Author Archives: Matt Imrie

September 10, 2009 12:31 pm ,

272925_HERO COM_CRISIS POINT_JUL09272924_VILLAIN NET_POWER SURGE_JUL09 (2)
The Hero Foundation is a shadow of its former self and Lord Eon the most terrible supervillain ever has hatched a plan to tear apart time. Toby and his superhero friends should be able to stop him . . . but Pete has woken up from his coma a different person, Emily has been kidnapped, and Lorna has disappeared.

At the same time, schoolboy supervillain, Jake Hunter has taken his seat on the Council of Evil. Now he will live his dream and exact revenge on the cruel world.

But the cruel world has other plans, and they come in the shape of the Hero Foundation. Jakes not scared of the Hero Foundation. He even has a plan to turn it to the dark side. Until it gets a new member ? Jakes own sister. Is he really so villainous as to try to get her out of the way?

Read the books as separate satisfying adventures . . .or read them together and spot the heroes and villains blasting into each other’s missions.

Which side are you on?

Posted in: Authors, Books, Uncategorized

H.I.V.E: Dreadnought by Mark Walden COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

September 9, 2009 8:40 am ,

HIVE1HIVE2HIVE3
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A renegade faction of the world’s most powerful villains is intent on destroying G.L.O.V.E. (Global League Of Villainous Enterprises) and showing the world the true face of evil. The Disciples begin by hijacking Diabolus Darkdoom’s Airborne command post, then they kidnap his son and his son’s best friend. Unfortunately for them, Nigel Darkdoom (and Franz) also happen to be Otto’s friends. Heading out to America, Otto, Wing et al embark on a perilous and highly unauthorised rescue operation. Cut off from the support of H.I.V.E. and on the run from American security forces the hunt for their friends leads to one of the US military’s most secret facilities. It becomes clear that the Disciples are not all they appear and in a desperate race against time Otto must work out who his real friends are to prevent the Disciples from completing their true objective. Only Otto can save the world from domination by a sinister new world order but it might be that the price he has to pay is just too high. When it comes to the crunch will he be prepared to sacrifice himself?

Visit the Hive Hub where you can find out more about the excellent series by Mark Walden, and read interviews with the man himself. There is an evil laugh generator – essential for any budding evil overlord and a grapple hook game. You can also sign up for the H.I.V.E. e-mail newsletter to find out more about what is happening at the premier school for Villains.

Teen Librarian has one copy of Dreadnought that can be won by answering this (relatively) easy question:

Name the main character in the H.I.V.E series

The answer can be found in the Character section of the Hive Hub and in the H.I.V.E books that you should have on your bookshelves.

Answers to editor(at)teenlibrarian.co.uk

For more details on the H.I.V.E series you can download the press release (which also has the answer to the competition question).

The winners name will be drawn on the 15th September.

Posted in: Books, Competition

Kelly Osbourne: Fierce – new book and website

September 3, 2009 5:14 pm ,

You think you know Kelly Osbourne?

Find out her story in her own words and online with her new biography and a website for teens & Young Women on advice and her life:

Log on to Kelly’s website live from today at: www.kellyosbourne.com where you can sneak peek at some of Kelly’s personal pictures, and keep up to date with what she’s up to and where she’s going to be appearing. You can also post the best piece of advice you’ve ever had and share it with others. It can be something that comforted you, inspired you, made you feel happier, made you laugh, or something you just want to share with the world. And if you’ve had your own embarrassing moments, just log on to the forum to discover you’re not alone!

fierce“When you’re little, you think your family is just the same as everybody else’s.

Doesn’t everyone’s mum plan secret exits for when things get tough?
Surely all dads embarrass their daughters at their birthday parties?
But as you get older, you begin to notice that what’s normal to you is completely f***ed up to the outside world, and that sometimes you just can’t explain that what other people think of as weird is actually all about love.

Who is Kelly Osbourne? I’m still not totally sure. But I do know who I’m not, and I want to help other people make the right decisions with the difficult choices we all face when growing up.

So I’ve gone out and got the best advice I can find from people I love, respect and always listen to. I’ve included Louis Walsh’s advice on making it in the music industry, tips from Neil, my sought-after make-up artist at MAC and many others. And for when things get really serious I’ve gone to the organisations that really can help.

In this book I’m sharing my advice and my embarrassing moments, but it isn’t just about me, it’s about you. And I’d love to hear your stories too!”

Meet Kelly at an exclusive London book signing on Tuesday 8th September at Selfridges London at 6pm.

Posted in: Books

Rachel Riley: Back to Life by Joanna Nadin and the winners are…

August 28, 2009 3:25 pm ,

A week late.

I do apologise.

The winners of The Rachel Riley: Back to Life competition (in no particular order) are:

Deirdre Steain

Gaby Koenig

Jo Stapley

Liz Rose

Carol Lavery

Your prizes will be posted out next week!

Posted in: Competition

Teen Librarian Monthly: August 2009

August 16, 2009 3:26 pm ,

The August edition of TLM is now available to download here

Posted in: Teen Librarian Monthly

Stained by Joanne Hichens

August 16, 2009 2:54 pm ,

Stained
stain: v.1 mark or discolour with something that is not easily removed. 2 damage (someone’s or something’s reputation). 3 colour with a penetrative dye or chemical.
n. 1 stubborn discoloured patch or dirty mark. 2 a thing that damages a reputation. 3 a dye or chemical used to colour materials.
South African Concise
Oxford Dictionary
Stained is a YA novel set in Cape Town in areas where I have friends and spent many hours visiting. It meant more to me than a number of other issue novels that I have read in the past because I know the area and have known and do know people like Grace, Crystal and their friends and families. The best description of the area (which is of high social & economic deprivation) in which they live is in this excerpt:

The highway, Prince George’s Drive, separates the rich from the poor like a line drawn. On our side are council houses and duplexes and block on block of dreary council flats. Beyond that is shackland…
Hardly any green on this side of the highway. No trees, no grass. On the mountain are the mansions with gardens and views of the sea.

The story is told from two viewpoints – the good girl Grace (through whom we experience most of the story) is working on a project on pregnancy and longing to break free from her overprotective foster mother Martha who has raised her. She dreams of finding her birth mother and cutting loose to be a bad girl; and Crystal a beautiful young woman who ended up pregnant and was forced to keep baby. Crystal isn’t coping and hides a dreadful secret that is gradually revealed over the course of the novel, at the same time we witness her slow disintegration to the inevitable tragic conclusion. They are linked by Shardonnay, Crystals sister and Grace’s friend a Pop Idols hopeful and bad girl at her secondary school, she is going through life her way, immune to the rumours & accusations and willing to do anything to get to the top.

Stained is not a happy story, it is about choices, identity and knowing who you are! Ultimately it is also about love, acceptance and hope.

Although set in South Africa Stained has universal appeal as the choices and situations Grace and her friends find themselves in can and do happen anywhere in the world.

I literally could not put this book down and read it in one sitting.

Rated E+H for Excellent & Heartrending

Posted in: Uncategorized

Goth Girl Rising by Barry Lyga

August 16, 2009 1:40 pm ,

The brilliant Barry Lyga is running a competition ahead of the release of his new book Goth Girl Rising. You have to create a video trailer for one of his books, upload it onto Youtube, Myspace Video or anywhere you can host a video and send him the link.

Full competition details are here

This is worth promoting to any Teens who frequent the Library where you work, it could even be good for a Teen Group Library Project! Be quick you only have until the end of August!

It is easy – and to prove this I have entered the competition. My trailer is below!

Posted in: Activities, Competition, Event ideas, Films, i-Brarian

BBC Audiobooks: Playaways

August 16, 2009 1:09 pm ,

playaway
Frequently Asked Questions about Playaways
Playaway: Grab and go audio by Mary Burkey
The Future of Audio Formats by Mary Burkey
Find out more about BBC Audiobooks services to libraries here

Contact the BBC Audiobooks Customer Service team with any questions here: library.sales@bbc.com

Posted in: i-Brarian

The Nargun and the Stars by Patricia Wrightson

August 16, 2009 12:17 pm ,

The Nargun and the StarsWhen Simon Brent’s parents are killed he is taken to live with his mother’s cousins on Wongadilla, their 5000 acresheep station. Simon feels like an outisder. But he’s not the only thing that doesn’t belong. The arrival of machines to clear the land brings to life the Nargun, a great rock, older than time itself, that has slowly dragged itself into the valley – and with, it a simmering rage that drives it to kill.
I do not often get the chance to read YA books older than I am, but at a recent Catnip event I was given a copy of The Nargun and the Stars written by Patricia Wrightson.

The creatures in the story are actual figures from Aboriginal myth the water-spirit Potkoorok, the tree-dwelling Turongs, the subterranean Nyols even the Nargun a fearsome creature is present in their tales. The land on which the story is set plays an important role – from the rivers and creeks to the mountains, forests and swamps. It is an isolated area that, until the beginning of the story, is relatively untouched. Into this wild and beautiful land Simon Brent is sent – to live with his late mother’s cousins. His arrival coincides with the beginning of deforestation on the other side of the valley The story mixes Simon’s personal quest for identity and sense of belonging, with a quest to remove a destructive presence from the land – both the Nargun and the Grader & Bulldozer are unwanted intruders in Wongadilla. Environmental themes are present throughout the book – with the destruction of the Turongs environment, the sound and vibrations of the machines driving the Nargun into a frenzy even the concept of land ownership with Charlie seeing himself as the man in charge of the land – a steward rather than owner.

“But you’re not the man in charge! You own it!”
“Do I? For sixty years or so, maybe; but how long do you think the Potkoorok’s owned it?”

Patricia Wrightson’s writing is lyrical and beautiful, her descriptions of the land and its surrounds as well as the interaction between Simon and the other characters is believable and the story drew me in completely – I loved it and did not want it to end!

Rated A for Awesome!

Posted in: Books, Reviews

Hush, Hush competition over at Bella and Edwards

August 11, 2009 12:53 pm ,

hushhushcoverThe lovely people at Simon & Schuster are giving away 3 signed proof copies of upcoming book Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick on the Bella and Edward site . It’s not published until October, so this really is an opportunity to read the next big thing now.

Falling for the fallen…

Hush, Hush features our heroine, Nora Grey, a seemingly normal teenage girl with her own shadowy connection to the Nephilim, and super-alluring bad boy, Patch. Together they find themselves at the centre of a centuries-old feud between a fallen angel and a Nephilim…

Forced to sit next to Patch in science class, Nora attempts to resist his flirting, though gradually falls for him against her better judgment. Meanwhile creepy things are going on with a mysterious stalker following her car, breaking into her house and attacking her best friend, Vi. Nora suspects Patch, but there are other suspects too – not least a new boy who has transferred from a different college after being wrongly accused of murdering his girlfriend. And he seems to have taken a shine to Nora…

Love certainly is dangerous… and someone is going to have to make the ultimate sacrifice for it.

Enter the competition here

Posted in: Books, Competition