Dear Diary

Sneak a peak into another person's life, with these novels that are written in diary (or email conversation) style...

• 3NBs of Julian Drew ~ James M. Deem (FIC DEE)
  The journals of a troubled fifteen-year-old boy who lives with his father and emotionally and physically abusive stepmother and her children after the death of his own mother years ago.

• Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging : confessions of Georgia Nicolson ~ Louise Rennison (FIC REN)
  Presents the humorous journal of a year in the life of a fourteen-year-old British girl who tries to reduce the size of her nose, stop her mad cat from terrorizing the neighborhood animals, and win the love of handsome hunk Robbie.

• Bloodline ~ Kate Carey (FIC CAR)
  In this story told primarily through journal entries, a British soldier in World War I makes the horrifying discovery that his regiment commander is descended from Count Dracula.

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time ~ Mark Haddon (FIC HAD)
  Christopher John Francis Boone is autistic. He knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotion. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the colour yellow. This story tells of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighbourhood dog. Trust me, by the end of this unique novel, you'll be able to "hear" Christopher's voice in your head!

• The Diary of Pelly D ~ L. J. Adlington
  Toni V is a teenage working for the City Five demolition crew. While drilling through concrete he unearths a battered water can containing a parcel wrapped in faded brown paper. Though he's supposed to turn over anything he salvages, Toni V smuggles the package back to his room, unwraps it, and finds a notebook. "This is the diary of Pelly D. It's totally secret so if you're reading it I hate you already." What happened to Pelly D? Toni V needs to know. And he has one clue: "Dig - dig everywhere."

• Fade to Black ~ Alex Flinn (FIC FLI)
  An HIV-positive high school student hospitalized after being attacked, the bigot accused of the crime, and the only witness, a classmate with Down Syndrome, reveal how the assault has changed their lives as they tell of its aftermath.

• Feeling Sorry for Celia ~ Jaclyn Moriarty (FIC MOR)
  This story is up of post-it notes and letters between Elizabeth and her best friend, a runaway named Celia, Christina - the new pen pal Elizabeth reluctantly takes on for a school assignment, her busy mother; and Elizabeth's own angst-ridden mind.

• Girls, girls, girls (#1 of The Black Book series: diary of a teenage stud) ~ Jonah Black (FIC BLA)
  Jonah Black, whose thoughts are filled with fantasies about a Pennsylvania girl named Sophie, chronicles in his journal his first six weeks back in Florida after being expelled from a Pennsylvania prep school, during which time he is forced to watch his old friend and new crush, Posie, get friendly with a womanizer.

• Heart on my Sleeve ~ Ellen Wittlinger (FIC WIT)
  While on a college visit, Chloe meets Julian, another prospective freshman, and infatuated, the two high school seniors begin a long-distance relationship. Chloe is thrilled that she'll have a boyfriend at college, although she doesn't know how to break the news to Eli, her best friend whom she's sort of dating. As Chloe and Julian prepare to meet again, they must face the question of whether their relationship is based on who they really are or who they imagine each other to be.
  
  
• Love, Sara ~ Mary Beth Lundgren (FIC LUN)
  In a series of emails and journal entries Sara, a high school junior with a history of sexual abuse and foster home care, reveals her feelings about herself and two friends who are headed for destruction.
  
  
• Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 ~ Sue Townsend (FIC TOW)
  In the early 1980s, British thirteen-year-old Adrian Mole chronicles his trials and tribulations, including his painful love for Pandora Braithwaite, the BBC's refusal to publish his poetry, his dog's health issues, and his neighbor's amorous advances toward his mother. If you like British humour, this one will have you in stitches!
  
  
• This is all : the pillow book of Cordelia Kenn ~ Aidan Chambers (FIC CHA)Nineteen-year-old Cordelia Kenn sets out to write her life for her unborn daughter. She adapts the form of a pillow book, a collection of notebooks used to record "impressions, daily events, poems, letters, stories, ideas," and much more. At 808 pages, this diary will take some time to get through, but promises to leave a lasting impression.
  
  
  

And the winner is...

...no, I'm not talking about David Cook (although I'd be happy to!...way to go DC!!!)...the following is a list of some of the major book awards, and some of the winners that we have here in the library @ Rez.

Michael L. Printz award ~ for excellence in Young Adult (YA) literature (one of my favourite awards...the books that have won have ALWAYS been amazing reads)

• American Born Chinese (2007) ~ Gene Luen Yang (GN FIC YAN)
• Looking for Alaska (2006) ~ John Green (FIC GRE)
• how i live now (2005) ~ Meg Rosoff (FIC ROS)
• The First Part Last (2004) ~ Angela Johnson (FIC JOH)

Alex awards ~ books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults

• A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (2008) ~ Ishmael Beah (966.40409 BEA)
• Eagle Blue: A Team, A Tribe, and A High School Basketball Season in Arctic Alaska (2007) ~ Michael D'Orso (796.32362 DOR)
• Anansi Boys (2006) ~ Neil Gaiman (FIC GAI)

Margaret A. Edwards ~ for lifetime achievement in YA literature

• Orson Scott Card (2008) ~ try Ender's Game, or the Seventh Son series (FIC CAR)
• Lois Lowry (2007) ~ try The Giver (FIC LOW)
• Jacqueline Woodson (2006) ~ try If You Come Softly (FIC WOO)
• Francesca Lia Block (2005) ~ try Weetzie Bat (FIC BLO)

Governor General Awards ~ for Canadian Literature

• The Law of Dreams (2006 - fiction) ~ Peter Behrens (FIC BEH)
• A Perfect Night to Go to China (2005 - fiction) ~ David Gilmour (FIC GIL)
• Shake Hands with the Devil (2004 - non-fiction) ~ Lt.-Gen Romeo Dallaire (967.57104 DAL)
• Airborn (2004 - children's fiction) ~ Kenneth Oppel (FIC OPP)

White Pine awards ~ from the Ontario Library Association - Canadian YA fiction

• Keturah & Lord Death (2008) ~ Martine Leavitt (FIC LEA)
• Shattered (2007) ~ Eric Walters (FIC WAL)
• The Blue Girl (2006) ~ Charles de Lint (FIC DEL)
• More than You Can Chew (2005) ~ Marnelle Tokio (FIC TOK)
• The First Stone (2004) ~ Don Aker (FIC AKE)

Young Adult Canadian Book Award ~ from the Canadian Library Association

• The Blue Helmet (2007) ~ William Bell (FIC BEL)
• Swimming in the Monsoon Sea (2006) ~ Shyam Selvadurai (FIC SEL)
• A Complicated Kindness (2005) ~ Miriam Toews (FIC TOE)
• True Confessions of a Heartless Girl (2003) ~ Martha Brookes (FIC BRO)

Coretta Scott King ~ given to African American authors and illustrators for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions

• Copper Sun (2007) ~ Sharon Draper (FIC DRA)
• Jimi & Me (2006) ~ Jaime Adoff (FIC ADO)
• Who Am I Without Him (2005) ~ Sharon Flake (FIC FLA)
• First Part Last (2004) ~ Angela Johnson (FIC JOH)

Other awards include:

• CBC's Canada Reads ~ Five great works of Canadian fiction. Five celebrity panelists. One winner.
• One Book One Community ~ encourages people in the Region of Waterloo to read the same book, meet to discuss it at various events, and get enthusiastic about reading
• Giller Prize ~ best in Canadian fiction
• American Library Association booklists (including Popular Paperbacks, Quickpicks, Graphic Novels, and more)
• National Book Award ~ awards in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, young people's literature
• Orange Prize ~ for fiction written by women
• Pulitzer ~ for books published in the US - fiction, biography, general non-fiction, history and poetry
• Man Booker Prize ~ annual contemporary fiction award, to writers from the British Commonwealth and Ireland

Rez Reads!

Wow! Last week's Rez Reads went by in a blur. It was great to see students, teachers & staff reading for fun together...and man oh man did we read A LOT! Over 800 books were signed out of the library during Rez Reads...and that doesn't include the over 300 magazines that also got signed out. Way to go Rez!

American Idol

Have you got Idol fever? Fascinated with the music biz? Here are a few novels that will have you singing...

• Adios to My Old Life ~ Caridad Ferrer (FIC FER)
  Tiring of unpromising jobs while longing for fame, seventeen-year-old Latina singer Ali Montero competes in a Latin superstar contest and finds herself overwhelmed by a maelstrom of glitzy wardrobe fittings, media interviews, and fan blogs.
  
• Born blue ~ Han Nolan (FIC NOL)
  Janie was four years old when she nearly drowned due to her mothers neglect. Through an unhappy foster home experience, and years of feeling that she is unwanted, she keeps alive her dream of someday being a famous singer.
  
• Born to Rock ~ Gordon Korman (FIC KOR)
  High school senior Leo Caraway, a conservative Republican, learns that his biological father is a punk rock legend. We also have this book on CD!
  
• Diva ~ Alex Flinn (FIC FLI)
  Despite her mother's objections, sixteen-year-old Caitlin determines to pursue her dream of becoming an opera singer by attending a performing arts school in Miami.
  
• The Exes ~ Pagan Kennedy (FIC KEN)
  A rock-and-roll group composed of musicians who used to date one another tries to survive long enough to make it big.
  
• Featherless Bipeds ~ Richard Scarsbrook (FIC SCA)
  In this sequel to Cheeseburger Subversive, Dak Sifter builds a band - the Featherless Bipeds and has every intention of enjoying every wild, ear-splitting moment of the ride.
  
• Harlem Hustle ~ Janet McDonald (FIC MCD)
  Eric "Hustle" Samson, a smart and street-wise seventeen-year-old dropout from Harlem, aspires to rap stardom, a dream he naively believes is about to come true.
  
• Heavy metal and you ~ Christopher Krovatin (FIC KRO)
  High schooler Sam begins losing himself when he falls for a preppy girl who wants him to give up getting wasted with his best friends and even his passion for heavy metal music in order to become a better person.
  
• LBD : it's a girl thing ~ Grace Dent (FIC DEN)
  Barred by their overprotective parents from attending a rock music festival, fourteen-year-olds Ronnie, Fleur, and Claude, also known as "Les Bambinos Dangereuses," decide to stage their own music festival at Blackwell School.
  
• Pay the piper ~ Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple (FIC YOL)
  When Callie interviews the band, Brass Rat, for her school newspaper, her feelings are ambivalent, but when all the children of Northampton begin to disappear on Halloween, she knows where the dangerous search must begin. Sound like a familiar fairy tale...?
  
• Pop princess ~ Rachel Cohn (FIC COH)
  Yearning to escape the small Massachusetts town where her family retreated after her sister's death, Wonder Blake gets her chance when her sister's manager offers Wonder a record contract on her sixteenth birthday.
  
• The principles of Love ~ Emily Franklin (FIC FRA)
  After moving to a Massachusetts boarding school where her father is the new principal, high-school sophomore and aspiring singer Love Bukowski learns some lessons about friendship and romance.
  
• The queen's soprano ~ Carol Dines (FIC DIN)
  Seventeen year-old Angelica Voglia lives in seventeenth-century Rome and has the voice of an angel, but because the pope forbids women to sing in public, she must escape to Queen Christina's palace to become a court singer.
  
• Resurrection Blues ~ Mike Tanner (FIC TAN)
  Excited about the opportunity to go on tour with his band, much like his great-uncle Ray did, eighteen-year-old Flynn Robinson uproots his entire world, drops out of school, and ends his relationship with Julianne to pursue his dreams of rock-and-roll.
  
• Rock star superstar ~ Blake Nelson (FIC NEL)
  When Pete, a talented bass player, moves from playing in the high school jazz band to playing in a popular rock group, he finds the experience exhilarating even as his new fame jeopardizes his relationship with girlfriend Margaret.
  
• This lullaby ~ Sarah Dessen (FIC DES)
  Raised by a mother who's had five husbands, eighteen-year-old Remy believes in short-term, no-commitment relationships until she meets Dexter, a rock band musician.
  
• Tribute to another dead rock star ~ Randy Powell (FIC POW)
  For a tribute to his mother, a dead rock star, fifteen-year-old Grady returns to Seattle, where he faces his mixed feelings for his retarded younger half-brother Louie while pondering his own future.

And if you're looking for biographies of your favourite singers/musicians, check out the non-fiction section, in the 780s. Some of the titles we have include:

• Life is Not a Fairy Tale ~ Fantasia (782.42164)
• Unbelievable : the life, death, and afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G. (782.42164 NOT-C)
• Kurt Cobain : "oh well, whatever, nevermind" (782.42166 COB-B)
• Nobody likes you : inside the turbulent life, times, and music of Green Day (782.42166 GRE-S)