MADreads for Teens

After the Hunger Games
What to Read While You Wait for the Movie

I can't wait for the Hunger Games movie, which now has a release date - March 23, 2012! I'm pretty sad that there aren't any more books in the series, though, so while I'm waiting for the movie, I've been looking for some other scary visions of the future to fill the void. Veronica Roth's debut novel, ...read more

Reviewed by Kylee on October 5, 2011 | 5 comments

Author Gene Luen Yang in Madison October 5
A review of American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

 The Monkey King is tired of his second-class status. Adored by his own subjects, he is snubbed by human deities until he perfects his powers and literally beats them into submission. “I am not a monkey” he proclaims. “I am the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven!” Jin Wang is the only Chinese American student at his school. When Wei-Chen Sun arrives from Taiwan, Jin Wang thinks, “Something made me want to beat him up.” Still, it’s not long before the two boys become best friends. Blond-haired ...read more

Reviewed by Tana on September 30, 2011 | 0 comments

Caffeine and chocolate: Drugs of the future
A review of All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

 It's 2083 -- New York City is in shambles, chocolate and caffeine are only available on the black market, and everything from water to hair products are being rationed. For Anya Balanchine, the orphaned mob princess and heiress to the Balanchine Chocolate fortune, it's the way life has always been. But when poisoned chocolate, untrustworthy relatives and a love affair with the Assistant District Attorney's son threaten to tear what's left of her family apart, Anya must make the biggest ...read more

Reviewed by Krissy on September 30, 2011 | 0 comments

The opposite of the new school year
A review of The Zabime Sisters by Aristophane

This graphic novel is set on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe on the first day of summer. Teen-aged sisters M'Rose, Elle, and Célina are ready for some excitement and their day does not disappoint. Each chapter of The Zabime Sisters presents a new adventure for the girls, some more mischievous than others.  The girls fight and bicker as siblings do, gossip about classmates and flirt with boys. They steal mangoes ...read more

Reviewed by Molly - Central on September 27, 2011 | 0 comments

Now I'm here...
A review of Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

 Gwen Shepherd, the heroine of Kerstin Gier’s first-in-a-trilogy Ruby Red, is a normal sixteen-year-old girl, emphasis on normal. Sure, she can see ghosts, but that is nothing compared to Gwen’s cousin Charlotte, who has inherited the family gene for time travel. So while Charlotte is taking fencing lessons and boasts a closet filled with ball gowns and powdered wigs, Gwen is quite ...read more

Reviewed by Katie H. on September 19, 2011 | 0 comments

Sky Chasers
A review of Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

 In the first book of the upcoming Sky Chasers series, we find ourselves thrust into humanity's attempt to migrate to another habitable planet, New Earth, after our Earth's resources are exploited beyond repair. Waverly, a 15-year old member of the first generation born in deep space, does not know another environment other than the Empyrean, the ship she's been on her entire life. Waverly is caught up in the major decision of who to marry and have children with when the unthinkable happens: the ...read more

Reviewed by Jesse on September 16, 2011 | 0 comments

Wizards on the prairie
A review of Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede

 In the first of a new series, Patricia Wrede (known by this reader for her magical regency books starting with Sorcery and Cecelia or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot: Being the Correspondence of Two Young Ladies of Quality Regarding Various Magical Scandals in London and the Country) introduces the reader to a ...read more

Reviewed by Jane J - Central on September 10, 2011 | 0 comments

I don't want to spoil the story, but I do want you to read this so we can discuss it.
A review of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

 We'd have to discuss it quietly, though, so as not to spoil it for others. This also makes it tough for me to review, so I will err on possibly not sharing enough interesting tidbits. Rest assured, though, there are many, many interesting tidbits, like the little girl levitating on the cover, for example.  The holds list for this book in LINKcat is at well over 250 while I am writing this, so word of mouth and positive reviews are already turning this book into a mini phenomenon. I LOVE ...read more

Reviewed by Molly - Central on September 8, 2011 | 4 comments

Surviving a shark attack
A review of Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham

 “Missing an arm is like wearing a coat, a really big, hot, ugly coat/ that I can’t take off./Ever./ It’s all that people see.” The victim of a shark attack, 15 year-old Jane works to put her life back together after having her arm amputated above the elbow. Once an aspiring artist, now Jane can’t imagine what she will do with her life. And she can’t imagine how she will ever feel comfortable or fit in around people again. Even her friends seem awkward around her. Written in verse, Jane’s story ...read more

Reviewed by Karen on September 2, 2011 | 0 comments

A plane full of beauty queens crashes on a deserted island...
A review of Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

 ...and that's all you really need to know about the book to want to read it, right? It's the perfect beach read. Libba Bray's new book, Beauty Queens, (you may have read some of her other excellent books - the addictive Gemma Doyle ...read more

Reviewed by Kylee on August 25, 2011 | 2 comments

Events & Classes

The Revolutionary Optimists - Community Cinema
Sat, 05/18/2013 - 1:00pm
Sequoya Branch

Teen Book Club
Mon, 05/20/2013 - 3:30pm
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NeedleReads
Mon, 05/20/2013 - 7:00pm
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Music Theater of Madison Presents Edgar Allen Poe's Nevermore
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Goodman South Madison Branch