Monster Mash This Saturday!

Don't forget about our Monster Mash tomorrow at the West Waco library! There's a costume contest if you want to dress up, plus a lot of other fun activities. It's from 2-4pm for 12-18 year olds. Bring your zombie hunter license from your Summer Reading Club packet to enter the raffle for prizes!

This Week's Winner of a Large Pizza Is...

Ashley V.!!

Ashley's review of The Wild One by Melinda Metz got chosen in our weekly Summer Reading Club drawing. She'll get a large pizza and be entered in the drawing for the grand prize at the end of the summer: an MP3 player! It's not too late to sign up for Summer Reading Club so you can start dropping your book reviews in our boxes at all 4 locations and be entered to win too.

Come To the Ranger's Apprentice Party!

On Saturday, July 14th at the West Waco library, we're having a party! It's from 1pm-3pm, and all teens (age 12-18) can come play the games with us. Just sign up by going into a branch or call 750-5944.

The Ranger's Apprentice is a fantasy series about Will, who is enlisted to become a Ranger's Apprentice in a medieval world. The rangers must protect the kingdom from the evil magic forces who are coming to attack. Kids and teens who love castles, surviving in the wild and books about bravery will fly through the series.

Here's a book trailer about the first 3 in the series:



If you already love The Ranger's Apprentice, you'll really love The Brotherband Chronicles, also by John Flanagan. This series is about new characters within the world of the Skandians and Aralueans. The 2nd book just came out!

This Week's Winner of a Large Pizza Is...

Courtney C.!!

Courtney reviewed her Summer Reading Club books that she read this week and dropped the slips into our box at one of the library branches. Every week there's a drawing out of the review box for a free large pizza from Papa John's! Sign up for Summer Reading Club until July 3rd and don't forget to review your books. All reviews are compiled together at the end of the summer, and there will be a grand prize drawing for an MP3 player. Submit as many reviews as you can to up your chances of winning! Read Courtney's review on our Book Reviews page.

Last Week's Winner of a Large Pizza Is...

David P.!!

Thanks, David, for reviewing your Summer Reading Club books and putting the slips in our box at the library. The drawing is every week, so keep reviewing. There's no limit! For every book you read each week this summer, drop a review in the box at any library location. It'll up your chances of winning a large pizza and the grand prize of MP3 player at the end of the summer. Check out our Book Reviews page for David's review.

Graphic Novels:
Code Geass; Lelouch of the Rebellion; Queen Vol. 5 -- side-stories about the female characters of this series
Code Geass; Lelouch of the Rebellion; Knight Vol. 5 -- side-stories about the male characters of this series
Superman. Grounded Volume 1 -- distressed after the destruction of New Krypton, Superman vows to walk across the United States, using his super powers only to help folk he meets on the way.
Astonshing X-Men Vol. 7, Monstrous -- What do you get when you cross an island full of giant monsters, a telepathic terrorist and a jet full of mad-as-hell mutants? Monstrous action! Mentallo has the perfect plan: take mental control of the denizens of Monster Island and use them to extort his old employers at Roxxon.
11th Cat vols. 1-3 by Mikyung Kim -- Rika is training to be a wizard, but when she undertakes her first task, to find a magic staff, she finds all sorts of trouble in this comedy of magical errors.
Peacemaker Kurogane Vols. 1-3 by Nanae Chrono -- based on a tumultuous period of Japanese history, an elite cadre of Samurai try to defend Kyoto.
Black Sun Silver Moon Vols. 1-4 by Tomo Maeda -- Tasked with paying off his late father's debts to the Temple, Taki finds himself as a maidservant by day, demon-hunter by night!
Pick of the Litter Vols. 2-4 by Yuriko Suda -- Riku, united with his family at last, returns with them to the magical land of Yamato, where he discovers he has some unusual siblings - a cat, and two rabbits!
MeruPeru Vols. 1-4 by Matsuri Hino -- When Airi lost her heirloom magical mirror, she never dreamed a little boy from a magical kingdom would emerge from it; later she finds herself in his kingdom, and must navigate the tricks of the realm by herself.
Phantom Vols. 1-2 by  Lee -- K, a mech pilot, has never questioned his duties until everything goes wrong; now he must either join his enemies or lose all sense of justice!
Sakura Hime Vol. 8 by Arina Tanemura -- Enju is missing after the destruction of the hidden palace; Sakura and Aoba now face separation as the Emperor asks Aoba to take another bride...
Platinum Garden Vols. 1-4 by Maki Fujita -- When Kazura is sent to live in Mizuki's house, she learns that she's really there to become his wife!Then she discovers that he might be able to call her grandfather's soul back to life...
Omukae Desu Vols. 1-5 by Meca Tanaka -- some people can see the dead. Madoka can also see the man in a giant bunny suit that is trying to help the dead "cross over". Soon, he finds himself assisting him!
One Thousand and One Nights Vols. 1-2 by JinSeok Jeon -- Everyone knows about Shahrazad and the Arabian Nights. But what if Shahrazad was actually a boy, desperate to save his sister's life? A new twist on a classic tale.
Princess Ai Vols. 1-3 by Misaho Kujiradou -- Ai escapes her war-torn magical land to find herself in modern Tokyo, in shock, slowly remembering who she is, why she's there, and what she came to do.
Princess Resurrection Vols. 1, 3-6 by Yasunori Mutsunaga -- Princess Hime, her undead servant Hiro and Flandre the robot fight the forces of evil with her chainsaw, and magic that can resurrect the dead.
It Takes a Wizard by Thomas Hart -- Three years ago, Manhattan changed; magic now rules - and it is at war with the rest of the world. Isaac Silverberg is given one chance to redeem himself by rescuing a kidnapped young woman from his one-time master, evil Sorcerer Everett Winterthorn.
Catwoman. Volume 1, The Game  -- Meet Selina Kyle, the Catwoman; she's good at being bad, and very bad at being good, but when she steals from the wrong man, will she be able to make it out alive?
Green Lantern. Vol. 8, Brightest Day -- Hal must protect the Entities from a mysterious figure that is enslaving them, and to do so, must ally with not just friends but enemies, including Sinestro!
Marvel Masterworks Presents. The Amazing Spider-Man. Vol. 7 -- stories from 1968.
Ichiro by Ryan Inzana -- half-american Ichiro finds it hard to fit in anywhere, but when he visits his Japanese grandfather he is pulled into the domain of the gods. Will he be able to find a place to call his own?
FairyTail Vol. 19 by  Mashima -- When Erza faces off against Midnight of teh Oracion Seis, it seems that the allied guilds will finally be able to defeat them all and stop Nirvana!
Avengers Academy. Vol. 4, Second Semester -- New school, new students, new staff! But when a classic Avenger gets murdered, everyone becomes a suspect!
Sita: Daughter of the Earth by Saraswati Nagpal -- Adapted from the ancient Indian epic The Ramayana, this tale highlights Sita's strength in love, honor and sacrifice.

Nonfiction:
Roman Mythology by Nardo -- Roman myth and legend; includes the legend of Aeneas and Romulus founding Rome; why Roman myths have survived until today.
Native American Mythology by Pearce -- the First Peoples of America; universality of myth and how it affects daily life.
Mayan Mythology by Currie -- who the Maya are, their gods and goddesses, creation myths, and their world.
Greek Mythology by Nardo -- stories about creation, the Trojan war, and the legacy of Greek Myth.
Norse Mythology by Redmond -- The harsh world of the north, the heroic gods of Asgard, and more...
Master of Deceit: J. Edgar Hoover and America in the age of lies by Aronson -- discover the secret man behind the founding of the FBI
Young Artists Draw Manga by Hart -- step by step art instruction as well as character styling including shoujo and bishounen.

Fiction:
Golden Lily by Richelle Mead -- Bloodlines #2 - Alchemist Sydney must protect the vampires in hiding at her school; unexpected spirit bonds, romance and the threat of Strigoi make the task harder.
My Big Mouth: 10 songs I wrote that almost got me killed by Peter Hannan -- Davis Delaware moves to a new school after his mother's death; in the process of starting a new band called The Amazing Dweebs, and finding a new friend in Molly, he makes an enemy of school bully Gerald.
Buried by Linda Joy Singleton -- goth girl Thorn and her family move to Nevada where Thorn meets a mysterious masked man and follows the psychic vibrations from a locket to a shocking, long-buried secret.
Child of the Mountains by Marilyn Sue Shank -- Lydia grows up in the Appalachian mountains in poverty with her mother and brother and Gran. When Gran and BJ die, Lydia's mother is unjustly jailed. Can she clear her mother's name?
Timepiece by Myra McEntire -- An Hourglass novel - When vital research about the time gene is stolen Kaleb must join Emerson and the Hourglass team to find the thief, who could be anywhere in time.
Rapture by Lauren Kate -- Fallen #4 - Luce and Daniel are on a quest to find the place where Angels fall to the Earth, so they can stop Lucifer from erasing the past; during their search they make a startling discovery about their love.
False Covenant by Ari Marmell -- A Widdershins Adventure - Davillon is still reeling from the brutal murder of Archbishop William de Laurent, when a new evil begins stalking the streets, and only Widdershins and her personal God may be able to fight it.

Losers in Space - John Barnes - this science fiction adventure takes a bunch of self-described "loser" teens who sneak onto a space-ship bound for Mars, and pits them against each other and the unforgiving environment of outer space for survival.

I really enjoyed this book but I did have a few issues with it. Firstly, I could not understand why the heroine found herself amidst the "loser teens" as she seemed very self-aware, with a knowledge of her own strengths, motives, weaknesses and flaws that seemed a bit unteenlike. I also thought that the extreme ease and rapidity of the teens' ability to spring back from the accident that overtakes them and take command of their own future was unlikely. There should have been a period of uncertainty, of waffling, of immaturity, before they were forced to take charge.

These minor quibbles aside, the story was action-packed, exciting and believable. The science was accurate, interesting and integral to the story, while the characters and their actions were great. The story had some unexpected twists, and I really appreciated the ending. I'm just not sure the intended audience of teens will find it as believable as I did.