Lunch at ESMS

Hi, I was back at ESMS for Library at Lunch and had a blast watching and playing games with the 6th, 7th and 8th graders that attended. I hope to come back soon, so keep an eye and ear out for more details!

Election Season

I am sure you can't help but have noticed that in 2 weeks we have elections coming up and while you won't be able to vote (sorry it bummed me out too when I was your age), you can still learn about the candidates and our electoral system. Check out this link from the Library of Congrees which is all about Elections: http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/election/home.html

Booktalks @ ESMS

Hi, sorry this is a day late but yesterday I had the pleasure of booktalking for Ms. Hird's classes at ESMS. It was a lot of fun and you all did a great job asking and answering questions! Just a reminder that all of these books are on the AR list for ESMS, so they count towards your reading for that!! Here are the titles:
· The Gospel According to Larry By Janet Tashijan
· Code Orange By Caroline Cooney
· Coraline By Neil Gaiman
· Things Not Seen By Andrew Clements
· Witness By Karen Hesse
· Fever, 1793 By Laurie Halse Anderson
· City of Ember By Jeanne DuPrau
· Gossamer By Lois Lowry

Fall is finally in the air!

Did you have good weekend? I used Saturday and Sunday to do nice Fall-y kind of things, like going to an orchard and picking out a pumpkin. I also went through a corn maze which was fun. What's your favorite thing to do in the fall?

I had my first visit to APA today and had a blast! You all asked some great questions, which I always love:) Here's a list of the titles that I brought with me and most will be available on your next bookmobile visit:

· The Lightning Thief By Rick Riordan
· Code Orange By Caroline Cooney
· Down the Rabbit Hole By Peter Abrahams
· Things Not Seen By Andrew Clements
· Elsewhere By Gabrielle Zevin
· City of Bones By Cassandra Clare
· Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie By David Lubar
· City of Ember By Jeanne DuPrau
· The Compound By S.A. Bodeen

Hope to see you all soon in the library and can't wait to visit APA again!

Booktalks with Mrs. Sipes's classes

I enjoyed my time at SSMS talking to 8th graders, some of you more than once! Here's teh list of titles that I brought with me:

· The Lightning Thief By Rick Riordan
· Code Orange By Caroline Cooney
· Down the Rabbit Hole By Peter Abrahams
· Things Not Seen By Andrew Clements
· Elsewhere By Gabrielle Zevin
· City of Bones By Cassandra Clare
· Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie By David Lubar
· City of Ember By Jeanne DuPrau
· The Compound By S.A. Bodeen

Booktalks @ Eastside!

Hey, I had fun at ESMS in Mrs. Kennedy's class. Here are the books that I brought with me plus The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Happy Reading!

· The Lightning Thief By Jack Riordan
· Code Orange By Caroline Cooney
· Down the Rabbit Hole By Peter Abrahams
· Things Not Seen By Andrew Clements
· Elsewhere By Gabrielle Zevin
· City of Bones By Cassandra Clare
· Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie By David Lubar
· City of Ember By Jeanne DuPrau
· The Compound By S.A. Bodeen

Ahoy Me Mateys

and shiver me timbers! Did you know today is Talk Like a Pirate Day? Check out this website for more info: http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.htmlAvast and take a look, ye lubbers! Hint: check out the website for a translation!

Meanwhile, if you are looking for a good teen read about pirates check out the Bloody Jack series by L.A. Meyer.

Book talks at SSMS with Mrs. Moulder's classes

Oops, this post is a couple of days late-so sorry to Mrs. Moulder's students since I told you I would have this posted when I got back to APL but it has been a busy couple of days! Anyway, I loved coming to visit Mrs. Moulder and her Reading students and had a great time. Hope you enjoyed the booktalks and here's the list of what I brought just in case you need it as promised!

· The Lightning Thief By Jack Riordan
· Code Orange By Caroline Cooney
· Down the Rabbit Hole By Peter Abrahams
· Things Not Seen By Andrew Clements
· Elsewhere By Gabrielle Zevin
· City of Bones By Cassandra Clare
· Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie By David Lubar
· City of Ember By Jeanne DuPrau
· The Compound By S.A. Bodeen

Thursday Theater: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

This Thursday, September 11th come to APL and watch a movie. The fun starts at 6:00 in the Miami Room and their will be snacks:) plus a great movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to watch as well! See you there!

More booktalks ahead...

In the upcoming weeks, I will be at ESMS, SSMS and NSMS to do booktalks, booktalks and more booktalks! So keep on the lookout for me, I could be coming to a class near you very soon!

Booktalks with Mrs. Wildman's classes

Today, I had the opportunity (or should pleasure:) to go visit with all of Mrs. Wildman's classes at NSMS. You all were awesome and I had a blast, some of you asked some very interseting questions and I hope I answered them all;) As I promised, earlier today in class-here is the list of books that we talked discussed! Hope to see you at the library:)

· The Lightning Thief By Jack Riordan
· Code Orange By Caroline Cooney
· Down the Rabbit Hole By Peter Abrahams
· Things Not Seen By Andrew Clements
· Elsewhere By Gabrielle Zevin
· City of Bones By Cassandra Clare
· Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie By David Lubar
· City of Ember By Jeanne DuPrau
· The Compound By S.A. Bodeen

Booktalks @ ESMS

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of stopping by ESMS to talk to Mrs. Riggins' reading class about library programs and book talk a few books. I had fun and the stopped by the Media Center to drop off some fliers, so if you go to ESMS there are fliers about the teen programs @ APL for this month, grab one while supplies last!

Here are the titles that I brought and we talked about in class:

· The Lightning Thief by Jack Riordan
· Code Orange by Caroline Cooney
· Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams
· Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements
· Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
· City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
· Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar
· Sixth Grade glommers, norks, & me by Lisa Papademetriou
· The Compound by S.A. Bodeen

School of Rock

What better way to "celebrate" the return of school than by showing the movie School of Rock tomorrow night? It's at 6:00 pm in the Miami Room. This is one of my favorite movies, so I hope you can make it!!

Rock Band!!

Come join us for a game program the afternoon of August 19th at 3:30 up in the Delaware Room. I will have Rock Band out so we can play with it. I can't wait-Rock Band rocks!

School days, school days

So school is right around the corner or if you are going to the new Anderson Preparatory Academy then it's already here! So how's your summer been? Have you done anything fun or exciting? Are you excited to start school again?

Thanks!

To all of you who participated in the Teen SRP, thanks and you rock! APL had 380 teens sign up at the Main branch this summer and broke a few records on the way!! Last night @ the After-hours party we had 106 teens from both Main and Lapel attend to play games and win prizes. Fun was had by all, even if I didn't get to play Rock Band:) Oh well, that just means I will have to bring the Rock Band out soon for a program! keep your eyes peeled!!

Chhhhanges....

Have you taken a look at our new home page here @ APL? If not, then here's the link: http://www.andersonlibrary.net , so go take a look. At first, you may think it looks the same but look again, scroll down a little and then take a look at the left hand column. There are now links to our blogs, the APL Teen Scene MySpace page, Twitter and our Ning. Check it out!!

Metamorphosis @ APL update #2

Can you believe that it's nearing the end of July already!!! Let's not think about how that means school is just around the corner but instead I want to remind you all that our Teen SRP, Metamorphosis @ APL is nearing the end. No worries, b/c you still have 1 week left to read and claim your prizes. That is JULY 31st!!!! NO EXCEPTIONS!!!! And if you haven't signed up yet, there's still time (see above:), so what are you waiting for???

Blog Links!

Blogger has this (sort of) new feature in which you can make a sidebar of your favorite blogs, so I decide dto do just that.

If you take a look over to the right side of the page, there are now links to my favorite YA author blogs and also links to the new blogs that we have started here at APL, including What's New at APL and the Children's Department blog, so take a look at see what is happening here at the library and also with some really great YA authors!

PS-If you have some favorite blogs that you think I should link to then let me know below in Comments!

Just Ning'n it

Have you all heard of the Ning? It's another online social networking tool that is available on the web. I like it better than MySpace because you can create your own groups, ning etc. Nings have been around for a little while but are just starting to really take off probably due in part to the Nerdfighters ning, which was started by John and Hank Green. John is a YA author who's two books, Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines, are not only great reads but award winners, as well. Hank is also a writer and web designer and has his own website called Ecogeek, which shows us way we can be more enviromentally friendly but also how technology can also be ecofriendly. Their ning (http://nerdfighters.ning.com/) was created as a result of the Brotherhood 2.0 project. This project which lasted all of last year (there are links to it on the ning's main page) had John and Hank vlogging to each other every day except the weekends and holidays. Anyway, I digress:) Just wanted to give you a heads up on NIngs and also encourage you to check out the Nerdfighters ning and tell you to check it out and also go to ning.com to check out other nings. Whaddya think? I would love to hear your thoughts, leave them in the comments!

Updated Websites

Hey, I updated some of the website links, so you can now see the winner of this year's Rosie Award. What is a Rosie? A Rosie, which is short for the Elliot Rosewater Award is the award given to an outstanding teen book each by the Indiana Library Federation and more importantly you all because teens in the state of Indiana are the ones to vote on teen books and decide the winner. This year's winner and it should come as no shocker to all of you reading it and waiting for it to come back into the library since no matter how many copies we have there are never enough but I am not going to give to you the title here, instead follow the link here to see the winner, the other nominated titles (just because they didn't win doesn't mean you shouldn't check out these great titles!):



http://www.ilfonline.org/AIME/Rosie/EliotRosewaterProgram.htm



If you are interested in the Rosies, encourage your teacher, school media specialist or principal to become one of the schools that participates, the information you need is in the above link!

Metamorphosis @ APL update

Wow!! Our Teen Summer Reaing Program is going great, so far over 300 have you signed up to participate in the program and many of you have to come to all the faboulous programs we are offering to teens this summer. Not to mention that over 120 of you have gotten your SRP t-shirts which are your tickets to After-Hours Party where we will have games, pizza, raffle off prizes, and much, much more!

If you haven't signed up or finished Level 3 yet for your free shirt, don't worry there is still plenty of time left, so come in and get signed up and continue reading!!

Don't forget-we show a movie every Thursday and also have other great programs so check out our website (http://www.and.lib.in.us/teenscene/whatshappening/) or our MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/andersonlibrary).

2008 We the People Bookshelf on Created Equal

Thanks to the generosity of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association we have received the following books that you can come in and check out:

Kindergarten through Grade 3: “The Ugly Duckling,” by Hans Christian Andersen;
“The Gettysburg Address,” by Abraham Lincoln;
“Pink and Say,” by Patricia Polacco;
“Pink y Say,” by Patricia Polacco (translated by Alejandra López Varela)

Grades 4 through 6:
“Elijah of Buxton,” by Christopher Paul Curtis;
“Give Me Liberty! The Story of the Declaration of Independence,”
by Russell Freedman; “Lincoln: A Photobiography,” by Russell Freedman;
“Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom,” by Virginia Hamilton; “Lyddie,” by Katherine Paterson;
“Lyddie,” by Katherine Paterson (translated by Rosa Benavides)

Grades 7 through 8:
“Saturnalia,” by Paul Fleishman;
“Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott,” by Russell Freedman;
“Abraham Lincoln the Writer: A Treasury of His Greatest Speeches And Letters,” edited by Harold Holzer;
“Breaking Through,” by Francisco Jiménez;
“Senderos Fronterizos,” by Francisco Jiménez (translated by Francisco Jiménez)

Grades 9 through 12:
“Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution,” by Natalie S. Bober;
“That All People May Be One People, Send Rain to Wash the Face of the Earth,” by Nez Perce Chief Joseph;
“Flowers for Algernon,” by Daniel Keyes;
“Flores para Algernon,” by Daniel Keyes (translated by Paz Barroso);
“Lincoln’s Virtues: An Ethical Biography,” by William Lee Miller;
“Amistad: A Novel,” by David Pesci

The titles that are for grades 7-12 will be on display in the Teen Room for the next couple of weeks, so take a look and check some out!

For more info, go to the Bookshelf website: http://publicprograms.ala.org/bookshelf/

Metamorphosis @ APL

In case you haven't seen me at your school or gotten at least a flier about this year's Teen Summer Reading, here's the scoop:

You must be going into 6th-12th grades.
You do not need an APL card but they are useful to have:)
You count hours not books.
You can read whatever you want: books, magazines, comic books, graphic novels, listen to audiobooks/Playaways, etc
You do have to sign up and you can do that starting May 31st at the library either the Check out desk or at Information Services.

The SRP runs from May 31st to July 31st and there are some great prizes (a goodie bag just for signing up) and programs including our End of Summer Reading After Hours Party if you complete the SRP where we give away some faboulous prizes!

For more info stop by the Info Services desk, call 641-2456 or e-mail: teen@and.lib.in.us

See you this Summer!!

ESMS visit with 6th & 7th graders

I had a great time visiting several of the 6th grade reading classes again, as well as Ms. Hird's 7th graders. I hope you all had fun and come in starting May 31st to sign up for the Teen Summer Reading Program! Here are the books that we discussed (and just a heads up a couple of these titles are available as prizes for completing level 2 of the SRP!!)

Life As We Knew It by Mary Beth Pfeffer
The Fold by An Na
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Happy Reading:)

Booktalks and SRP @ NSMS

Thanks to Mrs Wildman and her 7th and 8th grade classes for having me come for booktalks and to promote the Teen Summer Reading Program (more about that soon-btw). As always, I had fun and hope you did as well. Here are the titles that I brought with me today. Happy Reading and I hope to see you all soon @ APL!!

Life As We Knew It by Mary Beth Pfeffer

The Fold by An Na

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

The Pharoah's Curse Mystery Program

Hey, if you are between the ages of 9-14 then come to APL this Wednesday, May 14th from 6-8:30 and help us solve the mystery of the Pharoah's Curse! Here's a description of the program:

She was Queen of the Nile until the accident...or was it attempted murder?
Join your fellow detectives at The Anderson Public Library in solving the mystery, “The Pharaoh’s Curse.” You must investigate the crime scene and carefully examine the evidence in order to solve the crime. All detectives must be 9 to 14 years of age to participate in this interactive mystery.

Please register for this program by calling 641-2448 or online at andersonlibrary.net

Hope to see you there!

The merry month of May

So here are a few tidbits about the month of May that you may (or may not:) find interesting!

Did you know that May is both National Barbeque and Hamburger Month? Makes sense since as the weather is getter nicer and warmer, we want to fire up the grills and cook out...mmmm....sounds good!

Also, with the nicer weather you should know that May is National Bike Month so get outside and enjoy the fresh air with a bike ride.

I think that is what I will do tomorrow, grill up a hamburger or two and then go for a bike ride!!

Thanks!!

Thank you to everyone that attended the Read 'n' Feed featuring Neal Shusterman, as one of the comment cards said and to me this summed it up perfectly: Neal Shusterman ROX!! I agree and thought you all rocked as well. I had a great time and hope you did as well.

Read 'n' Feed featuring Neal Shusterman tonight!!

Just a quick reminder to all that have their copy of Everlost and are hopefully done with it but even if youa re not that's okay:) to come to the Read 'n' Feed tonight at 7pm in the Chief Anderson Room at APL so you can meet Neal Shusterman and hear him speak about Everlost and his other books!!! Hope to see you there!!:)

Shake, rattle and roll

So the question that everyone has been asking today is did you feel it? So did you feel the earthquake this morning? I did and it was the craziest thing to me anyway but after that I was up for the day:)

Just a bit of trivia for you, the huge earthquake that hit San Francisco way back in 1906-you know the one and the fires that started as a result that destroyed the city also happened on April 18th!

2008 Read 'n' Feed featuring Neal Shusterman

Okay, so I have been hinting about the Read 'n' Feed and the book Everlost for a few weeks now and finally I have a chance to devote a whole post about it and give you all the scoop!

Our 2008 Read 'n' Feed is April 29, 2008 at 7 pm in the Chief Anderson Room. This year the YA Author that is visiting is Neal Shusterman and we have distributed copies of his book Everlost to several classes and have few at the library to hand out while supplies last.

I am very excited because Neal is one of my favorite authors and I have read several of his books and can't wait to meet him and hear him speak about his books!

This month's book on the blog sidebar is none other than Everlost, so look it over and then come to APL to check it out! Plus, if you like it we have a bookmark that talks about several other of Neal's books that we have in the Teen Area!

I hope to see you on the 29th at the Read 'n' Feed featuring Neal Shusterman!!

Booktalks with ESMS

Yesterday, I had the chance to visit ESMS again and this time book talk to 6th, 7th & 8th graders, about 300 of you total! It was great and I enjoyed being able to tell so many of you about these great books and the upcoming Read 'n' Feed with Neal Shusterman! My next post will be about that I promise! Anyway, here's a list of the books that I brought with me to ESMS:

Hidden Talents
By David Lubar
Crash
By Jerrry Spinelli
Things Not Seen
By Andrew Clements
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
By Jeff Kinney
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
By Brian Selznick
Love Among the Walnuts
By Jean Ferris
Chasing Vermeer
By Blue Balliet
Everlost
By Neal Shusterman

HAPPY READING:)

Booktalks with Mrs. Riggins's class

Hi, I was at ESMS this morning talking up books, especially Everlost. More on that soon I promise! Anyway, I had fun you all asked some great questions and here's a list of the titles that I brought with me and we chatted about in class.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret
By Brian Selznick

Hush
By Donna Napoli

The Looking Glass Wars
By Frank Beddor

Everlost
By Neal Shusterman

Hot Lunch
By Alex Bradley

Love Among the Walnuts
By Jean Ferris

Someone Named Eva
By Joan Wolf

Beastly
By Alex Flinn

Booktalks at Highland High School

Hi, I had blast book talking to Mrs. Garner's classes. You all were great especially 7th period:)

In case, you lost your list of books or for those who weren't in the classes and might be looking for some teen books to read, here's the list:

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
By Chris Crutcher
Beastly
By Alex Flinn
Hush
By Donna Jo Napoli
Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie
By David Lubar
First Part Last
By Angela Johnson
Double Helix
By Nancy Werlin
Everlost
By Neal Shusterman
Hot Lunch
By Alex Bradley

April Fool's Day

What to know a little more about April Fool's Day and where it came from? Then check out this link:

Facts on April Fool's Day from National Geographic

No Fooling, I promise:)

Book talks at NSMS

Today, I was able to visit NSMS and talk with Mrs. Wildman's classes about several great books that APL has in it's collection and of course, EVERLOST!

Here are the titles, so you can see if they are checked in or even put them on hold!

Happy Reading!!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret
By Brian Selznick

Hush
By Donna Napoli

The Looking Glass Wars
By Frank Beddor

Everlost
By Neal Shusterman

Hot Lunch
By Alex Bradley

Love Among the Walnuts
By Jean Ferris

Someone Named Eva
By Joan Wolf

Beastly
By Alex Flinn

Book talks @ SSMS

Today it was my pleasure to visit Mrs. Sipes's classes @ SSMS, I enjoyed visiting with everyone and talking up some great reads about World War II and the Holocaust. ANd of course, Everlost-the book for the Read 'n' Feed (more on that in a later blog:). In case you want to check and see if any of the titles are in or if you lost the handy sheet that I passed out (it happens, I know-you should have seen my locker when I was in middle school!), here are the titles that I brought to SSMS. Enjoy!

Everlost by Neal Shusterman
A Coming Evil by Vivian Vande Velde
Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Bartoletti
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Someone Named Eva by Joan Wolf

Spring is almost here!

Tomorrow is the first day of spring, so hopefully we will start seeing some sun and warmer weather soon! What do you like best about spring? I love seeing the buds on the trees and the smells of spring.

So what else is March?

I mentioned earlier that March is National Fitness Month but here are some other things that are celebrated in the month of March:

Do you play in your school band or sing in your school choir? Then you might be interested in knowing that March is Music in our Schools Month. For more info, check out this website:
www.menc.org

Are you crafty? Then celebrate National Craft Month!

It is also Women's History Month in March as well. Take a look at this website http://www.nwhp.org/ for more info.

March is...

National Fitness Month and to help celebrate that I am excited to announce that this Saturday, March 15th at 2:00, the Teen Services Department is having a GET FIT with DDR program.

Come test out our DDR and see how by playing games you can also get a good workout! Also, you will find out how to make healthy snacks and also sample them, so come and Get Fit w/DDR @ APL!!

APL's Teen Scene MySpace page

I am so excited to announce that our MyPace page for teens is now up and running! Come check it out, we have pictures and a video about our upcoming Summer Reading Program. It also has links to our website, catalog, new materials and APL's chat. Also, it lists up and coming events for teens @ APL! Here's a link to our MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/andersonlibrary

Teen Tech Week

Come to the library next week to celebrate Teen Tech Week by attending programs like the Guitar Hero 3 Tournament on Thursday, March 6th from 6-8:30 in the Miami Room or the
Ins and Outs of MySpace Program on Tuesday, March 4th from 3:30-4:30 in the Community Technology Center to learn about MySpace and how to be safe on MySpace! You must be in at least 8th grade to attend and must register by calling 641-2456 or registering online at http://andersonlibrary.net

Also, grab a free Teen Tech Bookmark while supplies last!

Visiting class from Indiana Christian Academy

Hi, I enjoyed having the Juniors from Mrs. Rooks's class at the Indiana Christian Academy come to the library for a visit to learn about how to use our online databases and searching the Internet. They were a great class and how some good questions. They are welcome back anytime as is any class that wants to visit the library!

Thanks to Mrs. Sipes's classes!

I had fun today at SSMS booktalking with the 8th graders in Mrs. Sipes's classes.

Here are the titles that we talked about in class:

Make Lemonade
By Virgiana Euwer Wolff

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup
By Ron Koertge

Who killed Mr. Chippendale?
By Mel Glenn

Bronx Masquerade
By Nikki Grimes

Witness
By Karen Hesse

Braid
By Helen Frost

Sister Slam
By Linda Oatman High

Game Time

Do you feel like playing some Jenga, Monopoly, Sorry etc. Then come on down tomorrow to the Library to our Game Time @ APL from 3:30-5:30 up in the Delaware room!

Warning: Valentine's Day is approaching! (a plug for the Anti-Valentine's Day Party for Teens @ APL !)

And if like many of us, you feel the need to NOT celebrate this holiday then come to the ANTI-Valentines Day Party at APL on February 14th from 6-8:00. Decorate broken heart cookies, make ANTI-Valentine's Day cards, craft black roses out of duct tape, rock out to Guitar Hero III etc! Dressing in black optional but encouraged!

Chocolate Fest...

was a huge success! Thanks to all that attended and I hope you had as much fun as I did. Were you sick of chocolate by the time you left? Naahhhh.....not possible, right? I think this program was a keeper, so look for it next February as well! And then there is the Pizza Taste off that I have planned for the fall!

Book talks with Mrs. Wildman's class

Hey, I had the chance to visit the 7th & 8th grade classes of Mrs. Wildman at NSMS yesterday and as always had a great time. Hope to see all of you at the library and at some of the upcoming programs that we are having in February for teens.



Here is a list of the books that I brought to class:


Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Rick Yancey
We Beat the Street: How a friendship pact led to success
Turnabout by Margaret Haddix
Mythbusters: Don’t try this at home!
Phineas Gage: A gruesome and true story about Brain Science by John Fleischman
Hitler Youth by Susan Bartoletti
Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser
Downsiders by Neal Shusterman
A Coming Evil by Vivian Vande Velde

Book talks with Mrs. Moulder's classes

Today, I was lucky enough to visit SSMS to give book talks to the 7th & 8th grade classes in Mrs. Moulder's classroom. Of course, I had fun (I love being able to visit the schools and meet some many of the teens that live in Anderson) booktalking and chatting with y'all!



Here are the titles I brought:

Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Rick Yancey

We Beat the Street: How a friendship pact led to success

Turnabout by Margaret Haddix

Mythbusters: Don’t try this at home!

Phineas Gage: A gruesome and true story about Brain Science by John Fleischman

Hitler Youth by Susan Bartoletti

Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser

Downsiders by Neal Shusterman

A Coming Evil by Vivian Vande Velde

Happy Reading and hope to see you soon at the library!

A visit to Highland High School

Thanks to Mrs. Garner and her sophmore English classes for having me visit yesterday! It was the first time I had the chance to visit Highland and I must say it is a beautiful school and I hope to visit there more often. We chatted about how to get a library card and the fact that any student that attends school in the Anderson Community Schools Corporation can get a library card, pretty cool right? Also we explored the APL website and took a look at some of the databases that we offer that you can use for free with your APL library card. Hopefully, the tips I gave for how to research the databases was helpful. Remember, stop by the Information Services desk anytime you have a question or send it via our live chat!

Yu-gi-oh! Tournament

Join us Saturday, January 5th from 1-5 p.m. as we kick off the first Yu-gi-oh! Tournament of 2008. Thanks to the Friends of Anderson Public Library for the prizes that will be handed out.

Just as a reminder:
There will be no playing for cards.
The library does not allow any trading.

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone enjoys their break from school and the holidays that are coming up. Just a reminder that APL is closed on Monday, December 24th and Tuesday, December 25th for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

We are also closed Monday, December 31st and Tuesday, January 1st for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Hope you enjoy the holidays and stop in to grab some great teen reads during your winter break!

Movie Night

Kick off the holiday season by coming to watch the movie Unaccompanied Minors at APL on
Thursday, December 20th at 6 p.m. in the Delaware Room. For a full description of the movie, check out the "What's Happening" page in the Teen Scene area of the APL website!

Hope to see you there!

New Reads for teens!

Hey, come check out the displays in the Teen Room. This month we are highlighting funny reads for teens, trust me there are some laugh out loud funny ones on display.

Also, we have been getting a ton of new teen books in, so there is now a display of just new teen books that have come in and I highly recommend taking a look.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Winter is finally here, whaddya think? I like to look at snow and ski in snow plus it puts in the holiday mood but I DO NOT like to drive in snow!!

Thanks for coming

I know this post is a few days (okay a whole week) after the D.I.Y. Craft night but I was away for Thanksgiving and just got back. Hope you all had a great Turkey Day and that you, like myself, had a lot to be thankful for on the day.

I also want to thank all the teens that came to our craft night and hope you had fun. If you did and want to do it again, we will be having a Holiday Edition of Craft Night on December 6th from 6-8:30 p.m. in the Delaware Room.

Do you like being crafty?

Then come to the D.I.Y Craft night for teens on November 20th! It is from 6-8:30 in the Delaware Room. We will be making Thanksgiving crafts. Hope to see you there:)!

Back to what month is it?

So I listed the various things that November is know for a few days ago, have you had a chance to look at the list? I want to point out one special thing that was on the list and that was that November is National Hunger Awareness Month.

I started thinking about this and wondered what are some things we could do to help those that don't have enough to eat. Well, a couple of ideas are donating to the local food pantry or volunteering at one.

Thanksgiving

It's just around the corner, right? I can't wait because it is one of my favorite holidays. I love gathering with family, eating great food and playing games. Then we top it off with doing some shopping that weekend!

What do you like about Thanksgiving? Family, pumpkin pie, football, shopping, parades, or even all of the above?

What month is it?

Okay, I know it's November but what I mean is what is this month called besides the obvious? Here's a list of all things we could celebrate this month:



National American Indian Heritage Month
National Novel Writing Month
Aviation Month
Good Nutrition Month
National Epilepsy Month
National Month of Me
Latin American Month
Hunger Awareness Month
National Peanut Butter Lover's Month
National National Month Awareness Month
National Diabetes Awareness Month
National Red Ribbon Month (anti-drunkdriving)
National Stamp Collecting Month
National Georgia Pecan Month
National Pepper Month
National Raisin Bread Month
Vegan Awareness Month
National Kelsey Month

Whooo, that's a lot right? Personally, as someone who loves Peanut Butter and I am going to use the excuse that it is National Peanut Butter Lover's Month to eat all the Peanut Butter I want! Hmmm, I wonder how it tastes on Raisin Bread since it is also National Raisin Bread Month??

Thank you to Ms. Hird's classes

The 7th graders that I visited today were terrific and a wonderful audience! I really enjoyed meeting with you and booktalking some of my favorite books that I hope you will enjoy as well. Here's a list of the books that I brought and I hope to see you all soon here at the library!



Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Chodlenko

Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements

Whirligig by Paul Fleischman

Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg

Hidden Talents by David Lubar

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Get ready Eastside Middle School!

I will be there on October 23rd to visit Ms. Hird's classes and can't wait!

Waiting for fall

Does anyone else find themselves missing fall? After all it is October but we have had more hot days than cool ones plus I love to watch the leaves change.

Some exciting upcoming programs

So do you ever find yourself bored and needing something to do, well there is always the library because in the month of October we have some fun programs that you should think about attending here@ APL.

To celebrate this year's Teen Read Week theme which is LOL @ your library, we are showing the very funny movie She's the Man starring Amanda Bynes on Tuesday, October 16th from 6-8:30 p.m.

On October 23rd, the monthly TAB meeting meets at 3:30 in the Carnegie Room. Remember this is your chance to help us decide what we can do for you!

Our last program in October is the DDR Tournament which is on Friday, October 26th from 1-5 in the afternoon, so come and test out your mad DDR skills. Thanks to the Friends of the Library for making prizes possible!

Read 'n' Feed with the author Carolyn Meyer

Well, last night's 2007 Read 'n' Feed was a great success and those who attended (thanks to all of you) had a wonderful time and I hope to see you at the next and for those who didn't come, well hope to see you at the next one as well.

Carolyn Meyer was a riot and really had a good time, as she talked mostly about her book: Mary, Bloody Mary but also about her two upcoming books as well. And I promise as soon as they are available APL will be buying them. I can't wait to read the next one which is about Mozart!

Ms. Meyer also complimented all of the Anderson teens that attended saying that we were a very good audience and that she was impressed! Thanks again for showing our visiting author what a wonderful place Anderson is!

Yu-gi-oh! Tournament

Thanks to all the teens who came to play in the Yu-gi-oh! Tournament that we had today. I had a blast meeting all of you and learning a little more about Yu-gi-oh! And a special kudos to my three teen judges: David, Connor and Kevin-you guys rock for guiding me through the tournament process. I hope everyone had fun and hope to see you all at the next one!

Are you ready for some Yu-Gi-Oh!?!?

If so, come to the library this Saturday, September 29th from 1-5 for the Yu-Gi-Oh! Tournament, check out the What's Happening page for all the details:

http://www.and.lib.in.us/teenscene/whatshappening/

See you there!

Ahoy, me mateys

and shiver me timbers! Did you know today is Talk Like a Pirate Day? Check out this website for more info: http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html
Avast and take a look, ye lubbers! Hint: check out the website for a translation!

On the Eastside with Mrs. Kennedy's classes

Once again, I had the luck to venture out to one of the schools and book talk some great books. This time it was Eastside Middle School to Mrs. Kennedy's 8th grade classroom. I must say it was by far my most educational trip yet, I learned quite a bit about what you all like to do at the library and I hope to see you soon at one of the programs, especially the Read 'n' Feed! Here are the books we discussed in class:



Destiny of Linus Hoppe by Anne-Laure Bondoux

Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer

Code Orange by Caroline Cooney

Hidden Talents by David Lubar

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman

Vampire High by Douglas Rees

Hope was Here by Joan Bauer

My visit to Northside Middle School & Mrs. Wildman's classroom

Thanks to Mrs. Wildman and her 7th and 8th grade Northsiders, you all were a blast and had some great questions, it kept me entertained. Hope to see you at the Read 'n' Feed on October 4th! Here are the books that I book talked:

Destiny of Linus Hoppe by Anne-Laure Bondoux

Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer

Code Orange by Caroline Cooney

Hidden Talents by David Lubar

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman

Vampire High by Douglas Rees

Hope was Here by Joan Bauer

Thanks again and see you soon!

Thanks to Ms. Moulder's classes @ Southside

Today was my first day of doing book talks for the year and my first time at one of Anderson's middle schools. I must say I had a great time visiting Ms. Moulder's classroom and meeting so many students, who were terrific and hopefully I will see you either in the library or at one of the many great teen programs coming up, including the Read 'n' Feed! Here are the titles we covered:

Destiny of Linus Hoppe by Anne-Laure Bondoux

Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer

Code Orange by Caroline Cooney

Hidden Talents by David Lubar

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman

Vampire High by Douglas Rees

Hope was Here by Joan Bauer

Thanks again for making me welcome at Southside and I look forward to more visits and seeing many of you here @APL!

It's that time of year again

when I am preparing to go and visit Eastside, Northside and Southside Middle Schools. Be on the lookout in your English classes for me as I come and talk about some great books that you should be reading and events just for you and other teens here @APL.

Survey Time

Now that summer's over:( What was your favorite part??

Let us know by taking the survey that will be in the top right hand corner. You have until September 6th to take the survey!

Oh, you can select more than one answer-FYI!!

Hello

I hope you all had a great summer and getting back into the groove of a new school year! In addition to new things at school, I wanted to introduce myself as the new Teen Services Librarian for APL. My name is Staci and I come from the Indianapolis Public Library system and am excited to be here in Anderson serving the teens! Stop into APL and the Information Services desk to say "hi".

I know I have some big shoes to fill because your past Teen Librarian, Beth Meyer, was awesome but don't worry she's filling me in on the likes and dislikes of the Anderson teen population. Although, Beth is no longer at the Main Branch of APL, she didn't go to far-she is the Branch Manager at the Lapel Branch, so if you are out that way, stop in and say "hey"!

Finally, here are 5 random facts about me:

1. My favorite color is blue.
2. My hometown is Monticello, IN aka Indiana Beach where there is more than corn in Indiana.
3. I have one younger brother.
4. One of my favorite authors is Chris Crutcher.
5. I love the TV show Heroes.

Rosie Winner and link to this year's nominees

And the Rosie winner for this past school year is....(drumroll please:)

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

It was a close one with The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen coming in second by less than 39 points! So keep in mind that your votes do count when reading and voting for books on this year's lists, which you can now access via the link on the right side of the page or by clicking on this link below:

http://www.ilfonline.org/AIME/Rosie/0708annotations%20.pdf

Happy Reading!

Back to school

Well, for most of you this coming weekend will be your last one before school starts again on Monday! I hope you enjoy and be on the lookout for a new display in the Teen Room for reads with students coping and/or dealing with situations in a school setting. Enjoy!

A huge thank-you goes to...

...Mrs. Moulder and her awesome seventh graders! This was my final Anderson booktalk (boo-hoo!) and what a fabulous audience I had!! A special thanks to everyone who took a chance and hosted me to visit the past three years. I have had such a great time and learned so much (usually in the teachers' lounge!) The books I covered at South Side include:

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

What Happened to Cass McBride? by Gail Giles

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman

Thanks again!! See you June 1st for Summer Reading!!

Thanks Ms. Hird!

Thanks goes out to Ms. Hird for inviting me to speak to the seventh graders--and a HUGE thank-you to all the seventh graders who made me feel welcome (and cracked me up!) These are some of the books we talked about:

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier

Rash by Pete Hautman

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman

Thanks again and I'll see you June 1st!!

Thank you, Ms. Arnold!

I had so much fun with Ms. Arnold's sixth graders today! I learned a lot about them and myself (evidently, I'm elderly, according to Phillip) and had a blast. Thanks for the invitation! Here's a list of the titles I brought:

Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

Witness by Karen Hesse

Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser

When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt

Gossamer by Lois Lowry

An American Plague: the True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy

Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman

Thanks again! I hope to see you all for Summer Reading!!

FYI, 13yo skool grl is nu US txt mssg chmpN

If you can understand the title of this post and can text like the wind, you could be the next Text Messaging Champion. Don't knock it...Morgan Pozgar, a thirteen year old super-texter, is now $25,000 richer because of her fast fingers and quick brain. Read more about it here. And for those of you that are...um...text "challenged," the title of this post is: For your information, a thirteen year old girl in the new United States Text Message Champion.

Thank you, Miss Goehring!

And a big thank you to all of her students--you were all very attentive and asked great questions! I had a fantastic time and hope to see you all again soon! Here's a list of the books I spoke about today:

Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

Witness by Karen Hesse

Gossamer by Lois Lowry

I, Dred Scott by Sheila P. Moses

An American Plague: the True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy

Don't forget...

...the Anderson Public Library will be closed Sunday, April 8th, in honor of Easter. We will return to our normal business hours on Monday, April 9th. Have a nice weekend!

Make a Difference

Think you can't change the world? Two high school students are doing just that with their online project Dollars for Darfur. Here's a little information from the site:

"The people of Darfur need our help. In Darfur, hundreds of people a day are raped, starved and murdered by the Sudanese armed forces and a Sudanese government-backed militia known as the Janjaweed. At least 400,000 people have died and more than 2 million Darfurians have been left homeless. The United Nations Security Council authorized that peacekeepers be deployed to Darfur, but the Sudanese government has not yet allowed them entry. Meanwhile, the calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter continues."

Click to find out how you can help. Margaret Mead said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." And you know what? She's right.

Don't look now, but it's NPM!

What the heck is "NPM?" National Poetry Month, of course! For the month of April, we will be celebrating the genius and talent behind poetry of all kinds! Want to find out more? Check out the website from the Academy of American Poets. Inspiration is a click away!


Personal note: my favorite poet in the universe is the uniquely wonderful Ogden Nash--check out some of his fantastic poems (found in the 811 section of the Main Library.)

Booktalks for Mrs. Freeman!

Thanks again for inviting me to North Side on this rainy spring day! I met a lot of fun sixth graders and here's a list of some of the books we covered:

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Rash by Pete Hautman

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Dead Connection by Charlie Price

Click Here (to find out how i survived seventh grade) by Denise Vega

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did!

Check Your Sources!

Has this ever happened to you? You have a massive paper about the War of 1812 (or some other historical event) and you need information--fast! You turn to your pal, the Internet, and find a ton of stuff from Wikipedia. But hold on there! Is the information you have even correct? More and more, teachers are seeing wrong information taken from the wikipedia entries that students find. Could you be one of them? It's possible...the only way to make sure is to get accurate, authoritative information from credible sources. Credible sources? If you need help finding those, call us at 641.2456 or check us out online! Your grade could be a stake if you don't...

My After School Fun!

Today, I had the pleasure of meeting some very unique personalities from Park Place:

B. is a Mr. Bossy-Pants

D. is a tad obsessed with Eminem

V...well, she's been keeping to herself and I can't tell you much.

But they're a hoot and I hope they visit us again soon!

Testing, testing

When it's time to sit down and tackle a big test, like the ACT or SAT, don't you wish you'd had some prep time? Maybe a practice test or two? Number2.com offers just that--for free! Don't want to go online? No problem--the Library has a number of books designed to help as well. Good luck!

Welcome to the First Annual Teen Tech Week!

The Young Adult Library Services Association is pleased to announce Teen Tech Week, a new celebration aimed at getting teens to use their libraries for the different technologies that are offered there, such as DVDs, databases, audiobooks, electronic games and more. In honor of the first annual Teen Tech Week, the Anderson Public Library and Tutor.com is offering free Live Homework Help and Ask-A-Librarian services for the next two weeks! Imagine getting instant assistance from the comfort of your computer. Check it out and let us know what you think. But hurry: this great deal ends March 17th. Instructional flyers will be available in the Teen Room.

And don't forget about more fun stuff happening this week for teens:

Tuesday, March 6th will see the comeback of our Teen Open Mic Night at 6:00PM. And Wednesday, March 7th, APL will be celebrating Teen Tech Week by creating iPod and cell phone covers from duct tape! Check our events calendar or call 641.2456 for more details.

Warning: Totally Graphic Content Ahead!

Have you ever browsed through the Anderson Public Library's extensive graphic novel collection? Wait...you want to know what a graphic novel is? You're not alone--simply put, graphic novels are novels that are written with text and illustrations rather than simply words. They are NOT picture books! They are so much more than that--don't believe me? Then come on down and see for yourself. We've even provided some comfy chairs for reading. See you there!

Thanks Mrs. Wildman!

A big thank you goes out to Mrs. Wildman at North Side Middle School--she and her seventh graders invited me to their classes for booktalk mania! Here are the titles I brought:

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Swallowing Stones by Joyce McDonald

Vampirates by Justin Somper

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Thanks again to everyone! I had a great time, blizzard or not!

Go Colts!!

Last night, our Indianapolis Colts won Super Bowl XLI, beating the Chicago Bears 29 to 17! To Coach Dungy and all the Colts (and their fans,) congratulations! For all of you who didn't get to watch the game--or the commercials--check out the links above!

Booktalks for East Side Middle School

Big thanks to Ms. Hird for inviting me to talk to her seventh graders. I learned all kinds of stuff from you guys! Here's a list of the titles that I talked about:

Click Here (to Find Out How I Survived the Seventh Grade) by Denise Vega

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Swallowing Stones by Joyce Macdonald

Code Orange by Caroline Cooney

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Thanks again--and to Garrett: there are worse things than ripping your pants, but I'm hard-pressed to find them. You win the prize!

The 2007 Printz Award Winners!

The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.This is selected annually by an award committee; up to four honor books may be chosen as well. This year, the committee chose a graphic novel as the winner! And wouldn't you know, the Library has several copies of it: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. The honor books, also in our Library, are:

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; volume 1: The Pox Party
by M.T. Anderson

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (last year's winner)

Surrender by Sonya Hartnett

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (second year for this author!)

Happy reading!

Do You Bleed Blue?

Last night's game against the New England Patriots sealed the deal: the Indianapolis Colts are going to the Super Bowl! Check out all the great resources the Library has to offer, from football rule books to histories of the Super Bowl to recipes for satisfying your Super Bowl party guests. Go Colts!

What's Happening Tonight

Don't forget, the Anderson Public Library is showing Material Girls tonight, starring Hilary and Haylie Duff. This film is rated PG and lasts 97 minutes. We'll be starting the film at 6:05PM in the Delaware Room on the third floor. Join the fun!

You Could Be Poet...

...and just not know it. How can you find out? Try some online magnetic poetry and get creative! You don't need to buy anything--just click and create! For more inspiration and genius, check out our extensive collection of poetry on the second mezzanine!

This year, I resolve...

...to try and stick with my resolutions! It's January 8th...how many of you are sticking to the plans you made on January 1st? Havene't made any? Need some ideas? Go online and get some inspiration! If that's not enough, come on down to the library and check out our New Year's display in the Teen Room!