Check out these great reads!
Here's what members of our Teen Reading Group recommend for your reading pleasure in 2014
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been
torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness
crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Alina Starkov has never
been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and
her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that
saves his life-a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged
country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away
to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical
elite led by the mysterious Darkling. Yet nothing in this lavish world
is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending
on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the
Grisha... and the secrets of her heart
Reserve a copy.
*We also have this title as an audiobook.*
The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
This book relates
the intertwining fates of
former street gang leader Han Alister and headstrong Princess Raisa, as
Han takes possession of an amulet that once belonged to an evil wizard
and Raisa uncovers a conspiracy in
the Grey Wolf Court.
Reserve a copy.
*We also have this title as an audiobook.*
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in
New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder--much less a
murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and
brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air.
It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to
everyone else and when there is nothing--not even a smear of blood--to
show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy? This is Clary's first meeting
with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of
demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who
looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within
twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance,
when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But
why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her
mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters
would like to know. . . . Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly
gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes
readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.
Reserve a copy
*We also have this title as an audiobook.*
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Imagine it were possible to bring the characters from a book to life.
Not like when you listen to an audiobook with such enchantment that the
characters seem to jump off the pages and into your bedroom...but for
real. Imagine they could actually climb out of the pages and into our
world. Then, imagine if those characters brought their world into ours.
This is the story of young Meggie, who lives a quiet life alone with her
father Mo, a bookbinder, until one cruel night when Mo reads aloud from
Inkheart and an evil ruler named Capricorn escapes the boundaries of
fiction and lands in their living room. Suddenly, Meggie is smack in the
middle of the kind of adventure she has only read about in books.
Somehow, Meggie and Mo must learn to harness the magic that conjured
this nightmare. Somehow they must change the course of the story that
has changed their lives forever. This is Inkheart, a timeless tale about
books, about imagination, about life.
Reserve a copy.
*We also have this title as an audiobook.*
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few
years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter
inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus
Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is
about to be completely rewritten. Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw,
The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green's most
ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny,
thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.
Reserve a copy.
*We also have this title as an audiobook.*
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf? Seventeen-year-old Ismae
escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of
the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of
old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with
dangerous gifts--and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the
convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to
Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others. Ismae's most important assignment takes her
straight into the high court of Brittany--where she finds herself
woefully under prepared--not only for the deadly games of intrigue and
treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she
deliver Death's vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has
stolen her heart?
Reserve a copy.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Waging a fierce competition for which they have trained since childhood,
circus
magicians Celia and Marco unexpectedly fall in love with each other and
share a fantastical romance that manifests in fateful ways.
Reserve a copy.
*We also have this title as an audiobook, in Spanish, and in large print.*
*This title was recommended by an older book club member and is categorized as adult fiction.
*
Virals by Kathy Reichs
Adventure is in Tory Brennan's blood. After all, she's the grandniece of
world-famous forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Always up for a
challenge, Tory and her science-geek friends spend their time exploring
the marshlands of Loggerhead Island, home to the very off-limits
Loggerhead Island Research Institute, where something strange is going
on. After rescuing a stray wolfdog pup from a top-secret lab, Tory and
her friends are exposed to a rare strain of canine parvovirus, changing
them--and their DNA--forever. Now they are more than friends. They are a
pack. They are Virals . And they're dangerous to the core. But are they
unstoppable enough to catch a cold-blooded murderer?
Reserve a copy.
*We also have this title as an audiobook.*
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but
for Cath, being a fan is her life--and she's really good at it. She and
her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series
when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother
leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing
Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie
premiere. Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath
can't let go. She doesn't want to. Now that they're going to college,
Wren has told Cath she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath is on her own,
completely outside of her comfort zone. She's got a surly roommate with
a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who
thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome
classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can't stop
worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really
been alone. For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it
without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own
life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow
behind?
Reserve a copy.
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Bono met his wife in high school , Park says. So did Jerry Lee Lewis ,
Eleanor answers. I'm not kidding , he says. You should be , she
says. We're 16 . What about Romeo and Juliet? Shallow, confused,
then dead. I love you ,Park says. Wherefore art thou,Eleanor
answers. I'm not kidding, he says. You should be. Set over the
course of one school year in 1986 this is the story of two
star-crossed misfits--smart enough to know that first love almost never
lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park,
you'll remember your own first love--and just how hard it pulled you
under.
Reserve a copy.
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the
soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them--until this year, when a
boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her. His name is Gansey, a rich
student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of
staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean
trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can't entirely
explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys:
Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him;
Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and
Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will
cause her true love to die. She doesn't believe in true love, and never
thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in
the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure
anymore.
Reserve a copy.
*We also have this title as an audiobook.*
Here's a sneak peak at the next three books we are reading in Teen Reading Group,
January: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires... The system
was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning...along with
the houses in which they were hidden. Guy Montag enjoyed his job. He had
been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure
of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by
flames...never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old
girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid. Then he met a
professor who told him of a future in which people could think...and Guy
Montag suddenly realized what he had to do!
*Due to the library being closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, book club will meet on January 27th.*
February: Unwind by Neal Shusterman
In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts,
three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them. Connor's
parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no
parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has
been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion.
Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these
three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey,
knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their
eighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of
them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad,
eighteen seems far, far away. In "Unwind," Neal Shusterman challenges readers' ideas about life -- not
just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to
be alive.
March: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
In her "New York Times" bestselling and Morris Award-winning debut,
Rachel Hartman introduces mathematical dragons in an
alternative-medieval world to fantasy and science-fiction readers of all
ages. "Eragon"-author Christopher Paolini calls them, "Some of the most
interesting dragons I've read in fantasy." Four decades of peace have
done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the
kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend
court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to
universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaties anniversary draws
near, however, tensions are high. Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear
both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a
member of the royal family is murdered--in suspiciously draconian
fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the
captain of the Queens Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian
Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy
the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret
behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean
her very life.
Reading Group meets on the third Monday of every month at 6:30 p.m. For questions, or if you would like to join the Teen Reading Group, please contact Emily Campbell at (919) 934-8146 option 3 or ecampbell@pljcs.org.
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