Time travel YA books

Had your fill of vampires, werewolves and faeries? Try time travel! Yes, the next big thing seems to be people going back in time to save the ones they love, not to mention the world. But be warned--they do have a romantic flair. There's Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone; Timeless by Alexandra Monir, about a girl who falls in love with a boy living in New York City’s Gilded Age; and Houglass by Myra McEntire, about a girl who meets a member of the Hourglass Institute, an X-Men-type agency where she learns her curse is really a gift

For more of a guy’s perspective with secret agent flair, try Tempest by Julie Cross. And if romace isn’t your thing at all, there’s Alex Scarrow’s TimeRiders series, where three teens who have escaped death instead portal to different moments in time to stop those from radically changing it. Happy time traveling!

Deb B.
CC Library

Book Review: Every Day



Ever wake up and feel like you’re someone else? You roll out of bed, feel off your game, and you don’t recognize that person in the mirror with severe bedhead.

But for 16-year-old “A,” in David Levithan’s Every Day, that literally happens every morning: he (we assume A’s a he; but A has been both male and female) wakes up in another 16-year-old body. Gay and straight, rich and poor, black, white, Asian and Hispanic--A has been them all. Because A leaves his host when he goes to bed that night, he tries not to interact much with those around him. Until he wakes up in the body of Justin, and falls in love with Justin’s self-conscious but kind girlfriend Rhiannon. Now all of A’s rules about not getting attached go out the window, and he does whatever it takes to be with her, every day, no matter what body he’s in, no matter how far he has to travel. It requires his hosts doing and saying things they don’t normally do—and a slip-up one evening risks exposing who and what he is in a very big way.

Every Day is one of the more unique stories I have read in a while, and it provides food for thought: Can you still love a person for what he/she really is on the inside, even when what's on the outside is always changing? A and Rhiannon's struggle to make it work tugs at your heartstrings and makes you root for the impossible to become, somehow, someday, some way, possible.

Deb B.
CC Library

Spooky Reads

 



In between pumpkin carving and costume parties, we hope you’re making some time for some very spooooky reads. We think these short story collections let you decide the right amount of spooky, scary, and creepy that you can handle.

If you’re into the classics, you could take out any of our books by Edgar Allen Poe, the master of the horror short story.  For a more modern flair, we have The Restless Dead, edited by Deborah Noyes; Fear: 13 Stories of Suspense and Horror, edited by R.L. Stine; and Darkness Creeping: Twenty Twisted Tales by Neal Shusterman.

So maybe you'll just read a story or two; maybe you'll devour the whole book (Ha! Get it?). Just don't blame us if you can't sleep afterwards, Fraidy Cat.  ;)

Deb B.
CC Library

Fun Fall Food Crafts at CC Library!

FUN FALL FOOD CRAFTS

Chester County Library - Struble Room

October 19, 2012

4:30-6:00 pm

Just in time for Halloween....Come to Chester County Library to learn how to make fun food crafts to eat and take home!  You can take the recipes home, too.

This FREE event is for students in 6th grade and older (no younger siblings, please). Registration is required, and you must register by October 17th.  To register, please email tlc@ccls.org, or sign up in person at the Youth Services Desk at Chester County Library.

Hope to see you there!

Lisa U.
CC Library

Book to Movie: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

ATTENTION: All Stephen Chbosky fans!  The Perks of Being a Wallflower (published in 1999) has been made into a movie, and the release date is September 21st.  Stars include Logan Lerman (of Percy Jackson fame) as Charlie, a likeable, introverted high school freshman who's trying to fit in; Emma Watson as Sam, Charlie's first love; and Ezra Miller as Patrick, a senior who becomes Charlie's best friend.

Here is a short summary:

This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school in 1991-92. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.

If you go to see this movie, I'd love to hear what you think.  Did the movie follow the book?  Was the cast believable?  Looking forward to this one!

Lisa U.
CC Library

 

NPR's 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels

Ah, lists.....you love them, you hate them....and EVERYONE seems to have at least one to share.  National Public Radio (NPR) asked for favorite young adult novels, and more than 75,000 people responded.  They compiled a Top 100 List, along with a list of the 235 finalists. 

Do you agree with this list?  Would you add or remove any titles?  I'd love to hear what you think!

Lisa U.
CC Library

2012 Teen Summer Reading Club

Summer 2012 has arrived!  This year's theme for Teen Summer Reading Club is Own the Night.  You can sign up for the Summer Reading Club at your local library from now until August.  You can win great prizes, attend cool events and check out good books all summer long!  For more information, call your local library.

The June Teen Library Crew event for Chester County Library is the Brainwash Game Show, hosted by Eric Dasher.  Use your brain power to answer questions about books, pop culture and other trivia.  You can win cool prizes!  This event will be held in the Struble Room at Chester County Library on June 29th from 6:30-8:00 pm.  Registration is required.  To register, you can call 610-280-2632 or email tlc@ccls.org.  Hope you can make it!

LOL Read - Swim the Fly

Are you looking for a laugh-out-loud funny read?  I highly recommend Swim the Fly by screenwriter Don Calame!  I listened to it on audio and fell down laughing many times -- not only does narrator Nick Podehl do the voices of each character perfectly, but he also has spot-on comic timing with the hilarious dialogue.

Here is a brief synopsis:

Fifteen-year-old Matt Groton and his two best friends, Sean and Coop, always set a summertime goal -- this year's is to see a real-live naked girl.  But given the fact that none of them even has the nerve to ask a girl out on a date, this is going to be a challenge.  Plus, Matt gives himself a second, more daunting goal -- to swim the impossible 100-yard butterfly to impress his crush, hottie Kelly West.  The trouble is, Matt can't even do one lap of the fly, let alone four.  His friend Coop points out the flaw in Matt's plan: "I'm sure Kelly finds the sight of a scrawny, pasty white dude flopping around in the water like a spastic salmon very hot." 

Matt and his friends cook up many wacky schemes to catch a girl in the buff, but all they succeed in doing is getting into trouble.  Some plots (like dressing in drag to sneak into the girls' locker room) strain credibility, but the hilarious results more than make up for it.  

All in all, Don Calame's sometimes-raunchy debut novel is worth a look (or a listen)!  Next up: this book's sequel, Beat the Band. 

Lisa U.

CC Library

The Hunger Games Movie

The day is finally here! The Hunger Games movie was released today, and it doesn't disappoint. Click here to see School Library Journal's review, which says the movie stays true to the book but doesn't glamorize the gore of the games.

If you go to see the movie, let me know your opinion! I would love to hear from you.

And if you'd like to read other books like The Hunger Games, click here for Hornbook's list of dystopian readalikes.

Experience Magic at CC Library!

Attention: All teen magic lovers and wanna-be magicians! Ran'D Shine, a Philadelphia-based performer and educator of magic, is coming to Chester County Library on Friday, February 24th, at 6:30 pm. His magic tricks will amaze you, and he'll teach how to do some yourself. Check out his web site at http://www.randyshine.com/.

This is a FREE event for teens in grades 6 and older, and refreshments will be served. You can register for this event by calling 610-280-2632, or by emailing tlc@ccls.org. Hope to see you!

Book Review: Ten Miles Past Normal

Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell is a sweet coming-of-age story about Janie Gorman, a high school freshman who lives on a goat farm with her modern-hippie parents, and who desperately wants to fit in. It doesn't help that her home is on the outskirts of town, far away from her middle school friends and best friend Sarah. Because she and Sarah no longer have the same lunch period, Janie ends up in the school library at lunchtime, where she becomes friends with a funky chatterbox named Verbena.

High school becomes a little more bearable when Janie joins the jam band on Friday afternoons where she meets the cute Jeremy Fitch and the friendly Monster Monroe (yes, that's his real first name), and when Janie and Sarah work on a history project where they meet two elderly civil rights activists who live in their hometown.

Janie learns that, if you want to live large, you have to take a few detours off the beaten path and step in a little goat poop along the way; she also comes to realize that "normal" is vastly overrated. I listened to this audiobook with Jessica Almasy as narrator -- her various character voices are spot-on, making the characters and the story believable. I highly recommend this book!

Lisa U.
Chester County Library