 Good morning and welcome to the first and compass live of 2022. Welcome to a new year. Yay. I'm your host, Christopher Porter here at the Nebraska Library Commission and compass live is the Commission's weekly webinar series where we cover a variety of topics that may be of interest to libraries. We broadcast the show live every Wednesday morning at 10am central time. But if you're unable to join us on Wednesday, that's fine. Would you record the show as we are doing today and is then posted on our website for you to watch at your convenience. And I'll show you the end of today's show where you can access all of our recordings. Both our live show and the archive recordings are free and open to anyone to watch. So please share with your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, anyone you think might be interested in any of the topics we have on the show. For those of you not from Nebraska, the Nebraska Library Commission is the state agency for libraries, somewhere to a state library. So we provide services to all types of libraries in the state. So we will have shows on in compass live that could be for any type of library, public academic K 12 corrections archives, museums, anything and everything. Really, our only criteria is that is something to do with libraries. We do book reviews, many training sessions, demos of services and products. We have guest speakers that come in to do presentations for us sometimes from around the country around Nebraska and around the country, but we also have Nebraska Library Commission staff that do presentations as we have this morning with us today is Sally Snyder. Good morning, Sally. Good morning everybody. She is our coordinator of children and young adult library services here at the Nebraska Library Commission. And today she is doing her annual best teen reads of 2021. This is something we do every year we do a team one and there is a children's version of this too. This is one of the best new children's books of 2021 that we did at the beginning early in December the recording is on our archives. So if you are a youth librarian who handles any children of any age. You can watch the children's one and then for your younger kids, younger readers and now we have the team books that we're going to hear about today for the older ones. You can use Sally to take them away and talk about all the great books we're going to be. They're going to be reading. Maybe we will. Thank you. Just would like to mention that on the library commission's homepage. If you type up in the search box, handouts, then it takes you to a link, click on that link and all of the handouts listed there so far are ones that I've given presentations on. So it's not doesn't say Sally's hands out handouts. It just says handout. So if somebody else ever decides to put theirs in there, that'll be fine. Fine. Oh, go ahead. Yeah, so that's where you can find the list of the list of all the books. What I was going to say was these will have a link to that as well and we put the archive up for the show. A link to Sally's handout listing all the books and to the slide presentation that she's doing today with the book covers. That's true. And you, I haven't put up my comprehensive list of children's books, but I'm going to do that I promise today. So if you're looking for that there's the one list of the presentation but there's also my over over the whole year and this is what I recommend of the things I've seen, which leads me into the team list. So the books that we get as review copies here at the library commission. I call them my books but they're not mine. They go to when I'm through looking through them and reading them they go to the library system coordinators administrators, directors, and they are given to public and school libraries in the state so I have them for a while and then they go out to libraries everywhere in Nebraska, which is great. There's those books, there's books I've heard talk about and I find at the public library and occasionally I buy a book because the library doesn't have it and I want to read that book. And then I give it away to a nephew or great nephew or great niece or whoever, or put it in the giveaway stack. But that's where I see books and I go to websites and I go to people's blogs and and see who's saying what about which books and there's still books I don't hear about. So if your favorite book is not mentioned, send me an email and tell me Sally check out this book and I'll see if I can find a copy of it and it might end up being a Friday reads or something during the year who knows. The other thing I want you all to know is I have a script. Because if I don't, I'll babble for three hours and you'll all leave and you'll say I'll just look at her list later I'm done listening to this babble. So this keeps me on focus and hits the keen points I want to make about the books. And also I'd like to say if anyone has a comment about a book I'm talking about like my teens won't check that book out this like it's got the coven virus on it or something. Then let us know because these are my opinions I run things some things by my great nephew who's 13 now and he's he's my really only contact with teens and he just made that last November it's about time. Anyway, so I'm going to get started talking and let me know if teens love it or won't touch it, or you had a great conversation with somebody about something. You're welcome to raise your hand or is there a way to raise their hand right. If you want to because just tight they can also just go ahead and type into the question section if they're thinking or anything. The question about any of the books you want to know more detail about something. Or if you have a title to suggest, as Sally said, go ahead and type in the question section there and I can grab that and read any of your comments off to Sally. That'll be great. So we'll just go ahead and get started now. If I can make everything work. I'm going to read the full screen right. Yep. We see the full screening of the best team reader 2021 so far. Okay, well, I should have taken off the so far. That's okay. This is originally done at our state annual state library conference and rescue library association conference. That's why it has that and it says the October date there. Probably won't read that many more 2021 books because I'm looking forward to 2022 right now. So, let's see if I can get this to move. Hello. Let's start with fiction for younger teens, as a very general age range I know but we know that teens and children read widely away from their age group or their school grade. So I try to be pretty vague about things like that. Parveen and her two close friends are starting high school. Just after the high school orientation for freshmen Parveen's boyfriend of two days breaks up with her. He was her first boyfriend and she is devastated. Homecoming is in six weeks, and she becomes obsessed with getting a date for the event to prove to herself and to her former boyfriend that she is desirable. She neglects her best friends while working towards this goal. Also changes that come along as well in the book Parveen Parveen is struggling at times to adapt her mother is white and her father emigrated from Iran. She is eager for her aunt to visit from Iran, but that is in question due to the Muslim band that had been put in place. So this is about change and adjustment of course starting high school friendship old and new, and realizing her neglect of her friends and apologizing for it. This is a color graphic novel and this particular copy is a compilation of six separate chapters so to speak. So when if you want to get this, search for it by the ISBN so you're sure to call up this particular volume. She was nominated for teen detective of the year 16 to 18 age group, and she attended the event in London with her friend inside kick Claire little. While there she was set up to be accused of attempted murder of another detective. He is in a coma now and cannot tell what happened to him. In the meantime, instead of preparing for college, Lottie is working with the police and living under house arrest. At first they do things like send her to get tea for everybody and, you know, make copies of this paper. But over time she does end up contributing to the force because she is an intelligent sharp girl who catches things that the officers haven't caught. But still ever on her mind is, will the victim wake up and clear Lottie's name. And this is a this particular edition is a complete story, although there might be more stories about her in the future. A book. This is a book in free verse, Ellie 12 has created her own fat girl rules and follows them to avoid being bullied, but she still is bullied every day. She is the new neighbor girl her age and her family except Ellie as she is and value her this acceptance and also her finally allowing her therapist some slack begin to encourage Ellie to speak up for herself. Her mother older brother and sister also bully her. Her father is the only one who loves her for who she is. And Ellie as she works on speaking up, make some mistakes and not letting classmates or family members get away with it anymore. We do have a kind of question request, especially for this one that the barcode is like covering up part of the author's name. I will be happy to do this. This this author's first name is Lisa. When you get him from the library just don't know what they're going to cover up. The title of this book is alone by Megan the Freeman. This is also written in free verse, set in Colorado in the near future, Maddie 12 and her friends have planned a secret sleep odor over at her grandmother's vacation apartment. The plans fall through but Maddie stays there all by herself kind of enjoying the silence for during the night she hears some trucks and some people moving around outside the apartment but she falls back asleep. The next morning, everyone is gone. The TV says there was an imminent threat and everyone was evacuated. When she charged her phone she saw many messages but no one answered her calls or her texts. Soon the utilities are turned off and she has to find a way to survive. She was on her own for the next three years with her only company George her former neighbors rottweiler. They face or hide from weather wild animals, looters and more scavenging what they need bottles of water food and would to burn from homes and stores. The younger brother was writing a book report on Island of the Blue Dolphins and that title comes up a few times in this book. This is obviously about survival and depending on oneself because that's all you have and planning ahead for each season so you're ready for or as ready as you can be for whatever This is the second book about Beast Boy. Both Beast Boy and Raven have chosen to travel to Nashville to meet up with the mysterious Slade who claims to be able to answer their many questions. It doesn't take long for them to run into each other and then discover that they are both in danger. This particular story arc, somewhat complete but it could carry on to further volumes. And interestingly this is paperback the hardcover comes out in April 22. This is by Kami Garcia and it's team beast boy loves Raven. So they did the clock before the hardcover. Okay. Well that's what it says on Amazon. Maybe. This is a full color graphic novel. This is book one of three. And it was intriguing because it's about the downfall of the planet Krypton being explored in these three book series. In the first title we meet Zon L, a cousin of Laura, Superman's mother, who was concerned about the lack of effort to address the problems of the planet, like the ground quakes that appear to be getting worse. Sarah Ur, the girl, is a soldier for Krypton and she sees the hopelessness of the tribunes, those in power, to try to terraform a planet for their people to move to. It isn't working. Zon and Sarah are thrown together to work for the future of Krypton. But we have a comment that has one of the alone title someone says this one has been very popular here in Norfolk. The alone, the previous one. Oh, okay. Oh, thanks for letting me know. This is a okay by Jared green. It's a semi autobiographical full color graphic novel. Jay starts eighth grade with a few pimples, but they soon get worse and he begins a round of treatment with this dermatologist pimples aren't the only change. His best friend is now in a band and doesn't have much time for him. And he realizes he has never had a pressure on anyone. Is he asexual? What is great for him though is art class. He can be himself there. The chapters are by each month of the school year and talks about school and home and his doctor appointments, taking the reader with him through the through the year changes and preparation for high school and there is humor in here and also some heartfelt issues that happen. The curie society by Janet Harvey, three freshmen at Edmond University Simone Maya and Taj are invited to join the curie society founded secretly by Marie Marie curie the society conducts meticulous research, such as their current de extinction studies. Now the new recruits are asked to help their mentors uncover who has stolen their research. Science, a touch of James Bond like equipment and a sister to now and then we'll keep them on track. It's good to the adventure and a respect for science and strong women. April Henry's playing with fire. Natalie 16 and Wyatt have gone on a short height hike to introduce Natalie to a favorite pastime of Wyatt. It's less than two miles to the lake through a beautiful forested area. But when they try to hike back to the car, the area below them is on fire. They and the others at the lake have to hike higher and further into the night to try to escape. But Wyatt doesn't know and Natalie keeps quiet about for quite a while is that when she was 11 she accidentally started a house fire and her baby brother died from it. During the story, the author revisits what happened then, and we continually learn more about what healing both physical and emotional Natalie has been going through to recover. So again, this is a survival story and about being prepared and caring for others and overcoming fear. Unplugged by Gordon Corman. Jeff 12 is a rich spoiled brat and has now been sent to a place of wellness and meditation called Oasis for the summer. No phones, no TV, no electronics, vegetarian only jet is determined to get out of there. He manages to use the boat to get to town from time to time with no adult the wiser. But when he and a few others find an unusual lizard near the secret shack, they bound together to take care of it. And still there is something weird about the estate like house in the small town. Who lives there. And what are the grounds like trouble is the answer. And he's going to get into a pile of it. Gordon carbon has another book titled link. The students at the middle school in a small Colorado town are reeling a swastika was found painted on the wall of the atrium area and everyone is shocked at this act of hatred. And more swastikas appear one at a time throughout the town. Everyone wants the culprit named told from several different students points of view the impact on the town and the people in it is shared with the reader. In the town's past and brought to light again is the night of 1000 flames when the Ku Klux Klan lit crosses all around the town 40 years ago. Some people had died that that ever happened. A meeting of students sparks away for them to honor the 6 million Jews and other people who died from the Holocaust patterned after the paper clips project of Whitwell Middle School in Whitwell Tennessee. The students plan to make a paper chain of 6 million links as a response to the swastikas. Red, white and whole by Rajani La Roca. This is also told in free verse. Reha is 13 and eighth grade was born in the United States. Her parents came here from India. Her parents want her to be a good Indian daughter and she tries but she is American too. And she wants to do things that others in her schools are doing. Then her mother becomes very ill. Reha is determined now to be the very best Indian daughter she can be. Maybe that will help her mother heal. Helping and hoping through her illness with leukemia and finally having to let her go is conveyed with heart and empathy. And the title red, white and whole refers to blood and blood cells because of the leukemia. The author said that at the end of the book. This is a sequel to show me a sign. Mary now 14 is pondering her future, what she wants, maybe teaching and what is possible for her at this time. When a letter arrives from Nora offering her a chance to teach the deaf girl at the estate where she works. Mary goes and finds things very different than she expected. The girl is locked in an upstairs room and the butler who is in charge while the family is gone will not allow Mary to see her. Mary finds her way into the room and it is disgusting. The smell of excrement and the girl is changed by her leg to a leg of the bed. They cannot communicate and the girl is called feral by some of the others. Remembering her own captivity, Mary is determined to help this child. This is book five of the series Emmy and Friends. It's a hybrid graphic novel with lots of white space with the text part. So there's text and then there's also graphic novel panels. Tyler is in seventh grade and discovers he loves being on the basketball team, but he also loves art. Does he have to fit into a slot? Also he is friends with Emmy, but not boyfriend-girlfriend. Why can't his buddies understand that and stop teasing him? Alternating chapters between Tyler and Emmy give insight into what each of them are dealing with and concerned about. This is the first book in the series that focuses on a male point of view, which is interesting, although Emmy has her say too. I resisted reading this book for a long time because the cover made me think of war and battle and I'm tired of that and I don't want to read that. This is a great book. I loved this book. Kasia, 18, has been a book by his cover. That's right. I was waiting for somebody to say that. Kasia is 18 and he is a prisoner of Brisa. He has been for three years and he is a survivor of the plague that struck down so many. Now he is on his way home. The 50-year war ended when King Rayan of Olivares married Princess Jehan of Brisa. Cass rescues the infant prince from drowning on his unannounced arrival at the home he shares with his older brother, Ventilus, Lord of the Keep at Palmarin. The royal family was staying at Palmarin to escape plague in the capital city and now are preparing to return to it since the plague has lessened. As Cass slowly tries to find his way back to himself in his home, a couple of mysteries arise. Who tried to kill the prince and why? And what secret is the queen hiding because he's pretty sure she has some kind of secret? Bug and her mother have just lost. Bug's beloved uncle Roderick, her mother's brother, and they are both dealing with the grief. Their income is now at a low and they may need to do something drastic. Bug's best friend Moira believes they both need to take some time this summer before starting their first year at middle school to practice with makeup, buy new clothes, and think about boys. Bug is tired of trying to figure out how to be a girl. She would prefer if things stay the same, but she tries for her friends' sake. They live in a somewhat isolated farmhouse that has a number of nonviolent ghosts or spirits. Sometimes the door slams or Bug may encounter a cold spot, but she believes the ghosts basically ignore her. Then it seems a new ghost with an agenda has come to the house. It is harassing Bug and a bit scary. This book handles the three topics very well, the hauntings, the income issue, and Bug's problem with being a girl. By the end of the book, Bug has realized he is transgender and wants to identify as a boy and his best friend Moira and the other kids at school are fine with that. This is an own voices book as the author also was considered to be a girl until he asserted that he is male. Heart stopper volume three, I just heard that there's going to be a volume four coming out somewhat later this year. Nick and Charlie are part of a school trip visiting Paris during break. They are sharing a room with two other boys who each claim a bed so Nick and Charlie cannot share a bed. Nick has accepted that he is bisexual and he has shared that with his mother. Most of the book is about the ongoing decisions and difficulty of coming out over and over again with family, then some close friends, then more friends, but which ones? It is exhausting. Things continue to grow between them though and by the end of the book, they agree that while they greatly enjoy hugging and kissing and they love each other, neither is ready for more. Someone did say that volume four is out but they just got it at their library. Oh, it is. Oh, I have to go find it. Let's see. Sorry. This is by Rihanna Richardson, The Meat Cute Project. Mia, African American and a junior in high school is quite busy with her swimming practice and meats, pressures to do well in her classes in anticipation of college, and helping her sister, Samantha, a bridezilla, handle all the many details in planning her wedding. Then she gets the last blow. Sam tells her she has to find her own date for the wedding. Mia is not practiced in dating and she has no boyfriend. So her friends who love rom-coms each set her up for a meat cute with a guy to see if anything magical happens. It's fun with expected embarrassing moments. And Mia also does some growing and seeing things outside her own experience and opinions and realizing she hasn't been as helpful as she could have been to her sister, even if she is a bridezilla. This is from Borca. It's the high interest, more easily handled text. Kip couldn't face the funeral or the parents of his girlfriend who died from an accidental overdose when he was not with her. He's not using drugs. He ran away to Vancouver and lived on the streets until he decided to get himself together as a gesture to his deceased girlfriend. Things were going well until he's lost his job in the room he was renting in the same day. He was despondent but decided to go back to the center that had helped him before. At the center at that moment, the woman he knew had volunteered there before offers a room in her home in exchange for him doing a few chores every day. He is suspicious. It sounds too good to be true, but he agrees. It isn't until a teen shows up at the house and asks if her brother is around that he begins to see he may not be saved there. 17 authors contributed 18 short stories that are interconnected through the well-attended spring powwow in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The story sometime touched together maybe just the dog from one story walking by a table in another or a t-shirt of note in one story is noticed and mentioned in another to help you feel connected to all the people in the stories in the book. When finished, the reader may feel like I did that they have attended the powwow and now know some of the people who were there. The second book about Shuri by Nick Stone. Shuri, 13, the younger sister of T'Challa, the king of Wakanda, must study for the upcoming tests on her training, continue her work in venting and protecting the kingdom, and does not have time to look for missing girls who probably just ran away or something. When her best friend and bodyguard, Kamara, asked her to look for a friend who was missing. She says yes, but she puts it on the back burner. Then Kamara disappears and Shuri is certain it is foul play. This book has strong female role models, stem proficient girls are missing, and the message that we should all care about each other. Some nonfiction. This first one is a full color graphic novel format. It is nonfiction. It's a history of the development of Tulsa, the growth of Greenwood, the black community of Tulsa, and the people who lived there. The horrible premeditated attack on Greenwood and its people is carefully detailed to include what happened without gruesome portrayals in the artwork. It ends with the rebuilding of Greenwood by the residents. It includes a timeline and notes and sources. Joseph Bushock has written one real American, the life of Ely S. Parker. Ely Parker attended General Grant during the Civil War and at least surrender. He is a man Lee commented on by saying, I am glad to see one real American here, to which Parker replied, we are all Americans. This scene opens the book, after which Bushock goes back to give the history of Parker's family and his honor held in the Seneca Nation. Parker was well respected both among his people and among the white people. This biography starts slow, but it gains ground as the reader learns about his determination and also his ability to learn. He took on new things all the time. Fascinating. In the shadow of the Fallen Towers by Don Brown, muted full color graphic novel nonfiction, excuse me, as he did with the Great American Dust Bowl in 2013 and Drowned City in 2015, among others. Our address is 911. As the subtitle says, the seconds, minutes, hours, days, week, months and years after the 911 attacks. Just using quotes from survivors when possible Brown covers the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the towers, as well as our country's response. It includes an afterwards statistics, source notes and bibliography at the back of the book. The Skin to the Core by Eric Gansworth. Using the word Apple, a pejorative for Native Americans, read on the outside, white on the inside, he works to reclaim this word. He uses the Beatles music as a structure to this memoir touching again on Apple, the Beatles Apple Records. He is an enrolled on on Daga member raised in the Tuscarora Nation. Confusing from his beginning, he tells of his grandparents who spent time in boarding schools and its effect on their lives. He is illustrated with his art and photographs. This is a blended memoir in verse and art that explores his life, his experiences and his family and unusual approach to this, but it really works very well. I just got this book the other day and read it fast. This is the first book in what could be another series with John Lewis passing away recently. It could have take more time. This picks up after the end of March Book 3 beginning soon after the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Lewis is struggling with several issues. His leadership of the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee requests for a stance on the war in Vietnam, the Watts Riot and riots in Chicago, apartheid in South Africa, and the statements from some that nonviolence just doesn't work anymore. Sources are listed at the back of the book. It was published as an adult book, but several review journals also listed of interest to grades eight and up. So I, and I've read it, it really does fit in with the other books that have been written. This is his rememberings or reminiscences memory, but also it is very well supported by source notes and facts and all of that in the back of the book makes it very clear. It's just not, you know, making it up. It happened the way he says. Terry Camoan and Matthew Nolan wrote let's talk about it. This is a graphic note, graphic novel format nonfiction it is a straightforward explanation of body parts and how they function. I'm going to ask for it. What are gender and sexuality, safe sex, masturbation, abuse and other topics related to these issues. It includes numerous comic book style illustrations that include body parts and a wide variety of skin colors and body types. It's an excellent resource for teens. It is something teens need, but where to shelve it is the question I'm sure you're thinking of right now, because I sure thought about it. There's naked people in it naked body parts, but it is such good information. So you need to at least be aware of this book. And I know that with the, what's the word I want, the number of complaints about books and in. Yes, thank you. It begs to be chosen out from the crowd, but it is an excellent book. So they have the two authors have maybe it's a website they have things online about all of this kind of thing as well so might be better to find out about that. Anyway, you needed to know about. Oh, I still really from the loss of Gary Paulson. He was 82 or three but still the end of this book he says I wonder what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. I'll figure it out. And he didn't have as much time as he was hoping. This is a memoir in five parts. Many librarians have read or heard Paulson say that the library saved his life. Here along with other tales of his childhood hood and young adulthood. The reader learns much more about the story behind the statement. Part four titled 13 contains this story. It begins with because it was safe there in the library. Only three places safe. The library moving through the allies at night after hard dark and best of all, the woods. Part one starts the book with his mother putting him at five years old on a train alone in Chicago for a total trip of about 800 miles to his relatives farm in Minnesota. He joined Paulson as he encounters security and safety and love with his aunt and uncle, and he really thrives there. And then the opposite as his life changes on another person swim with no consideration for his preferences or choices. Throughout his life he found security, safety and peace in the woods on his own. And anyone who's read guts, and that's also about his life. They are different stories and mostly different stories in each of these books so you don't think you've already read this one. Some fiction for older teams. The Peace of Spades by Faradah advocate. I am a day I don't know if I'm even coming close to the right pronunciation. This is a creepy book. And it's, it's hard to read, not in. Well, I'll just tell you about it. Devin and Chia Maka are beginning their senior year at Navias Private Academy they are the only two black students in the whole school. Soon after they are named prefects that first day, things begin to fall apart. Someone who calls him or herself aces is surely slowly sharing secrets, revealing information about one or the other of them. It goes from uncomfortable and embarrassing to threatening. Devin and Chia Maka at first ignore each other, then work together to try to discover who was doing this and why. It is told in alternating chapters between the two main characters. This book starts out sinister and soon becomes unbearable, somewhat reminiscent of the movie Get Out. Now I haven't seen that movie, but the reviewers said that and I've seen snippets of it so I think they're right. The author explains at the back of the book that this is allegorical and she purposefully did not name a city as the setting for the book so it could be anywhere there's a city in the US. The school library journal says, themes of systemic racism, structural white supremacy, microaggressions, class distinctions, and LGBTQIA plus identities will resonate with readers. And that was from the July 1 2021 review. So it's very well written. It's uncomfortable, more than uncomfortable to read for me because I'm white. And it's pointed purpose. It is allegorical. Remember that. Okay, we'll be onto something much lighter. Anna 16 has only a basic knowledge of English. She and her mother just moved to the US from Argentina to rejoin her father and Anna is starting high school as a junior. She soon discovers that people talk fast and use lots of idioms. I never really thought about how many idioms we use but boy is she right. There is plenty she does not understand her special class to improve her English at first seems useless. The teacher speaks only English and the other students in the class speak many languages. Slowly things get better and she begins to realize she likes two different points. One is in her math class and the other is in her ESL class. A good look at the difficulties of learning English and how much someone wants to acquire that knowledge, though it takes time. Six popular authors write short stories that connect to a degree, each on black love found during a blackout in New York City. Guy and gal, guy and guy, gal and gal, depending on the story. The authors are Danielle Clayton, Tiffany Jackson, Dee Jackson, Nick Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashlyn Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon. It got start reviews in book list and publishers weekly and I thought it was great. This is a full color graphic novel Megan and Cassandra Cass are summer vacation friends for eight years. They both love art and spend lots of time drawing, painting and finishing each other's art, which they find quite fun. Then when they are 13 cast Cass's parents divorce and there is no more summer cottage. Three years later, Megan has convinced her parents to let her stay in New York City with Cass and her mother for three weeks while her parents go on to a small business owners convention in Philadelphia. She has her eyes opened as she and Cass reconnect and she gets a good look at who and where Cass is now very different from where Megan is. But then desperate to avoid disappointing her parents, Megan does something unforgivable. She may never see or share art with Cass again. Maisie by Melanie Crowder is set in the 1950s. Maisie has lived and worked on a farm near Fairbury, Nebraska all her life. She also has sung, danced and acted her way through many local events. Her heart has been set on Broadway for years. Now she has graduated from high school and she is leaving her heart behind with her boyfriend, but she has to take her chance. She thought she knew how different things would be in New York, but she wasn't close audition after audition she has told that she is not the right type, which she begins to realize means she's a little heavy. She's from Nebraska. She doesn't portray that sophisticated self. Then it comes then comes what might be her big break. It will at least mean following her dream for a while longer. This is all inclusive of new friends and some not friends, a handsy show producer, trying not to lose herself. And there is acknowledgement of her talent. She is talented. Okay, this is pretty creepy because I'm a chicken. As a high school junior at St. Clair Prep, Jake is the only black student in his grade, add to that his ability to see the dead who spend their time reliving their final moments and mostly ignore Jake. It's still as hard to concentrate in school. Now, Sawyer Dune, who had committed a shooting at a nearby school and died, is determined to take over Jake's body so he can continue his free. Jake's brother doesn't believe he sees such things and is not going to be any help. But his two new friends may come through and help him get over this issue. For me, this is pretty scary. Bridget 17 has read the Swords and Shadows fantasy series over and over. She knows them so well. The author R. M. Halden or Bob hires her in secret to help him keep track of what he has said before, as he writes the final book. One day Bob wakes up with a bad headache in a strange room, chained to a treadmill desk. There is a note telling him to get writing or else. He has horrible writer's book and is very late with his manuscript. When Bridget receives a strange email from him, she realizes he has been kidnapped and she may be the only one who can help him. I know right now you're thinking of King's misery, but this is different. There are similarities, but it's different. He's in on it. He thought this would work to get him over his writer's blog. It doesn't really at first. I hope you're not mad at me for giving that away. This is a fun book. Isabel 16 is quiet and has trouble hearing in noisy places. She has auditory processing disorder. And sometimes she feels that she is not heard as well. Isabel feels so lucky to be Alex's girlfriend, though he seems to want her to be friends only with his friends. One day she was enjoying being alone by herself by the bean in Chicago when she hears Alex and some of his friends coming by. She ducks to a dark door and she ends up accidentally signing up for an open my comedy show. She didn't know she couldn't understand what was being said to her. She does try her best, but she knows it was terrible. And when she's done some young people in there, invite her to their table. They bolster her confidence and soon she is spending time with them and comedy as Izzy V. It was freeing and people heard her. She looks forward to working on getting better. Keeping this secret from Alex and her family can only last so long. Her new friends think she is in college like they are. She is underage for being in bars that hosts the open mic events. When were when will her house of cards fall and when will she realize Alex is controlling and abusive. This is set in 1821 in London. Prim, Primrose, wakes up on her 16th birthday ready for her introduction to London society to begin right now, please. Instead she has left home alone again while her mother and older sisters go off on a shopping trip. Her second oldest sister is getting married in two weeks and that consumes her mother. Prim is told she must wait another year. Prim and her best friend, Olympia, sneak off to visit the scandalous boxholed gardens. They wear masks in order not to be recognized but they are accidentally separated after a brawl. Trying to find Olympia, Prim is voluntarily escorted, not by her choice, by a gentleman she has encountered once before but does not actually know. After several adventures, some with the gentleman and some without, Prim finds Olympia and together they return home. Now Prim must face the wrath of her mother and learns she will be sent to her ailing aunt's house in the country to be her companion for years. Is there any way to escape her fate? This is a Regency-age adventure with romance, handling disappointment, and appreciating friends and sisters. And it's a much lighter story than some of the other ones I've talked about. If you have some teens who are interested in that timeframe, this is a good choice. Jay's Gay Agenda by Jason June. Jay is the only teen in his small Oregon town who was out as a gay person. Statistically, there should be at least 20 other gay teens in his high school, but he is alone. While watching his friends have dating firsts, first date, first kiss, etc. Jay decides he's going to write his gay agenda, all the firsts that he wants to have, and that starts with meeting another gay person. Then his mom gets a promotion, his dad is supportive, and they all move to Seattle. For Jay, it is an amazing change. As he begins to cross some things off his gay agenda, he realizes it is more complicated than just that. People's feelings matter too. His new gay guide Max has advice, but it may not be the best for Jay. As Booklist says, excuse me, Jason June's debut is funny, sex positive, and has complex, incredibly real characters. Nubia, real one by L. L. McKinney and Robin Smith. Nubia is fast and strong, really strong. She is black and her two mothers constantly remind her not to use her strength. They will only get her in trouble. They do want the best for her. Her two best friends, Lakisha and Jason, want her to enjoy her summer, but that seems unlikely. She is in a convenience store for a refill when two robbers enter. She stays low as her mothers would want until a guy she likes is threatened, and she throws the ATM at the robbers and then runs. No surprise to Nubia, a policeman finds her part way home and handcuffs her until he learns the two robbers were men. Then he releases her and tells her to stay out of trouble. Dealing with many things common in high school, like liking a guy and being awkward around him, Nubia must also deal with racism and keep in mind that if people learn of her abilities, they will likely be afraid of her. They will not see her as Wonder Woman. But when her best friend, Keisha is threatened by her former boyfriend, Nubia finds a way to catch him out without violence. And it turns out Nubia is related to Wonder Woman. At school library journal says, no superhero collection is complete without Nubia. The cost of knowing by Brittany Morris, Alex is 16 and his brother Isaiah 12 they live in Chicago with their with their aunt, since their parents died in a car accident. Since that time, Alex can see the future of any item he touches, which can tell him too much. He avoids touching people or items whenever he can. He works at an ice cream shop and he has a great girlfriend Talia. She is beginning to think he doesn't really care for her since he doesn't hug or hold hands. He hasn't told her anything about this. Now he has seen that his brother will die soon but he doesn't know how. He can't change it so he decides to make his last days the best they can be. And they go together to an outdoor concert on the night Isaiah will die. As Kirkus says, this portrait of black boys as sensitive vulnerable and complex is refreshing unfolding within a powerful and provocative narrative about brotherly love and the insidiousness of racism. That's from their February 15, 2021 review. And it's a Cuban girls guided tea and tomorrow by Laura Taylor name. Lila raise has just graduated high school. And in this time she has had a trifecta of loss is what she calls it. Her beloved grandmother who taught Lila all she knows in the kitchen died unexpectedly. Her boyfriend of three years just broke up with her and her best friend who was going to college with her instead left for two years in Africa. To shake her out of her losses her family center to spend the summer at her and so telling England. Feeling and being out of place. She struggles to connect with others besides her aunt and understanding English English is tricky. Her Cuban baking is exceptional and that is what she falls back on until she can get home she's just going to hang on until she can get home. But over time she begins to find herself or baking and maybe a great guy in England. She begins to want to stay, but she's supposed to help with the, the restaurant back home. So she's torn. Yes. The cost of knowing someone has a question. Okay. The author of that one is totally coming up with that. Oh, yeah, sorry. One page. Brittany Morris, M O R I S. Brittany Morris. Sorry, I think I just babbled that off too fast. Thanks for asking though. Please ask when I don't give you what you need. I love this title charming as a verb. And I also like this author and the things everything I've read from him so far has been terrific. He's called winger 17 a senior in high school living in New York is actively charming. He does this on purpose, not to fool people but to upset them at ease. As a tall black teen he is aware of the many possible different reactions to him from different people. He has a set of smiles he uses to put people at ease. The only person who does not fall for his charm is classmate Corinne Troy. He doesn't understand why. The most high school seniors Henry's focus is on college applications. He and his father are set on him getting into Columbia University, though he does have some second choices, waiting for an acceptance or a so sorry email is excruciating. His parents emigrated to the US from Haiti dog walking is earning him some money for college though it does take up much of his time. His mother once told him, many young people are charming as an adjective, but you are charming as a verb. I love this one too. Well I love charming as a verb. This one is great fun as well. Oscar Olson is a high school senior and he wants school to be over. He knows his future and he is ready to get going on it. He has worked with his grandfather far far, which is Swedish for grandfather on the food truck since his summer after eighth grade. They are good at it they work together very well, and he loves it. School does have its afternoons of independent study from foods, advanced pastry arts, and food one is teaching assistants. Here he can experiment and practice his skills. Until go get her driven Lou, Mary Louise Messinger, brought him into her Girl Scout project to eliminate food waste. All of a sudden he is buried in uneaten, uneaten apples from the cafeteria with the charge to use them to make something delicious for consumption. What? They wouldn't eat it at the apple. That can be good about them. Not only that but before he knows it Lou is helping with the food truck. Graduate now please. There's a lot going on in this book but it's great. Creativity and skill he really is where he needs to be. Friendship and family are all included. And lots of good food makes you hungry. The main character whose name is never good given. She he or she is older than 16 tells of the family's usual unusual summer at their beach house. It is usual until Kit and Hugo garden arrived to stay with their neighbors hope and Malcolm. Kit is personable and handsome. Everyone loves him. Hugo was off putting in quiet and no one knows what to make of him. This is a summer like no other and the main character is ready for a first sexual experience. The girls I've been by test sharp is another book I really it's hard but it's so well written. Nora 17, not her real name was rescued from her con artist mother five years ago by her older half sister Lee. Nora was part of each con her mother planned and carried out. She was Rebecca Samantha, Haley, Katie and Ashley. Making each one taught her things that she will soon need five years of living with her sister going to therapy going to school. Her boyfriend West who is now her ex boyfriend may have taken some of her edge off or not. Nora West and Nora's new love Iris Nora is bisexual me at the bank to deposit the money they their fundraiser has collected. Once in the bank they find themselves in the middle of the bank robbery and things are not going well. One of the robbers won the brains and the other is always quick to panic. Nora will need all of her skills to keep everyone safe, her friends, the teller, the guard, and a girl who was there waiting for her father. It's a summer before her senior year in high school. Nala lives with her aunt, uncle and cousin. Imani is deeply involved with the inspire Harlem movement and things are different between the cousins. They used to be very close. Nala agrees to go to the talent show inspire Harlem is putting on as Imani's birthday present. Once there she finds herself in love at first sight with a new guy in the group. He's the emcee for the evening. He is an activist, vegetarian and confident. Nala is none of those but she pretends to be in order to see him again. Over time her little lies become bigger and she knows she must tell him to the truth, but it is hard to do. Nala learns that being your best self includes self-love and forgiveness of mistakes. Her grandmother is one of her biggest supporters and she lets Nala know that she has work to do on herself. So again, this is about self-awareness and self-love, being honest and loving family and friends. And this is the last title on my list but if you let me, I just have a couple new titles in series. These are both from the same series. This is book three. It's Fly Girls is the name of the series. And Noel the Mean Girl by Ashley Woodfolk is book three. Noel just broke up with her boyfriend and she is under a lot of pressure but can't talk to her friends about it because well she knows she is bisexual and now she is pretty sure she is in love with Tobin who already has a girlfriend. Over time her friends call her on how much she is snapping at them and that she needs to figure out what she's going to do. It looks like all of this will be resolved in book four. Fly Girls Tobin the It Girl also by Ashley Woodfolk. Tobin plans to follow her music after graduation, not go on to college. Her mother disagrees but Tobin is determined. She auditions to become the fourth girl in a successful local band but there is some big competition for the spot. Her girlfriend Ava has not been around much and Tobin finds herself thinking of Noel. Where does her heart lie? And this book does bring the four book series to a conclusion. So thank you again. Are there any other questions or comments? Let's see. Does anybody have any questions, comments, anything you want to hear more about or any title suggestions yourself? Right. If you have time to type in if you want to. As I said at the beginning for anyone who wasn't here right when we started off, Sally does have on our website there's a handouts page you can search for. She will have her list of all her titles for this. We will link to it and we'll have the slides available too when the recording goes up. So you'll have access to all of that afterwards as well. And I know people may not be thinking of a, they're thinking of a book title but they can't remember it right now. So go ahead and send me an email later and say, this is what I wanted you to know about because that will be good too. Even if it is a 2021 book I'm still going to read it if you ask. As you said you had some other books to mention or books in series are you done? This, this is it. I had some others I was trying to get read but I didn't get them done. Hey, there's only so much time. Okay, so yeah, so you will have access to the list of all and this and the slides with the recording and we're asking about getting the title at the beginning of the session. So yeah, we'll have all of that for you. That's right. Doesn't look like anybody has any questions or additions or anything. Okay, I think that's fine. We'll wrap it up. I'm going to actually, and I'll show you here I'm going to pull presenter control to my screen now. There we go. So, and as Sally mentioned, if you go anywhere on our website, if you have a lot of questions one page, there's a search box up here. And if you type in handouts. That's the very first result that comes up. And here you can see here are Sally's when we did the, there's the summer reading program titles for this for this year. Now that we're in 2022, the children's book session that was held earlier in December and today's best team books of 2021. So this is the list that she used and so you will grab it right there if you want to. Well, I'll also have a link to this page when we do put up the recording for today show. And you also see here. I don't know if you would mention this all of her previous ones from over the years. So, if you want to look for some older titles, the other still good books, they just came out during these particular years. We talked about taking some of the oldest ones off there, just hiding them. I don't know. I mean, that might make the page look less cluttered but that's good information still. I will get forward to our Encompass Live page. I'll show you. So that will be available. Consider Encompass Live website if you use your search engine of choice and just type in Encompass Live. The only thing that comes up to nobody else can use that name. These are upcoming shows but right underneath here is a link to our archives and this is where today's archive will be posted should be up by sometime tomorrow. And I will email everyone who attended today's show and registered for today's show. We're going to email directly from me letting you know when it's ready. It'll be at the top of the list here. The most recent ones at the top. There'll be a link to the YouTube recording, a link to the slides that Sally used with the book covers and a link to that handouts page. You can have the actual PDF list there. While I'm here, I'll show you this is our full archive. There's a search feature here that you can type in and look up for anyone or a presenter if you want to. Here's that children's session. That's kind of a companion show that Sally does about the best new children's books of the year that we did a couple weeks ago. So, as I said at the beginning, if you are the youth librarian and cover ages from beginning readers all the way up to the oldest, oldest teams. You've got that show and then today's show with the new titles for this year. But you can do a search anything you want. You can search the full show archive or just most recent 12 months, you want something just recently done. That is because this is our full show archive and I'm not going to scroll all the way down because it's a really long list. Exactly when encompass live premiered, which was in January 2009. So we're like 12 something years in and we just have everything here. So do pay attention when you do watch recording to the original broadcast date they all have a date there. Some of the shows will stand the test of time so the good information good resources and whatnot, but some things may become old and outdated. Services or programs may have changed drastically since the original show some links and some may no longer exist anymore. Links maybe no longer be correct. But this is something we do as librarians keep things for historical archival purposes so we'll always have our full archives here as long as you have somewhere to host them. Right now that's all on our YouTube channel. So I just pay attention you are watching any of our. We do have a Facebook page for encompass live. Yeah, I've got a link from our website. If you do like to give us a like over there and get reminders his reminder about today's show highlight our presenters. Let what people know when recordings are available. So do you know, give us like over there. If you want to. We also put onto YouTube and I believe using our hashtag and come fly. So if you want to, you can just search for that elsewhere online. So that'll wrap it up for today show. Next week when our topic is our 2022 2022 one book one Nebraska title the bones of paradise. We did the website for one with my Nebraska just got upside updated to this January so it's got all our information on there on the author Jonas will be with us actually joining us next show. So, we'll get here from them so that's great so if you're interested in seeing what's going on with our new one book one Nebraska title 2022. I signed up for my first show in any other ones to get that generated and I got some February starting I've got other ones will be added to keep dry and our schedule as I add in new sessions coming up. Other than that, thank you very much. Everyone for being here with us today. And hopefully we'll see you on future episodes when compass live. All right. Thank you. Bye.