March New Releases

I am looking forward to the release of these books in March 2009:

• Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (3/19/09)
• City of Glass (Mortal Instruments series) by Cassandra Clare (3/24/09)
• Max (Maximum Ride series) by James Patterson (3/16/09)

Lisa Yee Interview

I read an interesting Q & A with Lisa Yee last week in Publishers Weekly. Lisa Yee has previously written mostly middle grade fiction, like Millicent Min, Girl Genius and Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time, both of which we have at our library. Her first young adult novel, Absolutely Maybe, was just released, and it seems like a very compelling story. It is about Maybelline Chestnut, who can't stand one more day of living with her alcoholic ex-beauty queen mother and runs away to California. I hope we can buy it soon, but a few other libraries have it and we can request it if you are interested.

Eclipse Movie Release Date!

I just read in The Hollywood Reporter that Eclipse, the third movie in the Twilight series, will be released on June 30, 2010!

Obamicon.Me!

Obamicon.Me is a hilarious internet interpretation of Shepard Fairey's HOPE poster from the Obama campaign. Just upload your personal photos and the Obamicon.Me program changes it to a four-color design. You can change the color balance, then create an account if you want to save your work. Go give it a try! Here's one that I did of Ben:

(You can see my other attempts on my Obamicon.Me profile page.)

Favorite Subject Blog Poll Results

For the past two weeks, our blog poll has asked readers to name their favorite school subject. Out of the 53 respondents, 12 selected the arts as their favorite. That was closely followed by the 11 people who chose lunch! Here are the complete results:

Math--7 (13%)
English--5 (9%)
Chemistry/Physics--3 (5%)
Biology/Earth Science--1 (1%)
Foreign Language--4 (7%)
Writing--2 (3%)
Psychology/Sociology--2 (3%)
History--6 (11%)
Art/Music/Theater/Dance--12 (22%)
Lunch--11 (20%)

Cybil Winners

The Cybils are a yearly book award given by bloggers for books with both literary merit and popular appeal in a variety of genre categories. Last week, they announced their 2009 winners! Here are the Cybil winners you might be interested in reading:

• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (middle grade fantasy/sci-fi)
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (young adult fantasy/sci-fi)
• Emiko Superstar by Mariko Tamaki (young adult graphic novel)
• The Year We Disappeared: A Father-Daughter Memoir by Cylin Busby and John Busby (young adult non-fiction)
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E Lockhart (young adult fiction)

We Won a Mini-Grant!

I applied for a Teen Tech Week Mini-Grant to help buy supplies for Sellers Library's upcoming Nintendo Night...and I just found out that we won!!!! We will be receiving $450 to buy Wii games and accessories to help us have better programming. Amazing! More info to follow.

Celebrate Teen Tech Week at Sellers Library with these three events:

Favorite Websites Contest
March 6 to March 14
Fill out a slip telling us the name of your favorite website (besides YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace), and enter it to win prizes!

Nintendo Night
Friday, March 6, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm
Bring your DS and favorite games, enter a Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament on the big screen, play games on an original NES, and more! Permission slip required. Register now.

YouTube Viewing Party
Wednesday, March 11, from 3:30 to 5:00 pm
Come share your favorite YouTube videos and win prizes! We will hook a laptop up to a projector so that everyone has a great view. Come prepared with ideas *appropriate* for the whole group. Register now.

Book Crush!

Last Friday, 17 people came out to celebrate their love for fictional characters at the Teen Advisory Board's Book Crush party! It was so much fun to hear everyone's crushes, opinions, and reactions. We played book crush bingo (really an excuse to eat chocolate), made beaded bookmarks with a crush's name on them, wrote personal ads for our crushes, and decorated heart balloons. Of course there was lots of food, and lots of discussion of book boys! We even had one brave guy at the event, who knew a lot about Bella Swan and the whole Twilight series, and was absolutly hilarious about it. Also, Kaitlyn came dressed as a character from the Uglies series, complete with crash bracelets and face tattoo. It was completely pretty-making. At the end, people were reluctant to leave, and I finally had to shoo everyone out at about 8:45. I'd say it was a success! Except that I forgot my camera, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Nintendo Paper Craft

If you have a love for origami and other paper crafts, and have a lot of time on your hands, check out the Nintendo Paper Craft blog. Make your own characters from popular Nintendo games, including Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, and even Star Fox!

Barry Lyga Returns to His Fanboy Roots

According to his latest email update, both of Barry's newest writing projects take him back to the world of comics. Barry writes:

DOES THIS BOOK MAKE ME LOOK FAT?
That's the title of a new anthology about teens and body image, in
which I have a short comic book story. (Yes, a comic book story. It's
been about a decade since I wrote one!) The story is titled "The
Mating Habits of Whales" and it was illustrated by my friend Jeff
Dillon. You can see the book's cover at http://barrylyga.com/new/fat-book.html.

SNIKT!
Yep, that sound effect can only mean one thing: Wolverine.

It was only a matter of time before my misbegotten comic book-riddled
past caught up to me, and now it has. But whereas your average
comic-book-geek-turned-novelist ends up being summoned back to the
world of comics for a special mini-series or a story arc on an ongoing
title, I was lured roped in a different way: with a novel.

WOLVERINE: WORST DAY EVER is a short novel for kids ages 10-12 (ish),
featuring a brand-new look at everyone's favorite metal-boned mutant.
I don't want to say too much lest I give away some of the surprises,
but I think I managed to find a unique way of looking at
Wolverine...which was no mean feat, given how long he's been around
and how many other people have had their hands on him!

The book is told as a series of blog entries by a new student at
Xavier's School, with illustrations culled from Wolverine and X-Men
comics going back as far as Giant-Size X-Men #1 (and, yeah, I thought
of Fanboy every time I flipped through that comic...). It was a lot of
fun to write and I think it'll look great. I wrote it for kids, but
your average forty-year-old Wolverine fan should get a kick out of it,
too. Plenty of in-jokes in there for the geeks. Represent!

Oh, and it has a most awesomely cool cover by Todd Nauck. You can see
it at http://barrylyga.com/wolverine.

Look for it in stores in April.

Shiny and New

Today, we are processing the rest of the African-American and urban fiction I ordered, as well as some award winners and other new titles. Come in and see what we've got!

FICTION

• Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves by M. T. Anderson
• A Little Piece of Sky by Nicole Bailey-Williams
• What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
• 16 Isn't Always Sweet by Cassandra Carter
• The Fight (Drama High series) by L. Divine (replacement copy)
• Frenemies (Drama High series) by L. Divine (replcement copy)
• Jayd's Legacy (Drama High series) by L. Divine (replacement copy)
• Who Am I without Him? by Sharon G. Flake (replacement copy)
• Imani in Never Say Goodbye by Jackie Hardrick
• Imani in Young Love and Deception by Jackie Hardrick
• The Absolute Truth (Platinum Teen series) by Juwell and Precious
• The Taqwacores by Michael Muhammad Knight
• Dymond in the Rough (Platinum Teen series) by Precious
• Hallway Diaries by Felicia Pride, Debbie Rigaud, and Karen Valentin
• The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp
• Hollywood and Maine by Allison Whittenberg

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki

Shmoop!

Pardon me if I am behind the times, but I just found out about Shmoop! According to their About Us page, "Shmoop wants to make you a better lover (of literature, history, poetry and writing)." And I have become a lover (of their site). They have very relevant discussions of the themes of classic books, great summaries of periods and events in history, links to helpful websites, printable cramsheets, and even tools to get you started on that essay you're trying to write. The organization and look of the site is very user-friendly, and everything is free! Go use Shmoop now!!

Blog Poll Results

For the past two weeks, the blog poll has asked readers which of the 2009 award winners they have read. And the answer is: not many. Even though people could select multiple answers, 24 of the 40 people who responded had not read any of the books! Here are the complete results:

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman--10 (25%)
After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson--2 (5%)
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta--2 (5%)
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan--2 (5%)
Nation by Terry Pratchett--4 (10%)
Octavian Nothing, Volume II by M. T. Anderson--2 (5%)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart--4 (10%)
A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce--3 (7%)
Jerk, California by Jonathan Friesen--2 (5%)
Any book by Laurie Halse Anderson--11 (27%)
I have not read any of these books.--24 (60%)

New Books

We just got a bunch of new urban and African-American teen fiction, plus a few other odds and ends, so here they are:

FICTION

• Kendra by Coe Booth
• Read My Lips by Teri Brown
• Hustlin' (Drama High series) by L. Divine
• Romiette and Julio by Sharon M. Draper (replacement copy)
• Blood is Thicker (Bluford series) by Paul Langan
• Brothers in Arms (Bluford series) by Paul Langan
• The Bully (Bluford series) by Paul Langan
• The Pact (Indigo series) by Monica McKayhan
• If Only You Knew (Hotlanta series) by Denene Millner and Mitzi Miller
• If I Were Your Boyfriend by Earl Sewell
• Rucker Park Setup by Paul Volponi
• It Chicks by Tia Williams

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Vampire Game by Judal
• Peach Girl: Change of Heart #2 by Miwa Ueda
• Peach Girl: Change of Heart #6 by Miwa Ueda