Pat Schwartz on March 11th, 2010

Betraying Season by Marissa Doyle (good)
A Well-Timed Enchantment by Vivian Vande Velde (interesting)
Keeper of the Grail by Michael Spradlin (love historical fiction)
Jerk California by Jonathan Friesen (just started)

What are you reading?

Hannah on March 8th, 2010

Luce has always seen shadows that nobody else could see.  After the accident that killed her boyfriend she was sent to Sword & Cross boarding/reform school where she meets several odd individuals.  On day one at the school she meets two intriguing boys.  The first, Daniel,  tries to make her stay away, even though she is strangely attracted to him.  The second shows so much interest in her that it is scary.  But the flashes of dream like happy memories are drawing her to Daniel who does and says anything to make her stay away.  When a fire happens in the school library where Luce is waiting for her friend near another boy in her class she must try to save him from the fire and the shadows, but will the memories of her last fire prevent her from getting out?  Or will her dreams of Daniel come true and he will grow wings in order to save her?

This is really a book you need to read if you liked Twilight!  It was one of those books that I didn’t want to put down.  It had a creepy feeling to it, especially towards the end and there has got to be a sequel to it!  It was a great book that had me on the edge of my seat at parts and screaming “No, That Didn’t Just Happen” in the middle of my living room.  It is the ultimate love story to rival that of the Princes Bride!

Check out the Author’s site: http://laurenkatebooks.net/

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Pat Schwartz on March 8th, 2010

If you want to know what it takes to make a computer work, register for the program on March 10 at the West Branch.

Questions? Contact Pat Schwartz 630-264-3600

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Hannah on March 2nd, 2010

I thought we could have a place for everyone to post books that they just can’t wait for.  The main ones I am on the edge of my seat for are none other than…

 

MockingJay: Book 3 of Hunger Games Series – By Suzanne Collins  – August

 Lord Sunday: Book 7 of Keys to the Kingdom Series – By Garth Nix – March

Only the Good Spy Young: Book 3 of Gallagher Girl Series – By Ally Carter – June

Keys to the Demon Prison: Book 5 in The Fablehaven Series – By Brandon Mull – March

A Conspiracy of Kings: Book 4 in series – by Megan Whalen Turner -March

This World We Live In: Book 3 in the Moon Series – By Susan Beth Pfeffer – April

What ones are you waiting for?

-Hannah

Debra Stombres on February 24th, 2010

This is the current winner of the Newbery Award. If you are a fan of Madeline L’Engle and/or A Wrinkle in Time, you will get a kick out of this fast read. Hints about the future sort out the present as a young teen, Miranda,  grapples with the drama of her world. Her mother is divorced, has a new man and is practicing for a game show all set in New York 1979. I give it high marks.

Hannah on February 7th, 2010

This is the story of a nearly 18 year old city girl named Ronnie who, with her little brother, goes to live with her father on the beach of a small town for the summer.   Being pulled away from city living to spend the summer with a father that left her family Ronnie doesn’t want to be anywhere near her father.  She hasn’t spoken to him in several years and now she has to live with him.  But the summer is sure to bring more drama then she has ever had to deal with as there is a boy in town who has decided that she is his whether she knows it or not. 

Nicholas Sparks is a master at making me cry.  I only pick up his books when I need a good tear-jerker.  This book is soon to be a movie so I thought I would read it before it came out.  I related to Ronnie in one way, we both had absent fathers that we looked up to.   I understood why she was always so mad at him, but that’s about the only thing we have in common.  This book is so filled with teen anger and frustration that fireworks had to go off somewhere in it.  The symbolism of it was spot on to what if feels like when a parent leaves you (at least that’s how it was for me).  If you have ever had a parent leave or you just need a good cry then pick up this book.

-Hannah

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Hannah on February 7th, 2010

Percy Jackson is a normal middle school-er with dyslexia and ADHD and then he finds out that monsters are real and he is no longer the normal kid he thought himself (and apparently he has never been normal).  His best friend has the legs of a goat and a giant bull walking on two legs is out to kill him.  Camp Half-Blood is his only retreat away from things that want to kill him, but Percy has a problem, the three main Gods (Zeus, Poseidon, & Hades) are about to go to war because Zeus thinks that Percy stole his master lightning bolt for Poseidon.  So now Percy has a little over a week to find the master bolt, that he didn’t steal, and return it to Mt. Olympus in order to clear his name.  The major problem is that he has to travel to the Underworld to find out if Hades has it. 

With the movie coming out soon I gave in and read The Lightning Thief  and I am so glad I did.  This book had me laughing out loud and I had to stop and read parts to my friends, because it was too great not to share.  Moving on to book 2 the Sea of Monsters, hope it is as great as the first.  If you want a fun read then this is one you should consider!  Greek Mythology made funny with an action packed story.  I just hope that Percy never changes who he is.  I hope the movie can stand up to the book. 

-Hannah

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Hannah on January 18th, 2010

Lyn has grown up knowing only Glad culture.  Her mother has tried to talk her into becoming a Glad wife like her, but Lyn doesn’t want to watch 7 husbands die in the arena.  She is a pacifist and wants nothing more than to leave the Gladiator lifestyle behind her.  But when her 7th gladiator father, Tommy,  is going into the arena against a foe he doesn’t think he can beat she gives her father her dowry bracelet.  If you are a girl in the Glad life your father is the only one that is allowed to touch this bracelet.  If another man does, you must marry him.  So when her fathers killer, Uber, puts on the bracelet in front of the entire audience live and on t.v. she has a major choice to make.  Does she marry the man who killed her father? Or does she find a different way out?  With her mother and her psychic little brother to think of she must decide if she is going to follow glad culture and give up her dreams to save what is left of her family or if she is going to make her own way out of all the drama.

This book was so awesome.  With a mixture of old time charm and consumerism to the max this book is one I didn’t want to put down.  Her little brother Thad won me over from his first appearancein the book.  Paparazzi are on the level of insane stalkers throughout the whole book.  It was a book that brought to life a lot of the ugly truths about our world while only showing what we could have been, or maybe still could be.  If you are looking for a great book that ranks up there with the Hunger Games then check this one out.  I bet you won’t be sorry you did.

Check out the authors site: http://www.lisehaines.com/

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Hannah on January 14th, 2010

ATTENTION,  ATTENTION!!!! 

artwork

OUR BLOG NEEDS AN AWESOME BACKGROUND, AND WE NEED YOUR DESIGNS!!!! 

If you would like to:

  • see your artwork on our blog
  • participate in an online contest where the teens of Aurora choose whose artwork rocks the hardest
  • and possibly win the contest and have your design become the background for our blog for the next year

        then please submit your artwork to the Young Adult Librarian at any of the 4 Aurora Libraries.  We will scan your artwork into the computer (if it isn’t already on the computer) and give your artwork back to you.  Fill out a little information so that we can give you credit on the actual blog. 

We need :

1. your name

2. a Phone number so we can notify you if you win

3.what school you attend so we can give your school bragging rights

Voting will be in March.  So get your designs turned in between Monday, February 1st 1010 and  Saturday, February 28th 2010!!!!

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Hannah on January 12th, 2010

Five kids across Europe disappear in one night, never to be heard from again.  A few years, later five teenagers show up in New York at a party and will soon attend the best high school there.  Their governess Madame Vileroy is not as she appears to the outside world.  She gives the teens special abilities that raise them to the top of their class in different ways.   But for each “gift” she gives there is a cost.  One teen “steals,” one “cheats,” one “hides,” one “is made beautiful,” and the last “lies;” however, these “gifts” are not as we would assume.  Three Faust teens are keeping a big secret from the other two.  Filled with intrigue, double dealing, and devilish acts, this book shows some historical figures as very naughty.  The main question I asked myself was “who is Madame Vileroy” and about half way in my suspicions were confirmed, but I was hooked to the story and I’m so glad I finished it because I didn’t see part of the ending coming and can’t wait for the sequel.   If you like supernatural types of books this one is a must for you. 

-Hannah

Check out the authors website: http://www.anotherfaust.com/site/

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