Two Chicago high school students, one a head cheerleader from the north side and one a gang member from the south side, are thrown together as lab partners in their Chemistry class. Starting off the school year with a prickly confrontation that magnifies their many differences, Brittany Ellis and Alex Fuentes soon have greater challenges to overcome -- love. While breaking through and overcoming their personal misconceptions about each other, they are also faced with the disapproval of their friends and family. A passionate and intense story told in alternating narratives, Perfect Romance is recommended for teens 14 and up.
Perfect Chemistryhad me hooked from the first chapter. Having read How to Ruin a Summer Vacation, also by Simone Elkeles, I look forward to other titles by this author, including a sequel to Perfect Chemistry, which is due for release in May 2010. You may also want to check out Elkeles website -- a creative and interactive site with forums, a newsletter, and rap video "book trailers" to promote her titles. One bit of interesting trivia about the author -- she's a graduate of the University of Illinois.
For anyone who is a fan of tough girls on roller skates, the resurgence of roller derby in the last few years is something to celebrate. Whip It by Shauna Cross (originally titled Derby Girl in it's 2007 debut) chronicles the journey of Bliss Cavendar as she goes from unhappy small town misfit to roller derby star. Bliss spends her days dreaming of leaving boring Bodeen, Texas with her best friend Pash, as they waitress at the local barbecue joint. Her style and her rebellious attitude put her at odds with both her classmates and her mother, a former beauty queen. While her mother is obsessed with Bliss winning the local Miss Blue Bonnet pageant, a chance encounter has Bliss traveling to Austin to try out for the roller derby league. After a rocky start, Bliss wins a spot on the Hurl Scouts and starts kicking butt on the track under her new moniker, Babe Ruthless. Bliss is intoxicated by the sport and the new friendships she develops (as well as a certain Indie-rocker boy she meets along the way). Her new passion, however, causes tensions to arise between with her best friend as well as her family, and Bliss has to find a way to pursue her new life without abandoning the old.
Also, check out the movie version starring Ellen Page and directed by Drew Barrymore!
Here's a video that provides some helpful advice when dealing with zombies:
For more information, you may also be interested in Max Brooks's Zombie Survival Guide. According to testimony found in the report on World War Z, the survival guide was very handy in, well, surviving the zombie uprising. Brooks has continued his research and recently released The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks, which looks at other zombie attacks from history, going back into times B.C.E. to document ancient attacks.
This is a short graphic novel, quickly read, unless you find it too disturbing to finish.
So what have we got? There's an artist guitar player sleeping in what seems to be a basement with a toilet that doesn't flush when a very, very large man in a gas mask climbs out of a manhole in the floor and heads up the stairs and out into the world. Some vague violence ensues, and he returns to his manhole. The guitar player has awoken and finds new stuff in the basement--there's a typewriter, inside of which is hiding a gun...
Part of the fun of reading this bleak, brutal book is learning about this odd world--its police state, the infection, and the jobs assigned to the guitarist and the man with the typewriter--which is why I'll tell you no more.
The Thirteenth Child is a fantasy book that takes place in an alternate version of frontier America. This is a magical world containing mammoths, steam dragons, and many unknown and dangerous creatures. In this version of history, Lewis and Clark never returned from their westward explorations, and the only thing that holds back the dangers that lurk on the frontier is the Great Barrier, a magical boundary over which most creatures cannot cross.
This is also the story of a large family. Eff is the thirteenth child, and her twin brother, Lan, is the seventh son of a seventh son. According to European magical traditions, this birth order determines their destinies - Eff as a bringer of bad luck and Lan as a powerful magician. The treatment that Eff receives from her uncles, aunts, and cousins contributes to her family's decision to leave their home for a western frontier community where her father will teach magic at a small university.
The story explores Eff's and Lan's emerging talents and the problems that each of them has as they develop as young magicians in this frontier land. As their education continues, we learn about different magical traditions from other continents and how these traditions may mean that their destinies are not what they originally thought. There are also settlements beyond the Great Barrier, which the twins get to explore when they visit their sister who has joined a settlement of non-magic users trying to cope with the dangers of frontier life in more conventional ways.
This is the first book in the Frontier Magic series from Patricia Wrede. I'm eagerly awaiting the next book!
Tabitha and her best friends all made a promise when they were tweens: to keep their virginity until marriage. Their purity rings mean everything to them - friendship, faith, and a promise to God and each other. But as Tabitha gets older - she's fifteen now - everything's gotten more confusing...and more exciting, especially having her first real boyfriend. When one of Tabitha's friends takes it to the next level with her boyfriend, crisis hits their close-knit circle. Like lots of Christians, Tabitha struggles with what's right - What does it mean to be loyal to a friend? What did Jesus say about sexuality? How can you hold to your values without being judgmental? Pure shows one good- hearted, smart girl wrestling with the tough issues and the excitement of growing up.
You might want to visit Terra Elan McVoy's website to hear what inspired her to write Pure and even take a look at some of the questions she has for readers to think about after reading the book.
Here's a trivia question for you. A Boston Cooler is an ice cream drink made from Vernor's ginger ale and vanilla ice cream. The drink originated in Detroit, where James Vernor introduced the soft drink and later opened the company's bottling plant and headquarters. If the Boston Cooler originated in the City of Detroit, why is the drink called a Boston Cooler?
The above inquiry was a reference question I received at The UFL reference desk over ten years ago. The question came from YankeeRidgeElementary school librarian Dorothy Vickers-Shelley, who I met on my first day of employment at the library in 1989. A tall woman with a commanding presence, she stepped up to my workstation at the circulation desk, looked directly at me and asked in her eloquently deep voice, "And you are?” In a fleeting moment of options that included running in fear, I decided to offer my hand and introduce myself. Clearly, I had made the correct choice, because Mrs. Vickers-Shelley squeezed my hand and smiled. Not just a passive smile—but a wide, genuine, and warm smile that let me know she was sincerely happy to make my acquaintance.
Dorothy Vickers-Shelley passed away on July 24, 2009. She was a much-loved and well-respected school librarian in USD #116 for 33 years. She enjoyed not just teaching and sharing her passion for learning with her students, she also respected and was fond of those she taught. Children who knew Mrs. Vickers-Shelley flocked around her at the library and she would address each one by name, making all feel as if they were special. Those of us at The Urbana Free Library who knew Mrs. Vickers-Shelley remember her love of books and her endless cascade of very interesting and incredibly puzzling reference questions.
Returning to the Boston Cooler question—the drink was named after Boston Boulevard in Detroit, where it is rumored the first Vernor’s headquarters may have been located. When the answer to Mrs. Vickers-Shelley Boston Cooler query was delivered to her, she was so appreciative she presented the staff of the library with a do-it-yourself Boston Cooler kit—a 6-pack of Vernor’s Ginger Ale and a gallon of vanilla ice cream.
Thank you for the memories, Mrs. Vickers-Shelley—for sharing your inquisitive nature with us, for testing and honing our library skills, and for the Boston Cooler.
Life is short ... therefore I shall be a crusader in the fight against ignorance and fear, beginning with myself...Dorothy Vickers-Shelley
