Farmingdale Library Teens

  T here’s something in the water in Australia. Among some of the most prestigious award-winning books in the U.S. are books that originally came from the land down under, and publishers in the U.S. continue to bring over talented authors and exceptional YA titles. Perhaps the names Markus Zusak, Melina Marchetta, Justine Larbalestier, John Marsden, or Simmone Howell are already familiar to you. It’d be easy to build a huge list of Australian YA, but we're going to keep titles limited to books that published in the U.S.  Eleven girls went to the park with their teacher, but eleven girls came back to the park without their teacher. What happened to Miss Renshaw is the central question in Ursula Dubosarsky’s  The Golden Day . Did she run off with Morgan, the man who lived in the park because he was avoiding war? Did Morgan kill her? It takes eight years before any of the girls are ready to talk about what they saw that day or what details they remember, but by then, perhaps...

Reading diversely and talking about diversity in reading has been a huge priority this year. It’s a theme and discussion that will continue on through the new year and long after. As you prepare your to-be-read piles for the turn of the calendar, as well as build up your reads within YA, it’d be high time to talk about three books that feature disabled characters. We don’t talk enough about disability, and we don’t see disabled characters in our reading as much as we should. This, as much as skin color and sexuality, matters greatly and represents what learning about and living in a diverse world means. It’s thanks to the writers and readers at sites like  Disability in Kid Lit  that we learn far more about disability than ever have in the past — and for readers who want to educate themselves, as well as continue growing a to-be-read list of quality kid lit featuring disabled characters, this is a go-to resource. Here are three YA novels where disability is a si...

  Let’s take a look at 3 YA books — two fiction and one non-fiction — featuring people of color who are dancers.   A Time To Dance  by Padma Venkatraman Veda, a classical dance prodigy in India, lives and breathes dance– so when an accident leaves her a below-knee amputee, her dreams are shattered. For a girl who’s grown used to receiving applause for her dance prowess and flexibility, adjusting to a prosthetic leg is painful and humbling. But Veda refuses to let her disability rob her of her dreams, and she starts all over again, taking beginner classes with the youngest dancers. Then Veda meets Govinda, a young man who approaches dance as a spiritual pursuit. As their relationship deepens, Veda reconnects with the world around her, and begins to discover who she is and what dance truly means to her. Pointe  by Brandy Colbert Theo is better now. She’s eating again, dating guys who are almost appropriate, and well on her way to becoming an elite ballet dancer. But wh...

  Tirzah Price   Dec 16, 2020 This week, the adaptation of  Tiny Pretty Things  by Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra landed on Netflix! If you haven’t already read this dance thriller, then you’ll want to get a copy ASAP, and then  check out the trailer for the Netflix show . To celebrate the release, I wanted to highlight three more great YA books about dance that you should check out if you enjoy stories about this incredible art form! I WANNA BE WHERE YOU ARE  BY KRISTINA FOREST Chloe Pierce wants nothing more than to audition for a spot at an elite dance conservatory, but her mother has forbidden her from even trying. So she comes up with the perfect plan to audition without her mom knowing…but it involves driving 200 miles with her annoying neighbor, who invites himself and his dog along and threatens to tell her mom if Chloe doesn’t agree. Chloe finds herself stuck with them if she’s to make her audition on time, and their road trip does not go a...

  Midnight Library  by Matt Haig      Yay! I read this and loved it! Here's the synopsis from Goodreads: Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better? In  The Midnight Library , Matt Haig's enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is tru...

  by  SLJ staff   Dec 10, 2020 The buildup to the 2021 Youth Media Awards (YMA) continues as YALSA announced the five finalists for the William C. Morris Debut Award, which is given each year to a book published by a first-time author writing for teens “and celebrating  impressive new voices in young adult literature.” The 2021 finalists are: Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard   by Echo Brown The Black Kids   by Christina Hammonds Reed If These Wings Could Fly   by Kyrie McCauley It Sounded Better in My Head  by Nina Kenwood Woven in Moonlight  by Isabel Ibañez The winner of the Morris Award will be announced during the virtual YMA ceremony on January 25. Stay tuned!

 by Abby Johnson SLJ November 2020 For binge-watching students, these novels serve up related content - and a break from screens. Upside Down Magic, Disney+, TV-PG, Streaming now. Based on Sarah Mlynowski's middle grade book series, this movie, set in the Sage Academy for Magical Studies, puts a funny spin on magic school. Thirteen-year-old protagonist Nory and other students who have "upside-down magic" and don't conform are relegated to classes in the basement.   READ-ALIKES Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes Grades 3-6 When 10-year-old Maddy visits her grandmother in the Louisiana bayou, she discovers that she has family magic deep inside her that could help to protect her beloved bayou from disaster. The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris Grades 3-5 Although the magicians in this series deal in stage magic rather than witchcraft, this fun adventure tale brings together a group of oddball kids to catch a town criminal. Readers who love the camaraderie of the u...

  This year there is no shortage of exquisitely written books vying for the Printz award.  These  five books have brought joy, clarity, and will just "blow your mind"!         by Christina Vortia  SLJ October 2020 The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta     This novel in verse is the 2020 Stonewall Award winner, so it's not a leap that it's a strong Printz contender now that it's being published in the U.S.  With stunning prose, Atta tackles the intersections of sexuality, gender identity, race, homophobia, internalized racism, and colorism with bravery, ferocity, and love. Michael is a biracial Brit of jamaican and Greek descent growing up with a single mom. He learns at the age of six that wanting a Barbie doll doesn't fit within a so-called norm. This realization sets Michael on the path of unraveling other expectations and stitching together an authentic, experience in the drag ballroom scene.  Beautiful, tinely, and nece...

  Here they are! Enjoy~ Wayward Son (Simon Snow, #2)  by Rainbow Rowell. Wednesday Books/ Macmillan. 9781250146076. Simon Snow did everything he was supposed to do. He beat the villain. He won the war. He even fell in love. Now comes the good part, right? Now comes the happily ever after... So why can’t Simon  Snow get off the couch? What he needs, according to his best friend, is a change of scenery. He just needs to see himself in a new light...That’s how Simon, Penny, and Baz end up in a vintage convertible, tearing across the American West. Pumpkinheads  by Rainbow Rowell. Illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks. First Second/ Macmillan. 9781626721623. Josiah and Deja have been working the Succotash Hut together for the past three years and this is their last night working together before they go off to college. Deja is on a mission to help Josiah talk to his dream girl and eat snacks along the way. This dreamy graphic novel tells the cute story of these two teens’ last ...

 It's October 19th and a new set of videos were released for your viewing pleasure! Check out the link to view the 3rd-4th grade category videos as well as the others which have been posted that you may have missed. https://everychildareader.net/choice/creator-videos-ccba-2020/ Enjoy! ~ Miss Elena

It's the week of October 12th and here are more Choice Book Award finalist videos! These are 5th and 6th grade books. Watch and hear the authors own words as they describe their process and learn new terms such as "Emanata" as Raina Telgemeier explains in her video. These authors are so inspiring and encourage you to follow your dreams of becoming a writer or illustrator or both! Check them out! https://everychildareader.net/choice/creator-videos-ccba-2020/ The teen catagory videos are still up as well in case you missed the last post! Enjoy~ Miss Elena

Creator Videos: 2020 Book Awards Finalists Every Child a Reader is partnering with KidLit TV, an award winning producer of resources for parents, teachers and librarians, for a second time on a new series of videos featuring book creators! These 22 videos highlight the 2020 finalists of the Children’s & Teen Choice Book Awards. Check out the first 6 videos by clicking on the link below. Videos invite kids and teens to discover and more fully engage with these amazing finalists titles so they can vote at everychildareader.net/vote. The series contains a variety of content including read-alouds, guided drawing activities, a science experiment, and more fascinating insights into the imaginations of these outstanding authors and illustrators. Check back every Monday morning in October for a new category of finalist videos! Release dates are: 10/5 for Teen Choice, 10/12 for 5th-6th Grade, 10/19 for 3rd-4th Grade, and 10/26 for K-2nd Grade. https://everychildareader.net/choice/creator-vi...

  Steph Auteri   Oct 2, 2020 We asked our contributors to share the best book they read July through September and as always they delivered with great reads so prepare your TBR. We’ve got mysteries, delightful fantasy with found family, picture books, literary fiction, essays, magic, gothic novels, and much, much more—there are book recommendations for everyone here! Some are old, some are new, and some aren’t even out yet. Enjoy! AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE  BY TAYARI JONES I found myself holding my breath while reading  An American Marriage , white knuckling the sides of the book as each page unraveled a gutwrenching love story set in the American South. A young married couple named Celestial and Roy find themselves catapulted into the criminal justice system after a rape accusation lands Roy in prison for a crime he did not commit. With Roy imprisoned in Louisiana, Celestial must navigate life in Atlanta without him and grapple with the life they could have led had Roy n...