Mondays with Megan: I Can’t Keep My Own Secrets: Six Word Memoirs

I think I can call this past weekend “My Weekend of Nonfiction.” I finally finished reading The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. This book was a thrilling and pretty darn frightening look at the origins of the deadly Ebola virus. Yikes.

I also promised to contribute an article about nonfiction for the next edition of Between the Cover so I read I Can’t Keep My Own Secrets: Six Word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obscure Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith. This book is a collection of 6 word memoirs collected and compiled by Smith Magazine. Some of these life stories are heartbreaking in their honesty, others are hopeful and many are humorous. Some of my favorites:

“Cheer captain and valedictorian: stereotype annihilator” Lauren R.
“My diary is read by everyone” Taylor Swift
“The potential of the blank page” Alexandria H.
“I never got my Hogwarts letter” Deanna H.

There are many more where these came from. Fans of Frank Warren’s Post Secret project will enjoys these touching life stories. This was a quick and enjoyable read and I highly recommend it.

A Bloody Good High Seas Adventure Tale

The Bloody Jack series by L.A. Meyer has been on my list of books to read for a very long time now. Well, I have some good news-RRPL finally has the complete series, including the most recent installment of the series, book 7, Rapture of the Deep: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of  Jacky Faber, Solider, Sailor, Mermaid, Spy.  The first book in the series, Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy, is also available on CD (but not now because I am listening to it). I just started it this morning and I really like it so far. I am making it my goal to complete the series this year, which shouldn’t be hard to do because I already love Jacky and can’t wait to read about all of her adventures as a cabin boy for the Royal Navy. What’s not to love? Incredibly long and descriptive titles? Girls disguised as boys? High Seas Adventures? Pirates? Sounds good to me! Check them out with me.

˜Megan

Mondays with Megan: Youth Media Awards

Aaah, it’s Monday again, and I for one am happy that last week is over! I have finally won the battle against my cold and am looking forward to a productive week.

Since I spent a lot of time sleeping this weekend, I only have 1 book to report on. The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulburg.

Penny Lane (named for a Beatles song) is fed up with cheating, lying , scheming boys so she swears off dating and starts The Lonely Hearts Club (also named for a Beatles song). Membership:1, until the word gets out and suddenly it’s the most popular club in school! Things are great, except Penny is having a hard time ignoring her feelings for Ryan. Can Penny have it all-best girlfriends and a boyfriend who is actually a great guy?

I really enjoyed this book. It was quick and funny as well as empowering and inspirational. Penny and her friends are smart and confident and they stand up for themselves and each other. Throw in all the Beatles references and you have winner! I would recommend this to 1. any teenaged girl and 2. fans of Sarah Dessen, Meg Cabot, and Susane Colasanti.

Speaking of winners, the American Library Association announced the winners of their youth media awards. For the complete list click here, but here a few of the highlights:

 Michael L. Prinz Award winner, Going Bovine by Libba Bray

William C. Morris debut YA author award winner, Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan

 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award winner, Charles and Emma by Deborah Heiligman

Ok, this is becoming a very long post so I will tell you about the books that are coming out this week some other time! Check out all the award winners when you have time.

 ˜Megan

Upcoming Teen Events

First, Project Runway anyone? Any favorites jump out at you last night? I think I am going enjoy Anthony and Ping (though not her designs–weird).

Second, TGIF!!! I don’t know about you, but I have had a long week. I am looking forward to lounging around all weekend. I have a few too many books started and I really need to finish some of them (and get them back to the library!). This might be a good weekend to read a graphic novel. I need to read at least one a month if I am going to meet my goal this year.

Finally, here is what you have to look forward to next week: Teen Scene in the Basement! That’s right, the first video game day of the new year. Tuesday January 19th at 3:30. Maybe, and I really stress the maybe here, I will have a new game or two available. You never know. Looking ahead to the following week we will have Money Management for Teens on Wednesday January 27th at 7. Financial experts from First Merit Bank in Rocky River will go through the ABC of personal finance. Parents are welcome to attend. And finally, mark your calendars for Friday February 5th! It’s After Hours Game Night. Get locked in the library, play games and eat pizza. C’mon it’ll be fun. Sign up soon and get a permission slip!

Have a great weekend, see you back here on Monday.

˜Megan

Mondays with Megan

Happy Monday and Happy Amelia Earhart Day. On this date, January 11, 1935, Amelia Earhart became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California. Fun fact for the day done, time to move on the books.

I met my goals for last week and finished Duplikate by Cherry Cheva and Fallen by Lauren Kate. You can find more information about both on the next page! I also finished listening to Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. I enjoyed and would recommend all three. As for this week, I decided to read a mystery. I just started Shift by Jennifer Bradbury, and I am hooked.

In the meantime, I have been busy planning programs for the library. Next week Tuesday will be a video game. Stay tuned for more great program information.

Check out a great book this week and happy reading!

2010 Debut Authors Reading Challenge

To help me keep up with one of my 2010 reading goals, I have joined The 2010 Debut Authors Challenge, hosted by The Story Siren.
My debut authors for this month are Dia Reeves, author of Bleeding Violet and Jennifer Hubbard, author of The Secret Year.
I can’t wait to get my copies of these books from the library. If you want to join the challenge put these books on hold. You can do this online, over the phone, in the library, or in person!

Mondays with Megan: Candor by Pam Bachorz

Happy New Year!!! I am so excited about the new year. It’s like a fresh start and a time to try new things. So, in the spirit of the new year, I am going to try something new: Mondays with Megan, right here on the Teen Blog. My idea is to have something interesting from the weekend to share and recommend and/or talk about something to look forward to in the week to come.

Over the weekend I finished Candor by Pam Bachorz. It’s about a town in Florida where all the teens are being brainwashed to be perfect. Everyone loves bran and homework and no one lies to their parents. No one knows it is happening either, except Oscar Banks and if he isn’t careful he could become like every other teen in Candor. I would recommend this book to fans of  Feed by M.T Anderson, The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson and the Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld.

Looking forward this week there a few books being released that I am excited to read:

By the Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters
Captivate by Carrie Jones is the sequel to Need
and
Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
You can put a hold on any of these now!

I also hope to finish Fallen by Lauren Kate and Duplikate by Cherry Cheva. Happy Reading!