Madison "Maddy" Stanton wakes up alone in a large, dark space. She doesn’t know where she is or how she got there. But she is sure about one thing: she is dead. Maddy is also surrounded by various objects from her life: toys, jewelry, even her Physics homework. She realizes that these objects were things that Maddy lost while she was alive. She also discovers that with these "lost" items, she can relive certain moments in her life. While experiencing these moments again, Maddy soon learns some startling truths about her life. But will Maddy be able to find out how she died?

James's ex-girlfriend Sadie believes in more positive approaches to saving the environment, like recycling and planting trees. James, however, prefers a more radical approach. He believes we must destroy ALL cars ("even the cute ones"). Through his essays for Junior AP English, James rants about all the things that bother him, from the deterioration of the planet to the wimpy "green" efforts of the perfect Sadie. His views alienate him from most of his peers. But James is proud of his manifesto-style essays. His teacher thinks James is far too angry. So when an opportunity to reconnect with Sadie presents itself, James must learn to wise up, find less extreme ways to save the Earth, and ultimately let go of his anger.

Ida Mae Jones loves to fly airplanes. Ever since her father taught her how to fly a crop-dusting plane, Ida Mae has wanted to get her pilot license. There is just one problem: she is a woman. And despite the fact that she is an excellent flyer, she is still denied her license. As World War II begins and men are sent off to fight, the Women Airforce Service Pilots look for women to help their country. Ida Mae is ready to jump at the opportunity but soon learns that she could be denied this chance because she is African American. Determined to fly, Ida Mae decides to take extreme measures to join the Service, including making a fake license and using her fair skin to pass as a white woman. Can she pull it off?

Attention kids and teens! Registration begins on Monday, January 11 for the Youth Winter Reading Program, Read to Succeed, sponsored by the Chicago Wolves. Sign up in the Youth Services Department to receive your reading log, pencil, and bookmark. Then visit the library once a week to check your reading log and win prizes for the books you read. Prizes include Chicago Wolves items!

You and your peers have voted and here are the results:

10. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

9. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

8. Untamed by P.C. and Kristin Cast

7. Wake by Lisa McMann

6. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Mary lives in a village surrounded by fences. She dreams of stepping outside the boundary and finding the ocean her mother has always told her about. But outside the fences, deep in the forest, live the Unconsecrated, people who are dead, but not really dead and infected by a horrible epidemic. When the village fences are breached and the Unconsecrated invade her town, Mary and several others flee into unknown territory, determined to find sanctuary beyond the forest to survive.

The Youth Services Department would like to thank the following Read on the Wild Side! Partners:

Gianni's Ristorante and Pizzeria
Factory Motive Parts Company
Men in Brotherhood Lodge #1178
Pleiades Lodge #478
Park District of Franklin Park

Thank you for your generous contributions to this year's Summer Reading Program!

Seventeen-year-old Marcus a.k.a. “w1n5t0n” is a hacker who knows how to work the system. He has no problem getting past his school’s security system to go play his favorite ARG – Harajuku Fun Madness with his friends in San Francisco. However, he is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time when the Bay Bridge collapses and soon finds himself being tortured and interrogated by the Department of Homeland Security who seem to think he’s a terrorist. Upon his release he returns to San Francisco, which has become a police state in his absence where everyone is a suspect. Not knowing who to trust, Marcus starts an underground movement using only his X-box and a few home made gadgets to spread the word on what happened to him and to his friends with the ultimate goal of keeping the DHS from doing anything like what they did again.

In the distant future everyone between the ages of 12 and 18 must enter their names into the lottery for the Hunger Games – a competition to the death in which only one person can survive. Every year on the day of the Reaping, 2 teens (a boy and a girl) are chosen from each of the 12 districts in the country of Panem (formerly the United States). Unfortunately for Katniss Everdeen, the boy who is chosen from her district is Peeta Mellark, the same boy who saved her from starvation years ago and she has just volunteered to take her younger sister Prim’s place in the games. Now her only hope is that someone else will kill Peeta before she has to...

Looking for a good book to read? Are you interested in learning what other teens think about a book? Then Flamingnet Book Reviews may be the place for you. Flamingnet was created by a teen for teens. All books reviews on the website are written by teens and there is a "Bulletin Board" where you can chat about books with your peers. If you sign up for their mailing list you'll also receive special promotions and a chance to enter the monthly book give-away.