Played: 11 | Download | Duration: 00:01:56

Maybe you think you're sick of dystopian future books, already.  Maybe you think that if you have to read one more book, look at one more book, or even think about one more book, you're just going to ...

Well, no.  You're not going to kill yourself.  In fact, even if you THINK you're sick of dystopian books, you're going to make an exception for The Program by Suzanne Young because it's a super-cool mind-bending story that is packed to the gills with drama and excitement.

I'm not kidding.  Go read this book.  And then sit next to me while we grind our teeth and wait for the sequel.

BOOKTALK:

Several years ago, teen suicide was declared a national epidemic.  One out of three teenagers were killing themselves, and nobody knew why.  Maybe it was something in the food.  Maybe it was because so many people were taking antidepressants.  Maybe it had something to do with peer pressure.  Parents used to say things like, “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?” but now they don’t say that anymore.  

It’s hard for Sloane and James not to think about suicide when they’re surrounded by death on all sides.  But they have to hide their true feelings, because now the government is involved.  Now if teens start showing any signs of depression, government agents can take them away and force them into the Program.  The Program is the only known cure for suicidal thoughts.  On the plus side, at the end of six weeks, you don’t have those suicidal thoughts anymore.  But on the minus side, you’ll lose your memories of your friends, your family, and everything that was ever important to you.  In other words ... you might as well be dead.

Sloane and James will do anything to keep each other safe and stay out of the Program.  They will do anything to keep themselves whole, and keep their minds from being wiped clean.  But unfortunately, they won’t be the ones making the final decision.

Played: 12 | Download | Duration: 00:01:55

Recently I was on the lookout for "crossover" books (for older children and younger teens) that fit into the scary / dark / creepy category to share with my colleagues to help answer one of our most popular questions from our patrons.  I came up with a list of titles, and as soon as I'd completed the list THIS book came in, and when I read it I realized that it should've gone to the top of that list.  (FWIW, Doll Bones by Holly Black also looks like a strong contender for that list, but it just came out so I haven't read it yet). 

The Cavendish Home For Boys and Girls by Claire Legrand is one of the best crossover books I've read in years, and it would be a great book to put into the hands of any readers who loved Coraline by Neil Gaiman because it has a similarly dark and creepy feel.  And while the reading level is appropriate for older children and younger teens, the story is so engaging and well-written that it can entice older readers (even grownups!) who enjoy scary stories.  Oh, and while right now the book is only available in hardcover (so you should each get at least one copy for your collections NOW), it's coming out in paperback in August (so you can order more copies to satisfy more readers!)

BOOKTALK:

Victoria is as close to perfect as a girl can get.   Her hair, her clothes, her manners, her grades, everything has always been perfect.  One of the only things about Victoria that isn’t perfect is her friendship with with a boy named Lawrence, because Lawrence isn’t perfect at all.  Lawrence is quiet, and shy, and awkward, and always going around looking messy with his shirt untucked.  He’s really kind of embarrassing.  He’s definitely not the kind of friend a perfect girl like Victoria should have.  But then one day Lawrence disappears, and nobody seems to care.  It’s almost like the other kids and teachers don’t even remember him.  But Victoria remembers him, and Victoria cares.  

As she starts investigating Lawrence’s disappearance, Victoria starts learning about other boys and girls who have gone missing from the same neighborhood.  Victoria finds clues that point her towards a weird house in the neighborhood called the Cavendish Home For Boys and Girls.  The more she investigates the home, the more she learns about how many of the boys and girls who go there come back looking and acting … different than before.  

And Victoria also learns that some of the boys and girls who go to the home never come back at all.

Played: 17 | Download | Duration: 00:19:12

So I had this idea for an episode.  I would use content that I'd already created (an enormous booklist that I used to hand out to the teens in my library) as the backbone of an episode about promoting your collections, and voila!  Easy episode!  Except I didn't anticipate that so much reading would be quite so draining, or that this episode would take so much editing.  Honestly, I can see how "Rumplestiltskin" could be difficult to pronounce, but "2011"?  Really??? 

Oh, and about that booklist.  I whittled it down a lot before I shared it, so it was originally even longer.  And in case you were wondering how I chose those categories, it was a twofold process.  The first part of the reason behind those categories was that I wanted to promote great books that didn't seem to fit into any special category except for the extremely broad area of "realistic fiction."  So I would look at great books on my shelves by authors like John Marsden, Norma Fox Mazer, Angela Johnson, Jacqueline Woodson, and Adele Griffin and think of angles that I could use to promote them.   The second part of the reason was based on requests by my teen patrons, either direct category requests like "Where are your books on teen pregnancy?" and "Where are your books that have gay characters?" or broader requests like "Where are more books like Push by Sapphire?" or "Can you help me find books that will make me cry?"

And yes, I know that that list was very long, and it was a lot of information to absorb and digest.  So I'm pasting a copy of the list here, in case you'd like to consult it at your leisure:

Abuse:
Chaltas, Thalia – Because I am Furniture
Flinn, Alex – Breathing Underwater
Garden, Nancy – Endgame
Haddix, Margaret Peterson – Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey
Lynch, Chris – Inexcusable
Mazer, Norma Fox – When She Was Good
McNamee, Graham – Hate You
Sapphire – Push
Tashjian, Janet – Fault Line
Werlin, Nancy – The Rules of Survival
Williams, Lori Aurelia – When Kambia Elaine Flew in From Neptune
Woodson, Jacqueline – I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This
Zarr, Sara – Sweethearts

Death:
Anderson, Laurie Halse – Wintergirls
Asher, Jay – Thirteen Reasons Why
Borris, Albert – Crash Into Me
Cohn, Rachel – You Know Where to Find Me
Coman, Carolyn – Tell Me Everything
Deaver, Julie Reece – Say Goodnight, Gracie
Downham, Jenny – Before I Die
Ellis, Ann Dee – Everything is Fine
Forman, Gayle – If I Stay
Giles, Gail – Right Behind You
Green, John – Looking For Alaska
Griffin, Adele – Where I Want to Be
Hurley, Tonya – Ghost Girl, Ghostgirl: Homecoming
Johnson, Angela – Looking For Red
Johnson, Maureen – The Key to the Golden Firebird
Leavitt, Martine – Keturah and Lord Death
Mazer, Norma Fox – Girlhearts
MacCullough, Carolyn – Falling Through Darkness
McDaniel, Lurlene – many titles
Myers, Walter Dean – Shooter, Autobiography of My Dead Brother
Peters, Julie Anne – By the Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead
Rylant, Cynthia – Missing May
Scott, Elizabeth – Love You Hate You Miss You
Soto, Gary – The Afterlife
Vande Velde, Vivian – Remembering Raquel
Woods, Brenda – Emako Blue
Woodson, Jacqueline – Behind You
Zeises, Lara M. – Bringing Up the Bones
Zevin, Gabrielle – Elsewhere

Diary-Format Novels:
Cabot, Meg – Princess Diaries series
Cushman, Karen – Catherine, Called Birdy
Dear America / My Name is America series (various authors)
Goldschmidt, Judy – Raisin Rodriguez series
Grimes, Nikki – Jazmin’s Notebook
Haddix, Margaret Peterson – Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey
Lloyd, Saci – The Carbon Diaries, 2015
Marsden, John – So Much to Tell You
Rees, Celia – Witch Child
Rennison, Louise – Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging etc.
Van Draanen, Wendelin – Runaway

Eating Disorders:
Anderson, Laurie Halse – Wintergirls
Friedman, Robin – Nothing
Hautzig, Deborah – Second Star to the Right
Newman, Leslea – Fat Chance
Shaw, Liane – thinandbeautiful.com

Family Problems:
Barkley, Brad & Heather Helper – Jars of Glass
Bauer, Cat – Harley Like a Person
Cohn, Rachel – Gingerbread, Two Steps Forward
Gantos, Jack – The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs
Grimes, Nikki – Dark Sons
Hopkins, Ellen – Identical
Johnson, Angela – Bird
Klass, David – Dark Angel
McCormick, Patricia – My Brother’s Keeper
Mazer, Norma Fox – When She Was Good, What I Believe
Namioka, Lensey – April and the Dragon Lady
Peters, Julie Anne – Between Mom and Jo
Plummer, Louise – Finding Daddy
Quarles, Heather – A Door Near Here
Sleator, William – Oddballs
Williams, Lori Aurelia – When Kambia Elaine Flew in From Neptune
Woodson, Jacqueline – Miracle’s Boys

Friendship:
Brashares, Ann – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, 3 Willows
Cohn, Rachel & David Levithan – Naomi and Eli’s No Kiss List
Cooney, Caroline – Among Friends
Jacobson, Jennifer Richard – The Complete History of Why I Hate Her
Mazer, Norma Fox – Babyface
Myracle, Lauren – ttyl
Perkins, Lynne Rae – All Alone in the Universe
Philbrick, W. R. – Freak the Mighty, Max the Mighty
Scott, Elizabeth – Love You Hate You Miss You
Woodson, Jacqueline – Maizon series, I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This, After Tupac & D Foster
Young, Alexa – Frenemies

Homosexuality:
Ford, Michael Thomas – Suicide Notes
Garden, Nancy – Annie on My Mind
Hardy, Mark – Nothing Pink
Howe, James – Totally Joe
Levithan, David – Boy Meets Boy, How They Met and Other Stories
Lieberman, Leanne – Gravity
Myracle, Lauren – Kissing Kate
Peters, Julie Anne – grl2grl, Between Mom and Jo
Ryan, Sara – Empress of the World
Sanchez, Alex – So Hard to Say, Rainbow Road, The God Box
St. James, James – Freak Show
Weyr, Garret Freyman – My Heartbeat
Wittlinger, Ellen – Love & Lies: Marisol’s Story
Wolff, Virginia Euwer – True Believer
Woodson, Jacqueline – From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun, The House You Pass on the Way

Letter-Format Novels:
Buckhanon, Kalisha – Upstate
Frank, Hillary – I Can’t Tell You
Ives, David – Voss
Marsden, John – Letters From the Inside
Myracle, Lauren – ttyl, l8r, g8r
Ortiz Cofer, Judith – Call Me Maria: A Novel in Letters, Poems, and Prose
Petersen, P. J. & Ivy Ruckman – rob&sara.com
Rosen, Michael J. – ChaseR: A Novel in E-mails

Poem-Format Novels:
Bryant, Jen – Ringside, 1925: Views From the Scopes Trial
Chaltas, Thalia – Because I am Furniture
Fehler, Gene – Beanball
Friedman, Robin – Nothing
Grimes, Nikki – Dark Sons
Herrera, Juan Felipe – Crashboomlove
Hesse, Karen – Out of the Dust, Witness
High, Linda Oatman – Sister Slam and the Poetic Motormouth Road Trip
Hopkins, Ellen – Crank, Burned, Glass, Impulse, Identical
Koertge, Ron – Shakespeare Bats Cleanup
Lee Wong, Joyce – Seeing Emily
Levithan, David – The Realm of Possibility
Marcus, Kimberly – Exposed
Mazer, Norma Fox – What I Believe
Myers, Walter Dean – Street Love
Rylant, Cynthia – God Went to Beauty School
Sones, Sonya – Stop Pretending, What My Mother Doesn’t Know, One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies, What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know
Weatherford, Carole Boston – Becoming Billie Holiday
Wild, Margaret – One Night
Wolff, Virginia Euwer – Make Lemonade, True Believer, This Full House

Retellings of Myths and Fairy Tales:
Brooks, Laurie – Selkie Girl
Childs, Tera Lynn – oh. my. gods.
Dokey, Cameron – Belle: A Retelling of "Beauty and the Beast", Wild Orchid: A Retelling of "The Battle of Mulan", The World Above
Flinn, Alex – Beastly
George, Jessica Day – Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow
Geras, Adele – Pictures of the Night, Watching the Roses, Ithaka
Haddix, Margaret Peterson – Just Ella
Mclaren, Clemence – Aphrodite’s Blessings: Love Stories From the Greek Myths
Napoli, Donna Jo – Beast, Breath, Zel
Palmer, Robin – Cindy Ella
Soinner, Stephanie – Damosel
Troll’s Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales ed. by Datlow & Windling
Vande Velde, Vivian – The Rumpelstiltskin Problem
Whitman, Emily – Radiant Darkness

Teen Pregnancy:
Brisson, Pat – The Best and Hardest Thing
Buckhanon, Kalisha – Conception
Doherty, Berlie – Dear Nobody
Efaw, Amy – After
Gramont, Nina De – Every Little Thing In the World
Plummer, Louise – A Dance For Three
Taylor, Michelle – What's Happily Ever After, Anyway?
Williams-Garcia, Rita – Like Sisters on the Homefront
Woodson, Jacqueline – The Dear One

Played: 25 | Download | Duration: 00:01:45

Several years ago, I found myself in a bind.  A local private school that had never invited me to visit before asked me to come in and address their entire middle school for ten minutes during an assembly.  There was the one part of my brain that said, "Well, my typical presentation lasts about 40 minutes, and it's most effective if I'm speaking to one or two classes at a time."  Then there was the other part of my brain that realized that I could give my statistics a huge boost by seeing several hundred students at the same time, and that I COULD hypothetically condense my 40-minute presentation into 10 if I tried hard enough (and cut out a lot of it). 

The other big problem was that since I was going to be talking to 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students all at once, I either wanted to talk about crossover books that were definitely in both our children's and young adult collections or children's books that were cool and popular enough that younger teens would enjoy them.  Because nothing would be crueler than telling these kids about books from the young adult collection knowing that some of them could check them out right away while others might not be able to for another year depending on which box their parents had checked on their library card applications. 

So I scoured the shelves of our children's room looking for books that fit the bill, and I picked two crossover books plus this Wimpy Kid book.  I then skimmed this book really quickly, created a list of major plot points, and voila!  There was my booktalk.  If I left out any of the plot points on my list, either because of time constraints or because I experienced "deer in the headlights" syndrome, it would be okay.  If I got any of those plot points in the wrong order, it would also be okay.  And if worse came to worst, I could just hold up the book and say, "We have lots of Wimpy Kid books at the library!"  Because that would be okay, too.
 
So I got to the school, found my way to the auditorium, and was told that I actually had FIVE minutes to speak because there were a lot of other things on the agenda.  And then ... well, everything after that was kind of a blur, but I think it went okay in the end.

If you'd like to learn more about The Last Straw and the rest of the Wimpy Kid books, then you can visit Jeff Kinney's Wimpy Kid website.

BOOKTALK:

Greg Heffley has made an important New Year's resolution.  This year, he's resolved to help other people improve ... because Greg himself is pretty much perfect!  So now Greg is trying to make his mother chew her potato chips more quietly, trying to stop his father from cheating on his diet, and trying to stop his brother Roderick from being such a horrible person.  Unfortunately, it turns out that other people don't LIKE being told how to improve themselves, so this resolution doesn't work out too well. 

Greg writes about a lot of things in his diary, from that failed New Year's resolution to a Valentine's dance where the kids are told they HAVE to dance because it's going to count as 20% of their PE grade.  Then there was Greg's single-handed destruction of the soccer team's perfect record.  And the time that he got a zero on his geography quiz.  And the time that Greg's little brother Manny invented a gross new nickname for him and wouldn't stop using it.  And the time that beautiful Holly Hills couldn't even get his name right.  And the time that Greg's father said that he wanted to send Greg to military school ...

Actually, there are a LOT of things in this diary that Greg Heffley would rather not remember!  But YOU can read all about them in

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney

Played: 21 | Download | Duration: 00:02:11

I was first introduced to the writing of Daniel Waters with his excellent zombie novel Generation Dead (which I booktalked in a previous episode back in 2012).  So when I saw that he'd written a novel about ghosts, I definitely knew that it would be worth checking out.  What I enjoy the most about Break My Heart 1,000 Times is that while it's both a mystery and a scary story, it's also a deeply emotional story about an empathetic protagonist.  Readers will find themselves rooting for Veronica as she plays both hero and victim as the suspenseful story unfolds.

BOOKTALK:

Veronica lives in a world where ghosts are real.  They aren’t there permanently, but they keep showing up for a few minutes or a few seconds at a time, over and over again.  Sometimes they return to the moment of their deaths.  Sometimes they return to the happiest moments of their lives.  And sometimes they return to ordinary moments of ordinary days.  

Veronica sees ghosts every day; she sees ghosts on her way to and from school, in the classrooms, and even at home.  In fact, it’s a ghost that she’s been seeing at home that’s been making her curious and worried.  This is the ghost of a teenage boy who stands in front of her bathroom mirror.  Every day at the same time, he combs his hair, he smiles, and then he vanishes.  But this ghost is unusual because he seems more real to Veronica than the other ghosts she’s seen.  Sometimes it looks like his reflection appears in the bathroom mirror, even though everyone knows that ghosts don’t have reflections.  And sometimes after he vanishes, when Veronica walks over to the place where he stood, the air feels colder in that spot, and she can even smell the cologne that he once used.  

Veronica doesn’t know anything about this boy.  She doesn’t know his name, or how he died, or how long he’s been gone.  She also doesn’t know that he is one of many ghosts that are slowly becoming more powerful, and more real.

Played: 20 | Download | Duration: 00:01:54

When I first became a young adult librarian trainee, Gary Paulsen was required reading.  He's written many realistic fiction books featuring boy protagonists who have to face tough decisions.  I previously shared my booktalk for The Crossing, but Hatchet is far and away his most popular book.  Part of the reason this book is so popular is that teachers love it, so they assign it to their students year after year.  So librarians, in turn, keep ordering more copies because the demand is so high.  Which explains why I wrote this booktalk in the first place. 

Years ago, I was asked by a supervisor to join her in booktalking to some children's classes that were scheduled to visit our library.  I knew how much effort went into creating each booktalk, so I perused the shelves of our children's room looking for "crossover" books that I recognized from the young adult collection so that I could booktalk those titles to different grade levels.  I was also specifically looking for books that had multiple copies on the shelf, so that *IF* my booktalks were a hit I could satisfy more readers who wanted to check the books out.  The crossover book I found that had the most copies on the shelf was Hatchet, so that was the first booktalk I wrote to deliver to 6th grade classes.

If you or your readers enjoy Hatchet and are looking for more ... well, there's a LOT more.  In addition to the book itself, there's also a special 20th anniversary edition.  Then there are the sequels to Hatchet — The River, Brian's Winter, Brian's Return, and Brian's Hunt.  But if you STILL want more, then you can also read Paulsen's nonfiction book called Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books.

BOOKTALK:

Brian Robeson is 13 years old, and his life has just started falling apart.  His parents just got a divorce, and he hates it.  Now he has to go back and forth between his mother and his father and lead two separate lives.  That’s why he’s on a tiny plane on his way to Canada, to spend the summer with his father.  Brian is alone with the pilot, with nothing but the secret to keep him company.  

Oh, that’s right – I haven’t told you what the secret is.  

The secret is the real reason his parents got divorced, and Brian knows it.  The secret eats away at him, making him angry and upset.  He keeps it locked away inside, where it grows and grows.  

Well, very soon something happens that makes Brian forget about the secret and everything else.  The pilot starts getting sick.  He starts feeling faint, and having pains in his chest and up his arm.  By the time Brian realizes he’s having a heart attack, it’s too late.  Soon Brian learns that his bad luck is just beginning.  Now he has to try to land the plane himself and then survive until he gets rescued … if he gets rescued.  His only tool for survival is a hatchet his mother gave him as a going-away present.  

Find out how Brian survives with no one to help him – but himself.

Played: 21 | Download | Duration: 00:01:06

Okay, so the first thing you should know is that Letters From the Inside by John Marsden is one of my top ten favorite teen novels.  Scratch that — this book is one of my top FIVE favorite teen novels.  But the second thing you should know is that this is NOT one of my favorite booktalks. 

I'm not sure why this booktalk falls below my usual expectations, but I have two theories.  The first is that because I love this book so much, every time I booktalk it and the kids in the class don't fight each other tooth and nail to read it, I assume that I've done a lousy job booktalking it.  My second theory is that because I'm being so careful trying not to reveal the scope of the secrets and lies that the two girls are hiding from each other, my description of the story is so vague that it doesn't entice the listeners enough.  The challenge of a good booktalk is in revealing enough to entice the readers without revealing too much to spoil the story, and sometimes it's tricky achieving that balance.

If you learn nothing else from this episode, it's that each and every one of you should have copies of this book on your library shelves.  And that while you can always read this book yourself and then recommend it to your readers one-on-one, booktalking it without giving away vital plot points might be a challenge.  Just use my booktalk as a starting point ... and then write something better!

BOOKTALK:

Tracey put an ad in the paper one day, and Mandy answered it.  Now they’re pen pals, on their way to becoming best friends.  They both have so much to talk about; they share their stories, their hopes, their dreams, and their fears.  No two girls have ever been closer than Tracey and Mandy – or so it seems. 

But here’s the reality; one girl is hiding part of the truth, and the other girl is hiding the whole truth.  And when too many secrets and lies build up, the truth will come out.  Tracey and Mandy will soon have their friendship – and their lives – put to the ultimate test.

Played: 25 | Download | Duration: 00:12:38

Happy poetry month!  This episode contains some of my favorite poems to read aloud to classes, and they came from these books:

Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls ed. by Betsy Franco

The Geography of Girlhood by Kirsten Smith

What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones

Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams

Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States ed. by Lori Marie Carlson

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex

Played: 27 | Download | Duration: 00:01:39

Laurie Halse Anderson is probably best known for girl-oriented realistic fiction books like Speak and Wintergirls, but her fans have learned that her other books are definitely worth reading, too.  Twisted is rare because it focuses on a male protagonist, but like her other books in that it contains a lot of human drama.

BOOKTALK:

Tyler has been in trouble before, but never like this.   He's forgotten to do his homework.  He's failed tests and quizzes.  There was even the time last year that Tyler was caught spray-painting all over the school and was arrested, and is now on probation.  Like I said, he's been in trouble before.  But in his senior year he's going to get in trouble in ways he never imagined, and it all starts with Bethany Milbury. 

Bethany is the sister of one of Tyler's greatest enemies, and she's the daughter of his father's boss.  Bethany is one of the most beautiful and popular girls in school, and she has NEVER looked twice at Tyler — until now.  Maybe it's because all the manual labor he did over the summer gave Tyler some muscles.  Maybe it's because his police record gave him a cool reputation.  But now he's attracted Bethany's attention, and his relationship with her will get him into more trouble than he's ever known before. 

Tyler doesn't know it yet, but senior year is going to be the best and the worst year ever.  He has no idea how twisted his life is going to be.

Played: 34 | Download | Duration: 00:02:11

To answer your first question, no, this episode is not about the tasty (???) marshmallow Easter candy, although I do admit that the timing is entertaining!

Today we're revisiting the weird and fabulous world of Scott Westerfeld, previously seen in last year's episode where I booktalked his phenomenal science fiction novel Uglies.  Peeps takes the classic idea of vampires and gives it a sci-fi twist by using the idea of the condition being spread through parasite infections.  And for readers who enjoy Peeps, the story that begins in this book continues in the novel The Last Days.

BOOKTALK:

My name is Cal, and I'm trying to find my ex-girlfriend Sarah.  Now don't get me wrong; the reason I'm doing it is because she's no longer entirely human ... and I'm the one who made her that way. 

It turns out that I'm a carrier of a parasite that's been infecting people for thousands of years.  I'm telling you; I didn't know I had infected her until it was too late.  I didn't even know that I was sick.  But I did notice that my senses of taste and smell and eyesight were more powerful than before.  I did notice that I was stronger than before.  I did notice that it was almost impossible to sleep at night.  And I did notice an increased desire for red meat.  But because I'm a carrier, I can still live like a normal human being.  Well ... MOSTLY normal. 

But for the rest of the people who are infected by this parasite (like my ex-girlfriends, for example), it changes them in even more ways.  It makes them lose a lot of weight.  It makes their eyes huge.  It makes them hate the sunlight.  It makes them angry.  It makes them crazy.  And it makes them kill people.  A thousand years ago, or even a hundred years ago, we would have called them vampires.  But now we know better.  Now we call them parasite positives, or peeps for short. 

When I find Sarah and the Night Watch team takes her away, that'll be one less peep around to spread this parasite to other people.  But while Sarah is the last ex-girlfriend I need to track down, I still have one more big job to do. 

I still have to find the person who infected ME.

Played: 23 | Download | Duration: 00:01:31

I'm a big fan of books by Angela Johnson, and her novels always feature beautiful writing and well-drawn young protagonists.  Looking for Red is one of my favorite books of hers, and I'm also a fan of Bird, which I booktalked on an earlier episode.  BTW, this booktalk is one of the few I've written that includes a line from the book itself (the one about the room full of broken glass). 

BOOKTALK:

Mike has always loved the ocean, but she loves her brother Red even more.   All of her favorite memories were of the two of them together, whether they were fishing, diving, or cruising up and down the coast.  Mike and Red were inseparable, and that's why her life has been upside down for the past three months.  Because it was three months ago that Red disappeared.  

She still sees him sometimes, leaning against the shed or talking to her in her dreams.  And she's not the only one who remembers him; his best friend Mark and his girlfriend Mona remember him too.  Everyone has been affected by Red's disappearance, but no one more than Mike, Mark, and Mona.  Because only these three people know what really happened to Red, and only they will have that memory to carry with them for the rest of their lives.  

When someone you love goes away, it's like walking barefoot in a room full of broken glass.  And these three people will feel that way forever.

Played: 26 | Download | Duration: 00:07:51

Here are the resources I mentioned during this episode:
The American Library Association, specifically for children and teens
School Library Journal
VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)
The Horn Book
PUBYAC (listserv)
Graphic Novels for Libraries (listserv)
Reading Rants
Teenreads
Miss Print
No Flying No Tights
The YA YA YAs
School Library Journal blogs
Kidlitosphere Central, specifically their Bloggers in Children's and Young Adult Literature list (which includes Be a Better Booktalker, as well as MANY more excellent resources!)
Text Messages: Recommendations for Adolescent Readers (podcast)
The Podcast Pickle directory - "Books and Stories"
iTunes - Literature Podcasts

Plus, I also wanted to make note of a few more places to find new book recommendations:
Goodreads is a great place to browse for books for children and young adults
Amazon.com books for children and teens
Kirkus reviews for children and teens
Publishers Weekly newsletters, including Children's Bookshelf and PW Comics World

Played: 25 | Download | Duration: 00:01:50

I was a fan of Graham McNamee's work ever since I read his realistic fiction novel Hate You, which is still on my top ten list of favorite YA novels of all time.  Which makes it especially frustrating that it's been out of print for so long.

Anyway, let's get back to Acceleration.  This is an excellent book to share with mixed groups of boys and girls.  It has a male protagonist who finds himself in the middle of a mystery and puts his own life at risk to try to solve it.  Acceleration won an Edgar Award for best young adult mystery — which reminds me that if you're ever looking for good mysteries for all ages, the Edgar Awards website can help you find lots of great titles.

BOOKTALK:

Duncan has the most boring summer job on the planet.  He's working at the subway lost and found, sorting through dusty boxes of everything from eyeglasses to golf clubs to books.  Then one day Duncan finds a book that's unlike all the others, because this one is a journal.  As Duncan reads it, he feels like he's getting to know this anonymous person; like he's really inside this guy's head.  But the more he reads, the more frightened he becomes.  According to the journal, this man has been setting fires ... and torturing and killing animals.  He also reads that this man is looking for a bigger challenge, that he's started stalking women on the subway, and that he’s planning to murder at least one of them.  

At least ... that's what's in this guy's head.  Who knows if it's fact or fiction?  Duncan brings the journal to the police, but they don't take it seriously.  

Duncan can't let this go – he doesn't know if this book is real or fake, or if the guy wrote it last month or last year.  But the point is that it might be true, and there's a chance that these women can still be saved.  The one thing Duncan is sure of is that this man is dangerous, and he must be stopped at all costs.

Played: 28 | Download | Duration: 00:01:47

Truth be told, I first picked up Professor Gargoyle because I'm a big fan of HP Lovecraft, and I was interested in reading a children's book written by a fellow Lovecraft fan.  Then I picked up the book and was worried because it looked kind of ... gimmicky.  Yes, the animated cover that goes back and forth between a normal looking teacher and a hideous monster when you tilt the book is COOL and all.  But I was worried because I thought that the book might rely too much on the cover for sales and the story might not live up to the hype.  Luckily, the story was engaging, a little scary, and a lot of fun.  This will be a good series for fans of the Goosebumps series, for reluctant readers, and for grownups who would like to add some Lovecraftian influence to the younger generation.  Visit the Lovecraft Middle School website to learn more about the series, about HP Lovecraft, and about the secret identity of Charles Gilman!

BOOKTALK:

Robert is having a tough time at Lovecraft Middle School.  All of his old friends are now going to Franklin Middle School, and he doesn’t know anyone at this new school … except for Glenn.  The bully who’s been tormenting Robert for years.  On their very first day at Lovecraft, Glenn throws chewed-up gummy worms in Robert’s hair AND demands money from him.  Just like old times.  And that was during the school’s welcome ceremony.  Robert hadn’t even set foot in the school yet!  

When he went inside to find his locker, Robert got another unpleasant surprise.  He opened his locker, looked inside, and sitting on the top shelf staring at him was a large … white … rat.  And suddenly there was a lot of screaming going on all around him.  Because there wasn’t just a rat in Robert’s locker.  There was a rat in EVERY locker.  And all at once, dozens and dozens of rats came leaping out of the lockers, running down the hallway, and stampeding through the door of the school.

But believe it or not, that wasn’t the weirdest part of Robert’s first day at Lovecraft Middle School.

The latest episode of the Cinefantastique podcast is now available, in which I discuss the film Beautiful Creatures with Dan and Steve and compare the movie to the (much better) book that it was based on. 



Learn more about this paranormal romance that weaves a modern-day love story with a Civil War subplot, and more importantly learn why the story is called Beautiful Creatures!  Check out the episode HERE.  Enjoy!!!

Played: 20 | Download | Duration: 00:02:05

Many times when I pick nonfiction books to share with classes, I'm picking topics that interest me, like science, history, and food.  But when I'm talking about instructional books, it's easier for me to talk about topics that are more interesting to my teens than they are to me.  And even if I am interested, I know that I don't have enough skill to make jewelry, knit and crochet cool accessories and adorable creatures, or write and draw a graphic novel.  The Making of a Graphic Novel is a great book to share with classes because it will appeal to aspiring writers and artists, as well as everyone who wants to learn more about the universe in which human beings can no longer sleep.  Most people know Prentis Rollins because of his artwork, but The Resonator story proves that he has great writing skills, as well.

BOOKTALK:

After the wars and after the famines, humans stopped sleeping.  No one knew how or why it happened.  Maybe people were genetically altered by the Probe Corporation.  Maybe it was just the next step in man's evolution.  But whatever the reason, humans can no longer sleep on their own.  They either need drugs ... or they need a resonator.  But resonators are illegal.  In fact, possessing, transporting, or using a resonator is punishable by death.  When Bronsen, a uranium miner, goes to a sleep merchant, he is going to sleep for the first time since he was three years old.  Bronsen knows that asking for a resonator is is both illegal and dangerous.  What he doesn't know is that the resonator is a living, breathing thing.  He also doesn't know that the resonator will allow him to dream for the very first time ... and that this dream will change his life.

This half of the book contains the graphic novel The Resonator.  After you finish it, flip the book over to read the other half, called The Making of a Graphic Novel.  This half of the book will take you through the entire process of putting a graphic novel together.  From writing the story to pencilling, inking, and lettering, Prentis Rollins will guide you through every step of the way.  If you like graphic novels and want to make your own someday, this one-of-a-kind book is for you.

Played: 18 | Download | Duration: 00:12:03

You can look at this episode as an overview of how to start and develop a classroom library, or you can look at it as my own version of "Desert Island Discs."  If you're looking for any of the authors or books I talked about during this episode, here's the complete list:

REALISTIC FICTION
Authors: Judy Blume, Rachel Cohn, Gary Paulsen, Angela Johnson, Sue Limb, Robert Cormier, Walter Dean Myers, Jacqueline Woodson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Louise Rennison, and John Green

• The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga
• You Don’t Know Me by David Klass
• Everything is Fine by Anne Dee Ellis
• The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake
• If I Stay by Gayle Forman

MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE
Authors: Lois Duncan and Joan Lowery Nixon

• What Happened to Cass McBride? by Gail Giles
• Trapped by Michael Northrop
• The Boy Who Couldn’t Die by William Sleator
• Ten by Gretchen McNeil

HISTORICAL FICTION
Authors: Karen Cushman, Ann Rinaldi, and Avi

• Death and the Arrow by Chris Priestley
• Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Witch Child by Celia Rees
• One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION
Authors: William Sleator and Scott Westerfeld

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Matched by Ally Condie
• Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
• Beta by Rachel Cohn
• All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• Cinder by Marissa Meyer

HORROR

• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
• Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
• Anna Dressed in Bloodby Kendare Blake
• Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
• Tales From Lovecraft Middle School series by Charles Gilman

ROMANCE

• Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

SHORT-STORY COLLECTIONS

• Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
• The Rumplestiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde

POEM-FORMAT NOVELS
Author: Sonya Sones

• Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
• Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff

LETTER-FORMAT NOVELS

• Letters From the Inside by John Marsden
• The Internet Girls series starting with TTYL by Lauren Myracle

DIARY-FORMAT NOVELS

• The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez by Judy Goldschmidt
• Click Here (To Find Out How I Survived Seventh Grade) by Denise Vega

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol
• The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot
• Tyranny by Lesley Fairfield

POETRY

• What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones (poem-format novel)
• Cool Salsa edited by Lori Carlson
• Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls edited by Betsy Franco

PLAYS

• Monster by Walter Dean Myers (screenplay-format novel)
• The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel

NONFICTION

• A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer
• Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World of Food
• Outbreak: Plagues That Changed History by Bryn Barnard
• Top Secret: A Handbook of Codes, Ciphers, and Secret Writing by Paul Janeczko
• The Emperor’s Silent Army by Jane O’Connor
• The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon
• Dear Diary by Lesley Arfin.
• King of the Mild Frontier by Chris Crutcher
• Mommy Knows Worst: Highlights From the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice by James Lileks

A while back, I wrote that my next appearance on the Cinefantastique Podcast was going to be to discuss the zombie thriller / romantic comedy Warm Bodies.  Well, that was the plan, except I didn't anticipate that the demand for the book was going to be so high that I wouldn't be able to get the book from my library in time.  So instead, I will be joining the guys at CFQ to discuss Beautiful Creatures, which is based on a teen novel by Kami Garcia that I read several years ago.  The movie is definitely going to be romantic with a paranormal twist, but will it be entertaining, too?  Wait and see!

Played: 21 | Download | Duration: 00:02:26

You Don't Know Me by David Klass is one of my favorite teen books that I've read since I became a librarian.  The cover grabbed me right away, and once I started reading it I was enthralled by the story and the narrator's voice.  Reading this book felt like a roller-coaster ride, because of all of the emotional highs and lows.  I've been booktalking this book and placing it into teenagers' hands for years, and I'm very glad that it's still in print.  Every library should have copies of this book in their teen collection (hint-hint)!

Now, let's take a minute to talk about booktalking technique.  This is one of the few books I've read that uses both first and second person, and my first sentence of my booktalk introduces the first-person concept.  I always take a brief pause after saying "My name is John" to give it a second to sink in and to let my audience know that I'm going to be speaking as that character.  And if listening to a female librarian call herself a male name isn't strange enough,  addressing the audience as "you" at the end of the booktalk adds to the power of the presentation. 

Also, this is my booktalk as originally written, but I've made adjustments to it depending on my audience and my state of mind.  First, the paragraph about the music teacher isn't really essential, even though it does highlight the humorous aspect of the book.  So I have occasionally left that part out, either because I was pressed for time or because while I was in the first paragraph I was watching my audience and felt that they were too distracted and I needed to cut to the chase.  Second, there's that description of Gloria eating and swallowing the note.  I'm guessing that if you know teenagers, you know where this is going.  That's right — many teenagers, especially older ones, will laugh out loud at that description because they think it's an oral sex reference (which it isn't, but there's no time to explain that in the middle of a booktalk).  So I usually keep the booktalk in its original form when I present it to 7th grade classes, but remove the "One gulp and it went straight down that beautiful perfect throat of hers" line when I present it to high school classes.

The lesson here being, don't be afraid to learn from your audience and adjust your booktalks accordingly!

BOOKTALK:

My name is John, and my friends don't know me. They think they know what kind of person I am, but really they have no idea. Glory Hallelulia doesn't know me, either. Her real name is Gloria, but because she's so beautiful that she's absolutely perfect, I call her Glory Hallelulia. Well, today I passed her a note in class asking her to go to a basketball game with me. I was really proud of that note! There was one box to check for yes and one box to check for no, and the box for yes was really big, and the box for no was really small, and do you know what she did after she read it? She folded it back up ... and then ... she *ate* it. She didn't even chew it! One gulp and it went straight down that beautiful perfect throat of hers. I'm still trying to figure out what *that* meant. Well, Glory Hallelulia may be perfect in many ways, but she doesn't know me, either.

My music teacher, Mr. Steenwilly, doesn't know me. He thinks I have great potential, that I have the ability to make beautiful music with a tuba that thinks it's a frog. Mr. Steenwilly couldn't be further from the truth.

The man who is not my father doesn't know me. He thinks he knows what kind of person I am — that I'm weak, and afraid, and that I'll always do whatever he tells me to. But no matter what he does to me when we're alone, and no matter how much he makes my life hell ... well, let's just say I'm stronger than he thinks. And do you know what hurts most of all? Even more than than the man who is not my father? That you don't know me, either. Because if you did, I think everything would be different, and my life wouldn't be the way it is right now. If I had one wish, it would be that the next time you looked at me that you would look into my eyes and finally see who I really am.

Played: 22 | Download | Duration: 00:01:21

First, I was interested in reading After because it combines two of my favorite things: short stories and dystopias.  Then when I saw that it was edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, I was even more excited to read it because they have an excellent track record with fantasy and science fiction anthologies.  As with most anthologies, some stories are better than others so the quality varies as you go through the book, but I definitely found more hits than misses here.  Oh, and as a side note, this book is officially for ages "12 and up," but I think that some of the stories are above most middle school students' comprehension so I would primarily recommend this collection for high school students or adults.

As I was trying to come up with ideas for how to booktalk this book, I was torn between talking about the book as a whole and focusing on one particular story.  Once in a while, I'll find one story in an anthology that I think will be able to sell the book to a wide audience, like in my booktalk for Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link.  But even though I found several stories in this anthology that could definitely merit their own booktalks, I decided that I'd rather highlight the large variety of stories in this collection so that I would be more likely to suggest a premise that might intrigue someone in my audience.  And the added benefit of this booktalk?  If I forget one of the sentences, THAT'S OKAY.  And if I list the premises out of order, THAT'S OKAY, TOO.

BOOKTALK:

How will society fall apart?  

Will there be war?  Will the crime rate soar out of control?  Will ocean levels rise, flooding the world’s cities?  Will an illness or a plague destroy the population?  Will aliens from outer space attack the earth?  Will people spread mutations that turn them into zombies or vampires?  Will something created in a lab go horribly wrong and start destroying the world?  Will the earth become so toxic that everyone will have to leave the planet?  Will a mysterious event break the world into millions of pieces?  

And then … after society falls apart … what happens next?