Katy Reads

Kentucky and Tennessee Admission Day

On this day, in 1792, Kentucky was admitted as a state. Then in 1796, on this same day, Tennessee was admitted. In honor of that, here are some books set, at least partially, in both places:

Kentucky

• Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds by Cynthia Rylant(children’s nonfiction)
• The Blessing by Jude Devereaux(general fiction)
• Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz(history)
• Eli the Good by Silas House(young adult)
• Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio(general fiction)
• Nauti and Wild by Lora Leigh(erotica)
• Nice Girls Don’t Date Dead Men by Molly Harper(paranormal romance)
• O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton(mystery)
• Shattered by Karen Robards(romantic suspense)
• Tricks by Ellen Hopkins(young adult)

Tennessee

• Tempting Fate by Carla Neggers(romantic suspense)
• At Grave’s End by Jeaniene Frost(paranormal romance)
• Bloodroot by Amy Greene(general fiction)
• Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck(travel)
• Dark Oracle by Alayna Williams(urban fantasy)
• Eternity Road by Jack McDevitt(science fiction)
• Provinces of Night by William Gay(general fiction)
• Naughty or Nice? by Sherrilyn Kenyon(contemporary romance)
• How to Build a House by Dana Reinhardt(young adult)
• Run to Me by Christy Reece(romantic suspense)

On this day in history…

  …the first copyright law was enacted in America. Ever wondered exactly what those laws entail? Here’s some websites to learn more:

• US Copyright Office: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/
• BitLaw: http://www.bitlaw.com/copyright/index.html
• Campus Guide to Copyright Compliance: http://www.copyright.com/Services/copyrightoncampus/basics/law.html

June Events

Here’s what’s going on at Katy Budget Books next month:

• YA Book Club(June 6th, 7:00-8:00 pm): discussing The Maze Runner by James Dashner
• Mystery Matters(June 7th, 7:00-8:00 pm): discussing Deeper Than the Dead by Tami Hoag
• Shadow Pages(June 13th, 7:00-8:00 pm): discussing It Takes a Witch by Jennifer Blake
• Stephanie Evans(June 14th, 6:00-8:00 pm): debut mystery author signing Faithful Unto Death
• Tale Talk(June 18th, 7:00-8:00 pm): discussing Lost Book of Mala R by Rose MacDowell
• Reading Stars(June 19th, 10:00-11:00 am): discussing Honus and Me by Dan Gutman
• Power of Choice(June 19th, 6:30-8:00 pm): discussing The Sedona Method(Part 1) by Dale Dwoskin
• YA Book Club(June 20th, 7:00-8:00 pm): discussing The Interrogation of Gabriel James by Charlie Price
• Jeffrey Deaver(June 22nd, 6:00-8:00 pm): mystery author signing XO
• Reading Stars(June 26th, 10:00-11:00 am): discussing Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
• I’ll Take Romance(June 26th, 7:00-8:00 pm): discussing Dire Needs by Stephanie Tyler
• Book It(June 29th, 11:00-12:30 pm): discussing In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

Save the date: July 25th is Teacher Day!

On this day in history…

  the summit of Mount Everest was reached for the first time in 1953. There are a ton of books written about reaching the highest point in the world, either the real one or in a fantasy setting. Here’s a short list of some of the ones featuring Everest:

• Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer(biography)
• Storm at the Summit of Mount Everest by Ryan Jacobsen(middle reader)
• Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer(historical fiction)
• Conquering Everest by Lewis Helfand(middle reader biography)
• To the Top! by Sydelle Kramer(step reader)
• The Everest series by Gordon Korman(middle reader)
• Peak by Roland Smith(YA)
• High Crimes by Michael Kodas(nature)
• Left for Dead by Seaborn Weathers(biography)
• The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev(biography)

Memorial Day

  While Memorial Day is a great time for picnics and get-togethers, what it’s really for is remembering those who have fallen in battle for our country. In honor of that, here’s a list of children’s realistic military fiction books:

• War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
• A Boy at War by Harry Mazer
• Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Soldier’s Heart by Gary Paulsen
• Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick
• Two Girls of Gettysburg by Lisa Klein
• Shooting the Moon by Frances O’Roark Dowell
• On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck

Male main characters in YA

  I’ve been reading a lot lately about gender bias in genre fiction, and I certainly don’t encourage it. I have read plenty of books in all genres with male main characters that I’ve loved, and I don’t see why it shouldn’t work the other way. I can understand though, in the young adult age range, why guys may not want to read about the female perspective, at least all the time. Here’s a list of young adult books with male main characters:

• The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova
• The Lost Code by Kevin Emerson
• The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda
• The Loners by Lex Thomas
• The Obsidian Blade by Pete Hautman
• I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
• Double by Jenny Valentine
• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini
• White Cat by Holly Black
• King Dork by Frank Portman
• I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• Paper Towns by John Green
• Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
• The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd series by Heather Brewer
• I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
• The Maze Runner by James Dashner

This is by no means an all-inclusive list. There are many more out there. From what I can see from our collection of ARCs, there will be many more coming this summer. But if you have a teen boy who’s having trouble finding a book with a protagonist he can relate to, start him here.

-Anna