Book Review: GAMER GIRL

Gamer Girl

By Mari Mancusi

Dutton Children’s Books

248 pages

Reviewed by Matt Monte

Gamer Girl is like a new candy flavor, new and sweet but doesn’t last long. The story is about Madeline “Maddy” Starr, a teenage girl who moved from the big city to a small suburb in New England after her parents divorced. Add to the fact it’s halfway through the school year, and she has to live with her mother in her grandmother’s house, far from her friends; and on the first day of school, through a series of misfortunes, is named “Freak Girl” by the popular group, which she nicknames the Haters (and she has a crush on one of them), her life is not rockin’. If this sounds familiar, it’s only because this setup has been done many times in many romance stories. After reading the first 4 chapters or so, you’ll be able to predict how the story will generally end.

What makes this story stand out (and separates it from other romances), is that Maddy is into manga and video games. She gets through school drawing, and when she’s home, she play’s the MMO Fields of Fantasy, where she is a totally different person, even having an online romance with another player. The pop culture references are small, but make the story more realistic, mentioning animes/mangas like Inuyasha, .hack//sign, My Chemical Romance, and even Voltron. The only problem with this story, though, is that it’s short, took me 2 days to finish it, and thus, only Maddy fully develops, the rest of the characters don’t change, or change slightly (save for one character), and there’s no real reason. In one part, Maddy’s sister is described as a Hater, but later, she stands by Maddy’s side with no real reason. Also, the manga and MMO details were good, but could have been developed more. This book gets a 3.5/5, the story is short and predictable, but has enough ideas to make it somewhat original (maybe it would’ve been better as a manga).

Book Review: Dragonbreath: Curse of the Were-Wiener

Dragonbreath: Curse of the Were-Wiener

by Ursula Vernon. 

ISBN 0803734697

Review by: Jerry L. Collins II

In the book, best friends Danny Dragonbreath, a young dragon, and Wendell, an iguana, try to stop an impending attack from those bitten by "Were-wieners,"(special red hotdogs from Transylvania,) and their leader, the Alpha Wurst. But to stop them, they'll need a little help from a friend from the past. The town where the character lives is unspecified, although the school in which much of the story takes place is Herpitax-Phibbias School for Reptiles and Amphibians. I found this story quite enjoyable and it made me want to pick it up and keep reading. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a strange, yet entertaining story.

Great Scavenger Hunt Reading Challenge!

What is it?

Every month we participate in the Great Scavenger Hunt Contest hosted by YA author extraordinaire Kay Cassidy. Many of the titles have been featured on Florida Teens Read and Sunshine State Young Readers Award.  Participate for a chance to win the national drawing for a $50 gift card to the bookstore of your choice and free books for the library. There is a new winner every month. Awesome!

How it works!

1.       Check out the list of books on www.kaycassidy.com/hunt  or ask the Youth Services Librarian to show you the collection.

2.       Choose the book you want to read and print off the trivia sheet.

3.       Read the book and answer the trivia sheet.

4.       Turn the trivia sheet in to the Youth Services Librarian to be scored.

5.       Get at least 8 out of 10 correct and the librarian will enter you into the monthly contest. (Make sure your name, age, and phone number are on the sheet!)

Want to make it more interesting?

Brevard County, Florida Teens! Your mission, should you choose to accept it is the following:

·         Select 10 titles from the list to read and enter prior to Teen Read Week 2011.  TRW begins on October 16, 2011.  Our contest ends on October 21, 2011.

·         Create a campaign poster, flyer, or video (no more than 2 minutes) promoting your favorite book from the list.

·         Everyone (ages 12-18) who completes the challenge will receive 15 volunteer hours from the library.

Interested?

·         Once you have read the books, fill out the trivia sheet and turn it in to the Youth Services Librarian.

·         Create your campaign materials.  Pick out your favorite book from the list and make a poster, flyer, or video promoting the book.  Tell us, why you think other people should read this book? 

·         Email campaign materials to jhopwood@brev.org or drop them off at Youth Services by October 21^st.

·         Remember, you can enter the Great Scavenger Hunt as many times a month as you would like.

While anyone under 18 may enter The Great Scavenger Hunt, the Reading Challenge is only open to teens ages 12-18 and runs from Children’s Book Week in May to Teen Read Week in October 2011.   New titles are added to the list every month!