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In James Roy’s Max Quigley: Technically Not a Bully, Australian 6th grader Max Quigley is the biggest kid at school. He and his mate Jared casually torment, tease, and bully just about everyone around them. He’s confident, self-centered, and completely clueless about how his behavior impacts other people.  He claims, repeatedly, not to be a bully since he doesn’t physically hurt people, steal or make them cry; instead, he’s really proud of his powers of “persuasion.” Things start to change when the mother of his favorite victim,  Nerdstrom, suggests a plan to help both boys work through this: Triffin will tutor Max in math and both boys willRead More →

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“Vampires are meant to be glamorous and powerful, but I’m here to inform you that being a vampire is nothing like that. Not one bit. On the contrary, it’s like being stuck indoors with the flu watching daytime television, forever and ever.  If being a vampire were easy, there wouldn’t be a Reformed Vampire Support Group.  …God I’m sick of it.” And so we meet Nina; a fifty-one year old vampire who’s had a chip on her shoulder since she was infected at the age of 15.  Tired of a listless, sickly  life stuck in her mother’s house, Nina writes a vampire adventure series with aRead More →

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PBC was thrilled to host a dinner for Heather Brewer, author of The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, last night.  We had about a dozen valley librarians join us for tasty food, delicious wine, and lots of great conversation about vampires, YA lit, and getting kids reading.  She’d spent the day at 3 Valley middle schools and is at 3 more today, Friday, before she heads home tonight.  Auntie Heather’s horde of Minions was certainly increased over these two days and we’re stoked to have been a part of that! Posted by CoriRead More →

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In: Random Thoughts and Musings, This is interesting, Young Adult Book Reviews
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I just finished my second read of John Barnes’ hilarious, gritty novel, tales of the MADMAN underground (it was too good to read only once!).  Barnes does a brilliant job of capturing the voices, struggles, insecurities and angst of his teen characters.  He creates a time  and place in life that adults can remember wading through and that teens find themselves in every day. One method by which Barnes authenticates his characters’ reality is through language, and here I mean profanity.  tales of the MADMAN underground is rife with swear words. At some points, Karl “weaves a tapestry of profanity” that brought tears to my eyes (from laughter). Read More →

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In: Historical Fiction (YA), On the Edge, Romance (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
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Wednesday, September 5, 1973 is the first day of  Karl Shoemaker’s senior year of high school, and the first day of “Operation Be F-ing Normal.”  In John Barnes’ first novel for young readers, tales of the MADMAN underground, we’re on a sometimes painful, often hilarious, uncensored journey through the first six days of Karl’s senior year as he tries to change his life by just being “normal, normal, normal.”  In a small Ohio town, Karl’s been part of a therapy group at school dubbed “the Madmen” for years, and he’s decided that he wants out. He wants a normal life, but the question is, can he achieve it? His dad’sRead More →

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In: Middle Grade Reviews, Sci Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
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In the first book in the new Frontier Magic trilogy, fantasy writer Patricia C.  Wredeintroduces Eff, the 13th child of a large magical family.  Wrede imagines an alternate history of world, where magic and magical creatures co-exist seemlessly with history as we know it. Eff’s twin brother, Lan, is the seventh son of a seventh son; in their magical world he is a rare, special, gifted and powerful person.  Being the 13th child is as powerful, but in the most negative way possible. Seen as a witch, a purveyor of bad luck and misfortune, Eff is shunned and blamed as much (or more) than LanRead More →

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Gayle Forman’s newest novel, If I Stay, made my heart ache. Forman weaves 24 hours of linear time skillfully with the fluid memories of 17 year old Mia’s whole life as Mia’s body lies in a coma after her whole family has been tragically, suddenly killed in a car accident.  Mia’s last waking memory is listening to the car radio before everything is shattered.  At first, as she walks around the accident scene, seeing her father and mother’s bodies on the road, she is stunned. She looks for her little brother, Teddy, but instead finds herself in the ditch.  She has to ask herself, “amRead More →

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Greg Mortenson was the keynote speaker at February’s IRA convention in Phoenix and we were pleased to supply all 3 versions of Three Cups of Tea (original version, Young Reader’s Edition, and Listen to the Wind) at the conference.  With a damaged copy of the adult version leftover on my desk I decided it was time to learn what the hub-bub was all about, so I read it last weekend. And I am very glad I did. The book opens in 1993 after Mortenson’s failed attempt to summit K2 in northern Pakistan (what struck me about his “failure” was that he really gave up hisRead More →

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Mark Walden’s debut novel, H.I.V.E. (Higher Institute for Villainous Education) is a fast, fun story with similarities to Artemis Fowl, The Alex Rider adventures, Austin Powers and James Bond.  Here, talented teens attend an elite boarding school learning to be the world’s future criminal masterminds.  13 year old orphan Otto Malpense awakens on a helicopter on the way to a tropical volcanic island; he has no memory of being taken and no idea of where he’s headed.  He soon discovers that he and 200 other teens have been abducted to HIVE, a secret school to nurture those with “a special talent for the supremely villainous.” Otto, who hasRead More →