Ms. Dickinson's Purple and Gold Pick of the Week: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

For centuries, poets, novelists, playwrights, and musicians have written about the pain of love.  Love hurts.  Love can make you lose your mind.  Loving people can lead to heartbreak or unbearable sorrow.  In the future depicted in Lauren Oliver's latest novel, the dark and scary side of human emotion has been labeled a dangerous disease known as deliria--and it has a cure.  No one can put themselves or other people in danger because of love anymore.  Now, at around age 18, everyone is processed and gets the procedure which will protect them from catching deliria.   Lena Halloway can't wait for her procedure to happen in just a few months on her 18th birthday.  Some people get worried about the procedure or try to resist the scientists when the day comes but Lena is excited and anxious to be cured. Lena wants to be safe and happy for the rest of her life--unlike her mother who suffered from an intense case of deliria and killed herself.

Then the worst thing imaginable happens: Lena falls in love.  And suddenly she realizes that her whole life has been based on a lie.  Now Lena would give almost anything to avoid the quickly approaching procedure.  Being safe no longer seems worth losing the ability to truly feel for the first time in her life.

In the mix of emerging dystopian fiction, Delirium has a particularly intriguing premise that helps it stand out from the pack.  Lena is an appealing character; her development from eager and nervously obedient citizen to passionate rebel is slow but believable and her initial support and belief for the existing systems helps draw the reader into the world more quickly.  Both Lena and her situation reminded me of Cassia in that other romantic dystopian thriller, Matched; both characters begin the stories very firmly invested in the status quo of their worlds and are transformed slowly by exposure to people (in both cases, male love interests specifically) who can show them a different side of the system.  Oliver very successfully depicts both the headiness and rush of first love and the sinister and slick action of a controlling state in an addictive novel that is equal parts tragic romance and dystopian thriller.  The larger universe could be more strongly developed and Delirium is not the best of the recent dystopian novels published over the last year.  However, the novel stands out as an intense and quite lovely exploration of the two-sided sword of human emotion and connection and will appeal to fans of both intense romances like those written by Maggie Stiefvater, Sarah Dessen, or Deb Caletti and dystopian fiction such as Wither, Matched , and the Uglies series.       

Check out Delirium by Lauren Oliver, author of Before I Fall,

 on display in the US Library's fiction section now!

Ms. Dickinson's Purple and Gold Pick of the Week: Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

In celebration of Halloween next Monday, we restocked out displays with a variety of spooky, scary, and supernatural books.  Vampires have surged in popularity as supernatural creatures/romantic leads of choice in the last few years so it only seemed appropriate for this week's Pick to feature them--however, this particular vampire tale stands out somewhat from the abundance of romances about the tall, dark, and fanged.  Jessica Packwood had very simple goals for her senior year of high school in rural Pennsylvannia: do well at her mathlete competitions, practice riding her horse for 4-H, and maybe even get a date with cute and very nice farmer Jake.  But suddenly Jessica's simple plans are thrown totally out of whack by the appearance of gorgeous European exchange student Lucius Vladescu.  Lucius may be hot but he is also obviously insane: he sweeps into school and informs Jessica that she is in fact a Romanian vampire princess and he is in betrothed vampire prince.  As if such craziness weren't enough, her vegan anthropologist parents (who adopted her from Romania as a child) say that he's telling the truth.  But Jessica has always depended on logic--and vampires simply aren't logical.  By the time she's convinced that her whole family and Lucius haven't lost their minds and that she might in fact be a vampire princess in waiting, it might be too late. 

Although I have now read my fair share of vampire-related romances, they have never been my favorite supernatural creatures.  However, Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side is not your average love story with bite and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading it.  While the love-hate, bickering romance between Jessica and Lucius drew me in quickly, the story is not only about their relationship with eachother.  Instead, the novel focuses on Jessica's  and Lucius's developments of individual adult identities, separate from the past or other peoples' expectations.  Plus, the great drama is balanced by a decent dose of humour, which is a nice change from many paranormal romances. 

So for a spooky and romantic read with a bit of bite this Halloween weekend, check out Beth Fantaskey's Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, on display in our fiction section along with a bunch of other scary and supernatural books!  The sequel, Jessica Rules the Dark Side comes out in January 2012. 
 

Books! Food! Fun!: Teen Read Week 2011 @ NCS Library

Don't forget to stop by the library this week & check out

our Teen Read Week activities, 

celebrating the joys of reading for fun!

There is a book cover makeover contest running all week; your entry gets your name entered in a raffle for a Starbucks giftcard and the display of your redesigned book cover image on campus!

Swing through the library anytime this week to enter your name in our book raffles!

We'll be giving away one copy each of:

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Matched by Ally Condie

We're also running another easy activity with a tasty reward!

  Come by the library to pick up one of our Reading is Sweet templates and decorate it with words and/or pictures about what, when, where, or why you read for fun.  When you turn your answer back into a librarian, you get a coupon to trade in on

Friday Oct 21 for a baked good made with love by your librarians!

Since the theme for Teen Read Week this year is Picture It @ Your Library, the library book displays are featuring fiction and nonfiction about all kinds of visual arts!



Ms. Dickinson's Purple and Gold Pick of the Week: Wolves, Boys, and Other Things That Might Kill Me by Kristen Chandler

For some reason, wolves seem to be some of the most frequently appearing animals in literature.  From Jack London's White Fang and The Call of the Wild to Jean Craighead George's Julie of the Wolves trilogy, wolves are recognizable and powerful characters in many novels.  Kristen Chandler's debut novel continues this trend by combining an appealing coming of age story with a very real current issue related to wolves in the United States.

When Yellowstone National Park was first established in 1872 wolves--specifically Northern Rocky Mountain wolves, a subspecies  of the gray wolf--were native to the area.  More and more humans settled into the area and slowly killed off many of the wolves' original food sources (such as bison) while bringing with them a new potential food source: domesticated livestock.  The ranchers and farmers responded simply and swiftly to any livestock killings by wolves: they eliminated the wolves.  By the 1930s, there were no more wolves left in Yellowstone.  In the late 1980s, a plan was developed to reintroduce wolves to Yellowstone (as well as parts of Idaho and Montana).  And the battle began as big game hunters, farmers, and ranchers all vehemently opposed the reintroduction of wolves while wildlife and environmental activists strongly supported the reintroduction.  While a compromise was reached and the wolves were brought back into the area, neither side was satisfied and the issues remains a sensitive one today.

Growing up in a tiny ranching town on the edge of Yellowstone National Park, KJ Carson has perfected the art of minding her own business.  She is a helpful and obedient daughter to her single father, working at his wildlife/fishing supply store and assisting him as a hunting and fishing guide.  She is an unremarkable tomboy, living a generally invisible life at school.  KJ is much more comfortable rowing on a lake or navigating through a forest than confronting other people.  Then she decides to join up with Virgil Whitman, new kid in town, to create a column in the school newspaper about the town's very hot topic: wolves.  As KJ learns more and more about the wolves, she becomes increasingly fascinated by and protective of them.  But most of her neighbors and friends do not feel the same.  Suddenly KJ finds herself in the center of an intense and dangerous debate and a confusing new relationship with Virgil.  Now KJ must decide whether both the wolves and the boy that now mean so much to her are worth the very real risks of standing out from the crowd and standing up for an unpopular opinion.

I was initially drawn into this book by its catchy title but I stayed interested for the enjoyable way that Kristen Chandler combines great characters with overarching themes and specific current topics.  KJ is a relatable and unique heroine; her father, Virgil, and Virgil's mother are all equally interesting and attractive characters.  I really enjoy watching KJ's relationships with her father, Virgil, and the town as a whole develop and shift as she gains a larger understanding of the world.  The wolves themselves are also compelling characters and I felt as invested in their future as I did in KJ's.  Overall, Wolves, Boys, and Other Things That Might Kill Me lives up to its fun title; it is a great story with humour, romance, action, and (of course) wolves. 

To learn a little more about wolves in Yellowstone and the surrounding controversy check out the National Park Service webpage about the topic and a great article on the Yellowstone Insider website. 

Ms. Dickinson's Purple and Gold Pick of the Week: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

There is no denying that dystopian or speculative fiction are very popular areas of writing and publication right now; since the explosion of The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins over the last year, fiction set in some potential (and usually frightening) future has been filling the bookshelves at a nearly unprecedented rate.  However, since much of this fiction is both thrilling and thought-provoking, I cannot complain!

Wither by debut author Lauren DeStefano may be one of many new entries into this subgenre but it still  stands out from the masses of recently published dystopian sagas.  The best speculative fiction usually grounds itself in issues and questions of the present day and Wither is no exception.  For this novel, the potential devastation of the human race comes from our own attempts to improve the world--in this case through medical and scientific engineering and manipulation of human biology. 

About 70 years ago, science at last succeeded in creating perfect children; a generation of babies were born to be nearly indestructable, immune to diseases and with unpredicatably long life spans.  However a development that seemed to be a marvel of genetic research has turned out to be the downfall of the humanity.  Every generation since that first, miraculous one is stricken with an inexplicable flaw; females die of a mysterious virus at age 20 and male die of the same illness at age 25.  Most of the globe has been destroyed by war and the United States has become a nation of desperate people.  While scientists work to discover a cure and orphans flood the country, young women are frequently snatched from the streets and sold into polygomous marriages with weathly men in an attempt to prevent the population from dying out. 

Sixteen year old Rhine Ellery is unlucky enough to be one of these unwilling brides.  Suddenly Rhine finds herself in an unfamiliar world of luxury as one of Linden Ashby's three new wives.  Athough she now wear custom designed gowns and never goes hungry, Rhine remains entirely focused on escaping her beautiful prison and finding her way back to her twin brother.  Even as she connects with her sister wives and begins to feel pity and affection for their equally imprisoned husband, Rhine never fully allows her determination to waver; she will live her last four years in freedom or die trying. 

The premise is intriguing and DeStefano's prose is lovely and evocative; however, the real strength of this novel lies in the characters.  Rhine's conflicting emotions and increasing complex relationships with the people surrounding her are the core of the novel.  Her changing emotional connections with her husband, her sister wives, and the servant Gabriel are fully fleshed out and delicately developed over the course of the plot.  There are no simplistic 'good guys' and 'bad guys'.  The most obvious villain is Rhine's father-in-law, a First Generation scientist whose obsession to find a cure that will save Linden before his twenty-fifth birthday has pushed him into very murky ethical territory.  However, even he is a three dimensional character whose motives remain sympathetic and understandable even as his actions become more and more terrifying. 

For fans of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Matched by Ally Condie, and The Adoration of Jenna Fox, this first book in the Chemical Garden trilogy will be a must read.  Wither is a thought-provoking and emotional resonant dystopian novel; if you're looking for a new absorbing, intense, and provocative vision of our possible future, look no further than Lauren DeStefano's Wither!