Bad Machinery: The Case of the Team Spirit

British artist and writer John Allison started his web comic career earlier than most — back in 1998. Though his stories and characters have changed, he sets his serialized comics in the fictional English town of Tackleford. He currently has been working on a comic series called Bad Machinery, which follows six mystery-solving Tackleford teens, all students at Griswalds Grammar School.

If patiently reading a comic strip panel by panel on an electronic screen isn't for you, fear not; last year Allison released the first print installment of Bad Machinery, called The Case of the Team Spirit (YP FIC ALLISON). (Volume 2, The Case of the Good Boy, is due out later this spring.) My colleague Luke, our young adult librarian, reviewed Team Spirit back in July of last year and I have to say I really agree with his take on the overseas import.

It's hard enough that classmates Shauna, Charlotte, Mildred, Jack, Linton and Sunny are having to navigate both a new school year and a new school. Before they know it, they're all embroiled in the same extracurricular mess. The girls resolve to help an old woman whose house is threatened because it sits on the site of a planned football (as in English football, i.e., soccer) stadium. The boys, on the other hand, are investigating why the local football team seems to be truly cursed with bad luck.

This is a fun, fast read that rocks along with humor that's both silly and snarky. The wonderfully drawn illustrations (and accompanying sound effects) tell half the story; they crackle with energy. Though the style is Allison's own, the comic has a manga-like feel to it because of its mix of heartfelt drama and sly wit. But the teens' sarcastic (and entirely believable) repartee is definitely the star of the show.

Allison does a great job of conveying the relationships between his main characters, the way they both support and snipe at each other. In addition, he populates Tackleford with a colorful cast beyond the story's six young protagonists, and gives each character a distinct personality, even the minor ones like the local bully and the resident middleman ("Johnny Swaps").

Teens and adults alike will enjoy the adventures of these young sleuths. They'll have you chuckling aloud and rooting for them as they attempt to right wrongs and and, oh yeah, suss out the supernatural while mollifying their teachers and family. We can all relate, can't we?

Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer

Image by Scott Vandehey available through a Creative Commons license

Ahoy, mateys! Get ready to sail the seven seas with the plucky Jacky Faber! He has all the characteristics you'd want in a ship's boy serving in His Majesty's Royal Navy in 1797. Jacky's brave, resourceful and plays a mean pennywhistle.

Only problem? Jacky is really a Mary.

How did this come to be? Find out in L.A. Meyer's Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy (YP FIC MEYER and YP AD FIC MEYER). When she is left abruptly without a family, Mary seeks out alternate means of survival. In doing so, she discovers that taking on the guise of a boy simplifies the already harrowing demands of an orphan left to the mercies of the street.

It's easier bein' a boy, 'cause when someone needs somethin' done like holdin' a horse, they'll always pick a boy 'cause they think the dumbest boy will be better at it than the brightest girl, which is stupid, but there they are.

Mary ends up on the docks, where the Navy ship the H.M.S. Dolphin is assembling its crew. She relies on her inherent charm to earn her passage on board as a ship's boy. Soon enough, though, she learns that passing as a boy — let along a ship's boy — is only the first of many challenges she'll face in such tight quarters. She doesn't know the first thing about ships, and not all her shipmates are friendly. There'll be secret handshakes to learn, pirates to battle and adolescent love to navigate.

Bloody Jack is a rollicking beginning to the adventure series, which thus far encompasses 10 books:

1. Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary 'Jacky' Faber, Ship's Boy
2. Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady
3. Under the Jolly Roger: Being an Account of the Further Nautical Adventures of Jacky Faber
4. In the Belly of the Bloodhound: Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber
5. Mississippi Jack: Being an Account of the Further Waterborne Adventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman, Fine Lady, And Lily of the West
6. My Bonny Light Horseman: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, in Love and War
7. Rapture of the Deep: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Soldier, Sailor, Mermaid, Spy
8. The Wake of the Lorelei Lee: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, On Her Way to Botany Bay
9. The Mark of the Golden Dragon: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Jewel of the East, Vexation of the West, and Pearl of the South China Sea
10. Viva Jaquelina: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Over the Hills and Far Away
11. Boston Jacky: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Taking Care of Business

Perhaps what I like most about Bloody Jack is how it puts a girl at the front and center of the action. Jacky comes across as a young woman realistically relying on her wits to get her through tough, scary situations. She's funny and fearless, a combination that manages to both get her into trouble and out of it. No fainting flower, is our Jacky.

The audiobook, narrated by Katherine Kellgren, is dynamite. Kellgren voices Jacky's rough, streetwise elocution perfectly, with its outrageous grammar and colorful patois. She portrays Jacky with jaunty confidence while not neglecting honest depictions of the fear and distress Jacky feels in battle or at the thought of discovery. The narration is a wonderful way to experience the story.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

As with most of the books I read, I came late to the wildly enthusiastic The Fault in Our Stars party but better late than never. The novel, written by John Green, came out in January 2012 to pretty much universal acclaim, climbing the bestseller charts both here and in the United Kingdom as well as earning a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice award.

Green is well-known for both his young adult books as well as his collaboration with his brother, Hank, the YouTube channel "Vlog Brothers," and the community that their online conversations have spawned, Nerd Fighters.

Anyways, back to the book. The Fault in Our Stars takes the trope of star-crossed lovers and transforms it into this astonishing lovely, heartbreaking piece of literature. It is Shakespearean in its execution, mixing romance, comedy, drama and philosophy into what is essentially a girl-meets-boy story. Except girl has Stage IV thyroid cancer and boy has already lost a leg to Osteosarcoma.

Yes, this is a book about kids with cancer. It's told through the eyes of the girl, 16-year-old Hazel Lancaster, who has to cart an oxygen tank with her wherever she goes. She meets the quick-witted, dashing Augustus Waters at cancer survivor support group. Their chemistry, apparent in their verbal exchanges (which are silly, sad and moving, sometimes all at the same time), is as certain as their diagnoses. As their friendship blossoms, we fall in love with the teenaged pair just as they fall in love with each other. They bond over Hazel's favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, which ultimately proves critical to how their own story plays out.

But let's face it. This is a book about kids with cancer. In our heart of hearts, we know, or at least suspect, what's coming. Green gives us an unflinching look at young love made all the more poignant by the vagaries of fate. This is a book for those ready for some intense feelings: Be ready to laugh, to cry, and to muse about mortality.

Funny YA Reads

Earlier this month, Sharon Rawlins over at The Hub, the blog for the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), posed the question "Where has all the humor gone in YA books?"

A fair question. Sometimes, you're not in the mood for vampires, dystopias or melodramatic dramas. Luckily Rawlins included several suggestions to get the ball rolling when it comes to funny YA reads (be sure to check out comments left on Rawlin's post for even more ideas!).

Will Grayson, Will Grayson
by John Green and David Levithan
YP FIC GREEN
also on audiobook
Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie
by David Lubar
YP FIC LUBAR
Going Bovine
by Libba Bray
YP FIC BRAY
Beauty Queens
by Libba Bray
YP FIC BRAY
The Wee Free Men
(part of the Discoworld series)
by Terry Pratchett
J FIC PRATCHET
also on audiobook
An Abundance of Katherines
by John Green
YP FIC GREEN
All-American Girl
by Meg Cabot
Y FIC CABOT
I'd Tell You I Love You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You
(first in the Gallagher Girls series)
by Ally Carter
YP FIC CARTER
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Alexie Sherman
YP FIC SHERMAN
Son of the Mob
by Gordon Korman
YP FIC KORMAN
The Death-Defying Pepper Roux
by Geraldine McCaughrean
J FIC MCCAUGHR
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer
by Lish McBride
YP FIC MCBRIDE
My Awesome Awful Popularity Plan
by Seth Rudetsky
YP FIC RUDETSKY

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I finally got around to reading Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. It won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature back in 2007 and I've been hearing fantastic things about it ever since.

Wow, talk about a one-two punch.

The narrator of the tale, Junior, is now quite possibly one of my favorite characters. Ever. He will break your heart with his story even as he leaves you in stitches. He's funny and fearless and lovably human. And though hardly immune to his circumstances, nevertheless he forges resolutely on.

Junior has been beating the odds since the day he was born.

He wasn't expected to live past a procedure to remove cerebral spinal fluid from his brain as an infant. Instead, we find he's made it to his teen years in pretty good shape, if you can overlook the crippling poverty, rampant alcoholism and general malaise that afflicts the Spokane Indian Reservation.

It sucks to be poor, and its sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor. You start believing that you're poor because you're stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you're stupid and ugly because you're Indian. And because you're Indian you start believing you're destined to be poor. It's an ugly circle and there's nothing you can do about it.

Poverty doesn't give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.

Junior, as you can see, is not afraid to tell it like it is.

His parents are drunks. His best friend has an abusive father. His school is so underfunded that it hasn’t updated its textbooks in least 30 years. Junior himself is a skinny, spectacle-wearing, book-kissing nerd, which doesn’t exactly earn him a lot of fans around the rez.

Then one day, prodded into action by his teacher, Junior decides to take his fate into his own hands. He decides to transfer to the all-white school in the neighboring town of Reardan, 22 miles away. His parents support the move, recognizing that it will allow Junior to get a better education and access to more opportunities. But they’re pretty much the exception. Junior's community proceeds to treat him like he's betrayed them. The Reardan High School kids ignore him.

Junior's beauty is how he weathers his hardships with such aplomb and good humor. Though lonely and confused, he hangs in there, funneling his energy into positive outlets, from doodling comics to joining the basketball team. And slowly but surely, things begin to change.

I recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a pick-me-up. Diary is a daring book, too, pushing the boundaries of young adult lit with its dark humor, language and examination of race, all of which has frequently landed it on Top 10 lists for most frequently challenged titles. We have it in book form (YP FIC ALEXIE; you'll get to see Junior's awesome doodles, drawn by Ellen Forney), audiobook (AD YP FIC ALEXIE), and downloadable audio. I listened to the audio version, which is narrated by the author. I'm sometimes leery of authors reading their own stuff but Sherman really knocks it out of the ballpark and brings 14-year-old Junior to life.

Junior may endure, at times, the unimaginable, but it's a statement to Sherman's talent how we still feel optimistic and hopeful for Junior’s future.

2012 Alex Awards

Every year the Young Adult Library Services Association bestows the Alex Awards, which recognize novels written for adults but still have a unique appeal to youths ages 12 to 18. Check out the list below:

Big Girl Small by Rachel DeWoskin
The acclaimed author of Repeat After Me presents a scathingly funny and moving novel about a 16-year-old girl who becomes caught in a controversy that might bring down her whole school — a scandal that has something to do with the fact Judy is three feet nine inches tall.
In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard
The beguiling fourteen-year-old narrator is a late bloomer used to flying under the radar. Luckily, she has a best friend, a similarly undiscovered girl with whom she shares the everyday adventures of a 1970s American girlhood but in time, their friendship is tested.
The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan
The nameless narrator of David Levithan's The Lover's Dictionary has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.
The New Kids: Big dreams and brave journeys at a high school for immigrant teens by Brooke Hauser
A singular work of narrative journalism, The New Kids chronicles a year in the life of a remarkable group of these teenage newcomers — a multicultural mosaic that embodies what is truly amazing about America.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
It is called Cirque des Rêves and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway - a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will.
Ready Player One by Earnest Kline
It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be. Wade dreams of being the one to discover a series of fiendish puzzles hidden inside the OASIS that will yield massive fortune — and remarkable power — to whoever can unlock them.
Robopacalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Robopocalypse is a brilliantly conceived action-filled epic, a terrifying story with heart-stopping implications for the real technology all around us and an entertaining and engaging thriller unlike anything else written in years.
Salvage The Bones by Jesmyn Ward
A hurricane is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. As the twelve days that make up the novel's framework yield to their dramatic conclusion, this unforgettable family — motherless children sacrificing for one another as they can, protecting and nurturing where love is scarce — pulls itself up to face another day.
The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston
A spirited, visually lush, and stunning novel, inspired by the art of scrapbooking and told through a kaleidoscopic array of vintage postcards, letters, magazine ads, ticket stubs, catalog pages, fabric swatches, candy wrappers, fashion spreads, menus, and more, starring an unforgettable heroine and set in the burgeoning bohemian culture of the 1920s.

Hunger Games, the movie: Will you watch?

The latest trailer for the movie version of Suzanne Collins' mega-popular The Hunger Games dropped this week. It stars Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, the girl with the deadly archer's aim, as well as Liam Hemsworth as Katniss' hunting buddy Gale Hawthorne and Josh Hutcherson as the bread-baking Peeta Mellark.

Never heard of those actors? Give it time. The Hunger Games has echoes of the same momentum behind it that we all saw behind the Twilight franchise, although there's no sparkly vampires or teen werewolves here: The Hunger Games is about a dystopian future where a totalitarian government requires each of its district to send two young "tributes" to duke out it in Battle Royal-style fight to the finish.



If you haven't checked out the The Hunger Games trilogy yet, get thee to our young adult section, post-haste. We've got all three: Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. You'll find them all at YP FIC COLLINS. We've also got Mockingjay on audiobook (YP AD FIC COLLINS), as well as The Hunger Games Companion: The unauthorized guide to the series (YP FIC COLLINS).

So what are its odds? Will you be watching The Hunger Games?

Teens' Top Ten for 2011

A whopping 10,000 votes from teens poured in between Aug. 15 and Sept. 15 in answer to the question "What's your favorite book?" asked by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). YALSA made the big announcement of the top 10 titles last Monday in conjunction with Teen Read Week, which ran from Oct. 16-22.

Here's the list, along with their call numbers here are Moore Memorial Public Library:

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
YP FIC CLARE

The year is 1878. Searching for her missing brother, sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray descends into London's dark supernatural underworld and finds herself up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork demons, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her Shadowhunter allies can stop them.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
YP FIC COLLINS and on audiobook, YP AD FIC COLLINS

Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins's groundbreaking trilogy promises to be one of the most talked-about books of the year. Start with the first book, The Hunger Games (YP FIC COLLINS).

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
YP FIC FITZPATR and on audiobook, YP AD FIC FITZPATR

Despite starting a relationship with Patch, her guardian angel (whose title is the only angelic thing about him), and surviving an attempt on her life, things are not looking good for Nora Grey. Aside from fearing her boyfriend is interested in her nemesis, Nora is haunted by images of her father and becomes obsessed with understanding his disappearance. As Nora delves into the mystery of her father's death, she begins to wonder whether her Nephilim blood line has something to do with it. And since Patch isn't answering her questions, Nora has to start finding the answers on her own. But does she really want to know the truth — or will her desire for Patch outweigh any possible peace she could find?

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
YP FIC LORE; the movie's at DVD I

Nine alien teenagers are hiding on Earth. Three are dead. Number Four is next.

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
YP FIC KAGAWA

Meghan Chase has never fit in at her small-town high school, and now, on the eve of her 16th birthday, she finally discovers why. For when her half-brother is kidnapped, Meghan is drawn into a fantastical world she had never imagined — the world of Faery.

Matched by Ally Condie
YP FIC CONDIE

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate … until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel by James Patterson
YP FIC PATTERSO

In the seventh book in the bestselling series, evil scientists are still trying to convince Max that she needs to save the world, this time by providing the genetic link in speeding up the pace of evolution. Worse, they're trying to convince her that her perfect mate is Dylan, the newest addition to the flock. The problem is that, despite herself, Max is starting to believe it. Fang travels the country collecting his own gang of evolved humans, but the two separate flocks must unite to defeat a frightening doomsday cult whose motto is Save the Planet: Kill the Humans. And this time, the true heroine, for once, might just be little Angel.

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
YP FIC WHITE

Evie's always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours. But Evie's about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures. So much for normal.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
YP FIC OLIVER

After she dies in a car crash, teenaged Samantha relives the day of her death over and over again until, on the seventh day, she finally discovers a way to save herself.

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
YP FIC CREMER

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything — including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

Have you read a banned book lately? Most likely yes.

You may have already seen our Banned Books Week display in the library. It's hard to miss, what with the crime scene tape and the (book) body outlines on the floor. The display was put together by a couple intrepid teen patrons of ours along with Young Adult Librarian Luke. The week, which from runs this year Sept. 24 to Oct. 1, challenges censorship by celebrating the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

If your memory's hazy about what the First Amendment says, exactly, here's a reminder:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment also speaks to intellectual freedom: "the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular." Banned Books Week is devoted to precisely that idea of freedom of choice. The annual event started in 1982 in reaction to a deluge of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. The American Library Association (ALA) explains that a challenge is when a person or group tries to restrict or remove access to materials. A ban is when a challenge is successful, and the material is actually removed from the shelves.

There were at least 348 books challenged in schools and libraries in 2010, but the ALA thinks that figure's low, and that an estimated 70 to 80 percent of book challenges are most likely never reported. For the record, the library association has logged more than 11,000 book challenges since 1982.

Geographically, here's a look at where book challenges happened between 2007 and 2011:

View Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2011 in a larger map

That's right, book challenges happen everywhere. In fact, odds are, you've probably already read a challenged book. They're often popular titles or classics you have to read for school. Here's a list of the most frequently challenged books in 2010 along with their call numbers here at Moore Memorial Public Library:

And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
E RICHARDS

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, religious viewpoint, sex education, sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group
YP FIC ALEXIE and the bookbook YP AD FIC ALEXIE

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit
FIC HUXLEY

Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit
YP FIC HOPKINS and the audiobook YP AD FIC HOPKINS

The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group
YP FIC COLLINS

Lush, by Natasha Friend
Reasons: drugs, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group
YP FIC FRIEND

What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
YP FIC SONES

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint
305.569 EHRENREI and the audiobook AD 305.569 EHRENREI

Revolutionary Voices edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons: homosexuality, sexually explicit
(The library doesn't have this one.)

Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence, unsuited to age group
YP FIC MEYER, the audiobook YP AD FIC MEYER and the movie DVD T

Source: BannedBooksWeek.org

So what are you waiting for? Go out and exercise your First Amendment rights — check out these books today!

Back to school by the numbers

Here's an interesting infographic on some back-to-school statistics from High-Schools.com:

Newsprint nails

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program with this fun tutorial for the word- and fashion-inclined among us: Newsprint nails. All you need is some nail polish (a pale color for the newsprint to transfer onto and a clear topcoat), a bowl of water, and some newspaper:



Photo by annkari available through a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

Minute to Win It

Our teens showed us their competitive side as they raced against each other in seven 60-second games.

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey YP FIC YANCEY

Rick Yancey’s The Monstrumologist grabs you by the throat from Page 1 and doesn’t let go. The more you struggle, the more it gleefully squeezes you deeper into its gruesome clutches. And then it swallows you with a flourish and licks its chops.

That’s how over-the-top shivery and scary this riveting gothic tale is. Do you like monsters? Check. How about violence? Double-check!

You won’t be able to look away! Even when you’re covered in gore!

The Monstrumologist is told through the eyes of 12-year-old Will Henry, who serves as the hapless but ever-stalwart assistant of Dr. Pellinore Warthrop in the New England town of New Jerusalem. Warthrop calls himself a doctor of philosophy, which would be accurate if by “philosophy” you really meant “things that go bump in the night.”

One spring night in 1888, a grave robber deposits a grisly find on the doctor’s doorstep. To say what, exactly, the creature is would be to deprive you of the same shock, horror and disgust that both Will Henry and I felt as it was unveiled. Suffice to say Yancey does not subscribe to the current trend of vampires, werewolves and zombies.

The discovery of the dead creature sets in motion a race against time. Warthrop suspects more of them survive and if so, the people of New Jerusalem are in grave danger. This leads to Warthrop taking drastic measures, including inviting a fellow monstrumologist, John Kearns — though Warthrop’s morals may be questionable at times, we come to learn Kearns is devoid of a moral compass at all. Mayhem and carnage ensue.

Yancey does an excellent job of weaving an atmosphere of tension and dread and then punctuating it with brutal, detailed scenes of bloodshed:

"The massively muscled forearm followed, rotated ninety degrees, and the next second found Burns’s head buried in the grip of the huge claw. With a sickening pop the beast tore his head completely off his shoulders and yanked it back through the hole punched through his heaving gut."

You have to hand it to the man. Yancey’s creative even in his descriptions of butchery.

Those scenes, however, ensure that this book is not for the faint of heart. Better yet, you should probably have a strong stomach, too. As I mentioned in my last post, I’m trying to read all the books on the 2011 Lone Star Reading List. The Monstrumologist is on that list. I definitely have to give props to the Texas Library Association's Young Adult Round Table for putting together such a diverse selection. This novel was my first taste of horror and I find I rather like it.

What I like about this book is that you come to care for its main characters, which ratchets up your fear for their survival amidst such depictions of slaughter. Will Henry is an earnest boy who’s seen far more than any boy — or any man — should have to see. But he remains stubbornly devoted to the doctor, realizing he truly has no one else and that the same case applies to the doctor.

Warthrop, for his part, doesn’t do much to dispel the mad-scientist stereotype. His mania for monsters goes hand-in-hand with his absentmindedness: obsessively focused on his hellish hunt while caring little for the prosaic details of day-to-day life like eating. Even then, we find sympathy for him as we learn a little of his background and the terribly legacy left to him by his monstrumologist father.

The story's most intriguing conflict does not revolve around the monster's rapaciousness but rather the cruelty of man. There are shocking instances of inhumanity and mercilessness among the novel's human characters, requiring readers ask themselves, "Who really is the monster?"

This could be you having fun at MMPL!

For the past few weeks at Moore Memorial Public Library, YA Librarian Luke has been busy with tons of fun stuff for teens to do as part of our annual Summer Reading Program. That's included a weekly session of "Board Games You've Never Played" (Check them out! We've got our final session this Friday from 2-5 p.m.!) as well as an some unique one-time events like "Bend It," an introduction to yoga, and "Splatter! Paint! Pop! Make Modern Art," a program that focused on paint styles and subjects like pointillism, drip art and geometric shapes.

Check out the videos below to see what we've been up to:

Payback Time by Cark Deuker YP FIC DEUKER

I’m not a big reader of young adult literature, so this year, to widen my horizons, I’m tackling the 2011 Lone Star Reading List, a bibiliography of recommended reading for grades 6-8 that's put out every year by public and school librarians from the Texas Library Association's Young Adult Round Table.

It's been a good experience, one that's opened my eyes to the type of YA books I like (e.g. Ally Carter's Heist Society and Francisco X. Stork's, The Last Summer of the Death Warriors) and the kinds I don't particularly care for, which turn out to be of those of the overly melodramatic, "OMG-my-life-is-totally-ruined" ilk (e.g.Tera Lynn Childs' Forgive My Fins). I'm happy to report I most recently finished one that I like: Carl Deuker's Payback Time, which made for a fun mystery against the backdrop of high school sports.

Deuker, a Seattle school teacher and longtime sports fan, often incorporates athletics into his YA novels, which also include Gym Candy, Runner and Heart of a Champion (all three of which the library has under YP FIC DEUKER). Payback Time, however, takes place from the perspective of a non-athlete. Meet high school journalist Mitch True, who describes himself thusly:

"I'm five four and I weigh 180. Okay, 190. Okay, 200 ... three months ago. I've got wispy blond hair and skin the color of copy paper. Girls don't chase me down halls."

Mitch dreams of one day seeing his byline in the New York Times covering Watergate-style scoops culled from back-alley sources. But fate has other plans his final year at Lincoln High School, located in Washington State. As the most prolific and senior reporter on the Lincoln Light staff, Mitch thinks he's a shoe-in for getting elected editor. Sorry, Mitch. No one ever said the path to a Pulitzer was easy. Not only does he lose out on the editorship, he doesn't even get to stay lead reporter; he gets shoved onto the sports beat.

Miserable, Mitch slowly begins making the rounds of the athletics departments, of which — not unlike Texas — football is king. He's shocked to find a domineering football coach who essentially tells Mitch that he can only write what the coach allows him to write. But the news gods finally throw Mitch a bone in the form of mysterious new football player Angel Marichal. While watching an early practice, Mitch immediately catches onto Angel's stellar skills but is puzzled to find Angel hides his abilities, passing himself off as a mediocre player.

This gets Mitch's reporter senses tingling and sets up his quest to unearth Angel's backstory. He's aided by Kimi Yon, the beautiful staff photographer assigned to cover sports with Mitch. Mitch spends the school year hunting down leads and testing his various theories on Angel's origins and why the football coach keeps him inexplicably benched most games.

Overall, it's a realistic, engaging portrayal of how a young journalist follows what he senses is a big story, and the mistakes and successes he finds along the way. There are no lucky strikes of information; Mitch does his investigation the old-fashioned way, pounding the pavement, developing sources and following the paper trail. Mitch comes across as an everyman (wanting to impress Kimi, he starts exercising to lose weight) who finds purpose in what could otherwise have been a senior-year disappointment for him.

His determination is admirable; like any good reporter, he doesn't let dead-ends faze him but he also knows when to change directions and tactics. When met by snarling figures of authority, he does get scared and intimidated but, like the athletes he covers, he also always finds a way to rally.

For me, the weakest moments of the story were actually its depiction of the football games themselves. Deuker's descriptions of the game may very well be thrilling to those with even an inkling of gridiron lingo but to me, a stranger to the game, those passages might as well have been in Klingon. I found myself skimming them but do not feel like doing so subtracted from the book. The real action takes place off the field.

I also take issue with the role (or lack therof) that adults play in the story. At no point does Mitch consult his journalism teacher — or any other adult, for that matter — on how he should proceed with Angel's story, even when real danger enters into the equation. He even keeps his editor, a fellow student, in the dark. And when sinister forces seem to be at work thwarting Mitch's freelance sport stories for the Seattle Times, making him seem like he's either incompetent or fabricating his stories outright, the Times sports editor merely complains to Mitch rather than firing him altogether. That just doesn't seem like it would fly in a real newsroom.

But those are small quibbles in an otherwise well-written story that kept me reading, wanting to know Angel's secret and how Mitch would put the pieces together to solve them.