Teens Blog : teens

The Hunger Games Series!

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:09:00 GMT

Last fall when I was preparing my presentations for Teen Read Week, I came across the book Catching Fire. I did not think much of it as I added it to the list of books to talk about in the schools I was visiting. Then Teen Read Week came and my visits started. In each classroom I showed the Catching Fire book trailer, and I began to notice that the teens sat up a little taller and I had their attention a little bit more. I didn't understand. What was the big deal about this book?

Then I finally started reading The Hunger Games. And I was hooked. For those of you new to the series, The Hunger Games is the first book in the trilogy. Katniss Everdeen lives in the 12th district of the country of Panem, and this district is located in what was once called the Appalachian Mountains. In this new nation of Panem, each district is separated by industry and importance, and the 12th district is the poorest of them all. Every year the districts draw two names- one boy and one girl- to participate in The Hunger Games, a fight to the death in which the victor is the last person standing.

I don't want to give too much away because this series is one that I think everyone should read. Similar to the Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games trilogy will catch the interest of young and old readers. To all those teens out at Thompkins and Plaza that loved this series long before I did: thank you from this librarian.

Laser Light Photography for Teens

smackdaisley@evpl — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:22:00 GMT

Laser Light Photography for Teens

In 1949, LIFE photographer Gjon Mili visited the artist Pablo Picasso in the south of France. He showed Picasso some images of ice skaters with lights fixed to their skates. The skaters were photographed in a darkened room and the lights trailed to the back of their skates like little comets. Inspired by these images, Picasso soon began work on his own series of photographs known as his “light drawings.” The drawings were made with a small flashlight in a dark room and ranged from faces to bulls, people, flowers, and abstract shapes.

Light photography, also known as light painting or light graffiti, is a photographic technique in which exposures are made at unusually long intervals. This is done by slowing down the shutter speed on the camera. Basically, a camera is a lightproof box with a lens at one end and light sensitive medium at the other (film, digital card). Today we typically use digital cards, and then upload the images from the card to our computers. The light enters the lens and after a certain amount of time the image is recorded on the card, resulting in an exposure. The time it takes for the image to be recorded on the card is determined by the shutter speed.

The cool thing about digital cameras is that you can manually control the time it takes to record the image. It’s as easy as pressing a button or setting a dial. A short shutter speed is like pointing and shooting your cell phone. Click. Your picture is done. A longer shutter speed could take up to several seconds or minutes depending on how long you set it. If you’re crafty like Picasso, you could set the speed to 30 seconds, grab your flashlight, and start drawing in a darkened room. The camera will follow the movement of the light as it records the image. The result is whatever you want it to be. Draw hearts, stars, Pac-Man symbols, peace signs, or trace your friends’ silhouettes. Better yet, try “writing” your name or launching a fireball from your palm.

If this sounds like something that interests you, then come join us on August 13^th in the Browning Room at Central. Experiment with light photography in an altered light room. It’s free and open to the public. Use black lights, glow sticks, flashlights, laser pointers, and other light sources to create interesting exposures. Be creative, bring some friends, and have fun. We hope to see you there!

Date and time: http://www.evpl.org/events/search/event.aspx?id=25724

Teen Facebook Page

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:29:00 GMT

Hey Teens! Stay connected with the latest teen news and events on the EVPL Teen Scene! Hang out with friends, surf the Net, check out some of the hottest new books or DVDs, or come to one of our many free events. Check out the EVPL Teen Scene- our teen Facebook page! "Like" us at: www.evpl.org/teenscene

Interested in poetry?

SeeJaneRead@evpl — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:36:00 GMT

Then the Poetry Writer’s Workshop is for you!

Instructor Shawna Rodenberg, local poet and Creative Writing MFA candidate, will lead this two part workshop on poetry. Participants will explore traditional poetry styles and forms and learn techniques to develop their own work.

For teens and adults. All abilities welcome!

Wednesday, February 16 and 23, 6:30-8pm

Preregistration for both sessions is required! You can register online at

http://www.evpl.org/events/search/event.aspx?id=24908

Or by calling (812) 428-8246.

Hope to see you there!

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:27:00 GMT

Junior year is drawing to a close when Valerie's boyfriend, Nick, comes to school one morning and begins to shoot people in the Commons. At the end of the shooting spree, six people are dead and many are wounded, including Valerie. Within hours the police have searched Nick and Valerie's homes and discovered a "Hate List" the two created. Many of the students targeted that morning were on this list. Valerie becomes a suspect in the investigation. Was she part of Nick's plan? Was it a double suicide that went wrong? Was Valerie really shot trying to stop Nick? All of these are questions the students, teachers, parents, community, and the nation are asking.

For Valerie, the list was a way to vent her frustrations with the bullying she endured day after day at school. She never meant anything by it, but she will be haunted by the list and by what Nick did that morning for the rest of her life. After being cleared by the police, Valerie spent summer vacation isolated from the outside world. Now that a new school year has begun, Valerie is going back to school to face her demons. HIGHLY recommended.

Similar reads: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and Undone by Brooke Taylor

Teen Gaming Night

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 21:19:00 GMT

DDR? Rock Band? Had a long day at school and looking for something fun to do? Check out Teen Gaming Night @ Central! Tuesday, January 11 from 6:00-7:30pm. Join us for a fun night of gaming, food, and fun!

Learn to Speak German!

SeeJaneRead@evpl — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 20:39:00 GMT

Join instructor Hollan Staker in this dynamic German course! This class will cover pronunciation, basic vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and cultural points. The ample activities and exercises and use of multimedia supplements will provide participants with a solid foundation to communicate in German!

This class series is geared for teens to adults. Registration is required! Check out http://evpl.org/events/search/event.aspx?id=24901 to register or email Andreaw@evpl.org

This class is held on six consecutive Tuesdays, January 18th to February 22nd. 4:00-5:30pm

Attention Tweens and Teens! Reader's Theatre @ EVPL!

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:49:00 GMT

Calling all Tweens and Teens! EVPL Reader's Theatre!

Ever dreamed about writing your own script? Do you have a flair for the stage? If you are looking for something to do over Winter Break, this program is just for you! Join librarians in the first ever EVPL Reader's Theatre!

Monday-Thursday, December 20-23

3:30-4:30 pm

Browning Room A

Performance will be held on Thursday, December 23 at 6pm in Browning Rooms A and B.

Teen Art Show @ Central's Teen Zone

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 01:15:00 GMT

Teen Art Show @ Central's Library Teen Zone

Monday, November 29 through Friday, December 17

Teens can turn in drawings and photographs at the PMC Information Desk between November 29 and December 17 for a chance to win the EVPL Teen Art Contest! The top three winners will be chosen the week before Christmas, and will receive a ribbon and prize. Art must be picked up by January 7, 2011.

Celebrate Teen Read Week Oct. 17-23

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 16:50:00 GMT

**The Teen Read Week Contest will end Sunday, October 31 at 5pm. Make sure you vote on the Teens' Top Ten in Central's Teen Zone.**

Books with Beat @ EVPL! October 17-23. Stop by the Teen Zone at Central Library during Teen Read Week and check out our Books with Beat! Pick up books and other materials about poetry, music, and more or listen to an audiobook. You can help pick the 2010 Teens’ Top Ten by voting at the display located in the Teen Zone. If you vote, you will be entered to win a Visa giftcard! Stop by today and find a page turner that you can read or listen to, just for the fun of it!

Summer Adventures: How to Build a House by Dana Reinhardt

kiya@evpl — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:42:00 GMT

Harper Evans is 17, and just lost her best friend and stepsister when their parents divorced. Anxious to get away from all the drama and heartache, she volunteers for a summer of community service, building homes in Tennessee, in a town devastated by a tornado. The story alternates between HERE - the summer in Tennessee, and HOME - the story of her family, and how they came together and then apart. It is a difficult summer for Harper, but she reaches out of her comfort zone, and learns a lot about what she wants from life, and what she needs from people.

I really liked this story, and am now anxious to read other books by this author. EVPL has a couple:

Harmless (2007)

When Anna, Emma, and Mariah concoct a story about why they are late getting home one Friday night, their lie has unimaginable consequences for the girls, their families, and the community.

A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life (2006)

Sixteen-year-old atheist Simone Turner-Bloom's life changes in unexpected ways when her parents convince her to make contact with her biological mother, an agnostic from a Jewish family who is losing her battle with cancer.

Reinhardt's fourth novel, The Things a Brother Knows, is due out this September.

It's a Disaster!

kiya@evpl — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:57:00 GMT

Susan Beth Pfeffer wasn't getting any writing done. The author of many books for children and teens just couldn't think of anything interesting to write. And then one afternoon she watched an old movie on cable. Meteor, with Sean Connery and Natalie Wood, was a not-very-well regarded 1979 movie about an asteroid headed for the Earth. The movie didn't hold her interest, but it did start her wondering what it would be like for teenagers to live in such world-changing times. The eventual result was her YA novel, Life as We Knew It (2006), about Miranda and her family in small town Pennsylvania. An asteroid is involved, but it doesn't hit the Earth. Instead, it bumps Earth's moon, and nudges it considerably closer to Earth, which in turn affects the tides, the weather, and eventually the climate as volcanos erupt more frequently, and the sky is filled with so much ash that sunlight reaching the plants is diminished. It's hard to say that this book is enjoyable, as the topic is so grim, and Pfeffer doesn't pull any punches about hunger, lack of reliable electricity, lack of modern communication and such would do to our daily lives. It is compelling, however, and does say something about the will to survive, and the capacity of people to look out for each other.

Still, the idea didn't leave Pfeffer, and two years later she wrote a companion book The Dead and the Gone (2008) about another teen and his family coping with the same disaster, but in the middle of New York City. The problems for Alex and his sisters are a little different than those Miranda faced, and the details may be even grimmer. But still, there is good as well as evil in Alex's life, and he learns to appreciate what remains, even when so much is lost, and to continue to look to the future.

This month, a third volume in what is now being called The Last Survivors series is being published. This World We Live In brings Miranda and Alex and their families together a year after the world changed. Trying to move on with their lives, they try to discover whether it is worth the risk to become attached to people in such a dangerous world.

I'm not sure why folks like watching disaster movies, or reading about devastation, but there is something about it that attracts. Maybe we are measuring ourselves against the disaster - would we cope? Could we survive? A while back, TeenLibrarian blogged about some hurricane books. I still remember the first disaster books I read. They are pretty old now, but I might have to re-read them to see how they have held up over the years. On the Beach, by Nevil Shute is set in a post-nuclear war world. I liked it, but the one that really caught me emotionally was Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, also with a post-nuclear setting. Condominium by John D MacDonald was about a level 5 hurricane in Florida, and the descriptions felt so real to me that I remember being amazed when I stopped reading to answer the door that the sun was shining outside - it wasn't pouring down rain. By the way, I'm not sure I do have what it takes to survive when things get that tough. What about you?

But what happens AFTER happily ever after?

kiya@evpl — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:42:00 GMT

Jordan Sonnenblick's new book, After Ever After, explores that question. Jeffrey is in 8^thgrade, and doing pretty well, considering that he is a survivor of childhood leukemia. Even though he's glad to be alive, his life now has some added struggles beyond those expected in adolescence. The powerful drugs that saved his life also caused a fair amount of collateral damage. The possibility of the cancer recurring is diminished, but never goes away. And Jeffrey's older brother Steven, the rock he used to lean on, has gone to Africa to study drumming. [Steven's story of the year Jeffrey got cancer is told in Sonnenblick's first book: Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie.]

Jeffrey struggles through his year, finding more support than he realized was available, but not before stumbling a few times. The story never stops being interesting, and is by turns funny and heart-breaking.

I highly recommend Mr. Sonnenblick's books!

Links:

Jordan Sonnenblick's books at EVPL

Jordan Sonnenblick's website

Religion and Fiction

kiya@evpl — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:59:00 GMT

I'm teaching World Religions to Middle-schoolers at church this year, and as I plan out the year, I'm looking for novels dealing with the religions we are studying. I find that a story helps the kids be more interested in the religion, and to process and remember the information better.

I've found a few, but thought I would ask for suggestions from all of you for other titles I might suggest to the kids. What have you read that deals with kids/teens and religion? Was it any good? Did it present information about the religion along with the story? I enjoyed all of these books, but some were better than others at giving information about the religion, and some are more appropriate for 5th to 8th graders than others.

Looking for Bapu by Anjali Banerjee

When his beloved grandfather dies, eight-year-old Anu feels that his spirit is near and will stop at nothing to bring him back, including trying to become a Hindu holy man

Confessions of a Closet Catholic by Sarah Littman

To be more like her best friend, eleven-year-old Justine decides to give up Judaism to become Catholic, but after her beloved, religious grandmother dies, she realizes that she needs to seek her own way of being Jewish

The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

Hannah resents the traditions of her Jewish heritage until time travel places her in the middle of a small Jewish village in Nazi-occupied Poland

Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick

When thirteen-year-old San Lee moves to a new town and school for the umpteenth time, he is looking for a way to stand out when his knowledge of Zen Buddhism, gained in his previous school, provides the answer--and the need to quickly become a convincing Zen master

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in

Roots and Wings by Many Ly

While in St. Petersburg, Florida, to give her grandmother a Cambodian funeral, fourteen-year-old Grace, who was raised in Pennsylvania, finally gets some answers about the father she never met, her mother's and grandmother's youth, and her Asian-American heritage

Myrtle of Willendorf by Rebecca O'Connell

A bright and artistic young woman with a fondness for junk food experiences a kooky modern-day coming of age by way of the Goddess within

Fall YA reads

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:57:00 GMT

Being a teenager means having to deal with a lot of changes. Whether it is at home, in school, with friends, or a boyfriend/girlfriend, sometimes it is nice to come across a book that you can relate to and makes you feel like you're not alone in your problems. Recently, I have read three YA novels that would appeal to teens in that their main character is easy to relate to and you feel like you have talked to a best friend after finishing it.

Catherine Murdock published the conclusion to her trilogy focusing on DJ Schwenk in October. Front and Center was a satisfying ending to a character I have grown to love. We were first introduced to DJ in Dairy Queen, published in 2007. A high school sophomore, DJ is a phenomenal basketball player that does a lot of work on her family's farm. Over the summer, a family friend sends rival high school quarterback, Brian, over to work at the Schwenk farm. DJ begins to help Brian train for football season, and she finds herself liking the sport by the end of summer. When DJ decides to try-out for the team, the town is divided in support and resistance. DJ's story continues in The Off Season focusing on DJ adjusting to life after her brother is paralyzed in a football game. The story concludes in Front and Center, and I highly recommend your read the entire series.

Viola in Reel Life was published in September by adult author, Adriana Trigiani. Viola has grown up in Brooklyn with documentary filmmaker parents until sophomore year when her parents ship her off to boarding school...in South Bend, Indiana. Instead of adjusting to life with roommates and away from her family and friends, Viola hides behind her video camera. An opportunity to make a movie for a contest pushes Viola out from behind the camera and into the real world. Recommended.

Lastly, one of my favorite teen authors, Sara Zarr, was back last month with Once was Lost. Zarr did not let me down as she dove into Sam's life as a preacher's daughter. Sam's mom has been placed in rehab for alcoholism because she could not handle being a preacher's wife, but Sam is left to pick up the pieces. When a local girl goes missing, Sam's faith is tested even more as her tragedy and the kidnapped girl's begin to overlap. Highly recommended.

Happy Reading!