GreenBeanTeenQueen

Blink and Caution by Tim Wynne Jones Rating: 2/5 Stars Oh, how I wanted to like this one! I listened to it on audio since it's narrated by a narrator I normally love, MacLeod Andrews. (Really, he's awesome-listen to Will Grayson,Will Grayson ) But this one just didn't pull me in. The mystery was a bit over the top and felt a bit too "bad guys are such doofuses and teens can outwit them easily" which never seemed to fit with the depth the author was trying to give the characters. Both Blink and Caution have troubled pasts that they are trying to deal with, but I felt this was downplayed because of the hokey mystery. I also was very bored by the narration, which I think made me dislike the book more. The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin Rating: 3.75/5 I listened to this book for a couple of reasons. 1) It was compared to Downton Abbey , which I loved, and 2) because it's narrated by one of my all time favorite narrators, Katherine Kellgren. Kellgren...

Tween Tuesday is taking a break this week. I'm a bit behind on middle grade reading and while I had grand ideas of posting a booklist, life got in the way! Tween Tuesday will be back next week, but you can still leave your links below!

I have a strange phobia. Really, it's an odd one. Ready? I hate belly buttons. Yep, that supposedly innocent body part that little kids love to show you. I can't stand them. I hate talking about them, looking at them, touching them-they really gross me out! Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I've learned that my phobia is called omphalophobia and I guess it's a rare but real phobia. But bellybuttons are so normal, right? Who would be afraid of them? I can't explain it, but I've always been freaked out by belly buttons. Which makes my strange phobia even more weird when it comes to reading. I'll be innocently reading a book and then out of nowhere comes a belly button and my mind is distracted and I'm grossed out. Or there's a book that's all about belly buttons that really creeps me out. To a typical reader this wouldn't be a distraction, but for me, in some ways I think it taints my reading of the book. Take Sandra Boynton's Bel...

Tween Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at GreenBeanTeenQueen to highlight great reads for tweens! Join the fun and your link below. Rating: 3.75/5 Stars Genre: Contemporary/Humor/Muppets (because they can be there own genre, right?) Release Date: 9/5/2011 Add to Goodreads About the Book: Danvers Blickensderfer is the biggest Gonzo fan you'll ever meet. His school reports are all about Gonzo, he has a Gonzo shirt for every day of the week, and he even aspires to be an amazing daredevil just like The Great Gonzo. When Danvers's audition for the local talent show fails and he looses out to the middle school boy band, Emo-Shun, Danvers thinks he's hit rock bottom. That night, Danvers goes to bed wishing he could be like Gonzo. The next morning Danvers discovers he's furry-and now turned into a Muppet and there's an internship open at The Muppet Theater. With his new Mupppet form, will he have a chance to meet and train with The Great Gonzo? And will The Muppets g...

Rating: 5/5 Stars Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale Release Date: 3/29/2011 Add to Goodreads About the Book: Princess Azalea is the oldest of twelve daughters who love to dance. But when their mother suddenly passes away after the birth of their newest sister, the princesses are to go into mourning-which means no dancing. So when they find a secret forest they can escape into and dance the night away, the princesses disappear each night to dance. What they soon discover is that a man named Keeper is trapped in their dancing world and he's trying to lure them and keep them there for deadly reasons. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: I'll be the first to admit that fantasy is a genre I sometimes have  hard time getting into, but I do love me some fairy tale retellings. I think it's because I love discovering how an author will take a familiar story and twist it around and make it something new. In the case of Entwined , Heather Dixon takes the tale of the 12 Dancing Princesses and tur...

Lots of books get cover changes when they switch from hardcover to paperback. Some I think are for the better and others are not. This is partly a He Said, She Said post too, since Mr. GreenBeanSexyMan was sitting next to me on the couch as I wrote this. First up: Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann -I like this hardcover-it's creepy and actually has something from the book-there are mysterious messages scratched into school desks. But then the paperback had to go and change to this: -Which I really, really hate. Yes, there's a romance in the book, but it's not the focus. Cryer's Cross is more of a horror story, but you would never know it looking at this cover. Mr. GreenBeanSexyMan even commented on this one and said "I would never pick up a book with that cover" which I think is what makes me dislike this change so much-it takes a book that had a nice, gender neutral cover and pushes it over into "girls only" territory. And I really hate the id...

This past week I presented a talk on "Keeping up with YA" for the Missouri Library Association Conference. I'm all about sharing resources with other librarians and readers, so I'm posting a copy of my handouts here on the blog. The first list is the books I booktalked, the next additional reading suggestions in each genre. These lists in no way cover everything, but are supposed to be a starting point for books to know for 2011. Award Buzz Billingsley, Franny. Chime. ISBN: 0803735529 King, A.S. Everybody Sees the Ants. ISBN: 0316129283 Schmidt, Gary D. Okay for Now. ISBN: 0547152604 Selznick, Brian. Wonderstruck. ISBN: 0545027896 Sepetys, Ruta. Between Shades of Gray. ISBN: 0399254129 Taylor, Laini. Daughter of Smoke and Bone. ISBN: 0316134023 Contemporary Beam, Chris. I Am J. ISBN: 0316053619 Nelson, Blake. Recovery Road. ISBN: 0545107296 Marcus, Kimberly. Exposed. ISBN: 0375866930 Polisner, Gae. The Pull of Gravity. ISBN: 0374371938 Walker, Melissa. ...

I hope you get a chance to pick up A.S. King's fantastic new novel, Everybody Sees the Ants ! In honor of the book's release, I'm hosting an interview with the novel's main character, Lucky Linderman. You seem to read a lot, so what would your favorite novel be? I read mostly non-fiction, but I think my favorite novel is probably Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, which I read last summer at my aunt and uncle’s house in Arizona, or Animal Farm because Orwell was right about everything. You compare your mom to a squid and father a turtle. What animal would you compare yourself to? A squrtle? Kidding. Hm. I never thought about this. I guess it depends on which me we’re talking about. The old me was a rodent—kinda hiding. Maybe a mouse or a mole or something. And the new me is more like a dog. I bark. I’ll bite if I have to. I’m loyal, but I avoid people who don’t treat me right. Do you think that by being named Lucky, you are prone to luck or are you more unlucky? Or do...

Rating: 5/5 Stars Genre: Contemporary Release Date: 10/3/2011 Add to Goodreads About the Book: Lucky Linderman's life would be much better if his grandfather had come home from the Vietnam War. Instead, Grandpa Harry went missing, leaving Lucky's dad without a father and now Lucky's dad is a turtle who retreats into his shell and can't confront anything. Lucky's mom is a squid, who spends her days swimming and has no spine to stand up for herself. And Lucky just asked a stupid question-one that got him in trouble yet again with Nader McMillan, Lucky's lifelong bully. Lucky has a secret though-every night he dreams he's with his grandfather in Vietnam and plots for a way to help him return. And his dreams just might be real-a reality where Lucky can make things right and stand up for himself. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: Last year, I picked A.S. King's Please Ignore Vera Dietz as my "dark horse" Printz candidate-it was a book that was ...

Tween Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted here at GreenBeanTeenQueen to highlight great reads for tweens. Join the fun and add your link below. Today's Tween Tuesday is a special co-review between myself and Mr. GreenBeanSexyMan! Rating: 4.5/5 Stars Genre: Non-fiction Release Date: 10/25/2011 Add to Goodreads About the Book: Need to know about football? Are you debating what the top ten superbowl games are? Or who has the most memorable hairstyles in football? Who are football's best quarterbacks or fastest players? 1st and 10 has loads of top ten lists with facts, stats and more to answer all your football questions. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: Of course I couldn't review a football book without consulting Mr. GreenBeanSexyMan, the household expert on football. I've learned a lot about football in our six years together, but I still needed his expert opinion to see if this book really held up. Mr. GreenBeanSexyMan Says: 1st and 10 is a solid introduction to foot...

Rating: 4/5 Stars Genre: Contemporary/Romance Release Date: 10/4/2011 Add to Goodreads About the Book: All Chelsea wants this summer is to have a normal job like a normal teen and have a normal summer. Instead, she's working yet again at Essex Colonial Village as a historical reenactor. Chelsea's parents both work at Essex and Chelsea has spent her life growing up around colonial times. When her ex-boyfriend Ezra shows up to work at Essex as well, Chelsea isn't sure she can deal with Ezra being there. She's trying to get over him, but she's having a hard time letting go. Chelsea finds herself with a new crush, only he just happens to be from the wrong time period-he works at Civil War Reenactmentland, the arch-rivals of Essex. Can Chelsea let go of her ex and find love again? Or is Chelsea doomed to repeat the past and fall for the wrong guy? GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: I was sold on this book when I heard it was about a girl who worked as a historical reean...