All posts by Sharon
48 Hour Book Challenge — Completed!
YAY! The 48 Hour Book Challenge is complete! What a wonderful way to spend a weekend. =)
Here’s a breakdown of 24 hours I spent reading/blogging/networking:
Starting Time: Friday 2pm
2-2:30pm: Blogging/Networking
2:30-8pm: Reading
8:30-9pm: Blogging/Networking
9-10:30pm: Reading
Saturday, 7:15-9:45am: Reading
12:30-1pm: Blogging/Networking
1-5pm: Reading
5:30-6pm: Reading
8-11pm: Reading
Sunday, 8am-1pm: Reading
1-2pm: Blogging/Networking
Ending Time: Sunday 2pm
Total Time Reading: 21.5 hours
Total Time Blogging/Networking: 2.5 hours
Books Read:
1. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen (formal review will be posted on Monday)
2. Raven Summer by David Almond (formal review will be posted on Tuesday)
3. Dramarama by E. Lockhart (formal review will be posted on Wednesday)
4. The Batboy by Mike Lupica (formal review will be posted on Thursday)
5. Sweethearts by Sara Zarr (formal review will be posted on Friday)
Happy Reading, everyone!
~ Tricia is the Teen Services Librarian at CPL. After spending all weekend reading, she is looking forward to eating some pie and watching The Princess Bride.
48 Hour Book Challenge — Book 5
5 things I loved about Book 5 — Sweethearts by Sara Zarr:
1. Jennifer/Jenna– a young girl/woman becoming aware of her own bravery and strength.
2. Jenna and Cameron’s indescribable friendship–borne out of hardship and love.
3. Cameron’s honesty and his ability to truly understand Jenna.
4. Favorite scene: two people sharing the quiet that follows snow when everything is covered by an undisturbed blanket of white.
5. Sara Zarr’s uncanny ability to create a character’s voice that is so real the reader cannot help but become fully immersed in the story.
~ Tricia is the Teen Services Librarian at CPL. She had a wonderful weekend spending every spare moment reading.
48 Hour Book Challenge — T-5 Hours!
I only have 5 hours left so I’m going to make this short and sweet!
Book 3 — Dramarama by E. Lockhart
5 things I loved:
1. Sadye!
2. Summer Love
3. Summer Camp
4. Music
5. Drama
Book 4 — The Batboy by Mike Lupica
5 things I loved:
1. Baseball
2. Reading a book for youth that deals with doping issues in sports and does so in a thoughtful/insightful manner.
3. Being reminded of my childhood dream to be a mopgirl for the Knicks (don’t hate me–I grew up in NY). Mopgirl is probably not the correct term for this person, but they sit on the court under the basket and quickly mop up after players shoot free throws. Not quite as glamorous as a batboy, but I loved the idea of being SO close to the players and the action of the game.
4. Reading ANOTHER wonderful book set during a transformative summer.
5. Really, really good sports writing where you can easily picture every play.
[Just a reminder: I will be posting full reviews for each of the 48 Hour Book Challenge novels beginning Monday.] ~ Tricia is the Teen Services Librarian at CPL. She has been whistling Luck be a Lady since finishing Dramarama yesterday afternoon.
Book 2 — 48 Hour Book Challenge
Finished Book 2 (and all my necessary chores/errands for the day) and am about halfway through Book 3.
Here’s the 5 things I loved about Raven Summer by David Almond (a.k.a. Book 2):
1. Powerful family dynamics, involving supportive parents and an imaginative teen.
2. Beautiful depictions of damaged teens who are never defined by their problems, but presented as complex, multifaceted people.
3. Fate and foundlings.
4. David Almond’s prose.
5. A fiery, outspoken girl who alters our protagonist’s existence.
Be back soon (I hope) w/ 5 things about Book 3!
~ Tricia is the Teen Services Librarian at CPL and is thoroughly enjoying the 48 Hour Book Challenge.
Book 1 — 48 Hour Book Challenge
Book 1 is complete!
I just finished Sarah Dessen’s novel Along for the Ride and it was wonderful!
In the interest of time (and finishing more books), I’m going to write a list of 5 reasons I loved this book and wait until Monday to post a formal review (with links to the catalog).
1. Impromptu Hot Dog Parties
2. Summer on the Beach
3. The reappearance of settings and characters from my favorite Sarah Dessen book Keeping the Moon.
4. Learning to look past initial impressions to discover who people really are.
5. A great love interest: Eli is kind, forthright, and caring–the perfect person to suffer through insomnia with.
~ Tricia is the Teen Services Librarian at CPL and cannot wait to get started on Book #2.
48 Hour Book Challenge
For the next 48 hours I will be reading & blogging about teen fiction. I will also be eating, sleeping and running a few errands–but, aside from that it’s all books all the time!
I’ll check in after I’ve finished my first book!
If you have a blog and want to participate in the 48 Hour Book Challenge, head over to Mother Reader for the rules.
Don’t have a blog? Don’t worry, you can unofficially participate in the challenge and be eligible for prizes at the library. Just keep track of your time & titles and you can post your reviews and reactions to the challenge here on the CPL Teens Blog.
Have a great weekend!
If you have any questions, or want to let us know your progress in the 48 Hour Book Challenge, leave a comment.
~ Tricia is the Teen Services Librarian at the Chelmsford Public Library.
Author Spotlight: Lauren Myracle
As a librarian, reader’s advisory is a BIG (& really fun) part of my job. I am often asked the ever popular: What should I read next?
It is because of this question that I try to read as W I D E L Y as possible. Fiction, nonfiction, comics, biographies, kids books, teen books, and even the occasional grown-up book. Now don’t get me wrong, I love reading different kinds of books, but when I let myself choose a book purely for my own enjoyment it OFTEN falls into one of two categories–horror or chick lit. For this post I’ll be focusing on the latter, especially chick lit written for teens.
Here is my definition of teen chick lit: Fun, fresh, fast reads that focus on girls journeys, friendships and/or first loves.
One woman I consider to be a master of this medium is Lauren Myracle. Ms. Myracle does it all, she writes across genres and age-ranges — her books are funny, heartfelt, and honest. Whenever I read one of her novels I feel transported back to when I was the age of her characters. She creates authentic heroines who are beautiful because of their flaws. Her characters voices are vivid and seem to be the result of the apparent love and respect she has for her audience. As an author, she never writes down to tweens/teens, instead she celebrates and elevates what is a tumultuous and crazy time for many of us. Here are three wonderful series to get you started:
For Teens:
Internet Girls Series — ttyl, ttfn, & l8r, g8r
Zoe, Angela and Maddie are 3 friends who navigate the good, bad and ugly parts of high school–told in IM.
For Tweens:
Luv Ya Bunches — 4 new friends help one another through the beginning of fifth grade; obstacles include mean girls, lost bobble-head turtles, and secret clubs. The first book in what promises to be a great MG series.
The Winnie Books — Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen and the brand-new Thirteen Plus One:
I have three words for you: Winnie is wonderful! Trust me, you will love these books (at any age).
Happy Reading!
~Tricia is the teen services librarian at CPL. She loves reading books with fun, bright covers that are all about girls and growing up.
All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg
Whew! I made it! April officially ends in 28 hours and I’m just now posting my blog entry for National Poetry Month. I’ve had displays in the teen area all month of poetry collections by single authors and anthologies that include selections by dozens of poets, but what I cannot keep in the displays (or on the shelf) are teen novels written in verse. Ellen Hopkins, Virginia Euwer Wolff, Sonya Sones, these are just some of the authors whose work is constantly in demand.
Novels written in verse are often amazing works of art. A series of poems is tied together to form a narrative. Writers use carefully chosen words, rhythms and white space to draw the reader into a story told completely with poems.
My new favorite novel in verse (and one of my top books of 2010) is All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg. This story follows Matt, a boy who was airlifted out of Saigon during the Vietnam War. Over the course of the novel Matt struggles to work through the tragedies he experienced during his early life in Vietnam. He does this with the help of his adoptive family, a group of Vietnam vets, and baseball. Matt loves baseball and being on the baseball team is a transformative experience for him and his teammates at a pivotal time in their young lives and in the larger context of American history.
~Tricia is the teen librarian at CPL and is currently reading Episodes: My Life As I See It by Blaze Ginsberg.
Steampunk!
A subgenre of speculative fiction, steampunk has adventure, historical settings, and wildly creative technology. The name is in reference to the time period—steampunk takes place in the 19th century (often Victorian England) when steam power was still widely used. The technology present in steampunk is where the fantasy element comes in to play—airships, time machines, & computers can all be found in the pages of a steampunk novel.
There have been plenty of incredible examples of steampunk written in the past few years including the Mortal Engines quartet by Philip Reeve and Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, but I want to focus on a new book by Cherie Priest called Boneshaker.
I LOVED Boneshaker! Not only is it steampunk, it also has zombies and an isolated dystopian society—3 things I adore mixed together in one fast and furious pageturner.
Briar Wilkes is the widow of Leviticus Blue—a scientist who unleashed the Boneshaker on Civil War era Seattle. The Boneshaker was a machine that could tunnel under the earth, but when it went on a test run under Seattle a deadly gas was released that turns it’s victims into…ZOMBIES! A wall was built around the city to keep the Rotters and the gas (know as the blight) contained and separate from the Outskirts.
Briar’s teenaged son Zeke has crossed into the infected city in order to find information that he believes will clear his father’s name. When Briar discovers Zeke has run away she catches an airship and descends into Seattle in order to find her son and tell him the whole truth about his father.
There is action, adventure, mad scientists, tough broads and, yes, zombies!
One of my favorite books of 2010.
~This post was written by Tricia, CPL’s teen librarian who is convinced that Cherie Priest read her mind and then wrote a novel just for her.
Howard Lovecraft & the Frozen Kingdom
Howard Lovecraft is a young boy who comes into possession of the legendary Necronomicon while visiting his father in a mental institution. Ignoring his father’s warnings, Howard uses the text to open a portal to a dangerous ice-covered world where his only ally is a bizarre creature he names Spot.
This is a great comic. The story involves a young, curious boy who finds himself stranded in a dangerous world. The art is fresh and exciting. Plus, it introduces readers to the Cthulhu mythos of HP Lovecraft–a writer whose work every horror reader should explore.
I was able to read a copy of this book months ago on the computer and I cannot wait to see the artwork pop on paper. I’ve been anxiously waiting to post this review on the teen blog, but thought it best to wait until closer to the publication date. The library’s copy is on order and will be on the shelves any day. Place your request now!
~Tricia is the teen librarian at CPL who has decided to spend the entire weekend reading outside–an absolute favorite thing to do. SO many books, so little time…