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AMAZING BOOK RESOURCE!!!!

Check out the New York Public Libraries "Books for the Teen Age - 2006." Categories include fiction, do-it-yourself, science, the U.S.A - past and present, stories of people who are Native American, African-American, Latino and Asian, love, mind and body, and much, much more!

Check it out by clicking here.

Book Review - Nothing But the Truth (and a Few White Lies) by Justina Chen Headley

Patricia Yi-Phen Ho is a hapa. Hapa is Hawaiian for someone who's half-Asian and half-white. Patty doesn't feel totally Asian but she doesn't feel totally white. She never felt completely as a whole anywhere. When she found out her future with Belly-Button Grandma, the Chinese fortune-teller, through her belly button that she might end up with a white guy, her ultra-strict Taiwanese mom sent her straight to the math camp at Stanford. Patty never liked her mom's idea but she found out while at Stanford and at her aunt's house why her mom doesn't let her do things her way and most importantly, she found out about her mom's life and whatever happened to her dad. Patty's new life starts at Stanford with all kinds of different probabilities.
This book is very interesting and definitely funny. Through this novel, you can understand Patricia Yi-Phen Ho's life and views on different things and places. So I would really recommend this novel to anyone who likes comedy/humor, wants to know how a half-Asian, half-white person's life would be, or is interested in knowing about Asian society and culture.
Review by Tina

Sock Monkey visits Bridgewater on his Epic Library Tour!

After a near temper tantrum, Sock Monkey gets his way and attempts to drive the library van. We tried to tell him his feet don't reach the gas pedal, but he just wouldn't listen.



Sock Monkey is convinced to give up the quest to drive and does storytime for the library monkeys.






To round off his trip, Sock Monkey showed off his artistic abilities by helping the library's graphic artist, Christine, paint a mural in the youth services room.

We'll miss you, Sock Monkey!!!!
To find out more about Sock Monkey's Library Tour click here.

Teen Book Reviews

BLEACH (graphic novel)

Great Japanese comic with some comedy, action, and seriousness blended together to form a great manga.

This story takes place in modern Japan where people go on doing their every day jobs. Except what most people don’t see is what one person can see. Ichigo is you basic high school kid with friends and a family except for one thing that separates him from most people -- he has the ability to see ghosts clearly. It is a rare ability in which only one in every 50,000 people will have and only a handful of people can see them clearly. Ichigo’s life changes one day when he sees for the first time a hollow and a soul reaper engaged in battle. The hollow is slain and the soul reaper disappears. Life goes on but when his family becomes under attack by a hollow he is forced to become a soul reaper to save his family.
Review by Al


The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Clubis truly one of those books that can be enjoyed and appreciated by women readers ranging from any age. The Joy Luck Club tells the stories of four Chinese women and their daughters. Each woman has their own story to tell as do their daughters, with which the reader can see the different points of views of two different generations searching for essentially the same thing-happiness. The joy luck club meets every week and was started by Suyuan Woo. Yet, after Suyuan dies, her daughter is forced to replace her in the joy luck club. It is then that her daughter learns about her mother’s dark past and becomes closer to her than she was when Suyuan was actually living. This novel is refreshingly different from most other novels because each chapter contains a different story from either a mom or a daughter that relates an individual struggle; however, each tale is connected to one another, reminding the reader of the intimate bond shared between the joy luck club. The Joy Luck Club truly is a splendid book that displays an innovative writing style by Amy Tan and a depth of human emotion and understanding. Such a remarkable story is indeed a rare find.
Also recommended: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Review by Deekshita


The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening was one of the first American books to openly challenge a women’s constrained role in society and her desire for liberation. This novel chronicles Edna Pontellier as she realizes that she is worth more in life than just a “housewife” burdened with trivial matters. As Edna’s eyes awaken more and more each day to the world of possibility out there for her, she begins to make some radical changes -- one of these changes being that she moves out (leaving her husband and two sons) into her own apartment. Such a move was virtually unheard of in the early 1900s. Consequently, Edna must face the consequences of her behavior as she spirals down a path of unhappiness.
The Awakening, interestingly enough, was one of the only controversial books whose controversy had driven it into obscurity; most books receiving so much notoriety usually become more popular because of that attention. The Awakening, however, is still vastly unheard of even in this decade. This novel offers an interesting portrait into the lifestyle of women ruled by Victorian code, but it is not a book for all readers. It has a rather slow start and is meant for the more patient reader.
Also recommended: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, and Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Reviewed by Deekshita


The Devil Wears Prada
by Lauren Weisberger

Before becoming a movie, The Devil Wears Prada was a New York Times bestseller for weeks. The novel chronicles recent college graduate, Andrea Sachs, as she struggles to attain her dream job in the big city -- to become a writer for The New Yorker. However, instead of landing her dream job, she lands the job that turns into her worst nightmare. Andrea ends up working in a fashion magazine, an area that she knows absolutely nothing about, for the powerfully mean Miranda Priestly in exchange for a recommendation to work at The New Yorker. Andrea’s world turns upside down as she is introduced to the glitz and glamour of city life. Yet, she realizes that the glamour is really a cover-up for a world that is filled with superficial phonies who have no real purpose in life except to gossip, party, and shop. Likewise Miranda makes Andrea’s life as miserable as possible as she sends Andrea on absurd tasks like getting a hold of the latest Harry Potter book a day before it hits stores or to pick up her dry-cleaning in the middle of the night. Andrea patiently sticks with her job so she can get her recommendation, until she notices that she has turned into a miniature version of Miranda herself. The Devil Wears Prada is a very funny book that is perfect for a lazy day. At the same time, it offers a witty dialogue and some very deep character insights.
Also recommended: Can You Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella, The Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella
Reviewed by Deekshita


White Oleander by Janet Fitch

Astrid Magnussen is a girl living the perfect life with her brilliant poet mom, Ingrid, until Ingrid murders a man with poison and lands in jail. Astrid is then left motherless during a crucial point in her life -- when she starts growing up. Astrid winds up in a string of foster homes that are all very different, all of which have something important to teach her as Astrid tries to decide who she is and what she wants. Astrid’s first home is with Starr Thomas (a born-again Christian who is also a recovering alcoholic) in a trailer park. Astrid is soon kicked out after she begins having a relationship with Starr’s boyfriend. Astrid then winds up with Clair Richards and her husband. Claire provides Astrid with the perfect life -- a caring family, a wardrobe full of pretty new clothes, and lots of attention. Yet, Claire struggles from depression, forcing Astrid to look after her. After a dark tragedy in the Richards’ house, Astrid ends up living with Rena, a cynical Russian businesswomen who teaches Astrid all about money, hard work, and the real world. During all of this, Astrid continues to come to terms with her mother’s crime, which she eventually has to confront at the end of the novel. White Oleander is a very touching story about one girl’s perseverance and strength in midst of one very chaotic and troubled life.
Also recommended: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Reviewed by Deekshita

Fancy Flip Flops Program

Pics from the Mehndi Program

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Some Cookie Reviews from Summer '06

Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix
This book is a great book for sci-fi lovers. It's about two scientists who experiment on about fifty old-aged men and women (ready to die), who give their patrons a shot that reverses their aging process! But what happens when they get too young? Read the book to find out! (7th grade reviewer)


Perfect by Natasha Friend
When Isabelle's dad dies she turns to becoming bulimic to overcome her own grief, as well as her mother's and sister's. When she joins a group and finds out the most popular girl in school is there too, even more obstacles appear. (9th grade reviewer)


Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
In this soap-opera like novel, Tolstoy's characters contemplate the meaning of family, love, marriage, religion, and death. The book may be long and intimidating, but I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for thrilling, exciting classical literature. (12th grade reviewer)

The Music of Dolphins by Karen Hesse
The book is about a girl, Mila, who was found by Doctor Beck, a scientist. The book tells you how she improved in talking and being a human. (6th grade reviewer)



A Door Near Here by Heather Quales
A family of four tries to stick together as their drunken mother neglects them in her life, and the only one who can help is their father in Michigan. (9th grade reviewer)



The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett
The Wright 3 was a suspenseful mystery book about three kids trying to save a house that got knocked down. I really enjoyed it. (7th grade reviewer)



Wolf Rider: A Tale of Terror by Avi
A boy gets a call from a stranger saying "I've killed someone." Now he must try to solve the mystery before things get out of hand. (10th grade reviewer)



The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Secret Life of Bees is a remarkable story about Lily Owens, the daughter of an abusive single "father" living in the south in the 1960s. Lily's journey to discovering the truth about her mother, as well as herself, is moving and extraordinary. An excellent, eloquent novel by Sue Monk Kidd! (9th grade reviewer)


Tersias the Oracle by G. P. Taylor
In the streets of London, a boy named Tersias sees the future. But as everyone hears about him, more wish to use his power of foresight for the wrong reasons. Read this book to find out the outcome! (8th grade reviewer)


The Mediator 6: Twilight by Meg Cabot.
Suze is a Mediator; a connection to the living and the dead. But Suze can do more than see ghosts, she can travel through time. When Suze goes back in time to save the ghost that haunts her bedroom she makes a terrible mistake by bringing his body to the future. Can he live through the future or die never knowing Suze? (7th grade reviewer)


Captain Hook by James Hart
This book was an interesting read because it talks all about Captain Hook's life before Peter Pan. It was a fun way to find out background information on the villain before he turned evil. (9th grade reviewer)