Best YA of 09 (according to NPR)

Looking for something to read? Try one of these five books as recommended by reviewer Jonathan Hunt on NPR yesterday. All are available at the library (or will be shortly!), although one is clearly nonfiction and a couple can be found in the Juvenile section. Still, they are all fabulous reads, so swing by and check them out!

Mortal Instruments series

CALLING ALL CASSANDRA CLARE FANS! FREE Web Copy of Book One: City of Bones & Series Sampler Available

Now through August 10, visit the Simon & Schuster Mortal Instruments series webpage (http://promo.simonandschuster.com/mortalinstruments), to read a FREE web-only version of City of Bones and get The Mortal Instruments Sample of the CITYs, a free introduction to the series that includes excerpts from all three books and a Q&A with Cassandra Clare.

The series page also features a book trailer video, interview videos between Cassandra Clare and bestselling authors Holly Black and Scott Westerfeld, downloadable wallpapers, excerpts of the audio books, and much more.

Hunger Games Sequel

Those of you who loved The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins may be interested to know that the sequel, Catching Fire will be out in September.  This science fiction adventure had me on the edge of my seat—almost from the first page.  The children’s reviewers over at Booklist recently reviewed Catching Fire and it sounds like this second book will be every bit as suspenseful and well written as the first.

Percy Jackson Movie

The Gods of Percy Jackson

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman, Sean Bean, Kevin McKidd, and Melina Kanakaredes have joined the cast of Fox 2000′s fantasy-adventure adaptation Percy Jackson, which will be directed by Chris Columbus. The quintet have been cast as classical Greek gods Chiron (Brosnan), Medusa (Thurman), Zeus (Bean), Poseidon (McKidd), and Athena (Kanakaredes).  Columbus and Craig Titley have adaped the screenplay from the popular young adult novel The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, and Brandon T. Jackson have already been cast as the book’s lead teenagers. The Lightning Thief is the first of five novels about Percy Jackson, with the fifth–The Last Olympian–due in stores (and the library!) in May.

March 25, 2009

Tell a Fairy Tale Day

February 26 is “Tell a Fairy Tale Day!”  To celebrate, the STAR will be performing a reader’s theater on one of my favorite books, “The Frog Prince, Continued,” by Jon Scieszka.  We’ll be practicing for the big event on Tuesday Feb. 17 at 4:00 pm.  If you haven’t come to any of the practices yet, but would like to participate, come on Tuesday and we’ll fit you in.  If you’ve already got a part, please remember to bring your props–this will be a “dress rehearsal.”

By the way, if you like Jon Scieszka, but were never sure how to pronounce his name, you may want to read this article he wrote a few years ago for Horn Book Magazine .  It is hilarious!

Summer Reading Success!

The numbers are in and you teens have completed over 780 hours of reading! And of course, I know many of you didn’t even turn in all the hours you actually read. I hope you have all had fun with the programs and the book and movie discussion group. I have evaluation forms at the library for anyone who would like to give some input on this year’s program or suggestions for next years.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer comes out tomorrow (Aug. 2), and to celebrate we are having a party at the library next Thursday (Aug. 7) at 2:00 pm. You will be able to make some glitter lotion (for glittering a la Cullen), create a Twilight inspired bookmark, test your Twilight trivia knowledge, and vote for your favorite Bella beau–are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?

To get in the mood for the party, check out this interview with Stephenie Meyer on Good Morning America.

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5487417

Princess Bride

Just a reminder that there are NO teen programs this week at the library. But we’ll be back in force with the book and movie discussion group on the 17th at 2:00 pm. I hope you’re all reading The Princess Bride, so you’ll be ready for a fabulous movie, some tasty popcorn, and some great conversations about the book.

This summer, Barnes and Noble is hosting some children & young adult authors on their website. The authors will be available to answer questions and hold discussion on their latest books. You can see the line up for the rest of the summer here.

Twilight Teaser

Are you ready?

Cullen family cast for Twilight Movie

You can see several photos of the Cullen family as cast for the upcoming movie of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight on her website.

http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_movie.html

It appears that Cedric Diggory will be playing the part of Edward. What do you think of that?

Breaking Dawn

News flash for all you Stephenie Meyer fans … The final installment of the Twilight series Breaking Dawn has a publication date of August 2, at 12:01 am.  The countdown begins!