Duct Tape!

On July 18, we had, not one, but two sessions of our summer duct tape craft and 27 teens attended.  The idea was so popular that I divided it into two groups because otherwise it would have been big and crazy!  I learned that Walmart is the place to buy quantities of duct tape because they sell it for $3.37 per roll, the best price around.  I also found  something there I hadn't seen anywhere else:  mustache duct tape!

Anyway, at the first class, I had a lot of experienced duct tapers, so I let them make their own projects in one area while I taught duct tape basics in another area.  Then, most of the people joined me to make this cute duct tape flower (which we made into a hair clip).  Those who didn't want to make a flower worked on wallets.  At the second class, I had mostly new duct tapers with one professional!  The pro did her own thing while I taught duct tape basics and had everyone make a wallet.

From this experience, I think that I would offer two classes in the future:  beginning duct tape and advanced duct tape!  However, everyone left with at least two finished products (of varying levels) so I'd call that a success for a 1 1/2 hour class.  The duct tape will be out at Craft Closet Cleanout on August 15, so show up for that!

Greetings and a brief intro!

That's me on the left

Hello everyone, my name’s Paul and I’ll soon be taking over the position of teen librarian at Sellers Library when Gretchen leaves. I think I’m going to have some mighty big shoes to fill, but I look forward to meeting everyone and continuing to provide great activities and services for the teen community! Here’s some quick fun facts about myself:

I’m a big fan of video games, anime and manga.
Favorite movies: Ghostbusters, Back to the Future
Favorite bands: They Might Be Giants, The Smiths, Jonathan Coulton, Weird Al Yankovic
Favorite book genre: sci-fi/fantasy
Favorite games: pretty much anything Nintendo (Mario, Zelda, Metroid etc), Final Fantasy and other RPGs
The most recent books I’ve read are Mockingjay and The Hobbit

I’ll be joining Gretchen in some of the upcoming events to get used to how things work around here, so I look forward to meeting you guys real soon!

Look for These!

Here's what we have new in the teen scetion this week:

• The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi
• Dragon's Oath by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast (House of Night series)
• The Maze Runner by James Dashner
• The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
• Kill Switch by Chris Lynch
• Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick
• Secret Letters by Leah Scheier

New York City Movies & Fun!

This afternoon, 21 teens hung out in the A/C for our marathon New York City program! Since it's known as "city that never sleeps," it was a fun interpretation of the Own the Night summer theme. We watched some movie clips, as well as one whole movie featuring the city. There were so many to choose from that I ordered way more things than we ever could have watched! We started with the song "NYC" from Annie, and ended with King Kong climbing the Empire State Building.  In between, we covered all kinds of views of famous landmarks and locations in the city. We also did NYC crafts, like scratch art, color-your-own bags, and taxi picture frames that I got on clearance from Oriental Trading! In the middle of the afternoon, we did a trivia contest. Grace won a pint of Ben & Jerry's New York Superfudge Chunk ice cream for having the best score, while Kathy, Isabella, and Ryan won candy for being close seconds. Of course, we snacked the whole time on mini soft pretzels and cookies. It was a great way to spend a summer afternoon!

We have one more movie marathon day on August 8, featuring the Muppets. And, if you're sad that you missed the crafts, leftovers will be available at Craft Closet Cleanout on August 15.

Villain Night

Last Friday, 18 teens enjoyed Villain Night at the library!  The Teen Advisory Board planned this for the Own the Night summer theme, and went with villains since we just had Superhero Night last fall. Everyone either showed up in costume or got an evil name tag upon arrival.  I showed a bunch of evil movie clips, and also invited everyone to bring their own favorites. We watched serious clips from movies like The Empire Strikes Back, several Harry Potter movies, and The Dark Knight, but also enjoyed goofy villains in movies like the original 1960s Batman and the Mel Brooks classic Spaceballs. Only a few people were brave enough to enter our evil laugh contest, but Christelle was the most evil. I put together a villain-hero matching game (with help from my awesome friend Patrick, who runs a comic book shop), which Grace dominated with 17 correct answers! They both won packs of finger moustache temporary tattoos.

As usual, we had an optional costume competition.  It was a tough call because there were so many interesting entries.  I ultimately awarded the grand prize, a Darth Vader plushie backpack, to Brianna for having the most complete costume!  Four other people got second prizes, which were Star Wars villain Pez dispensers.

Back row:  Catwoman, a mad scientist, "The Girl Next Door," "A" the assassin, an evil hipster, Voldemort from A Very Potter Musical
Front row:  The "other mother" from Coraline, a member of Team Rocket from Pokemon, Captain Hammer from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

We also did a team competition, in which people had to tell real Batman villains from made up ones.  (I used this deck of cards, with additional answers from Wikipedia.)  The winning team got to line up for snacks first.  Our snacks were "cat claws" representing Catwoman (Bugles), dark chocolate (for owning the night), and brownies (for no reason).

About halfway through the program I realized that this was my last Friday night program at the library...ever!  I guess I'll be having a lot more moments like that in the next few weeks, but this is the first time it hit me in the middle of an event.  So sad!  I'll really miss doing things like this.

Teen Summer Reading Winners, Week 6

We have a new batch of winners this week!  Here they are:

Micah Niles, grade 6

won a hardcover book and sports pencils/erasers.

Deed Ermilus, grade 7

won a hardcover book and gum.

Nisat Afroz, grade 10

won a signed copy of If I Stay by Gayle Forman and a stretchy book cover.

Blessy Thomas, grade 12

won a $5 gift card to Barnes & Noble.

Hannah McGrath, grade 8

won two games of bowling at Wynnewood Lanes.

Congrats to all, and keep those slips coming.  You've got four more weeks!

Board Game Blast

On July 11, 24 people spent the whole afternoon in the air conditioning playing board games, card games, and bingo.  We had a great mix of people playing a lot of different games, including Life, Monopoly, Apples to Apples, Sorry, checkers, Connect Four, and Uno.  I had a great time being the bingo caller, which we played at the beginning and end of the afternoon.  Several people also brought their own games in for the program.  I really liked Sarah's game of Zombie Dice.  I might have to buy that one!  During the event, I gave away 23 full-size candy bars for winning long games, and 86 minis for winning short games. Plus, people who played bingo got to keep the M&Ms we used as markers. Everyone was all sugared up by the time they left! It was a great afternoon!

Teen Summer Reading Winners, Week 5

I just did this week's drawing, and we've got five more winners!

Amber Heffernan, grade 7

won a hardcover book and a necklace.

Emily Gian, grade 7

won a hardcover book and a journal.

Teferi Tadesse, grade 8

won candy and a signed copy of The List by Siobhan Vivian

Yahnira Dogan, grade 8

won candy and a signed copy of Over My Head by Marie Lamba.

Syed Sultana, grade 9

won a $5 gift card to Wawa.

Can you believe we're halfway through the summer already?!  Keep reading...the better prizes are yet to come!

Be the First to Check These Out!

Here are a bunch of new additions to our teen room.  Many of them were purchased with funds raised from our Random-A-Thon back in February!  Here's what to look for:

FICTION

• Abarat by Clive Barker (replacement copy)
• Invitation Only by Kate Brian (Private series)
• Last Christmas by Kate Brian (Private series)
• Underworld by Meg Cabot (Abandon series)
• Glass Houses by Rachel Caine (Morganville Vampires series)
• The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl series)
• The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl series)
• Lost in Time by Melissa de la Cruz (Blue Bloods series)
• Dirty Laundry by Daniel Ehrenhaft
• The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans (Michael Vey series)
• We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han
• Totally Joe by James Howe (replacement copy)
• Rebel Fire by Andrew Lane (Sherlock Holmes, the Legend Begins series)
• The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead (Bloodlines series)
• The Mark of the Golden Dragon by L. A. Meyer (Bloody Jack series)
• ttyl by Lauren Myracle (replacement copy)
• Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (replacement copy)
• Max by James Patterson (Maximum Ride series)
• School's Out--Forever by James Patterson (Maximum Ride series; replacement copy)
• Dead Is a State of Mind by Marlene Perez (Dead Is series; replacement copy)
• Dead Is Just a Rumor by Marlene Perez (Dead Is series; replacement copy)
• Dead Is So Last Year by Marlene Perez (Dead Is series; replacement copy)
• Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer
• Stunning by Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars series)
• Wanted by Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars series)

NONFICTION

• So Now You're a Zombie:  A handbook for the Newly Undead by John Austin
• 99 Ways to Cut, Sew, and Deck Out Your Denim by Faith Blakeney, Justina Blakeney, and Ellen Schultz
• Scandalous!  50 Shocking Events You Should Know About by Hallie Fryd
• Guinness World Records 2002 (additional copy)
• The Letter Q:  Queer Writers' Notes to Their Younger Selves edited by Sarah Moon

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Naruto, volume 57, by Masashi Kishimoto
• Bleach, volumes 40-43, by Tite Kubo
• Kimi no Todoke, volumes 2, 4-12, and 14, by Karuho Shiina

July Teen Scene Book Recommendations

Do you need something new to read?  Check out the July Teen Scene online newsletter!  This month's edition contains new book recommendations, as well as a fascinating list of fiction about teens with superpowers.

Every month, you can have new book suggestions delivered to your email from the Delaware County Library System!  Don't use email?  Use your Facebook email address and have it delivered to your Facebook messages.  Click here to sign up!

Teen Summer Reading Winners, Week 4

We are having trouble with the online system today, so I did my drawing the old-fashioned way...by pulling slips of paper out of the box!  Here are this week's winners:

Christelle Toussaint, grade 9

won a hardcover book and tie-dyed book cover.

Abigail Liu, grade 8

won a signed copy of I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter and gum.

Amanda Browne, grade 11

won glow bracelets and a signed copy of Jane by April Lindner.

Monet Allen-Kemp, grade 9

won a jewelry-making kit and glow-in-the-dark stars.

Nitin Sharma, grade 7

won a $5 gift card to Barnes & Noble.

Keep those reading slips coming!  There are still six weeks to go!!

Teen Summer Reading Winners, Week 3

We have five winners again this week in the Own the Night teen summer reading program:

Emeka Achilefu, grade 7

won a hardcover book and a book light.

Midhula Pillai, grade 6

won a hardcover book and glow sticks.

Alli White, grade 12

won a copy of Envy signed by Gregg Olsen and a polka-dot bracelet.

Marissa Shields, grade 9

won a copy of I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter and star earrings.

Kenneth Turner, grade 7

won a $5 gift card to Wawa.

Congrats to these winners!  Keep reading, everyone!!