Teen Newsletter
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Best Books for Young Adults
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| The book list of Best Books for Young Adults is created by a committee from the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association. Teens attend special sessions to give the committee their opinions of the nominated titles. To be on the final list of Best Books the book must be of good literary quality and be popular reading for teens, ages 12-18. |
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Millions
of people are going online
to exchange electronic mail, surf the Internet, post and read messages, and participate
in chat groups and many other online activities. Harris County Public Library has created a page on the Teens Know site that gives Internet Safety Tips for Teens. It also includes links to helpful sites that introduce Internet Safety, safe blogging, and social networking tips through online games, videos and even webcomics. |
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Meet the HCPL Young Adult Staff
Harris County Public Library has 26 branch libraries across the county. Many of these libraries have staff dedicated to working with the young adults of the community. Let's meet on of them!
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Cindy Groover
Cindy Groover is the Reference Librarian at the Baldwin Boettcher Branch Library. She also does the Young Adult programming for the branch and has worked there for 8 years.
What do you like to read?
I enjoy Christian fiction and two of my favorite Christian authors are Beverly Lewis and Janette Oke. I also enjoy the type of gothic authors that were popular in the 1960's and 1970's. Examples of these types of authors are Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt.
What was your favorite book when you were a teen?
I was a huge Lois Duncan fanatic. I have read Summer of Fear, Killing Mr. Griffin, and Daughters of Eve.
What do you like best about your job?
I enjoy helping people find the information that they need. I also enjoy the mere exchange of pleasantries that goes along with working with the public.
What was your best memory as a teen?
I enjoyed spending the summers with my cousins when they would visit from Pennsylvania. We would create soap opera situations and dramatize them.
What was your most unique experience as a teen?
In my later teen years, I had my poetry published a few times a year in the local newspaper.
If you could relive your teen years what would you do differently?
I would not worry about being popular, since popularity does not determine your worth as a person. I would stand up for my self in the face of teasing, and I would take a stand if I witnessed teasing of other classmates.
If you could give advice or a message to your teen self, what would it be?
Don't be afraid to be unique and to be yourself. Don't worry about the quantity of friends that you have, but the quality of the friends that you have. It is not important whether or not if you are the valedictorian of your class, but important to find your personal strengths and abilities.
Is there anything else that you would like to share with us?
I believe that I could offer helpful advice to current teens with socialization problems, since I was timid and shy myself as a teenager.
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Cindy in Montana |
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New Young Adult Materials
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Frank Beddor. Seeing Redd
When Alyss Heart returns to her rightful place on the throne of Wonderland, she is put to the test as enemies, both inside and outside the borders of her queendom, push their own agendas and wield horrific weapons, while she strives to unify them all.
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Kate Brian. Inner Circle
Reed, from a working class family, is attending the wealthy Easton Academy on a scholarship and now in her junior year she may have a chance to join the Billings inner circle.
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Gail Giles. Right Behind You
After spending over four years in a mental institution for murdering a friend in Alaska, fourteen-year-old Kip begins a completely new life in Indiana with his father and stepmother under a different name, but not only has trouble fitting in, he finds there are still problems to deal with from his childhood.
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Shannon Hale. Revenge of the Homecoming Queen
When beautiful, popular, and seemingly-perfect high school senior Aspen Brooks loses out to her rival for homecoming queen, it is only the beginning of a series of strange events including thefts, kidnappings, and Aspen falling for the unfashionable but endearing Rand Bachrach.
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S. A. Harazin. Blood Brothers
With his best friend on life-support after taking drugs at a party, seventeen-year-old Clay, a medical technician, recalls their long friendship, future plans, and recent disagreement, and tries to figure out who is responsible for the accidental overdose.
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A. M. Jenkins. Repossessed
A fallen angel, tired of being unappreciated while doing his pointless, demeaning job, leaves Hell, enters the body of a seventeen-year-old boy, and tries to experience the full range of human feelings before being caught and punished, while the boy's family and friends puzzle over his changed behavior.
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Melissa Kantor. The Breakup Bible
Jennifer thinks she and Max are the perfect couple, until he decides he just wants to be friends.
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Alyson Noel. Kiss & Blog
Having made a pact to help each other not go unnoticed in their sophomore year, Winter, dismayed at how quickly her once, best friend Sloane forgets her promise when she is noticed by the "cool girls," vows to take revenge.
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Victoria Ashton. Juicy Secrets
Two teen nannies become even more involved in the treacherous world of their wealthy, elite employers as Adrienne begins a surprising new relationship and Liz struggles to keep hers from falling apart.
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Gary D. Schmidt. The Wednesday Wars
During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in.
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New Young Adult Nonfiction
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Jenna Bush. Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope
Jenna Bush has written a powerful and personal nonfiction account, based on her work with UNICEF in Latin America and the Caribbean, of a girl who fights against all odds to survive.
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Robin Roberts. Anne McCaffrey: A Life with Dragons
The life story of a writer who vividly depicts alien creatures and new worlds. As the author of the Dragonriders of Pern series, McCaffrey (b. 1926) is one of the most significant writers of science fiction and fantasy.
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Eoin Colfer. Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel
Graphic novel of
a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind named Artemis Fowl.
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Edward Ricciuti. Forensics
Science 101: Forensics takes you on a behind-the-scenes journey into the world of the investigators and scientists who work to solve crimes through the use of forensic science. It examines tried-and-true forensics methods, as well as cutting-edge forensic disciplines little known to the general public. Information on fingerprint and DNA identification trace evidence, arson detection, crime-scene procedures, and more.
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Carolyn C. Wheater. Homework Helpers: Geometry
Homework Helpers: Geometry includes all the topics that are traditionally covered in a high school geometry course. The book pays particular attention to strategies for understanding and constructing logical arguments and proofs. Common patterns that reappear in many proofs are highlighted. In addition, geometry problems that review arithmetic and algebraic skills are presented and fully explained.
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Marc Guggenheim. Civil War: Marvel Universe
Civil War is encompassing the entire Marvel Universe, and the effects of the war are being felt by every hero, villain, and civilian. This volume collects "Winter Soldier: Winter Kills, Civil War: Choosing Sides, Civil War: The Return," and "She-Hulk" #8.
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Tamora Pierce. The Will of the Empress
On a visit to Namorn to visit her vast landholdings and her devious cousin, Empress Berenene, eighteen-year-old Sandry, must rely on her childhood friends and fellow mages, Daja, Tris, and Briar, despite the distance that has grown between them.
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Johnny Ray Barnes, Jr. Knightmare
Mitchell Garrison has made a terrible mistake. While on a class field trip to the museum, Mitchell's friend, Howard, dares him to snatch a small, unguarded artifact from around the neck of an old, emerald suit of armor. Cracking under the pressure of his pal calling him "chicken," Mitchell reluctantly agrees, but soon comes to regret it. That night, with the stolen piece of history tucked safely under his bed, Mitchell finds it difficult to sleep. It isn't very long after he closes his eyes that he has his first nightmare. Terrible visions of monsters, beasts, and wild men attack him in his sleep, trying to stop him from reaching his final opponent, an ominous, emerald suit of armor... just like the one at the museum!
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Karen McCombie. Ally's World: Parties, Predicaments
and Undercover Pets So there I was, thinking that the last week of school would be mega-fun. OK, well, more fun than usual. Could I have been more wrong? Urm, no. I mean next-door's barbecue degenerates into a sausage fight, I nearly have to call the RSPCA on Kyra, the Fun Run is more of a No-Fun Limp, and, oh yes, how could I forget that disastrous game of Spin the Bottle?
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Eoin McNamee. The Navigator
Owen has always been different, and not only because his father committed suicide, but he is not prepared for the knowledge that he has a mission to help the Wakeful--the custodians of time--to stop the Harsh from reversing the flow of time.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock. The Off Season
High school junior D.J. staggers under the weight of caring for her badly injured brother, her responsibilities on the dairy farm, a changing relationship with her friend Brian, and her own athletic aspirations.
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Linda Urban. Crooked Kind of Perfect
Ten-year-old Zoe Elias, who longs to play the piano but must resign herself to learning the organ, instead, finds that her musicianship has a positive impact on her workaholic mother, her jittery father, and her school social life.
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