This Week's New Books

Lost of new hardback and paperback books have arrived in our teen section this week, so drop by and get something to read away these rainy days!

FICTION

• Tenth Grade Bleeds by Heather Brewer (Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series)
• Being Nikki by Meg Cabot (Airhead series)
• Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls series)
• American Beauty by Zoey Dean (A-List series)
• The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz (Blue Bloods series)
• Just Another Hero by Sharon Draper
• Invasion of the Boy Snatchers by Lisi Harrison (Clique series)
• Necropolis by Anthony Horowitz (Alex Rider series)
• Timelock by David Klass (Caretaker trilogy)
• How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier
• Rapture of the Deep: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Soldier, Sailor, Mermaid, Spy by L. A. Meyer (Jacky Faber series)
• The Dating Game by Natalie Standiford (Dating Game series)
• Ex-Rating by Natalie Standiford (Dating Game series)
• Parallel Parking by Natalie Standiford (Dating Game series)
• Speed Dating by Natalie Standiford (Dating Game series)
• 12 Brown Boys by Omar Tyree

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Naruto, volume 20, by Mashashi Kishimoto

Blog Poll Results: Upcoming Books

For the past two weeks, the blog poll asked readers to vote for their favorite upcoming books in series. Only 15 people voted, and Splendor by Anna Godbersen came out as the winner with seven votes. That is the last book in the Luxe series, and it was released today! This is a very timely poll. Anyway, here are the complete results, along with the book release dates:

Splendor by Anna Godbersen (10/27/09)--7 (46%)
Tempted by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast (10/27/09)--5 (33%)
Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz (11/17/09)--2 (13%)
The Rapture of the Deep by L. A. Meyer (9/1/09)--3 (20%)
The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz (10/1/09)--1 (6%)
Shadow Dragons by James A. Owen (10/27/09)--1 (6%)
Blood Promise by Richelle Mead (8/25/09)--1 (6%)
Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison (10/6/09)--5 (33%)
Dog Days by Jeff Kinney (10/12/09)--5 (33%)
Holidaze by L. Divine (10/1/09)--2 (13 %)

Help with Shoe Boxes

Hey Guys,
I hope your all enjoying the small stretch of school time between now and the holidays. I need to ask a favor of all you folk at Sellers Library. I'm teaching my first official graded lesson in two weeks. It is on the art of paper cutting. The kids will be decorating their own boxes with cut paper designs. I promise to send pictures!! I have no idea how to get a hold of 30 shoe boxes by then. So if any of you can get some boxes together and email me @ mmgirl100@gmail.com about picking them up I would be eternally grateful!!!
Thanks
If you get a chance check out the paper and textile art by Tord Boontje as shown in the picture above

What You See Isn't Always Real

We all know how easy it is to alter digital images, and it's not always bad. For example, I usually crop my family photos and take out the red-eye before sending them to people. However, sometimes digitally altered images present a false sense of reality.

When we had a special book group about Scott Westerfeld's book So Yesterday over the summer, we had a really interesting discussion about digitally altered photographs of models and celebrities. At the time, the normal-sized Kelly Clarkson had been obviously whittled down to look a lot skinner on the cover Self magazine. ("Slim Down Your Way" and "Total Body Confidence" screamed the cover type...)

Because of this discussion, an online article from last week really caught my attention: Was the Photoshopped Ralph Lauren Model Fired for Being Overweight? The original ad shows an abnormally thin person modeling Ralph Lauren clothing and caused quite a stir among bloggers. Ralph Lauren's company actually released an apology for altering the picture in such an obviously distorted fashion. But the story went on further when the model, the gorgeous Filippa Hamilton, went public with accusations that they fired her for being too fat to fit in their clothes, yet continued to use her image with digital changes. And, for the record, this girl is not fat: 120 pounds is actually considered underweight for her height of 5' 10".

Basically, every picture you see in magazines of both men and women has been digitally retouched. Pores are removed, thighs whittled, arms reshaped. But, how much do you think is too much? Should companies be required to say what changes they have made to the pictures? Should more celebrities and models speak out about digital alterations? Are all digitally retouched pictures a form of free speech? It's something to think about every time you flip through a magazine.

PS--Want to read more? Check out this article about some major digital alteration scandals, including a recent incident when Iran added an extra missile to a publicity shot to cover up one that apparently didn't launch. It's not just people who get Photoshopped!

I Really Miss Y'all

College has been an okay experience so far... and I should probably make this quick since I have to leave for my first class in about 6 hours. I'm disappointed with how my class schedule turned out this semester, since my latter Monday classes prevent me from coming to the Gaming Club (the main event I attended). As a result of my absence, I forget to check the blog often, and ended up missing out on Nintendo Night and DDR. I'm not here to whine and cry, just letting everyone I know at the library that I miss you all. (horror of horrors; Temple has over 220 clubs and organizations, none of which I find interesting!)
Just a side note: I can start scheduling my Spring courses on the 29th, so there's a possibility that I may be able to return for a while. Keep your fingers crossed (and resist sending my fellow Owls viruses to prevent them from taking course slots).

Bake Sale Thanks!

Today's Teen Advisory Board (TAB) bake sale was a great success! We were in the entrance to the main library and got a lot of business. We sold all kinds of cupcakes, cookies, and other delicious treats. Some people just gave us donations of money. Altogether, we made $143.80 to support teen programs and activities.

Thanks to these people for bringing baked goods: Stephanie, Martha and Sarah, Elena, Kaitlyn, Genni, Christine, Emily, Amy, Alexa, and me. And thanks to everyone who worked: Katie, Genni, Emily, Christine, Martha, Busra, Anas, Judy, and Avis.

If you know our TAB members, you may have noticed a few extra names in that list. Martha and Katie are official auxillary members of TAB, since they can't attend our regular meetings. Avis and Sarah were just helping out. Special thanks to these volunteers!

A shot of the beginning of the bake sale.

Super Sentence

What is a Super Sentence? It's basically a sneaky way to teach you stuff! (I borrowed the title and concept from this helpful vocabulary book.)

When Jasmine was reading to Jeff at Book Grub earlier in the month, there was one book summary that kept tripping her up with vocabulary! It seemed like a good excuse to improve everyone's test scores along with their general intelligence, so every once in a while I will post a Super Sentence containing several new vocabulary words in boldface. If you are a teen patron at Sellers, you have one week to respond in the comment section with a translation to normal language along with your first name and last initial. The person with the most accurate translation will get a prize from me!

Bushra won candy and a book for her efforts on the previous Super Sentence, so see if you can do this one. I have a lot of random stuff to give away. Every Super Sentence is a new contest, so she may win again.

From School Library Journal's review of Paper Towns by John Green:

Green's prose is astounding—from hilarious, hyperintellectual trash talk and shtick, to complex philosophizing, to devastating observation and truths.

(This is actually one of the sentences that really tripped Jasmine up when she was reading!)

It's Officially Teen Read Week

Even though we are celebrating Teen Read Month around here, this week is the official Teen Read Week! The theme this year is Read Beyond Reality, so of course you can take that to mean things like science fiction, fantasy, and comic books. Or, you can extend your own reality by reading historical fiction, biography, or even a realistic fiction book about someone different than yourself.

We've already had several of our Beyond Reality programs this month, but there are a few more. Our Beyond Reality zine publishes tomorrow, so stop by and pick up a copy. There is still time to sign up for the Retro Tote Bag Craft next Wednesday from 3:30 to 5:00. And don't forget to enter the Teen Advisory Board's book store gift card contest every time you check out books from the teen area through October 31!

Take the time to vote for next year's theme. The choices are:

• Books with Beat @ Your Library
• Deal with It @ Your Library
• Find an Alibi @ Your Library

Also, check out the winners of the 2009 Teens' Top Ten!

Book Swap & Beyond Reality

Last Satuday, 14 teens showed up for our fall book swap event and almost everyone stayed for the entire time. A total of 29 books were swapped, but only by 5 people! Everyone else just enjoyed candy, snacks, and a movie double feature of Beetle Juice and Ghost Busters. Everyone also got a free entry in our Teen Read Month contest for attending the program. We'll do a book swap again during winter vacation, so save up those unwanted paperbacks and trade them in then!

National Book Award Finalists Announced

The National Book Award Finalists were announced yesterday, and it is always interesting to see which books are nominated in the Young People's Literature category. The category has a kind of stodgy title that sounds like it might be more for younger kids' books, but most of the nominated titles each year are for teens!

• Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman (biography)
• Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose (biography)
• Stitches by David Small (graphic novel, originally published for adults)
• Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor (supernatural short stories)
• Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia (urban fiction)

We have two of these in our teen section (Jumped, Charles and Emma) and one in our children's biography section (Claudette Colvin), so come in and see what you think of their choices!

New Book Extravaganza

It's very rare that I do three new book posts in just eight days, but that proves how many new books we've been getting! Some are new and some are replacements, but all are crowding our shelves. Please please please come check things out!!

FICTION

• Sense and Sensability and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
• The Mirror of Merlin by T. A. Barron (The Lost Years of Merlin series)
• The Seven Songs of Merlin by T. A. Barron (The Lost Years of Merlin series)
• The Wings of Merlin by T. A. Barron (The Lost Years of Merlin series)
• Perfect Princess by Meg Cabot (Princess Diaries series)
• The Roar by Emma Clayton
• The Musician's Daughter by Susanne Dunlap
• Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
• Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series)
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
• Kissing Coffins by Ellen Schreiber (Vampire Kisses series)
• Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Favorite New Fall TV Shows

For the last two weeks, the blog poll has asked readers to vote for their favorite new fall TV shows. Exactly 40 people voted (voters could pick multiple answers), and the results were very interesting. We had a three-way tie for first place: 13 votes each for Vampire Diaries, Glee, and "I don't like any of these shows."!!! Here are the complete results:

Community--4 (10%)
Vampire Diaries--13 (32%)
Modern Family--8 (20%)
FlashForward--6 (15%)
Glee--13 (32%)
The Beautiful Life--0 (0%)
Eastwick--1 (2%)
Melrose Place--0 (0%)
The Middle--2 (5%)
Trauma--0 (0%)
Stargate Universe--1 (2%)
Glenn Martin DDS--0 (0%)
I don't like any of these shows.--13 (32%)
I don't watch TV.-- 1 (2%)

Crocheting art

For thoes of you who know Katie here's what her potential could become!! This is the art work of a student, Joy Campia, who graduated from my college 2 years before I started attending but she came up with her ideas based off a class that I will be taking this spring (wearable arts).

http://joykampia.com/

Nintendo Night

Last night, 26 teens came out to our fall Nintendo Night program. We did our usual Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament, hooked up my old NES, rocked out with the Beatles, and did a small DS Pokemon tournament. The ultimate winner of the Brawl tournament was Jared, who has never won before. Even the losers were happy to see a middle-schooler win because it's usually the older guys who take the prize. Jared got a $25 gift card to Game Stop, and John E. won a $10 card for coming in second. The top four finishers (Jared, John, Samuel, and Edgar) all got candy. We didn't get to finish the Pokemon tournament, so we'll do that during Gaming Club.

Of course, no Nintendo Night is complete without technical difficulties. This time, we did manage to avoid most of the problems from cross-interference with the two Wiis. However, about halfway through the Brawl tournament, the projector lamp died! We turned off Rock Band: The Beatles and moved its projector over to continue the tournament. Thankfully, the library director was working downstairs and she just happened to have a spare bulb in her office! So I swapped out the bulbs and we were able to continue with the Rock Band free play. Whew!!!

Look for another Nintendo Night after the new year.

Everyone enjoyed rocking out with The Beatles.

Our resident knitter and her latest creation: Ash!

Further New Books

More new books are coming through, and we are running out of space in the teen area! I already shifted books onto the display shelf to make more room, and now that is getting used up. We have tons of great new stuff, so get in here and use it!

FICTION:

• Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks
• How to Be Popular by Meg Cabot
• I'd Tell You I Love You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls series)
• Betrayed by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast (House of Night series)
• Untamed by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast (House of Night series)
• Diva by Alex Flinn
• Totally Joe by James Howe
• Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier
• Death's Shadow by Darren Shan (Demonata series)
• Black Heart by Justin Somper (Vampirates series)
• Cruise Control by Terry Trueman

GRAPHIC NOVELS:

• Vampire Knight, volumes 5 and 6, by Matsuri Hino

Book Review: In a Heartbeat

In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth
Review by Genevieve N. <3

The book In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth opens your mind to a special theory about heart transplants. In this story, sixteen-year-old Eagan Lindeman who is a very talented figure skater, makes a slight mistake during one of her figure skating competitions. In a jump, she is off by a mere half inch, and it costs her her life. Meanwhile a 14-year-old girl named Amelia has a bad heart and is in need of a heart transplant. She ends up obtaining Eagan’s heart. The story, during each chapter, changes from Amelia to Eagan. Eagan is in her own version of heaven looking back on all her previous memories when she was alive. And Amelia is trying to adjust to a new heart. It feels very weird to her and she begins to act differently and like different things. Then, a little boy named Tomas, who also had a heart transplant, talks to her about his experiences. And how he started to like things his donor likes. Amelia then decides she wants to meet her donor’s family. Ever since the transplant she has been learning more about her donor, which is always kept very secretive. This book was a great book. It was sad, fun, and informative. I never even thought you would be able to acquire personality traits from a heart transplant. That theory is still being tested and seems like nothing like that would ever be able to happen, but there can always be that chance. What I loved about this book was that I learned something from it and it opened my mind, but it didn’t bore me. This book comes out in February of 2010, and is very worth reading. <3

Newest New Books

We are getting a lot of new and replacement teen items, so drop by and check them out!

FICTION:

• Demon in my View by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
• The Fires of Merlin by T. A. Barron (The Lost Years of Merlin series)
• The Lost Years of Merlin by T. A. Barron (The Lost Years of Merlin series)
• The Compound by S. A. Bodeen
• Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls)
• Chosen by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast (House of Night series)
• Marked by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast (House of Night series)
• Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn
• Enna Burning by Shannon Hale (Books of Bayern series)
• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (Books of Bayern series)
• Best Friends for Never by Lisi Harrison (Clique series)
• Revenge of the Wannabees by Lisi Harrison (Clique series)
• The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
• Genesis Alpha by Rune Michaels
• Here There Be Dragons by James A. Owen (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series)
• Chasing Boys by Karen Tayleur
• Dishes by Mike Wallace
• The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin

NONFICTION:

• Three Little Words: A Memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter

GRAPHIC NOVELS:

• The Merlin Prophecy by Meg Cabot (Avalon High Coronation series)
• Blood Relatives by Ellen Schreiber (Vampire Kisses series)

New Feature: Super Sentence

When Jasmine was reading to Jeff at Book Grub last Friday, there was one summary that kept tripping her up with vocabulary! It seems like a good excuse to me to improve your test scores along with your general intelligence, so I am going to add a new vocabulary feature to our blog. Every once in a while, I will post a Super Sentence containing several new vocabulary words in boldface. If you are a teen patron at Sellers, you have one week to respond in the comment section with a translation to normal language along with your first name and last initial. The person with the most accurate translation will get a prize from me!

Here is the first one:

After receiving a macabre invitation, Robert Langdon uses his esoteric knowledge of historical minutia to elucidate clues in The Lost Symbol.

Book Review: The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Click on the cover to see which libraries own it.

SUMMARY: Summoned to Washington, D.C., for a supposed presentation, Robert Langdon reaches the Capitol Rotunda just in time to receive a macabre invitation. Tattooed with five symbols, it starts him on a journey deciphered only by his esoteric knowledge of the Freemasons, Washington D.C., religions, and ancient peoples. In a race against time to save his mentor from a brutal captor, Langdon must unravel hidden secrets, evade the CIA, and figure out who he can trust.

OPINION: There is some amazing factual information behind this fictional story, and it is really cool to look at the real art of The Apotheosis of Washington or find out that noetic science actually exists. I found all of the interconnected minutia to be fascinating, especially the intricacies of the Freemasons' beliefs, rituals, and buildings. I also loved the role played by the Library of Congress in one big escape scene. The gripping plot kept me reading anxiously through the whole middle section of the book, but the pace did not sustain me until the end. A common piece of fiction writing advice is "show, don't tell," and I was annoyed by repeated long conversations that were clearly just an excuse for "telling." The end of the book really dragged, coupling heavy-handed discussions with some fairly obvious revelations. Overall, I would say it is worth reading if you are already a fan of The DaVinci Code or if you have an interest in American history.

ONLINE: Play the Symbol Quest game or visit Dan Brown's website.

The Cover of Liar

At our Book Grub meeting on Friday, I put out a table of new books for everyone to browse. We started talking about Liar by Justine Larbalestier, and I mentioned some issues surrounding the original cover image. On the Advance Reading Copy, there was a white girl on the cover who looked nothing like the black main character of the book (even though the cover was very appealing otherwise). Early readers mounted such a fuss over it that the publisher created a whole new, more appropriate cover for it before the real publication date.

Anyway, I just wanted to link you to Justine's original blog post in case you wanted to read more about the cover of Liar that was itself a lie. It's also an interesting look into the publishing world. And to read a bit more about the new cover, read this post.

PS--You may be interested to know that Justine Larbalestier is married to Scott Westerfeld, who we love because of books like Uglies and Peeps! Read her personal FAQ page for more info on that.

Robert Is Bothered

Thanks to the magic of DVR, I get to watch all the late night television I love without having to stay up late! I am enjoying Conan's move to The Tonight Show and Jimmy Fallon's take on Late Night.

Anyway, I mentioned to a few of you that Jimmy Fallon has done some amusing impersonations of Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen on a segment called Robert Is Bothered. I think it's hilarious because I hate Robert Pattinson as Edward. Jimmy Fallon's imitation is spot-on!

It's Teen Read Month!

This year, I decided to expand Teen Read Week and celebrate for the entire month of October! You can register now for all of our special programs this month: Zine Workshop, Nintendo Night, Book Swap & Movies, and Embellished Tote Bag Craft. Also, every time you attend a special program or check out books this month, you will be able to enter our contest to win one of three book store giftcards. Stop in and get something to read!!!

Dance Dance Report

Yesterday, 15 teens came out to our after-school DDR program. We did free play and a tournament, and I also got out the cards and board games. We always have people who come but don't dance, so they enjoyed playing Taboo and just watching DDR. As for the dancers, 11 people played in the tournament, and it came down to Owen, Laurel, and Jamie in the final three. Jamie was the ultimate winner (no surprise there) and got a $10 gift card to Wawa for his efforts. We won't have a DDR program again until after the new year, but there are plenty of other gaming opportunites on the fall schedule.

From Jazz to Hip Hop

Last night, The One Sun Lion Ra and DJ Brother Jamar returned to our library to do a program for Upper Darby's Big Read. The book for the Big Read is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, a classic of the Harlem Renaissance era. We brought Ra and Jamar back to talk about the connections between jazz and hip hop, and about 40 people of all ages came out to hear them.

Ra and Jamar approached the topic from a variety of angles, so they kept it interesting! Ra talked about some jazz performers (with help from a vintage hip hop record), freestyled over Jamar's mix of jazz music, and talked a little history. Jamar played some hip hop songs and then showed where the samples came from, and also did a contest where he played the original and asked audience members to name the artist and song that sampled it. Ra finished up the presentation with a performance and then Jamar showed people how to spin records on his turntables. I hope we can find a reason to have them back again soon!!

Jamar and Ra had prizes for a "name that sample" contest.

Ra looked debonair in his fedora!

The One Sun Lion Ra, DJ Brother Jamar, DJ Hot Blast, and me.