What is Your Favorite Book Playlist?

What would movies and tv shows be without a soundtrack? The truth is, music helps build mood and is part of the expression of an artist and the story they are trying to tell. The best soundtrack I ever got was the soundtrack to the movie Garden State. I hated the movie really. But the music was awesome.

Music can also play a role in books. For some books, music is an integral part of the story. In Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, Annabel spends a lot of time listening to music. Annabel's life is changing - old friendships are strained, her family may be falling apart, and she is finding herself friends with an angry loner named Owen. This is teen fiction at its best. And honestly, Sarah Dessen is one of the best teen authors out there.

Sarah (we're on a first name basis, she just doesn't know it) is so awesome she put together a playlist for her book. Here is the playlist and a reason why she choose each of the songs.

Then I thought - how awesome is that, making a playlist for a book? I am not the only one who thought that. Here is a lists of book playlists put together by authors or fans of some of your favorite books.

I think that should be everyone's challenge: Take your favorite book and come up with a music playlist that best expresses the book.

Reading Rants

Our favorite book review site gets a new look! Check out the newly updated Reading Rants to get great book reviews.

For example, I get asked every few days for a book that will "make me cry". Well, here you go. These books are rated by the number of hankies you'll need. These books are weeptastic. One of the books on the list, If I Stay by Gayle Forman, even made me cry.

Vampire lovers can check out Fanging Around. Those of you who like psychological thrillers should check out Nail Biters. One of my favorite lists is Cool Classics You Never Even Heard Of. Sure we all know about To Kill a Mockingbird and Shakespeare - but what about Cheaper by the Dozen? That is a fun read.

Reading Rants also has links to other great reading blogs and authors. You do not want to miss out on author John Green's Nerdfighters page where they "fight to increase awesome and decrease suck."

Other great sites to find great reads:
Teen Reads.com
Chicklish - a UK readers site with the awesome UK humor
Bookshelves of Doom - Seriously, how can you resist a site called Bookshelves of Doom?

Of course keep checking back here to read my book reviews and see cool book trailers (I am totally obsessed with book trailers).

Read Irish for the Day

Want to celebrate good ole' St. Patrick's Day? How about reading a book by an Irish Author? Check out The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, a tale of friendship between a little boy and the Jewish man wearing striped pajamas behind a wire fence in Hitler's Germany.

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 9 Up– . . . Through the eyes of Bruno, a naive nine-year-old raised in a privileged household by strict parents whose expectations included good manners and unquestioning respect for parental authority, the author describes a visit from the Fury and the familys sudden move from Berlin to a place called Out-With in Poland. There, not 50 feet away, a high wire fence surrounds a huge dirt area of low huts and large square buildings. From his bedroom window, Bruno can see hundreds (maybe thousands) of people wearing striped pajamas and caps, and something made him feel very cold and unsafe. Uncertain of what his father actually does for a living, the boy is eager to discover the secret of the people on the other side. He follows the fence into the distance, where he meets Shmuel, a skinny, sad-looking Jewish resident who, amazingly, has his same birth date. Bruno shares his thoughts and feelings with Shmuel, some of his food, and his final day at Out-With, knowing instinctively that his father must never learn about this friendship. . . –Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH (read the complete review and more at www.amazon.com).

Never Judge a Book By Its Cover?

You know you've done it. We all have. You walk up to the shelf and there sits a book - you think it might be good, but man is that cover lame. The truth is, the cover art on a book is in fact one of the main things that draw us to a book. So is the title. And lots of time we don't even get past the first page if it doesn't draw us in.

Right now on Goodreads (which is a site that helps you keep track of the books you read and rate and share your reviews - kind of like Facebook for readers) they are rating book covers. Amazingly, almost all of the top 50 books rated as having the best covers are teen books (http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4581.Judge_A_Book_By_Its_Cover_)

Because We Just Don't Talk About Twilight Enough

Here you go, the trailer for the Eclipse movie . . .

Teen Tech Week entry form - download it!

Here you go - print it off, do the deeds, turn it in - and you could win!!!!

Learn * Create * Share

Teen Tech Week is here. Participate in our online scavenger hunt and you could win a $50.00 gift card. Complete at least 3 of the 5 challenges below and submit your entry form for your chance to win. The person who completes the most challenges will win; random drawing will break a tie. Other participants will win USB drives and $5.00 gift certificates. Up to 10 winners total. Entry forms must be turned in by closing on Saturday, March 13th. For teens grades 6-12.

So, in order to complete task #2 on your entry form . . . leave me a comment letting me know what you like to do with technology!

Vampires Are Out - The End of the World is In

Dystopian (adj.) - ad bad as can be, grim, characterized by human misery.

Sounds fun, right? The truth is, right now everyone is living in some tough times. People are losing jobs, the economy is bad and many of you are feeling the effects of it. Maybe your parents are out of work. Or maybe you just can't find a job for yourself. And in the news it seems all we hear about are pandemics (oink oink says the flu), terrorism, global warming, and war (what is it good for?). Books have a tendency to reflect the world we live in, so it is no surprise that a lot of the most popular and soon to be released books are what is known as dystopian fiction. Otherwise known as apocalypse NOW!

The Hunger Games is one end of the world scenario (we discussed it earlier on the blog). But it is certainly not the only one. Classics include 1984 (one of my favorite books ever), Fahrenheit 451 (also in my top 10) and Brave New World (which I have never read, oops).

You can also catch the Life As We Knew It trilogy by Susan Beth Pfeffer. The final book, This World We Live In, comes out soon.

Or how about The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carry Ryan? It's a dystopian novel - with zombies!

Coming Soon . . .

Empty by Suzanne Weyn - What if the earth ran out of oil?

Epitaph Raod by David Pateneude - What if most men simply disappeared?

The Gardener by S. A. Bodeen - What if we could grow humans from plants?

The Line by Teri Hall - What if a physical barrier completely enclosed the U.S.?

Girl in the Arena by Lisa Haines - What if we still had fight to the death gladiator wars?

Bottle Cap Crafts

The Ohio Wesleyan Lacrosse team joined Marion Public Library, Heart of Ohio Mentoring, and Marion County Recycling and Litter Prevention on Saturday, February 28th to make Bottle Cap Crafts. We learned about recycling our bottle caps into awesome craft projects. You can save the world and have fun, how cool is that?

One of cool projects that was made included picture frames. Other projects included earrings, bracelets, magnets and lapel pins. A good time was had by all. You can see more pictures of the event on our Facebook fan page.

If you are artistic - don't forget to participate in the Draw It teen art contest which is happening now.