GreenBeanTeenQueen

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars Genre: Historical Release Date: 5/1/2010 Add to Goodreads About the Book: It's 1962 and 11-year-old Franny and the rest of the US are living in fear of bombs being dropped and practicing their duck and cover plans. For Franny, things at home are just as confusing. Her younger brother is a perfect saint, her older sister keeps disappearing with her thinking friends at college, the neighborhood thinks her World World Two hero uncle is crazy, and Franny's best friend just might not be her best friend anymore. Told in a documentary style, with song lyrics, photos, quotes and news clippings, Franny's story weaves with the bigger story of a country in crisis in an engaging new way. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: I really think Countdown might be in the running for the Newbery award this year-that's how impressed I was with this book. Even though the setting is 1962, Franny and her family are relateable to any tween today and I fell in love with her voice. The ...

My library is hosting it's first teen author event next Saturday June 5. Teen Book Mania will be held at 2pm and features four YA authors: Brent Crawford, Jenny B Jones, Brian Katcher and Holly Schindler. There will be Q&A session as well as a book signing. If you're in SW MO (or want to drive!) and would like more info on the event, send me an e-mail and I'll give you more info. I'm also looking for good author questions to ask for our author Q&A, so if you have any favorite author panel questions, let me know!

So you all know how exited I am for the premiere of Pretty Little Liars which starts June 8 on ABC Family. So of course I jumped at the chance to participate in a contest and play a Pretty Little Liars game for a chance to have the cast answer one of my questions! It all started Monday afternoon with a mysterious box and a message from 'A.' The black box says Pretty Little Liars on top and "never trust a pretty girl with an ugly secret" on the side. When I opened it up, there was a message from 'A' that said "some secrets you have to dig for"-and dig I did-through a box of dirt to discover more messages from 'A' and a phone that had text messages from 'A' threatening to reveal my secrets. I'm playing the game as Emily and I have tasks to complete or else 'A' will let my dirt slip! I've completed two tasks already, but they're getting harder, so I'll need your help! I'll blog about the game, but I'...

Kristi at The Story Siren wrote a post recently about books that just didn't work for her and I asked her if I could do the same and use her idea-and she's so sweet she said yes! Even though I'm a librarian and I know there's a reader for every book, there are some books that just aren't for me-even when reading as a librarian. I tell my teens to not waste their time with books they aren't enjoying and I think I should follow my own advice. I do branch out and read outside of my typical genres, but sometimes I'm just not into a book and I can't bring myself to finish it. My teens love when they can debate with me over a book and argue why they love it! So just because I didn't like these books doesn't mean you won't! (Actually all three of these have rave reviews around the blogosphere, so I guess I'm the weird one!) The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell -The premise sounded unique-the son of a supervillain finds out he's also...

Since I'm unable to head to BEA this year, I'm participating in Armchair BEA ! I'm an avid book lover and reader as well as a librarian, so it only makes sense that I have a collection of signed books. My collection of signed books has grown over the past few years and I have the entire top shelf of my bookshelf dedicated to my signed books. I've been to book fairs, author events, and last year at ALA I came back with tons of signed books! I'm working on my list of authors to visit at this year's conference. Since author signings are one of the best parts of book conferences, I thought I'd share some of my favorite signed books. The Midnight Mystery by Betty Ren Wright -I got this book signed at a big author festival I attended in 5th grade. I remember being so excited to meet the authors and this was the first book I ever met the author and got signed, so it holds a very special place in my collection. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs ...

I wasn't able to go to BEA this year, so I'm participating in Armchair BEA ! As part of Armchair BEA, I was paired up with another blogger for an interview and I got to meet Molly from My Cozy Book Nook . Get to know a little bit about Molly and be sure to check out her blog! 1. You're an English teacher. What book has been the most fun to teach? This is so incredibly tough to answer as I love to teach almost every one. I would say that Tale of Two Cities is probably the most fun in my British Literature class (this year especially --- the students really got into the symbolism and foreshadowing). In 9th grade it is a toss between Fahrenheit 451 and To Kill a Mockingbird; in 8th grade we study A Midsummer Night's Dream the entire year and that has really been a blast; and in 7th grade I would say I really enjoy teaching The Hobbit (although Tuck Everlasting runs a close second place) 2. What got you interested in blogging? I am not sure how I found my first book blog ...

Tween Tuesday is a weekly meme to highlight great reads for tweens! Join in the fun, post your Tween Tuesday review and leave the link the comments! Rating: 3/5 Stars Genre: Contemporary Release Date: 3/15/2010 Add to Goodreads About the Book: Eddy knows a lot about science and can spend hours building and inventing. When the local school crossing guard's job is cut, Eddy worries that the intersection will be too dangerous and comes up with an invention to make it safer for the students. His inventions also help him meet new students and discover what it is to be a friend and stand up for himself against school bullies. GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: Although it's never mentioned in the book, I would guess that Eddy would be a student who is somewhere along the autism spectrum. He has difficulties deciphering social clues, he doesn't like loud noises or crowds, and he is very smart when it comes to science and know lots of random facts in various scientific subjects. I tho...