SYNC YA Listening Summer 2013 Launches Today!

May 30-August 15, 2013

YOU GUYS this truly is really cool. Each week this summer, starting today, you can download two free audiobooks to listen to on your computer or mobile device. I'll keep you posted throughout the summer on the weekly titles. There will always be one contemporary YA title and one related YA "classic".

Bonus factors:

1. If you already use OWWL2Go to download library eBooks, you should already have the OverDrive app needed to download these audiobooks;
2. Unlike library eBooks, these title don't need to be "returned". That's right: you can keep them. What?

Download the 1st free YA Novel & Summer Reading Classic pair from SYNC here. Or, you could just keep reading for a sneak preview of this week's titles, followed by some easy to follow instructions. Your choice.

This Week's Audiobooks: 

Available to download free May 30 – June 5, 2013

Of Poseidon By Anna Banks

Read by Rebecca Gibel

Published by AudioGO

Galen, prince of the Syrena, is sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish and after several encounters with her Galen becomes convinced Emma holds the key to his kingdom.

The Tempest By William Shakespeare

Performed by a Full Cast

Published by AudioGO/ BBC Radio

A storm rages. Prospero and his daughter watch from their desert island as a ship carrying the royal family is wrecked. Miraculously, all on board survive. Plotting, mistaken identities, and bewitching love follow as the travelers explore the strange place of spirits and monsters.

Thank you to AudioGO for generously providing this week's titles.

Available for a Limited Time:

Remember--grab these titles before they are replaced by a new pairing on June 6! While the title availability is time-limited, your listening time is not. Once you have downloaded the MP3 files, the audiobook is yours to listen to at your leisure.

Downloading Tips:

The OverDrive Media Console will deliver SYNC summer audiobooks to you via Overdrive Media Software installed on your computer (compatible with Windows and Mac) or through an Overdrive App on your mobile device (compatible with iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7). Visit the OverDrive website to download the App or Software.

Don't miss the remaining summer season of SYNC audiobook downloads! Click here for the full schedule.

Book Report: How I Live Now

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I will try to say as little about this book as possible, because I get speechless about things that affect me this much. I love it and I don't want to spoil it with my stupid words! I will say that it's breathtakingly beautiful; that I read it cover to cover; and that I sobbed during the last 10 pages. Maybe you don't like sobbing over a well told tale, but I do, so I consider this an achievement on the author's part.

I ordered this for my library by chance when I saw it on a Novelist read-a-like list for The Hunger Games. I read the description and reviews and thought, "we should own this!" It won the Printz award in 2006, which in the world of YA librarians is a big deal. P.S. apparently the movie adaptation is in post production. And it looks achingly lovely. Bonus, and fingers crossed.

The deal: Upper West Side teen Daisy is packed-off to relatives in the English countryside by her Dad's new-ish trophy wife. Through the cracks in her narrative armor, we learn that: her mother died in childbirth; she's no stranger to trouble; and she gains a sort of peace or power from not eating. She's NYC-Tough with an attitude to match, which makes her cousins' idyllic life-style completely foreign and overwhelming to her. It's as if she's walked into a fairy tale, and she gives herself over to it almost completely.

When alarming yet vague news of "the war" comes, Daisy and her cousins at first have the luxury of ignoring it. Through circumstance, they are left on their own with no adult supervision, and their fairy tale days reaches a dizzying height. But they can't stay that way.

If I found any flaw in How I Live Now, it was the style of Daisy's narration being a bit much, with her lack of quotations and trains of thought. But when I got near the end of the book I realized why, and I realized it was perfect. So, scratch that.

This is a slim little volume that packs a wallop of emotions and sensations. Rosoff gives us a terrifying present that could very easily be our own, and a narrator that could very easily be the teen you. Highly recommended, a personal classic, though not for the faint of heart. Loved. --Kelley, (Your) Teen Librarian

View all my reviews