Program: beTWEEN the lines/Write for Your Life

So, it's been quite some time since I wrote about my beloved tween book club, beTWEEN the lines. This is partly because I'm incredibly far behind on program write-ups (and reviews in general - someday I hope to be much more current with posting my reviews). It's also partly because I've been sad thinking about writing this post. You see, the book club is no more. After abysmal attendance in September and October, I scheduled one more session in November and returned to our original format - we all would read the same book and discuss it. The book in question was Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming. As the meeting date approached and I saw only one name on the sign out sheet (participants signed out copies of the book), I knew it was over. When I spotted my lone attendee at a program the week before our scheduled book club meeting, I let her know that the meeting was cancelled and she could return her copy of the book the next time she came to the library. She didn't seem particularly sad to discover that we wouldn't be meeting. And so, my beloved book club went out with a whimper.

I am really sad to have let this program go, though I have seen greater success with new monthly programs. What makes me even sadder is that just a few weeks ago, we had a phone call from one of the mothers of last year's regular attendees. She wanted to know why she didn't see the club on the calendar anymore and wondered if I would start it back up again. I wish I could but, as I've said many times, in its original format it was a costly and time-consuming program that never had stellar attendance. We have had similar bad luck with teen book clubs here, so maybe it just doesn't work in our area.

I was less sad to see my Write for Your Life program go. I had only started this program because we had a lot of patron requests for it. From the beginning, I had a feeling that we wouldn't have attendance that reflected these requests. I wasn't wrong. For the November meeting, I had one attendee - the same one who had been coming to book club in the fall. We worked on character worksheets that I had found on the NaNoWriMo site for young people. With low attendance, it didn't seem worth it to keep devoting staff time to this program, so away it went. No one has asked what happened to this one.

Have you had to drop recurring programs because of poor attendance? What recurring programs actually draw a crowd for you?

Review: The Scorch Trials

The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner, book two)
By James Dashner
Published 2010 by Delacorte Press

WARNING: There may be spoilers for book one. To read my review of The Maze Runner, go here. 

Thomas and the Gladers believed that escaping the Maze would be the end of their ordeal. They are wrong. What awaits for them outside may be even worse.

After listening to the first book of this series on audio, I was in no great rush to pick up the second. However, my boyfriend felt a greater sense of urgency to find some answers to the puzzles presented in the first book, so I finally picked up the second.

This time around, we went with the print copy and I'm glad about that. I felt a bit frustrated while listening to book one as it seemed I would be able to read much faster than listening. I wasn't wrong. In addition to my ambivalence about the first title, I had heard from a few friends that the series only gets worse as it goes on, so I had some trepidation about picking up the second title. I don't think those criticisms are wrong and, though I see that when I initially added this book to my Goodreads account I gave it three stars, the more I think about it, the less I liked it.

This book shares the same fast pace as the first and that definitely works in its favor as the actual plot is pretty boring. There is little to no explanation of what is going on in this book, or why, and it quickly becomes tiresome reading. Additionally, I expected more character development in this entry in the series - that seems one way to keep the middle book in a trilogy from feeling like a chore you have to slog through to get to the exciting conclusion. Once again, there is little to no character development. It's not a good sign that I find both the plot and the characters just plain boring - this is supposed to be an adventurous science fiction novel!

I am of two minds about this series. On the one hand, I'm invested enough in the story that I want to find out the answers. On the other, it's just not very good. I'll finish it out, but I'm not sure I'll be reading any more Dashner after this.

Review: Carnival of Souls

Carnival of Secrets (Untamed City, book one)
By Melissa Marr, read by James Marsters
Published 2012 by HarperCollins

Mallory knows little about The City, but the inhabitants of The City know all about her. Soon, she'll find out more than she ever wanted to know, as her path crosses dangerously with Aya and Kaleb, two desperate souls searching for better lives. Originally published as Carnival of Souls.

I will fully admit: the main reason I listened to this audiobook is because it was narrated by James Marsters (Spike from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer). I adore him and think his voice is lovely, so when I found out he was doing audiobook narration, I was eager to listen. I have read the majority of the Wicked Lovely series and enjoyed it, so I also had interest in reading something new from Melissa Marr.

What I liked most about this book is that it feels gritty and dark. I liked Wicked Lovely because it explored the darker side of fae and, in general, I'm a fan of dark fantasy and horror. There is quite a bit of violence in this novel and it all feels ever darker than the faeries in her previous books. I also enjoyed the multiple points of view. It was interesting to have a variety of perspectives in this world. I did find myself a bit frustrated by the lack of development of Mallory - it was my understanding from the blurb that she was really the main focus of the book, yet in actuality, we don't spend that much time with her. So, I wish either the blurb was different, or she had been focused on more fully. That being said, I think Aya was my favorite character - she felt more fully realized than Mallory and I found her story slightly more interesting than the others.

Where I found this book lacking was the romance and the lack of worldbuilding. The romance never felt genuine to me, and came out of nowhere, in a way that I found very unappealing. Maybe if we had spent more time with Mallory it would make more sense, but I don't think it rings true to Kaleb's character. In terms of worldbuilding, Marr has the beginnings of a truly fascinating world in play here but there is a distinct lack of information. There is little to no explanation of what the daimons and witches are, or why they don't get along. I don't want a big infodump explaining all that to me, but I would like something that gives me some insight.

I thought Marsters was a great choice for the audiobook. As I said, I think his voice is lovely to listen to, and he captured the darkness of the story quite well. I'm not sure how successful he really was at distinguishing the character voices, but I still enjoyed listening.

Final note: there seems to be some controversy surrounding this title, which is allegedly the first in the series. First, there was the business about the title (I think there was a lawsuit), which I don't care so much about. But there also seems to be something complex going on between the author and publisher as there is no information on when a second book might be forthcoming. I did find an indication of an e-novella being released this fall, but nothing beyond that, leaving me wondering if this series will continue anytime soon.

Release Day Review: House of Ivy & Sorrow

House of Ivy & Sorrow
By Natalie Whipple
Expected publication April 15, 2014 by HarperTeen

Jo's grandmother is actually the witch that lives in the spooky old ivy-covered house. Jo is a witch, too, and she and her grandmother are the last two Hemlocks left. Her mother was killed by a terrible Curse and she's been on the run from it since. Now, it seems like all the magical barriers they've put in place are failing - the shadows have found Jo.

I could not resist a book with such an intriguing name and graphically pleasing cover. I whipped through the e-galley of this book recently. That was one of my favorite things about this book - quick and compelling read. I really wanted to get the whole story, so I would have liked to read this without putting it down if that had been possible. The chapters are short and the pacing is quick - the action comes at a pretty steady clip so this book is a really fast read.

I also really liked Jo - she is an easy girl to relate to and therefore, it's easy to get on her side. Yes, she is a pretty powerful witch, which is not typical for a teen girl, but she also has typical teen problems. She's funny and interesting with a touch of melodrama, which really works in this situation. I also really enjoyed Jo's grandmother - if there has to be another dead mom, then reading about this grandmother is a decent balm for that. She's quite amusing, though maybe a little much on the quirkiness scale.

The mythology is a bit different than what I've seen in other witch stories, though the female-only bit is pretty common. I really liked the Curse and loved discovering how it really worked and Jo's quest for answers propels the book along. I was expecting a bit more darkness from the title than the book actually delivers but, overall, I found it a fun and quick read.

Thanks to the publisher for a digital advance reader's copy, provided via Edelweiss.

Review: Suitcase of Stars

Suitcase of Stars (Enchanted Emporium, book one)
By Pierdomenico Baccalario
Published 2014 by Capstone Young Readers

Finley's life is about to change. He's about to meet the Lily family, a pretty girl about his age and her father who've moved into a strange house in his town. They're about to make life much more complicated for him.

I'm lucky enough to be auto-approved for Capstone's titles on NetGalley, so when I spotted this one, I figured I'd give it a shot, part of my ongoing attempt to stay current with middle-grade lit. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to this one prior to its release date but I finished it recently, so now it's time to see what I thought.

Also unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy this book very much. The blurb makes it sound much more interesting than it actually turns out to be. You see, the blurb focuses on the Enchanted Emporium, the shop that Aiby Lily runs with her father. But, we don't find out about that shop until quite far into this book, and, as a whole, we don't find out terribly much about that shop. There is no mention of the magical artifacts that the blurb discusses. This is a huge disappointment, as that's the book I wanted to read. Instead, this book focuses a lot on Finley and how he befriends Aiby. There is a lot of annoyance from Finley as Aiby is a bit cagey with information for him and he becomes frustrated. It seemed like there was a lot of time spent on introducing Finley and making him a sympathetic character, which didn't really work for me.

Once Finley and Aiby start communicating a bit more, the action picks up a little. Unfortunately, by this point, I was already disappointed with the book and the whole thing felt disjointed and a bit all over the place. Nothing about this book was particularly memorable and, considering the plethora of other middle-grade fantasy out there, I don't see myself recommending it. It's the first in a series focusing on the Enchanted Emporium and, in all likelihood, the next books will actually talk about the Emporium in more detail. I won't be returning to find out for myself, though.

Thanks to the publisher for a digital advance reader's copy, provided via NetGalley.

Program: Wimpy Kid Party

This is the second year I've run a Wimpy Kid party in the fall. The series is insanely popular, so it seems logical to do programming to go along with it. This year, I held the party the day that book eight was released, which I think definitely helped build excitement. Here's what we did this year!

Magic dice - this was a free printable that I found somewhere on the Internet that I decided to use for this program. It directly related to book eight, when Greg realizes he's made some pretty bad decisions in his life so he begins using a Magic 8-ball to make all his decisions for him. I've seen homemade Magic 8-ball instructions in the past but they all seemed a bit too time consuming, so when I found a simple cut, fold, and glue magic die, I decided to go with that. The kids really liked asking it questions and rolling their dice to find out the answer.

Make your own comics - yes, we do this every time we have an event similar to this, but that's because the kids never get sick of doing it. They love making their own comics and it's very easy to set up!

Trivia - this year, I made a Wimpy Kid trivia PowerPoint and we played individually. I awarded Mom Bucks to kids for getting the right answers, as well as giving each kid Mom Bucks for attending and completing each craft. I also had my teens handing out Mom Bucks when they saw kids behaving well in the first half of the program (when we were doing the crafts). I made sure that the kids hung onto their Mom Bucks. Anyway, the trivia was pretty straightforward and I was impressed by how much the kids knew. I had one boy who I'm pretty sure knew the answer to every trivia question.

Giveaway - and this is why they needed to keep their Mom Bucks. I had them write their names on the back of all the Mom Bucks they had gotten throughout the program. We dropped them all into a bucket and pulled two lucky winners for a copy of the brand new book, just released that day. They were very excited about it. I also encouraged all the kids who didn't win to put their name on the holds list for our library copies, which my coworkers told me many of them did immediately after the program.

The kids really liked the Mom Bucks aspect of the program, with many of them taking them home as souvenirs. A successful and fun program, which I'm sure I'll do again when the next book arrives!

Review: The Boys of Blur

The Boys of Blur
By N.D. Wilson
Published 2014 by Random House Books for Young Readers

Charlie is returning to his roots. His stepdad's former coach has died, so the family attends his funeral. Soon, Mack is offered the coach position to finish out the season. Charlie's not sure how he feels about it, living in a town with so much family history - his mom, his stepdad, and his real father. Things are about to get more confusing when Charlie and his newfound cousin stumble upon a strangeness in the sugar cane. Charlie may need to become a hero.

I snagged a galley of this at ALA because I absolutely loved Wilson's Ashtown Burials series (though I haven't read book three yet - for shame!). Now, the buzz seems to be building around this book and Betsy Bird (of Fuse #8) is calling it a Newbery contender.

Now, for another edition of Librarian of Snark confessions: I've never read Beowulf. In any form or translation or reinterpretation. So, I might be missing something big about this book. I know enough to understand that, at least in some way, Wilson is offering his own interpretation of the epic with this book. A little crazy? Maybe. But, I also think this book works exceedingly well.

Though I'm sure I'm missing the subtleties and nods to the Beowulf legend, this is a mighty fine book regardless. If you had told me that someone - anyone - wanted to write a retelling of Beowulf for the middle-grade set, even without knowing the story, I'd have given you the side-eye. I suppose what we should be thankful for is that not just anyone chose to do this - Wilson chose it. Wilson makes an epic of English poetry insanely compelling for the youth of today. His writing is vibrant and colorful and it wraps this epic tale up so well. I think kids will have a hard time putting this story down.

Wilson manages to capture an exciting fantasy novel and an introspective hero dealing with the troubles of everyday life all in the same book. I was right there with Charlie every step of his journey and I rooted for him so much. I love that Wilson manages to write a book set in the South that's not dripping in charm, yet is still clearly of the South. This is just a lovely book and I'm so glad Wilson has come to my attention.

Thanks to the publisher for an advance reader's copy.