What's new this November?
It's a cornucopia of books!
What kind of new Young Adult fiction do we have?
First off, I'm really excited to bring you guys a copy of The Green Bicycle by Haifaa Al Mansour. The story behind the book is really interesting. Haifaa Al Mansour is a Saudi Arabian film director and her movie, Wadjda, has won many awards. It's also very special for being the first film ever shot entirely in Saudi Arabia. So of course when you have a story this good to tell, it makes sense to write a book about it. So this is a novel based on a film. Below you can see the trailer for the film. You'll have to watch/read both to determine which you think is the better mode for storytelling.
Wadjda Official Trailer #1 (2013) - Haifaa Al-Mansour Movie HD
This month also features a lot of new novels by favorite authors. You might remember an author we had visit our school a couple years ago, Jennifer Nielsen? She has a brand new historical novel out (I know...not her usual style) called A Night Divided that is about the Berlin wall and will give you chills.
Brian Selznick (of Hugo Cabret fame) has a new novel out, The Marvels, it's another dual story told through text and illustrations. I'm going to warn you now, for the first half being told in wordless pictures...I sobbed at one point. Good grief.
And Ransom Riggs ramps things up as he wraps things up (see what I did there?) in his FINAL conclusion to the spooky tale he started with Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Which, in my opinion wins for spookiest book trailer that feels like a feature film. Look it up if you dare.
Brian Selznick (of Hugo Cabret fame) has a new novel out, The Marvels, it's another dual story told through text and illustrations. I'm going to warn you now, for the first half being told in wordless pictures...I sobbed at one point. Good grief.
And Ransom Riggs ramps things up as he wraps things up (see what I did there?) in his FINAL conclusion to the spooky tale he started with Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Which, in my opinion wins for spookiest book trailer that feels like a feature film. Look it up if you dare.
How about that nonfiction?
You know me and how I love a good nonfiction title. This month I added to the Wicked History series with biographies of nefarious people such as Grigory Rasputin, Catherine the Great and King George III (he's the guy we rebelled against and started the whole United States of America thing...).
And after reading this amazing interview with Phillip Hoose, I had to get the book about some of the most courageous boys and their very dangerous (but daring!) fight against Hitler during World War II.
And of course, everyone knows that Rick Riordan released the first book in his new series (see books above) about the Norse gods and all their shenanigans. If you're curious to learn more about the Gods he covers, as well as some he doesn't, or just want to know if the crazy stuff he's talking about is real (well real in a mythological sense) then I recommend taking a look at Donna Jo Napoli's new book, Treasury of Norse Mythology. If you've read her Greek mythology one, you'll know this is the good stuff.
And after reading this amazing interview with Phillip Hoose, I had to get the book about some of the most courageous boys and their very dangerous (but daring!) fight against Hitler during World War II.
And of course, everyone knows that Rick Riordan released the first book in his new series (see books above) about the Norse gods and all their shenanigans. If you're curious to learn more about the Gods he covers, as well as some he doesn't, or just want to know if the crazy stuff he's talking about is real (well real in a mythological sense) then I recommend taking a look at Donna Jo Napoli's new book, Treasury of Norse Mythology. If you've read her Greek mythology one, you'll know this is the good stuff.
A few ebooks, of course!
I like to add a few ebook titles every month and this is quite the interesting mix, this time around. First off, Courtney Sheinmel, related to our very own Liss family!, is making her debut in the older fiction genre (branching out from picture books and whoo boy is she branching!) If you enjoy watching Scandel then you're going to definitely like Edgewater. I think it has a very Stephan King feel, myself.
Jack Gantos is known for being quirky. He's won the Newbery, a Newbery honor and a slew of other awards. He's also known for coming back from some pretty serious stuff in his life and in his autobiography, he details his misadventures in such a way that he won a Printz honor for it. Hold onto your hats people, Jack's about to get real.
Oh and of course and I can't not mention Need by Joelle Charbonneau. She received a lot of criticism for her Testing series (people said it was a Hunger Games rip off) but there's nothing copy cat about this new technological thriller. I recommend it if you like your social media with a side of sinister.
Jack Gantos is known for being quirky. He's won the Newbery, a Newbery honor and a slew of other awards. He's also known for coming back from some pretty serious stuff in his life and in his autobiography, he details his misadventures in such a way that he won a Printz honor for it. Hold onto your hats people, Jack's about to get real.
Oh and of course and I can't not mention Need by Joelle Charbonneau. She received a lot of criticism for her Testing series (people said it was a Hunger Games rip off) but there's nothing copy cat about this new technological thriller. I recommend it if you like your social media with a side of sinister.
And last but not least...the older fiction
If you've read Eleanor and Park, then you probably read Fangirl. And if you read Fangirl, then you're familiar with the story Cath was writing called Carry On and you're wondering if Rainbow Rowell has lost her mind and published 522 pages of fanfiction for a made-up world she invented. Yes, she pretty much wrote her own fanfiction (it's very meta) whether or not she's lost her mind or it's any good...I'll leave that up to you, dear reader.
If you like your fiction to be a bit more intense and thrilling, in the style of The Da Vinci Code, then take a look at California Bones. It's like Indiana Jones meets Leverage crossed with White Collar. Or something. Just trust me, it's fun.
If you like your fiction to be a bit more intense and thrilling, in the style of The Da Vinci Code, then take a look at California Bones. It's like Indiana Jones meets Leverage crossed with White Collar. Or something. Just trust me, it's fun.
LCDS MS/US Library
Email: julsonnets@lancastercountryday.org
Website: www.therollingbookcart.blogspot.com
Location: Lancaster Country Day School
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