Update: We have closed the poll, and we’ll be giving one lucky winner a copy of Held by Edeet Ravel at the end of June! Thanks for your votes!
WCL teens, we need your help! We’ve got a slate of cool new books we’d like to offer as prizes for the giveaways, but we can only offer one. So which one do you want?
Sinking Deeper by Steve Vernon
The tiny fishing community of Deeper Harbour is in deep trouble—and so is fourteen-year-old Roland MacTavish. Roland’s mom wants to move with him to Ottawa, away from his father, his weird friend Dulsie, and his even weirder grandfather, Angus. So Roland does what any sane teenager would do: He invents a sea monster. Unfortunately, the scheme quickly spins out of Roland’s control, and he has to go to greater and greater lengths to keep up the illusion. And then Roland must deal with a situation far more terrifying than any sea monster. (Summary from here.)
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
A plane full of pageant girls crashes on a deserted island—only the island turns out not to be so deserted. Lord of the Flies, Lost, a bit of James Bond and a lot of satire meet in Beauty Queens. Oh, and there are pirates, too (the good kind).
Structured to be like a reality TV special—complete with commercial breaks, words from the sponsors, and product placement footnotes—Beauty Queens is genius. (Summary from here.)
Held by Edeet Ravel
Recently reviewed by one of your fellow teen readers, Held seemed like a great addition to our giveaway list: Seventeen-year-old Chloe Mills is in Greece on a summer volunteer work program when she is abducted by a couple who blindfold her, drug her, and take her by plane to another country. Worst case scenarios run through her mind: Will she be sold as a sex slave? Do they want to experiment on her? Kill her for her organs? (Summary from here.)
Or, if you don’t see something that interests you here, is there a book you’ve been anxious to read that you can’t get your hands on? Let us know what it is and we’ll consider it for the giveaway too. The only criteria is that we prefer books that aren’t in the middle of a series.
The summer has wrapped up and we have given away all of our books! Thank you to all those who participated! Don’t forget to check with you library branch to see what’s happening over the fall/winter for teens!
Congratulations to our final winner of the summer :Brittany T
Held by Edeet Ravel. This book was amazing, when you read the back of the book you think it will be mainly about how this girl suffered while being “Held” hostage. This book takes an incredible twist, it seems to be a love story afterall. I’d give this book 4/5 stars, it draws you in till the last page.
Did you like The Hunger Games? Moira Young’s first book Blood Red Road is receiving rave reviews across the internet from fans of Suzanne Collins’ books. MTV, for example, says:
“…this book raises the bar when it comes to the genre. Not only will it satisfy the cravings of “Hunger Games” fans, but it is—dare I say—better than “The Hunger Games.” Yes, blasphemy for a “Hunger Games” fan to say so, but it’s undeniable. This book will blow you away.
That’s because “Blood Red Road” simply delivers. The story, the writing, the characters and the narrative voice are stunning and completely original, setting this book apart from the crowd of dystopian novels.”
The summary from the publisher starts: “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.”
That’s only the first bit of the summary. If you want to know more, head on over to Simon & Schuster’s page on the book to see what else is in store for Saba.
So. Appetite whet? Want a free copy? We’ve got one to give to one lucky winner! To be eligible for this contest you must fit the following criteria:
You must be between the ages of 12 and 19.
You must have a valid Wellington County Library card, or if you are under 16, you or your parent or guardian must have a valid WCL card.
You must leave a comment on this entry and answer the following two questions: Have you ever participated in the Teen Summer Reading Challenge? Why or why not?
The comments will close on May 31, and the winner will be chosen via random number generator from the comments on June 1. Good luck!
It may seem hard to believe, with midterms barely behind you and exams beginning to loom, but summer is just around the corner. This blog’s original reason for being was the Teen Summer Reading Challenge, a six-week reading extravaganza where, for every book you read or listen to, you get entered in a draw to win some fabulous prizes. Just like we’ve expanded the blog’s mandate, the TSRC is going to be bigger and better than ever this year! And we’re starting now.
Every month from May until August we’ll be hosting a book giveaway on this site for Wellington County teens. All you have to do to have the chance to win an awesome book — FREE — is have a quick look at the rules, and then follow them! And the rules are:
You must be between the ages of 12 and 19.
You must have a valid Wellington County Library card, or if you’re under 16, you or a parent or a guardian must have a valid card.
Answer the question posed in the giveaway entry by leaving a comment.
The winners will be chosen randomly from the comments on the last day of the month. Keep your eyes on this space — the giveaways will start soon!
Forks, Washington: home to many people’s favourite sparkling vampires and their gentle, klutzy, blood-averse, delicious-smelling human friend, Bella Swan. Bella was Lori from Erin’s choice for favourite heroine.
Just in case you missed the Twilight Saga somehow, Bella is the heroine of these four extremely popular books, and now popular movies. When we meet her, she’s 18 and starting anew in foggy Forks, having moved there from sunny California to live with her father. She’s starting to find her way around, meet some new people, and figure a few things out when she’s completely blindsided by her new biology lab partner, a young man by the name of Edward Cullen. He appears to hate her, but she finds herself unable to get him out of her head. Slowly and persistently, Bella starts to unravel the Cullen family’s secrets and a few more secrets hidden in Fork’s soggy forests besides.
The Twilight Saga starts with Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.
Katniss Everdeen appears to have interred the competition in the heroine throwdown (but the poll isn’t closed! you can still vote!). Now it’s the guys’ turn.
In the completely unscientific survey done of the library staff who read young adult fiction, the following heroes were chosen to represent. You’ll notice that there’s a bit of a disagreement between the Harry Potter fans among us (I am a Snape-as-played-by-Alan-Rickman fan, myself). See someone on there you like? Think we’re missing the cream of the crop? Let us know! Vote or leave us a comment!
This week’s Buried Treasure was submitted by Lindsay at Hillsburgh Branch. Thanks Lindsay!
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Looking for a light, easy and enjoyable read? Then look no further than I’m Exploding Now by Side Hite. Max seems to have lost “it”…whatever that means. He used to be a funny, popular guy but lately he’s feeling off his game. His parents are annoying, he has no job, no girlfriend and his buddy Trevor just got out of a mental institution. But his summer starts to look up when Mozart (aka Crappy) the family cat, decides to kick the bucket and Max is sent to his hippie aunt’s house in Woodstock to bury Crappy.
Written diary style, this comical book follows 16 year old Max as he navigates his way through summer vacation.
Does The Paper Bag Princess need any introduction? We hope not, but just in case, we’ll introduce her anyways. The Paper Bag Princess was Danielle’s (lately of Aboyne, now in Mount Forest) choice for favourite heroine. Mostly because she has one of the best lines ever.
The Paper Bag Princess is a beloved Robert Munsch story that many of us grew up with, and is still extremely popular today. It tells the story of a dragon who gets quite a lot more than he bargains for when he attempts to snack on the wrong princess. And Ronald, the prince, gets a fair bit more than he bargained for too. Not to mention that the Paper Bag Princess rocks her, shall we say, “recycled grunge” look in style. This book is a very nice counterpoint to some of the pretty pink princess stories out there.
You Blog it, We Read it! 