New Books

Novels:
Last Full Measure by Ann Rinaldi -- In 1863 Pennsylvania, fourteen-year-old Tacy faces the horrors of the Battle of Gettysburg while trying to stay out of the way of her brother David, who is in charge while their father serves as a doctor in the Union army, and to keep her friend Marvelous, a free black, safe from rebel soldiers.
Mermaid's Mirror by L.K. Madigan -- Lena, almost sixteen, has always felt drawn to the waters of San Francisco Bay despite the fears of her father, a former surfer, but after she glimpses a beautiful woman with a tail, nothing can keep Lena from seeking the mermaid in the dangerous waves at Magic Crescent Cove.
Shapeshifter by Holly Bennett -- In order to escape the sorcerer who wants to control her gift of song, Sive must transform herself into a deer, leave the Otherworld and, find refuge in Eire, the land of mortals.
Trash by Andy Mulligan -- Fourteen-year-olds Raphael and Gardo team up with a younger boy, Rat, to figure out the mysteries surrounding a bag Raphael finds during their daily life of sorting through trash in a third-world country's dump. (book and audiobook)
Dark Water by Laura McNeal -- Living in a cottage on her uncle's southern California avocado ranch since her parent's messy divorce, fifteen-year-old Pearl Dewitt meets and falls in love with Amiel, an illegal migrant worker, and is trapped with him when wildfires approach his makeshift forest home.
Gift by James Patterson -- Witch and Wizard bk. 2 -- After escaping imprisonment by the New Order, siblings Wisty and Whit Allgood establish themselves as leaders of the Resistance, hunted by the state and determined to defy its ban on the arts, magic, and all other forms of creativity.(book and audiobook)
Orphan of Destiny by Michael Spradlin -- Youngest Templar bk. 3 -- Young Squire Tristan, Robard, Maryam and Angel make one last desperate push to deliver the Holy Grail to safety in 1191 Scotland, but the way is full of danger as new enemies are met and Sir Hugh attempts to thwart them at every turn.(book and audiobook)
Keeper by Kathi Appelt -- On the night of the blue moon when mermaids are said to gather on a sandbar in the Gulf of Mexico, ten-year-old Keeper sets out in a small boat, with her dog BD and a seagull named Captain, determined to find her mother, a mermaid, as Keeper has always believed, who left long ago to return to the sea.
Rise of the Darklings by Paul Crilley -- Invisible Order bk. 1 -- After saving a piskie's life, twelve-year-old Emily Snow finds herself in the middle of a centuries-old war between rival fairy factions and a secret society named The Invisible Order.
Origins by L.J. Smith -- Vampire Diaries. Stefan's Diaries bk. 1 -- Written in a diary format from the point of view of Stefan Salvatore, recounts how he and his brother Damon were inseparable, until they both fell in love with Katherine, a mysterious woman who wants to turn them both into vampires.
Awakened by P.C. Cast -- House of Night bk. 8 -- friends are just glad to have her back, but after losing her human consort, Heath, will Zoey -- or her relationship with her super-hot Warrior, Stark -- ever be the same?
Dragon's Apprentice by Owen -- Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica bk. 5 -- Seven years after facing the Dragon Shadows, John, Jack, and Charles return to the Archipelago of Dreams, but their reunion with old friends is spoiled by the threat of primordial Shadow Echthroi and the apparent splintering of Time itself, and they set out on a new quest in which success and failure each carry a high cost.
Coffin Club by Ellen Schrieber -- Vampire Kisses bk. 5 -- When goth-girl Raven follows her vampire boyfriend to Hipsterville, she discovers a dangerous secret club inhabited by vampires who are feuding over its leadership.
Royal Blood by Ellen Schrieber -- Vampire Kisses bk. 6 -- While fending off Trevor, her nemesis at school with whom she must work on an important project, sixteen-year-old Raven is distracted by finally meeting her vampire-boyfriend Alexander's parents and trying to foil their plan that could jeopardize her future with him.
Along the River by Adeline Yen Mah -- CC suffers a bad fall, and in order to treat her injuries, she undergoes hypnotherapy that reveals her connection to an eleventh-century girl named Mei Lan, who defied convention to befriend a household servant who was a brilliant artist.
I Will Always Love You by Cecily von Ziegesar -- Gossip Girl bk. 13 -- After graduating and moving on to college, Blair, Serena, Nate, Dan, and Vanessa are forced to come to terms with past events when they are reunited in the city during the holidays in this coming-of-age story.
Ghost Town by Caine -- Morganville Vampires bk.s 8 -- While developing a new system to maintain defenses in Morganville, Texas, seventeen-year-old Claire Danvers discovers a way to amplify vampire mental powers which has an unexpected side-effect of causing residents, both human and vampire, to forget who they are.
Dark Times by Rob Reger -- Emily the Strange bk. 3 -- Traveling in her homemade Time-Out Machine, Emily journeys to the eighteenth century to uncover the truth behind a Strange family rumor.
Genius Wars by Catherine Jinks -- Genius trilogy bk. 3 -- Fifteen-year-old genius Cadel Piggot Greenaus sets aside his new, crime-free life when his best friend Sonja is attacked, and he crosses oceans and continents trying to track down his nemesis Prosper English, breaking whatever rules he must.(book and audiobook)
Pegasus by Robin McKinley -- Because of a thousand-year-old alliance between humans and pegasi, Princess Sylvi is ceremonially bound to Ebon, her own pegasus, on her twelfth birthday, but the closeness of their bond becomes a threat to the status quo and possibly to the safety of their two nations.
Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card -- Thirteen-year-old Rigg has a secret ability to see the paths of others' pasts, but revelations after his father's death set him on a dangerous quest that brings new threats from those who would either control his destiny or kill him.
Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford -- Upon learning on Christmas Day that their rich and imperious grandmother may soon die and disown the family unless the one who offended her deeply will confess, each of the three Sullivan sisters sets down her offenses on paper.
Three Rivers Rising by Richards -- Sixteen-year-old Celestia is a wealthy member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, where she meets and falls in love with Peter, a hired hand who lives in the valley below, and by the time of the torrential rains that lead to the disastrous Johnstown flood of 1889, she has been disowned by her family and is staying with him in Johnstown. Includes an author's note and historical timeline.

Graphic Novels:
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet by Bill Spangler -- Tom, Roger, and Astro, cadets at the 23rd-century Space Academy, uncover the threat of the One State, a robotic horde with a strange origin and an even stranger mission.
Arisa vol. 1 by Natsume Ando -- Tsubasa thinks that her pretty and popular sister, Arisa, has the perfect life. Everyone at school loves Arisa, unlike the hot-tempered Tsubasa, whose nick-name is "the Demon Princess." But when Arisa attempts suicide, Tsubasa learns that her seemingly perfect sister has been keeping some dark secrets. Now, Tsubasa is going undercover at school disguised as Arisa in search of the truth.
Clique, the graphic novel -- A manga adaptation of "The Clique," in which the arrival of Claire Lyons, a new girl at Octavia Country Day, a private school in Westchester County, New York, upsets the order in the Clique, the social group that rules the school under the direction of Massie Block.
InuYasha vols. 54-55
Slam Dunk vol. 13
Batman. Dead to Rights
Batman Chronicles vol. 10
Siege. X-Men
Dark X-Men
Uncanny X-Men. The Birth of Generation Hope
X-Men Forever. Devil in a Blue Dress
Flash Chronicles vol. 1
Generation X Classic vol. 1
Amazing Spider-Man. Ultimate Collection vol.5
Amazing Spider-Man. The Complete Clone Saga Epic. vol. 4
Spider-Man Noir. Eyes without a Face
Amazing Spider-Man Presents. American Son
Essential Incredible Hulk. vol. 6
New Avengers vol. 6, Revolution
Tristan and Isolde
Sense and Sensibility

Battle of the Books

Do you know what Battle of the Books is?

Here in Waco, it means two different things:

Locally, students from area schools can join to create a team and compete against other schools to show that THEIR team is the Champion of Reading in Central Texas. Each team reads the same list of books, then competes to answer questions about those books.

Find out how to compete!

And secondly, the "National" Battle of the Books is a contest sponsored by School Library Journal. Each year, 16 books are chosen to compete against each other; well-known authors read all the books, and then they judge the books against each other. Only the best of the best can be the winner! Read along during the competition and root for your favorites.

2011 Battle of the Books contenders
2010 Battle of the Books winner

Recent Returns

Here are 5 recently returned titles from the YA return cart:

Peach Girl: Change of Heart, vol 1 by Miwa Ueda - this graphic novel tells the story of Peach Girl, Momo, and her complex love life. She's just gotten settled in her relationship with Kiley, when her sworn enemy Sae shows up, and plots to break them up. But when trouble strikes, Momo realizes that she may not know Kiley as well as she thought. Can she work hard enough to make this relationship last? Read along and find out. 3 copies - 74 checkouts!

Gamer Girl by Mari Mancusi - Maddy is devoted to her online gaming, so when she's forced to move with her grandmother to a small town after her parents divorce, she turns to her character online, where she doesn't seem odd and geeky. And then Allora meets the charming, considerate Sir Leo, who sweeps her off her feet. Could it be true love? When her true life problems intrude, though, she's forced to realize that she has to find out who she is IRL as well as online... 1 copy, 9 checkouts.

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan - follow the adventures of 3 new residents of Camp Halfblood, as Jason, Piper and Leo discover that they're no longer the "bad kids". Rather, they're descendants of the Greek Gods, and must rescue Hera, who is being held prisoner by Mother Earth herself. 6 copies, 28 circs for the book, 3 audios, 8 circs for them

Haters by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez - Paski has tried for years to deny, to herself and everyone else, that she has psychic abilities. But from the first day at her new High School in Southern California, Pasquala discovers that the "Haters" rule. And she begins to have disturbing visions that concern beautiful, wicked Jessica Nguyen, who leads them. 3 books, 53 circs and 1 audio for 7 circs

Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley - Jack lives with his father at the Makepeace Institute of Integrated Dragon Studies in Smokehill National Park. He knows that dragons are an endangered species, but he's barely ever seen one. On his first overnight solo campout in the park, he meets a dragon; to his horror, it is wounded, dying. And then Jake discovers something even more terrifying; the dragon's last surviving baby. Jake must decide, very quickly, without anyone to help him, whether to reveal that the dragon has killed her killer, or to keep the secret, and try to raise the baby, in violation of all known laws and safety. 4 copies, 62 circs

What I've been reading

I just raced through reading "Little Blog on the Prairie" by Cathleen Davitt Bell. Wow! It was really really fun. I'd give it 5 stars. Genevieve Welsh is a nice, normal teen ager, who longs for a cell-phone (banned until she's 18 by her strict mother). When her mother makes the family a vacation at an 1890's "camp" where they all get to live without electricity, water or cell phones, she's dreadfully upset. Can she survive wearing a dress for six weeks? And using an outhouse? But when Gen manages to smuggle her cell-phone in to the camp, she begins to text-message her best friends about the experience. And, unknown to her, her friends create a blog and begin posting her messages online. Can "Little Hell on the Prairie" get any worse?

Gen was a very believable girl, with a realistic voice and viewpoint. Her lack of enthusiasm for her mother's dream adventure is palpable, as is her father's disconnection from the family, and her younger brother's enthusiasm. The friends, neighbors and the unfriend she makes are all well-written and believable as well. Gen makes all the mistakes a girl can make, but in the end, she and her family come to some important realizations. An excellent novel!

New YA Books

Fiction
Conspiracy 365: December by Gabriel Lord --
Cal Ormond travels to Ireland in search of the final clues to his father's death. He must reach the Ormond Singularity before the stroke of midnight. In the final days of this deadly 365-day countdown, it is clear that any second could be his last.
Annexed by Sharon Dogar -- What was it like hiding in the Annex with Anne Frank? This novel tells the story from the point of view of Peter van Pels, from the day he went into hiding with the Franks, through his imprisonment at Auschwitz.
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner -- After surviving horrific conditions in the Maze, Thomas is entrapped, along with nineteen other boys, in a scientific experiment designed to observe their responses and gather data believed to be essential for the survival of the human race.
Night Whispers: Omen of the Stars #3 by Erin Hunter -- As Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Dovepaw continue to seek answers to the mysterious prophecy that binds them, they learn that another cat may play an essential role in defeating the Dark Forces.
Saint Training by Elizabeth Fixmer -- During the turbulent 1960s, sixth-grader Mary Clare O'Brian makes a deal with God: she will try to become a saint if He provides for her large, cash-strapped family.
Brain Jack by Brian Falkner -- In a near-future New York City, fourteen-year-old computer genius Sam Wilson manages to hack into the AT&T network and sets off a chain of events that have a profound effect on human activity throughout the world.
Little Blog on the Prairie by Cathleen Davitt Bell -- Thirteen-year-old Genevieve's summer at a frontier family history camp in Laramie, Wyoming with her parents and brother is filled with surprises, which she reports to friends back home on the cell phone she sneaked in, and which they turn into a blog.
Vampire Rising by Jason Henderson -- At a boarding school in Switzerland, fourteen-year-old Alex Van Helsing learns that vampires are real, that he has a natural ability to sense them, and that an agency called the Polidorium has been helping his family fight them since 1821.
Matched by Ally Condie -- All her life, Cassia has never had a choice. The Society dictates everything: when and how to play, where to work, where to live, what to eat and wear, when to die, and most importantly to Cassia as she turns 17, whom to marry. When she is Matched with her best friend Xander, things couldn't be more perfect. But, why did her neighbor Ky's face show up on her match disk as well?
The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman -- New York high school student Elizabeth gets an after-school job as a page at the "New-York Circulating Material Repository," and when she gains coveted access to its Grimm Collection of magical objects, she and the other pages are drawn into a series of frightening adventures involving mythical creatures and stolen goods.
Dragonfly by Julia Golding -- When Tashi, the rigidly formal sixteen-year-old Fourth Crown Princess of the Blue Crescent Islands, reluctantly weds roguish eighteen-year-old Prince Ramil of Gerfal, their religious, cultural, and personal differences threaten to end their political alliance and put both countries at the mercy of a fearsome warlord.

Graphic Novels:

Shonen Jump February 2011 -- with a guest column by STAN LEE!
Odd is on Our Side by Dean Koontz -- It's Halloween in Pico Mundo, California, and there's a whiff of something wicked in the autumn air. While the town prepares for its annual festivities, young fry cook Odd Thomas can't shake the feeling that make-believe goblins and ghouls aren't the only things on the prowl.
Networked: Carabella on the Run by Gerard Jones -- Carabella visits the earth and discovers that a subtle invasion is underway - can she make anyone realize that having our privacy stole online is only the first step to our conquest?
Civil War: Young Avengers and Runaways -- As the public turns against Marvel's heroes, the gears of Civil War threaten to crush the Runaways. But when Allan the Young Avengers offer their assistance, how can the Runaways believe they're on the same side?
Star Trek: Mirror Images -- In the "Mirror, Mirror" episode Star Trek: The Original Series, an evil Kirk commanded the I.S.S. Enterprise for the Terran Empire. But how did he rise to power, in a universe where treachery is rewarded as much as accomplishment? Witness Mirror-Kirk's efforts to unseat Captain Pike and seize command!
Trickster: Native American Tales, a graphic collection -- Collects over twenty trickster stories in graphic novel format from various Native American traditions, including tales about coyotes, rabbits, ravens, and other crafty creatures and their mischievous activities.
Moto Hagio's A Drunken Dream -- This book spans Hagio's entire career, from 1970's "Bianca" to 2007's "The Willow Tree," and includes the mind-bending, full-color title story; the famously heartbreaking "Iguana Girl"; and the haunting "The Child Who Comes Home"
Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, vol 1. -- In pre-WWI Paris, Adèle becomes involved in an interlocking series of mysteries that involve a revived pterodactyl, a frightful on-stage murder, a looming execution by guillotine, and a demon from the depths of hell -- plus of course moronic gendarmes, loyal (or perhaps traitorous?) henchmen, and a climax atop the Eiffel Tower.
Saturn Apartments, vol 1 -- Far in the future, Mitsu, son of a lowly window-washer, struggles to take over his probably deceased father's job, and in the process gets a chance to look into the lives of the wealthiest people living on the giant ring built around planet earth.
Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffeneger -- The Night Bookmobile tells the story of a wistful woman who one night encounters a mysterious disappearing library on wheels that contains every book she has ever read. Seeing her history and most intimate self in this library, she embarks on a search for the bookmobile. But her search turns into an obsession, as she longs to be reunited with her own collection and memories.

New YA

Only three books!

Skyclan's Destiny by Erin Hunter -- Leafstar struggles to maintain control of her Clan as she figures out how Skyclan can survive in the gorge. Includes Skyclan manga adventure.

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick -- Sixteen-year-old Nora Grey struggles to face the truth while coping with having a fallen angel boyfriend named Patch and unraveling the mystery surrounding her father's death.

Night Star by Alyson Noel -- psychic teens Ever and Damen must face down bitter rivals, jealous friends, and their own worst fears - all in the hope of remaining together, forever.

I will be on vacation next week, so if I don't manage a post on Saturday, I'll see you in two weeks!