Book Bag: Friendswood Youth Services Blog

I'll be the first to admit I love Halloween. But not the terrifying Halloween. I love zombies and vampires, but I like my zombie and vampire movies/books to have a little bit of humor to them. And especially a dash of hope. A light at the end of the tunnel, if you will. And the more snark and sarcasm, the better. Which is precisely why I love the Skulduggery Pleasant series. But wait, before I get you excited about the series,I want to warn you that only the first three books are available in the States...I'm trying to get the rest for the library, but it's not been easy. Still, if you think you'd be interested in ordering them for yourself once you get invested in the series, continue reading! Stephanie's uncle is a famous author of horror novels. When he is found dead, she is named his heir and meets a friend of his, Skulduggery Pleasant a skeletal mage. Literally. The guy's a skeleton. Look at the cover right there! So yeah, then there's evil...

For my second All Hallows Read suggestion I've chosen a book that just slightly creepy. It's creepy in a, if I think about it too much I get the willies kind of way. But it's also sweet and full of adventure and about growing up and friendship. So, you know, lots of great topics there. "Doll Bones" by Holly Black was a Newbery Honor Book this year, and I personally think it should have won the medal but I digress. It tells the story of Zach, Poppy, and Alice, three friends who have created an imaginary world full of adventure that happens to use dolls and action figures as characters. But Zach and the girls are in middle school now, and people expect them to stop playing make believe with dolls. When Zach is forced to quit the game Poppy reveals that the Queen, a creepy antique doll owned by Poppy's mom, is actually filled with the ashes of a dead girl named Eleanor. Eleanor has been speaking to Poppy and they must find her grave or she will make all o...

When I was in the 5th grade I had a history teacher who told us that his idea of Heaven would be to sit in a movie theater and watch all of history like it was one long, epic movie. That was he wanted, well that and really buttery popcorn! Much later, I went on to st udy history in college. W hen I think back , it's that little story that partly inspired my love of history.  Rathe r th an think of history like a movie, though, I 've always consider ed history to be one long, epic story. And I love stories. So historical fiction has always fit in perfectly with my interests. I enjoy many different genres but hist orical fiction has always given me a sense of understand ing of and connection to the past. Whether it s Vikings or pioneers . S ervants or princesses . O rdinary people living or dinary lives or famous people changing the world. Th rough these books I have lived hundre ds of different lives in hundreds of different times, it's not unlike time travel...

Ready for a new book but not sure what you want to read? Try out YALSA(Young Adult Library Services Association)'s new mobile app Teen Book Finder (free at the Apple App store!) for some suggestions.  Each day they feature 'Hot Picks' with different books in different genres. Use the search option to browse books by title, author, genre, year, award and booklists   Once you find a book you're interested in you can favorite it to find later. Or you can find what area libraries carry the book!  Here's where things get a little confusing, once you click on the pin for a library (my pin is red because I'm at the library right now, yours will be green when you're at home) the app takes you to the OCLC webpage for the book then choose the library of your choice to be taken to that library's catalog. If you're searching the Friendswood Library you'll find that the title of the book is not a link, click on the ISBN (on the l...