Friday, February 4, 2011

Book of the Week 2/8

Here is the YA book you should be paying attention to, due in bookstores on Tuesday...


Cloaked (Alex Flinn) - With the Beastly movie upcoming, based on the book by Alex Flinn, this new novel from the author featuring yet another mash-up of a classic fairy tale and a modern romance, is sure to garner quite a bit of attention.

Other Noteworthy Selections


Where I Belong (Gillian Cross)
Cryer's Cross (Lisa McMann)
So Shelly (Ty Roth)
Father of Lies (Ann Turner)
Where I Belong (Gwendolyn Heasley)
Kindred (Tammar Stein)
The Iron Witch (Karen Mahoney)
Red Moon Rising (Peter Moore)
Angry Young Man (Chris Lynch)
Shadow Walkers (Brent Hartinger)
The Floating Islands (Rachel Neumeier)
Pink (Lili Wilkinson)

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

The Water Wars

Cameron Stracher

I won't lie and say that that great cover wasn't the deciding factor on buying this book (well, that and the fact that it was only $2.99 to purchase on my nookcolor).  But really, this is a great book.  Those who enjoyed The Hunger Games, pay attention.

In the future, there is a water shortage and the world has changed significantly.  Nations war with one another for water, governments hoarding it, damming rivers and sucking moisture from clouds.  In a reorganized United States, Vera lives with her brother Will, her father and ailing mother, just scraping by, until she meets a mysterious boy Kai, whom she grows very close to.  Kai's family has access to water, and it turns out that he's a very important figure in the water wars, as he has some natural abilities to locate water.  When Kai is kidnapped, Vera and Will vow to track him down, thus embarking on a journey that will take them face-to-face with many sides of this immense war being fought over the world's water supply, making new friends along the way.

The romance between Vera and Kai is admittedly a little lackluster, but this story more than makes up for that shortcoming with its fast-paced action.  And I mean fast-paced.  This book hardly lets up for a moment, things constantly happening to bring the main characters from one scene to another.  Sometimes events occur perhaps a little too conveniently, but it's hard not to get swept away with the thrilling narrative that Stracher unfolds.  Like in The Hunger Games, there are similar themes of rebellion and the government watching people closely, trying to control them, but if you're up for yet another post-apocalyptic novel, this will entertain and delight from beginning to end.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Book of the Week 2/1

Here is the YA book you should be paying attention to, due in bookstores this Tuesday...


Delirium (Lauren Oliver) - In a world where love is diagnosed as a disease, and it is treated when people come of age, Lauren Oliver's follow-up to Before I Fall brings to mind the recent - and much better - bestseller Matched by Ally Condie.  But those who can't get enough of books with echoes of The Hunger Games, this one's for you.


The Demon Trapper's Daughter (Jana Oliver)
The Trust (A Secret Society novel) (Tom Dolby)
Sweep (Volume 3): The Calling, Changeling, Strife (Cate Tiernan)
The Vampire's Promise: Deadly Offer, Evil Returns, Fatal Bargain (Caroline B. Cooney)
Consumed (Kate Cann)
Trapped (Michael Northrop)
Kick (Walter Dean Myers)
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
Haunted (Joy Preble)
Phantoms In the Snow (Kathleen Benner Duble)

Monday, January 24, 2011

The Summer I Turned Pretty

Jenny Han

With below zero temperatures outside and snow storms that leave inches, if not feet, at your doorstep (especially in the Midwest like, say Milwaukee), it's certainly nice to escape into a book oozing with images of the beach, sun and surf like this first book in Jenny Han's Summer novels.  The Summer I Turned Pretty follows sixteen-year-old Belly as she returns to the beach house she's spent every summer of her life at, during a time when she's beginning to flower into a beautiful young woman.  With her mother and brother, they stay at this summer house with her mother's best friend Suzanne and her two boys, who are just a little older than Belly, funny, friendly Jeremiah and broody Conrad, who she's had a crush on her entire life.  Jeremiah and Conrad have always treated her like a pesky little sister, often hanging out more with her brother Steven than her, a group of boys that made her feel like an outsider, but she loves the beach and this year is different.  I really like the format that Han uses with this novel, with different chapters often delving into the past and flushing out certain times that have been referenced or just illustrate a relationship that Belly's had with one or other of the characters.  It really does give you a feeling of summer and vacationing, with the bonfires and midnight swims, and of course that first boy she goes on a date with, Cam.  The Summer I Turned Pretty is a wonderful coming-of-age story that sees Belly learn to understand the complicated people that she's known for a long time a little better, as well as herself amid the secrets and longings going on around her.  I was deeply engrossed by this book and loved escaping to Belly's beach house, a place I will be revisiting again very soon.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Book of the Week 1/25

Here is the YA book you should be paying attention to, due in stores on Tuesday...


Red Riding Hood (Sarah Blakley-Cartwright & David Leslie Johnson) - This book hit stores early, so it should be available at your local store now.  It's a re-imagining of the classic fairy tale, soon to be a movie starring Amanda Seyfried.  Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the first Twilight film, is directing the film adaptation, and is obviosuly hoping for another paranormal romance success.

Other Noteworthy Releases


Blessed (Cynthia Leitich Smith)
The Iron Queen (Julie Kagawa)
Vesper (A Deviants Novel) (Jeff Sampson)
Dark Goddess (Sarwat Chadda)
Famous (Todd Strasser)
The Meltdown (L. Divine)
The Charmed Return (Frewin Jones)
Drought (Pam Bachorz)
Throat (R.A. Neslon)

Monday, January 17, 2011

Book of the Week 1/18

A pretty slow week this time around, here are the few YA books hitting bookstores on Tuesday...


Tuesday, January 11, 2011

2011 Printz Award

Congratulations are in order for the winner of the 2011 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature, Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, which was also on the short list for a National Book Award this year.


2011 Printz Honor Books:


Stolen (Lucy Christopher)
Please Ignore Vera Dietz  (A.S. King)
Revolver (Marcus Sedgwick)
Nothing (Janne Teller)

Also, congrats to the recipient of the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, The Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston.


2011 William C. Morris Finalists:



Hush (Eishes Chayil)
Guardian of the Dead (Karen Healey)
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (Lish McBride)
Crossing the Tracks (Barbara Stuber)