Book Review: If I have a wicked stepmother, Where’s my prince? By Melissa Kantor

Lucy has had her life changed completely when her father remarries and moves her to Long Island from the west coast. She is not happy at all, not only does she have a stepmother, but twin stepsisters, and her father is never around. Her “room” is now the basement, but she still does not have furniture, after months of living there. She compares herself to Cinderella – she gets in trouble for anything, she is treated differently by her stepmother, and she has no friends. Everything starts to change when the most popular guy at school notices her – she may have finally found her prince, or has she?

I really enjoyed this book. I found I was angry FOR Lucy. You also learn that everything is not what it seems. Read this book and see if you think that Lucy is right or wrong with her choices.

Pizza and Pages - Teen Book Club

May 7, 4:30
Read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and come talk about the book while munching on some delicious pizza. Extra copies of the book will be available in the YA section of the library. Please sign up at the front desk.

About the book: in a future North America, rulers of Panem televise a survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another. Sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

Book Review - If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Mia finds herself the only survivor of a tragic car accident that kills her parents and younger brother. She is in a coma when she realizes she is somehow in between life and death, and has a choice to make. Should she stay or go?

This is a very emotional story, agonizing at times, when the reader imagines what it must be like for Mia and how strong the pull must be for her to join her now deceased family, wherever they may be. The author does not spend a lot of time trying to figure out what exists on "the other side", which is nice. Instead, the book focuses on what Mia's life was like before the accident. She is a gifted cello player, the black sheep in her family of punk rockers. Her boyfriend Adam is about to make it big with his band, and she is struggling to figure out her place in his world. What really drives this book is the relationship between Mia and her parents and her brother Teddy. It is a tender and loving bond, unlike any I have read in a novel for teens.

If you want to keep up the cryfest after reading If I Stay, check out Before I Die by Jenny Downham and let the tears flow where they may.