teens | Musings of the Monster Librarian

Is Your Teen “Too Busy To Read” This Summer? Audiobooks For Teens Are Free At SYNC

If your teen is complaining that there’s no time to read because there’s too much to do, well, that excuse is done and over with. You can simply direct they to SYNC, an online summer program that provides two downloadable audiobooks every week. Visit the site weekly to download both YA and classic audiobooks, and by the end of summer they’ll have an entire collection to listen to. And no excuse to say they had no time to read. Here’s a link: check it out!

Teen Read Week: It Came From The (Classroom) Library! Teen Nicholas Harris on the Unwind Trilogy

What’s the point of Teen Read Week? This is what it’s all about– bringing YA fiction to the forefront in the minds of everyone– librarians, educators, parents, and teens (although not necessarily in that order). Nicholas Harris, an eighth grader at Clark Pleasant Middle School in Greenwood, Indiana, was assigned to read Unwind by Neal Shusterman last year in class, and he agreed to write a review for us of the Unwind Trilogy (two books, so far). Want to see an end to readicide? Bring the right book into the classroom and library and bored teens like Nicholas Harris are hooked. Thanks, Nicholas!

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Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2009

ISBN-13: 978-1416912057

Available: Hardcover, paperback and Kindle edition

UnWholly by Neal Shusterman

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2012

ISBN-13: 978-1442423664

Available: Hardcover and Kindle edition

I read Unwind last year for my 7th grade English class. The book was a trip that you never wanted to end. At first, I thought this book was going to be a bore because most books that you have to read in class are unreadable. After the first chapter though, I was hooked for Unwind. I liked how it switched from between the main characters points of view and it just captured my attention and I couldn’t put the book down. I found it interesting how the parents could choose to “unwind” or have their kid taken apart when they reached thirteen years old if the kid was bad or didn’t act like they wanted him to behave. I finished the book the first week we started reading it.

This year, when I found out that the author was coming to our school to speak and I could buy the second book when he was there, I was overjoyed because I wanted to read the next book so bad. I even was able to get my book signed. It was so popular at my school that they ran out of books and had to go buy more copies at the book store. I rushed home that afternoon and began reading it immediately and finished this one in only two days. UnWholly, the second book was even better! I love the continuation of the storyline and how the kid was made of different “unwind” parts.

I can’t wait for the third book to come out so I can see how the story ends. I think everyone that reads these books will really like them and they are not boring like many of the books that you read in school.

Reviewed by: Nicholas Harris

A Classic Takes On New Life: “The Raven” Is Hard to Handle.

As October proceeds and Halloween approaches, it’s the perfect time to pull out the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and that usually means the appearance of what is probably his most famous poem, “The Raven”. It’s not easy trying to convince a bunch of middle schoolers that it’s worth it to conquer the language of literary classics. Or even adults. Or even librarians. Thank goodness that the Stand-Up Librarian has come to the rescue with a rockin’ musical version of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”. Click here to read her confession about reading Poe… or trying to… and what a difference the music makes.