Teen scene changes—September 23, 2011
If you’ve visited Hastings Public Library lately, you may have noticed a few changes in the teen area. Several of the collections have moved around a bit. Graphic novels are now shelved spine out, and the teen non-fiction and teen audio books have moved to the back wall at the end of the teen fiction books.
Speaking of teen audio books, I thought I would talk about a few titles that are great for listening to in the car or at home just for fun. Cloaked by Alex Flinn, is a modern day retelling of several different fairy-tales, including The Frog Prince and The Elves and the Shoemaker. Cloaked follows Johnny a shoe repairer and designer, who is asked by a princess to go on a quest to find her brother who has been turned into a frog by an evil witch. Reader Alexander Cendese does a great job of bringing the story to life by making up voices for all the many characters in the story.
Flush, by Carl Hiaasen is another great audio book. Hiaasen writes many ecological mysteries for teens. Flushed is about Noah Underwood, who must gather evidence that the owner of a floating casino is emptying bilge tanks into the protected waters around the Florida Keys. One of best teen writers today is Neal Shusterman. The library has several of his books in audio format. Unwind is about a futuristic world where parents have the choice of having their unruly or unwanted children between the ages of 13 and 18 unwound, which means having their organs harvested to be implanted into other recipients. Bruiser by Shusterman has recently been nominated for the Golden Sower Award and is about brother and sister, Tennyson and Bronte, who befriend school outcast Brewster who has the strange ability to absorb other people’s pain.
Matched by Ally Condie is about a futuristic world where people’s mates are chosen for them so that everyone has their “perfect match.” When Cassia is matched to her best friend she is happy until she meets Ky and begins to doubt the matching system. HPL also has many other great teen audio books such as the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.
Find all of these titles and many more at the library.
