Saturday, September 10, 2011

The Teen Menu

Welcome to another helping of the Teen Menu, offering up monthly news and reviews from the world of young adult fiction.

News

We finally have a teaser trailer for The Hunger Games, which premiered during the recent MTV Movie Awards. Take a look.



The Hollywood Reporter has a slideshow of photos from Breaking Dawn, Part 1 on its site. Click here to take a look.

The CW television network is looking at possibly acquiring the rights to produce a TV series based on Candace Bushnell's The Carrie Diaries, the younger-skewing prequel to Sex and the City.

Review

I've always been a fan of survival stories, whether it's The Swiss Family Robinson or The Day After Tomorrow. Trapped by Michael Northrop is more like the latter than the former. Narrated by a 15-year-old boy, it's the story of how he and five of his classmates survive (or don't) when they are trapped in their rural New England high school by the biggest Nor'easter blizzard to ever hit the region. We know from the beginning of the book that not everyone comes out of the experience alive, so this gives the book an edge-of-your-seat quality. I read each page wondering if it held clues to who would perish.

When the storm first hits, the four boys and two girls aren't all that worried. After all, they've seen big snows before. But as the snow continues to fall day after day without ceasing, quickly burying the lower level access to their school, they begin to think they might truly be in trouble. Things just get worse as the power goes out, then the heat, and cell phone service. They are thrust firmly into survival mode.

Compared to a lot of the YA books I read, this was a quick read. And for those of you who are looking for YA that appeals to boys, add Trapped to your list.

24 comments:

  1. OOOOH! that cover looks so spooky and menacing The two top windows looking like giant eyes about to be "trapped" under all that snow. A story about being snow bound always reminds me of "The Shining,"
    one of my all time scariest movies.
    "Here's Johnny!"

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  2. I cant wait for The Hunger Games film! And now I also have to get Trapped cuz I love survival stories. Usually of the dystopian/post-apocalyptic nature though, so Trapped sounds like a good change of pace for me in the survival books:)

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  3. I love reading SURVIVAL stories or indeed watching movies like that. TRAPPED looks very interesting.

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  4. "Trapped" looks like the kind of book that would absolutely draw the reader in and keep them there *trapped* until the very last page. I think we've all wondered what it would be like to be stuck in a snowstorm, however, this one is huge. Looking forward to reading this book!

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  5. Wow, this sounds like a great read. Even more real than you might think....we actually had 4 teachers and 7 or 8 students that had to spend the night in the school about 16 years ago due to an ice storm and the parents couldn't get in to pick the kids ups. I never understood why someone in town just didn't have them all come to their homes....?

    I will pick this one up; sounds great, even for a reluctant reader. What age level is it appropriate for, do you think, Trish? 14+? Too intense for 12- year-olds?

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  6. fsbuchler said, OOOOH! that cover looks so spooky and menacing The two top windows looking like giant eyes about to be "trapped" under all that snow.

    I agree! What a great cover! Gives me an immediate feeling of what the story will be.

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  7. Hi Bella! I'm with you on Trapped. I think I might pick this one up!

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  8. Hi Marybelle! Thanks for stopping by. I haven't read a good survival story in ages. Looked like Trapped is coming along just as the right time. :)

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  9. Connie said, "Trapped" looks like the kind of book that would absolutely draw the reader in and keep them there *trapped* until the very last page.

    Exactly!

    I think we've all wondered what it would be like to be stuck in a snowstorm

    I've been there. In my sophomore year of high school my small town got 42 inches of snow in less than 24 hours. Nothing moved for four days. Just reading the summary of this book is already taking me back to that experience!

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  10. Deb said, Even more real than you might think....we actually had 4 teachers and 7 or 8 students that had to spend the night in the school about 16 years ago due to an ice storm and the parents couldn't get in to pick the kids ups. I never understood why someone in town just didn't have them all come to their homes....?

    I'd be wondering the same thing, Deb. During the snowstorm I mentioned in the comment above, we had a school bus that became stranded in the snow with six students and the driver still on board. They hiked cross country to the closest farmhouse where the family took them in. They were stuck there for four days.

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  11. Hi Trish! Lots of great news in the YA world this month!

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  12. I should have mentioned that the ice storm began around 9 a.m. and school dismissed at 10:30, but buses didn't run. Rural kids teamed up to go home with townies and the reason kids got stuck at school was due to parents not being able to be reached for permission to have them go elsewhere. (We've now got an emergency dismissal plan that parents have to fill out every year in case an event like this happens again.) I was lucky to be driven home by a friend's husband in his super 4WD, but a 12-minute drive took us 45 minutes.

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  13. Oh Trish, that teaser trailer looks good!! I'm looking forward to the movie.

    And I agree with the others--Trapped sounds like a great read! Like Deb, I'd like to know what age level you think it would be good for. My son is 11. Too young?

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  14. Trapped sounds like a great book and a must read for me. I have hust last month devoured The Hunger Games. I truly hope the movie lives up to the hype. I am currently reading Catching Fire.
    Love & Hugs,
    Pam

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  15. Oh man! Love that trailer. Am really looking forward to that movie.

    Trapped sounds like a great book. I will definitely add it to my list of books to look for.

    Thanks for the great review. You definitely caught me and now I HAVE to know what happens.

    :)

    Tami

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  16. For some reason the trailer for THG would not load last night when I posted. I finally got to see it just now. It is a must read book and now I think it will be a must see film!

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  17. I've been reading galleys for one of my books all day so just getting to the blog to respond to all the comments.

    fsbuchler, would you believe I've never seen The Shining? Those kinds of movies freak me out too much.

    Bella, I'm a big fan of dystopian/post-apoc stories too. So many I want to read.

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  18. Marybelle, hope you enjoy it.

    Connie, I've been homebound when I was growing up by big snowstorms. Nothing like this of course, but still makes you stir crazy at the very least.

    Deb, I think it's okay for 12-year-olds if they're mature readers. It's so hard for me to judge that sometimes since I don't have kids. I'd say the only thing that might be an issue is that there is a death.

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  19. PJ, 42 inches of snow in 24 hours! Wow, that sounds awful. Of course, I hate winter. When I was in first grade, we had a ton of snow and missed something like 5 weeks of school.

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  20. Andrea, I wasn't sure about the age so I looked it up on Amazon. I don't know how accurate their age recommendations are, but it says both grades 7-10 and age 15 and up.

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  21. Pam, from what I've seen of the casting and what I've read, I have high hopes for the Hunger Games movie.

    Tami, hope you enjoy the book. And welcome to the legions waiting for The Hunger Games movie to hit the big screen. :)

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  22. Oh, that book sounds like a real nail-biter!

    My daughter is dying to see The Hunger Games---she devoured the books---so she loved the trailer.

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  23. Hey Trish!! Thanks for the great review of TRAPPED. I'm always on the lookout for a great YA book for my son. His school requires all students to read 25 books a year. I'm going to have to order this one for him.

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  24. what an exciting time to be a teen reader. There is so much out there for you, and so much of it is good. Best of all, You don't have to be YA

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