Nothing by Janne Teller

I just completed reading the book Nothing by Janne Teller. This novel is originally written in Danish and has won the Best Children’s Book Prize from the Danish Cultural Ministry. The book has a foreign feel to it what with a lot of the names being kept in the English translation.

The story revolves around a group of seventh graders in a small town in Denmark. At the beginning of the new school year, one of their classmates, Pierre Anthon, decides that life has no meaning and that we are all a part of nothing. He walks out of school, climbs up a plum tree and refuses to come down. Each day as the children pass the tree on their way to the school he taunts them with his new philosophy of life and how what they are doing is utterly meaningless. When the children get frustrated, they decide to show Pierre the meaning of life. The story gets interesting as each child is forced by the others to part with their most meaningful possession as they put together a “heap of meaning” for Pierre. The ending of the story is quite interesting. As such, the book is quite a different read – nothing like what I’ve read before. I recommend this book if you are in the mood to read something unusual.

~Rhea, Teen Book Reviewer

2010 Battle of the Books

This years Battle of the Books is just around corner and the first meeting (an informational meeting) will be June 30th at 6 p.m. For those of you new to the Battle eight books are selected each year for a Battle between teams of 6 or fewer teens going into grades 6-9. Teams will spend the summer reading the books and memorizing as much information from them as possible (while having as much fun as possible of course). Then in August the teams meet at Stony Brook University to participate in four rounds of questions about the books you have read.

In the month and a half prior to the battle we have weekly meetings here at the library where we play weekly Jeopardy games, have snacks and decorate a team t-shirt.

This years books are:

Schooled by Greg Korman & Book 1 of the Ranger's Apprentice Series The Ruins of Gorlan

Peeled by Joan Bauer & Peak by Roland Smith

The first Percy Jackson and the Olympians book Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan & The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
















And

The first Kingdom Keepers book Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson and Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

If these titles sound interesting to you and you like to read and have fun then consider joining this years Battle of the Books program.

~Ms. Millan

Gateway by Sharon Shinn

The novel, Gateway, by Sharon Shinn is an amazing novel to read and I highly recommend it. For a science fiction/fantasy book, it was really good, even for someone who usually enjoys realistic fiction books as opposed to fantasies. The novel is about a girl, named Daiyu who is transported to another world, called Jia, which is ruled by the evil prime minister, Chenglei. She was sent there on a mission to send Chenglei, a servant of the God who created his iteration(world) and became evil, back to his original world. The majority of the book talks about her training for the plan she intends to carry out, all the while adding in bits of suspense, romance, and action. It’s a book that had an equal amount of drama and action, and the ending just adds a nice touch. I would rate it a 10 out of 10. It was truly a great read.

~Cindy, Teen Book Reviewer

The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

In the mystery book, The Body Of Chris Creed, by Carol Plum-Ucci, a mysterious e-mail causes Victor Adams to get caught up in the disappearance of the town outcast, Christopher Creed. The book was encompassing from the first page until the end. This book was a classic mystery book with a surprising chain of events. Overall, the book was a satisfying read. For these reasons, I recommend this book to those reading for entertainment. However, I do not recommend using this book for a project topic.
~Robert, Teen Book Reviewer

The Diamonds by Ted Michael

The book The Diamonds by Ted Michael is about Marni Valentine’s life, and all of the hard times she goes through. She is a high school senior and is who everyone wants to be, looks up to and is terrified by. She is a diamond. The Diamonds are made up of four people, Marni, Lily, Priya and Clarissa von Dyke, their leader. As life goes on, tragic things happen in Marni’s life and she is forced into making huge decisions in her senior year. I recommend this book for young adults the age of 12 and older. If you have read The Clique Series by Lisi Harrison, this is definitely a book you should read. It is exciting and relatable. It’s a book you can’t miss out on.
~Deborah, Teen Book Reviewer

The Girl With the Mermaid Hair by Delia Ephron

The Girl with the Mermaid Hair by Delia Ephron is about a girl named Susannah Danielle Jamieson, or Sukie as she is referred to in a majority of the book. To those who go to Cobweb (her school), she is practically perfect-smart, pretty, nice, has a nice parents and a kid brother- but as the story draws on, it shows her life problems. She is actually very lonely-having no friends-, her mother gets plastic surgery, and her father gets beaten up by a mysterious man. Finding out that her father was cheating on her mother with a much younger woman who does not like her back was the last straw for her and she starts spiraling out of control. In the end, she is saved by the most unlikeliest people. This book was very enjoyable and I recommend it to anyone who likes books filled with drama.
~Cindy, Teen Book Reviewer

The Skin I'm In by Sharon G. Flake

The Skin I’m In is a Coretta Scott King / John Steptoe Award winning debut novel by Sharon G. Flake. As the title and cover suggest the book is about an African American girl struggling with her racial identity, and more. Maleeka Madison attends an inner city school and is relentlessly teased by her classmates for her homemade clothes, her very dark skin and even her good grades. She is especially bullied by a girl named Charlese who makes her do all her homework and copies from her during tests. Despite all the work Maleeka does for Charlese she is often insulted and abused by her. Although, she knows she should not put up with any of the teasing and bullying, Maleeka does not have the courage to stand up for herself. All of this changes when a new English teacher Miss Saunders arrives at McClenton Middle School. Miss Saunders takes an interest in Maleeka realizing her talent in writing. She tries to distance Maleeka and Charlese as she is very bad company for Maleeka. It is, however, hard for Maleeka to completely break free of Charlese. In the end, Charlese forces Maleeka to vandalize school property and deserts her when Maleeka is caught in the act. Finally, Maleeka gets the courage to stand up for herself and clear her name. She acquires a feeling of self worth and understands that it is important to like yourself for who you are and not what others may tell you.

In my opinion, the novel is very realistic and describes well how life is for kids in inner city schools. In the beginning, it was weird to read the kind of language and the way the characters spoke but as you go along the story it seems real and you don’t mind. Even though, we don’t live in those circumstances, one can empathize and you do feel good that Maleeka and Ms. Saunders win in the end. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends.

~Rhea, Teen Book Reviewer

The Harvard Lampoon's Nightlight: A Parody

I know that many of you are aware of the Twilight series. Stephenie Meyer really can capture someone within her writing. The Harvard Lampoon's Nightlight A Parody was trying to have the same purpose. In my personal opinion, after reading the Twilight series, Nightlight just doesn't seem right. It seems as if the writers were truthfully, trying too hard to make a funny book;make the characters and plot more of something not expected after reading Twilight. At first, it seemed as if this would be a good book. Reviewers said that this book had been hilarious. To me, the book wasn't really funny at all, it was just a bore. I'm not trying to bag on the authors of this book because they did do a fine job trying to make this an entertaining story, but when their 'funny' parts were revealed, I felt as if they could've done better. The cover and idea was great, though. In Twilight, the cover was an extremely pale person holding onto an apple. The cover of Nightlight on the other hand was that same pale person's hand holding an apple, but the apple had been eaten to its core. I thought that was a funny way to make a cover. The characters were similar: Edwart Mullen and Belle Goose. There were just a few changes. It was very unexpected, though. In a way, it is close to Twilight, but it was more for those people who didn't enjoy the actual series. Being a fan of the Twilight saga, I didn't really enjoy this bok so I don't recommend it for other fans.

~ Loudmila, Teen Book Reviewer

Sloane Sisters by Anna Carey

I read the book, Sloane Sisters. I would recommend this book to middle school girls. If you are interested in fashion then you would definitely enjoy this book. It's about how two sets of sisters (very privileged) find themselves thrown together to become a family. It doesn't go so smoothly and there is a lot of sabotage and backstabbing! This book was easy to follow and kept me interested to find out how it would all end. I loved hearing about their clothes and great shopping trips.

~Jillian, Teen Book Reviewer

Get Your Twilight Fix

New Moon came out on dvd March 20th and Eclipse doesn’t come out in theaters until June 30th. What’s a girl to do to pass the time?

Stephanie Meyer has of course already thought of something to satisfy the Twilight craving. On June 5 The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner will officially be released. We’ve got copies here but if you can’t wait for a copy to become available check out the website http://www.breetanner.com/ where from June 7th to July 5th readers can read the entire 200 page novella online for free.

Until then here's the trailer for Eclipse to keep you going.