You Never Know @ Your Library! (YA Summer Reading Program, 2007)

For the purpose of the SRP, Young Adults (YAs) at the East Greenbush Community Library are those who will be entering 6th through 12th grade in the fall.

Summer Murder Mystery Game
Too old for the traditional summer reading program at the library? This summer, at the East Greenbush Community Library, we will be having a Summer Murder Mystery Game. Pick up the Murder Mystery Game Rules and Suspect Sheet @ Your Library. Read or listen to books on tape or CD. Earn clue cards to eliminate suspects. Solve the mystery and enter to win some great prizes! (Everyone wins some sort of prize.)

• Sign up between June 18th and July 6th.
• Earn 5 clue cards by August 3rd to get invited to the End of Summer Mystery Celebration – and to be entered in the prize raffles!
• First 10 YAs to finish get a special PRIZE!!!

VolunTeens
YAs who will be entering 7th through 12th grade in the fall are invited to join the VolunTeen Program. YAs who have volunteered for at least 2 years can apply to be an SUV (Super Über VolunTeen).

Call or visit the library to sign up to be a VolunTeen:
VolunTeen Orientation will be on June 7th @ 7pm
SUV Orientation will be on June 14th @ 7pm

(Contact Chrissie to make special arrangements if you are unable to attend the appropriate orientation meeting.)

YA SUMMER MEETING SCHEDULE
We will be meeting on Thursdays @ 6 pm and all meetings will be approximately 1 hour long, unless noted otherwise.

• June 28th – Name that Tune – Karaoke (ends at 8:30)
• July 5th – CSI: Detective Training
• July 12th – Murder @ the Library
• July 19th – Urban Legends… You Never Know!
• July 26th – Break the Code
• August 2nd – Dinner and a Mystery Movie
• August 9th – End Of Summer Mystery Celebration (@ 7pm)

Get out of the sun and have some fun…
@ Your Library!

Happy Reading!

Holy box of books, Batman!

This morning, I received a HUGE box of YA galleys… I’m talking THIRTY FOUR “advance reader” copies — some of which are for books that aren’t released yet! What does this mean?!? AWESOME SUMMER READING PRIZES!!! Lots of thanks and a big shout out to Heather Doss of Bookazine!

And, for those of you who need specific authors, titles, and plot summaries to whet your appetite, I have decided to include a few:

• Busted by Phil Bildner [August 28, 2007]

Jock? Cheerleader? Total nerd? Doesn’t matter. You’re busted. In Phil Bildner’s second novel, he puts to good use his experience as a high school teacher as he propels us through a series of interwoven stories about kids doing things they’re pretty sure are wrong. There’s a violated “zero tolerance” policy on a senior field trip and the cruelest bully high school has ever seen. Throw in a gambling ring and a group of honor students doing very non-honor things and every crowd gets busted somehow.

• Guyaholic by Carolyn Mackler [August 14, 2007]

V Valentine is the queen of meaningless hookups… until a fateful hockey puck lands her in the lap of Sam Almond. And things with Sam are different — meaningful. So now what? With humor and compassion, Printz Honor winner Carolyn Mackler takes readers on an unforgettable ride of missed exits, misadventures, and the kind of epiphanies that only come when you’re on a route you’ve never taken before.

• How to Get Suspended and Influence People by Adam Selzer [February 13, 2007]

It all starts with an assignment. Leon’s “gifted and talented” class has to make educational videos for the sixth and seventh graders. Leon originally chooses “sex ed” as his subject in the hopes of showing a flash of boob. But as time goes on, his project starts to mean something. He wants to tell the younger kids that puberty is tough, but what they’re going through is normal. After researching the avant-garde movement, Leon crafts his video in the style of Fellini: La Dolce Pubert. It’s deeply disturbing yet comforting. But when the gifted program’s director sees it, she suspends Leon—and he finds himself at the center of a townwide debate over censorship. Who gets to decide how far is too far?

• What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones [June 5, 2007]

My name is Robin. This book is about me. It tells the story of what happens when after almost 15 pathetic years of loserdom, the girl of my dreams finally falls for me. That seems like it would be a good thing, right? Only it turns out to be a lot more complicated than that. Because I’m not gonna lie to you — there are naked women involved. Four of them, to be exact. Though not in the way you might think. Don’t get me wrong — my girlfriend’s amazing. But the way things have been going lately, I’m starting to believe that the only thing worse than not getting what you want, is getting it.

• The New Policeman by Kate Thompson [January 23, 2007]

Who knows where the time goes? There never seems to be enough time in Kinvara, or anywhere else in Ireland for that matter. When J.J.’s mother says that what she really wants for her birthday is more time in her day, J.J. decides to find her some. But how can he find time for her, when he barely has enough time to keep up with school and his music? And where will he get time to find out if the shocking rumor is true—that his great-grandfather was a murderer? It seems as though J.J.’s given himself an impossible task. But then a neighbor reveals a secret to him—there is a place where time stands still. J.J. realizes he’s the only person who can make the journey, but to do so he’ll have to vanish from his own life. And when J.J. disappears from the village, enter the new policeman. . . .

• The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin [September 7, 2006]

It all starts when Matthew observes a heroic scene in a convenience store: A man named Murdoch puts himself between an abusive father and his son. Matt is determined to get to know this man. And when, amazingly, Murdoch begins dating Matt’s mother, it seems as if life may become peaceful for the first time. Matt and his sisters have never before known a moment of peace in a household ruled by their unpredictable, vicious mother. And so, after Murdoch inevitably breaks up with her and the short period of family calm is over, Matt sees that he needs to take action. He refuses to let his family remain at risk. Can he call upon his hero, Murdoch? And if not, what might his desperation lead him to do? A thought-provoking exploration of self-reliance and the nature of evil and a heart-wrenching portrait of a family in crisis, this is Nancy Werlin’s most compulsively readable novel yet.

• Zane’s Trace by Allan Wolf [August 28, 2007]

Zane Guesswind is running from one death straight toward another — his own. Taking off in a stolen 1969 Plymouth Barracuda, armed with his brother’s driver’s license, a six-pack of Mountain Dew, a jumbo pack of Sharpies, and a loaded gun in the trunk, he’s headed for Zanesville, Ohio — to kill himself at his mother’s gravesite. He’s got no rearview mirror and no more worries. But when Zane picks up Libba, a hitchhiker also on her way to Zanesville, he gets a lot more than a girl who wants the last word in any argument. With each mile marker that he passes, Zane gets farther from the life he knows and closer to figuring out who he is. This suspenseful novel is a fast-moving read with a supernatural twist — and an insightful look at families and how we can only escape them when we accept the way they are.

So yeah… Summer Reading is on the way, and I am really excited about the programs we will be having! If you live in or near East Greenbush, you should definitely be signing up and coming in to participate. This year’s theme is Get a Clue @ Your Library for Tweens (and younger kids) and You Never Know @ Your Library for YAs. For the purpose of the SRP, Tweens will be any students entering 3rd-5th grade in the fall and YAs will be any students entering 6th-12th grade in the fall. For more info, check out newsletter, which can be found on our website: http://www.eastgreenbushlibrary.org… Or, you may even see me when I come to visit your school!

Happy Reading!

3 APPLES BOOK AWARD NOMINATIONS

Nominations are now being accepted for the 3 Apples Book Award! Be sure to visit your local (or school) library to nominate your favorite book by March 23rd. Go to www.3applesbookaward.org for all the details!

Happy Reading!

FEBRUARY BREAK TWEEN PROGRAMS

Have you signed up yet?!?

Tuesday, 2/20 @ 2pm
DDR Competition
Get off the couch and get to the library for Dande Dance Revolution! Tweens in grades 4-8 are asked to call the library and sign up ahead of time.* Group size is limited.

Tuesday, 2/20 @ 7pm
Crafty Tweens
Commemorate your holiday fun with scrapbooking! Bring pictures from the winter holidays and learn how to make a special keepsake with Ms. Renee Wyman of Creative Memories. Space is limited: registration required.*

Thursday, 2/22 @ 9am
American Red Cross Babysitting
Earn a Red Cross Babysitting Certificate. Learn babysitting responsibilities including accident prevention, first aid, diapering, and feeding children. The program cost is $48 per person and is required at the time of pre-registration. No phone registrations will be accepted. Boys and girls ages 11+ are welcome.

* Call 477-7476, ext. 6 to speak with a Youth Services Librarian, or come in and see them in the Children’s Room.

Happy Reading!

Help me choose!

I am trying to decide the books I will read for the March, April, and May book group meetings. I think I have some good books to read, but I am not sure if the kids in my group would like them as much as I would. If you have any feedback about these books and/or any other suggested titles, please feel free to add a comment! The nominees are:
Toad Heaven by Morris Gleitzman (author of Toad Rage)
Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce (has been made into a movie)
The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney
Fourth-Grade Fuss by Johanna Hurwitz

Have you read them? Are there any problems with these books? Are there some better books that I should read instead? Thanks in advance for any input!

Happy Reading!

DDR Contest…

Tonight the East Greenbush Community Library hosted our first ever Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) Contest! Since the contest was open to tweens and teens in 6th grade and up, we decided to keep things fair by breaking the competition down into the four levels available in the game: Beginner, Light, Standard, and Heavy. We had 21 tweens and teens show up, and there were even 4 adults (parents) who stayed to check things out! In case you were wondering how things turned out, the scores are listed below.

Beginner
Enaw 7,001,530
Maya 6,549,999
Kyrie 5,107,691
Alex 859,925
Brian 75,835

Light
JR 50,448,025
Piper 41,950,965
Nick 9,320,800

Standard
Travis 82,112,942
Emily 6,566,254

Heavy
Ginger 54,357,316
Mike 8,754,216
Bill 8,397,288
Barry 8,049,396

There were refreshments (popcorn, Gatorade, lemonade, and spring water), prizes for every person who competed (a free book of his/her choice), and even some silly prizes. For the two girls that helped “bring it all together” (Melly and Ginger), there was a travel sewing kit. For the tops in Heavy, there were “champagne” bubble bath (to celebrate and soak simultaneously!) and a shoe polish kit (for Mike’s dancing shoes!)… For the tops in Standard, there were a ball-catch game (since Travis “brought his ‘A game’!”) and a bath set (for Emily to soak away her sore muscles!)… Very fun indeed!

Overall, I think it was a great success, and I look forward to doing it all again — for April break?!? OK… That’a all for now.

Happy reading!

New blog!

Today, while on a school visit to talk to 6th graders at Goff Middle School (Hi guys!), I decided to start a reading blog for my tweens. I like how Jen has a lot of ways to help teens find good books, and I am already addicted to blogging anyway, so this is the next logical step! Basically, this blog will be all about the good, the bad, and the ugly — in tweens literature, that is! Hope this helps all of you would-be readers out there. Feel free to post your own comments about the books. Happy reading!

P.S. “Librarina” was originally a typo made by a librarian friend of mine, but she and I decided that we liked the word enough to keep on using it. We hope to help “librarina” (a.k.a. female librarian) make it into the dictionary someday — like Nick in Andrew Clements’ book Frindle!