Need a Book Suggestion?

Is your summer reading list dwindling fast? Need some good suggestions? Then try our nextreads service. You can get customised booklists sent to your email inbox every month. Like chick lit? We've got it? More of a mystery fan? We've got that too! Of course, I highly suggest the Teen Scene newsletter as it is written and edited by moi. Sign up here.

Summer Reading Winding Down...

This is just a reminder to turn in your summer reading card by the end of the month. We've got a lot of cool prizes to give away and each card also serves as an entry to our grand prize drawing at the end of the program. If you don't have your card yet, stop by Teen Central or your local branch and pick one up today. You'll have until the 31st to fill it out and get it back in.

Virtual Book Talk

Try some of these new titles!

Candor by Pam Bachorz (in about a 100 words)
What if you were the only one who knew that everyone in your town was brainwashed? What if it was your dad doing the brainwashing and you knew how to reverse it? This is the dilemma that Oscar Banks finds himself in. He’s trapped in pastel perfect Candor where no one ever does anything bad and “academic success is your highest priority.” He’s been helping kids get out for a fee for a while now, but that all changes when he meets and falls for new girl Nia. He decides to help her fight the brainwashing and stay in Candor, but at what cost?

Snap by Carol Snow (in about a 100 words)
Madison thinks she’s just going on a beach vacation with her parents. When they get there, her parents start acting weird and reveal that they’ve lost their home. The seedy beach town that they’ve come to is where she’ll be living from now on. She meets some quirky new friends and starts to come to terms with the changes in her life when her camera starts taking pictures of people who aren’t really there. Then she finds out that the people appearing in her photos all suffer tragedy within days of their image appearing in her camera. Something strange is going on in Sandyland, but what.

Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor (in about 100 words)
These three short stories by Laini Taylor are beyond fascinating. They’re all supernatural romances that center around kisses. In “Goblin Fruit”, a girl who feels perennially out of place in her school and annoyed by her strange family at home. But maybe her strange family is right, when she is approached by a boy who is not what he seems. “Spicy Little Curses” centers around a girl who’s been sentenced to a life of silence by a curse delivered by an unwilling ambassador to Hell. What happens when a man tempts her to speak? Finally, Esme of “Hatchling” is experiencing some strange changes and memories of a kiss she knows she never experienced. And why are there wolves outside her London window? The only thing more gorgeous than these stories might be the artwork that illustrates each. If you like paranormal romance, then you must pick this one up.

Cool Library Programs This Week!

And when we say cool, we mean it literally. Today is our Snow in July Party. Come out at four and make snocones and snow globes.

Then, tomorrow, we have super cool professional photographer Jennifer Pinkerton coming out to show everyone how to take really awesome digital pictures. Bring your camera and swing by the library around six to learn your way around your camera.

Next Month's Book Club Title!

If you want to get a jump start on reading next month's Online Book Club post, we're going to be reading I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb. It's hilarious. I promise.

A book suggestion or five or ten...

We hear a lot about Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series down here in Teen Central these days. Just today I had someone come up and say, "I've read all the Twilight books! Now, what do I read?" To help that reader out (and all the other Twilight fans), I made a small list of read alikes that you can find on our shelves in Teen Central.

Meg's Twilight Read-alike List

1. Laini Taylor ~ Lips Touch Three Times
2. Amber Kizer ~ Meridian
3. Jessica Verday ~ The Hollow
4. Daniel Nayeri ~ Another Faust
5. Meg Cabot ~ Jinx
6. Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl ~ Beautiful Creatures
7. Lisa Mantchev ~ Eyes Like Stars
8. Maggie Stiefvader ~ Shiver
9. Becca Fitzpatrick ~ Hush, Hush
10. Scott Westerfeld ~ Peeps

Online Book Club #2

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (in about a hundred words):
Katniss’ life has never been easy, but when her little sister’s name is drawn as a contestant for the Hunger Games it gets a lot harder when she volunteers to go in Prim’s place. The Hunger Games is an annual event in the country of Panem which pits 24 teenagers against each other in a match to the death that is filled with all sorts of nasty surprises invented by the gamemakers. Katniss is whisked away from her life in poverty striken District 12 and given a few weeks to train before she’s tossed in to the Hunger Games arena. What happens next? You’ll have to read and find out.

Now, go and read it if you haven’t already. If you have read it or are reading it, join in the discussion below. Remember to check back each week for a fresh question.

Week 1 Question:

Which contestants do you think were worse off? The children from the richer districts where they were raised to kill or be killed? Or the poorer districts where they had to scrounge and scavenge to survive?

Week 2 Question:

Do you think Peeta really meant it when he said he was in love with Katniss or was it all part of the scheme he and Haymitch dreamed up. What about Katniss? Do you think she falls in love with Peeta by the end of the book? What about her feelings for Gale? Do you think anything will come of that?

Week 3 Question:

What do you think the cruelest part of the hunger games was?

Week 4 Question:

What would your strategy be if you were in the hunger games arena?