Fantastic YA Book Covers in 2010

Besides spending a lot of time reading YA books, I’m also a bit of a design and typography geek. While I’m mostly persuaded to read a book by reviews, I’m easily drawn toward titles with striking cover artwork. Here is a selection of covers that have stood out to me so far this year.

For these two, it’s all about the lovely script adorning the covers. (And am I the only one who keeps thinking Amy and Roger are facing away from the camera, when they’re actually facing towards it?)

I also love the type treatments on these two. Plus, Wildthorn has a killer corset.

I think I’m generally against real people on book covers, but all of these prove me wrong! So many striking images (I think it’s the eyes), but maybe I also have a fascination with dead girls?

These all win points for beautiful covers that don’t rely on realistic photos of pretty girls. I think the paperback cover of Tender Morsels may be my absolute favorite.

And finally, two covers that feature typography without any people! I cannot get over the gorgeous hand-lettering by Si Scott on the Beautiful Darkness cover.

August 26th, 2010  ♥  Books  ♥  1 Comment »

Wildthorn by Jane Eagland

Jane Eagland weaves an engrossing tale about a teenaged girl who finds herself locked up in Wildthorn, a mental institution in Victorian England. Neither the protagonist, Louisa Cosgrove, nor the reader know why she was sent there, until clues are revealed in flashbacks interspersed with the narrative. Louisa must figure out the truth behind her situation, amidst the lies and abuse from the institution’s staff, aided by the kindness of Eliza, one of the assistant caregivers. Throughout the story, a lot is revealed about women in medicine, the wretched reality of patient care, and social customs of the time, which could provide good discussion points. While the plot gets wrapped up a little too nicely at the end, it’s still a captivating story that will especially appeal to historical fiction fans.

Wildthorn comes out on September 6!

Find in a library or on Amazon. Add to Goodreads.

Reviewed from a review copy received from the publisher on NetGalley.

August 23rd, 2010  ♥  Books, Reviews  ♥  No Comments »

Librarian Spotlight: Emily Dezurick-Badran

Emily Dezurick-Badran works with teens as an Enquiry Assistant at Southend Central Library in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. She recently started the YA Library UK blog, loves her job, and has a penchant for horror. Read on to learn more about Emily!

How long have you been a librarian?
Unfortunately I’m not yet a librarian! I don’t have the qualification, so I’m simply an Enquiry Assistant, which is somewhere between being a Library Assistant and a Librarian. If all goes well, I’ll have start my MA in Library and Information Science in fall 2011.

I’ve been working as an Enquiry Assistant at Southend Central Library in Southend-on-Sea (in Essex, England) for about a year and nine months.

Why did you want to be a teen librarian?
I enjoy the way that young people–who are still outside of and somewhat suppressed by the adult world–question and challenge its artificial order. I have always been very pro-education and pro-information but uncomfortable with the authoritarian nature of the school system, so reaching teens through the library is a happy medium.

During my adolescence I spent a great deal of time lurking in various branches of San Francisco Public Library (I was born and raised in America). I knew a really wonderful teen librarian named Betsy Levine (who still works at SFPL!) who had a talent for bringing shy teens out of their shells and providing varied and exciting programming. I was inspired by my excellent experience both with the library collection itself and with Betsy specifically!

What steps led you to your current position?
I’m very lucky–I was hired as an Enquiry Assistant without any formal library experience except volunteer work. As soon as I completed preliminary training I asked to get involved with our teen reading group, and my role simply expanded from there. I’ve been very persistent in my enthusiasm for YA lit and teen services, and my supervisors are wonderfully supportive, so I’ve been allowed to assist with and sometimes create new teen-related projects.

What has been your favorite teen program?
My favorite event was definitely our Manga Day, a mini-convention that subsumed our library for one glorious Saturday. The whole thing was complete chaos of the best kind. I especially enjoyed watching some of the shyer young people discover other members of the local geek community and make new friends.

Are there any upcoming programs or events you’re looking forward to?
Working with teens has just been officially added to my professional goals for the next year (previously it was an official part of my post!). I’m just beginning to consider a plan for the next year of teen programming, so nothing’s certain at the moment. My two wonderful managers have invited me to collaborate with them on a three-year teen plan, so I’m quite happy and optimistic about that.

What is the best part about your job?
Helping people of all ages is the best aspect of my job, although it can also be the most frustrating part. I also love creating new teen programs and finding new solutions to seemingly impossible problems (lack of funds, staff, et cetera). Getting to know the teens who come to library programs on a regular basis has been a real pleasure, too.

Are you involved with any professional organizations?
I’m a member of the American Library Association, specifically YALSA, who have awarded me a grant to attend this year’s YALSA conference, which I’m tremendously excited about. I frequently read and post to the YA-YAAC list. I’m also in the process of getting my CILIP membership (CILIP is the UK’s professional library association).

Do you have any favorite online resources?
For YA I often look at teenlibrarian.co.uk (run by the fantastic Matt Imrie) and the YALSA blog for advice on teen programs and events. I read Chicklish for YA reviews, and really enjoy the Book Smugglers’ YA Appreciation Month. Personally I use or refer many people to online libraries such as Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive (the latter not least for its fantastic film stock), and encyclopedias like Wolfram Alpha and of course the ubiquitous Wikipedia.

What are some of your favorite books, series, authors or genres?
I hope you know that this is an unreasonable question to ask someone who works in a library! I’ll just direct you to my Goodreads profile.

As for YA: Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (even though I keep typing “Absolutely True Dairy”–rather a different book, I’d imagine. “The cows had all settled in their…” what is it? Pens? Mangers? Cowsheds? Er, corrals? What do cows settle in?), I adore Garth Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy (which I first read when I was a young teen!), and I enjoy anything Robin McKinley writes. As for supernatural YA novels, Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series is my absolute favourite–I love the tough-as-nails heroine and the clever incorporation of folklore and invented theology.

More recently I read Jean Ure’s novel Bad Alice, which I highly recommend to teens and adults alike.

Any other favorite pop culture stuff (movies, TV, music, games)?
Horror films are an obsession, as are comics (I mostly enjoy story lines influenced by but just outside the Marvel/DC superhero tradition–The Maxx, Watchmen, Sandman, Preacher, but also love comics like A Child’s Life and Persepolis and Madison Clell’s Cuckoo). Red Dwarf is probably my favourite TV series. At present I’m obsessed with the idea of gaming as a new type of storytelling, and am especially interested in Alternate Reality Games.

Vampires, werewolves, or zombies?
I believe in equal opportunities for all monsters! My favourite horror novel is definitely Let the Right One In, (although I also love Shirley Jackson’s spooky stories), but I also love the Romero and post-Romero zombie. I could go on forever about monsters.

August 19th, 2010  ♥  Librarian Spotlight  ♥  No Comments »

Box Office Preview: August 20 and 27

The Box Office Preview features movies with teen and tween appeal opening soon. For the most part I won’t feature R-rated films, but occasionally there will be R-rated movies on teens’ radar and the rating will be noted. Limited release movies will be featured the week they get a wide release.

August 18

With Twilight’s popularity, a vampire romance parody was inevitable. Vampires Suck skewers the whole genre, but appears to take aim primarily at the Twilight franchise. This will be an adequate summer diversion for vampire-haters and Twihards who don’t mind being poked fun at.

August 20

Emma Thompson is back as the inimitable Nanny McPhee in Nanny McPhee Returns. Young moviegoers and their families should flock to this movie, as it’s the first family-friendly film to open this month.

Lottery Ticket stars Bow Wow (he’s not Li’l anymore) as a young man who wins a multi-million dollar lottery and must deal with the money-grubbing hijinks of his friends and family. This broad comedy should attract a teen audience, especially those who are fans of Bow Wow, T-Pain, Ice Cube and the other rappers who star in it.

In The Switch, a guy named Wally (Jason Bateman) drunkenly spills the sample from his best friend Kassie’s (Jennifer Aniston) sperm donor and replaces it with his own. Seven years later, he finally meets his son and must confront the situation. While this will mostly appeal to an older audience, teens who are fans of Aniston or Bateman will likely be interested.

Piranha 3D (Rated R) is the latest remake of the 1978 B-movie Piranha. This horror flick stars a host of familiar names including Elisabeth Shue, Jerry O’Connell, and Richard Dreyfuss and features lots of gratuitous blood, gore, and nudity, all in 3D.

August 27

Based on the middle grade novel by Wendelin Van Draanen, Flipped gets a wide release this weekend after a limited release earlier this month. It tells the story of the budding romance between Bryce and Juli from second grade through junior high. Early reviews are mixed, but this looks like an endearing film adaptation that will appeal to younger audiences and families.

Moviegoers looking for something more action-packed should check out Takers, a gritty crime thriller about a group of professional bank robbers reuniting for a big heist.

The Last Exorcism presents itself as “found footage” of a disillusioned minister performing an exorcism. This has been making the film festival circuit and looks like a must-see for horror fans.

What movies are you or your teens most looking forward to this month?

August 17th, 2010  ♥  Box Office Preview, Movies  ♥  No Comments »

Links of the Week: August 13

New York magazine weighs in on the casting of Katniss in the Hunger Games movie. But all of their choices are blond — isn’t Katniss described as having olive skin and dark hair?

I’m loving the discussion on the Forever YA posts about deal-breakers and deal-makers in YA books.

Check out the Teen Choice Award winners. Lots of love for Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and Pretty Little Liars.

Vote for your favorite YA fantasy characters in the YA Fantasy Showdown. The second round starts on Sunday.

Adele at Persnickety Snark is counting down the top 100 YA books based on votes from her readers. Who will be number one?

GreenBeanTeenQueen wrote a great post about how a librarian’s work extends well past regular working hours. Aspiring librarians should also check out her post, So you want to be a teen librarian?

The New York Times ran an essay about the popularity of teen books among adults. Liz from A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy shares her reaction to the piece, which includes links to other viewpoints.

August 13th, 2010  ♥  Links of the Week  ♥  No Comments »

Everything You Need to Know about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World opens this Friday, Aug. 13. The movie is based on the six-volume graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, though the plot will not follow the books exactly as the last volume was just released in July. So, what do you need to know about the movie and the books?

• Scott Pilgrim is an underachieving 23-year-old who lives with his gay best friend Wallace, plays bass in Sex Bob-omb, and is dating 17-year-old Knives Chau. But when he encounters the mysterious Ramona Flowers, first in his dreams, and then in real life, he ditches Knives for a shot with Ramona. The only catch? He has defeat her seven evil exes before they can date.
• It’s packed with video game references that will delight even the most casual gamer. See a comprehensive list at UGO.
• Music also plays a big part. Scott’s in a three-piece band, Sex Bob-omb, with Kim Pine and Stephen Stills, and several scenes take place at music clubs. Beck wrote the music for the band in the film and members of Broken Social Scene composed the songs for a rival band, Crash and the Boys.
• The series takes place in Toronto and features many local institutions. Several fans have tracked down the sites and the movie was shot on location.



• The Toronto Reference Library is featured in two scenes in the graphic novel. Scott first sees Ramona in real life there and Knives Chau fights Ramona in the library’s main room.
• According to WorldCat, 401 libraries have the first volume cataloged and 236 have the series cataloged. (Including the Toronto Public Library, natch)
• Director Edgar Wright is also responsible for Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, and the British tv series Spaced (available on Hulu!).
• The movie’s groundbreaking interactive trailer is played like a video game and includes behind-the-scenes featurettes and other tidbits of information. You can also create your own avatar.
• The comics were also adapted into a downloadable video game for the PlayStation Network and XBox Live Arcade.

Have you read the books? Planning to see the movie? Let me know in the comments!

August 12th, 2010  ♥  Books, Movies  ♥  No Comments »

YA Through the Decades: 1950s

For my YA Through the Decades challenge, I read Fifteen by Beverly Cleary for the 1950s. I seem to be reading contemporary realistic fiction for girls for each decade (Sue Barton, Seventeenth Summer) — I can’t decide if I want to continue that theme or not, but it is what I usually tend to read. I also hope to get a 1950s overview post up soon! So, what have you been reading for the challenge?

Check out Anne’s post on the challenge at My Head is Full of Books. She’s already finished! She read Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952) by C.S. Lewis for the 1950s.

Lindsey from Ten Stories Up read A Separate Peace (1959) by John Knowles.

¤¤¤

Beverly Cleary’s Fifteen, published in 1956, tells the story of a few months in the life of fifteen-year-old Jane Purdy. Jane considers herself an ordinary girl – she spends most of her free time babysitting, her parents are embarrassing, and she wants nothing more than a cute boyfriend with a car. Things start to look up when she meets Stan Crandall, the new boy in town, and he invites her to the movies. Jane really likes him, and thinks he likes her, but not everything goes as planned. He spends too much time talking to cool girl Marcy, their date to Chinatown involves eating bizarre foods, and he doesn’t invite her to the first school dance. Will things ever go Jane’s way?

Fifteen is a fun and pleasant read, but doesn’t offer much in the way of substance. Jane does learn to be herself and not worry what others think about her, but most of the book is concerned with whether or not Stan will call her after one seemingly embarrassing event or another. Still, Jane’s affability and naivete are endearing and the other characters, however briefly mentioned, are fun as well. Many of Jane’s concerns – embarrassing parents, what to wear, will he call? – still apply to today’s teens, even if they’re not worried about their mother not wearing stockings, wearing the same suit twice, and tying up the party phone line. I definitely found this more accessible than Seventeenth Summer, which has a similar storyline, but that probably has more to do with Cleary’s writing style than cultural differences due to time period. I could see tweens enjoying this, especially for those who are graduating from Cleary’s younger books.

Find in a library or on Amazon.

Covers Through the Decades:

August 10th, 2010  ♥  Books, Reviews, YA Decades Challenge  ♥  No Comments »

Box Office Preview: August 6 and August 13

The Box Office Preview features movies with teen and tween appeal opening soon. For the most part I won’t feature R-rated films, but occasionally there will be R-rated movies on teens’ radar and the rating will be noted. Limited release movies will be featured the week they get a wide release.

August 6

The Other Guys features Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as two incompetent NYC cops who find themselves hot on the tail of some of the city’s biggest criminals. This buddy cop comedy from Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) may have the right combination of star power and broad humor to knock Inception from its box office throne.

The latest installment in the popular dance franchise, Step Up 3D looks to be its most extravagant venture yet. The plot in this is secondary to the all-out dance battles, which should be fantastic and the dance crews are packed with alums from teen favorites So You Think You Can Dance and America’s Best Dance Crew.

August 13

Julia Roberts stars in the big-screen adaptation of the Elizabeth Gilbert bestseller Eat Pray Love, which opens this weekend. A recent divorcee heads off on a journey to find herself in Italy, India, and Bali through food, spirituality, and romance. Though primarily for an older demographic, this will likely appeal to many older teen girls especially with Glee’s Ryan Murphy directing.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, based on the graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, stars Michael Cera as a lovable doofus who must defeat the seven evil exes of his new love interest before dating her. Chock full of video game references, hip music tracks, and epic fight scenes, this film is made for the teen and twenty-something set and is being heavily marketed to them. (This is my most highly-anticipated movie of the summer, and maybe even the year!)

The Expendables (Rated R) is an action movie for action movie fans. Directed by Sylvester Stallone and starring himself and other action movie veterans like Jet Li, Steve Austin, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie focuses on a team of mercenaries sent to overthrow a South American dictator. But the plot hardly matters in this kind of mindless summer escape, which is perfect for older teens looking for a distraction.

Best bets

Maybe I’m being optimistic after a summer of so-so movies, but most of these actually look tolerable. My heart’s with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, though, and I think lots of teens will fall for it as well.

Coming up

Paranormal romance parody Vampires Suck, Nanny McPhee Returns, the sequel to the 2005 kid’s charmer, Lottery Ticket, a comedy starring Bow Wow, The Switch with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, horror remake Piranha 3D (Rated R), the film adapation of the middle-grade novel Flipped, action thriller Takers, documentary-style horror film The Last Exorcism, and Going the Distance (Rated R), with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long

August 2nd, 2010  ♥  Box Office Preview, Movies  ♥  1 Comment »

Book Review: Rose Sees Red by Cecil Castellucci

In her latest book, Cecil Castellucci makes a departure from her usual contemporary Los Angeles setting and takes her readers to 1980s New York City. The Cold War is at its height and our protagonist Rose lives next door to a Soviet family, including a girl her age, Yrena. Though Rose has been feeling “black” and friendless since choosing to attend the performing arts school for dance, she gets swept up into a night of parties, new friends, and self discovery when Yrena crawls into her window looking for a typical American experience. Castellucci makes the city and the era come alive at night as we see it through Rose and Yrena’s eyes — Rose, whose dispiritedness has made her take it for granted, and Yrena, who is seeing it wide-eyed for the first (and possibly last) time. Both are dancers and their new friends include a dancer, musicians, and actors, so it’s fun to see their passions on display. The book also touches on the issues of war and peace without being didactic about it, and while it’s historical fiction, the same concerns will still resonate with today’s readers. If anything, the book is too short at just under 200 pages. Some of the character development seemed rushed and could have benefited from longer scenes, despite the whole story taking place in one night. Overall, it’s a quick, fun read that can also open up a discussion about larger issues. Should be appropriate for grades 7 and up.

Rose Sees Red comes out on August 1!

Find in a library or on Amazon.
Add to Goodreads.

Other reviews:
Stacked
Abby (the) Librarian

Reviewed from an ARC received from the author.

July 19th, 2010  ♥  Books, Reviews  ♥  No Comments »

Goodreads vs. Librarything vs. Shelfari

When it comes to social networking sites, book lovers have it made. There are several popular websites that allow readers to catalog their books, share reviews, and connect with like-minded bookworms. But with choice comes decision and selecting the best site for you can take a bit of research and experimentation. Like many readers and aspiring librarians, I used to track my reading using spreadsheets, so I was thrilled with the features offered by Goodreads, Librarything, and Shelfari, and have been compulsively recording the books I’ve read and want to read online since 2007. Online cataloging is also a lifesaver for librarians who are inundated with information about books and need a flexible, easy way to keep track of books they want to read, titles they want to eventually add to their libraries, and remember and categorize books they’ve read.

Overall, I like Goodreads for its social features, LibraryThing for its extensive cataloging features, and Shelfari for its community-added metadata like character lists and “ridiculously simple synopses”.

Find me on Goodreads or LibraryThing.

What site(s) do you use for personal or professional use?

Read on for in-depth looks at each site.
Read the rest of this entry »

July 8th, 2010  ♥  Books, Resource Spotlight  ♥  1 Comment »

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