Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Hello All!

I started my Young Adult Literature reading with a bang. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow is a 2008 title that has had excellent reviews, and I agree with them. This was a very good book about how teens communicate, their knowledge of how many of them can make the internet work for them, terrorism, and government reaction to it, all told from a 17-year-old's point of view. It starts with a group of teens who are out role-playing via a wireless connection when a terrorist attack occurs in San Francisco. Marcus, our hero, is arrested as a possible terrorist, because of first being in the wrong place at the wrong time, then because of his knowledge of computers, the internet and other media he uses on a daily basis. After some interrogation, he is released into a different San Franciso, one that is close to being a police state, run by the Department of Homeland Security. Marcus knows his Constitution, and decides to take on the DHS, and quite an adventure is the result.

I was surprised to enjoy a book so much by an author whose work I had not previously liked. I read Eastern Standard Tribe a few years ago, and I was disappointed with that title. Maybe one should not judge an author by one book :)? And the only quibble I had with this book was the occasional technical explanations, but I do think they were necessary to the book.

I found this to be a hero's journey, and a journey I was very happy to take.

Happy Reading!
Patti

Young Adult Literature

Hello All!

First, the good news--I accepted an offer of a position as a Young Adult Librarian with the Pima County Public Library!!! I will be working at the Valencia Branch, located in Tucson, near the Tucson International Airport.

I'm very excited, both to be working in a new library, and to be working with a new age group. Which brings me to the second part of my news--Patti's Pens and Picks will probably have more reviews and mentions of Young Adult Literature than before. I just started Cory Doctorow's Little Brother, and I picked up a whole bunch of other books to read soon also. As I start December 1, I don't think I'll get all the books finished :).

For the first two months, I plan on commuting--1.5 hours plus each way, so I will also start listening to audiobooks, both adult and young adult. Until now, I preferred to listen to nonfiction only on audio, as I've always been afraid of getting too involved with the story to listen to fiction while driving :). I'm going to work my way past this fear, as I can get quite a bit of listening into 3-4 hours of driving a day. Don't worry, I won't be doing this for very long!

If you have any recommendations for Young Adult Literature, especially on audio, please let me know. I think I'll start with finishing the Harry Potter series that I started rereading this year--I've heard that the reader for this series is excellent.

Don't worry, I'll still be reading a variety of literature and genres, but my immediate focus will be a catch-up of some Young Adult Literature.

Happy Reading!
Patti