Teen Read Week Display, October 2012

The full display

TEEN READ WEEK, OCTOBER 2012

This display was created in the high school library for YALSA's Teen Read Week.  To celebrate the event, a Chinese auction was held.  Every time a student checked out a book, he or she received a ticket to enter to win one of our baskets.  Students had the option to try for several different baskets.  Most of the prizes included books (mostly ARCs).  Some had autographed copies of books.  The library had recently begun circulating DVDs, so we included a DVD basket as well.

The Jonathan Maberry basket was a huge hit!  

Teen Read Week poster and several prize bags

Book Review: Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry

DUST & DECAY BY JONATHAN MABERRY

REVIEW BY NICKY

As you may recall me explaining in my Rot & Ruin review, I was pulled into this zombie series reluctantly.  I am a bit squeamish and prone to nightmares... not exactly zombie fan material.  Our students raved about it, so I relented.  And I loved it.  Then, I met Mr. Maberry at YA Fest in Easton, PA.  He was such a sincere and kind individual, which just made me increasingly excited to read the sequel, Dust & Decay.   I also decided to make it the October pick for my high school book group.  We're meeting at the end of Teen Read Week, and because "It Came From the Library" is YALSA's theme this year, I decided it was highly appropriate.  There was one disappointment when I started this book, however.  I was reading some posts on a listserv, and someone had just finished Flesh & Bone, book three in this series.  Unfortunately, the reader commented about the character who dies in Dust & Decay.  I promise you I won't reveal who, because if you're like me, you like to be surprised, and I feel like I would have been more emotional in my response if I had not already known what was going to happen.

Dust & Decay picks up a short time after the end of Rot & Ruin.  Benny and his friends have been training with Tom for several months.  Their goal is to leave the Mountainside for good, and to head out into the Ruin in search of the jet that passed over them months ago.  They want to head East, to find out what is out there, who may remain, and what other survivors may be doing to bring civilization back.  Once they leave their home town, we meet many new and interesting characters...new bounty hunters and more of the evil zombie hunters we encountered in the first novel.  Benny and his friends become split up, and they all sort of deal with their own demons on their journeys.  Unfortunately, their journey does not take them far beyond Mountainside because they are called upon, once again, to destroy Gameland, where evil bounty hunters and evangelical psychopaths are continuing the zombie games... throwing children into pits to fight zoms to the death while spectators place their bets.

Before I read Dust & Decay, I came across a review where the writer argued that Benny and Nix did not really evolve in this novel.  Perhaps that argument could be made about Nix for most of the novel,  but I feel like she hit a major shift when she and Benny find themselves in one of the Gameland pits.  Nix confronts her nightmares personified, and the emotional impact is so extreme that she feels it physically.  Afterwards, I found her to be a little more tender, and I believe she was able to be like that because she, in a sense, exorcised a demon.  I completely disagreed with the summation of Benny as well.  He was increasingly mature throughout this one, and therefore, more likeable.  He still had the silly banter and occasional selfishness, but he's a teenager, and I would expect nothing less.  I became increasingly attached to the characters throughout this book, which made the climax especially brutal.  Yet, I think what I enjoyed most about Dust & Decay were all the new "good" bounty hunters that Maberry introduces.  The duo from the coast who still talk in surfer lingo were obvious favorites.  Sally was not far behind.  After I discuss this with the high school students, I will share some of their comments with you all, and keep an eye out for the review of Flesh & Bone, because even though I have a ton of other books I should be reading, this one has just moved up on my "to read" list!

Rot & Ruin Giveaway

ROT & RUIN Zombie Giveaway!

This is our first ever giveaway on the blog!  The prize package includes:

• a signed copy of Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry!
• a collector's' zombie card of the author
• a body parts gummy candy

Enter below.  The giveaway runs until August 19th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

YA Fest 2012

YA FEST 2012

BY NICKY

This past weekend, Janine and I headed out east to YA Fest in Easton, PA.  It was the first of hopefully many more of these events for the Palmer branch library, and it was our first chance to meet some of our favorite authors!  The day-long book festival had tons of highlights: Jonathan Maberry suggesting a skype with our high school book club, hugs from Michelle Zink, a great panel discussion, a prize basket win (which I shared with Janine) and TONS of additions to our "must read in the near future" lists!  We were blown away by how down-to-earth and receptive the authors all were, AND they really dig librarians!! 

Janine, Michelle Zink, and Nicky

When we first arrived at the festival, we hit the author signings first.  Michelle Zink blew us away when we walked up to her, she told us that we looked familiar, and asked if she's seen us online.  Um... YES!  Holy crap, she remembered Janine's review of A Temptation of Angels!!  We chatted for a while, took pictures, and got (many) books signed.

Michelle Zink and Jon Skovron signing books

We also talked with some authors with whom we were not as familiar, but who were very gracious, and we will definitely be checking out their books!  We found out that Jon Skovron, author of Struts & Frets and Misfit, went to college in our town of Pittsburgh.  Michael Northrup was also very fun.

Discussion panel

We then headed off to enter the raffles, and man, they had a TON of prizes!  It was hard to decide which ones we wanted to enter for the Chinese auction.  Next on the schedule was the panel discussion.  The festival held two panel discussions--one for those who love to read YA literature, and one for those who love to write YA literature.  Janine and I sat in for the first one for readers.  We listened to  Jonathan Maberry, Michelle Zink, Barbara Dee, Charles Benoit, and Anne Greenwood Brown.  After the discussion and question-and-answer session, we just had to get books signed by Charles Benoit (who was just too cool for words!) and Anne Greenwood Brown, who was adorable (we can't wait to read Lies Beneath). 

Jonathan Maberry... king of zombie fiction

After the panel discussion, we still had some authors we wanted to meet.  I was so excited to finally meet Jonathan Maberry.  I felt very honored when he commented on my review of Rot and Ruin.  Also, our high school book club had discussed Rot & Ruin last year.  We are planning on reading Dust and Decay with the high school book club for Teen Read Week.  When I told Mr. Maberry about this, he offered to skype with our kids!  I can't wait to tell them!  This really was quite an experience... one I will always remember.

This was such a great an event.  It was well-worth the five hour drive!  Although this was our first festival like this, and we have nothing to compare it with, Janine and I were both very impressed with the number of authors involved with this event, the number and quality of prizes, the organization of the festival, and the number of teens who participated and who were clearly excited to meet some of their favorite authors.  We send out a sincere thank you to all the staff at the Palmer branch of the Easton Public Library, as well as to all of those who volunteered their time, including the authors.

  While Nicky did say it all, I only wanted to say how wonderful of a time we had at YAFest.  This was the first author festival we have been too and it will definitely not be our last!!! I had such an amazing time meeting Michelle Zink (see the picture above), the picture is getting framed and going on my desk!!  Meeting Jonathan Maberry was also a major highlight for me.  Our lunch time book club read Rot and Ruin last September and ever since then, they have been obsessed ( me included!).  The other authors we had the privilege to meet and hear speak were terrific, down to earth and funny!!!  It was also great that Nicky won a gift basket and even better that she shared, since I am one of those people who never seem to win anything!  Thank you to all the amazing authors who participated in this event and to the Easton Public Library, Palmerton branch for hosting what I hope will be the first of many YAFest's!!
                                                             ~ Janine

Book Review: Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

REVIEW BY NICKY

At first, I wasn't sure I was going to pick this one up.  Janine and many of our high school students read this a while ago, and they have all been raving about it.  When we decided that we were going to go meet Mr. Maberry at YA Fest in Easton, PA, I finally started Rot & Ruin.  The reason I had been so hesitant to read this one is that I have these awful apocalyptic dreams sometimes, and I try to avoid books and movies that deal with this.  The fact that this was about zombies didn't exactly help, either.  Who knew I'd actually end up feeling sorry for the zombies in this book?!

Benny Imura has grown up after First Night, the night when a zombie epidemic broke out.  He has been raised by his brother Tom, who fled with 18-month old Benny on that fateful night, when their parents became infected.  Benny thinks he is a coward for abandoning their mother and running, but little does he realize Tom's strength and bravery.  Benny has a coming-of-age experience when he leaves their small gated town to go out into the great Ruin with Tom.  He has decided to apprentice with Tom as a zombie hunter, but did not realize what all that job entails and what all is out there in the Ruin.  When some of the town's zombie hunters commit horrific crimes to protect Gameland, a place where children are sacrificed to fight "zoms" for entertainment, Tom and Benny go on a new kind of hunt, where Benny will learn more about Tom, the Ruin, and the truth about what goes on outside of their protected home.

When I first started reading Rot & Ruin, I was continually interrupted by life (work, kids, all those responsibilities), but as the story went on, I started making it a priority, staying up way to late to squeeze in "one more chapter."  Finally, I carved out 3 full hours of non-stop reading to finish it!  And boy, was I NOT disappointed.  To take something so bizarre as a zombie apocalypse, and turn it into a complex story, with twists, and surprises, and multi-dimensional characters... that is a testament to Mr. Maberry's skill.  He leaves you wanting more... to know more about the characters and their choices, more about the mystery of the Ruin and the world beyond Mountainside.  As a high school librarian, this is one of those books that I can recommend to both boys and girls.  It's beyond any kind of gender stereotype, and I love that!