Thursday, January 30, 2014

Small Fry Pick of the Week: The Misadventures of Edgar & Allan Poe

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The Misadventures of Edgar & Allan Poe by Gordon McAlpine

The Poe brothers aren't ordinary boys.  They're identical, inside and out.  They can read each other's minds.  And their fiendish pranks are legendary.

But a mysteriousorganization is after them, and the boys are in more danger then they know.

Can their famous ancestor, Edgar Allan Poe, help them from beyond the grave?


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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Teen Pick of the Week: Unwind


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 UnwindBoston Globe--Horn Book Awards winner Neal Shusterman challenges reader's ideas about life -- not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive.

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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Small Fry Pick of the Week: The Case of the Missing Family


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Series The Buddy Files ( NEW) ( Gr. 1-4)
The Case of the Missing Family by Dori Hillstad Butler

Hello! My name is Buddy.  I am a therapy dog at school.  I am also a detective.

One night Buddy sees people taking thing out of Kayla's old house and loading them into a van. What's going on?

With twists and turns, humor, and a likable canine character, this series should find a wide fan base.--Booklist

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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Teen Pick of the Week: Fangirl

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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 fanfiction, dressing up like the character for every movie premier.  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 in 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 fanfiction is the end of the civilized world; a handsome classmate who only want 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?

Click on the title to place it on hold at the Ventress Memorial Library!

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Friday, January 17, 2014

Small Fry Pick of the Week: The Animal Book by Steve Jenkins


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The Animal Book by Steve Jenkins

Creatures leap, soar, slither, and tumble from the pages of this overstuffed compendium of the animal kingdom.  Steve Jenkins, an author and illustrator of more than thirty books about the natural world, has brought together some 300 of the world's most remarkable animals.

Inside the Animal Book are facts about creatures great and small, familiar and fantastic, past and present.

From animal lovers to budding scientists to teachers and librarians, this book is a must-have.  So open the book and see for yourself!

Click on the title to place it on hold at the Ventress Memorial Library!

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Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Teen Pick of the Week: Sylo


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Sylo by D.J. MacHale

They came from the sky parachuting out of military helicopters to invade Tucker Pierce's idyllic hometown on Pemberwick Island, Maine.

They call themselves SYLO and they are a secret branch of the U.S. Navy.  SYLO's commander, Captain Granger, informs Pemberwick residents that the island has been hit by a lethal virus and must be quarantined.  Now Pemberwick is cut off from the outside worls.

Tucker believes there's more to SYLO's story.  He was on the sidelines when the high school running back dropped dead with no warning.  He saw the bizarre midnight explosion over the ocean and the mysterious singing aircraft that travel like shadows through the sky.  He tasted the Ruby--and experienced the power it gives--for himself.

What all this means, SYLO isn't saying.  Only Tucker holds the clues that can solve this deadly mystery.

Look to the sky because Pemberwick Island is only the first step.


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Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Teen Pick of the Week: Palace of Spies






Palace of Spies by Sara Zettel

"Murder. Espionage. Card Games?
Peggy Fitzroy has many talents, but until recently these three were not among them. No, Peggy was merely a lively and charming young lady of the regular sort, until the day she refused to marry the utter cad chosen for her.

Cast out on the street, Peggy has to find a means of support. Though it sounds rather mysterious, she agrees to disguise herself as a lady in waiting in the court of King George I. The real lady in waiting died, supposedly of natural causes.

Life at the palace is grand, until Peggy starts to suspect that something dreadful happened to the girl she is impersonating. Could it have been murder? Unless Peggy can discover what really happened, she might be doomed to the same terrible fate! But in a court filled with shadows and intrigue, anyone could be a spy - perhaps even Matthew, the handsome young artist with whom Peggy is falling in love..."


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Teen Pick of the Week: Meet Me at the River

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Meet Me at the River by Nina de. Gramont

Before, they were always together.  Now Luke visits Tressa only at night, and when he's with her, it's almost like the accident never happened.  Oh, there are reminders, from the way she can't quite feel his fingers even as they graze her face, to how she can't seem to tell him about live since he's been gone.  As long as they're together, though it's like he never died, and the rest . . . it fades away.

But during the day it is Tressa who can't grasp hold of the people around her.  The same people who never wanted her and Like together in the first place are determined that she should move on.  They don't know about his visits, so they don't understand--one misstep, one inch forward, could leave him behind forever.

Nina de Gramont, author of the critically acclaimed novel Gossip of the Starlings, writes of a love that is beautiful and poetic, forbidden and radical.  We can't help who we love . . . but sometimes we need to choose to let go.


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Small Fry Pick of the Week: How to Beat the Bully Without Really Trying


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How to Beat the Bully Without Really Trying

     Rodney Rathbone, self-admitted coward, had been dreading the first day of his new school all summer long.  But when he meets Josh, the nastiest bully in school history on the bus, fear becomes reality.

     When Josh is hit with a stray baseball and the entire school things Rodney did it, Rodney develops a superhuman reputation that is soon known all over.  Rodney tries to tell his new friends that he is just lucky, not all-powerful, but no one wants to believe him.  As the stories of Rodney's heroics take on a life of their own, Rodney discovers that it's much harder to maintain a reputation than it is to create one.

     Can Rodney steer clear of the bully, make real friends in his new school, and graduate from elementary school in one piece?

Click on the title to place it on hold at the Ventress Memorial Library!

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