Book Bite: "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson

The snow drifts into our zombie mouths crawling with grease and curses and tobacco flakes and cavities and boyfriend/girlfriend juice, the stain of lies. For one moment we are not failed tests and broken condoms and cheating on essays; we are crayons and lunch boxes and swinging so high our sneakers punch holes in the clouds. For one breath everything feels better.

Then it melts.

The bus drivers rev their engines and the ice cloud shatters. Everyone shuffles forward. They don't know what just happened. They can't remember.

- Wintergirls (2009) by Laurie Halse Anderson

Teen review of "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" by Holly Black

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
TEEN BLACK

It takes a lot for me to get excited about a vampire novel. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown was one of those books that just screamed for me to get it. After reading and absolutely loving The Immortal Rules, I was interested to see where Coldtown went with the premise of vampires. From the jacket flaps they sounded quite similar. It took me a little while to fully get into the story, but once it got going, I could not stop reading. (Which was a good thing since I was snowed in and had nothing better to do with my time.)

I was absolutely fascinated at how the vampires were completely integrated into pop culture. Unlike The Immortal Rules where the world falls into dystopia, everything pretty much stays the same, with the only difference being the existence of vampires. There are reality shows about vampires, commercials stating that their chicken nuggets will make you “hungrier than a new born vampire,” feeds of parties broadcasted from inside the Coldtowns. These video feeds being broadcasted from inside the quarantined cities make it seem that being a vampire or living among with them makes life one big party. There are message boards, blogs, and communities for those who want to move to a Coldtown, willingly. We get to see characters, all with different reasons for being in Coldtown. Those who are infected by a vampire, those who want to become creatures of the night, those who already are, and those who were stuck when the walls went up. The latter especially reminds me of the Berlin wall.

This whole concept of vampires becoming celebrities to those outside the Coldtowns really reminded me of how vampires became huge after the Twilight franchise hit the big time. It really amuses me because vampires have become so romanticized in the public eye, through movies, books, etc. Holly Black does an amazing job of exemplifying that fact by almost satirizing those obsessed with the vampire culture, and then turning it around to show how desolate and dangerous the Coldtowns really are. The writing itself was amazing. I was completely mesmerized by the eloquence of it all and how the syntax fit the story and the world completely. I knew Holly Black was a popular author, but I hadn’t really read any of her novels before now. Now I need to read all of them.

Overall, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown was one of those works that will stick with me. I absolutely loved that it was a standalone. When it comes to paranormal/supernatural books, they always seem to be in trilogies, which is nice in some cases. But because it is only one book, I felt completely satisfied upon my completion. It was the perfect balance of everything that a story needs.

- Caroline
Originally posted on The Attic blog.

New books to check out

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner	Two star-crossed lovers must fight for survival when they crash land on a seemingly uninhabited planet.
The Vow by Jessica Martinez	Mo is not only eighteen-year-old Annie's best friend, he is the one who helps her cope with the loss of her older sister, so when he learns he must leave Kentucky and return to Jordan with his family, Annie suggests a shocking alternative.
The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine	When the passive strategy she has always adopted proves injurious to her heart's goals, ordinary girl Wren inadvertently saves the life of expelled lacrosse player Grayson and embarks on an awkward romance that compels both to start over.
World After by Susan Ee	In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world. When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken. Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans, where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go. Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?
The Third Lie's the Charm by Lisa & Laura Roecker	Third book in The Liar Society series. To avenge her best friend's death, Kate must put her relationship with Liam on hold to infiltrate the Sisterhood, a secret society at Pemberly Brown Academy.
The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean by David Almond	Trapped in his bedroom by a father who fills his mind with mysterious tales and warnings, Billy Dean goes outside for the first time when his father disappears, and he discovers his abilities to heal the living and contact the dead.
Swagger by Carl Deuker	High school senior point guard Jonas Dolan is on the fast track to a basketball career until an unthinkable choice puts his future on the line.
Daylighters  by Rachel Caine	While Morganville, Texas, is often a troubled town, Claire Danvers and her friends are looking forward to coming home. But the Morganville they return to isn't the one they know; it's become a different place--a deadly one. Something drastic has happened in Morganville while Claire and her friends were away. The town looks cleaner and happier than they've ever seen it before, but when their incoming group is arrested and separated-vampires from humans-they realize that the changes definitely aren't for the better.
Killer of Enemies by Joseph Bruchac	In a world that has barely survived an apocalypse that leaves it with pre-twentieth century technology, Lozen is a monster hunter for four tyrants who are holding her family hostage.
Firebrand  by Antony John	Second book in the Elemental series. In a dystopian United States, the colonists of Roanoke Island must find safety at the mysterious Fort Sumter, but as they get further from their home, their elemental powers begin to fade.
The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson	Hayley Kincaid and her father move back to their hometown to try a 'normal' life, but the horrors he saw in the war threaten to destroy their lives.

Online Photo Editing for Teens

If you enjoy taking pictures and want to learn how to make those photos even better, come to our Online Photo Editing for Teens program on Tuesday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m.

I will introduce you to a few free, easy to use photo editing sites that will allow you to make awesome photos and graphics. Transform photos for birthdays, holidays, any celebration, or just for the fun of it. Create amazing collages and graphics to use on blogs and other social networks. I promise warn you, once you start on one photo, you won't be able to stop.

In this post I'll share a few examples of how I transformed my own photos. Here is a picture I took of Cinderella Castle at Disney World:

Here is the picture with the added radiance effect from PicMonkey:

Here is a neon version of the castle, an effect available on FotoFlexer:

One of my favorite effects, Pop Art, also from FotoFlexer:

I don't know if you can tell, but I love chipmunks and squirrels. As a result, I have tons of photos of grey squirrels, black squirrels, red squirrels, white squirrels, and nutty chipmunks. I had fun adding overlays and text to my photos, with the following results:

For this photo I used overlays from PicMonkey's Celebrate theme, and added the birthday message at the bottom. I know what you're thinking. I can add tiny birthday hats to chipmunks and other small mammals?! Best news ever! 

I first created a collage of this adorable red squirrel in PicMonkey, then edited the collage using the Sweethearts theme. I added heart bokeh, a few heart graphics, a banner, plus text.

I also created this collage using PicMonkey (obviously it's my go-to site for collages). I opened a couple photos I had already edited, and then inserted them into a FB Cover layout. I decreased the size of the margins as much as possible, and made sure the photos were centered in each of their respective slots. Once I was happy with everything, I saved the file, and then uploaded it to my Facebook page as my cover photo!

I will show even more effects and helpful tips on these sites on Tuesday. Registration is open to grades 6-12 for this program. If you cannot make Tuesday's session, we will hold a second session on Tuesday, February 4.

Teen review of "The Immortal Rules" by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
TEEN KAGAWA
RO TEEN KAGAWA

I’ve had a bit of a string of books that were not so good and The Immortal Rules made up for all of it. I absolutely loved everything about it. Now, I’m not a huge fan of vampires. They’re okay, but I don’t really see the appeal. It takes a lot for me to really get into a vampire book, and boy, it didn’t really take me long to get into this one. I love Julie Kagawa’s writing and I’m a huge fan of The Iron Fey, but I believe that, not only has this series become my favorite of her’s, but that she can also write anything. If it wasn’t for her name on the cover, I would have never guessed that it was written by Julie Kagawa. The tone is so completely different from The Iron Fey. It’s much darker and morbidly sarcastic then her romps through the land of faerie. But the one thing they have in common: fantastic world building.

The dystopian landscape was just so well imagined and put together. I had no trouble picturing the landscapes. One element that really added to the experience were the rabids. The rabids are pretty much failed vampires that are almost zombie-like. The rabids mixed with the dystopian setting was really what I need to fill the hole that the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead left. And speaking of rabids and other monsters, I thought The Immortal Rules had the best depiction of vampires and vampire life that I have ever read. I feel that vampires are so romanticized in popular culture, and the book does a really excellent job of dispelling that. They may have been human once, but the will never rid themselves of the hunger and the demon inside them.

And speaking of vampires, Allison has to be one of the best heroines ever. I absolutely loved her character and her progression into becoming a vampire. She is such a strong character. She’s grown up pretty much on her own, living on the fringe of this vampire city and is always on the run, trying to survive, and I think that is what makes her an even strong vampire. She knows how to take care of herself and she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty if she has to. I was also quite happy to see that, although there is a romance, there were no love triangles and it wasn’t that prominent. Allison is a loner and her way of life requires her to be. I guess I like my protagonists to be tortured in some way.

Overall, The Immortal Rules was an excellent novel, and was just the thing I needed to help me wrap up the year and get me out of a reading rut. It had twists that I wasn’t expecting and elements in the plot that made me want to *bookshimmy* (Especially when that have to take a detour to a run down, dystopian Chicago. I always love me some dystopian Chicago). And if anything, it has just exemplified my need to read everything by Julie Kagawa. I’m so glad I already have the second book.

- Caroline
Originally posted on The Attic blog.

Teen review of "Into the Wild Nerd Yonder" by Julie Halpern

Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern
TEEN HALPERN

I don’t read much realistic fiction. It just doesn’t appeal to me. But when I saw this at the library book sale, I just had to get it. I mean, Dungeons & Dragons, nerds, skirt making? Yes please! I was a little wary when starting the novel, but upon completion, I wanted to start over and read it again. This rarely happens.

There were two main factors, other than the awesome nerdyness, that really caused me to love the story. One was the main character. Jessie sews her own skirts (something I would love to do), loves Harry Potter and audiobooks (I always have an audiobook to listen to), and just has a funny, quirky personality. The only thing we don’t have in common is that fact that she loves math. Numbers allude me… The second factor was the fact that the storyline kind of mirrored my senior year. Not the my-best-friend-betrayed-me part, but all the rest of it. Jessie has to expand her horizons and find a new group of friends to be around, and she finds the nerds.

Despite the premise and the title, it’s not super nerdy. If you absolutely nothing about Dungeons & Dragons, you can totally go into the book without any problems. While I’ve never played D & D (I really want to), I knew enough to go on. What’s really at the heart of the novel is the journey one takes to find oneself. Jessie has to go on a quest to find out where she really belongs, and through that she create an alternate personality, her in game character Imalthia. Imalthia takes out all Jessie’s anger and frustration, and by doing that, I think Jessie becomes much happier. That’s one of the reasons why I love RPGs. You can become anyone you want to be and act a certain way that you probably wouldn’t in real life, but then you can go back to real life with none of the consequences.

I’m really sad that the novel is so short. That’s one thing I would’ve liked: more nerddom. Other than that, I think this has earned the spot of Favorite Realistic Fiction. Into the Wild Nerd Yonder was hilarious, well written, and really nailed the stereotypes of high school. And it also made me realise that I need to find friends who play D & D.

- Caroline
Originally posted on The Attic blog.

What does the fox say? -- "Come to Critter Crafts at the library!"

Come to our Critter Crafts program at the library on Monday, Dec. 23 at 2 p.m. Make fun and easy winter critter crafts out of paper towel rolls.

This fox is bundled up for the cold weather.

It looks like this raccoon got caught in a snow storm!

This squirrel reminds you -- "Don't Forget To Be Awesome!"

The most sequin-y squirrel tail ever!

Hope to see you at the Critter Crafts program on Monday, December 23!

Stay out of the cold and warm up with a new book!

He Said, She Said  by Kwame Alexander	When a popular football 'playa' and ladies man and the smartest girl in school lead a school protest, sparks fly as their social media-aided revolution grows.
Battle of the Ampere  by Richard Paul Evans	This is the third book in the Michael Vey series. To stop Hatch from using the Elgen fleet to gain world power, Michael and the rest of the Electroclan must destroy the lead ship, but divisions within the Electroclan threaten the success of their operation.
Invasion  by Walter Dean Myers	Josiah Wedgewood and Marcus Perry were friends in Virginia, but now that they are both involved in the Normandy invasion, the differences in their positions is uncomfortable, for Josiah is a white infantryman and Marcus is a black transport driver, the only role the segregated army will allow him.
Zom-B Baby  by Darren Shan	Book #5 in the Zom-B series. Grateful for the company of The Angels, B nevertheless questions their mission to eradicate the living dead from the face of the earth, and encounters a horror beyond imagining.
Deadly by Sara Shepard	The final book in the Pretty Little Liars series. High school seniors Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer have all done horrible things--things that would put them behind bars if anyone ever found out. And their stalker 'A' knows everything. So far A has kept their secrets, using them to torture the girls. But now A's changed the game. Suddenly the girls are hauled in for questioning, and all their worlds begin to unravel. If A's plan succeeds, Rosewood's pretty little liars will be locked away for good...
UnSouled  by Neal Shusterman	The third book in the Unwind series. After the destruction of the Graveyard, Connor and Lev are on the run, seeking a woman who may be the key to bringing down unwinding forever while Cam, the rewound boy, tries to prove his love for Risa by bringing Proactive Citizenry to its knees.
Juvie  by Steve Watkins	Working hard to be a contributing member of her family, Sadie accepts blame for her sister's drug deal to keep the latter out of prison and finds everything she worked for threatened by a six-month sentence that tests her sister's character.
Loud Awake and Lost  by Adele Griffin	Eight months after a debilitating car accident leaves her with brain trauma and a back injury, amnesiac teen Ember tries to piece together the six weeks of her life leading up to the accident--and determine why none of her friends or family are willing to talk about it.
Truly, Madly, Deadly  by Hannah Jayne	When her abusive boyfriend dies in what seems to be a drunk-driving accident, Sawyer is secretly relieved until she opens her locker and finds a note from a secret admirer that says "You're welcome."
Guinness World Records: Gamers Edition 2014	Lists records, superlatives, and unusual facts about computer and video games, and includes interviews with champion gamers, tips on play, and profiles of the best-selling games.

Teen review of "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Here we are. We’ve reached the end. The end of a series is always a somber occasion, but more so when it’s a series like Divergent. I didn’t know what to expect going into Allegiant. I was excited, nervous, and scared to find out all the secrets we’ve been wanting to know since the first book. Also, the feedback from other readers was making me a little wary to know how it was going to end. But I did it. I read it all. And, oh my, where do I start…

I feel like Allegiant was much more political than Divergent and Insurgent. We get to see what is outside the city and we are faced with a whole new set of problems. I kind of missed them being in the city, but we all want to know what was outside the walls, right? So that kind of evened itself out. The situation they get themselves into, as I said, starts to delve into politics, and morals and ethics. Every character seems to be going through some type of existential crisis through it all. We get to know more of Tobias, with the new POV for half of the chapters. I really liked getting into his head and learning all his thoughts. He very closed off and that leads Tris and Tobias to run into some trouble, relationship wise, which I always like. It makes the relationship and the romance real. I feel that sometimes, especially in YA, the romantic leads have the “perfect” relationship, with outside events trying to tear them apart, and not interpersonal problems.

One thing I love about this trilogy is that it’s not just another dystopian story of survival. We get that aspect of it, but it’s all about the people and how they grow and change. Each faction, and their characters, teach us something. Erudite teaches us about how knowledge and it’s containment can be one of the most powerful weapons. Candor teaches us about honesty and admittance of our crimes. Amity teaches us about how to bring about peace, and that sometimes peace does not mean passivity. Dauntless teaches us the true meaning of bravery, as well as Abnegation. Selflessness and bravery are at the heart of this series and Allegiant in particular. It takes a lot of bravery to be truly selfless.

When it comes to the ending of Allegiant, I have mixed feelings. Upon finishing the novel, I locked myself in the car and cried for about ten minutes. But the more I thought about it, the ending really portrays all the themes that have interwoven in each novel, and I understand why Veronica Roth made the decision to write what she did. I’m okay with it. I’ve made my peace with it. And I guess the fact that I reacted how I did is a testament to the writing and the character creation. I don’t want to let go, but I have to. We all have to move on in the end.

- Caroline
Originally posted on The Attic blog.

Attention, tributes! Catching Fire Release Party is Saturday!

The Catching Fire display in the teen area.

This Saturday is our Catching Fire Movie Release Party, which starts at 2:30 p.m. If you have been dying to see the next installment in the Hunger Games series, this is the event for you! Create your own Hunger Games-inspired buttons (or use one of our designs), answer trivia questions, sponsor a tribute, and enter some prize giveaways.

You may register for the event using our online calendar, in person at the library, or by calling 847-428-3361, option 3.

May the odds be ever in your favor, and hope to see you at the release party!

Recent November releases

Champion by Marie Lu	The final book in the Legend series! June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic--and each other--and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. Just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic's border cities.
Cold Spell by Jackson Pearce	When her boyfriend disappears with a mysterious girl, seventeen-year-old Ginny leaves her hometown of Atlanta and fights wolves, escapes thieves, and braves the cold to rescue him.
The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes	Seventeen-year-old Cassie, who has a natural ability to read people, joins an elite group of criminal profilers at the FBI in order to help solve cold cases.
The Trap by Andrew Fukuda	The third and final book in The Hunt trilogy! Now that they know how to reverse the virus, Gene and Sissy have one final chance to save those they love and create a better life for themselves. But as they struggle to get there, Gene's mission sets him on a crash course with Ashley June, his first love . . . and his deadliest enemy.
The Living by Matt de la Pena	After an earthquake destroys California and a tsunami wrecks the luxury cruise ship where he is a summer employee, high schooler Shy confronts another deadly surprise.
The Fiery Heart  by Richelle Mead	This is the fourth book in the Bloodlines series. After making a life-changing decision, Sydney Sage, an Alchemist who serves to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires, must tread a careful path as she harnesses her profound magical ability to undermine the way of life she was raised to defend.