A blog for young readers (and YA lovers) from the Providence Athenaeum.
The Providence Athenaeum is a unique library and cultural center in the heart of Providence, Rhode Island. Growing out of the Providence Library Company (fourth library in the United States), the Athenaeum as we know it was formed in 1836. Our handsome building on the corner of Benefit and College was completed in 1838.
We are one of the few surviving membership libraries in the nation. Student memberships are available - visit or call for more information.
This blog is updated by one of our circulation assistants (and YA enthusiast), RJ. Follow us to find out what's new in our Young Adult corner, or just for a daily dose of literary shenanigans.
You can follow the Ath on twitter or facebook. Our catalog and much more information about us can be found at our homepage.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
What’s New: Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
Currently on the New YA Bookshelf is Zombies vs. Unicorns, a very entertaining collection featuring some of the YA world’s bestselling and most beloved authors. From editor Holly Black’s official website:
It’s a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths—for good and evil—of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?
My personal favorites from each category were Diana Peterfreund’s The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn and Libba Bray’s Prom Night. This anthology joins the Athenaeum just in time for the RI 2012 Summer Reading theme, Own the Night. Visit the Ath and devour a few stories!
Staff Picks: Own The Night
Libraries all around Rhode Island are celebrating reading this summer with a dark and mysterious theme: Own the Night. At first it might seem unusual to celebrate everything the goes bump in the night during the season of swimming and sunshine, but when else do we really get to appreciate night-time?
Summer’s the season of fireflies, star-gazing, and stories around the campfire. School’s out, so you can stay up late reading just one more page of that bone-chilling page-turner. My picks for this season are all creature features - vampires, ghosts, zombies, lake monsters, chimaera, and one decidedly spooky fairy prince.
But wait! There’s more. Every week, all summer long, you can help decide who is the baddest baddie in fiction. You may have argued a hundred times that Batman would easily beat up Spiderman (or vice versa), but how would the Dark Knight fair with a Balrog thrown into the mix? Katniss Everdeen might be handy with a bow and arrow, but is she any match for a brain-eating zombie hoard?
Voting for the Who Will Own The Night tournament here at the Your Athenaeum blog starts Monday! You can also come in to the Providence Athenaeum and submit a vote in our YA corner - paper votes are going to count more than internet votes. Keep our summer hours in mind when you plan your visit!
