Collection Highlight: YA Fantasy Written by Women

Fantasy is a genre of stories in which humans are not limited by the rules of the real world- and are often not even set in the real world!- and is characterized by fantastical elements. These could be superpowers, mythology, magic, or creatures like mermaids or dragons that do not exist in our world. Fantasy has historically been dominated by male authors whose novels are usually set in a pseudo medieval Europe. Times are changing however, and these women authors are bringing a breath of fresh air to an old genre, and offering representation to groups of people traditionally invisible in fantasy literature along the way!

The Young Elites by Marie Lu is the story of Adelina Amouteru, a survivor a plague that swept her country and took her mother’s life. Like all who survived the plague, she is marked and considered a malfetto, an abomination.  Adelina suddenly finds herself sentenced to death after accidently killing her father when the powers she did not know she had, gifted to her by the gods, go haywire. She is saved by a young man known as The Reaper and is introduced to a group called the Young Elites. Their mission is to fight back against Inquisition Axis who are dedicated to killing off people like Adelina and her new friends.

Serpentine by Cindy Pon is a novel steeped in rich Chinese mythology. Skybright was abandoned by her mother as a baby and taken in by a wealthy family to be raised as their youngest daughter’s handmaiden. As Skybright turns sixteen things begin to change within her, and one night she awakes to find a serpent coil where her legs used to be and the spirits of the dead at her doorstep asking for offerings. She tries to keep the life she lives at night a secret from her family, but the two worlds inevitably collide and Skybright finds herself right in the middle of the mess.

For Those of You Who Missed Last Night's Awards

You voted and the results are in...

BEST MOVIE OF 2013:

Wolverine

WORST MOVIE OF 2013:

Pacific Rim

BEST BOOK OF 2013:

House of Hades by Rick Riordan

WORST BOOK OF 2013:

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone who voted!  Stop by the Teen Scene to pick up a copy of these "notable" books/movies and see if you agree.

Book Reivew: Insurgent

Tris has finally made it to safety... Or has she? In Insurgent, the thrilling sequel to bestseller Divergent, the heroes of the story get to the peace-keeping faction of the Amities. The Amity leader tells Tris, Tobias(Four), Marcus, and Caleb that the Erudite/traitor Dauntless can't get into their compound because of rules set by the Abegnation, but how long will those rules be there? Hidden secrets, old friends and foes, and psychotic leaders are making Tris's life very hard. Action stains every single page as we see our protagonist fight for her life in this fast-paced thriller.

Reviewed by Joann

Book Review: 13 to Life

New Book Review: 13 to Life

When darkness takes over your life and makes it impossible to breathe, all you want to do is let it. Jessica, on the other hand, decides to do something about it and tries to escape the clutches of the dark. 13 to Life by Shannon Defancy is easily described as a suspenseful, romantic love story which absolutely any girl would enjoy. Pieter moves from Russian High to Junction High trying to hide from the Russian Mafia. He has to be careful not to give his real, true identity though. Jessica is chosen as a peer mediator to show the new, attractive, and foreign student around. Soon every girl is falling for this so called ledged including Jessica’s best friend, Sarah. Sarah and Jessica met after a horrendous event that happened on a night of grief and despair. 13 to Life had me scared out of my pants in certain scenes, but also heartbroken from the infinite love between characters. Making you feel pressure of hard events and decisions and making you feel as if you were the character were huge strength of this book. I honestly loved this selection because it’s a forbidden love story in which you get lost in like magic.




Reviewed by Lily

Book Review: Divergent

Divergent, by Veronica Roth


In the book Divergent by Veronica Roth, the author does a great job at putting a futuristic twist on Chicago, by breaking it up into five factions: Abnegation the selfless, Candor the honest, Amity the peaceful, Erudite the intelligent, and Dauntless the brave. Sixteen year old Beatrice (Tris) has always grown up in Abnegation, but she’s to the age where she must choose which faction she wants to live in. Tris knows she doesn't belong to Abnegation because she’s not selfless enough. So when she heads to school one day to take a test that will help her choose a faction, the results come back as Divergent which in this government is dangerous. A test result that can end with her death. A day later she must choose to either stick with her family or leave. She chooses Dauntless the brave, but she’s not simply part of their community yet. No, her and many other sixteen year olds have to be put through a test of bravery. She later learns only eleven people become Dauntless; the other are factionless. She has a difficult time until Four helps her. In the end, the author throws a curve that has you speechless.

All in all I have no complaints about the book, and I love how she mixes romance, danger, and suspense together to form a vivid love story. Over all the book is excellent, and I highly recommend it to any teen or adult that loves romance novels.

By Alyssa

Book Review: Killing Mr Griffin

New book review!

The book Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan is a story full of mind twisting unexpected events that will keep you guessing with every turn of a page. This book is about a group of high school students that have a rotten English teacher named Mr. Griffin. The students came up with a plan one day to play a little trick and kidnap their awful English teacher. This plan all of the sudden takes a drastic turn for the worse when they find out that Mr. Griffin has a mysterious medical condition. The students have to scramble in order to cover up there tracks and do whatever it takes not to get caught for their accidental crime. The books strengths are that there are many good and rich details that keep you guessing on how the story is going to end. Another strength of the book is how well the author develops the characters and their unspoken daily lives. One weakness of the book is the very indistinct resolution. The book ends with the reader asking many questions. This was one of the very best books I read because of the high level suspense and mystery. It also has a very good theme by teaching young readers not to make bad decisions just because you want to fit in. I would recommend this book to young teens that enjoy mystery and action books. I hope you consider reading Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan.

Reviewed by: Abby

Book Review: Bad Girls Don't Die

It's time for another student book review!!

This time, we have a review for Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender

If you think your life is odd and dysfunctional you should try to live a day in Alexis's life. Bad Girls Don’t Die is the first book in the three part series by Katie Alender and each book exceeds the last in my opinion. In this novel, a pink haired, photography loving, social outcast named Alexis lives with her workaholic mother and busy father and her little sister, who has this weird fascination with dolls resulting in her having no friends. They have lived in this huge Victorian house since Alexis was a little girl. One day Kasey is in the basement and Alexis unravels the truth of the house and more importantly, the people who lived in it. Odd things are starting to happen including her sister losing track of time and her blue eyes turning green. Alexis is about to face many dangers including a romance she never asked for and the dead. One strength of the book is its captivating, and once you start, it’s nearly impossible to put it down again. Except beware if you read this book, you may wish you slept with a nightlight. I love this book because the author makes you feel like you are Alexis. You feel her emotions, see what she sees, and it’s like you are momentarily someone else. This book is also like a mystery (and I am a huge mystery lover.) You piece together evidence to come to a conclusion. Don't be fooled by the girly title, this book is perfect for both genders and people who love a thrill and a good book.






Link to the book trailer:

Reviewed by: Bree

Book Review: Hunger by Michael Grant

Have you ever been so engrossed in a book that you couldn’t put it down? This is one of those books! Hunger by Michael Grant is a sequel to Gone. In this book, the main character, Sam Temple, is one of the few kids who were mutated by radiation leaks a few years earlier. Then another anomaly occurred. A giant impenetrable energy field is surrounding the land near a nuclear plant. The mutated kids and the others must learn to get along and cooperate or a great evil will consume them all. The perfect person to read this book would be someone who enjoys science fiction and survival- of- the -fittest themes. This book has both!

Review by Noah

Book Review: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

A new student book review is up!

Do you want a book that is so funny that you are crying with laughter? Then Dairy of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney is the one for you.

In this book, Greg Heffley is trying to find a date for the Valentine’s Day Dance. The only problem is that almost all of the girls in the school are already taken. The only person that Greg trusts is his wing man and friend Rowley. With their friendship power, Rowley and Greg set it as their goal to find a date for the dance.

I think this book is really funny and very entertaining to read. What I like about this book is that it reminds you of real life situations. This book is the most entertaining book ever! I personally like this book because it keeps me wanting to read more and more. It kept me entertained every single step of the way. Trust me, every single page is totally worth the read.
Reviewed by Hoang

Guest Book Review: Need by Carrie Jones

Today we have a special treat: a guest book review by 8th grade student Alyssa from Kirksey middle school!

What would you do if you lost a loved one? What would you do if when they passed, you found out you were being stalked? In the book Need by Carrie Jones, Zara White lost the only father figure she knew, her stepdad. When Zara starts to suffer from depression, her mother sends her to a small Maine town to live with her grandmother. Zara feels hollow and alone until she meets dashing, caring, and protective Nick Colt along with two other new friends Issie and Devyn. When weird events start occurring, like the sightings of a mysterious man leaving only a trail of gold dust behind and the disappearance of many local boys, it’s up to Zara, Nick, Issie, and Devyn to find out what is happening and stop it. When secrets about Zara’s past and Nick are reveled, will they be able to work through it and stop this craziness or will they break?

In the book Need, I love how Carrie Jones made Zara sort of a damsel in distress but not at the same time. Zara can’t physically fight back the dangers surrounding her, but she uses the ultimate weapon, her brain. She comes up with plans to stop the feverish scenes in the book. My second favorite thing about the book is that despite the danger and pandemonium that surrounds Nick and Zara they still form a relationship. I have no complaints about this book and recommend it to anyone.

Reviewed by Alyssa

If you have a book review, send it ahead to Evan at eday at rogersark.org.

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

A couple of months ago, I read a book by an author I liked before. Sara Zarr wrote Story of a Girl, a great book, and I had the pleasure of reading How to Save a Life by the same author. It has a dueling narrators, which Zarr gives very distinct voices. One of Jill, a cynical girl, still grieving over the death of her father, who can't believe her widowed mother has agreed to adopt a the child of a teenage girl, Mandy. No papers, just an email arrangement.

She hasn't had the baby yet, so Mandy comes to live with them for the last few months. Things aren't in place for a smooth transition. Jill still thinks her mother isn't acting logically, and Mandy, despite being about to become a mother, is very immature, and prone to lying. Clashes begin early, and expose still fresh scars on both sides.

I love the way Zarr lets you see the story from both perspectives. It takes talent to convincingly do two characters, but she pulls it off. Check it out!

Appropriate for high school and older.

Book Review: Dragon's Tooth, by ND Wilson

4 stars out of 5

"Please declare aloud: I hereby undertake to tread the world, to garden the wild, and to saddle the seas, as did my brother Brendan. I will not turn away from shades in fear, nor avert my eyes from light. I shall do as my Keeper requires, and keep no secret from a Sage. May the stars guide me, and my strength preserve me. And I will not smoke in the library." - Oath of the Order of Brendan, translation approved, 1946.

The first in what looks to be a series of YA novels by ND Wilson. It's a fantasy novel involving Cyrus and Antigone Smith, a brother and sister who find they have a hidden past in their family when a mysterious man named Skelton appears, requesting to pass on a legacy with a mysterious organization that they never new their father to be part of. The Order of Brendan explores, discovers, and if need be and protects the world from mythical and amazing creatures, while facing down the wrath of a scientist with a deep connection to them.

Dr Phoenix has kidnapped their older brother Dan and only by joining them do they stand any chance of retrieving him in time. But that means fulfilling the Order's requirments in one year, which includes sword fighting, gunmanship, flying an airplane, and learning at least one ancient language. A great adventure, with non stop action and twists, it looks to be a great new series. 

Book Review: Smile by Raina Telgemeier



Brace Yourself

Smile by Raina Telgemeier

5 of 5 stars.

This comic/graphic novel cuts out a slice of a few years in a young girl's life, from middle school to early high school, which were dominated by a simple but momentous event: Her two front teeth being knocked out. The next few years are dominated by trips to dentists, self conscious feelings and problems with friends. It's humorous, and a lot of fun, with more than a few cringe worthy moments building up a satisfying coming of age story.

The illustrations have a cartoony but detailed and realistic, each page loaded with details. For example, our video game loving protagonist in one panel has clearly just beat Super Mario Bros 2, rather than some non-descript game. There's stories of boys and cruel girls here, ones that feel realistic. The 'dental drama' isn't a bigger than life problem, nor is the abuse Raina's friends drop on her the sort that drive her into a permanent mental depression. She simply absorbs it until one day she has the epiphany that if her friends are constantly treating her like garbage...maybe they aren't her friends. It's a story that adults, teens and middle schoolers can relate too, not a fantasy story nor a twisted mind altering dive into abstract feelings, things comics tend to lean towards. When I think of comics as a way to tell simply, straightforward entertaining stories, this is going to be one I think of.

Overall, I'll give this 5 stars, something I don't give out lightly, simply because I don't feel like there's much if anything that could make this better. I think it's worth rereading and I find it to be a fine example of a growing number of comics/graphic novels that can appeal to a non comic reader.

Interested in talking about books you like? Come to Teen Reader's Tuesday this Tuesday at 6 at the Library!

Book Review: The Taking of Room 114

The Taking of Room 114 by Mel Glenn
3 of 5 stars

This is a nice quick read, that I'd recommend to reluctant teen readers as an example of poetry as a story telling device. A history teacher takes his class hostage with a gun, and Glenn gives us multiple perspectives of the incident. The verse format allows us to hear distinct voices as we briefly see each student grow up in high school, and see the state of mind they find themselves in that day. We see the reactions of the police, parents, and the media. He also makes some fun use of concrete poems.

Glenn manages to build a decent amount of tension before wrapping his story to a close. Recommended.

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
5 of 5 stars


Good for adults and older teens of both genders. A trip through darkness for sure, the most blatantly Christian character in the book comes across shockingly well, without being preachy, if anything, the reader may feel she needs to be more upfront about her faith to our protagonist, who is clearly in need of the hope she sees in her.

This book deals with the assumptions people make about those who make mistakes early, such as a girl being caught at 13 with an older boy. It ruins her socially, a scarlet "A" that defines her existence. Her father won't look at her, and all but her small circle of friends seem to look at her through that lens. Don't believe for a second that this is about an innocent, fundamentally good girl being persecuted however. Deanna, the protagonist, clearly exhibits flaws and some characters become surprisingly, perhaps even uncomfortably real and relatable. No one who gets more than a page or two could be considered cardboard. Well deserving the book of the year finalist award it received. 

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Evan's review: 4 of 5 stars


This is a dark and disgusting, yet well written, horror novel that is listed as young adult, primarily because the protagonist is 13 years old. I think it could work just as well for an adult audience, and in fact the age range for this book is definitely high school rather than middle school. Gore abounds, but more than that the tone is unrelentingly scary, very much a Lovecraftian spirit including its late 1800s New England setting.

Will Henry's father worked for Dr Warthrop, a hunter and student of monsters. Will's father and mother died, leaving him only the Monstrumologist Warthrop to take him in as his new apprentice. The fact that he is fulfilling the role that cost his own father his life is not lost on us. Their relationship adds saddness to this macrabe tale. Will desperately needs love and affection but the doctor is wholely commited to his work. Their growth and relationship as they face the horrors awaiting them holds the book together.

And what a horror indeed! The anthropophagi, shaped like men, except with no head, instead claws, lidless eyes in their shoulders and a fang filled mouth in its stomach. And their sole food is us...

This is no reflectionless scare fest. The clash of the cold Darwinian approach of Warthrop, the Constable's traditional Christian values, a third character, Dr Kearns, who represents the worst of Nietzsche's nihilism (he finds the anthropophagi admirable in many ways even while hunting them), all against the backdrop of Henry, a youth confronted by a world of nightmares he'd rather have never known existed. The author doesn't make judgments, though faith may seem to come off (as often is the case in horror) as at best a blind hope when nothing else is left in such a horrible world. Kearns is annoying in his nihlism, but no one truly seems to discredit him. Though one could argue Will never truly surrenders to Nietzsche's abyss, as Kearns has.
Still a page turner and a well written novel. If you have boys who are fans of Darren Shan's Demonata series, I'd reccommend this to show them a horror book with superior writing.

Book Review: Knuckle Sandwich

Knuckle Sandwich by Adam Palmer 4/5 stars


Jeremiah is the bass player in a three member college Christian rock band in the 1990s. They seem bound for fame, but things begin to unravel as egos, young romances, and stage politics start to interfere. Adam Palmer brings his real life credentials in this funny, interesting look into the life of an 'almost had it big' band that's high on its Christian message without being annoying. 

I guess what pushed this commendable first effort from a former musician turned teen Christian fiction writer from a three to a four star rating for me was that so few Christian fiction books, especially ones with guy appeal, deal with these issues so honestly. There's real temptations (and failures), Christian hypocrisy, and satire of Christian consumer culture here, but it isn't explicit or exploitative, the characters are real and relatable even as they screw up, and the satire isn't mean spirited. 

It's a good choice for teens 9th grade and up looking for something a bit different from Christian fiction. Perhaps the biggest negative is that it's firmly rooted in the 1990s culture Palmer came from, and might seem a bit dated in places

Skulduggery Pleasant Review

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy (3 out of 5 stars)

If nothing else, I really liked the names characters gave themselves in the book. Skulduggery Pleasant just rolls off the tongue. It's no surprise to learn that he chose the name for himself. The title character, though not the main protagonist, is a skeleton detective with magical powers a great deal of dry wit. His quest to uncover a mystery surrounding an old friend's death leads him to take in the man's niece Stephanie as a partner, bringing her into the world of magic unseen to the rest of the world.

It's not particularly original, though some of the ideas are applied in amusing ways, what sets the book apart is the relentless series of action sequences and the cynical humor of the main characters. It's a fun book, and a good selection for reluctant readers as well.

Leepike Ridge, by N.D. Wilson

Leepike Ridge, by N.D. Wilson, 4 of 5 stars

Thomas Hammond's mom, widowed when Theodore Hammond is killed in a plane wreck, is considering the marriage proposal and Thomas is not happy. It's easy to see why, the man is basically a flake. One night after a bitter fight, he finds himself on a trip down the river on a raft of packing foam. Swept underground and presumed dead, the story follows not only Thomas discovery of his dad's true fate and few ancient civilizations along the way, but a deadly conspiracy of treasure hunters seeking after Mrs. Hammond's hand in marriage, taking a role similar to that of the evil suitors of the Odyssey.

There's a number of classic stories that seem to have an influence here, Tom Sawyer, Robinson Crusoe, among others. Wilson applies his personal taste though.

If there's a weakness, it might be that some kids will get lost in the details, but I suspect many will find the in depth descriptions of a how to build a water clock in an underground cavern, for instance, quite intriguing

Book Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, 4 out of 5 stars

The newberry award winning book for 2008, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is more creepy take on the themes of the Jungle Book. Instead of an orphan raised by wolves in a jungle, an orphan is raised by ghosts in a graveyard.

The book starts off with a chilling hook, a triple murder that sets up why Nobody Owens must live in secret in a graveyard, though the rest of the book, while dark, has more of a sad charm and humor about it. Several characters are obvious nods to Jungle book characters, but by the end of the book they've all become their own characters. I particularly liked Gaiman' werewolf character (who's indeed a mirror for one of Rudyard Kipling's character, but I won't spoil which), my regret is that it wasn't used more.

Gaiman's writing pattern is to take old stories and twist them. Sometimes, I think he does so to the point of detriment to the original, but here, the characters are their own and I think avoid that problem. I still recommend the 'original' over this, and Gaiman's sad, wistful view of death that pervades the book may make it difficult for the especially young.

Still, this is a very well crafted book. I also must point out that the mist like illustrations that accompany it complement the book nicely. In fact, It makes me wish more books (aside from graphic novels) used illustrations as effectively.