GreenBeanTeenQueen

Tween Tuesday is a meme to highlight great reads for tweens! Add your link below and find a new middle grade read! Rating: 4/5 Genre: Graphic Novel Release Date: 5/22/2012 Add to Goodreads About the Book: Knuckle and Potty are famous loveable characters who star in bestselling children's books. And their next adventure will take them to Happy World! But Knuckle and Potty are tired of being lovable-they want to be fierce! And they don't want to go to Happy World. So they plan a trip to the Outer-world to meet their author so they can rewrite their storyline. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says:   First off, a big thank you to Unshelved , who wrote a comic about this book! Otherwise I'm not sure I would have discovered it. For tweens who like their comedies with a bit of a zany plot, Knuckle and Potty is perfect. There is tons of humor in this short graphic novel that will leave tweens cracking up. Plus, there are plenty of inside jokes that savvy readers will catch-the C...

When you read a lot of books, you start to notice trends. So I decided I would start posting about the trends I've seen so far this year. Last week, I posted about one trend: "One Crazy Night aka The Hangover for Teens"  Now for trend number two: Glass Blowing in YA. This is an odd trend I think. Who would have thought glass blowing would be making an appearance in a lot of YA lit? I guess I think it's funny because it always makes me think of my childhood vacation days to Silver Dollar City and watching the glass blowers. I never thought it would be a trend in YA! It's showing up in historical and contemporary books. First up, a book that meets one trend already (The One Crazy Night Trend) and adds the Glass Blowing Trend: Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley Trend Note: Lucy is a talented glass artist who is studying the art in a studio and making her own pieces. Happy Families by Tanita S. Davis Trend Note: Ysabel is another talented teen...

Rating: 4/5 Stars Genre: Science Fiction Release  Date: 6/5/2012 Add to Goodreads About the Book: Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Intrepid. The posting is going well and Dahl is making friends with other new crew members. But the new crew notice something strange-the away missions always seem to end up dangerous-even the ones that seem like they should be routine. The senior staff always seem to survive these away missions, no matter how many crazy things may happen to them along the way. And there's always a low ranking officer that ends up getting killed. Something strange is going on on the Intrepid and Dahl and his friends are determined to find out what it is. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: Every once in awhile I manage to squeeze in some adult fiction into my reading (or listening) pile. If you know me well, then you know that I am a big Star Trek fan. And as a Star Trek fan, I understand that you must never beam down in a red shirt ...

Tween Tuesday is a meme that highlights great reads for tweens. So join the fun and add your link below to discover a new middle grade read. Rating: 4/5 Stars Genre: Historical/Humor Release Date: 9/13/2011 Add to Goodreads Check out the audiobook narrated by the author! About the Book: " That Gantos Boy" just can't seem to  keep out of trouble. After Jack gets grounded all summer, his only respite is to help Miss Volker write up obituaries for the local paper. But summer gets even more exciting when a visit from some Hells Angels, airplane rides, and a mysterious plague all add up into one crazy adventure. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: I finally read Dead End In Norvelt as part of my goal to read all the Award Winners. (The books won the Newbery medal in 2012). And honestly, a few weeks later, I'm still a bit unsure what exactly I thought of it. While the book does have an overall narrative, it struck me more as vingettes throughout Jack's summer...

Well hello! I know I've been terrible at updating the blog lately-a combination of summer reading program at work and committee reading at home has made for a very busy summer!! But I'm (hopefully) back as summer is winding down. I've been thinking about this a lot. When you read a lot of books and see a lot of books in your library, you start to see trends showing up. So I thought I'd share some of the trends I've noticed so far this year. "The Hangover" for Teens. I was talking to a friend of mine about this trend and we were saying how it was an odd sort of trend. We were wondering if many teens had seen the movie. The "one crazy night" trend isn't new (think back to Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist ) but it's coming around again it seems. Take a look: From What I Remember by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas About: A group of teens wake up in Mexico and have to figure out what happened. Ditched: A Love St...

I was reading Publisher's Weekly this morning and discovered this news: Neil Gaiman has signed a deal with HarperCollins for more books, including two picture books. One of the picture books is about a little panda and it will be illustrated by Adam Rex! Anyone else think this is the most perfect picture book match up?? I love Adam Rex's art and Neil Gaiman's writing and together in one book will be amazing I'm sure! The deal also includes three new middle grade novels which I couldn't be more excited about! I love book news-it makes my day! :)

Tween Tuesday is a weekly meme (or somewhat weekly, since my committee work has taken over!) to highlight great reads for tweens. Join the fun, add your link below and discover a new tween read. Rating: 3/5 Stars Genre: Contemporary/Humor Release Date: 8/10/2010 Add to Goodreads About the Book: When Henry decides that he and his friends Riley and Reed are too boring, he comes up with an endless supply of activities that will make them interesting and hopefully break some world records. Henry is the mastermind of the adventures, Reed the recorder, and Riley somehow always ends up being roped into actually participating in the stunts. From biking off a roof, bull riding and trying to solve an old possibly murder mystery, Henry, Riley and Reed are in for some of the craziest adventures they've ever had. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: I originally downloaded this audiobook from my library for two reasons: 1) It was narrated by Nick Podehl and 2) It was short. Both were tota...

I love to listen to audiobooks (I'm seriously addicted to Audible!). So when I realized I had listened to a ton of audiobooks but never  reviewed them, I thought I'd do some audiobook flash reviews. Have any audiobooks I should check out? I'd love suggestions!! Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta Rating: 5/5 Stars About the Book: Taylor was abandoned by her mother years ago on the Jellicoe Road. Now at seventeen, the one adult Taylor could trust, Hannah, has disappeared. Taylor searches for answers about who she is and her story is interwoven with a group of teens who lived on the Jellicoe Road years before. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: I remember when this book won the Printz-I didn't know much about it. And I'm embarrassed that it took me so long to read it! Jellicoe Road is one of my new favorite YA novels-it's emotional and beautifully written and everything I want a book to be. The audiobook narrator does a fantastic job keeping the reader engaged-...

Back in December I got Mr. GreenBeanSexyMan a book to review for me. He has finally finished the book and so here is his review. You can also check out his twitter: @Andydoesitagain if you want to see what else he is up to when he is not doing guest posts for me. Rating: 3.5/5 Stars Genre: Fantasy Release Date: October 6, 2009 Publisher: Tor Add to Goodreads Hello everyone! Sorry it has been so long since my last review. When GreenBeanTeenQueen brought this book to my attention, I told her that I would be happy to review it for her blog. However, I must confess that I procrastinated picking it up and then took my time leafing through the first few chapters. As it turns out, I am just a bit shy when it comes to new books, but after I got into the story I was kicking myself for taking so long to get into it. I just finished it yesterday so here are my thoughts. About the book: The story focuses primarily on an excommunicated knight named Gair as he struggles to underst...