Introducing one of our new bloggers for the Brave & Brass Blog! Denise Ryan is a writer, a book reviewer, a YA librarian. She lives in Stamford, Connecticut where she’s currently reading One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke.

Every day, kids crowd around my desk to talk about Twilight, the novel by Stephanie Meyer about Bella, a teenage girl who moves to Forks, Washington and falls in love with Edward, a vampire who has been seventeen years old for more than a century now.

My screensaver, courtesy of my YA patrons, is a photo of a silver Volvo S60 R, the same kind that Edward drives. I receive emails from teenagers with addresses like “vampiregirl16″ and “edward4ever.” (Immediately, I know which “Edward” they’re talking about and it’s not a kid from town.)

Generally, these are girls around the age of 14, but not always. The kid who printed all the cast photos from the upcoming movie Twilight, based on the book, is a boy. He’s already planning a party at his house on opening night.

What is it about these books? How have they conquered popular culture? (Vampires were cool when I was a teenager too, although we were reading the Anne Rice series about Lestat and Louis.) Personally, I think it’s all about physicality and desire – desire for flesh – desire that is dangerous and must be quelled – desire that can kill.

Here, I’m talking of course of Edward’s desire for blood, but also of Bella’s desire for more ordinary human contact with the gorgeous guy she loves. In Twilight, both are potentially fatal; every time Bella and Edward get a bit too “hot n’ heavy,” they must break apart before Edward becomes too overcome with bloodlust and (literally) devours his girlfriend. The characters both crave and fear intimacy. In short, the book is full of sex without anyone ever actually having any – very much like the imaginations of many young teenagers!

If your patrons haven’t read the Twilight saga yet (there are three titles in the series: Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse), offer it to them. It will keep them busy for a while. Here’s a short list of other “Forbidden Fruit” fiction for readers who can’t get enough of vampires:

De La Cruz, Melissa: Blue Bloods

Hautman, Pete: Sweetblood

Klause, Annette Curtis: The Silver Kiss

Mead, Richelle: Vampire Academy

Moore, Christopher: You Suck: A love story

Rice, Anne: Interview with a Vampire

Sedgwick, Marcus: My Swordhand is Singing

Schreiber, Ellen: Vampire Kisses (with four sequels)

Vande Velde, Vivian: Companions of the Night

Westerfeld, Scott: Peeps

For more Vampire Fiction recommendations, visit the Teen Lib Wiki page about Vampire Romance Fiction!

Posted by Denise Ryan from Stamford, Connecticut. You can contact denise at niseryan @ hotmail.com

With the start of June, our clientle increased to include the summer teens. As I’m sure you’ve experienced these pent-up Energizer rabbits who gather and demonstrate their restless spirits, let me share a few RA practices. Aha! I’ve discovered that their boredom and too much free time make them sitting ducks for listening to book topics. Of course literature is broached after a couple of weeks spent chatting on summer plans, new schools, friendships, relationships, the skatepark, and parents, but eventually I’ll introduce a few literature characters into the foray. For instance, I’ll dramatize a particular character say Lauren from Bloom.

When Lauren plays her flute she loses herself in the music. Reading the flight of notes dancing across the pages allows her momentary bliss as she temporarily forgets that her best friend Katie wouldn’t understand this passion for music nor why she’s unhappy in her relationship with Dave. Then again, Lauren doesn’t share her feelings with anyone, so it’s understandable the world considers Dave + Lauren the perfect couple. Dave treats her with respect and love but Lauren feels no passion in return. To Lauren, their relationship has become too routine.

Except that’s how it feels. Like I’m watching a movie. Looking at his hand holding mine, I don’t feel much of anything except worry that I don’t feel more of anything…Now I know exactly what he’s going to say, and “6:30″ is out before he’s finished saying, “What time should I pick you up tonight?”

Tension develops in Lauren’s life when she begins to fall for the new transfer student Ethan. From the beginning it is clear how this young love story will play out. Regardless of this forseen fraction, Bloom conjures character emotions that are on par to the swooning romances found in The Truth About Forever and What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know. Teens with weakspots for tender romances can sympathize with Lauren’s indecision and may also enjoy a similar situation found in If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where’s My Prince: Lucy feels shafted by a father who has remarried, relocated, and left her alone and out of favor with a stepmother and two evil stepsisters all of whom seem to delight in spending her father’s money, not to mention her bedroom has only a blowup mattress for furniture. *inhales deep recuperating breath*

If teens feel indifferent towards Lauren and Lucy. Perhaps quoting Seuss and holding races on Fox in Socks readings will open a window for a favorite childhood book discussion. And for fanactics, vehemently discuss Harry Potter predictions (using the voice of Jim Dale’s Trelawney, of course) or propose the question found on the MySpace Twilight group “You know you’re obsessing over Twilight when…” We’ve still another month to attempt to reach reluctant and gung-ho readers before the start of school, so good luck, I hope these ideas may assist you in your endeavors.

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I’d Tell You I Love You,
But Then I’d Have To Kill You
Ally Carter
Format: Hardcover
Price: $15.99
ISBN: 1423100034

Enter the hush-hush lives of Cammie Morgan and her brilliant yet deadly comrades, otherwise known as the Gallagher Girls. These schoolgals attend The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, an undercover program posing as a posh boarding school. The curriculum’s ultimate goal: to produce the creme-de-la-creme among young spies for the CIA, FBI, NSA, ect. Sure, breaking and entering and hacking secruity systems may come easily to this crew, but when it comes to deciphering the language of lurve they’re clueless. Although the humor will keep readers pinned to the pages, teens won’t miss the moral struggles for respect and honesty. Yessirree, Ally Carter’s sassy romp is a sure thing for readers desiring light romance with spunk.

(I recommend taking a peek at the inside jacket summary. It would make an excellent booktalk itself. Kudos Hyperion.)

Genre: Fluffy_Romance/Spunky_Wacky_Humor(Think Evanovich)/Covert_Opts
Read-alikes: Meg Cabot; E. Lockhart; Jaclyn Moriarty; Louise Rennison
Web Goodies: LOL while reading Ally’s blog on her website found here. And beef up your library’s Myspace friends by including Ally’s Myspace account here.

Commentary:

“Get good, ladies. Or get dead.” - Joe Solomon, CoveOpts instructor at
The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women

Sound familiar? How about “You’re never too young to die.”? These cocky and in-your-face taglines certainly perk the ears of our techy-seeking adventure readers. With the upcoming October release of the motion picture Stormbreaker, it’s appropriate to disclose this Anthony Horowitz read-alikes booklist complied a year ago by Valerie Ott and the YALSA-BK list serve:

Get Frazy for your library’s myspace account.

Butcher, A.J. - Spy High Series
Clancy, Tom - Net Force Series
Cooney, Caroline B. - Emergency Room/Flight 116 Is Down/The Terrorist
Stephen Cole - Theives Like Us (newly added 09/26)
Higson, Charlie - The Young James Bond Series
Howe, Norma - The Adventures of the Blue Avenger Series
McNamee, Graham - Acceleration
Mikaelson, Ben - Sparrow Hawk Red
Mowll, Joshua - Red Jericho
Muchamore - Cherub Series
Zindel, Paul - The Gadget