Experience a minute in the Forest of Hands and Teeth:
Heart pounding yet? The Forest of Hands and Teeth, a novel by Carrie Ryan, is about a young woman named Mary and her life in her village. Sounds bucolic, doesn't it? Until you learn that the village is guarded by a high fence, which is surrounded by hordes of mindless, flesh-eating zombies called the Unconsecrated. Mary can hear their moaning all day and night, and she doesn't dare get too close to the fence, for the infection that turns you into an Unconsecrated is passed by a single bite.
As if David Small's graphic autobiography Stitches:--A Memoirwasn't powerful enough on its own, five scenes have been turned into eleven minutes of heart-wrenching video. If you've read the novel, is it worth it? Absolutely. Hearing 'mama's little cough," slamming of cupboards and moving her "fork a half inch to the right" further enhances the viewers understanding of David Small's traumatic, childhood home. If you haven't read this book, which was nominated for the 2009 Young People's Literature Award by the National Book Foundation, place a hold today! It's worth enjoying in all formats!
The period of time from the late 1930s to the end of the 1950s is commonly known as the "Golden Age" of science fiction. The Golden Age was noted for the volume of science fiction produced due to the large number of science fiction-oriented pulp magazines and the depth of the creative talent involved. Many of the writers working in this period established concepts that would have a tremendous cultural impact on their readers.
The GBBC is an annual, four-day event that takes a snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. It's an easy, fun, and free way to help the birds. Anyone can do this for as long or as little a time as he pleases, and their Web site has good information on how to get started, .
Over the course of the twentieth century, many authors have emerged to define the popular perception of science fiction. These authors have created some of the most-read science fiction works and continue to have an enormous influence on the science fiction world to this day. It is the work of these authors that has made the genre into a more diverse and critically respected field.
I'm here in blustery, snowy Boston with about a thousand librarians and publishers gathered in the convention center to find out what books have won the prestigious awards for young people's literature. There’s a buzz of speculation as people ask each other, “What do you think will win?” or “What is the book you gave your heart to this year?”
It’s one of life’s ironies that you don’t realize how much someone’s impacted your life until they’re gone. More specifically, you realize that you never told that person how much they meant. It isn’t until they pass that you think, “Oh! I wish I had said something!” You think about how that person shaped who you are, in major or even subtle ways, and sometimes realize that you wouldn’t be you if it weren’t for that person’s influence, guidance, or mere presence in your life.
1989. 2000. 2012. It’s not just lately that certain years and dates have struck fear into the heart of humankind. Pretty much every year in recorded history has been predicted by someone to be the date of the end of the world. The Apocalypse. Armageddon. Our fascination with our own end can be humorous or depressing, but either way, we can’t stop dreaming, writing, and talking about it. And teens, like many of us, love reading about it.
Detective fiction is such an integral part of the current literary landscape that many people have difficulty remembering all its subgenres, popular works, and notable authors. This series explores the history of detective fiction, the authors who were a major influence on its development, and books and films in its major subgenres.
Join CRRL volunteeer John Gaines for a study in sleuthing.
Today's libraries are not just for books, computers and magazines – the Salem Church library now has its own geocache! In geocaching, participants obtain the location of a geocache from a geocaching Web site www.geocaching.com, use a GPS to arrive in the area of the cache, and then follow clues or simply hunt for the cache. There are over 1000 caches waiting to be found within a 25 mile radius of the Fredericksburg area!
Librarians are at the heart of opposition to foolish, dangerous, misguided attempts at censoring human expression in our free country. I thank God for their efforts.
