Bunheads by Sophie Flack Takes a Look Inside Ballet

Bunheads by Sophie Flack
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ever wish you could grow up to be a ballet dancer? Or just wonder what it takes to dance like those miraculous beings soaring across the stage every Christmas season in The Nutcracker? This book tells you what the grueling art form feels like from the inside--sore muscles, aching toes, constant dieting, and all. Author Sophie Flack also does a splendid job portraying the competition that permeates a professional ballet company and the burning ambition it takes to keep going day after day. But she does an even better job giving us the rounded character of Hannah, for whom the desire to be a normal teenaged girl (a pedestrian, as the dancers call them) competes with the need to prove herself worthy of a soloist part. I couldn't put Bunheads down until the last, touching page.

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Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Stephanie delivers: she got her car blown up, got herself kidnapped and provided some extra curricular entertainment for Grandma Mazer and "Batman" (aka Ranger).

It's a wonder Stephanie can pay her bills with all the favors she does the neighbors. This time it's her parents next door neighbor who call on Stephanie to track down her daughter who has absconded with her granddaughter. What starts out as a simple abduction case turns into war games with a psycho who already had it in for Stephanie after his prize fighter died pursuing her. Now she's competing with the female version of Ranger and being targeted by a truly deranged bunny, some angry geese and an FTA who's pissed she actually brought him in.

As always, laughs and bizarre situations abound. Enjoy!

Finished A Games of Thrones? Now Try These

If you loved Martin's A Game of Thorns, you might like some of these authors:

Stephen R. Donaldson (Lord Foul's Bane, Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant)
Robin Hobb (Assassin's Apprentice, Shaman's Crossing, Ship of Magic)
Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings, The Wheel of Time)
David Gemmell (Lord of the Silver Bow, Shield of Thunder)
Philippa Gregory (White Queen, The Virgin's Lover)

Or ask a librarian for other suggestions!

TV Favs.

What is your favorite TV series? Tell us and we just might order it on DVD or Blu-Ray!

Teen Summer Reading 2012

So now you know.  Save the date!  Registration begins June 25, programs begin July 5.

New Teen Book Club: Come this Monday, May 21 to talk about Ship Breakers!

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Opening with a scene of back-breaking work that quickly morphs into one of sheer terror, this story is a gripper. The world has been depleted of oil, except for pockets of the stuff that remain on beached tankers, and scavenging gangs, called Light Crews, crawl amidst the debris in search of this crude, also looking to remove copper wiring and other forms of the detritus of a once resource-rich world. Now the world situation has altered, and not for the better: climate change has caused rising ocean levels to flood New Orleans, where the book is set; fossil fuels are as rare as hen's teeth; drugs are decimating much of the area's remaining population--and yet a lucky few are still in possession of vast wealth. This dystopian tale is full of penetrating questions about love, loyalty, and what is means to be human when survival itself is often in doubt.

We're starting a new Teen Book Club! Come and discuss Ship Breaker on Monday, May 21, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Free refreshments and lots of fun--bring a friend!



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Where Things Come Back by John Cory Whaley

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In the opening scene of this small-town tale, high school senior Cullen Witter must identify his cousin Oslo's body at the morgue. Oslo, a heroin addict, has died of an overdose, and the reader is perhaps forgiven for thinking this is going to be a gritty, unpleasant story. But even in reacting to his cousin's death, Cullen's captivating teen-boy voice, and the realistic cast of supporting characters, such as his trucker father, his genius brother Gabriel, and his quirky best friend Lucas, carry us along, despite a series of gruesome events. There are many unanswered questions in Cullen's life: Has a fabulously rare woodpecker, long thought extinct, returned to save the town of Lily, Arkansas from its own slow economic death? Has Gabriel walked away from his family--and in particular his adoring brother--just to get out of dreary Lily, or does his disappearance mean that he has met with foul play? While the long list of calamities at times seems far-fetched (there's even an intersecting story line involving suicide and kidnapping), Cullen's reactions to the events that occur, from hopefulness to skepticism to anguish, are perfectly calibrated to keep us reading--and hoping for his sake if nothing else that Lily is, indeed, Where Things Come Back.



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Coming Soon - Teen Summer Reading!

As you look toward finals and summer vacation, we are gearing up for an awesome summer reading program filled with great activities including a magic show with lessons, black light T-Shirt making and MuVChat movies – you text your comments while watching the movie and they appear on the screen, real time!

Reading requirements are simple – 1000 pages in six weeks and yes, school required reading does count.

New this summer, is a cyber component for teens traveling or working during the program – register, read, submit books forms and complete fun tasks on-line to earn tickets toward our grand prize drawings: $25 and $50 gift certificates to island retailers and restaurants. 

Registration begins June 25.  Programs begin July 5.  We hope you can find a way to join the fun this summer!  Check out our web page www.newportlibraryri.org/npl/teens/teen-summer-reading for all the details!

Newport Navy Base MWR offers Jobs for Teens

Morale, Welfare & Recreation (MWR) is having a teen hire event on Wednesday, May 9 at 4 p.m. at the Teen Center, Building 1297 for summer jobs at CYP and throughout MWR.  Teen jobs are paid $7.40 an hour are open to 14 through 17 year olds who are dependents of active duty military, Department of Defense Civilians and Contractors and will last 12 weeks.  As part of the program, teens have a chance to participate in a three day conference in Washington, DC.  For more information, call Gina Petrone at 841-2883.

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay, yes the ending is predictable, but I really liked Cricket and Lola's dads so this was a fun read. I wanted something light and enjoyable and this book delivered.

I don't think Perkins had to make Max such a totally bad guy, I mean he had to have some redeeming characteristics if Lola dated him for so long. My biggest complaint, however, would be that the ending was too tidy. I mean Perkins even ironed out Lola's issues with Calliope. Too tidy. Life never works out that way.

The thing I liked most was finding out that Perkins' husband pulled a real life Cricket for prom - too cool!