Mysteries

Female Role Models in Young Adult Fiction

/ Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Raising a teenager is hard, but if you think back to actually being a teenager, it was even harder. There are so many influences in your life it can be hard to know who to trust, what to do, and how you are supposed to be feeling. As you might have guessed, I spent many of those years reading books about other teenagers and adults in order to discover if I was ‘normal’ and if the feelings and doubts I had made me weird. Finding books that can reassure girls and young women that they are powerful, they can be strong, and that there is nothing wrong with diverging from what society expects can be hard. Convincing those same girls that it is better than just alright to follow their hearts and trust in themselves is terribly difficult, but sometimes a book with a heroine that does just that can be a good start. Here are some books for the thirteen and older crowd that feature strong, positive, female role models.

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
On her way to marry a prince she’s never met, Princess Anidori is betrayed by her guards and her lady-in-waiting and must become a goose girl to survive until she can reveal her true identity and reclaim the crown that is rightfully hers. The Books of Bayern series continues with the sequel, Enna Burning and Hale’s Princess Academy series is also worth a read.

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
A young witch-to-be named Tiffany teams up with the Wee Free Men, a clan of six-inch-high blue men, to rescue her baby brother and ward off a sinister invasion from Fairyland. The Tiffany Aching series continues with A Hat Full of Sky,  Wintersmith and I Shall Wear Midnight.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg’s father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.
Meg’s adventures continue in the sequel, A Wind in the Door  and for a graphic novel version of this classic novel, check out A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel.

Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
During World War II, a light-skinned African American girl “passes” for white in order to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots.

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
Lame and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously removed from her squalid village to live in the palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the all-powerful Guardians.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Living with a foster family in Germany during World War II, a young girl struggles to survive her day-to-day trials through stealing anything she can get her hands on, but when she discovers the beauty of literature, she realizes that she has been blessed with a gift that must be shared with others, including the Jewish man hiding in the basement.

Lyddie by Katherine Paterson
Impoverished Vermont farm girl Lyddie Worthen is determined to gain her independence by becoming a factory worker in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1840s.

If you have a tween that is not quite ready to hit the young adult section or a teen willing to cross over into the juvenile fiction area, then some of these books might hit the spot; Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai, Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata, One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia, Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly, Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Muñoz Ryan, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, The Game of Silence by  Louise Erdrich, The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente ; with illustrations by Ana Juan, Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm, Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan, or The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages.

And as always, I am sure to have missed some fabulous books that offer female role models for teens and tweens. I know I let a few of my favorite authors out in the interest of space and a varied list.  If I missed your favorite, or one you would like to recommend to others, please let us know in the comments so fellow readers can add it to their lists.

On Our Shelves: New Young Adult Fiction

/ Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Looking for something new to read? Well, here is a sampling of the latest additions to our Young Adult collection:

Allegiant by Veronica Roth. (Divergent #3)
The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered–fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. But will she be prepared to face impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love?

More Than This by Patrick Ness.
A boy named Seth drowns, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying. So how is he here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighborhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust, and completely abandoned. What’s going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonizing memories that seem more real than the world around him? Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone, trapped in a crumbling, abandoned world.

Dear Life, You Suck by Scott Blagden.
Irreverent, foul-mouthed, seventeen-year-old Cricket Cherpin, living under the watchful eye of Mother Mary at a Catholic boys’ home in Maine, has such bleak prospects he is considering suicide when Wynona Bidaban steps into his world.

If You Could be Mine by Sara Farizan.
In Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death, seventeen-year-olds Sahar and Nasrin love each other in secret until Nasrin’s parents announce their daughter’s arranged marriage and Sahar proposes a drastic solution.

Boxers by Gene Luen Yang.
In 1898 China, Little Bao has had enough of foreign missionaries and soldiers robbing peasants, and he recruits an army of Boxers to fight to free China from its oppressors.
Do not forget it’s companion book Saints.

Still reading? You might also want to check out; A Really Awesome Mess by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin, Ghost Time by Courtney Eldridge, Revealed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. (A House of Night novel), Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy by Elizabeth Kiem, Earthbound by Aprilynne Pike, Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston, Paradox by A.J. Paquette, Raven Flight (the second Shadowfell novel) by Juliet Marillier, Unthinkable by Nancy Werlin (sequel to Impossible) , Compliance by Maureen McGowan. (A Dust Chronicles novel), The House of Hades by Rick Riordan (A Heroes of Olympus novel), The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White, Still Star-Crossed by Melinda Taub, Now I’ll Tell You Everything by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, or Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas (A Throne of Glass novel).

Reading Around the Globe – For Book Clubs

/ Linda / Leave a comment

worldDo the members of your book club like to travel?  Or do they like to “travel” via books?  Here are some books that will take them on a trip around the world.

Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man’s Miraculous Survival by Joe Simpson (Biography)

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder (Biography)

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick (Non-fiction)

The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World’s Most Glorious – and Perplexing – City by David Lebovitz (Non-fiction)

Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip by Peter Hessler (Non-fiction)

A Beautiful Place to Die: An Emmanuel Cooper Mystery by Mall Nunn (Mystery)

Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo (Fiction)

A Guide to the Birds of East Africaby Nicholas Drayson (Fiction)

Babylon Rollingby Amanda Boyden (Fiction)

The Sound of Waterby Sanjay Bahadur (Fiction)

Librarians Pick The Top Ten New Books for November

/ Louise / Leave a comment

Every month, librarians from around the country pick the top ten new books they’d most like to share with readers. The results are published on LibraryReads.org. One of the goals of LibraryReads is to highlight the important role public libraries play in building buzz for new books and new authors. So click through to read more about what new and upcoming books librarians consider buzzworthy this month…

  1. Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

  2. Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer-Fleming

  3. The Death of Santini by Pat Conroy

  4. Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

  5. The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan

  6. Lies You Wanted To Hear by James Whitfield Thomson

  7. Parasite by Mira Grant

  8. The Raven’s Eye by Barry Maitland

  9. Death of a Nightingale by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis

  10. The Cartographer of No Man’s Land by P. S. Duffy

On Our Shelves: New Paperbacks

/ Linda / Leave a comment

We’ve got three new Mysteries and three new Romances for your reading pleasure.

Poisoned Prose (A Books by the Bay Mystery) by Ellery Adams – When Olivia Limoges and other Oyster Bay patrons of the arts sponsor a retreat for famous storytellers, one of them is going to have a very unhappy ending.

Final Catcall (A Magical Cats Mystery) by Sofie Kelly – Small-town librarian Kathleen Paulson gets plenty of entertainment from her extraordinary cats, Owen and Hercules. But when a theatre troupe stumbles into more tragedy than it bargained for, it’s up to Kathleen to play detective.

Rubbed Out (A Memphis BBQ Mystery) by Riley Adams – Even Lulu Taylor—proprietress of Aunt Pat’s Barbeque Restaurant in the heart of Memphis, Tennessee—needs to get out of the kitchen now and then. But at the Rock and Ribs festival, she finds more than a taste of trouble.

Cowboy Justice (Catcher Creek) by Melissa Cutler – Transforming their parents’ rundown ranch in the small town of Catcher Creek, New Mexico, into a tourist destination is the toughest challenge the three Sorentino sisters ever faced. But now one of them has another fight on her hands – to keep from falling for the sexy town sheriff – again.

Anything But Love (A Cupcake Lovers Novel) by Beth Ciotta – For Reagan Deveraux, Sugar Creek, Vermont, and the Cupcake Lovers are a dream come true: A cozy little town where family and friends come before everything else. She’s never experienced anything like it—especially not growing up with her mother, a fickle, fame-hungry heiress. But Rae’s plan to hide out in anonymity for a year until she can claim her inheritance—and her independence—changes with one kiss from gorgeous pub owner Luke Monroe.

Blue Forever (Men in Uniform) by Nina Bruhns – Dashing and devilish Major Kiptyn Llowell is the opposite of reasonable. But when his top secret mission on exotic Hainan Island, China, goes belly up, Kip throws himself on the mercy of the eminently sensible (and irresistibly sexy) DeAnne Lovejoy to hitch a ride to his rendezvous point. But he gets far more than he bargained for.