Best Reads of 2012 (7th in a series)

Pete the Cat Saves Christmas (Easy) by Eric Litwin 

This picture book is totally groovy.  Santa calls Pete the Cat to save Christmas.  Is he worried?  Goodness, no!  Pete gives it his all because at Christmas, we give.  James Dean Illustrates this adorable spin on the traditional tale The Night Before Christmas starring one of my favorite storybook characters.  Pete the Cat Saves Christmas is a great picture book to share with all of your groovy children.

Sand Dollar Summer (Juvenile) by Kimberly Jones 

After her mother is suddenly injured in a car accident, twelve-year-old Lise and her five-year-old “selectively mute” brother, Free, are forced to move to an island off the coast of Maine so that her mother can recover.  Afraid of the water and with nothing to do on the remote island, Lise befriends a local Passamaquoddy Indian, Ben.  When a hurricane hits and threatens the life of Ben, Lise must overcome her fears and deal with the ocean and understand that there are things in life that she cannot control.  Sand Dollar Summer is a great coming of age story and a quick read for older elementary school grades and young teens.

Seizure (Teen) by Kathy Reichs
 
Teen fiction has become so popular, many authors of adult fiction are now writing for teens, too!  I love Kathy Reichs’ series of forensic mysteries featuring Dr. Temperence Brennen, and this book is the second in her Virals series about Tory Brennen, Tempe’s great niece.

Tory Brennan and her friends contracted a rare strain of canine parvovirus from a rescued wolf puppy named Cooper.  The virus gives Tory and her friends, the “Virals,” special “wolf-like” powers.  They must use every advantage they have to try and save the Loggerhead Island Research Institute, where their parents work.  The institute is losing funding, which means their parents will soon be out of work and Tory and her “pack” will no longer be together.  Set in Charleston, South Carolina, Reichs weaves a mystery involving local history, buried pirate treasure, famous female pirate Anne Bonny, science fiction, mystery, and epic adventure.  Seizure is a great adventure for older teens and adults.

Andrea DelValle
Youth Services Information Specialist

Best Reads of 2012 (6th in a series)

One of my favorite books that I read this year was Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons (Easy) by James Dean and Eric Litwin.  It's a cute picture book which is not only totally groovy, but educational, too!  Super-smooth Pete is being cool and singing about his buttons when one pops off.  Uh-oh!  But Pete just keeps grooving, because four minus one still leaves him with three!  The bright cartoon colors are attractive to children, and the brief text is ideal for Pre-K children learning their numbers.  In the end, even after Pete loses all four buttons, he doesn’t lose his cool because he still has his belly button!  Way too much fun!

Aliens on Vacation (Juvenile) by Clete Barrett Smith is a good, clean, ridiculously silly and fun book for those who like aliens – which I do!

We Can’t All be Rattlesnakes (Juvenile) by Patrick Jennings is the tale of a gopher snake who matures in kindness through her experience in captivity.

In Shakespeare’s Secret (Juvenile) by Elise Broach, twelve year old Hero has moved once again, but this time she is befriended by an elderly neighbor and a popular boy who help her solve the mystery of the Murphy Diamond and uncover interesting secrets about Shakespeare’s possible true identity.

For those who love sports and especially baseball, Heat by Mike Lupica (Teen) is a very exciting story about a twelve year old named Michael, a star baseball player living in the Bronx, who hides a mystery about his family until the absence of his birth certificate threatens his ability to play in the Little League World Series.


Julie Boyd
Youth Services Information Specialist

Best Reads of 2012 (5th in a series)

A list of some of my favorites this year:

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Adult)
Playground by 50 Cent (Teen)
Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (Teen)
Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Teen)
Between the Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (Teen)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (Teen)
Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt (Teen)
Notorious Benedict Arnold by Steve Sheinkin (Juvenile)
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce (Easy)

Denise Leeson
Youth Services Specialist