Welcome to the place where teens review books just for teens. Email teenunderground@ccpl.org if you want to review, too! Click on the title of the book below to put the book on hold at your favorite CCPL branch, and be sure to comment at the end.
Thanks to Sam L. for her review!
Who Done It, Edited by Jon Scieszka
Who Done It? by Jon Scieszka
is a collection of fictional alibis for the murder of an editor written by a
number of authors. The alibis provide a picture of a horrible editor that in
some way abused all of his writers. The assorted alibis create an interesting
storyline that will elicit laughs throughout the entire book. Having stories by
so many authors, the reader is given an insight into the chaotic minds of
writers; a scary, but highly entertaining place. The only low points, in my
opinion, would be that the stories had become a bit repetitive by the end, and
the ending was slightly disappointing. I won’t give it away, though; you’ll
have to read it to find out “who done it?”
--Sam L.
What do others think? Praise for Who Done It? from amazon.com: "How did you get my phone
number? Stop calling me or I'm getting the police involved." —Maureen
Johnson, author of The Name of the Star and The Last Little Blue
Envelope
“Wah-huh?” —Gayle Forman, author of If I Stay
and Where I Went
"Who are you? Why are you writing down
everything I'm saying? What book? What are you talking about?" —Lemony
Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events and Who Could That
Be at This Hour?
"Papery. And rectilinear.” —Barry Lyga,
author of I Hunt Killers
"Of all the books I've ever read,
this was definitely the most recent." —Jennifer Smith, author of The
Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
"If you already
know who done it, this is not the book for you." —Mo Willems, author of
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
"Deliciously
cheesy." —Jo Knowles, author of See You At
Harry's
"Exceptionally rectangular." —Kiersten White,
author of Paranormalcy
"My God. It's full of
words." —Kieran Scott, author of the He's So/She's So
trilogy
"Not enough pictures." —Ricardo Cortés, co-author of
Go the F--k to Sleep
"Cures everything from sleeplessness to
insomnia." —Natalie Standiford, author of The Secret
Tree
"Wicked awesome." —Lisa Brown, How to
Be
"Who is Jon Scieszka?" —Casey Scieszka, co-author of
To Timbuktu
"I'll get back to you with a blurb as soon as I have some
time." –Leslie Margolis, author of Everybody Bugs
Out
"This book is full of slanders, falsehoods, and outrageous
defamations of character. In other words, it was perfect!" —Adam Gidwitz,
author of A Tale Dark and Grimm
"Without a doubt, one of the
top 10,000 books of the year."
—Robin Wasserman, author of The Book of
Blood and Shadow
"Stays crunchy in milk." —Gordon Korman,
author of Swindle
"It makes an excellent step so I can reach
all my shoes." —Kate Brian, author of the Private series
We've just received a load of new non-fiction titles, and we hope you'll check them out! Click on the title of any book to go to our online catalog, where you can reserve your copy. Or if you'd prefer to browse, look up the item in our YA section under the call number listed, and/or ask a staffer to point you in the right direction!
Brief biographies of infamous women, from Delilah and Cleopatra to Pearl Hart and Bonnie Parker, with commentary about each woman's "badness" from the authors in graphic form.
Cory Friedman woke up one morning when he was five years old with the uncontrollable urge to twitch his neck. From that day forward his life became a hell of irrepressible tics and involuntary utterances, and Cory embarked on an excruciating journey from specialist to specialist to discover the cause of his disease. Soon it became unclear what tics were symptoms of his disease and what were side effects of the countless combinations of drugs. The only certainty is that it kept getting worse. This is the true story of Cory and his family's decades-long battle for survival in the face of extraordinary difficulties and a maddening medical establishment.
Who wouldn't want to stand on top of the world--at the summit of Mount Everest, Earth's tallest mountain? Thousands have made the climb. Not all who attempt it reach the summit. Some die trying. Pete Athans has stood on top of the world seven times. Nicknamed Mr. Everest, Pete has encountered danger and excitement along the way--from avalanches to deadly snowstorms. Take an up-close look at the mountain and follow Pete all the way from base camp to the summit.
Using journal entries, letters
home, and song lyrics, the women of the West speak for themselves in these tales
of courage, enduring spirit, and adventure. Women such as Amelia Stewart Knight
traveling on the Oregon Trail, homesteader Miriam Colt, entrepreneur Clara
Brown, army wife Frances Grummond, actress Adah Isaacs Menken, naturalist Martha
Maxwell, missionary Narcissa Whitman, and political activist Mary Lease are
introduced to readers through their harrowing stories of journeying across the
plains and mountains to unknown land.
Combining sensitivity and solid scientific style, Deem reveals the history of the science of facial reconstruction, as well as the forgotten lives and thefaces of the dead, to contemporary generations so that at last their stories can be told.
Aronson unmasks the man behind the Bureau--his tangled family history and personal relationships; his own need for secrecy, deceit, and control; and the broad trends in American society that shaped his world.
Are zombies real? Scientists know this for sure: dead people do not come
back to live and start walking around, looking for trouble. But there are things
that can take over the bodies and brains of innocent creatures, turning them
into senseless slaves. Meet nature's zombie makers--including a fly-enslaving
fungus, a suicide worm, and a cockroach-taming wasp--and their
victims.
The story of how a boy, a dog, a scientist, and Google Earth found a nearly two-million-year-old fossil from a skeleton that just may rewrite the story of human evolution
The United States is experiencing a new British Invasion—One Direction, the
British boy band that has captured the hearts and attention of young Americans
in a way that can only be compared to the Beatles. With the recent U.S. launch
of their new album Up All Night and their current North American tour,
Niall, Zayn, Liam, Harry, and Louis have taken the United States by storm, and
this account details how five solo contestants on Britain's X Factor in
2010 came together as a band to finish third on the program.
Examines the role of African Americans in the military through the lens of the untold story of the Triple Nickles, who became America's first black paratroopers and fought in a little-known World War II attack on the American West by the Japanese.
Discusses the processes used by scientists to discern the identity of the Kennewick Man and what this more than nine-thousand-year-old skeleton revealed about the arrival of humans in North America.
You don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself. That’s the
message from Austin Kleon, a young writer and artist who knows that creativity
is everywhere, creativity is for everyone. A manifesto for the digital age,
Steal Like an Artist is a guide whose positive message, graphic look and
illustrations, exercises, and examples will put readers directly in touch with
their artistic side.
When Mr. Kleon was asked to address college students
in upstate New York, he shaped his speech around the ten things he wished
someone had told him when he was starting out. The talk went viral, and its
author dug deeper into his own ideas to create Steal Like an Artist, the
book. The result is inspiring, hip, original, practical, and entertaining. And
filled with new truths about creativity: Nothing is original, so embrace
influence, col- lect ideas, and remix and re-imagine to discover your own path.
Follow your interests wherever they take you. Stay smart, stay out of debt, and
risk being boring—the creative you will need to make room to be wild and daring
in your imagination.
You’ve probably heard rumors that the end of the world was going to happen in the
year 2012. But people have been making predictions about how and when the world
is going to end for ages. The End is a fun, comprehensive, pop culture
read about the 50 top movies, books, songs, comics, artworks, and plays—from the
movie Shaun of the Dead to the pop song "It’s the End of the World as We
Know It"—that have been created about the apocalypse.
21 is an all-ages graphic biography of baseball
star Roberto Clemente. No other baseball player dominated the 1960s like Roberto Clemente, and
no other Latin American player achieved his numbers. 21 chronicles his early
days growing up in rural Puerto Rico, the highlights of his career (including
the 1960s World Series), the prejudice he faced, his private life and his
humanitarian mission. Santiago captures the grit of Clemente's rise from his
impoverished childhood, to the majesty of his performance on the field, to his
fundamental decency as a human being, in a drawing style that combines realistic
attention to detail and expressive cartooning.
When a 10-foot tall purported "petrified man" is unearthed from a backyard in
upstate New York in 1869, the discovery immediately turns into a spectacle of
epic proportions. News of the giant spreads like wildfire, and well over a
thousand people come to view him in the first five days alone!
Everyone
has their own idea of his true origin: Is he an ancient member of the local
Onandaga Indian tribe? Is he a biblical giant like Goliath? Soon the interests
of world-renowned scientists and people from around the globe are piqued as
arguments flare over who he is, where he came from, and if he is real--or just a
hoax.
In a riveting account of how the Cardiff Giant mystery snowballed
into one of America’s biggest money-making spectacles--and scams--Jim Murphy
masterfully explores the power of 19th-century media and the unexpected ripple
effect that a single corrupt mastermind can produce when given a
stage.
This book has
questions asked by girls in one half of the book; flip it over and questions
asked by boys are on the other side. Contains honest, informative, and
reassuring answers to questions pre-adolescents have about puberty, friends,
feelings, sex, pimples, babies, body hair, menstruation, bras, and much more.
Straightforward answers to REAL questions from preteens
are provided by an experienced nurse-and-physician team who have been giving
popular seminars to moms and daughters, and dads and sons, in Seattle and Palo
Alto for more than twenty years. Each of the questions in the book has been
asked--many of them frequently!--by kids during their seminars.
Presents dozens of creative ideas and easy-to-follow instructions for using versatile duct tape to make everything from coin purses to neckties, from elegant artificial flowers and highly original Halloween costumes to a duct tape yoga mat!
Tom Angleberger, Ellen Hopkins, Lauren Oliver, Sara Zarr, and many more write letters to their teen selves. The letters cover a wide range of topics, including physical abuse, body issues, bullying, friendship, love, and enough insecurities to fill an auditorium.
In this adaptation of his best-selling book, The Heart and the Fist, Eric
speaks directly to teen readers, interweaving memoir and intimate second-person
narratives that ask the reader to put themselves in the shoes of himself and
others. Readers will share in Eric’s evolution from average kid to
globe-traveling humanitarian to warrior, training and serving with the most
elite military outfit in the world: the Navy SEALs.
In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must to survive while keeping secret all that she can.
Sisters Alice and Charlie, who have a love-hate relationship, experience a new test to their bond when they relocate to the secretive town of Serenity Point, where they fight to belong and vie for the attentions of an alluring young man.
A teenaged pickpocket, haunted by the ghost of his brother killed by his father, is recruited for Mandel Academy, a school for criminals where only one student survives each semester.
Ever wonder what Lois Duncan's classic horror/thriller/paranormal/mystery titles would be like if the characters were modern teens (think cell phones and the internet)? Well look no further!
A fifteen-year-old Australian girl gets her first job and first crush on her unattainable university-aged co-worker, as both search for meaning in their lives.
When his archaeologist parents go missing in Central America, fourteen-year-old Max embarks on a wild adventure through the Mayan underworld in search of the legendary Jaguar Stones, which enabled ancient Mayan kings to wield the powers of living gods. Includes cast of characters, glossary, facts about the Maya cosmos and calendar, and a recipe for chicken tamales.
When Bull Mastrick and Victor Konig wind up in the same psychiatric ward at age sixteen, each recalls and relates in group therapy the bullying relationship they have had since kindergarten, but also facts about themselves and their families that reveal they have much in common.
Samara is intrigued by her flirtatious co-worker, Caleb, but his secrets draw Samara into a world that places her loved ones in danger, forcing her to take a risk that will change her life forever.
Hudson Avery gave up a promising competitive ice skating career after her parents divorced. Now she spends her time baking cupcakes and helping out in her mother's upstate New York diner, but when she gets a chance at a scholarship and starts coaching the boys' hockey team, she realizes that she is not through with ice skating after all.
Having spent several years in and out of hospitals for a life-threatening illness, pragmatic sixteen-year-old Cam is relocated by her miracle-seeking mother to a town in Maine known for its mystical healing qualities.
Almost seventeen-year-old Alison, who has synesthesia, finds herself in a psychiatric facility accused of killing a classmate whose body cannot be found.
When beautiful high school student Lexi is involved in an automobile accident that leaves her disfigured, she must learn who she really is beyond a pretty face, and she must also learn to forgive.
Sent to do volunteer work at the Whitechapel Hospital in the east end of London in 1888, seventeen-year-old Abbie discovers the identity of Jack the Ripper.
After waking up on an operating table with no memory of how she got there, Noa must team up with computer hacker Peter to stop a corrupt corporation with a deadly secret
Matt and Billy have to contend with the vampires that prey on tourists in the resort town of Sandy Hollow, while Pete encounters vampires at his new school.
Two girls: Best friends Hattie and Delores feel that life in their small New Hampshire town is a dead end. One horse: Old and about to be put down, Speed gets a reprieve when Hattie and Delores decide to save him. A road trip: Determined to set Speed free, Hattie and Delores drive him west in search of rangeland. But the road takes some unexpected turns as the girls get their own taste of freedom.
Fourteen-year-old Grace must find a way to get her older sister out of a princess-filled virtual reality RPG (role playing game)--before it is too late.
In a dystopian, near-future Britain, sixteen-year-old Trent, obsessed with making movies on his computer, joins a group of artists and activists who are trying to fight a new bill that will criminalize even more harmless internet creativity.
In 1776, after witnessing the execution of Nathan Hale in New York City, newly occupied by the British army, young Sophia Calderwood resolves to do all she can to help the American cause, including becoming a spy.
Scorned in her Flatlands village because of a deformed foot, Emmeline Thistle's life changes when she is taken in by Wanderlands dairy farmers and discovers her magical ability to make chocolate, which is more precious and rare than gold or jewels in the kingdom of Anglund.
When a virus deadly to adults infects their high school, brothers David and Will and the other students soon break into gangs that fight each other for survival and the hope of escaping their quarantine.
Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen, both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom...
Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters must prey on humans and absorb their positive energy. Usually, they select their victims at random, but this time around, the underwater clan chooses its target for a reason: revenge.
During a class trip to the Montana woods, three sixth-graders--athletic Ian, sensitive PJ, and brainy Kendra--are separated from their group and must rely on each other to survive as they encounter zombies and more.
In an alternative version of Victorian London, a seventeen-year-old Dodger, a cunning and cheeky street urchin, unexpectedly rises in life when he saves a mysterious girl, meets Charles Dickens, and unintentionally puts a stop to the murders of Sweeny Todd.
Eighteen-year-old identical twins Alice and Rachel have always shared a very special bond, so when one is abducted the other uses their connection to try to locate her.
Evie O'Neill has gotten into trouble one too many times, so her parents ship her off to live with her uncle in New York. It's hardly a punishment for Evie to live in the world of speakeasies, jazz clubs, the Ziegfeld Follies, and big city excitement - even if she does have to help Uncle Will run the creepy Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult. But when a string of strange, occult-related murders sends the city into a tizzy of fear, Evie has to set aside shopping and shows to help Will investigate the mysterious crimes.
In medieval Brittany, there is a convent where the sisters worship the old gods and keep the old ways. When 17-year-old Ismae is rescued from a brutal arranged marriage and brought to the convent of St. Mortain, she has no idea that her strange and deadly gifts will lead to a new life as a handmaiden to Death himself - a silk-clad assassin bound for intrigue, glamour, and danger in the world of the high court.
Living with an abusive father, abandoned by her older sister, Sloane has decided that today is the day she's going to take her own life. She just wasn't counting on the zombie apocalypse.
