Staff Pick of the Week!

Check out The Year the Gypsies Came by Linzi Glass, a novel about family, apartheid, and how hope can come out of tragedy.







Twelve-year old Emily is growing up in apartheid Johannesburg (South Africa) in the 1960s when a family of wanderers is invited by her father to camp in their lawn. Throughout her life Emily has noticed that the fighting between her parents eases when they invite strangers to stay in their home. What her parents do not realize, however, is that this family brings troubles of their own, troubles that will spell tragedy for Emily's family, particularly for her sister Sarah. Emily is able to take comfort in her friendship with the family's Zulu night watchman Buza, but it takes her most of the book to understand the kind of oppression Buza faces on a daily basis. The themes of family and racism weave throughout the book to create a story you won't want to stop reading until the book is finished.

Get psyched for summer reading!

Summer reading will be here before you know it! And here's why you should get with the Mission Read program: Teens & Tweens will have a program every week ~ think scavenger hunts, Harry Potter parties, games, and prizes! And doesn't reading definitely beat watching reruns? And who doesn't want to know how Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ends, or what the Clique will be up to next? Registration starts the week of June 18th, and programs start the week after that. Get ready to have a blast!

Staff Pick of the Week: Long Gone Daddy

This week's staff pick of the week is Long Gone Daddy by Helen Hemphill, a story of a preacher's kid who travels from Texas to Las Vegas with his father and his grandfather's corpse.

Harlan Q. and his preacher father Harlan P. don't exactly see eye to eye. Harlan Q. isn't exactly sure he believes in God like his father does, and Harlan P. has made it clear that if he wants to return home, he'll have to do some serious rethinking regarding his religious views. But Harlan Q. doesn't know if he really wants to go back home - the Hamiltons treat him well, and working at a funeral home isn't so bad. But then Harlan Q.'s long lost grandfather, Harlan O., turns up dead in a local motel room. In order to fulfill the terms of Harlan O.'s will, the other two Harlans must drive his corpse back home to Las Vegas. Little do they know what kinds of adventures, fellow travelers, and strange occurrences they'll run into along the way.

For more information, check out Helen Hemphill’s website at http://www.helenhemphill.com/works.htm

More Harry Potter stuff!

Check out Scholastic.com's website about Harry - it's got games, quizzes, info, and more!

The Teens & Tweens bulletin board is almost finished!

We're just about done with the teens & tweens space bulletin board, but still need some pics, poems, whatever you've got. We also welcome book, music or game reviews. Please drop all submissions off at the youth services department!

New Book Display

Check out the new book display that went up in the Teens & Tweens space today, and let us know if you have some favorite books about summer!

Is school out yet?: Books about Summer

Brashares, Ann
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: For the first summer since they were born, Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen will be separated over the summer. But they have the traveling pants, which will keep them connected.
YA BRASHARES

Cole, Allison
Never Ending Summer: A graphic novel about Allison’s boring summer working at the local comic book store while her boyfriend goes to Australia. Could things get any worse?
YA COLE

Dessen, Sarah
Keeping the Moon: 15-year old Colie goes to spend the summer with her aunt while her mother, an exercise guru, tours Europe. Assuming her summer will likely be worse than her school year, she’s in for a few surprises.
YA DESSEN

Limb, Sue
Girl, (Nearly) 16, Absolute Torture: Jess had planned to spend the summer locking lips with her new boyfriend when her mother announces they’re taking a road trip which will include a visit to her dad.
YA LIMB

Lubar, David
Dunk: Chad is looking for a summer job at the boardwalk near his house when he becomes entranced by a clown working in a dunk tank. Wouldn’t it be perfect ~ make fun of customers all day inside the safety of the tank? For anger-filled Chad, it’s the best he thinks he can hope for.
YA LUBAR

McNamee, Graham
Acceleration: Duncan is working for the Toronto Transit Authority’s Lost and Found over the summer when he discovers a journal, filled with the thoughts of a serial killer ...
YA MCNAMEE

Myers, Walter Dean
Harlem Summer: All Mark is interested in during the summer of 1925 is his dream of playing his sax with Fats Waller. Unfortunately, not everything goes as planned, and Mark ends up doing more for his dream than he bargained for.
YA MYERS

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds
The Grooming of Alice: It’s the summer between middle school and high school, and Alice’s friends Pamela and Elizabeth want to ensure they make a good impression. They’ve insisted on a workout program to last the whole summer, but Alice isn’t so sure that’s the right plan.
YA NAYLOR

Roberts, Willo Davis
Twisted Summer: Cici can’t wait for summer to start at Crystal Lake—she’ll get to spend time with her cousins, and maybe Jack will finally start to notice her as more than a little kid. But when she arrives she finds out a girl was murdered the summer before, and that Jack’s older brother was convicted of the crime.
YA ROBERTS

Schumacher, Julie
Grass Angel: When Frances’s mother decides to go to Oregon to a spiritual retreat for the summer, Frances refuses to go. But when her mother and little brother are gone, Frances feels abandoned and wonders if they’ll ever come back.
YA SCHUMACHER

New books!

Check out some new books that are going up in the Teens & Tweens space today:
The Year the Gypsies Came by Linzi Glass
Incantation by Alice Hoffman
Accidents of Nature by Harriet McBryde Johnson
Chicks with Sticks (Knit two together) by Elizabeth Lenhard
The Killing Sea by Richard Lewis
Crisis of Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman & George Perez