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Geriatrics rent bodies in thriller

Last updated Sunday, March 18, 2012 - 6:49am

"STARTERS." By Lissa Price. Random House Children's Books. $17.99. Age 12 and up.

It's often been said that youth is wasted on the young. In "Starters," the outstanding young-adult novel from debut author Lissa Price, that premise is pushed to an apocryphal limit that's possible only in sci-fi as wealthy geriatrics rent the bodies of nubile teens.

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Author Brandon Mull speaks to students at Mound Fort Junior High School in Ogden on Thursday. Mull, of Highland, is the author of the "Fablehaven" series of fantasy books.(MATTHEW ARDEN HATFIELD/Standard-Examiner)

'Fablehaven' authors taps into Ogden students' creativity

Rachel J. Trotter Standard-Examiner

Last updated Thursday, March 15, 2012 - 8:53pm

OGDEN — It felt a little like “The Price is Right” at Mound Fort Junior High School on Thursday morning, as best-selling young-adult author Brandon Mull took answers from the audience on creative ways a character could travel to another world.

Three students lined up in the front of the auditorium as he showed examples of how to create a story. Students took suggestions from their peers amid laughter and giggles at some of the ideas.

“A shower!” one student yelled.

Author, Author events, Best-sellers, Brandon Mull, Creativity, Fablehaven, Mound Fort Junior High School, Ogden School District, Ogden School Foundation, reading, Utah, Utah author, Utah author events, Utah authors, Utah best-sellers, Writing, Young adult reading, Featured Read more Comments

Brandon Mull launches 'Rebellion' at big party

J. Michael Call Standard-Examiner

Last updated Sunday, March 11, 2012 - 7:53am

Highland novelist Brandon Mull is setting out on another whirlwind author adventure as he launches "Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion."

Mull, the author of the best-selling "Fablehaven" series, will launch the book, geared toward young teenagers, at a free party and show Tuesday at Cottonwood High School in Murray.

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Time travel proves tricky in fast-paced 'Tempest'

Susan Carpenter Los Angeles Times

Last updated Sunday, February 26, 2012 - 8:29am

"TEMPEST." By Julie Cross. Thomas Dunne Books. $17.99. Age 14 and up.

The dramatic potential of time travel has been exploited for decades in kid lit and in recent months has become something of a micro trend in modern young adult fiction, with books including Jay Asher's "The Future of Us" and Ian McDonald's "Planesrunner."

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Erin Hooley/Standard-Examiner
Davis High School basketball players Nate Pollard (right) and Zac Fuller high-five first-graders Tuesday at Windridge Elementary School in Kaysville. The team read books then them to the first-grade classrooms.

Tall tale tellers: Davis High basketball team takes reading talents to elementary school

Bryon Saxton Standard-Examiner

Last updated Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - 6:52am

KAYSVILLE -- Members of the Davis High School boys basketball team made the chairs in teacher Shelley Street's first-grade classroom look like dollhouse furniture.

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'Chopsticks' a 21st-century novel

Susan Carpenter Los Angeles Times

Last updated Sunday, February 5, 2012 - 8:31am

"CHOPSTICKS." By Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral. Razorbill. $19.99. 12 and older.

The first indication that "Chopsticks" is significantly more than just a novel is its trailer, which encourages readers to watch, listen, feel, look, discover, view and imagine. All of those activities are not only encouraged but enabled in this ambitious and hefty tome that works as a sort of interactive scrapbook. An exercise in multimedia storytelling, "Chopsticks" is a book, but it's also an iPhone and iPad app peppered with videos, songs and instant messages that bring the story to life in a way that isn't possible with words alone.

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Teen struggles in space in action-packed sequel

Susan Carpenter Los Angeles Times

Last updated Sunday, January 22, 2012 - 6:16am

"A MILLION SUNS." By Beth Revis. Razorbill. $18.99. 12 and older.

More than 80 years ago, Aldous Huxley imagined a genetically engineered society whose inhabitants were willfully drugged into submission. In the "Across the Universe" trilogy, Beth Revis takes that pioneering concept and sets it afloat in space with a cast of cloned and cryogenically frozen characters who, in the second installment of this bestselling sci-fi series, become increasingly mutinous.

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Quest runs through parallel worlds

Susan Carpenter Los Angeles Times

Last updated Wednesday, December 28, 2011 - 1:36pm

"PLANESRUNNER." By Ian McDonald. Prometheus Books. $16.95.

It's an alluring idea that somewhere, somehow there's an alternate version of the life you're currently living. It might be better. It could be far worse. But if it exists, and it's possible to get there, why not at least visit? That's the basic idea at the center of "Planesrunner," the first book in the Everness series and the young-adult debut from award-winning sci-fi novelist Ian McDonald.

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Teens see their futures on Facebook

Susan Carpenter Los Angeles Times

Last updated Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - 2:12pm

"THE FUTURE OF US." By Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler. Razorbill. $18.99. 14 and up.

With the exception of the psychically inclined, most people would prefer to let their futures remain unknown, fearing that what they discover might influence their current choices and, as a result, alter what was otherwise meant to be.

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Colin Meloy performs with his band The Decemberists in Los Angeles.

Decemberists' Colin Meloy tunes into book world with 'Wildwood'

Susan Carpenter Los Angeles Times

Last updated Sunday, September 11, 2011 - 12:24am

LOS ANGELES -- A baby is snatched by crows. His sister treks into the woods to find him and is followed by one Curtis Mehlberg, "son of Lydia and David, resident of Portland, Ore., comic-book fan boy, persecuted loner."

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Ties that bind also blind in 'Imaginary Girls'

Susan Carpenter Los Angeles Times

Last updated Sunday, August 14, 2011 - 2:00pm

"IMAGINARY GIRLS." By Nova Ren Suma. Dutton. $17.99. Age 14 and older.

Sisterly bonds are complicated, none more so than those of teenagers whose parents are, in effect, absent. Having a barfly for a mother and fathers who fled the confines of domestic life, the half sisters at the center of the young-adult novel "Imaginary Girls" turn their relationship into a surrogate mother-daughter pairing that begins as idol worship and evolves into something even less healthy.

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Roy council won't fund contestant for Miss Utah title

Rachel J. Trotter Standard-Examiner correspondent

Last updated Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 10:41pm

ROY -- The city council won't give any money to a former Roy woman who is competing for the Miss Utah title in two weeks.

City Government, Donation, Economy, Miss Utah, Pageant, Roy High School, Utah, Valley View Elementary School, Young adult reading Read more Comments

Expert: Nonfiction should be on kids' summer reading list

Nancy Van Valkenburg Standard-Examiner staff

Last updated Friday, June 10, 2011 - 11:05pm

OGDEN -- You probably know that schoolchildren who read during summer breaks will retain or gain word skills that will put them far ahead of their peers who take a vacation from books.

Education, Children, Event, Parenting, reading, Summer, Teachers, Testing, Weber State University, Young adult reading Read more Comments

Girl power rises in 'Wither'

Los Angeles Times, Susan Carpenter

Last updated Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 1:00am

"WITHER: THE CHEMICAL GARDEN TRILOGY, BOOK ONE." By Lauren DeStefano. Simon & Schuster. $17.99.

The strong dystopian themes in today's young-adult books are frequently infused with feminism. Set in environmentally degraded or post-apocalyptic Americas, their young heroines are feisty. Their missions: overthrowing corrupt, entrenched patriarchies.

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