Tabletop Gaming at the library!

Last Wednesday, 20 teens came to the library for some unplugged gaming fun! We had people bringing their own games, games borrowed from the Primos branch, as well as Sellers' games and a few of my own. In addition to the two copies of Munchkin that were available, someone had brought the deluxe edition (which comes with a board and player pieces) and that version was the favored one. Sarah brought in a game called Tsuro, which I tried out and really enjoyed playing. I'd never heard of that one before, so big thanks to Sarah! Quite a few rounds of Zombie Dice were played, which is a fun, quick and easy game. Classic games such as Checkers and Connect 4 were also popular. Everyone that won a game got a candy prize (although since Connect 4 matches can sometimes last only minutes, you could only win candy the first two times you won). There were a few iPads on hand with Ticket to Ride loaded on them, and a few people gave that a try, sometimes solo and at other times with people. I think they found it less intimidating than the Ticket to Ride physical game that was available.

The event went from 1:00 to 4:30, and it felt like it was over so quickly! I definitely look forward to doing another tabletop game day soon, it was a lot of fun!

Settlers of Catan, with some Yu-Gi-Oh! playing off to the side.

This game of Clue sounded like it was getting pretty heated as they looked for the culprit!

Tsuro was a surprisingly fun game!

New books for the week of 7/21/2013

FICTION

• The Ruining by Anna Collomore
• The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen
• Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta (book 2 of the Lumatere Chronicles)
• Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta (conclusion to the Lumatere Chronicles)
• The Reluctant Assassin by Eoin Colfer (W.A.R.P. book 1)
• Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas
• The Incredible Charlotte Sycamore by Kate Maddison
• Quicksilver by R.J. Anderson
• Golden by Jessi Kirby

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction, David Aja and Javier Pulido

New titles for the week of 7/14/2013

In addition to the titles below, we also received the new issue of Otaku USA this week!

FICTION

• The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
• The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
• No Crystal Stair by Vaunda Micheaex Nelson and R. Gregory Christie

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Peanut by Ayun Halliday & Paul Hoppe
• K-On (vol. 3) by Kakifly
• Curses! Foiled Again by Jane Yolen and Mike Cavallaro
• A Flight of Angels by Rebecca Guay

Nintendo Night at the Municipal Branch Library!

This past Tuesday, 22 teens showed up to hang out and enjoy some Nintendo gaming at the Municipal branch! We had a Super Smash Bros. tournament on the projector screen, which 18 people signed up to compete in. It was a great tournament, and in the end Devon came in third, Siaka came in second with Jared taking first place in a very exciting final match! First place got a $20 GameStop gift card, second got $15 and third got $10. Congratulations to everyone who competed and made it such a fun night! The final rounds ended up going 15 minutes past the end of the night, even with matches down to 3 minutes! I'll be working to make sure we get more rounds played in less time for the next tournament!

In addition to the tournament, we had three small TVs hooked up with an additional Wii on freeplay as well as some classic Nintendo systems from my collection, a Nintendo 64 and a Super Nintendo for people to play some classic multiplayer on. Big thanks to Toby from Primos for bringing in those TVs! Some people also brought their DS systems in for Pokemon battling and trading. It was a really fun night, and if you missed the Nintendo Night at Primos, there will be one at Sellers August 23. Also make sure to stop by Municipal on Tuesday, July 30th from 6-8 for a screening of Disney's Wreck-It Ralph.

There was lots of gaming going on with 3 gaming stations and people playing DS!

Preliminary rounds were 4 players, while the finals were 1 on 1.

Outdoor Art Drop-In Wednesdays!

The weather hasn't been so cooperative when it comes to Wednesdays this month, but we've been doing crafts nonetheless. On July 3rd we ended up setting up indoors, since while it wasn't raining, it looked like it was planning to (and did eventually). Ten people showed up to make mosaic picture frames with cut up CDs! The end results came out really cool looking!

some of the completed frames!

Then this past Wednesday we got to set up the tent and tables outside while we made glass pebble magnets and cherry blossom paintings using the bottoms of 2-liter soda bottles as stamps. Two hours in it suddenly got dark, rainy and windy, and we ran inside and continued indoors. Of course, by the time we had set up indoors, it was sunny outside and never rained again!

We had magazines and craft paper to decorate the glass pebble magnets.

People got really creative with the cherry blossom paintings!

We have one more outdoor art drop-in coming up this Wednesday, and we'll be doing CD scratch art! Come on by between 11 and 2 for this cool looking and easy craft!

New Titles for the week of July 7

This week saw a ton of new titles hit the teen section of the library!  Come in and pick up something new to read!

FICTION

• The Milk of Birds by Sylvia Whitman
• Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass  by Meg Medina
• Obsidian Mirror by Catherine Fisher
• Furious by Jill Wolfson
• After the Snow by S.D. Crockett
• Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (sequel to Cinder, book 2 in the Lunar Chronicles)
• Mojo by Tim Tharp
• The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson
• The Silver Dream by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves (sequel to Interworld)
• A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty
• Being Henry David by Cal Armistead
• Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby
• Sparks by S.J. Adams
• Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff
• Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am by Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis
• Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moskowitz
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
• My Family for the War by Anne C. Voorhoeve

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks

Pokemon Night was awesome!

Last Friday we had 18 Pokemon fans show up to enjoy all things Pokemon! 16 teens signed up for the DS tournament, where anyone with Black/White/Black 2 or White 2 could compete to be the Pokemon champion in a doubles tournament! This was my first time hosting a Pokemon tournament, and I didn't plan on how long each round could last! I ended up having to cut down the number of preliminary matches, as well as the number of people participating in the final single elimination rounds. In the end, David took home first and John second, and Devin got third place. My favorite part of the tournament would have to be the good sportsmanship between trainers; after each match, I frequently saw people shake hands on a good game! In addition to the tournament, we had the Pokemon Black and White movie playing on a projector screen, Pokemon Battle Revolution for Wii, and an N64 with Pokemon Snap and Pokemon Stadium. I also invited people to design their own Pokeballs, and one winner would be randomly chosen to win a Zekrom Deluxe figure, which went to Elijah. I invited people to come dressed in costume, and two people were brave enough to dress up! Abbey came dressed as Jolteon, and Mary came as Gardevoir! Both were awesome, and we voted to see which would win the Pikachu plush I was giving away for best costume. They tied, and we had to decided on a coin toss, which Mary won! I dressed up as well, choosing to go as Professor Oak! Thanks to everyone that came out, I had a great time and look forward to doing it again, perhaps in October when the new game comes out!

The Pokemon tournament!

Jolteon and Gardevoir!

some of the Pokeball entries!

My Professor Oak costume

New Teen Reads

Here's some new reads to check out just in time for Summer vacation!

FICTION
Tilt by Ellen Hopkins
Dear Life, You suck by Scott Blagden
Earth Girl by Janet Edwards
Prodigy by Marie Lu (sequel to Legend)
Fox Forever by Mary E. Pearson (book 3 of the Jenna Fox Chronicles)
Midwinter Blood by Marcus Sedgwick
The Twelve-Fingered Boy by John Hornor Jacobs
Cinders & Saphires by Leila Rasheed (book 1 in the At Sumerton series)
Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers (book 2 in the His Fair Assassin series)

NONFICTION
Rapture Practice: My One-Way Ticket To Salvation  by Aaron Hartzler
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Prima Official Game Guide by Bryan Dawson

GRAPHIC NOVELS
Bleach  by Tite Kubo (volumes 48-56)
Paradise Kiss by Ai Yazawa (vol. 3)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz & Dan Duncan (vol. 2-3)
Kare Kano by Masumi Tsuda (vol. 1)

Rocking Away Fines!

Yesterday from 1 to 5 was our "Rock Away Your Fines" event, where teens were invited to drop in and play some Rock Band to get rid of their library card fines. For every song they played, we deducted $1 of fines from their card! A total of 24 teens showed up, and we got rid of $141 in fines! Hopefully this will help a lot of them to get started on checking out books again for the Summer! I was asked by quite a few people when I would be doing this again, so I'll look for ways to possibly fit another one in before the fall. Rock Band worked pretty well for this type of event, but maybe for the next one we could try something new. Big thanks to everyone that came in and participated!

New Reads!

Some new books have recently been added to the shelves! Be the first to read them!

FICTION

• Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde
• Croak by Gina Damico
• Before we were Free by Julia Alvarez
• What the Moon Saw by Laura Resau
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

TAB graduation party!

On Sunday June 9th, the Teen Advisory Board met for the last meeting of the school year, the TAB graduation party. We had two graduates that will be leaving TAB as they head off to college, Elena and Genni. They will be missed from the TAB! While I think voting for the next members normally happens at the graduation party, we'd done the voting at the previous meeting, so the new TAB members were invited as well, Vincent, Jessica and Tasnim. The TAB gave each of our graduates a small gift, and we had pizza and ice cream cake! We ended the day with a kind of "get to know you" game to welcome the new members. We also got a special guest appearance by Gretchen, the previous teen librarian! It was a great day, and I'm glad so many people were able to attend!

the graduates pose with Edward

serious(ish?) group shot...

and a silly group shot!

Summer 2013 Programming Schedule!

The schedule for our Summer programs is ready to print, so here's a look at what we'll be offering!

Movie Matinees

· July 24, 3:00 to 4:30: Paranorman (PG)

· August 7, 1:00 to 4:00: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (PG-13)

· August 21, 1:00 to 3:30: The Dark Knight (PG-13)

Special Events

Rock Away Your Fines

Wednesday, June 19, 1:00 to 5:00

 Get ready for summer at the library by getting rid of your old fines!  For every game of Rock Band you play, you will have

$1 removed from your overdue fines.  Amount of game time depends on number of players.  Fine reduction applies only to the library card of the participant.  Fine reduction may not be used for lost items.  No registration; just drop in.

Pokemon Night

Friday, June 28, 6:30 to 8:30

We’ll be celebrating Pokemon with lots of activities, including a costume contest, Pokemon Stadium battling, screening the anime, and more! Bring your DS and Pokemon games to battle others!

Registration begins May 27. Permission slip required.

Tabletop Gaming

Wednesday, July 31, 1:00 to 4:30

 Do you want to try out a new game or have an old favorite to share? Bring your own or use ours! We’ll have more traditional board games such as Monopoly and Clue as well as newer

tabletop favorites like Munchkin and Carcassonne. Hang out with your friends, eat snacks, and win prizes!

Registration begins June 24

Minecraft Building Competition

Wednesday, August 14, 2:00 to 5:00

 Do you like Minecraft? Know the difference between an

Enderman and a Creeper? Enjoy mining in dangerous caves for diamonds? Then come to our Minecraft Building Competition!

A Minecraft account is required to participate. Please bring your own laptop if possible as computers will be limited.

Registration begins July  8

Nintendo Night

Friday, August 23, 6:30 to 8:30

We’re celebrating all things Nintendo! Bring in your DS and

favorite multiplayer games. Compete in a Super Smash Bros Brawl tournament, play Mario Kart Wii or our other Wii games in freeplay, or enjoy some multiplayer on an old-school Nintendo system! We'll have our Wii hooked up to a projector for

big-screen gaming!

Permission slip required. Group size is limited. Registration

begins July 22

Crafts

Outdoor Art Drop-In Days

Wednesdays, July 3 to July 24

11:00 am to 2:00 pm

The Teen Advisory Board is running three weeks of great craft

projects outdoors! We will be setting up on the lawn next to the adult library, so look for our canopy. Each project will take about 1/2 hour, but some may need time to dry. Dress for a mess, or borrow a smock from us. All craft materials provided.

· July 3: CD Mosaic Frames

· July 10: Cherry Blossom Art

· July 17: CD Scratch Art

Projects will be available until materials run out. In the event of rain, the week’s project will be cancelled and made available on July 24 from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. No registration, just drop in each week!

Clubs

Gaming Club

Mondays, July 8 to August 19, 3:00 to 5:00

Bring your Yu-Gi-Oh! deck, DS, PSP, or any other game you’re into. We'll also hook up the Wii for multiplayer gaming. Hang out, relax, and play whatever you want!  Permission slip

required. Club size limited to 35 members.  Registration is

ongoing until spaces are full.

Book Discussion Groups

Get free books and free food!  Every month, the group votes

on a book, and the library buys them each a copy to read and

discuss at the next meeting.  These groups meet year-round.

Read and Rant Book Group

Third Fridays from 4:00 to 5:00

July 19, August 16

This group is accepting a limited number of new members entering grades 7 and 8.  Registration is ongoing until spaces are full.

Book Grub Book Group

First Fridays from 3:30 to 5:00

July 5, August 2

This group is accepting a limited number of new members entering grades 9 to 12.  Registration is ongoing until spaces are full.

Primos Branch High School Book Group

Third Mondays from 7:00 to 8:00

June 17, July 15, August19

Open to students entering grades 9 to 12, this group meets at the Primos Library at 409 Ashland Ave., Primos, PA, 19018.  Call them to register:  610-622-8091.

Primos Branch Middle School Book Group

Second Fridays from 4:00 to 5:00

June 14, July 12, August 9

Open to students entering grades 6 to 8, this group meets at the Primos Library at 409 Ashland Ave., Primos, PA, 19018.  Call them to register:  610-622-8091.

YouTube Viewing Party!

Last Wednesday I had 5 teens show up for our YouTube Viewing Party. While it was a smaller crowd than I expected, each person was able to show two videos instead of the standard one (myself included!). Siaka won the “other” category for “Mike Tompkins sings Paradise”, Ashton won the humor category for “Dumb Ways to Die”, and David won the “movie/animation” category for the Minecraft video “In Search of Diamonds”. The winners all received movie theater-sized candy. Ashton also won best video overall with “Dumb Ways to Die”, earning him gift certificate for 5 free DVD rentals from Redbox. And while Afsara couldn't make it, she sent me a video to play anyway, "This is Engineering", which I thought was hilarious! Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone that participated, it was a lot of fun!

Below is the full list of videos shown at the event:

Man Sings at Gas Pump (The Tonight Show)
Acapella Cover of Paradise by Mike Tompkins
In Search of Diamonds (Minecraft)
Popo-chan
Dumb Ways to Die
This is Engineering
Party in the C.I.A.
Zombie Love Song
Making Norman from Paranorman
Sixty Symbols Vacuum Canon
Philly Tawk
Monty Python’s Silly Job Interview

Generation Next Gaming Club starts Thursday

The new Gaming Club geared towards 18-29 year-olds will be starting this Thursday, June 6, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm. If you're in the current gaming club and a high school graduate, you're automatically on the list for the Generation Next Gaming Club. Once the Generation Next club starts meeting, I'll be asking all gaming club members that are high school grads to please meet at that one instead of Monday's club. In the case that you're 18 and still in high school, you can choose to attend one club or the other (but not both). If you have any questions about the gaming clubs, feel free to shoot me an email or come talk to me!

Book Review: If You Could Be Mine

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

Review by Elena Nasto

If You Could Be Mine is a unique story centered around the strict society in Iran. Both religion and tradition are the foundation of several rules enforced which limit how citizens are allowed to wear, act, and express themselves. For example, all women must be covered up and wearing a hijab or full body outfit as part of their religion. Moreover, certain acts such as public affection are greatly prohibited. Those who are caught disobeying these laws are subject to getting arrested and most likely physically abused by the police. The main character, Sahar, is going through a bad time in her life because she is in love with her best friend Nasrin, who is a girl. Because girl relationships are illegal, they risk keeping their relationship a secret. However, when Nasrin is set up to marry a handsome and wealthy man, Sahar is heartbroken. The story tells the entire journey the girls go through trying to stay together in a place where they simply do not belong.

In my opinion, I thought this book was a shocking burst of reality. While reading it, I truly realized that there are many places in the world that do not have many of the freedoms such as in America. As a result, people have to suffer and keep secret while they try to somehow to live a normal life. The story was especially compelling to read because the characters are adolescents and are making huge decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. I definitely recommend this book to everyone because it is something that everyone should be aware of, regardless if you do not support gay rights. It is surprisingly different from other stories in that it does not present a perfect ending but rather the truth about what happens in the world today.

Sellers Library Teens Tumblr page

There is now yet another way to follow the goings on at Sellers Library, as I've started up a Tumblr page:
SellersLibTeens.Tumblr.com
In addition to postings of events and things going on at Sellers Library, I'll probably be doing plenty of reposting of other library and book-related awesome stuff. Follow the new Tumblr page, and feel free to comment on what I could do to make it awesomer (that's totally a word, spellcheck).

Sellers teens making the world better!

This is just a post to say congratulations to Genni Naklicki, a member of our own Teen Advisory Board,  for her help in turning an empty patch of land by the side of the road into a 4,650 square foot garden! She was interviewed in the Daily Times (link here), the online version of which includes a video. This was really inspiring to see, and it's great to see people helping out the community! Good work Genni!

Free Comic Book Day and TAB Bake Sale!

Saturday was a busy day for Sellers Library! We had Truck Day going on for the kids, which meant that outside there were all kinds of trucks (fire trucks, police cars, construction vehicles) parked everywhere. There was also a used book sale going on outside. In addition to that, it was the first Saturday in May, which meant it was Free Comic Book Day at many comic stores around the country. More and more libraries are getting in on FCBD each year, and this year we celebrated by having a selection of free comic books and a double feature of comic book movies. Patrons were allowed to take two comics each from the selection, then grab some snacks and relax to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World followed by The Amazing Spider-Man. 13 teens showed up for the comics and movies, and I believe all but 1 stayed for both!

As if that wasn't enough activity for one library, the Teen Advisory Board was also running a bake sale in the lobby during the afternoon! In addition to raising money for the teen programs and supplies at the library, a portion of the money raised by the bake sale also went to help the family of a friend in the TAB, whose family is dealing with the aftermath of a house fire. Altogether the TAB raised $138 in the bake sale, which is awesome!

The comic selection, shortly before being picked through.

Otaku USA Magazine now in the teen section!

I'm happy to announce that we now carry the magazine Otaku USA at Sellers! The magazine covers "manga, anime, videogames and Japanese pop culture from an American point of view". It also includes preview chapters of upcoming manga in each issue. The magazine is bi-monthly, so look forward to new issues every other month. I've always thought it was a shame that Shonen Jump made the move to digital-only and have been looking for a magazine to fill the void. While not offering the same type of content, I hope that Otaku USA will cater to the same audience and beyond, with the inclusion of videogame and movie news and reviews. Our first issue is currently on the teen graphic novel shelf, and will be shelved next to the Shonen Jump magazines in the future.

New Titles for the week of 4/21/2013

New titles for the week, including the sequel to I Hunt Killers, which I've not yet read but heard is quite good, and Death Note volumes 9-12, which completes the series! Stop by the library and pick up some new titles!

FICTION

• One Came Home by Amy Timberlake
• Game by Barry Lyga (sequel to I Hunt Killers)
• Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen (replacement copy)

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Mars by Fuyumi Soryo (vol. 1-8)
• Marmalade Boy by Wataru Yoshizumi (vol. 4)
• Love Com by Aya Nakahara (vol. 2-3)
• The Gentlemen's Alliance by Arina Tanemura (vol. 1-4)
• Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata (vol. 9-12)

Movie Day: Wreck-It Ralph!

Last Wednesday, 11 people showed up to watch a screening of Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph. After watching it, Nitha said that it should have won the award for best animated feature, which Brave took instead, and I have to agree. I haven’t seen Brave yet actually, but I just really love this movie! 

If you missed this movie day, don’t fret, because we've got a double feature coming up on May 4^th, also known as Free Comic Book Day! We’ll be showing two movies inspired by comic books, starting with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, followed by The Amazing Spider-Man!

In the meantime, here's some fun Wreck-It Ralph coloring pages:



And Disney's site has some papercrafts inspired by the movie, which is great, but I wish they had some easier ones!

New titles for the week of 4/7/2013

Here's the new titles we've got at the library this week! Pick them up and get something new to read this weekend!
FICTION

• Inferno by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Then You Were Gone by Lauren Strasnick
• Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo
• The Archived by Victoria Schwab
• Scrivener's Moon by Philip Reeve (book 3 of the Fever Crumb series)

New titles for the week of 3/31

Probably the weirdest of the bunch this week would be Riese, which is a prequel to a series of webisodes on SyFy!

FICTION

• Try Not to Breathe by Jennifer R. Hubbard
• Touched by Cyn Balog
• Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick
• Flesh & Bone by Jonathan Maberry (book 3 of the Rot & Ruin series) (replacement)
• Riese: Kingdom Falling by Greg Cox
• The Girl is Trouble by Kathryn Miller Haines (sequel to The Girl is Murder)
• Small Damages by Beth Kephart
• Poison by Molly Cochran
• Wait For Me by An Na
• Skellig by David Almond

Upcoming Spring Schedule, April-June

Here's the upcoming events for the next three months, ladies and gents. Some of these events are available to register for now. I'm still working on finishing the sign-up packets for the upcoming Random-a-thon, so that should be ready in a few days.

SPECIAL EVENTS 

Movie Day: Wreck-It Ralph

Wednesday, April 17, 3:30 to 5:30

Join us for a special viewing of Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph! Register now.

Random-a-thon Teen Advisory Board Fundraiser

Saturday, April 27, 9:00 am to 4:30 pm

Ask for hourly pledges from family and friends, then come to our event for as long as you can! The longer you stay, the more money you'll help raise for teen programs in 2013. Pass the time with all kinds of library activities, including video games, crafts, board/card games, and random surprise events throughout the day!  Register now and pick up a participation packet with more info.

Dance Dance Revolution

Wednesday, May 1, 3:30 to 5:00

Show your moves at our Xbox DDR program!  Dance for fun, then enter a tournament.  Register now.

Comic Book Swap & Movies

Saturday, May 4, 11:00 am to 3:00 pm

It's Free Comic Book Day at participating comic book shops! Come celebrate by trading in your old comic books and graphic novels for new reads! We'll be showing two classic movies inspired by comics, Scott Pilgrim vs The World (PG-13) followed by The Amazing Spider-Man (PG-13). Stop in just to swap, or stay for as long as you'd like! Register now. 

Board Game Day

Wednesday, May 15, 3:30 to 5:30

Do you want to try out a new game?  Do you have an old favorite to share?  Bring your own or use ours, hang out with your friends, eat snacks, and win prizes! Registration begins April 15.

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Saturday, June 1, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm

Relive the days when Saturday mornings ruled. Bring in your favorite childhood cartoon DVDs or select from the ones on hand. Cereal will be provided.

Registration begins May 6.

YouTube Viewing Party

Wednesday, June 5, 3:30 to 5:00

Show videos in the categories of humor, music/anime, and other to win prizes. We will hook a laptop up to a projector so that everyone has a great view. Come prepared with ideas *appropriate* for the whole group.

Registration begins May 6

Pokemon Night

Friday, June 28, 6:30 to 8:30

We’ll be celebrating Pokemon with lots of activities, including a costume contest, Pokemon Stadium battling, watching the cartoon, and more!

Registration begins May 27. Permission slip required.

CLUBS

Gaming Club

Mondays, April 1 to June 24

3:30 to 5:00

Bring your Yu-Gi-Oh! deck, DS, PSP, or any other game you’re into. We'll also hook up the Wii or Xbox for multiplayer gaming. Hang out, relax, and play

whatever you want!  Permission slip required. Club size limited to 35 members.  Registration is ongoing until spaces are full.

Asian Culture Club

Every 2nd and 4th Wednesday from 3:30 to 5:00

We meet twice per month to watch and discuss great anime shows, participate in an art challenge, and learn about Japanese culture.  Registration is ongoing until spaces are full.

iPhone Alive fun!

Last Wednesday I had 7 teens show up for some activities based on Plants vs. Zombies and Angry Birds. The Plants vs. Zombies portion had us constructing our own "pea shooters", which were actually mini-marshmallow shooters from PVC pipe. While I walked through the "correct" way to assemble the pieces, some decided to see what other shapes they could make that would still work, which I thought was a pretty cool idea. Since I had a few pieces left over in case more people showed up, those were raided and used to mod their shooters. I put on some Plants vs. Zombies music from my iPod (yes I have the PvZ soundtrack on my iPod) and we took turns seeing how many shoot zombie head targets we could shoot in two minutes. Micah and Alex had a tie for 16 shots so we held a final face-off.

The marshmallow shooters were so popular, actually, that we never got to the Angry Birds portion of the program! But everyone was fine with it, and we had a lot of fun! Maybe we'll reschedule the Angry Birds stuff for a later time.

Apparently, the marshmallow shooters were also useful for blowing up balloons...

The zombie targets.

Book Review: Coda

Coda by Emma Trevayne

Review by Elena Nasto


Coda, written by Emma Trevayne is a unique book centered on music and dictatorship. The setting takes place in future New York, where years after some horrible war the city is known as the Web. Everything runs on a network, including the people themselves. Instead of money, people have credits, which automatically get used with a swipe of microchips implanted in their wrists. The Web is governed by a group of elite leaders that are part of the Corp and use the citizens to get what they want. They use addicting music to send messages to their brains to keep them in check. No one has heard “real” music, until a group of musicians comes out of hiding and show people how it is like. Once the Corp starts to come up with even more unique ways of brainwashing people, citizens are urged to start a revolution so that they can finally have their freedom back again.
When I first started reading this book, it was extremely confusing and hard to understand because all these new terms such as “choice” and the “Web” were just thrown around with no clear meaning. As the plot unraveled, the setting became much clearer and the idea that music was controlling citizens interested me and made me want to read more. However, as the storyline progressed, it seemed to me as if the book was going to be another Hunger Games, where a whole country revolts against the government. A lot of aspects were just so similar that I felt like the author was just copying Suzanne Collins entirely. For example, someone who commits a crime they get their hearing taken away, much like their tongue in The Hunger Games. Overall, the book was a cool spin on the vision of the future of America.

Mario Night!

To coincide with Teen Tech Week, on Friday March 15, 17 teens showed up to celebrate Nintendo's famous mascot, Mario. The main event was a Mario Kart Wii tournament, which lasted up until the very end of the evening. It was a pretty close game, and in the end David took home a $15 Gamestop gift card and John took home a $10. The first and second place winners also took home a random Mario Kart capsule toy, and all participants got Mario themed candy. In addition to Mario Kart Wii on the main projector, we had a Gamecube hooked up to a second projector and an N64 hooked up to the TV. There were also some activities for those not currently playing a game, such as a Mario-themed word search, a Mario maze and some coloring pages. It was a really fun night and I look forward to doing another soon!

Mario Kart Wii tournament

N64 feels right at home on an old TV

Add caption

Here's the Super Mario Maze (it's harder than it seems!):

And here's some Mario coloring pages!

couple of new titles

Here's a few new titles that have come in recently, be sure to check them out! If you're a fan of The Legend of Zelda, you'll definitely want to check out Hyrule Historia!

FICTION

• Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon
• Homeland by Cory Doctorow (sequel to Little Brother)
• Nerve by Jeanne Ryan
• When We Wake by Karen Healey
• Requiem by Lauren Oliver (final book of the Delirium trilogy)

NON-FICTION

• The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia 

I'm guessing Don't Turn Around has nothing to do with Ace of Base, but I can't help but hear that song anyway when I read the title.

Rock Band Jam Session!

Last Wednesday 7 teens showed up to rock out in our Rock Band jam session. While it was a smaller group than usual, that just meant that everyone got more time to play! While I started off grabbing the microphone and singing (my apologies to everyone present), I was surprised to see that the microphone got passed around quite a lot during the event! We had some players who were seasoned veterans of the game, and we also had some people who had never played before! We played a lot of Rock Band 3, then popped in Lego Rock Band after a little while (once again, no love for the Beatles!). There was also popcorn, pretzels and cookies to snack on in between songs. Everyone had a good time and I can't wait to do it again!

We have new shelves!!!

I'm happy to announce that our teen corner just got a bit more spacious, as our new shelves were installed this week! The new shelving was installed where the manga shelf was before. This gives us enough room to fit series in to the corner, after the fiction ends, then series continues out to where it's always been located, with manga/graphic novels starting there as well. The layout definitely has more of a flow to it, and even gives us more room to put displays on top of the shelves and show off new titles!

lots more space!

Un-Valentine's Day Party!

Last Wednesday, 16 teens stopped by to partake in our Un-Valentine's Day party! With a mix CD of anti-love songs playing in the background by artists such as Tom Waits and Weird Al, we played some games, ate some snacks, and made some cool looking crafts. First we built little marshmallow shooters out of plastic cups and a balloon, and launched heart-shaped marshmallows at partners who tried to catch them in a cup. After 60 seconds, whichever team caught the most won candy prizes, then we switched launchers and catchers. It was pretty frantic and fun. Then we made some duct tape roses, but out of duct tape options such as black, or black with skulls, and red with black dragons! They came out looking pretty cool! While making the roses I wheeled out some snacks, "broken heart" cookies and "Hershey kisses of death!". We ran into a snag when I tried to play some anti-Valentine's day clips on YouTube, as the wifi was being fickle. Oh well, we still got to watch Adam Sandler sing "Love Stinks" from the Wedding Singer before it refused to cooperate! All in all it was a fun day that went by too fast!

making duct tape roses

the dragon tape came out looking great, and this rose even has leaves!

another rose with leaves that came out great!

New titles for the week of 2/10/2013

FICTION

• Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
• What We Saw at Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard
• Crash by Lisa MacMann (Visions book 1)
• The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Right State by Mat Johnson and Andrea Mutti
• Bring the Thunder by Alex Ross and Jai Nitz

Mini Desktop Calendars

Last Wednesday we had 15 teens show up to make mini desktop calendars that use an inverted CD case as a stand. Tables were scattered with various kinds of paper, crayons, colored pencils and magazines to tear up in order to decorate the monthly calendar pages. Everyone's calendars came out looking totally unique but all equally awesome. Thanks to everyone that came by to participate!

Shrinky Dinks at the Asian Culture Club

At our last Asian Culture Club, we colored in some anime style Shrinky Dinks, because hey, Shrinky Dinks are always cool! Below is a picture of the finished, shrunken forms, and they came out really good! We should be getting in the first issue of Otaku USA Magazine soon, we just recently subscribed, and I could see using their huge picture layouts for future art projects.

New Books for the week of 1/13/2013

Here is the new titles in the teen collection this week. What's everybody looking forward to reading? I'm excited to finally get my hands on Shades of Earth, the last book in the Across the Universe trilogy (we read Across the Universe over the Summer in the high school's Book Grub Book Group).

FICTION

• Deadly Little Lessons by Laurie Faria Stolarz (a Touch novel)
• Shades of Earth by Beth Revis (book 3 in the Across the Universe trilogy)
• Auracle by Gina Rosati
• See You at Harry's  by Jo Knowles
• The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (book 2 of the Mara Dyer trilogy)
• Daylight Saving by Edward Hogan
• Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
• The Infects by Sean Beaudoin
• Personal Effects by E.M. Kokie
• Erebos by Ursula Poznanski 
• The Secrets of the Eternal Rose: Venom by Fiona Paul
• A Certain October by Angela Johnson
• Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick (book 3 in the Hush, Hush series)
• Lexapros and Cons by Aaron Karo
• Almost Home by Joan Bauer

New Year, new books! Week of 1/6/2013

Happy 2013 everyone! I hope you all had a good break! We've got some new books in this week:

FICTION

• What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton
• This Is Not Forgiveness by Celia Rees
• Adaptation by Malinda Lo
• Darkwater by Catherine Fisher
• Breathe by Sarah Crossan
• Pinned by Sharon G. Flake
• Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
• The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron
• My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
• The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
• Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan (The Lynburn Legacy Book One)

NONFICTION

• The Brontë Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily and Jane by Catherine Reef