teens

Set in 1986, this story is filled with acid-wash, walkmans and punk music. Eleanor just doesn’t fit in, her red frizzy hair and eclectic wardrobe choices make her stand out like a sore thumb. Park’s goal is to fly under the radar, never at the bottom of the social ladder, but with no ambitions to climb to the top, he strives for mediocrity. But Park stands out when Eleanor climbs onto his bus one morning. With nowhere else to sit, Eleanor and Park become unwilling bench-mates. Over time, and without speaking the two begin to get to know each other. Eleanor reads comics over Park’s shoulder

I typically roll my eyes at romance novels--they are so fake! But Eleanor & Park is different. Perhaps because Eleanor and Park are different. Eleanor Douglas and Park Sheridan--the lead characters in this romance--are different from most romance novel characters, but also just different. Different from their boorish peers. Different from their lame teachers. Different from their parents. And it's their feelings of being different that brings them together in a glorious display of misfit love.

Eleanor and Park meet on the bus. It's 1986 in Omaha, Nebraska. Eleanor is the new kid at school

Black Helicopters are the harbingers of death and destruction for 15 year old Valley and her brother Bo. If they knew their hiding place, Those People, who control the helicopters, would kill them like coyotes, just as they killed her parents. Valley is determined to make the pay, no matter the cost to herself. Using the skills for survival and explosives their father taught them, Valley comes up with a plan to enact vengeance on Those People. By turning herself into an explosive message.

Author Blythe Woolston wondered what would drive a person to become a suicide bomber and Black

Charlie and Nate have grown up on the same street. The two, forced into play-dates as children, could not be more different. Charlie, kind and a little shy, is the captain of the basketball team. Nate is the outspoken and geeky president of the robotics club. Although not even on the same social ladder, the two have always been on good terms...until now. When the school announces that the decision about funding the robotics club's trip to a national competition or new uniforms for the cheerleaders will be left up to the student council, Nate decides to run for Student Body President. When the

Catch me reading one of these books and most likely I will be cringing and wincing. The best books inspire curiosity, these books will give you more information that you would ever want to know about a topic. But, like a car crash, you can't look away. You will be hooked!

Parasite Rex: inside the bizarre world of nature's most dangerous creatures by Carl Zimmer

This book will teach you more about the world of parasites than you ever wanted to know. Like reality TV, we can't live with them, and can't live without them! I became interested in parasites when I read Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

As a librarian I try to be widely read, sampling a little from column A, a little from column B. But like many readers, I have a literary home, a place that I come back to when I need support, or rest, or inspiration. And that place has always been books about kick-ass girls. It started when I was about ten years old and discovered Alanna, Tamora Pierce's cross-dressing heroine. Alanna, the daughter of landed gentry, is relegated to learning sorcery after being told that girls cannot become knights. Never one to follow the rules, Alanna switches places with her twin brother Thom, and dresses

I have begun to notice a disturbing trend in my media habits of late...serial killers are on my mind. And I thought, why should I have to suffer through this dark mire alone? So I'll bring you down the rabbit hole with me!

My Friend Dahmer by Derf

Derf was just a goofy artist in high school and lived a typical teenage life: hanging out with friends, messing around in the yearbook office after school, etc. Years later, working for a Milwaukee newspaper as a cartoonist, Derf was shocked to hear that a high school classmate (and sometimes friend) Jeffrey Dahlmer had become an infamous serial

My favorite books of 2012 (in the order I read them)!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green Who has read this and not fallen in love immediately with Augustus and Hazel? An epic love story about two amazing people with cancer. This book will make you laugh, make you cry (sometimes at the same time) and change your outlook on life. Go read it now if you haven't already.

The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe This was a refreshing break from the post-apocalyptic books that I had been consuming at the time. A dangerous pathogen infects a small island, killing many of the residents. What is life like

Disclaimer: I love Perks of Being a Wallflower...so sorry if I gush.

Charlie is starting his freshman year of high school with a goal: get out there and see the world, make friends, experience new things. But this is harder than it first seems. Most of his classmates don't seem to understand him (and choose not to try an understand) and he spends a lot of his time watching others. But at the urging of his new English teacher, Charlie takes a chance and befriends Sam and Patrick, step-siblings, who take him into their circle of friends, where he learns about friendship, love and hurt, and he

A wakes up every day in a different body. Guest for a day, A tries to do no harm, walk through that person's life changing as little as possible. Until A meets Rhiannon. Waking up as Justin seems like any other day. Justin is kind of a slob, kind of a slacker, and not all that extraordinary. A thinks it will be just like any other day, making it to class, figuring where Justin sits at lunch, if he has an after-school job. Everything changes when A meets Justin's girlfriend Rhiannon. She is beautiful and different, and A is drawn to her. They decide to skip school and spend a day on the beach

Some kids are identified by their parent's profession: the preacher's kid, the doctor's kid, the principal's kid, the mayor's kid. Jazz is defined by his father's profession: serial killer. Billy Dent is the most notorious super-serial, claiming 123 victims in his decades long spree. Worse than being the serial killer's kid was that every day was take-your-kid-to-work day for Billy. Jazz learned how to separate a hand from it's fingers, how to stalk a victim, and how to commit the perfect crime without getting caught. Billy was convinced that Jazz would be the first of a new breed of serial

Sawyer's life has been all planned out by his parents: attend their alma mater, become an insurance actuary, and ever do anything interesting...ever. And he has complacently followed their plan for years, dating Zoe because they like her, working at the ice cream store owned by a family friend, taking all honors classes...until he meets Grace. Grace is different from anyone he has ever met. She breaks the rules, and she makes him want to break them too. It starts harmlessly enough, helping her steal a model UN treaty (come on it is Model UN!) but becomes a slippery slope. Hanging out with

Did that title catch your eye? Elvie's dreams of becoming an engineer on a new Mars colony get complicated when she finds herself knocked up the night before her PSAT. Cole, the dreamy new transfer student from Wisconsin, and father of the child, disappears the day after she tells him. Left on her own with only her emergency-prepared father, and quirky best friend Ducky, Elvie enrolls at the Hanover School for Expecting Teen Mothers. Aboard a renovated cruise-liner, Elvie awaits the arrival of 'the goober', and continues to dream of Mars. Until the Hanover School is attacked by space aliens

One of my favorite books of all time is Unwind by Neal Shusterman. The epic story takes place after a second civil war, fought over the morality and legality of abortion leads to peace through the Unwind Accords. This agreement outlaws abortion...however, from the ages of 13 to 18 any child may be unwound by their parents. Perhaps your 16 year-old son gets caught cheating at school, your 17 year-old daughter totals the car, or it just costs too much to feed your voracious 13 year-old son...You can have your child unwound for any reason. Just fill out an easy form and the Juvenile Authority

Originally published in 1999, Battle Royale predates the Hunger Games by almost ten years! The story takes place in an alternate future, in The Greater Republic of East Asia (a totalitarian state formed after some ambiguous war with America).* Every year one 3rd year middle-school class (the equivalent of freshmen or sophomores here), is randomly selected to participate in "The Program." Can you guess what The Program is? Correct! A fight to the death!

Although the game itself is not televised**, winners are announced and interviews on national television. They serve as both hope for the

Ismae is saved from a marriage to an abusive pig farmer by The Convent of Mortain, devoted to serving the god of Death and carrying out his wishes. She is taught how to kill with her hands, a variety of weapons, and most importantly, poisons. When her second assassination goes wrong and her true purpose is discovered, she is sent to court as the escort to Gavriel Duval, an aloof and distant Breton noble to protect Anne, Duchess of Brittany. Duval and Ismae form an uneasy alliance, neither trusting the other, in an attempt to discover those that plot against Anne and Brittany. However, the

Hazel has been hovering on brink of death for over 2 years. At 12 she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and just when all was lost she was entered into a drug trial which holds the cancer at bay, never curing her, but keeping it from killing her. But she knows her time is limited. Because of the disease she cannot go to school and mostly sits around the house reading and watching America's Next Top Model.

One fateful day, her mom forces her out of the house to attend a cancer support group where Hazel first meets Augustus Waters, who will change her world. Augustus is a cancer survivor, who

I am not exactly a huge football fan...ok so about the only reason I will attend a football game is to watch the marching band. However, there is one book that has gotten me more than a little interested in the sport, Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock.

The book follows the summer of DJ Schwenk, who works on her families struggling dairy farm in Wisconsin. Her family's life, and the lives of everyone in town, revolves around high school football. DJ's brothers were both football stars who have moved on to college scholarships and a chance at the NFL. DJ is shocked with the coach of the

Beatrice has grown up in post-apocalyptic Chicago, where the community is divided into 5 factions, each focused on a different value. Candor values honest, Amity values happiness, Erudite values information, Dauntless values courage and Beatrice's faction, Abnegation values selflessness. But Beatrice isn't a very good member of Abnegation, selflessness doesn't seem to come naturally to her like it does for her brother Caleb or her mother. At 16, every member of the community undergoes the test to find out what faction they will choose to live in as an adult. Beatrice is nervous for the test

Lucky Linderman is dealing with a lot of problems:

1. His mother is a squid who would rather swim hundreds of laps a day than deal with the problems in her life.
2. His father is a turtle chef who would rather hide in his shell or at work, or on the sofa watching the food network than talk to his son.
3. Lucky has been tormented by the same bully, Nader, since he was seven years old, and no one will believe him or do anything about it.
4. Everyone things he is suicidal after a school statistics project where he circulated a poll about how students would kill themselves, this has led to regular

What is it about the tale of Snow White that keeps coming back? The story is hundreds of years old, but 2012 will bring two new (and drastically different) movie adaptations of the tale. In preparation, you might want to check out these novel adaptations of the story.

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

In a land where beauty and singing are valued above all else, Aza eventually comes to reconcile her unconventional appearance and her magical voice, and learns to accept herself for who she truly is.

Snow in Summer by Jane Yolen

Snow in Summer is a girl growing up in West Virginia in the 1940s

Cullen Witter's summer break begins with a trip to the Lily, Arkansas morgue. With this aunt and mother too distraught to get out of the car and his father on another long haul delivery, Cullen is left to identify the body. And his summer only gets better when an ornithologist from Washington shows up in town claiming he has seen a species of woodpecker previously thought to be extinct.

As the small town of Lily is brought to life by the sudden influx of scientists, media and bird watchers, Cullen's life is turned upside down when his younger brother Gabriel goes missing. Cullen spends his

I know that you are supposed to start your road trip at the beginning of summer, but sometimes things don't always work out according to plans. As I get ready for my road trip I thought I would share some of my favorite road trip books with you!

John Green is the king of road trip books. An Abundance of Katherines was one of my favorite road trip books. After Colin is dumped by his 19th girlfriend named Katherine (not a bad name to be obsessed with, but Kate is better), he sets out with his best friend Hassan in an attempt to create a mathematical formula that will predict his future

I have been thinking a lot about writing lately. Sometimes it can be easy to get caught up in a story, so much that you don't even know notice if it is well or badly written. I was talking to a friend about Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins yesterday, and I admitted that the first time through, I probably only read about 1/3 of the words. I was flipping pages at a frantic rate to find out what happened, who would live, and who wouldn't make it to the last page. There wasn't time to read descriptions or dialogue when lives were at stake! Of course, I went back and reread the book (every word) and

Earlier this week, readers everywhere were saddened to hear about the death of author William Sleator.

The Harvard graduate, and classical pianist, was well known for writing macabre and scary stories for kids and teens. His book House of Stairs was widely read and critically acclaimed book about a group of teens who are trapped in a house containing nothing but endless flights of stairs. Sleator described his books as "gleefully icky", and that they were, creepy and gross and fantastic!

To celebrate Sleator's work please go and read some of my favorite books by him. And look for his last

There really isn't anything better than a good zombie story. I can't tell you how many times I have lost myself in the story of the undead plague. I think of this as research for the future. It preparation for the inevitable. I have my escape all planned out (and no I won't tell you my plans!), have you throught about packing your outbreak bag and figuring out where you will go? Maybe you should read some of these books and figure it out! Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack (From The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks)

1. Organize before they rise!
2. They feel no fear, why should you

Some authors are like home, you know that they are always going to be there for you. When you are sad, or happy, or nostalgic, you can always pick them up and enjoy them. I am pretty picky about what books get space on my bookshelves. To get on the shelf they have to meet one of two criteria: 1. I know I will reread them. 2. I want to be able to loan them out to friends. So you know if it is on my shelf, it has got to be good. I have a few authors who's entire compendium is on there, and I want to share them with you today.

Tamora Pierce: I started reading the Alanna series when I was maybe

So yesterday I was reading at the gym, and I am just about to the end of my book and something horrible happens. It starts with a little catch in my throat, then I can feel my eyes starting to fill up...and I realize that I am about to cry over a book in public. And not just anywhere, at the gym, in front of all the ladies going to zumba and the body builders lifting weights. I avoided the full out break down (thank goodness a character didn't die or I would have had to leave immediately and go cry in my car) and I hope that anyone who saw just thought I was sweating from my eyeballs from my

So six months ago I got really excited because they were turning Beastly by Alex Flinn into a movie. I knew the book was based on the tale of Beauty and the Beast, set in modern day New York City. I immediately grabbed the book, and although it wasn't all that great, I enjoyed it for what it was. Then they delayed the movie, then they delayed it again. Finally, the movie that was supposed to come out in August 2010, came to theaters in March 2011. And I have to say, don't waste your time.

I went to a small theater on a Thursday night that had an interesting audience comprised of: two separate

Have you ever read a book and been completely amazing but also completely unable to describe it? I have a feeling that this is not going to be the best review I have ever written because I loved Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King, but I don't even know where to begin telling you about it. In a nut shell the story is about love, in all its messed up forms. As it is almost impossible to describe I will tell you the facts:

• Vera is a 17-year-old pizza delivery technician.
• She lives alone with her dad, a penny-pinching accountant.
• Her mom left when she was twelve to live a more exciting