Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Miranda's had a normal life with friends and a stepfather while living with her mom and brothers. Until asteroids hit the moon and knocked it closer to Earth, which was the beginning to a series of disasters, as the moon is responsible for many of the Earth's environmental conditions. Thunderstorms knocked out the electricity, floods killed millions of people on coastal areas. And that was just the beginning. Volcanos erupted under the increased gravitational pull from the moon. Ash blocked all traces of sunlight, causing plants to wither and die. Fortunately, Miranda's mom always thinks of the worst that can happen, giving her family a better chance of surviving the new environment on Earth.

This amazing sci-fi book would keep you on edge until you flip the last page.

When Kacey Left by Dawn Green

When Kacey Left by Dawn Green

Kacey and Sara have been the bestest of friends ever since they were little, doing everything together. Then Kacey left.

After Kacey's sudden disappearance, Sara's world completely changed. No one to skip classes with, hang at the beach or talk to. Worse, everyone at school is exchanging glances with Sara and are whispering about her. Her parents forced her to see a counsellor, who makes Sara write letters to Kacey daily to help her deal with her grief.

Now that Kacey is gone, it's up to Sara to try to understand what it all meant and accept her loss.

This novel is well written, seeing a young teenager's perspective on her or his grief and emotions on loosing someone. From this book you can learn how important someone may be and how great someone's disappearance can impact your life.

Bonus:At the end of this heart-melting novel, there are sources about suicide and frequently asked questions that Dawn Green answers.

I recommend this book if you are interested on books based on friendships and if you like novels with the formats of diaries or journals, reading the book from a character's perspective.

Alive by Scott Sigler

Alive by Scott Sigler

This book is about this girl who found herself in a coffin. She doesn't know where she is, who were her parents are, and what her name was. But she knows today is her birthday and she is 12, she broke out of her coffin and she saw at the end of the coffin was her last name and the first letter of her first name; M. Savage. Studying her coffin in silence, a scream broke out. It was a girl screaming for help, Em. (Savage) looked for the coffin with the girl screaming in it, finally, she found the coffin. Em tried to calm the girl down, Em looked for her name at the bottom of the coffin and found it; T. Springate.

Anyways, Em used a scepter that she found to open the coffin. So, Springate and Em opened all the coffins in the room to see if there were anyone was alive. There were 4 more people, 3 boys, and 1 girl. The boys name is K. O'Malley, B. Aramovsky, and J. Yong. The girls name was K. Bello. Em became their leader, once the 4 people were awake, although Yong didn't like Em being the leader so something happened that I won't mention because I'll spoil it for you guys if you want to know what happens, I suggest you go read the book it's really good

The Fault in our Stars by John Green

This amazing book by John Green, The Fault in our Stars follows Hazel, a 16 year old girl with stage 4 Thyroid cancer in her lungs.  She lives thanks to the drug Phalanxifor.  

Hazel's mother, believes Hazel is depressed and therefore sends her to a Support Group.  One day, as Hazel enters the church where the Support Group is held, she bumps into Augustus Waters, and their relationship blooms from there.  From little get-togethers to flying to Amsterdam together, they have the time of their lives; And yet, the fault in their stars will not allow them to be together.  

A wonderful read, I would recommend this book to anyone above the age of nine.  Full of romance, comedy and many, many metaphors,  this book will hook you in from the very first page until the very last line and will leave you with numerous things to think about.  

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

This graphic novels follows an American boy, Danny, and his cousin, Chin-kee, who have to attend the same school after Chin-kee comes from China for a visit. Throughout the story, Danny and Chin-kee reveal how they feel about one another's culture and describes how different their race is.

This is an interesting book because there is a very deep and important message on different races and how our cultures influence our personality. I recommend this book to everyone because it is an easy read that has such a good message.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

If you are looking for a great book to read I think The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey will accomplish that!

Just like that a gigantic object is floating up in the sky above a city, it almost looks like a spaceship  that came out of nowhere. At least that's what Cassie thinks. Cassie is a sixteen year old girl, going to high school and living her life with her family is normal, now a gigantic spaceship looking object is floating above her city which after a while gets normal too. 

Until the 1st wave hit, all the electricity is gone cars, phones, airplanes etc. Then the 2nd wave hit, a massive tsunami. After the 3rd wave, A virus called the "Red Death" and now the 4th wave, the silencers. Almost all of the population of the world is gone in under 3 months. 

Except Cassie, Cassie feels like the only person in the world standing at the moment with her little brother being taken away from her and her father being shot in the head by the "others" Cassie is terribly scared being dead too. When Cassie's little brother was being taken away she promised that she will come and find him. Traveling from places to places in this dangerous adventure to find Cassie's brother and  possibly meeting another human for the first time after 3 months of loneliness will Cassie survive the others? Or will she die like the other 7 billion people? but always remember don't trust anyone.

The 5th Wave is a riveting and thrilling dystopian book that will be hard to put down even for a second.

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks

This romantic coming of age novel follows two teens, Landon and Jamie, who live separate sort of lives. Landon is your classic teenage boy who enjoys going out and exploring and taking risks, while Jamie is practically the opposite. She is the local minister's daughter meaning that her father is very protective of what she does, and she's more of a person to hide within a crowd. Landon has never really noticed Jamie throughout the years even thought they have known each other since kindergarten. After Landon asked Jamie to the homecoming dance, the connection between them continued to escalate. From starring in a play together to going on many dates, this story shows how powerful love can be no matter the circumstances surrounding it.

I recommend this novel to anyone who likes a romantic novel and anyone who likes a little more romance than meets the eye. This book to me was very powerful and it shone a different light on true love.

In a Hearbeat by Loretta Ellsworth (tiny little SPOILER ALERT)

In a Hearbeat by Loretta Ellsworth

This book is about two girls named Amelia (who is 14 years old) and Eagan (who is 16 years old). Amelia loves drawing, she and her family is very united. However, there is something getting in the way. The doctor told Amelia that she got early stage of Congestive heart failure, and it's time to think about a heart transplant. Within the 4 years, Amelia suffered from eating  medicines that she cannot swallow easily, they made her puke a lot.

During a tiny mistake in skating performance Eagan had to leave everything behind, including difficult relationship with her Mother. Eagan then realized she was stuck between life and death.

After Amelia's heart transplant Amelia's personality changed. She changed from disliking purple to liking it, she changed from liking carrot cake to disliking it. She also has to take anti-rejection medicines. Her family had a difficult time to use to Amelia's new personality. 

Eagan Made a friend between the life and death place, that friend led Eagan out from that horrible place, because Eagan knew there is another part of her that still lives in the world.

Let the reading begin!

Richmond Public Library is excited to launch our Summer Escapes! blog - Your place to connect with other teens and talk about books.  Open to Richmond, BC teens in grade 8-12, all you need to do to join is email us at teens@yourlibrary.ca with your name, age and gmail address.  We'll then send out an invitation to the blog, and you can start reviewing and talking about books.  The more your review, the better your chances of winning.

Each week, starting in mid-July, and running till the end of August, we'll be drawing names for prizes based on book reviews.  That's not all, though - Not only are we giving away prizes each week for book reviews, we're also holding several great contests, including a selfie scavenger hunt, a bookface photo contest, and a stop-motion animation contest.

A big thank you to all of our donors who gifted prizes and gift certificates to our program this year! 

House of Night: Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

 

House Of Night: Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

This riveting book is about a girl named Zoey Redbird. Zoey Redbird had a pretty good life but a Horrible stepfather. One day Zoey's world turned upside down, with being marked and turning into a vampire Zoey has no choice but to transfer to the House Of Night. The House Of Night is sort of a vampire high school for vampire fledglings who are in the process of turning into a full adult vampire. Zoey turned out liking this new school with having friends and an amazing mentor nothing could go wrong, but  remember evil will always come and get you if you are Zoey Redbird.

The House Of Night is a breath taking thriller with just the right amount of romance needed to keep you entertained all night.