“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”  It’s one of my all-time favorite opening lines in a book, setting the stage for a fantasy-horror-western seven-book epic that spans twenty-seven years of Stephen King’s career.  The Gunslinger, Roland of Gilead, is the last of his kind in a world that no longer resembles the one he grew up in.  He seeks the Dark Tower, a place that unites the universe, and which may hold the key to preventing more decay in the world.  He seeks the Man in Black, who may hold the secret of finding the tower and to Roland’s destiny.  Roland believes he will do anything to get to the tower, he has sworn to find it, but the price for a meeting with the Man in Black may be too high.  The Dark Tower Novels are a must-read for Stephen King fans. 

The series has spawned the prequel graphic novels The Dark Tower  by Peter David, which was listed by the American Library Association as one of the best graphic novel series for teens for 2009.  Beginning with Roland winning his guns, the comics show the love, the loss and the war that turn Roland from a serious kid into the hardened gunslinger we meet in the first Stephen King novels.  The art in these books is amazing, but also gory.  The story is scary and sad.  I highly recommend it.  The graphic novels are  rated PG by Marvel, which they suggest as 15+ for more explicit content.
 

Angela Cardenas has not been an angel, and she knows it.  By the time she goes to live with her grandfather, she’s been expelled from every school that will have her, and is ready for a new life.  Instead, she meets a guy, the love of her life, and goes further than ever to make him happy.  When her grandfather dies during a heated confrontation, Angela’s parents decide to send her to Hidden Oak, a last-chance boarding school for girls on the brink. 

Hidden Oak is more than a normal reform school.  Combining psychoanalysis, mind-games and physical abuse, Hidden Oak is clearly a dangerous place.  As girls begin to disappear one by one, Angela and her friends begin to suspect that there is a dark secret at the school that goes beyond even the everyday horrors of the place.

The School for Dangerous Girls is a fun read.  It doesn’t really stand up to close examination, but as a mystery and a thriller, it is satisfying.  Angela is a bad girl with an essentially good nature, and you’ll find yourself hoping that she manages to get out of Hidden Oak alive.   
 

We'll bring the guitars, the drums and the mic, you just need to rock!

Bring your band or solo act.

Win gift certificates to Best Buy.

You can see a song list , and Rock Band 2 is available for band practice in the Teen Lounge.

Thursday July 9, 4pm, in the Conference Room on the Mezzanine

Image courtesy of flickr user fee501st

Sweet Sixteen Princess is book 7.5 in the saga of Mia Thermopolis, Crown Princess of Genovia (you know her from Anne Hathaway’s ugly-betty-turned-swan-princess character in the Princess Diaries movies.)  Mia’s about to turn sixteen, and her beloved Grandmère and her best friend are plotting an MTV-style televised birthday extravaganza that would make Paris Hilton blush.  All Mia wants is a quiet, romantic evening with her boyfriend, but first she has to find a way to stop everyone else from planning her party, get the PTA to fix the school gym and convince her best friend to say the L-word.  No biggie right?  

The Princess Diaries books are a cool summer read:  light, fluffy and fun.