Staff Pick Sampler Dish

As part of our blog's new year's revamping, we will be showcasing staff picks from our chapter book room. These may be hot-off-the-presses titles, cult classics, or sleepers, but as Sam McBratney's bear daddy would say, they're all our favorites.

Here's just a taste of what we're loving today:

Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls
Bookseller: Bindy
Genre: realistic fiction
Suggested reading level: ages 9 & up

11-year-old Sam delivers creativity in the face of demise and immortality in response to chronic illness. Sam's matter-of-fact attitude provides a reassuring voice to the readers, whom he invites along as he lives out his dreams through the final stages of leukemia.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Bookseller: Julia
Genre: YA action/thriller/modern day
Suggested reading level: ages 15 & up

When the moon shifts dangerously close to the Earth, a string of deadly climate changes ends modern day life. After homework, McDonalds, and electricity become things of the past, epidemics sweep the town. Miranda learns the meaning of courage, integrity, and great loss as she helps her family survive in deserted suburbia. Hard to put down! Also look for the companion novel, The Dead and the Gone.

The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison
Bookseller: Michelle
Genre: fairy tale, romance
Suggested reading level: ages 12 & up

In this enchanting reversal of the tale of Beauty and the Beast, prince George hides the dangerous, shameful secret of his animal magic in his increasingly magic-fearing kingdom. When he is betrothed to the strong-spirited princess Beatrice, he discovers more secrets and love in unexpected places.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Bookseller: Rachel
Genre: high fantasy
Suggested reading level: ages 13 & up

Katsa is Graced with the ability to kill, and the king has made her his thug. That all changes when she meets Po, a Graced fighter, the only man to hold his own against her skill--but when Katsa and Po become embroiled in dark foreign secrets, even their Graces may not be enough to get them through alive.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
Bookseller: Katie
Genre: fantasy, retold fairy tale
Suggested reading level: ages 15 & up

David retreats into reading to escape the painful aftermath of his mother's death. When the line between reality and imagination blurs, David becomes trapped in a world of fairy-tale dangers -- including the sinister Crooked Man. Includes an extensive index of fairy tales which inspired Connolly.