Which Is Better? The Book or the Movie?

This has been a great year for movies based on teen books.  From Me and Earl and the Dying Girl to the final Hunger Games movie, there have been several movies released this year based on books.  Here are some of my favorite books turned into movies . . . .

Stardust by Neil Gaiman
The story of young Tristran Thorn and his adventures in the land of Faerie. He has fallen in love with beautiful Victoria Forester and in order to win her hand, he must retrieve a fallen star and deliver it to her.

William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher
A retelling of Star wars in the style of Shakespeare, in which a wise Jedi knight, an evil Sith lord, a beautiful captive princess, and a young hero coming of age reflect the valor and villainy of the Bard's greatest plays.

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
To get away from her pregnant stepmother in New York City, fifteen-year-old Daisy goes to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she instantly bonds, but soon war breaks out and rips apart the family while devastating the land.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman
While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, weights whether to live with her grief or join her family in death.


More Books Turned into Movies --
Beastly by Alex Flinn
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Paper Towns by John Green
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Speak by Laurie Hals Anderson
The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead


Check out these books on display at the Arnold Branch through December 18, 2015.

Blast Off! with a Good Book

Stories of outer space can be thrilling, scary, or humorous.  Here are some of my favorite stories set in outer space for kids . . .

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
While picking up milk for his children's cereal, a father is abducted by aliens and finds himself on a wild adventure through time and space.

The Princess, the Scoundrel and the Farmboy by Alexandra Bracken
Presents an illustrated retelling of the first Star Wars film in which the galaxy's fate lies in the hands of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo.

Larklight by Philip Reeves
In an alternate Victorian England, young Arthur and his sister Myrtle, residents of Larklight, a floating house in one of Her Majesty's outer space territories, uncover a spidery plot to destroy the solar system.

Space Case by Stuart Gibbs
Dashiell Gibson, who lives on Moon Base Alpha, has to solve a murder of one of the moon's most prominent doctors.

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Liam Digby is so unusually tall that people think he should act like an adult, which leads him to compete against adults for a chance to go into space.


More Outer Space Stories --
Akiko on the Planet Smoo by Mark Crilley
Cakes in Space by Philip Reeve & Sarah McIntyre
Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl
Field Guide to Aliens by Johan Olander
The Incredible Space Raiders from Space! by Wesley King
Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow by Nathan Bransford
The Lost Planet by Rachel Searles
Space Race by Sylvia Waugh
Space Taxi: Archie Takes Flight by Wendy Mass & Michael Brawer
Willy Maykit in Space by Greg Trine
Zorgoochi Intergalactic Pizza: Delivery of Doom by Dan Yaccrino


Check out these books on display at the library through December 11, 2015.

Once Upon a Time . . .

Fairy Tales are popular stories for kids of all ages.  Here are some great picture book versions of fairy tales . . . .

1 2 3: A Child's First Counting Book by Alison Jay
A little girl awakens to scenes from fairy tales in which she can count familiar characters or objects from one to ten and back again.

The Ugly Duckling by Sebastian Braun
Though his mother loves him just the same as his siblings, a young duckling feels ugly because he looks and sounds different from the other ducks, but one day he discovers who he really is.

Princess by Anne Wilsdorf
A girl proves that she is a real princess in an unusual way.

A Catfish Tale by Whitney Stewart
When Cajun fisherman Jacques encounters a magical wish-granting catfish, his wife, Jolie, wishes for many things, including a paddleboat and the title of Mardi Gras queen.

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe
Mufaro's two beautiful daughters, one bad-tempered, one kind and sweet, go before the king, who is choosing a wife.


More Fairy Tale Books --
Beauty and the Beast by Max Eilenberg
Beware of Storybook Wolves by Lauren Child
The Brave Little Seamstress by  Mary Pope Osborne
Cinderella by Barbara McClintock
Cinderlily: A Floral Fairy Tale by David Ellwand
Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming
East of the Sun & West of the Moon by Mercer Mayer
The Elves and the Shoemaker by Jim LaMarche
The End by David LaRochelle
The Firebird by Jane Yolen
The Fully Belly Bowl by Jim Aylesworth
The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble
Hansel and Gretel by Holly Hobbie
Iron John by Marianna Mayer
Jack and the Beanstalk by Steven Kellogg
Kate and the Beanstalk by Mary Pope Osborne
The Little Match Girl by Jerry Pinkney
Little Roja Riding Hood by Susan Middleton Elua
The Malachite Palace by Alma Flor Ada
The Nightingale by  Jerry Pinkney
One Potato, Two Potato by Cynthia DeFelice
The Princess Mouse by Aaron Shepard
The Red Wolf by Margaret Shannon
Rumpelstiltskin by Paul O. Zelinsky
Snoring Beauty by Bruce Hale
Thumbelina by Brian Pinkney
The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Rachel Isadora
The Valiant Red Rooster by Eric A. Kimmel
The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-to-Be by Mini Grey
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book? by Lauren Child


Check out these and more fairy tale books on display at the Arnold Branch through December 4, 2015.

Masterminds by Gordon Korman

Serenity, New Mexico is the perfect town.  Honesty and integrity are valued above all else.  The kids who live there never lie -- they know it's a short leap from lying to the awful problems found elsewhere in the world.

Eli has never left Serenity . . . why would he want to?

Then one day, he bikes to the edge of the city limits and something so crazy and unexpected happens that it changes everything.  Eli convinces his friends to investigate further and it's soon apparent that nothing in Serenity is as it seems.  The clues lead to an awful discovery . . . one that will causes them to realize they can trust no one -- especially their parents.


Masterminds is the first book in a new adventure series by Gordon Korman.  It's a great, suspenseful read for kids.  Each chapter is narrated by one of five children in the town.  They each discover shocking secrets about their lives that will change everything they've every thought and believe.  I would recommend this to anyone looking for an adventure, suspense or a mystery.

Read These Books with the Lights On!

Horror books are always fun to read!  Even though Halloween is a couple of weeks in the past, we still like to get chills as we read a scary book.  Here are some of my favorite horror books for teens ...

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
Sam LaCroix, a Seattle fast-food worker and college dropout, discovers that he is a necromancer, part of a world of harbingers, werewolves, satyrs, and one particular necromancer who sees Sam as a threat to his lucrative business of raising the dead.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
For three years, seventeen-year-old Cas Lowood has carried on his father's work of dispatching the murderous dead, traveling with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat, but everything changes when he meets Anna, a girl unlike any ghost he has faced before.

Prom Dates from  Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore
High school senior and yearbook photographer Maggie thought she would rather die than go to prom, but when a classmate summons a revenge-seeking demon, she has no choice but to buy herself a dress and prepare to face jocks, cheerleaders, and Evil Incarnate.

Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Sunshine is abducted by a vampire, and as she waits through the night, fearing the worst, she forms an unlikely bond with her captor.

Jinx by  Meg Cabot
Sixteen-year-old Jean "Jinx" Honeychurch, the descendant of a witch, must leave Iowa to live with relatives in Manhattan after the first spell she casts goes awry, but she will have to improve her skills to stop her cousin from practicing black magic that endangers them and the boy they both like.


More Teen Horror --
Ashes by Ilsa Bick
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Tucholke
Bonechiller by Graham McNamee
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein
Dr. Frankenstein's Daughters by Suzanne Weyn
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
In the After by Demetria Lunetta
A Midsummer Night's Scream by R.L. Stine
My Swordhand Is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick
Nightmare City by Andrew Klavan
Pretty Monsters: Stories by Kelly Link
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry


Check out these books on display at the Arnold Branch through November 25, 2015.

Legacies: A Shadow Grail Novel by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill

Spirit is devastated after a car accident that kills her parents and younger sister.  She is shocked to discover that her parents made plans for her to attend Oakhurst Academy in case anything ever happened to them.  When she arrives at Oakhurst, she discovers that it is a school for those who have magic.  However, this is no Hogwarts or other happy school.  Students are going missing.  Friendships are discouraged.  Spirit must discover what is going on before something happens to her also . . .

This is the first book in the Shadow Grail series by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill.  The series continues with Legacies, Conspiracies, and Sacrifices.  It is a series filled with magic, conspiracy, suspense, great evil, and true heroism.  This is a great series for any fantasy fan.

Weather Gone Wild!

This November, the country's weather is being affected by El Nino.  We're experiencing above normal temperatures for the month.  Weather is a topic that continually interesting -- whether talking about the day's weather, freak storms from the past, or upcoming possible snow storms that will cancel school.  Today I'm sharing chapter books featuring wild weather . . .

The Storm Makers by Jennifer E. Smith
Twelve-year-olds Ruby and Simon have been growing apart since their parents moved them to a Wisconsin farm, but weird weather events that seem tied to Simon's emotions bring a stranger into their lives who introduces them to the Makers of Storms Society,strengthening the bond between the twins.

Blizzard's Wake by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
In March of 1941, when a severe blizzard suddenly hits Bismarck, North Dakota, a girl trying to save her stranded father and brother inadvertently helps the man who killed her mother four years before.

Ninth Ward by Jewell Rhodes
In New Orleans' Ninth Ward, twelve-year-old Lanesha, who can see spirits, and her adopted grandmother have no choice but to stay and weather the storm as Hurricane Katrina bears down upon them.

The Lightning Catcher by Anne Cameron
When eleven-year-old Angus McFangus learns that he is a storm prophet, someone who can predict and control catastrophic weather, he must stop the villainous Scabious Dankhart from unleashing an unending storm and achieving world domination.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.


More Wild Weather Stories --
Anna's Blizzard by Alison Hart
Blown Away! by Joan Harlow
The Book of Storms by Ruth Hatfield
The Buddha's Diamonds by Carolyn Marsden
Hurricane by Terry Trueman
The Maloney's Magical Weatherbox by Nigel Quinlan
Saint Louis Armstrong Beach by Brenda Woods
Treasures in the Dust by Tracey Porter
The Voyage of the Frog by Gary Paulsen
Where the Four Winds Blow by Dan Yaccrino


Check out these books on display at the Arnold Branch through November 20, 2015.