Goodbye Blog Posting Month!

Today, National Novel Writing Month and National Blog Posting Month come to an end.  It was a close call some days, but yes! I did post to this blog every day of November.  Ah, how victory is sweet.  Thanks for the comments, the answers to the polls, and just dropping by to read my NaBloPoMo posts.  I’m going to give my brain a rest for a day or two, then I’ll be back for more.  See you soon!  ~Katie

The Curse of the Wendigo

“In the absolute dark of the wilderness, a fell voice calls your name, the voice of damnation’s desire, from the desolation that destroys…”

Monstrumologist Dr. Pellinore Warthrop and his young apprentice Will Henry have barely recovered from their last monster hunt, but the doctor’s unique talents are once again in demand.  He must rescue his friend and colleague John Chanler from the Canadian wilderness, where locals fear he has become the victim of the Outiko, or Wendigo, a beast who gorges on human flesh but can never satisfy its appetite.

Warthrop and Will Henry’s journey will take them from the desolate wilds of Canada to the slums of New York City, where the stench of death and the sight of unimaginable cruelty mock them at every turn, as they attempt to save Chanler, whom they fear has given in to the Wendigo’s curse.

My Review: Compared to the first book in the series, The Monstrumologist, there aren’t as many gory monster attacks, but the ones we see are graphic, so bring a strong stomach.  This is a killer without mercy or conscience, possessing a gruesomely creative way of displaying his kills.

Despite that, this book is more focused on the monstrumologists than the monsters.  Everything winds back to Warthrop and Chanler’s past, and Warthrop sharply feels the burden of responsibility for what’s happened to his old friend.   

Thank goodness he has the ever-loyal Will Henry.  Warthrop is as tortured and complex as ever, but his dark moods are not only tolerated, but understood, by Will Henry.  The doctor’s coldness and caring for Will Henry are still strangely intertwined; they’re two of the most fascinating characters I’ve come across in a long time.

The Curse of the Wendigo is horrifying, sad and mysterious.  I recommend for fans of horror, readers who want complex, intriguing characters, and definitely for fans of The Monstrumologist.  Pick up The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey at the library.

Katie

You Vote, I’ll Plan

Get Reckless

Jacob and Will Reckless have looked out for each other ever since their father disappeared, but when Jacob discovers a magical mirror that transports him to a warring world populated by witches, giants, and ogres, he keeps it to himself until Will follows him one day, with dire consequences.

Check out the book trailer for Reckless by Cornelia Funke:

More New Sequels

Check out these new books in your favorite series…

	Demon by John Jackson Miller Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic volume nine Zayne and his con-artist partner Gryph are finally learning the truth about their fierce friend Jarael and the strange Mandalorian deserter Rohlan.  Yet for one of Zayne’s companions, a resurfacing past brings deadly peril – and he’ll have to call in every favor he can if he hopes to save the day!
	The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong Book three in the Darkest Powers series Fifteen-year-old Chloe, a necromancer, struggles to understand her feelings for werewolf Derek and his sorcerer brother, Simon, while seeking a way to enter the headquarters of the sinister Edison Group and rescue her aunt Lauren and friend Rachelle.
	Torment by Lauren Kate Sequel to Fallen It took Luce and her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts, immortals who want to kill Luce.
	Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld Sequel to Leviathan Continues the story of Austrian Prince Alek who, in an alternate 1914 Europe, eludes the Germans by traveling in the Leviathan to Constantinople, where he faces a whole new kind of genetically engineered warship.
	Lights, Camera, Quince! by Veronica Chambers Sequel to Fifteen Candles Carmen is turning fifteen and her friends Sarita, Alicia, Jamie, and Gaz plan to throw her a quinceañera; but when the group decides to join a reality show competition, Carmen feels like her party is becoming less important.
	Belle of the Brawl by Lisi Harrison Book three in the Alphas series After a week of drama-filled days at the exclusive, fiercely competitive Alpha Academy, Skye, Allie, and Charlie learn that someone has been keeping a huge secret from them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you’re all having a great turkey day!  What’s your favorite part of Thanksgiving?  Special family recipes you wait all year to eat?  Seeing your extended family?  Lining up at 4 in the morning to get great shopping deals?  Comment me with your favorite Thanksgiving tradition! 
 
 
 
Here are a few of my Thanksgiving favorites:

• Making my grandma’s cinnamon coffee cake - gotta love carrying on recipes and traditions.
• My Dad’s Thanksgiving toast before dinner, reminding us all of everything we have to be thankful for.
• Cold pumpkin pie for breakfast.  Delish.
• Meeting up with my crazy sisters, who DO get up extra early to shop, and joining them to shop some more.
• Having a nice long weekend to curl up with a good book (look for my review of The Curse of the Wendigo after the holiday weekend!).

Comment me with your favorite foods, traditions, and holiday craziness!
Katie

Ready for Thanksgiving?

I can’t believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow! It seems like Summer Reading practically just ended. If you’re cooking for turkey day, check out one of our teen cookbooks.  (Don’t forget we close tonight at 6:00 p.m.)

	Teens cook: how to cook what you want to eat By Megan and Jill Carle YA 641.5 CARLE
	Eat fresh food: awesome recipes for teen chefs By Rozanne Gold and her all-star team YA 641.5 GOLD
	Teens cook dessert By Megan and Jill Carle YA 641.86 CARLE

Iron Chef: Desserts

Thanks to all of our Iron Chefs for coming to our dessert making event on Friday.  The secret ingredient was…..Twinkies!  Congratulations to team 3, Katherine and M.E., on their dish which had chocolate chips, vanilla pudding, vanilla wafers, and dried strawberries and bananas. 

All three teams did a great job and everyone had such a good time, we’re doing Iron Chef again during next year’s Summer Reading.  Here are some pictures from the program:

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Here Be Dragons

So everyone wants to know when book 4 of the Inheritance Cycle (aka the Eragon series) will be coming out. The answer is…I don’t know! No one knows. The one thing I can tell you is that the official title/cover have not been announced, so if you see something that says it’s official, it’s not. At least not yet. If you want to know as soon as it becomes official, sign up for updates at the author’s website, www.alagaesia.com.

To satisfy your dragon craving until the new Eragon book comes out, give one of these books a try.  Click here for more books on my complete dragon booklist.  

	Starlighter YA FIC DAVIS Jason Masters doesn’t believe that dragons take people to another realm as slaves until his own brother is taken and Jason must save him.
	Slathbog’s Gold YA FIC FORMAN When 15-year-old orphan Alex Taylor sees an odd sign in a shop window and goes inside to investigate, he’s sent on a quest to defeat an evil dragon.
	The Golden Cord YA FIC GENESSE Guardian Drake Bloodstone must protect the village of Cliffton, but his world changes when he must go on a suicidal journey to the lair of the Dragon King.
	The Dragons of Darkness YA FIC MICHAELIS Two boys are thrown together by magic, mayhem, and a common foe as they battle deadly dragons in the wilderness of Nepal.

Happy Anniversary

Today is the fourth anniversary of this blog!  I can’t believe I’ve been posting here and working in the young adult part of the library for four years now.  What’s happened in those four years?  Well, here’s a list of a few things we have for teens now that we didn’t have before:

• Teen magazines
• Graphic novels
• Manga
• An awesome teen librarian
• Booklists
• Programs just for teens
• Fun nonfiction

So next time you’re at the library, take a minute to enjoy everything that’s here for you that we never used to have.  Happy anniversary!

Katie

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend

“The gaping hole of her gone-ness opened up all at once, and I couldn’t bear it. It was like a betrayal, to think that our lives could keep rolling on without her.”

There were two ways that Cass felt like she could honor her best friend Julia after she died: take Julia’s ashes from Illinois to California on a solo bike trip, and help put on a production of Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad, the musical Julia was writing before she died.

The problem is, you can’t just jump on a bike or listen to a few bars of “The Flavor of Blood is Sadness” and expect that your grief and doubts and questions will go away.  Is Julia’s boyfriend right - was Cass actually in love with Julia?  And if she was, is it a betrayal of Julia’s memory for Cass to fall in love with their former junior high enemy Heather?  How do you deal with having a dead best friend when you still need her so much?

My Review: I liked how Cass and Julia were best friends in the best possible way, and there was no dramatic argument before Julia died or anything like that.  Cass wasn’t left with painful regrets, but the deep sadness of losing someone who she was intensely close to.  Cass ran through every emotion you’d expect: anger, confusion, and turmoil, but also  acceptance and forgiveness.

But, the book isn’t just some emotional roller-coaster.  A lot of it takes place during Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad rehearsals, which are pretty funny.  The song titles, staging, and drama of the production were a nice light part of the book.  It was cool the way Julia’s play brought Cass and Heather together, kind of going from an old, unspoken crush to a new, unexpected relationship.

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner is now available at the library. It’s sweet, it’s sad, it’s funny, and it’s definitely worth a read.   Check out the author’s website here.

Katie

Legilimens!

The Gardener

“We should all be afraid of the Gardener.”

Two unexpected things happened the day Mason was attached by his neighbor’s dog at the age of five: he got 97 stitches in his face and he saw his father for the first time.  Or…some of him anyway.  The video Mason’s mom showed him only showed the man from the neck down as he read from  The Runaway Bunny.  He wasn’t exactly a dad, but that video was the closest Mason had ever gotten to his father. 

Over the years, that video became his security blanket, but he couldn’t know that one day, the video would awaken a catatonic girl from what seemed like a trance.  What was it about his father’s voice that woke her up?  Who was she?  Even she didn’t seem to know for sure; she just knew she had to escape “the Gardener.”  As she and Mason go on the run, Mason discovers that her origins are more disturbing than he ever could have imagined, and he knows he must find a way to save her from the Gardener.

My Review: I hadn’t read science fiction for a long time before reading this, and I forgot how scifi really makes you think about the big questions.  Should ”the greater good” really trump the rights of an individual?  Can a person do something evil with good intentions without becoming evil himself?  What makes someone human? 

The Gardener made me think about all this and more, while wrapping it all up in a fast -paced story about two teens on the run from a sinister  corporation.  I wish the ending had been drawn out more, because the fate of the girl left me with some unanswered questions, but overall, this was a solid science fiction story that made me think. 

Check out The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen at the library today.  You can also read an excerpt here.

Katie

This is Awesome

Two days ago, I posted my review of “Wildthorn” by Jane Eagland, and I just got such a nice note from her!

“Dear Katie
Thanks very much for your review of Wildthorn and for linking to my website.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
All the best
Jane”

How cool is that? So now I can add Jane Eagland to my list of authors who have commented on the blog.  Check out comments from Scott Westerfeld here, and Paul Volponi here (his comment is #12).  My next book to review is “The Gardener” by S. A. Bodeen, so who knows, maybe she’ll be my next author commenter!

Katie

10 Things You Might Not Know About the Library

1. We have TV series on DVD.  Come in and check out Glee, Modern Family, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Vampire Diaries, The Office and more.
   
2. You can take practice tests for the ACT, PSAT, SAT, AP Exams and more using our Testing and Education Reference Center.  You can also see in-depth information about college programs.  Just click here to access the Testing Center.  Your user ID is your Winfield Library card number.  

3. We’ve got a Flickr photostream with pictures from library events.  Check it out at www.flickr.com/photos/winfieldpubliclibrary. 

4. If you forget your library card, but you have your school photo ID with your name on it, you may still check out library materials. 

5. Our all ages chess club meets once a month.  The next meeting is Saturday, December 11 at 10:00 a.m.  The club meets in our Youth Services department, but adults, teens, and kids are all welcome to join. 

6. If you need to do research for a school project, click here to access Encyclopedia Britannica to get biographical information, timelines, atlases, country comparisons and for general research.  You can even make your own custom charts to compare information.  Your password is your library card number. 

7. Back issues of magazines may be checked out for two weeks.  Check out the teen magazines, like Alternative Press, Shonen Jump, Mad Magazine, Teen Voices, Seventeen, Game Informer and more. 

8. If you need a book but we don’t have it, you can request an interlibrary loan and we’ll get it for you from another library.  Just ask for a form at the front desk. 

9. If you have to write a paper about a social issue, like abortion, cloning, global warming, or another controversial issue, SIRS Knowledge Source is perfect for you.  A quick call to the library will get you the password information if you have a Winfield Library card. 

10. We have a suggestion box in the teen area of the library.  Drop in a card with the names of books you want me to buy, ideas for library programs, or general comments.  If you want a personal response, put your name and number or email on the card.  Anonymous suggestions are welcome, too!

Wildthorn

“My mind is a pocket with a hole in the bottom – everything I used to know has fallen out.”

Louisa Cosgrove has been betrayed.  The carriage carrying her to her new position as a paid companion has instead left her at Wildthorn Hall, an asylum for the insane.  They call her Lucy Childs, but that’s not her name!  This must be a terrible mistake!  But once the doors of Wildthorn shut behind her, there is nothing she can do to change the doctors’ minds.  No one believes a girl they think is crazy.

Someone had to sign her commitment papers, but who?  Her mother, who had always wished Louisa were more proper and obedient?  Her brother Tom, who had never supported Louisa’s dream to be a doctor?  Or was it someone she couldn’t even imagine?   

 My Review: The mystery of who sent Louisa to Wildthorn and why kept me racing through the pages of the book.  Louisa’s memories are sprinkled throughout the first half, and some of those memories infuriated me!  It was hard for me to keep my 21st century ideals of women’s rights from influencing the way I read a book that takes place in the late 19th century.  

The everyday humiliations and degradations Louisa suffers made the asylum so real, and all the more painful when contrasted with Louisa’s past happiness studying medicine with her father.  It was heartbreaking to see how the asylum at times seemed to steal away the very things Louisa HAD TO hold on to: her sanity and her will to fight to free herself.   

But despite that, the glimmers of happiness she feels when she tries to help the other patients, or when she talks to her only friend – and maybe more – Eliza, made me feel that no matter how the asylum attendents tried to break her, she would find a way to keep her humanity even in the face of such injustice.  

If you like mysteries, historical fiction, a touch of romance, and want a surprising ending (it was a shock to find out whose treachery sent her to Wildthorn!) give this book a try.  Wildthorn by Jane Eagland is now available at the library.  Also, check out the author’s website.

Katie

 

New Sequels

	The Scorch Trials by James Dashner Sequel to “The Maze Runner.” After surviving horrific conditions in the Maze, Thomas is entrapped, along with nineteen other boys, in a scientific experiment designed to observe their responses and gather data believed to be essential for the survival of the human race.
	My Little Phony by Lisi Harrison Book 13 (!) in the Clique series. As the holidays approach, Massie, Alicia, Dylan, Kristen, and Claire deal with budget woes, boy friends and each other in the continuing adventures of the Clique.
	Remote Control by Jack Heath Sequel to “The Lab.” Teenage agent Six of Hearts is suspected of being a double agent, which has him on the run from his fellow agents at the Deck while also trying to track down his brother’s kidnappers.
	Fallout by Ellen Hopkins Last in the trilogy that includes “Crank” and “Glass.” This book in verse explores how three teenagers try to cope with the consequences of their mother’s addiction to crystal meth and its effects on their lives.
	Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson Sequel to “Chains.” Separated from his friend Isabel after their daring escape from slavery, fifteen-year-old Curzon serves as a free man in the Continental Army at Valley Forge until he and Isabel are thrown together again, as slaves once more.
	The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima Sequel to “The Demon King.” Two teenagers, one fleeing from a forced marriage and the other from a dangerous family of wizards, cross paths and fall in love.

Teen Winter Programs

Check out what’s coming up this winter for teens!  Most events require registration, so go to the library’s Calendar of Events to register.

Gingerbread Houses
Friday, December 10, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Construct and decorate your own house out of graham cracker ‘gingerbread,’ icing and candy. Registration required.

Scrapbook Your Holidays
Friday, January 14, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Do you have tons of pictures from your winter vacation or your family’s holiday celebration? Bring pictures to the library and we’ll provide all the scrapbooking papers, embellishments, and tools you need to create unique scrapbook pages. Registration required.

Vampire Knight
Friday, January 28, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Join us to watch two episodes of the anime based on hit manga series Vampire Knight. Cross Academy students Yuki and Zero are the guardians of the school, protecting the day class from the Academy’s dark secret: the night class is full of vampires! Refreshments will be served. Registration required.

Books and Bites
Friday, February 18, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Come by after school for a snack and talk about the books you’re reading. Let us know what you think – love it or hate it – and get book recommendations from other teens. You’ll also get the first look at some of the library’s newest books! Registration required.

December 6 – January 15
Teen Winter Reading Program: 6 Weeks – 6 Books
If you’re in grade 7-12, you can participate in our first ever teen winter reading program. Just pick up a book log starting Monday, December 6, read 6 books within 6 weeks, return the book log by Saturday, January 15 and you could win your choice of a Glee or Iron Man 2 book and DVD prize pack in our grand prize drawing. Everyone who reads 6 books and turns in their book log will receive a pair of earbuds. One book log per participant.



Sign Up Today for Iron Chef

If you haven’t signed up yet for the upcoming Iron Chef competition, sign up today!  You can use your creative culinary talents to make a delicious, unique dish using our secret ingredients.  Everyone will be voting for their favorite dish (no, you can’t vote for yourself!)  and the winners will be the library’s Iron Chefs!  The program is a week from today: Friday, November 19 at 3:30 p.m.   Registration is required, so go to the library’s calendar of events to sign up.  This event is for grades 7-12. Six registrations are required by November 17 for this program to be presented.

Honoring Veterans Day

If you don’t have any plans this Veterans Day, try to make it over to our own First Division Museum at Cantigny Park to find out about the First Division,  “the oldest continuously active division in the US Army today” and learn more about America’s military past and the role of America’s soldiers in history.  

Cantigny recently released a statement on behalf of Frank W. Buckles, America’s last surviving World War I veteran, who called for a national WWI Memorial to be constructed to honor those who served.  At age 109, it’s amazing to think of what Buckles has lived through and the changes he’s seen in America and throughout the world.  Gives you something to think about this Veterans Day.

If you have a veteran or active member of the military in your family, give them a shout-out in the comments!  I’ll give mine to both my grandfathers, my uncle Sid, and my friends Chris and Katherine who all served in the military.

Katie