In this issue:

Lone Star Reading List

Teen Tech Week

HCPL YA Staff

New Young Adult Books

January/February 2007

2007-2008 Lone Star Reading List

The Lone Star Reading List is created each year by public and school librarians from the Young Adult Round Table of the Texas Library Association.  The purpose of the list is to encourage students in grades 6, 7, and 8 to read a variety of current books.  The Lone Star List is intended for recreational reading.

Harris County Public Library purchases every book on the Lone Star Reading List for each of its 26 branches.  The books are both current and popular and they are a good place to start for readers who aren't sure what they want to read next. 

Teen Tech Week will be celebrated for the first time March 4-10, 2007.  YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) created the Teen Tech Week celebration to introduce teens to the different technologies that are offered by libraries.

Harris County Public Library will offer Teen Tech Week programs at many of the branch libraries.

Darla (left) presents teen with book during the 2006 Summer Reading Program for Young Adults.

Darla Pruitt

Darla Pruitt is a Circulation Assistant for the Atascocita Branch Library.

What do you like to read?

I have very eclectic tastes.  I read manga, horror (werewolves and vampires rule), nonfiction, biography, science fiction, and anything else that looks interesting.

What was your favorite book when you were a teen?

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.  It was such a powerful book and really spoke to me at that age.  Rereading it 20 years later, it still has the same resonance.

What do you like best about your job?

I love helping teens discover their passion in life.  Plus I get to watch anime, read manga, play DDR, direct plays, and craft.

What was the most unique experience you had as a teen?

I was heavily involved in Dark Shadows fandom and ended up publishing two books about Dark Shadows collectibles.  I never bothered to mention to anyone in fandom that I was a teen because I thought it was irrelevant.  When I attended my first convention a few years later, I shocked everyone when they discovered the person that they thought was 40-something was actually a teen.

If you could relive your teen years what would you do differently?

I would relax and enjoy life.  I spent too much time worrying about things that in the end didn't matter.

If you could give advice or a message to your "teen self," what would it be?

Don't give away your heart so easily.  You will live through this.  Buy Microsoft at its IPO (Initial Public Offering).

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

I'm Batgirl.

Darla as Queen Elizabeth I.

Kashmira Sheth.  Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet

Growing up with her family in Mumbai, India, sixteen-year-old Jeeta disagrees with much of her mother's traditional advice about how to live her life and tries to be more modern and independent.

Ned Vizzini.  It's Kind of a Funny Story

A humorous account of a New York City teenager's battle with depression and his time spent in a psychiatric hospital.

Adrienne Maria Vrettos.  Skin

When his parents decide to separate, eighth-grader Donnie watches with horror as the physical condition of his sixteen-year old sister, Karen, deteriorates due to an eating disorder.

Catherine Gilbert Murdock.  Diary Queen

After spending her summer running the family farm and training the quarterback for her school's rival football team, sixteen-year-old D.J. decides to go out for the sport herself, not anticipating the reactions of those around her.

Frank Portman.  King Dork

High school loser Tom Henderson discovers that "The Catcher in the Rye" may hold the clues to the many mysteries in his life.

Jessie Elliot.  Girls Dinner Club

Junie, Celia, and Danielle, three ethnically diverse high schoolers in Brooklyn, form a friendship while cooking dinners together and helping one another sort through their romantic entanglements.

Lisa Ann Sandell.  The Weight of the Sky

A sixteen-year-old girl travels to Israel to spend the summer on a kibbutz and discovers who she is and what she wants out of life.

Kevin Brooks.  The Road of the Dead

Two brothers, sons of an incarcerated gypsy, leave London traveling to an isolated and desolate village, in search of the brutal killer of their sister.

Marina Budhos.  Ask Me No Questions

Fourteen-year-old Nadira, her sister, and their parents leave Bangladesh for New York City, but the expiration of their visas and the events of September 11, 2001, bring frustration, sorrow, and terror for the whole family.

Mary Beth Miller.  On the Head of a Pin

While drinking alcohol and playing with a loaded gun at a party, a teenage boy accidentally shoots and kills another student and then tries to conceal her death.

Anna Deveare Smith.  Letters to a Young Artist

Straight-up advice on making a life in the arts--for actors, performers, writers, and artists of every kind.

Anthony Horowitz.  Alex Rider:  The Gadgets

Features the blueprints and technical specifications for the amazing gadgetry used by teenage spy Alex Rider.

Kim Cattrall.  Being a Girl

Navigating the ups and downs of teen life from Kim Cattral of Sex in the City fame.

Simon Field.  The Return of Gonzo Gizmos

Projects and devices to channel your inner geek.

Loren Meierding.  Ace the Math on the SAT

Guidebook on how to prepare for the material presented in the math sections of the SAT.