unRequired Reading

Our unRequired Reading Blog features the latest picks for teens selected by library staff and volunteers.
Wed, 07/22/2015 - 4:11pm
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

In the dark of night, a monster approaches Conor’s bedroom window. The massive, human-like gnarl of branches with its thunderous voice fails to frighten the boy. You see, Conor has already glimpsed the source of his personal terror. It lives in his nightmares.

A Monster Calls was written after Patrick Ness used outlines and ideas from the British writer Siobhan Dowd, a Carnegie Medal-winning author who died of cancer in 2007. The final product is a taut, suspenseful reflection on losing a loved one, accompanied by the message to be honest with one’s self.

Fri, 01/13/2012 - 4:24pm
Girl, Stolen by April Henry

Girl, Stolen by April Henry
When an impulsive carjacking turns into a kidnapping, Griffin, a high school dropout, finds himself more in sympathy with his wealthy, blind victim, sixteen-year-old Cheyenne, than with his greedy father.

Check it out!

Mon, 01/09/2012 - 3:30am
Tropical Secrets by Margarita Engel

Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba by Margarita Engel is a historical novel in verse about holocaust refugees in Cuba. Daniel is a thirteen year old Jewish boy. His parents can only afford one ticket out of Germany and they give it to their child in hope that he will be able to escape Nazi Germany. They send him on a ship out of Germany, hoping that they will be able to meet him in New York City one day once they have saved enough money to pay for their tickets.

Fri, 01/13/2012 - 4:21pm
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Check out the latest from John Green, author of award-winning books like Looking for Alaska and an Abundance of Katherines:

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 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. (Amazon.com)

Place your hold now!

For more from John Green (including lots of hilarious videos) check out his web site johngreenbooks.com.

Mon, 01/02/2012 - 3:30am
Forged by Fire by Sharon Draper

Years ago, three-year-old Gerald was left home alone in an apartment where a fire broke out. When authorities discovered that Gerald was home by himself, he was removed from the custody of his substance-addicted mother Monique and sent to live with his aunt. While living with his Aunt, Queen, Gerald is happy. After his aunt dies when he is nine, his mother returns but now she has a new husband, Jordan, and a daughter, Angel. Gerald goes to live with them, but he soon learns that all is not well. Jordan works sporadically and is abusive towards Angel and Monique. Monique does not stand up to Jordan--in fact she spends most of her time trying to please him. Jordan's abusive behavior towards Angel is a constant source of distress for Gerald. Soon the problems escalate to a point that force Gerald's hand in Forged by Fire, by Sharon Draper.

Mon, 12/26/2011 - 3:30am
Juliet Immortal

Do you remember Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet? Well, perhaps that storyline is not true, and Juliet did not kill herself. Perhaps Romeo Montague killed Juliet Capulet.  It was he, her soul mate and new husband, who committed a terrible crime. Romeo gave up Juliet to the hands of the Mercenaries, demons who seek to destroy love and separate soul mates. Juliet Immortal, a fantasy by Stacey Jay, retells the story of what happened between Shakespeare’s famous lovers.

Juliet has spent seven hundred years working for the Ambassadors of Light after Nurse, her Ambassador guide, saved her soul on the night Romeo killed her. At that moment, Juliet pledged allegiance to the Ambassadors’ cause, which is to bring soul mates together and make sure that their love blooms. She now spends much of her time in a dark mist, from which she is only taken out by the Ambassadors of Light to return to Earth, shift into a borrowed body, and assist soul mates. However, Romeo is working against her, and his allegiance to the Mercenaries makes Romeo and Juliet immortal enemies.

Pages
http://www.librarypoint.org/unrequired_reading?page=65
www.librarypoint.org
crawl=CC-MAIN-2017-30
60608
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:3MP7STIK2AUK3DPVXNYNMXYB7RHRD62A
<urn:uuid:873f2578-45e2-4ee7-aa4a-8fe21a72a7d0>
2017-07-26T08:32:34Z
8.224.162.25
text/html
sha1:FBYKRUGJKRBTANLTWN2EPPRODJB5WRW5
<urn:uuid:f87b23bb-8115-4134-8a45-535b1ffd3bf4>
http://www.librarypoint.org/unrequired_reading?page=65
length
response
<urn:uuid:7ff6c8e4-7d4a-4758-abad-d349eff2cc03>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-185-179-179.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-30
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for July 2017
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf