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.

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.