Category: Teen

Posted in gaming, geek, Guide, Non-Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads

Minecraft teaches kids Python, empowers future programmers

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

minecraftLearn to Program with Minecraft, by Craig Richardson (Dec. 2015, No Starch Press), $29.95, ISBN: 9781593276706

Recommended for ages 10+

The kids in my library are obsessed with Minecraft. From 2:30 on, as the kids storm the beachhead that is my children’s room, I hear shouts of, “Don’t touch my skin!”; “GET THE CREEPER! GET THE CREEPER!”; “OMG, get away from the Enderman!”; and “DIAMONDS!” I see the potential of Minecraft, and how it can be a fantastic tool to teach kids to create online worlds. I also, as a children’s librarian and mom of three boys, know that for the most part, they want to kill creepers and each other in some kind of 8-bit battle royale more often than not.

Books like Learn to Program with Minecraft are my gateway drug to programming with these kids. First, I get the fiction in (the GameKnight999 series by Mark Cheverton is available in English and Spanish, and they fly off my shelves), then I introduce coding programs like the Hour of Code, to show them how playing their game actually teaches them the building blocks of coding programs and apps of their own. Finally, I use part of my book-buying budget to buy coding nonfiction to keep around. I love DK’s coding books; those are especially great for my younger coders. My older kids need a little more, though, to keep them interested. That’s where the No Starch Books come in.

No Starch has great programming books for kids and teens, and Learn to Program with Minecraft is a solid addition to middle school and YA collecctions. A heads-up: you have to download Python to work with this book, but it’s a free programming language. Don’t be scared! The book will guide you along your Python/Minecraft journey, with screenshots and step-by-step bullets points that make creating much less stressful.

The book will help you create mini-games within Minecraft, take you on an automated teleportation tour around your Minecraft world, and teach you to make secret passageways. You’ll learn to make lava traps and cause floods, but be a good Minecraft citizen: no griefing.

I don’t quite have the Minecraft skills for this just yet, but I’m confident in my crafters here – I’ll be investing in this for my summer crowd, especially since we’ll be running a Google CS program here in a couple of months. Get kids to love programming, and watch what they come up with. I’m pretty psyched.

 

Posted in Realistic Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Draw the Line addresses hate crimes and homophobia with empowerment and comics

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

draw the line_1Draw the Line, by Laurent Linn (May 2016, Margaret K. McElderry Books), $17.99, ISBN: 9781481452809

Recommended for ages 14+

Adrian is a quiet high school junior that really tries to go through life unnoticed. He hangs out with his two best friends at school, Audrey and Trent, and they form their own little group of misfits, and he tries to avoid Doug, the local football hero/top cop’s son, and his sidekick, Buddy. At home, Adrian loses himself in movie and video game soundtrack music and creates his comic book character, Graphite, who ponders life from his lunar fortress of solitude and pines for someone to share life with. Graphite is Adrian’s secret – and, at first, so is the fact that he’s gay. That all changes when a hate crime is committed right in front of him. An openly gay classmate is attacked by the “bubbas”, as Adrian refers to them, and the town spin makes Adrian see red. He’s got to take a stand: someone has to draw the line.

This is such a powerful story that builds on so many levels: friendship, budding romance and the challenge of taking a romance public when you’re a gay teen in Texas, family problems at home, and self-esteem/image issues. Every character –  much like every kid in real life – has a challenge they’re facing in their own lives in addition to the big-ticket challenge that frames the novel. Adrian is a smart, funny, complex main character who has a strong voice that drives the story. His friends and antagonists all have their own voices, and while you may root for some and hiss for others, they are real and act and react believably. The black and white comic book art enhances the story and illustrates that having your own voice can take a multitude of forms.

A powerful addition to YA and teen collections, and packed with diversity and events that are happening now: this book will spark discussions.

Draw the Line has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.

Check out the book trailer/cover reveal for Draw the Line below:

Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads

My Name is Not Friday is a younger generation’s Twelve Years a Slave

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

fridayMy Name is Not Friday, by Jon Walter (Jan. 2016, David Fickling Books), $18.99, ISBN: 9780545855228

Recommended for ages 12-18

Living in an orphanage in the South at the end of the Civil War, Samuel is always trying to keep his younger brother, Joshua, out of trouble. The latest prank to be laid at Joshua’s feet is a big one; Samuel takes the blame to keep his brother safe, and finds himself sold into slavery as a consequence. He’s stripped of his given name, renamed Friday, and threatened to keep his true origin – that he’s a freeborn black boy – a secret. Told in the first person through Samuel’s eyes, readers get an often brutal, heart-breaking account of slavery in the last days of the Civil War.

My Name is Not Friday is a powerful book, at times difficult to read. The characters aren’t always likable, and they’re not always loathsome – that’s part of the struggle. It’s easy to hate the mustache-twirling, top hat-wearing villain, but when it’s a child who struggles with wanting to do the right thing – even when he doesn’t really fully understand the right thing – it’s not as easy. Friday is a sympathetic character, and the frustration of his situation comes across so strongly, that I had to put the book down a few times.

An important addition to shelves, My Name is Not Friday has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and School Library Journal. Suggested for middle school and high school readers for overall content. Put this on your shelves next to Solomon Northrup’s Twelve Years A Slave and Alex Haley’s Roots, which returns as a mini-series on History Channel at the end of May.

From SLJ: An author’s note references historical documents, including Harriet Jacobs’s classic Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

Posted in Fantasy, Science Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Beyond the Red: Intergalactic politics and species war with a dash of romance

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

beyond the redBeyond the Red, by Ava Jae (March 2016, Sky Pony Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781634506441

Recommended for ages 16+

Kora is a reigning queen of an alien race that’s seen its share of violence: her parents were killed during a terrorist attack during her birthday; her people are locked in a race war with human settlers, known as red-bloods, that exist on her planet, and she’s been the target of assassination attempts. Her twin brother, Dima, holds a grudge against her – he and their deceased father felt Dima should have ascended the throne – not a woman – but birth order is destiny.

Eros is a half-blood soldier, raised by humans and yet, held at arm’s length because of his half-alien blood. His adopted parents and brother are killed during one of Kora’s army raids, and he’s taken prisoner, where Kora decides to make him her personal guard. She has some questions about his true identity, and decides he’d be a valuable asset to keep close to her.

Despite being wildly attracted to one another, they play it safe, knowing that Eros’ half-blood status could get him killed at any time, and would certainly be a death sentence for any children they’d have if they married. Kora accepts the proposal of a high-ranking diplomat, but an assassination attempt leaves her and Eros running for their lives. Now, they have to work together to save the human rebels and keep Eros’ secret on a much larger scale.

There’s a lot of storytelling and world-building in this debut from Ava Jae. The entire story provides the groundwork for a series, and the ending leaves no question about a sequel being in the picture. It just wasn’t my book, alas: it never hooked me. The story seemed to focus on a few points that were emphasized again and again: Eros’ physical attraction to Kora; Dima’s simmering rage toward Eros, his jealousy toward Kora; Kora’s vacillating on her attraction to Eros. We don’t know anything about the human encampment on this world, only that they seem to have been left there generations ago. I’m hoping more about the schism between the two races will emerge in future books, because that has potential for a huge story.

The novel is more young adult than teen for sensual content, violence, and mild language. Space opera fans and fantasy fans should give this one a look.

Posted in Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Sync AudioBooks for Teens is back for Summer Reading!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Great news! SYNC 2016 will give away 30 titles — two paired audiobook downloads a week, starting May 5th and ending August 18th!

For anyone who doesn’t know what SYNC is: SYNC is a free summer audiobook program for teens. Starting May 5th 2016, SYNC will give away two complete audiobook downloads a week – pairs of high interest titles, based on weekly themes. Sign up for email or text alerts and be first to know when new titles are available to download at www.audiobooksync.com.

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Titles from award-winning authors such as Chinua Achebe, M.T. Anderson, Laura Ruby, Andrew Smith, David Levithan, and Tamara Ireland Stone. Check out the ToolKit, offering printable poster options (I’ve already got mine up in my Teen section) and posters with QR codes that will enable users to play sound clips.

This year, there’s a great SoundCloud link to an audio sampler – I’ve embedded it here for your listening pleasure. Get ready for Summer Reading and Listening!

Posted in Fantasy, Science Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Enter the Arena!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

arenaArena, by Holly Jennings, (Apr. 2016, Ace), $26, ISBN: 9781101988763

Recommended for ages 14+

In the not too-distant future, gaming goes even more hi-tech. Athletes are gamers now, and the RAGE tournament is the Virtual Gaming League’s top competition, pitting the best against the best. Live, virtual gladiator games, with the players battling one another on a bloody virtual reality field and taking no prisoners. The pain is real, though – just because you don’t die when your throat is cut doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt like hell. Kali Ling is one of the top RAGE competitors, part of the top team, Defiance. Virtual gaming is everything to her – her ticket to fame, fortune, and freedom – until the morning she wakes up next to her teammate and sometime friend with benefits, Nathan, dead of an overdose.

Kali finds herself named Defiance’s team captain and Nathan’s memory all but erased. There’s a cover-up in play, because no one wants to talk about the drug abuse going on in the virtual gaming world; no one wants to hear the ugly side of the glitzy business. But Kali is determined to fight in the virtual world and outside of it to wake people up.

Arena is going to be a huge summer hit with gamers and sci fi fans. It’s been compared to one of my all-time favorite books, Ernest Kline’s Ready Player One, but I think it’s grittier and tackles harder subjects like drug abuse in sports, constructing the perfect media image, and the problem of celebrity as role model. Although Arena takes place in the future, it sounds surprisingly similar to problems we have today in our very real world of sports. It’s a wake-up call on one hand, and a tremendous sci-fi novel with a kickass female lead character (and two equally kickass female supporting characters) on the other. That’s what’s going to get this book into people’s hands, and that’s how the message is going to be relayed.

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Arena has ethnic and sexual diversity. Much of Kali’s internal healing comes from Taoist texts, including the Tao-te Ching, so make sure to have some of those titles (and Sun Tzu’s Art of War) ready for readers who will go deeper. Pair this up with Armada, Ready Player One, and the Vault of Dreamers books for readers who are gamers and dystopian, media-driven future aficionados.

This is Holly Jennings’ debut novel – and there’s going to be a sequel, so get ready. I’m looking forward to seeing what else she gives us. Arena is out tomorrow, but you can check out Holly Jennings’ author website for an excerpt right now!

Posted in Realistic Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Liars and Losers Like Us: Not Just Another Prom Tale

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

liars and loseresLiars and Losers Like Us, by Ami Allen-Vath (March 2016, Sky Pony Press), $16.99, ISBN: 9781634501842

Recommended for ages 14+

High school senior Bree Hughes is trying to navigate her school year despite the drama all around her. Her parents have split, her best friend is dating a jerk, and her ex won’t stop trying to talk to her. But things start looking up: her crush, Sean Mills, just gave her his phone number, and she’s invited to the Prom Court after the school outcast, Maisey Mills, declines her nomination, made as a joke. Bree reaches out to Maisey, but it’s too late. Maisey commits suicide, leaving notes for a handful of people – including Bree – with an explosive explanation that also involves the current mean girl beauty queen.

Bree tries to juggle her guilt over Maisey’s death, the Prom Court drama, her parents’ divorce, and her growing relationship with Sean, but things fall apart during a drunken party where Bree finds out way too much about Sean and the beauty queen – she has to get her head together and she has to speak up; she’s got to tell Maisey’s story. Can she pull it all together and save her own relationship?

Liars and Losers Like Us is, on the surface, a YA/teen prom drama novel. That’s how you get drawn in. Once Ami Allen-Vath gets you, she hits you with the novel’s real story. It’s a story about survival, and it’s a story about being left behind. I liked that Bree isn’t a typical “in crowd” girl, nor is she the outcast: she’s a normal teen, navigating different social groups in high school. She’s friends with some, she’s not so tight with others. She’s moral, which can be a real test in high school. Her classmate’s death weighs on her, and she feels guilt not only for all the times she didn’t reach out to her, but for the knowledge that Maisey left with her when she chose to end her own life. She is the most interesting character in the book; we don’t really get enough of the other characters to form attachments to them.

Important information from the author, including resources to turn to regarding suicide, mental illness, and sexual abuse, make this a solid choice to have available in teen collections.

Posted in Fiction, Humor, Puberty, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Kill the Boy Band takes aim at fandom

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

boyybandKill the Boy Band, by Goldy Moldavsky, (Feb. 2016, Point), $17.99, ISBN: 9780545867474

Recommended for ages 14+

Four super fangirls stalk their boyband favorites with disastrous results in this insanely funny dark comedy.

The Ruperts are the boy band of the moment, and our narrator – who takes on the names of ’80s teen movie heroines – and her three (mainly online) friends have a plan to be near them, securing a room in the same hotel as the boys. When one of the girls encounters her favorite Rupert (they all have the same first name) at the ice machine, she overreacts and the girls find themselves with an unconscious boy bander in their hotel suite. And things get crazier from there. Each girl has a different agenda, and before the day is over, there are going to be some ugly revelations and even uglier circumstances.

Kill the Boy Band is at once a laugh-out loud black comedy in the vein of Pulp Fiction and Fargo and a scathing look at fandom and fangirl culture. Ms. Moldavsky takes aim at the culture that expects us to destroy our idols, even as we worship them. She looks at the long-established culture of loathing popstar girlfriends, celebrity stalking, and what happens when you find out that the man behind the curtain really isn’t Oz at all.

As a Duranie who was a teenager during the social media-bereft ’80s, Kill the Boy Band made me laugh and cringe, often at the same time. With boy band and fandom culture at an all-time frenzy now, teens will recognize themselves (hopefully, not too much) or laugh in recognition of someone they know. There’s a great whodunit that will keep readers guessing until the very last page – and maybe even after. You’ll laugh, and you’ll think – it’s a great book to have a discussion group with.

Great addition to collections with a thriving teen population that’s plugged in. This should be a good summer read. For older teens, consider introducing them to Pamela Des Barres’ I’m With the Band for a look at pre-online fandom culture.

Kill the Boy Band has been selected as an Independent Booksellers’ Debut Pick of the Season.

Posted in Historical Fiction, Horror, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

The Divah takes New York!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

divahDivah, by Susannah Appelbaum (March 2016, Sky Pony Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781634506748

Recommended for ages 12+

Itzy Nash is not looking forward to this summer vacation. Her dad is sending her off to her stuffy aunt, who doesn’t even like kids, while he goes off to Paris to do some research. But when Itzy arrives at New York’s elite Carlyle Hotel, she gets the strange feeling that something’s not right – for starters, Aunt Maude isn’t around, either; she’s left word that she’s hired a governess to keep an eye on Itzy. Plus, there’s a weird sound coming from one of the closets, and there are tons of flies. And that’s just the beginning.

Itzy learns that the Queen of the Damned – the Divah – is at the Carlyle, and she’s trying to open the gates of Hell itself. With the help of a fallen angel that she may or may not be able to trust, an aging star, and a host of colorful New Yorkers, Itzy also discovers that it’s up to her to save New York – and the world – from the Divah and her minions. Better hope she’s up to the task.

I loved this book. There’s a bit of historical fiction with a twist, some horror, and through it all, a fantastically witty thread of the darkest humor. It’s a sendup of high New York society and celebrity, a thrill ride in a book, with an End of Days bent. There are well-developed characters and a backstory that comes to fruition over the centuries. Ms. Appelbaum takes pop culture and weaves it into her story’s history to establish the ubiquity of demon and demon hunter culture in our world, from Evian water to Hermès scarves.

Add this to collections where YA thrillers/paranormal fiction is popular. Booktalk New York touchstones like the Carlyle Hotel in New York, particularly the Bemelmans Bar within the hotel; show art from the Madeline books to link the readers to Bemelmans’ work. For teens, booktalk Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby, for similar New York-based horror.