In this issue:

Teens Know Web 2.0

Lone Star Reading List

HCPL YA Staff

New Young Adult Materials

The Texas Lone Star Reading List is a reading incentive program designed for young adults of Texas, (grades 6-8), who are encouraged to read books from a selected reading list. This list is prepared by the Texas Lone Star Reading List Committee, a part of the Texas Library Association Executive Board and the Young Adult Round Table of the Texas Library Association.

Kimberly with Mr. Toad

Kimberly Clutter

Kimberly Clutter is the Young Adult Librarian for the Tomball College and Community Library.

What do you like to read?

For the most part I read fiction, a lot of fiction.  I adore YA fiction, particularly YA fantasy.  I also read a lot of chick lit--adult and young adult.  I tend to gravitate towards series books and books with happy endings.  I figure life is angsty enough already.  Why add to it?

What was your favorite book when you were a teen?

I could never pick just one book, so I'll give you my top four and call it good.  I read a lot as a teen, but the books I read repeatedly were The Giver by Lois Lowry, Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

What do you like best about your job?

My favorite part of being a librarian is encouraging teens to read and connecting them with the right book.  When someone walks away excited about a book I recommended, I feel like I've done my job.

What was your most embarrassing moment as a teen?

This kind of skirts the"teen" line, but it's embarrassing and funny.  I had just gone away to college, been gone less than a month (which is why I count this as "teen"), when tragedy struck one Tuesday afternoon in Kroger.  I was grocery shopping with a friend, calmly perusing the salad dressing shelves, when the next thing I know, I'm face down on the floor, people surrounding me, blood streaming down my nose and mayo on my back.  I'd fainted.  Fainted dead away, right into the salad dressing shelves, taking the mayo down with me.  I was so out of it (and bleeding) that they called an ambulance.  I was carted away on a stretcher (strapped down--the indignity!), driven to the emergency room (no siren! no lights!) and stitched back together.  I spent four more years in that town and only went back to that Kroger once, under duress.  Embarrassing?  I rather think so.

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

I would appreciate me.  I think I spent too much of my teen years self conscious about who I was.  I had a core group of friends, but I was never very outgoing.  I missed out on a lot by hiding away and focusing everything I had on school.  It is possible to have fun and still get good grades!

If you could give advice to your "teen self" what would it be?

Invest in a flat iron, love that flat iron, and good hair will follow!  (Oh, and don't go on that date.  You know the one I mean.  That movie was not worth it, Kimberly!)

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

I like television (Stargate Atlantis and crime shows), roller coasters (Rockin' Space Mountain!) and singing along (loud and possibly off key) to the music while driving.

Pirate Kimberly

Peter Abrahams.  Into the Dark:  An Echo Falls

Mystery  Thirteen-year-old Sherlock Holmes aficionado Ingrid Levin-Hill tries to clear her grandfather's name when he is accused of murdering an environmental activist found dead on his farm.

Meg Cabot.  Airhead

Sixteen-year-old Emerson Watts, an advanced placement student with a disdain for fashion, is the recipient of a "whole body transplant" and finds herself transformed into one of the world's most famous teen supermodels.

Andrew Clements.  Things Hoped For

Seventeen-year-old Gwen, who has been living with her grandfather in Manhattan while she attends music school, joins up with another music student to solve the mystery when her grandfather suddenly goes missing.

Tina Ferraro.  How to Hook a Hottie:  A Novel

Suddenly and unwillingly the girlfriend of a popular baseball player, seventeen-year-old Kate DelVecchio goes from social invisibility to paid matchmaker for her fellow students, progressing toward her goal of becoming a self-made millionaire by age twenty while proving herself to her absent mother.

Dayle Campbell Gaetz.  Crossbow

Young Matt has built a cabin in the woods to live the life of a hermit, but when a mysterious stranger named Forrest moves in and teaches young Matt about surviving in the wild, the stranger presents a greater danger than the woods offer.

Andy McNab and Robert Rigby.  Meltdown

Eighteen-year-old Danny Watts and his grandfather Fergus, an ex-SAS explosives expert, travel to England, Spain, and Germany, in a life-or-death race to save the population from the spread of a lethal new drug that has been unleashed by terrorists.

Garth Nix.  Lady Friday

Young Arthur Penhaligon must weigh an offer from Lady Friday that is either a cunning trap for the Rightful Heir or a golden opportunity that he must seize.

Celeste O. Norfleet and Jennifer Norfleet.  She Said,

She Said  On the last day of school, Tamika's boyfriend dumps her, her best friend moves away and she is forced to go on a lame mother-daughter trip to her grandmother's house. She can barely handle one minute with her controlling, critical mom. But when they arrive, her life gets even worse! Her mother is suddenly acting like she's trying out for Moms gone wild, partying with her old high school crowd. Now Tamika's the responsible one: taking care of business and stuck on a nice guy instead of a player. She wouldn't mind a little bit of her old mom back.

Michael Scott.  The Magician

Fifteen-year-old twins Sophie and Josh Newman continue their magical training in Paris with Nicholas Flamel, Scatty, and the Comte de Sant Germaine, pursued by Doctor Dee and the immortal Niccolo Machiavelli.

Will Weaver.  Saturday Night Dirt

In a small town in northern Minnesota, the much-anticipated Saturday night dirt-track race at the old-fashioned, barely viable, Headwaters Speedway becomes, in many ways, an important life-changing event for all the participants on and off the track.

Russell Ash.  Firefly's World of Facts

Presents a collage of information about science, history, culture, and human civilization.

Earl Hipp.  Fighting Invisible Tigers:  Stress

Management for Teens   Discusses how stress affects teenagers and the different ways it can be managed.

D. J. MacHale.  Pendragon Graphic Novel  Book 1:

  The Merchant of Death  Bobby Pendragon is a seemingly normal fourteen-year-old boy. He has a family, a home, and even Marley, his beloved dog. But there is something very special about Bobby.He is going to save the world.And not just Earth as we know it. Bobby is slowly starting to realize that life in the cosmos isn't quite what he thought it was. And before he can object, he is swept off to an alternate dimension known as Denduron, a territory inhabited by strange beings, ruled by a magical tyrant, and plagued by dangerous revolution.If Bobby wants to see his family again, he's going to have to accept his role as savior, and accept it wholeheartedly. Because, as he is about to discover, Denduron is only the beginning...

Cheerleading:  From Tryouts to Championships

Provides an inside look at cheerleading techniques, choreography, competitions, squads, and training.

Charlie Higson.  Double or Die

Kidnapping. Explosions. Murder. This is no ordinary weekend. But then, James Bond is no ordinary boy ... In a north London cemetery, a professor is kidnapped at gunpoint. Then, a suspicious letter crammed with cryptic clues arrives at Eton. To decipher the deadly mystery, James Bond must take a series of dangerous gambles. Once the code is cracked, he has just forty-eight hours to save the professor from the dark forces that threaten to destroy them both. And if they can't escape, it's not only their future under threat: it's the rest of the world's...   Read by Nathaniel Parker.

Rebecca Sparrow.  The Year Nick McGowan Came

to Stay  In her final year of high school in 1989, Australian teenager Rachel has her world turned upside down when the most popular (and disturbed) boy in school comes to live with her family for a semester.  Read by Tamara Lovatt-Smith.

D. J. MacHale.  Raven Rise

The time of the final showdown has arrived. Saint Dane's quest for ultimate rule has moved to Second Earth, but Bobby Pendragon remains entrapped on Ibara, unable to join Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde in what could be the planet's climactic defense.  Read by William Dufris.

Eoin McNamee.  City of Time

Cati returns from the shadows of time to summon Owen and Dr. Diamond, for time is literally running out. The moon is coming closer to the Earth, causing havoc with weather, tides, and other natural cycles. People fear the world will end. To discover what's gone wrong, Cati, Owen, and the Doctor must take an astonishing journey to the City of Time, where time is bought and sold. There, Owen begins to understand his great responsibility and power as the Navigator.  Read by Kirby Heyborne.