And welcome to this week's edition of Encompass Live. I am your host, Krista Porter, here at the Nebraska Library Commission. Encompass Live is the commission's weekly online event. Yes, we are a webinar and proud of it. We've been doing it for 10 years now, so I think it's a successful format for us. Encompass Live is broadcast live every Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. central time. But if you're unable to join us on Wednesday mornings, that's fine. We do record our show every week and then post it onto our website. And I'll show you at the end of today's show where you can see all of our recordings. We include a recording of the show here that goes up to our Nebraska Library Commission's YouTube account. And any presentations like the slides that we have here will be included as well. We'll also have a link in this case to Handouts page that Sally has. And she'll talk more about that. That's a special for these sessions that we do. We, both the live show and the archives are free and open to anyone to watch. So please do share with your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, anyone who you think might be interested in any of the topics we have on the show. Our topics are very broad. The only criteria is it's libraries. Anything to do with libraries. Things libraries are doing, things, so libraries coming out and showing off what they've been doing. Things that we think they could be doing, new services, products, resources, things like that. We have Nebraska Library Commission specific things, topics for programs and services that we offer here. But we do bring in guest speakers from across the state and even outside of the state to speak about various things. And this morning, we have a mixture of that here. With me today is Sally Snyder who is our coordinator of children's and youth services. Close enough, close enough. Kids stuff here at the Nebraska Library Commission. And remotely on the line with us is Jill Anas who is from our Elkhorn. Elkhorn Grandview Middle School. Grandview Middle School. Good morning, Jill. Hi. Right there. There you go. There it is, yeah. Hey. So she's remoting in with us for them together to present the best new team books that came out in 2017. To their opinion. Good point. So yeah, I'll hand over to you, Sally, to explain it. Great, thank you so much. Because we got this presentation together for the NLA and SLA annual conference, which was in October. And usually the conference is in October. Our year really goes from October through September as far as best books. We'll see a few books on the list that are actually copyright 2016, but that's where we can get a list. Because they were like the end of the year, yeah. Or they came at the end of September and I didn't get it right. And I suspect Jill is the same, but I don't wanna tell stories. I have a handout sheet for myself to read my blurbs from the sheet. Because if I don't do that, I will be talking way too long and Jill will interrupt and tell me Sally stop and it's my turn and I wouldn't blame her. And also we'd be recording till three o'clock. I don't want you to miss lunch. So these are books that Jill and I have run across in we receive books for review here at the library commission from publishers. And I look at those books. We don't get all books from all publishers to get some books from some publisher. So that's a start. And then I read different blogs and other things that are on the internet to see what else should I be looking for? What is something I should try and get a hold of so we can review it. And Jill also I'm assuming does the same looking at what different her different sources are for things that she thinks we should include on our list. I'll give you a, do you have anything to say about that? All my books are 2017 copyright and I follow lots of authors on Goodreads and Twitter and Facebook. So, and a lot of publishing companies on those. And that's where I get my books from. Great, thank you. So that's where we hear about books. And every year as things are announced like the school library journal just did their best books. I'll be putting that on our blog later today. And I look at that and I go, I have never heard of this book. And I don't know how both Jill and I can miss some things that aren't the best books according to school library journal, but it has so many books that are published. It's, it's, it's truly cute unless it's your only job. Oh, to read books and the, I mean, we do a lot of the teaching. Well, can we talk about that? Yeah. So reading program is important too. So let's just get started and you'll see kind of how we go. The list is put together alphabetically by the author. So I'll talk and then Jill will talk about a couple of books and I'll talk about, and it just depends on who read which book by the author's last name is how we put it in there. So we'll go back and forth. And did you talk about the blurbs that she has here too will be posted on our website or do they maybe already? I have this so close to having that done. It'll go up on our webpage this week. Okay. So this will be a handout that you also have access to that has not just the titles, but the little blurb that Sally's reading. So you can have that little description of the title as well. And I have Jill's words too. I don't know. Okay, so both of them. Yes, all together in one. So we're going to start with fiction for younger readers, which is kind of a relative term. We divide this into fiction for younger teens and older teens. So you'll get a general idea of what we're aiming at. Younger teens basically are middle school age or older teens who want something that's not too questionable, shall we say? So, but all kids read what they're interested in. And so we're not saying older teens can't read this. We're just saying this is what it's aimed at. In the first book, Rosa Diaz and her mother have just moved to Ingot, the only unhaunted town in the world. Rosa, who also has talents, cannot understand why her mother, a librarian specializing in ghost appeasement, would decide to move here. Rosa soon meets Jasper Chevalier, who has lived in Ingot all his life. He takes her along to the summer long Renaissance Festival at the fairgrounds and during a tour, a beast or a haunting comes down from the mountain and Rosa must deal with it. She's the only one who knows what to do. This isn't supposed to happen and everybody kind of pretty much forgot about it afterwards, or they remembered it differently as soon as the beast ran back to the village. Rosa knows there is major trouble here and she and her mother are needed. If she can only convince her mother to stop trying to ignore and forget the past and focus on the situation. Librarians who are in charge of hauntings. Well, that's a new job duty. Yes. I've not seen it. Eighth grade has been changed forever when cell phones are banned from Branton Middle School. 13 year old Frost and his best friends, Dee Dee, Wolf and Bench come up with a plan to communicate with each other during this downtime by using sticky notes. Soon every middle school student is following this craze. Words can be used to inspire, but they can also hurt and these sticky notes are no different. During the sticky note war, Rose, a new girl at school, begins sitting with the boys at lunch. This slowly creates a division within the group. What will cause the sticky notes to end and will the boys friendship return to what it used to be? Themes of friendship, inclusion and bullying are portrayed in this realistic fiction novel from the author of Ms. Bigsby's Last Day. Red is an oak tree who is also the neighborhood wish tree. Every year, people of all ages write wishes on cloths and tie them to a tree. Red and Bongo, her crow friend, have seen many families come and go over the years. However, when a Muslim family moves into the neighborhood, Red can see how others aren't welcoming them with open arms. When Samar puts a wish on the old oak tree, Red believes it is time for her to make a difference before it is too late. Magical novel written by New York Times bestselling author Catherine Applegate and narrated by Red the Wish Tree. The short chapters will keep the reluctant reader hooked and the reader will be rooting for Samar to find a friend in the neighborhood. Narrated by the tree, that's interesting. It's pretty different, yeah. This is the first book in a new series. Kelly is 12, she's in eighth grade and she is volunteered by her mother to babysit Jacob, the son of her mother's boss, on Halloween instead of joining her friends at a party. This is her first babysitting job and while at first things go as expected, it all turns terrible after she puts Jacob to bed. The monsters he sees, they are real and they have now kidnapped him. Help arrives when his usual babysitter, Liz, shows up on a moped with their babysitting charge and a baby Bjorn. It turns out there is a league of babysitters whose specialty is protecting children from monsters and now Kelly and Liz are going after the ones who took Jacob.  So the title is The Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting. It's kind of hidden by Lincoln City sticker there. I forgot to say, I do get books from the library too, because I don't get them all. Chantelle, her age is probably 12 or 13. She has been a student at the school since she can remember, especially talented. She called her snake familiar at age six. No one else has come close. She chased that learning department instead of more magic, but now magic may be required as all the teachers have disappeared and it seems the city will soon be under attack. From the author of Because of Mr. Terrap series, starting sixth grade in the middle school is hard enough as it is, but then add the pressure of standardized testing and the stress can be too hard to handle. Told in multiple perspectives of five students in Mrs. Wood's classroom, Randy the gymnast, Gavin the football fan, Trevor who hates school, Scott with the big heart and Natalie the aspiring lawyer. The entire school is worried and anxious about the approaching standardized tests. Mrs. Wood is back from retirement and doesn't understand all of the preparation and worksheets that must be done to get students ready for the test. The true meeting of a perfect score is depicted along with themes of bullying, pressures of select sports and teamwork. Great book for fans of absolutely almost, posted in any Andrew Clements book. This is a companion book to her previous graphic novel, Offward. This is also a full color graphic novel. Jensen, who I believe is in sixth grade because he's just started middle school, is trying to figure it out. He knows to avoid foster and yanny. They are never nice. He kind of sees the school as a video game. All he needs to do is survive till the end of the day. Math is hard, but he lives for our club after school. He becomes involved with the newspaper crew as an on-call helper and then as a possible subject for their bullying article. But he isn't certain he's being bullied. Aren't his friends just joking with him? He slowly finds his way and eventually speaks up on his own behalf. Sixth grader Alec has been a bookworm ever since he learned how to read. He can't put down a good book and isn't listening or participating in class. When Alec gets pulled into the principal's office at the beginning of the year, he's given one more chance to change his ways. Since he's unable to read in class, he decides to start a book club during his after school program. Except Alec doesn't wanna talk about books. He just wants to sit and read. To distract students away from the club, he decides to name it the Losers Club. Alec must convince one other person to join the club or he will be stuck in the homework room. Great middle grade realistic fiction book that would be perfect for a read aloud or a reading class because of all the books that are mentioned in the novel. The audio book is also very engaging. Another great Andrew Clements book, love that it's all about reading. Jonathan is 12 and he is sentenced to 10 weeks at the Slabhenge Reformatory School for Troubled Boys, which is the only thing on an island that appears to be slowly sinking back into the sea. The admiral, as he wants to be called, is in charge. He believes punishment is the answer to rehabilitating these terrible boys and it is clear he has lost his senses. When a lightning strike kills all of the adults, the boys are free to do what they would like and it isn't long before one sets himself up as the next ruler. While Jonathan feels guilt and grief over what's sent him to the island, he both dreads and wants to go home. But now it looks like that may never happen. And comparison with Lord of the Front, Lord of the Flies is right on this thing. I always say Lord of the Fries. In this follow-up to Home Sweet Hotel, Pete T. Wilkie and Gloria Ortego, both 11, are still on cloud nine from their adventures capturing the sneemer brothers. Their fame begins to fade away when the towering hotel next door wants to buy the Wonderland Hotel from his grandpa Walt. His mother is ready to sell, so Pete T. and Gloria have to find a way to save the hotel by convincing pop star Aiden Tyler and Academy Award-winning teen actress Cassie McGinty to film their beach party surf monkey movie at the Wonderland Hotel. Filming begins with one complication after another, and the neighboring hotel is always at the right place, at the right time to pick up the Wonderland's pieces. Does something seem fishy? Pete T. and Gloria believe so, and they will do just about anything to uncover the truth. Funny, fast-paced middle grade read for fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and House of Robots. Josef, a Jewish boy who is living in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, whose family is threatened by the idea of being sent to a concentration camp. Isabel, a Cuban girl in 1994, who wants to escape from the riots and turmoil of her country. Muhammad, a Syrian boy in 2015, whose homeland is plagued by bombing and destruction on a daily basis. Three separate stories of refugee children in history where all three children are hoping for a better future in a different land. Each time period will tie together in the final chapters of the book. Students will learn the true meaning of being a refugee and the hard work and setbacks that can happen when reaching for your goals. Another amazing novel by Alan Gratz, highly recommend. Very timely, yes. I should read that. Jalen can predict pitches before the wind up almost every time. No discussion if this is right or wrong, but Jalen does not read the other team's signals. He just, it's kind of instinct. He just knows. And it may help him and Yankees, late Yankees player, James Jagger, just when they both needed the most. This is reminiscent of Green's football genius from 2007 where the kid could predict plays in football. And Derek Jeter actually was involved in writing. I had no idea he was ten other talents. He apparently does. 12 year old Annie Brown begins sixth grade at a new school during the fall of 1918. And all she wants to do is find a new friend to hang out with. As soon as she walks into the building, Elsie Schneider finds her and declares that the two of them will be best friends. Annie finds out that day that Elsie is clingy, nosy, and a tattletale. Elsie is also the target of teasing by the popular girls. And Annie longs to join that group and leave Elsie behind. Annie sees her chance to join the in-crowd when Elsie misses a few days of school. The Spanish flu epidemic slowly makes this way to town and Elsie is one of the casualties. A few days later, Elsie comes back as a ghost and begins to punish Annie for not being her true friend. How can Annie get rid of Elsie's ghost and will any of her other friends fall victim to the Spanish flu and Elsie's haunting? Themes of bullying and the meaning of friendship are presenting in true Mary Downing-Hahn style. The long-awaited follow-up to Girl Stolen is finally here. Six months ago, Griffin Sawyer, 17, meant to steal a car, but he also mistakenly kidnapped Cheyenne. Griffin took Cheyenne home and his father, Roy, decided to hold her for ransom. Fast forward to now and Roy's trial is about to begin with Griffin and Cheyenne as star witnesses. The pair decide to reconnect against their lawyer's best judgment and their meeting goes completely wrong. Roy has masterminded Cheyenne's second kidnapping, but now her life is in grave danger. Will Cheyenne be able to escape once again and which side is Griffin truly on? Another fast-paced novel by April Henry that is perfect for reluctant readers with shorter chapters and action-packed plot. This is a full-color graphic novel as well. Emma Jean, or M.B., is 11 and she is ready to start middle school, having been homeschooled up to this point. Her parents work at the Renaissance Fair and this year will be her first there as a squire. Her younger brother emulates everything she does and kind of drives her crazy, but she is excited and nervous about starting sixth grade at the middle school and she soon learns it is a treacherous place. Science class is hard and the girls that she thinks are her friends really aren't. Emmy makes a lot of mistakes and begins to think maybe that she is a dragon instead of a knight, but finally finding her way, she relies on the gallantry and code for the knights at the Renaissance Fair as a way for her to deal with middle school. I think having a book, there's a couple of books this year about someone who's been homeschooled and is now for the first time going to public school and I know that there are kids in Nebraska being homeschooled and maybe facing them.  Kaori Tanaka is Virgil's close friend and also a self-proclaimed psychic who wants to help him befriend a new girl in class. Valencia Somerset is fond of nature, confident and deaf. The fate of these four middle school students weave together in one summer day when Virgil gets himself stuck at the bottom of a well with his guinea pig. Told in alternating perspectives of the three heroes and one villain. Will Kaora and Valencia find Virgil in time? Did Chet have something to do with Virgil's disappearance? Themes of friendship, teamwork and perseverance with the right amount of suspense will keep the readers rooting for Virgil to make it to safety and possibly gaining a new friend along the way. Troy is 13 and he has been getting into trouble since his mother passed away but now he and his friend Foster are assigned to court-ordered community service which means working at the Philadelphia Stables. First cleaning out stalls and then grooming and caring for the horses. Troy bonds with Chance, a mayor and next he is learning about Polo but his friend Foster is done with this place and done with this community service stuff and he kind of separates himself from Troy. And along the way, Troy has also made a couple of enemies at the stable. It's a look at community service and one who handles his tasks with the realization that he needed to make amends and with it he is learning more about himself and the world. This was one of my favorite books I read this summer. I think Sally likes it too. She was just whispering to me. Amazing. Eighth grade football star, 13 year old Chase Ambrose wakes up in a hospital bed after falling off the roof of his house to complete strangers. Chase received a severe concussion and has no memory of his life before the accident and cannot even recognize his own family. When Chase returns to Hayawase middle school, everything and everyone is brand new to him even his best friends on the football team. Chase is receiving different reactions from people so he's having a hard time deciding what the old Chase was like. Unable to play football while he's recovering from his injury Chase decides to join the video club except not all the members are happy about him joining. Will a bully always be a bully? Chase is learning about his old self and not really liking what he hears. Can Chase change and mend the fences of his past? One of my favorite books, like I said, that I read this summer and one that all middle school students should read. It reminds me of Because of Mr. Tareb, Mates Wonder. That's a great book. After her mother was killed by a sniper, Valya, 15 and a pilot escapes the surrounded Stalingrad to join her older sister in her female only unit of pilots whom the Germans call night witches since they fly their missions at night. At first Valya is not allowed to fly though she learned they both learned from their father when they were very young how to fly planes.  But as she throws herself into the tasks they give her, it isn't long before she has also flying missions. Valya is dismayed but not grounded when she learns her sister's plane was shot down. Really hoping that she survived. Valya also knows that Russians believe anyone who is captured and manages to escape is considered a spy for the Germans. I was wondering, and you're reading this, if this was like, okay, I admit my ignorance. Is that a real thing or was it an alternate history? But it's true. So this is based on that they were night witches was a World War II German nickname for the women military aviators. I love the fact that they were all women aviators in World War II and that this book is based on actual fact, it's a fictional book but based on something that- Something that was real, a real thing. So that means something definitely some kids can jump off to to find out more about the actual history. Calling herself Ryder, R-Y-D-R for the trip. A girl is accompanied by an adult taking her from her grandmother's home in California to Chicago. Her grandmother has passed away and she is traveling to live with her great uncle whom she has never met. She has had a sparse life and gives her chaperones in trouble, befriends a few others on the train and slowly works through her issues during the trip. She also turns 13 on the train. Kirk has called it the moving and ultimately uplifting novel. And I like that a little bit more. Another full color graphic novel. Fish Girl lives in a house on the boardwalk that King Neptune in quotes has converted to a huge aquarium. Fish Girl is supposed to quit from room to room enticing the customers but never letting them get a really good look at her because she is a mermaid. One day a girl ventures past the keep outside and sees Fish Girl in the back room and knows she's a mermaid. It isn't long before Fish Girl wants her life and her freedom but first she needs to help all of her fish friends. How can she do that? And the girl who's met her is determined to help her. So it's an interesting fantasy story about someone who was living their life not knowing anything different and then learned that there were other possibilities. Oh, yay. I love this. Princess Anya is 13 and she knows that Morvin, her older sister is a wimp and will not stand up for the kingdom. It will be up to Princess Anya to find a way to overthrow her evil step-step father. He is so evil she needs to use two steps to separate him. And to relieve the people from his power-hungry actions. This is a classic fantasy quest novel with plenty of humor, resolve and determination. And it just rolls along that she reads it. Of course it's by Gartnick, so that's not a surprise. Jack in the Geniuses, this is book one of a new series. Jack is 12 and his genius foster siblings Ava 12 and Matt 15 are all emancipated. They are independent from the foster system. They had a lucky encounter with inventor and scientist Henry Witherspoon or Hank and soon they are joining him on a trip to Antarctica where he will judge a competition and see what discovery a fellow scientist has uncovered. When they arrived, Anna Donna tell you the scientist has disappeared. No one is concerned, she has done this before and no one knows what she was working on for sure. A good mystery in an unusual place. It includes interesting information on McMurdo station and surviving in Antarctica. And several inventions are included in the book that are all based on actual discoveries but the author's just taken the inventions a little further from where they are right now into being used by people. Book two came out in September. I haven't seen it yet but it's titled in the deep blue sea takes place in Hawaii. Bill Nye the science guy, yeah. Oh, thanks for pointing that out. This is a heartbreakers book. The 1980s in a small village in Kenya, Alma 13 and then 14 during the story cannot understand why so many adults are dying. Over time, she learns about AIDS and HIV and how they are contracted. First her father, then her mother dies and she must decide whether to follow her heart to more education via track scholarship or find a job to help her siblings and her grandmother survive. Alma is strong and determined. She does not settle like so many others for her grandmother's solution to their trouble, marriage. Even real sense of her puzzlemanness of what was causing this and then slowly learning what was happening. Seventh graders, Michael and his best friend, David have been tagged with the terrible nicknames of pottymouth and stupid since they were young and these names have followed them throughout their school years. Michael uses creative language when he is upset or excited and Michael once spilled paint in his preschool class. The two best buds are tired of being bullied and are ready to fight back with laughter. When stories of Michael and David appear on a cable TV show, their middle school has quite the different reaction to pottymouth and stupid. Good messages of how to stand up to bullies and to not follow the crowd. Great books for fans of House of Robots and iFunny series. Patterson and Gravenstein make a great team for middle school reluctant readers. James Patterson is everywhere. I believe so. But he's bringing out a lot of other authors. Yeah, that's a nice theory. Yeah, I love that he does that. This is one of my favorite authors right now. Jason Reynolds. Miles, who is half black and half Puerto Rican attends an elite prep school as a work study student. His best friend and roommate is Gonky, a Korean American whose parents were divorcing. Miles is the new Spider-Man and is frustrated that his spidey sense keeps kicking in during one specific class. But when he leaves and goes to check on things, there is nothing happening anywhere in the school. He makes mistakes and he wonders if he should even continue with the new Spider-Man. One of his teachers approach to the class is outrageous, stating slavery was beneficial to those held in it and it might be better for our country if it was never outlawed. That's just kind of stunning, wonderful. This is the second installment in the track series that is told through the perspective of Patty, a star 800 runner and a new addition to the elite defenders middle school track team. The first book was called Ghost and it was told through his perspective. Petina runs for many reasons to escape the criticism from her new fancy school that she must attend since moving in with her aunt and uncle. Patty also runs away from diabetes that has taken her mother's feet, but she also trains for her mom too. Patty must learn to work together with her teammates when they begin working on the skills needed for a relay race. Great character development and good pacing. Looking forward to the third book as this one left you with a cliffhanger ending just like Ghost did. Sneaky. Okay, these words are directly from the publisher. I couldn't come up with a good blurb for this one that wasn't already said. It was 1798 when the Morningstar Twins arrived in New York with a vision for a magnificent city, towering skyscrapers, dazzling machines, all running on technology no one had ever seen before. 57 years later, the architects disappeared leaving behind the Old York Cypher. A puzzle laid into the shining city they constructed at the end was promised a treasure beyond all imagining. Currently, the puzzle has not been solved and the greatest mystery of the modern world is little more than a tourist attraction. Twins, Tess and Theo Bearderman and their friend Jamie Cruz live in a Morningstar apartment until a real estate developer announces that all families in the building must move out at the end of the month. Their apartment's likely destruction means the end of a dream long held by the people of New York. And if Tess, Theo and Jamie want to save their home, they have to prove that the Old York Cypher is real, which means they have to solve it. Good middle school book for fans of escape from Mr. Limoncello's library. And I see this says the bottom it's book one so this is gonna be a six that we're gonna have to keep up. You hanging at the end. This book was originally published in Canada in 2012 but wasn't published in the U.S. until this year. Leida is 10 and Ukrainian, but she is captured by the Germans separated from her younger sister Larissa who's five and she is told that she must work or die. She lies as she is 13 and she is lucky. She is put to work. Many of the younger children are killed by draining their blood to be used for the wounded soldiers. This is during World War II in case it doesn't make it clear with Hitler. She makes some friends who are in the same situation she is and they support each other and their friendships are one of the few things that helps them stay alive. At one point she and her new friends are put to work making bombs and they find a way to sabotage them. This tells of the children and teens living during World War II and after and Lydia trying to find her sister and her friends. Where did they end up? And authors noted that the back of the book provides additional information about the use of Ukrainian youth as forced labor. And so this is fiction, but again, it's based on reality. 11 year old Julia Marks is short for her age. What she doesn't have in height, she definitely makes up in personality. This summer Julia's mom forces her to try out for one of the Munchkin roles in the local production of The Wizard of Oz. She's hesitant at first, but befriends Olive, an adult cast member who is playing the lead Munchkin. Julia's neighbor Mrs. Chang also plays a key role in the costumes and helping Julia come out of her shell. The reader will fall in love with Julia by seeing her hesitance turn into confidence. Themes of friendship, humor, acceptance and teamwork are woven into another great middle school novel by the author of Counting by Sevens. Three 12-year-olds take it on themselves to solve two mysteries. One is who attacked Elvin's grandfather and put him in the hospital? The second one is why was one woman's heart, why did it disappear years ago and where might it be now? The answers will point out the need for caring about people and community and for standing out for what you believe in. Matthew 12 stays upstairs in the house. His realm is his room and the extra room that is his mom's office. He looks out the windows, but he rarely even goes downstairs and has not been outside for weeks now. He drops down notes of what he sees outside the windows. Who goes in and out of the houses in their cul-de-sac? Who drives away, comes back, mows the yard, things like that. But now the 15-month-old toddler grandson of the neighbor is missing and Matthew may have seen something important. This is told from Matthew's viewpoint and the reader gets a sense of what he is dealing with.  The short chapters of the mystery will keep readers involved in the book. Now we have some non-fiction routines. First by Kwame Alexander. Lessons on sports and living life using examples from well-known sports figures past and present, as well as a few other people such as Sonia Mezorofliora and Maya Angelou and happenings in Kwame Alexander's life as well. A really positive upbeat book. The third and final graphic novel book in the set, this is one series of books libraries need to own. This title tells of the freedom vote, the Mississippi Freedom Summer and the march from Selma to Montenegro. The author of this is a scientist in an area of the Amazon where he learns that the existence of fish called Yava encouraged the local residents to keep the environment as it always has been in order to harvest the fish. Known to us as Tetris, during the dry season each year, almost 90% of the fish would die. So when the dry season starts, the local people collect them as many as they can and they sell them for people who are using them in public or home aquariums and it saves both the fish and the environment. Another winner in this series, scientists in the field. I've always been fascinated by Harry Houdini. So I read this book right away. It's a biography of Harry Houdini, but it focuses on his interest and his trying, his debunking of many spiritualists who were popular during his time. He kept an open mind. He really wanted them to be right. But as a magician, he was very aware of illusions and distractions and so he would not be caught unaware of the tricks that they were pulling and he exposed quite a few people. This focuses on several of the spiritualists that he exposed. This has encouraging stories of teens who persevered through tough times and found a way to have positive and productive lives. The third story is the hardest, a boy unless he heard the screams of his younger sister being raped by soldiers during the Civil War in Zaire in 1996, which is now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And I just mentioned that because it is really hard to do, but he figures out something that he can do. And it is positive and very strong work. Fiction for older teens. This is the second installment in the flawed series. 18-year-old Celestine North lives in a dystopian society where everyone must be perfect at any cost. After helping a flawed man on a bus, Celestine was marked flawed and branded several times by a morality court which left her with little to no freedoms. Judge Crevion believes Celestine is the biggest threat to the guild and the society. So she is on the run and is eluding capture at her grandfather's farm. Celestine has one secret that could change everything. Can Celestine bring her evidence against Judge Crevion to someone who is trustworthy? Will she be able to bring the entire flawed system down? Very thought provoking book that can bring about many social and political discussions of what it truly means to be human. Oh, this was amazing. 17-year-old Blade Morrison is disappointed by his rock star father, Rutherford, who has been in and out of rehab, Blade's entire life. Still haunted by his mother's untimely death, Blade spends as much time as he can with his girlfriend, Chapel. Then Rutherford decides to show up at Blade's high school graduation, completely stoned and wasted, and Storm, his older sister, uncovers a family secret. Blade looks to Chapel for comfort but is instead betrayed. He decides to search for answers in a village in Ghana. Blade meets a new friend, Joy, and is seeking his life's purpose and what direction he should go in the future. Highly recommend this verse novel by Kwame Alexander. The audio book is amazing and narrated by the author, and he sings four different songs throughout the novel. After the conclusion of the book, the four songs are played again, so it kind of feels like you're reliving the book over again, amazing voice and gripping novel. On a completely different note, this is just a gripe, it's just so much fun. Told in memos, emails, video logs, and transcripts of meetings, phone conversations, and the actual reality TV show titled Waste of Space, the premise was to put 10 teenagers in a spaceship circling the earth. Except they are really in a closed soundstage warehouse in the desert. They don't know that. They think they're in space. Eventually, some of them figure it out. They get great ratings until something goes wrong. All communication is severed and the teens have to figure out what is going on and what they should do. There was one girl who is so convinced that they are in space because she wants to meet up with this fictional character from this series of book she's been reading. So he's gonna come and get her. So you know that she's not completely in reality, but Chas, the CEO of the cable company, is consistently offensive and clueless and really just trying to write this. He's kind of surprised that this show was so popular. But it was great fun. And I really liked Juno D'Amico. D'Amico, D'Amico, excuse me. She's had several books that have been great fun. Oh yeah, and then again, turn around to something else. Grace, a junior in high school at the start of the book has longed for Gavin for years, but now he is her boyfriend and she is so happy she can't believe it. But as she tells her story from time to time, she says, this seems so wonderful. In less than a year, I would hate it. The reader gets a sense of their wonderful love that turns into a prison. Gavin becomes controlling, doesn't trust her, but he knows just what to say to get her back. He eventually threatens suicide, which he knows will stop her from leaving. Language, sex, drinking are all part of the story. It is heartbreaking to read. The author states that she was in this kind of a relationship for two and a half years and she knew she had to write about it. This book is fiction, it's not her story. In the book, the girl's parents are part of the problem, but thankfully she has two friends who never give up on her leaving this relationship. And so interestingly, right after this one is Sarah Dustin, once and for all, it is the summer after her high school graduation and Luna 18 is once again working as an assistant in her mother's wedding consultant business. She is skilled at guiding people where they need to be, halting and redirecting bad behavior and convincing the bride, everything is fine. But when her mom hires Ambrose, the troublemaker from one of the weddings, she is not sure she can work with them. Over the summer, the reader learns about Luna's deceased first love, how she handles the job, how she deals with Ambrose, and about her best friend, Julie. A journey of discovery for Luna with a few details of the wedding business thrown in. And I said Hallmark Channel should look at this because it is just that opposite of bad news. Sadie Sullivan's first week working at the food stand by the row during the summer before her senior year in high school shows her spirit when a driver speeds into the parking lot, slants the brakes, it's obviously drunk. Sadie leans into the car to grab the baby in the back seat and is stoned to the ground by the driver. Others come to her aid and the man is prevented from leaving. Sadie is honored with four other teens for being positive influences in their community. And soon the five teens are secretly working together to continue to have a positive effect on others, everything from posting on web pages, positive things. But then they begin to put themselves into danger in a couple of dangerous situations before the end of the week. But it's a very upbeat and positive for the most part and you can start worrying in there too. This is just fun. Rachel, a junior in high school, has carefully stayed out of any limelight until the evening she took a photo of her crush, Kyle, working the counter of the burger barn at the mall. She's never even really talked much to him. She sends the photo to her friend Mo via Flit, using Twitter with the caption, hashtag, I'd like fries with that. Knowing her friend only has like 20 followers at the most, but it goes viral overnight. And so everybody at school is talking about it. They all know who she is. There are, some people are saying very mean things on her own Flit site. And but everyone's fascinated by Kyle. A talk show picks up on it and they have Kyle on as a guest. Rachel continues to wait for the other shoe to drop because now the show wants him to take her to prom. And she agrees and they buy her some dress. And she's just sure this is all going to be one huge joke and she is going to be the fall guy, so to speak. It's a fun romance with humor, some bullying, and a look at social media. And actually, he really likes her. He gave her way. Sister Scarlett and Tella have grown up with stories of Carrival their entire life. Neither girl has ever left their small island because of their domineering father. Each one wants to escape for different reasons, but this year Scarlett finally receives an invitation to Carrival. Both girls sneak away to attend Carrival, which is a five night game filled with mystery, fantasy, and suspense. And some say magic. The players sometimes get caught up in the game in order to win a final wish and the audience is encouraged to participate in the festivities. When Tella disappears the first night, Scarlett must win the game in order to save her sister's life. Is every frightening event a reality? A very suspenseful page turning fantasy novel that keeps the reader guessing until the very last page. And the second one is going to be coming out here shortly. This is book two in the frontline series. In an alternate world, the US government had just allowed women to serve in the military on the front lines when World War II started. It is now 1943, Rio and Francie are soon to invade Sicily than the Italy mainland. Rainy has a secret mission that may leave her stranded in Rome. The blood, dirt, stink, exhaustion, and casualties of war are clearly presented.  And there's going to be another, at least one more book. Okay, word of advice on this one. Do not read the entire summary of this book on Goodreads before you read it. It's told in dual perspectives of 17 year old Ariel and 16 year old Maya. Hopkins graphically depicts the struggles of these teens with peer pressure, sexual orientation, and family issues. The reader finds out the connection between the two teens toward the end of the novel. The plot line came from a real life event that happened to the author. I highly recommend this to very mature high school students and the audio book was amazing. And it's 608 pages, but it's a verse novel. So the Goodreads description ended that they like give away, unfortunately. They give away too much information because you don't want to know the connection between the two. No, it's purposefully at the end, for a reason, obviously. Yeah, yeah. Yes. See, I give away endings because this is reviews and I think librarians need to know it not because it's spoiled for you. But I understand with this one. I'm gonna read that before I read the Goodreads description. This is the fourth book, Soldier Boy, Search and Destroy. I think there's another one. I think this is the fourth one. This also was World War II. I kind of had a theme. That just came out this year, I guess. Yuki Nakahara and Shig Umura have been best friends since forever. When both their families are sent to an internment camp after Pearl Harbor was bombed, they decided the only thing to do was enlist when they turned 18. Hoping that serving in the U.S. Army will help send the message that they and their families are American. They soon find war is much different than they expected. Intense battles and many friends killed during the time covered in the book. The author includes a preface that sends the states for the book and explains why people felt as they did about the Japanese Americans all the time. It doesn't justify it. It just says, here's how things work. The author's note clarifies that the battles in the book were all battles that Japanese American regiments fought and as portrayed as they happened, but the main characters are fictional. He makes it clear that war is not gambling. Oh my. Mary B. Addison was nine when she was convicted of the murder of a three-month-old white baby and sentenced to prison. Mary's black. Now 15 and living at a group home, Mary finds herself pregnant. Her boyfriend is supportive, but when Mary finds out she will never be allowed to keep her baby due to her conviction, she feels she must find a way to reopen her trial claiming she did not kill the baby. Over time, the reader learns more about the death of the baby, the investigation into the murder at that time and the faithful visits by Mary's mothers to the group home. A few twists, some terrible fellow inmates, the rotten group home and a bit of blurring of right and wrong make a compelling story. A tragic event has happened to 18-year-old Marin the last few weeks of summer vacation and she hasn't spoken to anyone since she up and left her California town. Marin is now attending college in New York and her best friend Mabel has decided to come to Marin City to visit her. Marin is forced to face the truth about the tragedy and what was all and what was all left unsaid. Beautifully written story about grief, love, acceptance and learning to move forward from a difficult past. The novel may lead readers to reaching out to a long lost friend or family member. I highly recommend this one. That one, the title I'm looking at here is that's covered up again. Looking, they need to find another place for their bar. We are okay is the title of that one. Thank you. And this one's one of my all-time favorites too. 18-year-old Amika Chen is one of the millions of players who log into Warcross every day. The virtual reality game began 10 years ago and now it has become a way of life. Amika, a top coder and bounty hunter is not your average Warcross player. Desperate for money to pay her bills she risk everything by hacking into the Warcross championships, but instead she glitches herself into the game and everyone sees her true identity. Amika believes she will be arrested but instead the game's creator has other plans. Billionaire Hideo Tanaka decides to pay off Amika's debt and offer her a job. Will Amika accept the bounty job and help uncover a sinister plot against the Warcross game and its players? Action-packed science fiction novel that will keep you guessing until the very end. And this is the author of the legend series, very good book. I'm not really into mysteries usually but this one I really liked. Five high school students are thrown into detention and one student doesn't make it out of the school alive. Bronwyn is a Yale-bound and rule follower. Addy is always flawless and picture perfect on the outside. Nate is the criminal who is on probation for dealing drugs. Cooper is the all-star baseball pitcher who has his eye on a college scholarship. And Simon is the creator of the Bayview High's gossip app and the outcasts of the group. According to the police, the allergic reaction and death was not an accident. One of these students are guilty, but which one? All of the clues are presented so the reader is able to figure out which student is the murderer. This is like Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars with this debut novel by Karen McManus. That sounds like an awesome combination. Hopefully to take a six-week coding seminar during the summer before starting college, Dimple is surprised when her parents agree. It will be wonderful, but even better, we'll be getting away from her mothers and treaties to consider different prospects for an arranged marriage. It isn't long before Dimple realizes why they so readily agreed. Rishi is happy to follow his parents' wishes and rebellion is not in his blood. His first approach to Dimple, however, ends in disaster. They end up as a team for the insomnia con of the class and slowly begin to build a friendship and maybe more. It alternates viewpoints between the two characters and readers will enjoy the romance and the idea of the freedom of college along with the hard work. And both Dimple and Rishi are Americans, but they're heritages from India. 16-year-old Petula DeWild lost her younger sister two years ago and she has blamed herself every day for her death. After the tragedy, Petula started presenting OCD symptoms of frequently washing her hands, avoiding construction sites and creating a scrapbook of freak and accidental deaths. She no longer works on craft projects with her best friend and has become more of a loner. Petula's anxiety have landed her in mandatory art therapy class. She doesn't feel like she belongs with the other misfits until Jacob joins the class. When they are partnered up on a project, Petula is forced to work with him and she begins to let her guard down. Can Jacob help Petula conquer her fears or will a skeleton from his closet change everything? Quick-paced realistic fiction novel about overcoming an obstacle. Another James Patterson. A 17-year-old twin sisters, Becca and Cassie Greenfield, have lived all their life in a regulated farming community known as a cell. With no parents at home to care for them, the twins are trying to make it through high school so they can start their vocations and keep off the radar of the united, the ruling body. One night, the rebellious twin, Becca doesn't make it home at curfew. Told through dual perspectives, the reader finds out that Becca has been captured and thrown into a violent prison for teenagers. Becca's only hope is that her good twin will start breaking the rules before she dies in the crazy house because the jailers have captured the wrong twin. Action-packed dystopian novel told in short chapters that keeps the reader's hook and craving the second installment. 17-year-old Danika Grayson lives inside the palace of Versailles in the 22nd century but every royal family eats and dresses like it's the 18th century with the exception of modern day technology and the palace being staffed with robots. One day, Danika witnesses the king committing a murder so her mother blackmails the king into making Danika his new queen. Danika is repulsed by the king and begins her plan to escape. Her only way out is to raise enough money to be smuggled out and the only option is to get that much money before the wedding is by dealing a new undetected type of drug called glitter. Danika designs a line of cosmetics and sells it to royalty without them knowing it is highly addictive. Will Danika raise enough money to escape? Will her glitter makeup line be exposed? Fast-paced science fiction novel that will have the reader longing for the sequel and it's a very good audio read. Told in free verse Will who's 15, his older brother Sean was shot and killed two days ago. Will knows the rules as taught to him by Sean. Number one, no crying. Number two, no snitching. Nobody saw anything. Number three, revenge. So Will goes up to the family's apartment to get Sean's gun to use against the one he is sure killed him but we didn't see it happen. When writing the elevator back down it stops on each floor and someone who is now dead from their past steps on and talks to Will about their life, his life, what he is planning to do and what will happen after that. This is a powerful and amazing book and it's fairly thick but because it's in free verse the amount of type on each page is quite limited. It's amazing. This book is also amazing in an alternate world or kind of alternate.  You hope to receive it just after midnight so you can do, you have the most time to do whatever last things you wanna do. Deathcast calls Matteo Torres, 18, and Rufus and Matteo, 17, who are strangers to each other but end up together for their last day by using the last friend act.  Rufus is bisexual, though this is not the main point of the book. One main point is how people affect each other even in the smallest things that they do. The two guys go through some life changes together, find some acceptance of the finality of their lives and some things that they have done, they wish they'd done differently. It's told alternately from there and a few others points of view. And when this book first came in as a review book, I read the title, I'm like, well, I don't wanna read this. I only know it, I only got the idea. They just gave it away. It is amazing. It's a wonderful book. 16 year old Star Carter is an African-American girl caught between two worlds. Her fancy prep school she attends and the poor black urban neighborhood where she lives. The two worlds collide when Star is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed childhood friend, Khalil, by a white police officer. The balance has been broken and Star must decide whether she stands up and speaks out about the injustice of the shooting that has made national news. The media is painting a completely different portrayal of Khalil and Star may need to set the record straight. Will Star's prep school friends think differently about her? Will any charges be brought against the police officer? Eye-opening novel about race relations today and a movie adaptation is in the works. This also won two Goodreads awards. Jade, 16, loves collage art and photography. She is a scholarship student at a mostly white prestigious private school and lives in what others consider to be a questionable area of open Portland, Oregon. Some of this thought may sound very similar to the hate you get, but they do go different directions. One is invited once, okay, she is invited to join the woman to woman program. And if she stays with it for her last two years of high school, she is guaranteed a college scholarship. During her junior year, Jade makes friends with Samantha same, who rides the same city bus to school. It isn't long before things begin to chape her, how her white friend makes excuses for prejudice behavior and how she feels sometimes at the school and even her mentor Maxine, who is black, things that she needs saving. She is doing just fine. Thank you. When she hears about a black girl at a pool party who was beaten by police, she has trouble dealing with it. But finally finds a positive way to respond with others and make a difference. This contains things that need to be talked about, whether with friends or in the classroom, as well as the previous book. We had someone had a comment actually going back to the hate you gave the previous book that I just, so I just popped up here, that Liz says this book has already been banned somewhere. Oh, I didn't know that. And she is intrigued about it. And I just did a quick little search. Apparently some Texas school district band didn't have to, I didn't read anything. I just did a quick search, so. That's unfortunate, huh? That's very unfortunate. Yes. Because it's an amazing book. And I can see why people would, well, certain people would just not want kids to know about these things or, but. This is a prequel to codename verity, but this is not necessary to have read that book first. In this one, Julia is 15 soon to be 16 and is just home from school for the summer. No one is home yet, so she walks along the river and lays on a rock to dangle her fingers in it. The next thing she knows, she's in the hospital having received a bad blow to the head. No one knows what happened and Julia cannot remember anything. Her goal is to solve this mystery and she will have help from her new friends, the ones who found her and took her to the hospital. The title refers to river pools, river pearls, unique beautiful ones found in this area of the world, which is Scotland. Gem, almost 17 and her sister Dixie, 14, have survived neglectful parents for most of their lives. Now things have come to a head for Gem and Dixie has drawn along with her as they run away for a couple of days. Gem needs to sort out where she is and where she could go. Their parents have been physically the dad or mentally the mom absent for Gem, though they seem to build on Dixie. I loved this one. One text message changed 17 year old Carter's life in an instant. After sending the text, Carter finds out that his three best friends have died in a car accident. The last thing on the driver's phone is Carter's text. As Carter begins to grieve the deaths of Mars, Eli and Blake, law enforcement starts pointing the finger at Carter. Three funerals, panic attacks and accusations is not the way Carter thought. He would spend the few weeks before his senior year of high school. Then Blake's grandmother asked Carter to spend one last day, a goodbye day, with her to celebrate Blake and how she would have liked to spend his last day on earth. Can these goodbye days help Carter to heal or will he end up behind bars? Heartbreaking story, but one every high school student should read as well as their parents. And the audio book was amazing. That's our list. I have a couple of things to talk about. I know we're over time. Just a little bit. No, but still after 11, no problem. We will go as long as it takes. If anyone has any questions, any other questions or comments about any of the titles or any books you want to share that you thought were good for the year, go ahead and type in the question section. We'll go as long as it takes for that. And for Sally to... I just want to go to the web page. She was there for the end, you know. Because what I wanted to point out, and I meant to do this earlier before we talked, but I got excited to start talking about books. On the main web page here, if you type in this search box, handouts, it pops up down here too. And then you're taken to this connection. And the one with the star by it and the line under it, that's the one you want, because so far, these are all my handouts. Other people are welcome to use this. Other people are welcome to use this page. I should talk about that more. So here's what you'll see right now. Best new team books. And it's in a PDF. And this is just the list. So there you go. You can get all of your order information you need. If you jot it down the title, but missed the author, you can find it here. So I hope you didn't panic about jotting things down. They're all here. And soon enough, you'll be able to see one here that says, best new team books with blurb. As you can see, there's the 16 ones. Yeah, with blurb. So that's what we mean by that, is that you'll be able to connect. I almost have the children's with blurbs done. I just have a few blurbs I need to like expand on, because I didn't write it down. Sometimes I don't. And I will be talking about that in early June. I believe the children's. Yes, January 3rd. So the companion. Companion show. I say to this one is Sally's. Sally will be back with us on January 3rd, the first Wednesday in 2018 to do the best new children's books of 2017 sessions. So that's where you lean for what you do. You want to join us there? We do have a comment. So I did Liz again to say share a title for this is, you guys should read Eliza and her monsters and I'm going to read it to you. I'm going to read it to you. I'm going to read it to you. Jessica Zippa. Absolutely amazing. A look into the online communities and dealing with your own issues. She said she tried to suggest it for golden soar, but it's a drain goes to all potentially. So. Yeah. You're going to have this. Yes. I'll have the notes for you. Thank you. And someone says, I'd like to put a plug out for far from the tree. And dear Martin. Thank you. Thank you for the suggestions. Yeah. And someone else did say, thank you very much. One of your suggested titles. I want to order to share with my reading workshop classes. So great. So yeah, these titles. I'll, I'll share the, I'll share this with you guys. So you'll know. They were mentioned here. You can take a look at them. Perfect. Thank you. So there's some other titles to look at. Yeah. Eliza and her monsters. Far from the tree. And dear Martin. Three different titles. That's the other, other of our audience members. Suggests. So, you guys. All right. Thank you. Jill for joining us. Yeah. Really well. Now I get to go to lunch. All right. Oh, someone says, thank you for your time. I now have a much longer to read lists. Yeah, that happens. I was taking notes myself than my phone of certain ones that I need to look into. I suppose I could say, you know, he says a nephew's and things, but some of them for myself. Sure. Because that's okay. I just went to the bookstore yesterday and bought the hate and gift. Because I've had it for you. I said, I'm just putting the money in there. So I'm going to read it very soon.  All right. So that does wrap it up for this week's encompass live. And also while we're here, it's going to be a great, a great, it should. There we go. And compass live and get it to, from our website. Also, if you just Google us, use your or search engine of your choice. That's the only thing we come up. Yeah. That's it. So this is our website here. Our archives. The show has been recorded and it will be posted here. I later this afternoon. If I get to it. And this is our most recent ones come to the top of the list. So, I'm going to go ahead and show you how to do it. I'll link their presentation and to the handouts page. So you can have access to all of that from the archive. Everyone who attended room live today or pre-register for today's show will be sent an email when it's all processed and ready up there. So you can go to it. But like I said, this is all just free and open online as well. So feel free to pop over there whenever you want to. So I hope you join us for our next week's show. This is where I've got our upcoming shows. You see, I've got only a couple here in January. I'm in. I'm finalizing some things for those dates in between. So don't panic. Yeah. There's, there's not a break or anything. We just got to get, you know, people confirmed and descriptions. Pretty. Pretty. Nice. So, but keep on here. And here's where it said Sally's new children's book session will be January. So I hope you join us for our next week's show. This is where I've got our upcoming shows. You see, I've got only a couple here in January. So I hope you join us for our next week's book session will be January 3rd. So sign up for that one. If you're going to see the other one of that. But next week is the next best. The next best. I didn't write this title thing to having your own gigabit internet. Tom Ralfus, who is from the Nebraska information technology commission in our own Holly Wolk from here at the library commission. Have. This is, well, Tom is this idea of a ways to use school internet connections to help libraries have stronger internet. So I think it's a great idea. So we definitely should come to this show this show next week. Next Wednesday. Also, they have actually, it's not listed here because it's still in works. They applied for an IMLS sparks grant. And have been accepted to submit a short, short grant, short application. And we've been accepted to submit a full application that's doing this month. So there is a chance that this will be something that would be piloting potentially here in Nebraska. If we receive the grant, we won't know that until later in the spring. But if you're interested in this one, see what it's all about. I definitely show up for next show. I'll be there online with them as well. I'm talking about it. There with the e-rate connection. So sign up for that if you're interested. Also end of the slide is on Facebook. We've got links all over our site here.   Hopefully. I post reminders. Like here it says login right now for today's show when recordings are ready. We'll be posted here. So if you do use Facebook a lot, do go over there and like this. And then that wraps it up for this morning show. Thank you very much, Jill and Sally for sharing all these awesome titles with us. Thank you to everyone for attending. And just let me double check. Thank you. All right. And we will see you next week on. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Happy new year. No, we're back before the new year. So. Thank you again, Jill. Thank you, Sally. I miss you. I miss you too. All right. Have a good school vacation. For camera. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.