New Books @ Aram Public Library for Teens

We've gotten a few new books in that might interest you as we gear up for summer reading. Check 'em out. All links go to our catalog record, so you can request the book from home:

Family by Micol Ostow: In the 1960s, seventeen-year-old Melinda leaves an abusive home for San Francisco, meets the charismatic Henry, and follows him to his desert commune where sex and drugs are free, but soon his "family" becomes violent against rich and powerful people and she is compelled to join in.

* This book is loosely based on the Manson family story, and it's told in verse (like Ellen Hopkins).

Future Imperfect by K. Ryer Breese: Seventeen-year-old Ade is addicted to the feeling he gets after knocking himself unconscious brings visions of the future, but when he meets Vauxhall, with whom he knows he will fall in love, he discovers that she also has an addiction and that together they may be able to do the impossible--change the future.

The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow: In 1936 Berlin, fourteen-year-old Karl Stern, considered Jewish despite a non-religious upbringing, learns to box from the legendary Max Schmeling while struggling with the realities of the Holocaust.

Department 19 by Will Hill: After watching his father's brutal murder, sixteen-year-old Jamie Carpenter joins Department 19, a secret government agency, where he learns of the existence of vampires and the history that ties him to the team destined to stop them.

Teen Book Reviews

Looking for a good read? Pick up one of the books your peers are reading. These book reviews come through our Read Off Your Fines program, and they are too good not to share! Links take you to our catalog record so you can put a hold on an item from home.

Have a book review you want to share? We'd love to have yours posted here. You can email the review to aramkids [[@]] aramlibrary [[.]] org. Remove the brackets and spaces.

Werewolf Haiku by Ryan Mecum: This was a different, but very interesting, book. I was shocked that it turned out the way it did. Still, very interesting. 3/5 stars -- Kylie

Itch by Michelle D. Kwasney: I absolutely loved this book! It was so easy to follow and I knew exactly what was going on, which never happens. I would highly recommend this book to any one of my friends. 4/5 stars -- Kylie

Night World volume 1 by LJ Smith: It's a great story about the effects and consequences of the people of the night world falling in love with the day. It has interesting plots and twists, and the playfulness of the night society is really fun. 5/5 stars -- Dianna

I'll Be Seeing You by Lurlene McDaniel (located in the anthology True Love): Carley was a teenager who had a tumor removed from her head, which caused her to have a facial deformity. Carley would hide her feelings by making others around her laugh at the jokes she told. She ended up in the hospital because of a broken leg and then an infection and met Kyle. Kyle had been hurt in a chemistry experiment and he could potentially be blind. Carley and Kyle become close, but Carley is too afraid to let Kyle see her face, so she leaves with no intention of Kyle ever seeing her again. One day, Kyle finds her and they talk, but Kyle ends up leaving then. Another day, Kyle is flying a plane with a message directly to Carley. 4/5 stars -- Rocio.

Want to talk to authors? Win free books?

One of our book club members shared a really cool link -- through Reach Out Reads, you can talk with a ton of different authors every evening and even win free books. Christy won a copy of Matthew Quick's Sorta Like a Rockstar just for asking him a question.

There are bookmarks in the new teen books area with more information about Reach Out Reads, as well as a list of books about the kinds of stuff you guys are interested in. Check 'em out!

First images from The Hunger Games filming

Fan of The Hunger Games? Here's one of the first shots of Katniss:

What do you think? Does Jennifer Lawrence look like you think Katniss should look?

Teen Book Reviews

Need a good book to read? Why not see what other teens are reading and loving? Here are a few of the great reviews we've received from our Read Off Your Fines program -- and remember, if you have a fine on your library card, you can have $1 taken off for turning in a simple book review of *anything* you've read. But hurry! It won't be around forever.

Shattering Glass by Gail Giles: I LOVED this book! It was so sad, and I actually cried, but I love how this book brought me to tears. It truly is a great book. 4/5 stars -- Kylie


Side Effects by Amy Koss: One of the best books I've ever read. Truly amazing book. This was an inspiring book to know that there is hope out there for people who need help like that. 5/5 stars -- Kylie

The Heart is Not a Size by Beth Kephart: This book was about choosing what's more important: keeping a secret or keeping a life. She had to choose which one she was going to do, which turns out to be surprising and very hard for her. 3/5 stars -- Kylie

Jane by April Lindner: This book was such an inspiration to me because the characters Nico Rathburn and Jane's love relationship was my favorite part of the book. I couldn't put it down. I recommend this book to other teenagers. Highly!!! 5/5 stars -- Amanda

Prom!

Prom for DDHS is this weekend -- why not get in the spirit by reading a book about one of the biggest nights of your high school experience? Links go to our catalog, where you can place a hold on the book from home with your library card.


Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg: For Lizzie Bennett, a music scholarship student at Connecticut's exclusive, girls-only Longbourn Academy, the furor over prom is senseless, but even more puzzling is her attraction to the pompous Will Darcy, best friend of her roommate's boyfriend.

Will Work for Prom Dress by Aimee Ferris: Seventeen-year-old Quigley and her best friend Anne have big plans to prepare for prom, including working to earn money for dresses, but both girls seem to have chosen their prospective dates badly as Anne's family crisis affects them all. Bonus: check out this website featuring a ton of teen authors in their old prom photos!

The Anti-Prom by Abby McDonald: On prom night, Bliss, Jolene, and Meg, students from the same high school who barely know one another, band together to get revenge against Bliss's boyfriend and her best friend, whom she caught together in the limousine they rented.

Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson: Eighteen-year-old Ash wants nothing to do with senior prom, but when disaster strikes and her desperate friend, Nat, needs her help to get it back on track, Ash's involvement transforms her life.

21 Proms edited by Daniel Ehrenhaft: This collection of short stories about the ups and downs of prom features works by John Green, Holly Black, Libba Bray, and many more.

24 Girls in 7 Days by Alex Bradley: Jack Grammar, average American senior, has no date to the prom. Or so he thinks. Percy and Natalie, Jack's so-called best friends, post an ad in the classified section of the online version of the school newspaper. They figure it couldn't hurt. After all, there's not much in this world sadder than Jack's love life. Soon Percy and Natalie have assembled a list of girls eager to go to the prom with Jack, including one mysterious girl known only as FancyPants. He has just seven days to meet and date them before he will ask one special girl to the prom.

Prom Dates from Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore: High school senior and yearbook photographer Maggie thought she would rather die than go to prom, but when a classmate summons a revenge-seeking demon, she has no choice but to buy herself a dress and prepare to face jocks, cheerleaders, and Evil Incarnate.

Suzi Clue: The Prom Queen Curse by Michelle Kehm: Suzi Clue, a mystery-obsessed freshman with her own sense of style, investigates "the curse of the prom queen" at Seattle's Mountain High School.

Perfectly Dateless by Kristin Billerbeck: Entering her senior year at St. James Christian Academy, Daisy has less than 200 days to look stylish, develop social skills, find the right boy for the prom, and convince her parents to let her date.

Fat Hoochie Prom Queen by Nico Medina: Large, loud Margarita truly hates student body president Bridget Benson, a stuck-up television star whom Madge was friends with when both were child actresses, so when Bridget challenges her to a contest to win prom queen, Madge tells her to "get ready to lose by a landslide."

Prom Crashers by Erin Downing: It was love at first sight for Emily and Ethan. But then Em lost his number and , with it, all hope of finding a real boyfriend before the end of senior year. All she knows about Ethan is his first name, that he has a supercute smile, and that he's going to a prom this month. Which high school? That's anyone's guess.

Two teen book reviews

Christy brought three book reviews in to share. Enjoy! Perhaps these will get you thinking about some of the interesting books you can pick up over the summer (which, despite being gray and chilly outside, IS just around the corner!):

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti: I like how the book references real things that happened, and they didn't sugar coat anything. 3/5 stars.

Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick: It was a good book, and I'm proud that Amber stayed herself through the whole book and that the people around her tried to be her friend after what happened. 4/5 stars.

Carrie by Stephen King: I was very confused and had to reread parts. I also like to read books that are happy at the end, and this book did not end happily. 2/5 stars