Giveaway: After by Amy Efaw

After by Amy Efaw comes out today!!

To celebrate, Penguin Young Readers' Group has given me two copies to give away! Hooray! *throws confetti*

To enter, leave a comment on this post including your email address. If you link to this giveaway anywhere, post another comment for another entry.

Giveaway is open to US residents only and will end a week from today on August 18.

Check out my review of After and look at this post for the book trailer.

Book Review: Psych Major Syndrome

Psych Major Syndrome by Alicia Thompson. (Grades 9+)
Disney Hyperion. August 11, 2009.
Full disclosure: Reviewed from ARC obtained at ALA.

Leigh's got a lot to deal with during her first semester at a tiny California college. There's Andrew, her high school boyfriend who doesn't seem to want to try to get into her pants (not that Leigh necessarily wants him to, but they've been going out for over a year, shouldn't he at least be TRYING?). Plus, Andrew's roommate Nathan has a huge stick up his butt and seems to hate her for no real reason. Then there's the Psych 101 term paper that she hasn't even picked a topic for yet (ehh, she'll whip something up at the last minute, she's sure). And the mentoring program that she's volunteered for, but every time she opens her mouth, she seems to be saying all the wrong things. What Leigh needs to do is stop psycho-analyzing everyone and start taking a good look at her own life. But that's so hard to do when you have Psych Major Syndrome.

Okay, here's what I liked about the book:

I think it realistically deals with the tumultuous journey that some (all? most?) girls go through when starting college. It's a confusing time. There's a lot to deal with - making new friends, figuring out What You Want To Do With Your Life, juggling a boyfriend with your class schedule and friends, having a roommate for (possibly) the first time. Leigh's trying to get it all figured out and she's also trying to figure out her relationship with her high school boyfriend Andrew. They both went to the same school and supposedly love each other... so why doesn't she feel happier about being with him?

I liked the romance, although we all knew where it was going from the very beginning. And it could have been in that wonderful way except that it kind of took a long time to get there. I do have to say that I totally have a crush on Nathan, though. If only he was ten years older and, y'know, real...

I also liked the psychology aspects of it, but I was a psych major in college (which is why I picked up this book in the first place!). It's an interesting perspective and a little something different.

I had some problems with the book. Mainly, I didn't really care for Leigh. Sometimes when I don't care for a protagonist I can chalk it up to that protagonist being realistically drawn. After all, we all do things that are mean or hurtful or careless sometimes. We all whine periodically and make mistakes. But I guess I had a hard time feeling sympathy for Leigh. Which made it hard to care whether she actually figured out her life.

The other thing was that the secondary characters all seemed a little flat. They had such potential - Leigh's artsy roommate Ami (with whom she's instantly best friends and never seems to have any issues... hmm..), her quirky psychic parents, even Nathan... Such interesting characters, but when I looked back they were all a bit underdeveloped.

So, I liked the book okay. It's a solid debut that deals realistically with a situation (starting college) in which many girls find themselves. I wouldn't hesitate to hand it to a teen who's starting to think about college (especially one taking psych). I think the title's intriguing enough to pique teens' interest (though I don't really have any love for the cover). I'll definitely keep my eye on Alicia Thompson.

Intrigued? Book Divas is giving away two signed copies (deadline August 14). Read more reviews at Books By Their Cover and Kidliterate.

Book Review: How to Survive in Antarctica

How to Survive in Antarctica by Lucy Jane Bledsoe. (Grades 4-8.)
Holiday House, 2006.

Ever thought about going to Antarctica? What would it take to survive there? What kinds of people work there?

Lucy Jane Bledsoe found out. During her trips to Antarctica she's explored many different research bases, slept on glaciers, and seen wild animals up close. In How to Survive in Antarctica she shares her adventures, tips for traveling in the Antarctic, and facts about the people and animals that live there.

This book is a smorgasbord of information and photographs illustrating life in this harshest of continents. Bledsoe provides fun facts about Antarctica and its history, highlighting special places and people who explored the continent. Did you know that the Boy Scouts has sent scouts to Antarctica with their Antarctic Scientific Program? Can you identify the four species of penguin that live on Antarctica? Did you know that human waste is transported back to the United States every year so that humans don't contaminate the environment?

The text is chopped up into short, manageable pieces, intermingling scientific facts with historical information and Bledsoe's personal accounts of her own adventures. Black and white photographs and drawings accompany the text. Bledsoe also highlights some of the people that work on the continent or have explored the continent.

I'd hand this to any middle-grade kid interested in adventure and exploring. The book contains a glossary, but no index or source list. While it might not be the best choice for reports, the materials is certainly appealing enough to make great browsing material.

Happy Nonfiction Monday! Head on over to MotherReader's for the roundup.

Book Review: Faith, Hope, and Ivy June

Faith, Hope, and Ivy June by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. (Grades 4-7.)
Full disclosure: Review copy provided by Random House.

(This is a 2009 Cybils nominee and this review reflects only my personal opinion of the book, not necessarily the opinion of the panel!)

When Ivy June Mosley of Thunder Creek, Kentucky signs up for an exchange student program, she's not sure what to expect. She'll spend two weeks in Lexington, KY with a girl named Catherine and her family. Then Catherine will stay with Ivy June in her small mountain town. Will Catherine be a snooty, rich Lexington girl with her own horse? And what will Catherine think of Thunder Creek and Ivy June's house with no indoor bathroom and a mile's walk to the bus stop for school?

The protagonist of this story is Ivy June, a spunky seventh-grader living with her grandparents in the coal mining town of Thunder Creek, Kentucky. This is really her story, though we get glimpses of Catherine's perspective through journal entries that both girls write as part of their exchange program. Ivy June lives in a tiny house with her grandparents and her great-grandmother. Her parents and four siblings live in another house just down the way. Catherine goes to a private school in Lexington. Her house has four bathrooms and she is driven to school each morning. The two girls obviously come from very different backgrounds and they'll have to let go of their prejudices and pride to really appreciate each others' worlds.

It was an interesting premise and, having recently relocated back to my Kentucky hometown, I knew this was a book I'd want to read. The story was okay. It kind of plods along for most of the book, somewhat interesting, but not huge in the plot department. I think the issue that dulled the book for me was that Ivy June and Catherine didn't have very distinct voices. And yeah, they faced some issues trying to get along in a different place, but for the most part the exchanges went very smoothly. Too smoothly to really be all that interesting.

Then came the end... You get a big rush of action at the very end (like, the last 50 pages). If only that action had come sooner, I think I would have liked the book more.

It's not that I didn't like it. It's just that it was fine and not particularly memorable to me. It's by a Newbery-award-winning author, which may garner some readers, but I think the book's biggest audience will be people from the regions in which the book is set.

And maybe it's just me because Booking Mama seems to totally disagree; she loved it. Also check out reviews at Eva's Book Addiction, Welcome to my Tweendom, and Reading to Myself.

Le Spammy Imposter

If you get email from "me" that looks very weird and spam-like and has a link to my blog at the bottom, I did not send it! And I would not recommend that you click on that link because it does not go to this site.

My email signature has my first and last name in it, so if it doesn't have that I would just delete it.

Sorry for the inconvenience... does anyone know if there's anything I can do about that?

Around the interwebs

FIRST OF ALL, registration is now open for the 2009 Kidlitosphere Conference (or KidLitCon, as some are calling it). I will be there. Will you? I'm so looking forward to meeting all you lovely bloggers!

Bloomsbury is changing the whitewashed cover of Liar in time for its hardcover release. That is totally awesome. Thanks to Editorial Anonymous for the link.

Remember how much I loved After by Amy Efaw? It's coming out on Tuesday. You want to read it if you like edgy Laurie Halse Anderson (think Speak and Wintergirls) and/or Jodi Picoult (think The Pact and Plain Truth). You also want to check out the website, this video of Amy talking about her inspiration and research, and this book trailer:



In other news, Leila reports on a plagiarism claim against Ms. Stephenie Meyers herself. Sigh. I don't have anything to say about that.

Anna at Y Shush? posts about a great teen program she held at her library - a photo scavenger hunt. It totally makes me want to grab my own camera and join in!

Sarah, the GreenBeanTeenQueen, is totally my source for YA movie news. I found out through her blog that they're remaking Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, one of my favorite Newbery winners.

And speaking of movies, Travis of 100 Scope Notes shares this trailer for The Fantastic Mr. Fox. It looks, well, fantastic. :)

Have you checked out Melissa's list of Top 100 Middle Grade novels? If not, you should.

See that shiny Blog with Integrity badge on your right? Head on over to the site and take the pledge. Thanks to Betsy and Jen for letting me know about it.

And that's all the news I've got for you this time around. Have a great weekend!

Masquerade

Like many of you public librarians this summer, our Summer Reading Club theme was Be Creative @ Your Library. To encourage kids to be creative, one of the prizes we gave out upon completion of the program was a decorate-a-mask kit.

The kits were cheap, fairly easy to put together (a great volunteer activity), and a big hit with our kids. We took small plastic bags and filled each bag with a cardboard mask, feathers, stick-on jewels, and a paintbrush. This kit is infinitely customizable. You could add stickers, glitter (brave soul!), pom poms, yarn, pipe cleaners, confetti... or whatever else you can dream up! The kids took the kit home to decorate their mask and then brought the finished mask back to the library if they wanted to enter it in our mask contest. Many kids used only the materials in the kit, but many also added things they had at home.

The mask contest was a bigger hit than I could have imagined. I think we got close to 200 entries and they were fabulous! I love that each mask was different and they were very creative. We made a gallery of the finished masks in our programming room and invited the Friends of the Library to judge the contest. (I'm so glad I didn't have to judge the contest - we had so many great entries, I'm sure it was very hard to choose!)

We divided the masks into four age groups, Preschool/Kindergarten, 1st/2nd grade, 3rd/4th grade, and 5th/6th grade. Based on the scores given by the Friends, we selected two winners from each age category as winners. The winners of the contest got to choose a prize from our prize table. We had a selection of good quality donated books, pop-up books or finger puppets that we had ordered for the department and decided not to use, toys that had come with books, and a couple prizes that we bought.

Then, on the last day of the Summer Reading Club, we had a Masquerade Party! We invited the kids to wear their masks (or not) and come to the library to play games, eat snacks, and generally hang out and savor the end of summer. At the party, we had a small ceremony for the winners of the contest.

The mask contest was a fairly simple, fun, cheap passive program that the kids (and librarians) really enjoyed. And I am all about simple, fun, cheap programs. :)

Day in the Life of a Children's Librarian

8:45a - Arrive at work, turn on lights and computers, put stuff away.

8:50a - Feed fish and frog.

8:55a - Refill book displays and straighten department.

9:00a-12:00p - On desk. Since the Summer Reading Club is wrapping up, we're getting lots of kids bringing in their logs to collect prizes.

9:10a - Print pull list and start looking for books.

9:25a - Woo! I've found all the books on the pull list. I take them over to Circ.

9:30a - Look for a few more books to fill the displays. This month (July) we have displays on the 4th of July, moon/astronauts, vacations, and National Parks. We're lucky enough to have room for several bays of display space. I like to have lots of face-out books on these displays. We generally change our displays at the beginning of the month. For the month of August we have displays on humor/funny books, adventure books, inventors, and back to school.

9:43a - Check email.

9:48a - Work on my book leveling project. A teacher in our school district requested resources for parents looking for books on certain guided reading levels. I've started compiling some book lists and we'll investigate our options as we get into the school year. (Does anyone have a leveled book section in your library? Pros & cons? Parents, teachers, what would be most helpful to you?)

While I'm on desk, I'm also answering questions. Here's a sampling:

Do you have Fancy Nancy books?
Yes, some in picture books and some in easy readers.

Can I sign up for the Summer Reading Club?
Of course!

Can you help me with this computer game? It's not working.
Absolutely.

Where are Pippi Longstocking books?
In the chapter books under Lindgren.

(Of course, I always show patrons where the books are. I am a firm believer in Putting the Book in the Customer's Hand. Maybe because it was drilled into me when I worked at Barnes & Noble... hmm.. Still a good policy, I say!)

12:00p - Off desk, I check email.

12:15p-1:15p - Lunch time!

1:15p-2:00p - Look at some books that came in, deciding where they should go in our collection. Are they reference? Should they go in our Parents' Collection or our library professional reference collection? Hmm.

1:45p - Send out email to department about the computers and our upcoming meeting.

1:50p - Work on the agenda for the meeting.

2:00p-2:30p - I meet with Recorded Books rep. At my previous library we had a continuous order plan with Recorded Books, but my new library doesn't really have the budget for it at the current time. He shows me some of their new computer software for ESL.

2:30p - Back to work on evaluating that stack of books.

2:40p - Another phone call from someone trying to sell me something. Oy.

3:00p - Go up to the business office to ask a few budget-related questions and check the mail. Ooh, they have lifesavers and chocolates! Mmm. Afternoon snack.

3:30p - Back in my office, I continue with my stack of books.

4:00p - Check email and read PUBYAC digests.

4:45p - I need to get up from my desk, so I take a brief tour of the department to straighten and refill displays.

5:00p - Back to office, I clean up papers and shut down my computer.

5:15p - Time to go home!

Book Review: As You Wish

As You Wish by Jackson Pearce. (Grades 7+)
Full disclosure: I picked up this ARC at ALA, also I've wanted to be Jackson Pearce's BFF for, like, a year. Ever since I saw this video.

I almost didn't want to start this book. See, I was afraid that after looking forward to it for so long it wouldn't hold up to my expectations.

Um, I shouldn't have worried. This book is fabulous.

Right from the opening passage, I was intrigued with the premise:

All I've learned in today's Shakespeare class is: Sometimes you have to fall in love with the wrong person just so you can find the right person. A more useful lesson would've been: Sometimes the right person doesn't love you back. Or sometimes the right person is gay. Or sometimes you just aren't the right person.

Thanks for nothing, Shakespeare.

See, Viola was in love. With Lawrence. Her best friend. Who loves her back. And who is also gay. Ever since Lawrence came out and they broke up, Viola has felt like a piece of her is missing. She doesn't know who she is anymore. She used to be this perfect piece of the puzzle that is high school; she nestled in quite nicely next to Lawrence. But now she feels broken and she doesn't know who to hang out with or how to fit in.

Enter Jinn. He's a genie assigned to grant Viola three wishes. His job is to get in, grant the wishes, and get back to his home world of Caliban. He hates the way he ages in the human world. He can feel his hair getting longer, his life growing shorter. But as Viola takes her time deciding what to wish for, Jinn gets to know her and starts to see that living life as a human might have its appeal.

The problem? Once Jinn grants her three wishes, he'll go back to Caliban and Viola will have no memory of him being there. A bird and a fish might fall in love, but where would they live?

I was just whisked into the story from the very start. Jackson Pearce's writing is funny and snappy and I just didn't want to put the book down. Pearce creates characters you love to love. Viola's got a problem that most kids have probably dealt with at some point in their lives - something changes and BAM! you have no idea where you fit in with the world. Jinn is adorably snooty when he first comes to the human world and I can hear the sighs of girls everywhere as they fall in love with him just like Viola did.

The book's not entirely perfect. I felt like Viola's feelings of ostracism were never completely explained. I mean, she didn't have ANY other friends while she was dating Lawrence? At the same time, having been through something of a similar situation myself, I could see what Pearce was going for, so that's not a major complaint. It didn't stop me from loving the story.

Jackson Pearce is a member of the 2009 Debutantes and she makes fabulous video blogs, like this one:




As You Wish is on shelves August 25.

Book Review: Leviathan

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. (Grades 6+)
Full disclosure: Picked up review copy from Simon & Schuster at ALA.

Are you a Clanker or a Darwinist?

In Scott Westerfeld's wildly imaginative alternate WWI novel, Clankers have developed advanced war machines. Giant walkers that trample everything in their path.

Darwinists have unlocked the secret to combining DNA and fabricating fantastic creatures that fill all kinds of uses, from messenger lizards to giant hydrogen-producing whales as airships.

Alek is on the run. His parents were Austro-Hungarian royalty and they have been killed, some say, to start the war. Alek's very existence could threaten the Empire, so he goes into hiding for his own safety.

Deryn's got something to hide, too. Disguised as a boy she enlisted in the British Air Service. She loves to fly and lives to serve her country, but how long will she be able to keep up the facade?

When Alek and Deryn meet they have no idea that it'll change both their lives, but before they know it they're starting a fantastic journey that will change their lives forever.

Oh, Scott Westerfeld. How does he come up with this stuff?

Besides having a super-interesting premise, I was drawn into stories about two characters that I immediately liked. Short chapters that switch between Alek's and Deryn's points of view kept the action moving. The world-building is done effortlessly. The fictional world was being built around me as I read and it felt very organic, which is just how it should feel. I wanted to know more, wanted to stay in this world and learn more about it. Excellent.

I do have a beef. Well, actually I have two beefs (beeves?).

My first beef is that there's a sequel and I want it NOW. Which, I guess, is not Mr. Westerfeld's fault. Okay.

My second beef is that I wish the characters had further addressed the ethics of the Darwinist creations. I get that it's set in an alternate 1914, maybe before many people really thought animals should have rights. And there is some discussion of Alek feeling uncomfortable with the whale-ship and other fabricated animals, but he pretty quickly comes to accept them. As I was reading, it would bug me periodically, like They're on a whale. What must that whale be thinking? Oh, now the whale/ship is getting shot. Does it feel pain?

Maybe it's historically accurate that no one would be concerned with the ethics of creating and using these creatures, I dunno. (That would have been great information for an author's note, just sayin'.) Maybe that's an issue that will be addressed in future books. And maybe I just need to let it go and get on board because that's really the only thing that bugged me. Otherwise, I thought the story was great, the characters were great, and the world was great.

Plus, it's unlike anything else I've ever read. I'm not saying I'm all that well-read, but it's definitely nice to read something different. If it reminded me of anything, it was Airborn, which I LOVED. It's the same kind of adventure story in a really interesting alternate history. Oh, and there are airships. *nods*

Leviathan's due out October 6.