Jackaby

Author: William Ritter
Info: Algonquin Young Readers, copyright 2014, 299 pages

“Miss Rook, I am not an occultist,” Jackaby said. “I have a gift that allows me to see truth where others see the illusion--and there are many illusions. All the world’s a stage, as they say, and I seem to have the only seat in the house with a view behind the curtain.”

Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary--including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police--with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane--deny.

Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre. -Goodreads description

The Rundown

I fangirl big time over good historical fiction. Add in a good mystery and a heavy splash of the supernatural and for me it's sold! This book was pitched to me as a twist on the classic Sherlock and Dr. Watson so naturally I was like "Yes please!" I finished it in just a few days (a feat when you have a one year old and your "quiet time" is manning the reference desk & teen department at a public library). 

Abigail Rook is just cool. She has a lust for adventure that simply wasn't allowed in this era for women, so she pockets her tuition money and heads off to explore. She leaves England, joins a failing and disappointing dinosaur dig, and uses the rest of her funds to board a ship bound for America. What she'll do when she makes port...well that's part of the adventure, right?

After spending her first day unsuccessfully looking for work, Abigail finds herself at the offices of one R.F. Jackaby, investigator of the paranormal. I loved Jackaby from the start! Imagine the detective version of Sheldon Cooper if you're a Big Bang Theory fan. Insanely intelligent and lovably awkward. He's in need of an assistant and she in need of work. From there the two set off as the town of New Fiddleham is rocked by a string of horrific serial killings that Jackaby is certain is the work of something inhuman.

Trolls, shape shifters, fairies, seers, and banshees all make appearances as the bodies pile up. It's a classic "who done it" mixed with humor, ghosts, and other creatures we believe only exist in our imaginations.

 Just shy of 300 pages it's a quick read for mystery, supernatural, and historical fiction fans. Encourage reluctant readers to give it 40 pages and they too won't be able to put this book down as they try to piece together the clues of a killer hidden in plain sight right along with Jackaby & Abigail. Fans will be happy to know that the sequel, Beastly Bones, hit shelves in September 2015, so no waiting for your next Jackaby fix!

Rating: 5 Stars. You totally must read this book!

Top Five Dreamy Steamy Quotes

Something my mentor taught me was to always keep a reading journal to organize my thoughts, remind myself of a question, and my favorite part: writing down my favorite quotes! 

I'll never turn down a good romantic story, so as we close out the month with all things hearts and love, here are my top five dream, steamy love quotes!

1) “I’ll remind you every day how amazing it feels when your body touches mine. I’ll remind you of the good times, and help you forget the bad. I’ll remind you who you are when life has beaten you down and made you doubt it. I’ll bust down your door in the middle of the night and kiss you until you remember that your fears are just that, and they can’t control you. I’ll take my chances against your fickle heart if it means it’s mine.”

Faking It (Losing It #2) by Cora Carmack

2) “It’s always been you even when I didn’t want it to be, even when it broke my heart over and over again. It’s just always been you.” 

Rule (Marked Men #1) by Jay Crownover

Read my book review here!

3) “That must be love: when everything else in the world could implode and you wouldn't care as long as you had that one person standing beside you.” 

Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2) by Katie McGarry

4) “I kissed her because I had to. I kissed her because I wanted to. I kissed her because kissing her was starting to make me feel like I had found something I wasn't really aware I had been looking for. Mostly I kissed her because every time she kissed me back I felt her settling a piece of herself even more deeply inside of me.” 

Rowdy (Marked Men #5) by Jay Crownover

5) “Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

What are your favorite romantic book quotes???

Teen Times Spring 2016

I borrowed this idea from another teen librarian and put my own spin on it. After nearly three years as a teen librarian I was to an almost burnt out point with programming. I was in a total rut. And the epic endless possibilities of teen programming is one of my favorite parts of my job! 

Thankfully, I was mid rut around the time of the annual CYPD conference (a yearly conference in Indiana that gathers all levels of youth librarians from both public & school libraries). One of the breakout sessions I went to was focused on teen programming, and by the end of it I was convinced I saw a little halo above the presenting librarian.

At the time, I was planning out after school programs about 2 months ahead of time and felt like it was the most stressful and time consuming part of my job. I'm the only staff in my library's teen department, so effective time management crucial in keeping things going. 

What did I learn?

1) Keep things consistent. 
     If you have clubs (Teen Advisory Group, book club, movie club, gaming club, etc.) set aside one afternoon that's "club day." For my teens, Monday worked out. 
     Tuesdays became the day I alternated between a food, game, or craft program. 
     I left Wednesdays open (with passive programs, board games, and maker kits available) to give me a day to focus on other tasks. 
     Thursday is volunteer day. I have teens who need hours for various school groups or clubs, so I set aside small projects I haven't had time to get to (even shelving or shelf reading).
     Fridays is when our Gamer's Guild meets. Also known as intense, loud, Wii Sports & Just Dance time.

2) Embrace passive programs.
     I completely copied her boredom cart idea. I keep a few shelves of crafting supplies, coloring pages, puzzles, and the like that are always available. Perfect for the days I don't have active programs going on! 
     There's also a passive "program of the week" on a cart in my teen room. It could be a word search. Could be a craft. Could be a soduku puzzle. Something easy that they can complete once a week for a piece of candy (I'm not above bribery). 

3) Divide up your year.
     Think of this as meal prep for your programs. Invest a chunk of time and then hit the cruise control as you've got your programming set for several months out. What worked for me was dividing my year up into Spring (Jan-Apr), Summer (May-Aug), and Fall (Sept-Dec). Do what works for you & your teens! 

Click here for a link to my spring pamphlet! 

Breaking The Rules

Author: Katie McGarry
Info: Harlequin Teen, copyright 2015, 423 pages

For new high school graduate Echo Emerson, a summer road trip out west with her boyfriend means getting away and forgetting what makes her so . . . different. It means seeing cool sights while selling her art at galleries along the way. And most of all, it means almost three months alone with Noah Hutchins, the hot, smart, soul-battered guy who’s never judged her. Echo and Noah share everything—except the one thing Echo’s just not ready for.
 
But when the reason behind Echo’s constant nightmares comes back into her life, she has to make some tough decisions about what she really wants—even as foster kid Noah’s search for his last remaining relatives forces them both to confront some serious truths about life, love, and themselves.
 
Now, with one week left before college orientation, jobs and real life, Echo must decide if Noah's more than the bad-boy fling everyone warned her he'd be. And the last leg of an amazing road trip will turn . . . seriously epic. -Goodreads description

The Rundown
I love love love Katie McGarry! Every time she replies to me on Twitter I geek out and am so beyond not cool. I even chickened out of going to her table at ILF this year because I was afraid of being the a hot mess of a fan girl like "I do a happy dance whenever I see you have a new book coming out!" Like I said, weird librarian struggles. 

Pushing the Limits is one of my all time favorite contemporary YA reads! It doesn't matter how many times I've read it or listened to it (or prayed for a movie!) I never fail to fall head over heels for Noah. If you haven't read it, read it now. Read it like yesterday. Just read it! I promise if a good romance is your thing this book goes above and beyond! 

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, to the review!

Breaking the Rules is falls in between Pushing the Limits (the first time we meet Noah & Echo) and Dare You To (Beth & Ryan's story). The story follows Noah & Echo through their first summer together after graduation. They're camping and art gallery hopping from Kentucky to Colorado as Echo tries to sell her paintings and make a name for herself in the art world before she starts college. Noah, the awesome and devoted boyfriend that he is, comes along on the journey in search of answers after learning that he has living relatives he never knew about after a fire orphaned he and his brothers. 

Can their love survive as life gets more real when they make the transition out of high school and into college? The summer will tell! 

McGarry has this incredible way of writing that has you feeling all of the heartache, the laughs, and everything in between right along with her characters. I feel like the overall theme of this story for Echo and Noah is making peace with the past and having a hope for the future. If you've read Pushing the Limits, the wounds both struggled with then are caught in a tug of war between healing and reopening. It makes for a great feeling that real, honest love can overcome life's damages. The end had me in happy tears that Echo and Noah have finally found a home, not in a walled structure, but in each other.

Rating: 5 Stars! You totally must read this book!

Healthier Single Serve Mac n Cheese

Ah mac n cheese. The ultimate comfort food. And what have most of us done when we're craving a snack of cheesy, noodley goodness? If you're like me, you've reached for the instant microwave version with the weird orange powdered cheese more time than you'd like to admit.

I love using my food program days to teach teens how to make easy, healthier after school snacks. With just a few ingredients & a microwave, you've got a single serving of mac n cheese. Great to pass on to college students stuck with limited dorm room cooking!

Ingredients
1/2 Cup Elbow Macaroni 
1/2 Cup Water
2/3 Cup of your favorite shredded cheese (We used fiesta blend)*
Splash of milk*

*Cheese & milk can be adjusted to your liking. If you like it creamier, add more milk. If you are a cheeseaholic, sprinkle away!

Place water & macaroni in a microwave safe bowl or mug. Microwave on high for 4-6 minutes (cook time will depend on the wattage of your microwave), stopping to stir every 2 minutes to stop the noodles from clumping. 

The water should be nearly or completely gone and noodles should be al dente. Add your milk & cheese, stir, and microwave for another 1-2 minutes. Stir & enjoy!

Get creative with this flexible recipe! Add in crumbled bacon, ham, or even crushed Doritos! Your healthier mac n cheese possibilities are endless! 

A Madness So Discreet

Author: Mindy McGinnis
Info: Katherine Tegen Books, copyright 2015, 376 pages

Grace Mae knows madness.

She keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane asylum.

When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her keen eyes and sharp memory, Grace will make the perfect assistant at crime scenes. Escaping from Boston to the safety of an ethical Ohio asylum, Grace finds friendship and hope, hints of a life she should have had. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who stalks young women. Grace, continuing to operate under the cloak of madness, must hunt a murderer while she confronts the demons in her own past.

In this beautifully twisted historical thriller, Mindy McGinnis, acclaimed author of Not a Drop to Drink and In a Handful of Dust, explores the fine line between sanity and insanity, good and evil—and the madness that exists in all of us. -Goodreads description

The Rundown
I'm a historical fiction junkie and a sucker for a good thriller. I couldn't wait to snatch this book up after I read the summary! 

Familiarity with the history of American asylums will help ease a reader into the difficult reading that is the first 100 pages of this book. It's good writing but one has to understand that many asylums in this era were far less than humane. Mental illnesses were only beginning to be seriously studied and the commonly accepted treatments at the time were more torturous than helpful. One Grace and Dr. Thornhollow arrive in Ohio the pace of the story picks up significantly.

Dr. Thornhollow was a great character. Imagine a Sheldon Cooper meets Sherlock Holmes type. I chuckled more than a few times at his reactions and dialogue, despite this book having very dark subject matter. 

I struggled with the lack of flow in the story. For me the transitions were really sharp. The first third of the book we're looking at the tragic story of an incest victim forced into an asylum, and then all of a sudden she's freed and turns into the Dr. Watson to Thornhollow's Sherlock. Huh? 

Once in Ohio, Thornhollow makes Grace his apprentice in the new field of criminology. They almost too conveniently arrive near the time that a string of serial killings pop up through the city. The revelation of who the killer is, their motive, and how they're served justice were ultimately underwhelming.

Grace did develop some good relationships within the walls of the new asylum in Ohio and becomes very "take charge" in embracing and making the most of her new life there. Which is pretty much the only redeeming part of the book. The rest of the time I was mostly confused. It's like the book was trying to fill too many categories (mystery, historical fiction, thriller, abuse...) and didn't do any one of those enough justice to make it believable.

This book will do best in a collection where mysteries or historical fiction are popular, or for a teen who likes a thriller without romance.

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Looking For Jack Kerouac

Author: Barbara Shoup
Info: Lacewing Books, copyright 2014, 184 pages

The Rundown
It wasn't Duke Walczak's fault that I took off for Florida, like Kathy thought. The truth is, we started getting sideways with each other on our class trip to New York and Washington D.C. nearly a year earlier—which, looking back, is ironic since she was the one dead set on going.

In 1964, Paul Carpetti discovers Jack Kerouac's On the Road while on a school trip to New York and begins to question the life he faces after high school. Then he meets a volatile, charismatic Kerouac devotee determined to hit the road himself. When the boys learn that Kerouac is living in St. Petersburg, Florida, they go looking for answers.           - Goodreads description

What Rocked
This is a very quick read! I was able to knock it out in a few hours. I read Jack Kerouac's On the Road in high school, then again in college, and probably a dozen other times. It's one of my favorite books of all time! So when I see a book about a young man being so moved by Kerouac's work that he sets off on a road trip to meet him my thoughts are "Yes please give me this book like yesterday!" It's a great ride with Paul and Duke from Northern Indiana to Florida with all of the interesting characters and experiences you find on a coming of age journey. I loved that it becomes far more about the journey itself and not the end result for Paul, which is such a great reminder to embrace how you get to where you're going. Probably the biggest thing a reader will take away from this book is the question, "If you had a chance to meet your hero, would you?"

What Wasn't So Rockin'
Paul isn't very likable at first. Honestly, he's kind of jerk. He's awful to his girlfriend and is a huge downer. As with most coming of age tales, stick with it and watch Paul grow up over the course of the story. Some understanding of the historical context in which the story takes place may enrich the reader's experience with this book (the year after Kennedy's death, the Civil Rights Movements, and the Baby Boomer generation, for example) but isn't a must. 

Rating: 4/5 Stars