New Books Highlight: Stress-Free Reading
Summer is drawing to a close. Sure, for those of us who don’t go back to school in the fall, it feels like summer stretches just that little bit longer. But for you readers who are getting your back-to-school shopping done, living in your bathing suit and flip-flops until you’re forced to change into something else, and soaking up those last-minute rays, summer is actually nearing an end. Read some stress-free books and unwind a little before it’s done!
If you wish you could go on one last hilarious adventure this summer try…
Ship Out of Luck by Neal Shusterman
This is a companion to the incomparable The Schwa was Here so you can expect goofiness, antics, a little intrigue (because why not?) and good old Anthony “Antsy” Bonano. When Old Man Crawley turns 80 Antsy’s family is invited to pack up and join him on a cruise. Antsy can’t keep himself out of trouble despite being stuck on a boat floating in the Caribbean Sea, and soon finds himself at the center of an international incident involving illegal immigration. Oops! But Antsy takes it in stride because he’s a Brooklyn kind of guy. If you liked the previous books, or are just looking for a fun, realistic fiction read, pick this one up.
Sneak Peek! “Don’t ask me because I don’t got an opinion. I’m not red, I’m not blue; I’m not an elephant or donkey; I’m not left or right; and I ain’t center either. I’m not even in the ballpark. If it’s a ballpark, then I’m playin’ hockey.” (Text copyright © 2013 by Neal Shusterman)
If you’re wondering what the new school year will mean for your social life try…
A perfect end-of-summer read: Max and Sadie have always been best friends. Max is the steady, serious, shy one, while Sadie is the flighty dreamer. When they go live on a farm with Sadie’s mom for the summer – to get over some bad decision-making during the previous school year – their friendship is quickly tested. Max gets an unexpected opportunity to come out from Sadie’s shadow, and she is left wondering if they really are good for each other. Did they run from their problems just to realize their problem is staring them straight in the face? If you like true-to-life friend books – think Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – or even if you just have friends, this book is right for you.
Sneak Peek! “We’ve been sitting on our bags in the middle of nowhere for almost an hour. ‘No one’s coming,’ you say, always the pessimist. You sigh and pull a sweaty clump of hair that’s stuck between your temple and the giant sunglasses you always wear, the ones that cover nearly half your face and make you look like a movie star. ‘I thought Nebraska was supposed to be cold.’ Where you got that idea, I don’t know.” (Text copyright © 2013 by Amy Reed)
If you want just one last lazy weekday afternoon romantic read try…
The Boy on the Bridge by Natalie Standiford
Travel back to 1982 Russia. This is not a Soviet-era spy novel, though, although because of it’s setting it does have a bit of international intrigue. Laura has decided to come to Russia for a semester to expand her horizons. The freezing winter she arrives to warms suddenly when she meets Alyosha on a bridge. Soon they are deeply in love and Laura is shown a side of Cold War Russia she didn’t know existed where kids read banned books, have parties, and find a way to get around all the rules of their Communist society. Laura and Alyosha’s romance is fast and beautiful, even when they both know it may be destined to end shortly.
Sneak Peek! “Laura and her roommate Karen tramped along the frozen mud road that lead through the university, past a wall with OGNEOPASNO! painted on it in huge red letters. An icy wind blew off the Neva River. It was January in Leningrad.” (Text copyright © 2013 by Natalie Standiford)
Shorewood Library Teens 