More Than A Thousand Words

When would-be journalist Frankie Pratt graduated from high school in 1920, she was gifted with her father's old typewriter--and her entire world opened up. Told in photographs, magazine clippings, misc memorabilia, and typed commentary, the Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt sees our heroine evolve from an innocent girl to a mature and worldly woman. Follow Frankie's journey from first crushes to first time away from home (college), from European travel to finding love in the last place she expected. There isn't much to read as far as narrative or dialogue, but the graphics do a more than adequate job of telling this story. You'll be caught up in the story in no time!

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt is available on the New Book shelf. Check it out today!  --AJL

Hunger Games Contest

Are You Ready for The Arena?

Visit the Teen Area March 11-17 and cast your vote for your favorite character from Suzanne Collins' popular Hunger Games trilogy (look for the voting box on top of the curved Fiction shelves). Your vote will enter you to win a set of tickets to the Hunger Games movie, out in theaters Friday March 23! Runners-up prizes are: A set of Hunger Games books, Gift Cards to local businesses, or a Hunger Games Movie Poster.

Remember: Only one vote per person will be counted.

Teen Reviewer: Scott Pilgrim

There is a story type called the hero’s journey. It goes like this: Once upon a time the hero was living his life normally. Then one day something happens that changes his life forever. He must then embark on an epic journey to do something important. He overcomes obstacles, gets stronger, and grows more mature. Often times he meets people he helps and befriends. This is the case for all stories of this type, including Epic Epic of Epicness, Scott Pilgrim VS. The World.

The story of Scott Pilgrim has one of the most memorable openings ever, with the caption, "It all started with Scott Pilgrim is dating a high schooler." To him, it’s just another day in his precious little life. Living with his gay roommate, Wallace Wells, and playing in his sucky band Sex Bob-omb, a clever Mario reference, with his friends Stephan Stills and Kim Pine. But this all changes when he meets and then proceeds to become obsessed with Ramona Flowers, a girl with Seven Evil Exes, a lot of emotional baggage, and who works as a “Ninja Delivery Girl” for Amazon.ca, a clever reference to modern culture.

In fact, the entire series is littered with references to video game and pop culture. From Stacy Pilgrim, Scott’s Sister, being rated T for Teen, to Scott doing a 64 hit combo in a fight. The books could be described as a swan song to the modern geek. Anyone with any knowledge of video game should be able to see most of them. But if you don’t, it’s still defiantly worth a read. Both for the humor and the story. Scott can be simple-minded at times, but he’s a hero you can root for in his quest to defeat the seven evil exes and win Ramona’s heart.

So while Scott Pilgrim may not do anything new with the hero’s journey archetype, it's a creative take on it, mixed with good characters, funny jokes, and enough references to make a geek's head explode. It's defiantly worth a read. --Brandon Young, Teen Reviewer

Where there's a witch, there's a way

Kendra (of Beastly fame) is back in Bewitching. Turns out Kyle Kingsbury wasn't the first teen she helped with her own special kind of magic.

Emma has a stepsister problem. Lisette seems sweet enough at first (and has a pretty face on top of it), but we soon learn she's as manipulative and as nasty as wicked stepsisters come. She soon disrupts every aspect of Emma's life. So after enough drama to fill up an entire season of reality TV, Emma decides something has to be done and enlists the aid of Kendra. As readers may recall, Kendra's spells don't always turn out as planned. But everything always works out in the end.

Throughout this book, readers will encounter more fairy tales than they would during a visit to the Magic Kingdom. And it seems as though this, rather than the story itself, was the author's main objective. Bewitching wasn't nearly as good as Beastly, but fans of Alex Flinn and fairy tale retellings will enjoy it. --AJL

A disreputable history

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14: debate club, meek and slightly geeky, with frizzy hair. Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15: knock-out figure, a sharp tongue and the most popular senior boy on campus for a boyfriend, and a criminal mastermind. The disreputable history of Frankie Landau-Banks is the story of how she got that way. Frankie is smart, funny and just quirky enough to make her seem realistic. When she learns of a secret all-male society on campus, she decides to infiltrate by assuming a false identity online and manipulate them into doing pranks meant to make a political statement about the male-dominated and classist nature of the school. What follows is a funny and engaging account of Frankie's exploits, interwoven with a bit of mystery.

Some of the exchanges between students feel forced and not really the way high school students talk. But Frankie is an endearing character and her use of crazy grammar is laugh-out-loud funny.  KR

Geeked out!

March 4-10 is Teen Tech Week.

Channel your inner Geek by logging on to your Facebook account, checking out a new app, downloading a new song from iTunes, tweeting some interesting bit of news (or just juicy gossip), posting a comment on this (or another) blog, or making use of the technology available to you.

Also drop by the Teen Area and check out our Teen Tech Week display, which features both fiction and nonfiction titles that are technology-themed. --AJL

Love--down to a science?

Jennifer E. Smith's third novel is about all the little "what-if's" that lead up to major crossroad moments in life.

And it is a multitude of these "what-if" moments that prevent Hadley Sullivan from arriving at the airport on time to catch the plane she would have taken to London to attend her father's wedding to her new stepmother--a woman Hadley's never met (and would really rather not meet. ever.). But if she hadn't been late, she wouldn't have had to catch a later flight. And then she never would have met Oliver, the hot English boy who has the seat next to her's. The two hit it off immediately, but lose track of each other once they reach their destination. But several serendipitous situations have them meeting again and again over the next 24 hours. By the end, Hadley and Oliver are in love. Additionally, both teens have made peace with their respective family drama issues by the book's conclusuon--albeit a little too easily. But there are happy endings all around (and happy beginnings). And really... How can you NOT like a feel-good book like that?

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight read like the script for a romantic dramedy movie. On the screen, it would likely be a big hit along the lines of chick flick classics like Say Anything or Serendipity. Unfortunately, it wasn't particularly exciting when presented in text format: Much too word-y where actions and thoughts would've worked better shown rather than described in detail. And there should've been a flashback montage somewhere in there. One set to a cheesy love ballad (perhaps a remix/remake of a formerly-popular 80s pop song?).  

Overall, though... Entertaining. And a good concept. --AJL