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Thursday, April 19, 2012

A Non-Required, but Highly Recommended 2012 Summer Reading List

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) recently announced their Teen's Top Ten Nominations.  Books on this list are always chosen by and voted on by teenagers.  If you're already planning your Summer Reading to-do list (and who doesn't plan things like that ahead of time), think about adding a few of these to your list.  Teens can read the books over the summer and then vote for your favorites in the Fall.  


All Good Children by Catherine Austen
Max, his sister Ally, and their mother return home to Middleton to find Ally’s classmates acting strange. It is the future, and the government has created a “vaccine” to make kids easier to teach–they are less rowdy, less likely to question, and willing to obey any direction. Max’s family has a choice: to be “vaccinated,” to flee their home, or stay and fight.


Ashes by Ilsa Bick
Alex, Tom, and Ellie join forces after an electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky. The pulse kills most of the world’s population and destroys all computer devices, but it also turns some who remain into zombies or gives them superhuman senses.

Abandon by Meg Cabot
Pierce has experienced death before and barely escaped. When she moves from her old town to a town called Isla Huesos–Island of Bones–for a new start, she realizes that death wants her back. Can she escape death once again?

Tempest by Julie Cross
Jackson is a typical college kid until the day his girlfriend, Holly, is shot. Jackson decides he must use his one incredible gift, the ability to time travel. He goes back in time two years, trying to discover a way to alter the future so that Holly lives. The future is full of uncertainty and the past is full of betrayal–is there anyone Jackson can trust?

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
Ever since McLean’s parents divorced, she has lived in four towns in two years–each time taking on a new persona. McLean expects to leave Lakeview in six months, but soon finds that she doesn’t want to–she just wants to be herself.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano
In the future, experimental genetics ensures that males only live to 25 and females to 20. When 16-year-old Rhine is kidnapped and sold into marriage, she is determined not to let her walls down for anyone so she can escape and go home to her brother. But when she meets her sister wives and Gabriel, a handsome servant, she finds it harder than ever as she tries to plan her escape under the watchful eye of her sinister father-in-law.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman
This sequel to Gayle Forman’s If I Stay is narrated by Adam, Mia’s ex-boyfriend. Shortly after the devastating accident that killed Mia’s family, the talented cellist moves to New York, where an accidental meeting brings them back together.

Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen
Will Scarlett is one of the Merry Men, Robin Hood’s legendary band of thieves, but what few people know is that Will Scarlett is actually … a girl! Disguised as a boy to escape from her past, Scarlett robs from the rich and gives to the poor. When an old enemy of Scarlett’s appears, she must choose: Keep her identity hidden? Or keep the people of Nottingham safe?

Eona: The Last Dragoneye by Alison Goodman
As the battle for ultimate control of her home draws near, Eona finds herself waging an internal battle that might cause more damage than the war threatening to break out across the kingdom.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Hazel and Augustus meet and forge a relationship at a support group for kids battling cancer. As Hazel and Augustus struggle with the “side-effects of dying,” they come to learn the strength of wishes, the complexities of long human lives, and the wondrous ways of the universe.

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge
When Paige Turner and her family move to Brooklyn from rural Virginia, she tries to make sense of her new life through her sketchbook, which exposes her true personality and helps her find herself.

Legend by Marie Lu
June, a fifteen-year-old military prodigy, is hunting Day, the outlaw she believes is responsible for her brother’s death. What will happen when the two meet and discover the government is corrupt?

Hourglass by Myra McEntire
Emerson Cole sees dead people–ghosts from the past blending in with her surroundings. When a new consultant from a secretive organization shows up at her door to try to cure her, everything changes. But diving into the world of the mysterious Hourglass Society proves to be dangerous as the past merges with the present.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
A futuristic retelling of the classic Cinderella. Cinder, a cyborg and talented mechanic, lives with her cruel stepmother and two stepsisters in the plague-ridden New Beijing. Soon after meeting Prince Kai, Cinder must find the truths of her past, which may help to save the future.

Shine by Lauren Myracle
When her best friend falls victim to a horrible hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover the culprits in her backwoods town in North Carolina.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd, illustrated by Jim Kay
Conor suddenly wakes up just past midnight to find a monster outside his window. This monster wants something from Conor that he is reluctant to give: the truth.

This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel
In this prequel to Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is on a dark quest to save his twin’s life. With help from his best friend Henry and his lovely cousin Elizabeth, the three go on a quest to concoct the mythical Elixir of Life. How far is he willing to go to save his twin?

Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Cryogenically frozen centuries ago, Amy and her parents are on their way to a new planet aboard the spaceship Godspeed. Unplugged from her cryo chamber, Amy discovers she has been awoken 50 years early, in a failed murder attempt. With Elder, the future leader of the ship, by her side, they are on an adventure filled with murder, lies, dreams, and stars.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
When Jacob was little, his grandfather would tell him stories of the fantastical children’s home where he grew up and the seemingly magical kids who lived there with him. When his grandfather is killed, Jacob sets out to find the home where these children lived, unearthing a magical secret and uncovering his true heritage.

Divergent by Veronica Roth
Abnegation (selflessness), Erudite (intelligence), Candor (honesty), Amity (peace), or Dauntless (bravery): where would you fit? Beatrice lives in a society where she must choose either to remain with her family’s faction or set off towards independence and her beliefs. And what happens when the unity between these factions begins to fall apart?

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
In 1941, Lina, her mother, and her younger brother are taken from their home in Lithuania and sent to Siberia. The only thing that keeps her going is her secretly-created art and the hope that one day she’ll be be reunited with her father.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Every November, the beaches of Thisby come alive with the Scorpio Races. The water horses are vicious, the terrain is treacherous, and death is likely, but the reward can be beyond anything you could imagine. Puck Connolly is racing for her family, Sean Kendrick for his passion–but only one can win The Scorpio Races.

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr
A year after Jill’s father dies, her mother decides to adopt a baby. Mandy’s been living in different places, but now that she’s pregnant, she wants to make sure her baby has the love and support she never did. A story of two girls dealing with grief, new life, and everything in between when their paths cross.

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin
In 2083, water is rationed, paper is rare, and coffee and chocolate are illegal. Anya Balanchine balances a mobster family, ailing grandmother, and forbidden love–until it all comes crashing down.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Teen Volunteer Opportunities!

Teen Volunteer Opportunities are still open at the library! Help our Youth Services department with prepare for or run our children's programs. Registration for each opportunity begins 10 days before the event. To register, visit our Calendar of Events.

Openings:

MONTGOMERY CAMPUS
Sun, April 22; 1:30 - 3:00 pm       Help with our Earth Day ‘Plant a Seed’ program.
Sat, April 28; 1:45 – 3:45 pm       Assist with our Kids Create Decoupage program. 
Sat, May 5; 10:00 – noon             Help with Summer Reading preparation.

OSWEGO CAMPUS
Sat, April 28; 10:00- noon           Help with Summer Reading preparation.
Thurs, May 17; 6:15 - 7:45 pm    Assist with the Construction Challenge Program.

New YA Fiction

Book JacketAbove by Leah Bobet
When insane exile Corner and his army of mindless, whispering shadows invade Safe, a secret, underground community of freaks and disabled outcasts, Matthew, traumatized shapeshifter Ariel, and other misfits go to the dangerous place known as Above, where Matthew makes a shocking discovery about the histories entrusted to him. 


Book Jacket Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross
When sixteen-year-old Mira runs away to discover her secret past, she finds a place where Grimm's fairy tales come to life, and she cannot avoid her accursed fate. 







Book Jacket172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad
In 2019, teens Mia, Antoine, and Midori are selected by lottery to join experienced astronauts on a NASA mission to the once top-secret moon base, DARLAH 2, while in a Florida nursing home, a former astronaut struggles to warn someone of the terrible danger there.







Book JacketSlide by Jill Hathaway
Vee Bell, able to slide into other people's minds, sees someone standing over the body of her sister's best friend, Sophie, holding a bloody knife but she is afraid that anyone she tells will think her crazy and so she must find a way to identify the killer herself, before he or she strikes again. 






Book JacketLexapros and Cons by Aaron Karo
Realizing that his OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) is out of control, seventeen-year-old Chuck Taylor, who wants to win his best friend back and impress a new girl at school, tries to break some hardcore habits, face his demons--and get messy. 






Book JacketI Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad? Jasper (Jazz) Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say. But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could--from the criminal's point of view. And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod. In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret--could he be more like his father than anyone knows?