Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Check out these “Starship Adventure” titles!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Adams

The Asteroid Wars series by Bova

Ender’s Game by Card

The Foreigner trilogy by Cherryh

Marsbound by Haldeman

Ark Angel by Horowitz

Dragonriders of Pern series by McCaffrey

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Ness

Review of Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

tales

This is a really fascinating book by the author of my favorite graphic novel, The Arrival. It’s a collection of 17 stories with a wide variety of illustrations, including a very dark-looking landscape in grandpa’s story, and an essay told in collage called Distant Rain (about what happens to all the poems people write) . The author has a very unusual viewpoint, which in this book he gets across not only with bizarre illustrations, but also with his seemingly unconnected short stories and essays. “Shaun Tan was born in 1974 and grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. In school he became known as the 'good drawer' which partly compensated for always being the shortest kid in every class.” (www.shauntan.net) Check out the author’s website for some really cool line drawings and his thoughts on art, picture books and creativity. Review by Stacy Church

Review of Forensic Science by Alex Frith

forensic

I love this book about crime scene investigation! It’s gory, but not too gory, because it’s in comic book style. It’s full of information about what evidence scientists use to solve crimes, interspersed with actual cases. There’s a list of who’s who in a criminal investigation, from the victim to the coroner and jury. There’s an illustration of a crime scene, showing what evidence was collected where: fingerprints, bloodstains, files on a computer hard disk. There’s even a chapter called Criminal Identity that includes forensic psychology, or profiling. In the back is a timeline of forensic science and some internet links for those of you who want to learn more. Review by Stacy Church

Review of First Shot By Walter Sorrells

David Crandall attends the Arsenal private school in Maine where his father is headmaster. His main ambition is to be First Shot in his graduating year. Shooting is the only thing he believes he is good at. He feels like a loser and still misses his mother who was murdered two years before. The case was never closed and now the police are saying they have new evidence and want to search his father’s house. David sees his father go out in the middle of the night and bury something that looks like a rifle, and he is scared that his father might be the murderer. David is not prepared to let things rest after his father confesses to the murder. With the help of Misty (the literal hot shot, the main contender for FIRST SHOT), a transfer student and his old friend from fourth grade Leo Fallstaff (one of the townies), they uncover papers to prove who the real murderer is. The action really picks up, and even though the bad guy was predictable for quite a while there are one or two twists that make for a satisfactory ending. Review by T.K.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Starship Adventure at Your Library.

Find out what's out there for you!
It's almost time for the 2009 Summer Reading Program! The young adult program will begin on July1 and run through August 22. You can sign-up online (there will be a link from the library homepage) or come in to the library. Once you've signed up, you can start earning prizes. For every book you read, write a short review (you can post it online if you signed up online, or bring it in to the library), and you can choose a book from the collection we've put together as prizes! At the end of the summer, the two people who've read the most will each get t-shirts. Come to the library to check out displays of books related to the Starship theme, and other suggested reading lists.

6th Grade Summer Reading

Here are some of the great books from the 6th grade summer reading list.  Check out www.wwdbookbits.blogspot.com and www.yashowandtell.blogspot.com for reviews of individual books.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

New Graphic Novels: Flight, Volumes One and Two


This is a wonderful series that includes stories by a number of noted graphic novelists, including Kazu Kibuishi, Kean Soo, Phil Craven, and Chris Applehans. It's great to see such a wide variety of styles collected in one book. The first volume is fairly slim, and the publisher obviously found a lot to include in the second volume, because it's twice as long. The second volume includes some of the same authors as the first volume, and also stories by Jeff Smith, the author of the Bone series, and Doug Holgate. If you aren't familiar with many graphic novels, this is a good place to start to find out what you like. The artwork is really astounding.

Friday, June 5, 2009

A People's History of American Empire by Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki & Paul Buhle


Want to find out about all the dirty history you won't find in US History textbooks? Read this graphic novel sponsored by The American Empire Project! According to Kirkus Reviews, the book details a "laundry list of despicable behavior" and they call it a "powerful teaching tool for the next generation of anti-imperialist activists." So get ready to demonstrate against your government.