TLT: Teen Librarian's Toolbox

Mailbag: Why TLT?

2012-03-07T06:57:00.000-08:00

So today I thought I would take a moment and answer an email question I get on a fairly regular basis: Why did I do the Teen Librarian's Toolbox?

I worked at the Marion Public Library in Marion, Ohio for almost ten years - and loved every moment of it. Every day I was very aware that I was exactly where I was supposed to be and doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing. The universe, however, was not so kind to The Mr. So he ended up with a job in Texas and for a year - a whole year! - he worked in Texas and occasionally came home to see me and our two children, one of which was a 1 year old with chronic health issues. Then, our town flooded, including our home (we lost 1/3 of our possessions including the first child's baby stuff and some books! - it was fairly
traumatic), I broke my toe (meet Frankentoe!) and the 1 year old continued to have chronic health problems (mentioned here). It seemed like maybe it would be easier and better for everyone if we were all in one place . . . but I could not stand the thought of leaving my job (miss you guys). I knew that I could not give up my passion for teens and book and libraries, it is at the core of who I am. The answer, for me, was TLT.

So, I started the Teen Librarian's Toolbox. And honestly, I am so glad every day that I did (though I don't always appreciate what it cost me to get to this point). I am now working part-time as the teen (and tween) librarian at the Betty Warmack Branch Library in Grand Prairie, Texas. It is a really nice library and I have met a lot of really great people (and I'm not just saying that because my boss reads my blog). And - I get to continue to maintain my blog.

The thing about TLT is that I find that in helping other teen librarians serve their teens, I get to reach even more teens. It's like being a teen librarian on steroids. And the other truth is that TLT has become a community - you share your ideas and inspire me just as much as I do you. TLT is not just a blog, there is a very active community on Facebook where we share resources, ideas and talk about books. I learn about things I wouldn't have otherwise. Together, as a community, we have become advocates for teens and our libraries through things like The 2012 Project. You see, you inspire me just as much as you say that I inspire you. I thank you for the privilege of being a part of this community and for an opportunity to share my passion.

Have any more questions for me, just leave a comment or shoot me an email at kjensenmls@yahoo.com. And be sure to join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

True Confessions: Book Visits (and a Planning Tip)

2012-03-07T06:02:00.001-08:00

Today is Lauren Oliver day!! 2 weeks ago, before reading Pandemonium, there would not be a Lauren Oliver day (although I did really like Delirium - a lot). But having read Pandemonium, there is now a Lauren Oliver day! Yesterday HarperTeen tweeted the news that Lauren Oliver would be visiting a book store near my home (only 45 minutes away - yay!) and I went crazy. Honestly, it is suddenly like this was the 80s, I was 12, and she was Duran Duran (who still rock, by the way).

So, here's my true confession: I have never been to an author visit at a book store. As a librarian, I have arranged many author visits including Margaret Peterson Haddix (lovely and kind), Caroline B. Cooney (Milk Carton was all the rage), and even Ellen Schreiber (it made me very cool with some of my teenage girls). When Ellen Schreiber came, she brought her parents who told me that I made the most lovely sign for an author visit that they had ever seen thus making them my most favorite parents ever. Flattery will get you everywhere.

So today I am pulling my preteen out of school early (hey - it's educational, she's going to meet an author!) and we are going to trek to meet Lauren Oliver. The preteen is mega excited. Random library patrons and my coworkers yesterday, not so much - though they appreciated that I was excited. And I refrained from hugging random strangers - just barely.

To me, Pandemonium is *that* good of a book. I think that it speaks to our times.

So, back to my tip of the day to avoid this being a self indulgent post (as if it isn't somehow already). Remember Ellen Schreiber, getting to her my library was really just a fluke. Our children's librarian had seen a sign up in a town about an hour away that the local mega bookstore was going to be having her visit so I e-mailed and she agreed to come to my library later that evening. That was it, a bit of luck, a keen eye, and a pretty pretty please and viola - we had the most amazing author visit. Since then, I do go out from time to time and see if any YA authors are appearing anywhere near my library - say within a one hour drive radius - and test my luck. Be sure to set aside somewhere between $500.00 and $1,000.00 of your programming funds for these types of opportunities. Because they are already in the library, they will sometimes cut you a break. And of course, you have to scout early in advance so that you give yourself plenty of time to book and promote. And when promoting, be sure to tap into your local schools as they will sometimes give extra credit to students for attending. But if you get the right author at the right time, that is draw in and of itself.

Sign up for a Twitter account (it really *is* a good news feed if you follow the right people) and follow publishers and authors to get their announcements (you will also get booktrailer announcements, links to reviews, and cover releases which are all good for sharing with your teens). And of course, keep an eye out on the homepages of your local bookstores. By following all 3 - bookstores, authors and publishers - you are bound at some point to find a good author visit you can piggy back on.

I'll let you know tomorrow how Lauren Oliver day went. In 9 hours - I'll be seeing Lauren Oliver. Just saying. In case you didn't hear. (PS - truly, I am a very composed highly trained professional librarian. I just - love books, and this has moved to the top of my list. Seriously, read it.)

Book Review: Ashes by Ilsa Bick

2012-03-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

And we all thought the change that puberty brings is bad, that is nothing compared to what happens when a strange EMP rocks the world in Ashes by Ilsa Bick.

Alex is camping in the mountains, carrying her parents ashes and hoping to finally find a place of peace, when a strange EMP goes off. She has no idea what is happening, but suddenly her cell phone doesn't work. She runs into an older man and a younger child when the man suddenly drops dead before her. She doesn't know it yet, but there are a lot of dead people now. And those that don't die . . . well, she will find out what happens to them soon enough.

Ashes is an interesting take on the zombie novel. Everyone between the ages of 20 and 60 has died, for some reason the old have survived and the young have been turned into zombies. Alex is a rare breed now, a teen that didn't turn. Who knew that brain tumor would come in
handy.

Alex finds travelling companions in the young girl with the dead grandpa and a soldier who is probably AWOL from the war, Tom. For a while, Ashes is your standard, though well written and thrilling, ZA fare with a group of strangers wandering the wilderness trying to find food and shelter while trying to not get dead. Tom and Alex are falling in love and all is well and then, bam, they mess up their basic mission: don't get dead - kinda.

Here, Ashes takes an interesting twist as Alex goes to get help and finds herself a "guest" of a colony of survivors who are kind of cult like in the way they operate. It's easy to be lured in by the warm clothes and food and the perimeter security. But sometimes a good thing is in fact too good to be true and Alex must decide what she is willing to sacrifice in order for her "safety."

Ashes is a really good read and a welcomed addition to the zombie reads fold. It is set up for a sequel but I am not going to lie, I wish it just ended where the first book does because that seems like such a profound ending for a zombie apocalypse. People would go missing and you would never find out what happened to them. I found the ending to be so compelling with the way it just hangs there in the air.

Alex is a strong character with a strong personality. Because everyone in teen fiction seems to fall in love with two guys these days, she gets 2 love interests. Although the relationship with Chris in the colony is kind of, complicated. Like all great dystopian fiction this is a thoughtful look at what it takes to survive and how we choose to recreate our world. The stuff that happens in the colony is perhaps more terrifying than the actual zombie infested world outside. This is a good read, check it out. 4 out of 4 stars.

The Rebuttal: Marketing and Library Lock-Ins

2012-03-06T05:49:00.000-08:00

So, in my original post on Marketing and Library Lock-Ins I mentioned a co-worker and how she used library lock-ins to reward her teens. She has been so kind as to write a rebuttal for my original post. And here it is . . .

I would be the librarian that was mentioned in the blog on 2/17, although I don’t think of myself as particularly awesome. My office is stacked high with stuff that needs to be done, half the time I can’t find my desk, and my walls are decorated with pictures from the library kids and posters of a few of my favorite Read @ Your Library actors (Alan Rickman smiles only for *me*). And on one wall I have framed shirts and pictures from our reading program lock-ins. So, when Karen asked me to write a response to her blog, I immediately told her, “I’ll be your huckleberry.”

I think that libraries that feel like they have lost their value actually have just lost their focus: they need to take a good hard look at themselves and their market (patrons/communities) and evaluate what they are, and where they want to be. It is easy to say that we want to create “intelligent, empowered, thinking and feeling members” of the community, but I think that can come about in a variety of ways, and not all of them bound by the stereotypical idea of librarianship.

I would argue from a marking perspective that the benefit of a lock-in, done successfully and tied into a reading program, is hugely positive. From a library viewpoint, your market is your patronage, and sometimes we can forget that in the struggle with budgets and boards and keeping our heads above water. With lock-ins, we are creating positive experiences for the youth in the area, which will come back to us in the form of future support. We are creating positive feedback from their parents by creating a space where their children want to come and spend time. This is particularly important because there are relatively few stay-at-home parents in the area, and their kids choose to be here in the library, rather than be home alone. We are creating advocates for the library because we are making a difference in the community through this positive feedback. The teens are talking to their friends, encouraging them to come to programs, and not just the reading programs & lock-ins. Younger kids are not only excited for their programs, but also looking forward to becoming a teen so they, too, may participate. Their parents are excited that their children actually want to come to the library, and that fact clearly shows in the patron count coming through the door.

I may run my lock-ins different from the ways others do – I really do not know. I make each one a prize above and beyond the reading program prizes, because I understand that not everyone can attend and not everyone will reach the lock-in goal, and that’s OK. For those that do make it, however, they have a huge sense of accomplishment, and they brag about it to their friends. I have 10 & 11 year olds who are counting down the days until they are 13, the age which they can start to participate. They regularly beg to sign up for teen reading programs and read…and this is the age where we so often lose so many of our readers.

“Yeah, yeah, but what about the message it sends?” The message it is sending to our community is that we are so involved with your kids that we want them to spend the night with us. We care. They have spent the summer or winter READING, and with some of them that was a goal they NEVER though they would reach, so why not celebrate it? It is something above a pizza party, a pool party, dyeing the hair of the librarian – things that would not reach the community that I am in – they have had those in school, or do not particularly care about them. Having some weird “adult” who is not related to them wanting to spend time with them, play games with them, take the time to be with them and get to know them for who they are, that is what matters, both to the teens and to the rest of the community. That may be different than other libraries operate; however, it is something that I have tried to foster at every library I have ever worked at, and it is something that friends that are also librarians have tried to accomplish as well.

“It’s not normal operating procedures.” Define your normal operating procedures, then. Why are well-structured lock-ins considered anathema, while other programming is not? Is it because of the time involved? Do it shorter. Is it because it is focused on teens? The bias about teen programming is getting way old- do you realize that the ages that we lose these readers and library go-ers is only a few short years before they are allowed to vote? What about pajama storytimes? Do you encourage little kids, parents, and staff to come in pajamas to programs? What about that is normal library procedures? What about Fancy Nancy or American Girl teas? What about Stitch ‘n’ Bitch programs? Those are craft times for adults, why are those acceptable? Tax assistance? ESL classes? Craft fairs? ALA and YALSA are constantly hitting up the 40 Developmental Assets (http://yalsa.ala.org/2010_presprgrm_si/assets_built_by_spark.pdf) and the New Media Literacies (http://newmedialiteracies.org/) – we hit a lot of them doing these programs types of programs.

We, librarians and library advocates, are constantly fighting the fact that the public – including library boards, Friends of the Library, and voters – think they do not read or do not use books, and because libraries are perceived as houses filled with books, it follows in this flawed reasoning that if no one is using those books, then we do not need libraries. But there is no such thing as a “typical” reader any more than there is a “typical” librarian, and we need to expand our thinking a bit to become (and remain) an integral part of our patrons’ lives. I would argue that lock-ins are not saying that “being a library isn’t enough,” but that we are rising to the challenge of creating what the community needs within the evolving framework that we have with today’s teens.

See, I told you she was awesome. And I give her bonus points for showing how it meets the 40 Developmental Assets because she is entirely correct. She gets more bonus points because she said she would be my Huckleberry. But I subtract points out of pure jealousy for the fact that she has an office (I kid, I kid) (kinda). At the end of the day, we're all trying to do the same thing which is to connect teens with books and libraries and enrich their lives and our communities. How we do that may differ, but the difference is only in the details. Thanks all for reading and joining our discussion. Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Thinking Out Loud: More Marketing and the Library Lock-In

2012-03-06T05:40:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I posted some thoughts I had been rolling over in my head about the idea of the library lock-in. You can read them here. I fully and completely expected to get flames and was so pleasantly surprised that everyone responded to me with civil tones which I thinks highly of our profession and our value for different points of view. I did get some comments and personal emails and I thought I would take a moment to share and respond to them, parts of this appeared in the comments on the original post. Because my life is often filled with irony, after my original post appeared a nationwide library lock-in was announced.

I guess I should make a few clarifying points. I realize that a lock-in

can be an after hours events of any duration and is different then an all night sleepover, which is more what I was thinking in my statement. I have done both, an after hours program and sleepovers.

I think it is valuable for us all as librarians to take the time periodically to examine what we do and ensure that it continues to be a best practice and not just something that we do out of habit or something we see others doing. What is right for one library is not right for another, doesn't even work in another. However, when we discuss how programming fits into our mission I think it is essential that we go on to explain why and how. I always wonder to if when we are discussing library missions if we mean a specific library mission or the general mission of a library as an information resource for a community. That is another one of those nebulous terms. I think that librarianship has an overall general mission, but of course each community library also has its own specific mission statement (well, they should).

I received some personal email comments that indicated that administrators had unreasonable expectations of programming and wanted to run the library like a business. I think that our communities and our administrators should in fact demand that we be able to articulate why we are doing what we are doing and be able to make a strong defense of our programming choices in terms of value to the individual, value to the community, and even being able to make a cost/benefit evaluation. For example, you may be able to do a sleepover for 8 hours and reach 20 teens at a cost of over $500 including staff time and supplies; but it may be a better decision to have a one hour gaming program that reaches a broader audience with a lower per person and overall cost. This seems especially true to me in these times with staff, funding and time shortages. These are reasonable decision making discussions.

I think our choices need to send the best message, reach the broadest audience, and prove the best use of time and resource management and I don't know that library sleep-overs always do that or are always the best choice to accomplish this. That is not the same thing as saying that they never do that.

And finally it occurred to me that from a marketing point of view, it could be argued that the library sleepover could be considered a "bait and switch" marketing trap - especially to new library users. If you were a teen whose first library experience was a sleepover that you saw advertised, you would in fact be hugely surprised the next time you came into the library during regular operating hours. The experience would not meet your expectations. In addition, the library's expectations of that teen would be entirely different in terms of how said teen was expected to behave and navigate the library space. In this instance, the overall mission and role of the library in the community is not being expressed and the message is muddled, confusing. Hanging out all night with your favorite cool teen librarian who values teens is an entirely different experience than walking in on a Monday night at 8 pm and coming across the library staff that hates teens - which is sadly an all too common experience in some libraries according to the e-mail I get.

Yes, it is true that we do library programming. We do things like Live Angry Birds (which ties in to technology and popular culture), Craft programs (direct collection tie-ins) and Karoake sing alongs (again, collection tie-ins). In fact, I am a huge proponent of the "coffeehouse" programming concept (see Don't Underestimate the Value of Hanging Out). These types of programs occur in the library during opening hours in spaces designated for these purposes; they are in fact a normal part of the regular operations of a library and are open to all groups of all ages. Well, I hope your library is doing programming for all age groups.

But whatever your view on library sleep-overs may be, it is always good to dialogue with other librarians and take a second to make sure that what we are doing still works. So if you read through all of this and determine that library sleepovers are right for you, then I have accomplished my goals with this post.

Autism and Libraries: A q&a and book giveaway

2012-03-05T06:38:00.002-08:00

If I were to tell you this statistic - it affects 1 out of every 110 children - would you know what I am talking about? The answer is autism. Current research indicates that 1 out of every 110 children is being diagnosed as being somewhere on the autism spectrum. If you are a boy, that statistic is even higher: 1 out of 60. As these children grow up and enter into middle school and high school, their needs, like all teenagers, can be much more complex and aggravated by hormones. The middle and high school years are very social times and marked by extreme peer pressure, which is a challenge for teens on the spectrum. Thankfully, there are a lot of books out there on the market to help teens, educators and their families navigate the challenge of being a teen on the spectrum. Keep reading for your chance to win 3 autism titles to add to your library collection.

One such book is The Aspie Teen's Survival Guide by J. D. Kraus (published by Future Horizons). Jeff Kraus knows what it is like to be a teen with Asperger's Syndrome because he was one. Now an adult, Jeff took the time to write this book and share his knowledge and experience to help other teens with Asperger's. The Survival Guide starts with a basic definition of Asperger's and then goes on to address specific issues such as heightened senses, stress, driving, bullying, socializing and dating. I appreciated Kraus sharing his difficulties in communication and the story examples he gives that highlight the lack of affect that is often associated with the spectrum; it helps builds understanding.

I recently had the opportunity to have a Q&A with author J. D. Kraus and ask him some questions that could help those of us working in libraries better understand how we can reach out to and meet the needs of teens on the autism spectrum. Mr. Kraus was kind and gracious, but he was also quite literal which is a trait common to those with Asperger's. I appreciated his insight and valued the opportunity to pick his brains. In the end, Mr. Kraus spoke more to the school experience, but the information translates to the public library experience as well.

Libraries typically do various programs to get teens into the library. They can be gathering together to play video games, crafts, etc. Their goal is to bring groups of teens together in social environments. What would this programming need to look like?

To answer your question, I think it's a great idea for libraries to put together video games and craft oriented activities in a school environment to bring students together. This was unavailable at the schools I went to--I was pretty much a loner. You have to be careful on what kind of games you bring to the school environment, for instance, first person shooter games like Halo: Combat Evolved is inappropriate (that's an at home thing). I recommend games that require co-op modes, in which the game requires multiple people to fulfill, such as Guitar Hero or Mario Party. Video games is a great way to bring people together; it brought many of my past friends together. However, video games are two-edged sword. People can very easily get wrapped up in the game and forget the person next to them. I know, b/c when I was younger, I would spend days just gaming. As an adult now, I get bored after an hour. Just keep this mind.

(Editor's note: I think that the above question highlights how every one can have communication issues centered around language. When I initially asked about library programming, Kraus was confused because he thought I was asking about computer programming. I think that many of our patrons are confused because we use industry specific terminology such as programming, circulation, and reference. Those terms means something to librarians, but don't really convey our message to our audience.)

How can we best reach this audience?

It varies per each person. When I was a teen, my parents introduced me to a book called "Freaks, Geeks, and Asperger's Syndrome." I was hooked and read it within 2 weeks. It opened my eyes to my condition and I did not feel like such an oddball per se. What I'm getting at is that you have to alert students about their condition. Before doing this though, I'd advice talking it over with the parents first.

What items do we need to make sure we have in our library collections? In our teen spaces?

I'd recommend finding or organizing a "quiet place" for students who have AS or on the Autistic spectrum. When I was junior high and high school, I always had 3 safe areas to go when I was overwhelmed. These were: the Principal's office, the councilor's office, and the resource room. Knowing that such places were available in the school gave me an opportunity for my mind and stimuli to set at ease. Being AS, my mind can get overwhelmed very quickly, especially in a crowded school hall. Forming a place where just a student can go just for him or her I think is the best way to help out a student on the spectrum. This could be a corner in the library, or a chair assigned to him or her.

How can we best interact with teens on the spectrum at the public service desks?

Be patient and polite. I enjoyed almost all of my teachers in school because of this. A person that is inflexible or even sarcastic has never sit well with me.

(Editor's note: From my understanding, it is a more common characteristic among those on the spectrum to be literal in their communication so they do not respond well to or even understand sarcasm. Although they have never come out and said that he is on the spectrum, many people consider Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory to be an example of someone with Asperger's and if you watch the show you know that he often turns to his friends to find out if someone is being sarcastic before responding. I think one of the areas that we all could benefit from further training and experience is in interacting one on one with our teens who are on the spectrum. We tend to operate from a certain set of expectations and these expectations are quite different from those on the spectrum. Kraus highlights this well in the text of his book: I can't translate body language any better than i can interpret slang. I'm absolutely illiterate when it comes to reading hand and body gestures, eye motions, facial expressions, and postures (p.117).

TLT is committed to raising awareness about the special issues of teens with autism and is very excited to offer this prize package of 3 books to add to your library collection. Each book is designed to help teens on the spectrum better understand themselves and the world in which they live, and to help parents and educators better understand and meet the needs of teens on the spectrum.

The Aspie Teen's Survival Guide by J. D. Kraus (discussed in this post)
How to Teach Life Skills to Kids with Autism or Asperger's by Jennifer McIlwee Myers

Asperger's in Pink: A mother and daughter guidebook for raising (or being!) a girl with Aasperger's by Julie Clark

To enter to win, please leave a comment and "like" this post. To help raise awareness about autism and libraries, please share this post with your friends. If you are a teen or a parent please enter to win so you can donate the books to the school or public library of your choice.

Previous posts on Autism and Libraries:

Teen Issues: Teens and Autism and Future Horizons

Guest Blog Post: On the Spectrum and @ Your Library

Teen Issues: Autism and Libraries

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Today's Tidbits: TTW, the Spark Award, Hunger Games, and National Poetry Month

2012-03-04T05:58:00.000-08:00

Today kicks of Teen Tech Week, so get your tech on! Looking for some last minute ideas?

Try the previous TLT post Teen Tech 12 or check out what Teen Librarian Stacey in Chicago (@BookSavvy on Twitter) did Friday with her teens.

That's right ladies and gentleman, this ultra cool pixalated cat is made from Post It notes. 865 of them to be exact. And it took around 3 hours to complete. I love it. I put my super librarian skills to use and there are whole art galleries online of post it note art. Here is one at Huffington Post, check it out.

Also in TLT news, be sure and check out my letter to Lauren Oliver and see how it led me to create the Spark Awards.

Still planning your Hunger Games release party ideas? There are tons online and you can find some good compilations right here at TLT: Feed Their Need for the Hunger Games part 1 and part 2

Sure TTW is this week, but National Poetry Month is coming and there is still plenty of time to plan. Check out TPIB: Poetically Speaking for some great programming ideas. Also, here is a great poster I put together for you that features teen fiction that is inspired by and references poetry in one way or another:

When planning your NPM activities, be sure and check out Poemcrazy: Freeing your life with words by Susan G. Wooldridge. It has some fun activities and is one of my favorite books about tapping into your poetic self.

Have a great Teen Tech Week everyone, I look forward to the pics. Be sure to leave a comment sharing what you are doing for Teen Tech Week, HG release parties, or National Poetry Month. And don't forget to nominate titles for the Spark Award throughout the year.

The Spark Award

2012-03-02T14:54:00.001-08:00

Some times we are fly by the seat of our pants here at TLT. Today I decided that we should have an award for teen fiction that inspires social change and challenges the status quo. We want to reward well written teen fiction that showcases teen characters rising up to the challenges of life and deciding to be a force for good in their world. We want to reward teen literature that leads teens to question what they have always believed and inspires them to live their lives differently.

Here is what I am currently thinking, may be refined throughout the course of the year:

1.) We'll nominate titles that have a 2012 publication date and go through the end of December.
2.) We'll vote - open to teen readers and their favorite librarians - in the beginning of January 2013.
3). We'll announce our first Spark Award winners around the same time that YALSA announces their yearly awards.

So, leave a comment and let me know what titles you want to nominate for 2012.

Quotable RA: Stop Bullying. Period.

2012-03-02T12:09:00.002-08:00

I am sure I don't need to recount the news of the week, we all know. Another young man entered his school with a gun and shot some of his classmates. Once again we hear cries that bullying has led to violence. Also in the news, Lady Gaga started a foundation and challenged teens everywhere to stand up to bullies. The Born This Way Foundation has a great slogan: Empowering Youth, Inspiring Bravery. Whatever one may think of Lady Gaga, her style or her music, it seems hard to argue with her mission of empowering youth and trying to save lives. She is not alone in her mission, every day there are writers writing stories about bullying to send the message: Bullying must end. Period. It has consequences. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but the childhood rhyme is wrong - names do hurt. Long after bruises fade the pain of bullying lingers.

I like to collect quotes; as I read, I keep a journal by my side where I write down the parts of a book that speak to me. Here I present to you 6 powerful works about bullying by letting the book speak for itself.

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

“...racist thought and action says far more about the person they come from than the person they are directed at.”

“I walk outside and scream at the top of my lungs, and it maybe travels two blocks. A whale unleashes his cry, and it travels hundreds or even thousands of miles. Every whale in the ocean will at one time or another run into that song. And I figure whales probably don't edit. If they think it, they say it...Whale talk is the truth, and in a very short period of time, if you're a whale, you know exactly what it is to be you.”

“Nothing exists without its opposite.”

“...the Magnificent Seven consisted of one swimmer of color, a representative from each extreme of the educational spectrum, a muscle man, a giant, a chameleon, and a one-legged psychopath. When I envision us walking seven abreast through the halls of Cutter High, decked out in the sacred blue and gold, my heart swells.”

The Misfits by James Howe

“Another thing I think about names is that they DO hurt. They hurt because we believe them. We think they are telling us something true about ourselves, something other people can see even if we don't. —Bobby Goodspeed”

“Sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will break our spirit. —Bobby Goodspeed”

“This business of really knowing people, deep down, including your own self, it is not something you can learn in school or from a book. It takes your whole being to do it—your eyes and your ears, your brain and your heart. Maybe your heart most of all. —Bobby Goodspeed”

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

“If your heart tells you something but your mind tells you something else, which do you believe? Both are just as apt to lie. In fact, they play at deceit all the time. Mostly they balance each other, giving us that crucial reality check. But what happens on the rare occasions when they conspire together?”

“What's the point of living if you're going to hate the world? Guard your heart if you have to, but don't shut it away.”

“You think you want to know the secrets of the universe. You think you want to see the way things all fit together. You believe in your heart of hearts that enlightenment will save the world and set you free.
Maybe it will.
But the path to enlightenment is rarely a pleasant one.”

By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters

“No one ever found out what was happening inside me. How the pain was eating me away. No one ever came to my rescue, or stood up for me.”

“I've never been afraid of the dark. I'm more afraid of the day, of people. I love the night. The solitude. Well, I don't love it. I don't feel love. I hate people, so I hope when I get there it isn't crowded. I hope the light is a momentary phenomenon and the other side is completely black. And silent.”

“Everything seems to be working." Except me. I'm broken.”

The Hate List by Jennifer Brown

“Life isn't fair. A fair's a place where you eat corn dogs and ride the ferris wheel.”

“One's my favorite number. The word won being the past tense of win, and we can all say at the end of the day that we won once again, can't we? Some days making it to the end of the day is quite a victory.”

“At Garvin High we were dealt a hard dose of reality this year. People hate. That's our reality. People hate and are hated and carry grudges and want punishments ... I don't know if it's possible to take hate away from people. Not even people like us, who've seen firsthand what hate can do. We're all hurting. We're all going to be hurting for a long time. And we, probably more than anyone else out there, will be searching for a new reality every day. A better one ... But in order to change reality you have to be willing to listen and to learn. And to hear. To actually hear.”

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

“You can't stop the future
You can't rewind the past
The only way to learn the secret
...is to press play.”

“But you can't get away from yourself. You can't decide not to see yourself anymore. You can't decide to turn off the noise in your head.”

“In the end....everything matters.”

“No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people. Oftentimes, we have no clue. Yet we push it just the same.”

Previous Posts: Join the Fight Against Bullying ; A Letter to Teens About Bullying

The Delirium Contest and Experiment

2012-03-01T08:46:00.000-08:00

If you read my letter to Lauren Oliver that I posted yesterday, you know that I love this series and believe it has important implications for the times we live in. Many times librarians contact me and ask advice about starting a teen book club. My number 1 recommendation: find the right book. I believe this is the right book. And it is definitely the right time.

So, I am going to encourage everyone to read and discuss this great series with a book giveaway. I will donate a copy of Delirium and Pandemonium to two libraries and all you have to do is . . .

1) Sign up to be entered to win by agreeing to have a book discussion of these two titles. Just leave a comment saying that you will and

2) Agree to submit The 2012 Project pictures of your book discussion and a guest blog post about how the discussion went including questions you asked, how the teens responded, etc.

There are several sites with Delirium book discussion questions already put together for you to make it easier:
Oliver Books (the official page)
AUSA Book Club

So, if you are interested, leave a comment by March 7th. Remember, you need to agree to have a book discussion group/club around this title and share pics and a blog post about your experience - let's say by the end of May, the school year (although it would be a great activity to have for Banned Books Week).

The Countdown is On: Feed their hunger for The Hunger Games, more resources

2012-03-01T06:12:00.001-08:00

The countdown is on, the Hunger Games movie will be out on March 23rd and I know that many teens and their favorite librarians are waiting anxiously for the day to arrive. One of the most visited posts at this site is a previous program outline I shared with some hands on activities to do with teens around the Hunger Games series. Today I am sharing with you some more resources that I have found.

You'll want to keep your eye on the Entertainment Weekly site as they have a feature called Hunger Games central. Here they post frequent updates, movies, articles and more that are easy to click and share with your teens via your social media site. Many magazines are hitting the stands right now with special HG editions of their magazines full of posters, trivia and more - these are great resources to get information together, decorate your teen area, and get some good trivia questions for your book discussion groups or programs.
There is a fansite called Down with the Capitol full of information, including fan submitted crafts projects. They are uploaded and indexed by "districts". For example, district 1 is jewelry, district 2 is needlework, and district 3 is interior design.

Make bow and arrows with Almost Unschoolers

Almost Unschoolers has some very detailed instructions for making bow and arrow sets out of Popsicle sticks and q-tips.

You can find a wealth of ideas at the Texas Teen Reads 2012 Pinterest board, be sure to check it out.

At Minds in Bloom there is a fun Hunger Games inspired "Would You Rather?" game written out for you (free). If you follow the link there is also a Panem to Panem game inspired by Apples to Apples that you can purchase for a small fee.

The Hunger Games Lessons site is an amazing site full of - well, Hunger Games lessons.

The Amity Middle School did a Hunger Games activity that involved the Cornucopia and outlined it on their blog. If you follow the link they also have trivia questions with the answers already written out of your.

I have searched extensively and haven't found a lot of Hunger Games crafts out there that would be easy to do in a library program. However, if you buy multiple copies of the HG magazines out there you can use them to create marble magnets, bottle cap crafts, dog tag necklaces, pins, and more.

You could also have teens bring t-shirts and provide a wide variety of materials for them to make HG t-shirts and have a fashion show. Also, you can buy canvas book bags and have them decorate them with HG themes. Making a HG bleach pen t-shirt would be a great craft activity to do with the teens.

And of course you can provide materials for teens to make their own Mockingjay pin. This would be a great way to use the bottle caps. Simply create your Mockingjay, glue it into the bottlecap, and fill with epoxy. Use a strong glue to affix a pin on the back and voila - you have a Mockingjay pin.

If you have other great ideas that you have found or are doing with your teens this month for a Hunger Games release party, please share them in the comments.

A letter to Lauren Oliver, Pandemonium (a Book Review)

2012-02-29T06:17:00.004-08:00

Dear Lauren Oliver,

I stayed up all night last night reading Pandemonium; I laid in bed and read every glorious word and thought about what it meant to be free, to make your own choices about how to think and what to feel and who to love. I read with anticipation as Lena talked about growing and changing and running and what it meant to be a zombie. I read and I thought, I wish that every teen and their parents would read this book - this series - and think about what it meant to be a thoughtful person who chose love. Not just the love between a man and a woman, but the love of family, friends, those people that you choose to draw into you and share your sacred self with.

Today more than ever dystopian fiction reigns and I think it is because you can hear the drum beat of fear and oppression beating through our land. Beat beat beat, the end is coming its cadence seems to say. Beat beat beat, we are full of fear. Beat beat beat, the economy is

collapsing. Beat beat beat, we are at war and considering more war. I think often of what it must be like growing up as a teen with that constant drum beat as the soundtrack of your life. What is the price of war? What sacrifices does it demand of us? Can you become the very enemy you are trying to bring down? These are all important questions asked by Lena in Pandemonium, questions that we should be asking of ourselves.
Two days ago a young man walked into a high school in Ohio with a gun and killed some of his class mates. The press keeps asking why and the answers are the same as they were the last time it happened: too many guns, too much anger, too much bullying, too much selfishness, too much mental illness. I don't know the answer, but often when I read books I think about how they have the power to move us and remind us that we are just one part of a bigger story. I think that when we remember this, when we allow ourselves to open up and truly grasp the bigness of the world around us, we develop compassion for one another. We are all struggling to find ourselves. We are all struggling to find a place of peace and comfort and joy. We all want to know that for a moment, we matter somewhere to someone. If we took away our capacity to feel love, would that be the answer? Is it a sickness?

No, love is the answer. To love one another. To care. To look at your fellow human beings and say they are just like me, different in the details but the same at the core. I love how through the two novels Lena slowly realizes this truth and allows herself to be responsible for it.

Some girls are out there swooning and thinking that they want to be Bella. Others are out there thinking to themselves that they want to be Katniss. But it is Lena that I hope young girls everyone would admire the most; Lena whose journey rings most true. Lena who takes the most daring and honest journey. Each time she gets new information, she allows herself to shift her being accordingly. She makes active decisions and takes responsibility for who she becomes and who she chooses to be. She chooses to love, knowing that it is true that love often comes with a cost: "I feel a sharp stab of sadness. I have had to give up so much, so many selves and lives already. I have grown up and out of the rubble of my old lives, of the things and people I have cared for . . . " (Lauren Oliver, Pandemonium).

You write beautifully, the way you can turn a phrase is a beauty unto itself. When Lena stands in the wilds talking about freedom, you understand in your core what freedom truly means. When Lena plunges into the icy water and it rips through the very core of her, you feel an icy dagger stab for a moment at your skin. And when Lena runs, you feel the desperation of what she is running from and sense that perhaps Alex is standing in the corner of your room and you see flashes of him hiding in the shadows. The words come dripping off the page with life and meaning.

What does it mean to be free? I think that is a question we have been asking ourselves as a nation for the last 10+ years? What are you willing to sacrifice for your freedom? But in making those sacrifices, are we truly free? Just as choosing to love means choosing to sometimes have pain, choosing freedom means that we must also choose to suffer the consequences of the choices of others. As much as we may want, there is no cure from our humanity. We will never be free of mistakes or wrong choices. We can never put enough rules into place or tame the human spirit enough and dull the senses to the point where we can not think or feel. And I hope we never get to the place where we want to. There is no cure for the human condition, we must just keep working together to find a way to embrace it and live it fully. We must embrace one another.

I think that every teen and adult should be reading Delirium and Pandemonium and talking about them. I think that we should all take heed of the warning drum beats and make a decision that we will embrace our humanity and learn to live in peace with it, and one another. Great literature does more than entertain, it inspires and challenges and reminds. This is great literature. I have been inspired, I have been challenged, and I have been reminded . . . thank you.

You have done your job well, I have been moved and I will stand on the roof top and say please, please read this book and let it remind you to treasure your freedom to choose who you are and what you think and feel and who you love more than all.
Sincerely,
Karen

Pandemonium is the sequel to Delirium and is the story of a society in which teens are forced to undergo an operational procedure that alters how they feel. Love is considered a disease, the disease that has brought down mankind and destroyed the past. In this future, society is controlled and devoid of emotion. Perfection of thought and feeling is the goal. And then there is Lena, who meets and falls in love with Alex. There are rumors of a resistance, of people living in "the wilds" who have forsaken the cure. They are called invalids. Delirium and Pandemonium tell the story of Lena and how her eyes slowly open to the truth and realizes that the bill of goods that she has always been sold may be all lies. It is the truly moving story of a girl deciding who she is and what she is going to be, as all teens must. It is well written, belieavable, and thoughtful. If you haven't read it, you should. 5 out of 5 stars
Lauren Oliver talks about Pandemonium at Harper Teen

Book Review: 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

2012-02-28T07:27:00.000-08:00

"It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. But three ordinary teenagers are about to change that - and their lives - forever." (Back cover blurb)

A secret meeting is held and it is determined that in order to help generate new interest in the space program there will be another trip to the moon and this time, 3 teenagers will have the chance to participate. But in this meeting it is also clear that something horrific happened in a previous moon trip. A secret station exists on the moon that has never been used, and there are good reasons why. There are concerns, but those concerns are pushed aside and the plan goes forward.

First lines: "Gentleman, it's time," . . .

It would be the opportunity of a life time: the chance to travel to the moon. Millions will enter, but only three are selected. Meet Mia, Midori and Antoine. Mia is in a punk rock band and a trip to the moon just may take her band to the next level, if she makes it back alive. Midori is a teenager living in Japan and she wants out, desperately. Well, you can't get farther away from home than the moon. And Antoine has a broken heart and wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible. Again, the moon = pretty far away.

But in a nursing home somewhere a man sits trying to remember why this trip is a bad idea. He wants to warn them not to go, but he can't remember why. And he can't speak so the words don't come. As each teen prepares for their journey, they too have portents of bad things to come, if they only knew how to see the signs.

When the group finally lands on the moon, the tension really starts to build. There are broken hatches. Power failures. And that slowly creeping feeling that they may not be alone. Will they be able to find a way back home? And if they do, what will they be bringing back with them?

172 Hours on the Moon is a classic sci fi story with a Japanese horror movie twist. The tension is at its peak when the teens are on the moon, though it takes a little while to get to that point in the story. It has an interesting twist that some readers will like and others won't know what to do with. In many ways 172 hours reads like an outer space version of The Ring or The Grudge, it has that slow build of tension with the little tidbits of terror dropped in to keep you invested. Then they land on the moon and all proverbial hell breaks loose and the terror really amps up. The question of what exactly is happening was not at all what I was expecting, and days later I am still not sure how I feel about it. Although I am not sure how I feel about where the story went, I enjoyed the journey as many teen readers will. At some point in our lives many of us dream of being astronauts and going to space and this is like a fantasy come true; well, more like a nightmare as it turns out.

This book was originally written in Norwegian and is translated into English and I wonder if that accounts for some of the - lack - that takes places in the first half of the book. There is just something missing in the first part, an excitement and tension that should be present. I have very mixed feelings about this book and reading through the Goodreads reviews I find that I am not alone. In the end I give it 3 out of 5 stars, although it certainly fills a collection need for those looking for more traditional science fiction that actually takes place in space.

2012-02-28T06:13:00.000-08:00

Pop Quiz: What fairly young social media site has gained over 10 million users in less than 2 years and generates more actual purchases and traffic than any other social media sites out there?

Answer: Pinterest

Pinterest is a social networking site that allows its users to "pin" their favorite websites, pictures, information and more onto pin boards and create a virtual bulletin board. It strength is how visually appealling it is, plus it is easy to use and invites a sharing of ideas. Many people use Pinterest to store recipes (food porn it is often called), hair styles, "thinspiration" (they store photos and quotes to help them on their weight loss journey), craft ideas, organization ideas, and more. How you use Pinterest is completely up to you. Pinterest would be a great tool for creating and sharing booklists with teens with enhanced information including websites on particular topics or crafts to go along with the board topic. For example, you could create a board for Steampunk and pin pictures of books, websites on the topic and links to craft projects. You could do the same for paranormal

romance, science fiction, etc. Be careful when using Pinterest, it is addictive and can be a major time suck. At the end of the day you end up with a variety of personalized boards that look like this:

Like many out there, TLT is on and enjoying Pinterest. I love the visual aspect of it. I have been workign on using it to help basically create a visual index for the TLT blog. And for uploading and arranging some of the visual elements that are on the TLT Facebook page.

Here are some of the ways that TLT is using Pinterest . . .

The 2012 Project: As you know, we are on a mission to collect 2,012 pictures of teens using their libraries in 2012. Pinterest works great for this project given its visual nature. Some information is already up on the project pin board. If you want to share pictures as part of #the2012project let me know and I will make you a collaborator and you can upload your pictures directly to the board.

Craft Ideas: Sarah Dessen recently tweeted that one of the best uses for Pinterest is food porn. Us librarians would argue it is also great for craft porn. Here you can pin all those craft ideas that you may one day want to use with your tweens and teens. In addition to the TLT Craft Ideas page there is a great Teen Programming in Libraries collaborative board started by Heather Booth. Right now 178 teen librarians are collaborating and sharing craft ideas and it is pretty awesome. In fact, it is awesomesauce (that's my new favorite phrase). There are 1,246 items pinned in this board so if it is easier for you to manage, you can create your own board and repin those items that are of particular interest to you and create a smaller more personalized board.

Autism and Libraries: If you read the TLT blog (which, since you are reading this I am going to assume that you do), you know that I have a particular passion for discussing how we can better serve teens with autism in the library. I don't have great answers or a multitude of success stories in my pocket, I just think it is a discussion that we need to be having. So I created an Autism and Libraries board to share articles, books that you may want for your collection, and great resources to help facilitate that discussion.

I also have created boards for some of my favorite authors and publishers, blogs, library stuff in general and more. You can check them all out here. I have some great ideas that I am going to take to my branch manager about how the library can use Pinterest to do things like share storytime books and crafts, teen programming pics and staff picks. I think that Pinterest is a tool that can have tremendous positive impact for our libraries. In addition, if you already have a library social media site such as Twitter or Facebook you can link your Pinterest pins to those accounts so that your information shares across platforms making it easy to update all your social media tools with one fell swoop.

Some things you can do with your Pinterest boards:

Create booklists around themes and include enhanced content like craft projects and support sites.
Share pictures of past programs.
If you have a particular program, you can upload pictures plus craft resources and support sites on that particular topic.
If you are having an author visit, share a variety of resources about that author including past interviews, books, and more.
Have teens create and share library memes, posters, and more formally or informally. Teens are always doodling so let them know you have a space they can share their artwork.
Share new book releases
Have a board for booktrailers so teens know where to find them

Lots of publishers, websites and libraries are using Pinterest and there is some good information out there on the topic:
Library Journal: Use Pinterest to Promote Your Programs and Services
iLibrarian: 5 Ways to Use Pinterest in Your Library
Snap Retail: Why You Should be Using Pinterest

How are you using Pinterest? Please share your thoughts and ideas with us in the comments!

ALA Midwinter: The ARCs (May 2012)

2012-02-27T06:52:00.000-08:00

Today we take a look at some of the ARCs handed out at ALA for books that have a May 2012 publication date. As noted previously, these are not reviews (unless otherwise stated), but a sneak peek at just some of the titles coming your way in May. I can say that two of the books have been read and are recommended, so read on to find out more.

A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle

Back cover blurb: "A reminder that Doyle is one of the best writers of dialogue there has ever been. A Greyhound of a Girl has all that Barrytown strut and swagger. No, not swagger - sway. It dances. It dances on the grave." - Frank Cottrell Boyce, author of Millions
First lines: She hated the hospital. She hated walking through it. She hated everything about it. Exept for one thing. Her granny. She hated the hospital, but she loved her granny.

Roddy Doyle is a Booker Prize winner and known for his books for adults. Here, Doyle tells the story of four generations of women in an Irish family. On the way home from school on afternoon, Mary meets the ghost of her great grandmother who enlists her help to deliver an important message. What ensues is a "glriously eccentric road trip to the past. Four women traveling on a midnight car journey: one of the deam, one of them dying, one of them driving, and one of them just starting out" (from the back cover. Road trips are always fun, especially when a ghost is involved, and this is a read that skews to the younger end of YA (it is listed as ages 9 and up).

The Shadow Collector's Apprentice by Amy Gordon

Back cover blurb: Would you let someone collect your shadow?
First lines: For the hundredth time, I'm wondering why Jack ran off.

Amy Gordon has appeared on the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List for her book The Gorillas of Gill Park. Apprentice is historical fiction that takes place in 1963. In the town of Medley peculiar things are happening: Cully's father has disappeared and people aren't quite acting like themselves. the owner of the Batty's Attic antique shop has a bizarre hobby, he collects people shadows. He says it is safe, but what if it is not? The cover and description sound sufficiently creepy to get young teens/middle grade readers intersted.

First Comes Love by Katie Kacvinsky

Back cover blurb: Like his name, Gray is dark and stormy. Dylan is the exact opposite - full of light and life. It's definitely not love at first sight for these two. But slwoly, fascination turns to admiration, which turns to caring, until finally these lone souls find love. But staying in love is not as easy as falling if love. If Dylan and Gray want their love to last, they're going to have to learn that sometimes love means having to say you're sorry.
First lines: (Gray) Out of the corner of my eye, I'm watching a girl.

I flipped through and browsed parts of this title and it seems like a well written, slow simmering love story. The parts I read, I liked. And I liked the characters, too. This will probably be a hit for teens looking for a contemporary romance. Ages 14 and up.

The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

Back cover blurb: This dark and thrilling adventure, with an unforgettable heroin, will aptivate fans of steampunk and fantasy.
First lines: "There's no mistaking what your father was, not when you've got feet and hands like those."

When Lena Mattacascar turn 18, she leaves the comfort of her home to find the northern wilderness knows as Secree, and hopefully her father. Secree is an "untamed and mysterious regions, said to be inhabited by Peculiars - people who unsual physical characteristics make them unacceptable to moder society." Lena can't help but wonder, was her father a Peculiar? Is she? On her journey Lena meets a wider variety of characters whose motives are uncertain, but if she is going to find her father she is going to have to confront her darkest fears. My co-worker borrowed this ARC and read it and she liked it a lot and recommends it. It sounds like it would be a good pairing with Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.

All the Right Stuff by Walter Dean Myers

Back cover blurb: Who's on top of the social food chain? How do you get ahead? Who makes the rules? Who needs to follow them?
First lines: "Police!"
I cursed under my breath and felt around in the darkness for my table lamp, found it, and check the small travel clock on the end table. Three o'clock. Nothing good ever happens at three o'clock in the friggin' morning.

When looking for gritty, urban reads for teen males, Walter Dean Myers can usually be counted on to deliver the goods. For 2012 he was named the Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Paul is working in a soup kitchen the summer his father is killed. Here he spends time with a soup man named Elijah who spends a lot of time talking about "the social contract". "Philosophy, conspiracy theories, and the culture of Harlem come together in one of Walter Dean Myer's most thought-provoking nvoels to date." This title has a discussion guide and teacher and library blog feature at www.thepageturner.com.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Back cover blurb: October 11, 1943. A British spy plan crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lot the game before it has barely begun.
First lines: I am a coward. I wanted to be heroic and I pretended I was. I have always been good at pretending.

"Verity" is captured by the Gestapo and living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogator gives her a choice: reveal her mission or face the firing squad. Laurie Halse Anderson says "This astonishing tale of friendship and truth will take wing and soar into your heart." Again, I read snippets of this book and it is a thrilling tale that should fly off of the shelves.

The Downside of Being Charlie by Jenny Torres Sanchez

Back cover blurb: How do you rise above when you've always been left behind?
First lines: I don't know how you can see things before it's actually there, but you can.

The Downside of Being Charlie is a touching contemporary tale that I highly recommend for older teens and you can read my full review here.

Wuftoom by Mary G. Thompson

Back cover blurb: A mesmerizing tale of transformation

Everyone thinks Evan is sick . . . Everyone thinks science will find a cure. but Evan knows he is not sick, he is transforming. Evan's metamorphosis has him confied to his bed, constantly terrified, and completely alone. Alone, except for his visits from the Wuftoom, a wormlike creature that tells him he is becoming one of them.
First lines: Evan sat on his bed with his back against the pillow. The light was so low that the room was bathed in shadows. They fell from the cutter, making dark shapes on the worn hardwood floor. But Evan was so used to the darkness that he saw the shapes making the shadows, even the pain peeling off the once-white walls.

This book has a stunning cover and an interesting premise based on the back cover pitch, but I can't even begin to say anything about it without reading it.

Sway by Amber McRee Turner

Back cover blurb: Sway (noun) 1: The action of swining back and forth; a sweeping motion
2: Power; influence. With a little sway, everything might change.
First lines: Being awake all night long is not such a good thing when it comes from eating spoiled mayonnaise or hearing raccoons fight over garbage outside your window.

Cass and her dad set off on the road in an RV named The Roast looking to stir up a little home spun magic, the amazing power of "Sway". On their mysterious summer adventure there is one person in particular Cass would like to share this magic with, her mom. This is technically middle grade fiction, but everyone can use a little Sway in their lives . . .

Flora's Fury: How a girl of spirit and a read dog confounded their friends, astounded their enemies, and learned the importance of packing light by Ysabeau S. Wilce

Back cover blurb: The anticipated final book in the trilogy hailes as "Weird in the best possible way" by Salon.com
First lines: Dear ~~Mamma Butcher Brakespeare Azota~~ Tiny Doom: Everyone thinks the Birdies killed you, sacrificed you to one of their gods, whose priests ate your body while he ate your soul.

This is the final book in the stunning Flora Segunda trilogy, and I think that is all I should have to say about the matter. But in case you need a little more, Diana Wynne Hibes calls the adventures of Flora "highly original, strange and amusing." Still need more? Wilce has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award and won the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science fiction and Fantasy. You'll want to read the first two books, Flora's Dare and Flora Segunda, first.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of these May releases.

Ways to Participate in #the2012project, the February 25th update

2012-02-25T06:15:00.003-08:00

Now more than ever, advocacy matters. I am an advocate for libraries. And for teens. And for reading. I believe that amazing things happen in the lives of teens when they use their libraries: they learn, they grow, they are empowered. This is especially true in communities that support their libraries and their schools. The best communities are those that value their teens and their libraries. When these two elements come together you have communities where education works and teens experience a sense of value and hope that lead them to follow more positive paths (please see the 40 Developmental Assets). And yet we are here facing a crisis in our libraries, a crisis of funding and a crisis of support - which is why now more than ever we must be advocates. We must rise up to the challenge and show our communities that libraries have value and still matter. Thus, The 2012 Project.

The 2012 Project (also #the2012project on Twitter) is an attempt to collect 2,012 pictures of teens reading and using their libraries in order to make a visual statement: Teen use (and love) their libraries. Here I present you with 10 fun, creative ways to get your teens involved in the project - and have some fun programming.

1. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

If you have read Miss Peregrine's Home, then you know that the story centers around a group of mysterious black and white photographs. I spend a lot of time photographing my littles and once (no seriously, it has only happened once) accidentally took a photo that was completely framed and lighted just wrong and it came out looking quite peculiar. This led me to develop a whole program and book discussion around this book, which I love by the way and recommend.

2. March is National Craft Month

Have a craft program in March and submit pics of your teens being crafty. The pictures can even be a part of the craft as you can decorate picture frames or do some program using apps or digital photography. You can use pictures to make posters, bookmarks and more to decorate your teen space. Or make crafts that your teens can take home. Visit the TPIB TOC for a wide variety of photograph themed crafts that you can make. Also be sure and check out the TLToolbox and Teen Programming in Libraries Pinterest boards.

3. April is National Poetry Month: Book spine poetry

Book spine poetry is where you make a poem using the spines of books (see below). You can have teens create their own book spine poetry and take pictures of them holding their poems to submit.

4. Discover The Downside of Being Charlie by Jenny Torres Sanchez

Debut YA author Jenny Torres Sanchez has written a moving book about a young man named Charlie whose life is spiralling out of control; he uses photography to help tell his story. Jenny has graciously agreed to support #the2012project by offering a generous prize donation of a Book Club Kit. The school or public library that submits the most pictures for #the2012project during the month of April will be selected to win this kit which will include 20 copies of The Downside of Being Charlies, a Skype author visit with Jenny Torres Sanchez and some other swag.

5. Summer Reading Clubs

You know you're going to be doing a summer reading club of some type, so be sure to take plenty of pictures to submit. The greater variety we have the more clear our message is.

6. Banned Books Week

In September of every year libraries celebrate and promote Banned Books Week. Put up a BBW display and take pictures of your teens reading Banned Books. Intellectual Freedom is an important part of library services, as is the idea that we let individuals decide for themselves what reading material is best for them. How great would it be to have pics of teens with the statement "I read banned books"?

7. Memes

The Somerset Public Library group made signs with their self created memes. I love these, what a great idea. For those of you concerned about privacy issues, this is a great way to get your teens involved (although please note, no names are ever used to protect teen privacy).

8. Zombie Teens

Without a doubt, zombies are very popular right now in pop culture and teen fiction. If you are having a zombie related event, be sure to take a picture (or lots of them) and submit them in October. Author Jonathan Maberry has graciously agreed to offer a signed copy of Rot & Ruin (and amazing zombie series that you should definitely read) for zombie themed pics in the month of October, just in time for Halloween.

9. Photobooth Me

Want to make some fun strips that look like a photobooth strip? It's easy if you have an iPhone, there's an app for that. If you don't have an iPhone, you can still create photo booth strips with a little bit of lay out and design. But you can take some fun photobooth strips of teens in your library. Fun for you and create a powerful visual that shows your library is the place to be. Be sure to check out the previous article on iPhone apps for more ways you can creatively use your iPhone to take great #the20120project pics.

10. Get Caught Using the Library

Don't forget to just randomly catch your teens using the library. I have asked many a teen just casually in the library if they would mind my taking their picture and using it for #the2012 project and all but one have said yes. The reason: teens really do use (and love) their libraries. And I think it is important that we show teens engaged - on their own - in the daily use of the library and its resources. Take pictures of teens reading, using the computers, browsing the stacks, doing homework and more. This is what the daily business of the library is. This is what we want our communities to understand: yes, we offer amazing programming (and we do), but teens use our libraries every day to be successful in school, to read on their own, to get online because despite what everyone thinks not all teens have computer access and smart phones. Teens need their libraries. They use them.

Why Participate?

Imagine what an impact it would make to be able to show your staff, your administrators, your community and yes, even your teens, a photo album of 2,012 pictures of teens using their libraries across the nation. We live in a visual world and we need to make a strong visual statement. We need our communities to know that teens are using their libraries. And we want to let our patrons now that we are working hard to engage our teens and provide quality materials, services and programs that matter.

To date, we have 300 #the2012project pictures. You can see them all at the locations listed below.

The 2012 Project photo album 1
The 2012 Project photo album 2
The Lima Public Library 2012 Project photo album

You can email your pictures to me at kjensenmls@yahoo.com, you can upload them yourself to the TLT FB wall, or you can share them via Twitter @tlt16, #the2012project.

Q&A with Daisy Whitney

2012-02-24T06:44:00.000-08:00

"Three things I know this second: I have morning breath, I'm naked, and I'm waking up next to a boy I don't know." - Daisy Whitney, The Mockingbirds

Alex's first time wasn't what she expected at all. In fact, she can't really remember it and she is pretty sure that she didn't want it. As the pieces begin to come together she realizes that she was date raped. Alex decides that she is going to tell no one, but she does have one option . . . The Mockingbirds. At Themis Academy, a boarding school, there is a secret group that upholds its own form of law among the students. The Mockingbirds are the law. When they give a judgment, and pass down a punishment, all the students know they must obey.

The Mockingbirds is a gem of a novel that I had the pleasure of reading when it first came out. It is a heart wrenching tale of a young lady trying to deal and heal with the fact that she was date raped. It is also a compelling tale of life at a boarding school with a secret society of students that enforces its own code of laws. The sequel to the Mockingbirds, The Rivals, has just been released and I had the pleasure for doing a Q&A with author Daisy Whitney to share here with you at TLT.

Q: Why did you choose to have your series setting in a boarding school? How did you go about developing the world of your school?
I went to a public high school in Miami that has its vending machines locked up behind grates so I was always very drawn to boarding school settings because they're so different from my school background. I also knew a lot of students in college who had gone to boarding school
AND there is such a rich tradition of boarding schools in literature, so The Mockingbirds was a great vehicle for me to explore this world. As for research, I spent a lot of time studying the elite boarding
schools in this country to get the feel right.

Q: What do you hope teen readers take from the character of Alex and her experiences as a victim of date rape?
I truly believe every reader takes away something different. For some, it may be that taking a stand is cool. For others, it may be that they can turn to their friends for support. Still others, might see that
it's possible to heal after bad things happen.

Q: Where did you get the idea of having a secret student group that takes on the idea of justice come from? Is that something you have heard back from readers exist in boarding schools around the country?
Good question! I haven't heard of any groups like The Mockingbirds. I devised the idea because I very much wanted the book to be a law & order and a trial type of story -- sort of Law & Order meets Dead
Poets Society. Once I knew there was going to be a trial, I needed to take it underground to be authentic, and the Mockingbirds were born from that need.

Q: How did To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee influence you personally? How did it influence The Mockingbirds?
To Kill a Mockingbird is a great work of literature but also the canonical story of justice and doing the right thing, especially when it's hard. It was a natural fit!

Q: In the end of The Mockingbirds Alex is given the opportunity to be a part of The Mockingbirds, how does this influence the story line in The Rivals?
Alex must move on in the second book from victim/survivor to leader and enforcer and deal with the challenges of her new role.

Q: Do you think The Mockingbirds have a correct notion of the idea of justice? Do you see it evolving as the series evolves?
I believe the Mockingbirds, as a group, are doing the best they can. I believe they are idealists and they want to do the right thing. It's not easy though to do the right thing with a student-run justice group
and the Rivals digs into the challenges even more.

Q: The Rivals touches on the topics of cheating and prescription drug use, what other topics do you think the Mockingbirds could foreseeably take on? Is it your goal to have the series continue?
I'm happy with a two-book series, though I could see this group taking on any number of cases from hate speech to bullying to theft to more.

Q: When did you know that you wanted to write? What steps did you take to fulfill that dream?
I've been making a living as a journalist for my entire career so writing was always part of my daily routine as an adult. For the longest time I thought I would be quite content to write non-fiction
news articles, but alas, I was bitten by the fiction bug as so many journalists are and started writing novels! My first three novels are unpubbed, but I kept writing and kept at it every day until I broke
through. As for steps -- it's simple - sit down, open computer, bleed words.

Q: Why did you choose to write YA literature?
The teen years are full of firsts -- first kiss, first dance, first love, first heartache. There is a tremendous intensity to being a teen and that's great fodder to tap into as a writer.

Q: What 3 words would you use to describe your series?
Intrigue, justice, power

Q: What are you currently reading?
Paris, My Sweet! (A memoir of living in Paris)

Let me say this, if you have not read The Mockingbirds - you should. It is a remarkable tale about healing while also being a thrilling tale about justice and power. Alex is a moving character. It is also an important tale as it empowers survivors and provides great material for group discussions. This is a great contemporary novel that stays with you long after you have turned the last page. That's why today is your lucky day! Leave a comment to this post and you will be entered to win a copy of The Mockingbirds, the first book in the series - you have to start from the beginning. Tell us what you thought of the book if you've already read it, or tell us what you thought of To Kill a Mockingbirds by Harper Lee (if you haven't read that, well - you really should). Or just drop us a line to say hi and enter. The contest will be open to comments all next week.

And special thanks to Daisy Whitney for writing this great novel and taking the time to share it with us today.

"Don't wake up. Don't wake up. Don't wake up." - Daisy Whitney, The Mockingbirds

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book review: Starters by Lissa Price

2012-02-23T06:23:00.001-08:00

What are you willing to do to save the ones you love?

As a reader, as a human being, it is hard to think of someone coming up with a concept more horrific then sending teens into an arena to fight to their death (think The Hunger Games), and yet Lissa Price has managed to do just that with her novel Starters. Starters has been getting a lot of pre-pub buzz and it turns out is for a good reason: Starters is a thoughtful, thrilling, well-written book that answers the questions "what do I read after The Hunger Games?" This.

First lines: Enders gave me the creeps.

A massive war has ravaged the nation and there are only two kinds of people that remain, the young - Starters - and the very old - Enders. These two groups of people were lucky enough to get a vaccine before deadly chemical weapons were used to annihilate a large portion of the population in the Spore Wars. Unclaimed minors, those with no living adults to care for them, have no legal rights, can not
work, and are forced to squat and steal to survive or they are placed in institutions that make little orphan Annie's orphanage look quite posh.

Callie is a starter and the only two people she has left are her younger, and quite ill, brother Tyler and a friend named Michael. Callie has heard that there is a program where the Enders rent the bodies of the Starters. For a large sum of money she could let someone use her body, right? This would give them the money they need to find a home, eat for a year, and get medicine for Tyler. But nothing is ever what it seems and it is a good idea to never let nefarious organizations put microchips in your brain. In fact, as a general rule, it is a good idea to basically never let anyone mess with your brain.

It seems simple enough, a chip is placed in your brain allowing the Ender to take over your brain function while their body sleeps in a warehouse. You have to rent your body 3 times and then your contract is done, if you can believe the contract. "It's as easy as going to sleep."

But something has gone horribly wrong with Callie's chip. Her renter has had it altered so that she can achieve her own personal goals, which include murder and a plan to reveal Prime Destinations real plans. As Callie passes in and out of consciousness into her own body, she has moments where she awakens in a room holding a gun and realizes that all is not what it seems and her body is in grave danger. But she is in more danger than she realizes; in fact, all starters are.

This is a world where people are never whom they seem and in any moment you can be betrayed, because the person you met yesterday can now be inhabited by the mind of another. As Callie races to save herself and her brother, she become involved in a much greater struggle: In order to save starters from being kidnapped off of the streets and made to be hosts against their will, she must not only take down a greedy corporation but work to change the views of a society that cares nothing for its poorest and youngest citizens.

Starters has everything that a good thriller is made of and more. Callie is a strong heroine, compassionate and moral in a world that fails to be both. The voices in Callie's head come and go and it is terrifying to think that she now lives in a world where she will never have complete control over her mind again; she gave up that control for a noble purpose but what will it end up costing her? And the bad guy, The Old Man, is a terrifying individual who wears a holo screen for a face that changes as you speak to him: mummy, dying woman - it changes from horror upon horror. I am enjoying some really well imgained and written bad guys is teen fic these days (check out the bad guy in BZRK by Michael Grant for some additional creepy bad guy action) and Price really rises to the challenge with Starters.

But where Price really excels is in creating a cast of characters both young and old who are struggling to defy social norms and come together to fight the hardest thing in the world there is to fight: power and money. Not everyone is who they seem and not all motives are understood, but there are some good adults who understand evil when they see it and they rise to the occasion to fight it. Adults often take a back seat role in teen fiction but that is not the case here. It would be easy to create a dichotomy of starters good/enders bad but Price doesn't take the easy way out, she recognizes the complexity of life and thought in us all and creates it in her characters.

Starters is a twisting, unnerving tale. Highly recommended and appropriate for teens of all ages. Teens will be lining up to read it and the sequel, Enders, yet to come.

TPIB: More craft programs than you have time for

2012-02-22T05:39:00.000-08:00

Craft programs can be some fun go-to programming for tweens and teens. They are hands on, promote the collection, meet the developmental needs of your audience, and build those positive relationships with our teens that we are seeking. While you are sitting around doing crafts you can talk about books, poke around in their heads for upcoming service and program ideas, and build the relationships that keep teens coming back to the library for more.

The downside, they can be kind of expensive depending on the program. Some take more time than others. And as with all programming, finding the right day and time can sometimes be hit or miss. So, are you looking for some craft ideas?

Many people are now using Pinterest to find great craft ideas and teen librarian Heather Booth has put together a collaborative board called Teen Programming in Libraries that you will want to keep your eye on. Here are some of the various teen craft programs I have done throughout the years.

Cool to a T: T-Shirt Decorating

Tie-Dye
Stamping
Stenciling
T-shirt transfers
No sew t-shirt transformations

Foam Fun (for Tweens)

Foam push pins
Foam memo boards
Foam photo frames
Foam memo holders
Foam lightswitch covers
Foam locker magnets

Doodle and Draw Crafts

Journals/Sketchbooks
Friendship pencils (wrap in wire and add beads)
Book thongs

Picture Me! Crafts

Foam photo frames
Wire photo holders
Photo keychains
Mini scrapbooks (http://scrapbook-crazy.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-mini-scrapbook-tutorial-and-new.html)
Mosaic picture frames
Decorate photo frames with beads/sequins

Just Bead It

Friendship bracelets
Book thongs (http://www.3ddigest.com/crafts/beaded-book-thongs.html)
Necklaces
Safety pin bracelets
Shoelace charms
Key chains

Locker Mania Crafts

Marble magnets (http://www.amysfavorites.com/house-aamp-home/74/176-glass-marble-magnets)
Tin bins (http://www.squidoo.com/altoids-tins)
Magnetic photo frames
Mini message boards
Magnetic note holders (use laundry pins and foam crafts)
Pocket bags

Go Glam!

Body glitter
Lip gloss
Hip hair clips
Various jewelry crafts
Eye pillows (Girls World, p. 80)
Decorate flip-flops
Memory wire necklaces

Renovate Your Room

Switchplate covers (paint, mosaic, etc.)
CD holders
Decorate boxes for organizing
Memo boards (Cool Stuff, p. 39)
Mirrors
Beaded or ribbon curtains (Girls World)
Sun catchers (Girls World, p. 48)
Chinese lanterns (Cool Stuff, p. 113)
Decorate votive holders

Boredom Busters

Bubbles
Make your own Mad-libs (Fun & Games, p. 46)
Flip books (Fun & Games, p. 48)
Sidewalk chalk
Confetti kaleidoscope (Fun and Games, p. 95)
Cootie catchers
Paper footballs

BFF Crafts

BFF jewelry
Picture frames
Picture frames zipper pulls
Mini scrapbooks
Memory boxes
BFF photo albums

Get a Clue (Mystery and Detective Crafts)

Invisible ink
Swiss cheese decoder key (Fun and Games, p. 68)
Jigsaw letters
Smugglers rocks (Fun and Games, p. 74)

Icky Fun

Sparkly slime (Fun and Games, p. 76)
Shape shifting goo (Fund and Games, p. 78)
Nutty putty (Fun and Games, p. 79)
Fake blood (Fun and Games)

Back to School Cool

Any locker mania craft
Zipper/back pack pulls
Book covers

Furry Friends Crafts

Pet photo frames
Placemat for food and water dish
Pet collars - beaded/sequined/fake fur

Beach Scene/Summer Fun

Decorate flip flops
Decorate sunglasses
Decorate beach towels
Decorate beach bags
Blue jeans should bag (Girls World)

Snack Attack

Fun snack foods
Oreo stacking contest
Iron chef/Cupcake wars

Support Your Team

Pennants
Pep rally signs
Foam ball shaped photo frames
T-shirts
Magnets (foam balls with school name, mascot or name and jersey #)

Grow It!

Garden sticks
Decorate flower pots
Garden stones (paint rocks, mosaics, etc.)
Birdfeeders

The Things We Do For Love (Valentine's Day Crafts)

Picture frames
Jigsaw puzzle notes
Mini scrapbooks
Memory box
His/Hers keychains

Pimp My Ride

Keychains
Steering wheel covers
Rearview mirror fun (Make fuzzy dice and other things to hang from the mirror)
Trash bags for the car
Dashboard confessionals (stickers for your dashboard)
Lumbar pillows

Game Night Crafts

Collectors card holder boxes
Make your own board games
Make your own mad-libs
Make your own bowling (Fun and Games)
Make your own twister (Fun and Games)

Express Yourself Crafts

Marble magnets
Make your own magnetic poetry kit
Make your own bumper stickers
Doorhangers

Paper Mania

Notecards
Make your own wrapping paper
Make your own gift bags
Make marble paper
Paper footballs
Cootie catchers
Origami

Save the Environment Crafts

Decoupage using old magazines
Plastic bag holders
CD clocks and suncatchers
Use old jewel cases for CDs to make picture frames
Candle holders out of old baby food jars
Bottle cap magnets and jewelry

Tech Zone Crafts

Monitor frame
Memo holders
Bulletin boards
Pencil holders

Art Through the Ages

Sponge painting cave wall drawings
Hieroglyphics
Create your own aliens

Out of This World Crafts

Time machines (CD clocks)
UFO photo frames (made out of foam)
Create your own aliens
Celestial suncatchers

Retro Mania Crafts

Retro magnets (Retro version of marble magnets)
Message in a bottle (Retro Revamp, p. 80)
Kindergarten cards (Retro Revamp, p. 101)
Bottle cap frames
Sock monkeys
Fish in a jar/snowglobes (using old baby food jars)

Making Memories

Mini scrapbooks
Scrapbook pages
Time capsules
Memory boxes

Around the World in Crafts (Travel Theme)

Make your own postcards
Travel journals
Map bookmarks
Map message boards
Travel related push pins

Go Global (Multicultural Crafts)

Kwanzaa inspired bead necklaces
Chinese yo-yos
French memo boards
CD dreamcatchers

Duct Tape Mania

Duct tape crafts

Luau, Luau

Any craft from Beach Scene
Make your own leis
Hawaiian theme picture frames

Birthday Bash

Create your own birthday invitations
Decorate goody bags
Birthday theme picture frames
Mini scrapbooks (fold and fill in later with birthday pics)
Guestbook (use make your own journal directions)
Make your own birthday fortune cookies

The Princess Is In

Tiaras
Hair clips
Princess photo frames
French memo boards
Princess push pins
Princess door/wall signs

The Hobby Hole

Organizers for collectibles
Decorate folders for collecting cards

Gifts for the Grad

Photo frames
Mini scrapbooks
Beaded pin graduation caps
Pennants
You did it! sign (use foam and wire)

Spatacular

Bath salts
Body scrubs
Eye mask
Bath pillow

Babysitting Bag O Tricks

Make crafts bags to do with kids while babysitting
Butterflies using footprints as bodies and handprints as wings
Macaroni art
Make a tote bag to keep ready for babysitting fun and keep all your stuff in it

The Name Game

Make bracelets, necklaces, keychains, etc. with your name
Make door hangers or wall plaques with your name

Deoupage This

Use old magazines to decoupage boxes, etc.

Star Struck Crafts

Star shaped picture frames of your favorite stars
Marble magnets of your favorite stars
Decoupage folders, etc. with magazine pictures of your favorite stars

Investment Op

Paper machie piggy banks

None of Your Beeswax

Make beeswax candles

Mobile Magic

Spice up your room with hanging mobiles – planets, flowers, stars, whatever interests you
Disco ball using Styrofoam ball and mosaic mirror pieces

Didn’t You Get the Memo?
Make a variety of memo holders

Haunted Happenings Crafts
Make spooky decorations

Spiders
Ghosts
Tombstones

Harry Potter Mania

Wands – pretzels, frosting, sprinkles
Owl messages
Wizard hats – Ritz crackers, frosting, Hershey kisses

Chocolate!
Make and decorate your own chocolate candies

We Got the Beat (Musical Crafts)

CD Windchimes
Make CD holders
Disco ball

Bag It!
Make creative gift wrapping, school book covers and more using paper bags, paints, stamps, etc.

Zombiepalooza

Zombie make-up
Make fun zombie buttons using a traditional button machine or easy acrylic button packs
Make a zombie "ugly doll" using old socks or felt, hand sewing required
Zombie shadow caster using paper and flashlights; teens create a zombie form or scene and use a flashlight to cast it on the wall
Make zombie Barbie dolls out of old Barbie dolls
Zombie cookies - break limbs off of gingerbread men and decorate appropriately, make it a contest

TPIB: Poetically Speaking!

2012-02-21T07:26:00.000-08:00

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?" - John Keating, Dead Poet's Society

April is National Poetry Month and a great time to get teens thinking about and writing poetry so that they can add their verse. So that they may sound their "barbaric yawp" and "suck the marrow out of life." You can find some ways to celebrate National Poetry Month at the 30 Ways to Celebrate page at Poets.org. You can also keep reading and find some of the ways that I like to share poetry with teens.

One of my favorites is Poem in My Pocket day which is April 26th this year. The idea is simple, carry a poem in your pocket and when you have a chance to interact with others take it out and read it to them. Set up a challenge where on this day any teen who comes into your library with a poem in their pockets gets a simple reward with the caveat that they must read it out loud to you. It could be something as simple as a cookie or their name on the wall of fame, the point is to encourage poetry.

In the past I have had a yearly poetry month contest, which has always been quite successful (and also incredibly angsty). The trick, I have found, is to work with your local English teachers and ask them to collect and submit the poems. I always had teachers coming in with manilla envelopes full of poems written by a variety of their students. Some of the teachers even provided extra credit for submitting which increased participation. I have also found it works better to have a middle school/junior high and high school category because their skill levels are so different. And I recommend having a wicked cool prize, preferably a substantial cash prize (which you can deliver in the form of a prepaid gift card since most libraries can't give cash and need a receipt to turn in). I always have teens fill out a submission form and ask them not to put their names anywhere on the poem itself for judging purposes. And I ask that all submissions are typed in order to make sure I can read everything. You can then either have teens vote on their favorite poem or put together a panel of judges to help you select a winner in each age category. Making sure teen names do not show to the public can help eliminate any bias in judging. You can invite the teens to a poetry slam and announce the winning poems there. You can also make sure and display the poems on your various web sites, in your teen area, and in your library newsletter if you have one. As part of my submission form I always had teens sign a statement saying it was an original work and giving permission to reprint the poem. I am impressed every year by the various poems that my teens write.

There are also lots of fun poetry themed activities that you can do to inspire poetry writing.

Make Your Own Magnetic Poetry Kit
Supplies: Magnet tape strips, Discarded magazines, Scissors and glue (bonus if you have tins such as used mint tins)

Simply have teens cut out words from various discarded magazines and glue them on to magnet strip tape cut to the appropriate side. Here teens will collect for themselves a wide variety of words that they can use to create their own magnetic poetry kit. You can store the words in old magnetic tins and larger tins can be double as storage and a canvas to create their own poems. Oriental Trading has a design your own lunch box tin that would also be a good idea for storage and an additional craft.

The Exquisite Corpse

I have mentioned the exquisite corpse a lot in my various activities, but it is also a great way to get teens working together to make fun poems. Simply fold a piece of paper multiple times and pass it around having each teen write one line of a poem. The rule is that they can't read any of the other lines so they don't know what others have written. In the end you unfold the paper and read the poem and it is often quite amusing. You can also do this as an online activity (although they will see the previous lines) and use your social media sites, like Twitter and Facebook, to write a group poem. You could also do this by having teens tear headlines out of those discarded magazines.

Book Spine Poetry

Take a cart of just returned books, a full one, into your program room and let teens use the books to create book spine poetry. This is also a fun way to create displays on the end of your shelves. The idea is simple, you place the books spine out on top of one another to create a poem using the various book titles. I love this activity and you can see a fun gallery of book spine poems at 100 Scope Notes.

Sidewalk Chalk Poetry

Teens still love sidewalk chalk and this is a great way to create some fun art around your library on your sidewalks; they become a blank canvas that teens can share poems they love or write their own to share with the world. Bonus, supply are low but creativity is high.

Decoupage

There are a variety of things that you can purchase or re-purpose and decoupage with poems, again by using words and sentences torn from discarded magazines. You can do spiral bound notebooks to create poetry journals, boxes to store your magnetic poetry tiles in, etc. You can also have teens creates poems to frame and hang on their walls, or decorate your teen space with them.

Poetry Wall

Create a space in your teen area where teens can create or leave poetry. You can get magnetic chalk board paint and create a space (either directly on the wall or by using plywood and affixing it to the wall. Or you could just buy a magnetic dry erase board). Be sure to have a variety of magnetic words available for teens to use the space. Or you can use cork board tiles and teens can simply pin up the poems that they write (you'll want to check in periodically to make sure you are not having anything put up like advertisements or content inappropriate a public display.)

Special Delivery

Have teens decorate pizza boxes (ask a local pizza place to donate) and write poems on the inside. This is a great way for a teen to deliver a poem to someone they love. Or if you are in a school, deliver poems to your classrooms. You can also do this activity using Chinese food style take out boxes that you can find at most craft stores.

Have a Poetry Exchange

Many people have a favorite poem. Have your teens bring in a copy of their favorite poem and have an exchange party. You can switch out poems and have teens read them and then try and guess whose favorite poem it is. Or have teens put them together in unique presentations (wrap them as a present, do a video, etc) and share them with each other. This takes the concept of the open mic reading and allows teens to get creative with their presentations and include tech or art if they so choose. Plus, every teen will walk out of the room with a new poem. You could even swap poems in a way similar to the traditional white elephant gift exchange.

Mad Dash Poetry Scramble

Think relay race and puzzles, kind of Survivor style. Print out the words to a poem and cut the paper up into single lines. Have teens assemble in teams at one end of the room and have the poem set up at the other. One by one each teen dashes to the end of the room to grab a line, comes back and tags the next teen, and then in the end they try to unscramble the lines and put the poem together.

Other simple things you can do include:

Random Readings: during the day (if at a school) or during your library program, stop all activity and have a random poem reading. Everything just stops and everyone must freeze while you read the poem.
Or play a game of poetry freeze tag and you set up a signal where you tag a teen at the program and they must bust out a poem and everyone freezes during the reading.
Show the movie Dead Poet's Society
Have a make your own fortune cookie craft where your fortunes are lines from your favorite poems.
Have a poetry contest
Have a poetry slam
Have a poetry scavenger hunt and provide teens with snippets of poems and have them find the title, author or next line.

Don't forget that Teen Ink, Figment and VOYA are all places that encourage teens to write and create so be sure to share them with your teens. VOYA has a yearly teen poetry contest and the winners appear in the April edition, it is also a good place to find additional poetry activities to do with your teens.

Whatever you do, be sure to take some time to get teens thinking about poetry during the month of April. If you have some fun poetry activities you have done in the past or are thinking about doing this year, please share them in the comments.

Today's Tidbits

2012-02-21T05:30:00.000-08:00

Head on over to BookBrats to read my guest post Sometimes it is Among the Dying that We Remember to Live, a reflection on death in teen fiction with some of my favorite book quotes.

There are new pics in The 2012 Project photo albums on Facebook. One of my faves: Yesterday a young man came into my library wearing a t-shirt and bow tie. I love how teens often feel so free to be themselves. And I love that he loved the library so much he had to get all dressed up to come visit us :)

All The 2012 Pics are located on the TLT Facebook page in The 2012 Project photo album and The 2012 Project photo album #2

Speaking of The 2012 Project, we have some cool contests happening now and coming up throughout the year. I am also looking to organize a Banned Books Week contest; I think pics of teens reading Banned Books would be a great addition to the project.

And finally, I am a little excited to that the Teen Librarian's Toolbox was nominated for an award for Most Fascinating Blog of 2012 in the Librarian Blog category.

Book Review: Fracture by Megan Miranda

2012-02-20T05:48:00.000-08:00

It has been said that we only use a small portion of our brains. What if eleven minutes could change the way your brain is wired? Is that all it would take: 11 minutes?

Back cover blurb: A lot can happen in eleven minutes. Decker can run two miles easily in eleven minutes. I once wrote an English essay in ten. No lie. And God knows Carson Levine can talk a girl out of her clothes in half that time. Eleven minutes might as well be an eternity under water. It only takes three minutes without air for loss of consciousness. Permanent brain damage begins at four minutes. And then, when the oxygen runs out, full cardiac arrest occurs. Death is possible at five minutes. Probably at seven. Definite at ten. Decker pulled me out at eleven.

First lines: The first time I died, I didn't see God.

Delaney wakes up in a coma and seems, somehow, different. Her skin begins to itch and she feels a pull from inside her towards certain people. Everytime she feels the pull and follows it - and she can't resist - people die. Is it because she wasn't supposed to live?

At the beginning of fracture, Melinda is walking across a frozen lake with her best friend Decker when the ice fractures. She spends eleven minutes under the water and for what it is worth, she was technically dead. Yet she somehow survives. She doesn't seem the same; There is that pull that she can't explain. Her parents keep sedating her because when a neighbor dies they fear that Melinda may somehow be responsible.

When Troy appears in her life, he says he read about her in the local newspaper and wants to know if she feels different after being in a coma. Except there was no article. Troy is like Delaney, he survived a coma and he keeps showing up at the same places that she does, but what is his purpose? He says he wants to help; to help Delaney understand what is happening to her and to help those that are about to die. Sometimes people have an interesting idea of what it means to help someone.

This is a multilayered book. It is one part paranormal, with some tension building as Delaney tries to understand what is happening to her and what she is supposed to do with the knowledge that someone is about to die. It is one part contemporary as Melinda tries to deal with survivor guilt, dealing with her friends and family, and the mucho complicated relationship with her best friend (do they want more) Decker. It is all parts good. Both layers are well written, intriguing reads that keep you turning the page. There's not a love triangle but a, um, love rectangle. Square maybe. As Decker and Delaney try to sort out their feelings for one another there is outside interference from the mysterious Troy, who may be the only person who can truly understand Delaney now, and the ever popular Tara, who happened to be at the right place at the right time while Decker was watching over Delaney in a coma.

This is a good read. Well written, compelling, and some basic questions about life, death and suffering hide under the lid of a slow steaming thriller. Delaney is an ordinary girl dealing with some extraordinary circumstances in believable ways. There is a depth of emotion here from a multitude of well written characters. And the best part of this book, it is a well written story with a beginning, middle and end - that's right, it has an end. No waiting for a sequel. Miranda manages to put a really good read in the hands of teens in under 300 pages (264 to be exact) and many teen readers will appreciate it. Recommended.

So tell me, "if you have one day left to live, what would you do?"

Reflection: Be Your Own Katniss

2012-02-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

Katniss Everdeen did not choose to be a hero. No, she was chosen to be a statement and then she chose to rise to the occasion. She didn't pick up her bow and arrow and say, "hey, let's overthrow this corrupt government." In a moment born out of love and selflessness, she chose to volunteer and take the place of her sister. It did not start out as the big movement that it would be become, it was a little step born out of genuine emotion. As you read through the Hunger Game series it is easy to forget how the story of Katniss begins because the story becomes so much greater than that moment; but it is that moment that changes everything.

Everywhere you look these days people are talking about The Hunger Games, which I think is a good thing. It is awesome when literature
inspires and a community of people come together from near and far to share what a book means to them. I had a moment like that this weekend. You see, out of pure love and devotion and sacrifice (very Katniss like), I spent the weekend Girl Scout camping. In nature. Without technology. This camping weekend consisted of somewhere around 40 preteen girls and their moms and rain. Lots and lots and lots of rain. All of us stuck together inside a cabin. At one point we joked that it was our own version of a dystopian novel. Call us District 14, the cookie selling district. (Although it should be noted that there were no cookies there which was unfortunate. 40 preteen girls eat. A lot.)

Eventually it stopped raining enough - just a drizzle - that we could bundle up and go exploring through the woods and trails and pretend we were Katniss. Which we did. And then, there were archery lessons. Woohoo. (Bonus knowledge: the feathers on the end of an arrow are called fletchings.) As we stood there pulling back our bow, I contemplated what it must be like to be a hero. Then I had an amazing thought: Yes, Katniss is a good role model, but I don't want teens to aspire to be Katniss, but to be their own version of Katniss. I don't want them to look for a hero, but to rise to the occasion and be their own hero.

Some people choose greatness. They wake up one day and decide they are going to be a leader or a healer or an artist. For others, greatness is thrust upon them out of circumstance. This was certainly the case for Katniss. She did not set out to save the world, she simply set out to save her sister. Somewhere along the way she became more than a sister but the representative for a movement. That is the way it is for most of us in life. We make small decisions and they can have tremendous impact. You can decide to be a friend to the outcast at school. You can choose not to go along when someone around you is being bullied. You can see a need in your community and start a project to change it. Every day we have the opportunity to be Katniss (or Peeta if you so choose) in our daily lives. And the best part is, chances are good you won't have to go into an arena and fight to the death to do it.

So today, make a decision to be your own Katniss, whatever form that takes. Rise to the occasion. Be your own hero. I like to think that occasionally I have been Katniss to the teens in my life; not with a bow and an arrow, but with a book. The right book in the right hands can make all the difference.

So today, be your own Katniss. Be the hero in your own story. May the odds be forever in your favor.

For more Hunger Games, please see my previous post Feed Their Hunger for the Hunger Games, with program planning activities and more.

The Mr.'s Mini Review: Skyship Academy: The Pearl Wars by Nick James

2012-02-17T06:23:00.000-08:00

Back cover blurb: Control the Pearls, Control the World

First lines: My fingers grip the ledge, searching for cracks. The rest of me dangles into empty sky like some demented human windsock.

Small mysterious orbs called "pearls" fall from space; these are a devastated Earth's only hope. These pearls supply the energy that the world now uses to power its cities. The remaining inhabitants of Earth are divided into two groups, those that remain on the land and those that orbit the Earth in Skyships; these two groups are at war - seeking to control the power by controlling the Pearls.

When two teens from the competing factions cross into forbidden territory, they gain dangerous powers. Powers that the government would stop at nothing to possess. Now sharing a common goal, the two will learn shocking secrets about the past, present and the Pearls.

The Mr. said that this book had a "shocking" and "stunning" twist that he never expected, but was set up well and really made the story. This is dystopian fiction with an inhuman twist. James Dahner called it "a definite must-read!" and who can argue with him? Unfortunately, this title will probably get lost among all the other dystopians in the market today. The twist takes it more into traditional, and too often neglected these day, sci fi territory. An additional purchase, recommended to Orson Scott Card and more traditional sci fi fans (not that there is anything wrong with dystopian, it is one of my favorite genres.) This book was released in 2011. The Mr. gave it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Thinking Out Loud: Marketing and the Library Lock-In

2012-02-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

My mentor called me the other day and asked about what I would do in a particular situation that involved teens at a library lock-in, my very glib response was, "I wouldn't have had the lock in." Already many of you are seeing flames and thinking about your replies - but wait, let me explain myself.

I have come to think of the library lock-in not from a programming perspective, but from a marketing one. Everything that we do sends a message and we must ask ourselves, what is the take away of this event. To me, I think we can make a fair argument that the library lock-in may be a form of false advertising. You see, we invite teens in when the library is empty and we let them run around (although probably not literally) and yell and scream (also probably not literally) and use the space in a way that they will never get to use the space the remaining 364 days of the year. In fact, if they came into the library any other day they would probably disrupt other library patrons and be reprimanded (although hopefully quite nicely) by staff. A library lock-in is not normal operating procedures and would could argue that it does not help teens understand the role of the public library in the community and appropriate ways to use the library.

I often worry, too, that we librarians have forgotten ourselves the value in the library: the importance of books and how the written word can change lives, the importance of information seeking and evaluation skills, the importance of the freedom to take in a wide variety of information from multiple points of view and decide for ourselves how we are going to incorporate that into our lives. I wonder if we sometimes aren't undermining ourselves and our message, our value to the community, by trying to be something other than a public library. It is almost as if the message we are sending is "being a library isn't enough, we must be more for people to love us." Instead, what we need to do, is make sure our message is loud, concise and strong - communities need us because they need intelligent, empowered, thinking and feeling members and that comes with access to a public library.

Now, for the other side of this coin: I recently had occasion to dialogue with a teen librarian who uses a lock-in as a reward for teens who participate in her winter and later in the year summer reading challenge. She is a pretty awesome librarian. This changed my mind a little bit on my stance. You see these teens, they are regular library users who have come to understand and appreciate the library's role in their life. Here, as a reward, it speaks an entirely different message: you are a valued customer and you get a special moment in a sacred place.

So before you flame me, please remember that I AM a library advocate (please see The 2012 Project for proof). I am an advocate for teens and authors and books and information and intellectual freedom. I'm just not 100% sure that I am an advocate for library lock-ins. So let's talk about it, share what you think in the comments. And for the record, yes - I have done library lock-ins, just not recently.

Book Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

2012-02-16T17:24:00.000-08:00

Back cover blurb: "A funny, profane, heartbreaking debut novel" - you, hopefully, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Jesse Andrews

When I picked up this book my first thought, honestly, was - ouch, it must stink to be a guy writing about a girl dying of cancer in the year 2012 if your name is not John Green. Without a doubt John Green is getting tons of accolades (and deservedly so) for his work The Fault in Our Stars, which you may have heard features a dying girl. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews is not that book, but it is a good book. In fact, while I wept several times while reading The Fault in Our Stars, I laughed out loud several times while reading Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. It's not even fair to compare the two, so don't.

First lines: I have no idea how to write this stupid book.

The first thing you should know about Me and Earl is that it isn't really about a dying girl, it is about Greg and sometimes about his friend Earl and the dying girl, who also goes by the name Rachel. Greg and Earl are kinda sorta friends who don't really talk to each other in depth but do spend a lot of time hanging out together playing video games and, more importantly, aspiring to be film makers.

Greg narrates this tale in a unique voice, often wondering why the reader is even still reading this woefully poorly written tale (his words, not mine). At one point Greg becomes so bored of the entire thing that he overviews some scenes using bullet points. At other times it is written as a movie manuscript. It is an irreverent form of storytelling from a narrator that isn't really that committed to the tale on the surface; but the truth is that underneath all the glib (profane, self-deprecating) humor and reminders that we are wasting our time reading this tale, Greg makes a subtle transformation as he allows himself to be honest about his senior year in high school and how it all went horribly wrong.

You see, it was all his mom's fault. Greg has spent a lifetime making sure he stayed on the safe outer edges of high school groups and blends. Blending is important. And Greg assures us all that high school sucks. I think few would argue this basic point. Anyhow, Greg's mom comes to him and asks him to please please please be friends with Rachel because, well, she is dying. Suddenly Greg goes from being the guy barely on the register to a guy with a girlfriend, or at least a friend that is a girl who may or may not be his girlfriend. But not just any girlfriend, the dying one. Sometimes Earl hangs out with them, sometimes not.

Earl breaks the bro code and shows Rachel the movies that Greg and Earl have made to cheer her up. Eventually they find themselves trying to make a film for Rachel, who it turns out is a big fan of their work. Many of their attempts go woefully wrong. As the story progresses Greg is really forced to examine himself and everything he knows about life and the world around him to face the emotional challenges of being friends with, well, a dying girl. Whereas The Fault in Our Stars looked from an inside point of view of what it is like to face death, this is an outsider looking in and trying to understand how to be in relationship with someone who is in a place that most of us can never imagine, and spend most of our lives trying to pretend doesn't exist because it makes us all so very uncomfortable.

It all sounds so deep and heavy, and sometimes it is. But it is also wickedly funny at parts. During one scene (which involves Greg and Earl unintentionally getting high) I laughed out loud, long and hard. Sometimes the reminders that this is a terrible tome were overbearing as a reader, but they fit with the character and his voice. Speaking of voice, you know at the beginning where I mentioned the back cover blurb and it described it as "profane" - yeah, it is. Greg and Earl are typical horny teenage guys who talk to each other using more curse words then the best sailor could muster the courage to use. This tale is definitely for the mature end of the young adult spectrum; in part because they alone would have the emotional maturity to step into these waters and of course because of some of the conversations that they have.

I am not even doing the characters of Earl justice in this review, because he is richly developed and I was actually quite moved by Earl. Earl is a guy from a broken home with a touch guy exterior who seems like he would have very little chance of having a successful life, but he lets little chinks in his armor show when talking about or interacting with Rachel. And he has a real honesty in the way he speaks. Earl is the character who stayed with me most after reading this tale; he moved me.

Like I said, this tale is not really so much about the dying girl as the dying girl is the catalyst for Greg's tale, but there are those poignant moments where the reality of what she is faces comes through and you remember that a death looms over this story. Rachel adds the necessary pathos to motivate Greg's tale (really, I just wanted to use the word pathos in this review as it was fitting to the tone of the novel). That's right - Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a funny, profane novel rich in pathos and just enough quirk to make it stand out in a field of morose titles. See what I did there, I snuck the word morose in, too. Rachel isn't as fully developed, and parts of this actually are a good choice for the character who never really embraces what is happening to her and instead allows Greg to do most of the talking while the two of them are together. (If I were going to in any way compare this to The Fault in Our Stars - which I know I said you totally shouldn't and you totally shouldn't - I would have to say she's no Hazel. But the truth is, she isn't meant to be.)

In the end, I liked this quirky read. It hit all the right notes for Greg who seemed like many of the teenage boys I have worked with over the years. I liked that he had a passion and that it influenced the writing style and voice of this book, I liked that he grew, and I like that he showed that you could be a seemingly irreverent teenage boy but that you couldn't escape having to think and feel about life. Like many teenage boys, Greg uses crude and self-deprecating humor to deflect and many teen readers will understand this language. Recommended for older teen readers, think Rob Thomas and Nick Hornby fans.

Reading the Zombie Apocalypse

2012-02-16T05:30:00.000-08:00

Zombies are invading again. They’re everywhere. On the streets. In your house. On the TV…and in your bookshelf. These brain-munchers have made an amazing comeback as they moan and shuffle their way to the top of young adult novel enthusiasts’ lists. Now it seems that you don’t have to be even interested in zombies before you read one. They’re that good. Infinitely infectious like the disease that lingers in their bite. They’ll drag you into their stories as villains, protagonists, and even as love interests as you scream for mercy…or more. Are you willing to risk getting bitten in exchange for a good story? I know I am.

So, to satisfy all you zombie enthusiasts, you apocalyptic survivors, and even you who’re searching for a good human limb to curb your munchies, I’ve procured a list of what I consider the top ten zombie list for YA novels.

1. Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Here we are people. Perhaps the greatest manifestation of the infestation. Rot & Ruin. It’s most certainly a must read. The undead. Zombie killers. A teenage-point-of-view post-apocalyptic life? What more could you ask for? Other than, you know…a sequel.

2. Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry

Well there you have it. I’ve granted your wish. Well no…not me. Though I wish I’d thought of the idea first, Jonathan Maberry, the king of the shuffling hordes, has done it again. Another magnificent tale of teens in life after the zombie apocalypse. Behold the thrilling sequel to Rot & Ruin.

3. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

In my opinion, not many come close the greatness that is Jonathan Maberry and his Rot & Ruin series. But this devoted brain-muncher has come pretty darn close. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is a book unlike any other I have ever read. Taking on the same idea of teenage life after the apocalypse, author Carrie Ryan spins a tale of romance among chaos and fear, and of course, the living dead. I give it five moans on the zomb-o-meter.

4. The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

Carrie tells a tale as good as the first in her second book in The Forest of Hands and Teeth series. Again love and survival must reign over the threat of the dreaded “Unconcecrated” or “Mudo” as some call them. Love. Secrets. Zombies. Could you ask for much more in a good zom-book?

5. The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

Are you getting tired of seeing Carrie’s name up here? I’m not. In fact, I wish there was more, but sadly The Dark and Hollow Places is Carrie Ryan’s last installment of The Forest of Hands and Teeth series. Another love story, this book completes the three. It answers questions and provokes new ones. Are the Mudo really the worst monster the world has ever seen…or is it man?

6. World War Z by Max Brooks

Now I know that this technically is not considered a YA novel, but I still think every devoted zombie geek should read it. I certainly enjoyed it. This book goes over in detail just how a real zombie apocalypse might happen. It’s chillingly realistic and believable, and will leave you boarding up your doors and windows.

7. The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

Again, not a young adult book, but I still think this must be in the undead reader’s “must read” list. Max Brooks takes us into a world of possibilities. And how chillingly real those possibilities seem. This informative guide gives the huddled groups of dwindling mankind detailed instructions on how to prepare and react to the zombie masses shuffling outside their doors. This should be the first thing you pack in your ZAEB (Zombie Apocalypse Emergency Bag). Okay, that’s not real. But considering this book is certainly a good idea if you intend to fight or flight as the undead beat down your doors.

8. The Enemy by Charlie Higson

Now here’s a popular notion expressed in nearly every teen’s life at some point. Adults are zombies. In this post-apocalyptic world, anyone sixteen and older become ravenous, decaying monsters who run through the streets of London looking for children to eat. Another gripping story about teens who struggle to survive the impossible, this unique book delivers.

9. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Can a zombie love? Apparently so in Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies. A touching story of a boy zombie who eats another boy’s brain and falls in love with the boy’s girlfriend. Isn’t that sweet? Hey, if that isn’t zombie love, then what is?

10. Zombies Vs. Unicorns edited by Molly Black and Justine Larbalestier

It’s a battle of the giants. War of the greats. Zombie? Or Unicorn? Which is better? This amazing anthology, the two sides are recognized by many bestselling teen authors, such as Cassandra Clare, Scott Westerfield, Meg Cabot, and many others. Which team are you? Team Zombie? Or Team Unicorn?

by Cuyler Creech, TLT Teen Reviewer

A Second Opinion: BZRK by Michael Grant

2012-02-15T14:13:00.000-08:00

So The Mr. picked up BZRK and read it. If you've read the Meet TLT bio you would know that is his "thing". He's not a librarian or even a reviewer, but he is a reader. Quite a prolific one. I read and reviewed BZRK here. Then he read it and I asked him how many stars out of 5 he would give it. He said 4.7. Technically he said 5, but then he remembered that being difficult is also his "thing" so he changed it to 4.7. He said he changed it because it "ended too abruptly." This is because it is the first book in a series, which I explained to him. He said he would definitely read the next book because he wanted to know what happens. We then had a long discussion about how the plot was believable and not too far fetched; the parts that may seem far fetched are described so well that it makes it believable. The Mr. said he likes the description of the characters and the interaction of the characters but he said at first there were a lot of characters to try and figure out and keep track of, "not like a Dickens novel" he said, but a lot none the less. He also noted that it was complex and definitely would be the upper end of YA. So that's your second opinion: 4.7 stars out of 5.

Book Review: I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

2012-02-15T06:24:00.000-08:00

At some point in our life most of us have had a parent hold our hand as they helped us learn to use a knife by guiding it through an apple or a freshly baked loaf of bread. That's not how it happened with Jazz. There was no freshly baked loaf of bread. But there was a knife. And a hand guiding his . . . but when and where?

Jazz is the son of the world's most notorious serial killer. His father, Dear Old Dad, killed over 100 people and is serving over 30 consecutive life terms in prison. Jazz knows the details of far too many of those murders because Dear Old Dad was grooming Jazz to excel in the family business. Every day is a war inside Jazz as he struggles with who he is and how he was raised: Does he have a choice in following Dear Old Dad's footsteps? If Jazz uses what he knows to hunt serial killers, maybe he can keep himself from being one.

First lines: It was a beautiful day. It was a beautiful field. Except for the body.

When a dead body is found, Jazz is staking out the crime scene and his superior knowledge of all things serial killer lead him to one conclusion - there is a new serial killer on the loose. Soon it is clear that this serial killer is copying Dear Old Dad's killing spree. This new serial killer is The Impressionist. But is it Jazz? Everyone in town is certainly going to think so; who knew more than Jazz about those crimes?

In a thrilling game of cat and mouse, Jazz works with his best friend Howie (who is inconveniently a type-A hemophiliac, likely to burst out bleeding at the most inconvenient times and as Jazz knows, blood evidence is hard to hide) and the local sheriff, G. William (the man who finally caught Dear Old Dad) to try and stay one step ahead of The Impressionist. They have to take what they know about the victims to try and guess who the next one will be and be there first; failure means that another body is found.

I Hunt Killers is a stunning edge of your seat thriller. The war inside Jazz is fully developed, nuanced and completely believable. There are tense moments where one wrong step seems like Jazz will indeed become Dear Old Dad. But in those moments Jazz fights and fights hard to forge his own path. This is the genius of Lyga; he takes the typical teenage question of identity and puts the edgiest twist on it possible. Jazz isn't just fighting to find himself, he is fighting not to be a monster. That Jazz is indeed a charmer and he will have you rooting for him every step of the way.

The supporting cast of characters in Jazz's life are richly developed and add depth to Jazz. Because they believe in and root for him, the reader does also. Of course, some of the other characters ooze menace to such a degree that shivers will run up your spine. Dear Old Dad is a character study in sociopathology and manipulations; this is a man you wouldn't want to meet in your darkest dreams.

It is hard to have a story with serial killers without there being some difficult and mature conversations, and they are here. This is without a doubt a read for more sophisticated and mature teen readers. Fans of CSI and Criminal Minds will be begging for this book yesterday. I think it would make an interesting discussion along with Tenderness by Robert Cormier, We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (technically an adult book), and Acceleration by Graham McNamee.

The twist near the end will have us all clamoring for the next book so we can read more of Jazz's story and see who he becomes. Highly recommended. This is one edgy, thrilling read that readers will be talking about. Jazz is a character that will stay with you.

TPIB: Prom Spectacular (by Steve Moser)

2012-02-14T05:43:00.000-08:00

One of the worst parts of having worked at a tuxedo shop is that you suffer from “Prom Brain” every spring. So, if you’re going to be thinking of prom anyway, why not embrace it and help your teens at the same time, right? I can’t take credit for the basic idea of this program. It was done at my library a few years before I started there. In fact, my first exposure to the Prom Spectacular concept was coming on behalf of the shop where I worked at the time to try to sign up guys to become prom reps for our store. What I didn’t know at that time was that I would end up working for the library and would be reviving this program in just a few years!

If you’ve ever been to a bridal show, then you’ve seen the Prom Spectacular concept in another form. Our program is basically a bridal show for prom kids. What are the most important aspects of a successful Prom Spectacular? There are two: a slew of local businesses to provide information and support for your program, and a fashion show. As you enter our program, you’ll find our auditorium ringed with tables covered with displays. Each participating business is given one six-foot table to set up as they please.

Here’s a starting point for you. First, you need to pick a date. The timing for a program like this is tricky. We’ve found that mid-February seems to be the best time for the program. In January, teens are not ready to think about prom. By March, many of them have already found their prom dresses and set up their tuxedos.

After you have a date in mind, you’ll need to line up dresses and tuxedos for the fashion show. We get all of our dresses from the Deb Shop at our local mall. They have been easy to work with and they bring staff members to help the girls change into and out of their dresses. They are asked, because I know nothing about women's clothing, to provide write-ups for the dresses that will be in the fashion show. I round up 8-10 girls to model the dresses and they go to the store to pick out 2-3 dresses each to model. The Deb Shop even provides shoes for the girls to wear if they don't have their own.

Our tuxedos come from our local Men's Wearhouse. I line up 4-5 guys to model tuxes for the fashion show. The guys each have two tuxedos to model with a change of vest and tie for each tuxedo. That gives them four looks total. In the fashion show, sometimes the models walk separately; sometimes they walk as couples if the colors of the vests and the dresses work out to match. Since our local Men's Wearhouse staff is all women, and myself, and the thought of women in the room with teenage guys who are changing clothes makes me nervous, I get the pleasure of getting the guys into and out of their tuxedos in time for their next appearance on the runaway. I assure you that this is not an easy task. It has come to my attention that the majority of teenage guys have apparently never had clothing with buttons-and tuxedos have a LOT of buttons!

The Ohio State Beauty Academy is located in Lima, so I luck out on that one. They send students to the library the day of the program to do prom hairstyles for each of the girls who are modeling for the fashion show. The girls are in charge of their own makeup.

Last year we doubled our attendance from the previous year. I approached our local radio station, 93.9 KISS FM and asked if they could provide one of their on-air personalities to emcee our event. I got DJ OldSkool, who hosts the after school hours on air. He's the one the teens are listening to while they're procrastinating instead of doing their homework. The radio station put together a music mix for the fashion show and he came and hosted the event for free! Best of all, they gave me free advertisements on the air on four different stations! I also promote the event in the area schools with flyers, on the announcements, and all other media outlets that will let me show up and talk.

To round out the businesses, we include two local florists, and Chad Hughes of Lifebulb Design - a local photographer who promotes senior pictures and also photographs the event for me. For the girls, we have a Mary Kay salesperson who shares makeup information and an Avon sales rep that can help with makeup as well as jewelry! With a little digging, almost any community can provide a variety of businesses involved in prom night plans.

Program day starts early as I pick up a continental breakfast that's been donated by our local Panera Bread or another similar restaurant. I do this because we start hairstyles around 9:00 a.m. And my experience is that teenagers haven't been up long enough to eat breakfast and get to the library on time at this point. Maybe this is because I'm a guy, but I was caught off guard the first year with how long prom hairstyles take. I guess I'm spoiled with short hair that only takes about 30 seconds just out of the shower! Starting at nine provides just enough time that the hairstyles are done and we can do a run-through of the fashion show at 11:00. A practice run is a necessary evil as the teens need practice to be able to slow down. If I let them walk at their pace, our fashion show would be about 10 minutes long!

After a rehearsal, and a lecture on walking slower and taking a few laps around the stage, we eat lunch. I've been blessed with donated pizza every year we've done this program. After lunch, and for the last 30 minutes before the program starts at 1:00 in the afternoon, I send the teens up to the main floor to roam around in full prom gear to try to nab all the last minute promotion I can get!

We start the program at 1:00. The models are sequestered in their changing rooms with cards and magazines to keep them busy. The public is ushered into the auditorium and given 30 minutes to visit with the participating businesses and gather information on what they need for prom and how to save some money in the process. Many of the vendors do prize giveaways. We make announcements throughout this time to let them know how long until the fashion show starts.

I've found that starting the fashion show 30 minutes into the program ensures that patrons actually visit the businesses who are participating in the event. When we started with the fashion show, we lost the majority of our crowd immediately after the show, so many of them didn't even make it around to all the tables.

I try to space out each model's appearance in the fashion show so they have enough time to change without too much stress, but inevitably, we have one close call every year. Someone is being zipped up as they run down the hall. I have a volunteer or staff member at the back door of the auditorium who is in charge of making sure the models enter in the correct order. I also intersperse blurbs about each business with the other write-ups in the fashion show to give us a little extra time for the quick changes. Honestly, the fashion show has always been a success. People say good things about it, but it's all a blur to me because it goes by so fast! We usually end up with about 20-25 minutes of fashion show. After the fashion show patrons are invited to continue visiting the vendors for additional information.

Overall, Prom Spectacular is a lot of prep work and can be a crazy half hour during the fashion show, but over the years, we've grown the program to include about 12 local businesses, and to bring in an audience of around 150 people. Since everything is provided by the participating businesses, and the food is donated, the program costs me little to no part of my programming budget. The businesses enjoy participating in the event, we get a lot of good PR, and it's worth the work in the end because it helps my teens get ready for a big event in their lives!

Steve Moser is the Teen Librarian at The Lima Public Library.

He can be reached at 419-228-5113x121 or at mosers@limalibrary.com

Information on this year's Prom Spectacular and additional photos can be found at www.facebook.com/LPLTeens - we'd love your "like"

Singing the Praises of the Debut Writer

2012-02-13T06:15:00.001-08:00

As a reader and a librarian, it's easy to just stick with what is comfortable; What you know is going to move off of your shelves. I know that my teens are waiting for the sequel to Delirium by Lauren Oliver, as am I. It's a sure bet. We know that the next John Green or Sarah Dessen is also going to be a sure bet. They have proven themselves to us as authors and earned our trust and loyalty. But John Green and Sarah Dessen all had to start somewhere. Before we knew them, before they were that sure bet, they were someone that we took a gamble on.

Often, that gamble pays off. This year's 2012 Printz Award Winner, Where Things Comes Back by John Corey Whaley, is a debut. That's right, right out of the gate Whaley is an award winning author. He took a chance as a writer, a publisher took a chance, librarians took a chance, and teen readers took a chance. That chance has paid off.
School and public libraries everywhere are facing cuts: funding cuts, staffing cuts. This means we have less money to spend and less time to spend it in. Less time to search for the "next big thing". And, let's face it, it is easy to stick with what is comfortable and stay with that sure to circulate author that sits comfortably on our shelves. But we may be missing some real gems of a read.

The Apocalypsies are making it easier for you to follow the 2012 debuts. They have a blog that breaks down the releases. And every month - on the 12th - they have a Twitter chat discussing the debut releases and introducing you to some of the new authors. Their blog is a good source of information that you will definitely want to check out. And if you participate in the chats there are often some prize give aways. (To search the Twitter archives, look for the hashtag #2012debuts).

The Story Siren has put up a challenge to us all: to read 12 debut authors this year. I accepted that challenge and have so far read 4. Of those that I have read, my favorite is The Downside of Being Charlie by Jenny Torres Sanchez (reviewed here). I felt it was emotionally evocative, edgy, and captured the portrait of a young man barely hanging on the edge with a style that reminded me of Chris Crutcher. Jenny has already been kind enough to work with TLT to tell us more about her author journey and give us a great prize package giveaway (look for that in late March). I hope I will be able to introduce you to more of these great debut authors throughout the year.

It is said time and time again that librarians are afraid of change. Let's prove them wrong. Let's take up the debut author challenge and keep trying, as we always do, to find great talent and voices to put in the hands of our teens. To go for the cheesy day before Valentine's Day pun: You may just fall in love with a new author. ::wink wink::

Let me know in the comments what debut titles you have or will read this year.

A Reflection: teen issues and the celebrification of celebrity

2012-02-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

Last night I was on Twitter when everyone started tweeting about the news that Whitney Houston had died. Suddenly everyone went from promoting their books or being funny to being shocked and saddened by the news that a popular talent from their childhood had passed away, and at such a young 8. Everyone on Facebook was talking about it as well. And this morning as I read the posts I kept thinking about the celebrity culture that has come to permeate America (maybe other countries too, I don't know).

You see, I am the mom of a preteen girl and almost every. single. show. marketed to her demographic has one single message: You must be famous. Being popular isn't even enough anymore, it's all about celebrity. I get why the shows do this, it is just additional revenue for them as they sell albums to go along with all their other merchandising: clothes, pillows, blankets, oh my! But I worry about the message and the long lasting influence it will have on today's tweens and teens.

Think for a moment about the shows you watched growing up: The Cosby Show, Growing Pains, You Can't Do That on Television, the original Degrassi. Let's not forget the show where the talented Mr. Johnny Depp got his start, 21 Jump Street (I own it on DVD, just saying.) They were about family and being a teen. They contained characters that you could in someway still identify with. (I realize many of you reading this are younger than me, let's not stop and do the math mmmkay. Just go with the message.)

Today, however, almost every show is about being some type of a star. On iCarly that our Internet comedy sensations. Bit Time Rush, How to Rock, Hannah Montana, Victorious, etc. - fame and celebrity is the goal. Perhaps one of the few notable exceptions would be Good Luck Charlie, sometimes singing is involved but the lead female, Teddi, is also very studious and hardworking and the real focus of the show is just being a kid/teen and being part of a family.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons that Teen Fiction is still resonating with our teens - they can relate. Although there are fun exceptions, think The Secrets to My Hollywood Life, contemporary teen fiction is about teens doing the things that teens do and navigating those important life questions. Who am I? What do I believe? How to I become my own person? And it deals with the reality that teens are in fact living: bullying, body image issues, family problems, drugs and alcohol, sex and sexual identity.

Every teen will pick up their hairbrush and dream of being a singer, but few will ever take it to the next level. Even I, without a single lick of actual talent, spent a few months in high school in a "band". I went with a friend to a modeling call audition at the mall. I tried out for the school play or a solo in the choir. The desire to be bigger than yourself, to have meaning is a natural part of life. We all want to know that our lives have meaning. But what about the importance of science, of math, of being the type of person who can touch a life and make a real difference? What about the importance of just being a good person? The truth is, at one time or another we will all have the opportunity to at least touch one life. What will you do, who will you be, when that moment comes to you?

As for celebrity, well, I don't think it is all that is cracked up to be. I can't help but notice how many big name celebrities die early - often through drug and alcohol use or suicide. I just worry that we are selling these kids a bad bag of goods when we tell them that this is a good goal. Can't our message be more balanced? And perhaps a tad more realistic? What about the actual lives many of these teens are living - where is that being represented in the media? The answer, of course, is in books.

So I am thankful for people like John Green and Chris Crutcher and Sarah Dessen who tell teens that no matter who they are or where they are in life, there is hope and their life has meaning. And I am thankful for every single author who writes for teens, no matter the genre, because they are telling teens to wish and hope and dream and inspire and BE. Be who you are supposed to be, live your purpose in this world and make your life your moment. And I am thankful to every teen librarian who works tirelessly to get the right books into the hands of the right teens so that they can take a moment to read those words and let them work within their spirit the way they are supposed to. The right book in the right hands makes all the difference.

Love Karen, who was devastated when River Phoenix died but, sadly, I have seen so many celebrities lives end too soon in my life now that all I can think is that maybe celebrity culture itself is the real tragedy. May we all find love and happiness in our lives wherever it is meant for us to find. RIP Whitney Houston.

Book Review: Embrace by Jessica Shirvington

2012-02-10T10:11:00.000-08:00

The first thing you need to know about Embrace is this: I returned from ALA Midwinter in Dallas with a little over 50 ARCs to preview, read and review for you. The Mr. went through all of the ARCs and this was the first one he picked to read. I found that immensely interesting because it is not his typical reading fair but he liked the cover, read the back description and it drew him in. He stayed up all night reading it. He said it was worth losing sleep over. When I asked him what he thought of it he said it was "very good" and the characters were "well developed" and "believable." This is high praise coming from a very discerning reader. To put it in perspective, after finishing one of the other ARCs (which will forever go unnamed), he brought it to me and said that the last 30 pages were "chaotic and disappointing". So I went and opened up the pages of Embrace with high expectation, and it did not disappoint.

Embrace by Jessica Shirvington
Back cover blurb: It starts with a whisper. "It's time for you to know who you are . . ."
First lines: Birthdays aren't my thing.

Violet Eden is about to turn 17, and everything about her life will change. It begins with strange dreams; dreams in which she wakes up actually hurt in reality. Then comes the discovery, she is not fully human - she is in fact a Grigori, a type of angel whose job it is to protect humans from exiled angels who roam the Earth. These exiles want to take away the human right to free will. Free will is, after all, messy and complicated and we often just do the wrong things with it. Since she has free will of her own, Vi can decide whether or not she wants to "embrace" and accept this role. Which path will she choose?

Violet is a strong, independent woman. She is flawed, as well all are, and struggles with being headstrong. She also struggles with a past attack that has left her to develop a life motto: never run. She is in some ways Buffy for a new generation (although every generation should make sure and watch the original Buffy). Her supporting cast include a best friend named Steph, and we all wish we had a devoted best friend like Steph; Her dad, who is distant and occupied; And, well, a host of angels - literally. Some of whom are incredibly hot.

For years she has been training with Lincoln, whom she has a major crush on that is not returned - or is it? Lincoln appeared out of the blue one day into her life and they have spent the last few years training. Vi is a very physically active young lady, she rock climbs, runs, kick boxes and more. What she doesn't know is that Linc has in fact been training her for the day in which she will become a Grigori, which he also is. To say that all this new information complicates the relationship is an understatement.

Like any good paranormal romance, there is an interesting love triangle. Player three in this case is a mysterious man named Phoenix. As you read you wonder: Who is this man? What is his role in the great battle? What power does he have over Vi? Like Edward in the Twilight series, Phoenix is an open door to discussing healthy vs. unhealthy relationships (I call this the Bella Conundrum). If there was any part of the Violet Eden saga that left me unsure of what to say about this series, it was this. But in the end I think it is resolved in a way, at least in this first title in the series, that makes sense and is healthy and does not betray the strong character that Violet is. The chemistry on all sides of the triangle is explosive and the romantic tension is off the charts. Teen readers will swoon.

This series is an international bestseller, and for good reason. Paranormal is hot and this is an exciting, well developed entry into the field that will keep teens clamoring for the next titles, Enticed and Emblaze. After reading this title my dh asked me to call them and ask for the second book (I had to explain that was bad form, we do not do those things) and to be honest, I can't wait for more either. This should prove to be one of the hottest paranormal series of 2012.

Find out more at http://www.embracetheseries.com/
Highly recommended. Some mature content.

ALA Midwinter: The ARCs (April)

2012-02-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

Well, you probably thought I was never going to get back to it. And yet, here they are: a look at some of the titles coming your way in April. Hang on to your seat because there are a lot of them. Remember, these are just brief overviews to help you get an idea of what you want to look for not actual reviews (unless otherwise noted).

Belles by Jen Calonita

Front cover blurb: Two Southern girls. One life-changing secret.

Back cover blurb: "Jen Calonita keeps it fresh and funny!" - Meg Cabot, author of the Princess Diaries

First lines: Isabelle Scott kicked her legs, propelling herself to the ocean surface with a final burst of adrenaline even as her lungs screamed for air.

Jen Calonita is the author of the Secrets of My Hollywood Life series, so you know this is indeed going to be fresh and funny (who is going to argue with Meg Cabot?). Isabelle Scott is taken from living life on the boardwalk of North Carolina to live with a long-lost uncle, and his privileged Southern family, after tragedy strikes. Her and her cousin, Mirabelle Monroe, do not get along. But what happens when they find out that they aren't really cousins, but sisters?

Poison Most Vial: A mystery by Benedict Carey
Back cover blurb: Murder in the lab!
First lines: Squirming her shoulders like a penguin, head down under a spray of yellow hair, Ruby Rose pushed through the tangle of legs, arms, and backpacks at the door and tripped down the steps of DeWitt Lab School, annoyed about something but not sure what it was.

This year the SRC theme in Texas is mysteries, so I am looking high and low for new teen mysteries. It's harder then you would think in the sea of fantasy and paranormals that currently dominate the market. In this mystery, Ruby Rose's father is the prime suspect when a famous forensic scientist turns up stone-cold dead. Ruby Rose may be the only one who can clear his name. Benedict Carey is a science reporter for the New York Times and is the author of Island of the Unknowns, which made the TXLA Lone Star Reading List.

Dying to Know You by Aidan Chambers
Back cover blurb: From one of the most celebrated writers of young adult fiction comes an unforgettable novel of love, identity, and finding one's voice. With a node to Cyrano de Bergerac, the story follows the romance of Karl, a shy, likable plumber's assistant, and Florella, the just-out-of-reach girls he hopes to impress.
First lines: "Could I talk to you?"

Aidan Chambers is a multiple award winner, including the Michael L. Printz award for Postcards from No Man's Land. And just in time for National Poetry Month, there are some poems inside the novel. Fiorella is an aspiring writer and she asks Karl to bare his soul to her in letter form. Karl in turn convinces her favorite novelist to write the letter for him. Can the two of them ever come together?

13 Hangmen by Art Corriveau
Back cover blurb: Some people won't believe any of this story. You might be one of them. But every single word is true. Tony diMarco does catch a murderer, solve a mystery, and find a treasure - all in the first few days after he moves, unexpectedly, to 13 Hangmen's Court in Boston. The fact that he also turns thirteen at the same time is not a coincidence.
First lines: Tony DiMarco kicked his sneakers off at the backdoor mat, as usual. He flung his book bag onto the kitchen table, as usual. But he didn't raise the fridge for a slice of leftover cake as usual. It wasn't an as-usual kind of day.

Tony DiMarco inherits a townhouse in Boston with the stipulation that only he is allowed to inhabit the house's top floor. The house is not what they expect and to make matters even worse, he learns that someone was murdered in the very bed he is now sleeping in. The night before his 13th birthday he sets a baseball cap on a shelf, and wakes up in what appears to be 1939. In a mystery that spans several decades, Tony and Angelo search for a treasure hidden in the house while trying to avoid others who will stop at nothing to find it for themselves. This book should appeal to J and younger teens looking for a good mystery or interested in sports.

Son of a Gun by Anne de Graaf
Back cover blurb: I was crazy. Crazy mad. That's how I felt when I turned in my AK-47 rifle. The commanding officer's growl still haunts me: "This gun is your god. You listen to the voice of your god and go where your gun tells you."
First lines: Do you wonder who this boy is? This boy who is telling you this story? This boy is my brother.

In an opening piece, author Anne de Graff talks about the civil war in Liberia and how children are forced to fight in this war, being called upon to hurt others. She says that parts of this story will be hard to read just as they were hard to tell. This is the story of Lucky (8) and Nopi (10); they are kidnapped and made to become child soldiers in Liberia's 14-year-long civil war. This story is based on the true stories of former child soldiers interviewed by Anne de Graaf. This will be an important multicultural title to help tweens and teens understand what it is like to live in a country torn by civil war where children are forced to be soldiers.

Mister Death's Blue-Eyed Girls by Mary Downing Hahn
Back cover blurb: Tomorrow will be the last day of Nora's junior year. Nora heads for the party in the park, laughing and chatting with her friends, eager to leave her usual quiet, careful self behind. Other kids are drinking beer, flirting, pairing off, dancing. Even the hostile presence of a jealous ex-boyfriend can't spoiled the fun. In a few hours, though, Mister Death will make his move.
First lines: He opens his eyes. It's still dark, way before dawn. He'd willed himself to wake at 3 a.m., and he's done it. He hadn't dared to set the alarm. What if someone heard it go off? No, he and his brother must leave the house without anyone knowing. Not his family. Not the neighbors.

Mary Downing Hahn can always be counted on for an eerie ghost story; here she writes a novel inspired by true crime and "of the real-life ghosts who have haunted her for most of her life." This will be a must have.

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad
Back cover blurb: It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. But three ordinary teenagers are about to change that - and their lives - forever.
First lines: "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Mia Nomeland said, giving her parents an unenthusiastic look.

It seems like the opportunity of a life time. A chance, as a teenager, to go to the moon. But according to the back cover, there is something sinister waiting on the dark side of the moon and "no one is coming to save them." There are some eerie black and white pictures inside the book and great chapter titles like "silence" and "contact". And I love that it appears to be a straight Sci Fi book as opposed to fantasy (which I love also, it's just that the Sci Fi genre - like many other genres these days - is being pushed aside in favor of the fantasy/paranormal market).

Lyga also gets the award for best packaging - ever!

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

Back cover blurb: What if the world's worst serial killer . . . was your dad?

First lines: It was a beautiful day. It was a beautiful field. Except for the body.

Jazz is a likable teenager. He is also the son of one of the most prolific and notorious serial killers, now serving 32 consecutive life terms in prison for murdering more than 100 people. He taught Jazz everything he knows, conditioning him from a young age to take over the family business. Jazz is trying very hard to find another way, so when a body ends up in a field he knows it is a new serial killer and he wants to use everything his father taught him to help solve the crime. I have read the first 100 pages of this book and it is sooooooo good. Lyga really knows how to build characters and turn phrases and crank up the mystery. A twist is coming. This is a must read.

Side note - This title contains one of my favorite descriptions of a house:
The Dent house, a rickety colonial in a state of disrepair, sat along this drive like an afterthought, equisdistant between the McMansion and the main road. Everything about the house said, "Oh, that's right, now I remember . . ." as though the house were slowly forgetting itself into nonexistence . . . Right here in the very middle of Middle America, hell had been born and suckled and matured. (Page 61)

Racing California by Janet Nichols Lynch
Back cover blurb: What if you had a chance to race with the pros?
First lines: Ouch! I rise out of the saddle to stomp on the pedals and my quads scream in pain.

Evan has the chance to cycle in the Amgen Tour of California with a Tour de France winner. Janet Nichols Lynch began her writing career as a cycling journalist and is herself a cyclist so this should have tons of authentic action. And it is great to see a sports book on the ya market that looks at cycling.

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Back cover blurb: A bold plot leads an orphan on a terrible journey . . . to the brink of treason
First lines: If I had to do it all over again, I would not have chosen this life.

In a kingdom on the verge of civil war, a contest is held to find a young man to impersonate the king's son. All may not be what it seems in this fantasy adventure and Sage must discover the truth and save himself and his land.

The Storm Makers by Jennifer E. Smith
Back cover blurb: Enter the world of the Storm Makers, where there's magic behind every forecast.
First lines: Only Ruby knew about the stranger in the barn.

Strange storms keeping happening on the farm and a stranger comes and tell twins Ruby and Simon that Simon is a storm maker; he is part of a group of people who are entrusted with controlling the weather. Soon Simon is in grave danger as he tries to master his powers in time to stop a rogue Storm Maker's deadly plans. Storms and weather are a popular theme right now in J/Tween lit it seems so this will be a good title to add to the collection. Jennifer E. Smith is the author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and this title is geared to the upper end of the J/lower end of the YA market.

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart
Back cover blurb: Long before there was a Mysterious Benedict Society, there was a brilliant young boy named Nicholas Benedict
First lines: The train station at Pebbleton, dark and sooty though it was, glistened in the mist.

The Mysterious Benedict Society is a wildly popular mystery series, and rightfully so. Here young readers are invited to learn about the beginning of the society and the enigmatic Mr. Benedict himself. This is a must have. Pair it with one of my other favorite mysteries: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.

Next ARC preview: MayApril 2012

Teen Issues: Teens and Autism and Future Horizons

2012-02-08T06:33:00.000-08:00

As many of know, I am the aunt to 3 boys on the autism spectrum, one of whom is now officially a teenager. His life is very different from the teens we usually see in our libraries. He won't be coming to any library programs or telling you what he thinks about the books he reads. He communicates through a Dynavox. He bites himself when he becomes frustrated about his inability to communicate or if he become overstimulated. He likes to go for rides in the car and play on the computer. And like most young teens, he likes to ride his bike.

I don't know what the future holds for my nephews, but I know that current statistics indicate that 1 out of 110 kids are being diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. If you look at just boys, 1 out of 60 boys is on the spectrum. The library world, like the rest of the world, has started to take note of these statistics and really started to examine what they can do in their communities to reach out to teens on the spectrum, and their families. One of the ways we can reach out, of course, is by providing quality information. Meet Future Horizons.

http://www.fhautism.com/ You can request a free catalog

While at ALA Midwinter in Dallas, one of the publisher booths I stumbled upon was for Future Horizons. Future Horizons is the "world leader in publications and conferences on autism and Asperger's Syndrome since 1996" (catalog cover). They offer a wide variety of materials on autism and Asperger's, including materials on reading comprehension, social skills training, and help understanding the basics of spectrum disorders. They have a wide variety of people writing for them, from people on the spectrum themselves to educators and doctors who specialize in working with ASD individuals.

The President of Future Horizons is Mr. R. Wayne Gilpin and he is also the father of a young man on the spectrum named Alex. The Future Horizons objective is to "focus on the positive and the progress these special people can make." The emphasis in their materials is not on finding a "cure" (if there is one to be found), but upon helping us all see and empower these individuals in positive ways.

Some of the titles you may want to consider adding to your collection include:

Apps for Autism: An Essential Guide to Over 200 Effective Apps for Improving Communication, Behavior, Social Skills, and More! by Lois Jean Brady, M. A., CCC-SLP

Many people are finding that there are a wide variety of apps that can help individuals on the spectrum develop important skills and better communicate. This title helps to highlight some of those apps and cut down on the trail and error (and financial burden) of trying to find those apps.

Asperger's and Girls by Temple Grandin

The Way I See It by Temple Grandin

Dr. Temple Grandin is a recognized authority on life on the spectrum because she herself is indeed on the spectrum. She is also one of the world's leading experts in livestock facility design.

They also have titles on inclusive programming for Middle School and High School students with Autism/Asperger's Syndrome.

The catalog is divided into categories to help make collection development easy. The categories include diagnosis, sensory issues, family issues, behavior, social skills, education, and growing up for example. They also offer book bundles like the Asperger's Syndrome Package or the Dr. Temple Grandin Library. These packages include a variety of titles on the topic at a reduced price.

If you know anything about Autism and Asperger's, then you are familiar with the name Dr. Temple Grandin and I think it speaks volumes to the quality and integrity of this publishing house that this is who she chooses to write and publish with.

If you are not actively doing so, I hope that you will spend some time getting to understand Autism and Asperger's and seek out ways that you can reach out to those on the spectrum in your community. You can visit the Future Horizons website at http://www.fhautism.com/ to find out more about the resources and conferences that they offer. Please visit the Autism and Libraries page to learn more about the initiative to better serve the autism community in our libraries.

I have contacted Future Horizons and they were kind enough to set up an interview for me with J. D. Kraus, which will be coming soon. J. D. Kraus is the author of The Aspie Teen's Survival Guide. Kraus is a young man on the spectrum and he will be sharing with us some insight into living a life with Asperger's and some of the things libraries should know to better help understand and meet the needs of teens on the spectrum.

Please visit my previous posts about autism for more information on libraries and autism:
Teen Issues: Autism and Libraries
Guest Blog Post: On the Spectrum and @ Your Library

Teen Tech 12

2012-02-07T06:59:00.000-08:00

Teen Tech Week is coming (March 4 - 10)! Every year it seems to sneak up on me planning wise; We've just announced the big medal winners and are thinking about Valentine's Day and them - bam - it's Teen Tech Week. TTW is a great time to consider the role that technology plays in our programming. Teens like tech, but a lot of smaller libraries don't have the staff or the budgets to keep up with the latest technology and really incorporate them into our programming. In fact, it often seems that teens are way ahead of the curve when it comes to technology. Even my preteen got a Kindle ereader for Christmas (which she loves) but our library still doesn't offer any e-book services, which is true of a lot of libraries (although more and more are).

So what will you be doing this week - and this year - to incorporate the teen love of tech into your programming? Here are 12 ideas for you to consider doing in 2012. Have one of your own? Please share it in the comments. Read more for the TLT Teen Tech 12 . . .

1. Facebook Timeline
On February 10th everyone, like it or not, will have their FB pages goes over to the new Timeline format. There is a lot of information out there about how to "pimp" your Timeline and make it more uniquely your own. Spend some time getting familiar with the new Timelines so you can help your teens understand and use it. This is also a good time to talk with your teens about online privacy and safety issues. Have a small tech lab and invite teens to come play with the new Timeline and help them create unique covers for their pages.

PCMag.com: 12 Things you should know about Facebook Timeline
PCWorld: Facebook Timelines privacy tips: lock down your profile
Geek System: How to make your Timeline cover look extra awesome

2. Twitter Talk
Believe it or not, you can have some fun and interesting discussions on Twitter in only 140 characters a statement. Set a date, time, and topic and invite your teens to meet you online for some Twitter chat. It's even more fun if there is some type of big event - like a tv show premiere or awards show - that you can meet with your teens online and talk about. You can also hold a virtual book discussion group using Twitter. You'll want to create a hashtag that everyone includes in their tweets so that the topic is easy to follow. How to TweetChat info. Please note: this of course works with your Facebook page as well.

3. Prezi
Teach your teens to take their presentations up a notch. PowerPoint is so last year. Prezi is "the zooming presentation". It's fun and dynamic. Teens can create book talks, make library commercials and more for you as you teach them how to use this more dynamic presentation program.

4. QR Code Scavenger Hunt
You can download a QR code creator and have teens do a scavenger hunt through your library, their schools, or the entire town. Out of all the programming, this will be the most limiting becuase it is important for us to remember that not all teens have smart phones (or any type of cell phone). iLearn Technology has put together a great "How to" for those of you interested in this type of programming.

5. Figment
Figment is an online community that invites teens to share and critique their writings and the writings of other teens. They also have a daily writing prompt that would be great to get some writing and talking going. They have a wide variety of contests going on at all times that you can promote and invite your teens to tap into. You could have some more traditional writing workshops and then provide the opportunity for teens to submit their pieces on Figment.

6. Meme

Ashlee Kunkel shared on the TLT Facebook wall that she was going to be doing a library meme contest and was going to use her FB page to promote it. To make a long story short, a meme is an idea or statement that spreads and is imitated. You see them everyday: Honey badger, Ryan Goslins and his Hey Girl. A meme is a picture or statement that goes viral. Rickrolling is my favorite meme and I have a friend who will snap a pic when Rick Astley comes on the radio and text it to me. It's our thing. There are some online meme generators that teens can use to create their own. I love this idea, if they get a good meme that takes off, it can really be a win for the library in their community.

Created using Typoinsta

7. Digital Photography
Technology does not have to mean computers, social media or even the Internet. You can have some photography workshops (ask a local photographer to come help) and help teens learn some basics about digital photography. Or you can help teens learn to create and alter their images to be more creative. You can use free online photo editing software, like Picknik.com (which is sadly going away) or Gimp (download it for free), to create more unique images, play with colorizing, or add texts. In fact, teens can use their own photographs to create unique memes. And you know I have mentioned things like iPhone apps (WordFoto, Instagram, etc.) that can help you make fun images. Or setting up a photobooth. Or decorating your teen area. You can even have an online photo contest where teens submit pics online and everyone votes on a winner. And I am not even going to use this talking point to shamelessly plug The 2012 Project. Nope, I'm really not. But you can see how it would fit right here, right? Okay - carry on. (I am Hipstamtic and Instagram obsessed right now, just saying.)

Rookie: How to use Picnik without looking like a tool
Business Insider: 10 Things you never knew you could do with your Instagram photos after you take them

8. Virtual Battle of the Bands
When I moved to Texas the Arlington Public Library system was having a virtual battle of the bands, which is a great way to do some preliminary rounds until you get to, say, a final four, and you can have a rocking after hours or outdoors concert. Teens simply submit songs mp3s or videos that you can share online and give your teen patrons the opportunity to vote on. All you need to do is set up your BOTB parameters, deadlines, and promote, promote, promote. This structure would also work for things like teen created book trailers, art work, memes, and more.

9. Comic Creators
There are a variety of online sites that help teens create their own comics and comic strips. This is a great way to get your gn fans involved and promote your gn collection whil incorporating technology into your programming. There are online tools such as Pixton, Strip Creator, or ToonDoo. There are more out there so look around and find the one that works best for you.

10. Blog, Blog, Bloggity Blog
Help teens set up a blog! Most blogging platforms are free and easy to use. And blogging has benefits: teens get a forum to express themselves, be creative, practice writing skills and learn about protecting their online image. Encourage teens to blog about whatever they want and means something to them. Your TAB could blog about their library experiences, book discussion group members could blog about the books you are reading, etc. The opportunities are limitless.

11. Video Game Design

Many teens are into playing video games, you may have noticed. Get those creative juices flowing in your teens and ask them what kind of video game they would design? Shh, don't tell them - but they are in essence writing stories when they put together ideas for video games. They are creating unique worlds, rules of play, characters and more. They don't actually have to design the game, just outline what it would look like. And I am sure some of your teens will include some unique artwork to help make their visions more clear.

12. Future Tech
Teens are smart, creative people and many of them have ideas about what the next great app, device, or technology breakthrough may be. Some of the greatest science fiction writers speculated about the future and how technology would play a part (think I, Robot), so let's give our teens the opportunity to do the same. You can have a simple, straightforward short story or art contest which invites teens to imagine what the future of technology may be. Or you can get together a bunch of materials, think junked computer parts and recylced materials, and you can give them time to create the technology of the future. Then they can tell everyone what their device is, how it would work and how it will impact the future. It's like Project Fashion but Project Tech. Basically, you are inviting your teens to be Heinz Doofenschmirtz from Phineas and Ferb and create their own "inator".

If you have more great tech programming ideas, please share them in the comments. If you have a program or idea that goes incredibly well for you, please consider sharing it with us here at TLT as a guess blog post so that other librarians can see and do. And don't forget to submit your Teen Tech Week pics as a part of The 2012 Project. You didn't really think I wouldn't mention it, did you?

Book Review: The Downside of Being Charlie by Jenny Torres Sanchez

2012-02-06T05:35:00.000-08:00

Jenny Torres Sanchez at ALA Midwinter in Dallas

Ser en dip i ty - [noun] the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

Occasionally, the universe comes together in a moment of total serendipity. At ALA Midwinter I stumbled upon a booth that was setting up to have an author signing for a debut ya author. That author was Jenny Torres Sanchez. I was there first in line and Jenny was kind enough to take a moment to talk to me while they were setting up (she's very nice). I was there handing out cards and posters trying to promote The 2012 Project and she mentioned that the main character in her novel, Charlie, uses photography to help deal with the things happening in his life. I kinda mentioned maybe we could do a tie-in project since both of our projects involved photography and she said sure and . . . well, I am being bold this year so I contacted her via e-mail and she very graciously said yes, she would love to work with me to promote The 2012 Project. Then I had a moment of panic and thought: I better read this book, what if I hate it? So, thankfully, I am here to tell you that The Downside of Being Charlie by Jenny Torres Sanchez is a really well written, thought provoking contemporary ya novel that reminds me of one of my favorite authors, Chris Crutcher.

Back cover blurb: How do you rise above when you've always been left behind?

Charlie Grisner has just returned from fat camp and is about to start his senior year of high school. His mother has disappeared, again, and there is a deep chasm between him and his father full of unspoken things. Despite being a slimmer version of himself, most of the people at school are still calling him "Chunks". And this year he lost the locker lottery and has to share with school pariah, Tanya Bate. He kinda, sorta has a thing going with Charlotte Vanderkleaton, but it is so confusing it is driving him to the brink - which in his case isn't far. In fact, the only real bright spot in Charlie's life is his spastic best friend, Ahmed, a Rat Pack obsessed daddy-o who at least drives a car; an embarrassing car, but it's still a car.

First lines: I don't know how you can see something before it's actually there, but you can. I guess it's the signs, right? Like little pieces of a gigantic invisible puzzle, all coming together, but you don't see what you're supposed to see, don't know what there is to know, until they're all attached and you step back to look at it. And then you think, I should have known. But the thing is, you already did.

As the novel progresses, Charlie develops an eating disorder (bulimia) and his mother attempts suicide. You wouldn't think that so much could go wrong in one teens life and yet, as those of us who work with teens know, many teens are in fact living emotionally complex lives and they are barely making it through each day. Thankfully, Jenny writes with wit and insight to help you along the journey that is The Downside of Being Charlie.

Charlie is a likable main character that readers will feel empathy for. At one point I was so angry with Jenny for what she was putting poor Charlie through; I just wanted there to be a light at the end of his tunnel. Although there may (or may not) be that proverbial light at the end, Charlie matures and gains some self awareness that really leaves you with a sense of hope for Charlie. And along the way Charlie and this cohort of characters offer some meaningful discussion about the main themes that teens grapple with: identity, bullying, self acceptance, independence, etc.

Like the works of Chris Crutcher and other contemporary YA authors, Charlie is a relatable and discussable read. And like those authors, Sanchez creates realistic teen characters, which in this case includes some harsh (though authentic) language and one bullying incident that involves marijuana. This is a great debut novel and I look forward to reading more by Sanchez; she really captured the lives of teens and wrote a story that is compelling and moving. She used to be a high school teacher which really shows in her writing - she gets teens.

I love the way Sanchez incorporated photography into this work. Charlie is a photography student and is given the assignment to create a portfolio. How Charlie does this becomes the final part of the book and it is a great use of art in a work of fiction. Throughout the book the idea of bringing things into focus is used to organize the elements. It becomes a good unifying device and a great example of how teens use art every day to express themselves.

The ya market has beend dominated by fantasy and paranormal romance these last few years (which I don't mind at all), but this year it seems like there is a real renaissance of the cotenmporary ya novel. The year kicked off with the wonderful The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and I believe this will be one of those contemporary novels that will be a part of the renaissance. Fans of Chris Crutcher, Sarah Dessen and John Green will appreciate The Downside of Being Charlie. Highly recommended.

What they are saying on the Internet: "Realistically edgy and humorously dysfunctional". I agree wholeheartedly.

She was right, this novel is a good tie in for The 2012 Project. Join us in April as we offer you the opportunity to join The 2012 Project and make a statement for teens and libraries while giving you the chance to win an amazing Book Club Kit for your school or public library. This Book Club Kit will include 20 copies of The Downside of Being Charlie, a Skype visit with Jenny Torres Sanchez so that your teens can talk to a debut author and learn about her journey in getting published, and some other swag that Jenny says she is going to throw in. More details will be coming as we get closer to April. The contest will run through the month of April and the school or public library that submits the most 2012 Project pics will win this amazing Book Club Kit.

You can learn more about Jenny Torres Sanchez at her website, http://www.jennytorressanchez.com/.
Sanchez writes a letter to her teenage self as a part of the Dear Teen Me project which you can read here. And keep looking here for updates, an author Q&A and more.

A Super Challenge for Super Teen Librarians on Superbowl Sunday

2012-02-05T06:10:00.000-08:00

You are a super teen librarian: Super passionate! Super motivated! Super dedicated! And a super reader! So let your teens know.

Send in a pic of yourself reading your favorite book in your teen space for a special Super Teen Librarians poster for The 2012 Project. Bonus points if you wear a super hero outfit.

As with the regular project pics, no names or locations will be used - but your teens will recognize you and your space. You can share on Twitter (@tlt16, #the2012project), the TLT Facebook wall, or e-mail me your pic at kjensenmls@yahoo.com.

Let's show teens that their teen librarians care!
I will be collecting pics of Super Teen Librarians through the month of February and you will be entered to win a $20.00 Amazon gift card. In March I will put together our Super Teen Librarians poster.

But wait, there's more . . .

APRIL

In April, the school or public library that submits the MOST 2012 Project pics will win an awesome book club kit of the debut novel The Downside of Being Charlie by Jenny Torres Sanchez. This book club kit will include 20 copies of the book, a Skype author visit, and some swag. The Downside of Being Charlie is the debut work of Jenny Torres Sanchez and is contemporary fiction that deals with parents with mental health issues, abandonment, suicide, boys with eating disorders, and how one young man uses photography to help learn how to ask for help. Think Chris Crutcher, that is who this novel brought to mind - and I'm a big Crutcher fan. I will be telling you more about this novel and author soon so keep watching here for updates.

OCTOBER

In October, we are are having a special zombie themed The 2012 Project contest. I know many of you do zombie themed programs, so take pics of your teen zombies reading and enter them to win a signed copy of the Rot & Ruin series by Jonathan Maberry.

Other contests may be announced throughout the year.

TLT would like to give a very special thanks to authors Jenny Torres Sanchez and Jonathan Maberry for their support of teens and teen librarians everywhere, and The 2012 Project.

Book Review: Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

2012-02-03T06:13:00.000-08:00

In a world taken by storm by vicious, flesh-eating, decaying zombies, only a few places of civilization dot the earth. Rules and common decencies of the world before are next to nonexistent. It’s a do or die world for most.

Benny Imura has just turned fifteen. Living in the dilapidated town of Mountainside , fifteen means get a job. No job, no rations. He’s tried everything, from locksmith to fence tester. None of which has held his interest. Looks like his only option is to join the family business.

Benny’s brother, Tom Imura, has the unique occupation of zombie killer. Among others, he is one of the most experienced and respected in the field. That is, to everyone other than Benny himself. Benny thinks he’s a coward, made soft by the “mercy killings” of the town’s once living loved ones. But Benny has no choice. Even in a world of zombies, there are rules.

The Rot & Ruin is a mysterious place. Famous zombies. Prestigious Zombie killers. Even legends of a lost girl, trapped in the clutches of the Rot and Ruin. But it’s not only mysterious, it’s a predator’s playground. It’s not only the dead against the living. Vicious animals run wild outside the protective gates of Mountainside, as well as other zombie killers whose complete lack of empathy sets them apart from Tom, making them sinister and deadly if crossed. Danger lurks in every corner, just waiting for prey.

It’s a tale of family and friendship mixed up in a messed up world. Will they survive the Rot and Ruin? Will Benny ever learn to love his brother? And are the legends of the Lost Girl really only legends? Only time, along with blood, sweat, and fear will tell as Benny ventures out into the Ruin.

This book…there are so many things I can say about it. One thing I have to say, is this is a MUST read. I’m serious. Go out right now, pick up a copy, and DON”T put it down till you’re done. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You’ll even gasp a little. This book has so many savory twists and turns, you very well may go into depression from finishing it…Maybe not, but I certainly was sad when I finished it. Thankfully, it’s got a sequel.

Jonathan Maberry has outdone himself. An author not new to the flesh-eating genre, dishes out an adrenaline pumping novel that you can really sink your, rotten, decaying, teeth into. Most definitely satisfying any undead’s craving for a good brain…er…I mean book. Ba-dum-pshh.

The author does a magnificent job in relaying the lives of young people during a zombie apocalypse. I haven’t seen many others who take account what the kids are thinking when grandma’s bustin’ down your door trying to eat you, but Mr. Maberry definitely has delivered in the area.

His descriptions are colorful. His words are enticing. His novel is magnificent. Most definitely going in my top 10 favorites. I would highly recommend this to any brain-munching enthusiast!

Cuyler, age 18

A second opinion: It's easy to look at the concept of the zombie and say, but they're monsters. Rot & Ruin takes a closer look at the human condition in a post apocalyptic world and makes you ask: who are the monsters, really? How do we re-organize our world when everything has fallen apart, the population is cut in more than half, and the normal rules of society are suddenly thrown out the window? One of the things that zombie fiction does well is challenge our views of who we are and who we would become in the face of utmost adversity, and no one does that better than Jonathan Maberry. Rot & Ruin presents a well developed post apocalyptic vision that hooks you right from the first words and keeps you invested every step of the way. Benny, Tom and their friends are well developed characters that readers care about. And, of course, there is plenty of thrilling zombie action. If you don't already have it in your collection, you'll want to add it asap. - TLT

Want to know more about Zombie fiction? Read the previous post, What's the Deal with Zombies Anyway?, or check out They Suck, They Bite, They Eat, They Kill by Dr. Joni Richards Bodart.

Meet Cuyler, our new teen reviewer here at TLT . . .

Cuyler Creech is a teen author who lives in Weatherford, TX. He loves to read, spend time with his family and friends, and most of all, he loves to write. Cuyler is 18, and has been writing for many years. He's also a published author of one novel (not in print anymore) and focuses primarily on young adult fiction. His favorite books are dystopians and horrors, and his favorite time to read is during thunderstorms. He is the oldest of three siblings, one who is diagnosed with Down Syndrome and Autism, and is going to college to become a Pediatric Occupational Therapist.

Book Review: The Catastrophic History of You & Me by Jess Rothenberg

2012-02-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

Back cover blurb: Brie's life ends at sixteen. Her boyfriend tells her he doesn't love her, and the news breaks her heart - literally.

First line: There's always that one guy that gets a hold on you.

"Gorgeous, funny and heartbreaking." - Lauren Oliver cover blurb

Teen Librarian Heather Booth posted on the TLT Facebook wall that "I cried and cried! But it was a GOOD cry."

At the beginning of The Catastrophic History, Jacob tells Brie that he doesn't love her. The x-rays show that her heart seems to have literally broken. In the story telling device made popular in The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, Brie narrates this tale from the afterlife. She goes to her funeral, visits her family and friends, eats a lot of pizza (there is pizza in the afterlife), and learns that love is more complicated then she could ever have imagined.

When Brie arrives in heaven, she meets a young man named Patrick who says he is there to help guide her through the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, sadness, and acceptance. As Brie moves through each stage, the story takes some interesting twists and turns. It went in directions that I was not expecting at all and that made the story that much more interesting. Along the way Brie faces a wide variety of emotions and meets some interesting characters. In the midst of despair in the middle of the story, Brie becomes a selfish, unlikable character - think Harry Potter in the middle volumes of the HP saga; but, as the story progresses, Brie finds ways to right some wrongs and makes an amazing self discovery.

The beginning of CHY&M was a slow read, the reader spends a lot of time getting to know Brie and Brie spends a lot of time sitting in a pizza parlor reflecting. The slower intro is saved by Rothenberg's ability to turn some witty phrases and the great interplay between Brie and Patrick. It is when Brie steps out of the pizza parlor that the story begins to pick up its pace and the reader begins to be truly invested. As Brie begins to visit her family and friends, she sees things - some of which may or may not be what they seem - and takes a roller coaster ride of emotions and self discovery. At one point she meets up with a fellow dead girl, Larkin, who offers to take her necklace (i.e. her soul) in exchange for the opportunity to relive one day of her life. Will she use this opportunity to right a wrong and help save the very young man who broke her heart? This part of the story was dark and kept me on the edge of my seat.

CHY&M is a journey of self discovery, but it is also a paranormal romance with a very interesting twist (which I will not spoil). Things are not always what they seem. People are not always who you think they are. And in the end, maybe true love prevails.

This is Jess Rothenberg's debut novel and she writes with wit, snark and touching humor; overall she does a good job of capturing the teen voice and the angst of a broken heart. I loved Hamloaf (the dog) and what he brought to the story. This title will move off the shelves for you and teen girls everywhere will be wanting to read it. Me, My Shelf and I proclaims that this will be one of the biggest books in 2012 in their review. I think that the genre is incredibly popular (!) and this is a good addition so you'll definitely want to add it to your collection.

As a side note, CHY&M comes with its own built in playlist: every chapter title is a song lyric. Don't know what I'm talking about? Check out my earlier post about book playlists.

Putting the "Teen" in Your Teen Space

2012-02-02T05:16:00.000-08:00

I'm a big fan of teen buy in. When teens feel that they are a part of your teen programming, including your teen spaces, they are invested. Invested means they are more likely to take care of the space because it is now their space. Invested means they feel welcomed and invited, which is how we want them to feel. So how can we help teens become a part of our library teen space? By getting them involved in decorating the space.

This is the artwork of Tim James, a former teen patron and now employee at The Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County in Ohio. He is 17, and obtained a G.E.D. this summer after having been home-educated. He became involved in the library initially because of our Anime Club. We had an Anime Art Contest which he won and then he did some graphics for the teen section of the website as a volunteer. Last summer he applied for a job at the library and now works here 18 hours a week doing mostly technology related work. We have a large amount of digital signage now and he uses a program called "Flypaper" to create much of the content for us. He also helps with Anime Club, Video Game Club, Teen Advisory Group, selection of video games for circulation, selection of Anime for circulation, some graphic design and will be teaching teens a class on the photo editor Gimp (like a free version of Photoshop) for Teen Tech Week in March. Teens have a tremendous amount of talent, we should be giving them a platform to share it.

At the most basic level, if money is tight and you want to get something up ASAP, you can simply take pictures of your teens in your teen area and at your programs and use them to decorate the walsl. If you have a camera (or a camera phone) and a color printer, you have everything you need. You can do straightforward pics or use things like Wordfoto, PhotoBooth and Diptic (all iPhone apps) to create more unique photos. You can also use the free online program Picnik (sadly soon to be going away) or Gimp (very complicated) to manipulate your photos and give them that little something extra.

You can upload photos to make collages or include teen pics in your homemade RA posters. Don't just tell them the library is fun - show them! Make a visual statement to an audience that is very visually oriented.

Use your teens to make fun end cap signage (WordFoto)

Have your teens write poetry and create artwork similar to the signs that are so popular right now in various stores

You can use a variety of tools, including the Comic Book app, to create GN looking posters with your teens

You can use your teens - or have them create them - to make bookmarks

But, you don't have to do all the work yourself. You can get teens involved in creating art for your teen space. They can do any of the projects above or you can allow them to create art on their own and simply display it in your teen area. There are a variety of ways you can display artwork in your teen area at little cost.

At the most basic level, you can use wood strips and clips to create an easy to change out display space.

http://www.pigskinsandpigtails.com/2011/08/displaying-kids-artwork/

At a slightly greater cost, you can create a display space that packs more visual punch using a wide variety of clip boards.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/clipboards-as-wall-display-ins-158629

Or you could take it up another notch (in both cost and time) and have teens create original tiles to make mosaic table tops or benches. Many towns now have places where you can paint your own ceramics and they fire them in the Kiln for you; contact yours to see if they will work with you at a reasonable price.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/clipboards-as-wall-display-ins-158629

If you are really daring, you can allow the teens to paint a mural.

Whatever situation you are in, you can find creative ways to utilize and nurture your teens creative talents and make your teen space rock!

TPIB: Live Angry Birds (by Heather Booth)

2012-02-01T06:14:00.000-08:00

When I couldn’t get that jaunty little tune out of my head and everyone around me, from my preschooler to my mom were playing Angry Birds, I knew it was a program whose time had come. Pinterest, my go-to spot for browsing and brainstorming, had led me to a few different ways of incorporating Angry Birds into a library program. A crafty idea seemed like a good fit for the teens that have been frequenting my programs – mostly middle schoolers, mostly girls, mostly full of a fun energy and an interest in both making and doing things at the programs. But I thought it might not be quite enough, might not pack quite a big enough punch to draw in new teens and appeal to those guys that hang out every day after school but still avoid eye contact with me. Then I stumbled upon a very cool, very large scale live version and the wheels began to turn. I clearly couldn’t go that big in the library in the middle of January – we’re stuck in a basement meeting room after all – but holy cow – projectiles and semi controlled chaos? Those guys reading Thrasher in the corner would be all about that!

I requested $30 from the Friends of the Library for supplies, set a date for an afterschool time slot, and started planning. This program would also be doable without any funds at all, but it might take a bit more scavenging.

Supplies

The bricks were the easy part. I brought cardboard blocks from home, but if you or your library don’t have any, you might solicit local preschools, or friends with young kids for a loan. And chances are, there’s someone in your area whose kids have outgrown them and would love to Freecycle them out of their basement. After a few experimental towers, I realized that though the cardboard blocks were handy, they didn’t quite pack the punch or have the right scale for a teenaged body. I brought in boxes in a variety of sizes and shapes, as well as some flat sheets of cardboard that could be used in the structures. As I gathered more boxes, I decided this is the perfect post-holiday program as everyone has gobs of boxes that they want out of the house, so cash in on that free source of “bricks” for your towers!

For the “birds”, I used a number of balls, all purchased at a toy store for under $12 total. If you have balls on hand – red playground style and blue racquetballs in particular – the cost of this program drops significantly! Green balloons would be the pigs, and the teens would decorate them with sharpies.

But the balls on their own weren’t complete until I used clear packing tape to attach faces from these printable templates. Just reduce the blue face down to the right size. I think I reduced mine by 50%. Standard packing tape is enough to secure the faces onto the balls for one afternoon.

At this point, I was stuck, like an angry little red bird that can’t quite hit her mark. How to fling the balls at the towers? Throwing just seemed too easy. Could I build a slingshot? A catapult? It seemed risky, and time consuming in those precious after work hours, and I have three year old TV to Netflix and brand new books to read! I needed something simpler. We experimented with a basket attached to an exercise band at home, but the results fell short – literally. The solution came to me while browsing www.RecordSetter.com, a crazy fun site that’s been an inspiration for past programs. There I spotted this video which provided the answer. The kids would work together to fling the balls using a beach towel held between two people. Teamwork FTW!

Now the event started shaping up. If two kids were the “flingers,” another could be a spotter/leader and a fourth could be the documenter and take photos or video of the event. So that accounts for ¼ of the kids registered. Huh.

I went back to my original inspiration and took some tips from a librarian who did a similar program recently and who kindly lent her advice after I found her event online. (Love those Evanced calendars for that handy contact link!) I decided to add the cute little yarn pom-pom Angry Birds back in. Thank goodness I still had a little money left for yarn and googley eyes.

Room Prep

I have found that the more structured the setup is when the kids walk into the room, the more control I later have over the event. If I provide instructions and everything they need all measured out and right where they are sitting, they tend to stick to the plan a little more closely than when I have a central table where they can grab what they need and get creative. My gingerbread house decorating program was a central table grab style program. This one? Where I’m encouraging projectiles and a wee bit of chaos? Structure.

Half of the room is open for the building and flinging, half had tables and chairs for the crafty portion. One table had paper cups, rubber bands, and craft sticks for building mini bird flinging structures. Each other table was set with four chairs and all of the supplies needed to make the pom-pom birds.

Here’s what was on the tables:

Four of each: Red and green yarn cut in 1-2 yard pieces

A cup with googley eyes

A bottle of Tacky Glue

Four pairs of scissors

Four 6” or so pieces of black yarn for eyebrows

Four small strips of orange paper for beaks

Four copies of page one of this pom-pom template

Four half sheets of cardstock

Four golf pencils

For the large scale birds, one table had balloons and markers for pig making and decorating, and the rest of the room was open, with the bricks stacked against the wall.

Each table of teens was a team, and one team at a time was given the “field” to build and bird bomb their structures. I had intended for them to rotate, one team building a structure and the next knocking it down, but things moved fast and they were more than happy to destroy what they had just created, so we went with the flow.

The teams that were not building hung out at their tables and made pom-pom birds. Even the table full of guys that had asked me, upon seeing the craft setup, “Aw, so do we have to make that before we can throw the balls?” got into it to the point of swapping tips on the best sized paper template rings to use to get the right shaped bird.

We had a great time! A reporter from the local newspaper came and took video, I had a chance to talk up some future programs, the teens had a chance to shake off some mid-winter cabin fever, and I finally got those Thrasher readers down into the meeting room.

Next time I would…

Pre-cut the pom-pom templates. Too much variation in sizes made it difficult for some teens to get their birds the right size and shape, and some simple mishaps forced some teens to start over completely.

Adjust the orientation of the towers. Most teams set it up like the game is played, but it was much more fun, with more dramatic results, when the tower was perpendicular to the throwing area.

Allow myself an extra 15 minutes for cleanup. The program ran from 3:30-5, but I really needed about 30 minutes to pick everything up and put away before heading for home.

Not stress so much! Sheesh, youd’ve thought I was staging a Civil War Reenactment. It was so much fun, and I should have trusted in the teens that they’d carry it through well.

Final observations

I was struck by how much the teens enjoyed playing. They give us this oh-so-hip face as the walk past the desk, but given the right environment and the permission to let loose, the kids in these kids really shines through. At one point, I saw those Thrasher guys crawling into and hiding in the boxes --- exactly the way my 2 and 4 year old and their friends would have played! The interest in crafting still surprises me sometimes. That the guys liked that portion just as much as the girls has me rethinking my future crafty offerings. I think there is something really appealing about making something tangible and a little bit frivolous that crosses gender lines. Playing and creating are great examples of the way the Library can nurture the whole person. We can offer resources to help them succeed in school and excel at their hobbies, but we can also give them a space to let them breathe and be around friends, fiction that takes the away to another place, and opportunities that allow them to smile and relax and get in touch with their fun sides so that they can focus better on the heady task of growing up.

Get in touch with me if you do this program, or one similar to it. I’d love to hear how it goes for you!

Heather Booth is the (wicked cool) Teen Librarian at Thomas Ford Memorial Library. She is also the author of Serving Teens Through Reader's Advisory (ALA Editions, 2007). Heather also started the Teen Programming in Libraries (a collaborative board) on Pinterest. You'll want to check there for more great teen programming ideas.

Book Review: BZRK by Michael Grant

2012-01-31T06:16:00.000-08:00

Front Cover Blurb: In this war, there are only two outcomes: victory or madness

A young man sits in a room in a mental hospital, occasionally he will utter a few words, including the word berserk, over and over again. His brother, Noah, can't believe what has happened to him - and so quickly.

A young lady, Sadie, looks at her watch in a stadium as she wonders when the longest date ever will end. In one of the most jaw dropping action scenes I have read in a while, Sadie sits while an airplane crashes onto the field and kills almost everyone in attendance. Sadie survives, but this is the catalyst that changes her life forever.

They both are about to go berserk.

Noah and Sadie are drawn into an unseen war that is happening everyday right around us. That man you see sitting on the park bench staring into space - he may be a part of it. Those teenagers you think are playing video games - they may be a part of it it. There are two sides to this war. One side is fighting for your freedom; for the right for mankind to think and feel and for each person to make their own decisions. Yes, those rights are messy and we seem to keep screwing everything up by making the wrong decisions - but would you want that right taken away from you? The other side now has the technology to rewire your brain and create a hive mind to create a peaceful society. This war is being fought right in front of you, on the nano level, and the stakes are high.

BZRK by Michael Grant is science fiction at its best; it looks at emerging technologies and makes us think about the implications they may present. We may have the means to create peace, but does the end justify the means? Is freedom something worth fighting for, even when that means that people will continue to make wrong choices?

In this war, there are two competing types of technology: nanobots and biots. Biots are an advance in nanotechnology in that some dna material from the controlling individual are used to grow the biots. The biots then become an extension of the self. When something happens to the biots, its "parent" can slip into madness. Once you sign up for this war, there is no turning back. There is no out. The nano technology presents some good discussion of science as the reader "sees" into parts of the human body on a level that we haven't before. Humans, it turns out, are their own unique ecosystems teeming with various forms of life that we host. I found this part of the discussion incredibly fascinating.

There are a wide variety of characters in this war, including older teens Noah (who takes the codename Keats) and Sadie (who takes the codename Plath). They both have lost loved ones to the war and are looking for answers - and revenge. In addition to a wide variety of other characters, BZRK has one of the most amazingly fantastic (and creepy) bad guys. Ever. I am not even going to spoil that one for you.

Overall this was an excellent and interesting sci fi thriller that pleases. It is challenging at first to learn some of the lingo unique to this verse (there is a handy guide in the back of the book) and to keep the various characters straight, especially since some of them adopt codenames. Also, since this work contains such a wide variety of characters - some of whom are adults - it shifts in tone and that shift can sometimes take you out of the story for a moment. That shift also makes it harder for the reader to build relationships with any of the characters, but this is not a character driven work. Librarians will also want to be aware that there is some adult content. This read is definitely for older teens as it is a sophisticated and challenging read, but ultimately satisfying.

BZRK has some of the most amazing action scenes and as a thriller it does indeed thrill. It does, however, pose some serious questions along the way that will provide thought for some good discussions regarding science and ethics, free will, etc. One of the underlying conflict themes is that the ends justify the means. BZRK takes some of the same questions that we ask in today's popular dystopian novels and makes them more real by putting them in the here and the now. It becomes less speculative and more urgent: what if we could use nanotechnology and create a Utopian society, should we? At what cost? And who gets to decide?

BZRK is also an excellent example of the emerging transmedia trend. You don't just read the book, you can experience it online. There is even an app. You'll want to explore gobzrk.

Michael Grant is the author of the popular Gone series and fans will not be disappointed. You will also want to recommend this to fans of Michael Crichton and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card or readers looking for some good old fashioned science fiction and technological thrillers. This will also be a good readalike for those interested in books about video gaming. And, although it is not dystopian, dystopian fans should like it because it is similar in theme (but lacks some of the character development). Highly recommended.

For a look at my thoughts while reading the book, check out this earlier post.
For more information on transmedia, check out the Digital Shift, School Library Journal and Publisher's Weekly.
Michael Grant discusses BZRK in Wired

ALA Midwinter Highlights, The ARCs (March 2012)

2012-01-30T07:12:00.000-08:00

Although ARCs (advanced reader's copies) are not the main point of ALA (there is so much to see and learn there, see my previous post), it is interesting to get a look firsthand at some of the books being released in the upcoming year for teens. Many of us are operating on limited budgets (I know I am) and need to make every dollar spent count. We are looking for popular but well written titles that will get teens reading and keep them coming back for more. We are also looking to develop a balanced collection that meets the very wide variety of needs and interests out there. Here is a look at some of the books set for March 2012 release dates that I learned about at ALA. This does not, in any way, cover all the titles coming to you in March, and I will be reviewing some of the titles more fully for you throughout the course of the year.

March 2012

Me, and Earl, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Back cover blurb: "A Funny, Profane, Heartbreaking Debut Novel" - You, hopefully
First lines: So in order to understand everything that happened, you have to start from the premise that high school sucks.
In just a brief overview, I can tell you that this title is witty and clever. It includes a note from the author that says, "I have no idea how to write this stupid book." And that first line is indeed a grabber, and a premise that is hard to argue with. Although I only browsed through this title, it is clever and witty and is fun. The dying girl mentioned is a senior with cancer, so it will be interesting to see what kind of reception this book gets in the year of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I will definitely be reading this one.

Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby

Cover blurb: "A discovery, a rare bird, a Book You Want to Tell Everyone About. Everyone: Read Wonder Show and pass it on." - Laini Taylor

First lines: Wayward can mean a lot of things. It can mean lost, misled, unfortunate, left behind. That is the way the girls at The Home thought of themselves, despite their best efforts to live some other way.

Portia joins at traveling freakshow to escape Mister, who said he would always find Portia. I love the back cover description of this book:

Oh, it's not for the faint-of-heart folks. If you're prone to nightmares or you've a weak ticker, you'd best move on. Within these pages lies a tale of abandonment, loss, misfortune for the rich, and glory for the poor (and a little murder doesn't hurt). It's a story for the ages, but be warned: once you enter the Wonder Show, you will never be the same.

This title has an eye-catching cover and the back cover is sure to draw readers in. And who can argue with Laini Taylor?

Traitor's Son (The Raven Duet, book 2) by Hilari Bell
Cover blurb: When Jason catches the small bag that a girl throws to him at the Canadian/Alaska bordering during a gun fight. all he can this is the bag must contain drugs. But if the small, brown powder is some sort of illegal substance, it's certainly nothing he's ever seen.
First lines: Raven felt the change in the catalyst the moment the pouch left the girl's hand, so sharply that he feared she'd died.
It's hard to imagine going wrong with Hilari Bell, and if you already have book 1 and it circulates for you then you will definitely want book 2.

Chomp by Carl Hiaasen
Back cover blurb: Wahoo Cray's life is a zoo - literally.
First lines: Mickey Cray has been out of work ever since a dead iguana fell from a palm tree and hit him on the head.
Honestly, how can you go wrong with Carl Hiaasen? I feel like that is all I need to say here. But I will give you more . . . Chomp is the tale of Wahoo, the son of Mickey Cray, professional animal wrangle. The two of them set off to the Everglades to film a show called Expedition Survival where they are joined by Tuna, a girl who is sporting a shiner courtesy of her dad. Will any of them survive this Everglade adventure? Hiaasen can always be counted on for warm and witty with lots of animal adventures thrown in and you'll probably by this title based on name recognition alone.

One Dog and His Boy by Eva Ibbotson
Cover blurb: All Hal had ever wanted was a dog . . .
First lines: All Hal had ever wanted was a dog.
This book is really for the tween market; the main character is Hal, who is ten years old. There is not a lot of information on the back cover (the cover blurb is it), but the first few pages were a nice easy read and will probably fit the bill for kids loving for animal stories. Eva Ibbotson is a New York Times bestselling author.

The Paradise Trap by Catherine Jinks
Back cover blurb: Open a door . . . into the paradise trap!
First lines: Marcus didn't want to spend his summer vacation at the beach. He wasn't a beach person.
Catherine Jinks is the author of Evil Genius, which is a good read, and The Reformed Vampire Support Group. Here she weaves another tale that is dark and twisted. When his parents buy a trailer, Marcus knows it will be a horrible vacation. But when Marcus opens a door in the basement, he finds a door to a land that may be his most amazing dream, or his worst nightmare. If you are familiar with Catherine Jinks work you know that she does dark and edgy with a sarcastic twist with excellence. If you are not familiar with Catherine Jink - well, why not? But seriously, this has a good premise and should be a fun, adventurous read. The cover picture skews younger ya.

The Fairy Ring: or Elsi and Frances Fool the World (a true story) by Mary Losure

Back cover blurb: This is a true story about Frances, age nine, who saw fairies by the waterfall behind her house.

First lines: For as long as she could remember, Frances's parents had told her stories about England. But when she got there, the real England wasn't like the stories at all.

In 1917, two young girls took pictures claiming to have seen fairies. These photographs, known as the Cottingly fairies, are considered one of the world's greatest hoaxes. These photographs captured the attention of the world, including the famous author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Here, Mary Losure looks at a variety of real world sources, including some primary sources, to tell the tale from the two young girls point of view. This is delightful nonfiction; easy to read, tells a story that will interest a variety of reader's from a variety of angles, and definitely is a currently popular topic - fairies are everywhere. There are some photos scanned into the book, including the very fairy photos themselves. This book should be popular and fly off the shelves.

Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner
Back cover blurb: In this fast-paced dystopian adventure, kids must find a way to stop killer tornadoes.
First lines: There are no words to describe this sound.
This is a unique twist on the dystopian novels that adds killer storms into the mix; there is a definite interest in storms and natural disasters among tweens and young teens in some of the popular fiction being released lately - think the Storm Runners series for example. In this future, the world is being torn apart by storms and Jaden Meggs is sent to live with her father for the summer. His research is part of the plan to help protect the future, but Jaden learns a terrible secret about his research. As a huge tornado approaches their safe haven, Jaden must decide what she is going to do with the knowledge that she has and whether or not she can stand up to her father. There is a definite emphasis on science and Jaden is presented as a young girl with a strong passion and mind for science, that always makes a book a plus.

Dead is a Battlefield by Marlene Perez
Back cover blurb: A favorite series is back - with a brand new heroine who can kick butt.
First lines: I took a deep breath before I pushed open the door of Slim's Diner.
Jessica Walsh just wants to have a normal high school experience, but if you know about Nightshade you know that is probably not going to happen. For starters, the new guy at school doesn't just make girls swoon, he seems to turn them into zombies. She also is sporting a wicked new tattoo - that suddenly appeared without her consent - that alerts her to trouble. Is Jessica supposed to be Nightshade's newest hero? This is a fun series and the newest entry shouldn't disappoint. They have fabulous eye-catching covers that definitely maintain a consistent brand and appeal to teen readers.

Embrace by Jessica Shirvington
Back cover blurb: It starts with a whisper. "It's time for you to know who you are . . ."
First lines: Birthdays aren't my thing.
Violet Eden is having a very bad 17th birthday the back cover says. When she dreams, she wakes up with real injuries. She has just been told that she is only half human. The evidence seems to suggest that this book, which is the first in a new series, is about angels (currently popular in teen fiction). BUT, before you write this book off as another angel series (think Fallen by Lauren Kate or Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick), you should know that out of all the more than 50 ARCs I brought back from ALA this was the first one my husband picked up to read. He stayed up all night reading it (in the words of James Patteson, is was unputdownable - the Mr. said it was definitely worth staying up for) and said it was "very good" (this is high praise coming from him). When pressed, he gave it a 9 out of 10 and said that he was looking forward to reading the next book in the series (He actually said ask them to send the second book and I told him we did not do those things, it was bad form; he will learn). He said it was "well developed" and "believable". The cover is eye-catching, the topic is hot, and the Mr., who is an intense critic, recommends it. This is a must have.

As I mentioned, these are not full reviews but brief overviews to help you make some informed decisions with your purchasing budgets. Full reviews for some titles will be coming.

Tomorrow: my review of BZRK by Michael Grant

Girl Meets Boy Blog Tour - and Contest!

2012-01-28T23:09:00.000-08:00

I am very excited to introduce you to this creative and interesting work of short stories edited by Kelly Milner Halls. Every story has two sides, right? So what happened when Kelly Milner Halls asked 12 authors to write short stories that each told one side of parallel stories? You get Girl Meets Boy. Learn how you can win a sopy signed by all 12 authors after the jump.

Girl Meets Boy tells 6 stories from both the boys and the girls point of view; to make it even more fun - a popular guy author writes the girls side of the story and a popular girl author writes the boys side of the story. How they met, first kisses, and more. It's all there, every triumph and heartbreak that happens when Girl Meets Boy.

· The good-looking jock who falls for a dangerous girl never learns to be loved

· A basketball star and the artistic (and shorter) boy she never knew she wanted

· A gay boy looking for love online and the girl who could help make it happen

Advance Praise:

« “A superb offering” – Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Passionate" – Booklist
"A thoughtful collection" - Publishers Weekly

The authors in this book include: Chris Crutcher and Kelly Milner Halls (book editor), James Howe and Ellen Wittlinger, Rita William-Garcia and Terry Trueman, Joseph Bruchac and Cynthia Leitich Smith, Terry Davis and Rebecca Fjelland Davis, and Sarah Ryan and Randy Powell.

You and your teens can enter to win a copy of this book signed by all 12 authors! All you need to do is tweet (@TLT16, #the2012project), upload to the TLT Facebook wall, or e-mail me (kjensenmls@yahoo.com) a picture of your teens holding their favorite books. These pics will be used as part of The 2012 Project. No names will be included to protect everyone's privacy. One winner will be randomly drawn. Contest runs January 29th - February 14th.

So celebrate what happens when Girl Meets Boy, when boy meets girl, and when everyone meets book (including this fabulous read).

Here is everything you wanted to know about Girl Meets Boy, including some additional contest opportunities on Wattpad.

Girl Meets Boy discussion guide
Girl Meets Boy excerpt
Girl Meets Boy on Kelly Milner Halls website (a compilation of reviews can be found here)

Wattpad Contest

The Girl Meets Boy writing contest is now live on Wattpad!

Wattpad is featuring the guy’s side of the story, and inviting their members to write same scene from the girl’s perspective. Stories should be no more than 300 words long, and the deadline is February 8^th. Winners will be announced on February 14^th.

One Grand Prize winner will get:

· A copy of Girl Meets Boy signed by all 12 contributors

· A critique of 25 pages of writing by editor Kelly Milner Halls

· A 30-minute Skype consultation with Kelly

· A copy of Kelly’s favorite how-to book on writing

Four runners-up will win a copy of Girl Meets Boy signed by all 12 contributors

Next stop on the Boy Meets Girl blog tour: The Story Siren

The TLT Girl Meets Boy contest is open to teens and their favorite teen librarians. One winner will be drawn by random to win a copy of Girl Meets Boy edited by Kelly Milner Halls and signed by all 12 authors. Deadline for entries is February 14, 2012. The 2012 Project, however, will run through all of 2012. Look for other fun contests throughout the year as we try to reach our goal of 2,012 pictures of teens reading and using their library in 2012.

TPIB: Project Fashion

2012-01-27T06:38:00.000-08:00

True confessions: I am a fan of Project Runway and have been watching it for yours exclaiming - this would be a great teen program, except for the part about the sewing. But I have mulled over in my head for years and kept thinking someday, maybe. Then they produced Project Accessory, which suddenly becomes a much more realistic program goal.

The first question we ask ourselves when designing a program is what should it look like; although I certainly think you could have this as a one time program, I think it would work better as a series. The benefit to having a program series is that you capture and keep teen interests over a period of time, keep your library programming out in the public eye, and you get time to try and build relationships with teens for the future.

In my mind, I see this as a series of 4 events with each event ending in a fashion show. You could determine a winner at that time or broaden your audience by taking pictures and allowing online voting.

Challenge 1: Accessories
Simply provide a variety of beads and beading "stuff" (I am sure that is the technical term) and let teens be creative. You can be as specific or as general as you want to be. On the more general end the challenge is simply create 3 unique accessories of your choice. On the more specific end you ask them to make accessories to complement an outfit or an event (say, prom). Or you can name the specific types of pieces you would like them to make: a necklace, a bracelet, a hair piece, for example. Don't forget that you can make paper beads out of discarded magazines and manga!

Challenge 2: Shoe alterations
Through places such as Oriental Trading, you can buy make your own flip flop kits. You can also buy them at most craft stores. You can glue gemstones, tie pieces of cloth, etc. to create a unique flip flop look. Or you can use white canvas shoes (think white Keds) and provide fabric markers and gemstones. Flip flops are obviously on the less expensive end of the scale.

Make fluffy flip flops
Make your own flip flops from a yoga mat
DIY Diva Flip Flops

Challenge 3: The bag
There are a wide variety of ways that you can challenge teens to make handbags. Some of them involve cutting old jeans (which you could cut and sew beforehand and then just provide the elements to decorate). Or you can buy a variety of canvas tote or nylon drawstring bags at the craft store for teens to decorate and embellish. To make blue jean purses, I recommend buying jeans at a place like Salvation Arm and doing any sewing before the event to keep costs down; this also helps with the issue of having access to enough sewing machines.

How to make a Jean purse

Challenge 4: The modified t-shirt
There are tons of ideas online and in our collections for ways to modify t-shirts, often without even involving any sewing. The most basic would involve fabric markers, non mess tie dye with permanent markers, bedazzling and cutting and tying.

Here are some examples of no-sew t-shirt modification
Generation T is a blog dedicated to t-shirt design ideas (and there are great books to go along with the site that I hope you have in your library collection)
Wren's T-shirts also has some good examples
T-shirt surgery

You can include some unique variations like: Make Steampunk jewelry, Make a futuristic (science fiction) look, Summer fun fashions (flip flops, hats, beach bags, and sunglasses), and my personal favorite - zombie fashions (deconstruct clothing to make it look like you are a zombie and do zombie make-up). Guys can do it to: they can make studded collars and cuffs and flip flops, for example. You could also make cell phone bling, zipper pulls and pet fashions.

Shredded ends, strategically placed cuts and tears and some red paint make a t-shirt look like a zombie shirt

Sellers Library did a Project Runway event using trash bags and duct tape - genius!

Getting Prepared for the Program:
You'll want to spend some time outlining what specific projects you will want to do before you get your publicity together. You'll want to do registration, either single or in teams, to make sure you have enough supplies on hand. The specific challenges you choose will greatly influence your cost, so I would mix and match to keep cost at a reasonable level.

Running the Event:
I would recommend having each specific session run for an hour and a half. During the first hour teens can make their fashions and then during the last half hour you can have the runway show. I would make the runway show open to other teens and provide refreshments. And as I mentioned, I would also take pictures of the runway show to allow for online voting. Then, the next week, you could announce who was eliminated (if you choose to go the elimination route) and announce the next challenge. I don't know that you have to eliminate each week, you could just have a weekly "winner" and then choose an overall winner if you so chose.

If you have some great craft ideas that would be fun for a project fashion event, please share it with us in the comments. Also, please share if you have done this type of an event: how did you set it up? What activities did you do? And do share pictures please!

The 2012 Printz Award Winners

2012-01-26T07:16:00.000-08:00

Sometime this week I think they announced the Oscar nominees, but what is even more important is that Monday at ALA Midwinter they announced the Michael L. Printz Award winners. The Printz Award is awarded yearly for excellence in young adult literature. These are the best of the best as chosen by a committee of young adult librarians who spend the year reading everything. This year there was one main award winner and four honor books chosen. You can get complete information about the titles at the ALA Youth Media Awards website.

This year's winner is Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. This is his first novel and he is also the winner of the William C. Morris award which honors the work of an author previously unpublished.

Please feel free to use the following graphic on your websites or in your teen area to help get the word out to your teens about the 2012 Printz Award Winners.

ALA Midwinter Highlights: The ARCs (January and February)

2012-01-25T06:57:00.000-08:00

On Monday I shared with you things I loved and learned at the ALA Midwinter exhibits. Today, I share with you the best part of ALA - the ARCs (Advanced Reader's Copy). So this is not the world's longest blog post ever, today we will cover titles set to be released in January or February of 2012. Other attendees got different arcs (Pandemonium *cough cough*) because it depends on what time of day you visit and other factors so I recommend that you visit other blogs throughout the year to get reviews of upcoming titles. The February 2012 edition of VOYA has a list of recommended blogs so that is a good place to start. Some that you will definitely want to keep an eye on include Girls in the Stacks and the YA Bookshelf. Stay tuned here, too, because I will be reviewing my ARCs in order of release date (and bringing you updates about teen issues, programming, marketing and more.) These next few posts will just be an overview of the ARCs I received for your enjoyment.

January 2012

Pure Love, Pure Life: Exploring God's Heart on Purity by Elsa Kok Colopy (Zondervan)
Since this is published by Zondervan, you know right off the bat that it has a Christian message, which in this case is sexual purity. This is aimed at older teens so it is filled with a lot of information, stories and discussion questions. There are no pretty pictures or sidebars to catch one's eye; it's focus is on really digging into the meet of the issue and making you think. At the end of each chapter there are a list of discussion/journal questions.

The Boy Project (Notes and Observations of Kara McAllister) by Kami Kinard (Scholastic)
Cover blurb: "I, Katie McAllister, will change my image before the end of the school year. By 'change my image' I mean 'get a boyfriend.' And I know exactly how I'm going to do it . . . "
First line: I am starting this experiment because I have no choice.
With an appealing cover and some fun internal elements (such as note cards, quizzes, notes, etc.), this title should appeal to readers. I haven't read the entire work so I can't give you a definitive go for it, but the first few chapters have a catchy tone to them, an authentic voice in the narrator and just enough spunk that this should be a success. It definitely capitalizes on the inclusion of visual elements we see in titles like The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and fans of that will probably like this title as well.

In Darkness by Nick Lake (Bloomsbury)
Cover blurb: A stunning tour-de-force set in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake
Opening line: "I am the voice in the dark, calling out for your help."
The earthquake in question takes place in Haiti. There is a note to the reader from the author at the beginning that discusses his response to the Haitian earthquake and claims that little in the book is made up. A brief browse through the book makes it clear that this is a look at light versus darkness, hope versus despair and how in the midst of darkness one can in fact find hope. At the end of the author's note he writes: But we've all been in darkness, so we all know the other side of it - that sometimes, afterwards, there is light. There are not a lot of titles on the topic of Haiti so on that basis alone it seems like it would be a good multicultural addition. It will be interesting to read.

Fracture by Megan Miranda (Walker & Company)
Back cover description: A lot can happen in eleven minutes. Decker can run two miles easily in eleven minutes. I once wrote an English essay in ten. No lie. And God knows Carson Levine can talk a girl out of her clothes in half that time. Eleven minutes might as well be eternity under water. It only takes three minutes without air for loss of consciousness. Permanent brain damage begins at four minutes. And then, when the oxygen runs out, full cardiac arrest occurs. Death is possible at five minutes. Probably at seven. Definite at ten. Decker pulled me out at eleven.
First line: The first time I died, I didn't see God.
To be honest, I can't wait to read this one.

The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis (Amulet Books)
Back cover blurb: A good girl. A bad boy. A fairy tale that's true. A truth that is no fairy tale.
First line: Blood. There is blood everywhere.
This is the story of a boy named Abel, who is raising his 6-year-old sister by himself. Anna is drawn to him and the tale he tells about an orphan queen with a diamond heart. As Abel weaves people into his story, they begin to turn up dead. Fairy tale themes are popular right now.

Winterling by Sarah Prineas (Harper Collins Childrens)
Cover blurb: "Simmering magic and enchanting adventure. A mischievous delight" Ingrid Law, author of Savvy and Scumble
First line: The dog fled. He raced down a shadowy forest trail lit by the full moon.
This is a fantasy tale where a young woman named Fer discovers an "enchanting, dangerous land" through her reflecting pool.

There is No Dog by Meg Rosoff (G. Putnam's Sons)
Cover blurb: What if God were a teenage boy?
First line: Oh glorious, most glorious glorious! And yet again glorious!
Meg Rosoff is the Printz Award winner from her previous work, How I Live Now. This is the tale of Bob, a teenage boy who also happens to be the creator of heaven and earth. It is also the story of Lucy, who works at the zoo and has a sunny disposition. One day Bob sees Lucy walking in complete joy and he knows that he must have her. Bob's assistant, Mr. G., thinks this is a horrible idea because when Bob falls in love, people die. When his heart breaks and he sheds tears, cities tend to flood.
I read a portion of this book and it is well written and interesting, but I am not sure how people who believe in a God, any God, will react to the premise. It will be interesting to see how it all wraps up. It is definitely for more mature, sophisticated teen readers because of the storytelling mechanism and the frank sexual discussion.

The Catastrophic History of You & Me by Jess Rothenberg (Dial Books)
Cover blurb: Brie's life ends at sixteen: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn't love her, and the news breaks her heart - literally.
First line: There's always that one guy who a hold on you.
Based on the description, it seems that this book employs the narrative devise used in If I Stay by Gayle Forman or The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold where the narrator, Brie, is looking down from heaven after her death. The book begins by a quote from a song by Ani DiFranco and every chapter title is a song lyric. The cover is stunning and this is on the top of my "to read" pile.

Irises by Francisco X. Stork (Arthur A. Levine Books)
Cover blurb is an excerpt from the story itself
First line: Kate had finally agreed to pose under the willow tree.
Irises is the story of two sisters, Mary and Kate, who are bound together by a mother who lays in a permanent vegetative state. The two struggle to find ways to survive and their lives are influenced by 3 separate men. From the description this looks to be a tale about growing up and making important life decisions with some discussion of quality of life.

February 2012

BZRK by Michael Grant (Edgmont)
Cover blurb: Warning: Possession of this material could put you in grave danger. It contains revelations about a secret high-stakes game - some might call it a war - for control of your brain.
First line: A girl sat just three chairs down from Noah talking to her hand.

BZRK by Michael Grant is a transmedia experience; you can read the book, but there is tons of online content that you will want to check out that enhances the story. There is even an app you can buy (I have not done so yet so I can't comment). I am 160 pages into this book and have some mixed feelings about it: On the one hand, it is great to be reading a more traditional science fiction story. No dystopian future, just advances in modern day technology (in this case nanotechnology) and what it means for contemporary society. On the other hand, this book has a wide variety of main characters, some of whom are teens and some of whom are adults, and at times it reads like a book written for teens and at other times it reads more like an adult novel. The change can sometimes be disconcerting. Given some of the adult content, this is definitely for older teens (and adults will also love it). Grant just jumps right into the story so it takes a while to figure out what some of the terminology means, but it is a compelling read so you want to know and keep reading. At the heart of BZRK there are two competing factions using various forms of nanotechnology (nanos and biots) to fight for their cause. One side wants to create a type of insect like hive mind that will result in peace among humans, the other side values the concept of free will (in all of its messy glory). There are some profound discussions to be had in the pages of this book about science, ethics, free will and more. This book also has one of the most disturbing bad guys I have ever encountered and I appreciated a lot of the creepy elements they brought to the story. Also, this has some of the best opening chapters that I have read in a while; I may not have fully understood yet what was happening, but I was hanging on the edge of my seat to find out more. This truly is a great example of the emerging transmedia trend in books so you will want to look into for that reason alone. Full review coming soon, but Michael Grant is a great author (he is the author of the Gone series) and he is not disappointing so far. Put this book into the hands of Michael Crichton and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card fans.

More about BZRK
Weekly articlePublisher's
A Q&A at Eleusinian Mysteries
A Youtube Sneak Peek
An you definitely need to check out the official GoBZRK site. There is an app you can buy that goes along with the book.

Read more about transmedia in School Library Journal

And yes, yes I did only get one arc for the month of February. Next: March (there are so many it has to be its own post) and the Girl Meets Boy giveaway (begins January 29th).

Teen Issues: Having a Child with a Chronic Health Issue

2012-01-24T12:54:00.000-08:00

In the February 2012 edition of VOYA, I write an article about food allergies and teen s. In it I share that my passion for this topic began because I am the mother of a toddler with severe food allergies that cause her chronic health issues. One of her symptoms is chronic, silent reflux. Silent reflux is GERD disease, she basically has heartburn so severe that she can't sleep through the night. Sometimes she can't even run down the street. There is another side to this for me when I think of teens: it's not just about teens that have food allergies, but what about teen parents who suddenly find themselves parents to a baby, infant or toddler who has some type of severe or chronic health issue. Not just a food issue, but any health issue.

A couple of times a week there is a teen mom, 14 years old, who brings her 5 week old baby into my library. She has a lot of support from her family and is a very lovely young lady. Her baby is always asleep on one of our library chairs and is just adorable. I can't help but wonder what it would be like for her or any teen parent out there trying to balance school, being a teen, and not only being a mom - but being a teen mom to a child with some type of health issue. One time when taking my child to Children's Hospital I did run into a teen who was the mom of a child with Downs Syndrome and they were there having his heart checked. Suddenly, their need for information expands outside of typical teen parameters. They need to know how to research and find not only important information, but how to advocate for their child. Now they don't need you to help them find what the next vampire book they want to read might be, they need you to help them find safe foods, treatment options, etc. They are thrust into a very overwhelming adult world.

If you have never been the parent to a child with any type of special needs, it can be difficult to understand how isolating and stressful and heartbreaking it can be. Every component of parenthood is taken to the next extreme: there is more planning, more preparation, and always, it seems, just more. I would also be interested in reading more about teen parents who find themselves the parent of a child on the Autism spectrum.

It is important to remember sometimes that we do and will serve teens with experiences outside of the norm, including teen parents (though these may be more inside the norm then we would wish for our teens.) Below I share with you an essay I wrote while in the throes of my child's illness and trying to get a diagnosis and a handle on it. I hope by sharing that we will all take a moment to think about our teen parents that we serve and reflect upon the fact that for some of them, their challenge is harder then we can imagine because right now their babies are being diagnosed with something that no parent is prepared to handle, let alone a teen parent.

It was only because I spent a TON of time at my library researching, researching, and researching some more that we were able to bring our child to the point that she is at now. We researched treatments, which included sleeping positions and diet restrictions; we researched doctors; we found online support communities; and most importantly, we found the right questions to ask. Teen parents won't have these skills and will need your help to develop them.

A couple of things to remind teens:

First, when dealing with a health or medical issue, remind teens they should always work with their doctor and not try anything they run across in their own research without the assistance of a doctor.
When dealing with something that has a name, there is often an established foundation - direct teens here first. Rule number 1 still applies, but this information will often have more credibility then other sources.
For support, there are often various forums or yahoo types of groups that teens can join to share their experience with those having similar experiences. The emphasis should be that these are for support primarily and any medical advice they may receive should be discussed with their doctor.
This is a good opportunity to introduce teens to your journal databases and guide them away from general Internet searches.
Remember that as library professionals we know all of the above, but teens often don't and there is a sort of fear and desperation that can cloud rational thinking in the midst of these times. Be kind and patient (as I know you will be).
If you know of any local support groups, this is a good direction to point teen parents.

A look at a parent in the midst of the chronic illness of a child . . .

Trying to Slay the Reflux Demon

Most moms like to go in and sneak a peek and watch their baby sleep. Me, I couldn't stand it. It was our first sign that something was seriously wrong with our baby. She looked like she was possessed by demons while she slept. She would flail. Arch her back. Make that startled movement you make like you are dreaming that you are falling off of a cliff. She would scream. And most horrifyingly - she would stop breathing for a few seconds.

My husband and I would take turns holding her throughout the night to make sure she lived. He worked until 4 a.m. and then he would come in and take over. I would get about 2 hours of sleep and then get up and go to work. When it happened, when you realized it had been a few seconds since you felt that rhythmic in and out of her chest - you would jostle her a little until it resumed. Whenever we mentioned it to the doctor he would say, "as long as she doesn't turn blue - it is okay."

And then that moment happened. My 6 year old and I sat there playing on the computer while the 6 week old slept in her swing. My husband was out looking for the new car he was sure we needed with a new baby. Suddenly I looked over and threw the laptop across the room as I screamed, "holy sh&t she's blue." We grabbed the baby, called the husband and raced to the ER. The simple act of grabbing her out of the swing scared her into breathing. At Children's Hospital they made us take Infant CPR classes and monitored her for the day and night. Then they sent us home with an apnea monitor.

This was already our second trip to Children's. The first occurred at 5 weeks when we thought she was having seizures. They pulled us right out of line when they saw it happen and rushed us in to see a doctor. She was being treated for infant reflux and after a few tests and observation the doctor's assured us that she wasn't having seizures but that it too was caused by her infant reflux.

They used to call it colic. Now they call it infant reflux. Me, I don't care what they call it - I call it the reflux demon. I just know that it sucks - for the entire family. The first 7 months of her life she screamed 24/7. I wore her in every type of babywear gear you could fathom. We held her all night long as she slept. We bought specials beds. We tried various diets. And we gave her medication.

But nothing has ever really stopped the pain for her. She still sleeps like she is possessed by demons. Flailing, flinging, arching and making a variety of noises to try and get the pain out of her chest. She often coughs and is rubbing her nose because it bothers her all the way up to her nose. And often she cries - when she wants to eat and can't because of the pain, when she wants to sleep but can't because of the pain . . . it always comes back to the pain.

There are fewer things in life I think that will ever piss you off than seeing your baby be in pain and having absolutely nothing you can do about it. I mean seriously full out seething below the surface anger that makes you want to cuss out the universe that dares to hurt your baby. If another human being hurt my child I could have some type of recourse. We often say to ourselves, if anyone hurt my child I would kill them. I wouldn't think twice about it. And yet, here my child is hurting and there is no one I can kill. No one I can lash out at. No one I can make pay. No one I can make stop. The universe is kinda too big for me to beat up I think.

So instead I continue to try to find the foods that she doesn't digest well - that she is intolerant to - that make the reflux worse. I spend all my time researching and trying and visiting doctors. Not to mention all my money. I pray every night before we go to bed that somehow this night will please please please somehow be different and the demons will leave her alone and let her sleep in peace. In 20 months, she has only had 4 nights where she wasn't visited by the reflux demon. I'm still trying to find my reflux exorcist. And tonight when I go to sleep again, I'll pray that my prayers won't be in vain. I can not slay the universe, but damn it - I want to slay the reflux demon.