Tag Archive | books

Good intentions (reflective), or "travel changes all good plans"

Nov7
photo by Katy Manck of Colorado double rainbow in dark cloudy sky
Colorado double rainbow

The wonderful books I’ve read and want to recommend to you are there, lined up and waiting patiently on my shelf.

My calendar has their recommendation dates all mapped out, for Mysterious Mondays and World Wednesdays and Fun Fridays.

And today I leave for the International Association of School Librarianship 2012 Conference in Doha, Qatar – with no new recommendations in my “buffer” to be published in the ten days ahead. Sigh…

So while I’m flying and meeting and presenting on the GiggleIT Project for student writing and flying some more, be sure to check out the BooksYALove archives using the Labels (over there —>) to find recommendations of some great YA books that you might have missed.

Rather chuffed to see that two of my recent recommendations are on the UK CILIP Carnegie Medal Longlist for 2013:  Daylight Saving,  by Edward Hogan, and The Apothecary,  by Maile Meloy.
A great time to update your holiday wishlist, right?

And here’s a double rainbow to tide y’all over till I get back.
Read on, y’all!
**kmm

Island of Thieves, by Josh Lacey (fiction) – treasure, travel, trouble in Peru!

Aug15
book cover of Island of Thieves by Josh Lacey published by Houghton Mifflin

Historic voyage journal to find!
Hidden treasure to uncover!
Trigger-happy bad guys to avoid!

Somehow, Tom doubts that his parents expected Uncle Harvey to take him to Peru, but curiosity is a Trelawney family trait… how could he pass up the chance to find John Drake’s lost journal detailing the Golden Hind‘s voyage?

The nephew of Sir Francis Drake noted the flora and fauna of the South American coastline – and the treasure that they captured from the Spaniards in 1578-79 and hid safely on an island.

Look for this fast-moving adventure tale at your local library or independent bookstore today, one of this summer’s fun reads.
**kmm

Book info: Island of Thieves / Josh Lacey. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] 

My Recommendation:

Visiting his uncle might have been boring for Tom, except for the mysterious journal and the sudden flight to Lima and the hidden treasure they’re seeking and the vicious killers after them. They just have to locate the island where the gold is buried and get it back to New York City in 5 days, before Tom’s parents get back from vacation – easy, right?
Uncle and nephew share the Trelawaney nose and family talent for unearthing interesting things, so away they fly to Peru, where Harvey had recently acquired a very old journal page that mentions gold buried on an island. As they search for more pages, they are chased by villains who think that Harvey already has the treasure in hand.
Dizzying mountain roads, scattered journal pages to sort and puzzle through. They know that the first journal page found is 500 years old – could this truly be a voyage log from Sir Francis Drake’s expedition?
Allies and enemies, double-crosses and unexpected assistance. Tom’s mom and dad will be at Harvey’s apartment to pick him up in a few days – can the adventurers really find the correct island in time?
Car chases and car crashes, boat trips through towering waves. The treasure has remained hidden for so many centuries – what other traps and tricks will nephew and uncle encounter along the way?

For adventure and intrigue, with a side order of Peru’s national dish, head for the Island of Thieves with the too-curious-for-their-own-good Trelawney guys, as the clock ticks toward their departing flight and perhaps to their own departure from the land of the living!  (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

On the Road…again and again (reflective) – pause in review postings

Aug8
San Luis Valley Sunset

Well, I thought that I would be able to keep up with my normal three-times-weekly blog posting schedule this summer, but moving (in July) and long vacation with unreliable internet service (now through mid-September) have shot a hole in that idea.

I’ve discovered that I can read books anywhere, even with noise and other potential distractions. But writing my recommendations requires a level of quiet that I cannot get during all this to-and-fro stuff.

So be assured that I am reading marvelous YA books for y’all while logging thousands of miles as pickup truck navigator and will have so many great recommendations to write up soon.

In the meantime, if you want an occasional account of our ramblings in the Mountain West during vacation, follow me on Twitter @BooksYALove ; that account will return to its normal coverage of books, cats, health news, learning styles, and other such stuff when ‘real life’ resumes.

Looking for some fun end-of-summer reads? Try a road trip through the wackiest parts of touristy Florida with How to Be Bad (my no-spoiler review here) or Myra’s summer job with a dream in Girls Don’t Fly (more here).

May all your reading journeys have intriguing endings!
**kmm

The End: 50 Apocalyptic Visions from Pop Culture, by Laura Barcella (nonfiction)

Jul24
book cover of The End 50 Apocalyptic Visions by Laura Barcella published by Zest Books

Global warming.
Mutant diseases.
Alien attacks.

Seems like humans have been trying to figure out how the world will end almost since its beginning. Fifty apocalyptic visions from pop culture are analyzed in this new book (published today) which has many of the usual (Welles’s “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast and Dr. Strangelove) and several lesser-known exemplars.

I’m intrigued by Steve McGhee’s painting “The Big Swallow” which portrays an enormous storm and whirlpool consuming Sydney harbour (I climbed that bridge, so I don’t want it to disappear!) and a 1912 novella “The Scarlet Plague” by Jack London (read here free).

Ask for The End at your local library or independent bookstore and decide which movie, book, song, or artwork has it right. How do you think the world will end?
**kmm

Book info:The End: 50 Apocalyptic Visions from Pop Culture That You Should Know About…Before It’s Too Late / Laura Barcella. Zest Books, 2012.   [author’s website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Climate catastrophe or zombies? Alien invasion or the Four Horsemen on earth? People have long pondered how the world might end. Go behind the scenes of fifty apocalyptic endings from the past five centuries of art, film, theater, books, and music in this fascinating book.
Michaelangelo’s “The Last Judgment” and Durer’s 1498 “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” translate Biblical “end time” words into stirring pictures. Sandow Bok’s 1995 painting “Course of Empire” shows Los Angeles fractured by ultimate destruction of unknown origin. 
“It’s The End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M. is a spotlighted song, as is Barry McGuire’s performance of “The Eve of Destruction”. The peppy tune of “99 Luftballons (99 Red Balloons)” by Nena might hide this Cold War protest song’s strong lyrics from casual listeners.
Barcella highlights important early books The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster (1909) and Earth Abides by George R. Stewart, which Stephen King acknowledges as a huge influence on his work, like The Stand, discussed here as a television miniseries. Alan Moore’s dystopian graphic novel series V for Vendetta and Watchmen are analyzed, as is Brian K. Vaughn’s 60-issue comic book saga of Y: The Last Man.
Almost a third of the book covers movies from “12 Monkeys” to “Waterworld,” with aliens, asteroids, melting ice caps, zombies, atomic war, and other disasters leading to the end of life on earth. Quotes and Unforgettable Moments from every play, book, and movie give the flavor of each one’s style.
The author consulted experts about “the Reality Factor” of The End proposed by each movie, song, or book (almost all are quite improbable) and also lists the impact of each creative work on subsequent popular culture.

Thought-provoking and entertaining, this book gives readers much to think about as its alphabetical list of titles covers the many and varied ways that The End might emerge slowly or drop suddenly from above. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

The Wishing Spell, by Chris Colfer (fiction) – traveling fairy tale roads in search of a way home

Jul9
book cover of Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer published by Little Brown

Jack and the Beanstalk.
Rapunzel.
The Walking Fish?
Perhaps we haven’t read all the world’s fairy tales yet!

A family love of books may very well be the key to escaping from the Land of Stories for a brother and sister who are still mourning their father’s death.

They’ll also find out what happened “happily ever after” to Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and other famous fairy tale subjects when they grew up!

When I picked up The Wishing Spell,  my first thought was “hey, this guy’s book will be shelved next to Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl series – should get lots of attention that way” – not realizing that author Chris Colfer was also television star Chris Colfer. He ably weaves new stories like the Curvy Tree and the Walking Fish into Conner and Alex’s adventures and encounters with classic fairy tale characters.

This first book in The Land of Stories series will be published on July 17, 2012, so get on the reserve list at your local library or independent bookstore now.
**kmm

Book info: The Wishing Spell (The Land of Stories #1) / Chris Colfer. Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2012. [book series site] [publisher site] 

My Recommendation:  A dark dungeon or a middle school classroom – both can be prisons until the right fairy tale magic opens all the doors. One story sends a brother and sister questing through amazing lands where courage and cleverness may unlock the secrets to save a kingdom …and their lives.
Conner and Alex loved Dad’s stories, like the legend of the Curvy Tree and the tale of the Walking Fish. Since he was killed last year in a car crash, it’s been rough for the twins and their mom. When Grandma gives them the family’s special storybook for their twelfth birthday, Alex reads herself right into the Land of Stories, and her brother has to jump in after her!
A talking frog who collects books, a gingerbread house in the woods, the three Charming brothers (formerly princes, now kings) – all the tales that the Baileys grew up hearing are real and true here! But now Goldilocks has grown up to be a swordswoman and wanted fugitive, the Big Bad Wolf’s family has vowed revenge on self-obsessed Queen Red Riding Hood, and Queen Cinderella is expecting a royal baby any day now.
If they ever want to see their mom or their world again, the twins will need the rare Wishing Spell. Luckily, Froggy had found a handwritten journal outlining the items needed to create the Spell, sending Conner and Alex through all the kingdoms of Happily Ever After to find them.
Alas, the Evil Queen has escaped from Queen Snow White’s dungeon with the magic mirror and will stop at nothing to have the Wishing Spell for herself!
Will the twins be able to acquire everything for the Wishing Spell? Can they escape troll caverns, goblin prisons, and over-talkative travel companions? Is the Big Bad Wolf Pack still on their trail? And what did the journal-writer wish for when he completed the first Wishing Spell?

First in a new series, this adventure story introduces new-to-us fairy tales along with intriguing what-happened-later versions of familiar classics. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

On ARCs, review timing, and niches (reflective) – my blog = my choices & recommendations

Jun29
sketch of black cat reading a sheet of paper
from OpenClipart.org

After I left my High School library 3 years ago, I seriously missed being able to connect the right books with the right readers. Thankfully, a shout-out from Barb Langridge on LM_NET (school librarians’ listserv) let me start writing recommendations of great books for babies, kids, tweens, and teens on her site www.abookandahug.com. (Try the “Which Reading Superhero Are You?” quiz – it’s spot on!)

Then on May 1, 2011, I started BooksYALove as part of the WordCount Blogathon so that I could add my own personal observations and relevant info links to my recommendations. Despite other bloggers’ urging, I have NOT ‘monetized’ this blog – no referral links to online book retailers or ads. I will often point readers to sites where they can search for local library or independent bookseller – sales taxes support essential services where we live, ya know.

I want BooksYALove to be a repository of recommendations for books that YA readers might miss – those great ones from first-time authors, small publishers, and smaller imprints of major publishing houses. The books must be available in a bricks-and-mortar store (even if by special order) and from more than one source online if in electronic formats = I won’t point YA readers toward any book that requires a credit card in order to obtain it, so I’m not accepting self-published works currently.

My TBR (to be read) stacks of printed ARCs and new books require additional bookshelves now, while my downloaded ARCs need some sort of pinging alarm system to remind me of their digital expiration dates.

BooksYALove is a niche blog, so I’m picky about the ARCs that I choose, whether it’s at Texas Library Conference or directly from publishers. And as for the ARCs themselves, I admit to having a love/hate relationship: 
I love being able to get ARCs so that I can read and recommend the best works from debut authors and smaller presses, but I hate the pile-up of non-sellable books (if print format) and the too-quick expiration of most digital ARCs.

Yes, I realize that publishers are wary of allowing digital-format ARCs to be “out in the wild” once the works are actually published, but I don’t want to be forced to write a recommendation during their preset publicity schedule! Yes, word-of-mouth publicity just prior to publication date helps create “buzz” for a new book, but you’d think that publishers would like to also build up a groundswell of sales during the months (or years) following a book’s birthday.

Best-case scenario for me is to read the book and write a recommendation during the digital ARC’s open-time, then publish it on my schedule. So thanks to the urging of Bekka at Pretty Deadly Reviews, I’m signing up for the Netgalley Knockdown in July, trying to read all of the digital ARCs currently in my queue with Netgalley, Edelweiss, and directly from publishers, write up at least the barebones of any recommendations (since not every interesting-sounding book makes the cut for BooksYALove, you know), then decide when I want to blog them.

I’ll keep choosing just the best ARCs to place on my real and virtual TBR shelves for books you won’t want to miss. Lots of great reading ahead, y’all!
**kmm

Listen up! (audio) – SYNC your reading with 2 free audiobooks weekly through August

Jun27
teen girl with earbuds listening to SYNC free YA audiobooks

Audiobooks!  All summer!   FREE!

Yes, the SYNC program is back for summer 2012, providing two great audiobooks for you to download – free! – each week (Thursday-Wednesday).

One is a recent YA title, the other is a classic, both in full-audio recording by outstanding readers. Each title is downloaded separately and is available only during that week’s download window.

The SYNC audiobooks use Overdrive (free download through the Audiobooksync page here) which many US public libraries also use for audiobook check-out. Once you’ve downloaded a SYNC title, it’s yours – no due dates or expiration.

Here’s the rest of the summer’s lineup. Click on a link to read more about the book and its reading cast, and mark your calendar to download it during its scheduled week:

June 21 – June 27, 2012
Irises  by Francisco X. Stork, Read by Carrington MacDuffie (Listening Library)
Sense and Sensibility  by Jane Austen, Read by Wanda McCaddon (Tantor Media)

June 28 – July 4, 2012
The Amulet of Samarkand  by Jonathan Stroud, Read by Simon Jones (Listening Library)
Tales from the Arabian Nights  by Andrew Lang, Read by Toby Stephens (Naxos AudioBooks)

July 5 – July 11, 2012
Anna Dressed in Blood  by Kendare Blake, Read by August Ross (AudioGO)
The Woman in White  by Wilkie Collins, Read by Ian Holm (AudioGO)

July 12 – July 18, 2012
Guys Read: Funny Business  by Jon Scieszka [Ed.] et al., Read by Michael Boatman, Kate DiCamillo, John Keating, Jon Scieszka, Bronson Pinchot (Harper Audio)
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories  by Mark Twain, Read by Norman Dietz (Recorded Books)

July 19 – July 25, 2012
Cleopatra’s Moon  by Vicky Alvear Shecter, Read by Kirsten Potter (Oasis Audio)
Antony and Cleopatra  by William Shakespeare, Read by a Full Cast (AudioGO)

July 26 – August 1, 2012
Pinned  by Alfred C. Martino, Read by Mark Shanahan (Listen & Live Audio)
TBA (Brilliance Audio)

August 2 – August 8, 2012
Daughter of Smoke and Bone  by Laini Taylor, Read by Khristine Hvam (Hachette Audio)
A Tale of Two Cities  by Charles Dickens, Read by Simon Prebble (Blackstone Audio)

August 9 – August 15, 2012
Skulduggery Pleasant  by Derek Landy, Read by Rupert Degas (Harper Audio)
Dead Men Kill  by L. Ron Hubbard, Read by Jennifer Aspen and a Full Cast (Galaxy Press)

August 16 – August 22, 2012
The Whale Rider  by Witi Ihimaera, Read by Jay Laga’aia (Bolinda Audio)
The Call of the Wild  by Jack London, Read by William Roberts (Naxos AudioBooks)

Please note that several of this summer’s SYNC selections are available to listeners outside of the USA; check this list for details.

Thanks to these audiobook publishers, you can fill your mind with stories all summer, so mark your calendar to get the SYNC downloads you want.
Which title is tops on your personal listening list?
**kmm

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation, by Tim Hamilton (book review) – the classic as graphic novel

Jun7

book cover of Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451 Authorized Adaptation graphic novel by Tim Hamilton published by Hill and WangWe’ve lost another great master of the written word, of creating stories in our heads through words on a page, with the death of author Ray Bradbury at age 91.

Among Bradbury’s most noted works is Fahrenheit 451  (which he says as “four-five-one” not “four fifty-one”).  It is our great good fortune as readers that he agreed to its adaptation as a graphic novel in 2009 and fully participated with artist Tim Hamilton in selecting which exact passages from the 1953 book were used in this authorized adaptation.

Yes, all the word bubbles and captions in this graphic novel are Bradbury’s own, complemented perfectly by Hamilton’s incandescent illustrations.

Get your hands on this great trade paperback book today at your local library or independent bookstore  and keep on reading widely – Ray would like that.
**kmm

Book info: Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation / Tim Hamilton and Ray Bradbury, illustrated by Tim Hamilton; with introduction by Ray Bradbury.  Hill and Wang, 2009. [Tim Hamilton’s website]   [Ray Bradbury’s website]    [publisher site]     [video: Ray Bradbury on his books as graphic novels]

My Book Talk:  The future sees unified thought as productive, original opinion as unpatriotic, books as divisive. The firemen burn hoarded books to keep useless emotions and original thinking from hurting society in this time of war.

Guy Montag has been a fireman for ten years. As a wandering teen in their neighborhood asks questions about happiness and why everyone drives fast to avoid seeing the flowers, Montag wonders if anyone has real conversations anymore or just watches their television walls all day and all night.

The memory of an old woman who chose to be burned along with her books haunts him now – what is in books that made her stay with them? Montag feels compelled to find out, seeking the answers in contraband books, sliding further and further from unified thought.

This intense graphic novel adaptation of the classic includes an introduction by Ray Bradbury himself, tracing the original book’s development and asking readers which one book they would choose to memorize and protect from destruction.  (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Other stories, other poets (book reviews) – novels-in-verse

Jun1

Much like eclipse-viewers look indirectly at the sun, we can get a glimpse into life situations which may or may not mirror our own through novels-in-verse.

Click each title link to open my no-spoilers recommendation in a new window/tab for each of these BooksYALove favorites.
**kmm

book cover of After the Kiss by Terra Elen McVoy published by Simon PulseCamille and Becca don’t realize that they share a school, a coffeehouse, and one boy’s kiss… until an ill-timed cellphone photo makes all the connections fall into place.

Told in alternating chapters by each teen, their free verse ranges through the emotions that they must deal with as they try to reconcile what they thought was true with what reality is, After the Kiss  of Alec, the haiku-writing baseball star.

book cover of Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe published by VikingSara feels like her life at the ballet academy, far from her small New England hometown, is a never-ending Audition, as the dancers constantly compete for lead roles, for advanced classes, for the eye of handsome student assistant Remington.

Is he really interested in Sara? Can she continue to keep up with her schoolwork and her dance lessons and her hidden relationship with Remington? Only her poetry journal hears her fears and dreams.

book cover of Karma by Cathy Ostlere published by Razorbill

Religious turmoil becomes armed warfare in 1980s India, and Maya is caught in the upheaval almost as soon as she arrives with her father and the ashes of her mother, brought “home” to the family which disowned them when they married, a Sikh and a Hindu who thought that love would overcome all.

Is it Karma  that brought their only child to a place she’s only heard of, far from her birthplace on the Canadian prairies, that separates her from her Bapu, that makes her versified memories a clouded mirror?

(all review copies and cover images courtesy of their respective publishers)

"We now return to our regular programming" (reflective) – BooksYALove posting schedule update

May31
drawing of black cat reading a paper original from Diamond Dye advertisement
from Library of Congress *

We did it!

I wrote and y’all read every BooksYALove post through April’s AtoZ Blog Challenge and May’s WordCount 2012 Blogathon (at least, I hope you read them all).

Highlighting so many great YA books in a such a short time has indeed been challenging. I read books quickly, but really take my time writing recommendations to give readers a good taste of the book without revealing any vital plot twists or the ending (I personally hate spoilers in reviews!).

So BooksYALove goes back to its normal posting pattern on June 1; you’ll get lots of great books to choose from, but on a more-relaxed summertime schedule.

Watch for Mysterious Mondays and tales of the paranormal, fantasy, whodunits, and such – like Wizard of Dark Street, Between Sea and Sky,  and Hereafter.

We’ll have World Wednesdays, with historical and contemporary books set in places outside the United States, including Australia (Butterflies  and Dying to Tell Me), Africa (Now is the Time for Running  and Mamba Point), and Southeast Asia (Nowhere Girl  and Dogtag Summer).

Fun Fridays can bring humorous books, crazy settings, and non-fiction faves, from yummy Insanewiches  and Ask Elizabeth about anything, to the summertime wackiness of Withering Tights  and Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots.

Occasionally, books will slip in on other days of the week, especially for “book birthdays” (marking their first day of sale) and holidays. So many great books being published this summer and fall – just you wait!

So, which BooksYALove titles have been your favorites? What sorts of young adult books do you want to see more of? Which upcoming titles have you bouncing on the edge of your seat, anxiously awaiting their publication? Let me know, and I’ll see what I can wrangle from the publishers…
**kmm

* Black Cat reading, from vintage Diamond Dye advertisement, Public Domain image uploaded to http://openclipart.org, available for creative reuse with no fees or restrictions.