Howard County Library announces a new initiative, Pass the Book. During Teen Read Week 2009, the Library will distribute copies of  The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld to teen readers throughout the community.

The Secret Hour follows Jessica Day as she arrives in Bixby, Oklahoma, only to discover she’s at the center of a strange convergence of mystical energy. Sharing "the secret hour" between midnight and 12:01 with four of her classmates, Day finds herself on the front lines of a battle for the future of humanity; primeval "slithers" and "darklings" are using the secret hour to find their way back into our reality, intent on reclaiming the planet. The Midnighters must harness the unique properties of the secret hour to fight back using their own special abilities.

The Secret Hour is a great book to share, and with Pass the Book you’ll have the chance to introduce this title to readers in Howard County and beyond. Teens receiving a specially labeled copy of The Secret Hour are encouraged to read the book, track the book (by registering their copy at hclibrary.org/passthebook) and pass the book to another teen reader. Readers can return to the web site to see where their books have traveled. Throughout the year they will have the opportunity to participate in online discussions and challenges based on events in the novel. A display in each branch features read-a-like titles and the other books in the Midnighters series — Touching Darkness and Blue Noon. A number of Midnighter-themed events are also planned in connection with this initiative, including Midnighter Lore at Central Library, Slither Repellant at Elkridge Branch, and Triskaidekamania at Savage Branch.

Copies of The Secret Hour will be available on Monday, October 19. Join us online and in-person throughout the year for quizzes, reviews, and Midnighter-themed events as we pass this exceptional teen adventure around Howard County and beyond.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Sauscony Valdoria is one of my favorite heroines, tough-minded and tender-hearted. Sauscony, nicknamed Soz, is great at math, science, assembling weapons, survival, and figuring tactics. She’s not as great at figuring out people, which can lead to some funny situations. She’s completely literal minded and embodies a series of contradictions.

Soz’s family rules great expanses of the universe, but lives in a rural castle on a protected world. She’s a military genius whose father expects her to get married and have babies. She’d rather run obstacle courses and fly fighter planes than talk about emotions or feelings. In another twist, Soz comes from a family gene-gineered to be the ultimate telepaths, which means she’s empathic to the nth degree. Soz is a super-soldier who feels the hatred of her enemies.

In Asaro’s universe, three interstellar empires share the universe … Earth, The Ruby Empire (Soz’s family), and the Aristo Traders. The Rhon telepaths (mostly Soz’s family) and the Aristo Traders are absolute anathema to one another. Where Soz and her family are extra empathetic, the Traders completely lack that quality. In fact, they achieve a sort of ecstasy from the pain of others, particularly from telepaths who can broadcast their suffering. This makes for some very intense scenes in many of books. Earth plays a sort of intermediary role, trying to keep the peace to varying degrees of success.

Schism is a great place to enter Catherine Asaro’s Skolian series because it introduces Soz as she leaves home for the military academy as war looms on the horizon. Her tale continues in The Final Key, Primary Inversion, and The Radiant Seas. Her story is as fascinating as her funny, strong, ironic character. Other books in the series advance the timeline while focusing on several of Soz’s relatives (parents, siblings, and cousins). Diamond Star, about one of Soz’s brothers and his rock-star career on Earth, was published recently.

Asaro is an award-winning Howard County writer with a Ph.D in chemical physics from Harvard University. Her books have believable hard science elements, along with strong romantic elements.

Kristen Blount  – Administrative Office

As hard as it might be to believe, there are actually adolescent girls out there who aren’t interested, nor comfortable, in reading plotless (and plodding) books about how to put the bite on a male vampire. Young adult fiction that won’t make a sixth grader blush, like the proverbial needle in the haystack, is getting harder and harder for concerned parents to find. But when you do, it can be a shimmering gem such as in first-time novelist Jenny Han’s Shug.

At 12 Shug is passionate and perceptive Annemarie Wilcox of Clarendon, Georgia. She is also unbelievably tall, freckled, and in tremendous doubt when her daddy tells her she will be a looker one day.

Even more impossible to comprehend is how her heart betrays her on a late summer evening when she wakes up to discover that her best friend since childhood, Mark Findlay, is positively kissable! Now — if he’ll only notice that she is budding with womanhood.

Well, Mark doesn’t notice, and as Annemarie embarks on her first year in middle school she must endure not only the pain of this best friend’s careless rejection, but all the other anguish that comes with the territory of maturity – the best girlfriend who blows her off for some jerky guy; the gorgeous mother who drinks too much and shames Annemarie even more; the beautiful, but damaged big sister she’s not sure how to comfort; and worst of all, Jack Connelly, an obnoxious cretin she has known and despised since third grade, but whose troubled life is suddenly about to cross paths with her own.

Jenny Han has imbued in Shug, not only an endearingly complex character, but someone young female readers (not quite anxious to grow up) will recognize –- themselves.

Aimee Zuccarini – East Columbia Branch

Come Early Morning opens with Lucy Fowler (an exceptional Ashley Judd) insisting on paying for the motel where she spent the night, after what we assume is yet another in a series of drunken one-night stands. As she begins the long drive home (and back to a sober reality), Malcolm Holcombe’s "Killing the Blues" plays over the credits. Close-ups show us Lucy’s feelings of guilt, shame, and regret as she drives, and by the time her green and white truck pulls into her driveway, we’re hooked. What’s going on with Lucy?

The movie answers that question by gradually revealing the details of Lucy’s life. Her roommate Kim (Laura Prepon), Lucy’s closest friend, lends a comic element in the movie, saying those things that only your closest friend can say. Kim also provides balance for Lucy’s more extreme behavior. As we get to explore Lucy’s situation in greater depth, we meet the many strands of her dysfunctional family — her boss at the construction company, and eventually Cal Percell, (Jeffrey Donovan, Burn Notice), who is new in town, and might see Lucy as a romantic prospect, rather than simply a conquest. Cal’s pursuit prompts Lucy to examine her life and to make some changes, although they may be different than expected.

Written and directed by Joey Lauren Adams and filmed in her hometown of North Little Rock, the movie feels authentic and respectful, which makes Lucy seem all the more real. This is a deliberate and brilliant film providing drama and a moving story, along with a close-up examination of an ordinary life. Check out a stellar characterization by Ashley Judd in Come Early Morning.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

If you’re looking for something to read that will take you somewhere else for a time and draw you into the lives of the characters, then you may really enjoy Fields of Gold by Marie Bostwick. Eva, the main character, grows up on a dusty little farm in Oklahoma. She is happy there, living with her parents, having Ruby as a best friend, and making beautiful quilts out of little pieces of worn-out clothing. Then one life-changing day, a young aviator arrives at the town and gives Eva a ride in his plane. Life after that is never the same.

Bostwick does a great job of pulling you into the story with her characterizations-the people are real, with flaws and strengths that make them easy to relate to. You just can’t help being drawn into their lives, feeling their worries, hopes, and joys.

And if you, like Eva, are interested in quilting or any other needlework, then please join us at the Miller Branch for Pins and Needles. We meet on two Thursday mornings a month, from 10 am-12 pm. Bring a stitching project to work on while you meet new people, and take some time to slow down for a couple of hours out of your busy day.

Michele Happel – Miller Branch

I’m very excited to be the official romance blogger for Highly Recommended. As an avid romance reader, I don’t get a chance to share my favorite reads much in the children’s department!

In The Duke and I, the first of Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, we encounter Daphne, the fourth-oldest Bridgerton and oldest girl, who is out for her season, but grows weary of her mother constantly parading eligible gentlemen in front of her, hoping for a match. Simon Bassett, the new Duke of Hastings, is tired of mothers and their daughters throwing themselves at him, hoping for a match. After an unlikely meeting, Daphne and Simon hatch a plan that just might work…

This story reminds me a bit of Beauty and the Beast. Not that Simon is ugly–quite the contrary–he is very handsome, but his childhood stutter was seen as a deformity by his father and always made him feel ugly. He doesn’t know it yet, but he needs Daphne to break through barriers to help him become whole and live for himself, and not just to spite his father. The Duke and I conveys a strong sense of Regency England, including the amusing characteristics of London’s ton, the cream of society. Almost all of the books in the series entertain us with the amusing insights of Lady Whistledown, who reports high society gossip with razor-sharp wit and insider secrets. The trouble is, no one knows who she is.

A series offers the chance to revisit old friends and learn more about those you met earlier, in passing. I love watching the Bridgertons interact with each other, sharing the strong bond of family. Each Bridgerton book focuses on the story of one of the siblings: The Viscount Who Loved Me (Anthony); An Offer From a Gentleman (Benedict); Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (Colin); To Sir Phillip, With Love (Eloise); When He Was Wicked (Francesca); It’s in His Kiss (Hyacinth); On the Way to the Wedding (Gregory)

I think a good romance makes you feel happier for reading it. A great romance makes you laugh, cry and then feel all gushy inside. The Duke and I (and all of the Bridgerton books) most definitely qualify.

For extra fun, check out Julia Quinn’s website, where you’ll not only find information about the Bridgertons, but about all of her books, including new releases. I love her book soundtrack section, where she lists songs that inspired her during the writing of her books. Also, not only are several of Julia Quinn’s books available in electronic format, but you can download a second epilogue to find out what happens after the end!

Happy Reading!

Stacey Freedman – Miller Branch