Burning London

This tribute album has a variety of artists including No Doubt, Ice Cube, Third Eye Blind and Moby. They cover classic Clash songs, like “London’s Burning” and “White Man in Hammersmith Palais” in a variety of styles.

Some of these covers work pretty well. I liked Ice Cube and Mack 10’s rendition of “Should I Stay or Should I go” and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones do a good job of “Rudie can’t fail”. But others I had to ship through. I couldn’t listen to No Doubt’s “Hateful”, or Cracker’s “White Riot” with a country twang. On one hand it is interesting to listen to tribute albums to see how new artists work with this classic material, but on the other hand I often just wanted to hear the original. I would recommend that libraries should just add the original albums or a “best of” rather than a tribute album. The tributes date much more quickly as the “hot bands” selected fade out of popularity.

Age Range: 13+
Ranking: Quality – 3/5 Popularity – 2/5

Stratford (Ontario) Public Library

The site

This site seemed so promising. OK it’s not super cool but it seemed pretty simple and sleek, but perhaps a little childish. The site covers a broad range of topics: magazines, entertainment, books, sports, online resources, study sites, jobs, college and your library. I was very disappointed to find out that all the pages were just sets of links. There was little original content and some of the links were sort of questionable. I found that the original content that did exist was rather condescending discussing things like how they will work with you if you have fines, or how it’s “HIP” to use the library catalogue.

Audience: 14+ according to website (12+ according to me)
Ranking: 2/5

Giant Robot (issue 43)

Giant Robot tags itself as “Asian Pop culture and Beyond” and it definitely delivers. This magazine has lists of music, books, and movies as well as in-depth articles about film festivals, researchers in Antarctica and more. This magazine managed to balance its representations of Asian culture very well featuring people from a variety of countries. I feel that this magazine would be good for people of Asian background or just those interested in the culture, which is very hot right now.

I enjoyed this magazine and I think that I may even consider buying a subscription. It was accessible to non-Asians but was true to its mission. There was a real variety of information given and some very interesting articles. I think that this magazine is aimed at the slightly older teens because of the content.

Age Range: 15+
Ranking: Quality – 4.5/5 Popularity – 4/5 (perhaps a little nichy)

So Much for the City – The Thrills

The Thrills are described as an indie/rock band from Dublin. This debut album is very California heavy with songs like “Big Sur” and “Santa Cruz (you’re not that far)”, inspired from their vacation in San Diego. This strong California influence lead to the band being featured on The O.C., in seasons one and two. This album is pretty mellow overall with catchy tunes that stick in your head but don’t bug you. The Thrills list their influences as Dylan and the Beach Boys and I can see that from this album. Even their upbeat songs have a touch of that melancholy that bands like Coldplay made famous.

I am a pretty big fan of Brit Rock which is why I jumped on this album when I saw it in the HPL YA collection. I’m not sure how big The Thrills still are with the teens but they are still producing albums, their third is on the way (according to their MySpace page). This is a pretty good album for lazy summers or even just chillin’ in your room. This wasn’t my taste in music as a teen but I’m sure some of them would like it. Even without The O.C. I don’t think that California will ever go out of style.

Age range: 14+
Ranking: Quality – 4/5 Popularity – 3/5

Teen People (April 2006)

This magazine had an interesting mix of articles. This issue featured an interview with Nick Lachey but also had interviews with teens who were trying to change the world. There are fashion hints and tips as well as a fair number of ads. I really liked the two page spread on “The best bands from before you were born” which includes Queen, The Jackson 5 and Rolling Stones.

Teen People seems to be pretty balanced between fun stuff, fashion, serious articles and star power. I have to say that I preferred Teen People to People, which often seems more vapid or reactionary. I would probably have this as a staple teen mag but I’m sure the level of the content does shift throughout the year.

Age Range: 13+
Ranking: Quality – 3.5/5 Popularity – 4/5

Seattle Public Library – Teens

The Site

This website is for the Seattle Public Library system and does fit within a corporate branding. I do like the branding as it very clear and easy to use. There is a panel where the teen librarians can highlight resources for a specific topic, like Black History Month. Also at the centre of the page there is a place to highlight YA News, which seemed to be upcoming events. The site had most of the standard pages including homework help, databases and websites as well as job listings. One of my favourite features of this site was the “Teens’ Reading Lists”. Not only does this site list general fiction for high and middle school but it also has some special interest lists, like African American Fiction. I loved that it includes a huge number of “top ten reads” in a variety of genres, including adult books for teens, adventure, biography, humour. These lists include short reviews of the books, cover art and a direct link to the catalogue. I also liked that some of the lists were a bit more general like “his reality” and “her reality”. The librarians also have a list of picks under there name. I liked that each of the teen librarians are allowed to have their own personality and are referred to by their first names. This way teens can know that they tend to like the books that Amy picks, but not those that Chance does. Allowing the librarians to be individuals (rather than the “librarian”) makes them more real and approachable.

I liked that this library site provided print, electronic, in-library and on-line resources to the teens. I much prefer the fact that they give the patrons the choice of how they want to access the information rather than assuming that teens will do it all on-line. Many of the website links provided are very interesting including health sites, games sites and serious homework sites.

Audience: 12+
Ranking: 4/5

Beaner O’Brian’s Absolutely Ginormous Guidebook to Guys

Beaner, or Hannah as she wants to be called, has a major project to do for the summer and she just can’t see how she’ll get it done. She has chosen to write a paper about the opposite sex. The problem is that Beaner doesn’t know much about guys, not like her fabulous sister or ex-model step-mother. Somehow Beaner ends up meeting a member of the hottest boy-bands SWAK, and he asks her out but even that goes wrong. Even when she tries to help her sister who is having a pre-wedding meltdown things just don’t work out. Eventually Hannah manages to get her act together and make things up to her family and friends.

I wanted to like this book but it was just too much. The plot was pretty non-existent and the writing was OK. I was hoping for more drama or romance but this book just left me hanging. The main point of the book was for Hannah to stop obsessing about her own drama and focus on the lives of the people around her.

Age range: 12-14
Ranking: Quality – 2/5 Popularity – 2/5

American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese follows three distinct yet related stories. The first is that of the Monkey King who tries to shed his “monkeyness” and his battles with “he who is” to accept himself in his true form. The second is the story of Jin the son of Chinese immigrants who, with his family, moves from San Francisco to a practically all white environment. After the move Jin struggles over the years to find his place in this new world. He also battles over his feelings for a girl in his class. The third story is that of Danny and his cousin Chin-kee. Every year Chin-kee comes to visit Danny and causes Danny such shame that he has to change schools. Chin-kee is the physical embodiment of every negative stereotype about Chinese people.

This book was absolutely fantastic. Yang is able to achieve a rich and layered story within the confines of a 233 paged graphic novel. He is able to use the medium, the three stories and his writing to take the reader beyond the littoral and into the minds of the characters. I could not put this book down and started to read it again from the beginning as soon as I finished it. He was able to get his points across without being heavy handed or preachy. I think that this book went further towards me understanding the feelings of being the odd one out better than any other that I have read.

Age range: 14+
Ranking: Quality – 5/5 Popularity 4/5

Gossip Girl – Because I’m worth it.

This is the fourth gossip girl novel and it takes place in February in New York, well the New York of the rich and fabulous. The majority of the cast of characters have put in their applications to Universities and are waiting on their early acceptances. They are all blowing off steam and having a good time. An even better one once Fashion week starts. This is almost a land of fantasy where the high school cafeteria serves wasabi-smoked tuna burgers and somehow everyone is involved in a fashion show.

Blair the “bitchiest, vainest girl in the entire senior class” tries to improve herself by helping out the younger girls but ends up in a disastrous flirtation with a much older man. Serena the vapid but beautiful one who lands a modeling gig by walking into a store. Daniel the poet and Vanessa the filmmaker who experience wild success which rips them apart. Nate gets busted buying weed and has to go to rehab but discovers that sometimes there is a reason to get clean.

The stories in these books are controversial with copious amounts of drinking, smoking, sex and drugs, but I can see why they are so popular. These books are an escapist fantasy but never take things too far or too seriously. Even though Blair ends up in a hotel room with her older man, she doesn’t do anything. Much of the book is fluff and for those kids brought up by Entertainment Tonight and People magazine this is their ideal world. I think that the controversy should perhaps direct itself outward to the celebrity culture of our world rather than into these novels.

Age range: 14+
Ranking: Quality – 2.5/5 Popularity – 5/5

The Beetle and Me

Daisy is in love with her Dad’s 1957 purple Beetle but it was relegated to the ice house, where it hasn’t been touched for years. Daisy decides that she wants to restore the car, bringing back with it all the happy childhood memories. Daisy is reluctant to accept any help from her mechanic family for fear that they will take over the car. Even when she should Daisy keeps everyone at arms length except for two guys. There is Daniel who is new to town. His father owns a mint-condition ’57 Beetle but Daniel is more interested in music than cars. And then there’s Billy who is just as stubborn as Daisy and knows his way around a car. Daisy learns how to restore the car making a few mistakes along the way. She also learns to explore her feelings and who she really likes and why. A non-traditional romance the real love story centers on Daisy’s feelings for the car.

I enjoyed this book, probably more than other romances that I have read. I think it is because the strongest feelings are for an inanimate object. Daisy crushes on Daniel and likes Billy but she only really loves the car. I also appreciated that Daisy needed to do everything herself even if she knew that she was making a mistake. Her independence showed me how much she needed to fail and then be able to pick herself back up again. I also appreciated that her father didn’t want to give her the chance to fail, that he would rather save her that pain. I am not a car person but I really appreciate the story and the way it was written.

Age range: 14-17
Ranking: Quality – 4/5 Popularity – 3/5