Book Bite: "City of Bones"

"I was laughing at you because declarations of love amuse me, especially when unrequited. And because your Simon is one of the most mundane mundanes I’ve ever encountered. And because Hodge thought you might be dangerous, but if you are, you certainly don’t know it."

- Jace to Clary, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (2007)

City of Bones buttons

These are some buttons I made for the City of Bones Movie Release Party this weekend: angelic power runes and "Shadowhunters: Looking Better in Black Than the Widows of our Enemies Since 1234." At the party even more runes will be available for you to make into buttons, or you can design your own.

Have you seen the movie already? How does it compare to the book?

City of Memes

Have you registered for our City of Bones Movie Release Party yet? The party is Saturday, August 24 at 2:30 p.m. in the Meeting Room of the Dundee Library. We'll make runes buttons, answer trivia questions, and even give away a movie poster!

On the official Mortal Instruments: City of Bones website, fans are able to create their own memes featuring the images of Jace, Clary, Alec, Simon, Isabelle, Valentine, and more from the film. Go to the Extras section and click on City of Memes. Select your image, and then add text! Here are some memes I created... It's hard to stop once you start making them!

 

 And one last meme, featuring Simon Lewis:

See? You better listen to Simon!!

Register for the City of Bones Movie Release Party!

"Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?"
Jace said, "Unfortunately, Lady of the Haven, my one true love remains myself."
..."At least," she said, "you don't have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland."
"Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting.”

- City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Are you ready for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones? The movie adaptation of Cassandra Clare's book City of Bones is out in theaters August 21. In celebration of all things Shadowhunters, we are having a City of Bones Movie Release Party on Saturday, August 24 at 2:30 p.m.

At the party we'll have trivia questions, runes-related crafts, and more. You'll be able to talk about the books, movie, and meet fellow fans of the series and Cassandra Clare's writing.

Sign up for the party today! Register online, call 847-428-3661, option 3; or stop by the Dundee Library or Randall Oaks Branch Library in person.

Hope to see you there!

YA books on the big (and small) screen

Almost a year ago, The Hunger Games movie was released into theaters and proved that a strong female heroine from YA literature can bring draw a huge audience. In turn, the movie motivated adults and teens alike who had never read the series to get their hands on a copy of The Hunger Games book. The Hunger Games provides just one example of how prevalent YA literature is in popular culture today. The shows Pretty Little Liars, The Lying Game, Gossip Girl, and The Vampire Diaries all started out as YA books before those characters stepped onto our television screens. Even more movies and TV shows based on YA books are in the works and set to be released in 2013 and 2014. Will they find the same success as Harry Potter, Twilight, or The Hunger Games? Check out this list I compiled, and feel free to add any that I overlooked in the Comments section below:

Beautiful Creatures

• now in theaters
• Starring Alice Englert (Lena), Alden Ehrenreicht (Ethan), Emmy Rossum (Ridley), Emma Thompson (Mrs. Lincoln), and Jeremy Irons (Macon Ravenwood).
• Based on the book Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. 
• Book synopsis: In a small South Carolina town, where it seems little has changed since the Civil War, sixteen-year-old Ethan is powerfully drawn to Lena, a new classmate with whom he shares a psychic connection and whose family hides a dark secret that may be revealed on her sixteenth birthday.
• More books in the series: Beautiful Darkness, Beautiful Chaos, Beautiful Redemption.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones 

• Release date: August 23, 2013
• Starring Lily Collins (Clary), Jaime Campbell Bower (Jace), Kevin Zegers (Alec), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Valentine), Aidan Turner (Luke).
• Based on the book City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. 
• Book synopsis: Suddenly able to see demons and the Darkhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is drawn into this bizarre world when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a monster.
• More in the series: City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, and City of Lost Souls.
• Stay tuned to the blog and the library newsletter for a City of Bones Movie Release Party in August 2013!

Ender’s Game

• Release date: November 1, 2013
• Cast: Asa Butterfield (Ender), Abigail Breslin, and Harrison Ford.
• Based on the books Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card.
• Synopsis of Ender's Game book: Child hero Ender Wiggin must fight a desperate battle against a deadly alien race if mankind is to survive.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

• Release date: November 22, 2013
• Cast: Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss), Josh Hutcherson (Peeta), Liam Hemsworth (Gale), Elizabeth Banks (Effie Trinket), Woody Harrelson (Haymitch Abernathy), Sam Clafin (Finnick Odair), Jena Malone (Johanna Mason), and Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Plutarch Heavensbee) 
• Based on Catching Fire, the second book in Suzanne Collins' best-selling Hunger Games series.
• Book synopsis: By winning the annual Hunger Games, District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have secured a life of safety and plenty for themselves and their families, but because they won by defying the rules, they unwittingly become the faces of an impending rebellion.
• Stay tuned to the blog and the library newsletter for a Catching Fire Movie Release Party in November 2013!

Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters

• Release date: February 14, 2014
• Based on Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. 
• Book synopsis: Two years after a horrible incident made them run away, vampire princess Lissa and her guardian-in-training Rose are found and returned to St. Vladimir's Academy, where one focuses on mastering magic, the other on physical training, while both try to avoid the perils of gossip, cliques, gruesome pranks, and sinister plots.
• Cast:  Zoey Deuth (Rose), Danila Kozlovsky (Dimetri), Lucy Fry (Lissa)
• More books in the series: Frostbite, Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise, Spirit Bound, Last Sacrifice.

Divergent 

• Release date: March 1, 2014
• Cast: Shailene Woodley (Tris), Kate Winslet; rumors everywhere about who will play Four (Alex Pettyfr? Lucas Till? Jeremy Irvine?)
• Based on the book by Veronica Roth. 
• Book synopsis: In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomoly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.
• In February an open casting call was held in Chicago for movie extras. According to the Chicago Tribune the movie will be shot entirely in Chicago. 
• More books in the series: Insurgent. The third book in the series, jokingly referred to by both Roth and fans as “Detergent,” will be released October 22, 2013.

Delirium 

• Release date: depends on whether the pilot is picked up by Fox.
• According to author Lauren Oliver, filming on the pilot for this TV show is set to begin in March.
• Cast: Emma Roberts (Lena), Jeanine Mason (Hana), Daren Kagasoff (Alex), Greg Sulkin (Julian), Billy Campbell (Thomas Fineman)
• Based on the Delirium series by Lauren Oliver: Delirium, Pandemonium, and Requiem.
• Synopsis of the first book in the series: Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.

And adaptations of these books are also in the works:

• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (movie in preproduction; director announced)  
• Summer series by Jenny Han (optioned for TV)
• Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian (optioned for TV)
• I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga (ABC Family TV show)

I am very excited for Catching Fire, and am already brainstorming crafts and games for a movie release party at the library! I can't wait for Divergent, because I love that book series as well, and think that Shailene Woodley is a great pick to play Tris. How cool is it that the movie will be filmed entirely in Chicago? I'm also interested to see how the Vampire Academy movie turns out. I really enjoyed all the books in that series because Rose is such a strong character. Plus, the awesome supporting characters (Adrian!) are well-written too. I just hope it doesn't suffer from people who are sick of Twilight. This movie has a huge potential for great fight scenes and some swoon-worthy moments.

Which movie/TV adaptation are you most looking forward to seeing? Do you read the books before you see the movies, or the other way around? Are there any books not on this list that you think would make a good movie and/or TV show? My picks are Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkin and the Across the Universe series by Beth Revis.

And lastly, and most importantly, who do *you* think should play Four in Divergent?

New books out today, and a birthday!

Happy birthday to Katniss Everdeen, District 12 tribute in The Hunger Games! In the book The Hunger Games we find out that May 8 is the birthday of the girl on fire. Let's celebrate with some new books:

	City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare When Jace vanishes with Sebastian, Clary and the Shadowhunters struggle to piece together their shattered world and Clary infiltrates the group planning the world's destruction. #5 in the Mortal Instruments series.
Until I Die by Amy Plum The sequel to Die for Me, set in Paris, where a girl and a boy with a terrifying paranormal destiny fight dangerous forces to be together. #2 in the Revenants series.
	Endure by Carrie Jones When evil pixies cause mass destruction and chaos in Bedford, Maine, sixteen-year-old Zara prepares for war, aligning her team of pixies with the humans she loves so much, a task made more difficult by her growing feelings for pixie king Astley. #4 in the Endure series.
Underworld by Meg Cabot John Hayden, a death deity, takes seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera back to the Underworld against her will to keep her safe from the Furies, but her family is still at risk and she, herself, may never escape his captivity. #2 in the Abandon series.

Coming soon: "City of Lost Souls"

City of Lost Souls, the fifth book in Cassandra Clare's popular Mortal Instruments series, will be released May 8. Place your holds now!