Coming Soon: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Ugly Truth

Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth
Author: Jeff Kinney
Published: Coming November 9, 2010
Age: 8-13

I'm sure most of you already know about the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book set to be released in November, but for those of you who didn't already know, YAAHOO!!

I'm not going to give anything away, but the author promises to break new ground in his fifth book. This book also decides if they grow up or stay the same age throughout the series. The author states that in book five, Greg is "at the threshold of adolescence. By the end, I answer that question once and for all." This book also is said to decide if Greg and Rowley remain friends.

We should have it as soon as it comes out, but in the meantime, go ahead an check out the first four books to freshen up before it comes out.


If you've never read any of the previous books, don't forget to check our library's catalog for this book!

Check out our new arrivals!

September 1st - September 15th

Coming Soon: Series Sequels

Check out some of the sequels and series continuations we're getting over the next few months. Stop by the library to put your name on the list for some of these. I can tell already we're going to have a lot of clamor for a few of them!

September:

Twelfth Grade Kills by Heather Brewer (Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Book 5)
Torment by Lauren Kate (Fallen: Book 2)

October:

Sugar and Spice by Lauren Conrad (L.A. Candy series: Book 3)
Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush, Hush: Book 2)
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (The Maze Runner: Book 2)
Beautiful Darkness  by Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures: Book 2)
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (Book One in the new series)
Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz (Blue Bloods: Book 5)

Librarian's Pick of the Week: Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging

Title: Angus Thong and the Full-Frontal Flogging
Author: Louise Rennison
Published: 2000
Age: 13+

If you have thus far miss this series, then HURRY! GET TO THE LIBRARY! This is one of the most hilarious book series that has ever graced a young adult section. You will not be disappointed.

Synopsis: "Angus: My mixed-breed cat, half domestic tabby, half Scottish wildcat. The size of a small Labrador, only mad. Likes to stalk Mr. and Mrs. Next Door's poodle. I used to drag him around on a lead, but, as I explained to Mrs. Next Door, he ate it. Thongs: Stupid underwear worn by old Swotty Knickers, Lindsay What's the point of them, anyway? They just go up your bum, as far as I can tell. Full-Frontal Snogging: Kissing with the trimmings, lip to lip, open mouth, tongues...everything (apart from dribble, which is never acceptable). As taught to me by a professional snogger. In this wildly funny journal of a year in the life of Georgia Nicolson, British author Louise Rennison has perfectly captured the soaring joys and bottomless angust if being a teenager. In the spirit of Bridget Jones' Diary, this fresh, irreverent, and simply hilarious book will leave you laughing out loud. As Georgia would say, it's "Fabbity fab fab!"'

Review: "American readers wondering what on earth "full-frontal snogging" is will find the answer in the helpful (and hilarious) glossary appended to this antic diary of a year in the life of an English girl named Georgia Nicolson. Snogging is, simply, "kissing with all the trimmings," and it's much on 14-year-old Georgia's mind these days. For even though she's still reeling from her devastatingly bad decision to go to a party dressed as a stuffed olive, she has fallen in love with an older man (he's 17), a Sex God named Robbie. The trouble is, S. G. is dating a girl named Lindsay who--brace yourself--wears a thong. Honestly, how wet (idiotic) can you get! In the meantime, life on the homefront is spinning out of control. Dad has gone to New Zealand in search of a better job, and pet cat Angus, who can usually be spotted stalking the neighbor's poodle, has gone missing. Although performer and comedy writer Rennison clearly owes a large debt to Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary (1998), her Georgia is a wonderful character whose misadventures are not only hysterically funny but universally recognizable. This "fabbity, fab, fab" novel will leave readers cheering, "Long live the teen!" and anxiously awaiting the promised sequel." - Booklist


If you're intrigued, don't forget to check our library's catalog for this book!

On the Big Screen: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The next book from the series The Chronicles of Narnia is being released on the big screen in a few months, and I am psyched! The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is set to be released on December 10th.

Who else is going to go see it? Have you read all the books? What are some other books you'd like to see be made into movies?

Click here to check out more great books that have found their way into movie history.

For Video Game Buffs Everywhere!

So you think you know a lot about video games? Maybe you can name all of the temples in The Ocarina of Time or perhaps you know all the secret passages to the Warp Zone in Mario Brothers. And you probably even play Runescape at our library for about 8.5 hours a day!

But I guarantee that the free online game Geek Mind is going to stump you on a bunch. This game has over 300 levels that feature screenshots of everything from Triple A titles to small independently produced games.

Good luck, and let me know how well you do! (I can't seem to get past 500 points!)

An Anne-Themed Picnic

Since as a general rule I am naturally inclined toward anything literary, be it a pillow with Sherlock Holmes silhouette (hmm.. future craft project?) or a comic strip about Jane Austen, it only makes sense that I am excited to have stumbled across this Anne of Green Gables inspired cook book by Kate McDonald. Have you seen it before? If you like to cook and also love the series, this book is  amust read!

Here are a few of my favorites from the cookbook:

Marilla Cuthbert's Raspberry Cordial

{Image from The Independent}

"That's awfully nice raspberry cordial, Anne," she said. "I didn't know raspberry cordial was so nice." (Anne of Green Gables)

Ingredients:

• 2 packages of unsweetened, frozenraspberries
• 1-1/4 cups sugar
• 8 cups boiling water
• 3 lemons

Directions:

1. Place raspberries into a large pot and add the sugar.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes, or until all the sugar has dissolved.
3. With a whisk or spoon, smash the raspberries thoroughly.
4. Pour mixture through a strainer to extract the juice. Discard remaining pulp.
5. Squeeze 2 of the lemons, and add the lemon juice to the raspberry juice.
6. Boil 10 cups of water and add the water to the raspberry juice.
7. Let the raspberry cordial cool. Add thin slices of lemon to the cordial, and then chill it in the refrigerator.
8. Add more water to taste.

Crab Apple Preserves

{Image from DaJanzen on Flickr}

"In vain she nibbled at the bread and butter and pecked at the crab-apple preserve out of the little scalloped glass dish by her plate." (Anne of Green Gables)

Ingredients:

• 6 cups Peeled-cored-sliced apples
• 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
• 1 Lemon (thinly sliced)
• 4 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 package pectin
• 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Mix apples, water, lemon juice in large pot.
2. Simmer covered 10 min.
3. Stir in pectin and bring to full rolling boil, stir frequently.
4. Add lemon slices and sugar and bring to full rolling boil again. Boil for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
5. Remove from heat and add nutmeg.
6. Pour into hot jars or cool and put into freezer containers. If canning, process 10 min in boiling water bath

Jane's Plum Pudding

{Image from Lara Ferroni on Flickr}

"But one day she flew too high and produced for dessert something that a charitable person might have called a plum pudding." (Jane of Lantern Hill)

Ingredients:

• 4 oz flour
• 4 oz breadcrumbs
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 pinch of salt
• 4 oz currants
• 4 oz raisins
• 3 oz of shredded suet
• 2 tablespoons of treacle
• ½ teaspoons of mixed spice
• 1 apple (chopped)
• 3 oz sugar Directions:

Directions:

1. Mix the flour and breadcrumbs together in a bowl.
2. Then add the apple, sugar, suet, raisins, currants, spices and salt.
3. Slightly warm the treacle and it to to the milk.
4. Combine ingredients and mix well before turning into a greased basin.
5. Cover with greaseproof paper and steam for six hours.
6. Any fat on top of the pudding will be absorbed.
7. Cover with paper to store. On serving day, steam for three hours.

Anne's Ginger Tea


"She slept poorly and was so pale and tragic at breakfast next morning that Marilla was alarmed and insisted on making her take a cup of scorching ginger tea. Anne sipped it patiently, although she could not imagine what good ginger tea would do." (Anne of Avonlea)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of water
• 1/2 cup of fresh ginger root
• honey
• lemon

Directions:

1. Peel the ginger root and slice it into thin slices.
2. Boil the water in a saucepan.
3. Add the ginger slices once the water is at a rolling boil
4. Cover the saucepan and reduce heat to a simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5. Strain the tea to remove the ginger slices.
6. Add honey and lemon to taste

Jimmy's Taffy

"After dinner Ilse and I played games in the kitchen and Cousin Jimmy helped us make taffy. We had a big supper but nobody could eat much because they had had such a dinner." (Emily of New Moon)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 7/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Boil the sugar, water, molasses, salt and winegar in a saucepan
2. When nearly done, a small amount of the mixture dropped in a cold water mixture will become brittle.
3. Then add the butter and the vanilla.
4. Pour into a pan.
5. Cool, and mark in squares.
   
   For more Anne-inspired recipes, check out the Anne of Green Gables Cookbook.

Book Preview: Where She Went

Here's a book preview for Where She Went, the much anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestseller, If I Stay by Gayle Forman. For those of you who somehow missed the first book, If I Stay is about a teenaged girl named Mia's who finds herself in a coma after a car accident and has to make the hard choice between sticking around on Earth and passing on to the other side.

Where She Went is set three years after the end of If I Stay focuses on Mia's life amongst the living as she meets up with her old boyfriend for the first time in several years.

So what do you guys think? Have any of you read the first book? Are you psyched, bummed, or indifferent about there being a sequel? Do you like the cover?

Unfortunately, it's going to be a bit of a wait for Where She Went, as it is being publish in April 2011.



In the meantime, here's a list of book similar to If I Stay:

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
What if you had only one day to live? Samantha Kingston has it all: the best boyfriend, amazing best friends, everything. Feb 12th should be just another day in her charmed life, but instead is her last. Then she gets a second chance. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death-and discover the value of everything she is in danger of losing.

Bird Lake Moon by Kevin Henkes
Spencer thought the house might be haunted. Mitch knew it wasn't. And he knew why. The whole time Spencer and Mitch hung out together at Bird Lake that summer, there were secrets keeping them apart. And maybe a secret knowledge keeping them together, too-together like members of the same tribe. Like friends.

Once Was Lost by Sarah Zarr
As the tragedy of a missing girl unfolds in her small town, fifteen-year-old Samara, who feels emotionally abandoned by her parents, begins to question her faith.

Winter Girls by Laurie Halse Anderson
The story of friendship frozen between life and death. Lia and Cassie, best friends and competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the thinnest. When Cassie dies Lia is left behind, haunted by her friend's memory and racked with guilt for not saving her. Powerful and moving, Anderson explores Lia's struggle, her painful path to recovery, and her desperate attempts to hold on to the most important thing of all - hope.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
High school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing seven cassette tapes recorded by his crush, Hannah Baker, who committed suicide, and spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

On the Big Screen: Tomorrow When the War Began

I just found out that the book Tomorrow When the War Began has been made into a movie, and is being released in Australia tomorrow, September 2nd. Talk about being behind!

Did you guys know it was being made into a movie? I wonder what it's going to be like. For those of you who missed the book, here's a synopsis:

When Ellie and six of her friends return home from a camping trip deep in the bush, they find things hideously wrong -- their families gone, houses empty and abandoned, pets and stock dead. Gradually they begin to comprehend that their country has been invaded and everyone in the town has been taken prisoner. As the horrible reality of the situation becomes evident they have to make a life-and-death decision: to run back into the bush and hide, to give themselves up to be with their families, or to stay and try to fight.

Click here to check out more great books that have found their way into movie history.


If you'd like to read the book, don't forget to check it out in our catalog.

It's Finally Here!!!

Be sure to come in and reserve your copy today! It definitely won't stay on the shelves for long, so don't take any chances.

Book List: Back to School

from Flickr

It's that time of year again. Back to school. So in honor of your return to academia I've prepared a list of books about the serious (and not so serious) adventures (and misadventures) pertaining to that realistic (and not so realistic) and beloved (or not so beloved) time in one's life...

High School.

So if you're looking for an escape from calculus homework or something slightly more challenging than paper football during study hall, you might want to consider reading some of our high school-related picks, all of which are available at the library.

Title: The New Rules of High School
Author: Blake Nelson
Published: 2003
Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Max Caldwell has been the perfect high school student--on the honor roll, captain of the debate team, and soon-to-be editor of the school newspaper--but during his senior year, he begins questioning his approach to life and things start to change.

Title: The Rules of Survival
Author: Nancy Werlin
Published: 2006
Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Matthew recounts his attempts, starting at a young age, to free himself and his sisters from the grip of their emotionally and physically abusive mother.

Title: Generation Dead
Author: Daniel Waters
Published: 2008
Synopsis: When dead teenagers who have come back to life start showing up at her high school, Phoebe, a goth girl, becomes interested in the phenomenon, and when she starts dating a "living impaired" boy, they encounter prejudice, fear, and hatred.

Title: Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
Author: Dyna Sheldon
Published: 1999
Synopsis: In her first year at a suburban New Jersey high school, Mary Elizabeth Cep, who now calls herself "Lola," sets her sights on the lead in the annual drama production, and finds herself in conflict with the most popular girl in school.

Title: Story of a Girl
Author: Sara Zarr
Published: 2007
Synopsis: During the summer after her sophomore year, Deanna Lambert tries to come to terms with the reputation with which she was slapped in eighth grade when she was caught by her father in the backseat of a car with a high school senior. The Story of a Girl reminds us of our human capacity for resilience, epiphany and redemption.

Title: Skeleton Key
Author: Anthony Horowitz
Published: 2002
Synopsis: Reluctant teenage-spy Alex Rider, on a routine mission at the Wimbledon tennis championships, gets caught up in Chinese gangs, illegal nuclear weapons, and the suspect plans of his Russian host, General Sarov.

Title: Freak
Author: Marcella Pixley
Published: 2007
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Miriam, poetic, smart, and quirky, is considered a freak by the popular girls at her middle school, and she eventually explodes in response to their bullying, revealing an inner strength she did not know she had.

Title: Dangerously Alice
Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Published: 2007
Synopsis: During fall semester of her junior year of high school, Alice decides to change her good girl image, while major remodeling begins at home and some important relationships begin to change.

Title: Hate List
Author: Jennifer Brown
Published: 2009
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Valerie, whose boyfriend Nick committed a school shooting at the end of their junior year, struggles to cope with integrating herself back into high school life, unsure herself whether she was a hero or a villain.

Title: Truth or Diary
Author: Catherine Clark
Published: 2000
Synopsis: Courtney, a Colorado high school senior, becomes the bane of her friends' and family's existence as she fumes over being dumped by her college-bound boyfriend--but a temptation named Grant may be enough to drag her back into happiness.


Don't forget to search our library catalog for these titles and lots of other great high school-related reads.