This Just In - On the Head of a Pin and The Wish House

The latest new YA books include Celia Rees' newest, The Wish House, and the latest by Mary Beth Miller, On the Head of a Pin. For more details, see New YA Books: On the Head of a Pin and Wish House .

What Mrs. N's Been Reading - Dreamland and Freaks Alive On the Inside

I'm a little behind on my posting, what with gearing up for Teen Summer Reading, so I'll be doing both of the books that I read recently.

The first one was Annette Curtis Klause's Freaks Alive on the Inside. It's about Abel, a boy in the late 1800's who grew up in a community of circus freaks. He actually feels out of place because he's "normal" and decides to run away and try to make his own way in the world as a knifethrower. He ends up as part of a traveling freak show run by a nasty guy who exploits the people he employs. There's a fantasy element mixed in, as Abel is haunted by strange dreams and is given a ring which seems to have a strange effect on both him and anyone else who happens to touch it. The book wasn't bad. I did finish it. However, if you're interested in life in a circus, I'd have to recommend Iain Lawrence's Ghost Boy over this one.

The other book I recently finished was Sarah Dessen's Dreamland. I guess this is another part of my recent venturing into the realm of "chick books." This was the first Dessen that I've read, and I thought it was quite good. It dealt with a lot of common teen issues - parental expectations, living in the shadow of a seemingly perfect sibling, how one person's lifestyle decisions effect the rest of the family, and the increasingly common problem of violence against teenage girls by their boyfriends. (You'd think all of that would make it a muddled, preachy sort of book, but it wasn't.) The violence issue was handled very well. The author takes us from the couple's first meeting, through their early dates which seem to be ok, but have hints of what's to come, and into the stage of control and violence. Dessen does all of this through the eyes of the girl who is at the center of it, so you see her reaction to things, her attempts to rationalize what's happening, and her feelings of isolation and fear. I really wish that this was a rare occurrence that didn't need to be addressed in teen literature, but unfortunately statistics indicate otherwise. This would be a good book for someone that might be getting into a potentially dangerous relationship because it's non-judgemental. It would also help those people who might know someone in an abusive relationship by showing them what goes on inside the victim's head while it's happening.

Car Wash Cancelled

The car wash that was scheduled for Saturday, May 19 at Commerce Bank has been cancelled due to a scheduling mix-up at Commerce. We have another one scheduled for Saturday, June 9. Please come support us at that one. All money raised will be used to furnish a teen area in the library.

Cake Decorating Program a Delicious (and Quite Beautiful) Success

Our cake decorating program last Saturday was a great success. 17 teens took home some really gorgeous cakes! It was nice to see a group come all the way over from Milton Hershey. We hope to see some of them again. If you missed it, here are a few pics.

YA is Becoming T

For those of you who frequent the YA area of the library, you'll notice a change soon. The folks at the county level want to improve consistency in the way things are done in all of the county libraries. To that end, any new YA books coming in will now be designated T for teen instead of YA. For a little while, expect to see both T and YA on our books until we get all of labels on the old books changed. It's fairly self-explanatory, but just wanted to let you know what's happening.

New A-List, Meg Cabot, Holly Black and Lots More

The latest YA stuff to hit the shelf includes the latest A-List novel, the sequel to Holly Black's Tithe and Valiant, a new one by Meg Cabot, Chris Lynch's newest, Inexcusable, and lots more. For details see New YA Books: Latest A-List, Meg Cabot, Holly Black and More .

New YA Series Additions and one from Robert Parker

The latest new stuff to hit the shelves includes the latest in the Septimus Heap series, the latest Demonata, and one by Robert B. Parker. For details see New YA Books: Series Additions and a Robert Parker .

New Horowitz, Carlson, an Alaskan Survival Story and More

An interesting assortment of stuff has come in over the last week or so. (Sorry I'm a little behind posting.) They include the latest in Anthony Horowitz's Gatekeepers series, the latest by Melody Carlson in her True Colors series, a WWII story, a survival story set in Alaska, and 2 books with psychiatric hospital settings. Like I said, an interesting assortment. For more details see New YA Books: Latest Carlson, Horowitz and More .

Free Comic Book Day and Movie

As we've been doing for the past 3 years or so, the Fredricksen Library will be celebrating Free Comic Book Day. Thanks to our good friends at Comix Connection on the Carlisle Pike, we'll be giving away free comic books on Saturday, May 5, 10:00 - 2:00 pm near the Information Desk. At 2:00 we'll be showing a prequel to a comic-inspired movie that will be opening in the theaters. Our license doesn't allow us to advertise the title, but I think you can figure this one out from the hint (it'll be #2, not #1). If you still need help, or want to be sure, just ask at the Information Desk. As with all of our teen movies, there will be sodas and popcorn, courtesy of Friends of Fredricksen. See you then!

What Mrs. N's Been Reading - The Angel of Death

I just finished Alane Ferguson's The Angel of Death. If you're a CSI fan you'll like her stuff. The main character is 17-year-old Cameryn Mahoney, who works as an assistant to her father, the coroner in a small Colorado town. A teacher is found dead under very grisly and mysterious circumstances and Cameryn is called in to help with the case. She is also dealing with the sudden reappearance in her life of the mother that abandoned the family several years earlier, and her best friend now having a boyfriend who upsets the balance in their relationship. The book is not for the very squeamish. The dead body and the autopsy are described in detail. It's grisly (but hey, so are deaths and autopsies!) but its done for accuracy, not for shock value. For anyone interested in forensics, it also delves a bit into how those in the field get through tough situations, like when they know the victim. This is the second in a series that started with The Christopher Killers. I don't know why I picked up the second rather than the first one, but as it turned out, you really don't need to have read the first one first. The author does a nice job of filling you in on anything important that you might have missed. If you're interested in forensics and don't mind a bit of grisly detail, definitely check it out.