Meet Leah!

Hey every one,

So I'll be writing this about my favorite and least favorite book! I'd have to say my favorite books are probably The Hunger Games series!  I like The Hunger Games because I can see the book in my mind like in a movie while I'm reading it!  It's a very popular series and I love it!!!!! =)

My least favorite books would have to be Little Women.  I hate Little Women because there isn't much action and I really enjoy action.  Why did you read Little Women you're probably asking?  Well...I'm homeschooled and my mom is my teacher, and she has me and my siblings read a book or two through out the school year. So yeah.

- Post by Leah
(Meet Leah here!)

Two Related Things

TAG! Including our adorable
bride & groom!

 And we're back!  So the past couple of weeks here in APL-land have been absurdly busy.  We had our wonderful, fantastic, and generally ridiculous "Harry-Potter-Bill-and-Fleur's-Wedding" event last week, followed by a TAG (teen advisory group) meeting so huge we couldn't even fit it into our regular meeting space (wish I had a picture!).  

Me & the Death Eaters!
(Best looking Death Eaters I've ever seen!)

The kinda cool, kinda weird, kinda amazingly coincidental thing about the HP program is the fact that some pretty huge J. K. Rowling news broke just a few days after our event (oh I'm sorry, did I say "pretty huge" news?  What I meant to say is "HOLY FREAKING COW* THIS IS GIANT NEWS!!!).  So here's what happened (think of this as the "Tanvi Condensed" version): "The Cuckoo's Calling," an adult thriller/mystery/crime/detective novel by debut author Robert Galbraith comes out in April.  It doesn't sell very many copies, but it gets rave reviews by both critics and regular readers alike; in fact, a lot of people are so amazed by this book that they're all like, "no way is this written by a first-time author, it's too freaking good!"  Well, um, turns out they were right -- it wasn't written by a first-time author.  Actually, it was written by the woman herself, the phenomenon we all know as J. K. Rowling.  Who wrote a new book.  And published it under a pseudonym.  Which is kind of insane.  So a book that originally sold like, a couple thousand copies now has the coveted #1 bestseller spot on Amazon; and here at APL, we originally had 1 copy that like, never checked out--now there are 56 holds and the library is buying 7 more copies (yes, needless to say, it IS on my APL holds list).  

I know this isn't necessarily YA-related, since the book in question is an adult title, but does anyone think you'll try it out anyway?  Also, when asked if J.K. Rowling is the actual author of "The Cuckoo's Calling," she and her publisher readily admitted that she is.  Anyone else smell something fishy?  Think this was some sort of genius marketing ploy?  I kind of do.**

By the way, stay tuned for more teen posts!

*Yes, I realize that I am probably the only person on the planet who says "holy freaking cow," and I am totally okay with that.

**But I don't care!  I still love her!

Photobooth! & Harry Potter!

Had to share pictures of a few of APL's teen advisory peeps from last week's teen event (click photos to see a larger image).  The photobooth pictures came out great!  Next week's event is the Harry Potter celebration of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding.  So psyched.  How ridiculous and awesome will it be to watch Bill and Fleur get married in person (not to mention, how amazing will it be to hear them read the ridiculous vows we wrote them? ;)   Come by Bandshell Park on Wednesday, July 10 at 4pm to watch the ceremony, then stay for the butterbeer, cake, and chocolate frogs afterwards!

Doctor Who! Post by McKenzie

So psyched to introduce our first post by an APL teen blogger!  Be on the lookout for more teen posts here on the APL Teen Zone Blog!

Recently I've finished series seven part two of Doctor Who. Part two, in my opinion, it was the absolute best of the series, you had a new companion known as the "impossible girl" as well as old foes like the Cybermen.

The most amazing episode of this series (and im sure you will agree) was the Name of the Doctor. This episode gave us insight into new and old characters, an amazing plot line that involved the doctor having to go and visit his own grave, and random silliness between Strax (the potato one), Vastra( the lizard one), and Jenny (the human one). 

You all know as well as I do that the Doctor visiting his own grave could potentially create a paradox, so it was interesting to see how it all play out. In conclusion this episode went above and beyond the normal standards and really did give surprises, if you don't know what doctor who is and you think this completely strange, then I suggest you watch a few episodes, it's a great summer activity.

-- Blog post by McKenzie

Calling It for the Printz: "Winger" by Andrew Smith

I will absolutely get to the comments you guys have posted over the past several days, put up your book reviews, AND welcome our new blogger(s) (by the way, did I mention we have new bloggers! so awesome!), but right now I just want to direct everyone's attention to this book ------------>

It's Winger by Andrew Smith, and I'm calling this one now: it's definitely my pick for the 2014 Printz award (honoring what the judges consider to be the past year's best YA book).  To sum it up quick and dirty, it's about 14-year-old Ryan Dean West, a junior (yes that's right, he's a 14-year-old junior) at a northwestern elite private school for rich kids.  Ryan is pretty much a normal teenage dude: he's in love with a "smoking hot" girl (his best friend, who's 16 and thinks of Ryan Dean as a little kid), gets into fights with jerks, plays sports (rugby, which I never found particularly interesting until Winger), and he's navigating that tricky terrain between constantly feeling like a loser and not actually being a loser.  Oh, and he's constantly thinking about the stuff that pretty much all teenage boys think about (I won't say anything more about that other than wink wink).

It's an incredibly funny book that chronicles the everyday misadventures of Ryan Dean West (there's all kinds of comics scattered throughout the store), but ultimately Winger (named after Ryan Dean's position on the rugby team, which is also his nickname) is a tragicomedy.  I won't say anything more, other than that something pretty life-changing--no, very life-changing--happens at Pine Mountain that....Well, that changes Ryan Dean's life (hence, you know, the life-changing thing).

It's hard to say a lot about this book without giving away major plot points, but I will say it's one of my top reads of 2013 so far.  I'd strongly recommend it, especially for anyone 14+, but please be aware that Winger contains graphic language and semi-graphic themes (you know, the whole wink wink and all).  In other words, it contains the kinds of language you'd probably hear kids saying in most high schools; it contains the kind of words you'll probably hear (and probably already do hear) in real life.

Winger is a fairly mature read that may not be for everyone.

Go read it.*



*Unless you don't want to.  Or wait a couple of years, and then read it.  It's worth the wait!

The Desolation of Smaug

So here it is, the trailer (well, one of many more trailers to come, I'm sure) for the second part of the Hobbit movies.  The Hobbit is one of my favorite books, so I'm slightly bummed that the fim version doesn't follow that storyline very closely, but I get that the movies are supposed to sort of encompass the entire LOTR universe.  That's cool, I guess.  I can get on board.

So, I don't know about anyone else, but I think Bilbo Baggins is pretty crush-worthy.  First of all, despite the hairy feet, he's kind of adorable (why yes, I will happily admit that Martin Freeman, the actor who plays Bilbo, happens to be one of my few celebrity crushes.  I mean, he's been in the Hitchhiker's Guide movie, Sherlock the tv show, Hot Fuzz (one of my favorite movies), AND he's Bilbo?  Who DOESN'T love this guy?!).  Second, Bilbo is a seriously badass and epic hero.  Yes, he starts out wanting to sit around in his little* hobbit hole drinking tea and eating biscuits and making nice floral arrangements (okay I don't know if he actually does this, but arranging flowers seems like a hobbit-y type of thing to do).  He's not into the whole adventure scene, going out and fighting scary things and slaying dragons and rescuing looted treasures and stuff.  But that's sort of exactly what makes him a freakingly awesome hero.  Right? Because anyone who's INTO that kind of stuff can go out and do it and maybe be pretty good at adventuring and all that; but you kind of have to admire Bilbo because he's terrified and uncomfortable and doing something so far beyond what he ever imagined he would or could do in his  life--and THAT takes some serious guts.  THAT, I think, is what being a hero is about--being ballsy and sticking up for and rescuing your friends and standing up against the bad guys, even when you're terrified.

The movie comes out in December!  Can't wait.

Put the first movie, The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey, on hold at APL or
find the book in our catalog

*I say "little," but let's be honest, that hobbit hole is HUGE and pretty freaking luxurious.  I'd trade my tiny little apartment for Bilbo's hobbit hole any day.

Books, please!

Anyone read a great book recently?  I just finished the graphic novel Cardboard, and I'm looking for something new to read.  Heck, I'll even take a "just okay" book!

Edit (6/15/13): A few of the books you recommended for me.  Can't wait to get to them!