Mother I can tell what you've been thinking staring at the stars on your ceiling

What am I busy reading right now? Well, I'll tell you!

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. It's been getting a lot of good press and I'm here to chime in. It's charming, mysterious and interesting. I was not a fan of A Wrinkle in Time growing up (still am not, truth be told) but that hasn't hindered my enjoyment of this story at all. Abby the Librarian has a fantastic review of this book here that really summarizes how I feel about this book.

The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading is fun, sweet, and has some great references to Pride and Prejudice. I think I was bound to enjoy this book. Just a nice light frothy read.

As You Wish by Jackson Pearce. I won this book in a contest on Librarian By Day's Blog, so thank you! I've only barely just started but I've heard really positive things about this book so I think I may have another winner on my hands.

The Miles Between by Mary E. Pearson is another book I won from Librarian by Day. I really liked Mary E. Pearson's The Adoration of Jenna Fox so I have high hopes for this story. I think this one has also been getting some buzz.

I'm also re-reading The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian because it is going to be the book club selection for my book club this month. Phew, that's a lot of reading. It's going to be hectic for me soon because my TV shows are going to be starting soon and as much as I love reading, I love certain TV shows quite a bit. It's nice to take a break from reading and work with TV, lol. I am most looking forward to How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, but that's only the start. Might as well get as much reading done as I can. Also, bring on autumn! Cannot wait.

Weeding and more weeding

I'm currently weeding of the teen area in my library since the shelves are getting pretty darn full. This task always makes me smile because I like to see the library shelves spruced up a bit. It's a good feeling knowing some new books can take the place of books that are not circulating.

And you wonder, why haven't these books circulated? With gems like:


Best Girl by Doris Buchanan Smith


The Eyes of Kid Midas by Neal Shusterman

I have some other exciting titles also, things like the Sweet Dreams series, or how about some of those really old Sunfire romances? Those haven't gone out in quite some time, let me just say. I can't get rid of everything, but sometimes I sure want to.

Review: Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell

Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell is a new to me book, though it came out in 2008. Here's the synopsis:

Riley Rose, atheist and bad girl, has been tricked into attending Spirit Ranch, a Christian camp. There she meets Dylan Kier, alumni camper and recent paraplegic, who arrives with a chip on his shoulder and a determination to perfect all of his bad habits. United in their personal suffering and in their irritation at their fellow campers, they turn the camp inside out as they question the meaning of belief systems, test their faith in each other, and ultimately settle a debate of the heart.

Despite going to a Christian camp, this really isn't a preachy book, thank goodness because I find those books not at all to my taste. Riley is a somewhat snotty, smart-alecky teen. Well, definitely more than somewhat. She has no desire whatsoever to go to this camp and is very angry that her dad is forcing her. Of course, she has been angry since her mom died of cancer so really, the anger is nothing new. Riley comes to the camp with anger but she finds some healing along the way.

Riley is a bit too old for herself. She turned to sex as a way to find the emotional connection she wanted after her mom died but it seems like sex isn't working out for her since most of her male partners look at her as the fat girl, a challenge. There is a very positive sexual message in this book though, despite Riley falling into out of despair.

Riley's life at camp is not easy. Sure, it's only a week long but she is the outsider. All the other campers have known each other for years. This is her first year and aside from being the newbie, she is fat and won't take any guff from her fellow campers. She's more than happy to call them on their crap, even when it hurts her.

I liked the bonds that formed for Riley at this camp. Perhaps a week's time is too short to realistically portray these bonds. It seems like these types of friendships would emerge more so after a full summer at camp, but nonetheless, I liked seeing the outsiders and the odd campers finally feel power and confidence, and that is all courtesy of Riley.

Riley became an unwilling leader but she eventually embraced that part of her camp role. I also liked that Riley didn't really care about her size. She used it to her advantage, she embraced her curves, but not in a way where it became "preachy" also which I have seen tend to happen in YA books. Riley was just Riley, and that was good.

I've never read anything by Simmone Howell before but I really enjoyed her descriptions of the Australian country, the flat desert with its subtle beauty and dimensions. I also liked Riley. I don't really do ratings but if I did, this would be about a 3.5 out of 5. It was good, interesting, and has me intrigued enough to read more by this author.

Fall Programming

I'm gearing up for fall programming because, well, summer is unfortunately nearing its end. The good weather may last awhile longer still, but all good things come to an end. So, August has been spent gearing up for what I want to see happen this fall with the limited YA budget that remains. I say limited but I'm actually really lucky. My library has a pretty great YA budget.

For September, I plan on hosting a photo scavenger hunt around the library. I got this idea from a listserv so I hope it goes well. To me, it sounds like a lot of fun and hey, cheap!

October and early November is dedicated to the All City read at my library. The library will be having a pretty famous Latino author coming to visit so I'm really excited to participate in this event. I'm hosting two teen events during the event. A sugar skulls making event. If you haven't made sugar skulls before, it's a lot of fun. Granted, these will be pre-made, but the teens can decorate them and I'll hold a demonstration and talk about the history of sugar skulls in relation to Dia de los Muertos. I'm also going to hold a game evening. I'm trying to find some traditional Latino games that my teens will find appealing. That's been a bit harder to plan, but I still have time.

In the works is a teen movie making contest, the first of anything like this I've ever done. Also in the works, if the Friends' grant comes through, will be a series of virtual chats with three YA authors. I hope it goes through because I'm really excited to make this event happen and get into the schools to promote it.

What I really want to focus on, and what my supervisor and I have been discussing since before summer reading programs, is creating more passive, nontraditional teen programs. I've seen several posts about this recently at various blogs with some great ideas that I think I can implement really soon. I want to better serve the teens who do not come to traditional, regimented teen programs.

The teen fall reading program will also start in September so I have a lot on my plate. But it's all exciting stuff and I hope it will be successful.

Then there are all the fall books I want to read, lol. Not much of a break in there, that's for sure!

Review: Love You Hate You Miss You by Elizabeth Scott

Love You Hate You Miss You is another page-turning issues book from Elizabeth Scott. I admit to being a total Elizabeth Scott fangirl. Everything she has written, I've liked. Well, Living Dead Girl wasn't a book I liked, but I did read it and was left with questions and a reaction.

But in this book, Amy is dealing with the aftermath of her best friend Julia's death, a death that Amy sees as being her fault. She is unreachable by her parents and by her classmates. And on top of that, she is entering her junior year of high school after spending her summer in rehab for alcohol binging. Amy feels like a total outsider both at high school and at home. Her only friend was Julia and now with Julia gone, Amy feels totally and one hundred percent alone. Love You Hate You Miss You is a story interspersed with Amy's journal entries to Julia. This book is about her own personal recovery and some semblance of recovery with relationships.

One of the reasons I love Elizabeth Scott's books is because she writes such great male characters. Patrick wasn't my favorites. I just didn't feel like I got to know him enough. He was mysterious pretty much throughout the course of the story and even a few glimpses of his home life didn't help. This book was definitely Amy's journey and it was engrossing and sad, painful but also realistic for how a teenager is going to deal with these issues. Guilt, sullenness, anger, hurt, and sadness. Amy runs the gamut of emotions and even at the end, she doesn't magically undergo a full recovery. She still has a long way to go.

I read this in one night, it was that captivating. It isn't one of my favorites, but it was a interesting story, a good character study for sure. I'm already anxious for another Elizabeth Scott story.

Another thing I'm anxious for, not at all book related, is...

The return of Mad Men to my TV set. Don Draper, I adore you. Peggy Olson, you are awesome, and Joan, I think you are gorgeous! This is one of my favorite shows on tv right now so I can't wait to see what season three holds.

Review: Carter FInally Gets It

Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford is probably the funniest YA book I've read in several months. I started reading it during my lunch hour and wow, I was laughing out loud so much. Which isn't very cool when you're sitting around the public areas so everyone can hear you, but that's where the comfy chairs are so there you have it. The plot of this book is simple: Will Carter (Carter to his friends, and not Race Car as he'd like) just entered his freshmen year of high school. Hijinks, love woes, and horniness ensue. Seriously, if it wasn't "tig o'bitties" or getting to second base, I don't know what this guy would think about. I think I'm making him out to be cruder than he is however. Because he's not really a crude kid. He's sweet, naive, and well, just your average high school freshmen. What makes this story so charming and fresh is definitely the humor. I mean, how many times can the tale of entering high school be told? Well, if you read YA, a lot. But Brent Crawford makes Carter such a great character that I felt like I was getting a somewhat fresh perspective on it.

Carter is just trying to find his way around high school and well, he does it in a typical bumbling fashion, following peer pressure, making idiotic decisions about girls, and other hilarious events. But he's such a nice guy that I could forgive him easily.

The main point is that this book made me laugh and laugh. Like every single page. I don't know what that means for my mindset (do I share the mindset of a fourteen year old boy? I sure hope not) but it was all so comically well done that well, I laughed. And there are some killer lines in this book. Just killer. Let me share a few memorable scenes:

"You think you're hot stuff, don't you?"

What the...? Where are you going with this?

"Excuse me?" she replies, kind of sweetly.

EJ asks, "You think you're cool, don't you? Where did you get that shirt, the Salvation Army? What the hell is with your hair?"

My eyes are as big as basketballs as he fires one mean ass question after another at her.

"You don't have a boyfriend, do you?" he continues.

It's like he's armed with self-esteem killer.

"Did your parents have any kids that lived?" EJ asks.

The girl starts to buckle, and tears are on the way.

"Are these your friends, or are they like, counselors here to observe you?" EJ shouts.

Oh, what a misunderstanding! I thought this was a clear mission, but I was so wrong. As the wingman I have to stop my pilot from destroying this girl. She's becoming more of a lesbian with every question.

He asks, "Does your grandma know you borrowed her shoes?" as I drag him away. The girl is crying pretty hard, and her friends are trying to console her. They're all giving me dirty looks, too. Thank you very much, EJ. I was worried not every girl on the planet hated me.

"Man, that didn't go very well. What do you think I did wrong?" EJ asks.

"Are you serious?" I ask.

"I was just doing what you told me to," he replies.

"I-I-I told you to go up to that girl and start abusing her?" I ask.

"You said to ask her questions and pretend that I didn't like her!" he yells back.

"Pretend YOU'RE NOT INTO HER!" I clarify. "Not that you hate her and wish she would die! Good God, that girl thought she was gonna get a boyfriend when you walked up, not years of therapy."

"Do you think I still have a shot?" he asks.

"NO, I don't!" I bark.

"You said to pretend not to like her and ask questions... I did that!" he says.

One of the many hilarious scenes starring Carter and his boys.

There are a lot of genuine moments in this book too though. Granted, the warm fuzzies don't occur quite as often as the hilarity, but Carter does grow and mature, and get hurt. He certainly feels the pain of being used and abused at a dance.

This book holds so much appeal for boys, but seriously, I think teen girls are going to enjoy it just as much. It just has a feel good experience to it.

I must share another small scene. Carter is preparing for football by going to weight sessions with his teammates. His goal: get ginormous!

We're only supposed to do two body parts each day and start out "light" so we don't hurt ourselves or get burned out, but I want to get jacked! Going light will never get me huge. So I'm doing all of the exercises...today! And if you want to get GINORMOUS, you've got to go heavy!

I love the use of all capitals in this book. It really fits Carter and his enthusiasm for well, girls, weights, parties, the freshmen experience in general. This is not an angsty look at high school. Yes, he has his moments of humiliation, but this is a fairly light story with plenty of comedy and a few little lessons thrown in. All around good stuff. I highly recommend.

If you haven't yet...

Get started on Carter Finally Gets It. It is hilarious!

I started it at lunch today and I want to be done with work so I can finish. Carter is hilarious and I feel like I'm in the mind of a fourteen year old boy. It's good stuff.

Review: Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler left me feeling more dissatisfied than anything else. I read so much buzz about this book so maybe my expectations became too high and there was no way Sarah Ockler would ever fulfill them. This book ended up just being a very average read to me.

While I could certainly sympathize with Anna and Frankie and their despair over losing Matt, I never really connected with their emotions. I felt like I was a third party observer to this story rather than diving right in with the characters as they tried to reconcile themselves to Matt's death, Frankie's overwrought and too lenient parents, and their quest for twenty boys this summer. Frankie and Anna's friendship also felt rather generic to me. I know they were supposed to be this tight group, these two best friends left behind after their third friend passed on, but I didn't even enjoy their friendship that much. There was too much tension between them. As there should be obviously given the circumstances, but instead of enhancing their friendship, it seemed to stagnate it.

I found the romance between Sam and Anna the most interesting portion of this story. Sadly, I didn't really feel sad for these characters at all. And I cry easily. And often during books. But I just felt so removed from the entire situation of Matt's death that I couldn't grieve along with these characters.

For me, this book wasn't what I was expecting. It was an average read. However, I can see some of the teen girls at my library really enjoying it so I know it will have a readership. I will read whatever Ockler comes out with next. I liked her descriptions of the ocean and of the renewal of life and death. I think I ended up mentally comparing this so much to The Summer I turned Pretty by Jenny Han (which I enjoyed SO MUCH) that this book just came up really short. However, I know most if not all bloggers have loved this book so I think I'm in the minority.

Free stuff? I'm there!

Did you love Lisa McMann's Wake and Fade? I know I enjoyed both. Well, publisher Simon and Schuster is offering a free short story from Cabel's point of view. FREE! FREE! How can you go wrong?

Thanks for the link Green Bean Teen Queen.

Yes, I'm still reading

This has been a rough week to say the least so my reading took a bit of a dive. This weekend has helped a bit however, despite having to work both days. But oh well, that's life. And yesterday was a lot of fun. My library had its first ever kids talent show. There were 35 kid participants and by events end, probably at least 160 people in the room. It was so much fun! Those kids were so brave to come up on stage and perform. My favorite by far was a little second grade boy who performed the drum solo to Wipe Out. Top notch stuff!

As for reading, I'm currently finishing up Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. Despite all the buzz it has been getting, I'm not all that impressed so far. It feels like a pale imitation of Jenny Han's The Summer I Turned Pretty. I'm not sure why I don't like it that much, but I just can't seem to get into it like I thought I would. It's not bad, definitely not! But, it's also not what I was expecting.

I've picked up a few holds at the library including: Burn by Linda Howard (a romance), Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford, and I'm re-reading Catherine Murdock's Dairy Queen in preparation for the new book coming out soon.

To kind of make this week better, I received two books in the mail this week:
Spider-Touched by Jory Strong. Excellent story. I managed to finish it in a couple of nights. Dark erotic romance, set in a post-apocalyptic world. I think I liked the first in the series a tad bit better, but this book was also great.

I also received Sliding Home by Kate Angell. I love her baseball romances so I'm looking forward to reading this one. Straight up contemporary romance which is probably my favorite romance genre.

What I hope to read this week:
Love You, Hate You, Miss You by Elizabeth Scott
Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford
One Lonely Degree by C.K. Kelly Martin

We'll see if that happens. I didn't do so well reading for the month of July so I hope to be a bit more productive this August.