The Best Reader [Search results for Viking] 

"I feel like I've been humanized by this novel — that I have a deeper understanding and a deeper empathy for girls who struggle with eating disorders... I remember this feeling of suffocation while listening, like I couldn't bare to go on but I didn't dare stop." — Miss Remmers

Release Date: March 2009
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Challenges: Audiobook Challenge and 100+ Reading Challenge

"Lia and Cassie were best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies. But now Cassie is dead. Lia's mother is busy saving other people's lives. Her father is away on business. Her step-mother is clueless. And the voice inside Lia's head keeps telling her to remain in control, stay strong, lose more, weigh less . If she keeps on going this way—thin, thinner, thinnest—maybe she'll disappear altogether.
In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the National Book Award finalist Speak , best-selling author Laurie Halse Anderson explores one girl's chilling descent into the all-consuming vortex of anorexia."

Wow, after listening to "Eragon" I chose "Wintergirls" simply because I was looking for another audiobook and wanted a story that I had been looking forward to reading for a while. I can't imagine a better way to read this story than by audiobook. The narrator did a fantastic job and the rawness and honesty of the plot has stayed with me the few weeks since finishing.
I listened to this book while on my way home to Northern Minnesota for the 4th of July. There was a point, rather towards the beginning, where I stopped to eat at Burger King. I didn't go through the drive thru, but it seemed as though I had. I went to eat my wonderfully "crafted" burger of grease but found myself all of a sudden no longer hungry. I did end up eating the burger, but I threw most of my fries away. It's hard to explain or describe, but as a girl who has never really struggled with food or felt the need to diet hardcore (I have dieted, but it never seems to last very long. Food and I have a very tight relationship) this honest story hit me hard. So hard that even when I was trying to enjoy my time at home (and inevitably pig out) I found myself thinking of Lia and her family.
While at first I found myself chastising Lia and Cassie for their disorders and thinking — "Really? Why can't you just eat!" — but so gradually I didn't even notice it was happening I realized how real this life struggle with food can be. I feel like I've been humanized by this novel — that I have a deeper understanding and a deeper empathy for young girls who struggle with eating disorders. I remember this feeling of suffocation while listening, like I couldn't bare to go on but I didn't dare stop.
This was such an amazing audio — I just can't state that enough. Absolutely fantastic.
-Visit Laurie around the web here: Website | Blog | Goodreads | Twitter
-BUY THE BOOK: Amazon | Kindle | Barnes and Noble | Nook

To the FTC, with love: Library Audio

Jennifer R. Hubbard is here today to talk a little about her newest book Try Not to Breathe. It was just released last week and I can't wait to get my hands on it!

Fill out the form below to be entered for some swag!

1. Try Not to Breathe had a cover makeover. Can you tell us a little about the process and what your reactions have been as you've seen the old and new covers?
The original cover, which appeared on the ARC, captured several of the book's symbols: rain, glass, waterfall. It was also a beautiful cover, pale blue with that dreamy quality. The cover that is going on the hardback is bolder, edgier, perhaps more modern-looking: it's a closeup of two faces.
Authors generally don't have input into their covers, and I didn't have any say over either image. What the design team is aiming for is a cover that will make people look at the book and pick it up. I'm not a visual artist nor a designer, so I don't really know what will accomplish that. I only hope that people like what's inside!
Because the change was made fairly late in the design process, I had bookmarks made with the original cover, and I have bookmarks with the new cover. I'm happy to provide both to people who request them!
2. Did your writing strategy or style change as you prepared to write this novel — as compared to when you wrote The Secret Year?
I was toying with the idea of writing a verse novel when I started Try Not to Breathe. The beginning of the first draft was a mix of verse and cut-line prose and prose poems, very different from the first draft of The Secret Year. I quickly turned this book into traditional prose, but (I hope) something poetic about the language remains.
3. Can you tell us 5 words you would use to describe each character — Ryan and Nicki?
Ryan: thoughtful, cautious, loyal, intelligent, self-protective Nicki: sympathetic, free-spirited, adventurous, assertive, curious
4. What is the biggest lesson you have learned as an author?
That's a very difficult question. Probably, I would say that the writing itself is still its own reward. Writing brings us many side benefits, and communicating with others through novels is a wonderful experience. But there's so much we can't control, so much that's a matter of chance, about what happens to a piece of writing when it goes out into the world. The writing itself is the starting point and the central act, and it's a beautiful thing to do no matter what else happens afterward.

Try Not to Breathe by Janenifer R. Hubbard Publisher: Viking (January 19th, 2012) Reading Level: Young Adult Hardback: 272 pages A dark and provocative novel from the author of The Secret Year

Ryan spends most of his time alone at the local waterfall because it’s the only thing that makes him feel alive. He’s sixteen, post-suicidal, and trying to figure out what to do with himself after a stint in a mental hospital. Then Nicki barges into his world, brimming with life and energy, and asking questions about Ryan’s depression that no one else has ever been brave enough—or cared enough—to ask. Ryan isn’t sure why he trusts Nicki with his darkest secrets, but that trust turns out to be the catalyst that he desperately needs to start living again.

Prize:

• 5 winners will receive a Try Not to Breathe bookmark.

• You must be at least 13 to enter.
• Name and email must be provided.
• Extra entries are possible and links must be provided.
• Contest is US/CA and ends February 7th.
• Once contacted, the winner will have 48 hours to respond.
• The form must be filled out to enter.

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Blog

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I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler (Sourcebooks Fire 5/1/2011) Shift (Shade #2) by Jeri Smith-Ready (Simon Pulse 5/3/2011) Bite Club (The Morganville Vampires #10) by Rachel Caine (NAL Hardcover 5/3/2011)

Divergent (Divergent #1) by Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books 5/3/2011) Everfound (The Skinjacker Trilogy #3) by Neal Shusterman (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing 5/3/2011) So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti (Viking Juvenile 5/3/2011)

But I Love Him by Amanda Grace (Flux 5/8/2011) Bitter End by Janenifer Brown (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 5/10/2011) What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen (Penguin Young Readers Group 5/10/2011)

Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs (Walker Books for Young Readers 5/10/2011) Tighter by Adele Griffin (Knoph Books for Young Readers 5/10/2011) The Lucky Kind by Alyssa B. Sheinmel (Knoph Books for Young Readers 5/10/2011)

Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott (Simon Pulse 5/24/2011)

Moonglass by Jessi Kirby (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing 5/3/2011) Die for Me (Revenants #1) by Amy Plum (HarperTeen 5/10/2011) The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski (EgmontUSA 5/10/2011)

Flawless by Lara Chapman (Bloomsbury 5/10/2011) The Pull of Gravity by Gae Polisner (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 5/10/2011) Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 5/23/2011)

Starcrossed (Starcrossed #1) by Josephine Angelini (HarperTeen 5/31/2011) Blood Magic (The Blood Journals #1) by Tessa Gratton (Random House Books for Young Readers 5/24/2011)

If you know of any other new releases for May 1st-31st feel free to add them in the comments so others will know about them!

Stolen Away by Alyxandra Harvey (Walker Childrens 1/17/2012) The Asylum (The Vampire Diaries: Stefan's Diaries #5) by L.J. Smith (HarperCollins 1/17/2012) Hallowed (Unearthly #2) by Cynthia Hand (HarperCollins 1/17/2012)

Truth (XVI #2) by Julia Karr (Speak 1/19/2012) Try Not to Breathe by Janenifer R. Hubbard (Viking Juvenile 1/19/2012) Havoc (Deviants #2) by Jeff Sampson (Balzer + Bray 1/24/2012)

Fallen in Love (Fallen #3.5) by Lauren Kate (Delacorte Press for Young Readers 1/24/2012) Daughter of the Centaurs (Centauriad #1) by Kate Klimo (Random House Books for Young Readers 1/24/2012) Forbidden by Syrie James & Ryan M. James (HarperTeen 1/24/2012)

The Way We Fall (The Way We Fall #1) by Megan Crewe (Disney 1/24/2012) Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J. Bick (Lerner Publishing Group 1/28/2012 Destiny and Deception (13 to Life #4) by Shannon Delany (St. Martin's Griffin 1/31/2012)

Lenobia's Vow (House of NightNovellas #2) by P.C. and Kristin Cast (St. Martin's Griffin 1/31/2012) Wings of the Wicked (Angelfire #2) by Courtney Allison Moulton (Katherine Tegen Books 1/31/2012)

Fracture by Megan Miranda (Walker & Company 1/17/2012) Halflings (Halflings #1) by Heather Burch (Zonderkidz 1/17/2012) Tempest (Tempest #1) by Julie Cross (St. Martin's Griffin 1/17/2012)

Never Eighteen by Megan Bostic (HMH Children's Books 1/17/2012) Everneath (Everneath #1) by Brodi Ashton (Balzer + Bray 1/24/2012) Incarnate (Newsoul #1) by Jodi Meadows (HarperCollins 1/31/2012)

Article 5 (Article 5 #1) by Kristen Simmons (Tor Teen 1/31/2012) New Girl by Paige Harbison (Harlequin Teen 1/31/2012)
What books are you most excited to read?

If you know of any other new releases for January 16th-31st feel free to add them in the comments so others will know about them!

A few weeks months ago I asked for your opinion: what books would you recommend to my students. I had a fantastic response. If my stats for that post are any indication, this question has been asked many times before and people, especially teachers, are still looking for those great recommendations. Well, after asking my mom (a school librarian) and the librarian at my school, I'm finally making public what we have put together. I'm pretty sure everybody can find something on this list; I know that nonfiction is an area I need to work on as well and as I'm expecting one nonfiction read from my students by the end of the semester I've set the same standard for myself.

If you'd like to look at these lists in a Google Doc format: Recs from Readers and Recs from Teachers

Here are the recommendations from other readers:
Title of Book
Diary of Anne Frank
In the Garden of Beasts
Manhunt
Farewell to Manzanar
Graphic Novels: Maus and Persepolis
Half Broke Horses
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed
What is the What
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Freakonomics
Under the Black Flag
Cleopatra: A Life
All But My Life
Freedom Riders
Einstein's Refrigerator
Brothers in Arms
The Devil In The White City
Little Princes
360 Degrees Longitude
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

You Had Me at Woof
Decoded
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
Night
Eat, Pray, Love
I am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee I am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee
The Glass Castle
The Children's Blizzard
Rocket Boys
Stitches: A Memoir

And here are the recommendations compiled by two fantastic school librarians:

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Kim Purcell has stopped by today to share the scary statistics of human trafficking. Her novel, Trafficked, explores the life of a girl in one of these situations.

Sign up below for a chance to win a copy.

When I first learned about the scope of modern-day slavery, I knew I had to write a novel about it. I couldn’t believe that someone could do that to another human being, especially in westernized countries. So, I wrote TRAFFICKED, about a girl who comes from Moldova to America to be a nanny and ends up a modern-day slave.

People often want to know what the stats are behind modern-day slavery and sadly, due to the nature of this crime, it seems nobody knows. The stats vary greatly, depending on who’s reporting them. The biggest reason is that it’s such a hidden crime. Modern-day slaves are disposable. If they manage to escape, they have a lot of incentives to stay hidden. They fear their captors. They fear the government. Often, they come into a country illegally and they fear imprisonment and deportation. Maybe their family members have been threatened. Sometimes they’re ashamed. So they never come forward. This is why it’s difficult to get exact numbers.

In any case, here are some stats, which most people agree upon, though they have all been disputed by different NGOs and government organizations.

This information can be found in more detail on two anti-trafficking organization websites: Stop Child Trafficking Now: sctnow.org and Free the Slaves: freetheslaves.net. If you’d like to learn how to help trafficked teens, go to my website: http://kimpurcell.com/Help-Trafficked-Teens

The Stats:

Child/Human Trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world. Child/ human trafficking is the world’s second largest criminal enterprise, after drugs. U.S. State Department
The global market of child trafficking is over $12 billion a year with over 1.2 million child victims. UNICEF

The average age of entry for children victimized by the sex trade industry is 12 years. U.S. Department of Justice

Approximately 80% of human trafficking victims are women and girls and up to 50% are minors. U.S. State Department

Research conducted with Free the Slaves found documented cases of slavery in over 90 cities in the US.

Human Slaves are cheap. In 1850 the average slave cost $40,000 in today’s money, presently a slave costs an average of $90.

In its 400 years, the transatlantic slave trade is estimated to have shipped up to 12 million Africans to colonies in the West. Free the Slaves estimates that the number of people in slavery today is at least 27 million.
600,000 – 800,000 people are bought and sold across international borders each year; 50% are children, most are female. Most of these victims are forced into the commercial sex trade. U.S. Department of State, 2004, Trafficking in Persons Report, Washington, D.C.

14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each year. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry. U.S. Department of Justice Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons

Based on hundreds of cases that filter through their agencies, advocates estimate that domestic workers account for about one-third of the total. In other words, about 5,000 migrant domestic servants take jobs each year in homes where they are highly vulnerable to abuse by their employers.

There have been only 100 prosecutions for involuntary servitude or labor trafficking since the passage of the 2000 anti-trafficking law. US Justice Dept.

Trafficked by Kim Purcell
Publisher: Viking Children's Books (February 16th, 2012)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Hardback: 352 pages
A 17-year-old Moldovan girl whose parents have been killed is brought to the United States to work as a slave for a family in Los Angeles.

Prize:

• 1 winner will receive a copy of TRAFFICKED.

• You must be at least 13 to enter.
• Name and email must be provided and counts as 1 entry.
• Extra entries are possible and links must be provided.
• Contest is US Only and ends March 10th.
• Once contacted, the winner will have 48 hours to respond.
• The form must be filled out to enter.

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

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Haunted Halloween
Jennifer R. Hubbard www.jenniferhubbard.com

I didn’t go Trick-or-Treating when I was little, because my mother said there were crazy people in the world who poisoned candy and put razor blades in apples. Years later, I learned that such stories were largely urban legends, until a few people capitalized on the legends with true crimes. (See http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/needles.asp and http://www.snopes.com/horrors/poison/halloween.asp. And by the way, I never knew anyone who gave or received apples as a Halloween treat. We were all about the sugar.) For me, Halloween was a night for staying home, handing out candy to others, getting to see everyone’s costumes, and eating whatever we didn’t hand out.
I don’t know if feeling like an outsider on Halloween, or having the specter of a hypothetical mad-poisoner-crazy-neighbor hanging over my head, led to my own particular brand of fear. “Scary” movies didn’t scare me because I knew they were make-believe. The news, on the other hand, chronicled real events—real events in which real people were hurt or killed. I did not worry about a werewolf coming to my window; I worried about dying in a car accident or getting a fatal case of meningitis.
And when I look at Halloween, and scary movies, and ghost stories, I see them largely as a safe way to deal with fear. Make-believe allows us to deal with fear’s adrenaline without being truly threatened. Halloween allows us to scare and prank others without serious consequences, to face our fear of the dark. We all know, underneath, that it’s a game, a prelude to orange cupcakes and “fun-size” candy bars.
We all know that true horror is on the nightly news.

The Secret Year by Janenifer Hubbard Publisher: Viking Juvenile (January 7th, 2010) Reading Level: Young Adult Hardback: 192 pages Seventeen-year-old Colt has been sneaking out at night to meet Julia, a girl from an upper-class neighborhood unlike his own. They’ve never told anyone else about their relationship: not their family or friends, and especially not Julia’s boyfriend.When Julia dies suddenly, Colt tries to cope with her death while pretending that he never even knew her. He discovers a journal she left behind. But he is not prepared for the truths he discovers about their intense relationship, nor to pay the price for the secrets he’s kept.

The paperback version of The Secret Year will be available December 23th!

Thank you Janenifer for the story and for the bookmark donation!
Find out more about Janenifer Hubbard Janenifer Hubbard / Blog / Twitter / Goodreads

Purchase The Secret Year Amazon / Barnes & Noble / The Book Depository

* Check out Lisa's Haunted Halloween post with Sara Bennett Wealer and a giveaway for a signed copy of Rival.

*Reminder: If you are interested in the COMMENT CONTEST, remember to include your email address with your comment for an extra entry! Please read full entry rules here.