ALA Awards Announced!

Guess what book received the Newbery Award for 2012?  Yes, my current "Oh my gosh, this book is great - Dead End in Norvelt". I'm telling you - don't miss this one.  I'll order more.

Another favorite of many of you - The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen- received the Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience.

Click here to see the complete list of this year's award winners.

Good Girl Read!

Some to Consider

If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko (author of Al Capone Does My Shirts)

• Kristen in in 7th grade and everything she know is changing - drastically. Her parents aren’t getting along and Kristen and her friends aren’t getting along. When school starts friendships are terribly strained. A new student, Walk, is in 7th grade and his goal is to survive this private, very expensive school his mother has sent him to. Told in alternating chapters by Kristen and Walk, experience their frustrations with friends, family, race, weight, and school.

Life as We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer

• Miranda is a junior in high school and is given assignment after assignment focusing on the moon and the warnings that a meteor is heading directly toward it. After witnessing the collision of the meteor, life changes rapidly for the entire world. This book is her journal entries of how her family and she strive to survive in terrible times.
• This book inspires me to investigate meteors, the moon, survival, tsumanis, earthquakes, volcanoes, flu epidemics, West Nile Virus….need I say any more about “terrible times”?

Try the guys version - The Dead and The Gone - told from the point of view of a young man in New York City with an entirely different experience of the same catastrophic event.

Side Effects by Amy Goldman Koss

• Noticing a swollen lymph node one morning, Izzy tells her mom and goes off to school. She is called out of class to go to the doctor and her life changes in an few short hours. The doctor tells her she has cancer, she is sent to the hospital, and quickly admitted. Izzy tells her story of dealing with cancer treatment in an authentic voice filled with humor and pain.

Girlz Read!

Hello. Just to let you know of a few more new books we received this week of particular interest to girls -

• Babysitting Basics - whole series of books on how to be the best babysitter ever. You can learn how to have fun, earn some bucks, establish rules, and keep the kids safe while in your care.
• People in the News - of great interest - Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. Enough said.
• Edward Bloor’s Taken - the year is 2035 and kidnapping is a major industry. Children are taken from homes, cash settlements are made quickly with the kidnappers, and children are usually returned home. Charity knows what is expected of her in the event she is kidnapped - Do not panic. Do not try to escape. - except this kidnapping is different. Nothing occurs as it is supposed to and the hours are rapidly diminishing for her release. What do the kidnappers really want?
• Justina Chen Headley’s Girl Overboard - Syrah loves to snowboard and feels at peace on the mountain. It would seem that her life would be perfect as she is the daughter of a billionare and has all the material possessions anyone could ever want. Things just aren’t perfect since her half-siblings can’t stand her, her friendships are being ruined, and her boyfriend apparently is only interested in her because of her father. When Syrah is injured and needs to have rehab, she makes a new friend who helps her find and accept herself. After reading this, you might want to give back to the community or try something new.

GREAT WEBSITE - ReaderGirlz

http://www.readergirlz.com/issue.html

Here you will find suggestions of great books to read, a discussion blog, author chats, a “while you read playlist”, contests, ways and reasons to celebrate being a girl as well as ways to inspire other girls to read and contribute! This is an award winning site!