Life on the Refrigerator Door

Imagine this. You're Claire, an only child who's not a child, almost an adult, almost able to take care of yourself. Not that you have a choice about taking care of yourself, anyway. Your dad's not in the picture, and your mom's a big-shot doctor.

Love in the Time of Flesh Eating Monsters

I dislike romances. And when I say dislike, I mean I'd rather have rabid hamsters gnaw at my eyeballs than read a sappy and/or tragic love story. That being said, zombies and mutated flesh craving monsters pretty much make everything better. They even got me reading romances.

The funny thing about Carrie Ryan is that I read a really good short story of hers in the Zombies VS Unicorns anthology before reading The Forest of Hands & Teeth. The romantic plotline? Mary has loved Travis for years but Travis' brother Harry is in love with her, so Travis picks Mary's BFF Cass to marry despite the fact that he too is in love with Mary. Oh yeah, and Cass is in love with Harry. Got that? Now add in their village suddenly being overrun by the zombie hordes that have surrounded them for generations. The four teens take off with Mary's brother and sister-in-law to start a new life... unfortunately for some that will mean a new life as a resurrected cannabalistic corpse.

Into the Wild Nerd Yonder

I have a confession to make: I was a high school nerd. So when Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern was recommended to me by several other library staff, I picked it up and thought I'd check out a couple of chapters. I started reading at the dinner table just before bedtime and wound up staying up into the wee hours of the morning to finish the book. It was so engrossing, I never even moved despite losing circulation in my legs at one point.

Princeton and Faeries

In Enchanted Ivy, college entrance is even more daunting than average.  Lily desperately wants to attend Princeton, her grandfather's alma mater.  Then a secretive group of alumni offer her automatic entrance to Princeton if she can find the Ivy Key.  It turns out that Princeton has a door to the magical world of Faerie and the Ivy Key will let people travel between worlds.  Lily quickly learns that many magical beings are not very friendly, so it's good that there are two boys who are willing to help protect her.  Unfortunately they might each have their own agenda too. 

This story was a little slow to start, but turned into a lot of fun.  There was magic, mystery, and a little romance.  You know there is more going on than Lily is aware of, but it's hard to figure it out.  The storyline was creative, the characters were well developed, and the result was an enchanting read. 

Banned Books Week... continued

It's banned books week, and I love looking to see which books have hit the top ten banned lists of the year, as well as what authors have been challenged. You can find a lot of that information on the ALA website.

This year, I was surprised to learn that Cinderella has been among the banned. One of my favorite Cinderella stories is Ash by Malinda Lo. Ash is our Cinderella, and she grows up intrigued by the fairy realm and the handsome prince who is cursed to love her. But fate has other plans for Ash, in the form of the King's huntress...

Some thoughts on censorship

In honor of Banned Books Week, I would like to offer some thoughts on censorship.

Censorship is, of course, the act of censoring. And to censor means "to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable" (Merriam-Webster). (In the Roman republic, the censors kept a count of those who met birth and property requirements to enter the Senate; the basic idea is still roughly the same - taking a measure of, for example, a book to see if it meets certain qualifications, whether these be moral or literary).

The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica

Since I started working with the library I have helped with our annual sci-fi/fantasy teen art contest and workshops every year. My first year helping I had the pleasure of booking James A. Owen as a guest speaker. The coolest thing about him: he started self-publishing, selling, and promoting his own comics when he was a teenager. The second coolest thing about him: he's a total book geek, something you'll discover when you read this series, which is sort of like "Lord of the Rings" for the book geek.

The Chronicles revolve around the Imaginarium Geographica, an atlas of imagined lands, and the caretakers who keep the atlas safe. Jack, John, and Charles are brought together by the murder of one of the previous caretakers, which is exactly when they find out that they themselves are the new caretakers.