Fri Mar 10: what we talked about

What we talked about:

• 20 books nominated for 2024 Illinois Teen Choice Award
  • We discussed if VH students could be inspired to try to read all 20 books
    • "if a really good prize were offered!"
    • Suggested $50 Barnes & Noble gift card if read all 20 books
    • $30 gift card if you read 15 books
    • $20 gift card if you read 10 books

• Ryleigh introduced us to "the love of my life," a beautiful 800-page book with a blue dragon on the cover
  • The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
    • Genre: fantasy
    • Summary: A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens. The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic. Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel. Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.
• Lora found she loves Ms. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ranson Riggs just as much the second time she reads it!
  • Genre: Fantasy
  • Summary: A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs. A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography.