"How Author G. Neri and Librarian Kimberly DeFusco Changed a Life"

Have you ever been hit hard by a book? Not physically, I mean emotionally. Check out this awesome article about how one book made a profound difference in Raequon's life.

Source: School Library Journal

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!

'80s Manga Cyber Punk Harry Potter Vid

The title says it all.

If I Stay + TFIOS News!

The trailer for If I Stay was released this week and it looks awesome! (Although we think it should have ended halfway through, but...wishful thinking.) Check it out for yourself below, then check out the book from the library!

The TFIOS metaphor scene debuted at the MTV Movie Awards and stirred up a little controversy. BUT, before you watch the clip, know that the award show cut out two minutes from what's going to be in the movie. So reserve final judgement!



Now, the controversy was that people thought Augustus was pretentious in the clip. Uh, yeah, that's how Gus was in the beginning of the book. John Green defended him, saying:

Gus wants to have a big and important and remembered life, and so he acts like he imagines people who have such lives act. So he’s, like, says-soliloquy-when-he-means-monologue pretentious, which is the most pretentious variety of pretension in all the world. 

And then his performative, over-the-top, hyper-self-aware pretentiousness must fall away for him to really connect to Hazel, just as her fear of being a grenade must fall away. That’s what the novel is about. That is its plot.

People also complained about the clip's flow, saying it was too choppy. We turn now to director Josh Boone:

Yes, the clip you saw last night on MTV was edited for time, which is why the cutting seems choppy. 1 min clip. They cut 2 minutes out of it
— Josh Boone (@JoshBooneMovies) April 14, 2014

Feel better now? Now, let's get to the cool stuff. If you have a Tumblr, you can Demand Our Stars. Reblog your state's post and the most popular posts will get special visits from Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, and John Green! You only have until April 25, so if you have a Tumblr, get to reblogging!

Oh yeah, and it's National Library Week, in case you didn't know! Enjoy this quote from Neil Gaiman. We know we do!

It's still National Library Week. You should be especially nice to a librarian today, or tomorrow. Sometime this week, anyway. Probably the librarians would like tea. Or chocolates. Or a reliable source of funding.

Teen Lit Day!

Teen Literature Day is tomorrow, April 17! To celebrate, come visit the library! We have a ridiculously full shelf of new books in the teen room, including titles like:

Captain America: Living Legend
by Andy Diggle, Adi Granov, and Augustin Alessio

 

Belle Epoque

by Elizabeth Ross

 

Fangirl

by Rainbow Rowell

 

Storm

by Donna Jo Napoli

 

Endangered

by Eliot Schrefer

 

My Friend Dahmer

by Derf Backderf

 

Peanut

by Ayun Halliday and Paul Hoppe

 

Kindness for Weakness

by Shawn Goodman

 

 Photos from Goodreads

Eleanor & Park Movie!

Wow, you must think all I care about are YA-movie adaptations. You aren't 100% wrong.

But OMG GUYZZ!!! Rainbow Rowell's unbelievable YA novel Eleanor & Park is being turned into a movie!!! I'm sorry I can't contain my unbiased and overly enthusiastic opinion, but here are the reasons why this adaptation is cool beans:

1. Rainbow herself is writing the screenplay. ("I have never written a screenplay! Suckers!" she said, laughing. "But I had never written a book before I wrote a book. I'm going to do my best.")
2. She wants virtually unknown actors to be in it. Why? "They are unusual people to be in movies and to star in movies. There's not a lot of chubby redheads and 16-year-old Korean guys who star in movies."
3. Even the studio bigwigs felt a connection with the book. (Holly Bario, DreamWorks president of production, admitted: "It reminded all of us of our own sort of awkwardness, or family dysfunction.")
4. Rainbow wants to get The Mountain Goats to do the music for the movie. ("I listened to them pretty much constantly while I was writing the book.")
5. She also wants a female director for the film. ("I would love it if it were a director who could make it her own.")
6. This quote hints to maybe some special effects--perhaps like a comic book??

"The book is uniquely structured in that one chapter is told by Eleanor and one chapter is told from Park’s perspective, and they alternate,” Bario points out. “So we’re trying to figure out how to do that in a movie. There are all storts of groovy stylistic things you could do with voice over, or words on the screen, but we want something that’s real Rainbow."

7. Can you imagine the amazing 80's hair and makeup and clothes they're going to have?? Between Eleanor's mane of red hair and Park's mom's Avon makeup skillz and Eleanor's DIY clothes sitch and Tina's 'tude, it's going to be off tha hook! Look for every homecoming/party/prom to be 80's throwback themed.

Whew, I can't handle this, you guys. I'm going to be on an IV drip by the time the movie comes out.  Luckily DreamWorks is looking to start shooting by 2015, so I'll have plenty of time to prepare myself.

BTW, I almost don't want to ask, but any thoughts for a dreamcast? I know Rainbow wants unknowns for Eleanor and Park, but I couldn't keep Chloe Bridges (Donna LaDonna from The Carrie Diaries) out of my head as Tina.

via rtroncampus.com

She's the perfect example of cliquish mean girl with a few moments of genuine conscience.

What do you guys think? Comment with your suggestions!

Quotes from EW & MTV News

Paper Towns Movie!

Good news for John Green fans! His YA novel Paper Towns is finally being turned into a movie! I say finally because in 2008 he announced via his YouTube channel Vlogbrothers that the movie rights were bought by Mandate Pictures and Mr. Mudd (together they made Juno) and he wrote a screenplay, but then in 2010 he sounded pessimistic about the film moving forward. But on Monday he announced that the film rights were bought by 20th Century Fox and it would have the same "team" that is making The Fault in Our Stars. (That "team," by the way, consists of screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, producer Wyck Godfrey, and the same studio.) Oh, plus John Green's going to be an executive producer, too, and did I mention that Nat Wolff, who's playing Isacc in TFiOS, is playing Q in Paper Towns?!

via hypable.com

So what would the rest of your Paper Towns dreamcast look like? Would you keep it in the TFiOS family or get some new blood? Comment with your options for Margo, Ben, Radar, and Lacey!

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.