BookTweet: Numbers

Numbers in 140 characters or less:

Don’t look into Jem’s eyes or she’ll see your death date. Hey, Jem, remember the time when the United Kingdom thought you were a terrorist?

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BookTweet: Poison Study

Poison Study in 140 characters or less:

Serving as a food taster, Yelena could die any day: from the food, a political coup, a magician’s fear, or revenge for the man she murdered.

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Book Tweet: Fire

WARNING: THIS BOOK IS A COMPANION TO GRACELING, NOT A SEQUEL! I THOUGHT IT WAS A SEQUEL AND WAS SO UPSET THAT IT TOOK ME 8 MONTHS TO GET OVER IT AND TRY THE BOOK AGAIN. I MISS YOU, PO!

Fire in 140 characters or less:

So desirable that she’s a danger to herself and others, Fire reads minds, spies, and falls in love 50 years before Graceling begins.

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BookTweet: Graceling

Voting Options #1: Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Enjoy a publisher-made trailer...

BookTrailer: Incarceron

Voting Option #3: Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Enjoy a publisher-made trailer...

BookTrailer: Hush Hush

Voting Option #4: Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Enjoy a librarian-made trailer...

BookTrailer: Marked

Voting Option #5: Marked by PC and Kristin Cast

Enjoy a fan-made trailer done entirely with stop-action American Girl dolls (seriously)...

BookTrailer: Lord Loss

Voting Option #6: Lord Loss by Darren Shan

Enjoy a fan-made trailer...

BookTrailer: Fallen

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Book Tweet: Fallen

Fallen in 140 characters or less:

Luce might be crazy—or homicidal—or both. Sent to reform school, she becomes obsessed w/a boy who knows more about her past than she does.

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Book Tweet: Incarceron

Incarceron in 187 characters total (because the plot of this book is way too complex for 140 characters or less):

A futuristic society that parties like it’s 1799, a prison that’s alive, a prince with amnesia, a defiant heiress, an assassination plot, and two walkie-talkie keys that connect them all.

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Book Trailer: Hush, Hush

Book Tweet: Hush, Hush

Hush, Hush in 140 characters or less:

Who’s trying to kill Nora? And does her stalking have anything to do with the school’s resident bad boy (who also happens to be really hot)?

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BookTweet: Marked

Marked in 140 characters or less:

The House of Night=Hogwarts for Vampires & rated-R.



The House of Night, Book 1

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An Interview with Kristin Cashore

Five questions for Kristin Cashore

With Graceling, Kristin Cashore wrote a first novel that was a remarkably disciplined fantasy, with just a single magical element giving the story its premise (and title): the heroine Katsa, like only a handful of others in her world, is “graced” with one extraordinary power, in her unfortunate case, a grace for killing. While the book has intrigue and swordplay aplenty, it is also a juicy romance. This month, Cashore follows Graceling up with Fire, a prequel set in the same world but a generation earlier and featuring Fire, another charismatic heroine. (14 years and up)

1. If you could have one Grace, what would you want it to be? Well, if you’d asked for my sci-fi superpower of choice, I would have said teleporting, hands down, but you didn’t, and teleporting isn’t realistic as a Grace. So I’m going to go with languages. One of my sisters has a language gift — after a few months of study in Finland, she was more or less fluent in Finnish — and I am definitely not like that! Give me the Grace of being fluent in any language after a day or two of hearing it in use.

2. Why do you think palace intrigue has become such a prominent trope in fantasy fiction? Hmm. You know, I think a palace is the fantasy novel’s version of a boarding school — or college dorm, if you prefer. Everyone lives together in one big building or set of buildings. Everyone’s on top of everyone else; there’s a forced intimacy in relationships; secrets are harder to keep and it’s more important that they be kept; the tension never ceases, because no one ever goes home for the night; it’s easy to sneak between bedrooms. Plus: hidden doorways! Secret passages! Tapestries to hide behind! Dumbwaiters to send secret objects of dire importance from floor to floor! Walkways on the roof! Spiral staircases! Moats and drawbridges and walls made of shrubberies! I’m beginning to wonder how you could even ask this question.

3. What fantasy novel or series would you recommend to the unconverted or unconvinced? If it’s a person who likes slow-moving, introspective novels, I might send them to Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave, the first book in her King Arthur trilogy (told from Merlin’s perspective). If it’s someone who likes character-rich YA realism, I might give them Cynthia Voigt’s Novels of the Kingdom, because they aren’t typical fantasy — no one has magical powers — but they take place in a made-up universe and have the feel of fantasy. If it’s a reader who’s really, really resistant, I might take a sideways route and have them try some magical realism or softcore sci-fi. Maybe Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies or Peeps, or Margaret Mahy’s The Tricksters. I would also recommend Megan Whalen Turner’s Attolia books to just about anybody, but that may be the inveterate fantasy-lover in me speaking.

4. In writing Fire, did you find yourself wishing you could change anything in Graceling? There are a thousand things I wish I could change in Graceling, but they’re more for the sake of my current work-in-progress or for Graceling’s own sake than for anything to do with Fire. Fire takes place in a different part of my fantasy universe, so I was practically able to start over and create a new world for the writing of Fire.My current work-in-progress, tentatively called Bitterblue, is a whole other kettle of fish. Bitterblue takes place in the same part of the world as Graceling, and, honestly, I don’t even know where to start. Why didn’t I ever make up a unit for measuring distance in Graceling? Because I could really use one now, and the third book in a series is a weird time to suddenly say, “Ah, yes, it’s 100 killybongs from here to there; we all know how long a killybong is, don’t we?” Also, speaking of distances, there’s the little matter of an impenetrable forest and an uncrossable mountain range between Sunder and Monsea that were oh-so-convenient for slowing my intrepid heroes down in Graceling, but that are creating all sorts of headaches for me now as I write a novel in which various people of all stripes are constantly visiting Bitterblue’s court in Monsea. All the journeys have to take so ridiculously long and require many backbreaking supplies! Sigh . . .

5. The Horn Book is something of a proud parent of the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature, with Horn Book editors Paul and Ethel Heins having been part of the Center’s founding in the 1970s. What was the value of their master’s degree for you? I can’t overstate the value of my graduate experience at Simmons. Simmons is where I learned to think critically and creatively about books. The instructors are fabulous, the reading list is a joy, the classes are rigorous; I immersed myself in the experience completely, and the first thing I did after graduating was write Graceling. I would not be where I am now if it weren’t for the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature.

Notes from the Horn Book October, 2009

BookTweet: Max

Max in 140 characters or less:

Max & flock turn celebrity. Mysterious villains plotting their deaths while Fang & Max try to date. Final showdown to save the planet.

Maximum Ride, Book 5

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BookTweet: The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book in 140 characters or less:

Toddler escapes murderer and is taken in by ghost family. Bod makes it to his teen years safely but the murderer is still on his trail.

Newbery Award winner, 2009.

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BookTweet: Wake

Wake in 140 characters or less:

If anyone sleeps near Janie, she gets pulled into their dreams. Is she stuck forever in other's embarrassments, desires, & nightmares?

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BookTweet: Evermore

Evermore in 140 characters or less:

Family killed. Has conversations with her dead sister. Sees people's auras and hears their thoughts. Gorgeous Damen can explain. So why won't he?



The Immortals, Book 1

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September Book Club

In September, we'll have our first book club meetings. All students who want to attend should read the book and come prepared to discuss all the juicy tidbits. Please do read the book first because we're definitely going to talk about the ending and we don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet. You do not have to bring a copy of the book. Just bring yourself.

Watch book trailers for both books on the library wiki @
http://heritagelibrary.wikispaces.com/Book+Clubs



The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins


Come to either:
Tuesday, September 22 @ 8am
Wednesday, September 23 @ 4pm





Shift
by Jennifer Bradbury

Come to either:
Tuesday, September 22 @ 4pm
Wednesday, September 23 @ 8am





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