Mondays with Megan: Creepy Horror Reads for Halloween

The countdown to Halloween has begun! Now is the time to gather all your finishing touches for you costume (or if you are like me, start thinking of a costume…). If you are the organized type, your costume is ready and you are wondering what to do with all your free time. Try getting into the holiday spirit with a spooky book. If creepy/scary/horror are what you want I recommend one of these:

The Stone Child by Dan Poblocki
The Prince of the Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Cirque du Freak (series) by Darren Shan
Demonata (series) by Darren Shan
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Clay by David Almond
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
The Enemy by Charles Higson
I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan
Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman
Bloodline by Kate Cary

Any one of these should keep you awake at night! If you are looking for something a bit lighter, but still spooky check out one of these:

Prom Dates From Hell, Hell Week, and Highway to Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore
The Splendor Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Mister Monday and the rest of the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix
Bras and Broomsticks series by Sarah Mlynowski

Whether you want truly terrifying or slightly spooky, we have a book for you!

Happy Reading

˜Megan

Mondays with Megan and Teen Read Week

Happy Teen Read Week! This year’s theme is Books With Beat @Your Library. My first thought was books about music. There are quite a few teen books about music. If you are interested in reading a Book With Beat here are just a few to get you started:

1. Jo-Jo and The Fiendish Lot by Andrew Aueson
2. Born to Rock by Gordon Korman
3. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn
4. Struts and Frets by Jon Skovron
5. Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers
6. Beige by Cecil Castelucci
7. Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going
8. Notes From the Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick

As promised, this year’s Teens’ Top Ten were announced. Did you vote? Did your favorite make the list this year? Here is the list of this year’s winners:

1. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
2. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
3. Heist Society by Ally Carter
4. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
5. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
6. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
7. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
8. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
9. Fire by Kristin Cashore
10. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

I would agree with most of these selections (regular readers may be aware that I am still holding a grudge against Shiver and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future…). Regardless of my person feelings, this is a great list and I highly recommend you check these books out if you haven’t already.

It’s Teen Read Week! Read for the fun of it! Check out a Book With Beat or a Teens’ Top Ten while I think of another way to interpret the theme.

Happy Reading!

                                                                                                                                                      ˜Megan

Teen Pizza Pagers

It’s official, the new teen book club has a name! I would like to thank the founding members of the Teen Pizza Pagers for making our first meeting a lot of fun! The six of us enjoyed pizza from Pelicano’s and talked about the book No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman. Here is a brief summary:

Wallace Wallace cannot tell a lie and that is how he ended up off the football team and in detention. Wallace doesn’t understand why the dog always has to die in classic novels, so when assigned to write a review of Old Shep, My Pal he tells the truth-it’s awful. He refuses to redo the paper so his teacher assigns him to detention. Now Wallace spends all afternoon with drama club, making creative adjustments to the school play-Old Shep, My Pal.

Our five readers rated the book on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the best. Here is how they rated the book:
Hannah-3.5 pepperonis
Maddie-3.9 pepperonis
Maria-4 pepperonis
Clare-4 pepperonis
Dell-4.5 pepperonis
Average score(thank you Maria for your quick calculations): 3.9 out of 5 pepperonis. Everyone liked the book, and would recommend it to others.

Next up for the Pizza Pagers? The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

Stay tuned for more Pizza Pagers news and reviews!

˜Megan

Mondays With Megan & National Coming Out Day

Today is National Coming Out Day and an organization called the Human Rights Campaign has teamed up with Facebook to raise awareness about issues that members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community deal with everyday. In fact, Facebook is how I learned about Coming Out Day. In light of recent of youth suicides that have been caused by harassment or bullying due to perceived or actual sexual orientation, I thought this would be a good time to help raise awareness. It is important to know that there are resources available to LGBT teens.

The Trevor Project is the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning teens. Recently Chris Colfer from Glee and Daniel Radcliffe from Harry Potter have made public services messages in support of The Trevor Project.

 Welcoming Schools  is a program developed by the Human Rights Campaign to provide schools and educators with the tools needed to address diversity issues in elementary schools.

Finally, the Suicide Prevention Center and National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provide 27/7 support for anyone in need of help.

Here is a brief list of teen fiction books that address the subject of homosexuality. You can find all of these and more here at the library:
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green
Love is a Higher Law and Wide Awake by David Levithan
Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd
My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger
Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn
What Happened to Lani Garver by Carol Plum-Ucci

Here is a brief list of teen fiction books about bullying and suicide:
By the Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters
Mousetraps by Pat Schmatz
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Hate List by Jennifer Brown
What Happened to Cass McBride by Gail Giles
The Anatomy of Wings by Karen Foxlee

Finally, I highly recommend Letters to a Bullied Girls by Olivia Garder for a disturbing, enlightening, and at times encouraging look at the issue of bullying.

If you or someone you care about is struggling with issues of sexuality and/or bullying there is help. You are not alone.

˜Megan

Mondays with Megan: Books I Itching to Read in October

Hi everyone! I have been in such a reading rut lately that I only managed to read 6 books in September! There are a few sequels coming out in the near future that I hope will get me out of this slump. Here a few of the books I am looking forward to:

Torment by Lauren Kate (Sept. 28) sequel to Fallen
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld (Oct. 5) sequel to Leviathan
Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohls (Oct. 12) sequel to Beautiful Creatures
Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (Oct. 12) Percy Jackson spin-off series
Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick (Oct. 19) sequel to hush, hush
Nightshade by Andrea Cremer (Oct. 19) this debut novel was challenged before it was even published. Read more about that here.
Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz (Oct. 26) book 5 in the Blue Bloods series

Hopefully these will keep me reading this month. Also, I have learned that Scott Westerfeld will be making an appearance in Cincinnati. I’m thinking a road trip…fingers crossed!

Stay tuned for more info on a live webcast with Rick Riordan on October 12 to launch the release of his new book! There will definitely be a party here at the library, but I am still working out the details.

Happy Reading!

˜Megan