Featured Books – February 20, 2012

Test of a Prince - T.L. Barrett

  The library has heard great reviews about this book, written by one of our very own English teachers. 

After Ragnarok, the realm of Jotunheim suffers under a terrible curse. Out of the darkness, a prince wearing the face of a demon gathers a handful of old and troubled heroes: a one-handed fisherman, a drug-addled swordsman, an embittered holy man, and a cross-dressing satyr. In the hope of salvation and with the help of some diminutive Mindans and a young woman, the heroes embark on the darkest of quests.

Divergent - Veronica Roth

  In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

  Starred review - School Library Journal, June 2011.

Beauty Queens – Libba Bray

  When a plane crash strands thirteen teen beauty contestants on a mysterious island, they struggle to survive, to get along with one another, to combat the island's other diabolical occupants, and to learn their dance numbers in case they are rescued in time for the competition.

  Starred review – School Library Journal, July 2011.

Jefferson’s Sons – Kimberly Bradley

  A fictionalized look at the last twenty years of Thomas Jefferson's life at Monticello through the eyes of three of his slaves, two of whom were his sons by his slave, Sally Hemings.

  Starred review – School Library Journal, October 2011.

  Starred review – Horn Book Magazine, January 2012.

Stay with Me – Paul Griffin

  Mack, a high school drop-out but a genius with dogs, and Céce meet and fall in love at the restaurant where they both work, but when Mack lands in prison he pushes Céce away and only a one-eared pit-bull can keep them together.

  Starred review – School Library Journal, August 2011.

  Starred review – Horn Book Magazine, January 2012.

Spies of Mississippi:  The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement – Rick Bowers

  Utilizes primary source materials to bring to light the secret efforts of spies who tried to block the voting rights of African-Americans during the Civil Rights era.

  Starred review – Booklist, March 1, 2010.

How to Draw Zombies – Mike Butkus

  From the pages of great literature to Hollywood movies, zombies are appearing everywhere. Now aspiring artists can bring them to life, so to speak, by learning to render them with pencil, paint, and digital image-editing software. This comprehensive book gets into all the gory details, such as creating bloodshot eyes, forming robust brows, and imitating the look of pale, dead flesh. How to Draw Zombies also features 15 step-by-step projects that guide artists from initial sketches to finished works of art, including a Voodoo Queen, a gothic zombie, and even a zombie romance.

Lafayette and the American Revolution – Russell Freedman

  Presents a biography about the French nobleman who assisted the American colonists in their struggle for freedom from England during the Revolutionary War.

  Starred review – Booklist, August 1, 2010.