Flamingnet.com - teens review teen books

If any of you are interested in reviewing books, then check ot Flamingnet.com, which calls itself a website for 8 to 18 year olds who love to read. You can apply to be a reviewer, then they'll send you new and advance copy books to review. You can find the application here: http://flamingnet.com/bookreviews/newreviews/bookreviewsapp.cfm

Even if you don't want to write reviews, you can find tons of books that have been reviewed by teens.

Before You Die...

Okay, that sounds really morbid, and it kind of is. There is a terrific new high school-level book by Jenny Downham called Before You Die, about a girl who is dying from a terminal illness. Tessa creates a list of things she wants to do before she dies, and they aren't small things like see the ocean or fly on a plane. Nope, it's stuff like have sex and steal something. Along the way, she also falls in love and faces other, unexpected situations. This heartbreaking book provides a realistic sense of the issues, challenges and triumphs when faced with terminal illness. I recommend listening to the audio version if you can, and definitely keep the kleenex nearby.

Winter break is almost here!

What are you going to do over winter break? If you need to prepare for the SATs or AP exams, you can take free practice tests on one of our online resources, Learning Express Library. Just go to our website (www.sanleandrolibrary.org), click "online resources" and then you'll see Learning Express Library on the list. In addition to practice tests, it has e-books on tons of topics that you can download to your desktop.