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Hello Readers!

It's time to VOTE for your favourite TRCA Nominee!

We know it’s hard to choose just ONE but it’s time to have your say! You can vote in-person or online. To vote in-person, see your school librarian for a ballot. Visit our website to vote online!

CCRSB Teen Reader’s Choice Award: https://ccrsbteenchoice.wordpress.com/

POLLS OPEN UNTIL THIS FRIDAY JUNE 8, 2018!

Join US on Twitter! @TRCAfan  #4:10:1  #TRCA2018

PLUS

After you vote, head over to Audiofile SYNC Audiobooks @ www.audiobooksync.com That’s right, each Thursday, SYNC Audiobook offers two free audiobooks all summer long! And, you get to keep the audiobooks!

There were things Dillard Wayne Early Jr. dreaded more than the start of school at Forrestville High. Not many, but a few.  The Serpent King, by Jeff Zentner

Have you ever felt this way? About school? Family? Life? Anyone who has ever felt they did not fit in, perhaps disconnected from family, or really any type of life struggle will easily relate to Jeff Zentner’s The Serpent King. Dillard Early, better known as Dill, and his best friends Lydia and Travis are quite possibly the most relevant characters you will ever chance to meet in YA fiction. Set in the southern Bible belt of rural Tennessee, these three friends are about to embark on their senior year of high school dealing with a host of life struggles; small town mentalities, mental illness, physical abuse, emotional abuse and even an incarcerated parent. This senior year will be one that is not soon forgotten, and you won’t soon forget these three great friends either! Prepare to become emotionally attached as the characters find hope amongst their struggles and just maybe, you might even find hope amid your own.  Zentner’s debut novel The Serpent King is a book you won’t want to put down!

Want to know more?

Forrestville, Tenn., named after Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest, isn’t exactly a welcome place for slightly outside-the-mainstream folks like friends Dillard, Lydia, and Travis. Dill is a high school senior whose snake-handling preacher father is currently incarcerated; Lydia, a successful fashion blogger, plans on attending NYU after graduation; and Travis, large of body and gentle of soul, loses himself (and the pain of his father’s physical and emotional abuse) in a fantasy series called Bloodfall. While Dill finds comfort and beauty in music, Travis’s innate kindness belies his circumstances, and Lydia’s incandescent, gleefully offbeat personality draws them together. As the novel, Zentner’s debut, builds to a shocking act of violence that shatters the friends’ world, this sepia-toned portrait of small-town life serves as a moving testament to love, loyalty, faith, and reaching through the darkness to find light and hope. Zentner explores difficult themes head on—including the desire to escape the sins of the father and the fragility of happiness—while tempering them with the saving grace of enduring friendship.  Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review

Zentner’s debut novel is a hit!

A touching debut…Characters, incidents, dialogue, the poverty of the rural South, enduring friendship, a desperate clinging to strange faiths, fear of the unknown, and an awareness of the courage it takes to survive, let alone thrive, are among this fine novel’s strengths. Zentner writes with grace and understanding–a new voice to savor. –Kirkus Reviews (starred)

Pens would run dry if readers were to underline extraordinary sentences–the kind that are so true, or funny, or beautiful that they clamp hearts…Zentner sings a song of deep pain and harsh reality, but also of fierce love and hope. –Shelf Awareness (starred)

The Serpent King gripped me in its coils and kept me turning pages late into the night. A triumph of love and dignity. –Stephanie Perkins, New York Times bestselling author

Along with excellent reviews, The Serpent King has garnered quite a few notable recognitions:

• An American Library Association William C. Morris Award winner
• An International Literacy Association Young Adult Book Award winner
• A New York Times Notable Children’s Book
• Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal (UK)
• A Southern Book Prize finalist
• A Publishers Weekly Flying Start
• An AML YA Book Award winner
• An International Literary Association Young Adults’ Choices pick
• A Best Book of the Year, Bank Street College of Education & Children’s Book Committee, 2017 Edition
• A Goodreads Choice Award finalist for Debut Author
• A YALSA Top Ten Book for Young Adults
• A YALSA Reluctant Reader Quick Pick
• A Publishers Weekly Best of 2016 Pick
• A Kirkus Best of 2016 Pick
• A Barnes and Noble Best of 2016 Pick
• An Amazon Best of 2016 Pick
• A Shelf Awareness Best of 2016 Pick
• A Novel Novice Best of 2016 Pick
• An Indie Next Top Ten Pick
• An Amazon Best Book of the Month

Jeff Zentner was led to writing through his music. He lives in Nashville Tennessee and before he was a writer he was a musician. As a guitarist and songwriter, Zentner has released five albums.  He has also appeared on recordings with Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Thurston Moore, Debbie Harry, Mark Lanegan, and Lydia Lunch. Volunteering at a Teen Rock camp and Southern Girls Rock Camp steered him to want to write for young adults.  The Serpent King is his first novel.

Find out more about Zentner at www.jeffzentnerbooks.com. Follow him at Twitter: @jeffzentner

It's up to YOU now!

Read And Be Ready To Vote!

Visit our CCRCE Teen Reader's Choice Award website to keep up-to-date on all the nominees and to have your say!

https://ccrsbteenchoice.wordpress.com/

Join US on Twitter! @TRCAfan  #4:10:1  #TRCA2018

Check Out ALL the Nominees!

“I shouldn’t have come to this party.”

Soon after uttering this declaration the two worlds in which Starr Carter exists collide in Angie Thomas’ New York Times bestselling YA novel, The Hate U Give.  8 starred reviews cannot be mistaken. Everyone should read this book.  With a phrase coined by rapper Tupac Shakur as the title, Thomas’ book hits on the timely topics of racial profiling, police brutality, and the Black Lives Matter movement.   One goodreads.com reviewer states [Starr Carter] is resilient, authentic, and everything we need in adolescents today.”  Starr’s genuine and relevant voice will not only make you think twice about injustice, you will want to stand up with her and take action for justice in our society too.

A glimpse into this powerful YA Novel….

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life. (From Balzer + Bray)

The Hate U Give is Angie Thomas’ first YA novel. Thomas resides in Jackson Mississippi, where she was born and raised. Formerly a teen rapper, Angie Thomas holds a BFA in creative writing from Belhaven University.  One highlight of her short lived rap career was appearing in RightOn Magazine.

Check out more information about Angie at:

http://angiethomas.com/

Angie shares some fun facts about herself in this video from Epic Reads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiI3jtebWu0

The praises keep pouring in for Angie Thomas’ debut YA novel:

"This story is necessary. This story is important." —Kirkus (starred review)

"Absolutely riveting!" —Jason Reynolds

"Stunning." —John Green

Heartbreakingly topical." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Beautifully written in Starr’s authentic first-person voice, this is a marvel of verisimilitude as it insightfully examines two worlds in collision. An inarguably important book that demands the widest possible readership.” – Booklist (starred review)

“This is tragically timely, hard-hitting, and an ultimate prayer for change. Don’t look away from this searing battle for justice. Rally with Starr.” — Adam Silvera, New York Times bestselling author of MORE HAPPY THAN NOT
"A powerful, in-your-face novel." —Horn Book (starred review)

“Ultimately the book emphasizes the need to speak up about injustice. That’s a message that will resonate with all young people concerned with fairness, and Starr’s experience will speak to readers who know Starr’s life like their own and provide perspective for others.” — BULLETIN OF THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN’S BOOKS (starred review)

Don’t Forget! It’s All Up To You Now! So Read And Be Ready To Vote!

Visit our CCRCE Teen Reader's Choice Award website to keep up-to-date on all the nominees and to have your say!

https://ccrsbteenchoice.wordpress.com/

Join US on Twitter! @TRCAfan  #4:10:1  #TRCA2018

Check Out ALL the Nominees!

The bedtime story my dad used to tell me began with my grandmother’s body.

With this eerie opening line, Rebecca Podos reels you into her intriguing YA novel The Mystery of Hollow Places.  The reader will want to read on and unravel the mystery of Imogene Scott and her family.  With a host of famous literary detective greats to help her on the way, Imogene discovers that truth and fiction often intertwine and that uncovering the past is sometimes not always the best course of action.

The plot thickens….

The Mystery of Hollow Places is a gorgeously written, stunningly original novel of love, loss, and identity, from debut author Rebecca Podos.

All Imogene Scott knows of her mother is the bedtime story her father told her as a child. It’s the story of how her parents met: he, a forensic pathologist; she, a mysterious woman who came to identify a body. A woman who left Imogene and her father when she was a baby, a woman who was always possessed of a powerful loneliness, a woman who many referred to as “troubled waters.”

Now Imogene is seventeen, and her father, a famous author of medical mysteries, has struck out in the middle of the night and hasn’t come back. Neither Imogene’s stepmother nor the police know where he could’ve gone, but Imogene is convinced he’s looking for her mother. And she decides it’s up to her to put to use the skills she’s gleaned from a lifetime of reading her father’s books to track down a woman she’s only known in stories in order to find him and, perhaps, the answer to the question she’s carried with her for her entire life.   – Amazon.ca

Rebecca Podos’ debut YA novel The Mystery of Hollow Places has garnered much attention:

• Kirkus, starred review
• The Kirkus Prize 2016 Nominee, Young Readers
• Booklist 2016 Top 10 Books for Youth, Crime Fiction & First Novels
• Booklist 2016 Top First Novels for Youth
• Booklist, starred review
• BCCB, starred review
• A Junior Library Guild Selection
• Nominated for a 2016 Agatha Award
• Barnes & Noble Best YA of 2016 List

A graduate of the MFA Writing, Literature and Publishing program at Emerson College, Podos lives in Conneticut with her husband. Though writing for youth seems to be her passion…her day job also follows suit as Podos works as a YA and Middle Grade agent at the Rees Literary Agency in Boston.

Don’t take our word for it, others are singing the praises of The Mystery of Hollow Places as well:

“This heartfelt and page-turning debut introduces readers to a whip-smart and wise heroine.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Sharp plotting, unexpected twists, dynamic characters, and a sensitive treatment of mental illness make Podos a writer to watch.” (Booklist (starred review)

“Debut author Podos creates an engrossing mix of detective story and family story, as Imogene compulsively follows the trail but also begins to realize the fantasy that has driven her family narrative.” (Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

“Debut author Podos makes capable use of believable characters and addictive clues to keep readers guessing.” (Publishers Weekly)

“Podos delivers an eerie debut novel that is a solid homage to mysteries and Gothic novels alike.” (SLJ)

Don’t forget! It’s all up to you now! So read and be ready!

Don’t Forget! It’s All Up To You Now! So Read And Be Ready To Vote!

Visit our CCRCE Teen Reader's Choice Award website to keep up-to-date on all the nominees and to have your say!

https://ccrsbteenchoice.wordpress.com/

#4:10:1
#TRCA2018