Staff Book Pick of the Week: The Poker Diaries

This week's pick is The Poker Diaries by Liza Conrad (YA CONRAD).

Lulu lives two separate lives: most of the time she's with her mom in Manhattan, living the life a private school society girl, but the rest of the time she's hanging out with her dad, playing poker and learning about what New York has to offer outside of Manhattan. Lulu likes both of her lives, although she definitely feels more of an affinity for her dad's way of doing things. But when her uptown friend Dack gets himself in a bit of trouble and finds himself owing money to the wrong people, Lulu knows she needs to use her downtown skills to help him out. However, things don't work out quite as planned, and now Lulu has a few problems of her own to contend with: her mom finding out, her mom's boyfriend finding out (who also happens to be the mayor of New York), and Lulu's own potential love interest getting in trouble because of her. What will Lulu's next move be?

New Books!

Check out these new books going on display in the Teens & Tweens Space:

Good Witch of the West Vol. 3 by Noriko Ogiwara (YA GOOD WITCH OF THE WEST)
Pearl Pink Vol. 3 by Meca Tanaka (YA PEARL PINK)
Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill (811 HEM)

New Book Display: Love Stinks

Check out this new display in the Teens & Tweens Space:

Love Stinks ... or is confusing, at the very least

Barkley, Brad & Hepley, Heather
Dream Factory: Disney World is supposedly the "happiest place on Earth,"but as Luke and Ella soon find out, it is anything but. Hired for the summer to replace striking Disney cast members, Ella as Cinderella and Luke as Dale (as in Chip and Dale), the two teenagers grow tired of the Disney fantasy and find themselves connecting with each other. But Chip is played by Cassie, Luke's current girlfriend, and Prince Charming is Mark, a cute and forgettable Disney devotee. Will Luke be able to see beyond Cassie's blonde and beautiful perfection? Will Ella be able to tell Luke what's really going on in her life?
YA BARKLEY

Cabot, Meg
Princess in Love: Now that Mia has pretty much got the Princess of Genovia thing figured out (or so she thinks), she now must deal with her current boyfriend crisis. Kenny's a great guy, fun to talk to, etc., but there's one catch - Mia doesn't like him. In fact, she's very much in love with someone else. What's a princess to do?
YA CABOT

Cohn, Rachel & Levithan, David
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist: Nick and Norah share their first kiss when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend for a few minutes in order to back at his ex, Tris. What follows is a night of conversation, music, and perhaps two people falling in love.
YA COHN

Hughes, Mark Peter
I Am the Wallpaper: 13-year old Floey is certain things will finally change once her beautiful and talented older sister Lilian is out of the house. And change they do - but will it be for the better? And will they guy she's been crushing on for ages finally notice?
YA HUGHES

Johnson, Maureen
Girl at Sea: 17-year old Clio just knows she's going to have the best summer of her life - she just got a job at the local art supply store, where her crush also happens to work. But then her mother sends her to live with her dad over the summer on his boat in the Mediterranean, which is the absolute last thing Clio wants to do. When Clio arrives her fears appear to come true - her dad is as obnoxious as ever, and the rest of her crewmates aren't much better. Especially Aidan, her father's girlfriend's research assistant. But could there be more to Aidan than his initial arrogance?
YA JOHNSON

Lockhart, E.
The Boyfriend List: 15-year old Ruby Oliver has not had a very easy past couple of weeks - her boyfriend broke up with her and started dating her best friend, her other friends have all dropped her, and now she's having panic attacks. When her new psychiatrist suggests she make a boyfriend list, is Ruby up to the task?
YA LOCKHART

Myers, Walter Dean
Street Love: Damien has everything ahead of him, while Junice is doing everything she can just to keep up with the present. Can two people with such different lives actually fall in love?
YA MYERS

Rennison, Louise
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson: 14-year old Georgia has enough to deal with - a cat who has it in for the neighbor's poodle, a dad who's taken off to New Zealand to find work, and a family who's just annoying in general. But when 17-year old Robbie enters the scene, everything changes.
YA RENNISON

Soto, Gary
Accidental Love: 14-year old Marisa couldn't care less about school, grades, or getting ahead. But one day she picks up the wrong cell phone and meets Rene, a boy completely unlike herself, and nothing will be ever be the same again.
YA SOTO

Staff Book Pick of the Week: Strays

This week's pick is Strays by Ron Koertge (YA KOERTGE).

16-year old Ted's life is not going well. His parents just died in a car crash and he's stuck with scary foster parents and a couple of foster brothers - one seems okay but the other one could beat him up in about five seconds. Add those difficulties to the fact that Ted's never really gotten along with other people (he prefers to communicate with animals), it's kind of up in the air how things are going to work out. But as time goes by, Ted realizes that while he misses his parents and some aspects of the life he lived with them, he's not all that sure it was the right life for him. Will he be able to make peace with his parents' death? Will he realize that he is able to connect with others after all? Find out in Strays.

New Books!

Check out these new books going on display in the Teens & Tweens Space:

Boot Camp by Todd Strasser (YA STRASSER)
A Samurai Never Fears Death by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler (YA HOOBLER)
Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix (YA HADDIX)

Staff Book Pick of the Week: Feels Like Home

This week's pick is Feels Like Home by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo (YA CHARLTON-TRUJILLO).

Mickey has got her life under control - she's graduating from high school early, has her college all picked out, and she's going to get out of Three Rivers, Texas. But then Mickey's father dies and her older brother Danny reappears after six years of silence, six years that Mickey has spent forgetting about him and the connection they had with the book The Outsiders. Mickey wants nothing to do with Danny - he was the one who left after his best friend died in a mysterious accident, one that Mickey isn't sure she wants to remember (or even if she can). As Mickey spends more time with Danny, however, she realizes she is going to have to remember what happened that night, no matter how terrible the memory may be.

Staff Book Pick of the Week: First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover

This week's pick is First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover by Mitali Perkins (YA PERKINS).

Sameera Righton (a.k.a. Sparrow) is used to staying on the sidelines. Sure she blogs for her friends about various issues and enjoys hanging with her crew buddies while ordering them about in her position as coxswain. But that invisibility is about to end: Sparrow's dad is running for presidents, and his campaign staff has decided it's time Sparrow is by his side. Sparrow is sure she's ready - she knows politics, and she wants to be made over into a glamorous First Daughter. But when she reaches campaign headquarters, Sparrow soon discovers the kind of makeover her dad's campaign staff plans to provide might not be quite what she had in mind. In short, the staff wants to downplay the fact that Sameera was born in Pakistan and turn her into "Sammy" - an everyday teenager without an intelligent thought in her head. Sparrow knows she wants her dad to win, but will it be at the cost of the "real" Sparrow?