You Are Not Here by Samantha Schutz

Annaleah loves Brian.  He's the one....the one that makes her feel weak in the knees.  The one whose kisses she craves and whose arms feels best around her.  Annaleah would do anything for him.  She forgives him when he doesn't return phone calls.  And forgives him again when he says he'll show up but doesn't.  And she'll forgive him again when he says he'll meet her friends, but he doesn't...

And then the most terrible thing in the world happens.  Brian dies...and Annaleah goes into a tailspin.  She has her friends Marissa, Parker and Joy who want to help, but she pushes them away.  She has her mother, but doesn't want to tell her anything.  She's fallen into a depression that wraps its arms around her and kisses her, promising to stay with her if she's faithful.  And she is.  Annaleah goes to Brian's grave, lays down beside him and tells him everything. 

Slowly life changes.  Her friends move on, her mother continues to work, and Annaleah is left alone with the Dearly Departed and Brian.  But it takes someone and something to alter her life and see it for what it truly is.  But can Annaleah resist the urge to isolate herself or fall headlong into the only comfort zone she knows?

Schutz has written a beautiful novel in verse about how one teen deals with depression on her own terms and slowly realizes the world she's created.  Readers will know from the onset the persona of Brian and feel for Annaleah, while also trying to help her friends get her to know the truth.  This is a fast read of a great story about love, loss and healing, with perfect characterization that will take the reader to the ending.  A perfect pairing for those who enjoy novels from Lisa Schroeder.   Recommended.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher - booktrailer

Just finished this not too long ago. I tried to upload it to blogger...can't.

Click here to watch the video

You can also embed it onto your website : )

Something Like Fate by Susane Colasanti

Junior year is upon Lani. She's been looking at the stars and tracking her horoscope and knows this year will be the best ever. She has her friends Erin and Blake beside her, and although she's not part of the Golden Circle, she is still likeable by her classmates.

Erin, her best friend, is also ready for high school, especially when she sees Jason, the guy she's been crushing on. Erin usually gets what she wants, and Lani is there cheering her on. Blake is hoping to get through his last year without any bumps in the road, and Lani is keeping his secret. Life couldn't get any better.

But then summer arrives, and as with all summers, life unexpectedly changes. Lani faces some major challenges before her senior year ever starts. And the biggest obstacle? How to tell her best friend that Jason and her are seeing each other. And Blake's secret? Oops.... Senior year isn't what Lani is hoping or wishing for, and the fates are definitely working against her.

Need some light and fun reading? This is one to pick up. It's a definite magnet for girls to want to read. What can be more taboo that dating someone's ex when the ex won't let go? Colasanti has weaved together two episodes in one life about love, friendship, betrayals, and healing. This will be one handed from one girl to another!

I have been reading!!!!

I don't know about you, but the first two weeks of school just DRAINS me....you wouldn't believe the work me and my library assistant have to do to help get the school up and running. I have been reading, though I can't remember the titles. Ever have one of those days? I plan on posting the reviews this weekend. Finally, a loooooong weekend....

The Secret of Priest's Grotto by Peter Lane Taylor

There is something about the Holocause that still draws an audience, young or old. And when you have a story that once again defies all odds, readers will be drawn to it. So it is with this book. A non-fiction pictorial of a story one man heard and then researched, it takes into account three Jewish families and the limits of humanity they endured in order to survive.

What's the record for the longest amount of time man has spent in a cave? Human isolation, sensory deprivation...like solitary but darker, deeper under the earth, claustrophobic...
The record was 205 days set my Michel Siffre in Texas's Midnight Cave. And he was given food, had modern clothing and lights. Toward the end of his stay, his mental and physical capacities had seriously deteriorated. It was excruciating.

This book is about the story of three families who fled into the longest horizontal cave in the world in the Ukraine, called Priest's Grotto. They survived in the not as modern world of 1943 far beyond what a modern explorer experienced but for much, much longer...and lived to tell their tale.

One word - intriguing... An amazing book for reluctant readers (short with many photos of the past and present) as well as for those whose interest lie in the Holocaust or tales of human struggle and survival against nature. An excellent addition to collections for junior high and up.

Immortal Beloved by Kate Tiernan

Nastasya has seen it all, done it all. She's lived a hundred lives and goes on to see another day. Tonight, she's with her friends Incy, Mal, Katy and Boz for a night of clubbing...anything to dull her reality. But then she witnesses the true degradation of an immortal, and she doesn't like what she sees, not only in what Incy did, but how she reacted to it...

Nastasya and her friends are immortals - people who have lived hundreds of years and are eye-witnesses to all the world events mere humans can only read about. Nastasya hides her true beginnings even from herself and makes sure she doesn't attach herself emotionally to anyone or anything, except the amulet and scar she carries with her constantly. She and Incy have been inseparable for a very long time, but now she knows she must cut her ties. She remembers a woman named River whom she met over a hundred years ago and the invitation given to her then. And that's where Nastasya goes for safety.

But her lifestyle and the way things are run by River, Asher and other immortal teachers at River's Edge are not mixing very well. Not only that, but she feels that the other students there don't like or even want her around, particularly Nell and Reyn. And what she thought would be a haven for her to turn away from the dark side may actually be more dangerous. Someone is after her, but what for? Why? The more Nastasya learns about her past and the power she has, the more she is being hunted. Or is that the real reason?

What a great book for YA readers who enjoy reading fantasies that are dark, mysterious, and romantic. The characters are not vampires, but true immortals who struggle with something far larger than a simple person can concieve. From London and around the world to a small town in Massachusetts, the lives of the immortals, especially Nastasya, are revealed slowly but carefully, leaving the reader wanting to know more about her past as well as her present. Tiernan does an excellent job of weaving Nastasyas two stories through a series of flashbacks and present day that makes the reader understand not only who she is, but what she's fighting against. This will be a series of books, and after reading the first one, I'm already ready for the sequel! Due out September 2010.

Brain Jack by Brian Falkner

It's the future of the United States. A place where black-market and side alley deals are made for video games...a place where computers and their peripherals are high commodities. There is no Las Vegas, and Sam knows he's the one responsible for the downfall of the United States....

It started out harmlessly. A little hack to get some free neuro headsets for him and his best friend Fargas. Sam knew the hack was easy, but he still couldn't shake the feeling someone was watching. And then the invitation arrived. Neoh@ck would invite him to the elite of the elite if he could find their con. What did he have to do? Crack the firewall of the White House and find the virtual con. Sam did, and now the feds are knocking on his door.

But there is more to it than meets the virtual eye. Sam runs into Dodge while incarcerated and makes a daring plan to escape. And his escape turns into the a proposition he can't refuse, working on what he does best. One that means life or death, protection of countries and their resources and governments, and a battle against Ursula, a virtual being that wants to take control of not only the what Sam and the crew are trying to protect, but of people as well, using the only means available to her...neuro headsets.

WOWOW!!! Okay, this isn't quite a word you'd use for a review, but from the beginning I was hooked. Brian Falkner writes a YA thriller that does exactly what he set out to do - thrill the reader. A dystopian novel in a very futuristic, realistic way, Falkner writes about the dangers of the future involving technology, and one that could quite conceivably happen. Sam is one of those teens we all know...an extremely bright and talented person who walks, talks and lives for technology. He is vibrant, intuitive, and leaps off the pages as well as the other characters in this novel. The prologue will capture and the book will follow suit.
I requested a guy read on the floor of ALA...the next best novel that will capture this audience. The rep at Random House handed me this...Brian Falkner's book will too with the guys. Due out late September.

Book trailer: The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

So, I picked this galley up at ALA and read it from Texas to Illinois when I went on a family vacation....and I LOVED IT! In fact, I loved it so much, I enlisted the help of my father-in-law to help put together some farm implements he has laying around for most of the background video in this trailer. We left it up in the backyard for a few days...hope anyone who came up to his farm didn't think we were joining a weird club or something. I put my iphone to good use on this one : ) Anyway, hope you enjoy this!


Use this link if you want to embed it : )

Dark Song by Gail Giles

Ames lives a more than comfortable life....large house, private school, expensive vacations and clothes. She has her circle of friends, with Em at the center. Ames is known as the "good girl," one who never challenges the rules and does well in school. But Em has given her a taste of what it feels like to bend rules, and Ames likes that feeling.

And then her world crashes. Her way of life is completely shattered, thanks to her father and she learns the hard and fast way of what life will be like. Her circle of friends have abandoned her, her way of life given away at garage sales, and what little they have left is swept away in a tide of embarrassment to Houston, where she now lives in the projects, mucking away discarded drug needles and animal droppings in her new home. She hates her life, her parents...everyone except her little sister. And that's where she meets Marc.

Marc takes him time when it comes to approaching Ames. His attraction to her began the first time he saw her. He knows the dangers and the unfamiliar territory Ames has moved into and he sees something in her that others don't - he tests her dark song, that feeling of living on the edge, the thrill of breaking rules without attracting attention, and finds hers without ever letting her know his own dark song he plays so well...

Ames feels the dark song too and the music is getting louder and stronger the more she follows Marc into his world. And she likes it...but will what she likes destroy her and her family or rescue her from a world she knows nothing about?

Gail Giles is a master of YA fiction on the edge. She's crafted a book where readers are drawn to Ames's privileged life and the deliberately crafted downhill ride she finds herself in. Picture perfect on the outside, the dysfunctional family side is revealed to the reader in perfect literary accompaniment. Fans of her body of work will not be disappointed!

YOU by Charles Benoit

You see the jocks who walk the halls with their packs, looking like kings and making sure the weak know where they stand. People like Jake….

You see the girl that will be with almost anyone and uses them as much as they use her. People like Kristi….

You see the guys who wear hoodies, black shirts and baggy jeans and really don’t care about anything. People like Derrick, Max and Ryan….

You see the girl that gets along with everyone. The one you think about all the time, talk to as much as possible, just to look at her. People like Ashley….

You see the one the sparkles along the outer edges. He gets along with adults and can bring down the strongest by knowing what makes them tick. People like Zack….

And you see yourself. Wondering how you got where you are now. Looking at the choices you’ve made that altered your course of life and wondering which one was THE one that changed your life. Looking at the anger that bubbles deep inside of you and how you’ve tried to ignore it. And then you really look around you and see all of the blood….You’re name is Kyle Chase and this is your story.

What a POWERFUL book. This is Charles Benoit first venture into YA literature, and he comes in with welcome arms. You is the story of one main character, but the story cannot be told without the characters that surround Kyle. But makes this novel such a strong one is how Benoit writes about the STARK REALITY of high school from the perspective of the main characters. When you read this, you are walking down the halls of high school and understand what Kyle is going through as well as his reasoning for acting the way he does toward his teachers and parents. Reminiscent of Gail Giles’s Shattering Glass and Chris Krovatin’s Venomous, this is a book that goes the distance and doesn’t stop. I read this is one sitting and think teens and adults will too. Highly recommended.

Booktrailer Tech Tip (a little early, a little late too!)

I haven't done a book trailer tech tip in awhile, and I thought I'd share with you an excellent way to begin your book trailer training. After making several for awhile, I realized I was looking at television commercials, beginnings of programs and even movie trailers in a completely different light. Now, it's, "Look at that transition! Look at how they incorporated music into the action!!"
Well, of course my next logical step was to look at some really good trailers in order to see what it took to make them. There are many found on youtube.com that are made by publishers who spend big bucks to create them. It was literally a library of trailers that I sat down and watched and realized what mine lacked. I went back to the drawing board and began using techniques from what I saw and creating some of my own.
So, here is a link of book trailers that I found on youtube. Included is a virtuoso of book trailer making, which you'll see on the big screen on the Youtube Book Trailer tab...she's amazing...
So look, take notes, and watch watch watch!! It'll definitely help with your trailering!

http://livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=13228

Oh the creative genius....

This was shared from another librarian and I couldn't help but pass it along...the things librarians and/or library students come up with! The vintage aerobics one is by far the most disturbing : )

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/16/librarians-go-gaga-9-of-t_n_648177.html#slide_image

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

**this will be out September 2010

Malcolm lives in the quiet town of Gentry, where it's safe and normal...but only on
the outside...
Malcolm has always known that he was different. He can't stand the iron smell of blood, and even touching the metal makes him deathly ill. His father, the local pastor, knowns his son is different, especially because Malcolm cannot step onto sacred ground without his skin burning. He's not of Them...the normal humans in town, and his only goal in life is to stay under the radar, become unseen and invisible.

But his world is shattered when Tate, a girl in his high school looks at him and begs for help. Her sister Natalie has died, but it isn't Natalie - she was switched
with something inhuman, ugly, deformed. And Tate seems to know that Malcolm the
unusual may know something about it.

Not quite human, Malcolm himself was switched at birth with the real human Malcolm. Now, the real one is gone and this revenant who inexplicably lived has to take on a new role, a new skin...and new revelations not only about him, but about his family
as well. And his past comes to reality when he opens the door to the House of Mayhem
that lies under the slag heap and speaks with the Morrigan for the first time.

Now a battle rages between the Houses of Mayhem and Misery, and Malcolm, not quite human but not quite the Others, is caught in the middle and must make a decision to go with what he knows or dispel traditions that has kept his town safe and bountiful. But can he do the opposite of what he's been taught or continue living a
life of lies and deceit, along with everyone else in town?

Yovanoff has written an intriguing tale of faerie and humanity that is sure to grab not only the attention of those genre lovers, but those who haven't read many urban
fantasies. It captures your attention from the great cover to the story that weaved so well throughout the book, intermixing characters' lives and their own stories into one....Only one person of three that call themselves the Merry Sisters of Fate (and includes Maggie Stiefvater, author of Shiver and Linger), YA readers will pick up and devour this one.

The amazing things you learn in workshops!!

SO, this summer I had the opportunity of providing some professional development for librarians and teachers around this grand old state, and had a great time doing it! Not only did they learn some things from me, but I also learned from them as well!! And then there were those moments I just stumbled into....and here's one that I had to share!!
If you use Prezi, did you know that you can embed youtube book trailers into the presentation? This is the place where publishers are putting their trailers, and they are very professionally done...
Well, if you embed them into Prezi and then use it offline, the video is still maintained even if you're not online - LOVE IT!!
And there are some great prezis to search through too! Someone in a workshop found this Prezi, and I LOVED the layout...had to share it as well!! Thanks Cassandra, for making this a public prezi!!

http://prezi.com/imt-qzhr_fph/great-books/

New Booktrailer: The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen

go to: www.schooltube.com to embed it into your next booktalk!

Booktrailer Tech Tip: What do I write?

What you write in your booktrailer is completely up to you...it's what makes a trailer unique. But here are some tips to get started:

1. Use quotes out of the book. Did you read something that make you stop to read it again? Use it in a quote with an image to reflect it!

2. End with a rhetorical question. It'll make the viewer ask him/herself, "What happens next?" That's the response you're wanting. I usually put mine at the end of the trailer

3. For a more polished trailer, Do NOT add wording to every single slide! Your images should tell the story as much as your words. Putting words between every single slide takes away from a more elegant trailer.

4. Say it simply...and yes, use two word slides together if you need more room.

After by Amy Efaw

Devon sits wrapped up tight after IT went away. Even when her mother gets home, Devon continues to wrap herself up tight emotionally and physically. But when the police come into the apartment, her blankets are ripped away and what is exposed is what happened to Devon, what she did….

For most of her life, Devon felt like she was control of her world. Soccer was the center, but her academics revolved around that. She had her coach, her best friend Katie, and her mother, with no on else allowed into her world. But one summer she met him….the one who took her breath away, the one she let her guard down for. And that one time left Devon punishing herself for letting her carefully orchestrated life go. That was nine months ago. Today, the police found the baby in a trashcan outside of the apartment. Covered in trash, with the plastic bag tied shut, it was barely alive when they took her to the hospital.

Now Devon sits in a juvenile facility for criminals, awaiting trial to determine whether she should be tried as an adult or not. Her only hope is to divulge in detail what eve she denies to a lawyer she doesn’t quite trust.

Amy Efaw has written an emotionally charged novel about one fifteen year old’s experience. Horrific to imagine is the act of what Devon did herself, but what makes this novel even deeper is the psychological and emotional layers that Efaw writes about as well. Those teen readers who enjoy reading realistic fiction will devour this novel. Includes a short afterward about this topic that has made headlines in national news.

Trying to keep up....

To anyone following this blog, please forgive my lack of posts. I've been going going going online and offline since summer started. Traveling for workshops and moderating a 23 Things as well as representing our state's school libraries is slowly cathcing up with me. I'll be back up soon with plenty of reviews, a new trailer in the works, and some more tech tips. Going to start working on those today before heading out the door tomorrow for more workshopping : )

Besides all this, I have to say there is payback. Seeing how the librarians who've gone through the workshops come out with new ideas and products they've made during our time together; me learning tricks and tips from them as well; sitting with librarians from all over the country looking at the issues facing them and how it reflects our profession as a whole; getting to visit our nation's capital and some of the best cities in our state; meeting up with old friends and making new acquaintances; working side-by-virtual-side with my fellow colleagues in my district and seeing the AMAZING work they've done with this pilot program....all worth it...

Book Trailer Tech Tip Monday: The TRINITY...

I'm in San Antonio doing a booktrailer workshop with some wonderful librarians from all over South Texas. Linda Holder (of TLC listserv) and Pat Strawn are even sitting in on this one too!! : )
As I was talking about booktrailer tips, I remembered I haven't done one today, so here it is.

Like video transitions, title transistions work the same way. Simple is better. The three title transitions that should be the most often used are:
zoom in
zoom out
fade, slow zoom

Of course other transitions could be used depending on the book, genre, theme et al, but there are the "Coco Chanel" of the lot...timeless, beautiful, and never out of style.
Enjoy!

Can you read this?

hint: i-nigma : )