2012 Random-A-Thon!

Last Saturday, 40 teens descended on the library for our third annual Random-A-Thon!  (Were you there in 2010 or 2011?)  It was our best attendance ever.  We've only raised $748 so far, though, so keep working on it!  I will seriously cut my hair into a mohawk if we can get to $1000.  You have until March 11 to turn in all of your money!!

The Random-A-Thon has a loose schedule of events just to help people know when to show up if they're not staying all day.  We brought back some favorites from last year, like watching childhood cartoons, doing duct tape crafts, playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and having a Connect Four tournament.  Genni had some tough competition, but ultimately won in Connect Four.  (Extra thanks to Owen for volunteering to take care of the brackets for me during the tournament.)  We added some new video games and DVDs, as well as fun crafts like license plate journals.  We had also planned some things that didn't happen, like beaded crafts and bingo, so we'll save those for another time!

Lunch this year was grilled cheese or peanut butter/jelly/marshmallow fluff, with veggies and dip and chips, and soda to drink.  Of course, there was much snacking all day and people were stuffed by the time they left!  Throughout the day, we had pop-up activities from the Jar of Randomness.  We did everything from dancing the Cha Cha Slide to decorating cupcakes to making sand art to eating Ring Pops!  Special thanks to Grace for making Pop Culture Jeopardy as one of these random additions.  It was very cool.  Some of the activities involved prizes, and here are the winners:

• Siaka won the candy jar guessing game with an exact guess of 87
• Nikki won a soft pretzel maker in a random drawing
• Genni and Alex each won a tic-tac-toe tournament

Winners got real prizes, but we also had our infamous Prize Box of Randomness.  I filled it will bizarre donated items, leftover prizes from other events, Happy Meal toys, weird swap-rack books, and anything else I could find.  The Prize Box of Randomness must not be looked upon; it will bestow upon you the item that is right.  Everyone got something from the box throughout the day by reaching in with eyes closed!

Thanks to all of the TAB members for contributing snack food to the Random-A-Thon.  Extra thanks to Laurel, Emily, Billy, and me for bringing in homemade goodies!  And huge thanks to Kara Naklicki for spending her college volunteer hours with us.  I seriously couldn't have survived the Random-A-Thon without her help!

 Just Dance

 Duct Tape Crafts

 Sand Art

 Apples to Apples

License Plate Journals

Asian Culture Club--2/8/12

The Asian Culture Club has fallen into a pattern of having one anime meeting and one activity meeting per month.  While watching anime this month, we also had a drawing contest on the topic of "school doodles."  I had everyone draw their entries on notebook paper, just like you would when wasting time in actual school!

What's New!?

Here are some new choices in the teen section for you this week.  A lot of them won awards recently, so read them and see if they're worthy!

• Split by Swati Avasthi (replacement copy)
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• Bewitching by Alex Flinn
• Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler
• The Returning by Christine Hinwood
• Rotters by Daniel Kraus
• Planesrunner by Ian McDonald
• The Fire by James Patterson (Witch &Wizard series)
• The Blood Lie by Shirley Reva Vernick
• Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
• Pink by Lili Wilkinson

New for You

Just a few new things are on the shelves for you this week, but one is about the Hunger Games movie, so I had to post it!

FICTION

• Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral
• DJ Rising by Love Maia
• The Visitors by The McKissacks (Clone Codes series)

NONFICTION

• The Hunger Games:  The Official Illustrated Movie Companion by Kate Egan

2012 Award Winners

A few weeks ago, the American Library Association announced their yearly award winners.  The Newbery and Caldecott awards are the most famous, but there are also some for teens.  Which of these sound interesting to you?

Printz Award (for excellence in young adult literature)

• Winner--Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley (also won the Morris Award)
• Honor--Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket)
• Honor--The Returning by Christine Hinwood
• Honor--Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
• Honor--The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (author of Shiver)

Schneider Family Book Award (for books about the disability experience)

• Middle Grades--Close to Famous by Joan Bauer
• Middle Grades--Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
• Teen--The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

Odyssey Award (for best audiobooks)

• Winner--Rotters by Daniel Kraus
• Honor--Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri
• Honor--Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

William C. Morris Award (for a debut book from a first-time writer for teens)

• Honor--Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
• Honor--Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard

Stonewall Book Award (for books about the GLBT experience)

• Winner--Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy by Bil Wright
• Honor--Pink by Lili Wilkinson

Public Art in Philadelphia

At Philadelphia Night, we talked about the wealth of public art that you can see on the streets of our city.  From famous sculptures to murals to knitting, it's all out there!

To learn more about Philadelphia's public art, look at:

Fairmount Park Art Association
Check out their clickable map to find public art.

Streets Dept
Get tips on Philly street art, then go see it before it's gone!

Philadelphia Public Art
Take yourself on one of their 30 self-guided tours.

Visit Philly:  Public Art
Read more about the city's outdoor art and see excellent photographs.

Mural Arts:  Mural Explorer
Check out some of the giant-sized artwork Philly is famous for.

Philadelphia Night

Last night 13 people came out for Philadelphia Night. Some of our activities included labeling ourselves with names of famous Philadelphians (I was Michael Nutter) and matching ourselves to our occupations, taking a Tastykake spelling test, and doing a cheesesteak trivia contest. Arig won Find a Famous Philadelphian, Katie and Siaka won the spelling test, and Anas won the cheesesteak trivia. They all got boxes of Tastykakes to take home! We talked about public art in Philly, and, in honor of Claes Oldenburg's Clothespin sculpture, we made clothespin magnets. They're super-easy, and great for the fridge or locker! We painted ours with watercolor first to make them more exciting. We also watched movie clips of National Treasure and Rocky, and ate soft pretzels and water ice. I'd say we had a great time appreciating what we love about Philly!

Shorell's clothespin magnets

Links for Hunger Games Fans

If you have read all of the books and can't wait for the movie in March, here are some great sites about the Hunger Games!

Hunger Games Movie Official Site
I could watch the trailer 10 times in a row, but the site also has posters, widgets to embed on your blog or website, and a movie photo gallery!

Hunger Games Movie on Facebook
Sign up for advanced movie ticket purchase reminders, see photos from the movie, and get all of the lastest info.

Visit the Capitol
Use your Facebook or Twitter account (or create a login) to find out which district you're from.  Then, explore the Capitol as a citizen!  You can also Like the Capitol on Facebook.

Hunger Games Book Series Official Site
Lots of information about the three books, videos from Suzanne Collins, and play the Trial by Fire and Tribute Trials games!

Fansites
Lots of fans have created their own websites for the Hunger Games.  Here are some of of the best-known:

• Down with the Capitol
• The Hob
• The Hunger Games Trilogy
• Jabberjays.com
• Mockingjay.net