Thursday, April 28, 2011

Hunger Games Movie: More Casting

Well, there are finally a few more confirmed cast members for The Hunger Games movie!

We already know about Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, but here are a few other characters:


Josh Hutcherson as Peeta


Liam Hemsworth as Gale



Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket


Amandla Stenberg as Rue



Willow Shields as Prim


Dayo Okeniyi as Thresh


Leven Rambin as Glimmer

Not bad! Also, according to New York Magazine, John C. Reilly has been offered the role of Haymitch. Let's cross our fingers that he takes it! He'd be perfect!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Book Crossing and Teens' Top Ten Nominees

Did you or your library do anything to celebrate Teen Literature Day yesterday? Did you Rock The Drop? If not, that's okay- you can still do something just like it!

Introducing... Book Crossing! This awesome project goes on every day, all year, and it's just like Rocking the Drop, except it's not only for teens and it's a little more calculated.

Just make a quick, free account (I have one!) and you'll have access to all kinds of features like lists of (worldwide) book locations for your hunting pleasure, labels to order or print for your book-giving pleasure, and their community of book-loving people. Once you plant a book, you can watch it travel all over the world by tracking it's various log-in's! Check out Book Crossing's About for all the details.

In addition, yesterday (to celebrate) YALSA announced the 25 nominations for this year's Teens' Top Ten. Read all twenty-five through the summer and get ready to vote for your favorite from August 22 through September 16!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Someday My Printz Award Will Come- Results

Over the winter, teens in grades 6-12 volunteered to read and review books from a selection of titles that were possible contenders for the Michael Printz Award, an annual award given by the American Library Association for excellence in Young Adult Literature.  Participants rated the books on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best) and gave their opinions, both positive and negative.  Thanks to all the teens who contributed to the "Someday My Printz Award Will Come" read and review volunteer project. 

Titles (listed alphabetically)                                    
13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison
(Reviewed- 2 times; 5 stars)

After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
(Reviewed- 2 times; 5 stars)                    

Ashes by Kathryn Lasky 
(Reviewed- 2 times, 4 stars)

Batboy by Mike Lupica 
(Reviewed- 3 times, 4 stars)

Countdown by Deborah Wiles 
(Reviewed- 1 time, 4 stars)

Death Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean  
(Reviewed- 3 times, 4 stars)

Escaping the Tiger by Laura Manivong 
(Reviewed- 3 times, 5 stars)

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta  
(Reviewed- 1 time, 4 stars)

Free as a Bird by Gina McMurchy-Barber  
(Reviewed- 4 times, 4 stars)

(Reviewed- 2 times, 5 stars)

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork  
(Reviewed- 5 times, 4 stars)

The Line by Teri Hall  
(Reviewed- 3 times, 5 stars)

Little Blog on the Prairie by Cathleen Davitt Bell 
(Reviewed- 3 times, 5 stars)

Lucky by Wes Tooke 
(Reviewed- 2 times, 4 stars)

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper 
(Reviewed- 1 time, 5 stars)

Paper Daughter by Jeanette Ingold 
(Reviewed- 2 times, 2 stars)

The Rivalry by John Feinstein 
(Reviewed- 3 times, 4 stars)

The Shadow Project by Herbie Brennan  
(Reviewed- 3 times, 4 stars)

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi  
(Reviewed- 4 times, 4 stars)

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson  
(Reviewed- 11 times, 4 stars)

Theodore Boone: kid lawyer by John Grisham 
 (Reviewed- 5 times, 4 stars)

The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt 
(Reviewed- 3 times, 4 stars)

Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill  
(Reviewed- 3 times, 4 stars)

Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen 
(Reviewed- 6 times, 4 stars)

You by Charles Benoit  
(Reviewed- 10 times, 4 stars)

Yummy by Randy DuBurke 
(Reviewed- 7 times, 4 stars)

This project was very successful- we received a total of 94 reviews!  Out of the 28 titles that were available to read, only two were not chosen at all by the teens participating: Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick and To Come and Go Like Magic by Sharon M. Draper.  I'm kind of curious why these two titles weren't chosen by anyone to review, especially because Revolver was chosen as the official runner-up for the actual Printz award.   I tried to read Revolver myself and couldn't get through it, so maybe my question for that one is why it won the runner-up prize of the Printz Honor award!   Any thoughts on this would be welcome.  

The actual winner of the Printz Award was Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

 "The best thing about this novel is how the realistic aspects intermingle with the fictional components so smoothly." -Staci 

"The best thing about this book was also what made it disturbing... how very real the futuristic world seemed." - Megan


The two books that were reviewed most often (and favorably as well) were:

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
"This book was absolutely amazing.  There were twists within the plot, with surprises you'd never expect.  The suspense keeps your fingers ready to hungrily turn to the next page!"- Raisa

"The best part of the book was its poetic roots.  The poems Lennie writes are very beautiful.  she leaves them lying around, on random scraps of paper, cups, tree bark, etc, and it makes it seem as though you're walking through her town finding the poetry."- Sarah



You by Charles Benoit 
"The best thing about this book is how you feel as if you're actually a high school student facing the same things as Kyle.  I liked the book although it ended too quickly." -Kerrin

"I liked how realistic it was... you probably know or knew someone in high school like Kyle or maybe he reminds you a little bit of yourself." - Danielle

"This book doesn't have a "happily ever after."  It involves a lot of self-reflecting, putting you in the shoes of Kyle.  I personally was led to question a lot of decisions I have made and any book with such power deserves to be recommended."- Brendon

Teen Literature Day: Rock The Drop

Tomorrow is a pretty exciting day for people who love teen lit!

As many of you may know, we are smack in the middle of National Library Week, and every year, the Thursday of this glorious library-oriented week is dubbed Teen Literature Day!

So what can you do to celebrate? One of my favorite ideas comes from Readergirlz. This year they have teamed up with Figment (which you should check out if you like to read and write; it's cool) to bring us Rock The Drop in honor of tomorrow, Thursday, April 14th.


Here's how it works:

1. Print a copy of the official Rock The Drop bookplate and insert it into a book (or books) that you'll drop on April 14th.

2. Drop a book in a public spot (park bench, bus seat, restaurant counter, etc) and you're done! Lucky finders will spot the book it and see that the book is part of this awesome event.

3. Be sure to take a picture of your drop and send it to the readergirlz. They will be posting lots of pictures of drops happening all over the world on their blog!

Sound like fun? Click here for the official rules, banner, and book plate.

Additionally, YALSA has provided a list of other ways to celebrate Teen Literature Day as well as a pretty cohesive list of recommended books for Operation Teen Book Drop. Click here for YALSA's Teen Literature Day wiki.

Happy day and happy reading!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Authors Unlimited tickets available!

Tickets are availalbe today! Don't miss this FREE full-day event! It's your chance to meet dynamic authors of YA literature such as Rita Williams-Garcia (author of One Crazy Summer), Robert Lipsyte (author of Center Field and The Contender), Tonya Hurley (author of the Ghostgirl series), and many more. This event is open to everyone, but teens get preferred seating. There will be cool giveaways, books for sale, and an autographing session.

The event is at St. Josepht's College campus on Saturday, April 30, 2011, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Doors open at 9:30 am.

For all of the details, visit http://www.authorsunlimited.org/ and come into the library for tickets!

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