HPL
Teen Territory Blog

Good news, John Green fans! Before The Fault in Our Stars has even officially come to the big screen, it's been announced that Paper Towns is being made into a movie too! Huffington Post has all the information here. I, for one, am so excited! Paper Towns is one of my very favorite books. Ever! I even learned about copyright traps from it.

If you've never read it, be sure to reserve a copy now.

March is National Nutrition Month! National Nutrition Month is a campaign sponsored annually by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. It's designed to focus attention on the importance of developing good eating and physical activity habits. The Washington Post has 8 ideas to help you and your family celebrate! Here are some of those tips:

1. Keep healthful foods in the kitchen so they're available and easy to grab. Even bring some with you on the go!

2. Make an effort to fit in fruit and vegetables. Keep some in the car for when you get hungry or start your lunch off with some raw veggies before you eat your main dish. You can also sneak them into your meals, such as diced onions, raw squash, and zucchini in spicy barbecue chicken nachos, or spinach into pasta with tomato sauce.

3. Eat more at breakfast. Americans tend to eat a light breakfast or skip it, grab lunch on the run and eat the bulk of our calories from dinner on through the evening. Your body will stay energized longer with your largest meal earlier in the day, and then metabolize better with less food in the evening.

4. Fit physical activity in so you earn your calories: walk, run, go to a gym, play team sports, use fitness apps or videos and burn calories by taking stairs and parking farther from your destinations.

For The Washington Post's complete list, click here.

Or, for more ideas on nutrition and health, check out some of the books below:

Body Fuel: A Guide to Good Nutrition by Donna Shryer

Ask CosmoGirl! About Nutrition and Fitness from the editors of Cosmogirl

The Scoop on What To Eat: What You Should Know About Diet and Nutrition by Kathlyn Gay

Food Choices: The Ultimate Teen Guide by Robin F. Brancato

Food for Feeling Healthy by Carol Ballard

Food for Sports by Neil Morris

The Fault In Our Stars trailer, The Fault In Our Stars trailer, The Fault In Our Stars trailer!

If you haven't read The Fault In Our Stars, put a copy on hold before the movie comes out on June 6th!

In related news, This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl came out yesterday! According to TeenReads.com,  "This Star Won't Go Out chronicles the life of Esther Grace Earl. Diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age twelve, she lived with the disease for four years. During that time, she befriended her favorite young adult author, John Green, at a Harry Potter convention. Green’s cross-generational friendship with Esther motivated him to write his New York Times bestselling novel, The Fault In Our Stars, although the novel tells a far different story than Esther’s." Read more about the book on TeenReads.com.

Today The American Library Association announced the 2014 awards for the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults – including the Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, Coretta Scott King(s), and the Geisel Award.

And the big winners are as follows:

The winner of the John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature is:



Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventuress by Kate DiCamillo

Four Newbery Honor Books were also selected:

Doll Bones, by Holly Black

The Year of Billy Miller, by Kevin Henkes

One Came Home, by Amy Timberlake

Paperboy, written by Vince Vawter

The winner of the Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children is:



Locomotive, written and illustrated by Brian Floca

Three Caldecott Honor Books also were also selected:

Journey, written and illustrated by Aaron Becker

Flora and the Flamingo, written and illustrated by Molly Idle

Mr. Wuffles! written and illustrated by David Wiesner

The winner of the Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults is:



P.S. Be Eleven, by Rita Williams-Garcia

Three Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books were also selected:

March: Book One, by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin

Darius & Twig, by Walter Dean Myers

Words with Wings, by Nikki Grimes

The winner of the Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award is:



Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me, illustrated by Bryan Collier and written by Daniel Beaty

One Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book was also selected:

Nelson Mandela, illustrated and written by Kadir Nelson

The winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults is:



Midwinterblood, by Marcus Sedgwick

Four Printz Honor Books also were also selected:

Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell

Maggot Moon, by Sally Gardner

Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal

Navigating Early, by Clare Vanderpool

The winner of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished book for beginning readers is:



The Watermelon Seed, written and illustrated by Greg Pizzoli, is the Geisel Award winner.

Three Geisel Honor Books were also selected:

Ball, by Mary Sullivan

A Big Guy Took My Ball! by Mo Willems

Penny and Her Marble, by Kevin Henkes

For more information on the rest of the ALA youth media awards and notables (there are lots!), visit the ALA's Youth Media Awards official announcement.

By now, we're pretty much all familiar with the works of Mo Willems: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, and the Elephant and Piggie series. But did you know that before all this fame, Mo Willems published a zine? Parts of it, as well as other early-days doodles and comics by Mo are available now in a book called Don’t Pigeonhole Me: Two Decades of the Mo Willems Sketchbook. Be sure to put a copy on hold today!

Unlike the books that made him famous, Don’t Pigeonhole Me: Two Decades of the Mo Willems Sketchbook is not necessarily for small children. According to Disney, this book “reveals the author/illustrator at his most truthful, most experimental, most grown-up. Most Mo.” Sounds awesome! Plus, bonus: It features a foreword by Eric Carle!

For more on the book and Mo Willems' zine days (mostly an interview with Mo!), click here.

Or, click here for an exciting preview from Mo Willems' Doodle Blog.

Are you a fan of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series?

Good news if you are! There's a graphic novel now!

Uglies: Shay's Story came out this month and is the graphic novel version of the original Uglies book. It's written by Scott Westerfeld and Devin Grayson and illustrated by Steven Cummings.

The book trailer can be found below:



Click here to reserve your copy of "Uglies: Shay's Story" today!

Somewhere in the midst of Internet link-clicking, I stumbled upon this beautiful set of photos of children with their toys from around the world. Taken by photographer Gabriele Galimberti, these photos depict kids with the toys they treasure most from countries like the USA, Italy, Iceland, Botswana, Costa Rica, India, Australia, and many others. Ultimately, I think it reminds us that kids are kind of the same anywhere you go, but according to the photographer, the way each of the children played revealed a lot about their countries. “The richest children were more possessive,” he said, “At the beginning, they wouldn’t want me to touch their toys, and I would need more time before they would let me play with them. In poor countries, it was much easier. Even if they only had two or three toys, they didn’t really care. In Africa, the kids would mostly play with their friends outside.”

This got me thinking about my most prized toys as a kid. I grew up in Long Island, New York in the 80's and early 90's. There were a few clear standouts: Magic Nursery Babies, Care Bears, Puppy Surprise, Maple Town figurines, Littlest Pet Shop, and Yum Yums. Were these toys important to any other kids of my generation? What were your most favorite childhood possessions?

The 2013 award-winners are here! The American Library Association (ALA) officially announced the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults on Monday of this week at its midwinter meeting in Seattle, Washington. This list includes the Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz awards! And here they are!

The winner of the 2013 John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature is:

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

And the three Newbery Honor Books are:

Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage


This year's winner of the The Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children is:

This Is Not My Hat illustrated and written by Jon Klassen
And the five Caldecott Honor Books are:
Creepy Carrots! illustrated by Peter Brown and written by Aaron Reynolds

Extra Yarn illustrated by Jon Klassen and written by Mac Barnett

Green illustrated and written by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

One Cool Friend illustrated by David Small and written by Toni Buzzeo

Sleep Like a Tiger illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski and written by Mary Logue

The 2013 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults is:

In Darkness by Nick Lake
Four Printz Honor Books also were named for this year and they are:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Dodger by Terry Pratchett

The White Bicycle by Beverley Brenna

For the full list of this year's award-winners, including the Geisel Award, Coretta Scott King Awards, and Laura Ingalls Wilder Award read the American Library Asscociation's press release here.

YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) has selected five books as finalists for the 2013 William C. Morris Award, which honors a book written for young adults by a previously unpublished author. YALSA will name the actual winner at the Youth Media Awards on January 28.

And now...without further adieu, the 2013 finalists are...

Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby

Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo

After the Snow by S.D. Crockett

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Have you read any of the finalists? If not, be sure to place one on reserve by clicking the links above!

Suzanne Collins, author of the Hunger Games series has a new book due September 10, 2013! This time she's going for a younger target audience--ages 4 and up! It's a picture book called Year of the Jungle and, according to this Entertainment Weekly article, it is autobiographical.

The book is illustrated by James Proimos, and follows Suzy's struggle to deal with her father's absence as he serves in Vietnam. She counts down the days until her father’s return, and when he finally comes back, Suzy finds that the war has changed him but he loves her all the same.

On her inspiration for the book, Suzanne Collins says:

"For several years I had this little wicker basket next to my writing chair with the postcards my dad had sent me from Vietnam and photos of that year. But I could never quite find a way into the story. It has elements that can be scary for the audience and it would be easy for the art to reinforce those. It could be really beautiful art but still be off-putting to a kid, which would defeat the point of doing the book. Then one day I was having lunch with Jim and telling him about the idea and he said, ‘That sounds fantastic.’ I looked at him and I had this flash of the story through his eyes, with his art. It was like being handed a key to a locked door. So, I just blurted out, ‘Do you want to do it?’ Fortunately he said yes. That afternoon, on the train ride home, the book started unfolding in my head. There’s a natural humor and sense of fun to his drawing style that makes the story approachable. As the emotional life of the main character evolves into darker places, the pictures beautifully keep pace with it, but they never lose that Proimos quality. His art made telling the story possible."

Click here to read the full article in Entertainment Weekly.

How exciting!

Today is a big day for author birthdays! Three very famous children's writers were born on various November 29ths throughout history-- Louisa May Alcott (1832), C.S. Lewis (1898), and Madeleine L'Engle (1918). Those are some big names!

Hey The Fault In Our Stars fans! Remember the talk of a movie adaptation a few months ago?

This Hypable article, contains a video of an interview with Wyck Godfrey (the producer of the film, who's also responsible for the Twilight movies) who says in it, “It is the best book, it makes you rip your guts out, it makes you want to go out and live a better life. I love it, I can’t wait to make it” and “I’m producing it, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who wrote 500 Days of Summer, wrote the script – it’s brilliant. I’m getting ready to hire a director, we’ve got all the actresses you would ever want to be in it, want to play Hazel Grace. So I’m excited about that.”

This is big news! Looks like it's really happening! Yay! Be sure to read the full article here!

Are you a teen? Did you know it's Teen Read Week? Teen Read Week started in 1998 and is celebrated annually the third week of October (this year it's October 14-20). It encourages you to read for the fun of it and every year it has a different theme. It's important to celebrate Teen Read Week because, even though there are lots of really great entertainment options out there, reading for fun is free, entertaining, and proven to help improve test scores!

This year's theme is It Came From The Library! It can be interpreted however you want, but why not check out some of these popular and wonderful YA books that are both spooky and mysterious?

Bliss by Lauren Myracle

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Horowitz Horror: Stories You'll Wish You'd Never Read by Anthony Horowitz

Oddest of All: Stories by Bruce Coville

Skeleton Creek: [Ryan's Journal] by Patrick Carman 

Wolf Rider by Avi

And be sure to click here to vote for the theme of Teen Read Week 2013! You have the power to choose!

Every year since 1968, Americans have observed National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15. This month-long celebration recognizes the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

Here are some good books that celebrate Hispanic culture:

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

Luminous by Dawn Metcalf

Playing For Keeps by Veronica Chambers

Efrain's Secret by Sofia Quintero

Benito Runs by Justine Fontes

Carmen: An Urban Adaptation of the Opera by Walter Dean Myers

Ambitious by Monica McKayhan

Life, After by Sarah Darer Littman

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Ttyl by Lauren Myracle

The Witches by Roald Dahl

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Exercise your freedome to read and celebrate Banned Books Week from September 30th through October 6th by reading a

If so, here's some good news! One week from today (October 2nd) the graphic novel version of story is being released! It's been illustrated and adapted by Hope Larson, who is also responsible for the graphic novels Mercury, Chiggers, and Gray Horses, as well as others.

Put yourself on the list to reserve a copy by clicking here!

In the meantime, TOR.COM has an provided a slideshow of the first 12 pages to show you just how beautiful the graphic novel is going to be

Take a look here!

Happy tesserring!

Put one of the following John Green books on hold today:

Looking for Alaska

An Abundance of Katherines

Paper Towns

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

The Fault In Our Stars

Teens' Top Ten is an annual list of teen-choice books. The nominated titles are chosen by members of teen book groups across the country and voting (which started yesterday) goes until Saturday, September 15th. The winners will be announced during Teen Read Week (October. 14-20).

Click here for the official list of 2012 Teen's Top Ten Nominations

Some highlights (or, personal highlights anyway) include:

Abandon by Meg Cabot

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Shine by Lauren Myracle

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin

You've got one month to read and vote, so get going!

We're just one week away from the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London! Are you planning to watch them?

Take a look at this year's Olympics website! What's your favorite summer Olympic game? Mine's gymnastics.

In keeping with the Olympic spirit, why not spend the next few days enjoying a good book about the Olympics as well as watching the games? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Fiction:
Rush for the Gold: Mystery at the Olympic Games by John Feinstein

Pankration: The Ultimate Game by Dyan Blacklock

Artemis The Loyal by Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams

Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: At All Costs by Carolyn Keene

In Lane Three, Alex Archer by Tessa Duder

The Century Kids, The 1930s: Directions by Dorothy and Tom Hoobler

Nonfiction:
Fire On Ice: Autobiography of a Champion Figure Skater by Sasha Cohen with Amanda Maciel

Jim Thorpe: Legendary Athlete by Barbara Long

Jesse Owens by Tony Gentry

Inside the Olympics by Nick Hunter

The 2012 London Olympics by Nick Hunter

The Olympics' Strangest Moments: Extraordinary But True Tales from the History of the Olympic Games by Geoff Tibballs

Go USA!

It's June! And more specifically, it's the last week of school!

That means the end of tests and teachers and the beginning of beaches, bathing suits, sleeping late, and hopefully our library's Summer Reading Club! What better way to enjoy summer than with some awesome beach books? Here are a few low-key, not-too-heavy suggestions to get you started:

The Summer Before Boys by Nora Raleigh Baskin

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

Sixteenth Summer by Michelle Dalton

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Every Little Thing in the World by Nina de Gramont

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

The Summer of Firsts and Lasts by Terra Elan McVoy

Summer Ball by Mike Lupica

Holes by Louis Sachar

Or come in to the library, tell us what you like, and we'll find you another book. Now's the time to read what you want to read! And don't forget to join the Summer Reading Club to get prizes too!