Mock Printz!

In about a week, YA librarians across Nassau and Suffolk County will be getting together to hold a Mock Printz conference - basically, we're going to play judge and decide which book we would choose as the winner of the 2008 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. (See past winners here.)

I was provided with a shortlist of titles that have been deemed to be worthy of the prize. I'll share that with you here, and you can play along!

Here's the list I was provided with a short summary of each book (in alphabetical order by title):

Absolute Brightness by James Lecesne

In the beach town of Neptune, New Jersey, Phoebe's life is changed irrevocably when her cousin moves into her house and soon goes missing.


The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

In the not-too-distant future, when biotechnological advances have made synthetic bodies and brains possible but illegal, a seventeen-year-old girl, recovering from a serious accident and suffering from memory lapses, learns a startling secret about her existence.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
by E. Lockhart

Sophomore Frankie starts dating senior Matthew Livingston, but when he refuses to talk about the all-male secret society that he and his friends belong to, Frankie infiltrates the society in order to enliven their mediocre pranks.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.


Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

After being interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, California, seventeen-year-old Marcus, released into what is now a police state, decides to use his expertise in computer hacking to set things right.

Madapple by Christina Meldrum

A girl who has been brought up in near isolation is thrown into a twisted web of family secrets and religious fundamentalism when her mother dies and she goes to live with relatives she never knew she had.

Nation by Terry Pratchett

After a devastating tsunami destroys all that they have ever known, Mau, an island boy, and Daphne, an aristocratic English girl, together with a small band of refugees, set about rebuilding their community and all the things that are important in their lives.

Paper Towns by John Green

One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears.

We currently own most of these in the library, and if you're interested in the ones we don't have, come in and reserve them - or do that from home!

Let us know what you think of them!

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Looking for a good book?

I just finished reading The Graceling by Kristin Cashore - if you're a Tamora Pierce or Shannon Hale fan this one is a must-read, but even if you're not so into fantasy novels, this book has something for you.

It takes place in a world where some people are "graced" with special abilities - our heroine, Katsa, has been blessed (or cursed, depending how you look at it) with what she believs to the ability to kill anyone and anything. Her Uncle Randa, King of the Middluns, has used Katsa as his go-to girl for punishing anyone who dares defy him. But she's kind of over that.

Katsa is ready to use her skill for more good than evil, and, along with the mysterious, and also graced, Po, sets off on an adventure to right some wrongs.

I don't want to give too much away, but there's adventure, romance, dangerous foes and quick-witted heroes, as well as some plain old hand-to-hand combat. Make sure you check it out - you'll be glad you did.

Since I've been gone..

We've gotten a lot of new Books on CD for you guys! I'll post the list below.

Also, if you're more interested in downloading audiobooks from home and putting them on CDs or your MP3 players, check out the Nassau Digital Doorway. There are a whole bunch of teen titles on there, including books like the Twilight series and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. All you have to do is go here - download the software and you're ready to go! Make sure to call if you have any questions.

Here are some new books on CD you can find at the library:

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Inkdeath by Cornelia Fünke
Looking For Alaska by John Green
The Magician by Michael Scott
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson
Maximum Ride: The Final Warning by James Patterson
Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson
Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever by James Patterson

See you sooner than later I hope!

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our Twilight program on Monday - we had a great time seeing all of you!

Remember, the Twilight movie comes out on November 21, 2008! Are you as excited for it as we are?

Back To School Reading?

It's back to school time! I know, not always so exciting. But here are some new books to break up all that scholarly reading you'll have to be doing. Make sure to look up the ones you want in the catalog, and if they're out now, you can reserve them from home.

Happy reading!

Fantasy
The Magician by Michael Scott
Sebastian Darke: Prince of Fools by Philip Caveney

General Fiction
Alfred Kropp: The Thirteenth Skull by Rick Yancey
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
The Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviours by E. Lockhart
The Fold by An Na
The Juliet Club by Suzanne Harper
Moby Clique: a Bard Academy Novel by Cara Lockwood
Stop In The Name Of Pants! by Louis Rennison
Zombie Blondes by Brian James

Historical Fiction
I Am Rembrandt's Daughter by Lynn Cullen
In Mozart's Shadow by Carolyn Meyer
In Leonardo's Shadow, or, My Astonishing Life as Leonardo Da Vinci's Servant by Christopher Grey

Mystery
The Angel of Death: A Forensic Mystery by Alane Ferguson
The Christopher Killer: A Forensic Mystery by Alane Ferguson
The Circle of Blood: A Forensic Mystery by Alane Ferguson

Science Fiction
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Epic by Conor Kostick
Saga by Conor Kostick

YA DVD Monthly Round-Up

All new YA DVDs, added to PPL's collection in the last month! Come in and check them out!

College Road Trip
Raven-Symone, Martin Lawrence

Melanie's really excited to go to college - Georgetown is her dream school. But her dad isn't so sure - he thinks the closer Northwestern would be a much better choice, then he can keep his eye on his little girl. But when Melanie's acceptance to Georgetown hinges only on an interview, she sets out on a road trip to chase her dream.

The Legend of Tillamook's Gold
Suzanne Marie Doyon

After her father loses his job and her family moves to a small, coastal Oregon town, fourteen-year-old Julie finds an ancient coin on the beach and spends her summer investigating a Native American legend about long-lost mountain treasure.

Picture This
Ashley Tisdale

A high school girl is invited to a party by the most popular boy in school -- only trouble is she's grounded.

Coming to a library near you...

Worried about Bella and Edward, and let's not forget Jacob, Alice, Jasper or Charlie, shall we?

You don't have long to wait! Breaking Dawn, the fourth, and final, book in the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer is being released this weekend on August 2.

We'll be getting our copies then too, so make sure you reserve your copy soon!

YA Audiobooks!

We recently ordered a whole bunch of YA books on CD! These are great to listen to while outside, in the car on your summer road trips, or just hanging out on the beach. Give 'em a try - there are more on the way!

Here's the ones we just added:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle Trilogy:
A Great and Terrible Beauty
Rebel Angels
The Sweet Far Thing

Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series:
The Sea Of Monsters (Book Two)
The Titan's Curse (Book Three)
The Battle Of The Labyrinth (Book Four)

Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series:
Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse

Series Spotlight: The Gemma Doyle Trilogy

So, you've read Twilight. You liked it a lot. You want a new series to sink your teeth into (pun kind of intended, I'm sorry). I have one!

No, it doesn't have vampires. But it does have romance and fantasy and historical aspects, and a strong female voice in one Gemma Doyle. And, most importantly, it's awesome (and a big fat series, for those of you who like your books loing and involved).

Check out A Great and Terrible Beauty first (because it's first). Then, Rebel Angels, then the, unfortunately, last The Sweet Far Thing. You won't regret it - and you'll learn some stuff too! It's like a Twilight meets Pride and Prejudice meets The Secret Garden. It sounds weird, but it all works itself out.

Also, once you've finished off those three, check out Maureen Johnson's interviews with the trilogy's author, Libba Bray, who is delightful and hilarious.

Interview One
Interview Two
Interview Three

(Oh, and you might just like Maureen Johnson's stuff too - try her new book, Suite Scarlett!)

Happy reading everyone! And don't blame me if you're hooked, I warned you.

Summer Reading

Watch this space for updates on our new books perfect for reading on the beach, at camp, or during breaks from those summer jobs.

For now, we just wanted to take a minute to remind you about that summer reading you may not be as excited about: the school assignments.

We won't dwell on the subject, but we want to let you know that, as always, the library will do our best to have the books that you need for school when you're ready to read them. Keep in mind though, that everyone else needs these books too, so don't wait 'til the last minute!

Hope your school years are coming to a happy, successful close and we look forward to seeing you this summer!

New Books!

Just in! Check 'em out!

California Dreaming: An A-List Novel
Zoey Dean

Eager to leave the dramas of LA behind her, Anna heads to the Big Apple for a summer of fun and relaxation, yet once settled in her Upper East Side pad, she meets a beautiful stranger who makes her quickly come to the conclusion that drama is destined to follow her wherever she goes!

(Fun Fact: Did you know that Zoey Dean is a pseudonym? The A-List books are actually written by married YA Authors Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld! Check out some of Cherie's other books here.)

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
E. Lockhart

Sophomore Frankie starts dating senior Matthew Livingston, but when he refuses to talk about the all-male secret society that he and his friends belong to, Frankie infiltrates the society in order to enliven their mediocre pranks.

Cheated
Patrick Jones

When a normal night spent hanging out, drinking with his two best friends, ends in a deadly mistake, individual decisions suddenly seem more important than Mick Salisbury ever realized. And when he’s sitting in the police interrogation room, it will all come down to one choice. But once he heads down one road, will it ever be possible to turn back?

Saving Juliet
Suzanne Selfors

Mimi Wallingford's stage fright and fight with her mother on the closing night of Romeo and Juliet are nothing compared to the troubles she faces when she and her leading man are transported to Shakespeare's Verona, where she decides to give the real Juliet a happy ending.

(If you like this one, check out Polly Shulman's Enthusiasm.)

Steel Trapp: The Challenge
Ridley Pearson

While traveling with his mom on a train to Washington, D.C. for the National Science Competition, Steven ends up in the midst of an international kidnapping plot with terrorist links and must assist the FBI in gathering up the clues left behind using his strong scientific skills and amazing photographic memory.

The Luxe

Just finished this. My kind of historical fiction: the rich and poor of old New York, circa 1900. It's kind of like Gossip Girl with a corset. Rich girls, clueless boys, jealous maids ready to sell them all out. I guess some things never change.

"In this deliciously soapy novel, privileged teens in Manhattan conduct forbidden romances, betray their so-called friends, and generally indulge in bad behavior."

Kiki strikes again!

The new book is called "Kiki Strike: the Empress's Tomb." Cool as usual. And if you haven't looked at the website kikistrike.com from the last book, do it now, pleeese. Little things like this impress me.

"Ananka Fishbein, Kiki Strike, and the other Irregulars encounter a Chinese mummy, a ghost, trained squirrels, and old enemies as they try to stop an art forgery ring and safeguard the secret streets hidden beneath New York City."

Book Recommendation: The Year Of Secret Assignments

Has your teacher ever given you one of those writing assignments where you have a pen pal in another school? And what if that school's students had a really, well, rough reputation? What would you write?

Best friends Lydia, Cassie and Emily find themselves in that exact situation. And while they never thought that they could gain anything at all from this experience, all of them gain something - and it's more than each of them bargained for.

Check out Jaclyn Moriarty's The Year Of Secret Assignments for the results of an English experiment gone haywire. You'll love what these friends get into, and will love reading how they get out of it.

Twilight: The Movie

We've definitely talked about Stephenie Meyer's Twilight here before. Being that it's the first book of one of our favorite YA series of all time, how can we not have?

But now we're talking about the movie, set for release in December 2008. Stephenie Meyer recently posted the cast on her website - see the picture of the Cullens at left.

What do you think? Is Edward as dreamy as you pictured him to be? Is Rosalie as cold? Dr. Cullen as movie star handsome? Let us know - you can check out the rest of the pictures of the cast here.

Also, for all of you who like to plan, it has recently been announced that the next book in the series, Breaking Dawn, will hit the shelves on August 2, 2008. We aren't able to put any reserves in for it just yet, but we'll let you know when we can.

Books, books, and more books

We just got these new books in. Come in and check them out! Or, if they're out already, click on the titles or pictures to reserve them from home. Then we'll call you when they come in.

Leap Day
Wendy Mass

Josie's pretty excited about her birthday - why shouldn't she be? It only comes once every 4 years. On this, her 4th birthday, Josie has a lot to do: taking her driver's test, school play auditions, and a night out with her friends. Along the way she learns that not everyone sees her the same way she sees herself.

Life As We Knew It
Susan Beth Pfeffer

When a meteor pushes the moon closer to the earth, setting into motion a series of destructive weather events that wipe out coasts, rock the continents, and block out the sun, Miranda and her family must find a way to survive in a desperate and unfamiliar world.

Life, Love and the Pursuit of Free Throws
Janette Rallison

Josie loves hottie Ethan Lancaster, the captain of the basketball team, but he seems much more interested . On the other hand, Cami dreams of winning her basketball team’s coveted MVP award, but her best friend, Josie, is a better player. Can these two friends get what they want without ruining their relationship with each other?

Scarlet Letterman
Cara Lockwood

In her second semester at a boarding school for delinquent students, Miranda is having a good time as the girlfriend of the school's basketball star but finds herself drawn to Heathcliff, a literary character come to life who may also be attacking teachers. Sound like a fun read? Check out the first in the series: Wuthering High.

The Luxe
Anna Godberson

Pretty girls in pretty dresses, partying until dawn.
Irresistible boys with mischievous smiles and dangerous intentions.
White lies, dark secrets, and scandalous hookups.
This is Manhattan, 1899.

And the Printz Award goes to...

White Darkness
Geraldine McCaughrean

Taken to Antarctica by the man she thinks of as her uncle for what she believes to be a vacation, Symone--a troubled fourteen year old--discovers that he is dangerously obsessed with seeking Symme's Hole, an opening that supposedly leads into the center of a hollow Earth.

The Michael L. Printz award is given out once a year to a book that geared toward teens and is literarily excellent (my twist on "literary excellence" - like it?). Check White Darkness out and see if you agree with Booklist's choice. You may also want to check out some of the past winners, listed below:

Looking For Alaska by John Green
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
Postcard's From No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers
Step From Heaven by An Na
Kit's Wilderness by David Almond
Monster by Walter Dean Myers

Click on the titles to find the one you want in the library, or to reserve it from home. Let us know what you think of them!