Category Archives: Authors

25 Years Young

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amanniversaryOn March 26th the Amelia Branch Library will be celebrating its 25th birthday. For some unfamiliar with all that the Amelia Branch has to offer that may seem a long time – too long to stay relevant. Blasphemy! I say to them.

The library is wearing its age well. At the Amelia Branch you can download the latest e-book to your device, put a hold on the new Hobbit movie, make a work of art from Peeps, and listen to some creepy cold case stories from a local author. We have computers with internet access, Playaway Views which allow you to take television shows anywhere on a preloaded player and databases that connect you to everything from your ancestors with Ancestry Library Edition to a fixed lawn mower with Small Engine Repair Reference Center.

The Amelia Branch Library has never looked so good! In fact 25 isn’t so bad. Check out these other things that are also 25 years young.

“A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking.

The Hubble Space Telescope is used for the first time.

Laser Eye Surgery is invented.

Crocodile Dundee II, Die Hard, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Beetlejuice appeared in theaters.

Sweet Child of Mine by Guns n’ Roses and Don’t Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin topped the music charts.

If you’re a fan of our library, or if you just want to see some old goofy pictures of us, stop by the Amelia Branch on March 26th for our birthday open house.

Witches of East End

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Engaged to Bran, the heir to Fair Haven and Gardiners Island, Freya, a bartender and witch who has a potion to cure every kind of heartache, finds her life spiraling out of control when she is drawn to Bran’s brother and a young girl goes missing after taking one of her irresistible cocktails.

Melissa de la Cruz’s latest book, Witches of East End – reserve your copy today.

Do you feel lucky, punk?

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clockwork angel coverSteampunk, Cyberbpunk, Genepunk–what are all these punks doing in teen lit? Here’s a quick guide to these genres, and some books and movies to get you started!

Steampunk: Imagine the past, with the future’s technology. Want to fly? Take a hot air balloon, or maybe a steam-powered airship. Top hats and crinolines rule, but look out for mechanical umbrellas and the occasional jet pack. Get started with a few of these:

Cyberpunk: Computers are a part of everything–every waking moment is monitored or enhanced or connected, somehow, to technology. Sounds pretty close to reality, huh? Cyberpunk gets into the gritty underground of a techno-society, with hackers and revolutionaries working to survive.

Genepunk: Also called biopunk, this is what happens when genetic engineering takes over. From giant whales that serve as airships to human beings grown in pods, this genre often features mad scientists.

So what kind of punk are you?

Are you Dauntless?

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DivergentHave you read The Hunger Games yet? Maybe you’re still on that mile-long waiting list. Either way, here are a few similar series-starters to hold you over until the first movie comes out in March 2012.

  • Divergent by Veronica Roth. Society is divided into five factions; when you choose your faction at age 16, you leave behind everyone in your old life. Tris was raised in the selfless faction of Abnegation, but she chooses the Dauntless, who leap on and off of moving trains for fun. But being fearless isn’t as easy as it looks, especially when you have a deadly secret to keep.
  • Chaos Walking: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. On a dusty outer-space colony, a germ called the Noise has made everyone’s thoughts audible. Todd, on the run from a crazy preacher with only his talking dog for company, faces secrets that make him question everything he’s ever been taught.
  • Wither by Lauren DeStefano. A virus has infected the population: Now girls die at the age of 20, and boys at 25. To keep the human race alive, girls are often kidnapped and married off—sometimes as young as 13. Rhine finds herself married to Linden along with two other girls, and she never stops plotting her escape. But is it worth it to run away when you’ve only got a few more years to live?
  • Matched by Allie Condie. Cassia is happy to be Matched to her best friend, Xander, when she turns 17. But an error in her Match file shows the face of another teenager before suddenly being deleted. Ky is an Aberration who can never be Matched, so why would his face be in her file? Suddenly Cassia has questions that no one will answer—what do those pills do? Why does her grandfather have to die? And what does the Society have planned for them all?

Sir Terry Honored

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Sir Terry Pratchett is the recipient of the 2011 Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring his significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens.

Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2009 for services to literature, Pratchett published his first short story when he was thirteen. A resident of Somerset, England, Pratchett has one daughter, a wife, and many cats. He has published over fifty books and his works have been translated into thirty six languages.

Pratchett’s tales of Discworld have won over generations of teen readers with intelligence, heart, and undeniable wit. Comic adventures that fondly mock the fantasy genre, the Discworld novels expose the hypocrisies of contemporary society in an intricate, ever-expanding universe. With satisfyingly multi-layered plots, Pratchett’s humor honors the intelligence of the reader. Teens eagerly lose themselves in a universe with no maps.

Readers first encountered Discworld with The Color of Magic.

The adventures of young witch Tiffany Aching begin in The Wee Free Men.

“Pratchett’s work draws teens into a world where humor, perseverance and hope are the order of the day,” said Edwards Committee Chair Robin Brenner.

Teens’ Top Ten Winners Announced!

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More than 8,000 teens voted and this year’s Teens’ Top Ten are:

  1. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
  2. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
  3. Heist Society by Ally Carter
  4. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
  5. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
  6. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
  7. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
  8. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
  9. Fire by Kristin Cashore
  10. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Did your favorite books make the cut? Check out the YALSA website for more information about the Teens’ Top Ten or click here for a chance to win one of this fall’s hottest new YA releases (and future nominee for Teens’ Top Ten!)