3.26.2012

Books on the Big Screen: What's The Next Big Thing?

Now that The Hunger Games has hit theaters nationwide, everyone's already talking about what the next big YA Movie might be. Here are our top picks for most intriguing projects in development:

Matched by Ally Condie

All her life, Cassia has never had a choice. The Society dictates everything: when and how to play, where to work, where to live, what to eat and wear, when to die, and most importantly to Cassia as she turns 17, who to marry. When she is Matched with her best friend Xander, things couldn't be more perfect. But why did her neighbor Ky's face show up on her match disk as well?

NOISE says: Dystopian thriller with a juicy love triangle? Sounds familiar! We'd love to see what the seemingly perfect yet sinister Society looks like on the big screen.


The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.

NOISE says: With its action sequences, sci-fi monsters, and big plot twists, The Maze Runner has the potential wide appeal of the Harry Potter series. But with its huge ensemble of characters, we think its success will defintely depend on the casting.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

To free herself from an upcoming arranged marriage, Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a futuristic prison with a mind of its own, decides to help a young prisoner escape.

NOISE says: Dark, urban fantasy at its finest! Incarceron will need hardcore visual effects and CGI to live up to any reader's portrayal of the book's setting.



Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged stranger who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grows dangerously low... and in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

NOISE says: Dark and twisty! We are hoping that chimerae and demons will be the new werewolves and vampires.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia

In a small South Carolina town, where it seems little has changed since the Civil War, sixteen-year-old Ethan is powerfully drawn to Lena, a new classmate with whom he shares a psychic connection and whose family hides a dark secret that may be revealed on her sixteenth birthday.

NOISE says: The southern backdrop will set Beautiful Creatures apart from its otherwise fantasy- or future-based competition -- but is paranormal romance so over, or here to stay?


Did you see The Hunger Games this weekend? Do you think any of the above movies have what it takes to be the Next Big Thing?

3.15.2012

What's On Display: March


In honor of Women's History Month, we've spotlighted books about girls who changed the world, girls who kick butt, and girls who stick together. Pick one of these up today!

Little Women and Me by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Modern-day teen Emily March turns to Louisa May Alcott's famous book for a school assignment and finds herself mysteriously transported to the world of "Little Women," where she undergoes surprising changes. 

Girl Goddess #9 by Francesca Lia Block
The cutting-edge author of Weetzie Bat once again breaks new ground with Girl Goddess #9, nine stories about girl goddesses of every age and shape and color and size, wearing combat boots and spiky hair or dressed all in white.

Let Me Play by Karen Blumenthal
Up until the 1970s, if you were a girl, you were told you shouldn't play team sports, or go to college. But, in 1972, Title IX changed that, by ensuring that girls have the same opportunities as boys to participate in sports and classes. But that change did not come without a fight.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
During their first summer apart, four teenage girls, best friends since earliest childhood, stay in touch through a shared pair of secondhand jeans that magically adapts to each of their figures and affects their attitudes to their different summer experiences. 
 
All American Girl by Meg Cabot
A sophomore girl stops a presidential assassination attempt, is appointed Teen Ambassador to the United Nations, and catches the eye of the very cute First Son. 

The P.L.A.I.N. Janes by Cecil Castellucci
When Jane moves to the suburbs, she thinks her life is over, but she meets three friends who form a club called P.L.A.I.N., but can art really save a group of misfits from high school?

girlspoken by Heather Holland, Jessica Hein, and Carol Kauppi
From pen, brush, and tongue, girls and young women (ages 13-19) speak their truths, tell it like it is, and call for change.

Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg
Fed up with boys and the way they have treated her and her friends, high school junior Penny Lane--named after the Beatles song--forms a club whose members vow to stop dating, but the repercussions are surprising.

Jane by April Lindner
In this contemporary retelling of "Jane Eyre," an orphaned nanny becomes entranced with her magnetic and brooding employer, a rock star with a torturous secret from his past.
 
Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock
After spending her summer running the family farm and training the quarterback for her school's rival football team, sixteen-year-old D.J. decides to go out for the sport herself, not anticipating the reactions of those around her.

Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
During World War II, a light-skinned African American girl "passes" for white in order to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots.

3.05.2012

Staff Pick: Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson

15-year-old Laurel has just moved to a new town and stepped into what seems like a perfect life: cheerleader, member of the popular crowd, and girlfriend of the school's star basketball player, T-Boom. But nothing can make her forget the hurricane that washed away her hometown. Nothing can erase the painful memory of leaving her mother and grandmother behind to perish in the flood waters.

Then T-Boom gives her that first hit of meth. And as it washes over her, it also washes away her guilt and anguish. But this numbness comes at a price. As Laurel spirals into addiction, she alienates the people who truly care about her and ends up on the streets, desperate to get one more hit of "the moon" -- and closer to death than she even realizes.

What will it take for Laurel to pull herself out of the floodwaters of addiction?

Pick it: if you like intense, dark subject matter; you need a fast-paced, quick read; you like novels written in journal form.

Skip it: if you're looking for an in-depth portrayal of meth addiction and distribution in America (Laurel's story is very moving, but Woodson paints in broad strokes and spares the reader the grisly details of drug addiction.)

Pair with: Tweak: growing up on methamphetamines by Nic Sheff.