Saturday, May 10, 2008

24 girls in 7 days

by Alex Bradley

Personal Ad: Jack Grammar would never try to fondle your butt during a slow dance. Jack Grammar is a gentleman, owns his own tux and has superb taste in corsages. Jack Grammar is looking for a prom date. Could it be you? Email MyNewPromDate@yahoo.com

Jack Grammar is a senior in high school. You know what that means - Prom! Senior Prom is a week away and Jack has no date and no prospects. His two so-called best friends, Natalie and Percy, decide to step in. They secretly place a personal ad in the school paper for Jack and soon he has more dates than he can handle. He goes from hardly noticed to the flavor of the week This book will definitely make you giggle!

Jackie

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

What the Dickens?

by Gregory Maguire

Think you are too old to read a story about fairies? Try this one...
During a storm that separated parents from children, an older cousin keeps their spirits up by telling a story about an orphaned “skibberee”, aka tooth fairy, named What-the-Dickens. What-the-Dickens has no idea of his species’ calling until he comes upon a colony of fairies in a hollowed out tree. He learns about teeth, skittling creatures and how to be a proper skibberee…and more importantly, What-the-Dickens finds a home.

Debra

Saturday, March 29, 2008

The Black Tattoo

by Sam Enthoven

Jack is a teen in London who leads a very normal life. His friend Charlie is still upset over his parents divorce and is also not very intelligent. Even so, they stand together through think and thin, through the very depths of hell itself. The brotherhood of sleep is a secret society that has trapped the scourge in the roots of an ancient tree for thousands of years. Unknown to Charlie, who thinks he is being recruited to the secret society; he becomes the host for the scourge. It is his writhing, black tattoo.

Melissa

Cupid

By Julius Lester

A wonderful retelling of the story of Cupid and Psyche in which the narrator and the story have conversations and arguments with each other about where the story should go and what was left out. This gives humor to the story as well as helping the reader/listener relate to the characters in the story. Cupid is oppressed by his mother and Psyche by her father in a way that seems timelier than the original.

Melissa

Avalon High

by Meg Cabot

Ellie has the unenviable task of starting a new high school in her junior year. The
students at her new school seem to be normal teenagers but not everybody at Avalon High are who they appear to be...not even herself! Ellie's parents are medievalists - experts in all that is medieval. Somehow the events that are happening at Avalon seem
very familiar to her. This is classic Meg Cabot! Very fun to read!

***2008-2009 Rosie Book Award Nominee***

Jackie

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Kissing the bee

by Kathe Koja
This slim volume is packed with story. Dana, our very introspective narrator, is a good friend to Avra. So good in fact, that she says nothing when Avra latches on to Emil- a boy Dana saw first, and immediately liked. She continues to say nothing as Avra and Emil become joined at the hip. The three of them go everywhere together and Dana's not sure if this is great (she does get to see Emil all the time) or torture (she gets to see him with Avra.) The story of these three High School seniors is interspersed with Dana's observations on bee life for her Bio II project. If you like tortured romance, and detailed characters, you are sure to love Kissing the Bee.

Molly

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Blue Bloods

By Melissa De La Cruz

In this chick lit with fangs novel, Schuyler Van Alen, 15, is a privileged girl going to a prestigious private school in Manhattan. Schuyler, Oliver and Dylan are great friends because they do not feel like they fit in with the rest of the crowd. This is really a good read with lots of suspense that makes you want to keep reading to the end.

Melissa

Just Jane

By William Lavender

A young girl, Lady Jane Prentice is orphaned and sent to South Carolina to live with relatives there in 1776. She is soon caught up in a struggle between her home country and her new one. The struggle does not stop there though, some of her family is loyal to England while others are pushing for a revolution. She is forced into facing the harsh reality of war and how it changes people and the roles they must take. A good story and a great read.

Melissa

Fever 1793

By Laurie Halse Anderson

Set in the fall of 1793 in Philadelphia, Mattie Cook is a strong willed, 14-year-old girl with her own plans and ambitions for the future. There are stories that the “fever” is spreading and thousands leave the city for safer territory. As the number of dead rises, the fever hits the coffee house she lives in and everything Mattie holds close to her heart. Her ambitions for a better future must be left behind and the struggle to survive must take over.

Melissa

Pirates

By Celia Rees

Nancy Kington is the daughter of a previously wealthy sugar murchant who arranges a marriage for her so the family can regain their wealth.
She travels with her slave Minerva to marry an evil brazillian ex-pirate. They experience all of the things you would expect in a pirate tale; sword fights, duels, charming rogues, true love, murder, and the odd severed head.

Melissa

Girl, 15, Charming but Insane

By Sue Limb

Jess is 15, definitely charming and maybe a little insane but a lot of fun. This british chick lit is well worth read; it is full of laughs, teen agnst, love, hate, bitterness, and ministrone soup. And no I am not going to tell you what happens with the soup, just read it. Jess is in lust with the best looking guy in school and she feels like her best friend Flora is better at everything including attracting said boy. I loved that each of the chapters start with a funny horoscope texted to Jess by her absent father. The story flows nicely and you won’t want to put it down.

Melissa

Dairy Queen

by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

What happens when you are a 15-year-old girl in Wisconsin on a Dairy farm where your father gets hurt and can’t work the farm? You work the farm and you don’t complain about it because it wouldn’t change anything anyway. There is no point to even having your own hopes and dreams because there is not time to fulfill them. Your mom works 2 jobs and has a big secret, your younger brother never opens his mouth, and your older brothers are at college and won’t even call home. Well if you do make the decision to talk about it, who would even hear you or care. Still, it wouldn’t change anything. Would it?

Melissa

Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging

By Louise Rennison

This book really made me lol in the first 30 minutes. If you are looking for something light and fun then this is the book for you. It is written like a diary, so the main character, Georgia Nicolson, narrates the story. She is 14 and is dealing with friends, school, boyfriend, her 3 year old sister, a cat, and of course parents that embarrass her as often as possible. You will want to read the entire series.

Melissa

Wicked Lovely

by Melissa Marr

Aislinn lives in an urban area where faeries walk among mortals, invisible or in disguise. Very few mortals see them but Ash is one who can. She has followed the rules given to her by her grandmother so she would not attract attention to herself. But, somehow, she has caught their attention and she is being followed even at school where she should be safe. Many times she has watched as faeries have pinched, tripped and even dragged mortals away. How can she get away from them when they follow her into places they should not be able to go?

Melissa

Frannie in Pieces

by Delia Ephron

Frannie struggles with the recent loss of her father and worries about death
all the time...she has even taken to reading labels on everyday
things, amazed at what can harm you. Then, when going through her dad's
belongings, she finds a beautiful wooden box with the
inscription "Frances Ann 1000" on the lid. Inside she finds 1000
hand-carved and hand-painted puzzle pieces - and a new
obsession. As Frannie works in secret to put the puzzle together, something
magical happens and she is transported into the puzzle, to a
place and time where she can discover her father as he was B.F.---
-----before Frannie.

Debra