Category: Soaring Eagles

The Soaring Eagle Nominee list is a list of 10 books picked by teens, 7^th-12^th grade, in the state of Wyoming. These are titles that other teens have said are amazing and should be read. This year’s list includes nonfiction, novels in verse, realistic fiction, fantasy, and mystery.

Our last set of books are standalone books. The Library of Lost Things, They Both Die at the End and Grenade are all standalone novels.

The Library of Lost Things

By Laura Taylor Namey

“How could I open that door and let him see the messiest parts of me?”

Darcy loves to read. She loves books and language and words. She loves how they help her escape from the reality of her own life.

But what might happen if she chooses to live her life instead of escaping it? Could she create a story of her own to rival any she has experienced through print?

Join her as she navigates family secrets and the beautiful sweetness of young love, and perhaps be inspired to take some risks in the story that is yours to create.

They Both Die at the End

By Adam Silvera

“Mateo, I regret to inform you that sometime in the next twenty-four hours you’ll be meeting an untimely death. And while there isn’t anything we can do to suspend that, you still have a chance to live.”

Imagine receiving this phone call. This is the reality for Mateo, Rufus, and countless others. They don’t know how it will happen or even the exact minute, just that they will die that day. They live in a near future world where a company called Death Cast knows when people will die and then notifies them. You choose what to do with your last 24 hours. Do you hold a funeral? Make memories at Make a Moment where you can virtually skydive, swim with sharks, and have other adventures? Do you spend it with family and friends?

If the last option is your choice and you don’t have any friends or family, the Last Friend App has you covered. Just download the app, sign up and the app will match you with other people dying or just a friendly person that wants to be there for your last day. The Last Friend app connects Mateo and Rufus for their last day. They are completely different; Mateo is a homebody who prefers books and video games, and Rufus is a street kid who prefers to be with his gang of friends. What they don’t realize is they both need each other on their last day and they are more alike than they ever thought. 

Grenade

By Alan Gratz

Imagine being pulled out of your classroom at school and told your small island, the only home you have known, is about to be invaded by enemy forces.  You are just 14; you know nothing about fighting, and yet you are told that you, and all your classmates, are expected to fight.

Each of you is given two hand grenades, and these instructions:  with the first grenade, throw it at the attacking soldiers, and kill as many as possible.

With the second grenade, if you aren’t able to escape… kill yourself.

These are the instructions given to Hideki, a teen boy living on the island of Okinawa, just off the coast of Japan, during World War II.  Part of the Pacific theater, the battle of American and Japanese troops on the tiny island of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest of the war.  In Grenade, author Alan Gratz shows us the terror Hideki faces as he is expected to fight the American soldiers on the Japanese-occupied island that has been his family’s home.

Gratz also introduces us to Ray, an American soldier who is the second narrator of the story… a soldier who is fighting because it is his duty, but not because he hates the Okinawan people.

As Hideki and Ray move across the island, their stories converge in a fateful moment of decision.

Some of you might remember that author Alan Gratz visited schools in Campbell County in the fall of 2019.  Some of his other books include Refugee, which is a current Indian Paintbrush book award nominee, and Projekt 1065, which was the first runner-up for the Soaring Eagle book award in 2019.

To find these titles, stop by the Teen Room or your school library. Haven’t heard of one you might like? That’s okay; stop by the library for other recommendations. You can also click on the category Readers Advisory or Soaring Eagles on the side for other recommendations.

Library Link: The Library of Lost Things

Library Link: They Both Die at the End

Library Link: Grenade

The Soaring Eagle Nominee list is a list of 10 books picked by teens, 7^th-12^th grade, in the state of Wyoming. These are titles that other teens have said are amazing and should be read. This year’s list includes nonfiction, novels in verse, realistic fiction, fantasy, and mystery.

Our next three books are books in series. Ash Princess, Truly Devious and Wizard for Hire are all part of trilogies; Verify is the first part of its duology.

Ash Princess

By Laura Sebastian

After ten years of Theo being held captive in her own country and palace, she thinks the Kaiser has taken everything from her. He’s taken her family, people and even her name, replacing Theo with Thora. Thora thinks that all she can do now is simply survive; she only has one hope at escaping, and they haven’t come for 10 years. The Kaiser also thinks she has nothing left to lose, until he makes her kill the person she thinks is her only hope at escaping. This breaks Thora in a way the Kaiser doesn’t think of and Theo makes the decision that surviving is not enough.  Now, she is determined to take the insult of Ash Princess and turn it into something to be feared. What the Kaiser doesn’t understand is that from the ashes, a queen will rise.

Truly Devious

By Maureen Johnson

Ellingham Academy is a private high school in Vermont, where the best and brightest students go. They didn’t even have an application to get in. The only information to get in was, “If you would like to be considered for Ellingham Academy, please get in touch.”

Stevie Bell is a true-crime aficionado, and her favorite unsolved crime is the “Truly Devious” kidnapping/murder that took place at the Ellingham Academy in 1936. When she got in touch with Ellingham Academy, she told them she wanted to go there so she could solve the “case of the century,” as some had called it. Shortly after arriving at Ellingham, strange things start happening and a student is murdered. Has “Truly Devious” returned? Stevie and her friends must dig into the past and the present to uncover the clues and try to solve this murder mystery.

Wizard for Hire

By Obert Skye

When Ozzy was 7, life was close to perfect: he lived with his parents in a secluded cabin in the forest, filling his stomach with food from their large garden and his mind with stories from their large library. 

Life changed in an instant when, as Ozzy was down by the creek, his parents were kidnapped by large, angry men. Ozzy had to learn to survive on his own.

Fast forward 7 years.  Ozzy discovers two things that will change his life: a mechanical raven, Clark, that was invented by his father; and a newspaper ad that reads, “Wizard for hire,” and leads him to meet Labyrinth, or Rin for short.

Although Rin is nothing like the wizards that Ozzy has read about in his books, he hopes that whatever magic Rin controls will help him find out what happened to his parents, and hopefully bring them home.

What follows is an adventure that Ozzy never could have anticipated.  Was he wrong to trust Rin? Is there enough magic in the world to bring his parents home?

Verify

By Joelle Charbonneau

Meri’s life was changed when her mom suddenly died. Her father started drinking constantly, leaving Meri to fend for herself. Then on the last day of school she sees something she can’t believe; someone being arrested for having paper. Paper isn’t illegal, just very bad for the environment. Everything is digital now, but if you want to own paper, you can, as long as you pay the environmental tax that goes with it. The government has even set up recycling centers where you can take paper and get paid for it. Meri can’t stop thinking about the young man she saw arrested, so when she sees him again, she decides to follow him. When they meet, he shares secrets with her and tells her he was a hidden part of her mother’s life before she died. Meri soon realizes that “Just because you believe something, doesn’t make it true.”

To find these titles, stop by the Teen Room or your school library. Haven’t heard of one you might like? That’s okay; next time we’ll be talking about standalone titles.  If you don’t want to wait,  stop by the library for other recommendations!

As the weather outside turns cold and snowy what better way to spend the afternoons and evenings then by curling up with a good book? Follow us over the next few weeks as we highlight books from the 2020-2021 Soaring Eagle Nominee list.

The Soaring Eagle Nominee list is a list of 10 books picked by teens, 7^th-12^th grader, in the state of Wyoming. These are titles that other teens have said are amazing and should be read. This year’s list includes nonfiction, novels in verse, realistic fiction, fantasy, and mystery.

Our first three are quick reads. Shout and Solo are novels in verse, meaning the story is told in poetry format. Game Changer is told through text messages, emails and script like dialog.

  

Shout

By Laurie Halse Anderson

Twenty years ago, Laurie Halse Anderson wrote a book. It was a book about Melinda, a 9^th grader who is hated at her new high school because she called the police to an end-of-summer party.  Melinda, bullied and cast out, becomes unable to use her voice.  Only farther in the story do we learn the real reason she called the police, the real reason for her silence. Twenty years ago, Speak, a book about rape and its aftermath, offered teens who had experienced sexual assault a place where their pain was understood.

In Shout, Melinda becomes “me” as Laurie Halse Anderson tells the story of her own rape at age 14, during a time when the culture blamed victims and exonerated the perpetrators. As the #MeToo movement has allowed women and men to speak about the unspeakable, Anderson adds her voice, this time in powerful, gut-searing verse, to their stories of shame.

But Anderson’s voice also trembles with rage, as she relays stories of her career as a writer, as the author who wrote “that book,” as her work is censored, and her speaking engagements cancelled because she speaks honestly with teens about sexual violence.  Through Anderson’s hard-hitting poetry, we learn that not much has changed since her own rape in the 1970’s, or even in the twenty years since Speak was published.

 

Solo

By Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess

Blade has it all. By material standards anyway. His family is rock and roll royalty with the mansion, cars and disposable income to back it up.

But when the ground he stands on is rocked to the core by betrayal, uncovered secrets and one too many unkept promises, Blade is left searching for something well beyond the material.

Float along on the rhythmic journey of this book in verse as Blade travels across the world and across his soul to find the things that aren’t really things that make life worth living. Be there when he realizes he really does have it all, not just by material standards.

 

Game Changer

By Tommy Greenwald

Walthorne Wildcats stick together: they win as a team and they lose as a team. Wildcats stand together no matter what, especially when one of their own falls into a coma after an injury at the football training camp. As Teddy’s family, team and community gather round him to support his recovery, the question comes up again and again; what really happened to Teddy that fateful day on the field?

Game Changer is a story told in multiple formats; dialogue, texts, articles, interviews and Teddy’s inner thoughts. Fans of football and sports will love reading about sticking together as a team and coming together when one of your own is hurt.

 

To find these titles, stop by the Teen Room or your school library. Haven’t heard of one you might like? That’s okay; next time we’ll be talking about series, or stop by the library and we can give you other recommendations!

 

And the winner is…. Okay we don’t know the winner yet. Hopefully soon though! However, after going through and showing you all ten of the nominees for 2019-2020, several of those authors have published new titles! Some are sequels and some are not, but I wanted to take a minute to share with you a few new titles by some of our favorite authors.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes, author of Little White Lies, has the sequel published; the title is Deadly Little Scandals. This book continues to follow Sawyer as she searches for the truth some of the events that happened in book one. This one centers around Sawyer and her cousin Lily as they attempt to join a secret group called the White Gloves. This group is composed of girls from the most elite families and not just anyone can join. As the pair grows closer to the group, they discover secrets that are decades old, secrets that will change the life of the girls forever.

Becky Albertalli, one of the authors of What If It’s Us, is back again, cowriting the book Yes No Maybe So, with fellow author Aisha Saeed. This book follows Jamie and Maya. Jamie volunteers for a local senate candidate and does a lot of the behind-the-scenes-type things, but he will not knock on doors and talk to people about their views. Maya is already having one of the worst summers ever: her friends are busy; her trip has been cancelled; and to top it off, her mom has just signed her up to do political canvassing. As luck would have it, when Jamie hears Maya will be going door-to-door, he decides to sign up as well. As the two grow closer they must not only navigate the political world but also their cross-cultural romance.

Karen M. McManus is the author of the popular One of Us is Lying. Her newest book, One of Us is Next, happens a year after the events of One of Us is Lying and follows Bronwyn’s sister, Maeve. After Simon’s “About That” blog was taken down, no other gossip app could stand up, even though many have tried. Now students at Bayview are getting texts about a new game, Truth or Dare. As the students quickly learn, you should always pick dare. But as the dares get more and more dangerous, Maeve and her friends start searching for who is behind the text before the game turns deadly.

There you have three new books by some favorite authors. Follow us on Facebook at Campbell County, Wyoming Government for some virtual book talks!

Over the last few weeks we have shown you six of the ten Soaring Eagle nominees for 2019-2020. Hopefully you’ve read about at least one that sounds interesting to you but if not, we’ve got four more to show you. This week’s theme: series! The beautiful thing about a series is you get to see your favorite characters over the course of several books instead of just one. This makes getting attached to characters a little easier. Without further ado, here are our last four titles.

An Ember in the Ashes

By Sabaa Tahir

“As long as there is life, there is hope.”

Laia tries to live by these words, repeated by her grandmother, Nan, often as she was growing up.  But in the Martial Empire, hope is difficult to come by … because life, especially Laia’s life, is seen as cheap and exhaustible.

When Laia’s grandparents are brutally murdered and her brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a deal with an underground group that is working against the Empire; she must spy on the Empire from within the walls of its martial training academy, putting her own life and her own freedom at stake.

There, Laia meets Elias, a young soldier who is training for the Empire’s most elite force, but who lacks the drive – or the ruthlessness – that his fellow soldiers possess.  In a battle to become the emperor’s “Blood Strike,” Elias must choose between what is expected of him and what his soul tells him to do … and his choice forces him to flee the Empire, with only Laia as his ally.

An Ember in the Ashes combines adventure, magic, intrigue and unspeakable cruelty in an epic tale of friendship and, ultimately, hope. This is the first title in a trilogy; the other titles are A Torch Against the Night and A Reaper at the Gates, both of which are available for checkout.

Defy the Stars

By Claudia Gray

What would the world look like if robots took over all jobs? Not just the jobs that humans don’t want to do, but all jobs.

An interstellar war has broken out between the planets, Genesis and Earth. Earth has pushed the laws of mankind, creating machines to do everything and essentially stripping humans of their humanity. On the flip side, Genesis has seen the evils of what mankind can do and has not advanced their technology in hundreds of years. With the Earth’s advanced tech, Genesis must do whatever they can to gain more time. Out of options, Genesis starts preparing to delay the war by launching the Masada Run: a mission that will kill almost everyone who participates. Noemi is willing to die for her planet and in three weeks she will be joining the Masada Run. She’s come to terms with her imminent demise, until by accident, she stumbles upon Abel. Abel is a mech, a robot, who was abandoned in space for years. The unlikely duo team up to delay the war, if not stop it entirely. As Noemi and Abel travel to the other inhabitable planets, they start to question how much of what their home planets told them is true and how much is a lie.

Defy the Stars is the first book in the trilogy; the other titles are Defy the Fates and Defy the Worlds, both are available for checkout.

Onyx & Ivory

By Mindee Arnett

Kate and Prince Corwin were once childhood friends, until the day Kate’s father tried to assassinate Corwin’s father. Since then Kate has been living in exile, working as a courier for the Relay, a group of riders tasked with delivering various items and information to other villages. Kate is always careful to make it back home before night falls and the nightdrakes come out to feast. On one errand Kate runs into a massacre: problem one, the only survivor is Corwin; problem two, the drakes attacked during the day. With the threat of the night creatures being able to attack during the day, Kate and Corwin must put their past aside before Rime falls.

Their friendship is also strained because of Kate’s secret: she is a wilder, a person who possesses forbidden magic. Magic she can use to help save Rime, if she doesn’t get caught

Onyx & Ivory is the first book of the Rime Chronicles. The second and final book, Shadow & Flame, is available for checkout.

One of Us is Lying

By Karen M. McManus

On Monday, four teens meet with nothing in common, minus the fact that they all ended up in detention and watched Simon die. Now Yale-bound Bronwyn, homecoming princess Addy, all-American boy Cooper, and bad boy Nate are all being accused of conspiring against, and murdering, Simon.

The motive?

Simon runs “About That”, on online blog that exposes secrets you don’t want exposed, and on Tuesday he was going to post the next set of secrets, secrets about Bronwyn, Addy, Cooper and Nate. Secrets they all wish would never see the light of day. Simon wasn’t the only one who knew their secrets; the murderer knows them as well and won’t stop until the lives of the four are ruined forever.

Now the unlikely four must find the killer before one or all of them go to jail for a murder they didn’t commit… or did they?

One of Us is Lying is the first book in the Bayview High series. The second book, One of Us is Next just came out and is available for checkout.

There you have it: all ten Soaring Eagle Nominees. A reminder that voting for the Soaring Eagle Book Award is open now through March 15. You can vote at your public library or your school library. We hope that you found one book you are interested in reading. However, if you did not, stop by the library and we’ll hook you up with one you’ll love.

Have you ever read an author that you really loved? You know- an author whose work you enjoy so much you can’t read just one of their books? Some authors just grab us with their writing style or characters. That’s why some authors show up on the Soaring Eagle list multiple times. This post will cover the three books by authors who have appeared on the list in the past.

 What If It’s Us

By Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera

What If It’s Us is the story of two boys; Arthur and Ben, who meet at the post office in New York City. Ben is a New York local who is trying to move on and return a package of things left behind by his ex. Having been hurt before, Ben doesn’t trust the universe.

Arthur is a theater kid who’s only in New York for the summer, interning with his family’s law firm. Being in the city that has places like Broadway, Times Square, and so much diversity and theater culture, it’s a dream opportunity; but with no one to explore it with, Arthur feels stuck. Looking for a sign from the universe on how to get out of his loop of the same daily grind, Arthur meets Ben.

They have an epic first meeting in the middle of a flash mob proposal at a New York post office. Meeting at a time when both boys are at their lowest, it feels like fate to Arthur, but before he can make a move, Ben disappears.

Arthur is left feeling like the universe just sent him a big wakeup call and opportunity. So, with that, Arthur makes it his mission to test fate and find Ben again…in the middle of New York City… with no name or contact information… before the end of summer.

 

In 2017-20 18 Becky Albertalli stole our hearts with Simon Vs. the Home Sapiens Agenda. To read either of these or her other titles check out our What’s Hot Now display in the Teen Room. We also have more by Adam Silvera on the regular shelves.

 

Little White Lies

By Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Sawyer Taft is 18 years old, and accustomed to life as she knows it:  she lives with her single mom in a rented apartment, goes to school, works as an auto mechanic, and deflects the regular advances of the “good ole’ boys” who live in her small Southern town.

She’s also accustomed to her mom falling in love every other week, and often leaving for days with her newest romantic interest. So, when her mom texts her that she is leaving once again, Sawyer thinks nothing of it.

That day, however, a well-dressed elderly woman – who is clearly out of place in Sawyer’s small town – shows up at her front door.  She introduces herself as Sawyer’s grandmother, her mom’s mom, and offers Sawyer half a million dollars to come live with her for a year … with a catch.

Sawyer must participate in “the season”  – a series of balls, charitable events, and other public appearances that go along with being one of high society’s debutante girls – a Southern tradition full of glamour, money, and prim & proper behavior … something Sawyer’s always struggled with.

We meet Sawyer and her other debutante friends in a jail cell, dressed to the nines in ballgowns and elbow gloves. What follows is the month-by-month backstory of family secrets, skeletons in the closet, and covered-up crimes that landed the four of them there.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes terrorized us in 2017-2018 with her book The Naturals, the first book in a series of four. Little White Lies is the first in the Debutantes series; the second book, Deadly Little Scandals, is also out and available for checkout.

 

Renegades

By Marissa Meyer

Renegades is the story of Nova, a girl in a world of exceptional people with exceptional powers. Born with the power to never sleep and to make everyone she touches fall asleep, Nova is amongst a group of hero prodigies.

The Renegades are a powerful group of superhumans who strive for peace and order; serving as heroes, police, and lawmakers in their dystopian world. Since childhood, Nova has held a grudge against the Renegades and has made it her mission to take them down. Training with her uncle and his villainous gang of superhumans called the Anarchists, Nova works to overthrow the Renegades.

Then, in the middle of a mission she meets Adrian, the adopted son of two famous Renegade council members. Little does she know that the two of them have met before, as Adrian also has a secret identity he’s hiding from the Renegades. When Nova starts to become closer with her new team, she struggles to understand what she’s truly fighting for and just where her loyalties lie.

 

2015-2016 introduced readers to Meyer’s first book, Cinder, a steampunky-cyborgy retelling of Cinderella and the first book in the Lunar Chronicles. Readers can find The Lunar Chronicles on our All Time Favorites display; her other books can be found on the regular shelves.

 

We hope that one of the books in this post has caught your attention; however, if none of these sound interesting to you, don’t worry; we have four more titles to share. Don’t forget voting opens February 15. If you haven’t read three or more of the titles, all of them can be found at your school and public library. Happy reading!

It’s just about the time of year where the winners of the Soaring Eagle Book Award are announced! For those of you who might be unfamiliar with the Soaring Eagle Book Award program, let me give you a bit of a run down. Every year, teens in Wyoming have the chance to nominate their favorite books to appear on the list. A committee of teachers and librarians narrow those titles down to a final list of ten. Then the nominees are announced. Over the next few months, here at Campbell County Public Library, the staff members in the Teen Room read through all the nominated titles and create book talks for them. At the beginning of each school year we then present those book talks to the 7^th and 8^th graders at Twin Spruce and Sage Valley junior high schools. From February 15 – March 15 teens throughout the state who have read three or more of the titles have the chance to vote for their favorite and nominate new books for the next year. The titles cover many different topics including horror, science fiction, romance, non-fiction, graphic novels and so many others. Over the next few weeks we’ll present the book talks for the 2019-2020 nominees! This week we’ll go over the three stand-alone titles on the list. A stand-alone is a book that is not part of a series.

 

The Hate U Give

By Angie Thomas

For sixteen-year-old Starr, life is difficult to navigate. Starr struggles with being herself when she feels like she has to act like somebody else, depending on where she is and who she’s with. Living in a poor, gang-ridden neighborhood, she’s seen as “being better than everybody else” because she attends a fancy, suburban prep-school. Then at school, where she’s the only African American student, she has to try to act “formal” enough, so she doesn’t get stereotyped as a hood rat. It is mentally exhausting.

This balance between her two worlds becomes even heavier after she witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed, making the incident national news and putting Starr as the key eyewitness to the trial.

In the heat of the Black Lives Matter movement, Starr has to decide how to best get justice for Khalil when she is the only person alive who knows the true story. But what Starr does—or does not—say could enrage her community, or even endanger her and her family.

 

Hey, Kiddo

By Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Jarrett J. Krosoczka has written and illustrated over a dozen different books. With success like this you might be thinking he’s had an easy life, but you couldn’t be more wrong. As a child he was adopted by his grandparents due to his mom constantly being in and out of rehab and jail due to her drug addiction. His father wasn’t in the picture either; Jarrett never even knew his father’s name until he was a teenager and stumbled upon his birth certificate. His only escape from the darkness that was his life was through art and drawing, so he threw himself into classes for graphic design, drawing and basically any other forms of art. His passion for graphic novels helped push him to publish his first book, Good Night, Monkey Boy in 2001. Jarrett is a great example that it doesn’t matter where you come from; all that matters is your drive. This title is a graphic novel.

 

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes

By Atia Abawi

Tareq, a teenager living in a small city in Syria, is enjoying a typical evening at home with his family: his mom is fixing dinner; his dad is still at work at the family store; his younger siblings are playing; and his grandmother is helping with his twin baby brothers. Just a typical family evening that might happen in any country, right?

Typical until an air strike bombs Tareq’s city, destroying his home, his family, his past. In an instant, Tareq’s world is gone, replaced by a new reality – one that includes becoming a refugee to escape the war that is destroying his country.  In his journey to find a new life, Tareq will face starvation, unemployment, human traffickers, and the dangers of crossing the Mediterranean Sea to what he hopes will be safety and a new life for himself and his baby sister.  He will also find moments of breathtaking courage and human kindness in its purest form.

Written by a news journalist and based on the very real events of the Syrian war and refugee crisis, A Land of Permanent Goodbyes shows us that Tareq’s story could be any teenager’s story, if it is your destiny to live in a country devastated by war.

 

Did any of these titles sound interesting to you? Remember all these can be found at your school and public library; just stop in and ask! If none of these titles interest you, don’t worry. We still have seven more to show you!

You may have heard the saying ‘those who forget history are doomed to repeat it’ or some variation of it. That being said, not everyone likes to read history text books; a great way to learn historic facts is reading historical fiction and lucky for us there were two great historical fiction novels on this year’s Soaring Eagle list. Let’s take a look at those now!

 

Stalking Jack the Ripper

By Kerri Maniscalso

London, 1888:  In the heat and humidity of late August, a serial killer terrorizes the low-class East End district, Whitechapel, murdering women and brutally dismembering their bodies. He becomes known as “Jack the Ripper” for the gory, bloody murder scenes he leaves behind.

Audrey Wadsworth, raised in an upright Victorian-era family, feels compelled to solve the murders, to figure out the identity of “Jack the Ripper” before he strikes again. Even though the women he kills are viewed as “throwaway” women by most of society, Audrey knows that no person deserves to die in such horrific murders.

As she becomes dangerously involved with the murder investigation, Audrey slowly realizes that “Jack the Ripper” may be closer to her than she thinks.  Could he be her eccentric uncle, who has his own personal collection of human organs and is always seeking more? Could it be the handsome, yet aggravating, Thomas – a fellow student in her uncle’s secret forensic science classes?

Or could it be someone even closer?  Perhaps, even, someone in Audrey’s own home?

 

Projekt 1065

By Alan Gratz

“You do what you have to do, even if it means doing something wrong.”

Michael O ‘Shaunessey is a thirteen year old boy growing up in Nazi Germany. Like any teenager he loathes the grown-up dinner parties, making small talk, listening to adults discuss Hitler and “the War”.

Unlike most teens, Michael has a huge secret. He goes to school daily as part of the Hitler Youth Corp. He is a good soldier by day: doing everything required of him to move up in the corp and prove his loyalty to Hitler and Germany.  At home when he leaves school and the public eye, he keeps his family’s secret: they work for the Allies, feeding information through the Irish embassy they work for to help the Allied Forces.  Although Michael is just a kid and not actually a spy, he finds himself challenged daily not to challenge the evil he sees happening all around. Children were encouraged to turn their family members in for violating any small rule; boys beat each other to just to prove their loyalty to the Fuhrer.

Michael befriends a new boy at school and protects him from the bullies. As he gets to know his new young friend he discovers the secret of Projekt 1065. Michael is determined to somehow get a copy of the plan and pass it on to his parents to send to the Allies. The story keeps you questioning with Michael , what would I do if I had to choose between doing what is necessary and doing something wrong.

 

Now, if you’ve been keeping up you’ve noticed we keep mentioning ten titles but we have only done nine; that’s because some titles don’t really fit well with any of the other books. This year that book is I Will Always Write Back, this is a nonficiton title. Don’t let the fact that it’s nonfiction scare you away, as this book will demand your attention.

 

I Will Always Write Back

By Caitlin Alifirenka & Martin Ganda with Liz Welch

Two people, two very different lives. Caitlin lives in Virginia, while Martin lives halfway around the world in Zimbabwe. Two individuals who by all means should have never met each other quickly become close lifelong friends. Everyone in Caitlin’s class wrote a letter to a penpal in a distant country. Martin is one of the lucky few in his class to receive a letter, which happens to be from Caitlin. As they correspond with each other, they learn how vastly different their worlds truly are. As Martin struggles to find ways to pay for school and feed his family, Caitlin struggles with backstabbing friends and dating. Even with the differences they have, they find peace and understanding through one another. From their first letter all the way to their first meeting, we see how a letter can spark a friendship that lasts decades, a friendship that changes both individuals for the better.

 

There you are –  all ten Soaring Eagle Nominees for 2018-2019. Voting is going on now through Mach 15, for our teens, 7^th-12^th grade, at your public library or at your school library. If you have read three or more of these books, you can vote for your favorite, as well as nominate another book to be on the list next year! If you haven’t read three,stop by your libraries to check some out, or visit our Libby app. Happy readings!!!!

 

Voting’s coming fast! Have you read at least three of the 2018-2019 Soaring Eagle Nominees?

No?! Fantasy just isn’t your thing? None of the last three caught your eye? Never fear! This week we’ll show you three realistic fiction and one mystery from this year’s list. Realistic fiction is great for readers who want to be taken out of their lives but not taken out of the real world!

Dumplin’

By Julie Murphy

Willowdean is fat.  She’s always been fat.  Her mom – a former beauty queen who hasn’t quite left that part of her life behind – affectionately calls Willowdean “Dumplin.”  But Willowdean doesn’t mind being fat; she actually likes her body, and she doesn’t care what other people think.  Usually.

In Willowdean’s hometown, Clover City, the Miss Teen Bluebonnet beauty pageant is THE measure of a girl’s worth, and nobody even considers someone like Willowdean entering the pageant. Especially not her mom; she diets every year so that she can fit into the dress she wore when she was named Miss Teen Bluebonnet years ago. Her overweight daughter as a candidate in her precious pageant?  Unheard of!

Why should being a certain size determine beauty, Willowdean wonders?  And with that – and with her customary sass – Willowdean sets out to shock the town of Clover City out of its prejudices.  In Willowdean’s words, “I get called a freak everyday.  I might as well make a show of it.” But in the process, it turns out that the person Willowdean is most likely to shock… is herself.

Words in Deep Blue

By Cath Crowley

Rachel’s world is crumbling around her since her brother drowned off the coast of Australia in the ocean she once loved. Mired in grief, she has let everything go, even failing her grade 12 exams. In a final desperate attempt to pull her out of the nose dive her life has taken, Rachel’s mom sends her back to live with her aunt and work for the summer. The only problem? Her aunt lives in Rachel’s old hometown where, years ago in a moment of either insanity or bravery, she confessed her love for her best friend in the pages of his favorite book and he never responded. To make matters worse, her aunt gets her a job in the bookstore his family owns!

Henry works at his family’s derelict second hand book shop, but he loves it. What he loves most is the letter library; a small section of used books where people can mark the pages, leave letters, or send their thoughts out into the future. Things aren’t easy with the failing shop and his disintegrating family life, but at least he has his beautiful girlfriend, Amy … until he doesn’t.  To complicate matters, his best friend Rachel is back in town, after having cut ties with him years ago without any explanation.  She looks different, and worse, acts different. At first, she’s cold and aloof and won’t talk to him, but then agrees to help him try to get Amy back.

As Rachel and Henry catalogue the annotations in the letter library, they find out that even though everything is changing, some things remain the same. They discover that hope and healing are possible for them both IF they can get on the same page.

Long Way Down

By Jason Reynolds

Three rules:

Number 1: No crying

Number 2: No snitching

Number 3: Get revenge

Those are the rules of the neighborhood. When Will’s brother Shawn turns up dead, Will, like so many others, sets out to get revenge. Will thinks he doesn’t care what happens, as long as he gets revenge. Once he hops in the elevator he starts to have second thoughts, and it’s a long way from floor 7 to the bottom floor. It’s even longer when, on each floor, someone new steps on. It’s longer still when those people aren’t supposed to be there anymore.

Jason Reynolds’ newest novel, Long Way Down, is written in verse.

 

Thornhill

By Pam Smy

Torment.

February 1982: Mary lives every day at Thornhill Home for Orphans, beleaguered by a cruel and unpredictable bully. The home has been ordered to close, and while many of the girls are rehoused, Mary finds her world shrinking in on itself. It seems that nobody wants to foster the semi-mute, pale and withdrawn Mary.  The only comfort Mary finds is in crafting detailed puppets and reading in the quiet privacy of her upstairs room. But as the staff and students leave, one by one, Mary finds herself alone with her tormenter until she is faced with a life or death choice.

March 2017: Ella’s story has no words- we only see flashes of her life, punctuated by black pages and interlaced with Mary’s story from decades before. The images come together to give clues to Ella’s isolated life; pictures of an absent mother, notes from an overworked father, and the view from an upstairs window that overlooks Thornhill and the promise of a mystery to solve.

As Ella discovers more about the mystery surrounding the overgrown gardens she begins to see that maybe she and Mary have more in common that she realizes, and that sometimes loneliness is the worst torment of all.

 

 

  2018-2019 Soaring Eagle Nominees

The fun thing with the Soaring Eagle Book Award program is that it is run almost entirely by teens in Wyoming. Teens each year get to nominate their favorite books. Then a committee of teachers and librarians narrows the selection down to ten. Once the nominees are announced, the YA staff at Campbell County Public Library uses a Campbell County Public Recreation District grant to order sets of the nominated books for county agencies and district schools so that all students have access to them. From February 15-March 15 teens who have read at least three of the nominees can vote for their favorite and nominate new books for next year. The books cover many different topics and genres including romance, horror, historical fiction, non-fiction and many others. Over the next few weeks we will be posting booktalks for all ten 2018-2019 nominees. This week let’s look at a few fantasy/science fiction titles!

 

 

Three Dark Crowns

By Kendare Blake

How many of you have siblings?

What would you do if you were separated from your siblings at a young age, and then told when you turn 16 you must kill them?

In every generation on Fennbirn a set of triplets is born. These sisters are separated at a young age and raised by families who possess coveted magic. The elementals, able to create flames and storms, raise sweet and beautiful Mirabella. The poisoners, able to consume and touch poison, raise plain-Jane Katharine. Finally, the naturalists, able to control any animal, raise the fierce stubborn Arsinoe.  The three are kept away from each other until the night they turn 16. On that night the games begin, and they are life or death. The winner takes the crown. But when outside forces intervene, and secret alliances are being made, the triplets don’t know who to trust. With their lives in the balance, who will survive? Mirabella, Katharine and Arsinoe are pushed to their limits, and the island of Fennbirn never lets go.

 

Rebel of the Sands

By Alwyn Hamilton

Amani will do anything to escape Dustwalk, including pretending she is a boy, getting into trouble with the law and befriending the fugitive Jin, in hopes he will help her out of town. She has no problem using him to get what she wants, thinking he is just a foreign bandit out to take advantage of others.  This begins Amani’s great adventure filled with rebel armies, magic horses, sabotage and finding true family and friendship. Amani is a true adventurer who is afraid of nothing. She is a master with guns and uses her skills to get her out of town and keep her alive. The mysterious fugitive Amani uses to escape her fate in Dustwalk turns out to be a man who takes her on a journey she could not have imagined.  They fight rebel armies, friends and enemies alike who have reasons to want them dead. Amani struggles with trust and loyalty since she has had very few people who have been loyal to her. When she finally meets Jin’s people and discovers his secret, Amani discovers a tribe she wants to be loyal to and the people she is willing to trust.

Dividing Eden

By Joelle Charbonneau

Twins Carys and Andreus are accustomed to certain patterns in their lives in the Palace of the Winds:  Andreus studies and fixes the giant windmills that power their kingdom; romances a new girl every few weeks; and hides his “curse” from the Council of Elders.  Carys suffers the unending criticism of her mother; helps Andreus hide his secret; and suffers punishments for her brother whenever she protects him from the Council. These patterns, for Carys and Andreus, will probably go on forever, as neither of them will rule the kingdom.

Until the day when, in one 24-hour period, both their father and older brother are assassinated, and their mother goes mad.  Suddenly, the kingdom is without a clear leader. The Council of Elders sets up a Trial of Virtuous Succession – a series of tests by which Carys and Andreus will prove that one of them is worthy to lead.  At first, they craft a secret pact about who that person should be…. but as other people become involved in the Trials and plant seeds of distrust in the twins’ minds, the competition becomes more real… and more deadly.

 

Did any of these titles sound interesting to you? Remember all these can be found at your school and public library just stop in and ask! If none of these interest you don’t worry we still have seven more to show you!