Literary Playlist: Since You've Been Gone

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson is the perfect summer-themed pick-me-up in this dreary winter. It's about Emily, whose best friend Sloane vanished but left her a list of things she needed to do that summer without her. The list is difficult to manage because shy, reserved Emily would never dream of kissing a stranger or picking apples at night. She manages to make an unlikely friend in Frank Porter, a super popular guy from her school. He helps her with her list while she helps teach him how to be a long-distance runner.

In a well-ordered universe, you would hit play on this compilation of Emily and Frank's running jams.
[NOTE: This is a playlist of songs the author mentioned in the book. MRL is not responsible for nor does it endorse the content of non-MRL websites. Users should use critical judgment in relying on information found in these websites and determine what information is appropriate to their needs.]


*Note: We have the audiobook version of Since You've Been Gone available for online checkout! See this post for more deets.

Snowflakes!

Don't you guys just love snow? Come into the Main branch to make your own snowflakes! I mean, they're made of paper, but they're cool--and we'll put them on display on our bulletin board! We have a few instructions printed out, but for awesome designs, look at samples online!

And speaking of snow, when people say, "No two snowflakes are alike," they're totally right. But they don't mention how incredible snowflakes are up close! Here are some samples from a photographer named Alexey Kljatov (who even teaches you how to photograph snowflakes on his blog!):

 

Unreal, right?!

And for more snowy weather fun, grab a mug of hot cocoa and settle in with one of these books for snowy days (all of which are available through the library system!):

• Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
• Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
• Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by Stephanie Perkins, Holly Black, Ally Carter, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Matt de la Pena, Rainbow Rowell, Laini Taylor, and Kiersten White
• Six Months Later by Natalie Richards
• Starry, Starry Night: Three Holiday Stories by Lurlene McDaniel
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen
• The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan (we have the graphic novel and audiobook, too!)
• Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
• The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa
• Holiday Princess by Meg Cabot
• Tug-of-War by J.C. Pearce
• The Year the Wolves Came by Bebe Faas Rice
• The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau
• Far North by Will Hobbs
• The Trap by John E. Smelcer
• Winter On Her Own by Elizabeth Howard
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (or really any HP book; they have great winter scenes)

Literary Playlist: Books by Chuck Black

We were closed last week due to snow and Thanksgiving, so here's a literary playlist to make up for it!
 

The Kingdom Series and the Knights of Arrethtrae Series by Chuck Black contain something special at the end of each book: sheet music. Emily Elizabeth Black wrote a song for each book. The songs were then played on the audiobook versions in the background. They have all the songs on a soundtrack for each series. If you don't want to buy them or want to test them out first, some of the songs are available for preview on their website.

The Kingdom Series

1. Kingdom's Dawn
2. Kingdom's Hope
3. Kingdom's Edge
4. Kingdom's Call
5. Kingdom's Quest
6. Kingdom's Reign

The Knights of Arrethtrae Series

1. Sir Kendrick and the Castle of Bel Lione
2. Sir Bentley and Holbrook Court
3. Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart
4. Lady Carliss and the Waters of Moorue
5. Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor
6. Sir Rowan and the Camerian Quest

[NOTE: MRL is not responsible for nor does it endorse the content of non-MRL websites. Users should use critical judgment in relying on information found in these websites and determine what information is appropriate to their needs.]

Audiobook Dream Narrator?

Back in 2012, Flavorwire made a list of their ideal celeb narrators for classic and modern novels, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt for The Catcher in the Rye. Which got us thinking...

• What is your favorite book?
• Who would your ideal narrator be?
• Would you include sound effects/music or just stick to the narrator's voice?

A lot of movies (many of them based on books) have main characters that narrate the action. But what actor would you love to narrate your favorite audiobook?

Comment with your audiobook dreamcast!

PS don't forget that you can download audiobooks for FREE! All you need is your library card! Here's the link to the downloadable media page through our library (OneClick is for audiobooks), and here's a list of all the supported devices.
You guys, I use these services all the time. They're supercool.

Bonus Post: New eBooks!!

I've told you before about how you can check books out online. Well since you guys did such an awesome job of doing just that in June, we're getting some more ebooks for you guys to borrow! Isn't that amazing?! And I was allowed to give you guys a sneak peak into an eBook you can check out starting tomorrow. Wanna know what it is? Well do you? I'll give you a hint: I talk about it all the time on here.

That's right! Starting tomorrow, you can check out TFIOS through your phone, e-reader, tablet, computer--you name it! Simply go to our website, click "Downloadable Media" on the left, and click on the Overdrive button. (You have to go through our website to see what's available through your card.) You can browse through our entire online collection or just select "All Teen" to see just YA books.

Overdrive works just like the library, just through the interwebs. You can put up to three items on hold, and your checkouts last two weeks. You just don't have to worry about returning it to the library; it will disappear after your checkout time is up (which is great because I forget all the time). We get new books constantly, so keep checking to see what's available.

Also check out our other online lending services! Freading also has eBooks, Zinio has magazines, and OneClick is for audiobooks. (Don't forget that audiobooks count on your summer reading!) We also have all of these resources for you to look at/download. We're just full of free gifts!

Also, check out SYNC. They give away two audiobooks a week--one current YA and one book that's more likely to be on your summer reading list for school. It's only available until August 13, so take advantage of it now!

You only have a few weeks of summer left, so why not spend it getting some fun reading in before you have to worry about homework again?

The Maze Runner + The Giver + eBooks + more!

So if you guys saw TFiOS this weekend you may have seen trailers for some other movies that are based on Young Adult books. Here were some of them:

And lucky for you, we have them all available for checkout! But did you know that we also have some of them available for online checkout? All you have to do is log in using your library card and pin and download them to your device. They work like normal checkouts, so you'll have them available for two weeks only. Here are some:

 The Maze Runner series

The Giver Quartet

The Book Thief

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series

Matched Triology

Wonder

The Hobbit

Beautiful Creatures series

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series

The Maximum Ride series

The Iron Fey series

...and we have tons more available. We also have magazines and audiobooks! Start browsing now!

TFIOS (again) + X-MEN!!

For those of you who can't wait to see X-Men: Days of Future Past this weekend, but don't know where the characters stand, don't worry! This article from the Huffington Post will catch you up.

And did you honestly think I was going to make a blog post without mentioning TFIOS? This other article from HuffPost compares The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack to The Breakfast Club, in terms of defining a generation. What do you think?? Does the newly released TFIOS soundtrack define Gen Y/Z? Comment below!

EDIT: Also, Brilliance Audio is having a great John Green sale. All books by him (+ This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl, the real-life inspiration for TFIOS's protagonist, Hazel Grace Lancaster) for only $9.99!

April's Most Popular Books

It's that time again--were you waiting with bated breath?--time to find out what the most popular YA books of the month were.

1. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
2. Divergent by Veronica Roth
3. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
• It's no surprise that after the March release of the movie version of Divergent, people were interested in what happened next. Let's hope they weren't too disappointed. (In other news, movie execs have announced that, like THG, we can expect a 4-movie run from Divergent. Good news/bad news? Comment with your opinion!
4. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
5. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
• THG is aaaalll the way at the bottom of the list, but the rest of the trilogy is still thriving in checkouts! This is the time to make a note that sound recordings are quite popular in the YA section. In fact, we have a whole wall of books on CD at the Main branch. (It's a small wall, but still!) Also, don't forget about our downloadable media! We have a nice selection of audiobooks, ebooks, and magazines for you to enjoy on-the-go, and all you need is your library card.
6. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Is anyone else counting down the days 'til June 6? After the release of the extended trailer, I'm about to start a countdown clock on my phone. ...Oh, you didn't see it? Don't worry, I've got you covered. Be sure to grab some tissues first. Okay? Okay.
7. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
8. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• The Book Thief continues to be popular, too. Why? Because it's incredibly unique and unlike anything else on this list. (You can say the same for some other works on this list, but...) If you haven't picked it up yet, I suggest you try it out sometime. Plus Markus Zusak is super inspiring. You might see some more from him on this blog in the near future.
9. Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama, translated and adapted by Shelton Drzka, lettered by Steve Wands
• As the first manga we've seen on the list in a while, this must be good. It's also going to be turned into a movie (shooting begins this summer), but I'm a little skeptical as to how they're going to adapt such crazy-good illustrations onto live-action film. For the time being, just check out the book and bask in its gory glory.
10. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
• This guy never strays far from the top of the list. His books are ridiculously popular. And so is he. According to this article, someone drove her son five hours to see him (and four other extremely popular authors). Would you?

As always, let us know what you think! Comment below with your thoughts about the list. And be sure to keep checking out books!