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Tregay, Sarah. FAN ART Katherine Tegen Books, 2014 Jamie is a senior on the staff of Gumshoe, the school's literary magazine. He is confident with his sexuality at home where his mom and stepdad applaud him - in fact, his mom can't wait for him to have a boyfriend, and his stepfather wanted to be sure to support Jamie when he came out, so he threw him a party with balloons and "congratulations" - very charming family! At school, though, it's a different story. He's had a crush on his best friend Mason for a long time and fears losing his friendship if he fesses up to being gay. The girls in the art class have it all figured out, though, and they attempt to work their magic to get Jamie together with his dream boy and best friend. When Jamie makes an independent decision about including a gay-themed comic for the magazine, things start happening - big time! .(Booktalk by NH Flume Committee)
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Book of the day 06/23/2015
Monday, June 22, 2015
Book of the day 06/22/2015
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I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Nelson, Jandy. I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN New York : Dial Books, 2014 IL YA ISBN 080334964 Noah and Jude are twins who have always felt connected. Jude is the popular one, pretty and outgoing. Noah is the quiet, artistic one, who sees more in the world, but is always being picked on, until Brian moves in next door. Fast forward two years, and things have changed. Their mom is dead, and the twins seem to have swapped lives. What happened and why comes in spurts of insight/story from each twin, both past and present, until it all comes together. The language and imagery is delightful, with Noah being the more fanciful, but this excerpt is Jude talking to Noah: “‘Maybe a person is just made up of a lot of people’ I say. ‘Maybe we’re accumulating these new selves all the time.’ Hauling them in as we make choices, good and bad, as we screw up, step up, lose our minds, find our minds, fall apart, fall in love, as we grieve, grow, retreat from the world, dive into the world, as we make things, as we break things. “He grins. ‘Each new self standing on the last one’s shoulders until we’re these wobbly people poles?’ “I die of delight. ‘Yes, exactly! We’re all just wobbly people poles!’” (Booktalk by NH Flume Committee)
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Book of the day 06/21/2015
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To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
Han, Jenny. TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE New York : Simon and Schuster, 2014 IL YA ISBN 1442426705 Lara Jean has this habit of writing really detailed love letters to boys she has crushes on in order to get them out of her system. Detailed, down to cataloging their good and bad qualities. Then she puts them away, and is done with both the boy and the letter. Suddenly, the letters are missing, and boys are coming up to her with her letter in their hands. This wasn't just a story of mortification, though it could have been, but it's about how Lara Jean copes with the revelations, as well as her sister Margot going off to college in Scotland, being in love with Margot’s boyfriend, taking care of her father and Kitty, now that Margot isn't around to do it, etc. (Booktalk by NH Flume Committee)
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Book of the day 06/20/2015
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Jury, Walter. SCAN GP Putnam's Sons, 2014 I expected to hate this from the very beginning. Wrestling? Um, no. Aliens? Nope. But then the action drew me in. The story of Tate and his friends and family was relatively interesting until people started shooting at them, and then the pace really picked up. “[Dad’s] fingers close over my shoulder. ‘Tate, I know you’re angry with me. But we can fight later.’ “I wrench myself away from him. ‘Get off me.’… “‘Tate.’ Dad grabs my arm again. ‘It’s very important that we run. Now.”… “Tate, wir müssen fliehen. Jetzt. Jetzt!” my father barks, snapping me out of my trance. “We have to escape. Now. Clipped German words, tinged with pure desperation.” I was emotionally involved right up until the big cliffhanger. Luckily, the sequel, Burn, comes out May 12th. (Booktalk by NH Flume Committee)
Friday, June 19, 2015
Book of the day 06/19/2015
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Beautiful Music For Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills
Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills Flux 2012 Gabe is a trans man, born as Liz, finally about to get out of high school, so he can begin living his life as himself. He tells us: “I’ve been a boy my whole life. I wish I’d been born a vampire or a werewolf instead, or with a big red clown nose permanently stuck to my face, because that stuff would be easy. Having a brain that doesn’t agree with your body is a much bigger pain…” His best friend, Paige, is totally supportive, though there's that pesky attraction to her that makes life difficult. Gabe's parents and brother haven't been able to look him in the eye since he broke the news to them. His next-door neighbor and mentor, John, doesn't know yet, and Gabe's nervous about telling him. In the meantime, John and Gabe share a passion for music, and John's just gotten Gabe a gig DJing on KZUK in the middle of the night. Gabe calls his show Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, and is so honest and inspiring, he inspires an Ugly Children Brigade to form. (Booktalk by NH Flume Committee)
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Book of the day 06/18/2015
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Lockhart, E. WE WERE LIARS Delacorte 2013 The wealthy Sinclair family (or is this the Kennedys?) owns a private island off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. They are beautiful and perfect in every way. Or are they? Cadence is our narrator who talks about a particular summer she spends with her cousins Johnny and Mirren, and also Gat Patil (a friend and love interest of Cadence) who often stirs up the family with his political stance on the wealthy - trying to remind them that there are people who are NOT ridiculously loaded with money . They've been summering on the island together as a group for years (the patriarch of the family built three houses on the island besides his own for his three daughters, and these houses are filled with people who have secrets and lie), but this year deserves a special telling, and along the way, we learn that seemingly typical quirky teenager Cadence is damaged - has debilitating migraines and we don't learn why -- until we reach, or so we think, the TRUTH, and the book's end. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE. (Booktalk by NH Flume Committee)
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Book of the day 06/17/2015
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Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Sanderson, Brandon. . STEELHEART Delacorte, 2013 The future is rather grim - populated and dominated by superheroes, but these superheroes - or EPICS as they're called, are not your comic book characters. Ever since "Calamity"arrived, which from the description sounds like a kind of satellite - and is hovering over the Earth, the superheroes have populated the earth as villains intent on ruling the world and eliminating anyone - human or fellow epic - who get in their way. Main character and snarky teen David's city of Chicago is ruled by Steelheart who is strong beyond measure, and can control the elements. He has turned Chicago into a shining city of STEEL. After losing his father to Steelheart as a 6 year old, David spends his entire life dedicated to finding this Epic's weakness and plans to destroy him. Enter the Reckoners - a group of rag tag kids and adults whose mission is to restore peace by systematically taking out the epics. When David finds them, his knowledge becomes essential to their plans. Will they get to the strongest Epic to destroy him? (Booktalk by NH Flume Committee)
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Book of the day 06/16/2015
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More Than This by Patrick Ness
Ness, Patrick. MORE THAN THIS Take a moment to imagine what your own private hell might look like... Got an image? Well, in the opening scene of this book, our main character Seth drowns and dies - a rather intensely portrayed drowning, I might add (and note that this is NOT the worst of it!) He is bewildered to awaken unclothed, starving, and thirsty in a bizarrely unpopulated and dusty world that is somehow familiar to him. Turns out, it's his childhood home in England - where he lived before the family moved to America - and he's about to face his own private hell. Interestingly, it's taken his own death to get him to confront his demons. Whenever Seth closes his eyes in this strange world, troubling past events haunt him in nightmares - these dreams include his family, the boy he loves and past traumas. The reader shares the oddity of the situation and wonders whether Seth is in heaven, hell, a fully reborn life? What the heck is happening? Is he really alive? (Booktalk by NH Flume Committee)
Monday, June 15, 2015
Book of the day 06/15/2015
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McNeal, Tom. FAR FAR AWAY New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2013 IL YA ISBN 0375849726 Jeremy is a regular kid in modern-day middle America, but there are a couple of unique things about him: he lives in the back of the Two-Book Bookstore that he inherited from his grandfather, which only sells both volumes of his grandfather's memoir, with his shut-in dad, and he has an interesting relationship with a ghost that only he can hear: Jacob Grimm. Yep, that Jacob Grimm, or, as it is properly pronounced and specifically mentioned in the book, Yaukub. (Booktalk by NH Flume Committee) This beautifully written story follows Jeremy through the tribulations of both regular teenage life and the potential loss of his home as the bookstore fails, and then life begins to resemble the fairy tales that he loves so much (and don't forget that they are the grim Grimm versions).