad this holiday season? Thinking about giving that special someone some flowers? Try Duct Tape! You can make all sorts of things out of duct tape (plus a little patience and imagination). From wallets and roses to prom dresses, there isn't much duct tape can't do!

On Tuesday December 15th from 7-8:30 we will open the Library Constitution Room for all sorts of Duct Tape crafts. We'll supply the tape, ideas and examples, you just provide the imagination.

This event is open to all Milwaukee County Teens, ages 12-18 or those of you in grades 6-12.

I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (Checking out Got Tape by Wisconsin author Ellie Schidermayer for ideas for Duct Tape Craft night!)