MADreads for Teens

Painting from the heart
A review of Just Behave Pablo Picasso by Jonah Winter

 If you are looking for a book that reinforces following your heart, this is it. Pablo Picasso has a natural ability for painting, and people love his “rose-colored paintings.” He makes a very good living painting them. However, he is bored to tears and doesn’t care about making a living, he longs to paint something different. After viewing an art exhibit featuring African masks, he begins painting in an abstract manner and creates his famous painting,“Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon.” It is so ...read more

Reviewed by Lesley K on May 17, 2013 | 0 comments

More hot pink superheroes, please
A review of Who is AC? by Hope Larson and Tintin Pantoja

 All of Hope Larson's books feature strong female characters, dreamy/magical elements and cool artwork. Her latest graphic novel is somewhat different from her previous works, Gray Horses, Chiggers, and Mercury in that it's about a teenage superhero and illustrated by ...read more

Reviewed by Molly - Central on May 9, 2013 | 0 comments

Coming Soon: Teen’s Choice Award Review Books
A review of Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

 It’s that time of year again, and I’m reading as many books as I can to find the lucky ten titles that will serve as the summer’s Teen’s Choice review books. This year’s list will include the cross-over kid’s/teen’s non-fiction title that has swept up so many awards that it is fairly dripping with medals. Yes, Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon, by Steve Sheinkin. National Book Award Finalist, Sibert Award for best children’s non-fiction, Best Non- ...read more

Reviewed by Karen on May 3, 2013 | 0 comments

One choice, two paths
A review of Pivot Point by Kasie West

 At a school where the football team uses telekinesis to keep balls aloft and other students can manipulate mass to walk through walls, Addie Coleman doesn't think her ability to search the possible outcomes of her choices is terribly glamorous, since she can only see her own future, and only when she faces a specific choice. Still, it's a pretty handy power, and it's one that is particularly useful as she faces the biggest decision of her life so far: which parent she wants to live with after ...read more

Reviewed by Kylee on April 29, 2013 | 0 comments

A haunting tale of love through the centuries
A review of Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

 It takes a pretty spectacular writer to combine vampires, love at first sight, and reincarnation in a teen novel and still come up with something fresh and original, but that's exactly what Marcus Sedgwick has done in his new book, Midwinterblood. This collection of seven linked stories begins in the year 2073, when loner journalist Eric Seven is sent to investigate a colony on the remote northern Blessed Island, where the inhabitants are rumored to have discovered an elixir of ...read more

Reviewed by Kylee on April 9, 2013 | 0 comments

Another winner from Libba Bray
A review of The Diviners by Libba Bray

 The latest offering from supernatural master, Libba Bray, is sure to thrill fans of her last series. Set in 1920s New York, The Diviners follows seventeen year old Evie O’Neill who has been banished from her hometown in Ohio after a party trick has unintended consequences. Evie, a quintessential flapper, is thrilled with the arrangement, planning her days around shopping and movies and her nights around glamorous speakeasies. The only drawback is living with her uncle, the stuffy ...read more

Reviewed by Jill O on March 22, 2013 | 0 comments

What do Gatsby, Shakespeare and an alien parasite have in common?
Novels to the Screen (big and small)

Shelley Diaz of School Library Journal has compiled a nice list of teen (and kids) books that are coming to the screens in your neighborhood. The first to jump out at me is the film adaptation of Stephanie Meyer's The Host. I'm curious about this ...read more

Reviewed by Jane J - Central on March 21, 2013 | 1 comment

How to budget for lamb and strychnine
A review of Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

 It's been a while since I've read a rave-worthy young adult novel. But lately I've hit the bonanza with several titles hitting on all notes. Some of the hits aren't yet published so I'll leave those for a future post, but one of them is out and available and I'm thrilled that I can tell you about it. Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger is set in the same ...read more

Reviewed by Jane J - Central on March 12, 2013 | 0 comments

Zombie in love
A review of Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

 What will the inevitable zombie apocalypse look like? How will it happen? How will humanity--the Living--survive? How does it feel be be a zombie? And how--in this post-apocalyptic world-- would a zombie find love? That last question has never, in all my feverish wonderings, occurred to me. And yet, I give you...Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. The main protagonist of our story is a zombie. You got it, a flesh-eating, brain-chomping, reeking member of the undead, or the Dead, in this ...read more

Reviewed by Tina - Central on March 5, 2013 | 1 comment

Don't eat that!
A review of Peanut by Ayun Halliday

 Starting a new high school is not easy. Starting a new high school under false pretenses is even harder. Starting a new high school while faking a peanut allergy? Oh, that's not going to end well. Sadie Wildhack fakes a peanut allergy in order to make friends at her new high school and it totally backfires. Even though peanut allergies may be life threatening, they're just not glamorous enough to sway jaded high school students into providing a)sympathy b)respect c)friendship. Or are they? The ...read more

Reviewed by Molly - Central on February 27, 2013 | 0 comments

Events & Classes

Every Tuesday
Tue, 05/21/2013 - 3:30pm
Goodman South Madison Branch

Sequoya Kids Chess Club
Tue, 05/21/2013 - 4:00pm
Sequoya Branch

Shutterbugs
Tue, 05/21/2013 - 4:00pm
Pinney Branch

Meet with an Educational Advisor
Tue, 05/21/2013 - 5:00pm
Goodman South Madison Branch

Meadowridge Library Knitting Circle
Thu, 05/23/2013 - 3:00pm
Meadowridge Branch