2012 Abe Lincoln Nominees Available

The additional copies of the Abe Lincoln nominees have come in at the library and are ready for check out! Check the display in the YA area to get a head start on your reading for the year. There’s still a pile checked in (and will be fewer and fewer the closer we get to summer).

The only title you’ll have to place a request on is Alex Flinn’s Beastly, but I blame that on the movie out in theaters right now (though there’s only one person waiting, so it probably won’t be too long before you get a copy).

In Theaters 4/8

Arthur: starring Russell Brand about a wealthy playboy who doesn’t want to grow up and take responsibility.

Hanna: starring Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, and Eric Bana about a girl trained to be an assassin.

Your Highness: starring James Franco, Natalie Portman, and Danny McBride, a stoner medieval comedy.

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell

Amelia is looking forward to a summer in the city of Baltimore, far from her tiny home of Broken Tooth, Maine. Staying with relatives, it is the goal of Amelia’s summer to come away engaged to a young man (or such is her brother’s goal in sending her there). In 1889, Amelia knows there are few options open to her besides marriage, and so goes with the excitement of a trip before her, and summer away from her father and sister-in-law (her parents being dead).
Amelia finds a great friend in her cousin Zora, who has a bit of a mind for trouble as well. The two finish school and then the real joy of the summer begins; two young women, free from classes, looking forward to their futures.
Zora is excessively fond of Thomas Rea, the doctor’s son, and knows that she and Thomas cannot marry until he is finished with school, for he must have a way to support a wife. Amelia is immediately taken with a Fourteenth (a young man hired to make a dinner table sit 14 instead of an unlucky 13), Nathaniel Witherspoon, starving artist. It is not the match Amelia is expected to make. Stolen moments throughout the summer, however, bring the two closer together.
Sounds like just another period young adult romance, no? It’s definitely more.
The book opens with Amelia being locked in the attic of her brother’s house in Maine in the fall of 1889, after her trip to Baltimore. She reveals dark details of why she has been locked up, why she was sent away from Baltimore, and the agony Amelia is living in, trapped.
Mitchell then flashes back to the summer of 1889 and Amelia’s arrival and introduction to the family she will be living with. Witty remarks endear Amelia to Zora immediately, and not long after Amelia arrives, she has the strangest vision as she stares into the sunset from the parlor, a vision of Zora & Thomas dancing together. When this comes true, Amelia confesses to Zora and the two begin sharing Amelia’s abilities with their friends. Once the word spreads, a number of young women are clamoring for Amelia to tell their futures.
It’s fun, at first, but then Amelia begins to see darker futures, mundane futures, and when she starts writing down what she sees, she dreads the visions. Once, she thinks she is able to avert tragedy, but it can never be so easy as that, as Amelia reminds us when she cuts back in from the present.
Nathaniel is not quite what he seems either, able to seemingly suddenly appear when Amelia thinks of him, calls to him. He is mysterious and entirely inappropriate for her, but the two appeal to each other more than either can explain.
When the first tragedy strikes, Amelia is shocked, as it’s a future she thought she had prevented. The trouble is, Amelia could not see how this one future plays into the rest of the futures surrounding her and her world begins to tumble down. The sad events happen quickly and discover why Amelia is sent home.
The story, beginning with Amelia in Maine after the events have taken place, leave the reader constantly wondering just what happened to have her returned home, and ruined. It is an easy story to read, one that keeps the reader intrigued and involved, and the sad Gothic nature of it make the reader wish for a happy ending. A different than expected ending occurs, one that works well with my reading tastes. All in all, The Vespertine is a book I would recommend to young adult readers who like historical fiction and a bit of supernatural. It reminded me a little of Libba Bray’s A Great & Terrible Beauty, but The Vespertine does not delve as much into the supernatural world as Bray’s trilogy. A worthwhile story that leaves the reader with chills.

In Theaters 4/1

Insidious starring Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne, a creepy movie about a family trying to prevent evil spirits from taking over their comatose child.

Source Code starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan, a thriller about a soldier who can “jump” into a body to prevent a bomb on a Chicago train.

New in Theaters 3/25

Diary of  a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules the sequel to the hit Diary of a Wimpy Kid based on the series of graphic novels.

Sucker Punch about institutionalized girls creating an alternative reality to cope. From the director of Watchmen and 300, so you know it will be visually cool.

Imagine the Universe! Dictionary

NASA sponsors the Imagine the Universe! Dictionary which has not only terms but brief biographies of scientist. The sit will also link you to other entries in the dictionary as well as more in-depth articles on certain topics. For those with an interest in science, it will definitely give you somewhere to start your research or if you’re just messing about. It’s pretty neat. The only thing I don’t like is how most of NASA’s sites that I’ve seen look kind of juvenile. I understand NASA is focusing more on, you know, exploring space and everything, but it would be nice if they spiffed up more than just the main pages.

More Spring Break Reads

More and more readers are starting to see the appeal and quality of YA books (more than just you guys and me) and Booklist (a book review journal) has an article about top YA titles from 2010 to make good book group titles. The library (naturally) has all of these titles (and I’ve read a few too).

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (I really enjoyed her new book, Delirium)

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud

Trash by Andy Mulligan

New Media Tuesday 3/22

Dvds:

How Do You Know starring Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd, and Jack Nicholson about a woman in a love triangle.

Skyline starring Eric Balfour and Donald Faison about alien invasion in California.

The Tourist starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie about a special agent and an unwitting tourist.

Cds:

F.A.M.E. by Chris Brown

Georgia Clay by Josh Kelley

Glam Nation Live by Adam Lambert

Hello Fear by Kirk Franklin

I Remember Me by Jennifer Hudson

Vices & Virtues by Panic at the Disco

Spring Break Read

Looking for something light and fun to read on spring break? Not ready to start tackling the Abe Lincoln nominees (or can’t get your hands on them)?

Try this one:

The Queen Geek Social Club by Laura Preble

Fifteen-year-old Shelby doesn’t have a ton of friends. Enough people she knows but not really good friends. She’s a bit of a serially dater, but can’t find a guy that’s up to her intellectual standards. Her dad is a scientist/inventor who has created Euphoria, a robot who takes care of Shelby & her dad, and one that’s got quite a personality to boot.

So Shelby’s just trying to figure out how to survive high school when new girl Becca moves into town. Becca is tall, gangly, tattooed and out there. She and Shelby hit it off immediately, both being intelligent geeks. So Becca decides they should start a club with the intention of finding more people like them. The Queen Geek Social Club is born. While Shelby just wants to make friends, energetic, determined Becca wants … world domination? And she wants to start by feeding models Twinkies?

It’s a great read about being a teenage girl, trying to fit in, and allowing (or not) your friends to talk you into stuff you may or may not be totally comfortable with, some of which has them pushing you to grow as a person (not that’d you’d ever see it that way).  There are two more books in the series, Queen Geeks in Love and Prom Queen Geeks.

New in Theaters 3/18

Limitless starring Bradley Cooper about a man who discovers a drug that gives him access to use his entire brain. A thriller.

The Lincoln Lawyer starring Matthew McConaughey based on the book by Michael Connelly about a lawyer who operates out of his Lincoln town car.

Paul starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and featuring the voice of Seth Rogen as the alien Paul, is about two British geeks encountering an alien. I love the projects Pegg & Frost have worked on together and would really like to see this movie.

As always, let me know what you think!