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What Would They Read?: Liv from iZombie

I was intrigued by the concept of iZombie before I ever saw an episode. A girl who becomes a zombie, but is fighting her zombie impulses? Moreover, a girl who works in a medical examiner’s office to have easy access to her new food source and conveniently is able to step into the shoes of those whose brains she eats? A girl who now solves crimes through the “visions” she has from eating brains? Sign me up!

Here are some great zombie, monster, and murder mystery reads that I would recommend to Liv Moore:

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry (2011 Best Fiction for Young Adults)

This is the first installment in the Benny Imura series, and it follows Benny as he turns fifteen in post-apocalyptic America and is forced to work in the last job he’d ever thought he’d have: apprentice zombie killer.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (2010 Best Books for Young Adults)

This series follows Mary as she tries to discover what is true and what is false in the stories she’s been told since she was a child. Also, there are baby zombies involved. Baby zombies now invade my nightmares. Continue reading What Would They Read?: Liv from iZombie

Bingewatching YA Read- Alikes

With all the ways to watch TV today including; on demand, DVR, and instant streaming it is possible to watch an entire series’ episodes back to back rather than in a serialized week to week format. This kind of watching has been dubbed “binge-watching.” Maybe when you hear this term, an image comes to mind of someone mindlessly watching hour after hour of TV whilst eating chips. As fun as that sounds, “binge-watching” can also mean focusing on just one show over the course of many days or weeks. As a reader the way I become immersed in the characters and world of a good book are a familiar, comforting feeling, and binge-watching a quality show can offer a similar (on-screen) experience. Here are some great YA read-alikes inspired by some of my binge-worthy favorites.

Orange Is The New Black

Orange is the New Black – One of Netflix’s original binge-worthy series. This is the story of a Piper, a privileged woman who has to serve prison time for a crime committed in her 20s.

Read-alikes:

monster-walter-dean-myers

* Monster by Walter Dean Myers (2000 Printz Award Winner, 2000 Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers , 2000 Best Book for Young Adults) A story told in the form of a screenplay by a young man incarcerated in a juvenile detention center.

* Hole in my Life by Jack Gantos (2003 Printz Honor Book, Popular Paperback for Young Adult 2006 , 2003 Best Books for Young Adults). When Gantos was a young man with heavy debt and a promising writing career he agrees to help sail a ship packed with drugs from the Virgin Islands to New York City. This memoir describes this well known author’s short-lived criminal career and his incarceration.

* Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison by Piper Kerman. The book that inspired the show; Kerman tells the tale of how she spent a year in prison the humiliations she endured, and the relationships she forged.

Continue reading Bingewatching YA Read- Alikes

What Would They Read?: Holiday Edition

OK, it’s time for a little make believe. I’d ask you to close your eyes, but I know that will make reading the rest of this Christmas stocking fairly difficult. Imagine it’s Christmas morning and you just noticed that your stocking is filled to the brim with goodies. Upon closer inspection, you notice that it’s not just any random gift. Santa has stuffed your stocking with books upon books. It truly is a merry Christmas.

Everyone makes their own personal Santa. One Santa would only ever bring candy and never socks. Another Santa would leave the sweets at home and fill up the stocking with silly little knick knacks. In my imagination, Santa stuffs as many books as possible in my stocking. The question is, how well does Santa know your personal reading tastes? Below are several of our favorite holiday characters. Let’s see what books Santa stuffed in their stockings.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Rudolph’s story is a familiar one. I mean, the basics of his life are squeezed into a song. Aside from the magical ability to fly and his glowing nose, Rudolph’s story is about trying to fit in when others make you feel like an outcast. This is a common theme in many teen books. Rudolph would definitely enjoy science fiction stories that include other characters with powers. For example, I guarantee there were maximum ride angel experiment james patterson cover several “X-Men” graphic novels. Who wouldn’t want to relate their issues with the issues of superheroes? In addition to the “X-Men” graphic novels, I bet Santa would throw in the “Maximum Ride” series by James Patterson, starting with The Angle Experiment. Similarly to the X-Men, Patterson’s books are about kids with powers that would normally exclude them. Instead, these powers bring the kids together. Who could forget about Harry Potter? Harry Potter spends his whole life up to the age of ten thinking that he wasn’t as good as the other kids. Then he discovers in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling that he is actually more special than his rude family. Also, just like Rudolph and his reindeer friends, Harry gets to do the same things as the other wizards, but still must deal with being treated different. Rudolph’s nose will always glow and Harry’s scar will always remind people that he was not killed by He Who Must Not Be Named. Of course, let’s not forget the parallels between Rudolph’s relationship to Santa and Harry’s relationship with Dumbledore. The similarities are definitely there. Obviously, Rudolph will have quite a few books to read in the time before next Christmas. Continue reading What Would They Read?: Holiday Edition