GreenBeanTeenQueen

Today I am featuring a guest post by Jessica Blank, author of the new novel Karma For Beginners . About the Book: Fourteen-year-old Tessa has never had a normal life. Her mother, a frustrated hippie with awful taste in men, has seen to that. But when her mom pulls her out of school to live at an ashram in the Catskills, Tessa goes from being a freak among normal people to being an outcast among freaks. Freaks who worship an orange robe-wearing guru. And while her mom is buzzing with spiritual energy, and finding a little too much favor with the guru, all Tessa feels are weird vibes. Unless she's with Colin, the gorgeous boy who fixes trucks for the ashram. The connection they share is the most spiritual thing Tessa has ever felt. But he's older-like illegally older-and Tessa's taking dangerous risks to spend time with him. Soon her life is blooming into a psychedelic web of secrets and lies and it's clear that something's about to give way. When it does, will she

I have a very cool Tween Tuesday post this week: The Encyclopedia of Immaturity Volume 2 The Encyclopedia of Immaturity has been such a hit that Klutz is following up with a second book! The Encyclopedia of Immaturity Volume 2 includes thought-provoking topics such as how to slide down a banister, what we talk about when we talk about wedgies, how to send a toiletgram, and more. It’s all new and all hopelessly goofy. This book is hilarious! There are so many great pranks-I love it! I pointed out to my husband that I had recieved this book and he picked it up and started flipping through it and laughing-so it's not just for tweens! (He's looking at it right now saying "that's cool!") The book has a good mix of magic tricks, jokes, pranks. There are some pages that you can cut out and use, like extreme makeovers which adds goofy teeth to the bottom of your drinking glass or my favorite-grass to cover up the dog poop so it looks like you picked it up! The Holi

So I've been sick with a cold all weekend which got me thinking about my childhood sick days. I didn't stay home sick very often as a child, but when I did it meant curling up on the couch with my favorite movies, chicken noodle soup, and a stack of library books. Of course, staying home sick meant watching an Anne of Green Gables marathon. Visiting with Anne, Diana, and Gilbert on Prince Edward Island always made me feel better. Now, I would watch this movie on days I wasn't sick too. But for me, Anne was the ultimate sick day movie. I'd watch both Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea. I finally caved and watched the third movie a few years ago, but I wouldn't recommend it (if you're a true Anne fan, it might make you sicker!) If I couldn't watch Anne, then I spent my afternoon with Little Women -the Elizabeth Taylor movie version. This one didn't top my list, since Jo and Laurie do not end up together which is endlessly frustrating an

Tween Tuesday is a weekly feature where I blog about great tween reads. If you'd like to host your own Tween Tuesday, add the link in the Mister Linkey and share your tween reads! The Sisters Grimm Series by Michael Buckley -The Sisters Grimm are two sisters who find themselves living with the grandmother they thought dead when their parents disappear. Granny's town sure is interesting-she lives in Ferryport and it's home o "Everafters"-characters right out of fairy tales and magical stories. This is a great pick for readers who love mystery, adventure, humor and fairy tales. There's seven books books out now with nine books total to be released in the series. I met Michael Buckley at ALA and he was incredibly charming and funny. I highly recommend this series. If you have readers who have enjoyed The Sisters Grimm , give them Sarah Beth Durst's Into the Wild next. The Sisters 8 by Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Greg Logsted, and Jackie Logsted The Sisters 8 i

Tween Tuesday is a weekly feature where I blog about some of my favorite tween reads! The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall The Penderwicks is a modern story that has the feel of a classic. Read this one if you want to escape back into your childhood favorites-it reminded me of Little Women and Anne of Green Gables . It's perfectly sweet and lots of fun. There's a sequel out now, and the author is planning on writing five Penderwicks books altogether, so there adventures are far from over! Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day by Meg Cabot Meg Cabot continues to impress me. I've read many of teen books, and a couple of her adult titles, and now she's won me over in the tween area as well! This one was on my children's lit list, and I knew I had to give it a read. Allie Finkle is a modern-day Ramona Quimby. She keeps a notebook of all the rules she learns-some serious, some silly, but a

This is part of a tour for Traveling to Teens ! Rating: 2/5 Stars Genre: Paranormal Release Date: 9/1/2009 About the Book: Cassandra Gray is a vampire-only she doesn't feast off blood, she thrives on human tears. Cass is always there when someone needs a shoulder to cry on and she'll be the one to listen and comfort. But Cassandra isn't happy with her manipulative life-she wants more and she wants to be human, especially since she's starting to fall in love with a human boy. Can she betray her family and the life she's always know? GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: While the premise for this vampire book is unique, it failed to work for me. It's supposed to be a paranormal book, but I never really got the paranormal aspect. It read much more like any contemporary fiction novel about a girl trying to break away from her family mold. It seemed like the paranormal stuff got thrown in there at times it needed to be mentioned-and on yeah, she's a vampire. Cassandr

If you've been following my YA movies news, you know that The Vampire's Assistant is headed to theaters October 23. I have a very awesome giveaway for all you Cirque fans! TWO winners will recieve: Cirque du Freak book Set (3 titles in one book) Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant Locker Mirror About the Book: The Vampire's Assistant and Other Tales from the Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan New movie edition features the first three books-- Cirque Du Freak, The Vampire's Assistant, and Tunnels of Blood -- bound up in one volume! Do you love to be scared? Then don't miss the terrifying adventure that begins when Darren and his best friend, Steve, get tickets to the CIRQUE DU FREAK, a wonderfully bizarre and creepy freak show. Brace yourself for thrills and chills as the boys witness a parade of grotesque creatures and face their deepest fears by entering the darkest world of the vampire. In the blood-curdling tradition of Anne Rice and Stephen King, CIRQUE D