Blood Red Road

Have you ever heard of the Costa Awards? They're given each year to recognize some of the most enjoyable books of the year by writers based in the UK and Ireland. This year's winner for Children's Book is actually a young adult book called Blood Red Road, by Moira Young.

Here's how the publisher described it: "Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back."

It's a book about a dark, post-apocalyptic future. If you liked Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games trilogy or Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy, this book might be worth a try.

Best Non-Fiction for Teens

Winter is the season for book awards, and nominees are starting to be announced. The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has announced the nominees for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults. (Whew! That's a mouthful!) The Mahomet Public Library owns copies of all five nominees:

• Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom and Science, by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos. YA/664/ARO
• Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition, by Karen Blumenthal. YA/363.4/BLU
• Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way),by Sue Macy. J/796.6082/MAC
• Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein, by Susan Goldman Rubin. JB/BER
• The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, & Treachery, by Steve Sheinkin. J/973.3/SHE

These were all written not just to be a resource for writing reports, but to be interesting reads for fun. What do you think? Have you read any of the titles? Do you read any non-fiction for fun?

Vote for the 2011 Teen's Top Ten

Nominations for the 2011 Teens' Top Ten are here! The Teens' Top Ten is a readers' choice award sponsored by YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association. Readers ages twevle to eighteen can read the nominees and vote online anytime until September 16. Check out the list of nominees, most of which are available from the Mahomet Public Library. When you're ready, you can vote online.

Calling all Teen SRP participants!

If you participated in the Teen Summer Reading Program by turning in at least one entry form, you have a participation prize waiting for you! Stop by the library's circulation desk any time to pick up your prize.

Teen Review: My Sister's Keeper

My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult

Reviewed by Rachel R.

"The book My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult is a great book about a 13-year-old named Anna and her 16-year-old sister named Kate. Kate has leukemia. Anna is Kate's donor and gives Kate platelets, bone marrow, and now a kidney. But Anna doesn't want to keep giving Kate all of these organs and bone marrow. So she goes to Campbell, an attorney. She convinces him to be her attorney and now that her parents know, she is going to court. Will she win her kidney back, or what will happen? Read My Sister's Keeper to find out!"

You can find My Sister's Keeper in the Adult Fiction section of the library with the call number PIC.

Want to have a review published? Pick up a Summer Reading Review Form at the library, or email a review to rachel@mahometpubliclibrary.org. For each review, you'll get an extra entry in the Summer Reading Prize Drawing!

Teen Review: Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan

Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan, by John Flanagan

Reviewed by Toby F.

"Ranger's Apprentice is about a ward named Will. Will's life is hard till he is chosen to be a ranger's apprentice. He becomes friends with his teacher, Halt, and a battle school apprentice, Horace. I loved it."

You can find Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan at the library with the call number J/FLA or J/PBK/FLA/.

Want to have a review published? Pick up a Summer Reading Review Form at the library, or email a review to rachel@mahometpubliclibrary.org. For each review, you'll get an extra entry in the Summer Reading Prize Drawing!

Teen Review: Holes

Holes, by Louis Sachar

Reviewed by Toby F.

"Holes is a good book and keeps you on your toes. I like it because even in hard times there is friendship. It's also about the two friends surviving and teaching each other."

You can find Holes at the library with the call number J/SAC.

Want to have a review published? Pick up a Summer Reading Review Form at the library, or email a review to rachel@mahometpubliclibrary.org. You'll get an extra entry in the Summer Reading Prize Drawing!