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Creative Writing Contest 2012 Be sure to come in and read the entries. Your Vote Counts!! Voting Ends May 31st

Crossed by Ally Condie

Ally Condie’s highly anticipated second installment in the Matched series, Crossed, jumps right in where Matched left off. It answers many of the questions from posed in Matched, and presents many new ones for the reader to ponder Crossed is more about character development and growth as far as Ky and Cassia and also the introduction and development of a few new characters, than about what is going on in their dystopian society.. Secrets continue to appear and cause problems in relationships. The first book in the trilogy ended with Ky and Cassia being sent to the Outer Provinces, Ky for work and Cassia to search for Ky. Trust is a constant theme in these books and Cassia is constantly torn with the introduction of new characters at the work camp. Ky, not only has to face his trust of others, but has to questions the trust in himself. Conflicts abound as Ky has to choose between her search for the Rising and her search for Ky. The book ends by pointing to a new conflict, is the Rising all that they hoped for? Crossed, unlike its predecessor, is an enjoyable romance mingled with adventure. There is more emotional questioning and self-searching than in the first book, but it is interesting and fast paced. The end of the book leaves you wanting to know what happens next. Rating: 2 out of 5 Reading Next: Truancy City Arc by Fukami

New ARC--Giveaway if you read and review it!!

Check out the new ARC from Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. Book title is MESSY as in sometimes life gets Messy. Read it, write a review and get a prize. This will be published June, 2012. Review: Sometimes life gets messy. After a rocky start in Spoiled, Brooke Berlin and her newly discovered half sister, Molly Dix, have settled into something like sisterly love, but the drama is far from over. Now that Brooke's caught a taste of fame and her movie star father's attention, she wants to launch a blog that will position her as the ultimate Hollywood insider.

Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book Heads to Disney Source: Deadline April 27, 2012 Walt Disney Pictures has secured the rights to Neil Gaiman's 2008 Newberry Medal winner The Graveyard Book, Deadline is reporting. Coincidentally, the news arrives just moments after a report that Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is up for a new adaptation at Warner Bros. That 1894 text was the inspiration for Gaiman's tale of a young boy raised in a graveyard, officially described as follows: Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place-he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their timely ghostly teachings-like the ability to Fade. Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead? And then there are things like ghouls that aren't really one thing or the other. Gaiman's work has previously been brought to the screen with Matthew Vaughn's Stardust in 2007 and Henry Selick's Coraline in 2008. Gaiman's bestseller American Gods is, meanwhile, in development as an HBO series with Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone producing. The Graveyard Book was previously targeted for the screen with Neil Jordan writing and directing. Though there's no confirmation as of yet, Jordan is very likely no longer attached to the project. Dotti Enderle www.dottienderle.com http://dottienderle.blogspot.com

The Power of Six

Title: The Power of Six Author: Pittacus Lore
Review: The latest book in the Lorien Series, The Power of Six, picks up after I Am Number Four with Four and Number Six still on the run. The premise of the weries is: a group of youths from the planet Lorien, who have yet to come into their special powers, land on Earth paired with protectors. This is supposed to be a temporary situation un til they can return home to a planet presently under attack by another alien race. The children can only be killed in number order, so they are constantly hiding and trying to survive on earth. The stories are action packed from beginning to end and a fast paced read. Some of the characters are well developed, however, the chapters shift between characters causing some confusion. Although the book is called The Power of Six, it often switches to Number Four's point of view. Lore also includes a touch of romance with a love triangle and some teen angst to round out the YA read. The action is exciting and well rendered and although the book answers some of the questions posed in the first, it opens up many others for future books.


Rating: 9 out of 10

National Library Week

Pick up a bookmark custom made by our Young Adult Council this week at the library

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

This book contains humor, tragedy, and teen love and angst all with the backdrop of a terminal illness, cancer. Green realistically captures all of these emotions and portrays them as seen through the eyes of teens. He describes the frustration and fear and anger that living with cancer attracts and melds it with the struggle of beings a teen.
It is definitely a novel worth your time. The book begins with sixteen year old Hazel Grace Lancaster who has been fighting thyroid cancer for the past few years. The result is the oxygen tank which accompanies her everywhere. When Hazel succumbs to her mother’s nagging, she ends up at a cancer support group where she meets Augustus Waters, otherwise known as Gus. Gus is a bit older with a dry sense of humor that draws Hazel to him. Their love story is filled with a mixture of happiness, hope, humor and sadness. Despite Hazel’s reticence to have the cancer make any more emotional casualties, Hazel and Gus fall in love. This book captures all of the feelings that come with the cancer war. The book is readable and honest and filled with a balance of sadness, humor, sarcasm and teen melodrama.

When all is said is done, what makes this book so amazing and readable is its honesty. For better or worse, John Green tells the truth. For every single sad part, there are soaring moments of humor and sarcastic, hilarious, teen angst. Once one becomes involved with the characters, it becomes a page turner and hard to put down.

Ratings: 9 out of 10
Reading Next: Why I Left the Amish