This year, teens are encouraged to experience something out of this world, expand their horizons, and Read Beyond Reality for Teen Read Week 2009, occurring October 18 - 24 at the Madison Public Library. The Library has scheduled a number of programs for teens in grades 6 through 12 to help celebrate teen literacy, including costume parties, a poetry slam, and more. The festivities start early with a screening of the popular film “Twilight” on Friday, October 16 at 3:30 p.m. at the Lakeview Library. Pizza will be served. Space is limited; register online or by calling 246-4547. A permission form signed by a parent or guardian is required for entry to this PG-13 film.
It will be a “bloody” good time at two Twilight-themed costume parties celebrating the upcoming November release of the “New Moon” movie. Join other vampire fans for movie clips, trivia, food, and more. Dress as your favorite characters and be sure to brush up on Twilight facts: the winner of “Best Costume” will take home 4 tickets for the upcoming release of “New Moon,” and the “Twilight Trivia Star” will receive a full set of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books! Register in advance to save your spot at one of these parties:
Funding for these events is provided by the Friends of the Meadowridge Branch Library and the Friends of the Pinney Branch Library.
Bring your friends to the Hawthorne Library on Tuesday, October 20 from 3:30 - 5 p.m. for a Guitar Hero free-play. We’ll provide pizza and soda to keep you energized for playing, singing, and rocking to your favorite songs.
On Friday, October 23 at 7:00 p.m., young writers are invited to bring their poetry to the Alicia Ashman Library for an evening of reading, writing, and fun at a “Bad Poetry Nite.” Register online or call 824-1780 to reserve a spot onstage.
Teen Read Week is a national literacy initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. Teen Read Week will be celebrated at thousands of public and school libraries, classrooms, and bookstores across the country. Although teens realize the importance of reading, they have a huge menu of activities to choose from when deciding how to spend their free time, and reading often gets lost in the shuffle. Teen Read Week serves as a weeklong reminder to teens that reading for pleasure is fun, free, and can be done anywhere.
You can find these books at your public library. Madison Public Library copies will be proudly wearing their Favoreads and Teen Choice medals. Congratulations and thanks for voting!! See past Favoreads and Teen’s Choice winners.
Author Libba Bray (A Great and Terrible Beauty and The Sweet Far Thing) has a new book coming out this month. Going Bovine is coming to your neighborhood library soon. Have a look at Libba’s You Tube interview about this book.
All the votes are in and here are this year’s winners.
1st Place: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Greg Heffley’s Journal, by Jeff Kinney
2nd Place: Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, by James Patterson
3rd Place: Notes from the Midnight Driver, by Jordan Sonnenblick
You can find these books at your public library. Madison Public Library copies will be proudly wearing their Teen Choice medals. Congratulations and thanks for voting!! If you have suggestions for future Teen’s Choice Review books please comment on this blog or on the Teen’s Choice blog.
Suggestions so far are
Naruto by Nasashi Kishimoto; The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer; The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaefer; The Rocket Boys by Homer Hickham; Twilight by Stephenie Meyer; Bloodsong by Melvin Burgess; Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan; Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling; Brsinger by Christopher Paolini; The Book Theif by Markus Zusak; The Wanderer by Sharon Creech; The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong; The Last Olympians by Rick Riordan. Suggested books which have already won the Teen’s Choice medal are: The Lightning Thief; House of the Scorpion; Eragon. See all of the past Teen’s Choice Award winners.
Love to read? Want a chance to convince other young readers that you’ve got what it takes to pick a winner? Participate in the Madison Public Library’s Teen’s Choice Awards, for teens in grades 7 through 12, and help us pick this year’s winners! Pick up your Teen’s Choice packet at any Madison Public Library location beginning Monday, June 1 and start reading! Come to the library’s Book Chats for pizza, pop, and a chance to convince other readers to vote for your favorites. There isn’t a minimum number of books you must read to attend a Book Chat, but registration is recommended.
Once you’ve decided on your picks, vote online, in the library, or at the Favoreads & Teen’s Choice Awards Ceremony on Friday, August 28, 7:00 p.m. at the Sequoya Branch. Cake and soda will be provided - you just have to bring your opinions! Register online or call 266-6385 beginning August 1.
There’s also a Teen’s Choice Award blog! Share your comments with other readers about all of the Teen’s Choice Award nominated books.
What would you do with two and a half million dollars? Indigo Skye, waitress and regular teenager, is suddenly a millionaire after a mysterious customer gives her a multi-million dollar tip in Deb Caletti’s book The Fortunes of Indigo Skye. Indigo never really thought much beyond graduating from high school and working as a waitress at Carrera’s, a local diner. Wheras others dream big, she enjoys dishing out yummy food and chatting with customers, new and old. When a new customer drives up in a Vespa moter scooter, she is curious just like everyone else. He is quiet, asks for coffee, and keeps to himself. But this person is the key to another life, another world, for Indigo Skye. When he leaves her a two and a half million dollar tip, she is completely flabbergasted and caught off guard. What should she do with the money? Will having it change her? Will it change her family, her best friend, or her boyfriend? Find out what Indigo Skye decides to do with her new found fortunes in this fun and surprisingly down to earth book.
Find your “ohm” in Jordan Sonnenblick’s new book Zen and the Art of Faking It. Eighth grader San Lee is the “new kid” in school for the zillionth time. Due to the exploits of his con-artist father, San has been hauled cross country and attended more schools than he can shake a stick at. This time he’s landed in Pennsylvania with his mother while his father is stuck in a Texas prison. As a new student at Harrisonville Middle School San is ready to sit back and zone out. But he answers one too many questions about Buddhism in his history class (he studied Buddhism at the last school he attended) and, suddenly, he’s teling everyone he’s a Zen master! He definitely likes the attention he gets being a Buddhism expert. Plus the cute girl in the purple glasses (who he has a crush on) thinks being a Zen master is pretty cool. His ploy, however, becomes harder and harder to sustain. He wonders when his lie will come crashing down around him in an un-Zen-like heap. Follow his escapades at Harrisonville Middle School and find out what happens to San in Zen and the Art of Faking It.
If you love to read modern re-tellings of classic fairytales, I highly recommend the author, Shannon Hale. One of her more recent stories, Book of a Thousand Days combines elements of Rapunzel (with all of the grizzly details of what life locked in a tower might be like), Cyrano de Bergerac, a touch of Cinderella, and… a werewolf, just for good measure. I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning finishing this one! It’s a great book to cozy up with as the weather gets colder.
Get in the football spirit and check out this fun collection of football-inspired short stories! Love, Football, and Other Contact Sports, by Alden R. Carter, introduces readers to a collection of students at Argyle West, a small Midwestern high school. Each story is told through a different student’s perspective, whether it be the tight end of the school football team or the designated school “geek”. While football is a common thread, this is a winning book for sports fans and non-fans alike. Chapters span the lives of Ken Bauer and his buddy Rollin Acres (yes, that really is his name!), both players on the school football team. We also meet other students like Sarah Landwehr, drama club member and editor of the Purple Cow Literary Magazine, and Rebecca “Becks” Campbell, rugby player and tough girl. Read about the fated meeting of Rollin Acres and Sandy Dunes; and, find out more about the dead deer that almost made it to the high school cross country meet. Many of the stories are laugh-out-loud funny. But don’t be fooled, this is not a fluffy book. The characters are genuine and well-drawn. They experience the ups and downs of being in high school and growing up. So check out Love, Football, and Other Contact Sports and cheer on the students at Argyle West!
Author Alden R. Carter is a Wisconsin native who currently lives in Marshfield, WI.
Many people associate Vermont with pleasant outdoor vacations and tubs of Ben and Jerry’s, but Kanell’s book introduces us to a time in Vermont’s past that wasn’t so idyllic. An unsettling part of our U.S. history, the eugenics movement, is fictionalized in The Darknessand will show young readers how an attempt at social Darwinism shaped a young girl’s town and life during the early years of the Depression.
Molly Ballou is part French-Canadian and part Native American (Abenaki tribe) and this poor, ethnically diverse teenager’s life is turned upside down when multiple tragedies define the summer she turns sixteen. Not only have state nurses come to town to evaluate children, but Waterford, VT is also dealing with a logging industry that is changing the river environment and beautiful Vermont landscape around them. On top of this, Molly is haunted by the ghost of her little sister Gratia who died years ago in a river accident, which lends a spiritual twist to this debut novel.
Much of the book is standard YA material; family tragedies, opposite sex relationships and lots of challenging life lessons to show you are ready for adulthood. Kanell’s book goes beyond this standard fare by also adding historical context throughout Molly’s story. My favorite history reference was when young Molly goes into the library and the librarian has the “new” Nancy Drewset aside for her. There was also a scene where Molly attends a dance for the first time and sees other young people trying out the new Charleston dance step. These historical tidbits were nice touches and made the book seem realistic. There were some parts to the story though where the narrator’s voice sounded alittle stiff and the ending seemed contrived, but overall this was a good YA debut for Kanell.
Besides a graphic home-birthing scene, the content of The Darkness is pretty non-violent and would be a good choice for fifth and sixth grade readers that have enjoyed the Dear America or Little House series. The book also touches on some important issues about race and families that would be great starting points for some mature conversations, ones that Judy Blume books were starting twenty years ago. Go ahead read Are you there God, It’s Me Margaret it will be bring back some memories and you will be amazed at how well Blume, the original YA guru, gets it done. See you at the Book Festival!
This year, teens are encouraged to experience something out of this world, expand their horizons, and Read Beyond Reality for Teen Read Week 2009, occurring October 18 - 24 at the Madison Public Library. The Library has scheduled a number of programs for teens in grades 6 through 12 to help celebrate teen literacy, including costume parties, a poetry slam, and more. The festivities start early with a screening of the popular film “Twilight” on Friday, October 16 at 3:30 p.m. at the Lakeview Library. Pizza will be served. Space is limited; register online or by calling 246-4547. A permission form signed by a parent or guardian is required for entry to this PG-13 film.
The votes for the 2009 
What would you do with two and a half million dollars? Indigo Skye, waitress and regular teenager, is suddenly a millionaire after a mysterious customer gives her a multi-million dollar tip in Deb Caletti’s book 
Find your “ohm” in Jordan Sonnenblick’s new book 
Get in the football spirit and check out this fun collection of football-inspired short stories! 
