Mixed Up Names, Holidays & Love

I absolutely loved this little novella! I read it on my Galaxy! It was so cute, funny, sweet and definitely got me ready for the holidays. I thought it was very adorable that the two main characters had the same name only flipped around Ty McKenzie and Mackenzie Tyler . This brought me closer to the characters and helped me to see that they really had something in common. Ty was super awesome and would be the guy that I would want my daughter to date and fall in love with, sweet, thoughtful and pretty cute. Kenzie was great because she helped to heal a bond that had been broken between Ty and his mom and that meant everything in the world to both of them. I love the holidays, but sometimes I feel like I can bogged down in all of the commercialism. This story helped me to get excited about decorating, shopping, baking, and even ice skating. It was short, but I don't really have a whole lot of time to read, so I really loved that too! I'm going to see if I can read some more from the ALL I WANT anthology.




Mrs. Librarian Lady is a cool cat who loves to read!

Love, Laughter & Loss + Forgiveness = Real Life

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker (named
after John Lennon), bookworm and band
geek, plays second clarinet and spends her
time tucked safely and happily in the shadow
of her fiery sister Bailey. But when Bailey
dies suddenly, Lennie is catapulted to center
stage of her own life—and, despite her
nonexistent history with boys, finds herself
struggling to balance two. Toby was
Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s
own. Joe is the new boy in town, a
transplant from Paris whose nearly magical
grin is matched only by his musical talent.
For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon;
one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the
other comforts her in it. But just like their
celestial counterparts, they can’t collide
without the whole wide world exploding.
I can safely say The Sky is Everywhere
is one of my favorite books ever. I have never
finished a book and felt this emotional before,
last night when I turned the last page I felt like
crying, laughing, writing and running in a field
to nowhere in particular, and all at the same
time. It’s now been almost 12 hours and I can’t
stop thinking about this book!
I wasn’t really looking for a serious book I just
chose this one because it was sitting on the
shelf in the YA room looking a bit lonely. From
start to finish, my heart broke and got glued
back together more than once and I feel like
the cast of characters are now permanently
stuck to my life. The things from this book that
really stuck with me are how close Lennie and
her sister Bailey were, Joe’s eyelashes (bat,
bat, bat), Toby’s sad eyes and Gram’s
garden.

Beautifully written, The Sky is Everywhere
is about loss, grief, pain, healing, hoping and
love. The sudden death of Bailey a vibrant
nineteen-year-old is at the center of the story,
and her family’s struggle to cope is
heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same
time. Bailey and Lennie have been raised by
their grandmother and uncle, as their mother
abandoned them years before. The girls talk
about their mother as if she is on a journey
around the world and she’ll be back someday
to stay. The love stories in this book are
many and multi-layered. They include the
love between sisters, the mother-like love
between grandmother and granddaughter,
and breathtaking head-over-heels first love.
Music and poetry bring together the
instruments of healing for Lennie and her
family in this wonderful story about loss, love
and forgiveness.

Happy Reading To You!!!
Mrs. Librarian Lady

Perks of Reading "Wallflower"

I just finished reading "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky! This was my second time reading this book and I have to say it was just as good if not better than the first time. This storyteller Charlie is such a sweetie th at you can't help but love him. He tells the story of his first year in high school and how he meets friends and tries new things. He also writes to a person that he calls "Dear Friend" and we never really know who this person is, but in the end I felt like I was the friend that Charlie was writing to. Charlie has so many sad things to tell and also many interesting stories that the book is extremely readable for teens. I'm sure many teens could relate with Charlie's story. Even though it is over 20 years old the "Perks of a Wallflower" is an age old story. I wanted to re-read the book before the movie comes out on September 21st 2012!

The Final Destiny of Love

“The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous and majorly hot plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, "The Fault in Our Stars" is award-winning author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love. I hear there is already talk of making this book into a movie. One of my recommendations is to make sure that you are reading this book that you have a whole box of tissues nearby because the last quarter of the book is super emotional. I recommend this book to lovers of realistic fiction. It gets the most points I can give it for being dark,emotional,hopeful and stirring. Way to go John Green you did it again!!

The Torment of Female Teendom

This week's theme focuses on girls with issues. I love books that have a strong female character that you can really connect with. Here are a few that I have read recently that I think bring up realistic issues in teens lives and work very hard on resolving issues so that it might someone reading think that there is hope to continue to grow and learn.

Happy Reading to you all!

Mrs. Librarian Lady

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger (Little, Brown, 2010)

Bianca Piper is one tough cookie because her mom has been off on a book tour most of her life and her dad is a struggling recovering alcoholic. She knows that her friends are much prettier than her, but when the infamous girl chasing stud Wesley Rush tells her she’s the DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) of her group she gets so mad she throws her drink on him. Later, she finds herself drawn to Wesley like a magnet to metal and she tells herself she’s just using him to forget about all of her problems. The trouble with that agenda is that she and Wesley spend so much time together that they end up being very close. Bianca can’t tell what’s real and what’s not as the lines of passion and manipulation become comepletely blurred. Can Bianca discover the true meaning of love and finally be happy or will she always end up being the DUFF?

This book is probably one of my favorites that I have read lately. I enjoyed the honesty and realism that Keplinger brings to her writing. She is a young woman herself who has probably had to go through many of the obstacles that Bianca did in the book. Keplinger offers front and center views on how girls see themselves and how it’s ok to be open about sex, birth control, and talk about your real emotions.

I would recommend this book to older teens. I read a review that said it should be recommended to older girls, but I think that guys should read this book too. The book offers many insights on how teens can deal with real life issues.

Goth Girl Rising by Barry Lyga (Houghton Mifflin, 2009)

Goth girl Kyra Sellers is back from the mental hospital after unsuccessfully trying to kill herself. She's mad at everyone in the world because they just don't understand her. She tries to change her appearance by shaving her head bald and wearing white clothes but this only draws more attention to her. After a long thoughtful bout of revenge planning Kyra finally has a break through and starts to realize that life goes on even after you have lost one of the most important people in your entire life. She must come to terms with the death of her mom and move forward with her own life because in reality she is still here, she is still surviving even though deep inside she feels that she just can't carry on any longer. Lyga's Kyra is such a moving character who is so full of anger and remorse that it's hard not to like her. The actions that she takes to destroy Fanboy are definitely not healthy, but her inner thoughts and plans of revenge are very engaging.

This book was very interesting and I think that many teens might be able to relate to Kyra’s confusion and anger. I had hoped that she could move on and get past her anger and revenge or find some kind of cathartic outlet to release her pain, but other than her changing her appearance this did not seem to happen in the story. However, the book offers life lessons that can definitely speak to teens.

By the Time You Read This I’ll Be Dead Julie Anne Peters (Hyperion, 2010)

I picked this book up at the library because I thought the title was very catchy. I found it to be a deep and dark exploration of a troubled teenage girl. Daelyn is a very sad and depressed teen girl. She has gone to many different schools and has been bullied and shamed because she was overweight as a child. She was shoved, kicked, groped by a group of boys and even locked in a custodial closet all day on the first day at a new school. When reading this book you feel the pain and torment that Daelyn has experienced and it makes you feel so sad. I really wished that I could reach out and hold her and try to take her pain away. She has been down in the depths of hell so long that she decides that there is nothing left in life to live for. She has actually tried quite a few times to end her life and recently had almost succeeded. As almost a punishment from nature, Daelyn won't be able to talk for a long while due to an injury that she has caused on her own body.

Now she is on a 24-hour suicide watch and her parents watch her like a hawk, spend almost every waking moment with her, and they do not trust her to ever be alone. Daelyn doesn’t understand that her parents love her and that they are so fearful that they might lose her. She thinks that they would be happier without her and that they could live a better life with her gone. This stems from the disapproval that she received when she was younger. They never seemed to understand why she was overweight or why she was the one always being picked on.

In this story, Daelyn gets connected online to a website called Through the Light. This site allows her to plan and plot her own death date. The thought might seem morbid, but it allows her to connect with other individuals who have gone through similar experiences as she has gone through. The website offers her an outlet that she definitely needs. So she begins her countdown at 23 days and starts to plan her departure. In the meantime, she meets a strange and quirky boy that is always outside by her school while she is waiting for her parents. It turns out that the boy whose name is Santana is homeschooled and he lives right next door to her school. He is also suffering from lymphoma cancer. She forms an interesting friendship with this boy and all along she is trying so hard not to connect with him. This book is fairly short, but highly thought provoking. The author Julie Anne Peters offers a deep insight on the boiling point for victims of bullying and the depths and despair of suicide. A must read for teens everywhere as it offers tips on warning signs to look out for and facts on the prevention of suicide.