Teen Services Blog

For Teen Read Week, Picture It! (in manga!) @ Your Library

Join us on Thursday October 20 after school as MSU Anime Club members will give a drawing workshop.  Bring your sketches to share - some drawing supplies will be provided.

We'll be planning other activities with the MSU club - bring your ideas for collaboration!

Happy Teen Read Week!  What are YOU reading?

Need ideas?  The Teens' Top Ten has just been announced.  Check out the winners:

This year's theme is "Picture It....At Your Library. You are invited to "picture it"  by entering the Teen Read Week photo contest where you are challenged to create a visual version of your favorite book's title.  More information here.

And take a survey to help pick the theme for next year.  Go here to do that.

Attention teens!  Voting is now open for the annual Teens' Top Ten!  This is a "teen choice" list.  Books have been nominated by members of teen book groups across the country.  Vote for your favorites here. 
Winners will be announced during Teen Read Week, October 16-22.

Kat, Incorrigible is by East Lansing native Stephanie Burgis, and it is a treat.  Twelve year old Kat is determined to stop her older sister from marrying the (much) older Sir Neville. But when you're the youngest girl in the family, no one takes you seriously.  Kat uses some of the forbidden magic she has inherited from her deceased mother, and the results are funny, suspenseful and romantic!  I am really looking forward to the next in the series, which will be published next year.  This book was just voted best British debut children's novel of the year by 9- to 11-year-olds in Waverton and Chester in the UK!  And to think it was written by a native daughter!  Way to go, Stephanie!

Wrapped by Jennifer Bradbury also takes place in the early 1800's.  Agnes Wilkins is about to make her debut, and the richest, most eligible bachelor in the area has taken an interest in her.  She is invited to a mummy unwrapping party at his estate (apparently something that was done during this time because of a great interest in Egyptology).  When a small trinket falls out of the mummy's wrappings, Agnes keeps it.  Is there really such a thing as a mummy's curse?  What is the significance of the item Agnes kept?  Can she elude her chaperone enough times to head to the British Museum to find out?  Agnes is a great character who knows 10 languages and can quote Jane Austen (to her mother's dismay).  After you read this, head on over to the adult mystery section and take out some of the Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters to find another wonderful female Egyptologist.

I love time travel books.  And a new one by Kerstin Gier is a fun read about a reluctant traveler.

Gwyneth is 16 years old and lives in London with her extended, and slightly strange, family. Everyone knows that a time travel gene runs in the family, but they already know that Gwen's cousin Charlotte is the one who inherited that gene - or is she?  Suddenly Gwen is having dizzy spells, and waking up in strange places in a much different London.  This creates some conflict in the family - Charlotte is the one who has been groomed for this and is not happy that ordinary Gwen gets to go through time instead of her.  Gwen herself would be just as happy to let Charlotte do the traveling - until she meets Gideon, who is also a time traveler and very good looking…..

It’s clear that there are many mysteries going on – things that Gwen’s family never quite tell her before she and Gideon are whisked back where they meet with an evil count, a man who comes from Transylvania, and Gwen’s great-great- grandmother. 

It’s a good thing Gwen has her best friend Lesley, who waits for Gwen’s phone call when Gwen is back in her own time.  After Gwen tells her all that happens, Lesley googles names and places to try to  help Gwen figure out what’s going on. Lesley is the friend you want to have if you are time traveling!

 The only frustrating thing about this book is that it’s the first of a trilogy, with the second part to be published in 2012. Does anyone write a stand-along novel anymore?  And do any of you hate to wait for the rest of a series to come out?  I usually have forgotten things by the time the subsequent volumes come out, and often don’t read the rest, since I'm on to something else. But I may have to re-read this one when Sapphire Blue comes out.  Gwen is too much fun to just leave hanging.

 For more time travel book suggestions, click here. (My all-time favorite is To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis.)

Looking for something to read this spring break? Try one of the titles nominated for the 2011 Thumbs Up! Book Award. This was established in 1986 to recognize the excellence in, and to celebrate the uniqueness of, Young Adult Literature.  Teens and teen librarians from around Michigan chose these books - you can help choose the winner!  You can pick up a ballot in front of the Young Adult Room in the library, or print one off, below.  You can return the ballot to Mary Hennessey at the library, print if off and snail mail it in (don't forget the stamp!) or email to:  Amelia.Yunker@yahoo.com

Here is the list of books, the ballot is below:

Happy Teen Read Week!  We're celebrating "Books With Beat" @ ELPL!  

Join us on Thursday October 21 at 3:30 to see the Fantanas Trio from East Lansing High School!  They will be in the North Foyer Gallery playing music from classical to fiddle tunes.

And come in anytime this week to  see our display by the Circulation Desk of books that beat with music, by beat authors, or about a crime beat.

Vote here for next year's Teen Read Week Theme.

This Saturday, October 23 at 2:00, the Teen Advisory Board will join with ELHS's Cultural Awareness Club to put on an International Fair for children.  Join us as we learn about the heartbeat of other cultures!

Watch a video of author Nikki Grimes talking about the importance of reading, below.

High school sophomore Andrew Zansky can't have these things because he is fat.  At 307 pounds, he has to worry about whether he will fit into his desk, keep an eye out for the school bully who just wants to beat him up, and try not to eat in front of his mother who badgers him about his weight.

Even though Andy is very smart, has a great sense of humor and a good friend in model UN fanatic Eytan, he is still aware that in high school, as in the rest of his life, he just doesn't fit.

When Andy is unexectedly befriended by the popular school quarterback he finds himself trying out for the football team.  Suddenly he is in the popular crowd - he now can have friends who invite him to parties, students who wave to him in the halls and maybe even April, the girl of his dreams.

But will it last?

This book won the Sid Fleischman Humor Award for 2010.  Andy's self-deprecating humor and observations of his fellow students, as well as some very funny situations, can make you laugh out loud.  (see pages 49-52 where Andy gets tangled in the soccer net during gym class and has to be cut out of it)

But underlying it all is a feeling of poignancy because of  someone so likeable who is constantly feeling bad about himself because of the way he looks.  A good message that girls aren't the only ones who suffer from society's pressure to look a certain way.

If you like this book, try Chris Crutcher's Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes.

Place a hold on Food, girls, and other things I can't have

The International Book Club is on hiatus for the summer, but you can get a head start on what we'll be reading this fall.  On Thursday October 21 at 7:00 pm, we are excited to welcome local author  Twesigye Jackson Kaguri as he talks about his new book The Price of Stones.  This story of Kaguri's experiences building a school in his home village in Uganda has been compared to Three Cups of Tea.  We have copies of the title on audiotape and in book form. There will also be a copy available later this summer as a downloadable e-book.  The author has been interviewed in local and national media, including Time.  You can also see a video about the book here. 

In November, date to be announced, we will be discussing the book
Beyond the Sky and the Earth : A Journey into Bhutan by Jamie Zeppa. Come learn about this beautiful country and its people through the author's eyes.  We are working on getting some special guests to help us discuss and understand the book.

Travel around the world this summer with a good book!

AP tests are coming up and the library has a FREE way for you to take AP practice exams online.  Here is how you do it:

The demonstration of the learning language program LiveMocha, scheduled for this Friday, March 5 at 3:30, has been CANCELED!   The Teen Advisory Board members who were going to demonstrate this are participating in a state music festival that has been scheduled for the same time!

If you have questions or would like any further information, contact Mary at mhennes@cityofeastlansing.com

Author Helen Frost must be a genius.  In her new book Crossing Stones, not only has she written a beautifully sensitive portrayal of two Michigan farm families during World War I, but she has done it in a "cupped-hand sonnet" form.  This is a 14-line poem in which the first line rhymes with the last line, the second line rhymes with the second-to-last, and so on, so that the 7th and 8th lines rhyme with each other at the poem's center.  In addition, the poems themselves are arranged as "stepping stones", or as the flowing creek that separates the Norman and Jorgenson family farms.  However, this structure does not detract from the lovely language that envelops the reader and that draws the reader into this story of love, heartache, acceptance and friendship.  The book also imparts a lot of American history that is not seen in too much teen fiction - World War I and its aftermath, and the woman's suffrage movement.  Highly recommended.

Teen Ink Workshop by

 Do you have a poem, story, or even a novel that you want to share with the world? But do you wonder how you, as a teen, go about getting something published? Never fear! Author Lara Zielin has tips and tricks for teens who want to take the first steps toward getting their work into the public eye. From figuring out the right market to contacting editors to avoiding publishing scams, Lara has the right road map for young writers, using examples from her own writing journey. In conjunction with the workshop, Lara will also be doing a reading from her debut novel, DONUT DAYS.