Spring 2013

It’s time to buy your tickets for the annual OLA raffle sponsored by the Oregon Young Adult Network (OYAN).  Online ticket sales start April 17th at 10 AM online at http://bit.ly/152p91l .  The price is $5 for 1 ticket or $20 for 5 and sales are limited to 600 tickets total.  After online sales end on Tuesday the 23^rd at 8 PM, in-person sales will continue April 24-26 during the OLA/WLA joint conference.  Winners will be announced on Friday, April 26^th at the conference. 

The raffle is open to the public and being advertised statewide in the Oregonian this year, so we recommend buying early.  We have numerous great prizes including a 2-night stay at the Sylvia Beach Hotel, great tickets to the Literary Arts festival, a voucher to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, an amazing Astoria package that includes a hotel stay, kayak rental and more along with many other prizes.  The raffle benefits teen service in Oregon’s public libraries.  OYAN is a part of the Oregon Library Association.  Get your tickets soon!

Thank you,

Mark Richardson
OYAN Vice-chair/ Chair elect
Young Adult Librarian
Cedar Mill Library
markr@wccls.org

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Seraphina, as her name suggests, has the musical talent of an angel. She avoids sharing her gifts with the others at court because she doesn’t want to attract attention to herself. Seraphina is not just a gifted musician…she also has a terrible secret. With the approaching celebration of the 40-year peace between the Goreddi, Seraphina’s people, and the dragons, she finds herself drawn increasingly more into the limelight. Torn between loyalty to her human peers and her close dragon acquaintances, Seraphina struggles as war looms and she learns more and more about her lineage, with all the unique abilities – and burdens – it brings with it. Can she help bridge the centuries-old grudges between the two species? Can she save her family and herself? Can she find love…and possibly even earn love in return?

This gripping story is set in a unique, rich world with complex characters, including a host of very intriguing dragons, and will keep you hanging on until you find out what happens next.

War. Suspense. Violence. Terror. And all told in a distressingly believable way, in a world not too unlike our own.

This is not your run-of-the-mill dystopia. It’s an intense battlefield of survival set in a futuristic America. The story follows two friends, Mahlia and Mouse, through this world as they fight off violent, ruthless soldier boys. Mahlia and Mouse flee to the jungles, only to encounter Tool, a genetically engineered killer, part animal and part human, wounded, dangerous, and hunted by the boy soldiers. The two friends are separated – one captured and one facing horrible decisions about what to do next…and who to save.

In a world ravaged by climate change, disparate warring factions, and unending violence, it’s hard enough to survive, let alone hang onto your own humanity and try to save others. Bacigalupi creates an incredible, if not horrifying, world where he develops heart-wrenching moral dilemmas for his characters to face. And through it all, you’re glued to your seat, unable to tear away from the awfulness of it…hoping for a sliver of light at the end of the chaotic tunnel. A companion to the Printz Award title from 2011, Ship Breaker.

Astrid Jones is a senior at Unity Valley High in a gossip-ridden small town filled with even smaller-minded people.

They say: Why does perfect Kristina Houck hang around that weird girl?

They say: How could anyone be friends with someone as strange as Astrid Jones?

As if the town’s rejection isn’t hard enough, Astrid lives with her caustically critical mother, her socially paranoid, reputation-obsessed sister, and her new-to-stonerhood dad. There is no love for Astrid at home, at school, or in town. So, she takes up a solitary hobby – staring at planes flying overhead and sending her love (and huge, finding-herself questions) to the passengers. And, she finds herself facing bigger and bigger questions as she discovers who she is as a person – someone who loves other girls – and realizes that there is no room in the hearts of her townspeople for someone like her.

Little does Astrid know, though, the very real impact her streams of love have on the passengers who receive them. Just as she is figuring out her own life by sending her love away, so is she changing others’ lives forever in significant ways.

— Just a reminder – Mock Printz is this Saturday, Jan 26 from 12-4pm! If you’re participating in person or remotely, check your email for agendas and details. Got questions? Contact workshop coordinator Susan Smallsreed at susansm@multcolib.org.

I have told the truth. I have told the truth. I have told the truth…

So claims captured British spy, Verity, as she writes her confession of war information in a trade with the Nazi Gestapo guards for more time to live. Brought to Occupied France in WWII by her best friend and pilot, Maddie (code name Kittyhawk), Verity is captured almost immediately and detained for weeks of tortuous interrogation. She promises to provide her captors with valuable information about British war strategies in exchange for time; the first half of this harrowing tale is Verity’s account of her friendship with Maddie and their joint efforts in the Allied Forces.

The second half of the story is told by Kittyhawk, filling in the blanks of how they came to France and her efforts to locate Verity while assisting the French Resistance who are hiding her from the Nazis. From Kittyhawk’s narrative, you will learn the strength of her friendship with Verity, the lengths they will go to save each other and defeat the Nazi forces. And, if you are able to set this book down without wondering about what happens next, or can finish the story without any sadness or tears, then you just might have even greater resolve than these two extraordinary young women.

“There’s something about those Rollrock women, isn’t there?”

This is the story of Rollrock Island, told through the eyes and voices of various isle inhabitants. It’s the tale of the red-headed, seafaring dads; the mysterious, svelte, dark-haired mams; and a village filled only with sons. And of course, the sea witch, Misskaella. As well as the reason that no one comes to the island unless they live there…Rollrock men pull their wives, like their livelihoods, from the sea. Theirs are seal-wives, split magically from their seal bodies by Misskaella for a hefty sum. Rollrock mams bear and keep sons – the daughters they birth are not so lucky. And those sons grow up, learning from their dads all the ways they will try, and fail, to keep their mams and future wives happy on land when they belong to the sea.

It seems an unbreakable cycle…until young Daniel Mallet decides to take matters into his own hands, tired of all the oppressive unhappiness and suffering in his village and home. But, can one boy right the magically unnatural wrongs of generations? That’s for you to determine when you reach the end of this haunting, captivating story.

Pirates. Faeries. Dinosaurs. Lost boys. Peter Pan. Girls with hungry hearts and messy hair. Infinite youth with which to relive young love, heartache, and loss.

The dangers of Neverland are many. Watch your step – and your heart.

Told by the tempestuous faerie, Tinker Bell, this is the story of 15-year-old Tiger Lily, the before, during, and after of when she met infamous Peter Pan. Tiger Lily is, at times, regarded as tempting, dangerous, and cursed by the people in her village. An outcast in her close-knit tribe, they live in relative peace until Tiger Lily saves the life of a stranded, ship-wrecked Englander with the aging disease, and learns that she must marry the most lecherous and short-tempered man in her tribe. These two events send her life hurtling in a new direction…one that leads her to Peter Pan and the lost boys.

And that changes everything. As Tiger Lily’s wedding day nears, she finds herself spending more and more time on adventures with the lost boys and losing more and more of herself to their leader, Peter Pan. When tragedy strikes for Tiger Lily, her wild, hungry heart takes her down a dark path of death, betrayal, and heartbreak – a path that even always-loyal Tinker Bell might not follow.

This fantastical retelling is rich in characters, adventure, and complex relationships. Tiger Lily is an imperfect heroine  and yet, like Tinker Bell, you just may find yourself admiring, admonishing, and wanting to protect this fascinating leading lady.

Or, have you already voted, but have since finished some additional Book Rave-nominated titles? You can go back to the same computer where you did your initial Book Rave voting and add votes.

And remember, you can vote “no” on a title you didn’t care for or think is inappropriate for the Book Rave.  It in effect will negate some one else’s “yes”vote.  We’re going cut-throat, people!

You can vote until January 15th (tomorrow!).   Be prepared to discuss, debate, and shimmy the results at the Winter Membership meeting – January 18, 2013 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Salem Public Library.