Extremities: Stories of Death, Murder, and Revenge by David Lubar YP FIC LUBAR

A group of girls give their gym teacher a dose of her own medicine, a boy plots the perfect murder of his 'perfect' parent, a boy falls for a girl so beautiful she's to die for, and ten more tales of doom from David Lubar.

David Lubar opens by saying "This is not a book for children," but honestly I think this would be a pretty good read for horror fans of many ages.  Sure it has a good amount of death, dismemberment, and murderous teens, but the carnage and gore is kept to a nice minimum.  It makes for a nice alternative to the likes of Charlie Higson and Darren Shan's hyper-gory scare fests.  I love all the guts and grime of their books, but its nice to have creepy alternatives that don't get so vivid about viscera.  It reminds me of a modern update to the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series (J 398.25 SCHWARTZ), which is my gold standard for creepy!  The stories are almost all very quick.  Just long enough to set a mood and pull off a fun or sick or shocking (or a combination of the three) twist and end strong.  But he's really good at pacing the longer stories, so they are just as compelling as the quick ones.  His writing is super simple and very easy to read, which works very well for the type of page turning, look over your shoulder, goosebump raising stories he's writing.  A really fun and classically creepy read for the horror fans from casual to serious.
You can find Extremities in our catalog here.

What You Wish For: Stories and Poems for Darfur YP FIC WHAT

Stories and poems about wishes (the ones that come true and the ones that don’t).  Francisco X. Stork, Joyce Carol Oates, Jane Yolen, Gary Soto, Meg Cabot, and many more pen poems and short stories with some proceeds of the book going to Darfur refugees.  

This is a wonderful and surprising collection.  I expected this to be a book about Darfur and to be grim, humorless, and depressing, but this book is filled with stories of life, love, magic, and hope.  Also, it’s not about Darfur it’s just FOR Darfur.  Sort of confusing.  Also, the fact that it is about ‘wishes’ feels a little too general for a collection for short stories.  That out of the way it is a really GOOD collection of short stories.  My favorites personally were “Nell” a dark retelling of an old Danish short story, “The Protectionist” a funny story about a economics obsessed kid looking for a bodyguard, and “The Conjurers” a comic from the always wonderful Nate Powell.  There is a lot of gems and no real clunkers, so it’s a really good way to read a lot of stories to find new authors to follow. 

Cthulhu Tales 2: The Whisper of Madness by Various Authors/ artists YP FIC NILES

The world seems a pleasant place, doesn’t it? However, lurking beyond the illusion of safety, peace, and sanity itself lays the horrifying truth: The Ancient Ones. These eternal beings are beyond good or evil and have existed far longer than mortal mind can fathom. And they will return and in returning all existence will be irrevocably changed. This collection of comics is but a warning for when the dread Cthulhu returns and claims all that it surveys as its own.

This is a hit and miss (but almost entirely hit) collection of comics about the H. P. Lovecraft mythos. H. P. Lovecraft was the horror writer that created the mythology of the Ancient Ones and encouraged writers of his time and after him to use his ideas to create new stories of fear and madness, which they have to great effect. This collection has some great art and some really good stories. What makes Lovecraftian horror so scary is the idea that everything we know about our world is wrong and that the Ancient Ones will always win. Very much a downer, but great for horror stories! If you like this collection I’d recommend Lovecraft’s collections in YP FIC LOVECRAF.

Zombies VS. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier YP FIC ZOMBIES

There are two kind of people in the world people that love zombies and people that love unicorns, but throughout human history no one has been able to prove who was right. All that is past! With Zombies VS. Unicorns (actually the REAL title is the drawing of a Zombie VS. the drawing of a unicorn which makes it the best title to anything of ALL TIME) the debate between Team Zombie and Team Unicorn comes to a final apocalyptic battle. Twelve of the absolute best YA authors write the best zombie or unicorn story they can and editors Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier introduce each tale and debate which is best.

This book is absolutely epic. We have six excellent zombie tales and six really cool unicorn tales with truly hilarious introductions by black and Larbalestier. There is a great mix of horror, fantasy, and humor to choose from and I couldn’t find a weak story at all in the mix. My favorite of Team Zombie has to be Maureen Johnson’s The Children of the Revolution story of a zombie caregiver and Scott Westerfeld’s story about kids training for zombie preparedness Inoculata. My faves from Team Unicorn is Meg Cabot’s very funny Princess Prettypants about a unicorn that farts rainbows and The Care and Feeding of your Baby Killer Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund, which is about exactly what the title says it is about. If you are looking for some good stories, this is a sure fire hit.

Free? Stories About Human Rights by Amnesty International YP FIC FREE

Bringing together a truly impressive group of international authors, Free? asks the troubling question, “If some of us aren’t truly free, than are any of us?” Each one of the stories looks at young people struggling to assert their freedom and highlights one of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Stories come from all across the globe from all sorts of young people showing that the struggle for freedom is truly never over.

I was surprised how enjoyable this book is. Since the subject matter is so Important and Serious, I thought I might get bored or depressed, but the stories are really well written and positive. All of them look at the possibility of hope and change in even the worst situations. My absolute favorite is Rita Williams-Garcia’s verse story about Katrina After the Hurricane. It is very emotionally powerful and has stayed with me. This is a good read for fans of realistic fiction, especially if you’re interested in foreign countries.

You Don’t Even Know Me: Stories and Poems about Boys by Sharon G. Flake YP FIC FLAKE

In nine stories and 13 poems, Sharon G. Flake brings the experience of African-American males to gritty unflinching life. There is Tow-Kaye marrying his pregnant girlfriend at only 16 and wondering if his life is over, Tyler explaining what it means to be a player and have game, La’Ron revealing in a letter to his uncle what it’s like to find out you have HIV, and several more that are funny, sad, hopeful, and raw.

Sharon G. Flake is an excellent writer that seems truly keyed into urban life. Her writing never feels faked or forced and her characters seem so real that you could imagine meeting them on any street. She more often writes female lead characters than male, so this book is a welcome change for male readers that like African American Lit. My favorite stories in this bunch were Getting’ Even about a young man’s decision about if he will try and find and kill his grandpa’s murderer and Girl’s Make you Weak, about how to be a player. I think I may even take notes. If you are a fan of realistic fiction about African American books this is a very good read.