I love The Hunger Games!   I love Katniss, the strong heroine who risks her own life to save her little sister, Primrose, and who keeps her family from starving.   I love the fast-moving story that kept me turning the pages wondering what was going to happen next.  I knew that many characters were going to die, but how?  I loved all the questions the story raised.  Will Katniss come to love Peeta, or will she go home and realize she loves Gale?  What happens to Haymitch and Cinna?  What will President Snow do to Katniss and Peeta  for changing the rules of the games?  Will Gale succeed in raising a rebellion against the Capitol?

As a library media specialist I love the book because students want to read them!  They come in asking for The Hunger Games, and then they are hooked!   They want to read Catching Fire and Mockingjay.  There is a waiting list for all of them and we have multiple copies of each.  Students are excited about the upcoming movie, but actually want to READ the book first! I know students who have bought the entire series for their e-reader.   I have adults asking for them too.  It is the type of series children and parents can both read, discuss, and enjoy.

In connection with the movie release on March 23, the LMC is holding a trivia contest.  Students can enter online and answer 25 questions about the book.   Everyone who gets all 25 questions correct, will be entered into a drawing. Prizes include copies of the books, gift cards, the Official Movie Companion, the movie tie-in edition, and a poster.  I had fun developing the questions, and I hope students enjoy answering them! 

Thanks Suzanne Collins for writing a wonderful series that can be enjoyed by so many readers!

Jane Eyre

February brings Valentine’s Day which is always a good time of year to read some love stories or books with a touch of romance.  When one thinks about famous couples, Romeo and Juliette, or Anthony and Cleopatra come to mind, but personally I prefer stories where everyone is still alive at the end.  Novels by Nicholas Sparks are always popular, along with ones by Lurlene McDaniel. If you like the classic, old-fashioned romance, then try Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, or Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  Jane Eyre, about a governess who falls in love with her employer, Mr. Rochester, is one of my all time favorites.  If you don’t have time to read the book, then you should definitely check out one of the movie versions.

Romiette & Julio

Many teens prefer to read something contemporary, so here are some suggestions of some interesting love stories.  Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper tells of two teens determined to stay together despite the fact that everyone is against them. Romiette is an African-American girl and Julio is Hispanic.  They find their romance questioned by their parents and some of their friends, but things get tough when they are harrassed by a gang who doesn’t approve of their relationship. Is love enough to keep them together?

A Divine Wind

In Divine Windby Gary Disher, an Australian soldier and a Japanese-Australian girl fall in love on the eve of World War II, but are torn apart by the war, cultural differences, and racism. Will absence make their love grow stronger, or is love just too hard in the midst of war? This heart-wrenching novel is will keep your reading!

The theme of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, is played out in Paper Townsby John Greene, but the boy doesn’t lose the girl to another guy.  The girl disappears!  Quinten is happy with his basically boring life until he meets Margo.  They spend one night driving around town having a series of adventures and Quinten falls in love with her.  The only problem is that Margo disappears and no one, not her parents, friends, or the police, know where she has gone.  Quinten makes it his mission to find the girl he loves, and realizes that his life will never be complete without her.

Summer romance is the topic of Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen.  Auden is expecting a boring summer when she is forced to spend it with her father, and his new wife in a small beach town.  Everything changes when she meets Eli.  He challenges her to try new things and new adventures.  Auden doesn’t want to fall in love, but how can she resist Eli? Can their romance continue once summer ends?

If you like romance with humor, check out Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw. Cyril is an excellent cooks, but also overweight, and feels he is unattractive.  He likes Rose but hasn’t told her.  His best friend, Nick, also likes Rose.  Nick wants to invite Rose over for dinner and impress her with his ability to cook.  He talks Cyril into being the chef, and letting Nick pretend he did the cooking.  How long can Cyril make food for Rose without revealing her true feelings for her? Does Rose like Nick?  Or does she like Cyril? Who will get the girl in the end?

These are just a few suggestions for Valentine’s Day reading.  These books are sure to bring a few tears and smiles to their readers. Happy Valentines’ Day!

Every December I find my copy of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol and read once more about Mr. Scrooge and how he discovered the true meaning of Christmas.  While I enjoy reading this book each year, I also search out other holiday novels to put me in the spirit of the season.  Here are a few suggestions for anyone looking for some season’s readings!

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohen and David Levithan is a good choice if you like holiday romance.  Lily wants to meet the perfect guy, so she comes up with a plan to leave a note in a book in old bookstore in New York City.  Whoever finds the note, must follow clues to find her.  Dash discovers the note and begins the search. What follows is a scavenger hunt as Dash and Lily leave intriguing clues for each other around the city. Will they find each other?   Will they fall in love? Anything could happen at Christmas time!

Sam I Am by Ileene Cooper explores the feelings of a boy who has a Jewish father and a Christian mother.  He is totally confused by all the relgious and secular traditions and can’t figure out whether he should focus on Hanukkah or Christmas.  He comes to realize that there are no clear cut answers as his family works to blend a variety of traditions.

In Birdland by Tracy Mack, a teen-age boy decides to work on a film project for school during his holiday break. As he films scenes throughout New York City he is continually reminded of his older brother who died the year before.  The holiday is bittersweet for him as he tries to come to terms with his brother’s death.

A teen who has been kicked out of school and is seeking his missing mother finds refuge over the holidays with a friend and his family who offer him a temporary home in the book, St. Iggy. Their caring and support make him question many of the life choices he has made and realizes he could make a better life for himself.

Try some of these holiday stories while you sit inside and enjoy some hot chocolate!

No time to read?  What about time to listen?  There are a variety of options available for people who want to listen to books.  In the LMC we offer two types of audio books: Playaways and CDs.  Playaways are digital audio players that hold an entire book.  Playaways come with earphones, so you just plug in your earphones, press the power button, and listen to your favorite book. You don’t need a CD player or any other device.  Just press the play button and listen.  They are compact so you can put them in your pocket and take them anywhere.  Once teens discover Playaways, the come back and check out some more.  The LMC has a variety of Playaway titles including the Twilight Saga, the Hunger Games Series, the Diary of the Wimpy Kid series, Alex Rider series, the Pretties series, and several in the Percy Jackson series.  Other notable selections include The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan, Sunrise over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers, and City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau.

How about listening to a book on your IPod, MP3 player, smart phone, or other digital device? This is easy to do with a public library card.  All the Lancaster County Library branches, including the one in New Holland (http://www.elancolibrary.org), offers audio books and e-books.  Audio books are ones that you can listen to.  If you prefer, you can download an e-book and read it on your favorite digital device.  Details on how to do this are available on the library websites. Basically, you need to download a free software program called Over Drive. Once you have this installed you can browse the catalog, and check out books that are compatible with your digital device.  The Public Libraries have a great selection to choose from.  You need your Public Library Card to check the books out, so if you don’t have one, you might want to get one!  I have listened to a number of books through this free service by downloading books to my IPod and it is great!

So if you are already a teen that likes to be “plugged in” to your digital device, why not get plugged into some audio books?  Whether you prefer Playaways, CD’s, or listening on your phone or IPod, there is an audio book for you!

Most teen girls I know “loved” the Twilight series and want something else like it.  Personally, I have not found anything exactly like the Twilight saga, but if you check out Barnes and Noble or Amazon there is an entire genre now called Teen Paranormal Romance.  If you like vampires, but are not necessarily into romance, there are still a number of great books featuring vampires that you might enjoy.

Night Road by A.M. Jenkins.   How do vampires learn to be vampires?  In this novel, Cole, an extraordinarily conscientious vampire, and Sandor, a more impulsive acquaintance, spend a few months on the road, trying to train a young man who recently joined their ranks. The problem is that the new recruit doesn’t want to be vampire.

Vampire High by Douglas Rees takes an ordinary teen and plops him in the Vlad Dracul Magnet School. Cody soon discovers that his fellow students all are dark-haired, pale-skinned, and supernaturally strong.  How will he ever fit in?  A sequel, Vampire High: Sophomore Year is also a fun read.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jenkins will make you laugh. In this humorous story, 15-year-old Nina has been stuck for 51 years in a boring support group for vampires.  Nothing exciting has ever happened to them until one of the group’s members is murdered and the others try to solve the crime.  I never knew vampires could be funny until I read this book!

Still want some romance?  Try Jessica’s Guide to Dating the Dark Side.  Seventeen-year-old Jessica, adopted and raised in Pennsylvania, learns that she is descended from a royal line of Romanian vampires and that she is betrothed to a vampire prince, who poses as a foreign exchange student while courting her.  This light-hearted romance is just a fun read!

Hopefully, these will satisfy anyone’s need for more vampire stories.  Tired of vampires?  You can always switch to werewolves!  Try Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater and follow the romance of Grace, who falls in love with Sam, a werewolf who discovers he can take a human form for a short time each year.

This year’s theme for Teen Read Week is “Picture It!”  What better way to celebrate than to feature graphic novels that are full of pictures.  The LMC is holding a Teen Read contest from Oct. 17 through Oct. 31.  Use your barcode to check out a book during these two weeks and your name will be entered into a drawing.  Five graphic novels will be given away to the lucky winners!

Stormbreaker

If you haven’t read any graphic novels, check one out.  Graphic novels are full of colorful pictures and present a story using sequential art in a comic book format.  But, don’t let the term “comic book” fool you. These aren’t traditional comic books printed on thin paper and featuring cartoon characters like Donald Duck.  These are full-length stories on glossy paper, and can be either hard back or paperback.  Some graphic novels do feature cartoon characters like the popular Boneseries, or superheroes like Superman and Spiderman. Girls might enjoy the Emily the Strange series.

There are also retellings of classics such as Frankenstein, Fahrenheit 451, and Dracula.  Young adult novels are also being made into graphic novels.  Two books in the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, Stormbreaker and Point Blank, are now graphic novels, along with several books in the Artemis Fowl series, and the Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief series.  The extremely popular Twilight novel is also available.  Reading these isn’t exactly like reading the original novel, but you definitely get an overview of the story.  Graphic novels also help you “see” the story and visualize the characters.

Persepolis

Not all graphic novels are fiction.  Many authors are using the graphic novel format to make serious topics accessible to readers.  Perseoplis is an autobiographical account of a girl growing up in Tehran.   Other biographies include Houdini: the handcuff king, and Anne Frank: the Anne Frank House authorized graphic biography.  Laika tells the story of the first dog sent into space.  Safearea Gorzade recounts events in the Bosnian War. 

There are a wide variety of graphic novels available.   If you haven’t read any yet, give one a try.  You can pick one up in the LMC or browse the graphic novel section in your local bookstore.

A blog about books, reading, technology, and LMC happenings written especially for teens at Garden Spot.

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go.” — Dr. Seuss