Cool New Book: Wildwood Dancing

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier is a retelling of the "Twelve Dancing Princesses" with vampires, a talking frog, and the light & dark sides of Faerie thrown in.

Sixteen year old Jena and her four sisters live in an ancient castle in Romania, surrounded by a forest that shelters Faerie creatures. The castle has many secrets, one of which is the magical portal in the girls' bedroom. Every full moon, the portal opens and allows the sisters access to the Other Kingdom where they dance the night away with their Faerie friends.

The sisters have been safely visiting Faerie for years, but things start to change when Jena's older sister falls in love with someone that's not quite human and her cousin declares war on the night creatures. Jena's only hope to make things right is to trust her instincts, even if they're leading her in strange new directions.

Recommended for fans of Edith Pattou's
East, this is a complex and satisfying read that you won't be able to put down.

Your favorite books . . . on CD!!

Did you know that the library has many of your favorite books on CD? Perfect for long trips or when you need your hands free for unwrapping presents or baking goodies!


Forever In Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares


Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks


The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones



Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt


Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer



Chaos Code by Justin Richards


Specials by Scott Westerfeld


Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

Robin recommends . . .


McKillip, Patricia. Heir of Sea & Fire
A classic sci-fi/fantasy novel with exquisite storytelling and magical imagery, Heir of Sea & Fire tells the story of Raederle, whose fiancee, Morgon (the Riddle-Master of Hed), has gone missing. Raederle is not just any young woman, though - she possesses strange and possibly dangerous magical powers. Unable to accept Morgon's disappearance, she sets out to find him and along the way discovers the true depth of her powers and where they come from.

Note: this is the second book of the Riddle-Master Trilogy. The other two books are The Riddle-Master of Hed and Harpist in the Wind.


Ogiwara, Noriko. Dragon Sword and Wind Child
Raised in the ancient Japanese village of Hashiba, fifteen-year-old Saya discovers that she is the reincarnation of the Water Maiden, princess of the underworld, who must try to reconcile the powers of heaven and earth. This intricate and compelling novel is a must read for fans of Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea series.



Shusterman, Neal. Everlost
Following a fatal car accident, teenagers Nick and Allie collide with each other on the way toward the light and are shoved into an alternate state of existence. No longer living but not yet at the end of their journey, they land in Everlost, a color-bleached plane populated with child and teen spirits. There are rules in Everlost that new "greensouls" must learn to survive: keep moving, don't fall into a routine, don't seek the living, watch out for gangs, and steer clear of the McGill, Everlost's resident monster. (review from Booklist)

Faerie, Legends, and Fairy Tales

Need a good book that's full of adventure and enchantment? Try one of these books, or visit the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library to pick up our Faerie, Legends, and Fairy Tales booklist for more like this.

Black, Holly. Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale
Sixteen-year-old Kaye, who has been visited by faeries since childhood, discovers that she herself is a magical faerie creature with a special destiny.
Kaye soon finds herself embroiled--as a human sacrifice, no less--in a battle between Faerieland's Seelie and more malevolent Unseelie courts. The beautiful, mysterious knight Roiben, torn between worlds himself, falls in love with Kaye--the brave, clever changeling--against his better judgment. (Review from Amazon.com)

The other faery books by Holly Black are Valiant and Ironside.


Brennan, Herbie. Faerie Wars
Troubled by family problems, Henry finds his life taking a whole new dimension when he and his friend, old Mr. Fogarty, become involved with Prince Pyrgus Malvae. Pyrgus is the crown prince of the Faerie realm and he's on the run from the treacherous Faeries of the Night.

The books in the
Faerie Wars Chronicles are Purple Emperor (book #2) and Ruler of the Realm. The newest book in the series, Faerie Lord, has just been ordered. Place your hold today to read it first!



Cabot, Meg. Avalon High
Having moved to
Annapolis, Maryland, with her medievalist parents, high school junior Ellie enrolls at Avalon High School where several students may be reincarnations of King Arthur and his court.

If you like Avalon High, try The Last Grail Keeper, the story of
a teen with ESP who may be a Grail Keeper from the time of King Arthur.





Durst, Sarah. Into the Wild
Having escaped from the Wild and the preordained fairy tale plots it imposes, Rapunzel, along with her daughter Julie Marchen, tries to live a fairly normal life. When the Wild breaks free and takes over their town, Julie has to prevent everyone from being trapped in the events of a story.








Lynn, Tracy. Snow
Jessica's childhood began with a tragedy: her mother's death. When her father decides to remarry, her new stepmother just seems overly strict. But as Jessica grows into a beautiful young woman, it becomes clear that her stepmother is also wildly - and murderously - jealous of her.

Snow is part of the Once Upon a Time series. Other titles include: Before Midnight (Cinderella), Golden (Rapunzel), and Midnight Pearls (The Little Mermaid).



Napoli, Donna. Beast
In this retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Prince Orasmyn has been transformed by a curse into a lion and can only be redeemed by the love of a woman.
Fleeing his father's hunting park, he travels as an animal across Asia to France, where he at last finds an abandoned castle. There, using paws and jaws, he plants a rose garden and prepares the castle for the woman he hopes will come to love him.

If you like Beast, try Napoli's other reworked fairy tales: Crazy Jack (Jack and the Beanstalk) and Spinners (Rumpelstiltskin).

Shusterman, Neal. Dread Locks
Fifteen-year-old Parker Baer is bored with his entire perfect life. But when Parker finds Tara, a strange but beautiful girl sleeping in his bed, his life turns upside down. Exotic-looking, with long, glimmering spirals of golden hair that seem almost alive and eyes that are always hidden behind sunglasses, Tara lives by herself in a house full of statues. Parker watches, fascinated, as the charismatic Tara picks students at the high school to befriend and wraps them around her little finger. As her "friends" start developing strange quirks, like drinking gallons of milk at a time and eating dirt, only Parker realizes what Tara is up to. But she’s endowed him with certain cravings of his own. . . . Can he stop her destructive game in time, or is he doomed to be under her spell forever?

If you like Dread Locks, try the other books in the Dark Fusion series: Duckling Ugly and Red Rider's Hood.


Yancey, Richard. The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp
Astonishingly tall 15-year-old Alfred is plunged into a world of adventure, assassination, and Arthurian legend when he agrees to help his uncle filch an ancient sword from the office of a CEO who just happens to be a descendant of the Knights of the Round Table. Of course the sword turns out to be none other than Excalibur, and the guy Alfred swiped it for is Mogart, a knight-gone-bad who hopes to use its magical powers to take over the world. Enter Bennacio, another descendant of the Round Table, who then takes Alfred under his wing on a quest across the Atlantic to rescue the sword from Mogart. (Review from School Library Journal)

Book #2 in this series is Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon.


Nominatons for Best Books for Young Adults

The following books have been nominated for YALSA's (Young Adult Library Services Association) 2008 Best Book for Young Adults list. See the whole list here.


Carey, Mike. The Re-Gifters
Meet Jen Dik Seong -- or "Dixie" as she's known to her friends. She's living on the ragged edge of LA's Koreatown, and her only outlet is the ancient martial art of hapkido. In fact, she's on the verge of winning a championship -- until she falls for fellow hapkido fan/California surfer boy Adam and gets thrown spectacularly off her game. As she struggles to win the tournament -- not to mention Adam's affections -- Dixie learns that in love and in gift-giving, what goes around comes around.


Castellucci, Cecil. Beige
Katy, a quiet French Canadian teenager, reluctantly leaves Montreal to spend time with her estranged father, an aging Los Angeles punk rock legend.


Cohn, Rachel and David Levithan. Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List
Although they have been friends and neighbors all their lives, straight Naomi and gay Ely find their relationship severely strained during their freshman year at New York University.


Halpin, Brendan. How Ya Like Me Now
After his father dies and his mother goes into rehab, Eddie moves from the suburbs into his cousin's Boston loft, where he gradually adjusts to being one of the few white kids in a progressive private school, and learns how to feel like a normal teenager.


Hornby, Nick. Slam
At the age of fifteen, Sam Jones's girlfriend gets pregnant and Sam's life of skateboarding and daydreaming about Tony Hawk changes drastically.


Jinks, Catherine. Evil Genius
13 year old Cadel Piggot, an antisocial computer hacker and former child prodigy, discovers his true identity when he enrolls as a first-year student at an advanced crime academy.


Shusterman, Neal. Everlost
When Nick and Allie are killed in a car crash, they end up in Everlost, or limbo for lost souls, where although Nick is satisfied, Allie will stop at nothing--even skinjacking--to break free.


Sones, Sonya. What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know
Fourteen-year-old Robin Murphy is so unpopular at high school that his name is slang for "loser," and so when he begins dating the beautiful and popular Sophie her reputation plummets, but he finds acceptance as a student in a drawing class at Harvard.


Twilight - the movie!!

Fabulous news for Twilight fans! My fellow librarian, Robin, just filled me in that Stephenie Meyer's book, Twilight, is coming to the big screen. Production of the film begins in February 2008, according to the author's website: www.stepheniemeyer.com. Stop by the author's website for the latest updates on movie production, author info, and more.

Kristen Stewart will be starring as Bella and Robert Pattinson (from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) is starring as Edward.
The film will be directed by Catherine Hardwicke and Melissa Rosenberg (from Step Up). Karen Rosenfelt (The Devil Wears Prada) and Greg Mooradian have been named as producers.

In the meantime, if you loved the Twilight series, try one of the books suggested on my previous post "Stephenie Meyers Read-Alikes". Or venture on to our Creepy Thrillers booklist here.

Still on hold for a copy of Eclipse? The audio-book has arrived in our Library! Check it out for a good romantic-thriller listening adventure. New to the Twilight series? The previous two books in the series (Twlight and New Moon) are also available in audio-book format. Search our catalog for any of these titles. Enjoy!



My Desperate Love Diary

My Desperate Love Diary by Liz Rettig (Holiday House, 2007).

While it might not be something we care to admit, many of us have at some point had that major, ridiculous crush on someone either unattainable or entirely wrong for us. Such is the case for British high-school student Kelly Ann, who is over-the-top, obsessively in love with the most gorgeous guy at school, G. Being so blinded by her desperate infatuation with G., she can't see that her sweet, longtime best guy friend, Chris, is secretly in love with her. Completely ignoring the sound advice of her best friends (who think G. is a total tosser and "so up himself"), Kelly Ann goes to great and painful lengths to grab G.'s attention (including doing his homework for him, loaning him money, and calling his cell way too many times). Alongside her diary entries obsessing over "what would G. think?" are the common issues of family crises, friendships, school, acne and life in general as a teenager. Fans of Louise Renison's Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series will enjoy this new book by Liz Rettig. Give this one a try if you like chick-lit full of hilarious and embarrassing moments.

GRAPHIC NOVEL SPOTLIGHT: Vampires

Chibi Vampire by Yuna Kagesaki - Outwardly Karin Maaka seems every bit the normal (if cute) little high school girl, but in reality she's the middle child in a family of vampires which settled in Japan in decades past. Even amongst her kindred Karin is an oddity, however; she lacks many normal vampire traits but is able to function during the day. Most importantly, she has an abundance of blood rather than a shortage of it, so instead of draining blood from people she bites, she gives blood to them, an experience which can potentially have beneficial side effects for the “victim.” And if she doesn't do it on a monthly basis, she experiences gushing nosebleeds!

Although Karin has been able to hide her secrets so far, trouble is on the horizon when her blood becomes excited by Kenta Usui, a new transfer student who not only arrives at the school but ends up working with her at her part-time job, too. Can her siblings help her sort out the cause of the problem and help their mostly incompetent sister develop her vampire heritage?


Batman: Bloodstorm by Doug Moench - Prowling the city's darkest corners, the Batman seeks to destroy an army of vampires before they can feast upon the innocent... and before he himself succumbs to the terrible thirst for human blood.

Note: the other two volumes in this series are Crimson Mist and Red Rain.


Essential Tomb of Dracula by Marv Wolfman & Gene Colan - After he's brought back to life, Dracula emerges in the 1970s to find himself in a continual battle with a group of determined vampire hunters who are looking to bring his reign of terror to an end. Along the way Dracyla also battles demons, ghosts, fellow vampires, the disembodied criminal brain of Dr. Sun, Jack Russell: Werewolf by Night, and even the very elements themselves.


Model by Lee So-Young - Jae is a Korean student who came to Europe to study art. Things aren't going her way, but she's determined to make it. One night, her friend Eva brings a drunk guy to her apartment and asks if he can flop there for the night. Jae doesn't like it, but agrees. That night she has a dream that the drunk guy drinks her blood ... which, of course, turns out NOT to be a dream. Jae is surprisingly unafraid of the vampire, Michael, and starts to paint his portrait. The two strike an unusual deal: if Jae allows the vampire to feed on her, he will pose for her. His beauty and alluring preternatural energy could be exactly what Jae needs to finally succeed as a painter.


Night Trippers by Mark Ricketts - Once upon a time in swinging London, around 1966, there was a serial killer who loved Elvis, a fab foursome that worshipped Satan, trendy vampires looking for kicks, an ancient and hungry evil, young and hungry love . . . and there was revolution in the air. Get your trip together, baby. Tune in, turn on and fang out!


Re:play by Christy Lijewski - Izsak is a homeless teen living in the subway, playing his guitar for small change. When Cree comes upon him one evening, she knows that he is the talent that her band, Faust, needs. She recklessly invites him to come home with her so that he can meet her friend and band mate. Rail is wary of this stranger but has to admit that he is talented, and they accept him into the group. Little do they know that Izsak is watched by a secret society of supernatural beings. Is he a junkie? A vampire? Or something else altogether?


Trinity Blood by Sunao Yoshida - In a dark and distant future, Armageddon has giving rise to the fabled Second Moon--and a perpetual war between the vampires and the humans! Esther is a nun in the city of Istavan. When she crosses paths with Abel Nightroad, a priest sent from the Vatican to combat the local order of vampires, the two form a holy alliance to battle the most evil of threats: Gyula, the leader of the vampires.


Vampire Game by Judal - When a vampire king finds himself reincarnated as a baby wildcat, he doesn't expect to be adopted by Princess Ishtar, the granddaughter of his enemy. Ishtar loves to cause trouble and run away from her royal responsibilites . . . and now she's got a shapechanging kitten to help her cause even more trouble. She's so amused that she might even help the vampire kitty get his revenge on her family.


Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino - Yuki Cross has no memory of her past prior to the moment she was saved from a vampire attack 10 years ago. She was adopted by the headmaster of Cross Academy, and now works alongside Zero to guard the Academy's secret . . . there's a Night Class as well as the regular Day Class, and the Night Class students are vampires.

Teen Animanga Club - Model


This month's book is Model by Lee So-Young.

The next meeting of the Teen Animanga Club is on Wednesday, January 9th, from 4:30 to 5:30pm in the Youth Activity Room at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library. Join us to discuss manga, win prizes in a trivia contest, watch anime, and eat snacks.

Book summary:
Jae is a Korean student who came to Europe to study art. Things aren't going her way, but she's determined to make it. One night, her friend Eva brings a drunk guy to her apartment and asks if he can flop there for the night. Jae doesn't like it, but agrees. That night she has a dream that the drunk guy drinks her blood ... which, of course, turns out NOT to be a dream. Jae is surprisingly unafraid of the vampire, Michael, and starts to paint his portrait. The two strike an unusual deal: if Jae allows the vampire to feed on her, he will pose for her. His beauty and alluring preternatural energy could be exactly what Jae needs to finally succeed as a painter.

A limited number of copies of this book will be provided by the library and can be picked up at the Youth Services Reference Desk.

This event is for teens ages 12-18.


Call (541) 766-6794 for more information.

Can't make the meeting? Post a comment to share your opinion of the book! Should the library buy the rest of this series?

Teen Animanga Club meets on Wednesday 12/5


The Teen Animanga Club meets tomorrow (Wednesday Dec. 5th) at 4:30pm in the library's Youth Activity Room. Join us to discuss this month's manga (Zombie Powder), eat snacks, win prizes in a trivia contest, and watch Black Cat: The Cat Out of the Bag.

Anime summary: The first episodes of the broadcast series Black Cat (2005) bring together four unlikely characters in a sci-fi/espionage adventure. Train, The Black Cat, uses his superhuman speed and marksmanship as an assassin. He forges his first bond with a human when he meets Saya, a "sweeper" or bounty hunter who likes to sing from rooftops. Sven, a perennially broke sweeper, tries to talk his way into and out of adventures. This improbable trio collides when Sven tries to rescue Train's next target: Eve, a little girl who's been turned into a killing machine through illicit nanotechnology.

This event is for teens ages 12-18.

Call (541) 766-6794 for more information.

Black Cat anime provided by Operation Anime, FUNimation Entertainment’s free anime club and library sponsorship program.