Perler Beads crafts!

Last Wednesday, 8 teens showed up to make things out of Perler beads! Perler beads, generically known as fuse beads, are little different colored beads you arrange on a pegboard. After you've got the image you want, you place parchment paper over it and iron them for a minute. The beads will melt a little, fusing together. Once it's cooled, you can take them off the pegboard and it'll stick! There were lots of patterns to choose from (doing an image search at Google will bring you lots of results, as well as Pinterest, or you can check out Kandi Patterns, a website specifically for fuse bead and pony bead patterns), and I also had some iPads on hand with Bead It! installed on them, which can make a bead pattern out of any picture! The print-out patterns were definitely more popular. Our stock of white beads was unfortunately quite low, so improvisation had to be made (someone used grey instead of white for R2D2 and he came out really good actually). Below are some pictures of the event.

happy sushi roll!

creeper with glow-in-the-dark beads!

Hello Kitty!

Beamo's arms didn't make the fusing process...

Sailor Moon was so large it covered a second board!

master ball

This was a really fun event that I'm definitely looking forward to doing again. If anyone else wants to try, you won't have to wait long, as we'll be doing more Perler Beads at the Municipal Library branch on Tuesday, July 8 at 4:00.

Table Top Gaming and Mario Night!

Last week we had another table top gaming day on Wednesday, the first of what is now a regular monthly Table Top Gaming Club! Nine gamers showed up to play, and I ran a game of King of Tokyo, where each player takes the role of a giant monster, gaining energy to buy crazy new powers and attacking the other players to become the king of Tokyo. Things got pretty cutthroat, but it was all in good fun! There were also games of Donkey Kong Jenga, Connect 4, Monopoly and Uno. I'm already looking forward to next month's meetup, where I think we'll try out a game of Munchkin. If you're interested in playing some table top games, we're meeting on the second Wednesday of each month!

My monster's name was The King, but he did not live up to that title..

Playing King of Tokyo

Monopoly and Uno!

Then that Friday night we had a Mario Night, the main draw of which was the Mario Kart Wii tournament! All characters, vehicles and courses were unlocked, with stages set to random. Everyone played two rounds or two races each and their point totals were recorded. After the two rounds were up, the top four players faced off for one final race on Rainbow Road! There were three different Mario prizes, and first place got first dibs, and so on to third place. In the end Sarah took first place and choose the Mario t-shirt as her prize, Brian took second and choose the Mario poster, and Mary took third and choose to skip over the final prize, the Mario DVD, and instead took one of the Mario mushroom brownie pops I'd made! So the DVD went to fourth place racer John!

In addition to the tournament, there were various games set up for people to play at their leisure. We had Super Mario 3D World running on the Wii U for up to four players, an N64 with Mario games like Mario Party and Mario Kart 64, and a Super Nintendo with Tetris Attack and some Mario titles. Oh, and also a TV playing the old Super Mario Bros. Super Show, the campy cartoon from the late 80s/early 90s! Everyone had a good time, and I hope we get another Mario Kart tournament going shortly, this time for the upcoming Wii U game!

gathered around playing Mario 3D World on Wii U

tournament racing, with old-school systems in back

Mario Kart banana peels and Mario Kart spare tires!

Fireballs and Peach Punch

Getting ready for Mario Night @ Sellers library!

Mario Night is next Friday, May 16! In the interest of switching it up a bit, the prizes will be a little bit different than what's usually on offer for the winners of the Mario Kart tournament. While all three winners will get candy prizes, there will be a large Mario poster, a Mario t-shirt, and a Mario cartoon collection DVD. First place winner will get first pick, second place can pick from the remaining two, and third place gets the one that's left!

In addition to the Mario Kart Wii tournament, we'll have the Wii U hooked up with Super Mario 3D World, as well as older Nintendo systems playing classic Mario titles. Signups are still open! I hope to see you all there!

Testing out the MaKey MaKey kits!

At our last Teen Advisory Board meeting, I brought one of our new MaKey MaKey kits so we could play around with it. It wasn't until a little while in that I thought of taking out my phone and recording! Here's some of the TAB playing Tetris using arrow keys that molded out of clay!

I really wish I'd recorded earlier, when we were playing bongos and other sound effects by touching bananas and plants! The MaKey MaKey is a great little invention that allows you to hook up anything that conducts electricity to this board, which you plug into your computer. The computer just thinks you're hitting keyboard keys. We'll have four kits available to play with during a program this Summer, so look forward to that!

Disk Planters craft

Last Wednesday, we had three brave teens come and brave the thunderstorm to make planters out of old 3.5" floppy disks! Using five disks we hot glued them together into a box shape. We had several empty yogurt containers, and a choice of either planting a grown flower to it or planting a brand new seed. Since the storm ended up keeping people away, everyone ended up making at least two planters and doing both a grown flower and planting a seed. (I planted a few marigold seeds in a yogurt container and had little plants sprouting up just two days later!) There were various things to decorate the disks with, including standard disk labels, duct tape and markers.

While the storm ended up keeping most people home for the day, we still had fun making the planters and hanging out and having some snack food. Big thanks to Christelle for bringing out her phone and supplying us with some music!

Our next craft day is Wednesday, May 28, when we'll be making things out of Perler Beads! I took some beads home to give it a try,and in no time had made a 1-Up Mushroom from Super Mario Bros:

(it still needs to be ironed so the beads fuse) Signups are still open for this one, so if you're interested, sign up and stop by to make whatever you want out of Perler Beads!

Teen Review: Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles

Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles

Ashtyn Parker is the only female football player at Fremont High. She dates the star quarterback Landon and her mother left when she six. Everything is going fine until her team votes her as captain instead of Landon. To top it all off, her sister Brandi, who she hasn't seen for seven years, suddenly comes home with her son Julian and step son Derek. Derek Fitzpatrick is a legendary high school football player who got expelled from his private high school for pulling a prank with his buddies. His father, who is in the Navy, is away for 6 months and his mother died from lung cancer. When he gets expelled, Brandi takes him and Julian with her to Chicago to her parent’s house. When Derek shows up and meets Ashtyn, sparks fly. They annoy each other and bug each other but all throughout Derek acts the part of the savior. When Landon quits the team and joins the rival team, Ashtyn has to find a new QB to take his place and be good enough to take them all the way to states. As the story progresses, Ashtyn falls for Derek and Derek tries to push her away because of his unresolved inner conflicts. Can they both help each other out and will love at the end prevail?

My Opinion:
I loved this book. I am a big Dashtyn fan and I give Simone Elkeles 5 stars for writing a wonderful book. There was just the right amount of humor and seriousness to keep me going. It was such a wonderful and easy read and has become one of my favorite books. I love how the heroine plays football and isn't afraid to get a little dirty. Superbly done and I hope to read more of her books in the future. -Arig

Teen Review: The Ring and the Crown

The Ring and the Crown by Melissa De La Cruz

Princess Marie-Victoria is heir to the British Empire. She is soon to enter in a faithless and arranged marriage with Prince Leopald VII, the Kronprinz of Prussia. The marriage was arranged by Queen Eleanor and the King of Prussia. The problem is that the Princess is not in love or at all fancy Prince Leopald. She is the only girl who doesn’t think him handsome and she enjoys the company of his brother, Prince Wolf, more than him. Ronan Astor, an American heiress, is close to financial ruins and must marry someone rich and make a good match to save her and her family. Aelwyn Myrddyn, a bastard mage, is Princess Marie-Victoria’s merlin and friend. Isabelle of Orleans is Prince Leopald’s fiancée. All of these people are on their own mission and England for the start of the London season, and specifically the Bal du Drap d’Or (the Ball of the Golden Cloth).

The problem is that Princess Marie-Victoria is in love with her guard. Prince Leopald is engaged to Isabelle, who he soon casts aside. Ronan meets Prince Wolf, while at first not realizing he is a prince, while traveling to England and soon they fall in love. And finally, Aelwyn Myrddyn is crushing on Prince Leopald. Problems arise and someone is after the Princess and the British Empire. Threats are made, lies are told, battles are fought, people die, and everyone gets an ending. Will Princess Marie-Victoria marry Leopald or will Isabelle? What will happen to Aelwyn’s crush and will Ronan find this suitable match of hers by the end of the season?

My opinion:
I’d give this book 4 out of 5 stars. Melissa De La Cruz did a wonderful job in this story. It was different from her Blue Bloods series and I think it was a success. Every chapter had its own point of view and was well written. The story as a whole was interesting and was an easy read. Some parts made me laugh while others had me sympathizing with the characters. Truthfully, I was a little bummed by the ending. It wasn’t the typical happy ending for all and I was wishing Aelwyn and Ronan had their fairytale happy ending, too. However, with that said, I still think this book was successful and enjoyable. For anyone looking for a little history and mystery with their romance, this book is for them.  -Arig

Gaming Club levels up with Wii U!

I'm excited to announce that Sellers Library now has a Wii U! Starting with today's gaming club, we'll have the Wii U hooked up to our big screen projector. Right now we have a copy of the multiplayer title Nintendo Land, which has minigames for up to 5 players. We'll of course be adding games like Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros to our lineup when they come out. If you're signed up for gaming club at Sellers, come in and try out the new system today!

UD Libraries Minecraft Teens server is up and running!

Attention Minecraft fans! The Upper Darby Libraries have just started up a Minecraft server! If you have the PC edition of Minecraft and you're in grades 6 to 12, you are welcome to join! All you need to do is sign a paper saying you've read the rules, and give us your name to whitelist you in. After that you can can log in anytime by selecting "multiplayer" in Minecraft and going to this address:
MINECRAFT.UDLIBRARIES.ORG:25594

Right now it's looking a bit empty, with just a lobby and a few portals leading to the main survival world and to a world used for taking resources. Hopefully we can get a nice community going on shortly! If you want more information, the UD Libraries website has a page about the server at udlibraries.org/teen/minecraft, or you can email me if you have questions!

the UD Libraries lobby

Frozen sing-along at Sellers Library!

On Friday April 11 we had a movie night at the library! 18 teens showed up to watch Frozen, the new animated movie from Disney. We played the movie with the subtitles on so that we could sing along with the movie. There were snowman building kits made from pretzel sticks, orange slices chocolate chips and different sized marshmallows, held together with some vanilla frosting! I'd also come across some tiny bottles of bubbles and invited people to blow them during the song "Let It Go", or just anytime they wanted!  I'd seen Frozen once before, but I think watching it like this with a large crowd made for a way better experience! If you missed this movie night, our next one will be May 30th from 5:00 to 8:00 when we'll be watching Catching Fire!

Table Top Gaming @ Sellers Library

Last week we had 11 teens show up to play various table top games, from classics like Connect 4 and Uno (and seriously, I'd never seen an Uno game go on as long as this one did!) to newer stuff like Castle Panic and Zombie Dice. I played Castle Panic with a small group, and while we made it quite far, our castle was eventually destroyed by the incoming horde of monsters. I think next time we'll try playing on the "less panic" rule set, our castle has been destroyed so many times! One new addition to the gaming lineup was "Life of George", a Lego game that's an iPad/real world hybrid game. You're given an image to build, then when you've built it you use the iPad camera and the game grades you on how close you came and how fast you built it. 1 to 4 players can play!

I'm often asked about when the next table top event will be, so I'm thinking that starting shortly we'll be making table top a regular monthly event. I'll have more on this soon, so be sure to check back!

Our selection of games!

Castle Panic and Connect 4 craziness!

Right as the Jenga tower fell!

They wanted to do a posed one too.

Pokemon Night X and Y tournament!

Last Friday 16 teens showed up to play some Pokemon from 6 to 8! Mary showed up as Sylveon and Devon came as Infernape! We played doubles battles with a team of 6 Pokemon. There were four rounds of Swiss pairings to decide the single elimination bracket. There was some heavy competition and a good deal of (friendly) smack-talking! In the end, Phillip took the tournament, winning a $15 Gamestop gift card! In addition to the 3DS battles going on, there was some Pokemon anime being projected on the big screen, a Wii with the 4-player Pokemon Rumble playing, and an N64 with Pokemon Snap (one of my favorite Pokemon games. SEQUEL PLEASE!) and the 4-player Pokemon Stadium.

Pokemon tournaments are always a good time, and I look forward to hosting another one shortly. Thanks to everyone that came!

Infernape and Sylveon!

lots of snacking and Pokemon playing!

Taking a break from the tournament to play some console Pokemon

The single elimination bracket

A poster with all 721+ Pokemon makes for a good "Where's Waldo"-style challenge

Sylveon and Professor Oak

some new books for the week of 3/23/2014!

A few new books this week to check out!

FICTION

• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (replacement)
• Blood Red Horse by K.M. Grant

NON-FICTION

• The Missing Semester by Matt Kabala and Gene Natali Jr.
• The Early Investor by Michael W Zisa
• Not Another Teen Knitting Book by Vickie Howell

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• The Night Wanderer by Drew Hayden Taylor and Michael Wyatt

Pokemon Night upcoming!

Just a reminder, Pokemon Night is tomorrow night!!

Random-A-Thon 2014!!

Last Saturday we had our annual Random-A-Thon fundraiser! 11 teens showed up for the event, which required a minimum donation of $10 to enter. Almost everyone stayed for the entire program, which ran from 10 to 3! We started things off with some Dance Dance Revolution by hooking up the Xbox 1 (like, an original Xbox, not the Xbox One!) to a projector. The tables were set up with duct tape crafts, with a few iPads set to YouTube pages of duct tape instructions to follow along with. Although it didn't take long for some of the iPads to be hijacked for playing some Spaceteam on them, which is a riot to watch four people play at the same time.

After DDR we used the projector for a trivia game where everyone had to test their knowledge on a variety of topics such as "name that cheese", "2013", "celebrity yearbook photos" and "candy". Afterwards we broke for lunch where you could make your own peanut butter and jelly (or marshmallow fluff) sandwiches or get a Cup Noodles. During lunch there was Rock Band playing in the other room, then we brought out the Connect 4 for a short tournament where Alex was undefeated. We ended things with some Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart.

I'm still waiting for some people to hand in their fundraising packets, so I'll update again when there's a final tally, but right now I think we're at around $350! The person who raises the most will get a prize as a way of saying thank you. Overall it was a great way to spend a Saturday at the library!

trivia time!

starting the day with DDR

Chess on one side of the table, Spaceteam on the other

New books for the week of 2/23/2014

Here's a list of new books this week, including a new one by Laurie Halse Anderson, the entire Shatter Me trilogy, and a couple of cool new graphic novels!

FICTION

• Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (book 1 of the Shatter Me trilogy)
• Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi (book 2 of the Shatter Me trilogy)
• Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi (book 3 of the Shatter Me trilogy)
• The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Living With Jackie Chan by Jo Knowles
• Three by Kristen Simmons (an Article 5 book)
• Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian
• Starglass by Phoebe North
• OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Heck by Zander Cannon
• Johnny Hiro: The Skills to Pay the Bills by Fred Chao
• Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie
• Jane, the Fox & Me by Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault 

Blackout Poetry was fun!

I am officially blaming all these snow days we've had as why I've not posted up about the blackout poetry event we had two Wednesdays ago. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Anyway! We had six teens show up to make some blackout poetry crafts! We had on hand old mangas, discarded books and a ton of old magazines to go through, tear up, and scribble over to make new poems from old blocks of text. And in typical fashion, I had my phone in my pocket and forgot to take a single picture! Ah! Well, here's an example I made shortly before the event, at any rate. We had coffee cans and wooden picture frames to decoupage the poems onto! 

Everyone seemed to enjoy the laid-back nature of blackout poetry, and we all chatted while we made poems. I also had my iPod playing for some background noise, and made sure to apologize for my eclectic taste in music that I was subjecting them to. We've got the Random-A-Thon fundraiser coming up this Saturday, and I'll have supplies on hand to make more blackout poetry as well as a ton of other things!

Random-A-Thon and other upcoming programs!

Our big fundraiser for Sellers Library teen programs, the Random-A-Thon, is just a week away! Next Saturday from 10 to 3 we'll be hosting all sorts of events, from anime to Connect 4, from papercrafts to Super Smash Bros, there's something for everyone to check out! It's a $10 minimum donation to enter.

On Wednesday, March 5, we'll be doing temporary tattoo crafts at 3:30. I'll have some designs on hand for anyone to use, such as the Deathly Hallows symbol and the Hunger Games Mockingjay, but you're welcome to bring in your own or just freehand it if you're feeling brave!

On Wednesday, March 12 we'll be making 6-second book trailers for Teen Tech Week! We'll have some iPads on hand to use, or if you've got a Vine-enabled device you can use that too. We'll plan out and make some 6-second book trailers, then at the end we'll show them on the projector for a mini-marathon! Come with a book in mind, and if you have any props you'd like to use, feel free to bring them too.

March 19th is the third Wednesday of the month, and that means it's the Anime Club! Each month we vote on a title to watch while we hang out and talk manga, anime and anything else!

Pokemon Night will be Friday, March 21 from 6 to 8. We'll be having a tournament for the X and Y Pokemon games, as well as free play on older console Pokemon titles. Come in costume for a chance at a prize!

March 26 will be the Tabletop Gaming event, a personal favorite of mine, where for two hours we'll be offering a ton of board games to choose from! From classics to new titles, we'll have a little of everything. You're welcome to bring your own games as well!

I hope to see lots of you at all these upcoming events! And if you're around Saturday, make sure to stop by the Random-A-Thon fundraiser, which helps us raise money to do all these teen programs!

A few new titles

Just a few new titles added recently that I wanted to bring to your attention!

FICTION

• The Rule of Three by Eric Walters

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama (3-in-1 of vols. 7-9)
• The Property by Rutu Modan

Upcoming Winter programs!

Winter schedule brochures are available to grab here at the library, but here's some of the upcoming events:

The next three dates for Anime Club are Wed, Jan 29, Feb 19, and March 19 from 3:30 to 5:00. Come in and vote on an anime show to watch, enjoy some snacks and hang out with teens who share your interests!

Next Friday, January 31, join us at the library for a screening of Pixar's Monsters University at 4:00!

We'll be having a trivia contest on Wednesday, February 5 from 4 to 5. Come in and have fun competing for fun and prizes! 

On Wednesday, February 12 we'll be making blackout poetry by taking old books, magazines, newspapers and anything else we can find and marking them up to make new passages! 

Anime Club and our movie are drop-in, but registration is now open at the library for Teen Trivia Day and Blackout Poetry!

Lots of new titles for the week of 1/12/2014!

Another week with lots of new releases. Come check some stuff out before these shelves burst!

FICTION

• The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (book 2 of The Raven Cycle)
• To Be Or Not To Be: a choosable-path adventure by Ryan North
• Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz
• Scorpion Shards by Neal Shusterman (book 1 of The Star Shards Chronicles)
• Thief of Souls by Neal Shusterman (book 2 of The Star Shards Chronicles)
• Shattered Sky by Neal Shusterman (book 3 of The Star Shards Chronicles)
• Hollow City  by Ransom Riggs (book 2 of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children)
• Frozen by Melissa De La Cruz (book 1 of Heart of Dread)

NON-FICTION

• Guinness World Records 2014 Gamer's Edition
• Drawing Words and Writing Pictures by Jessica Abel & Matt Maddden
• S.E.X. the all-you-need-to-know progressive sexuality guide to get you through high school and college by Heather Corinna
• YOU: The Owner's Manual for Teens by Michael F. Roizen, Mehmet C. Oz and Ellen Rome
• Start It Up: the complete teen business guide to turning your passions into pay by Kenrya Rankin
• How to Draw Hip Hop by Damion Scott and Kris Ex

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Johnny Hiro {Half Asian, All Hero} by Fred Chao
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Dan Duncan (vol. 1 & 5)
• Bad Houses by Sara Ryan and Carla Speed McNeil
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki (vol. 1)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Secret History of the Foot Clan by Mateus Santolouco and Erik Burnham
• Battling Boy by Paul Pope

AUDIO BOOK PLAYAWAYS - FICTION

• Champion by Marie Lu (book 3 of Legend trilogy). Read by Steven Kaplan and Mariel Stern
• The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead (a Bloodlines novel). Read by Emily Shaffer

New Year, New Books

Happy New Year! We've got lots of new additions this week, and a lot of new graphic novel selections. Start 2014 off right with a new book to read!

FICTION

• Never Have I Ever by Sara Shepard (A Lying Game novel)
• The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler (replacement)
• Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan
• Pieces by Chris Lynch
• Unbreakable by Kami Garcia (The Legion Book 1)
• How to Lead a Life of Crime by Kirsten Miller
• The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural by various
• Taken by Edward Bloor

NON-FICTION

• The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent
• Doing it Right: making smart, safe, and satisfying choices about sex by Bronwen Pardes
• Freaking Out: real-life stories about anxiety  by Polly Wells
• Minecraft: Essential Handbook by Stephanie Milton

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley (replacement)
• Doctor Who Omnibus vol. 1
• The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare and Hyekyung Baek
• My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf
• Runaways: Pride & Joy by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona
• Fullmetal Alchemist  by Hiromu Arakawa (vol. 1, replacement)
• Dragonball by Akira Toriyama (3-in-1 collecting vol. 4-6)
• Dragonball Z by Akira Toriyama (3-in-1 collecting vol. 4-6)
• Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori (vol. 2-3)
• Soul Eater by Atsushi Ohkubo (vol. 2-3)
• Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Sins of the Fathers by Kevin Eastman (vol. 4)
• I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura

Since I'm always trying to find a way to use Vine, here's one of some of the new graphic novels we got in! (Some like the Dragonball volumes and the Clockwork Angel were already checked out by the time I shot this!)