The Grimm Legacy

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

Elizabeth, the unloved stepchild and new kid in school, has no friends and not much fun in her life until she takes a job as a page at the New York Circulating Material Repository--a lending library for significant objects rather than books. Down in the basement are items collected by the Brothers Grimm as part of their fairy tale research: magic carpets, talking mirrors, dancing slippers, silk purses made from sow ears, and more. But something is wrong with the magic in the items...and Elizabeth's coworkers are the main suspects.

A light mystery in a delightful setting that will charm the socks off of library staff and library lovers. Note that many of the illustrations are correctly cataloged!

No sex or cussing or bloodshed. A little bit of romance and a few kisses, and some magic. Recommended! Readers ages 14 to adult.

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Dash is scanning the shelves of his favorite bookstore. There, nestled between familiar book spines sits a red notebook. Inside the notebook is a challenge from Lily to find clues in the pages of books.

Over the course of ten days in December, Christmas-loving Lily and Christmas-hating Dash exchange dares and challenges that take them into the nooks and crannies of New York City: into familiar parks and obscure music clubs, outwitting her overprotective family and his indifferent one. Will it all end in romance? Or in a locked closet full of books? Or...possibly...both?

Sweet, fun, philosopical and mostly harmless. No cussing, no sex. A little nakedness, a few kisses, and some underage partying may keep this book out of school libraries, but I hope not.

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.

The Espressologist

The Espressologist by Kristina Springer

17-year-old barista Jane Turner has a theory: people's personalities are reflected by their coffee drinks, and she keeps a notebook to keep track of her observations to support the theory.

Medium Iced Vanilla Latte
Smart, sweet and gentle. Sometimes soft-spoken but not a doormat. A good friend...

One day it occurs to Jane that a person who drinks a medium iced vanilla latte would be a great romantic match with a person who loves to drink a medium dry cappucino.

Medium Dry Cappuccino
Smart and simple....A little timid and soft-spoken but probably a powerhouse if ever tested. A good friend.

Thus, Jane invents a new "science" (which also happens to be a terrific marketing tool for the coffeeshop where she works): Espressology.

Soon, Jane is busy matching up hopeful singles by comparing their coffee preferences, with remarkable success. But will she ever find a romantic match of her own?

No sex or cussing or bloodshed, but a few kisses and a LOT of caffeine-induced drama. Readers (mostly girls) ages 14 and up will enjoy this cute, funny, frothy book.

Little Brother

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
17-year-old Marcus loves technology and computers, and he delights in finding new ways to hack software, hardware, and most especially security systems. But Marcus is in the wrong place at the wrong time when the San Francisco Bay Bridge is bombed by terrorists. He and three friends are taken into secret custody by Department of Homeland Security and interrogated mercilessly. While Marcus and two friends are eventually released, one boy isn't freed. Is Darryl dead? A prisoner? They have no way to know...and they discover that while they were imprisoned, their beloved city has turned into a police state, with more citizen rights and freedoms disappearing each day.

Marcus decides to fight back against the DHS, but will his efforts make the city safer? Or will Marcus become a different kind of terrorist? Plenty of San Franciscan youth join in with Marcus' plans to jam security systems and derail the DHS, including his new girlfriend, Ange. But what will happen when the DHS finally tracks down Marcus and Ange?

Set in the "near future", Doctorow's technology digressions and discussions are fascinating...especially when I did a little research and discovered that most of story's "futuristic technology" already exists.
This is dystopic science fiction, political commentary, teen fiction, and spy thriller writing at its best. The narrative contains violence (including a description of torture practices, specifically waterboarding), mild cussing, and some hot-but-tactful sexual situations between Marcus and Ange.

Highly, highly, highly recommended for ages 14 to adult. Adult book groups and high school enlish teachers, I'm talking to you: get this book, read it, and talk about it!

The author makes the text of Little Brother available for download at no charge on his website. If you read the book, you will understand why.

The Wake of the Lorelei Lee

The Wake of the Lorelei Lee : being an account of the further adventures of Jacky Faber on her way to Botany Bay by L.A. Meyer

Jacky's life of crime is (mostly) behind her when she sails her new ship, the lovely Lorelei Lee back to England to pick up a cargo of new immigrants bound for America. Her enemies have not forgotten her, however, and some of them have contrived to revive those pesky old charges of piracy. Jacky is tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in the prison colony of Australia--and, unknown to Jacky, her beloved Jaimey Fletcher is convicted of similar crimes and similarly sentenced.

Life on the two southbound convict ships could not be more different: while Jaimey's voyage is hellish, Jacky and the other female convicts enjoy an easy voyage under a sybaritic captain...until that captain dies and is replaced by the less-pleasant First Mate....

Can L.A. Meyer really keep adding to the amazing adventures and astonishing cast of characters in the 8th book in the series? Oh, yes, he can! Exotic seaports, thrilling battles at sea, and appearances by famous historic and fictional maritime characters keep the action rolling along.

Some sexual situations (Jacky's ship is full of prostitutes who are encouraged to ply their trade by a captain who demands 20% of the fee), some minor cussing, and some violence including the bloody and well-deserved death of a seafaring villain. Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.

Shiver

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
17-year-old Grace has been fascinated with the wolves that live in the woods near her Minnesota town ever since she was attacked by the pack as a child and then rescued by a single wolf.

18-year-old Sam has been fascinated by Grace since the day of her attack--the day that he, in the form of a wolf, rescued her and returned her safely to her home.

Grace and Sam finally meet up in human form when he is injured by hunters. The teens quickly fall in love...but how long can their love last? Soon, the winter cold will force him back into the shape of a wolf...and this time, the change may last forever.

This tale of star-crossed lovers is a natural choice for fans of Twilight as well as readers who want a supernatural romance with better writing than most of the vampire books currently available. There is some implied (off-page) violence when local hunters decide to kill the wolves, and some tactful Star Trek sex scenes between Grace and Sam.

Shiver is the first in a series; book #2 Linger was released July 20th, 2010.

Recommended for readers ages 12 to adult.

This is Aarene's review of this book. To read Mary Jo's review of Shiver, click HERE.

"Star Trek Sex" - what is it, and how can I get some?

In our Sex In the Library programs in schools and at library conferences, we sometimes identify books as containing "Star Trek Sex."

So, what the heck is Star Trek Sex, anyhow?

Star Trek Sex is....

well...

you know....

Captain Kirk is making eyes at some alien lady who just wants to suck all the salt out of his blood or turn him into a green-skinned demigod or something.

They get closer, and closer. And closer.

Then the music comes up, the focus goes soft and....

/CUT TO COMMERCIAL./

After 180 seconds of commercial interruption:
Captain Kirk is pulling on his boots and the alien lady is brushing her hair. Pretty soon the Red Alert will sound, the dilithium crystals will deteriorate in some unexplainable manner, and some guy in a red shirt will disappear mysteriously....

THAT is Star Trek Sex:

We all know what happened during the commercial break, but nobody saw a thing!

A lot of teen books contain the literary equivalent of Star Trek Sex. It's all romance and soft music leading to the end of a chapter.

Turn the page...and suddenly, the protagonists are passing notes in algebra class.

Sometimes, the Star Trek Sex is so subtle that readers can miss it entirely.

Such was the case with Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. Mary Jo read and reviewed this book along with 7 others in a single week...and she read so quickly that she completely missed the Star Trek Sex, and her review reported "no sex in this book."
Thankfully, the author alerted us to the mistake.

"...there IS sex in Shiver!" she wrote in the blog comments.

She's totally right. It took me a while to find it, but there it was, on page 294 (paperback edition): Star Trek Sex. Subtle, pretty, and sexy. (It's a terrific read, by the way. I loved this book!)

Our apologies, Maggie Stiefvater. There IS sex in Shiver.

No aliens, though. Unless I missed them?

We *heart* Victoria BC

We'd like to thank the organizing committee of the PNLA/WLA conference of librarians in Victoria BC this past weekend for putting on a terrific shindig.

We'd also like to thank all the librarians who showed up for our program, asked questions, and proudly wore the "I HAD SEX IN THE LIBRARY TODAY" badges after.

We brought a huge box of the most fascinating, exciting, controversial


and passionate new books written for teen audiences.

Here are a few photos from our journey:

The view from our bathroom window at the Empress.

In the morning, there was tapping at the window. "Hey lady!"

I was hoping that the gull was there to deliver my Hogwarts letter, or at least The Daily Prophet. But no. He just wanted some cashews and cranberries.

Ah, well. The window was a good place to finish reading a few more books for our presentation.

Out in the harbor, we saw dragonboat races!

Around the edge of the harbour, we saw live music and met craftspeople.

We saw the horse-drawn carriages (the horse photo is here for the benefit of the readers of my other blog!)

I saw beautiful flowers at the Buchart Gardens. and, of course, enjoyed the food.

Thanks again, everyone!

Sex on the Road

We're all packed up and ready to hit the road to Victoria BC for the Washington Library Association/Pacific Northwest Library Association conference.

Join us for steamy booktalks and hot giveaways at the Friday afternoon session at the Empress. It starts at 2:15, not 2:30 as originally advertised.

See you there!

The Sky is Everywhere

Sky is Everywhere (The) by Jandy Nelson

Lennie (named for John Lennon) is trying to recover from the sudden heart attack of her 19 year old super-star sister, Bailey. She is also falling for the new kid in school, Joe.

In trying to help Lennie and himself, Bailey’s boyfriend Troy, (they had agreed to be married) makes advances toward her. This natural effect of death leads both of them down a very guilt-ridden and ultimately destructive path, especially in the light of Lennie’s new found romance.

The main characters are believable, lovable, and quirky, as are Lennie’s grandmother and “Uncle Big.”

You will love this novel: just beware of language, underage drinking, and sexual exploration.