#BookReview: Dark Tales: Beauty and the Beast: A Modern Retelling by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, Pete Katz #Giveaway

About the Book:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

This modern retelling of the classic fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast is told here in a graphic novel format. 

More than 100 pages of illustrated action, adventure, and love teach a lesson to look beyond the surface and learn to love what’s underneath. 

A merchant takes shelter in a castle during a thunderstorm and ends up striking a bargain with its beastly master. 

His youngest daughter, Beauty, returns to the castle to live in exchange for a restoration of the family’s previous wealth. 

Beauty befriends Beast, but longs to see her family again. 

He allows her to visit her former home, but when she doesn’t return at the designated time, consequences ensue.

#BookReview: Dark Tales: The Call of Cthulhu: A Graphic Novel by H P Lovecraft, Dave Shephard

About the Book:

In this Dark Tale, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming...

H. P. Lovecraft’s story of supernatural monsters deep in the Pacific, told in graphic novel format, will keep you on the edge of your seat. 

More than 100 pages of illustrated horror and adventure await! 

Henry Wilcox can’t ignore his dreams of an enormous green monster calling to him from an underwater alien city. 

He seeks the help of Professor Angell, who dies suddenly, leaving a box of research on the subject for his nephew, Francis. 

Francis seeks answers about his uncle’s death, and in the process uncovers evidence of a cult waiting for the Great Old Ones to return.

#BookReview: Dark Tales: The Snow Queen: A Graphic Novel by Hans Christian Andersen, Emilie Majarian #Giveaway

About the Book:

Follow Gerda on an adventure to find her friend Kay, who has been taken by the Snow Queen!

Seven vignettes in a graphic novel format make up Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen, which depicts the struggle between good and evil. 

More than 100 pages of illustrated action and adventure await! 

A demon creates a magic mirror that reflects negative thoughts. 

His minions break it, and shards of the mirror get into the hearts and eyes of citizens all over the land. 

Gerda’s friend Kay is affected, and is lured away by the Snow Queen to become her palace slave. 
Follow Gerda’s adventures in her quest to rescue her friend and restore his compassion! 

Join the #YABC @winterhavenlib at 5pm tonight! The Dark Days Club (Lady Helen #1) by Alison Goodman #BookReview

About the Book:

New York Times bestseller Alison Goodman’s eagerly awaited new project: a Regency adventure starring a stylish and intrepid demon-hunter!

London, April 1812. 

On the eve of eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall’s presentation to the queen, one of her family’s housemaids disappears-and Helen is drawn into the shadows of Regency London. 

There, she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few who can stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons infiltrating every level of society. 

Dare she ask for his help, when his reputation is almost as black as his lingering eyes? 

And will her intelligence and headstrong curiosity wind up leading them into a death trap? 

#BookReview: Gudetama's Guide to Life by Brian Elling

About the Book:

From Sanrio, who brought you Hello Kitty, Gudetama the Lazy Egg returns with a guidebook to living life to the almost fullest.

In Japanese, when you're lazy, you are referred to as gude gude. Gudetama (tama from "tamago," egg in Japanese) is the lazy egg. 

Gudetama likes soy sauce and being left alone. Sometimes, Gudetama wonders if we are born only to suffer.

Each page of this book is kind of packed with helpful lessons, inspiring quotes and mind-blowing advice that will have you laying around like an egg in no time! 

And all of it comes straight from the yolk of a Gudetama!

#BookTour: This Moment Is Your Life (and So Is This One): A Fun and Easy Guide to Mindfulness, Meditation, and Yoga by Mariam Gates

About the Book:

This lively, hands-on guide to meditation, mindfulness, and yoga is a perfect introduction for tweens and teens.

Don't just do something, be here.

The key to happiness is being able to find comfort in this moment, here and now. When you are completely present and not distracted by regrets, worries, and plans, even for a little while, you begin to feel more confident and can deal more easily with everything you experience. This is mindfulness: paying attention to this very moment, on purpose and without judgment--simply being present with curiosity.

This engaging guide, packed with simple exercises and endearing full-color artwork, provides a handy starting point for bringing mindfulness into your daily life. Chapters on meditation, yoga, and mindful breathing explain the benefits of these practices, and you are free to pick and choose what to try. There are quick exercises throughout, and a more extensive tool kit at the end of each chapter. The final chapter offers satisfying five-day challenges that map out ways to pull all of the book's mindfulness techniques together in your day-to-day life.

With the appeal of a workbook or guided journal, and full of examples relevant to tweens and teens today, this book will be your trusted companion as you begin the valuable, stress-relieving work of being still with skill.



This title will be released on May 22, 2018.

#BookReview: Eggsistential Thoughts by Gudetama the Lazy Egg by Francesco Sedita, Max Bisantz

About the Book:

Meh . . .

From Sanrio, who brought you Hello Kitty, comes Gudetama, the lazy egg. 

Not all Sanrio characters are cheery! In Japanese, when you're lazy, you are referred to as gude gude. 

And that's where our new friend gets its name. 

Gudetama (tama from "tamago," egg in Japanese) is the lazy egg. Gudetama likes soy sauce and being left alone. 

Sometimes, Gudetama wonders if we are born only to suffer. 

And here, in Eggsistential Thoughts, are Gudetama's musings on life.

#BookReview: How I Resist: Activism and Hope for the Next Generation by Maureen Johnson @WednesdayBooks

About the Book:

An all-star collection of essays about activism and hope, edited by bestselling YA author Maureen Johnson.

Now, more than ever, young people are motivated to make a difference in a world they're bound to inherit. They're ready to stand up and be heard - but with much to shout about, where they do they begin? What can I do? How can I help? 

How I Resist is the response, and a way to start the conversation. To show readers that they are not helpless, and that anyone can be the change. A collection of essays, songs, illustrations, and interviews about activism and hope, How I Resist features an all-star group of contributors, including, John Paul Brammer, Libba Bray, Lauren Duca, Modern Family's Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his husband Justin Mikita, Alex Gino, Hebh Jamal, Malinda Lo, Dylan Marron, Hamilton star Javier Muñoz, Rosie O'Donnell, Junauda Petrus, Jodi Picoult, Jason Reynolds, Karuna Riazi, Maya Rupert, Dana Schwartz, Dan Sinker, Ali Stroker, Jonny Sun (aka @jonnysun), Sabaa Tahir, Daniel Watts, Jennifer Weiner, Jacqueline Woodson, and more, all edited and compiled by New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.

In How I Resist, readers will find hope and support through voices that are at turns personal, funny, irreverent, and instructive. Not just for a young adult audience, this incredibly impactful collection will appeal to readers of all ages who are feeling adrift and looking for guidance. 

How I Resist is the kind of book people will be discussing for years to come and a staple on bookshelves for generations.


This title will be released on May 15, 2018.

#BookReview: Gone (Gone #1) by Michael Grant #YABC @bookclubbiblio

Its another month that means its time for April's pick meeting!! We hope that you all join us at 5pm EST at the Winter Haven Library to discuss Gone by Micheal Grant! 

#BookTour: Amal Unbound by @aishacs ‏

About the Book:

Life is quiet and ordinary in Amal's Pakistani village, but she had no complaints, and besides, she's busy pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher one day. Her dreams are temporarily dashed when--as the eldest daughter--she must stay home from school to take care of her siblings. Amal is upset, but she doesn't lose hope and finds ways to continue learning. Then the unimaginable happens--after an accidental run-in with the son of her village's corrupt landlord, Amal must work as his family's servant to pay off her own family's debt. 

Life at the opulent Khan estate is full of heartbreak and struggle for Amal--especially when she inadvertently makes an enemy of a girl named Nabila. Most troubling, though, is Amal's growing awareness of the Khans' nefarious dealings. When it becomes clear just how far they will go to protect their interests, Amal realizes she will have to find a way to work with others if they are ever to exact change in a cruel status quo, and if Amal is ever to achieve her dreams.

#BlogTour: Girls Who Code!

Maya and her friends from coding club have an exciting new project: they're coding lights and music for the winter dance! But when Maya's old troublemaking friend Maddie moves to town, Maya starts spending a lot of time with her, and less time with her coding friends. Maddie just gets her in a way that her other friends don't.
Will Maya get swayed by Maddie's wayward ways, or will she stay true to her "permanent group" from coding club? And will she come through on her part for the light and music coding project? Maybe coding--like friendship--is about being there for your friends when they need you the most. 

#Bookclub: The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith @YoungAdultBC @WinterHavenLib

About the Book:

In the tradition of Speak, this extraordinary debut novel shares the unforgettable story of a young woman as she struggles to find strength in the aftermath of an assault.

Eden was always good at being good. Starting high school didn’t change who she was. But the night her brother’s best friend rapes her, Eden’s world capsizes.

What was once simple, is now complex. What Eden once loved—who she once loved—she now hates. What she thought she knew to be true, is now lies. Nothing makes sense anymore, and she knows she’s supposed to tell someone what happened but she can’t. So she buries it instead. And she buries the way she used to be.

Told in four parts—freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year—this provocative debut reveals the deep cuts of trauma. But it also demonstrates one young woman’s strength as she navigates the disappointment and unbearable pains of adolescence, of first love and first heartbreak, of friendships broken and rebuilt, and while learning to embrace a power of survival she never knew she had hidden within her heart.

#BookReview: Fandom: Fic Writers, Vidders, Gamers, Artists, and Cosplayers by Francesca Dipiazza with @endyochita

About the Book:

Have you ever finished a book or TV series and wished for more? Created stories, art, or videos based on a game? Dressed up as your favorite character? If so, you've entered fandom. Fan writers expand and mix up stories, like sending the Star Trekcrew to Hogwarts. Cosplayers sew Star Wars and Sailor Mooncostumes, and fan filmmakers make music video tributes. Fans also enrich invented worlds with greater diversity, creating female and multiracial avatars for games peopled only with white male characters. Tour fandom's history and meet fan writers, video-makers, artists, costumers, and gamers who celebrate the things they love and shape fan communities online and in real life.

#BookReview: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by @themackenzilee with @EndyOchita @CursedReader

About the Book:

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

#BookReview: Chibi! the Official Mark Crilley How-To-Draw Guide by @markcrilley @IMPACTbooks with @endyochita

About the Book:

Master how to draw super tiny and adorable chibi characters!

This book (and your fuzzy-costumed tour guide Mochy) will teach you everything you need to know about drawing chibis! From the word "short" in Japanese, this manga illustration style features cute characters with big heads, tiny bodies and adorably exaggerated facial expressions. Play with proportions to create highly stylized itty-bitty chibis or unusually tall ones, using their big eyes and giant personalities to convey animated emotions, from surprised and joyful to sad and mad.

32 step-by-step lessons cover everything from proportions and poses to clothing and digital coloring.
Create every kind of chibi: boys, girls, pets, witches, fairies and anthropomorphic characters.
Learn how to turn your friends, family and yourself into adorable chibis!
Includes a chapter dedicated to making chibi crafts, such as phone cases, greeting cards and do-not-disturb signs.
Show everyone how awesome your chibis are! 

@YoungAdultBC Meeting @WinterHavenLib 5pm EST for The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by @themackenzilee

Join us today at 5pm at the Winter Haven Library in Winter Haven, Florida! Not local you can join the event online here Click Here

#BookReview: Alienated (Alienated #1) by @Melissa_Landers @DisneyHyperion with @EndyOchita

About the Book:

Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them.

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class.

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet. 

#BookReview: The Problim Children by @_natalielloyd ‏@KTegenBooks ‏@EndyOchita

About the Book:

When the Problim children’s ramshackle bungalow in the Swampy Woods goes kaboom, the seven siblings and their pet pig have no choice but to move into their Grandpa’s abandoned old mansion in Lost Cove. No problem! For the Problim children, every problem is a gift.

Wendell and Thea—twins born two minutes apart on a Wednesday and a Thursday—see the move as a chance to make new friends in time for their birthday cake smash. But the neighbors find the Problims’ return problematic—what with Sal’s foggy garden full of Wrangling Ivy, toddler Toot’s 365 stanktastic fart varieties, and Mona’s human catapult.

Truth be told, rumors are flying about the Problims! Rumors of a bitter feud, a treasure, and a certain kind of magic lingering in the halls of #7 Main Street. And the neighbors will do anything to get their hands on those secrets—including sending the Problim children to seven different homes on seven different continents!

#BookTour: Dr. E's Super Stellar Solar System by @bethanyehlmann Jennifer Swanson @NGKids and @NGKidsBks #Giveaway via @EndyOchita

Buy: Amazon

Take to the skies with planetary geologist Dr. E and her robot sidekick, Rover, to explore the solar system's wildest, most astronomical geology--with comic book flair!

This stellar book introduces kids to outer space through in-depth info and comic book adventure. Along the way, kids follow explorer Bethany Ehlmann, a member of the NASA Mars Rover Curiosity mission, and her lovable robo-dog, Rover, as they study and protect our amazing solar system. Dr. E's conversational and funny explanations of the solar system and planetary geology will pull kids in like gravity. The pairing of fun, graphic novel side stories with science facts makes big concepts accessible and interesting to boys and girls of all levels, from STEM science fans to reluctant readers alike.

#BookReview: Tell Me Three Things by @juliebux @DelacortePress

About the Book:

Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help?

It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son.

In a leap of faith—or an act of complete desperation—Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can’t help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?