I recommended a title by Garth Nix called Sabriel. It's the first part of an amazing trilogy called the Abhorsen series. I naturally went towards books with strong female characters when I was growing up and I was really pleased when I discovered Garth Nix. Always a source for books with strong female roles, the Abhorsen series could be loved by guys and gals alike. It's got action, adventure, suspense, and there's nothing like a story where a little girl has to face the realm of death and magic in order to keep death in its place.
Nix also has another series, the Sally Lockhart trilogy which I love as well. That series was how I originally found Nix. The Lockhart trilogy is historical fiction and very well written. Sadly, most copies have disappeared from bookstore shelves, all the kids these days want are sparkling vampires. Yuck.
About the library newsletters....I don't want to sound like a Debbie Downer or anything, but I wasn't really impressed with the choices for children's lit in the two newletters patrons could join. I work in a bookstore as well and am constantly seeing all the new stuff that comes in and the ones listed on the site aren't that new. Also, there are LOTS of better choices for kids picture books right now. One of my FAVORITES that has come out in the past couple months is "Children Make Terrible Pets". It's about a bear who finds a 'pet' boy in the woods brings him home where her mom tells her that she can't keep the boy because children make terrible pets. The bear pleads with her mother and is allowed to keep the boy only to have it destroy the house. In the end the boy runs away and the bear crying tries to follow it back into the woods where she finds the boy with the rest of his family and she knows that she has to let to boy back into the 'wild'. My other disappointment was with the other list of 'children's chapter books'. Chapter books conjure up images of Junie B. Jones and Captain Underpants. Not the teen books that are listed on the website. It seems like some of the items aren't for children, they are a lot older. So I'm honestly not sure I would be able to recommend those to any one, I don't really feel like they fulfill their goals.
Novelist on the other hand is fantastic. I LOVE Novelist. I have found hundreds of good books through them. It's a fantastic site that has helped me with so many patrons I have lost count. Almost no where else can you find so many good recommendations in one place. I love that you can pick by similar items or genres or subjects, it's great. I've always had a hard time finding historical fiction that interested me, but with Novelist it's quick and very easy. This is a great thing that I always tell every patron about who asks for recommendations.
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