Just a reminder that tonight, Thursday, July 14 at 6:30 pm is the YA Book Group. This informal gathering is a chance to talk about what you’ve been reading so far this summer. If you are planning on attending, email me (mrsc@scarborough.lib.me.us) or call (883-4723. Option 3) to let me know.
Over the past two days there have been a lot of Scarborough middle schoolers rushing into the Library hoping to pick up one of the titles listed on the reading list. It is great to see so many of you wanting to get a jump on the assignment. However, I bet you are finding that most, if not all of the books have already been checked out from the Scarborough Public Library. Holy petunia! There is hope!
Let me take this time to remind you to request the book or books you want to read. If you don’t, you are going to have a l-o-n-g wait until the book is on the shelf.
We understand you really want to read the titles listed, but the assignment states that you can read any title written by those authors. So, We made a display of those other books. Why not give them a try.
For example, Rodman Philbrick (The Last Book in the Universe) wrote an equally compelling story in The Young Man and the Sea. It's boy versus nature. Skiff Beaman undertakes a dangerous trip alone off the coast of Maine to try and catch a bluefin tuna. He’s hoping that by selling the enormous fish, he will earn enough money to take care of himself.
Jerry Spinelli has lots of books to choose from. By far his best is Maniac Magee. Jerry Magee becomes legendary in this snappy story that takes a look at race relations.
A don’t ignore A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’Engle. Vicky Austin, whom we first met in Meet the Austins is spending the summer in Florida to visit with her grandfather, who is dying of leukemia. Vicky is able to find comfort with a pod of dolphins.
These are just a few of the many titles you can find at the Library that will meet the reading list assignment.
Share one of your favorite books written by one of the author’s on the reading list.
Our very own Mrs. C recommended this book to me, and I have to say, I was not disappointed. From the first page, I could not put this book down. Jennifer Donnelly, who also wrote the acclaimed A Northern Light, weaves a tale that encompasses rock music, the French Revolution, two teenage girls from different centuries, and how it is possible to recover from soul-crushing grief. Andi Alpers is a 17 year old girl who looks, from the surface, to have everything. She is super smart and a talented guitarist with a Nobel-prize winning father, an artist mother, and a place at an exclusive New York school, but it is clear from the offset that she is suffering. Not just poor-little-rich-girl suffering, but the kind of grief that makes her consider the unthinkable. We soon learn that her younger brother, Truman, died in tragic circumstances and Andi blames herself.
Flunking out of every class except music, Andi is given an ultimatum by her often-absent father: she must accompany him to Paris and finish the outline for a final thesis (about a fictional classical composer) while he completes DNA testing of a preserved heart that historians claim belonged to Louis-Charles, the doomed Prince of France, who was imprisoned during the French Revolution. Once there, Andi finds an old diary written by Alex, a street performer who was a companion to Louis-Charles and who charted her own experiences as well as the terror of living through the Revolution. Andi becomes engrossed in Alex’s story, as do we, and we find out what happens to Alex and the little prince. Through the diary (and with a little help from a cute rapper named Virgil), Andi begins to see her way out of the shadows of grief.
The last third of the book did not have the same appeal to me as the rest of the novel, where Andi experiences a time-slip that seems to come out of nowhere, but the rest of the novel is more than strong enough to pull the reader through. By the end, we learn of Alex’s and the Dauphin’s fate and learn if Andi can be saved from herself.
This book is very dense and detailed but was so engaging that I read it much faster than many shorter books. I would recommend it to readers who are interested in historical fiction, but also edgy stories about teenagers with problems. Music lovers (especially guitarists) are in for a treat, and readers who are already Donnelly fans will be blown away by this book.
