Good Books - March 2007

Nutmeg Nominees

The winner of the 2007 Teen Nutmeg Award was Vampire High by Douglas Rees! This was by far the most popular Nutmeg book here at the library last year. It is great to see such a funny book take home an award (since awards seem to often go to serious books).

The Nutmeg is voted on by the teen readers in Connecticut. Ten books are selected each year, and teens have until January 2008 to read them and cast their vote here at the library, or at their school. This year’s nominees:

• Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams

• Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis

• The Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney

• The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer

• In Darkness, Death by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler

• Shackleton’s Stowaway by Victoria McKernan

• The River Between Us by Richard Peck

• The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan

• Emako Blue by Brenda Woods

• Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

So, seventh and eigth graders out there…Get reading!

Good Books - 2007

Graphically Honest

The winner of the Michael L. Printz award (the big prize for young adult literature) went to a graphic novel this year, the incredible American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. While it may not seem like a big deal to honor a graphic novel with such a prestigious prize, to some teen readers (and their parents), these books aren’t much more than a bunch of cartoons. This is really a shame. People who think that graphic novels aren’t ‘real’ literature or that they ‘don’t count’ as books are missing out on some of the most thought-provoking, entertaining stories being published today.

Some great graphics for middle schoolers:

• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

• Iron West by Doug TenNapel

• To Dance by Siena Cherson Siegel

• Girl Stories by Lauren Weinstein

Some more titles for high school readers:

• The Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughn

• Night Fisher by R. Kikuo Johnson

• Age of Bronze by Eric Shanower

• Can’t Get No by Rick Veitch

And for grown-up skeptics, there are even terrific graphic novels written specifically for an adult audience, like Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (which was named Best Book of the Year by many publications, including TIME magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and Publishers Weekly.)

Give graphic novels a shot. You won’t regret it!

Lists!

In addition to the lists we put together for Teens at the library, YALSA (the Young Adult Library Services Association) puts out lists of the best of everything. Take a look, and find a book!

Good Books - January

And the winner is… 

The winter months are when the book awards are rolled out. The National Book Award for Young People went to The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Volume 1: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson. It is a facsinating story about what is the true cost of freedom, set during the American revolution. It is like nothing else out there.

The big award is the Michael A. Printz Award. For the past two years, my own pick for best book has won: Looking for Alaska by John Green and how i live now by Meg Rosoff.

This year, I am pulling for The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin. It is the unforgettable story of a young teen trying to protect both himself and his younger sisters from their volatile, violent mother, one of the scariest characters in recent teen fiction.

Good luck Nancy!

So, who are you pulling for?

Summer Reading Club 2006 - And Beyond…

Thanks for a Great Summer!

This summer, over 60 teens participated, reading almost 400 books. Thats about 80,000 pages!

Congratulations to our Grand Prize winner, Lauren M.!

If you have any ideas for ways to improve the club for next summer, add you comments now! Your book reviews are always welcome as well, in the Good Books post each month.

Next summer…can you read enough books to make the librarian dye her hair blue? I DARE YOU!