Out of Sight Out of Mind

Tracy is the most unpopular girl in school, and since no one sees her, she has become invisible. Amanda is the coolest and meanest girl in school. Everyone wants to be her, but she has secret…If she feels sorry for anyone she changes places with them. She can’t afford to be nice to anyone, or she might end up being them. Amanda makes the mistake of feeling for Tracy and now she is stuck as Tracy. What she didn’t know is that Tracy and 8 others go to a “special” class. Eight people in her regular school have “gifts”, powers that let them do extraordinary things. Now that Amanda is in on the secret, how will she deal? How will she get her body back and deal with the threat in the school? This is the first book in the Gifted series. Fans of the Percy Jackson series will enjoy the action and the way that special teens are living in the regular world.

Teen Reads For Grown Ups Book Club

Are you tired of reading the same old grown up books?  Why not read what the teens are reading.  All books in this book club have been selected by our Teen Book Club.  Become a member of the Teen Reads For Grown Ups Book Club by going to the Castle Rock library and getting your member’s only copy of Unwind by Neal Shusterman.  Then join us 4/14/10, 6:30pm at Pegasus in downtown Castle Rock.  We will have refreshments and discuss the book.

Unwind is the story of a distant future where all babies must be born, but they can at the parents choosing be unwound.  All of their body parts can be medically harvested.  This is the story of three teens who are on a path with the unwinding process.

Teen Reads for Grown Ups Book Club

We just read Uglies by Scott Westerfeld and it was a lot of fun talking about the book.  The next book we are reading is Maximum Ride by James Patterson.  Fans of his adult fiction books are sure to love his first teen series.  If you are over 18 and would like to join us at Pegasus in downtown Castle Rock, stop by the Teen Tower in the Castle Rock library and sign up.  I hope to see you there!

Witch & Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

 

One day you’re a normal teenager, and the next you are a wanted criminal guilty of the ultimate crime of being a Witch.  This is the action packed story of a magical brother and sister called Whit and Wisty.  It starts with Whit, Wisty, and both of their parents about to be executed by hanging. 

The book is nonstop action so fans of Patterson’s other series, Maximum Ride, will not be disappointed.  This book also has a message similar to the Maximum Ride books:  Teens have the power to change the world.  Just like with Max and the gang Patterson overdoes the message with a lack of subtlety and flat out stating the message in several different chapters.

To spite belaboring the point, the book is fun and exciting.  If you are looking for an easy and exciting read this book is for you.  Fair warning, the book does not resolve the hanging.  They have definitely set this book up with several sequels in mind.

Dull Boy by Sarah Cross

Avery isn’t your average teenager.  He has super human strength and he can fly.  His friends don’t know about his powers and now are not being good friends because he is always acting weird and secretive.  So, Avery finds new friends who happen to have super powers as well.  The only problem is none of them know how to control their powers and they don’t know if they can trust Cherchette who says she can save them all and help them control their powers.  The group must figure out everything on their own because they can’t tell anyone about their powers.
Dull Boy is a fun book about teens with super powers.  I found myself rooting for the teens the whole time while also wanting them to tell a trustworthy adult about their secrets.  The teens work together as a great team and seem to really enjoy each other even if they don’t always get along.  I would recommend this book to high level young readers as well as teens.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks

Nina has been a vampire since the 70’s.  Fortunately, she has never infected anybody else because she has a support group full of other vampires.  However, when one of the other members in the group is killed with a wooden stake the group begins to fear for their lives.  They begin an investigation into who killed Casimir which leads them down a trail they never expected.

This was great book about vampires.  It was comedic and looked at vampires in a totally different light than most vampire books.  Even though Nina is trapped in the body of a 15 year old, she acts her true age of 51.  Because of this and several other things, I felt the book should be an adult book rather than a young adult book.  Overall it was a great book, but I would not recommend it to teens who are wanting a vampire book similar to Twilight.  This is completely different in a fun way.