In Technically, It’s Not My Fault, Grandits writes in the voice of Robert, an eleven-year-old boy who chronicles his school and family life in 28 hilarious poems.  A recurring topic is his annoyance with his older teenage sister, Jessie, who suffers from Robert’s pranks in the poems “Bloodcurdling Screams” and “It’s Not Fair.”  However, don’t worry about Jessie – she gets her turn to get even with Robert in Blue Lipstick.  In addition to playing a few jokes on her brother, Jessie writes poems to her cat and describes the emotional ups and downs of teenage life in the poems “Bad Hair Day” and “A Chart of My Emotional Day.” 

 I laughed out loud while reading the poems in both books, as Grandits does a wonderful job depicting the thoughts and feelings of a tween boy and his older teenage sister. 

-Marianne

Disneystrology- Everyone knows their zodiac sign, but do you know your Disneystrology ? Flip through this book and find out. There’s a Disney character for each day of the year.  I pulled this book out after dinner one night, and a few days later was getting texts with dates to look up!

The Secret Universe of Names: The Dynamic Interplay of Names and Destiny- Does your name suit you? Or maybe you’re in the process of picking out a name?  This book has a lengthy introduction on language, sounds and the importance of letter placement. Or you can just flip to the index and find your page number.

The Secret Language of Birthdays: Personology Profiles for Each Day of the Year- This book has been around for a while. An old friend of mine owned a copy, and use to have friends write their name in the corner of their page, which I thought was kind of cool.

 -Becca

Speaking of goddess’s, I am of the personal opinion that one has not lived if one has not read a Rick Riordian book series. I am serious people. I have never read such an addicting book series (discounting Lisa Kleypas, ’cause well…she’s ‘inappropriate’). Sometimes I forget that the Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, and Kane Chronicle series are actually kids’ books. Well I’m sorry, but I have never squealed out loud so much reading a book.

Below is my intrapersonal mutterings while hunched over my book.

Oh, my gosh, Percy’s here! And Annabeth’s here! OOOOHHHHHH!!!!!! THERE’S POSEIDON! POSEIDON! POSEIDON! OM MY GOD! PERCY AND ANNABETH ARE GONNA KISS! PERCY AND ANNABETH ARE GOING TO KISS! PERCY AND ANNABETH ARE GOING TO KISS!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

…..They didn’t kiss. Why didn’t they kiss? WHY? WHY? WHYYYYY???!!!! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Something like that.

So, naturally, the Percy Jackson series is brilliant. The best of the best. Totally awesome. All those tumblrite words. All I must say is, don’t watch the movie. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. And I feel very strongly about this. Don’t. Don’t be tempted by that Logan Lerman’s hotness. Don’t get tempted by big names like Sean Bean and Uma Thurman. Don’t. Don’t. They made Annabeth brunette. And that, above all, cannot be forgiven.

The Heroes of Olympus, the newer series, is incomplete, crazily infuriatingly so. There are so many new characters and so many new plots that, admittedly, its rather dizzying. I love it to bits. The plots get so astronomical and intricate – and you know how Rick Riordian has that way of piling up nonsense which makes brilliant sense in the end – that you have to love it. True, I would have liked some more screen (novel? book?) time for Percy – more so for smooches between Percy and Annabeth – but we all can’t get what we want. There are set to be three more books after the newly released one, The Son of Neptune, and I advise you read it. Don’t get fooled by the “child’s book” guise. As far as I’m concerned, you can have you’re Great Gatsby – I’ll just sit in the kid’s corner with all the toddlers and read about Percy Jackson and the Greek gods. Whaaaaaat? (to borrow a Psych phrase)

And the Kane Chronicles are the newest I’ve discovered. I was a bit wishy-washy about it at first, true – the beginning is dubious – but they’ve started to grow on me (or maybe I’m just too bored…but that can’t be possible, I have so much to do! Urk. I see where my problem lies). I like the diversity. I like that they start popping up all around the world – Rick Riordian is going international with style. There’s about five books so I’m just waiting for these Kane kids to grow up (it is a kids’ book, I reason; but twelve…really?) and then I believe things will really get hot.

These books aren’t about Greek gods and goddess’s, though; they’re all about Egyptian mythology, maybe the second best thing (ok…let’s say that Greek and Egyptian are neck-in-neck. Roman sucks). I was a bit miffed that the Greekies don’t come out, but I’m placated when I realize that the Greeks have two whole series to their name (shared with the Romans…uff) and I guess the awesome Egyptians should get some credit. Actually, the Percy Jackson and Greek gods thing is mentioned in the books – OH MY GOD! – but I’m not getting my hopes too high. These two awesome subcultures will never merge. They’ll just keep living on opposite sides of the river…forever.

You want to know the best thing about Rick Riordian’s books? You LEARN things. I know who all the main Greek gods are. I can tell you the difference between Greek and Roman mythological terms – fauns and satyrs; confusing, yes, I know – and I know pretty much all the United States landmarks (and I live in Japan, by the way). I know the five main Egyptian gods and I can write my name in hieroglyphics. Awesome, much? It’s good party talk, at any rate.

So read – you will love.

(p.s. For those iffy adults who still insist that they just CAN’T read a kids’ book…fine. Rick Riordian has plenty of adult’s books, too; check out The Last King of Texas.)

The story is set in 1978 and Miranda is twelve when several significant things in her life begin to happen.  Her best friend since babyhood, Sal, has suddenly decided he does not want to be friends anymore and won’t talk to her about it or explain what happened.  Her mom has been chosen to be a contestant on the gameshow “The $20,000 Pyramid,” which she, her boyfriend, and Miranda are all determined that she will win.  And the most mysterious thing of all: she begins recieving mysterious notes from someone who seems to be able to predict the future and who says they are on a mission to save the life of a friend of hers.  The way that the different threads of Miranda’s life come together is surprising and wonderful as are the many other things that happen to her on the way.

One word of warning: this book is on the 2011-2012 Oregon Battle of the Books list, which means it is in demand now and will be in very high demand next school year, starting in September.  So my recommendation would be to read it now, before September starts.  Kids from third grade up, teens, and adults will all love this book. 

-Jeannine

With summer reading coming up next month, we’ve put together a display of new and favorite kids’ chapter books here at the Bethany Branch.  Two books you may see on display are Smarter than Squirrels, and On the Road, both by Lucy Nolan.

Told from the perspective of a dog who believes her name to be Down Girl (it’s what she hears most from her owner Rruff) , these books follow the day to day life and duties of Down Girl and her canine neighbor, Sit. In Down Girl’s world she is the best protector and squirrel hunter any human could ask for, even when they’re not really asking.

These beginner chapter books are aimed towards 1- 3rd graders, but any dog lover or person looking for a humorous read will enjoy ‘em. They’re funny and clever, and I hope they check out a lot because they deserve to be read!

 -  Susan

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
In Graceling we follow Katsa, a teen girl, who has been virtually enslaved to her uncle, the king, since childhood.  Because of her grace – she is able to kill anyone – she winds up executing many innocent men.  But together with her cousin and other nobles, she forms an underground alliance to right the wrongs done in the Seven Kingdoms.  It is through this council that she meets Po, a graced fighter, and together they begin their quest to rescue his grandfather and save the young Princess Bitterblue from her tyrannical father.This high fantasy featuring a strong female warrior makes a great gift for lovers of Tamora Pierce, Robin McKinley and Ursula K. Leguin.

The Astonishing Adventures of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson
This historical fiction chronicles the life of young Octavian, an African boy being raised in a house of white philosophers in colonial Boston.  It’s not long before he realizes that he is not the prince he’s been told he is, but a slave, being experimented on by the people who have raised him from birth.  This book will break your heart and blow your mind, be you fifteen or fifty.

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
The Twilight Saga has captivated a wide audience – ranging from tweens and teens to college students and soccer moms.  But Meyers’ books aren’t the only gothic fantasies worth reading in the teen section.  Behold Tantalize, a vampire-werewolf romance set at a restaurant in Austin.  Part murder mystery, part campy horror, part romance, Tantalize is just what the doctor ordered for a Twilight fan in withdrawl.

Knucklehead by Jon Sciezska
In his new memoir, Jon Scieszka tells it all.  All the shenangians of his childhood are revealed, from playing “swordfight” with his brothers in the bathroom to ordering army men from the back of a comic book to Catholic school hijinx.  This book will have fifty-somethings – or any adult with brothers (Scieszka was one of six)  in stitches.  My heart truly goes out to this man’s poor mother.

Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi
We all do it, but no one wants to talk about it – which is maybe why this illustrated book of various types of poop (dog poop, fish poop, people poop, etc) is usually saved for the younger set.  But plenty of adults are secretly enamoured with Taro Gomi’s brilliant picture book as well.  This makes a fun joke gift for a friend or coworker with a fun sense of humor.  Everyone Poops may not be a coffee table book in your house, but your cousin Bill might enjoy it as a bathroom reader!

When an author presents her work with this type of brief description you can only hope that her characters and stories live up to expectations. I know I sure do.

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