Daniel Boone Regional Library

Whether you’re a fan of competitive crawdad eating and country music or parades and giant vehicles, the Fulton Street Fair has something to entertain you this weekend. And the Callaway County Public Library is just up the street from the carnival rides and vendor booths, so on Saturday you can take an air-conditioned break from the festivities during our open hours (9 am – 5 pm).

Our big bookmobile will be at the fair’s “Touch-a-Truck” event Saturday, June 22, 10 am – 1 pm at Memorial Park Field. Check out a DVD or a book and sign up for Summer Reading while you are there!

Want to know about other festivals happening this summer? Check out the library’s Events & Festivals subject guide for a comprehensive list of regional event calendars and links to popular annual fests.

Congratulations to Nancy J. of Columbia, the winner of our first Adult Summer Reading 2013 prize drawing.  She is the recipient of a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card.

If you have not registered for the library’s Adult Summer Reading program, you can still do so online or by visiting any of our locations.  Once you sign up, you are automatically entered in the prize drawings.  These weekly drawings will continue throughout the summer, so everyone keep your fingers crossed.  Also, don’t forget to submit book reviews to increase your odds of winning.

A young woman private investigator (and former police officer) is hired by an ex-convict to find a teenage boy who had done him a favor. He gives the PI a check for $25,000 to deliver to the boy, and then disappears. Days later, his body is found washed up on a beach. The PI runs into obstacles, and her own life is placed in danger while trying to find the boy and the person or persons who murdered her client.

I liked this book because it is light and easy reading. Mystery novels are one of my favorite genres. This author’s descriptions of the PI and the other characters allow the reader to really feel as though you know them personally.

Three words that describe this book: suspenseful, humorous, surprising

You might want to pick this book up if: you are a person who enjoys light, clean detective mysteries with a touch of humor.

- Linda

The Gateway Readers Award honors a young adult novel selected by Missouri high school students. Even though this award is administered by the Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL), it is the responsibility of Missouri teens to vote on the actual winner. Each year’s finalists are announced in December and voting takes place over a year later in March.

This year’s Gateway Award Nominees feature post-apocalyptic plotlines, contemporary teen struggles and even a little bit of historical fiction. While I haven’t read the entire list yet (that’s what summer is for!), I wholeheartedly recommend “Daughter of Smoke and Bone” by Laini Taylor. Truly, it was one of the best books for older teens I have ever read. I’m also a big fan of Jennifer’s Brown’s “Bitter End” and “Divergent” by Veronica Roth. How many have you read? Which are your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!

“Ashes” by Ilsa J. Bick
After an electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky killing billions, Alex must say goodbye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Desperate to assess the aftermath, she meets up with Tom, a young soldier, and Ellie, a girl who is also left orphaned by the EMP. For this improvised family, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

“Anna Dressed in Blood” by Kendare Blake
For three years, Cas Lowood has carried on his father’s work of dispatching the murderous dead, traveling with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. However, everything changes when he meets Anna, a girl unlike any ghost he has faced before.

“Bitter End” by Jennifer Brown
When Alex falls for the charming new boy at school, Cole, she can’t believe she’s finally found her soul mate. At first, she is very happy in her relationship with him. However, as the months pass, Alex can no longer ignore Cole’s small put-downs, pinches or increasingly violent threats.

“Shelter” by Harlan Coben
After tragic events tear Mickey Bolitar away from his parents, he is forced to live with his estranged Uncle Myron and switch high schools, where he finds both friends and enemies. When his new new girlfriend, Ashley, vanishes, he follows her trail into a seedy underworld that reveals she is not what she seems to be.

“I’ll Be There” by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Raised by an unstable father, Sam Border has long been the voice of his silent younger brother, Riddle. The two are steadied when they are welcomed by the family of Sam’s new girlfriend, Emily. When tragedy strikes, Sam and Riddle are left fighting for survival in the desolate wilderness, wondering if they’ll ever find a place where they can belong.

“Everybody Sees the Ants” by A.S. King
Overburdened by his parents’ bickering and a bully’s attacks, Lucky Linderman begins dreaming of being with his grandfather, who went missing during the Vietnam War. During a visit to his aunt and uncle’s house in Arizona, he gains a new perspective with the help of their beautiful neighbor, Ginny.

“Ashfall” by Mike Mullin
For Alex, being left alone for the weekend means having the freedom to play computer games and hang out with his friends without hassle from his mother. Then the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, plunging his hometown into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence. Alex begins a harrowing trek to search for his family and develop the skills needed to survive this epic disaster.

“Shine” by Lauren Myracle
When her best friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, Cat sets out to discover the culprits in her small North Carolina town.

“Delirium” by Lauren Oliver
Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life. However, crisis strikes when she fears she might be in love just a few months shy of her eighteenth birthday.

“Divergent” by Veronica Roth
In a future Chicago, Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomoly who does not fit into any one group.

“Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick” by Joe Schreiber
Perry’s parents insist that he take Gobi, their quiet, Lithuanian exchange student, to senior prom. After an incident at the dance, he learns that Gobi is actually a trained assassin who needs him as a henchman, behind the wheel of his father’s precious Jaguar, on a mission in Manhattan.

“Between Shades of Gray” by Ruta Sepetys
In 1941, Lina, her mother and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life. Vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers, she buries her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. Based on a true story.

“Daughter of Smoke and Bone” by Laini Taylor
Karou, a lovely, enigmatic art student in a Prague boarding school, carries a sketchbook of hideous, frightening monsters–the chimaerae who form the only family she has ever known.

“The Probability of Miracles” by Wendy Wunder
Dry, sarcastic Cam Cooper has spent the last seven years in and out hospitals. The last thing she wants to do in the short life she has left is move 1,500 miles away to Promise, Maine, a place known for the miraculous events that occur there.

“All These Things I’ve Done” by Gabrielle Zevin
In a future where chocolate and caffeine are contraband, teenage cellphone use is illegal, and water and paper are carefully rationed, Anya Balanchine finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight as heir apparent to an important New York City crime family.

The Gateway Readers Award honors a young adult novel selected by Missouri high school students. Even though this award is administered by the Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL), it is the responsibility of Missouri teens to vote on the actual winner. Each year’s finalists are announced in December and voting takes place over a year later in March.

This year’s Gateway Award Nominees feature post-apocalyptic plotlines, contemporary teen struggles and even a little bit of historical fiction. While I haven’t read the entire list yet (that’s what summer is for!), I wholeheartedly recommend “Daughter of Smoke and Bone” by Laini Taylor. Truly, it was one of the best books for older teens I have ever read. I’m also a big fan of Jennifer’s Brown’s “Bitter End” and “Divergent” by Veronica Roth. How many have you read? Which are your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!

“Ashes” by Ilsa J. Bick
After an electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky killing billions, Alex must say goodbye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Desperate to assess the aftermath, she meets up with Tom, a young soldier, and Ellie, a girl who is also left orphaned by the EMP. For this improvised family, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

“Anna Dressed in Blood” by Kendare Blake
For three years, Cas Lowood has carried on his father’s work of dispatching the murderous dead, traveling with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. However, everything changes when he meets Anna, a girl unlike any ghost he has faced before.

“Bitter End” by Jennifer Brown
When Alex falls for the charming new boy at school, Cole, she can’t believe she’s finally found her soul mate. At first, she is very happy in her relationship with him. However, as the months pass, Alex can no longer ignore Cole’s small put-downs, pinches or increasingly violent threats.

“Shelter” by Harlan Coben
After tragic events tear Mickey Bolitar away from his parents, he is forced to live with his estranged Uncle Myron and switch high schools, where he finds both friends and enemies. When his new new girlfriend, Ashley, vanishes, he follows her trail into a seedy underworld that reveals she is not what she seems to be.

“I’ll Be There” by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Raised by an unstable father, Sam Border has long been the voice of his silent younger brother, Riddle. The two are steadied when they are welcomed by the family of Sam’s new girlfriend, Emily. When tragedy strikes, Sam and Riddle are left fighting for survival in the desolate wilderness, wondering if they’ll ever find a place where they can belong.

“Everybody Sees the Ants” by A.S. King
Overburdened by his parents’ bickering and a bully’s attacks, Lucky Linderman begins dreaming of being with his grandfather, who went missing during the Vietnam War. During a visit to his aunt and uncle’s house in Arizona, he gains a new perspective with the help of their beautiful neighbor, Ginny.

“Ashfall” by Mike Mullin
For Alex, being left alone for the weekend means having the freedom to play computer games and hang out with his friends without hassle from his mother. Then the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, plunging his hometown into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence. Alex begins a harrowing trek to search for his family and develop the skills needed to survive this epic disaster.

“Shine” by Lauren Myracle
When her best friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, Cat sets out to discover the culprits in her small North Carolina town.

“Delirium” by Lauren Oliver
Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life. However, crisis strikes when she fears she might be in love just a few months shy of her eighteenth birthday.

“Divergent” by Veronica Roth
In a future Chicago, Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomoly who does not fit into any one group.

“Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick” by Joe Schreiber
Perry’s parents insist that he take Gobi, their quiet, Lithuanian exchange student, to senior prom. After an incident at the dance, he learns that Gobi is actually a trained assassin who needs him as a henchman, behind the wheel of his father’s precious Jaguar, on a mission in Manhattan.

“Between Shades of Gray” by Ruta Sepetys
In 1941, Lina, her mother and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life. Vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers, she buries her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. Based on a true story.

“Daughter of Smoke and Bone” by Laini Taylor
Karou, a lovely, enigmatic art student in a Prague boarding school, carries a sketchbook of hideous, frightening monsters–the chimaerae who form the only family she has ever known.

“The Probability of Miracles” by Wendy Wunder
Dry, sarcastic Cam Cooper has spent the last seven years in and out hospitals. The last thing she wants to do in the short life she has left is move 1,500 miles away to Promise, Maine, a place known for the miraculous events that occur there.

“All These Things I’ve Done” by Gabrielle Zevin
In a future where chocolate and caffeine are contraband, teenage cellphone use is illegal, and water and paper are carefully rationed, Anya Balanchine finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight as heir apparent to an important New York City crime family.

We recently added “The Revisionaries” to the DBRL collection. The film was shown at the Ragtag last year, and currently has a rating of 91% from critics at Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s a synopsis from our catalog:

Exposé of the power struggle inside the Texas State Board of Education, the government body that determines what students learn in Texas public schools and, due to the buying power of their system, often the entire country. Showcases how public education has become the latest battleground in a new wave of cultural, religious, and ideological clashes, with Texas education board members advancing agendas of Creationism and other religious issues in public schools.

Check out the film trailer or the official film site for more info.

As a gentleman that recommends things, my priority is to recommend great stuff, but given the angle I’m working it does help when the stuffs’ creators are fine folks. Fortunately, there are enough great writers who qualify as gentlefolk to keep me from needing to recommend a pirate or Wall Street tycoon for some time. Perhaps one day, though, a thorough Googling won’t be enough to reveal the heart of a person and I’ll end up recommending a writer that spends his down time screaming at waiters and going to laundromats just to take wet clothes out of dryers or to add some bleach to washers from the canteen he carries around for just that twisted purpose. I’m certain today’s recommended writer is more likely to politely converse with a waiter as a means of sating his voracious thirst for writerly details than yell about the “misalignment of the restaurant’s chi” like *name redacted by legal counsel* is prone to doing. No, this is one author that isn’t going to go around pulling a *name as verb redacted by legal counsel* and slyly dropping candies into strollers with the intention of giving your children cavities. He is so humble he is humble about how humble he is. But kindness and expert chopstick etiquette aside, I wouldn’t be recommending David Mitchell if he wasn’t one of the best novelists in the known universe.

Others have described Mitchell’s brilliance better than I can, and while I could claim their words as my own I’m no *name redacted by legal counsel* and will give credit for their insights. Tied for my favorite novel ever, “Cloud Atlas” is, in the words of Dave Eggers, “one of those how-the-holy-hell-did-he-do-it? modern classics that no doubt is — and should be — read by any student of contemporary literature.“ Another critic included these high-falutin words of praise in a review that was actually (and wrongly) not entirely positive: “let it be said that Mitchell is, clearly, a genius. He writes as though at the helm of some perpetual dream machine, can evidently do anything, and his ambition is written in magma across this novel’s every page.“

While my jaw dropped the hardest at “Cloud Atlas,” David Mitchell always writes in magma. His first novel, “Ghostwritten,” is composed of nine interlocking tales and has something for everyone: chapters from the perspective of an art thief, a ghost, a terrorist, a sentient satellite and even a drummer. His second novel, “Number9Dream,” is another mind-bender and has little to do with that old pop band. After “Cloud Atlas” Mitchell wrote “Black Swan Green” an excellent (even absent post-apocalyptic goatherders) novel about a thirteen year old boy growing up in early 80s England. His most recent novel, “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet,” is the thrilling tale of an accountant, 18th century trade between the Dutch and Japanese and a monastery with secrets I’d regret spoiling.

Read David Mitchell: he tells huge, gripping stories packed with truths and with details that’ll tempt you to stop reading to savor the imagery if only you could manage to put the book down. He delivers them in shapes a reader may never have seen before and does so not just to flaunt his immense talent but because that is the way the story needs to be told. And he doesn’t go around demanding that his name be redacted from every document brave enough to reveal his vulgar behavior unlike that rascal *name redacted by legal council*.

As a gentleman that recommends things, my priority is to recommend great stuff, but given the angle I’m working it does help when the stuffs’ creators are fine folks. Fortunately, there are enough great writers who qualify as gentlefolk to keep me from needing to recommend a pirate or Wall Street tycoon for some time. Perhaps one day, though, a thorough Googling won’t be enough to reveal the heart of a person and I’ll end up recommending a writer that spends his down time screaming at waiters and going to laundromats just to take wet clothes out of dryers or to add some bleach to washers from the canteen he carries around for just that twisted purpose. I’m certain today’s recommended writer is more likely to politely converse with a waiter as a means of sating his voracious thirst for writerly details than yell about the “misalignment of the restaurant’s chi” like *name redacted by legal counsel* is prone to doing. No, this is one author that isn’t going to go around pulling a *name as verb redacted by legal counsel* and slyly dropping candies into strollers with the intention of giving your children cavities. He is so humble he is humble about how humble he is. But kindness and expert chopstick etiquette aside, I wouldn’t be recommending David Mitchell if he wasn’t one of the best novelists in the known universe.

Others have described Mitchell’s brilliance better than I can, and while I could claim their words as my own I’m no *name redacted by legal counsel* and will give credit for their insights. Tied for my favorite novel ever, “Cloud Atlas” is, in the words of Dave Eggers, “one of those how-the-holy-hell-did-he-do-it? modern classics that no doubt is — and should be — read by any student of contemporary literature.“ Another critic included these high-falutin words of praise in a review that was actually (and wrongly) not entirely positive: “let it be said that Mitchell is, clearly, a genius. He writes as though at the helm of some perpetual dream machine, can evidently do anything, and his ambition is written in magma across this novel’s every page.“

While my jaw dropped the hardest at “Cloud Atlas,” David Mitchell always writes in magma. His first novel, “Ghostwritten,” is composed of nine interlocking tales and has something for everyone: chapters from the perspective of an art thief, a ghost, a terrorist, a sentient satellite and even a drummer. His second novel, “Number9Dream,” is another mind-bender and has little to do with that old pop band. After “Cloud Atlas” Mitchell wrote “Black Swan Green” an excellent (even absent post-apocalyptic goatherders) novel about a thirteen year old boy growing up in early 80s England. His most recent novel, “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet,” is the thrilling tale of an accountant, 18th century trade between the Dutch and Japanese and a monastery with secrets I’d regret spoiling.

Read David Mitchell: he tells huge, gripping stories packed with truths and with details that’ll tempt you to stop reading to savor the imagery if only you could manage to put the book down. He delivers them in shapes a reader may never have seen before and does so not just to flaunt his immense talent but because that is the way the story needs to be told. And he doesn’t go around demanding that his name be redacted from every document brave enough to reveal his vulgar behavior unlike that rascal *name redacted by legal council*.

Home
A One Read Art Exhibit
Orr Street Studios (106 Orr Street, Columbia)

“Your heart’s love has no land, no homeland, no address.” ~ poet Nizar Qabbani, as quoted by Keija Parssinen in “The Ruins of Us”

Inspired by this year’s One Read selection, we invite Mid-Missouri artists to contribute works that explore the idea of home, of leaving and returning, or what Parssinen calls “that mysterious child-love for a left-behind place,” a place that largely exists in one’s imagination or memory. Cash prizes will be awarded for three winners, courtesy of Columbia’s Office of Cultural Affairs. The third place winner will receive $50, the second place winner $75 and the first place winner $125 plus a free educational class from the Columbia Art League. Art will be displayed September 8-21 at Orr Street Studios with an opening reception, awards and program on Tuesday, September 10 at 6 p.m.

Submission Details

• Artists must be at least 16 years of age.
• Artists may submit one work in any visual medium.
• Pieces should be ready for display (with secure hanging wire if applicable).
• Work should be labeled on the back with your name, phone number or email, title of the work and medium used.
• Submit artwork to Orr Street Studios (106 Orr Street, Columbia).
• Submission dates are:
  • Friday, September 6, Noon-3 p.m.
  • Saturday, September 7, Noon-3 p.m.
  • Sunday, September 8, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
• After the exhibit, artists can pick up their artwork Sunday, September 22 or Monday, September 23 between noon and 3 p.m.

Questions? Contact Lauren Williams at 573-443-3161 or by e-mail.

Special thanks to Orr Street Studios, the Columbia Art League and Columbia’s Office of Cultural Affairs  for their support!

This fourth novel in Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series finds our hero waking in a hospital in Florence with a gunshot wound to the head and no memory of how he got there. As the doctors try to explain to him his injuries, an assassin bursts into the room and tries to kill him. Thus begins a non-stop journey through Italy that mirrors Dante’s famous epic “The Inferno” and leads Langdon on a quest to save the world…one way or another.

I enjoyed this book, but found myself feeling strangely empty as I reached the end. I absolutely loved “Angels and Demons” and “The Da Vinci Code,” but while I liked this book, I didn’t feel a connection to it as I did with the previous novels. It has been many years since I’ve read Dante’s “Inferno,” and while knowing it well wasn’t integral to understanding the plot, this time I felt a little under-prepared to understand the parallels between Langdon’s journey and Dante’s. I also felt the ending really left us hanging – and not in a positive, “can’t wait for the sequel” way.

Three words that describe this book: engrossing, fascinating, highbrow

You might want to pick this book up if: You’re a fan of the previous Robert Langdon books: “The Da Vinci Code,” “Angels and Demons” and “The Lost Symbol.”

-Justine

Editor’s note: This is the first patron-submitted review we’ve published as part of this year’s Summer Reading program. Sign up today and submit reviews of your own for chances to win book store gift certificates!

Daniel Boone Regional Library will be hosting “Project Lunch” at each of our branch locations later in June. For this month’s activity, you can create a keychain or jewelry out of washers, nuts, wire, buttons and beads. We’ll provide pizza and craft supplies.

Southern Boone County Public Library
Tuesday, June 25 at 12 p.m. Ages 11-16.
No registration required.

Columbia Public Library
Thursday, June 27 at 11:30 a.m.  Ages 11-16.
Registration begins Tuesday, June 18.
To sign up, please call (573) 443-3161.

Callaway County Public Library
Friday, June 28 at 12 p.m. Ages 11-16.
No registration required.

Also, don’t forget to mark your calendar for next month’s “Project Lunch” when we will be making posters to describe what’s beneath your surface.

June 17: “The Source Family” starts at Ragtag. (via)
June 19: “Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars” 6:30 p.m. at Columbia Public Library, free. (via)
June 20: “I Am Breathing” 5:30 p.m. at Ragtag, free. (via)

I love lists. I love reading them, making them and crossing things off of them. Apparently I am not alone, as every magazine and media outlet has published lists of recommended summer reading. We library folk also have plenty of suggestions, from this year’s 10 One Read finalists to our lists of groundbreaking works of fiction and nonfiction. Here are some other ideas for books to pack in your suitcase or relax with in your backyard hammock.

NPR asked independent booksellers for their favorite reads for the season, and the result is a quirky mix that includes funny and touching stories of middle- and advanced age (Elinor Lipman’s “The View from Penthouse B” and Jill McCorkle’s “Life After Life“), as well as some promising debuts, like the suspenseful historical fiction “The Other Typist” by Suzanne Rindell.

Kirkus Reviews names 10 best novels for summer, recommending vacation escape fiction like Mary Kay Andrew’s “Ladies’ Night” and “A Hundred Summers” by Beatriz Williams.

Salon.com looks for this year’s “Gone Girl” and provides a summer readng list that avoids run-of-the-mill thrillers and instead names novels that find “the sweet spot where literary quality mingles freely with crackerjack storytelling.” Try Joe Hill’s “NOS4A2,” or for some real-life thrills, pick up Mitchell Zuckoff’s nonfiction work “Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival, and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II.”

What books are in your beach bag?

I love lists. I love reading them, making them and crossing things off of them. Apparently I am not alone, as every magazine and media outlet has published lists of recommended summer reading. We library folk also have plenty of suggestions, from this year’s 10 One Read finalists to our lists of groundbreaking works of fiction and nonfiction. Here are some other ideas for books to pack in your suitcase or relax with in your backyard hammock.

NPR asked independent booksellers for their favorite reads for the season, and the result is a quirky mix that includes funny and touching stories of middle- and advanced age (Elinor Lipman’s “The View from Penthouse B” and Jill McCorkle’s “Life After Life“), as well as some promising debuts, like the suspenseful historical fiction “The Other Typist” by Suzanne Rindell.

Kirkus Reviews names 10 best novels for summer, recommending vacation escape fiction like Mary Kay Andrew’s “Ladies’ Night” and “A Hundred Summers” by Beatriz Williams.

Salon.com looks for this year’s “Gone Girl” and provides a summer readng list that avoids run-of-the-mill thrillers and instead names novels that find “the sweet spot where literary quality mingles freely with crackerjack storytelling.” Try Joe Hill’s “NOS4A2,” or for some real-life thrills, pick up Mitchell Zuckoff’s nonfiction work “Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival, and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II.”

What books are in your beach bag?

Gnomes want to go on summer vacation, too! For the last several years, we have invited area children and teens to decorate their own gnomes to take with them on their adventures.

The first step is to download one of our many gnome patterns and decorate it with your own creative flair. Then, as you are jet-setting across the globe or simply hanging out in your own backyard, snap a photo of you and your gnome having fun. Bring a copy of the photo to the Children’s Desk at the Columbia Public Library, or email it to us at gnomes@dbrl.org.

Your photos will be used throughout July to the decorate the children’s area at the Columbia Public Library. Select photos will also be showcased at teens.dbrl.org. Looking for inspiration? Check out these photos submitted by Hickman High School students and other area children.

We recently added “First Position” to the DBRL collection. The film currently has a rating of 94% from critics at Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s a synopsis from the film website:

Every year, thousands of aspiring dancers enter one of the world’s most prestigious ballet competitions, the Youth America Grand Prix, where lifelong dreams are at stake. In the final round, with hundreds competing for only a handful of elite scholarships and contracts, nothing short of perfection is acceptable. Bess Kargman’s award-winning, box office hit documentary FIRST POSITION follows six extraordinary dancers as they prepare for the chance to enter the world of professional ballet, struggling through bloodied feet, near exhaustion and debilitating injuries, all while navigating the drama of adolescence. A showcase of awe-inspiring talent, tenacity and passion, FIRST POSITION paints a thrilling and moving portrait of the most gifted ballet stars of tomorrow.

Check out the film trailer or the official film site for more info.

I used to spend my days underground, working for a company that manufactured precision measuring instruments. To achieve a stable environment, they built their facilities inside a cave. The environment added an element of otherness to a routine office job. A storm could rage outside and we’d never know unless the power went out. I understand why an author might choose an underground setting to evoke the right atmosphere.

In keeping with the Summer Reading theme “Groundbreaking Reads,” here are six books with stories taking place underground:

“Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison
Published in 1952, this National Book Award winner features an unnamed African American narrator who tells his story from a secret basement home in New York. As the story moves from his upbringing in the rural south to his life as an activist in the north and his eventual disappearance underground, it delves into issues of race relations and economic disparities.

“Spoon River Anthology” by Edgar Lee Masters
This volume of free verse poetry tells the story of a fictional Midwestern town through the voices of the late citizens in its cemetery. From their graves, they relate the hopes, secrets and heartbreaks that comprised their lives.

“The Great Stink” by Clare Clark
A work of historical fiction, Clark’s tale takes place in the London sewers of 1855. Traumatized war veteran William May takes on the job of redesigning said sewer system and ends up witness to a murder, for which he becomes the chief suspect.

“Wool” by Hugh Howey
In a future where the earth’s environment has become unlivable, a community survives in an underground silo. Going outside is forbidden. One day the rule is broken. Intrigue ensues.

“The Tombs of Atuan” by Ursula K. Le Guin
The second book in the “Earthsea” fantasy series can stand on its own. Arha has been raised to be the high priestess of the tombs, and she knows the passages better than almost anyone. When the wizard Sparrowhawk breaks in to steal a treasure, Arha must decide whether to help him find his way back out.

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain
Missouri native Twain wrote one of the best-known underground scenes in American literature. Even folks who have never opened the book know about Tom and Becky lost in the labyrinthine cave tunnels in this classic adventure that appeals to all ages.

I used to spend my days underground, working for a company that manufactured precision measuring instruments. To achieve a stable environment, they built their facilities inside a cave. The environment added an element of otherness to a routine office job. A storm could rage outside and we’d never know unless the power went out. I understand why an author might choose an underground setting to evoke the right atmosphere.

In keeping with the Summer Reading theme “Groundbreaking Reads,” here are six books with stories taking place underground:

“Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison
Published in 1952, this National Book Award winner features an unnamed African American narrator who tells his story from a secret basement home in New York. As the story moves from his upbringing in the rural south to his life as an activist in the north and his eventual disappearance underground, it delves into issues of race relations and economic disparities.

“Spoon River Anthology” by Edgar Lee Masters
This volume of free verse poetry tells the story of a fictional Midwestern town through the voices of the late citizens in its cemetery. From their graves, they relate the hopes, secrets and heartbreaks that comprised their lives.

“The Great Stink” by Clare Clark
A work of historical fiction, Clark’s tale takes place in the London sewers of 1855. Traumatized war veteran William May takes on the job of redesigning said sewer system and ends up witness to a murder, for which he becomes the chief suspect.

“Wool” by Hugh Howey
In a future where the earth’s environment has become unlivable, a community survives in an underground silo. Going outside is forbidden. One day the rule is broken. Intrigue ensues.

“The Tombs of Atuan” by Ursula K. Le Guin
The second book in the “Earthsea” fantasy series can stand on its own. Arha has been raised to be the high priestess of the tombs, and she knows the passages better than almost anyone. When the wizard Sparrowhawk breaks in to steal a treasure, Arha must decide whether to help him find his way back out.

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain
Missouri native Twain wrote one of the best-known underground scenes in American literature. Even folks who have never opened the book know about Tom and Becky lost in the labyrinthine cave tunnels in this classic adventure that appeals to all ages.

United States of YA Booklist

Travel the country without ever leaving home. The good people of EpicReads.com asked their readers to suggest a young adult novel that represents each state in America. With their signature creativity, they compiled a booklist to help you spend the summer reading across the United States. Review the complete list and reserve your favorites today!

If you are participating in the teen summer reading challenge, reading a book from this list counts as one of the seven required activities for finishing. Some of my personal favorites include “Bloodlines” by Richelle Mead, “Starcrossed” by Josephine Angelini and “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie. How many have you read? Which are your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!

United States of YA Booklist

Travel the country without ever leaving home. The good people of EpicReads.com asked their readers to suggest a young adult novel that represents each state in America. With their signature creativity, they compiled a booklist to help you spend the summer reading across the United States. Review the complete list and reserve your favorites today!

If you are participating in the teen summer reading challenge, reading a book from this list counts as one of the seven required activities for finishing. Some of my personal favorites include “Bloodlines” by Richelle Mead, “Starcrossed” by Josephine Angelini and “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie. How many have you read? Which are your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!