NPR's 100 Must-Read Books (Ages 9-14) + SUMMER READING PROGRAM!

It's almost that time! Are you ready? Are you stoked? Do you even know what I'm talking about?

It's almost time for the Summer Reading Program!

Here's more information about that, but let's just say it's totally awesome and if you participate you get free stuff just for reading. That's it. All you have to do is read. Ridiculous, right?

To give you inspiration for what to read, here's NPR's list of 100 books 9-14 year-olds should read. (Although honestly, anyone should read them! Some of them I want to check out again!) Here's the link, but I'm going to post the list in full, just to make it easy on you.

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
2. Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
3. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
4. The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
6. A Long Way from Chicago series by Richard Peck
7. Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
8. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith
9. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
10. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
11. All-Of-A-Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor
12. The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
13. Watership Down by Richard Adams
14. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
15. Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
16. Poppy by Avi
17. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
18. Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
19. Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery by Deborah and James Howe
20. The Redwall series by Brian Jacques
21. The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
22. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
23. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
24. The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden and Garth Williams
25. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
26. The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary by Candace Fleming
27. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
28. Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman
29. Bomb: The Race to Build - and Steal - The World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Steinkin
30. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
31. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
32. Half Magic by Edward Eager
33. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
34. The Borrowers by Mary Norton
35. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
36. A Series of Unfortunate Events books by Lemony Snicket
37. Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers
38. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
39. The Ramona series by Beverly Cleary
40. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
41. The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963: A Novel by Christopher Paul Curtis
42. Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
43. Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
44. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright
45. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
46. The Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery
47. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
48. The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander
49. Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
50. The Oz series by L. Frank Baum
51. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
52. The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau
53. The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Edwards
54. The Earthsea Cycle series by Ursula K. Le Guin
55. The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
56. The Giver by Lois Lowry
57. The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
58. His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman
59. The Hobbit: Or There And Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien
60. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger
61. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
62. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
63. The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
64. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
65. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
66. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson
67. Holes by Louis Sachar
68. Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
69. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
70. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
71. Matilda by Roald Dahl
72. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer
73. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney
74. The Bone series by Jeff Smith
75. The Arrival by Shaun Tan
76. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
77. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
78. The House With a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs
79. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
80. The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel in Words and Pictures by Brian Selznick
81. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
82. The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
83. The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper
84. D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire
85. The Little Prince by Antoine de Sant-Exupery
86. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
87. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
88. The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan
89. The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales by Maria Tatar
90. The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
91. Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
92. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
93. The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
94. A Wrinkle in Time series by Madeleine L'Engle
95. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
96. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
97. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
98. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
99. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
100. The Twenty-one Balloons by William Pene Du Bois

We even have almost all of them at the library for you to check out! (All but one. We have 99 books on this list and The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales by Maria Tatar isn't one. But we have other fairy tales, so it's okay.)

What do you think of the list? Are there any books you would add? Comment with your suggestions!

Reading List Based on Your Faction!

The Divergent movie comes out this weekend (or tonight, if you're lucky enough to see it)! To get you ready (or to sustain you until Insurgent comes out), the Lawrence Public Library in Kansas made an AWESOME reading list for the Divergent premiere (and we couldn't help but add some of our own). Choose your faction, then read the books on the list! If you're not sure about your faction, we've got you covered. Take this quiz to find out!

Here are the books we have available for check-out:

DAUNTLESS

Never Fall Down – Patricia McCormick

Cambodian child soldier Arn Chorn-Pond defied the odds and used all of his courage and wits to survive the murderous regime of the Khmer Rouge.

Code Name Verity – Elizabeth Wein

In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must to survive while keeping secret all that she can.

Uglies – Scott Westerfeld

Just before their sixteenth birthdays, when they will be transformed into beauties whose only job is to have a great time, Tally's best friend runs away and Tally must find her and turn her in, or never become pretty at all.

AMITY

Matched – Allyson Braithwaite Condie

All her life, Cassia has never had a choice. The Society dictates everything: when and how to play, where to work, where to live, what to eat and wear, when to die, and most importantly to Cassia as she turns 17, whom to marry. When she is Matched with her best friend Xander, things couldn't be more perfect. But why did her neighbor Ky's face show up on her match disk as well?

Peaches – Jodi Lynn Anderson

Three teenaged girls from very different backgrounds, thrown together to pick peaches in a Georgia orchard, spend a summer in pursuit of the right boy, the truest of friends, and the perfect peach.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson – John Green

When two teens, one gay and one straight, meet accidentally and discover that they share the same name, their lives become intertwined as one begins dating the other's best friend, who produces a play revealing his relationship with them both.

CANDOR
Chanda’s Secrets – Allan Stratton
A girl's struggle amid the African AIDS pandemic, Chanda, is an astonishingly perceptive girl living in the small city of Bonang, a fictional city in Southern Africa. When her youngest sister dies, the first hint of HIV/AIDS emerges, Chanda must confront undercurrents of shame and stigma. Not afraid to explore the horrific realities of AIDS, Chanda's Secrets also captures the enduring strength of loyalty, friendship and family ties. Above all, it is a store about the corrosive nature of secrets and the healing power of truth.

The Truth About Forever – Sarah Dessen

The summer following her father's death, Macy plans to work at the library and wait for her brainy boyfriend to return from camp, but instead she goes to work at a catering business where she makes new friends and finally faces her grief.

The Truth-Teller's Tale – Sharon Shinn

Twins Eleda, who can tell only the truth, and Adele, who cannot reveal others' secrets, are sorely tested by a newly arrived pair of handsome dance instructors who seem to harbor a secret.

ABNEGATION

Something Like Hope - Shawn Goodman

Shavonne, a fierce, desperate seventeen year-old in juvenile lockup, wants to turn her life around before her eighteenth birthday, but corrupt guards, out-of-control girls, and shadows from her past make her task seem impossible.

Vessel - Sarah Beth Durst

When the goddess Bayla fails to take over Liyana's body, Liyana's people abandon her in the desert to find a more worthy vessel, but she soon meets Korbyn, who says the souls of seven deities have been stolen and he needs Liyana's help to find them.

Scarlet - AC Gaughen

Will Scarlet shadows Robin Hood, with an unerring eye for finding treasures to steal and throwing daggers with deadly accuracy, but when Gisbourne, a ruthless bounty hunter, is hired by the sheriff to capture Robin and his band of thieves, Robin must become Will's protector risking his own life in the process.

ERUDITE

Origin – Jessica Khoury

Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home--and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life. Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia's origin--a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.

Magisterium – Jeff Hirsch

In the twenty-second century, Glennora Morgan's father has been working on a project that will allow him to penetrate the rift border and retrieve Glenn's mother; but now that he has succeeded the Authority is suddenly trying to kill them both, and Glenn and her friend Kevin must flee into the Magisterium to escape them.

The Archived – Victoria Schwab

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books. Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive. Mackenzie Bishop is a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Now someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall. 

What do you think? Do you have any others you would add? And what about some good Divergent books? Comment with your suggestions!

Are Books Still Being Banned?

YA Author John Green posted on his Tumblr today about a teacher in Colorado who wants to start an elective course in YA literature for grades 10-12. The list of books on her curriculum has been challenged by a group of parents who consider the books to be "profane, pornographic, violent, criminal, crass, crude, vile, and will result in the irreparable erosion of my students’ moral character."

Here's a link to John Green's Tumblr post.

Here's the list of books:

1. Feed by M.T. Anderson
2. Thinner Than Thou by Kit Reed
3. Delirium by Lauren Oliver
4. Uglies by Scott Westerfield
5. Taken by Erin Bowman
6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
7. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
8. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
9. Will Grayson, will grayson by John Green and David Levithan
10. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
11. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
12. Paper Towns by John Green
13. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
14. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
15. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
16. Looking for Alaska by John Green
17. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
18. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
19. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Have you read any of these books? Could you compare them to any other books from any other banned book lists? Do you agree with the group of parents? Discuss!

UPDATE: John Green posted on his Twitter that the School Board has voted to allow the teacher to go ahead with the proposed list of books. He adds:

A HUGE thank you to the ALA, NCTE, and the 1100+ nerdfighters who wrote letters of support for the teachers at Strasburg High School, CO.
— John Green (@realjohngreen) April 17, 2014

Most Popular Check-outs for February 2014

Want to know what you guys read last month? Here is a list of the ten most popular books checked out of the MRL system in February 2014:

1. First Love by James Patterson and Emily Raymond
2. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
3. Divergent by Veronica Roth
4. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
6. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
7. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
8. The House of Hades by Rick Riordan
9. Matched by Ally Condie
10. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Are you surprised? Or maybe not at all. It seems like book series have been becoming increasingly popular, especially in the young adult genre. Once you read the first one you have the read the sequel, whether you like the author or not. And to make them even more popular, studios turn them into a blockbuster movie series with some of the biggest names in the business. That's why we see the Percy Jackson, THG, and Divergent series of books in the top ten, especially when the last one is set to premiere in about two weeks (more on that next week!).

But there are other popular book-to-screen adaptations that are in the MRL top 20. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (bought by 20th Century Fox with Tim Burton to direct) is #12, The Fault in Our Stars (premiering in June) is at #15, The Book Thief (which came out last year) is #17, and Thirteen Reasons Why (which Universal Studios purchased the rights to in 2011 and cast Selena Gomez to star in) came in at #18.

Does this explain why these books are so popular? Does having a movie adaptation make a book more appealing? Do you want to see what all the buzz is about? Comment with your thoughts.

Popular YA Books soon to be made into movies!

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth
2. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
3. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
4. The Fault in Our Stars by: John Green
5. The Maze Runner by: James Dashner
6. The Book Thief  by: Markus Zusak
7. If I Stay by: Gayle Forman
8. The Spectacular Now by: Tim Tharp

The Results Are In

Image from npr.org created by Harriet Russell

The results are in from NPR's Best-Ever Teen Novels poll! See the top 100 YA books of all time as decided by readers like YOU!

NPR Best YA Novels EVER - Vote Now!





Image from npr.org created by Harriet Russell



Go HERE to vote in NPR's Best-Ever Teen Novels poll and help pick the best YA novels ever written!