Monday, January 30, 2012

Land of Misfit Toys...um, Children

Jacob's grandfather used to entertain--and terrify--him with tales about growing up in an orphanage where each and every resident had some sort of peculiar characteristic: A girl who could fly, a brother and sister who were unusually strong, a boy who had two mouths, etc. At 16, Jacob doesn't believe these stories like he did when he was a child. At least, not until his grandfather is murdered and doctors orders being him to the mysterious Welsh island that is the site of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. There, he learns that his grandfather's stories just might be true.

This one is just awesome! Totally unlike anything I've read before and worth checking out!--AJL

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Help OPL Help Hope Closet!

Have an old prom or bridesmaid dress hanging in your closet? Drop it off at Oxford Public Library thru February and we'll donate it to Hope Closet. Donations must be clean and free of rips or tears.

Hope Closet is a non-profit organization that collects clean, gently-used formal wear (dresses, shoes, purses, jewelry, and other acessories) and makes them available--at no cost--to local teens so they can attend their proms. Hope Closet will be open in April. Girls may shop there regardless of financial situation. The only requirements are: Appointments must be made to shop, and valid school IDs must be presented upon arrival. For more information on Hope Closet, please visit the organization's website.

OPL has been a drop-off point for Hope Closet donations for the past several years. In that time, area residents have contributed over 100 dresses to this worthy cause. Please help us continue helping Hope Closet!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Teen Advisory Board--This Saturday

OPL's Teen Advisory Board (TAB) will be meeting this Saturday (January 28) at Noon.

TAB is a way for teens to let staff know if the library is meeting their needs for programs, books, music, movies, technology, and more. It is also a way for teens to let staff know what they'd like to see for the OPL Teen Area in the future. Stop by and have a say!

Vote For Your Favorite Literary Couple

Stop by the Teen Area through Valentines Day and vote for your favorite literary couple! These characters can be from a classic novel or recently-released book. They can be two humans or any combination of supernatural creatures. Look for the voting booth on top of the fiction shelves.

Winners will be chosen at random to win cool prizes. This is a Teen Program, so voting is open to grades 6th-12th.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Update My Status

 The Future of Us explores the concept of the dangers of toying with the space-time continuium--but it doesn't do it very well. The year is 1996, and Emma has just received her first computer. Her neighbor Josh brings over an AOL CD-ROM his family got in the mail. Emma installs it, opens a browser, and is immediately taken to her Facebook page. The catch? Facebook hasn't been invented yet. Emma is soon obsessed with checking her future self's status updates and altering her present choices with the hopes of changing her seemingly miserable future, which her future self dishes out in way too much detail via frequent status updates (OMG!TMI!). Emma's other friends also have Facebook accounts: Josh is married to the hottest girl in school, her BFF becomes a teen mom, her crush is shockingly still single in 15 years.... Eventually, Emma learns that the future is best left to the unknown and that the key to happiness is to make the most of the life she's got. --AJL

Friday, January 13, 2012

Who're you gonna call?

Cas's father made a living killing the dead. Not zombies or vampires, but ghosts. Ghosts that were dangerous, were unable or unwilling to move on, or both. That is, until a ghost killed him. Now Cas has taken up the family business. Mostly the haunts he's dispatched have given him little trouble, and few were memorable. Cas does his job and moves on without looking back. After all, it's all in a day's work. But everything changes when he is confronted with his greatest challenge yet: A ghost known to the locals as Anna Dressed in Blood. More than 50 years earlier, Anna, a teenage girl, was brutally murdered on her way to a dance. Since, her ghost has haunted her former home, forced to kill anyone daring (or stupid) enough to set foot inside. Anna has killed more people than any monster Cas has ever encountered. But for some reason, Anna is unwilling--unable even--to kill Cas. Now Cas realizes Anna may be his hardest kill ever, because in order to dispatch her restless and dangerous spirit to the great beyond, he must solve the mystery of what made Anna's ghost the way it is in the first place.

Deliciously spooky and, at times, gruesome, Anna Dressed in Blood is a ghost story sure to satisfy even the hardest to scare. Read it with the lights on! --AJL

Thursday, January 12, 2012

A Case of Mistaken Identity?

In a crowded cafeteria, Cathy Ferris, 15, is approached by a strange boy who insists she is his long-lost cousin Murielle Lyman. Five years eariler, Murielle was left behind when her parents fled the country after embezzling millions from clients. They were never heard from again--and they never returned for their daughter. Cathy tries to brush off the disturbing experience, but the boy persists, involving his parents and, soon, the FBI. Everyone hopes Cathy can shed some light on what happened to the Lymans and to Murielle. But can she? And, if Cathy really is Murielle, will she be willing?

As with the author's previous books, They Never Came Back is fast-paced and complex with nonstop action and an interesting mystery. Even reluctant readers will enjoy this one. --AJL

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

I know what you did...

Evan's best friend Ariel was taken away after a failed suicide attempt. The story is unclear on the details of exactly what transpired, and, for much of it, the reader is left wondering whether Ariel is even still alive. But one thing is certain: Evan blames himself for what happened to his friend. Blame to the point of obsession. One day while walking home along a deserted wooded path, Evan finds a photograph of himself. A photo that was taken at a moment when he thought he and Ariel were alone together. Over the next several days, more cryptic photos turn up. More and more, Evan is sure someone else knows what happened to Ariel, knows what Evan did, and is out for revenge. With each photo, with each message, Evan is driven more and more toward the breaking point. But what does the person sending these messages really want? Is it Arial (Evan knows this is impossible--or is it)? Or someone else? Armed with only a few clues, Evan must find the mysterious photographer and find out what they want. But what he discovers is something he never would have expected to find, and this discovery leaves him wondering: Exactly how well did he know Ariel after all? And can he accept what he finds out?

Told through first-person narrative and some oddly intriguing photographs, Every You Every Me is an eerie, creepy page-turner that is part mystery, part psychological drama, part coming-of-age. Itwill have you absolutely absorbed until the last page! Awesome! --AJL

Saturday, January 7, 2012

You think you've got it all...

Keek is not having a great summer.  Her parents are divorcing, her best friend betrayed her, she had a fight with her boyfriend and now she has the chicken pox!  At fifteen!  Now she is holed up at her grandmother's technology-free house to recover.  With only a typewriter and Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar for solace and guidance, Keek's alone with her swirling thoughts.  But one thing's clear through her feverish haze--she's got to figure out why things went wrong so she can make them right.  And then things fall apart is at times funny and other times heartbreaking.  Keek's journey of self-discovery will leave you wanting more.
--KR