Staff Picks for Teens
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Life Bites
Well, at least for Vladimir Tod. Vlad is just a teenager who wants a normal life and school. You see, Vladimir isn’t human, he’s a vampire. Well technically half; his mom was human while his dad was a vampire. Despite the fact that his species suck blood from humans and leave them hallow and dead, Vlad doesn’t kill for his food, he just drinks blood bags. So he doesn’t draw that much attention to himself. That all changes when his English teacher goes missing and Otis, the new teacher, starts snooping around his life. Vlad thought all he had to worry about was figuring out a way to ask Meredith out; now he has to worry about enemies he didn’t even know existed and a possible vampire prophecy hanging over his head. Nope, life isn’t normal for Vladimir Tod, but what teenager doesn’t have problems? Life definitely bites. Check out Vladimir’s adventures in the five book series, The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eighth Grade Bites, Ninth Grade Slays, Tenth Grade Bleeds, Eleventh Grade Burns, and Twelfth Grade Kills.
The Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan
Finished with the Percy Jackson series? But dying to read more? Have no fear, Rick Riordan has written a sequel series to Percy Jackson and the Olympians! The first book in the Heroes of Olympus series, The Lost Hero, starts off with three kids on a school trip who discover encounter something entirely out of their world. Leo, Piper, and Jason soon discover that they have a godly parent and are demigods (half-human, half-god). Although Percy Jackson is not present in the first book, Percy is definitely mentioned and will come back later. They are also three of the seven demigods destined to fulfill an ancient prophecy. Follow their journey, discover their secrets, and find out what they were born to do; find out in The Lost Hero.
Finished with The Lost Hero? Read the sequels: The Son of Neptune (#2), The Mark of Athena(#3), and The House of Hades (coming Fall 2013)
The Goddess Test Trilogy
Aimee Carter’s young adult debut The Goddess Test is a great read for teens who have read (and who are planning to read) the Percy Jackson and the Olympian Series. This novel brilliantly incorporates the world of Greek Mythology and legends based on Greek folklore, but at the same time maintaining the reader’s interest.
The first book in the Goddess Test series is The Goddess Test. And the first book of this trilogy introduces a girl named Kate whose mother is very sick. Kate knows that her mother is going to die, and she’ll do anything to make her happy; so they drive up to Eden, the town where her mom’s was raised. At Eden, Kate begins to encounter weird things, people, and even places. There she discovers that the Greek Gods are real, and Henry-who claims to be Hades, The God of the Underworld - is giving Kate a chance to save her mother if she agrees to become his future wife, and the Queen of the Underworld. All she has to do is pass the tests.
There are seven tests she must pass, but these seven tests can be administered anywhere and at anytime; however, 11 girls have tried to take these tests, and all of them have died. This book is full of suspense, mystery, drama, and love; it’s a book I couldn’t put down! The sequel, Goddess Interrupted, was much more enticing, and it became much more suspenseful as you reached the end. But both books had great endings, unfortunately the sequel ended with such a big cliffhanger that it left the readers wanting more! The final book in the trilogy, The Goddess Inheritance, comes out February 26, 2013, and I can’t wait to see how Aimee Carter ends this brilliant series! Check out The Goddess Test and Goddess Interrupted at a library near you. And request your copy of The Goddess Inheritance to finally know how it ends.
Waiting for Something Big? Well Here’s the Next Big Thing: Dystopian Novels
In a future where society decides everything for you: what you see, when you die, even what you believe. They even choose your soul mate during a Matching ceremony. When Cassia is being matched, she is relieved she is matched with her lifelong friend. But then the screen goes black, and for an instant she sees Ky Markham’s face instead of Xander’s. It’s only for a few seconds, and society tells her it’s a glitch, but Cassie thinks about Ky a lot; now she begins to doubt her matching, and society. Will Cassia go against society’s decision and fall in love with Ky? Cassia is risking a lot, and putting everything on the line; however, is she willing to pave out her own path and face the impossible choice? Find out in Matched.
Sequels: #2 Crossed, #3 Reached
After the Second Civil War over reproductive rights, America had given parents the right to unwind their kids if they were between the ages of thirteen and eighteen. What’s unwinding? Unwinding is when parents decide to have their children taken apart organ by organ and have their parts "donated" to those people who need them. Kids don’t have a choice if they what to be unwound or not, they don’t have that right. But when one boy goes against everything and runs away from his unwinding, he doesn’t realize he’s about to change everything!
Sequels: #2 UnWholly, #3 UnSouled (coming Fall 2013)
Love. It’s so easy to fall in love, but it’s easier to be hurt by the ones you love. That’s why love is now considered a disease. Anybody who shows any type of emotion or even dares to fall in love is taken and disconnected from the world. They practically disappear. And ninety-five days before Lena’s eighteenth birthday and her chance to be "cured" and be safe from the delirium of love, she falls in love herself. Lena must decided whether to get the cure and live a safe, happy, and predictable life; or live a life of adventure, full of excitement, and be with the boy she’s in love with.
Sequels: #2 Pandemonium, #3 Requiem
Warm Bodies and Other Zombie Picks
Zombies are flesh eating monsters that have taken over the earth. There are only a few lucky humans that have survived the apocalypse and are trying their best to escape this epidemic. Then there’s R. He’s not human; he’s a zombie, but not quite. R has feelings, he dreams, and actually thinks for himself. But while on a hunt for humans, he meets Julie. You could say she’s the girl of his dreams. He doesn’t kill her or eat her; he just takes her back to the airplane where he lives. Despite her feelings toward zombies Julie begins to trust R, and thus beginning their journey to change the world. A book from a zombie’s perspective, we learn what it really means to be dead and how to live again. And if you liked the book Warm Bodies a lot, then go check out the movie starring Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer! Which one did you like best? The movie, the book, or both? Comment below and voice your opinions! :D
Not enough zombie action? Check out these other YA zombie novels:
- Zombie Queen of Newbury High by Amanda Ashby
- Zombie Blondes by Brian James
- You Are So Undead to Me by Stacey Jay
- Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
- Never Slow Dance with a Zombie by E. Van Lowe
- Generation Dead by Daniel Waters
Love Bites
Enjoy the following paranormal romance titles at your library today! Let us know if there is a title that you would like the library to have by filling out and submitting the purchase suggestion form.
Hush, Hush (Series) by Becca Fitzpatrick
Nora Grey, a high school sophomore, lives with her widowed mother in a rural area near Portland, Maine. One day, Patch Cirpiano, a new and mysterious student joins her biology class and sits next to her. Eventually, after having several interactions with him, she soon finds herself attracted to him. In a turn of events, she discovers scars on Patch's back, leading him to admit that he is a fallen angel who seeks to become human. How will Nora respond to this shocking discovery?
Timeless by Alexandra Monir
Michele Windsor has moved in with her grandparents in New York City after a family tragedy occurred. For many years, she has had romantic dreams of a mysterious man that she has never met before. While staying at her grandparent's mansion, she discovers a magical diary that transported her back to the year 1910. After being sent back to this year, she eventually meets the mysterious man who has been haunting her dreams and falls for him. Who is this man? Check out this title to find out more. You can also download this book from the library's Overdrive and Axis 360 eBook collections.
Shiver (Series) by Maggie Stiefvater
A moving, paranormal romance story about Grace and a mysterious wolf that often watches her from a nearby distance. Later, Grace discovers a wounded boy near her home and makes a shocking discovery that this boy is that same wolf in human form. Will their relationship last? Read more to find out. This title is also available in eBook and CD audio book formats.
Girls Like Us, Somebody's Daughter
Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself is an account of a human being in high spirit. After surviving a period of being a victim of the commercial sex industry, she broke free of her pimp and her past, went to college and a graduate program, and founded a nonprofit organization - GEMS, Girls Educational and Mentoring Services - to help other girls who endure the same circumstances.
Chapter 4 "Recruitment" details how young girls are recruited into the trade, and explains "why the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its reauthorizations in 2003, 2005, and 2008 have all supported a definition of child sex trafficking where children under the age of eighteen found in the commercial sex trade are considered to be victims of trafficking without requiring that they experienced 'forced, fraud, or coercion' to keep them there."
Rachel's book is indeed a significant contribution to the motto "Human Trafficking: Fight It. Expose It. End It."
Although not available in the SJPL system, Somebody's Daughter: The Hidden Story of America's Prostituted Children and the Battle to Save Them can be requested via the LINK+ system with a SJPL library card.
This book tells stories of girl victims of the sex trafficking trade from many different angles; it gives us the points of view of the judge in "Courtroom 18", the police officers, the social workers, and the activists who all work together to try to rescue and help these young victims. It mentions the sin cities Las Vegas, New York City, Phoenix, and Dallas as urban cities where this trafficking epidemic is found to happen.
Guy Jacobson, founder of Priority Films and RedLight Children Campaign (RLC), and his Priority Films partner, the Israeli actress Adi Ezroni were bestowed by Condoleezza Rice with the "Global Heroes" Award in the U. S. Department of State Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Report 2008 to recognize their efforts trying to rescue young children who are victims of the global sex trade, lots of whom are under the age of 6. Read more about it on the U. S. Department of State page (under the paragraph of "United States").
Hey, Back Off! , You Grow Girl! , and Inside Out and Back Again
Written by two teachers, Jennie Withers and Phyllis Hendrickson, M. Ed., Hey, Back Off! sheds lights on the topics of Teen Harassment and Bullying At School. It helps both parents and teens understand more about the Harassment Law , the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (outlawing harassment), the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (prohibiting discrimination based on disability).
This book helps readers realize different types of bullying: cyberbullying (sending mean text messages), sexual harassment, verbal teasing, and hitting or punching. It explores different cases and different personalities: passive teens (who have passive parents) becoming victims, and bullies being bullies because they have aggressive parents, and it shows how a person can become assertive from being passive or aggressive. It portrays true life experiences of agressive people and how they become that way. After reading the chapters on these cases of Passive Personalities and Aggressive Personalities, I realized that the authors have helped people on both sides of the spectrum: victims of bullying and the bullies.
October was the Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. www.nctsn.org is an important web site to check out. Go to "Resources, "Public Awareness", click on "Bullying Prevention Awareness Month" to learn about "Facts and Tips for Teens" to stay safe from cyberbullying. This site also provides us with links regarding other types of abuse/bullying: "Finding Help for Sexually Abused Children", "National Homeless Youth Awareness Month", and "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month". Under "Get Help Now", there are links to crisis hotlines, victim assistance programs, how to deal with school crises, how to help abused or neglected children, and more.
Written by two conselors and moms, Gina Scarano-Osika and KimDever-Johnson, this book You Grow Girl: A Self-Empowering Workbook for Tweens and Teens is definitely a book to be shared with your friends and you parents/teachers/conselors. It helps you build self-esteem and body confidence, understand and maintain healthy eating attitudes, learning about stress management and how to cope with stress, how to nourish positive thinking and eliminate negative feelings. It depicts female role models from various backgrounds and ethnicities. It encourages teens to become beautiful inside and out by giving teens different scenarios and thought-provoking exercises. Issues such as culture and peer pressures, deceptive media images, food/weight, mindfulness, etc. are also explored.
Gracefully prepared by two conselors, this book offers a lot of wisdom to girls ages 9 to 16. Strongly recommended to not just girls, but to Moms and Dads alike.
After hitting the book market in 2011, this book Inside Out and Back Again quickly became a best-seller. The month of October was the Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, and this book once again was actively sought after. Every year thousands of high school students are being bullied due to differences in religion and culture or norm, or the way they portray themselves, dress, talk, or socialize. Among these student victims of bullying, many came from Vietnam. This book is a series of heartfelt poems telling stories of how Ha`, the protagonist, went through years of being bullied by her classmates, and how she coped with bullying.
Her story is symbolic of the high school life of many other Vietnamese students and students of other ethnic backgrounds who came here to America when they were in the ages of 9 to 18. In the end of the book, Ha` delivered a powerful message to the world: she stood up, "gave her bullies a lesson" by becoming an excellent student whom both her family members and the school officials were so proud of.
This book won many awards such as Newbery Honor, National Book Award, and was placed on the New York Times Bestsellers list. You can access the Newbery Medal home page through SJPL (San Jose Public Library) home page, www.sjpl.org, under "Homework, research, articles", then go to "Research Guides", "Books and Literature", "Book Awards", "Newbery Medal".
June was the month to recognize the refugees' plight. Again, check out the web site www.nctsn.org to understand the refugees and the circumstances they have to live through. Go to "Resources", "Public Awareness, click on "World Refugee Awareness Month".
Hopefully you will see the image of yourself and your friends' through these books and the web sites recommended here, and will do your part to foster a better learning environment for your school.
Ha` was one of hundreds of thousands of political refugees who left Vietnam in 1975 when she was 10 years old. She and her family settled in Alabama. Her pen-name is Thanhha Lai. Her first name is Ha`, Thanhha`, or Thanhha.
Experience Manga Mania!
Check out the following popular manga series for teens at your library today! Let us know if there is a manga title that you would like the library to have by filling out and submitting the purchase suggestion form.
Pandora Hearts by Jun Mochizuki
A rich heir of the Vessalius Family, Oz Vessalius has been living a peaceful and lavish life. However, his life suddenly takes a dramatic turn during his "Coming of Age Ceremony", when he was able to reactivate a mysterious clock that has been dead for 100 years. Soon after, Oz is violently captured by notorious members of the Baskerville Family. They cast Oz in prison in a strange new world known as the "Abyss". Eventually, Alice, a being from this world, helps Oz escape from prison. What will happen to Oz? Will he be able to leave the Abyss and return home? Read more to find out!
The Black Butler by Yana Toboso
It was a festive moment as Earl Ciel Phantomhive celebrates his tenth birthday at his beautiful manor home in England. However, arsonists set his home on fire and abducted Ciel. As they tortured Ciel, a demonic butler named Sebastian was mysteriously summoned and saved Ciel's life. Sebastian and Ciel soon embark on new adventures as they seek to avenge those who were responsble for burning down Ciel's home and murdering his parents. Will they succeed? Check out this dark and suspenseful title to find out more!
Case Closed by Gosho Aoyama
Jimmy Kudo, a smart gifted teenager, has been assisting police in solving their cases. One day, he was abducted by criminals sent by a notorious syndicate known as the "Black Organization". They forced Jimmy to consume a poisonous drug, however the drug did not kill Jimmy. Instead, it somehow transformed Jimmy into a child. Soon after, Jimmy goes undercover in his new physical form to investigate and apprehend the Black Organization. Will Jimmy be able to find a cure that will turn him back to normal?
Great Graphic Novels! Pluto by Naoki Urasawa
“Comics are just for little kids, right?”
I hear that quote all the time and from people of all walks of life both teens and adults. Even some who read comic books will reluctantly agree. And who can blame them? The big eyes, colorful pictures, and fast paced action certainly seem to be aimed at children.
Of course, no one told that to Naoki Urasawa.
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Naoki Urasawa, author of Monster and 20thCentury Boys, is not your usual manga writer. You won’t find outlandish facial expressions, ridiculous hair styles, or unbelievable sight gags. Instead you’ll find realistic characters, multilayered storylines, and complex mysteries. Take a look at the two manga covers at the bottom of the page. The first is from Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy. The second is from Naoki Urasawa's Pluto. Both covers depict the same character, and tell the same story but Pluto radically transforms one of Astro Boy’s first adventures into a complex mystery full of intrigue, betrayal and secrecy.
Pluto follows Geist, a German police officer investigating the murder, one by one, of the world’s strongest robots. The trail he follows leads across the globe, into a world radically changed by the introduction of robotic labor, and also into the past, exploring the terrible consequences of the 39th Middle-East War.
It pulls no punches portraying the gritty consequences of conflict and the quest for weapons of mass destruction. However, Urasawa does so by humanizing the characters, even (or rather especially) the robots. Each of them -from the very human Astro Boy to the monstrously inhuman Pluto- feel real to the reader. You can’t help but empathize with them even as you are reminded of their inhuman origin. Each chapter revealed new layers of the mystery and answered questions implied, by never asked in earlier in the series and even as I mourned the loss of favored characters, I loved how the story unfolded drawing me deeper into the plot volume by volume.
Pluto is a compelling mystery, one that treats the future as respectfully and honestly as any Asimov or Heinlein novel. Point to it the next time that someone dismisses the graphic novel you read as "childish" or use the ideas Pluto explores to debate the nature of humanity. Better yet, hand them a copy of Pluto, and let them discover it for themselves.
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Don't miss my other Great Graphic Novels
Full Metal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa
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