The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Thirteen reasons why by Jay Asher
Someday this pain will be useful to you by Peter Cameron
The perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Nick and Norah's infinite playlist by Rachel Cohn
Ordinary ghosts by Eireann Corrigan
Born to rock by Gordon Korman
The astonishing adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl by Barry Lyga
King Dork by Frank Portman
Maybe by Brent Runyon
Saints of Augustine by Patrick Ryan
What my girlfriend doesn't know by Sonya Sones
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Blankets (graphic novel) by Craig Thompson
I am the messenger by Markus Zusak

This list came from a list on Novelist (if you are an MPL library customer, you can access the list (with cover art and annotations) yourself by calling 754-5738 to get your login and password).

Lisa L. at LOL also recommended that the books The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst and As Simple As Snow by Gregory Galloway be added to this list.

I would also recommend A Separate Peace by John Knowles, a double recommendation of I am the messenger by Markus Zusak (already recommended above), a book of poetry by Auden (writer of the line"love your crooked neighbour with your crooked heart" in his poem As I Walked Out One Evening), and a book like Quotationary (with an entry on famous last words).

]]> joa Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:51:17 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=3649&BlogID=106&BlogPostID=4414  

These books were highly recommended by participants at the recent "Books We Love" session of LOL at MHS:

]]> joa Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:10:16 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=3649&BlogID=106&BlogPostID=4413  

]]> joa Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:07:02 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=3649&BlogID=106&BlogPostID=4054 We had a great discussion at our Tuesday, January 13 LOL with a wide variety of SciFi/Fantasy recommendations, which I will post here as soon as I iron out some details.

In the meantime....we just put up a display of vampire/werewolf books in the teen section, and I also came upon a list from the Boulder, Colorado teen section of more read-alike ideas.

Anyone have others to add? Also, see my previous Twilight blog post with the original read-alike or read-beyond recommendations.

]]> joa Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:14:59 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=3649&BlogID=106&BlogPostID=4004 Please come to our Tuesday, January 10 session of LOL to recommend a science fiction/fantasy/horror book you have read. If you need some ideas, see this booklist from VOYA.

If you are not usually a sci fi/fantasy fan, here is a few recommendations of books you might like:

]]> joa Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:30:48 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=3649&BlogID=106&BlogPostID=3972 I highly recommend Looking for Alaska by John Green. A Printz gold-medal winner and IA High School Book Award choice, this is one of the best novels I've read this year.

For mature teen readers through adults, the story is told by Miles, a new student in a southern boarding school, where he meets a close-knit group of friends, including a wild and mildly cryptic girl named Alaska. The voice of this coming-of-age story, although more contemporary, reminds me somewhat of A Separate Peace by John Knowles.

The characters are relateable and multi-layered, from Miles' roomate, nicknamed  "the Colonel," to the stern headmaster the students try to outsmart with a sure-to-be-legendary senior prank. This is the best kind of novel....it made me laugh out loud at times, reach for the kleenex at others, and continue to think about it long after I finished the last page.

I will likely seek out Green's other books, An Abundance of Katherines, which earned a Prinz silver medal, and Paper Towns, a well-reviewed novel published this year.

]]> joa Sun, 28 Dec 2008 16:15:51 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=3649&BlogID=106&BlogPostID=3855 This is cool, especially if you are a fan of author Khaled Hosseini's works, The Kite Runner, and A Thousand Splendid Suns:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6618147.html

]]> joa Sat, 06 Dec 2008 18:03:57 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=3649&BlogID=106&BlogPostID=3854 I was relieved to  hear that the novel 13 Reasons Why survived a recent censorship scare that was even more disturbing than a typical challenge because there was an effort to circumvent due process and simply remove the book from a central Iowa high school without going through the steps in place.

This book, which I listened to on CD a few months ago (and posted about on this blog), is a mature look at the issue of suicide. As a mother of teens AND someone who cares a great deal about the teens I work with through the library, I admit at times as I listened to this story, it was scary to think of the message teens would hear, especially with the "voice from the grave" narration by Hannah, the character who killed herself before the book even started.

However, the book, overall, makes you think a lot about how each of our actions affects others and can have unintended ripples in others' lives that we may not even realize. I also have faith in teens' abilities to read about all kinds of situations and characters and intermingle their observations with their own values.

]]> joa Sat, 06 Dec 2008 18:00:52 GMT