I’m going to break all the conventions for reviewing a book by talking about the sheer awesomeness of a book I have yet to read. Please admire the brilliance of the cover to the left. The book, Apocalypse Cow, looks to be your average zombie cow story. I say that because I’m pretty sure that it may be the only zombie cow story on planet earth. Which is bloody brilliant. Or bloody AND brilliant. You should check it out but you’ll have to wait until I bring it back because I’m pulling my perk to being a librarian card and checking it out first.

But while I’m on the subject, I want to exclaim about the sheer awesomeness of a good tagline. Apocalypse Cow has this gem of a tag: “Forget the cud, they want blood…” If this book offers nothing else, it still has successfully made me laugh with its cover hook.

There’s lots of great taglines out there. If zombie cows isn’t your cup of tea, don’t worry! I’ll try to dig up a tagline that’ll rock your world. Here’s a list of taglines that should make you want to read. (And, yes, the following books are as lovely as their hooks!)

–

Beth Revis’s Across the Universe is a phenomenal sci-fi dystopian. Her tag? “What does it take to survive aboard a spaceship fueled by lies?”

Wake by Lisa McMann is a gripping, fast-paced novel about a girl that gets sucked into other people‘s dreams. The tagline is the beautifully ominous, “Your dreams are not your own.”

Scott Westerfeld’s popular dystopian future from the book Uglies tag is nicely straightforward: “A world where everyone’s ugly. And then they’re not.”

Haven’t found one that’s hooked you yet? Try Dandi Mackall’s dark realistic tale The Silence of Murder: “An unspeakable crime. A voiceless defendant.”Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers is a tale of assassin nuns. Yeah. That. The tag? “Why be the sheep when you can be the wolf?”

Or, Margaret Stohl’s Icons: “Your heart beats only with their permission.”

Oh, and Kendare Blake’s Anna Dressed in Blood doesn’t need any other hints beyond the tag. You see it’s “Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story”.

And my personal favorite, Jim Ottaviani’s Feynman: “If that’s the world’s smartest man, God help us.”

So, go get hooked on a book…and be sure to tell us what draws you in!

And, sometimes it works out, judging books by their covers! This was a fantastic retelling of the Sleeping Beauty legend. The tale is just as wicked as the cover. The story is complete with a dystopic future plague-ridden society and a masterful heroine. There’s nothing too mind-bending or deep but if you like action-packed, dark-edged thrillers with roots in fairy tales and fantasy, grab this book!

If you like the pretty books – I’ve got a load of covers for you. Check out some of our great (and pretty!) reads:

Want to branch out a bit? Looking for something you haven’t read? Don’t shirk all the ugly books. I’m talking up a few of my favorite so you can waltz past that unfortunate cover and get to the good stuff.

And, remember, we’re always here at your friendly, neighborhood library if you want to come chat or get a book rec that fits you. Come visit us and happy reading!

Fairy Tales aren’t just for the little ones. The traditional sort are full of all sorts of horrifying bits that Disney some how managed to slice out. (Don’t get me started on the original Cinderella stories!)

Still, there’s lots of modern re-tellings and reworkings that are just as awesome too. Check out the recent library book talk about Fairy Tales for an older set!

Google Nose:

YouTube’s Prize:

Twitter to Twttr? Twitter Will Charge for Vowels

Eye of Sauron Desk Light: Where Light is Evil

Skinny Skinny Jeans:

Glass Bottom Planes: Virgin Atlantic Wants to Get Really Transparent

Sony’s Animalia: Because Animals are People too?

Crowd Fund the Debt: Concerned about the National Debt? So is President Obama!

Scope Bacon:

Google Treasure Maps: Check out the top right corner of Google Maps and you can convert over to the Google Treasure Maps feature…is this going to last?

So, if you’d like to read a biography about overcoming adversity and flying high, Bessie Coleman’s is not to be missed. The “Just the Facts” version is just full of great historical documents and pictures, highlighted fast facts (Did you know that Bessie is on a US Postage Stamp?), and great insights.

Oh! And it is 112 pages so it just meets that biography report requirement too! ;)

Whether you’re on “Team Love” or on “Team Love of the Game” – we’ve got a book for you!

Airship Boat from 1870s Science Article (from http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com)

I’m always a little intrigued by what people refuse to read. Don’t get me wrong – I know we all have our preferences. Some folks like realistic fiction. Some prefer their reality with fairy wings and glitter. That being said, there’s a difference between the *shrug* ‘That’s not really my thing’ and the ‘Ewww… I don’t want to read that!’.

Some of the sixth graders in Haverhill have a genre read and this month’s read is Science Fiction. Normally genre reads (the teacher telling you that you must read ‘A mystery!’ or ‘A historical fiction book!’) bring everyone into the library to look for a book that they probably wouldn’t have picked up on their own. The Science Fiction one? Well, it is just the ladies. So, either the gents have decided to dodge out of their first assignment of 2013 or the only ones incapable of finding a science fiction book that is remotely palatable to them are the ladies.

So, I have to ask: ladies, what’s tripping you up with science fiction? What’s the ‘ewww’ factor there? What sort of thing pulls you into a book that you’ve found lacking in the science fiction genre? If you can answer those questions…I just might be able to help you find the science fiction book that fits your reading preferences.

Science Fiction, for me, is about possibility. Realistic Fiction is a little voyeuristic – a way to check out what others might do in such and such a situation. Fantasy is fun but that’s always escape; we’re not likely to see a dragon or a knight in shining armor or a troop of urbane fairy folk anytime soon. Science Fiction often gets tied up to fantasy but really it is quite the opposite. It isn’t about the impossible – it’s about the maybe possible: the future possible.

What does that mean? Well, you may have missed it but last Friday was January 4, 2013. A significant date, of sorts. It is the very day that Marty McFly from that old classic ‘Back to the Future’ came forward in time. Sadly, we don’t have hover boards but we do have a number of other things that the movie predicted: 3D movies, handheld tablets, wireless video games, video conferencing, and a baseball team in Florida.

Look at your lifetime. When you were born, we likely didn’t have Facebook or YouTube. “Social Media” wasn’t a concept. Cell phones only made phone calls and were as big as bricks. And color screens on computers were very, very new. That’s all in the last decade or two.

A very old Science Fiction novel, Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward was written in 1887. This certainly isn’t the most thrilling read. No space ships or interstellar wars. The concept is a gentleman from 1887 falls asleep and wakes up in a perfect socialist country of America circa 2000. This doesn’t talk about 3D (or even 2D movies) or hover boards or aliens. Bellamy was much more focused on social change. Still, he manages to ‘predict’ a number of interesting things. For instance, he believes the future society eliminates money. In other words, Bellamy is credited (ha!) with coming up with the concept of credit cards. And the year 2000 has the nice amenity of a home cable ‘telephone’ that broadcasts music and sermons – Bellamy certainly got the jump on YouTube which didn’t start up til 2005. And there’s mega stores (along the scale of Sam’s Club, BJ’s or Wal*Mart). Much of Bellamy’s future is rather dryly antiquated but …still, the possibility of it all is certainly a draw.

So, if you’re forced into reading some Science Fiction this month and your first thought is ‘ewww…’. Take a breath! Try and find a book that has some of the appeal you appreciate in other books (be that romance, funny characters, or some semblance of reality). And, then, enjoy the possibilities laid out for our future.

If you need help finding a book, check out the Science Fiction booklist on the Teen page or come talk to me! I’d be happy to try and find the perfect book for you!

-Sam

Rule #1 of being a Hipster: You got to be on top of the trends and do All the Things before they’re cool. That’s tricky to do since that means you have to know what will be awesome sauce before it gets there.

So, if you have a deep burning desire to be a hipster and haven’t gotten passed skinny jeans and Buddy Holly glasses, here’s a handy hint to get you to the next level!

READ THE BOOK BEFORE THE MOVIE COMES OUT. (Not only will it be better than the movie but you can totally one up everyone who wasn’t so awesome to read it first).

As someone who loves both books AND movies, I am super excited to say the coming year is going to be loaded with awesome book to movie transitions. And, no, I’m not talking about Twilight. Breaking Dawn Part 2 is way too mainstream for true hipster quality. What should you be reading and looking out for? Here’s a run of soon to be movies that already are fantastic books:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (Movie Release: December 14)

If this the first time you’ve heard about The Hobbit, you may be a touch behind the curve. Quick! Get to the library and read that book. This is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings so if you’d like a little more hobbit, dwarf, and elf action going into the holiday season, you’ll get it! The movie is set to be the first of three so you’ll have plenty more to wait for!

Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm (Movie Release: January 25, 2013)

Alright…this one is a little unfair ’cause having watched the preview, I can almost guarantee that the book and the movie are going to be nothing alike. All the same, if you haven’t read the original Grimm Fairy Tales, you should try them! They’re a lot more twisted than you’d expect. Also, Phillip Pullman (author of the Golden Compass Trilogy) just released a new translation of them. It is called Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version and is definitely worth getting hipster about.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion (Movie Release: February 1, 2013)

Zombie love story? Really? That sounds…gross. R is a zombie and he shambles around an America destroyed by the ravished undead. And he was totally one of them until he meets Julie, a totally living girl, that gives R something to be undead for. If you like your post apocalyptic novels with a touch of romance and hilarity, this one is refreshing.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (Movie Release: February 15, 2013)

The first in the Beautiful Creatures series is set to come to the big screen in February. Ethan Wate, the lead, hates his tiny little southern town. His life was boring and nothing ever happened in Gatlin…until she moved to to town. Lena Duchannes is beautiful, different, intriguing, and cursed. Brooding romance, teen angst, and supernatural powers all combine to make this an A+ hipster choice.

The Host by Stephanie Meyer (Movie Release: March 29, 2013)

Alright Twilight fans, there’s a Stephanie Meyer book on this list. And, no, it isn’t The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. The Host is a science fiction/romance about an alien race that possess people. Humans are fighting for survival but when one alien tries to take over Mel, a human rebel, her emotions make the alien creature fall in love with the Mel’s one true guy. The result? Well, you’ll have to come check out the book to find out more!

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Movie Release: May 10, 2013)

The Great Gatsby is a classic. If you aren’t reading it for a class, you should try it on your own. It has everything: wealthy, partying socialites, desperate love affairs, gangland crime, and, of course, murder. The movie is bound to breathe some new life into this traditional classic but, if you read the book first, you’ll be able to say you knew about it all along.

World War Z by Max Brooks (Movie Release: June 15, 2013)

This upcoming movie is going to be ideal for some hipster zingers. The movie looks like it is going to be action, Brad Pitt, zombies, Brad Pitt, explosions and Brad Pitt. But the book…it’s a gem of political intrigue and a real world look at what could actually happen if a world wide zombie crisis shambled up and bit us. If you don’t want to grab the book itself, you should definitely check out the audiobook on this one. It is full cast and has voice over from great actors like Alan Alda and Mark Hamill (that’s Luke Skywalker to you Star Wars fans). Oh! Interesting aside: Max Brooks is the son of the famous director Mel Brooks.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (Movie Release: August 23, 2013)

Vampires, werewolves, and Shadowhunters. Oh my! This first book in the Mortal Instrument series is already hard to get a hold of – it is that popular. I can practically guarantee there will be a wait list a mile long for the books after the movie comes out. So, if you haven’t yet gotten caught up in the twisted world of Cassandra Clare’s ultra sexy supernatural world of love/hate, good/evil, and shadowhunter/mundanes, uh, you should. Like now.

The Last Apprentice by Joesph Delaney (Movie Release: October 18, 2013)

Tom Ward, the main character, is the seventh son of a seventh son which basically means he can see all the things us normal-like folks cannot: boggarts, ghasts, and ghosts in particular. What do you do with that power? Well, you better learn how to develop it! This is the first in a very lengthy series. If you like creepy and gruesome with your action/adventure/fantasy, this series will do the trick. That October release date probably means the movie will be creepy too!

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Movie Release: November 1, 2013)

In the far future, humanity has invented interstellar space travel which means they’ve run into other species. After barely surviving galactic warfare, human kind is in peril. Ender, a third child of the Wiggins family, is sent into the army at the tender age of six. Trained in the Battle School, Ender may turn out to be earth’s last hope. This book is one of the classic science fiction dystopian novels. You like Hunger Games? You like Divergent? Give Ender’s Game a try…’cause the movie is set to make this the next explosive hit.

Matched by Ally Condie (In Development)

This is another one for Hunger Games’ fans… Cassia’s Society keeps track of everything and life is just about perfect. They track your progress through school, pick what job you’ll work, match you to your life partner, and designate the day you die. No worries. No problems. When Cassia is matched to her best friend Xander, she should just waltz into adulthood without a thought but she can’t. Right before she’s matched to Xander, she saw a picture of another boy. And that makes her question if the Society really is always right… The movie is being worked on and does not have a release date so reading this series now will give you superstar hipster status.

So, newbie hipsters…come on down to the library and happy reading!

If you find you like KPop–Korean Pop music or JPop–Japanese Pop music, there’s a whole universe of tunes out there for you to explore. Be sure to use your library card and visit Freegal to download your 5 free songs each week. (Your username is your 14-digit library card number, your pin number/password can be set up by logging into your HPL account and setting a password. First time in, it’s the last four digits of your phone number on record with the library.) If you do a genre search, you can find all sorts of K- and JPop music!

Not sure what this whole blog post is about? Here’s a few videos to catch you up!

JPop example “Transfer”

Gangham Style by PSY

Be sure to tell us your fav song in the comments below!

I often hear folks say that reading comic book doesn’t really count as reading. It’s a trained response, really. I’m not going to say that everyone out there is going to LOVE every comic book or graphic novel ever. That’s silly. We each come at reading a little differently and we each find the appealing in what we read in our own unique way. Still, there’s this slight nose crinkle that twitches up automatically when I recommend a graphic novel series to someone who doesn’t believe such works are *real* books. And I just want to say…the world of literature is so much bigger than we can imagine. As cliche as it is, sometimes a picture truly is worth a thousand words.

Case and point: a recent xkcd (webcomic), at first glance, is just kinda a cute strip. The world is sad. The world is wonderful. The world is big. Huh. Cute. Whatever. But then there’s more… That final panel – about being big – click on it and drag. There’s a lot more to that story than just the first page.

And, I’d say that’s the case about many of our graphic novels. Fun fact. A study done in 1988 established that comic books had 53.5 rare words per 1000. That’s a little more than adult novels (at 52.7) and a lot more than “educational” television shows like Mr. Rogers or Sesame Street (only 2 rare words per 1000). What’s that mean? Comic books build vocabulary. How really awesome is that?

Interested in trying something new? If you’re unsure of where to start, there’s a lot of directions to go.

Want a classic? Try Moby Dick, retold by Lew Sayre Schwartz. Or maybe Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is more your style.

So you like your novels? Ever try a graphic novelization? Daniel X by James Patterson is a fun place to start. Or A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Or Stephen King’s The Stand.

Of course there’s the deep ones too… Like Laurie Sandell’s The Impostor’s Daughter about a young lady struggling with her identity when she realizes her father was a compulsive liar and everything she thought she knew about him was just a tale.

Or the story of a heroine with questionable sanity in the Joe Kelly’s I Kill Giants.

Or the entirely wordless but evocative Arrival by Shaun Tan. (This book probably taught me the most about learning to read…despite the lack of words!)

And, yeah, there’s the zombies and men in capes too. Walking Dead by Kirkman or Batman by Loeb.

So, next time you’re dropping by the library to grab a book to read, don’t shy away from the ones with pictures. They offer a lot more than what first meets the eye!

School is back in session and summer reading is finally over! And what a summer it was! Haverhill teens read a total of 473 books for the library this summer and posted 250 individual book reviews. The sheer quantity of books read, alone, is pretty awesome but the even more amazing part is Haverhill teens, with the very generous donations from the Friends of Haverhill Public Library, will be responsible for sending $500 to the Haverhill Gazette Santa Fund.

The Library Friends group pledged to donate a dollar for every book read and every review written up to $500. In past years, we’ve gotten awful close to making the full donation but the teens that participated in the 2012 Summer Reading Program are the first group ever to hit the limit!

So, if you needed another reason that definitively shows how awesome Haverhill teens are, there you go! Thanks guys!

For the most part, we agree with NPR’s list although we’d move Harry Potter back from the number 1 spot to number 2 and push Suzanne Collin’s Hunger Games (all of them!) forward to the most beloved position.

Other books that Haverhill teens loved included To Kill a Mockingbird, Outsiders, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents and the Night World Series.

What do you think? What’s your favorite YA novel? Leave a comment below or tell us on Facebook at HPL Teens.

I suppose I should start this book review with an apology. I, personally, hate it when someone tells me I should read a second or third book in the series. The logical thing to do is say “I like the Hunger Games” and let the person you’re telling start the series and decided if they’d like to continue on. Saying “You have to read Catching Fire!!!” is just sort of mean.

So, I’m sorry that I’m recommending end-of-series books today…but, truly, they’re that good. If you haven’t had a chance to get Kristen Cashore’s Bitterblue or Holly Black’s Black Heart, you should probably remedy that soon!

Both these books are set in a fantastical reality but, aside from a rather magical otherness to the people, they’re entirely different books. So, I’ll start with Kristin Cashore’s Bitterblue.

Bitterblue is the sequel to Graceling and companion novel of Fire. You’ll definitely want to have read both of these before reading this book as the characters and situations have had a lot of set up in the previous novels.

The world of Graceling is plagued by kings and queens whose power is absolute and absolutely abused. Enhanced people with ‘graces’ exist. Gracelings have superhuman abilities at the inhuman cost of being ‘owned’ by the King/Queen of the realm. And the main character of this third book? She’s Bitterblue, the queen of the realm of Monsea. Her father was the previous king – a hateful, vicious monarch that brought the country to the brink of ruin. Bitterblue is a very young queen struggling with her own identity, the demands of a kingdom, and the guilt about her father’s crimes.

The brilliance of this book is Bitterblue herself. She’s actually a rather ordinary eighteen year old dealing with extraordinary circumstances. As a result, it is easy to throw yourself into the story. It is easy to feel the ups and downs of Bitterblue’s life, her love, her misadventures and her struggle to overcome evil. The storytelling is remarkable and, at the end of it, you’ll wish that this book wasn’t the end of Cashore’s Graceling tales.

The Graceling tales are standard fantasy but if you’re a fan of gritty, urban fantasy – faeries and curses and magic in the modern world – and you haven’t heard of Holly Black, you’re missing out! Holly Black has a number of phenomenal series that are always fantastically dark and delicious. Her most recent series is the Curse Workers triology. Curse Workers is the story of Cassel Sharpe and the first book in the series is White Cat. Cassel is the youngest son in a family of curse workers – or people genetically able to work ‘magic’ with their hands. Such people often lead lives of crime. Cassel’s grandfather was a death worker, Cassel’s mother is in prison, his brothers are thugs…and Cassel has no special abilities and only dark, vague memories of murdering his best friend.

So, with a start like that, is it any wonder that I couldn’t wait to read the end of the trilogy? Black Heart came out in this April and the wait was well worth it! This book, like Cashore’s Bitterblue, won’t stand on its own. The world is so rich, the characters so complex, you’d best start at the very beginning.

So, yeah, I’m being mean. Bitterblue by Kristen Cashore and Black Heart by Holly Black are phenomenal series enders. If you’ve been reading along as these series have been published, wait no longer on finishing ‘em. If you’re just hearing about them for the first time…sorry…but you should really check ‘em out!

Kristen Cashore:                                                          Holly Black:

Graceling                                                                        White Cat

Fire                                                                                  Red Glove

Bitterblue                                                                        Black Heart 

Sincerely,

Kaynnen Lebron

Admin Edit: If you’re interested in joining Teen Friends or getting involved at the library, check out our calendar of events. Teen Friends help design programs, volunteer at library functions and will be choosing what we’re doing next for HPL Teens. We meet on the first Tuesday of every month…so, come join and bring your friends!

Make sure you’re logging all the books you’ve read this summer and make sure to get your friends and family to log their reading too!

Remember, for every book you read, we donate $1 to the Santa Fund to give presents to kids in need during the holiday season. And…if you read 4 books, you can get a free appetizer from Pizzeria UNOs. Can’t go wrong with that, right? Food, Fund and, uh, Fresh Reads.

If you’d like to check out some of the spectacular videos, here’s a run down of your options:

Zombie Attacks Cats

A Hamster Named Fred

Willie the Duck

Four Animals

And, of course, the videos kept coming in even after the workshop. Check out the Robot videos too!

…

One of the exciting new additions is a whole set of online reference tools like Encyclopedia Britannica. Britannica Online really has it all! There’s the Early Childhood edition for kids that aren’t yet in school. Kids will like the talking, interactive encyclopedia where they can both learn and play!

Once you get to school, things start getting serious! Britannica has Elementary School,  Middle School and High School editions as well. If you need pictures, audio clips, quick research and facts, this is your one-stop shop for all your homework needs!

Adults, don’t feel left out! Britannica has a number of very helpful links for you as well. From the Annals of American History to World Data Analyst to the Public Library edition of Britannica Online, you’ll be able to find well-sourced facts fast!

Hablas Español? Este portal le ofrece recursos de referencia en español en dos interfaces exclusivas — cada una con una enciclopedia adaptada al lector: Enciclopedia Moderna para adultos y estudiantes y Britannica Escolar Online para estudiantes de 6 a 12 años de edad.

Whether you love, love to hate, or just abhor vampire fiction, Team Human has a little something in it for you. (Unless you’re a vampire and can’t laugh, that is.)

High school senior Mel doesn’t know many things. She doesn’t know what happened to Anna’s family over the summer (something to do with her Dad and running off with a vampire). She doesn’t know what college to apply to next year or what she wants to be when she gets through school. She does know, however, that she wants nothing to do with vampires.

So, it sucks when Francis, a local vampire, enrolls at Craunston High. Especially when that vampire starts up a relationship with her best friend Cathy.

You won’t be able to put this book down! It is a madcap adventure/mystery full of laugh out loud moments and hilarious insights to being vampire, being human and, worst of all, being a teenager on the brink of adulthood.

From the top of the atmosphere to Mars’ surface, it will be a seven-minute plummet. Contact between NASA and the rover has a 14 minute delay however. What’s that mean? Well, when we first hear that the rover has touched the atmosphere of Mars, in reality, it has already finished landing. We won’t know about its success or its failure for a full seven minutes after the fact. This is called the Seven Minutes of Terror and if you’re interested in learning more about it, check out NASA’s awesome video:

Want to find out more about the NASA Space Program? Check out their website at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/

or follow the Curiosity Rover Exploration Program on the National Public Radio’s newspage.

If you like space and science, don’t forget there’s a lot of awesome books on the Middle School and High School Summer Reading Lists.

If you’re in 5-8th grade, check out Laika. It’s a graphic novel about the first dog in Space. Or, Almost Astronauts, the true tale of the “Mercury 13″ Women.

If you’re in 10th grade and like all things outer space, don’t miss reading Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Pluto Files!

11th graders interested in our planet and the atmosphere should grab, Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet.