The Best of 2008

Here are some of Miss Tammy's 2008 highlights:

Best YA Book
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
(Seriously people. Read it. Read it now.)

Best JF Book
The 13 Clocks by James Thurber
(It's actually on old book, but I just read it this year.)

Best JR Non-Fiction Book
30 Days To Getting Over That Dork You Used To Call Your Boyfriend
by Clea Hantman
(Also wins the Best Title of 2008 Award)

Best New Series
The House of Night by P.C. & Kristen Cast
(The first book actually came out in 2007 but I didn't read it until this year)

Best Reason To Have A Countdown Calendar
Release of Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
(Was the anticipation better than the book? Discuss.)

Best Reason To Watch The Twilight Movie
Rob Pattinson
(Hottie!)

Best Reason to Not Watch The Twilight Movie
Rob Pattinson
(He held his nose, for the love of Pete!)

Best Party Ever
Twilight Carnival - August 2, 2008
(Does life get any better?)

Best Reason To Like A Book
"Because, in my mind, the main character is hot."
(You know who you are.)

Best YA Book Review
Here Be Dragons review by Inkgirl
("Oh, and there are no dragons.")

Best Board Game
Killer Bunnies
(Oh, how I love you, George.)

Best New Sport
Waffle Ball

Best Reason To Sell Raffle Tickets
Invite-only pajama party at the library

Best Excuse To Be On Facebook At Work
"I'm updating the MCPL YAAP page"
(OK, maybe that's just for me)

Best Use Of Fall Break
Meeting Shannon Hale
(I'm only mildly jealous, Telle.)

Best Reason Miss Tammy Shouldn't Play Games With Teenagers
The giant bruise that is still on her leg from playing Are You A Werewolf

Best Alternate Reality
Swinescabies
(I've turned in my transfer request!)

Best Wizarding Rock Christmas Song
Ron's Twelve Days of Christmas
(On the first day of Christmas Percy gave to me a lecture on the ministry...)

Best Kids In The Whole Wide World
Miss Tammy's YAAPers!

There were tons more highlights from the year that was, but these are some of my favorites. How about you guys? I'd love to see what your "Best of" lists have on them!

The Short of It

Have you ever been in the mood to read something but didn't really have the time to jump into a new novel? There is a solution! It's called a "short story".

You've heard of these, right? Stories that are, you know, not so much with the length? Lately I've been doing a little short story reading and what I've discovered is that short stories are awesome.

There are all kinds of short story collections out there, but some of the more recent and popular ones that I have enjoyed have been from the young adult supernatural romance genre. (I know, you are just so surprised by this revelation.) Prom Nights From Hell, Immortal: Love Stories with Bite, and Love is Hell all feature stories by some of YA's hottest authors, including Scott Westerfeld (The Uglies); Meg Cabot (what hasn't she written?) and Stephenie Meyer (I hear she wrote some series that people have a passing interest in). Some of the them are just nice little stories and some of them (like the story by Evernight author Claudia Gray in Immortal) gives some nice background to a beloved series. What I really love about short stories is that you can usually read one in less than an hour. How awesome is that? It usually takes me twice that long just to check my email!

Has anyone else read any short stories lately? What do you like or dislike about them? What is your favorite? Talk to me!

November in review

Hmmmm...somebody has been neglecting their blogging duties lately. Funny how time just seems to fly away when you're busy.

So, what have the YAs at the Marshall County Public Library been up to in the past month? Lots.

On November 11th we had our first ever Fight Evil Read Books book club meeting. We all sat around eating cookie dough and discussing one of our favorite books. It was interesting to see how similar (and different) our tastes are. And to find out which characters Kathryn thinks are hot.

November 13th was Twilight Trivia at the Benton Library. It was a huge success! Lots of Twilight-related prizes were given away and everyone had a great time answering all the questions about the book.

The next Tuesday Orbis de Scriptors (our writers' group) met for the first time. I think "awesome" would be an understatement when describing some of the work that was read aloud at the end of the session. We've got some seriously talented kids!

Finally, on November 24th several YAAPers gathered to do some online shopping. This year the YAAP decided to donate the remainder of their Basket Raffle money to sponsor a child for Christmas. Further proof that I have the bestest kids in the whole wide world.

So, what's next on the agenda? On December 12th the YAAP will be having their annual Christmas party. This year's theme: A Harry Potter Christmas (to help ease the pain of not having a HP movie this holiday season). If you've not joined YAAP yet but would like to attend, just let Miss Tammy know before December 12!