The first ever Read-It-Forward in GISD has begun. The Georgetown Middle Schools and Ninth Grade Center join Georgetown Public Library to offer this fun and creative reading experience. Over 400 copies of  Gordon Korman’s book Schooled have been released at various locations on their campuses as well as at GPL. Students who find the packages first get to unwrap and start the reading chain.

Each book has instructions describing steps that the reader should take when the book is finished. GPL is providing a website that will track each copy as well as reader comments. Click the Read-it-Forward graphic above or look for a link on any of the participating campus library web pages.

The most important step is to take the copy and “read-it-forward” by passing it to a friend or leaving it somewhere on campus for another student to find. With so many copies circulating, the goal is to have at least 1000 readers before the end of school.

Georgetown Public Library and the Friends of the Library will host an “After-Schooled” wrap up party on May 9, 2009.  So, read the book, pass it on, get the invitation and then party.  We’ll celebrate the end of Read it Forward with pizza, tie dying, Guitar Hero and more.  Watch for more details on the Schooled tracking site, your campus web page or check with your librarian.

Now go get schooled.

Thirteen Reasons Why

by Jay Asher

Clay Jensen had a crush on Hannah Baker.  He hoped he was finally getting to know her better.  That was until she committed suicide.  Two weeks later, as he is struggling with the aftermath of her death, Clay finds a shoebox addressed to him on his porch.  Inside the shoebox was the last thing he wanted or expected.  The shoebox contained tapes recorded by Hannah.  Hannah’s voice explains that there are 13 reasons she decided to end her life.  Clay is one of them.  If he listens he will find out why.  What follows is a nerve wracking, life altering night where Clay travels around town learning things about himself and others he would rather not face.  Through the tapes, Hannah’s life and death unfold showing us that we never know how people are connected or what kind of effect our actions and words will have on someone else.  Once you listen, Hannah’s voice will grab you and not let you go.

If you like this book try: Before I Die by Jenny Downham, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin, Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen, I Heart You Your Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder

I just finished volumes 1 and 2 of Hikaru No Go, a new manga series here at GPL. Hikaru No Go is the story of Hikaru Shindo. Hikaru Shindo is like any sixth-grader in Japan: a pretty normal school boy with a two-tone head of hair and a penchant for antics. One day, he finds an old bloodstained Go board in his grandfather’s attic-and that’s when things get really interesting. Trapped inside the Go board is Fujiwara-no-Sai, the ghost of an ancient Go master who taught the strategically complex board game to the Emperor of Japan many centuries ago. In one fateful moment, Sai becomes a part of Hikaru’s consciousness and together, through thick and thin, they make an unstoppable Go-playing team. Will they be able to defeat Go players who have dedicated their lives to the game? Will Sai achieve the “Divine Move” so he’ll finally be able to rest in peace?

Don’t let the fact that the series is based on an ancient board game fool you. This manga has everything from competition, rivalries, pranks, friendship, strategy, and a funny and memorable main character. Read it and tell Ms. Bethni if we should order more volumes in the series.

The Disreputable History Of Frankie Landau-Banks

by E. Lockhart

The summer between her freshman and sophomore year changed everything for Frankie Landau-Banks. She went from being a shy, awkward, geeky girl to a curvaceous knockout who did not like to take no for an answer with an attitude to match. Frankie definitely does not like being excluded from the all-male secret society The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. The same secret society her new, popular, senior boyfriend belongs to at the prestigious Alabaster Preparatory Academy where they attend school. She also does not like being treated as nothing more than her boyfriend’s latest accessory. Bold action needed to be taken. Frankie uses her intelligence and wits to take over the Order. She anonymously leads the members in pulling off some of the most memorable pranks in the school’s history including the Night of a Thousand Dogs, the Canned Beet Rebellion, and the abduction of the Guppy. Is Frankie a smart girl just trying to find her place or a criminal mastermind in the making?

If you like this one, try Lockhart’s other books: Dramarama, How to be Bad

Me, the Missing, and the Dead

by Jenny Valenting

All of us have important people in our lives.  Sixteen year old Lucas Swain has Violet, a dead woman, in an urn, whom he just met.  He feels that Violet is trying to tell him something about his father. Silly right?  How can a dead old woman lead Lucas to the truth about the man who abandoned his family five years ago?  But life (and death) is rarely exactly what it seems.  The more Lucas learns about Violet, the more he finds the dead have a lot to teach about relationships, family, self, and what’s important in life.  Me, the Missing, and the Dead is a short book with memorable characters whether alive, missing, or dead.

If you like this book try: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon; The Missing Girl by Norma Fox Mazer

The Compound

by S.A. Bodeen

Eli is the self absorbed, spoiled son of the world’s richest man.  His father is obsessed with nuclear war and builds the family an underground shelter with everything they need to survive a nuclear attack.  One night, when Eli is nine years old, the unthinkable happens.  Eli and his family flee to the compound.  In the chaos, Eli’s twin brother and grandmother don’t make it and are locked out.  The world they know is gone.  The compound becomes Eli’s entire world.  Six years have gone by.  Eli is fifteen and still caught up in his selfishness. He has become a loner, pushing his family members away.  Now the food supply is running low and Eli’s father is acting strange.  What secrets are his family members hiding?  Why won’t his father let them out of the compound?

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman

Read this book.

The first reason to read this book is because it begins with this sentence: “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.” The second reason to read this book is because of, well, all the sentences that follow. Though it’s not as simple as that. It never is with Neil Gaiman.

“The Graveyard Book” is the story of a child who unknowingly escapes a sharp death-a death intended by the hand and the knife alluded to above. While his family is being slashed in their sleep, the boy climbs free of his crib and stumbles out of his home and into a nearby graveyard, where a pair of ghosts decide to take the child in and raise him as their son. Since the boy has no name, since he is basically nobody, his name becomes Nobody Owens, which eventually is shortened to Bod. Not Bob. The Owens ghosts raise the boy with the help of a mysterious person who is almost certainly-though Gaiman never actually uses the word-a vampire. A good vampire.

Bod is given the Freedom of the Graveyard, which bestows upon him a number of special abilities, like slipping through walls and down through tombstones into dark recesses where ghosts abide. He can see spirits and commune with them; he can Fade into nothing so that people’s glances slide off him and he is forgotten just as swiftly, like he never existed. Mostly his presence is like a thin wisp no one ever notices. Like a ghost.

As each chapter progresses, Bod gets a little older. We get to know the strange and compelling denizens of the graveyard. Some are ghastly and gruesome, like the ghouls who come from the ancient and forsaken city of Ghulheim. Some characters are uproariously funny, like the dead poet Nehemiah Trot, who serves as a brilliant comic release to the story. All the characters, though, are unique and vivid, and linger long in the mind.

Like all fiction by Gaiman, the real charm in “The Graveyard Book” is in the story telling. The way the author masterfully weaves all the strands together like the most skilled prestigitator-a magician of the highest rank. I get the sense that Gaiman is always there in the background smiling at me, mischievously, a hand outstretched to offer something of tremendous value, though each time he pulls back right before I can clamp my finger around the treasure. And I know that by the end of the story I’ll get that treasure.

I have never encountered a book by Gaiman that did not thrill me. Whether you are a teenager or a retiree, this book will delight you. The catharsis at the end will make you want to live a richer life, a fuller life, for that is ultimately what the book is about. The celebration of life.

If you like this book try these books by Neil Gaiman: Stardust, Coraline,  The Wolves in the Walls,  M is for Magic,  Interworld,  Beowulf, or the biography on Neil Gaiman.

Review by Billy Cryer
Library Assistant
Georgetown Public Library

Notes from the Midnight Driver

by Jordan Sonnenblick

So Alex Gregory made one little mistake.  So what?  He’s a good kid.  Nobody was hurt in the car crash except a garden gnome.  It wasn’t really his fault anyway.  Now, in order to fulfill the community service hours given to him by a hardhearted judge, Alex must baby sit some crazy, cranky old guy at the nursing home where his mom works.  This on top of school, jazz band, his parents impending divorce, and his confusing feelings for his best friend Laurie, who by the way could kill him with one finger.  What did he do to deserve this?  This is the story of Alex Gregory, his guitar, his best pal, Laurie, and the friendship of a lifetime.

If you liked this book, try these other books by Jordan Sonnenblick: Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie; Zen and the Art of Faking It

King Of the Screwups

By K.L. Going

Liam Geller seems have it all.  He’s handsome, popular, and gets all the girls.  He’s the son of one of the world’s wealthiest men and his mother is a supermodel.  So why does he screw things up all the time?  During his senior year Liam’s father has finally had enough and kicks him out of the house.  Liam has nowhere to go but to a small town in upstate New York to live in a trailer with his uncle. Liam is upset until he realizes this is his chance to remake himself into something, someone his father would notice and appreciate.  Can Liam transform himself into a non popular, studious, business minded success like his father?  Or will he screw up the ultimate makeover?

Check out these other books by K.L. Going: Fat Kid Rules the World, Garden of Eve, Saint Iggy

+ Anima

by Natsumi Mukai

The manga + Anima is a riveting and enchanting tale that never ceases to amaze.   The species known as + Anima have animal-like qualities and since they are different they are shunned by their fellow man.  Cooro (crow-like boy), Husky (fish-like boy), Senri (bear-like boy), and Nana (bat-like girl) set out on an adventure to find more + Anima.  Cooro, Husky, Senri, and Nana are brought to life with their brilliantly detailed emotions and actions.  It’s like you are in their world.  Read the series to find out what danger lurks around the corner.

If you like this series try: Kingdom Hearts, Naruto, Yotsuba &!, Dragon Drive

Review by Jay

If I Stay

by Gayle Forman

Mia is a seventeen year old high school senior facing one of life’s forks in the road.  After graduation should Mia go to Julliard and pursue her own musical dreams or stay and follow her rock star boyfriend and his rise to fame.  Then, in one moment, a terrible car crash changes everything.  Suddenly should she stay or should she go becomes a life or death decision.

If you like this book try: North of Beautiful, Along for the Ride, Wintergirls, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Thirteen Reasons Why, Impossible

[openbook booknumber="0374309892"]

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You

Book publishers are sneaky people. They contrive the cleverest ways to get people to pick up their books. Such is the case with ‘Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You,’ by Peter Cameron. Namely, it’s the book cover. At first glance, it appears innocent enough. Only after I had opened the book and read two chapters did I realize I had been manipulated. But I’ll get to that part later.

First, the premise. James Sveck is a teenager living in New York, and, like most teenagers, is struggling to come to terms with life and where he fits into it. Having just graduated from high school, James is poised to begin his journey through college. Only, James is not certain he wants to attend college. In fact, he would rather not. He dreads the idea. He does not like to be around kids his own age. His experience is that they are generally all the same: immature and shallow. James – like many people his age- is still exploring issues of identity. Torn by many internal conflicts, James sifts through each one in order to discover himself and the life spread out before him. And he does so with wit, unflagging intelligence, and irresistible humor.

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You’ is a surprisingly good novel. The characters are real. They crackle with life. The dialogue is superlative, and reading James’s many barbed observations is sheer pleasure. It’s a book to celebrate–as good as any coming-of-age story. And at its heart it’s a striking reflection on the 9/11 horror. I haven’t read a novel with such strong, compelling characters in a good while.

But how does the book cover ensnare the reader? What’s the secret recipe? It’s a combination of a snappy title and a unique cover design. The title is quirky and helps to set the tone of the story. It’s a phrase we all grow up listening to from our own parents, so we immediately relate. There’s a connection from the beginning. The cover design also draws in the reader. It’s merely an image of a teenager with his left hand clapped over his face. But subconsciously we as reader-ever inquisitive-want to know what is hidden beneath the hand-what that person looks like, to get an idea of who he really is, so we open the book and begin reading. In the end I’m glad I was hoodwinked. Otherwise I’d never have met James, or traveled down the same winding path with him, to experience the world in his own unforgettable perspective.

Review by Billy Cryer

Library Assistant

Georgetown Public Library