The Maze Runner: Mystery Within, Death Without

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Why did I read it?

This was the title for our TeenBookWorms group in July, but it took me a while to get a blog post up about it.

What happened?

After waking in an elevator, Thomas finds himself in The Glade, with no memory of what brought him to that point.

The Glade is a society, made up of entirely teenage boys, that depend on their own strength, wit, and ordered existence to survive in the center of an ever-changing maze, inhabited by the mysterious and deadly Grievers.

Their only chance of escape is to explore the maze, hoping that an exit presents itself. But,
their society is turned on its head when a girl arrives only days after Thomas, and claims that everything is going to change.

As if that wasn't strange enough, she is the only person that Thomas can seem to remember...from whatever happened before...

What did I like or not like?

While the book takes a little while to get going, it is totally worth it once it does. The plot is something that you aren't expecting, and the mystery surrounding what is going on keeps you guessing the whole time.

Like many Dystopian books, the characters inhabit a dangerous world, full of high-stake choices and situations,  where one false move could get you dead. This excitement is coupled with the mystery, right up until the book ends, leaving you begging for the second one, The Scorch Trials. That is what happened with me anyway hehe.

Concerning TeenBookWorms

In my promotion, I mentioned that we would be doing Shrinky Dinks the last Monday in May. But, it turns out that we were very closed as it was Memorial Day. So, we ended programs that one week early, and my programs don't start until June 18th. So today, I'm going to tell you a little bit about our TeenBookWorms group.

Basically, this is a group for high school students who love to read. We choose one book a month, read it, and then I come up with some discussion questions (or borrow them from another reading club) and we chat about it. Some of the time, we might get a little side tracked with upcoming movies (especially with The Hunger Games and The Avengers), or crazy Youtube videos. But, we always have a great time, and we always chat about literary stuff.

Another cool part about the group is that you as the teens pick the book. We pick our titles a few months out so we aren't surprised, and I might have some suggestions if you get stuck. But ultimately, you get to decide what you would like to read.

So far we've read: The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt, Divergent by Veronica Roth, Germ by Robert Liparulo, and Stravaganza: City of Masks by Mary Hoffman.

At our last meeting, we lined up the books we're going to be reading through the summer as well.
June 26, 4-5pm Wonderstuck by Brian Selznick
July 24, 4-5pm The Maze Runner by James Dashner
August 28, 4-5pm Illusion by Frank Peretti

If any of our upcoming books sound awesome to you, read it, and come chat with us :) If they don't sound interesting at all, then pop by anyways and tell us what we should read next hehe.

Stravaganza: Danger in another World

Stravaganza: City of Masks by Mary Hoffman

Why did I read it?

Stravaganza has been one of Miss Karen's favorite series for a long time now. So, when we were decided on a book at TeenBookWorms, I suggested this one, and everyone else agreed.

What happened?

Lucien is battling cancer in modern day London. Struggling with chemotherapy, Lucien welcomes the gift of an old notebook to write his thoughts when his throat hurts. But, little does he known that the notebook is a talisman from Talia, an alternate world that was stumbled upon by an alchemist from our world.

Each night that Lucien goes to bed clutching the notebook, he wakes up in Bellezza, as city that resembles Venice almost 400 years in the past. While the political intrigue, beauty, and wonder of the city are similar to events in our own history, Bellezza is a city wrought with its own dangers, traditions, and scandals.

What did I like or not like?

For many of the folks that read it for TeenBookWorms, this book missed just slightly. They said the writing style was confusing at times, and the actions of the Duchessa (the female ruler of Bellezza) were a little bit brutal.

But, I can see why Miss Karen really likes this book. Assassination attempts, powerful families vying for control, and selfish rulers are very much historically accurate, and it makes sense that an alternate world would have these same problems. Having Lucien bounce back and forth between the two world also made for an interesting plot element.

Even though I agree that the writing style, which was third person keeping track of multiple story lines at the same time, could be a little confusing, I thought it helped the story along once I got into it.

Anybody Need Program Ideas?

So, every Monday from 4-5pm, we do a program for 3-6 graders. The first Monday we have Play With Your Food, where we bake and cook. The second Monday we do Ka-Boom, where we have fun doing science experiments. On third Mondays we have Couldn't Put It Down, which is a gaming and technology time. Finally, we have Express Yourself on fourth Mondays which is us making crafts.

In addition, we just started a program for Middle Schoolers, 6-8 graders, called Tuesday Works, and we're going to be doing something fun and different each month.

Oh, I almost forgot about our High School programs. We have a Next-Gen Advisory Team that meets to brainstorm cool things for Teens to do at the library, and we also just started a book club called TeenBookWorms.

As I thought about these programs, I thought that someone, somewhere, might be interested in what we did, and how we did it. So, when I get the chance, I'm going to do a quick blog post with resources and a quick breakdown on what we did, how we did it, and how it went. Hope you like the idea =D