Mind-Bending YA

Pete Hautman’s The Klaatu Terminus completes a trilogy that dares to make a number of narrative and temporal shifts, each of which challenges readers to hold tight—or possibly let go?—of the sensical reins. The forefather of such mind-bending sleight of hand is Kurt Vonnegut, whose Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) has inspired generations of rule breakers. Such experimental works are rare in YA, but recent years have provided a number of worthy heirs.
~Daniel Kraus, "Readalikes: The New Vonneguts" [Booklist]


Books told entirely with images, involving magical science and travel to parallel worlds, starring a girl born with the wings of a bird and a boy who believes he is a character in a novel, part darkly comic philosophical discussion, with an experiment gone terribly wrong, a curiously powerful plant and a black mirror...  Which book's plot are we describing?  All the books on this list!  If you like the strange, the fantastical, the slightly awry, the inscrutable future, this young adult fiction booklist is here to test your grip on reality and introduce you to other realities!


Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony, Rodrigo Corral

Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin [eBook] 

Grasshopper Jungle: A History by Andrew Smith

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick   

My Favorite Band Does Not Exist by Robert T. Jeschonek

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

Obsidian Mirror by Catherine Fisher

Flux by Beth Goobie [eBook] 

47 by Walter Mosley    

Back to School

The new school year is in full swing, and here at abcreads, we like to celebrate by highlighting some of the many print and online resources available to help our students succeed. In addition to homework help, test prep, and research databases, we have a wealth of materials to help with the challenges of going back to school.

Sometimes students aren’t the only ones who could use a little guidance. Our parents and teachers work just as hard, and we have resources for them, too!

Check out some of our lesser known gems:

For Students

Beyond Googling: In today's digital world, it's becoming increasingly important that we can find accurate, credible materials online. Our article databases provide access to high-quality periodicals and peer-reviewed journals that are great for older students. Check out our printable user guide with information and search strategies. UC Berkeley also has a good tutorial on how to evaluate a website.

Got a current events project? Opposing Viewpoints and Points of View are great places to start your research. They have a variety of primary sources and essays that shows both sides of the issue.

If you need biographies in a pinch, we have databases of those, too.


For Parents

Is your child struggling with stress and time management? Or dealing with a bully? We have a books in our catalog geared towards both parents and students to help handle these important issues.

If you're looking for a free afterschool activity, we host a ton of events for children and teens. Do you have a struggling young reader? Read to the Dogs can help them improve their skills and boost their confidence.

Need resources on life lessons or tricky situations? Check our online catalog for children's books on topics such as manners, respecting others, and handling friendships.

For Teachers

Our libraries regularly host classroom visits that introduce your students to the library with stories and crafts. 

Do you work at a Title I school or work with special needs students? Thanks to the Thomason Transportation Program, you can get free transportation
to and from the library.

Novelist K-8 Plus is an excellent website to turn to when you're looking for books for your classroom. Check out their professional toolbox for help finding Common Core content.

You can find all of these and more on our teacher and educator resources webpage.

YA Series Books Worth Reading

It seems like these days, when a young adult book is published, chances are that it will be the first book in a series. Even books that seem like they won't be part of a series end up as a series or as having companion novels (Nantucket Blue, for example). With all the series that come out, it can be hard to decide what to read. Should I read a trilogy, like The Hunger Games, since I'm only committing to three books, or do I want to take the plunge and read a longer series, like Pretty Little Liars, and commit to sixteen books?

To help, I've narrowed the field down to my favorite YA series books--the must-read books out of all the YA series. Since there are plenty of YA series that I haven't read but that are popular, I'm also including a list of the series books I most want to read but haven't gotten to yet. In both categories, I'm skipping Twilight, The Hunger Games, and Divergent, and focusing instead on series that are popular, but maybe not as popular.

Must-Read YA Series

The Chemical Garden trilogy by Lauren DeStefano

• Wither
• Fever
• Sever

The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa

• The Iron King
• The Iron Daughter
• The Iron Queen
• The Iron Knight

Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart

• The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver
• The Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them
• The Treasure Map of Boys: Noel, Jackson, Finn, Hutch, Gideon--and Me, Ruby Oliver
• Real Live Boyfriends: Yes. Boyfriends, Plural. If My Life Weren't Complicated, I Wouldn't Be Ruby Oliver

Jasper Dent by Barry Lyga

• I Hunt Killers
• Game
• Blood of My Blood

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

• Delirium
• Pandemonium
• Requiem

The Lying Game by Sara Shepard

• The First Lie (novella; #0.5)
• The Lying Game
• Two Truths and a Lie
• Never Have I Have Ever
• Hide and Seek
• Cross My Heart, Hope to Die
• True Lies (novella; #5.5)
• Seven Minutes in Heaven

The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

• The Madman's Daughter
• Her Dark Curiosity
• A Cold Legacy (expected publication: 2015)

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

• Daughter of Smoke and Bone
• Days of Blood and Starlight
• Dreams of Gods and Monsters

Series to Add to Your To-Read List

Graceling Realm by Kristin Cashore

• Graceling
• Fire
• Bitterblue

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

• Burn for Burn
• Fire With Fire
• Ashes to Ashes

Defy by Sara B. Larson

• Defy
• Ignite (expected publication: 2015)

Legend by Marie Lu

• Legend
• Prodigy
• Champion

Newsoul by Jodi Meadows

• Incarnate
• Asunder
• Infinite

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

• Cinder
• Scarlet
• Cress

Is there anything you would add to these lists? Anything you would take off the lists? Let us know if the comments!

Fantasy Classics

This year's World Fantasy Convention (when the World Fantasy Awards will be presented) has the theme of "1914 - Three Centennials - 2014" - honoring British author Robert Aickman and sci-fi/horror illustrator Virgil Findlay, and commemorating the beginning of WWI. "1914 was a time of transition...We welcome you to join us in exploring the many facets, both light and dark, of these forces that shaped the future," their website explains. (You can read more about the theme there.)  Though the convention is not until November, their timeline of the centennial of the Great War begins August 5th, with Montenegro declaring war on Austria-Hungary. It also reminds us that "[w]hile J. R. R. Tolkien and Robert Graves survived, William Hope Hodgson and Saki were lost in the war.  In addition, Ambrose Bierce vanished into the Mexican Revolution that year."

With this theme in mind, we present to you a list of fantasy classics for your perusal, many recommended by staff!  We hope you will enjoy this list, and that it reminds you of fantasy fiction's long and varied history.


The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

The Illustrated Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury  
 
The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
 
Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson
 
A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony [eBook]
 
The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
 
Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis
 
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
 
Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard
 
The Dreamthief's Daughter: A Tale of the Albino by Michael Moorcock
 
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
 
Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb


There are also many fantasy classics that fall under the classification of children's fiction, but are enjoyable for all ages:


Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin
 
Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame 

The Voyages of Doctor Doolittle by Hugh Lofting [eBook]

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander

Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper 


Are there classics we've missed?  What would you add (or subtract) from this list? 
 

Links

"Core Collection: Fantasy Classics" [Booklist]

"Carte Blanche: Appreciating Oz" [Booklist]

 

YA Horror

I keep thinking of something attributed to Alan Moore: most people think horror is a man cutting a tomato at the kitchen counter and then continuing on to slice off his fingers. But horror actually is a man cutting a tomato at the kitchen counter and then the tomato runs up his arm and bites off his ear.  
~Barry Lyga

Do all children who read Goosebumps and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark grow up to read Stephen King? Well, if you're not ready for your teen to advance to adult horror fiction just yet, but they love scary stories, here are some young adults titles to entertain them in the meantime. Or, if you're an adult who loves horror stories, consider trying out young adult versions to see if they're comparable! Several of these titles are recommendations from young adult horror authors Robin Wasserman, Brenna Yovanoff, Barry Lyga, and Daniel Kraus.*

Henry Franks by Peter Adam Salomon

Scowler by Daniel Kraus

The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Stone Child by Dan Poblocki (J)

Bliss by Lauren Myracle

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Clay by David Almond

The Monstrumologist edited by Rick Yancey

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong


Links  

"Monsters, Murder, and Morality: A Graveside Chat about YA Horror Fiction"  (Booklist)*

"Horror in YA Lit Is a Staple, Not a Trend" (School Library Journal)

"12 Creepy YA Books That Should Be Made Into Horror Movies" (Epic Reads)

Mosaic Muralists at Juan Tabo Library

In July of 2013, artists and their young apprentices from the Mayor's Art Institute at Harwood Art Center began an art project at the Juan Tabo Library.  The tile mosaic mural on the building's front wall is an amazing celebration of New Mexico's storytellers.  This year, the muralists have returned, and are adding to their masterpiece.  The latest work will be unveiled at a ceremony on August 8, 2014 at 6:00 PM at the Juan Tabo branch library.  All community members are welcome to attend.  Last year's festivities included a reading by Albuquerque's then poet laureate, Hakim Bellamy, and a presentation by the artists on their influences and the message they hope to give through their mural.  We hope to see you there!

Many of the branches of ABC Library have art in all kinds of mediums.  Check with your local branch to find out what kind of art might be there.  You can learn about public art all over the city by going to the city's webpage on public art.  You can even view Albuquerque's interactive public art map!

If seeing the mural inspires you to try your own hand at making mosaics take a look at these books to get you started:

Garden Patterns and Mosaics by Clare Matthews

The Complete Mosaic Handbook: Projects, Techniques, Designs by Sarah Kelly

Easy Mosaics for Your Home and Garden by Sarah Donnelly

The Complete Pebble Mosaic Handbook by Maggy Howarth

You can also search our catalog under Mosaics. 

The Hawking Index

There are certain books on our "must read" list. Books it seems like everyone else is reading (ahem, The Goldfinch). Books that will make us look well-read. Books we've been told will change our lives.

Finally, we find the time to read these books. We pick them up, read a few (or a hundred) pages, and set them down. Later down the road we may valiantly try again, but they will probably remain half-read, doomed to our "I meant to read" or "I tried to get through but couldn't" list.

We've all done this for different reasons, and we've all felt guilty about it. But now there's (unscientific) proof that we're not alone! Math professor Jordan Ellenberg has provided us with an entertaining method to get a sense of how far people are reading by looking at a Kindle book's top highlighted passages. He calls it the Hawking Index (named for Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time):

"Amazon's "Popular Highlights" feature provides one quick and dirty measure. Every book's Kindle page lists the five passages most highlighted by readers. If every reader is getting to the end, those highlights could be scattered throughout the length of the book. If nobody has made it past the introduction, the popular highlights will be clustered at the beginning."

Here are some of his findings:

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt : 98.5%

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins : 43.4%

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald : 28.3%

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James: 25.9%

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking: 6.6%

Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty : 2.4%


At abcreads, we have some books we're guilty of not finishing (we're getting to them!). Here's what makes our list:

The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The Iliad by Homer

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (Ellenberg addresses this book and more in his blog)


What books are on your "I tried" list?


For more, check out NPR and the Chicago Tribune.