The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff is one of the books I have been pressing into hands this year.  On a bookshelf filled with vampires, werewolves, fairies and angels, (It sometimes feels like a tide of the paranormal doesn't it?) Mackie Doyle stands out.  Not only is his story well written, it's gripping.  It's about decisions you make and the results of your choices. 

Mackie shouldn't exist.  He's a replacement; a fairy changeling left in the place of a stolen child.  He's allergic to iron and most replacements don't last long; but he did, and now he's 16 and the cycle is about to begin again.  Will he challenge the accepted order in Gentry and let another child be taken, or will he stand up?  What will it cost him?  What would you do?

You see?  Gripping.  Read it.

From Rick Riordan, the man who brought us the Percy Jackson books, comes a new series, the Kane Chronicles.  The first book is The Red Pyramid.  Here is an interesting "Trailer" for the book.

Pete Hautman has been writing books for teens for a while, and I have enjoyed every one that I have read.  But does everybody know what an interesting writer he is?  How do you find out about his work?  Traditionally you send out copies and get people to review them, put ads out, have signings... what teenager (who hasn't talked to their librarian, that is) would know about this?  Then there's Pete.  He has made trailers for his books and put them on YouTube!  What a cool idea!  For his book "The Big Crunch", he has provided this video:

There have been quite a few "trailers" made for teen books by the teens themselves, but this is the first time I have seen an author really take control of it and make it his own.  What a great way to publicize a book's great story to people used to visual marketing!  I look forward to seeing much more of this kind of marketing.

So here is Miss Beth's review of the new Harry Potter movie.  It's faithful to the book, so Thumbs Up.  If you don't want to know more stop reading now.  If you read the book none of the things I am about to say will be spoilers, so go on ahead.  This movie is rated PG13 and earns it.  I will not be bringing my 7 year old to see it; he'll get nightmares.  The book is in the YA section and earns it too.  This is by far the darkest and most frightening of the books/movies.  Harry/Ron/Hermione spend a big piece of the book/movie in hiding trying to figure things out (which may make the book/movie drag for some folks). Their adult help is stripped from them early on, so they are really on their own against Lord Voldemort and his Deatheaters.  The book has been split into two parts and so this movie ends roughly in the middle when things look really bad; we will need to see the final installment to get some relief, although the second half of the book is just as dark, as I recall. 

I saw this movie in a packed theater, with teenagers all around me, and there were some huge laughs, but also some really shocked cries and an almost universal cry of disbelief when the movie ended where it did.  The only time I checked my watch in the entire 2 hours and 20-some minutes was right at the end when I was trying to gauge how much more of the story they might fit in before they ran out of time. Read the book again and then go see the movie.

How do you decide what cool books to read next?  If you are like me, you look to someone who has similar tastes to see what they are reading.  It can be really great if you find someone online who reviews books and also seems to like the things you like (or has similar opinions about the books you have both read).  One of the reviews I like right now comes from Unshelved, a comic strip with "librarian humor".  One of the really nice things about these reviews: they tell you why they picked it up, why they finished it, and who they would give it to.  This works for me, since I am always thinking about who else might love the thing I am reading.  You can look at some of the most recent reviews or look at their list of the books they have reviewed already.