monday april 07
In this fish out of water tale, two ballerina sisters are moved from their New York City apartment and dance lessons at the premiere ballet school in the country to a small town in rural upstate New York. The Year My Sister Got Lucky, by Aimee Friedman, follows the lives of Katya and her perfect older sister Michaela as they adjust - or avoid adjusting - to their new surroundings.
Now, I've never had a sister, so their relationship was unfamiliar to me. But the relationship between these two girls is well researched, as I discovered when I read the author's bio - she has a sister whom with she attended dance classes (check out Friedman's MySpace page). While Katya's trials and tribulations are at times humorous and other times emotional, her relationship with her big sister is the connecting theme throughout the novel.
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friday march 14
I recently finished reading Scott Westerfeld's Midnighters series and liked it so much that I looked to see what else he had written (check out Westerfeld's blog here). I found Uglies, which stars Tally Youngblood, who can't wait to turn sixteen.
But instead of Tally getting a driver's license on her sixteenth birthday, in this world turning sixteen means going under the knife and getting a life of parties and prettiness. Shortly before her much-anticipated surgery, Tally befriends a girl named Shay, who shocks Tally by not wanting to be made "pretty." The consequence of not going through with the surgery is being Ugly. For life.
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tuesday march 11
Anyone who grew up – as I did – devouring any and all horse-related books, from Marguerite Henry’s
Misty of Chincoteague and Bonnie Bryant’s
The Saddle Club to Walter Farley’s
The Black Stallion series and Mary O’Hara’s
My Friend Flicka, will recognize themselves in the opening passage of Susan Juby's
Another Kind of Cowboy:
In the beginning…
There was Del Magnifico le Noir. If you didn’t know better, you might have mistaken him for a dark-blue Norco bike, but to six-year-old Alex Ford, Magnifico was a three-year-old Thoroughbred, reminiscent of the Black Stallion. Like the Black Stallion, Magnifico was given to bursts of thrilling speed, which is why Alex kept a red dog leash tied to his handlebars.
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tuesday february 26
Life is hard for when your dad is running for President. You have to leave your overseas boarding school to go on the campaign trail with your parents and on top of that your father’s PR guru renames you with what she deems an Americanized nickname and then has a thirty-something year old man ghostwrite a vacuous blog for you. What is an adopted South Asian teen to do?
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monday february 25
The On The Same Page 2008 title selection for Teens - as chosen by a group of eleven very cool teen readers - is Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes. Named a Coretta Scott King Award Winner in 2003, Ms. Grimes’ novel portrays a high school English class as they discover ways to express themselves through 'Open Mic' poetry. For the next several weeks, branch libraries will hold Open Mic sessions for teens; some will be led by the dynamic performance poet Benjamin Hughes.
Participating in this year's program are classes from Northwest High School, LaSalle, St. Teresa in Covedale, Mt. Notre Dame, Aiken HS, and Ursuline Academy, to name a few. Leading in to National Poetry Month in April, teachers can continue to request book collections for use in their classrooms.
Anyone who has a creative streak would have to admire author Nikki Grimes, as she expresses herself via many art forms: writing, fiber arts, music, and jewelry-making. Fans of all ages can meet her at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in the Rookwood Pavilion on Wednesday March 26 from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.
