Read On … Speculative Fiction for Teens: Reading Lists for Every Taste by Jamie Kallio

One of my pleasures during the last year has been seeing my latest book promoted with Jamie Kallio's Read On … Speculative Fiction for Teens: Reading Lists for Every Taste, first on a poster at the Public Library Association Conference in Philadelphia when Jamie's book was a forthcoming title and recently in Libraries Unlimited catalogs that list it for sale. Both are titles in the Read On Series edited by Barry Trott. I am pleased because Jamie was working with us at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library when she started her book, and I like to think that by virtue of our working at a medium-small library and getting published nationally we have made a positive statement to the profession about the work at every size of libraries. She now works for the larger Orland Park Public Library.

Books written for teen readers are hot, especially in the science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal genres, which Jamie addresses in her readers' advisory book. Teens are not the only people reading these books, however. Many adults will recognize some of authors included in her book - Neil Gaiman, Isabel Allende, Terry Pratchett, Orson Scott Card, Ursala K. LeGuin, and J. K. Rowling. The great service of her book is that she goes beyond the familiar to introduce us to other talented authors, their memorable characters, and worlds we can hardly imagine.

Like all Read On Series books, Read On … Speculative Fiction for Teens is divided into five chapters, each of which contains between 11 and 20 lists of books related by reading appeal factors. Chapters focus on story, character, setting, mood, and language. Lists have clever titles which indicate their themes, such as "Look, Ma, I Can Fly! … and Other Experiments," "Falling for You: Immortal Beings," "You're Such a Witch," and "Stranger with My Face: Possession." If you want books with zombies, dragons, robots, vampires, or strong women, you can find them in Jamie's book. You can also find audiobooks, graphic novels, and award winning titles among the entries.

I especially like that Jamie dedicates the book to two of our library's former teen employees, readers with whom Jamie discussed books. How fitting.

Kallio, Jamie. Read On … Speculative Fiction for Teens: Reading Lists for Every Taste. Libraries Unlimited, 2012. 126p.ISBN 9781598846539.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Our copies have been out all summer. The requests keep coming. One of the local schools assigned The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins for summer reading. Some of the young readers have even liked it well enough to ask for the sequel Catching Fire. I felt that I should read the teen novel, too, to learn what it was all about. So I got the audiobook and listened while doing yard work and household chores.

Within the first half hour, the caution flag was waving high. I sensed Lord of the Flies in the background. I was wondering whether I should continue. Brave reader that I am, knowing that all those teens were having to read it, I did. The results of my decision are mixed.

The Hunger Games is a pretty well told story. With fifty years of reading behind me, I was able to predict the outcome of each characters' roles, but some of the details of the story were surprisingly clever. (I almost typed "cleaver" which would fit this gruesome story, too.) The mixing of action and thought worked well, and I wanted to know what came next.

But I was unhappy at the end. Nothing was resolved. Some characters had temporarily escaped peril with their lives, but the unexplained evil that brought about the games was still in place. The stage was just set for sequels that I do not want to read.

I am not opposed to sequels, but there has to be some glimmer of hope at the end of the first book. We are given no reward for making it to the end. There is just a promise of more dreariness.

Still, I would rather continue The Hunger Games than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I suspect both will be popular for years to come, but I'd prefer to read something less dismal.

Maybe the schools can free their students from assigned readings next summer.

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic Press, 2008. ISBN 9780439023481

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

Thomas Ford Memorial Library is featuring science fiction and fantasy in its summer reading program for grownups this year. We have made lists of classic science fiction, magical realism, science fiction for the reluctant, high fantasy, and science fact behind the fiction to help readers choose titles. From those lists, I chose to read a pioneering title, The Time Machine by H. G. Wells.

Readers get a double treat when reading Wells. Some of his scientific ideas still hold a lot of sway in science fiction genre and media. Moving about in time is utilized by many authors in stories, ranging from the stories of Andre Norton and Robert Silverberg to episodes of Doctor Who and Star Trek. In addition to science ideas, readers get a peak at the past. When Wells wrote science was just emerging from the era of amateur scientists, often gentlemen who belonged to academic societies. The central character in The Time Machine, called simply the Time Traveler, invites prominent Londerers, including doctors and newspaper editors, to witness experiments in a lab of his Victorian home. The time machine itself is built of a mixture common and rare materials, all known in the late nineteenth century. The gentlemen express the idea that the result of science investigation is undoubtedly world improvement. Wells, however, uses his story to question the assumption that a better world will be made and maintained.

I listened to The Time Machine read by British actor Simon Prebble, who sounds just like a gentleman scientist who puts his life on the line for science aught to sound. At four hours (one on each of four compact discs), the story may be heard in an afternoon of driving or gardening. I enjoyed the book and may try other Wells stories available as audiobooks as part of my revisiting science fiction this summer.

Hells, H. G. The Time Machine. Standard Publications, 2008. ISBN 9781605978871

4 Compact Discs. Recorded Books, 1996. ISBN 9781402549776.