Must-read book of 2009

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I can't remember the last time I finished a book and immediately wanted to read it again from the beginning. When You Reach Me is a mystery that will confuse the reader up until the last ten pages when all will be made clear. Miranda, a young latch-key kid living in NYC in the late 1970s, is generally a good kid. She helps her mother prepare for her turn on her favorite TV game show, loves re-reading her favorite book (A Wrinkle in Time) and is beginning to figure out how to really be a good friend. When she starts receiving strange letters that don't make sense, though, she is confused and somewhat scared. The letters ask her to write a letter of her own and tell her that if she does, her friend's life will be saved. The slow unfolding of this mystery is never boring. I liked everything about this book from the characters and their development down to the chapter titles, which I usually don't pay any attention. Every detail was just right and every word belonged. Kudos to the author for making this novel work even with the time-space complications. Highly recommended for all readers.

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Five stars...no lie!

The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Song of the Lioness Quartet is an inspiring series about Alanna, the girl who became a powerful knight-sorceress by dressing as a boy for over five years and working her tail off. Tamora Pierce has written tons since then, but this was her first series and her first of four series about the land of Tortall. (can't wait to read the rest!) The series is VERY romantic with lots of adventure. If you liked Graceling, you'll love the books of the Song of the Lioness quartet. The series follows Alanna from the time she goes to court to become a squire until she is a full knight in her twenties. Books in the series include: Alanna: The First Adventure; In the Hand of the Goddess; The Woman Who Rides Like a Man; Lioness Rampant. The world that Pierce has created in these books is full and rich. Characters are fully developed and grow on the reader over time. I especially liked how Pierce handled the love triangle that emerged between three of the characters. This is an incredibly told tale that you'll probably want to reread again and again. (thanks, Gabi for recommending it!)

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Carbon Diaries 2015...a little too realistic

The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I've read quite a few futuristic/we ruined the environment and the world books, but this one scared me the most...probably because this possible future isn't too far off. The year is 2015 and London has had a Great Storm that devastated the infrastructure. Now England is rationing energy in the form of individual carbon cards. All Laura wants to do is play in her band and hopefully score a date with her next door neighbor, Ravi. Her diary from the year 2015 shows, though, that the reality of her life is anything but typical for a middle class teenager. She and her family must cut back on all luxuries (including showers! and vacations!) severely and necessities like water and food are suddenly in very short supply. Laura's family has never been close and the crisis is making things even more difficult. Survival as a family and survival in general is now on the line.



I recommend this to anyone who cares about the environment and likes learning about the consequences of global warming/wasteful humans. I'd also recommend it to anyone who likes reading books about teenagers with family problems. I would love to read this with teenagers as part of a discussion about global warming and ways we can personally be "greener" and our responsibility as citizens to help our country adopt greener policies. The book seems to argue that we won't do anything about the crisis until it really is an immediate crisis...at which point it may be too late. We should definitely take preventative action!


View all my reviews.

Brisingr!

The newest book in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini was released on Saturday! I recently read Eragon and Eldest, so I'm pretty excited to read Brisingr, too!! I'm dying to know if Roran and Eragon defeat the Ra'zac, rescue Katrina and defeat Galbratorix. Aren't you?

Here are some Brisingr related websites to keep you happy while you're waiting for the book:

Alagaeisa
Main website of the books

Vroengard Academy
Virtual reality site where you can pretend to be Eragon

Eragon on Myspace

Alagaeisa Adventure Game

CNN article about the author

Websites of the Week!

The election is coming, and even if you're not 18 yet, you're probably thinking about who you want to vote for. Try out these election websites for fun games and polls!

270towin
It takes 270 votes to win the electoral college. On this website you can look at electoral college maps through history and even play a game to figure out the fewest number of states it takes to win.

Living Room Candidate
Search TV campaign ads from the 50s through now. These are very interesting!

eLECTIONS multimedia game
You're running for president! Play the game to see if you have what it takes to win.

For more websites that have to do with the election, click on election in the delicious tags to the right. We're only a month and a half from the big day, so get ready!

Websites of the Week!

Make your own comics with these awesome websites. For more websites that involve COMICS, click on COMICS to the right in my delicious tags. Have fun!

GoAnimate
You can create animated cartoons using standard cartoon characters or even political figures using this nifty website. Make your characters talk to each other, shake hands and more. waaay fun.

ToonDoo!
Ever want to become a cartoonist? Now you are one! You can also read and comment on other people's Toons. Here's one below...



Bubblr
Create comic strips using your Flickr photos. :)

Websites of the Week!

Websites that will help with homework (ugh!)

Math How-to library
Advice on everything from algebra to geometry. If you left your math book at school or just need a different explanation, look here!

Greek Mythology Website
Find some great facts here and also short, funny "myth of the month" stories.

FactMonster Homework Center
Useful stuff like the conversion calculator, an interactive periodic table and much more make this site very useful.

Click on the word HOMEWORK in the tags to the right to get more great homework sites! If you know of one that you like to go to, please add it in the comments.

First TAG Show Podcast!

It took me a few tries to get it right; sorry it was messed up before!

Drum roll please...here is the TAG Show!



Or go to the Switchpod page to hear our podcast!

Here's how we made it:

1) Download Audacity
2) Download LAME (instructions here) so you can turn your .aup file into a .mp3
3) Create an account on Switchpod (click 'Register' and register for a Podcaster account)
4) Go to your 'Control Panel' and click 'Upload Now' to upload your .mp3 file
5) Use the tools on Switchpod to 'Get a List Player' like ours above or publicize the podcast to iTunes, etc.

It's really pretty easy!

Storytubes!

Go to the Storytubes website to vote for the best video of the week! This week's videos are about Hair Raising Tales...

Where did Ms. Sonya go?

So it's been 2 months since Sonya left the library. I'm sure many of you miss her as much as I do... So, where did she go? Well, besides to Boston, Sonya has moved on to LibraryThing where she is working on LibraryThing for Libraries, which is really pretty awesome.

For example, if you were to search for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the Danbury, CT Library Catalog, which has LibraryThing for Libraries, here are the tags that would come up:

adventure boarding school british children children's children's fiction children's literature England fantasy favorite film friendship harry potter juvenile kids magic mystery rowling witches wizardry wizards young adult
You can then click on any of those tags and be directed to other books that have similar elements. Another cool feature is that you can get recommendations of similar books. Here is one recommendation for HP and the SS:
Charlie Bone and the castle of mirrors / Jenny Nimmo.

Pretty cool, huh? LibraryThing is something you can join (if you're over 13! and then w/parent permission), input your own books and then get great recommendations for similar books, meet other members who have similar books, write reviews and more. If you join, make me your friend. You can search for me on the Search tab under Members. I'm lalalibrarian.

New Stuff!

Come in and check out our new books or go ahead and put one on hold now!

New YA Fiction
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter
Prom Kingss and Drama Queens by Dorian Cirrone
Boy Toy by Barry Lyga
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
Bounce by Natasha Friend
Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick
Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson

NEW YA Science Fiction
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Final Warning by James Patterson (last in the Maximum Ride series!)
Gregor and the Code of Claw by Suzanne Collins

NEW Graphic Novels
Amulet Book 1: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi
Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel by Eoin Colfer

Not so new, but new to us!

FICTION
Rhymes with Witches by Lauren Myracle
Devilish and 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

SCI-FI
Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox
The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
Gregor and the Marks of Secret by Suzanne Collins
Specials and Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Welcome to the teen blog!

Hi! I'm Laura Gardner, the new Youth Services Librarian here at the Millicent Library. I'm very excited to work with the teens in this area!

I love reading teen books best of all (see some recent reads below)

I also love playing with new technologies like...

Voicethread (here is a short voicethread about my dogs)
This is a great service where you can upload a picture and then start a conversation!
Goodreads see above...you can be my friend! just ask... :)
LibraryThing catalog your own books! this is where my predecessor, Ms. Sonya works now...
Twitter short conversations...fast updates

and lots more...

If you're interested in participating in this blog by writing reviews of books, music, movies, games, etc. and/or if you're interested in joining the new Teen Group at the Millicent Library, contact me either by stopping by the library, emailing me (lgardner at sailsinc dot org) or calling the library (508.992.5342).