BPL Teens: More Than Books
  • Home
  • Upcoming Stuff
  • Resources
    • Book Talk
    • Booklists
    • What to Read Next
    • Personal Book Shopper Request
    • eBooks
    • Databases
    • For Students >
      • FOL Scholarship
    • For Teachers
    • Mental Health Resources
  • Volunteering
    • YA Reviewers Submit Here
  • Fun Stuff
    • Book Memes
    • Suggest a Book

Dec. 4th: A suspenseful book

12/4/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Two Can Keep a Secret is darker and more grisly than Karen McManus's first book, One of Us Is Lying!
0 Comments

Dec. 1st: A funny book

12/1/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
It's not often I get a book that makes me laugh out loud, but I definitely did with this one!
0 Comments

Broken Things

8/5/2019

0 Comments

 
At 13 years old, Summer was murdered, and her best friends Brynn and Mia were considered the murderers by their town. The truth, though, was much more complicated than that. The girls were mega fans of a book written decades earlier wherein the protagonist travels to a mystical place called Lovelorn where no one ages. They were obsessed with the book and Lovelorn, especially Summer, who led the way in them writing fanfiction to finish the story, which famously ends mid-sentence. But Summer wasn't the charming, flirtatious girl everyone thought her to be. She withheld her love and friendship from Brynn and Mia when they wouldn't do what she wanted. She toyed with Brynn's emotions as a lesbian, and more. Cut to five years later, and the case is cold and Brynn and Mia see each other for the first time since the fiasco. They set out to find the real murderer, someone they call the Shadow. Will they solve the mystery or will the Shadow get them, too?

Broken Things is very similar in tone to Stranger Things: you feel like someone/something is watching you and you get a tingle up your spine, but when you glance behind yourself, there's no one there. Creepy for sure!
Picture
YA F Oli
0 Comments

Mystery vs. Mystery

2/25/2019

0 Comments

 
I read these two mysteries back to back, and despite the fact that they were published around the same time, they are actually pretty different. Let's see how they handle it when forced into a face-off.
Picture
Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Gilmore Girls meets Pretty Little Liars in this scandal-filled mystery.

Sawyer and her (single) mom live "on the other side of the tracks" and have ever since Sawyer's mom was pregnant 18 years ago. Sawyer's world does a complete 180, though, when her grandmother shows up and offers Sawyer $500,000 in exchange for coming to live with her for nine months... and participate in the debutante season. Sawyer only agrees to the deal when Lillian promises to tell Sawyer who her father is, a secret that Sawyer's mom refuses to discuss. So, Sawyer packs her bag and heads to the Taft mansion. There, she meets her cousin Lily; Lily's best friend Sadie Grace; their archenemy Campbell; an ex-boyfriend; a charming possible-half-brother; a down-on-his-luck, country club valet; and other Southern schemers. Through some blackmail, the girls get involved in a heist, a kidnapping, an alibi-creation, and other trouble, all in the name of framing a Bad Guy and learning who Sawyer's dad is.

This mystery might be considered a bit dark, but the Southern belle comedic timing definitely puts it more in the CW tone: campy, just-enough of a threat, and cute boys.
Picture
Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

Ellery and her twin brother Ezra have been shipping from Hollywood, CA to their grandmother's in Vermont when their mother is forced into court-ordered rehab. They've never visited their grandma because Sadie's (their mom) twin sister Sarah disappeared during their senior year's homecoming festivities. In fact, Sadie had only been back twice: one for her father's funeral and once for her close friend's daughter's funeral five years previously. This town seems to be swimming in murder and intrigue, and Ellery --true crime aficionado-- is lapping it all up. But is she really prepared when a classmate goes missing? To up the ante, Declan, Prime Suspect #1 and Lacy's boyfriend, is mysteriously back in town, as is Lacy's best friend Daisy. Who killed Lacy? And are they tied to this new disappearance?

Two Can Keep a Secret is a murder mystery, but it much more grisly and dark compared to the lighter-in-tone, Breakfast Club-like One of Us Is Lying (McManus's first book). In fact, there are so many threads in Two Can Keep a Secret, that it's impossible to guess the ending, which makes it an intriguing and un-put-down-able read.
0 Comments

Lone Star 2019 Winners

2/4/2019

0 Comments

 

via GIPHY

Every year, the Texas State Library chooses 20 or so books that will appeal to 6th, 7th, and 8th grade readers.

When the list is announced, Bethany and Bonnie like to go on a shopping spree at the book vendor's to make sure we can get these books in your hands.

These are the books we're most excited about having available soon at Bastrop Public Library.
Picture
Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter

Maddie and Logan were best friends until a foiled kidnapping lands her, and her dad, in the wilds of Alaska. Six years later, Maddie can flip a hatchet and kill a fly, but she's coldly angry that best friend (and the President’s son) Logan has never answered any of her letters. But when he shows up on her doorstep with kidnappers on his trail,it's up to Maddie and her survival skills to get them out of this alive.
Picture
Time Bomb by Joelle Charbonneau

Seven students are trapped in a high school nearly destroyed by a terrorist's bomb. Most are injured; two will die. And one of them set the bomb. Butwith fire raging and everyone's backstory a mystery, it's almost impossible to tell who's a bad guy and who's not. All the while, there's another bomb, just waiting to go off.
Picture
Resistance by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Chaya Lindner, a Jewish girl working as a courier into the ghettos of World War II Poland, is on a suicide mission. She knows that the Nazis are about to obliterate the Warsaw ghetto, but she feels compelled to help Esther arrive there to deliver a mysterious package. Chaya is willing to do whatever it takes feel like she's in charge of her own life...even if it results in her death.
Picture
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

After a near-death experience, Cassidy can see ghosts. She's even become best friends with one. So when her author parents agree to do a TV series about the world's most haunted cities, it shouldn't be a big deal. But Edinburgh has far more ghosts than Cassidy's hometown in the US, and some of them--like the Raven in Red--are lingering in hopes of being able to snatch the soul out of a living person...like Cass...and use it to come back to life.
Find Lone Star books in the card catalog
See all the 2019 Lone Star winners
0 Comments

Dec. 18th: An audiobook

12/18/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
What audiobook that you listened to this year was your favorite?
0 Comments

Dec. 4th: A suspenseful book

12/4/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
What cliffhangers destroyed you this year?
0 Comments

A Murder Mystery

9/12/2018

0 Comments

 
Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. "A place" he said, "where learning is a game."

Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym, Truly Devious. It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.

True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder.

Picture
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

YA F Joh + ebook on OverDrive/Libby

Bethany gives this one two thumbs up!

via GIPHY

First of all, HOW DARE YOU “END” A BOOK WITH SUCH A CLIFFHANGER?!!!?!

As is expected of Johnson’s mysteries, Truly Devious is three parts murder mystery, one part Agatha Christie and other allusions, and one part boarding schools. There is definitely a fun double mystery to be solved in this book.

Stevie is such a fun sleuthing partner. As you progress through the story, you see how smart she is, like a teen Sherlock Holmes.
0 Comments

Teens' Top Ten 2018: Realistic Fic and Mystery Nominees

9/3/2018

0 Comments

 
And, last but not least, for those of you who prefer real-life stories and/or mysteries, here are those nominees. Voting ends October 13th, so get reading! 
Vote for TTT!
Picture
The Disappearances by Emily Murphy
YA F Mur

Aila Quinn has her life changed when her mother dies and father gets drafted for the war. There have been Disappearances of ordinary things every seven years in her mother’s home town. As Aila and her friends begin to uncover the origins of the Disappearances, they discover the role Aila's family has had it in. 
Picture
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
YA F Mat

Inspired by her mom’s Riot Grrrl past and infuriated by sexism at her school, Vivian creates Moxie, a feminist zine, and distributes it anonymously in the girls’ bathroom. While Moxie grows in popularity, school administration lashes out against Moxie girls. Will they continue to fight back against sexism and discrimination?

Read More
0 Comments

Free Audiobooks Part THe Last

7/19/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
MONSTROUS BEAUTY by Elizabeth Fama
Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences. Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra's help, Hester investigates her family's strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.

THE LOST WORLD by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The creator of Sherlock Holmes delivers a classic adventure fantasy in this tale of a trip by journalists, scientists, and adventurers to investigate rumors of dinosaurs on a mysterious plateau deep in a mythical South American jungle. Much fun and over-the-top adventure ensue. The author is ably supported by Glen McCready, who delivers a reading very much in the nineteenth-century style. He plays up the characters’ big personalities and celebrates the rather orotund style of the writing, which isn’t as tight as in the Holmes books. 

0 Comments
<<Previous

    Categories

    All
    5 Star Reads
    5-star Reads
    Adventure
    Alternative History
    Banned Books
    Biography
    Books To Movies
    Contemporary
    Diverse
    Diversity
    Fantasy
    Girl Power
    Graphic Novel
    Historical Fiction
    Horror
    LGBT
    Live Blogging
    Lone Star
    Manga
    Mystery
    Mythology
    Nonfiction
    Novel In Verse
    Novel-in-verse
    Printz Award
    Quiz
    Realistic Fiction
    Resources
    Romance
    School Stuff
    Sci Fi
    Seasons Readings 2017
    Seasons Readings 2018
    Social Issues
    Sports Fiction
    Summer Reading 2018
    Superheroes
    Suspense
    Sync Audiobooks For Teens
    TAYSHAS
    Teen Read Week
    Thriller
    Tweens
    YA Lit In The World

    Archives

    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Upcoming Stuff
  • Resources
    • Book Talk
    • Booklists
    • What to Read Next
    • Personal Book Shopper Request
    • eBooks
    • Databases
    • For Students >
      • FOL Scholarship
    • For Teachers
    • Mental Health Resources
  • Volunteering
    • YA Reviewers Submit Here
  • Fun Stuff
    • Book Memes
    • Suggest a Book