Three Fantasy Suggestions

Here are some fantasy suggestions for your reading enjoyment!  They are all very different, but will probably appeal more to female readers.  Already read these?  All of them have sequels available now or later this year.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman
(Click here to find a library copy.)

This moving story takes place in the space of one day, as Mia is laying in a coma after a tragic accident.  What does Mia have to live for?  Is it worth the struggle of recovery?  It sounds like the set-up for a melodrama, but you'll be surprised at how realistically Forman portrays the situation.  Mia is a full-realized character, even though the reader is not experiencing her life directly, but rather through her memories.  One thing I enjoyed about this book was the centrality of very different kinds of music in the lives of Mia and her boyfriend.  And of course, this book made me cry.  A new sequel to this book, called Where She Went, was just released earlier this month.  Find out more at Gayle Forman's website.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
(Click here to find a library copy.)

If you are a fan of big, fat fantasy novels, this one's for you!  Beautiful Creatures takes its cue from the supernatural romance genre that has been popular recently, but definitely has its own personality.  There are no vampires, werewolves, or zombies here!  Instead, this gothic-inspired fantasy creates its own mythology, with some characters using Southern folk magic and other belonging to a whole new supernatural category, the Casters.  There is also some interesting integration of Southern Civil War history and events that sets Beautiful Creatures apart from the crowd.  This book already has one sequel, Beautiful Darkness.  There is also a third book, Beautiful Chaos, coming out in October, and a fourth scheduled for 2012.  Want to know more?  Check out the website for the Caster Chronicles series.

Matched by Ally Condie
(Click here to find a library copy.) 

Lots of dystopian teen novels have been cominng out recently, but this one has a romantic twist that makes it more of a fun read than some.  In a future society in which everything is managed by probability and statistics, older teens are matched for marriage because of their genes and compatibility.  Cassia is excited to find that she has been matched with someone from her own town, until she finds out that there has been an unusual mistake.  Cassia's carefully-controlled life seems to be unravelling in many places, even as the government is interfering more than usual in her family and community.  It is not the most original dystopian novel I have ever read, but I found it convincing enough that I cared about the characters.  I read it in one sitting, and definitely plan to read the sequel.  The next book in the trilogy, Crossed, will be released November 1, 2011.  Take a look at Ally Condie's website for details.

Superhero Night!

Last Friday, 18 teens came out to celebrate Teen Read Week at our Superhero Night!  As everyone arrived, they used a superhero name generator to get an identity if they didn't already have one.  They also entered to win a comic book and took pictures in our superhero photo area.  During the program, we watched movie clips, did a theme song guessing contest, decorated cupcakes, matched heroes to their catchphrases, had a costume contest, and generally acted heroic.  It was a lot of fun!  Huge thanks to my friend Mike, who shared his love of all things superhero with us.  He had a great time meeting everyone!  Also, thanks to grown-up library teen Caitlin, who donated the comic books we gave away.

I handed out Spiderman pencils to people who knew the theme songs, and Katie ended up with three.  I had to stop calling on her!  For bigger prizes, the Teen Advisory Board suggested "things a superhero would put on his/her utility belt," so we came up with keychain flashlights and carabiner watches.  Everyone who won a contest got to pick one of those, available in many colors to match every superhero's costume, of course.  Micah and Chantiel won the cupcake decorating contest (see photos below).  Chantiel also won the comic book drawing.  Avis ruled the catchphrase matching, with Christelle and Own close behind.  We had seven people enter the costume contest, and it came down to Janitor Man and Bat Girl.  Bat Girl won because Mike was impressed that she had knitted her own hat and cape!  Bat Girl received a comic book for her efforts.  Janitor Man and Bat Girl both got candy, as well.

Are you sad you missed it?  I put lots of links below!  Also, next summer's reading theme is "Rule the Night," so we should definitely do superheroes again!

Movie/TV Show Clips:
Original Batman Bomb Scene
Original Batman Shark Scene
Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog
X-Men 2
The Incredibles
Batman Begins
Spiderman 2
DareDevil
Mystery Men

Theme Songs:
Batman Beyond
Batman (1989)
Superman
X-Man Animated Series (1992)
Spiderman
1960s Batman TV Show
1980s Ninja Turtles Cartoon

Some shots from the superhero photo corner:

Some cupcakes:

Billy made Janitor Man's logo

Chantiel's winning cupcake:  a flying superhero

Nehimya decorated his for X-Men

Micah's winning cupcake:  the symbols of Superman, the Green Lantern, and Batman

Laurel did another version of Batman's logo.

Nintendo Night

Last Friday, 32 teens came to our end-of-the-school-year Nintendo Night program.  We did two tournaments, plus had out my original NES.  Thanks to the teens who participated in the Random-A-Thon fundraiser, we had great prizes for the winners and soda for everyone.  Thanks also to David J., who added his Wii and controllers to the event.  We got through the tournaments in record time and actually had time for free play on both machines.  Amazing!

This time, the Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament was with teams rather than a four-player free-for-all.  So, people picked their teammate, then I randomly pitted them against each other.  It worked very well (although I was really hoping to see more of the Gaming Club members matched up in the first round!), and I'd definitely do it that way again.  The final match was between Morgan/Le and Conor/Ranier, with Morgan and Le emerging victorious!  They each got a $20 gift card to Game Stop.  All of the top four teams got candy for their efforts, which included Morgan/Le, Conor/Ranier, Tommy/James, and John E./David J.

Also, in our continuing efforts to change things up, we tried a Naruto Shippuden III tournament on the Wii.  This game has been popular at our weekly Gaming Club meetings.  Only 11 teens entered, which made me have to mess with the brackets a little.  We ended up with a three-way round-robin final among Dennis, Khalil, and David F.  Dennis was the winner, earning a $10 gift card to Game Stop.  All three of the finalists also got candy. 

We are not doing any tournaments this summer, but look for another Nintendo Night on the fall teen program calendar!

Book Review: Delirium

Delirium by Lauren Oliver
(Click here to find a library copy.)

In the future United States, there is a cure for love.  Everyone is operated on around the age of 18, then they proceed into a trouble-free adulthood.  The problem?  Teenagers.  Some of them can't make it to 18 without being infected.  Lena is counting down the days until she is through the danger and can be given the cure.  However, when Lena's evaluation day is pranked with a herd of stampeding cows, it starts a chain of events that opens her mind to the implications of being denied the opportunity to love.  Delirium is part of a mini-trend in dystopian literature in which romance drives the story.  Lauren Oliver's writing is excellent, which I think makes up for some of the generic dystopian plot elements.  Our recent dystopian book discussion covered a lot of ground in the genre, and I would compare this book to Matched and the Uglies series.  Check this one out if you're looking for a quick, exciting read with a swoon-worthy love interest!  Visit Lauren's website to learn more about her and her books.  I really enjoyed her previous book, Before I Fall.

Banned Books Week discussion group!

On Wednesday, October 3, I invited people to the library and discuss the books they've read that have been banned or challenged at some point in the past. We began by talking about which books we'd read, then why we think they might have been challenged, and finally looking up the actual reasons. Some of the reasons people give are pretty bizarre, and so I thought it would be fun to match up 10 of the weirdest reasons with the respective books. The teens that participated were really sharp and matched them up in no time flat!

Below is the list of books and the reasons people gave for their removal:

1. “Encourages children to break dishes so they won’t have to dry them.” ( A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstien)
2. “The book contains topless sunbathing and 'on some pages there are dirty things'” ( Where's Waldo, Martin Hanford)
3. “If there is a possibility that something might be controversial, then why not eliminate it?” ( Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown)
4. “Tarzan was ‘living in sin’ with Jane.” ( Tarzan, by Edgar Rice Burroughs)
5. “It is a real ‘downer.’” ( Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank)
6. “The basket carried by Little Red Riding Hood contained a bottle of wine, which condones the use of alcohol.” ( Little Red Riding Hood, by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm K. Grimm)
7. “One bunny is white and the other is black and this ‘brainwashes’ readers into accepting miscegenation.” ( The Rabbit’s Wedding, by Garth Williams)
8. “It is a religious book and public funds should not be used to purchase religious books.” ( Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, by Walter A. Elwell, ed.)
9. “A female dog is called a bitch.” ( My Friend Flicka, by Mary O’Hara)
10. “An unofficial version of the story of Noah’s Ark will confuse children.” ( Many Waters, by Madeleine C. L’Engle)

Afterwards I invited anyone who was interested to record themselves reading a passage from a banned or challenged book for the Banned Books Week Virtual Read Out. One person along with myself sat down in front of a Flip camera to read a short passage. Both videos are embedded below in a playlist:

The turnout might have been small, but the group was still fun!

It's the End of the World As We Know It: Dystopian Fiction Book Discussion

Last Wednesday, 10 teens showed up for the dystopian book discussion.  I pulled our library's books in that genre from the teen section, and they covered almost the whole table.  Dystopia really is the hot genre right now.  (Good-bye supernatural romance!)  We talked about what defines a dystopia, how it fits in with other genres, and the different kinds of dytopian books.  People talked about their favorite dystopian novels, which included Uglies, The Hunger Games, Unwind, and Gone.  We also discussed the issue of how much romance is appropriate in a dystopian novel.  We read this recent New York Times article, which raises some interesting thoughts about new books like Matched and Delirium, where romance drives the dystopian plot.  It was a great discussion, and a lot of people checked out books at the end. 

You can continue the discussion on The New York Times' website.  In their Room for Debate category, there is a whole section about dystopian teen books called The Dark Side of Young Adult Fiction.  It has short articles (including ones by Scott Westerfeld and Maggie Stiefvater) from different viewpoints, plus you can add your comments!

Here's a list I put together of books for fans of The Hunger Games, which is mostly dystopian teen novels.  Want to read more?  Check out these lists from Wikipedia:

• Dystopian literature
• Dystopian comics
• Dystopian films

Fall Nintendo Night

Last Friday, 39 teens showed up for our fall edition of Nintendo Night!  It was our busiest one ever, with three simultaneous tournaments.  We had full brackets in the Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament, with 18 teams.  I matched them up randomly, and we ended up with a final match of David J. and Colin vs. Devon and Jared.  Jared put up a good fight at the end, but was ultimately beaten.  It was a great match!  David J. and Colin each got a $15 gift card to Game Stop, and all four guys got candy.  Huge thanks to John E. for keeping the controllers straightened out for each match.  It was a big help!

The Naruto Shippuden III tournament was also full, with 16 entrants.  This has been a popular game at our club meetings, so it was not a surprise to see some exciting matches and hear a lot of bragging!  Dennis M. defeated David T. in the final for a $10 gift card to Game Stop.  All of the top four finishers received candy.

For our third tournament, we did a Pokemon Black and White tournament on DS.  Evan didn't like our rules from last time, so he took a shot at running it his way.  It worked pretty well, and it also went really fast!  Ten people entered, which worked down to a three-way final.  David J. took home the $10 Game Stop gift card, and all three top finishers got candy.   Evan did all the work of this tournament, from making the rules to checking teams to recording victories in the brackets.  Thanks, Evan!

We do this several times a year, so look for another Nintendo Night on the winter 2012 schedule. 

What's New!?

Here are our newest books in the teen section!

FICTION

• Playground by 50 Cent
• Ambition by Kate Brian (Private series)
• Kiss of Death by Rachel Caine (Morganville Vampires series)
• Crossed by Ally Condie (Matched trilogy)
• Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures series)
• Everybody Sees the Ants by A. S. King
• Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause (replacement copy)
• Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce
• Thirst, No. 1, by Christopher Pike
• Withering Tights by Louise Rennison
• Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber
• The Silver Bowl by Diane Stanley

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Comic Party, volume 1, by Sekihiko Inui
• Chibi Vampire, volume 1, by Yuna Kagesaki

British Invasion Night

On Friday, 23 teens came to our celebration of all things British. Christina, a library employee and a total anglophile, planned all kinds of great activities. We did a British English spelling bee, competed in a pub quiz on various pop culture and historical topics, watched some media clips, matched British and American English words, wrote stories using Beatles song titles, and listened to the BBC live on the internet. We had crips and crumpets (potato chips and Tastycakes to you Americans) for a snack, along with a spot of tea. Christina used Halloween crackers and Cadbury chocolate as prizes, as well as some random items we rescued from the library yard sale. Jamine was less than thrilled with her potholder featuring historical sites of London, but we all got a good laugh! Everyone had a good time, and we all went home with a poster for the upcoming movie of The Golden Compass. Thanks, Christina!!!

A group writes down words they associate with the UK.

The lucky few who made it to the second round of the spelling bee!