Book Bite: "The Book Thief" by Marcus Zusak

“People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spot blues. Murky darkness. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.”

-- The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (2007)

Polar vortex-worthy reads

Since we have no choice but to endure this extreme cold (and snow), let's embrace our winter weather. I put together a list of books that will have you commiserating with the characters dealing with frigid temperatures and never ending snow.

After the Snow by S.D. Crockett
RO TEEN CROCKETT
Fifteen-year-old Willo Blake, born after the 2059 snows that ushered in a new ice age, encounters outlaws, halfmen, and an abandoned girl as he journeys in search of his family, who mysteriously disappeared from the freezing mountain that was their home.

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick
TEEN FITZPATRICK
Britt goes hiking in the Grand Tetons of Wyoming with her ex-boyfriend Calvin, but trouble arises when she is caught in a blizzard, taken hostage by fugitives, finds evidence of murders, and learns whom to trust and whom to love.

Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
TEEN LET
In three intertwining short stories, several high school couples experience the trials and tribulations along with the joys of romance during a Christmas Eve snowstorm in a small town.

Survive by Alex Morel
TEEN MOREL
A troubled girl is stranded in an arctic winter terrain after a plane crash and must fight for survival with the only other boy left alive.

Trapped by Michael Northrop
TEEN NORTHROP
RO TEEN NORTHROP
Seven high school students are stranded at their New England high school during a week-long blizzard that shuts down the power and heat, freezes the pipes, and leaves them wondering if they will survive.

Blankets by Craig Thompson
TEEN GRAPHIC NOVEL THOMPSON
This is an illustrated novel loosely based on the author's life growing up in rural Wisconsin.

Book Bite: "The Difference Between You and Me" by Madeleine George

"If you do something, you become a target. People want to take you down. That’s a risk. But it’s better to do too much, better to try too hard, better to have a crisis of faith and get thrown and climb back up on your horse and keep riding, than to see something wrong in the world and not do anything at all."

- The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George (2012)

Get creative with duct tape in Monday's Craft Lab

Cut, fold, and stick duct tape at Monday's Craft Lab, Duct Tape Projects. We have a rainbow of colors and patters for you to experiment with at the program! Here are some examples of projects you may want to tackle:

Clockwise from top left: spike bracelet, flower pens, phone case, carnation pen

The program will be held Monday, January 19 at 2 p.m. in the Craft Room on the lower level. Please register online, by calling 847-428-3661 (press 3), or in person.

New books to warm you up!

Remember Me by Romily Bernard
Teen hacker Wick Tate has to decide between right and wrong as she tries to solve another murder and discover the truth about her mother's suicide. Sequel to Find Me.

The Halcyon Bird by Kat Beyer (series)
Mia Della Torre is happy to be settled in Milan, learning her family's ancient trade of demon hunting, and able to put her fear of her own, personal demon aside--until she falls in love and realizes how much more than her own happiness is at stake. Sequel to The Demon Catchers of Milan.

The Terminals by Royce Scott Buckingham
Nineteen-year-old Cam Cody takes the opportunity to join a covert unit of young spies who, like him, are terminally ill but have extraordinary abilities due to an experimental super-steroid, but he soon learns the program is not what it seems--and they may not even be ill.

Vivian Apple at the End of the World by Katie Coyle
Sixteen-year-old Vivian Apple returns home after the alleged 'Rapture' to find her devout parents gone and two mysterious holes in the roof. Vivian never believed in the Rapture, or the uber powerful Church of America. Now that she has been left behind, Vivan's quest for the truth begins.

Little White Lies by Katie Dale
The first time Lou meets mysterious Christian, she knows he is The One. But when Christian's secret is unveiled in front of the whole world, it seems everything he's ever told Lou is a lie, and Lou finds herself ensnared in a web of deceit.

The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley
It's 1993, and Generation X pulses to the beat of Kurt Cobain and the grunge movement. Sixteen-year-old Maggie Lynch is uprooted from big-city Chicago to a windswept town on the Irish Sea. Surviving on care packages of Spin magazine and Twizzlers from her rocker uncle Kevin, she wonders if she'll ever find her place in this new world. When first love and sudden death simultaneously strike, a naive but determined Maggie embarks on a forbidden pilgrimage that will take her to a seedy part of Dublin and on to a life-altering night in Rome to fulfill a dying wish. Through it all, Maggie discovers an untapped inner strength to do the most difficult but rewarding thing of all--live.

Frostfire by Amanda Hocking
Tracker Bryn Aven's goal of becoming a member of the elite King's Guard is threatened when she is sent to stop Konstantin, a fallen hero who she once secretly loved, who appears to be kidnapping changelings.

This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (series)
Flynn, leader of the rebellion on Avon, captures Jubilee "Lee" Chase, captain of the forces sent to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but later saves her and the two, caught between sides in a senseless war, flee together.

Monkey Wars by Richard Kurti
When rhesus monkeys are brutally massacred on the streets of Kolkata by a troop of power hungry langur monkeys, a young langur soldier's life is changed forever.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Told in alternating voices, when Theodore Finch and Violet Markey meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school--both teetering on the edge--it's the beginning of an unlikely relationship, a journey to discover the "natural wonders" of the state of Indiana, and two teens' desperate desire to heal and save one another.

Paper Airplanes by Dawn O'Porter
The story of the strong bond of friendship between two fifteen year-old schoolgirls in Guernsey in the mid-1990s, who became friends through their shared loneliness and dysfunctional families, despite their differences in personality and ambitions.

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson (series)
David and the Reckoners continue their fight against the Epics, humans with superhuman powers, except they may have met their match in Regalia, a High Epic who resides in Babylon Restored, the city formerly known as the borough of Manhattan. Sequel to Steelheart.

X by Ilyasah Shabazz with Kekla Magoon
A novel covering the life of Malcolm X from childhood to age 20.

Hold Tight, Don't Let Go by Laura Rose Wagner
In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Nadine goes to live with her father in Miami while her cousin Magdalie, raised as her sister, remains behind in a refugee camp, dreaming of joining Nadine but wondering if she must accept that her life and future are in Port-au-Prince.

Memoir and Non Fiction:

Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina by Michaela De Prince
Michaela DePrince lived the first few years of her live in war-torn Sierra Leone until she was adopted by an American Family. Now seventeen, she is one of the premiere ballerinas in the United States.

We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist
The Paralympic ski racer, YouTube star, and motivational speaker documents his coming of age as an amputee cancer survivor and his efforts to investigate past dates gone wrong to discover why he was still single.

Sneaker Century: A History of Athletic Shoes by Amber V. Keyser

Graphic Novels:

Kiss of the Rose Princess vol. 2 by Aya Shouoto

My Love Story vol. 3 by Kazune Kawahara and Aruko

Batman/Superman vol. 2: Game Over

Aquaman vol. 5: Sea of Storms

Batman Detective Comics vol. 5: Gothtopia

Book Bite: "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

“Cold and silence. Nothing quieter than snow. The sky screams to deliver it, a hundred banshees flying on the edge of the blizzard. But once the snow covers the ground, it hushes as still as my heart.” 

- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (1999)

Book Bite: "The Patron Saint of Pigs" by Lauren Myracle

“Christmas is never over, unless you want it to be... Christmas is a state of mind.”

- "The Patron Saint of Pigs" by Lauren Myracle in Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle (2008)

Sign up for Craft Lab

Get creative in the library's Craft Lab, Recycled Winter Crafts, on Tuesday, December 23 at 2 p.m.. Use glue, paint, glitter, cotton balls, and fake snow to transform "junk" into art!

What could you make out of burnt out light bulbs, bottle caps, fabric, and ribbon scraps?

A snowman? A reindeer? Something colorful? Something cool?

Please register online or by calling the Information Desk at 847-428-3661 (press 3).

Upcoming Craft Labs:

Monday, January 19: Duct Tape Crafts
Monday, February 16: Sharpie Mugs

Book Bite: "A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle" by John Green

“I always had this idea that you should never give up a happy middle in the hopes of a happy ending, because there is no such thing as a happy ending. Do you know what I mean? There is so much to lose.”

- "A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle" by John Green in Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle (2008)

Book Bite: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says 'Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.'” 

- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (1865)

Book Bite: "The Jubilee Express" by Maureen Johnson

“Debbie had to get up and slice me a thick piece of cake before she could answer. And I do mean thick. Harry Potter volume seven thick. I could have knocked out a burglar with this piece of cake. Once I tasted it, though, it seemed just the right size.”

- "The Jubilee Express" by Maureen Johnson in Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle (2008)

Book Bite: "Looking for Alaska"

“I hated cranberry sauce, but for some reason my mom persisted in her lifelong belief that it was my very favorite food, even though every single Thanksgiving I politely declined to include it on my plate.” 

- Looking for Alaska by John Green (2005)

Book Bite: "Delirium" by Lauren Oliver

“My heart is drumming in my chest so hard it aches, but it's the good kind of ache, like the feeling you get on the first real day of autumn, when the air is crisp and the leaves are all flaring at the edges and the wind smells just vaguely of smoke - like the end and the beginning of something all at once.”

- Delirium by Lauren Oliver (2011)

International Games Day is Saturday!

This Saturday is International Games Day, a day when libraries around the world celebrate the educational, recreational, and social value of games. Seriously, click this link to see a map of all the libraries participating this year!

At the Dundee Library we will have games in the Meeting Room and Craft Room from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Come participate or hang out with your friends. Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 games will be set up in the Meeting Room, and board games will be set up in the Craft Room. Feel free to bring your own videogames, DS/3DS consoles, controllers, Magic and/or Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.

Book Bite: "Same Difference" by Siobhan Vivian

“Fall colors are funny. They’re so bright and intense and beautiful. It’s like nature is trying to fill you up with color, to saturate you so you can stockpile it before winter turns everything muted and dreary.”

- Same Difference by Siobhan Vivian (2009)

New books

Before You by Amber Hart
Faith Watters has a picture-perfect life. She's captain of the dance team, popular, happy. She even spent her junior year traveling the world before returning to Oviedo High School for senior year. But she's living a lie. Diego Alvarez hates his new life in the States, but staying in Cuba is not an option. Covered in tattoos and scars, Diego doesn't stand a chance of fitting in, and doesn't want to. His only concern is his secret past, a past, which if it were to surface, would cost him his life. Everyone knows that Faith and Diego don't belong together. But fate has its own plan. All they want is to be free. What they get is something different entirely.

Made for You by Melissa Marr
Southern small town darling Eva Tilling wakes up in the hospital with the frightening ability to see through the eyes of the victims of a serial killer, and realizes that she, too, is a target of the depraved stalker.

Kiss Kill Vanish by Jessica Martinez
A teenage girl flees her opulent life in Miami when she witnesses her boyfriend commit a murder that was ordered by her father.

Perfectly Good White Boy by Carrie Mesrobian
After losing his virginity to an older girl who dumps him at the end of summer, Sean decides to join the Marines, but first he must get through his senior year of high school.

Althea & Oliver by Cristina Moracho
Althea and Oliver, who have been friends since age six and are now high school juniors, find their friendship changing because he has contracted Kleine-Levin Syndrome.

On a Clear Day by Walter Dean Myers
In 2035, Dahlia Grillo, a sixteen-year-old math whiz, joins with six other American teens traveling to England to meet with groups from around the world in hopes of stopping C8, the companies that control nearly everything for their own benefit.

Damaged by Amy Reed
Numb after the death of her best friend, Camille, Kinsey starts to shut down but Hunter, Camille's mysterious boyfriend, has other ideas and whisks Kinsey off on a multi-state road trip to forget the ghosts of their pasts and their own fears.

The start of new series--

Atlantia by Ally Condie
Rio has always dreamed of leaving the underwater city of Atlantia for life in the Above; however, when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected decision, Rio is left stranded below where she must find a way to unlock the secrets of the siren voice she has long hidden and save Atlantia from destruction.

Endgame: The Calling by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton
Twelve teens who have prepared their entire lives for an ancient life-or-death game must finally come to terms with its arrival, forming tenuous alliances and kiling each other for the chance to be the last one standing and the winner of the ultimate prize: the ability to save a select group of people from the end of the world.

Talon by Julie Kagawa
Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser. Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George. Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey--and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him--and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard
Ava, Caitlin, Mackenzie, Julie, and Parker are all driven to be perfect--no matter the cost. At first the girls think they have nothing in common, until they discover that they all hate the same person: handsome womanizer Nolan Hotchkiss, who's done things to hurt each of them. They come up with the perfect plan to murder Nolan--jokingly, of course. They'd never actually go through with it. But when Nolan turns up dead in the exact way they'd discussed, the girls suddenly become prime suspects in his murder. Only, they didn't do it. So who did? Unless they find the real killer, and soon, their perfect lives will come crashing down around them.

Continuing series--

Visitors by Orson Scott Card
Rigg's journey comes to an epic and explosive conclusion as everything that has been building up finally comes to pass, and Rigg is forced to put his powers to the test in order to save his world and end the war once and for all.

Waterfall by Lauren Kate
Eureka, a girl whose tears have the power to raise the lost continent of Atlantis and who travels across the ocean with Cat, her family, and Ander, the gorgeous and mysterious Seedbearer who promises to help her, has the chance to save the world might have to give up everything--even love.

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
Annith's worst fears are realized when she discovers that, despite her lifelong training to be an assassin, she is being groomed by the abbess as a Seeress, to be forever shut up in the convent of Saint Mortain.

In the End by Demitria Lunetta
An escaped Amy fights her way to the Fort Black survivor colony to find Kay's brother, Ken, in order to rescue Baby from the sinister Dr. Reynolds.

Blood of My Blood by Barry Lyga
Jazz Dent, who has been shot and left to die in New York City, his girlfriend, Connie, who is in the clutches of Jazz's serial killer father, Billy, and his best friend, Howie, who is bleeding to death on the floor of Jazz's own home in tiny Lobo's Nod, must all rise above the horrors their lives have become and find a way to come together in pursuit of Billy.

Sanctum by Madeleine Roux
Plagued by nightmares from their summer in the Brookline asylum, Dan, Abby, and Jordan return to New Hampshire College for a prosective students weekend, only to find themselves caught in a dark and dangerous mystery.

Zom-B Family by Darren Shan
Now a prisoner of the most heinous survivors of the human race, B finds herself at the mercy of her enemies and discovers the fate of her parents and friend Vinyl, calling into question how much she is willing to sacrifice in the name of justice