Tuesdays with Morrie

Do you have a favorite teacher? Whether it was an art teacher who consistently praised your creativity or a biology teacher who helped sooth you through your first frog dissection, for many people there has been one teacher who made a difference and stood out in their mind as the best. Mitch Albom knew one such teacher.

A successful columnist for the Detroit Free Press, Albom graduated from Brandeis University and quickly became engrossed in his career. Unfortunately, Albom’s strive to be a great journalist lead him to disconnect emotionally and physically from those around him, including his family and friends. When Albom learns a former university professor is ill and nearing his final days, an emotional catharsis leads him to reconnect with his once-cherished confidant and teacher, Morrie Schwartz.

Tuesdays with Morrie is a retelling of Albom’s final months with Schwartz – a compilation of life’s lessons that include forgiveness, trust, love, happiness, and how to lead a balanced and rewarding life. Listed on many young adult booklists, the title is currently on the Young Adult Library Services Association’s list of Outstanding Books for the College Bound. The title is available at The Urbana Free Library in print and on disc.

Coincidentally, the Krannert Center Summer Studio Theatre 2009, at the University of Illinois, will be performing Tuesdays with Morrie on June 25, June 30, and July 1. For information about dates and times of performances, visit the Krannert Center website.

Thinking the Unthinkable: Books from the Dark Side

Do you like Sci Fi / Fantasy from the Dark Side? Some of the best recent releases have been dystopian fiction - books set in nightmarish worlds where the characters fight for survival, escape and freedom. There's a whole new list of them available in the teen area at the library, but here's a few to get you started...

Maybe you've already read Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series - stories set in the image-obsessed future where every 16 year old is surgically enhanced to fit the one ideal of Beauty. In addition to a fast-paced story, Westerfeld can really get you thinking about what it means to be attractive and how far you'd go to be beautiful... How about Cory Doctorow's high energy, high tech adventure story, Little Brother? After a terrorist attack, the book's teenage hero uses his wits and willingness to risk it all to evade the high tech police state. Doctorow already had me hooked by the end of the first smart-alecky, hip, humorous first chapter. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a must-read about a horrifying futuristic world with a reality show that pits two children in a fight to the death. The story is topping lots of the year's Best Books lists - and the sequel - Catching Fire - comes out in September. One of the creepier dystopian novels this year is Unwind - Imagine a futuristic world where a war has been fought between pro-life and pro-choice factions. Abortion becomes outlawed, and here's the really creepy part: unwanted teens can be signed away by their parents to be “unwound,” a process in which their bodies are harvested for parts. Watch for the climactic and shocking end...

These stories aren't for the faint of heart - but if you like risk, intense characters, and tight, suspenseful writing, stop by the library and get our new list of dystopian fiction: Thinking the Unthinkable: Books from the Dark Side...

From the summer movie list: The 400 Blows

The 400 Blows, or Les Quatre Cents Coups, tells the story of French youth Antoine Doinel. The story is somewhat based on the childhood of the film's auteur, the writer/director/producer Francois Truffaut [other films | biographies]. Antoine isn't any worse than any other French teenager--he just gets caught more, like when a cheesecake pin up calendar girl pic is being passed around class and isn't noticed by the instructor until it is in Antoine's hands. He's punished with more homework, which he is unable to do at home as his mother sends him out to buy flour and tells him to put his work away for dinner. In stead of going to school to be punished for not doing his homework, he skips. He avoids other punishments at home by running away. He tries to do well only to be accused of lying or cheating. When he's trapped and everyone is against him, there is only one solution: escape.

The film's in French and has English subtitles. Watch it this summer and score points with your French teacher in the fall by noting that you've seen Truffaut's 400 Blows. The title, according to Wikipedia, " refers to the expression 'faire les quatre cents coups,' which means 'to raise hell'." Some argue this should have been the English title, and others think The Wild One would have been better. Antoine is wild and does raise hell, at least by the standards set by others.

The Chosen One

In The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams, Kyra is 13 years-old and living in an isolated religious community that calls themselves "The Chosen", led by Prophet Childs. Her family consists of her father and his three wives, and her twenty siblings. She is devoted to her family, and her rebellions are small... checking out forbidden books from the Mobile Library on Wheels, spending time with a boy she likes. But then the Prophet has a vision and decrees that she will marry her 60 year-old uncle in four weeks. Kyra's opposition to the marriage means little in a community that prizes female obedience above all else, and demands it by force if necessary. Kyra must make an impossible choice. She can give in and go against everything she wants for her life, or she can try to escape...but running away means giving up everything she knows and never seeing her family again. This fast-paced and compelling story puts you in Kyra's shoes, and will leave you shaken. I dare you to try to put it down once you've started!

Pssst...

Can't get enough to read by your favorite authors? Check the web to see if they have a blog! Many popular authors keep frequently updated sites where they share everything from news about new books, give away contests, and their personal opinions on anything and everything.

Popular (and prolific) author Meg Cabot (author of Being Nikki, the Princess Diaries series and many many others, has a frequently hilarious and always entertaining blog, Meg's Diary. She has frequent contests for her fans, as well as lots of pop culture gossip and reviews.

Another great one is from John Green, author of bestseller novels Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska, and An Abundance of Katherines. If you enjoy his writing style and unique sense of humor, you should check out his website, Sparks Fly Up. It features all sorts of musings, including video entries where he answers fan questions (on anything from his book characters to advice for girls about boys).

So, if you are looking for something from your favorite writers while you wait for their newest books to come out, do a search and see if they are out there on the web! Even childhood favorite Judy Blume is in on the act!

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork

Do you ever get the feeling that you somehow think differently than other people do? Well, 17 year-old Marcelo has that feeling all the time, since he has what his father would call a "cognitive disorder" similar to Asperger's syndrome. Marcelo hears what he calls "Internal Music" in his head, and it tends to affect how he perceives and interacts with the world around him. Marcelo enjoys his unique life: sleeping in a tree house, attending a special school, helping to care for therapy ponies and indulging his interest in religious philosophy. However, his father thinks Marcelo should be more engaged in what he calls "the real world", so Marcelo must work at his father's law firm for the summer. As Marcelo is thrust into this corporate environment that is completely foreign to him, he must deal the confusing world of office politics as well as his feelings about an ethically troublesome lawsuit and his intriguing co-worker Jasmine. Marcelo learns some important lessons about the challenges and rewards of the "real world" and the value of his own perspective.

If you enjoy Marcelo in the Real World, you may also want to check out The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-Time or Look Me in the Eye (reviewed earlier on this blog).

Alohamora!

School’s out! It’s time for sun, summer reading, and family trips to awesome places – such as the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and the world-premiere of Harry Potter: The Exhibition. If you loved the books and the movies, the exhibit is your opportunity to get up close and personal with the costumes and props from the Harry Potter films, see some magical creatures, and try some hands-on Hogwarts activities. Here is just some of what you’ll see and experience:

• You might be selected to don the sorting hat. Find out what Hogwarts House is calling you!
• Check out the themed environments, such as the Gryffindor Common Room, Hagrid’s Hut, and the Hogwart’s Great Hall.
• See many of the wizardly props, like the Monster Book of Monsters, Harry’s acceptance letter to Hogwarts, the list of Dumbledore’s Army, and Ron Weasley’s howler.
• Pull a Mandrake out of a flowerpot in Professor Sprout’s classroom and listen to it shriek!
• Try your hand at throwing a Quaffle in the Quidditch area.

Harry Potter: The Exhibition is at the Museum of Science and Industry through September 27, 2009. Watch the museum website for “free days” when you’ll not be required to purchase a general admission ticket (you’ll still need to purchase special entry tickets for The Exhibition). No cameras are permitted – be prepared to leave the exhibit with only memories and a few great souvenirs from the official exhibit gift shop!

Coming soon to a theater near you -Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on July 15! Now’s the time to catch up on reading (or re-reading) this great Rowling series, or refresh your memory by watching the first five films on DVD. The Urbana Free Library has all of the books and all of the films in their collection! Place a request through the library's online catalog for the books and the films. We’ll notify you when they are available and hold them for you at the circulation desk. And now – most books in the collection have a 4-week loan period (new books remain at a 2-week loan). Five points from Gryffindor!