Darklight, by Lesley Livingston

If you’re a fan of Lesley Livingston’s earlier work Wondrous Strange (published in 2009), then you’ll love her sequel, Darklight. Kelley Winslow has returned to New York City to pursue her acting career, but she ends up right back in the Otherworld. She reunites with her true love Sonny, a member of the elite Ganus Guard, to again take on the forces of evil. But will Kelley’s powers, passed on to her by her mother the Faire Queen, be enough?

This is a good sequel to read if you like fantasy, and enjoy the mix of a magical world meeting our own!

11 birthdays, by Wendy Mass

"11 birthdays was a great book. If we had to rate stars it would be 5 stars immediately! It is about a girl who shares her birthday with her neighbor and best friend (who's a boy!) and one day they have a fight and switch places. It is a fun and exciting book. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did." An wonderful review by an anonymous reader!

Say the Word, by Jeannine Garsee

When Shawna was only seven years old her mother left her father, Jack, and moved in with her life partner. Ten years later Shawna learns of her mother’s death, and meets up with her partner, Fran, and their two kids – Arye (17), and Schmule (10). Shawna has to deal with her controlling father, who is out to ruin Fran financially, and cope with her own feelings toward gay rights, all while she embraces a budding romance and a search for her own independence.

If you liked Jeannine Garsee's earlier book Before, After, and Somebody in Between, then you you'll love her latest novel. And check out this 2009 interview with Garsee by Debbi Michiko Florence. I really liked the part where she confessed to doing much of her writing while sitting in a local coffee shop typing away for hours and hours . . . .

Riot, by Walter Dean Myers

In the summer of 1863 New York City was rocked by violence when the federal government, desperate for new military recruits for the Union army during the Civil War, passed the Enrollment Act. This allowed the government to draft any man between the ages of 20 and 45 into military service. Many recent immigrants, especially the Irish who recently had moved from Ireland to escape the potato famine, rose up in arms against a war they did not feel was theirs. To make matters worse, part of the law allowed the rich to pay a substitute $300 to serve for them. This angered a large number of the poor. Crowds turned violent, buildings were burned down, and African Americans were assaulted and lynched. In four days over 1,000 people were killed and 50 large buildings burned by fire.

Walter Dean Myers new novel, Riot, is set in New York City during this tumultuous time. Claire, the 15 year old daughter of an African American father and Irish mother, finds her loyalties to her family and friends tested as the City is torn apart by racial violence.

What set’s this story apart is that the narrative is arranged like a movie script, with the location of each “shot” set up for you. For example: “AERIAL SHOT, then the sound of music rises as the camera slowly moves in once again. The streets of Lower Manhattan are indistinct but sharpen gradually. . . . .” This makes the book both dramatic and easy to read! This is the same style Myers used in his popular book Monster.

Sixteen year old American Abby Sunderland is abandoning her attempt to sail nonstop around the world. The high school junior from Thousand Oaks, California, is heading towards Cape Town, South Africa, where she will have her 40-foot boat's faulty autopilot replaced. The guidance system is essential in order to keep her 40-foot sail boat on track while she's cat napping. This means the title for youngest person to circumnavigate nonstop around the world solo will go to Jessica Watson, the 16 year old Australian who should complete her trip in May. Once Abby's replaced her faulty navigation system, she will head back to sea, and try to become the youngest person to solo-circumnavigate our planet in a sailboat. You can check out Abby's amazing adventure by reading her blog!

If your interested in learning how to sail, visit our library and check out Richard Creagh-Osborne's classic book This Is Sailing. Another good book to read is Sailing for Dummies, by J.J. and Peter Isler. Both do a great job showing you all the basic moves and tricks of sailing, and have nice illustrations. And if you'd like to take classes in how to sail, the Lake Townsend Yacht Club is teaching lessons as well!

Once Was Lost, by Sara Zarr

In the sleepy little town of Pineview, California, there's a crisis brewing. Fifteen year old Samara Taylor's mother is in court-ordered rehab for her drinking problems, and her father, a local pastor, is having problems dealing with it. "Sam," as everyone calls her, is also having a crisis of faith. As she puts it: "I don't know when God stopped being someone I saw as my true friend, and turned into something I'm mostly confused about." With the summer heat beating down on the town, and with both her home's air conditioning AND her bedroom fan broken, it promises to be a miserable time for Sam.

And then one day, watching the news, she catches part of a local newscast. Something horrible, unimaginable has just happened. Young Jodi Shaw, a young member of her church, has just been abducted!

Zarr does an excellent job creating believable characters and she provides a tense plot line. I thought it was a bit strange to try and weave a romance into the story, but then again it adds a nice spice to her story! ~ Robbie

Are you curious about how investors pick their stocks and mutural funds? Don't miss the Morningstar Investment Research Center training session at the Central Library on Tuesday, May 18th from 4-5:30 pm. It's free, but you do have to register. Contact Martha Larson at T: 373-4559 or martha.larson@greensboro-nc.gov. The workshop is part of the Future Cents financial literacy project for young adults and their parents.