Hannah Just Read: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

I would like to start by saying YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK. You will love it--guys, girls, anyone, really... you will like this book.
Sam (full name Samhain Corvus LaCroix) is a college dropout turned professional burger flipper at Seattle fast food joint Plumpy's. He hangs out with his friends, skateboards, and cracks jokes like any normal kid until the night that Douglas Montgomery walks into Plumpy's and recognizes Sam for what he is-- a fellow necromancer with the ability to raise the dead.
Douglas is less than thrilled that there is another necromancer in town, and now he's out to get rid of Sam, who has one week to figure out all this necromancer stuff with the help of his best friend, Ramon, a hottie female werewolf, a talking head, and his mom.
This book was all over the book blogs and lists screaming its praises since it was released in December, and for good reason. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride is hilarious and exciting, and I hope it is the start of a series or a trilogy or something, because I loved it and I want to read more. I liked, too that it sort of took all of the fantasy stuff that's going on in teen lit right now and turned it on its head, poking fun at it, but at the same time embracing it. It was like the book was one big inside joke and everyone is in on it. I will say, though, just an FYI, Sam and his friends are a little older, like 19 or 20, and they do stuff in the book that people who are a little older do, but read the book if you want to, because I doubt you'll be disappointed. Unless you're boring or have no sense of humor.

Incidentally, this is also my last blog post. Starting the 21st of March I'm going to be moving to Allentown to be the Youth Services Librarian at the Parkland Community Library, so if you're ever in the area, stop in to say hi! I've loved reviewing books on here, and I hope you have liked reading them!

And the winner is...

Congratulations to Nia S. for winning our pre-pub giveaway! She won a copy of Wither by Lauren DeStefano and Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell, both of which are just being published this month.
Let me know if you liked this giveaway and if we should do more in the future!

Hannah Just Read: BADD by Tim Tharp

First off, I hope I'll see everyone at the TAG meeting tonight at 7:00! And now, on to the review:

Tim Tharp is one of my favorite authors, and not just for teens, but for adults, too, because I think his books are so good that everyone, adult, teen, android, zombie, alien, should read Tim Tharp. He wrote one of my all time favorite books ever called The Spectacular Now, which Mrs. N reviewed and didn't like all that much, but it is good to have differing opinions in the world.
BADD is his newest novel, and we just bought a copy of it for the library, so you can go request it now if you think it sounds good (and it was). BADD is about Ceejay, who idolizes her older brother Bobby. Bobby is kind of wild and definitely tough, but not in a bully kind of way, he was always sticking up for the underdog, and defending people who couldn't defend themselves. After getting into some trouble, Bobby is sent into the army, and the book starts a few weeks before he is supposed to return home from Iraq. Ceejay can't wait to see him, but by the time he gets back he is very different from how she remembers him.
I love Tim Tharp's books because he creates great characters, and even when you don't actually like the characters all that much, they still seem real and complete. They are really complex. There's a lot going on in BADD. It isn't just a girl waiting for her brother to get home from Iraq, it is also about first love, and family relationships, and death, and somehow Tim Tharp ties them all together really well, creating a really intricate and well developed story. I loved it, and you should read it, too, but be warned, there is some drinking and drug use throughout the book.

Also, don't forget to enter the pre-pub giveaway from last week! You only have one week left! So scroll down a little and enter today!

What Hannah's Been Reading: books to GIVEAWAY!

I've been reading furiously over the past few weeks. We've gotten some pre-published books in here at the library, so I've been trying to check them out and see which ones we might buy for the library. BUT we can't put the pre-pubs (see how cool I sound when I call them that?) into our teen collection here, so my plan is to give them away to one of you lucky lucky blog readers.
The first book I read is called Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell. She's an author of juvenile lit, but this is her first book for teens. The book is about Janie Gorman, who lives on a farm with her parents and little sister. Everyone else in her family is 100% into farm life, but starting high school with goat poop on her shoe is not what Janie had in mind. In her desire to fit in she tries joining a jam band, hanging out with senior citizens, and meeting a new friend named Monster.
If there was one word that I would use to describe Ten Miles Past Normal it would be Cute. With a capital C. It seemed to me like there was a lot going on in the book and that the characters could have used some further development. I feel like there were definitely some plot points that could have been developed more, but all that being said, the book was enjoyable, and it was cute, and it was a quick read, and PLUS, you'd get to read it before anyone else, because it isn't even being published until next month!

The other book I read is called Wither by Lauren DeStefano, who is another new teen author. This book is the first in a trilogy, and it is set in a future America where girls only live to 20, and men live until 25. Wealthy men marry early and have multiple wives, most of whom are kidnapped and forced into marriage, like the main character Rhine, who is taken from her home in New York and brought to Florida, where she forced into marriage with a wealthy young man. However it is one of the servants, Gabriel, who Rhine falls in love with as she also plots her escape.
I was surprised that I liked this book. I read it really quickly--it was one of those stay up late to finish it books. It reminded me of a lot of other teen books that are out right now, though. It was kind of Incarceron by Catherine Fisher + Twilight + Delirium by Lauren Oliver, though not quite as well done as any of those (except Twilight... don't get me started on Twilight). I'll be interested to see where the plot goes in the next two books though.

So, here's the giveaway part. Just enter your name and e-mail address here, and I will do a drawing for the winner on March 1, and just so you know, no one will be able to see your e-mail address, and it won't be used for anything other than me sending you an e-mail to tell you that you won.

A completely self serving post in which I brag about my recent trip to Pittsburgh to see John Green

Ok, so, last Friday I ventured over mountains, and through tunnels and snow to Pittsburgh so that I could see the king of all things nerdy, John Green, speak at the Carnegie Library. For those of you who don't know who John Green is, he is an author of such fine books as Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, and Will Grayson Will Grayson (which was co-authored with David Levithan). John Green and his brother, Hank, also have a YouTube channel on which they make videos about various topics, from the political situation in Egypt, to conspiracy theories, to giraffes.
So anyway, I love John Green. I think he's brilliant, and I was exceptionally excited to see him speak, and he did not disappoint. He talked about books, and writing books, and how we read books, and Gary Busey, and other really cool nerdy stuff.

THEN I got a book AND, as my sister calls it, my nerd journal, which is a book I keep of all the books I read signed by him. I will proudly show it to you if you ask me to. Here are my new prized possession photos of this momentous occasion:

In other news, I recently read Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins and it was FANTASTIC, and I happen to know that we recently ordered a copy for the library, so stay on the lookout for that. Also, I am cooking up another contest/giveaway. I just need to work out the details, so keep checking back for that, too!

Hannah Just Read: Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Before I say anything substantial about Hate List by Jennifer Brown, I am just going to say that it is not an easy book to read. It is kind of scary and definitely sad and frustrating, too. That being said, Hate List is absolutely worth reading. It is primarily Valerie's story, who, after a lot of therapy and laying in bed, has decided to go back to her high school for her senior year, even though her boyfriend Nick open fired in the school's cafeteria at the end of the previous school year. Valerie and Nick, feeling like outsiders, had spent a lot of their time together venting their frustrations through a hate list that included not only people they knew but also things like "people who say 'sorry' after everything" and "fast-food commercials," and it was this list that Nick used to target his victims. Valerie didn't know anything about the shooting and, in fact, was responsible for stopping it while simultaneously saving the life of one of her classmates, but the people in her town, the kids in her school, and even her parents are having a hard time realizing that Valerie was not the one who pulled the trigger.
Like I said, Hate List is wonderfully written and well told, and I would recommend it very highly to upper high-schoolers. It kind of reminded me of the movie Elephant, which was directed by Gus Van Saint, which I saw and really liked, but it is very slow moving. Here's a trailer for the book and then a trailer for Elephant.

Hannah Just Read: Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters

I have this thing that whenever I read a book (that I like) I automatically want to move to wherever the books is set. For example, when I read The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, I realized my desire to move to New England. When I read Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson I was overtaken with the uncontrollable urge to be a New Yorker. I read The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd last year. The book is set in a fictional city in the Midwest, and all of a sudden I thought to myself, "gee, I've always wanted to live in the Midwest." But that is so not true! I've NEVER wanted to live in the Midwest! I don't even LIKE the Midwest! They get tornadoes! You get the idea.

Anyway, the tradition was upheld as I read Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford last weekend. It is set in Baltimore, and now I am seriously considering moving... I mean, until I start a new book. But Confession of the Sullivan Sisters is told by Norrie, Jane, and Sassy, in letters to their grandmother, who has threatened the Sullivan family with dis-inheriting them unless the Sullivan who has offened her confesses to his or her transgression. The three sisters all have secrets to confess--big ones, and they are owning up to them now.

This book was a fun and quick read. I read it in just a few hours, and it was quite enjoyable, but definitely chicklit, even though the Sullivan sisters are smart and interesting, which not all girls in chicklit books are. I would recommend this book to anyone who just needs something fast and easy to read. It was like eating a fun-sized candy bar: sweet and delicious and just the right size.

Hannah Just Read: I Will Save You

Last week I read I Will Save You by Matt de la Peña on my new Kindle. It is rare that I buy books (I mean... I work at the library) but I was impulsive and downloaded this one, and I don't regret it at all, though I kind of guessed the ending about half way through. I Will Save You is about Kidd Ellison, who runs away from his group home to work at a campsite on the beach in California. He meets Olivia, who rents one of the campsites with her family. Kidd doesn't think he's worthy of Olivia, who is beautiful and rich, but Olivia likes him, and they begin to spend time together. The one thing that could ruin Kidd and Olivia's relationship, though, is Kidd's best friend and worst enemy, Devon, who shows up uninvited and unannounced at the campsites one night.
What I enjoyed most about this book was the non-linear story line. The story starts off at the end and works its way back to the beginning, all the while jumping around in between. Sometimes this can be very confusing, but Matt de la Peña does it really well. Like I said, the story was a tad bit predictable, but the writing was excellent, and there are some really good lines in the book, which it is easy to mark with my fabulous new Kindle. Here's a few lines I really liked:

"...was it some group of people in the olden days that decided what pretty
looks like, or were we all just born knowing?"

"She rolled her eyes. 'You don't know much about girls, do you?'
I shrugged.
'The ones who claim they don't believe in
fairy tales are the ones who believe the most.'"

and my favorite:

"I thought how if two people see the exact same thing, at the exact same
time, their minds probably store the same memory, even way into the future, and
that's something in common."

Matt de la Peña also wrote a really good entry on his blog the day that I Will Save You came out. He tells a story about a frog and a toilet, but be warned, there's drinking and maybe a couple of swear words on there.

December's Gingerbread House Extravaganza

Better late than never:
Fredricksen's inaugural Gingerbread House Extravaganza was a success! Twenty eight teens came to eat, I mean build gingerbread houses made from the finest icing and candy around! We had teens using their creative efforts to make houses, a village, a train, and our own Fredricksen Library! Two guys combined their materials to make a structure to resemble the library. Can you see the resemblance? If not, they'll be glad to explain every part to you!

Unfortunately several teens had a lesson in physics! Piling a lot of candy on one area may not hold the structure! But, they made the best of it by rebuilding or creating a great candy pile! Overall, it was a fun, tasty afternoon at the library! Look for this fun, festive activity again next December!

Please check out all of the photos of this fun day on our link!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fredricksenlibrary/sets/72157625688955700/show/

Hannah Just DIDN'T Read: Another Faust

Okay, so, I was totally planning on reviewing Another Faust by Daniel & Dina Nayeri, but let me tell you, it was terrible, and I couldn't read it, so I put it down. I mean... it was bad. I feel like I gave it a fair shake. I probably read 60 pages of it, but I had NO IDEA what was happening and I was bored out of my skull. Has anyone out there read Another Faust and liked it and thinks I'm really lame for not liking it? Let me know in the comments, even if you're mad at me because Another Faust is your favorite book of all time.

Now I'm reading I Will Save You by Matt de la Pena on my Kindle that I got for Christmas, and I will have a review of that for next week, and maybe I'll talk about my Kindle more, because it is my new favorite thing ever.

So since I didn't give you an actual review of a book I'll give you a couple of links to some other, better reviews of books:
A review of If I Stay by Gayle Forman (which I still need to read!)

A review of Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (which I still need to read and am SO excited about)

A review of The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King (which I just read and it was awesome, but the library doesn't own it)