Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City

When I was a kid, I really wanted to be a secret agent, kind of like Alex Rider in the books by Anthony Horowitz. (Stormbreaker?) I loved watching spy shows on TV; still do. That was why I picked this up. You can "see" the action in the pages; in your mind, you can just hear snappy spy music playing while you're reading a scene. And this is really deep of me: I loved the cover.
"After discovering a secret world beneath Manhattan's city streets, Ananka learns about the Shadow City through a meeting with one of its residents, Kiki Strike, yet as Kiki begins to recruit delinquent kids to guard her underground world, Ananka begins to fear her new friend and worries that her connection to both worlds may not be a good thing after all."

P.S. Just visited the website, http://www.kikistrike.com/ (I don't want to go into the whole description thing. Just visit it!).

Teen Read Week

Teen Read Week is sponsored by the American Library Association. The theme this year is Get Active! Meaning, not only books about sports and fitness, but becoming more involved in your community and improving your minds and enriching your imaginations. (I'm sure that your minds and imaginations are pretty cool to begin with!) I know: Boring!! But take a look at the books on these lists. The characters (or real people) have found some creative solutions to some pretty interesting, intriguing situations.

http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teenreading/trw/trw2006/booklists.htm

Heavy Metal and You

This book shouts out to those among us who have fallen so death-defyingly in love, like a rock breaking glass, that they lose themselves. Gladly.

little blurb:

High schooler Sam falls for a preppy girl who wants him to give up having fun with his best friends and even his passion for heavy metal music in order to become a better person.

Marly's Ghost

Another quick one, very romantic, sad, heartstrings tugging, you get it. Cool book, though. Loved the cover. Remade from a classic that you'll probably read one day along the line.

"The spirit of Ben's girlfriend Marly returns with three other ghosts to haunt him with a painful journey though Valentine's Days past, present, and future."

Stuck in Neutral

I didn't really want to read this book. I'm glad I did.
"Fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy and cannot function, relates his perceptions of his life, his family, and his condition, especially as he believes his father is planning to kill him."

Cheerful topic, but once you start, it grabs you, and it says what it has to say in under 120 pages. Let me know what you think.

New Stuff!

Sorry this is so long, but it's been a while since I've posted a list of new books, and it is by no means complete:

Avalon High – Meg Cabot
Rock Star Superstar – Blake Nelson
Tall cool One - Dean, Zoey – A-list novel
How I live Now – rosoff, meg
Godless – Hautman, pete
Haunting of Alaizabel Gray – Chris Wooding
Offsides – Esckilsen, Erik e.
Girls in Pants – Ann Brashares
Going for the Record – Swanson, Julie A.
Blood Secret – Lasky Kathryn
The Schwa was here – Neal Shusterman
Kira-Kira – Kadohata, Cynthia
Gothic! – Noyes, Deborah, editor.
Invasion of the Boy Snatchers - Harrison, Lisi, a Clique Novel.
Revenge of the Wannabes – Harrison, Lisi, a Clique Novel.
Spin control – Burnham Niki – sequel to Royally Jacked.
The Chosen – Thomson Celia – Volume 3 of the nine lives of chloe king
Cupidity – Goode, Caroline
Mixed Messages - Malcolm, Jahnna
Real Time - Pnina Moed Kass
Fall of a Kingdom – Bell Hilari
Mission One – Volume 1 of Spy High. Butcher, AJ.
Chaos Rising – Butcher, a.j. Mission Two of Spy High.
The Serpent Scenario – Butcher, A.J. Mission Three of Spy High.
Pierce, Tamora – Song of the Lioness series. Alanna, volume 1. In the Hand of the Goddess, volume 2, Lioness Rampant, Volume 4.
Taylor Five - Ann Halam
Raab, M.E. – Missing Persons Series, (2)Chocolate Power, (1)Rose Queen, (4)Unsuspecting Gourmet,
Jake, Reinvented – Korman, Gordon.
Son of the Mob, Hollywood Hustle - Korman, Gordon.
Girl, 15, Charming but Insane – Limb, Sue
Bend it like Beckham - Dhami, Narinder
Pool boy – Simmons, Michael
Love & Sk8 – Krulik, Nancy
Circle of Time – Montes, Marisa.
Uglies – Westerfeld, Scott
I am the Wallpaper – Hughes, Mark Peter.
Looking for Alaska – Green, John
Eldest – Paolini, Christopher
Maximum Ride – Patterson, James
Finder – Buffie, Margaret
Codetalker – Bruchac, Joseph
24 Girls in 7 Days – Bradley, Alex
Ready or Not – Meg Cabot
Confessions of a Teen Nanny – Ashton, Victoria
Daniel, Half-Human: the Nazis come to power – Chotjewitz, David
Bras & Broomsticks – Mlynowski, Sarah.
Annie Between the States - Laura Malone Elliott.
Back in Black(A-List #5) – Dean, Zoey
Bucking the Sarge – Christopher Paul Curtis.
Skybreaker - Kenneth Oppel
Book of Dead Days - Marcus Sedgwick
Backstage Pass - Gaby Triana
Anne Frank & Me - Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld.
Soldier X - Don Wulffson
Guys Write for Guys Read – Jon Scieszka
Alice Macleod, Realist at last – Juby, Susan
Miss Smithers – Juby, Susan
Montmorency: thief, liar, or gentleman - Eleanor Updale

The Winner!!!

The Michael L. Printz award is given by the American Library Association each year to the most excellent teen fiction book. The winner this year is "Looking for Alaska" by John Green:

"Tired of his boring existence, 16-year-old Miles “Pudge” Halter heads off to seek his Great Perhaps at an Alabama boarding school, where new-found freedom, guilty pleasures and an enigmatic girl named Alaska hurl him into life. First-time author John Green writes with intimacy, humor, and insight about a world where intense friendship can lead to devastating loss"(Michael Cart)

Fast-moving, sad and funny at the same time, well-written-you can really imagine yourself living in hot, humid Alabama. Pudge is very likable, and you'll love the "Colonel"! Read it.