Now you can keep up to date with our current favorites, from books to music and more! Updated once a month, so check back often. Click here to see previous staff picks.
In the spirit of ET (and no surprise, production by Steven Speilberg) veteran Abrams has created a summer blockbuster that will certainly satisfy. A tight-knit band of teens who are making a low budget horror film in the summer of the 1980's, witness a train crash. This begins a series of inexplicable events that place the friends, their families and their small town in the center of a whirlwind with epic repercussions. Excellent entertainment for the whole family.
Super 8 is a nostalgic time capsule of a story set in 1979. Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams, who is best known for directing TV shows such as Lost and Alias, are the producers of this movie. These two have collaborated to tell a story of a group of teens who encounter mysterious occurrences after a massive train accident. Afterwards, the military has come to investigate the accident along with the sheriff of the small Ohio town. As the movie progresses, the teens get more involved in the investigation as some compelling information is uncovered regarding the true cause of the train accident. In addition to the fast moving story, the suburban locations, cars, costumes and the hair styles accurately reflect the time period. Also, there are several amusing cultural references that the teens speak of. Finally, there’s some great popular music of the time by Blondie, The Cars, The Commodores, and Electric Light Orchestra among others. This is a fun filled action movie from beginning to end.
Leading the pack of this year’s Teen Supernatural books is National Book Award Finalist Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Taylor breaks new ground, creating her own unique mythology and departing from a traditional vampire or werewolf characters. The book’s heroine bright blue haired Karou, intelligent, ostentatious, and outspoken is an art student and lives in Prague. However there is a hidden and otherworld Karou travels through. Mystical creatures known as Chimerae are her surrogate family as well as the subjects of many of her vivid paintings. Join Karou as she explores her powers and finds her own identity and finds love along the way.
The reality of war in Afghanistan never touched me until I read the stories of Mariam and Laila. Their personal tragedies, private moments of love and happiness, combined with a mother’s will to survive kept me turning the pages. Who knew that Russian Communism in Afghanistan was as good for women as the Islamic Taliban was bad for women. What does the future hold for Afghan women today?
In this latest installment, the main character, Precious Ramotswe who is the number lady detective in all of Botswana, is in the middle of an investigation for a frightened client. Someone has killed two of her client's cows. Every one near the client's cattle ranch is a suspect, including the client! It's up to Precious to sort things out, and clear her client's name. In the mean time, Precious also has to deal with her assistant's upcoming wedding (hence the title) and an automotive repair apprentice named Charley, who became a father and then suddenly ran off leaving his girlfriend and new baby all alone.
Nancy Tillman is a relative newcomer who has captured the imaginations of children and their parents, grandparents and anyone else who shares this enchanting book with them. The story, in rhyme, celebrates the birth of a child, and the whole world celebrates as well, with a wondrous moon glowing down on a magical menagerie of happy animal-characters, whimsically delighting the eye and capturing the heart, as they sing the praises of "the one and only ever you." Tillman's breathtaking illustrations are reason enough to sit down with a child and just look...but her creative phrasing and expressions of the uniqueness of every single baby that is born tells you this is one author who "gets" children. A million copies sold of this title alone surely says Tillman, like Chris Van Allsburg, is one of a rare breed of authors who wins readers of all ages, from the first page.
