Only by the Night by Kings of Leon
RCA Records, New York: 2008
ISBN: 8697-32712-2

CD Summary:
Only by the Night is the Kings of Leon's fourth album. The music is strictly rock n' roll with a Southern twang. There are also some haunting ballads, such as "Closer" and "Revelry." The first single off the album "Sex on Fire" is fast and fun, and the sultry follow-up, "Use Somebody" is getting even more air-play. There are only 11 songs on the album, but none are throw-away fillers like longer albums usually include. Each rock anthem could be a single itself.

Critical Evaluation:
This is probably the most polished Kings of Leon album. It is obvious a lot of attention was paid to creating catchy melodies, and because of this (not necessarily for the lyrics) all of the songs are memorable. The lead singer, Caleb Followill, has a sexy, gritty, yearning voice with a Southern twang that I could listen to sing the dictionary and be entertained. The songs are lush and complex, but not difficult to appreciate. Overall it is just a fun rock album with a few great down-tempo songs as well.

Reader’s Annotation:
Experience some Southern rock that sounds like nothing else on the radio today. The Kings of Leon will leaving you wanting more.

Information about the Author:
The Kings of Leon are made up of three brothers and one cousin from Tennessee. The brothers spent their youth traveling across America with their evangelist father. In 1997, they relocated to Nashville and got into the rock scene and formed a band with their cousin.

Genre: rock music

Curriculum Ties: none

CD-talking Ideas:
I would play a couple of the exemplary songs from this album, such as "Sex on Fire" and "Crawl."

Interest Age:
I think teens as young as 15 would appreciate this album.

Challenge Issues:
Although the lyrics reference sex, nothing is very graphic, and the context is usually very ambiguous. Nevertheless, I'm sure it would be challenged for this. So I would explain the library's selection policy and give the challenger a complaint form to fill out.

Why I chose this CD:
This album has been topping the charts since it came out late last year and I really have enjoyed it. It's a great alternative for teens who are turned off by pop music.

Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
W.W. Norton & Company, New York: 2003
ISBN: 0-393-05093-9

Plot Summary:
Stiff is a non-fiction book of essays about what happens to humans after they die. More specifically, what happens to their bodies or what is done to them. There are a multitude of ways corpses are put to use and Mary Roach explores many of them with tact and humor. She starts with an essay about plastic surgeons learning face-lift techniques on heads which have been severed from their bodies. Then we learn about the long tradition of anatomy students trying to procure their practice subjects by grave-robbing.

One of the most fascinating chapters is on the decomposition process and how the University of Tennessee studies bodies in different stages of the process in order to further pin down the exact time of death for murder victims. We get to read about how crash test dummies are constructed and how it is determined how they should be constructed. There are a couple of amazing chapters on crucifixion experiments and the human head transplant. Finally, there is a chapter on a company called Promessa that is working on a way to dehydrate and compost a body so it can be used as fertilizer for plants, which seems like a wonderful alternative to cremation.

Critical Evaluation:
Never have I been so disgusted and laughed so hard at a book in all my life. This was by far the most entertaining non-fiction book I've ever read, and it was about cadavers! Roach sets the tone of the whole book with the first few lines of the introduction: "The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften. Nothing much new happens, and nothing is expected of you." Her quirky sense of humor had me reading things that normally I would have avoided, since I'm easily made queasy.

Beyond the humor, I learned more than I could have ever imagined about what happens to bodies after they die. I now know that corpses can fart, that no embalmer can really stop a body from decomposing, and that people really have no say in how their bodies are used after being willed to "science." For all they know, they will be teaching plastic surgeons how to perform nose jobs, or be implanted with experimental bullets that don't corrode. I also had no idea how modern surgery came to be and am incredibly thankful not to be living during medieval times. I would recommend this book to everyone but those very faint of heart. Older teens would probably get the most out of Roach's humor though.

Reader’s Annotation:
You might think you know about life after death, but what actually happens to your body? Mary Roach tackles the fascinating ways human cadavers have helped the living through the ages.

Information about the Author:
Mary Roach is a science writer from San Francisco. She has written for National Geographic, Salon.com, and Wired. Her other books are Spook: Science tackles the afterlife, and Bonk: The curious coupling of science and sex.

Genre: non-fiction

Curriculum Ties: none

Booktalking Ideas:
I would read the introduction to this book to give the audience a flavor of Roach's humor, then give a brief overview of the various topics she takes on in the different essays.

Reading Level/Interest Age:
This book would be appropriate for older teens, ages 17 and up.

Challenge Issues:
Roach herself says that some may take issue of her speaking about the dead in a flippant manner, although she explains that she is only talking about the state of being a cadaver, not the act of dying and the pain associated with it. And of course, the book is extremely graphic in describing the many tortures that cadavers are put through. I would explain the library's selection policy and give the challenger a complaint form to fill out.

Why I chose this book:
I read this book back when it first came out in 2003 and love it. Then recently I read an article in which a librarian said that in order to reach reluctant readers, books should be disgusting, gross, controversial, etc. and immediately this book popped into my mind. It's a great example of how entertaining non-fiction can be.

The Walking Dead, Volume 1: Days Gone Bye by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore
Image Comics, Berkeley, CA, 2005
ISBN: 1-58240-358-9

Plot Summary:
Police officer Rick Grimes has just woken up from a month long coma to find that everyone in the hospital is gone--except for the zombies locked in the cafeteria. He leaves the hospital and heads towards home, where he meets a father and son camped out at a neighbor's house. They tell him that they have no idea what is going on, but the government advised everyone to head towards the cities in order to be more easy to guard. So Rick sets off for the closest city, Atlanta, where he assumes his wife and son headed.

He meets more zombies on the way, but the landscape is mostly desolate. Upon entering Atlanta, Rick is attacked by a large group of zombies, but is saved by a young man who has been scavenging for food. He takes Rick back to his camp outside the city, and here Rick is reunited with his wife Lori, and son Carl. The people in the camp are doing well, but have no idea what is happening in the world. They practice shooting, and Rick even arms his seven-year-old son.

There is tension between Rick and his old partner, Shane who had rescued Lori and Carl. Rick wants to move the camp, but Shane wants to stay where they are in case the government comes to rescue them. In the final scene, they begin to argue about this again and Shane points his gun at Rick, then a shot is fired, and Carl has killed Shane, trying to protect his father.

Critical Evaluation:
This was an exciting graphic novel. Even though I could see the zombies coming, they always made me jump a little. Rick isn't the most interesting character, but he is definitely in an interesting situation, which almost makes up for it. In the introduction, the author describes his plan for this series as being an "epic," so it was clear he had no plans on killing off Rick. However, the tension between Rick, Shane, Lori, and the rest of the campers was interesting.

The artwork is very moody and detailed and the expressions on faces are incredibly nuanced. It is easy to interpret what a person is thinking or feeling just by looking at them. Words are unnecessary in many of the frames, which is exactly how a graphic novel should be. I was left wanting to continue reading the series.

Reader’s Annotation:
Rick Grimes has just awoken from a coma to find his city overrun by zombies. He must find his wife and child before it is too late.

Information about the Author:
Robert Kirkman has been publishing comics since 2000. His first was the series Battle Pope, also illustrated by Tony Moore. He also writes for Marvel comics and has written for Captain America, The Fantastic Four, and Ultimate X-Men.

Genre: graphic novel, horror

Curriculum Ties: none

Booktalking Ideas:
I would introduce Rick Grimes and the zombie situation. I would explain how the government wanted everyone in big cities, which backfired, and now the group of campers are some of the only known survivors. Then I would talk about how they are all armed and the danger this introduces in the camp.

Reading Level/Interest Age:
This would probably interest young readers, but I would recommend it for ages 15 and up.

Challenge Issues:
This book would be challenged for its violence and graphic, blood spattered pages. I would explain the library's selection policy and give the challenger a complaint form to fill out.

Why I chose this book:
This book was recommended to me by my fiance who has read the entire series and eagerly awaits the next installment. The literary quality would lead me to recommend it to young adults as well.

An American Plague by Jim Murphy
Clarion Books, New York: 2003
ISBN: 0-395-77608-2

Plot Summary:
This is a non-fiction telling of the yellow fever scare that occurred in Philadelphia in the fall of 1793. The fever took hold quickly, and while some doctors debated whether it even was the fever, tens of people started dying from it daily. At first it was thought to be caused by the stench of spoiled coffee in the harbor and the stench from sewers, then it was blamed on refugees from Santo Domingo. Many of the rich with summer houses fled the city including George and Martha Washington, while the poor were left to suffer.

The Mayor Matthew Clarkson, at the time was merely a symbolic figurehead, but with the city council all fleeing, he took control of the government and started to act. Benjamin Rush was another prominent figure during the fever outbreak. He was probably the most well-known doctor in the country, and his "cure" involved bleeding patients, and inducing purging with mercury. Most of his colleagues did not agree with this cure, but he claimed to have saved hundreds with it.

Another group that played a big role in nursing the sick was the Free African Society, which provided hundreds of black nurses who worked tirelessly in the face of the overwhelming plague. The city soon ran out of coffins and space in the cemeteries. At the peak of the scare, over 100 people were dying a day. Only when the weather started to turn cold did the deaths start to slow down, although there were similar scares in the summers for years afterward.

Critical Evaluation:
I read this non-fiction history book as though it were a novel. It was just as exciting as any fiction book could be. Culled from multiple primary sources, it really brought to life what was happening at the time, including the political battles and scientific struggles. George Washington was helpless to do anything once he left the city, as was congress and the city council. Benjamin Rush struggled to find a cure, even as he came down with the fever twice. And the contribution of the Free African Society was so commendable, even as they were being denied basic civil right, blacks were helping their white neighbors. Theirs was a story I had never heard before. I think more history books should be like this one.

Reader’s Annotation:
Yellow fever has hit Philadelphia! What caused it and what will cure it? Thousands will die before they find out.

Information about the Author:
Jim Murphy has written more than twenty-five books for young adults, including The Real Benedict Arnold, and The Great Fire. He has won two Newberry Honor Book Awards, and countless others.

Genre: non-fiction

Curriculum Ties: American history

Booktalking Ideas:
I would talk about the sailor dying in the boarding house, and the others on the street soon following, then the explosion of deaths after that. I would talk about the stench and sanitary conditions of the streets and what people were told to do to ward off the fever and how none of it worked. I would talk about the fight between the doctors about how to cure it, and how there still is not a cure. Then I would talk about the contributions of people from the Free African Society.

Reading Level/Interest Age:
This book would be appropriate for ages 14 and up.

Challenge Issues:
This book might be challenged for its graphic description of the yellow fever, such as the black vomit and bloody tongues. I would explain the library's selection policy and have the challenger fill out a complaint form.

Why I chose this book:
This book was recommended by the group that gave their genre presentation on non-fiction books.

xxxHolic by Clamp
Random House Publishing Company, New York, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-47058-3

Plot Summary:
One day the foul-tempered Watanuki Kimihiro is walking down the street when he is dragged by invisible forces into the shop of the witch Yuko. She says she can stop him from seeing the spirits that he sees all the time, but he must repay her by working for him. He doesn't exactly agree to this, but nevertheless finds himself working for her. Over the course of his employment, Yuko tries to help a young woman get over her bad habit of lying, but refuses to intervene when the woman won't admit she has a problem. She also solves a woman's internet addiction by slicing her computer in half with a baseball bat. At the end of the novel, two children come to Yuko asking for her help...

Critical Evaluation:
xxxHolic was a quick read, but not very entertaining. There is not much back story for any of the characters, even though this was the first of the series. I felt like I knew very little about anyone, and didn't care for what I did know. Watanuki's facial expressions are way out of whack with what he is actually saying. Most of the novel he looks violently angry, when really what he's saying, or the situation he is in would only make most of us minorly annoyed. Perhaps something was lost in translation from the Japanese? Yuko, the seductive witch, is mildly entertaining and wise, but not enough to keep me wanting to read the rest of the series.

Reader’s Annotation:
Yuko is ready to grant your wish, but remember, she does expect fair payment in return.

Information about the Authors:
Clamp is a group of four female artists: Ageha Ohkawa, Mokona, Satsuki Igarashi, and Tsubaki Nekoi. They started out writing fan comics and their talent won them the attention of major manga publishers. Clamp publishes three series in Japan: Tsubasa, xxxHolic, and Gohou Drug.

Genre: graphic novel/manga

Curriculum Ties: none

Booktalking Ideas:
I would talk about Watanuki and his ability to see spirits, and why he ends up in Yuko's shop, wishing that he couldn't. Then I would talk about Yuko and her unconventional ways of going about ridding people of their bad habits.

Reading Level/Interest Age:
This novel is rated T for ages 13 and up, and I would agree with that rating.

Challenge Issues:
Though the story line is tame, a few of the pictures are somewhat risque. Yuko the witch is often lifting her leg really high and it is obvious she is not wearing underwear. I would explain the library's selection policy and give the challenger a complaint form to fill out.

Why I chose this book:
This book was featured in the Genre Presentation on manga and I thought the art work looked incredible.

Angst! Teen Verses from the Edge edited by Karen Tom and Kiki
Workman Publishing, New York, 2001
ISBN: 0-7611-2383-0

Plot Summary:
This is a compiled book of poetry written by teen aged girls. The poems were submitted to the website PlanetKiki.com, a website devoted to girl empowerment. The poems are divided into chapters entitled "Society's Ills," "Argh! I Hate You!," "Love and Deep Thoughts," "Crushed," "Why Me?!," and the instructional "Poetry 101" where the authors give tips and encouragement for writing poetry, as well as some definitions of literary devices and techniques.

Critical Evaluation:
As much as the poetry made me groan, it would have been right up my alley as a teenager. In fact, it was probably so difficult to read, because it sounded just like some of the terrible poetry I use to write, which I thought was brilliant at the time. "All by Myself" by Apes could have been written by me when I was 14. Here's the first stanza:
"My friend is gone, she says I'm not what she needs
I am confused and lost, like one floating leaf
Why must I change the person I am inside?
I am a body, in which a lost soul sadly presides..."

The poems are mostly melodramatic, sad, or angry--talking about bad days, fights with friends, and break-ups. In "Erase" by Ashley Burkett for example "I wasted precious moments/spending them with you/You told me so many lies/and nothing you said was true." Or "My Worst Enemy" by Lauren Danek: "I have the urge to hit you/to throw you down the stairs/to punch your teeth down your throat/and pull our all your hairs."

There are a few clever poems that made me smile though, like "Chem 101" by Jessika Dragon, where the speaker tries to get the attention of her chemistry lab partner who only has eyes for his work: "And when he states the formula for density/I want him with a passionate intensity/I've never met a boy who is as smart/but he's got at TI-90 for a heart."

The Poetry 101 chapter at the end is a nice feature that I think teen poets will appreciate and get a lot of use out of.

Reader’s Annotation:
Feeling sad, hurt, angry or in love? You're not alone--check out how teen girls put their feelings down on paper, and how you can as well.

Information about the Author:
The editors are the founders of the website PlanetKiki.com. The poets are teen aged girls from around the United States, Canada, and even one poet from England. Each contributor has a little blurb at the end of the book.

Genre: poetry

Curriculum Ties:
I would have used this book for my eighth grade creative writing elective that I taught. I think the Poetry 101 chapter at the end has some good ideas on how to get started.

Booktalking Ideas:
I would choose a two or three representative poems from the collection to read to pique the audience's interest, such as "Rumors" by Erica Sutherland, "Friend or Foe" by Danielle Marie Vacca, or "Who are you?" by Tatiana "Sunshine" Farrow. Then talk about the Poetry 101 chapter at the end for those interested in writing their own poems.

Reading Level/Interest Age:
This book would be good for teen girls ages 13 and up.

Challenge Issues:
There are some tough topics that these poets take on, such as suicide and drunk driving that might unsettle some people. I would explain the library's selection policy and give the challenger a complaint form to fill out.

Why I chose this book:
This book was featured in one of the Genre Presentations for this class, I believe it was the non-fiction one, and I was excited to read some teen poetry. I think it would be a great resource for some teens I've seen in the library.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
The Berkley Publishing Group/Ace Books, New York, 2001.
ISBN: 978-0-441-01699-0

Plot Summary:
Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress at Merlotte's, a bar in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps. She has what she calls a "disability," that is, she can read people's minds. She tries as hard as she can not to, and this leaves her somewhat mentally exhausted, to the point that people think of her as crazy Sookie. One day Bill, a vampire comes into the bar and sits at her table. She is excited about this, and when she goes to serve him, realizes that she can't hear his thoughts.

The vampires in this novel are sort of "coming out of the closet" and living amongst humans or "mainstreaming." The bar Sookie works at even stocks synthetic blood for them, even though there aren't many in her town. Sookie and Bill start dating, to the dismay of some of her friends and co-workers. Sookie loves that she can't hear Bill's thoughts. Soon, however, women start dying. All of these women have slept with vampires. Then Sookie's grandmother is killed, and it is obvious it was supposed to be Sookie. Sookie asks Bill to take her to a vampire bar in Shreveport to investigate and hopefully clear her brother's name, who has slept with all the women who have been killed (except her grandmother). At the bar, Sookie attracts the attention of Eric, an older vampire who wants her for himself.

When Bill goes out of town for a few days, he sends the vampire Bubba to guard Sookie. The murderer ends up giving Bubba a drugged cat. Sookie goes out to investigate and is chased down by Rene, Sookie's friend Arlene's boyfriend. Since Sookie can read his mind, she knows he is the one who committed the murders because he was upset that his sister was dating a vampire, and used it as an excuse to kill others and have sex with their dead bodies. Sookie is able to fight him off, since she is strong from drinking vampire blood, and they both wind up in the hospital after a long struggle. Bill returns to her side, and all seems well, with the exception of Eric the vampire, flying outside her window...

Critical Evaluation:
I was a little weary of another vampire book, but like Dracula and the Twilight series, this was a lot of heart-pounding fun as well. Sookie is easy to love and says the cutest things, it's impossible not to root for her. It's easy to understand why she likes Bill so much after she lets us in on other people's thoughts. I don't think I could handle listening to all of that either.

The book is sexy and fast-paced, with a lot of action. From the first few pages when Sookie confronts the Rattrays in the parking lot all by herself, we know she is a different type of woman. The writing is simple, and is not going to win any awards, but for a quick, fun read, it fills the bill.

Reader’s Annotation:
Crazy Sookie Stackhouse has finally met her match in Bill the vampire, but they have to face much prejudice and other meddling vampires in order to be together.

Information about the Author:
Charlaine Harris is from Southern Arkansas and has written a few different mystery series. The first features a librarian from Georgia, Aurora Teagarden, and then the Lily Bard series set in Shakespeare Arkansas. Finally the Sookie Stackhouse series, where she combines mystery and fantasy.

Genre: mystery/fantasy

Curriculum Ties: none

Booktalking Ideas:
I would introduce Sookie Stackhouse and her "disability." Then I would talk about how the vampires are living amongst the humans and being grudgingly accepted into society. Then I would talk about Bill and how Sookie can't hear his thoughts, and why this is attractive to her. Then I would talk about the murders and the suspicions everyone has.

Reading Level/Interest Age:
This book would be appropriate for older teens, 16 and up.

Challenge Issues:
This book could be challenged for a number of issues including sexuality, violence, and dealing with the occult. I would explain the library's selection policy and give the challenger a complaint form to fill out.

Why I chose this book:
This book was recommended to my by a few friends and was also on the list of recommended readings for this class.