Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Released August 1, 2009

Shiver was recommended by a library staff member, who got the advanced reader’s copy at ALA.  She said it was quick-paced like Twilight, and also featured a supernatural boy and a down-to-earth girl who fall in love.  It is fairly a fast read, especially the beginning and the end.  It drags slightly in the middle, but not too bad.  The story is set in Minnesota and is about Grace, a 17-year-old who, as a child, was attacked by wolves in her backyard.  She would have died, except for the gentle, yellow-eyed wolf who rescued her and got her back to safety.  Grace never forgot that wolf, and through her encounters with him in the woods behind her house, Grace realized that maybe her wolf wasn’t just a wolf.  She was right of course; Sam is werewolf, human in the summer and wolf in the winter.  He has the same yellow eyes as a human, and the same love for Grace as he did several years ago when he rescued her.  But in Shiver, wolves only change into summer humans for so long, and this is most likely Sam’s last year.  What can he and Grace do to stay together now that they’ve found each other?  –Becky Fermanich, Youth Services Librarian

Starclimber by Kenneth Oppel

Released March 2009

This is the third book in the series by Kenneth Oppel that started with Airborn and Skybreaker. I loved Airborn when I first read it. It was like a high seas pirate adventure but in the sky on an airship. It had adventure, suspense, action, and a little romance. Skybreaker was good but I didn’t like it as much as Airborn, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from Starclimber. However it only took me a couple of pages and I was off and running into the unique world that Oppel has created with this series. The book hooked me right away and I didn’t quit reading until the end. Starclimber reunites us with Matt Cruse, the former cabin boy who’s now attending the Airship Academy, and Kate de Vries, the fiesty and brilliant girl who’s more interested in discovering new lifeforms than living her family’s wealthy lifestyle. Matt and Kate are going on a new airborn adventure this time around – they’re traveling in the first attempt at reaching outer space. (Oppel’s series is set in a kind of alternate reality – it feels like it’s in the past, but it is also very futuristic. A time and place where space travel hasn’t happened yet, but it’s completely normal to travel in giant airships.) Going to outer space isn’t so strange, but the way they are getting there is. And you can be sure there are several exciting and action-filled sequences and daring circumstances along the way. If you haven’t read any of Oppel’s books, I’d start with Airborn, then keep reading in this fun adventure series.  –Becky Fermanich, Youth Services Librarian

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

Released May 2009

This book had a lot of great reviews – just look at the back cover and you’ll see all the great authors who enjoyed it – which is one reason I chose to read it. The plot also sounded interesting: 13-year-old Kyra lives on a polygamist compound and has just learned she has to marry her 60-year-old uncle. Kyra also has some secrets, like her clandestine meetings in the dark of the night with the boy she loves, Joshua. And the fact that she has been secretly reading fiction (something that is stricly forbidden) that she borrows from the local bookmobile. This is a short novel – readable in a day – but one that will stick with you. Kyra is a character you sympathize with and cheer for. Her circumstances are extremely frustrating, but she gives you hope.  –Becky Fermanich, Youth Services Librarian

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

Released January 2009

I read the blurb on the back of this book as saying “Fans of Laura Esquivel are going to fall in love with Erica Bauermeister’s beautiful story.” After finishing the book, I flipped it back over and re-read the sentence, which actually reads: “Fans of Maeve Binchy and Laura Esquivel are going to fall in love with Erica Bauermeister’s beautiful story.” Ahh. That explains a lot.

I read the blurb on the back of this book as saying “Fans of Laura Esquivel are going to fall in love with Erica Bauermeister’s beautiful story.” After finishing the book, I flipped it back over and re-read the sentence, which actually reads: “Fans of Maeve Binchy and Laura Esquivel are going to fall in love with Erica Bauermeister’s beautiful story.” Ahh. That explains a lot.

This book centers on the power of food and the existence of an incredible, mystical relationship with cooking. There are gorgeous descriptions of ingredients, of sauce-making, of perfect desserts. It’s a big love letter to gastronomy and an appreciation of taste and smell.

It’s also, well, a tad sappy. The characters are extremely sensitive – and each can communicate with others through only the most understanding of glances, or the kindest half-smile. In the same chapters where I scoffed at the sentimentality, I found myself next to tears in just a few pages. Even if I wasn’t crazy about what Bauermeister was doing with her characters, the language she used to make it happen was wonderfully moving.

“The School of Essential Ingredients” is really a place where everything works out, where the people are wholeheartedly good and the eating is divine. My final reaction was, so what if it’s romanticized to within an inch of it’s life? It’s delicious.  – Sara Wedell, Adult Services Librarian

How to Sell by Clancy Martin

Released May 2009

“How to Sell” is a story of ambition, corruption and slick and skewering salesmanship.  Clancy Martin is writing from his own experience starting out with nothing and getting into the jewelry business.  The story follows Bobby Clark through his exploits in the world of fine jewelry sales, doing whatever it takes to push glitz on customers, genuine or not.  The business is rife with crooked deals, shady characters and Bobby is at the heart of it all, sinking fast.

Readers will get sucked in by Bobby’s hapless voice – his frank candor is a total contrast to the slimeball dealings we witness him orchestrating.    It’s a sort of attempt at the American Dream tale from someone more invested in scams and hustling than in hard work and honesty.  It’s greedy and messy and through it all,  it can be pretty funny as well. — Sara Wedell, Adult Services Librarian

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Released April 2009

If I Stay has been getting a lot of buzz and positive reviews, so I was excited to dive in. This is the story of 17-year-old Mia. She’s an accomplished cellist, loves spending time with her family, and has a punk-rock boyfriend that she’s crazy about. She’s also in a coma, barely hanging on after a terrible car accident. To stay or not to stay is her decision, and much of the book is Mia looking back on her life, hoping the moments that she remembers will help her decide. I was a little disappointed in the first half of the book; I felt I didn’t get a chance to know the characters well enough before the accident and wondered how the decision between life and death could possibly be a difficult one for Mia. However somewhere along the way of reading, I became totally immersed in Mia’s life, begging, like her friends and family, for her to stay. I appreciated that this novel was short compared to all of the epic 700-pagers lately; Forman added no unnecessary details to bog down the story. Fans of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones and Jenny Downham’s Before I Die will like this one.  –Becky Fermanich, Youth Services Librarian

Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart

Released May 2008

Recommended for ages 10-14

Trenton Lee Stewart’s second novel about Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance, the four young pals of the Mysterious Benedict Society, was just as fun, exciting, and fast-paced as the first one. Starting “Perilous Journey” was like getting together with old friends; the first book set up the characters so well you felt like you knew them, so it was great fun jumping back into their lives again. Also, having learned Constance’s big secret in the first book, I seemed to love and appreciate her even more this time around. As in the first book, this story takes the Benedict Society on a dangerous adventure, where they follow clues and solve riddles. This time they have to save Mr. Benedict and Number Two from the evil Mr. Curtain. Any reader who loved “The Mysterious Benedict Society” will certainly eat this one up, and those who haven’t read the first novel should rush out and get it before reading this one – this series is not to be missed. There’s a third installment coming this fall.  – Becky Fermanich, Youth Services Librarian