Le loot

I promise I'm not trying to be braggy about my ARCs, but since people are living vicariously, here's my loot from ALA:



(That's minus Catching Fire, which I already read and lent to my best friend. It's fabulous!)

Click on the photo to get a much bigger photo than you probably ever wanted to look at.

Plus, I snagged a few e-galleys, too:



The card has a PIN to access the e-galley. I won't lie - I definitely find reading an actual book to be more comfortable. But e-galleys are way, WAY more cost-effective and environmentally friendly. And I can get on board with that.

Front and Center

Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. (Grades 7+)

Ohhhhh DJ Schwenk, how I love thee.

So, in case you weren't aware, the third DJ Schwenk book comes out in October. MARK YOUR CALENDAR. Because if you love DJ like I do, you won't want to miss it.

Front and Center takes up right where The Off Season leaves off. (And, just to warn you, since this is the third book in the trilogy there might be some spoilers for earlier books.)

DJ's returning to school just in time for basketball season and the pressure is ON. She's got college coaches coming to her game, the farm's losing money, and her brother Win is getting extremely involved in her college search. Like, extremely involved. Like, paralyzing-DJ-with-the-thought-of-disappointing-him involved.

And, well, you know how DJ does with pressure.
She tends to freeze up.
Everyone's telling her she's good enough to play Division I college basketball. But can she handle it? Can she even get into college at all?

And don't even mention the boy troubles. DJ's friend Beaner starts to show some interest, but Brian keeps popping back into DJ's head. What's a girl to do?

I'm really glad I went back and reread Dairy Queen and The Off Season, not only to refresh myself on what had happened to DJ and her pals, but because they're fantastic and it reminded me how much I love them. As I previously posted, I listened to the audiobook of Dairy Queen, which is completely fabulous.

DJ Schwenk is one of the most unique and interesting protagonists in YA literature. I love that she's a real girl. She freezes up under pressure. She's not always witty with a quick, sarcastic comeback. She's a little more like the rest of us, thinking of smart responses three days after the argument is over.

I'm not saying that I didn't want to shake her* periodically throughout Front and Center. But that's actually one of the things I love about these books - DJ is so real to me that I actually felt like I could reach into the pages and give her a (much needed) hug.

What can I say? If you haven't read Dairy Queen, I must demand that you do so at once. And if you have read Dairy Queen and The Off Season, I'm sorry to say that you'll have to wait 'til October for this third installment, but mark it down because you won't want to miss it.

Head over to Jen Robinson's Book Page because she shares my DJ love (and because her review is actually, like, a review instead of just a big love letter to DJ Schwenk).

Full disclosure: review copy provided by publisher, Houghton Mifflin.

*Or maybe prescribe her some Xanax

Around the Interwebs: ALA, YA, and more

Didn't get a chance to go to ALA this year? Check out Betsy's posts about the conference!

In case you hadn't heard, there's been some discussion about doing away with BBYA. I'm not sure when the committee is meeting to decide (maybe today?), but that'll definitely be interesting. Link via Liz.

There's a new YA lit award in town, the Elizabeth Walden Award for Young Adult Fiction, given by the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Thanks to Jen Robinson for the link.

Speaking of YA lit, if you read it or know someone who does, take the Teenreads.com survey for a chance to win one of 27 great titles (including Catching Fire)!

Susan Beth Pfeffer posted the cover of her newest novel, This World We Live In, due out in April. I didn't even know it was coming out (bad librarian!), so thanks to Sarah for the link.

If your patrons love sports books like mine do, you'll be interested to know that Capstone Publishers is teaming up (haha) with Sports Illustrated Kids to offer leveled chapter books. From the press release:

The new books will feature high-interest nonfiction and fiction sports
stories in three separate formats: high-low informational, graphic novels, and
illustrated chapter books. They will be created for the elementary and middle
school grades, especially struggling and reluctant readers...

Published under Capstone Publishers’ well-known imprints Capstone Press and
Stone Arch Books, the Sports Illustrated KIDS’ books will debut with three
series in January 2010: Greatest Sports Stars, The Science of Sports, and
Graphic Sports. Both nonfiction and fiction developers will have access to
Sports Illustrated KIDS’ extensive collection of photographs, resulting in
compelling books packed with exciting sports action photos.

Definitely something to look for.

Fans of Alyson Noel's The Immortals series, will want to head over to immortalseries.com for downloads, videos, and more.
Tee hee, check out Hank Green's song, "I'm Not Edward Cullen".

If you've been following posts on the ALSC blog concerning programming for kids with special needs, you'll be glad to know that Part 3 has been posted. Definitely check out the series if you serve kids with special needs in your community.

If you're not reading 100 Scope Notes, this cool, creative review will get you hooked. Guaranteed.

Reading if Fundemental (RIF) and Macy's are pairing up to bring us Book a Brighter Future, a partnership to support children's literacy. From the press release:

From July 1 through August 31, 2009, Macy's customers can give $3 and receive a
coupon for $10 off a $50 in-store purchase at any Macy's nationwide. Macy's will
donate 100 percent of every $3 to RIF.

So, if you shop at Macy's, check this out!

Adrienne posts about quality vs. popularity and how she came to buy her collection's first book by Madonna.

Sarah Miller's got some audiobook recommendations for us as we hit the road for our summer vacations. And by "us", I mean any of you who are lucky enough to actually get a vacation this summer. :)

Whew. And I'm spent. Happy surfing!

Book Review: After

After by Amy Efaw. (Grades 9+)

Summary from ARC:

"Who would leave her own baby in the trash to die? Certainly not someone like Devon - straight-A student, soccer player with Olympic dreams, more mature than her own mother. But desperation and panic drove her to do what most people can't even imagine..."

You guys, I could not put this book down. And that is saying something because I was reading it while I was packing up my entire life and preparing for a out-of-state move.

The premise is ripped from the headlines: teenager Devon gives birth and leaves her baby in the dumpster behind her apartment building. When she's arrested, she claims that she never knew she was pregnant. Is she lying to protect herself? Or has she had some kind of breakdown? Is she guilty of murder?

The book starts right after Devon's given birth and follows her through her subsequent arrest and time in a juvenile detention center while she awaits her trial. It's up to the reader to decide how reliable a narrator Devon is, just as Devon's lawyer and mom are trying to figure out how this could have happened.

One thing I loved about this book is the inside look you get into the jail and Amy Efaw is such a skilled writer that I felt like I was right there beside her. I found the whole process fascinating and the book's unlike anything I'd read before. Did I mention how I couldn't put it down??

Is it an Issue book? I would say it's an Issue book like Speak or Wintergirls is an Issue book. Yes, the premise is ripped from the headlines, but it's more about getting inside Devon's head and examining her motives and her reality. I would highly recommend this title to fans of Laurie Halse Anderson's edgier books and to fans of Jodi Picoult.

(One word of warning: there is placenta within the first twenty pages. This may not be a book for the squeamish.)

After is due out August 11 and I predict that it's gonna be big. Put it on your TBR list right this minute!

Full disclosure: review copy provided by publisher, Viking Juvenile.

Thoughts on my Brief Time at ALA

Oh my gosh, y'all.

The Exhibits at ALA were so awesome... and so exhausting. I don't know how people have the energy for the entire conference (but someday I will find out!). Alas, I forgot my camera, but I'll have some pictures when J gets home and gets hers uploaded.

It was definitely a whirlwind trip and I didn't get to meet up with nearly as many people as I wanted to. I had the pleasure of staying at a good friend's house and the pleasure of attending the exhibits with four lovely ladies. I want to give a shout-out to Wendy of Six Boxes of Books and Sarah of Green Bean Teen Queen, both of whom I had the pleasure of meeting. I spied Susan of Wizards Wireless and Booklights getting her picture taken with some storm troopers, but before I could flag her down, she was off and I was getting my own picture taken. ;) I saw Anastasia Suen at the Sourcebooks booth (she was very excited about Horrid Henry's Christmas) and spotted Roger Sutton a couple of times (both times in conversation with other, important-looking people). I also spotted John Green not once but three separate times. And how many times could I think of anything to say to him? Zero. Yeah. Gonna work on that one, as he'll be at the CYPD conference at the end of August.

Ahem. /name dropping

What can I say about the exhibits? I knew it would be huge, but I guess I didn't expect to be quite so crowded. I also didn't expect publicists to be so very friendly!

My friends and I were at McCormick place by 8:30 or so and we checked in and gathered to wait until they opened the exhibits. We made a beeline for the Scholastic booth first thing to find out if they had ARCs of Catching Fire (they did!) and J ended up being first in line. We waited about half an hour and they started giving out ARCs at 9:30 or so. I don't know how many they gave out, but I was told that they'd be giving out more as the conference went on.

After that, our day was pretty much made already, and everything else was gravy. (If gravy was made of AWESOME, that is!)

I was prepared with a list of the ARCs I wanted to look for, complete with pub info and booth numbers. Yes, laugh at me for I am a huge geek, but that list came in handy and I ended up getting almost everything on my list. Publicists were all extremely friendly and happy to hand over whatever ARCs they had available. I won't title-drop too much (and most of my books are in the process of being mailed to me anyway), but highlights include Stitches by David Small, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (who was there signing, so I got copies of her other books as well!), and As You Wish by Jackson Pearce.

Before leaving for Chicago, I revisited Susan's tips for BEA, which came in handy. I can't emphasize enough how useful my ARC list was. After awhile, all the booths blend together a little bit and it's really handy to have your reference right there. Plus, they might not be displaying the book that you want and it's easy to forget if it's not right there in front of you.

I also can't emphasize enough how friendly everyone was. I was a little nervous about knowing which books were okay to take and which they were selling. It's generally very clearly marked, and if you're not sure, just ask. If you see a display copy of a book you want, ask if they have one you could have. 90% of the time yesterday, the answer was yes and I walked away with a book.

Next time I go (and there will be a next time, yes there will), I'll hopefully remember to hand out the pretty business cards I had made. It was all too overwhelming for me to think about it yesterday, but now I really wish I had. Also, I'll remember that it's a marathon, not a sprint. You don't have to pick up every single book in the first hour you're there. And sometimes the publishers will put out different books at different times. Or they might have a certain number of ARCs for the first day and then give out more on the following days.

I was really hoping to get down to Anderson's for Laurie Halse Anderson's & Sarah Dessen's book signing, but by the time we got back from the exhibits we were all about ready to drop. After flying in the night before, I left the house at 6:30am and then carried around a freakin' heavy bag of stuff all day. Seriously, we would have driven off the road in our exhaustion, which would not have been a good end to the day. So, apologies for missing that!

I so wish I could have stayed longer. It would have been wonderful to be able to go to some of the programs and to meet up with more library friends and bloggity people. Hopefully next year I will be able to go for longer. But it was wonderful to get to go, even just for one day!

Book Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han. (Grades 7-10.)

Every summer since before she was born, Belly's spent at the beach with her family and her mom's best friend's family. And she's always tagged along behind her older brother and Suzanne's boys, Jeremiah and Conrad. This summer will be different, Belly can feel it. She's turning sixteen, she's blossomed into a beautiful young lady, and she's determined to prove that she's not a kid anymore. But Belly's caught between wanting to grow up and wanting to cling to the past, and this will be a summer that transforms her more than she would ever predict.

Okay, let's get one thing straight: this is not a fluffy beach read. I know, the title and the pretty little font on the cover and the half-smiling models might have you thinking that this is going to be a light little romance for the beach. But it's not.

That's not to say The Summer I Turned Pretty doesn't have its light moments. And its romance. It has those things. But this is not a Yay-It's-summer-and-I'm-tanning-poolside kind of book. It's more of an End-of-summer-getting-back-to-reality kind of book. In my opinion, anyway.

One thing I liked about this book is that Belly felt so very real to me. She's fifteen, turning sixteen, and you get the story of her summer interspersed with flashbacks to previous summers at the same beach house. You get the stories of how she fell in love, how she's been in love with the same guy since she was 10 years old. You also get the sense that Belly's always been on the outside looking in.

During the summer, she's at the beach house with her older brother and two older boys. When she was younger, she wanted to join in their fun and they sometimes excluded her. Now that she's older, she just wants to be noticed. And she is noticed, but not always in the way she wants. The boys still seem to see her as the kid that bugged them every summer, tattling when they wouldn't let her play. What she comes to realize is that growing up means dealing with grown-up things. Though she thinks she's so ready to grow up, to drive, to date, to make her own decisions, Belly wavers on the brink of young-adulthood.

Before I read the book, I really disliked the cover. I heard so many compliments about it, but I just didn't get it. After I read the book, the cover makes a lot more sense. I love the position of the sun, like it's late afternoon and you're starting to think about the end of the day. I love that Belly's looking straight ahead, a kind of thoughtful expression on her face, while the boys' faces are both partially cut off or blocked.

It's a quiet kind of book, the kind I needed to sit with for a little bit to figure out exactly how I felt about it. If you're looking for something a little more serious than your usual summer fare, I can highly recommend The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Check out posts at MotherReader, Reading Rants!, The Compulsive Reader, and The Reading Zone (among others). Looking for some more summer reads to add to your pile? Jenny Han shares her top five YA must-reads (and I agree with all of them; I have Along for the Ride on my bookshelf waiting for me!).

Catch me if you can!

So, I'm taking off Friday for Chicago to attend the exhibits at ALA! Are you going to be there? I'll be at the exhibits Saturday and I won't have access to email or blogs, BUT I will hopefully be Twittering, so follow me* and if you track me down, do stop and say hi. I would love you meet you! And I promise that I am very friendly.

I also intend to be at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville to see Sarah Dessen and Laurie Halse Anderson Saturday evening. (I think the jury is still out as to whether we will actually be able to swing it, but I am hopeful!) So. Track me down there, too.

I'm so excited that I've been finding it hard to go to sleep this week! And yes, I am a total geek and had bloggity business cards made. If you want one, come find me. I will give you one. And they are very cute (if I do say so myself).

PS: If you can't think of anything to say to me (I am horrible at thinking of things to say to people I don't know), you can always say, "Happy birthday! I read your blog!" because 1. Saturday is my birthday and 2. that will be the best birthday present ever!!

PPS: If you're not sure what I look like, look at this picture. I am the one who is not John Green. And there is a fair chance that I will be wearing that same shirt. (It's my favorite shirt.)

*I can't get @replies on my phone, so please don't be offended if I'm not replying.

Book Review: Strawberry Hill

Strawberry Hill by Mary Ann Hoberman. (Grades 4-6.)

When Allie gets the news that her family will be moving, she's not pleased at all. She doesn't want to leave her school and her best friend Ruthie whose family owns the duplex Allie lives in. But when Allie finds out that the name of her new street is Strawberry Hill, she throws her hesitations out the window. Strawberry Hill! What a magical place! She can just picture the cozy houses on a quaint little street that ends with a big hill covered in strawberries.

When Allie arrives at Strawberry Hill, it doesn't quite meet her expectations, but the adventures she has during her first year on Strawberry Hill will change her in unexpected ways. Strawberry Hill is about making friends, losing friends, and figuring out just who you are. It's a coming-of-age story will a classic, timeless feel.

As I was reading Strawberry Hill, I was trying to make up my mind about whether I liked it. It starts slowly and there were times when I felt like I was reading an excruciatingly detailed diary of a nine-year-old girl. But then Allie had to deal with some racial prejudice and I perked my ears up. And the conclusion I came to is that I did like it. Allie's voice was very real to me (excruciating detail and all) and I felt like the book read like what I would expect from a fourth-grader's diary.

Allie's life isn't simple in Connecticut during the Depression. True, she has food on her table and a stable family. But she has to deal with the same things that many girls have to deal with - starting a new school, figuring out a new teacher, and, most emphatically, friends. Allie gets caught up in a friendship triangle between her Catholic neighbor Martha, a put-together girl whom Allie likes immediately, and Mimi, the outcast Jewish girl who lives across the street. Of course Martha has some questionable qualities and Mimi is more fun to play with (once Allie gives her a chance), but choosing friends is never going to be black and white. Allie has to sift through the gray areas before she'll get everything sorted away.

I haven't seen this explicitly stated anywhere, but I'm assuming that the book (or events in the book) are based on Ms. Hoberman's actual experiences. An author's note would have done wonders for me, but then you know how I feel about author's notes. (And please note that I'm reviewing from an ARC, so it's possible an author's note will be included in the final book.)

The book reminded me a little of The Penderwicks in that it has that quiet, classic feel. It also reminded me of a personal favorite, Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself, because Allie has to deal with some of the same issues Sally does - moving to a new place and figuring out who her friends are. At the Little, Brown preview (as reported by Fuse #8), Strawberry Hill was also compared with The Secret Language by Ursula Nordstrom, which I am not personally familiar with.

This would be a good choice for girls looking for a gentle read, although there is a brief, but notable, incident where Allie is the subject of prejudice because she is Jewish. It's dealt with by Allie and her mother and would make a good moment for discussion. Now that I think about it, this would be an excellent choice for a mother-daughter book club.

Audiobook Roundup: Books for the Commute

Yeah, the new job comes with a little bit of a commute; just long enough to make listening to audiobooks actually feasible. I've listened to a few that have really made the traffic bearable and I'd like to share them with you today.

Nation by Terry Pratchett, narrated by Stephen Briggs. With a shiny Printz honor AND a shiny Odyssey honor to its name, Nation definitely deserves a listen. After the wave hits, everything about Mau's life changes. He was in the middle of the task that all boys have to complete to become men, he was heading home when the wave hit. And his entire family was wiped away. The wave changed Daphne's life, too. The ship she was on crash-landed on Mau's island and she was the only survivor. Can Mau and Daphne survive on their own when they don't even speak the same language? Terry Pratchett examines religion, faith, power, family and more in this amusing and touching story. Expert narration by Stephen Briggs really drew me in to the story. Highly recommended. If you haven't yet read this Printz honoree, the audio version is a great way to go.

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, narrated by Natalie Moore. Ohhh, Dairy Queen. It's truly one of my favorite books. I wanted to listen to it to refresh my memory because the third DJ Schwenk book, Front and Center, comes out in October (yaaay!). DJ Schwenk lives on a dairy farm in Red Bend, Wisconsin. She's working on the farm this summer because her dad had hip surgery and can't handle the farm work. Her older brothers are off at college and currently not speaking to the family because of The Fight. Her younger brother has Little League championships. And that leaves DJ to do the work. Now, to add insult to injury, Jimmy Ott, coach of Red Bend's rival football team, has sent his quarterback Brian to the Schwenk farm to help out and get a lesson in hard work. It's such a sweet, unusual story with a really honest and refreshing main character. Natalie Moore's narration with a cute Wisconsin accent really brings DJ Schwenk to life. (I'm now rereading The Off Season and I keep reading parts of it out loud to see if I can imitate Ms. Moore's Wisconsin accent!)

The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian, read by Jesse Eisenberg. Josh and his best friend (and secret love interest) Beth are obsessed with a mysterious online prophet who calls himself Larry. Little does Beth know that Josh is the mastermind behind the website. When "Larry" explodes in popularity, Josh will find that making a difference in the world isn't as easy as he'd thought. Ohhh, Nerdfighters, take note! This book is right up your alley! Jesse Eisenberg actually sounds a little like John & Hank Green. Josh would totally be a Nerdfighter if he weren't, y'know, fictional. The audiobook isn't perfect - I found it to be a little over-produced - and the prologue and epilogue are narrated by the author. Ms. Tashjian is a wonderful author, but not a gifted reader. I almost gave up right at the very beginning, but I'm so glad I pushed through to the first chapter. Once Jesse Eisenberg started reading, I fell in love!

Book Review: Eyes Like Stars

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev. (Grades 7+)

Welcome to the Theatre Illuminata.

Here is where the Players live - every character from every play, just waiting until show time. Yes, all the Players live here... and also Bertie. Beatrice Shakespeare Smith, brought to the Theatre when she was a young girl by a woman she barely remembers. She's been raised among the costumes and scenery and the small dramas that pop up among the larger dramas, but the Theater Manager has decided that it's time for her to move on. Unless she can prove herself invaluable to the Theatre, Bertie must leave.

But what Bertie doesn't know is that sinister forces threaten to destroy the Theatre, the only home she's ever known...

***

Raise your hand if you're a theater geek.

I am actually not, so much. I mean, I enjoy theater as much as the next person, and I'm a huge fan of musicals. But when it comes to Shakespeare, well, I only ever read the Cliff's notes of Macbeth in high school (sorry, Dr. Weick, but it's true). And we never even made it to Hamlet.

Maybe if I'd made it through that beautiful bargain copy of the Complete Works, I'd have caught more of the nuances and understood more of the references (um, I definitely had to Google Ariel...). That said, I still loved Eyes Like Stars.

The first scene starts the book with our inimitable heroine Bertie dying her hair cobalt blue. Right away, we get the sense that she's a feisty young lady who is used to having the run of the theater. Okay, maybe she doesn't know where she came from or who her parents are or why she ended up at this magical place, but it's her home and she's determined to fight for it. And fight for it she will, even more than she bargained for. But not without a little help.

One of my favorite things about the book is Bertie's lively entourage of fairies. Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed are by Bertie's side throughout her adventures, providing support and comic relief. I laughed out loud more than once at these pint-sized companions.

There was a lot going on at all times in this novel (much like backstage?), but it might have been more manageable if my theater background was stronger. And don't expect a neatly wrapped up ending... this is the first book of a series (a trilogy?) and while I wouldn't call it a cliffhanger ending, there's definitely conflict left unresolved. Teens will be clamoring for the next book.

If you're a theater buff, pick up this book. If not, pick it up anyway. Who knows? You might be inspired to go back and give Macbeth another shot... ;)

Take a gander at Lisa Mantchev's blog and her prolific Twitter. Please check out the rest of the blogs on the Kidz Book Buzz Eyes Like Stars blog tour:

The 160 Acre Woods
A Christian Worldview of Fiction
A Patchwork of Books
All About Children's Books
And Another Book Read
Becky's Book Reviews
Dolce Bellezza
Fireside Musings
The Friendly Book Nook
Homeschool Book Buzz
Homespun Light
Hyperbole
KidzBookBuzz.com
Never Jam Today
Reading is My Superpower
Through a Child's Eyes