GreenBeanTeenQueen

Tween Tuesday is a feature I started to highlight tween titles! No M ore Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman First off, I love the title for this one. I agree!!! I admit, if there's an animal on the cover, I have to check the end to see if it's still alive before I can read it. Wallace Wallace (yep, that's his name!) can't tell a lie. When his english teachers asks him to write a book review on Old Shep, My Pal , Wallace can't lie and has to let his teacher know just how much he hated this book. That lands him in dentention and also get Wallace involved in the school play, an adaptation of Old Shep, My Pal . Wallace starts to suggest changes for the show and it'll be one memorable school play! This one had that trademark Gordon Korman humor and I laughed throughout. With the mix of sports and drama, I think it would make a good read for Glee fans, although much tamer, of course. The english teacher was a bit annoying-he needed to lighten up a bit-but he came around and ...

Tomorrow I am heading to another library system to give a presentation on anime clubs. I'll be talking about the anime club I host at my library, how I choose anime, and activities we've done. If any of you have run or participated in an anime club (library or elswhere) I'd love to hear about it! How did you run your club? How did you pick your anime? Did you have complaints about the anime chosen? What activities have you done? I'll be working on my powerpoint today, so if you have any feedback for me you can comment below or send me an e-mail: greenbeanteenqueen at gmail dot com Thanks!

This was a book that was on my classic children's read list for children's lit which explains the longer and more techinal review. I guess I could also use it as a Tween Tuesday pick. Rating: 4/5 Stars Genre: Contemporary Release Date: Well, it originally released in 1970, but it's still around today. About the Book: Margaret has just moved and is entering sixth grade. She spends the year trying to figure out religion, growing up, and making friends. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: This was yet another book I somehow missed out on reading as a child. Honestly, the title threw me off-I thought it was a boring title and I was also a "good little Christian child", so why would I want to read a book where the character has to ask where God is? Yes, those are the exact thoughts that went through my head, which is a shame because I think I would have really loved this book as a tween. The book was first published in 1970, but the overall themes of growing up and religion ...

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman Release Date: 4/26/10 About the Book: Meggy's mother was glad to be rid of her; her father, who sent for her, doesn't want her after all. Meggy is appalled by London, dirty and noisy, full of rogues and thieves, and difficult to get around in—not that getting around is ever easy for someone who walks with the help of two sticks. Just as her alchemist father pursues his Great Work of transforming base metal into gold, Meggy finds herself pursuing her own transformation. Earthy and colorful, Elizabethan London has its dark side, but it also has gifts in store for Meggy Swann. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: One of my all time favorite books EVER is Catherine, Called Birdy . I adore that book. So of course, I had to pick The Midwife's Apprentice as one of my Newbery reads for children's lit. While reading that one, I decided to check out Ms. Cushman's website and I saw she has a new book coming next year!! I was so excited, I di...

Today's BBAW post is about reading habits. Fill yours out too and leave me a link-I'd love to read about other bookworms reading habits too!:) Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? -Yes, I eat while I read. I eat lunch, dinner, and all sorts of snacks because I'm always reading. Mostly I eat cookies or crackers while I read and yes, this has sometimes gotten me in trouble with the husband because I leave crumbs on the couch!:) Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? -I read a book once about a girl who's mom wrote in her books and she thought it was so cool to read her mom's thoughts since her mom had since passed away. I thought that was a cool idea too, but my notes on my Babysitters Club Books were pretty boring, so I stopped doing it. I would mark up books again, but I just always forget. How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open? - O...

Tween Tuesday is a new feature where I will post a few of my favorite tween reads. Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix (The Missing Book One) Here's the booktalk I use on my tweens (and teens!): A plane lands out of the blue. No one knows where it came from or where it was going, and once they get on board, the only passengers are babies. Now, thirteen years later, Jonah and his friend Chip are starting to recieve letters that say "you are one of the missing" and "beware." Such a great premise and an easy sell. After I book talk it, the hold list jumps up like crazy. Plus, Margaret Peterson Haddix is the queen of tween suspense and her books are always flying off the shelf. Found is the first in a series and Sent just released last month. I can't wait to read it, but I'm number 22 on our library hold list, so it'll be awhile! A great read for anyone looking for suspensful mystery. Robot Dreams by Sara Varon Robot Dreams is a recent discovery for me, ...

As part of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I swapped interviews with another blogger. I was lucky to meet Jackie of Farmlane Books . Jackie's blog is a great read, so be sure to check it out. And not only does she blog, she runs an online bookstore-how cool is that? Me: I love the heading for your blog. Did you pick the books to put on it or is a random snapshot of your bookshelf? Jackie: Thanks! That is a photograph of my bookshelf, but I admit to moving a few books around so that all my favourite authors appeared. Me: What is your favorite genre to read? Jackie: I don’t really have a favourite genre - I like reading anything that has a great plot and strong characters. I suppose that I mainly read adult fiction or literary fiction, but my favourite book of 2009 so far is The Hunger Games (a YA book) and I also recently enjoyed The Strain (a horror thriller) Me: I Iove The Hunger Games-I hope you get to read Catching Fire soon! Why did you start blogging? Jackie: I started b...

Today is the first day of BBAW and of course my internet decides it doesn't want to work today. But if you do have internet and aren't working all day like me, you can visit all the wonderful bloggers who are talking about why they love blogging and show your love for bloggers!! On a side note, I downloaded a Kindle app. to my iPhone and I also got a free e-book copy of the first Maximum Ride book, which is cool, because now if I forget a book, I can read one on my phone! You know the first things I looked for to download were all related to books :)

My Most Excellent Year A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park by Steve Kluger Rating: 4.5/5 Genre: Contemporary Release Date: 2008, paperback 2/19/09 About the Book: Three high school friends are asked to reflect back on their best year. Augie and T.C. are such close friends they have adopted each other as brothers. When Ale moves to Boston freshman year and the three become a trio. Romance, baseball, musical-theater, and learning sign-language make freshman year the most excellent year. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: It's really hard to explain what this book is about, because it has so much. But trust me when I say it's a fun and charming read. It was a light read, but wasn't total fluff, as some of the storyline dug a little deeper. It'll pull at your heartstrings-in a good way, not a bawl your eyes out way. In a lot of ways, I could see this one easily turning itno a teen movie. The novel is told from three points of view-Augie, T.C. and Ale are all the main narr...

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs Release Date: January 2010 About the Book: Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush. Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life. When ...

Tween Tuesday is a new feature where I will post a few of my favorite tween reads. A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban I listened to the audiobook of this one, and reviewed it here . But I enjoyed it so much, it's worth mentioning again. It's a pitch perfect debut and I can't wait to read more from Linda Urban. Zoe dreams of playing piano at Carnegie Hall, but then her father buys her an organ. There's a lot packed into this one-Zoe's relationship with her father, a friendship (and possible romance) with a boy at school, and her organ lessons and upcoming performance in the "perform-o-rama." It's a sweet, touching story that tweens, and older, can surely relate to. Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis Emma-Jean is one of my favorite tween characters ever. Some reviewers have tagged her as autistic, but the reader can decide from themselves as they read about the smart, and socially awkward, Emma-Jean. Emma-Jean is another charmi...

Book Blogger Apprecation Week is coming up September 14-18, thanks to the amazing My Friend Amy . (I don't know how she puts this whole thing together. She should get lots of awards for that!) I found out today that my blog has been shortlisted for Best YA Blog! I can't believe it! I've been in shock all day! Thank you! I'm in a catagory with other bloggers who always make my must read list ( The Story Siren , Pop Culture Junkie , Mrs. Magoo Reads , and My Favorite Author) Check out their blogs as well, as they are all wonderfully awesome bloggers and such great supporters of YA. Be sure to check out all the nominated blogs in the various catagories and get your votes in soon. Voting ends Saturday September 12 at 11:59 PM (EST). And be sure to join in the fun during BBAW-it'll be a week long party and I can't wait to be part of it!

Dear adult library patrons: Teens are patrons too. It is very rude to butt in on a librarian helping any patron, including teens. Their question is just as important as yours. Please learn to wait your turn. Thank you, An annoyed teen librarian

Man, I feel like I haven't blogged in forever! I promise I will get reviews up ASAP-with school starting up again, I'm having to rework my schedule and it's been a busy couple of weeks. My end of summer contest ends tonight at midnight (central time) so be sure to enter if you haven't already! I don't know if I'll get the winners tallied by tomorrow, since I have to work, but I'll have them up by Monday for sure. A HUGE WOW and THANKS to all the people who read this blog-I just noticed I have over 300 followers! That's amazing-you guys rock!!! I'm off to prepare for Teen Night: Medieval Night at the library!

Today I am pleased to feature author Sally Rippin. Sally loves libraries and librarians, so of course you have to read her wonderful post! Sally Rippin is the author of the YA novel Chenxi and The Foreigner . She also is the author and illustrator of numerous children's books (she's super busy and super talented!) Be sure to check out her blog as well! Here's Sally: So, being a complete novice, I asked Joanna, my lovely blog-tour co-ordinator at Annick Press, for some tips and she suggested I might have a few words to say about what I like about libraries. Well, that’s an easy one. Librarians are what I like about libraries! (Note: GreenBeanTeenQueen squeels in delight! YAY for librarian love!) I can tell you, librarians are every author’s best friend. I may write the best book I’ll ever write but if it doesn’t get into the hands of a reader, as far as I’m concerned it may as well have never been written. And how many times have I bought novels for my own three sons for th...

Ok, so this is not book related, but for some reason the bookish people I know are also Glee fans. Maybe because we're such a super smart group of people!:) So you can imagine my joy in the fact that Glee returns tonight! If you didn't catch the pilot over the summer, tonight's your chance. And if you did see, tonight is the director's cut, with extra special scenes! Yay! Anyone else share my Glee joy?

Since starting at my library three years ago, I've become the "tween expert"-I'm not really sure how that happened! I still try to read a good mix of tween and teen fiction, even if I'm not doing as much tween programming. Tween Tuesday is a new feature where I will post a few of my favorite tween reads. (I know it's almost Wednesday, but I wanted to give the Catching Fire giveaway lots of front page blog time!:) The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan -All five books in the series are out now (although, I will admit I'm still on book four!) But this is a series to know, especially with the movie coming out in February. One of my co-workers just discovered this series and we're planning a program for December. I would suggest it for fans of Harry Potter (it has a lot of the same elements, but I felt it stood on its own instead of reading too much like a HP copycat). There's also a ton of humor and it's a great way to learn about Greek mythol...

If you're like me, you are super excited that Catching Fire is finally here! And I have a chance for a great prize pack for all you Hunger Games fans! THREE lucky winners will win: -A copy of Catching Fire - A *very* limited edition promotional t-shirt (see photo) -A collectible mockingjay pin All you have to do is leave a comment below with a way for me to contact you if you win! +2 extra entries if you share this contest (twitter, facebook, blog, etc.) -Contest is open to US addresses only, (as long as your prize can be shipped in the US, it doesn't matter if the winner is outside the US) -Contest ends Sept. 15 The Fine Print: The Catching Fire book promotion is open to participants with a United States mailing address only (international readers can enter if you have a friend in the States who can accept your prizes by mail!). Entrants under age 13 must have parent or guardian permission to enter. ABOUT THE BOOK: COULD YOU SURVIVE ON YOUR OWN, IN THE WILD, WITH EVERYONE ...