Check out what the Teen Advisory Group is reading now!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria Schwab

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever–and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

An all-new series from the masterful, #1 New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater! Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them–until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her. His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn’t believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro

In the second brilliant, action-packed book in the Charlotte Holmes series, Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes are in a chase across Europe to untangle a web of shocking truths about the Holmes and Moriarty families. Jamie and Charlotte are looking for a winter break reprieve in Sussex after a fall semester that almost got them killed. But nothing about their time off is proving simple, including Holmes and Watson’s growing feelings for each other. When Charlotte’s beloved Uncle Leander goes missing from the Holmes estate–after being oddly private about his latest assignment in a German art forgery ring–the game is afoot once again, and Charlotte throws herself into a search for answers. So begins a dangerous race through the gritty underground scene in Berlin and glittering art houses in Prague, where Holmes and Watson discover that this complicated case might change everything they know about their families, themselves, and each other.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost– but not quite– dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her “get a life,” and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family’s mansion. The next items? Enjoy a drunken night out; Ride a motorcycle; Go camping; Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex; Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage; and do something bad. But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job. Redford ‘Red’ Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He’s also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit. But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe’s wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior.

Check out what the Teen Advisory Group is reading now!

Counting Down with you by Tashie Bhuiyan

Karina Ahmead has a plan. Keep her head down, get through high school without a fuss, and follow her parents’ rules–even if it means sacrificing her dreams. When her parents go abroad to Bangladesh for four weeks, Karina expects some peace and quiet. Instead, one simple lie unravels everything. “Karina is my girlfriend.” Tutoring the school’s resident bad boy was already crossing a line. Pretending to date him? Out of the question. But Ace Clyde does everything right–he brings her coffee in the mornings, impresses her friends without trying, and even promises to buy her a dozen books (a week) if she goes along with his fake-dating facade. Though Karina agrees, she can’t help but start counting down the days until her parents come back. T-minus twenty-eight days until everything returns to normal–but what if Karina no longer wants it to?

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

“From the New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue comes a new romantic comedy that will stop readers in their tracks … Cynical twenty-three-year old August doesn’t believe in much. She doesn’t believe in psychics, or easily forged friendships, or finding the kind of love they make movies about. And she certainly doesn’t believe her ragtag band of new roommates, her night shifts at a 24-hour pancake diner, or her daily subway commute full of electrical outages are going to change that. But then, there’s Jane. Beautiful, impossible Jane. All hard edges with a soft smile and swoopy hair and saving August’s day when she needed it most. The person August looks forward to seeing on the train every day. The one who makes her forget about the cities she lived in that never seemed to fit, and her fear of what happens when she finally graduates, and even her cold-case obsessed mother who won’t quite let her go. And when August realizes her subway crush is impossible in more ways than one-namely, displaced in time from the 1970s-she thinks maybe it’s time to start believing. Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop is a sexy, big-hearted romance where the impossible becomes possible as August does everything in her power to save the girl lost in time”– Provided by publisher.

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

“Evie Thomas doesn’t believe in love anymore. Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began … and how it will end. After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually. As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X. X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything–including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl he’s only just met. Falling for X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it’s that no one escapes love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question all she thought she knew about life and love. In the end, is love worth the risk?”– Provided by publisher.

The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper

When his volatile father is picked to become an astronaut for NASA’s mission to Mars, seventeen-year-old Cal, an aspiring journalist, reluctantly moves from Brooklyn to Houston, Texas, and looks for a story to report, finding an ally (and crush) in Leon, the son of another astronaut.

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson descendants, Charlotte and Jamie, students at a Connecticut boarding school, team up to solve a murder mystery.

Flashback: Re-read a book you loved when you were younger and share a quote.

I loved The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams so much that I listed to the audiobook every night before I fell asleep. It was so nice to visit this book again. All the feels!
If you want to read it, check it out here.
What’s your favourite nostalgic read?

#Shelfie: Snap a pic of your beloved bookshelf. Make it creative!

I love so much about this shelf design! I designed it for an I Spy photo, but loved it so much I kept it around.
What does your book shelf look like?

Book Tasting: Recreate food or drink from a story you read and post your creation. Bonus: Let us know if it was good or not.

It was delicious!
This book is designed for a younger crowd, but there is no age limit on food right? The recipes were fun and easy to make. Check out OPL’s copy here.

Books on Film: Watch a film and read the book that inspired it. Post a pic of them side by side. 

Bonus: tell us what part should not have been left out of the movie.

The book was way better!
The movie should not have left out Lucy’s innocent nature and Mina’s cleverness.
#OshawaTeensRead @oshawalibrary

June 15-June 20

Great Book, Bad Costume: Pose with your favourite book or the one you’re reading now. Then make a costume for one of the characters using only stuff you can find around the house!

This week I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Yes, it’s a bit of a nostalgic read, but it’s really great to meet these characters again. I also forgot how much fun the story is and how different it is from the movies. Maybe I’ll re-watch those later this week too. Anyway, the book is Oshawa Public Libraries Pass the Book selection this year, that’s why I thought it would be the perfect time to read it and now I have a great idea for my costume for this challenge! Do you know who I am?

Yes, I did use Photoshop to make my face purple, but the rest is just my costume! I used an old housecoat, some pillows, a blanket, maybe even a stuffed animal or two. I could barely move, but man was it fun to dress up like a character from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!
I can’t wait to see how you dress up for this challenge!!!

This summer we are moving online and we challenge you to meet us there! Complete weekly reading and other fun challenges, post them online and win prizes!

Tag each entry with #OshawaTeensRead and @oshawalibraries to play. The more you post, the more chances you have to win. Each post qualifies as an entry into the draws for summer prize packs! Complete the ten weekly challenges in any order and even repeat your favourites with different posts!

Not on social media? No problem! You can still play by emailing your entries to jclark@oshawalibrary.on.ca

Runs June 15-August 24.

How to Play

  1. Register Here
  2. Read and complete a challenge
  3. Post a picture of the challenge online using the library tags: #OshawaTeensRead @oshawalibrary
    (or email the challenge)
  4. Repeat steps 2 & 3
  5. Win prizes! (check back for prize details)

The Challenges

  1. June 15-June 20

Great Book, Bad Costume: Pose with your favourite book or the one you’re reading now. Then make a costume for one of the characters using only stuff you can find around the house!

  1. June 21-27

Books on Film: Watch a film and read the book that inspired it. Post a pic of them side by side. Bonus: tell us what part should not have been left out of the movie.

  1. June 28-July 4

Tall Tails: Post a pic of you reading with your pet.

  1. July 5-July 11

Buddy System: Read the same book as a friend and post a pic of you both with the book, while practicing social distancing.

  1. July 12-July 18

Book Tasting: Recreate food or drink from a story you read and post your creation. Bonus: Let us know if it was good or not.

  1. July 19-July 25

#Shelfie: Snap a pic of your beloved bookshelf. Make it creative!

  1. July 26-August 1

Flashback: Re-read a book you loved when you were younger and share a quote.

  1. August 2-8

Genre Trekking: Read outside your regular genre. Share what your normal genre is and the new one you tried. Bonus: read while outside.

  1. August 9-15

#BookFace: Strategically line up your face or another body part alongside a book cover that features a matching body part so that there appears a melding of life and art.

  1. August 16-22

What’s Your Soundtrack?: Put together a list of songs that move you. What would your life soundtrack look like? Bonus: use Freegal, the Library’s free music streaming App.

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

J.K. Rowling

Nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts, we take a glimpse into the wizarding world and the life of Harry Potter and his family. This story is based on the play that is showcased in London and New York, and as a result, is written as a script. Harry Potter is now a hardworking employee of the Minister of Magic, a husband, and the father of three children. It’s not easy being the son of a legend, especially when that legend is Harry Potter himself. Harry and Ginny’s youngest son, Albus, is attending Hogwarts this year with the weight of a legacy he never asked for. Join Harry in his son while they form a unique father and son bond. Watch history repeat itself as you stroll back to the school which once was Harry’s. Filled with old favourites like Hermione, Ron, Draco, and McGonagall this script is sure to revive some old memories of magic. Harry and Albus are both forced to learn that darkness and evil and arise from the most unsuspecting places.

The Cursed Child is an amazing read, especially if you have fallen in love with the world of Harry Potter. It is not formatted like the rest of the series, however, if you are able to get past that, then I definitely recommend this book. Enter this magically world one more time with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Action, suspense, and mystery fill the pages of this book, and J. K. Rowling keeps you on edge with her exciting new installment of Harry Potter. -Ananya M.

View in Library Catalogue: PrinteBook