Books Blog : teens

Quick and Easy Bookbinding Program

wag.mado@evpl — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 15:53:00 GMT

Local artist, Kimberly Jones is going to offer an exciting program on the Japanese art of bookbinding. This program is scheduled on Thursday, October 18th at 6:00 PM in the Large Group Room on second floor at Central Library. She will teach us how to create and bind our very own journal from a recycled book.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn the art of Japanese Stab Binding and take home your very own creation. The program is free and open to the public. All materials will be provided.

You may visit Kimberly's blog spot here.

Registration is required. Please click here to reserve your spot.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:04:00 GMT

When I went home a little while back, I saw a copy of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in my little sister's room. Feeling a bit nostalgic, I went home and started reading the battered copy on my bookshelf. I don't know how many times I have read this book (almost as many as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird), but I always come away feeling like I have just read it for the first time.

Betty Smith published A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in 1943 and it was an immediate success. The story focuses around Francie Nolan, a young girl growing up in the early twentieth century with a fun-loving, but alcoholic father, realistic mother, and younger brother. Struggling against poverty and isolation from her peers, Francie finds solace in the library where she plans to read every book in the collection. The story continues over the next five years of Francie's life. Her struggle to gain her mother's love, her desire to better her own life, and finding love are all issues that Francie encounters growing up in Brooklyn.

I don't want to give away too much of the story for those of you that haven't read it because A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a book that I believe everyone should read at least once. Francie and her family have struggles that many people can relate to, and you can't help but wish to be the friend Francie so desperately needed. If you are wandering around the library one day searching for something to read, remember to grab a copy of this book.

College Admissions - what is a parent to do?

kiya@evpl — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:35:00 GMT

It's late September. This year's juniors are getting ready to take the PSATs, and seniors are squeezing in one last SAT or ACT while starting college applications and essays. What is a parent to do? How do you help, but still let the kids take the lead in this College Admission process?

You could read all the books that give more than anyone needs to know about how to apply, where to apply, what to put on the essay... and share that information with your grateful teen.

Get Into College by Rachel Korn [well , that's pretty direct and simple]
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting in to Top Colleges by Marna Atkin [hmmm]
Making It into a Top College by Howard R. Greene
Fiske Countdown to College: 41 to-do lists and a plan for every year of high school by Edward Fiske [ really? 41 to-do lists?]
All the others

You could go online and meet other overwhelmed (and sometimes overwhelming!) parents on some of the online discussion boards. [note - be careful - some of these folks are REALLY intense]

You can make sure your kid knows about the free online test prep available through the library, and the free programs at the library offered by college counselors, university admissions and financial aid officers. And you can read some narrative non-fiction designed to let you look at the process.

Acceptance: a legendary guidance counselor helps seven kids find the right colleges - and find themselves by David Marcus
Fat Envelope Frenzy: one year, five promising students, and the pursuit of the Ivy League prize by Joie Jager-Hyman

Or you can read fiction about the Admissions process - and learn a little bit, in a more enjoyable way.

Admission, a novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Acceptance by Susan Coil
The Sleeping Beauty Proposal by Sarah Strohmeyer
PS, a novel by Helen Schulman

Whatever you choose, I wish you, and your teen, good luck.

I never saw a purple cow. I never hope to see one. But I can tell you anyhow, I'd rather see than be one.

kiya@evpl — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:44:00 GMT

That poem by Frank G. Burgess might be the first one I ever learned, and I got a lot of enjoyment out of it. At least until I turned 8 or so.

I don't think of myself as much interested in poetry, and certainly don't write any. (Well, except for when I write new words for familiar tunes and drive my kids crazy with them. But that's hereditary. My mom used to do that to me.) Every now and then, though, some poem or poet really catches my interest, and for a little while, I'm really into poetry, or that poet, or performance poetry. And then I forget until next time.

So while I'm thinking about it - here are some of the poets, poetry, and links that have caught my fancy in the last couple of years.

1. Bryan Owen, who will be here, in Evansville, at Central Library, on Sunday, March 8^th. He will be presenting a poetry workshop at no charge to the participants. More info here! Below is one of his poems that I really like:

She said I'm like an onion -
I had so many hidden layers.
I told her that
if she stopped peeling
she wouldn't cry so much.

"Onions" was recently published in chicago writer Sean Chercover's novel Trigger City in which Bryan's collection Blue daffodils and other poems becomes part of the plot.

2. Taylor Mali writes and performs poems. For many years, he also taught school, and while I enjoy nearly all of his poems, the school poems are really terrific.

"Like Lilly Like Wilson", about a recovering "like" addict, was the poem that brought Mali to my attention.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

"Labeling Keys" is funny and poignant.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

"How To Write A Political Poem" is just one of Mali's poems that you can read on his website. I had a hard time choosing one to post...

3. The power of Audre Lorde's poetry always resonates with me.

4. Ted Kooser and Billy Collins, both former poet-laureates, intrigue me.

I had a teacher who made us memorize Robert Frost's poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay," swearing it would come to mind each and every spring for the rest of our lives. She was right. I wish now I had memorized more poetry when I was younger, and could learn it easier. I guess it's not too late.

What's your favorite poem?

How to be fabulously green

librarianinheels@evpl — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:57:00 GMT

Looking for a way to maintain your super-fab lifestyle without ruining the planet? Then pick up The Eco Chick Guide to Life: How to be Fabulously Green by Starre Vartan. This tiny book is packed with information on 'greening' your life in every way possible - from beauty and clothing to food, housekeeping, and lawn care.

Vartan gives lots of good, pratical advice on how to remain fabulous and help save the environment at the same time. She includes links to producers of eco-friendly makeup and personal care products, advice on purchasing eco-friendly clothing (vintage, anyone?), and easy-to-follow directions on how to do things like compost in your backyard, grow your own organic tomatoes, and stuff like that.

So. If you want to save the environment, but you really can't give up those girly-girl routines, products, and other potentially eco-harmful ways, check out the Eco-Chick. She's got some good advice for you.

"Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer

myzticrhythmz@evpl — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:09:00 GMT

Okay; I admit it. I have never liked vampires. From a very young age, I have been really very scared of them.

So when the Twilight books came out, I was reluctant to take them on. Sure, Harry Potter had his Dementors, but you could be pretty sure Harry would come out okay. With vampires, though, you never know.

But folks kept requesting the books, and other adults were telling me how good they were. So, as if drawn by the proverbial apple on the cover, I bit.

This is a well-written book for teens that has some appeal for adults as well. Bella is the quintessential misfit, the new girl at school. When she sees Edward, she is instantly enthralled by him, as are most of the other girls. That Edward and his family have a somewhat "unconventional" lifestyle doesn't seem to bother Bella. How the vampires cope in the human world, as well as with other supernatural beings, kept me reading on, and also sets the stage for other books in the Twilight series.

I'm glad, ultimately, that I read Twilight. The author has a very lyrical style, and seems to deal with the supernatural in ways that people can relate to - it's not gory or sensational. And, setting aside my cynical-adult hat for a moment, I have to say that the misfit teen/grand, eternal passion theme had a familiar, wistful resonance for me, as well.

The brief but fascinating journey of a full-time hero: "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie

myzticrhythmz@evpl — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:18:00 GMT

At first glance, Arnold Spirit Jr. has nothing going for him. Born with a number of physical maladies, he's the son of alcoholic parents living in poverty on Washington's Spokane Indian Reservation. He's beaten up on a regular basis. Arnold has two saving graces, though: his friendship with Rowdy, the local bully who takes a shine to him; and his gifts as an artist and student.

One day, in a fit of frustration, Arnold picks up his thirty-year-old textbook (which his mother had also used) and indiscriminately hurls it across his classroom, breaking the teacher's nose. The teacher, Mr. P, sees something more in the action (and the student) than meets the eye. While Arnold is at home serving his suspension, Mr. P visits with a suggestion: Leave the reservation school, he says, and go to school in the rich white people's school twenty-two miles away. "You have to take your hope and go somewhere where other people have hope."

So Arnold does. Suddenly he finds himself split between two very different worlds: home on "the rez," with its rampant poverty and alcoholism, where people resent him for trying to better himself; and his new school and its wealthier community, where he is the only Indian (aside from the school's mascot).

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a teen book, and the misfit theme is nothing new in teen literature. But here's what makes it different, according New York Times reviewer Bruce Barcott: "Working in the voice of a 14-year-old forces Alexie to strip everything down to action and emotion, so that reading becomes more like listening to your smart, funny best friend recount his day while waiting after school for a ride home." Combined with "Arnold's" drawings (done by Seattle artist Ellen Forney), which illustrate the teen's anger, frustration, and humor, what might otherwise be a difficult or depressing story becomes a one of insight, possibilities, humor, and hope.

This is a terrific read for teens and adults alike.