New Library! and "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman

To begin with, I have a job! It's going to be really wonderful, I think. I met many of my coworkers today and everyone's really friendly and welcoming. It seems like it's a supportive environment for everyone, I'm going to learn tons and I think that I can really contribute. And Defy Death.

"If I Stay" is a book with a lovely cover. I've seen it in the bookstores a few times, but the inside of the book never intrigued me. It's very sparse, which is probably because it doesn't want to give away the plot but it goes too far with that. However, I've got to say that you should ignore your first instinct. It's a lovely cover and a well written and touching story.

Mia is a teenaged living a charmed life. Sure, there's been stress in her relationship with her boyfriend, Adam since his emo core band has started getting more popular. Another thing that adds stress is Mia's cello playing. In all likelihood, she's going to get into Juilliard. She even gets along with her parents, former punk rock types who married young and adore Mia and her 6 year old brother Teddy with every fiber of their body.

See what I mean? Charmed life! But that all changed when Mia's family gets into a car one snowy day to go visit some friends. There's a car crash and both of Mia's parents die, while Mia and Teddy are hurt very badly. Mia ends up having an out of body experience.

That's where the title comes in. Will Mia stay? Or will she keep going on to whatever comes next?

I've got to warn you. This book is heartwrenching. I sobbed while reading it, sitting on my futon, so engrossed that I didn't realize it was getting too dim to read until the book was a couple of inches from my face.

I would recommend this book to teens aged 14 and up. It may play with some old saws (Lurlene McDaniel, anyone?) but does so in a lyrical way. The characterization is also very strong, making Mia a likable character and all the supporting friends and family sound like people that the reader knows and likes.

"World War Z" by Max Brooks

"World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War"

After the zombie virus decimated humanity, our planet has gone through many changes. Tibet is the most populous country. Cuba is the center of finance and banking. Russia is back to being an oligarchy. And Max Brooks is traveling the world, interviewing people who survived all over the world, learning what the zombies or "Zach" or "Zed Heads" did to humanity.

The book touches on many different types of people from Chinese doctors to American real estate agents to Russian priests, all with a different voice and story of their own. Although there is no real action, the book does begin at the beginning with the interviews and takes the reader through all the (10 plus) years of turmoil and war. Indeed, in the book, it is still not over. People are still fighting and some countries, such as Iceland are still completely overrun by zombies. But there is hope.

Brooks brings a terrifying view of what could happen, if there were ever zombies, all over the world. Indeed, it made me think out my very own zombie plan (get myself a sharpened hoe and head north to a friend's ski vacation house). It also made me think about sleeping with the lights on. It's so matter of fact that it just makes it that much more of a scary book, although it is not a traditional horror book. It's a scary book for those people who don't like Stephen King or other more typical horror books.

It's usually marketed as an adult book, however, I think that many teenagers would enjoy it. I would give it to teens 15 and up who are interested in documentaries and nonfiction but are looking for something maybe a little more "fun."

"Killer Pizza" by Greg Taylor

Toby McGill doesn't ask for much. He'd like to get a summer job. After all, he's 14, he doesn't have many friends and he's very bored. However, Toby has plans of becoming a celebrity chef, so he just needs some practice. Enter Killer Pizza. It's the only place to hire Toby, where he works with Annabel (a beautiful, smart and rich classmate) and Strobe (an angry older boy).

However, all is not as it seems at Killer Pizza. Instead of a pizza place with a monster theme, it's actually a front for a monster hunting organization and the leader, Harvey, wants Toby and his coworkers to be the start of the team in their area. The book involves guttatas (humans turned nasty beasts), humor and slowly growing friendships, along with danger and suspense. Toby is a likable main character and Strobe and Annabel seem like realistic coworkers and eventually, friends.

It's well written, however, sometimes it seems a little superficial. When reading about the author you learn that Taylor is also a screenwriter and that explains a lot, in that you can tell that sometimes the action is slightly more important than character development. The book reads like an action packed humorous horror movie and that's not a bad thing. I'd give it a solid B or even a B+ for some kids. I'd probably recommend it for kids 13 and up.