This Week at TLT
Sunday Reflections: Where’d you go, VOYA?
Middle School Monday: T-Shirt Representation
Book Review: Rad Women Worldwide by Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl
Before You Ask “Where Are the Parents?”
Making Photo Booth Props: Outreach at The Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County, Day 3
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Although we have a Teen MakerSpace that tends to be technology focused, we have also found that our teens want and enjoy a lot of more traditional arts and crafts. In fact, we have created both a drawing and teen coloring station in our Teen MakerSpace and both have proven to be very popular. So when we were trying to think of a 3rd quick, easy and inexpensive outreach module, teen coloring was the winner!
We have a variety of coloring sheets. We also have some high quality colored pencils, fine tip markers, and – after suggestions from our teens – a large assortment of gel pens. But I recently went to a very cool crafters conference and they had made coloring postcards and I thought – I can do that.
I am here to tell you that it was harder than I ever thought it would be. But I did, in fact, do it and I am quite happy with the finished product. I designed the postcard in Canva, which is an online site. The most difficult part was trying to find image outlines that had places to color as opposed to actual graphics. I used Canva because it has a preset postcard size that worked. I then downloaded my image and laid it out in a 4 part piece in Microsoft Publisher so I had a master to photo copy onto a thicker card stock.
I will also say, you can use portion of a coloring sheet to make fabulous buttons if you have a button maker. You could also provide stickers and teens could make names or sayings on their buttons using their coloring page as a background. And because I always get asked, we have American Button Machines button makers and we adore them. They are one of our most popular items in our Teen MakerSpace. We have both the 2.25 and 1.25 size and they are equally popular. It costs on average about 10 cents per button.
Coloring pages buttons
Where to find coloring pages:
I recommend having higher quality coloring tools – not crayons, though you will notice above that we bought name branded crayons for outreach. You can buy logo crayons at places like 4Imprint.com and GoImprints.com. Gel pens can be expensive but we bought this set at Costco for only $20.00.
So there you have it, 3 different outreach modules that are all set up and easy for us to grab and go when we are invited to go outside the library to promote our Teen MakerSpace. As I mentioned, our goal was to make them easy to carry and set up/take down and inexpensive, but they had to be hands on because we are promoting the idea of making and our teen makerspace. We do have some remote control robots that we can take with us for the “wow” factor. Now I have to get out there and go do some outreach!
What kinds of outreach activities does your library do? We’re always looking for more great ideas.
Making Photo Booth Props: Outreach at The Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County, Day 3
Last year, my second grader came home one day and started telling me about Malala. Her teacher had used a biography of the recent Nobel Prize winner as the example book at the beginning of their biography unit. This week, my now third grader came home with assignment inspired by The Ballad of Mulan by Song Nan Zhang as they discuss perseverance and challenges. And there you go — it can be just that easy to begin to incorporate diverse books into a curriculum. The assignment reads:
Dear Parents,
This week we have been reading the folktale The Ballad of Mulan. In the story, Mulan overcomes stereotypes, proving that women can also be strong and courageous in war. Throughout the unit, we will be talking about overcoming challenges.
Have your child conduct an interview with a woman in their life who has overcome a challenge, obstacle, or broken barriers. Think of a family member, grandmother, aunt, teacher, or role model who has overcome something throughout their life through determination and strength. Think outside of the box and look around, you will be surprised how many women have overcome some sort of challenge throughout their life! The questions on the following page should be used to guide the interview, any other questions that come up through conversation are always encouraged! After the interview they can draw a picture of their special woman.
I’m so pleased that all of the kids in my daughter’s grade are being introduced to heroic figures from around the world, that they’re being inspired to connect a book to the world around them, and that they’re encouraged to take another look at the women they know, learning about and acknowledging their challenges and triumphs. Not only that, but they’re looking to a the attitude and accomplishments of a woman from Chinese history (and not even the Disneyfied version of it) as their inspiration. Books are mirrors, they are windows, and here they are both. My daughter knows women who have overcome poverty, loss, childhood abandonment, language barriers, abuse, discrimination, and more. This weekend she’ll get to sit down with some of them and hear their stories. And so will the boys in her class.
The following are books that have arrived here recently. I’ll be reviewing many of them in the upcoming months. Head on over to the Rafflecopter to be entered to win one package of three books from this list! You can also enter by retweeting this post or following me (@CiteSomething) on Twitter! US entries only, please. Contest runs September 29 to October 3.
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (ISBN-13: 9781616205676 Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill Publication date: 08/09/2016)
Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the Forest, Xan, is kind. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon. Xan rescues the children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.
One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. As Luna’s thirteenth birthday approaches, her magic begins to emerge–with dangerous consequences. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Deadly birds with uncertain intentions flock nearby. A volcano, quiet for centuries, rumbles just beneath the earth’s surface. And the woman with the Tiger’s heart is on the prowl . . .
The author of the highly acclaimed, award-winning novel The Witch’s Boy has written an epic coming-of-age fairy tale destined to be a modern classic.
Poisoned Blade by Kate Elliott (ISBN-13: 9780316344371 Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Publication date: 08/16/2016 Series: Court of Fives Series , #2)
In this thrilling sequel to World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott’s captivating young adult debut, a girl immersed in high-stakes competition holds the fate of a kingdom in her hands.
Now a Challenger, Jessamy is moving up the ranks of the Fives—the complex athletic contest favored by the lowliest Commoners and the loftiest Patrons alike. Pitted against far more formidable adversaries, success is Jes’s only option, as her prize money is essential to keeping her hidden family alive. She leaps at the chance to tour the countryside and face more competitors, but then a fatal attack on her traveling party puts Jes at the center of the war that Lord Kalliarkos—the prince she still loves—is fighting against their country’s enemies. With a sinister overlord watching her every move and Kal’s life on the line, Jes must now become more than a Fives champion…. She must become a warrior.
Ghostly Echoes (Jackaby Series #3) by William Ritter (ISBN-13: 9781616205799 Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers Publication date: 08/23/2016)
“Tread lightly, Miss Rook,” warned Mr. Jackaby. “It would not do to push Miss Cavanaugh too far or too fast.”
Jenny Cavanaugh, the ghostly lady of 926 Augur Lane, has enlisted the investigative services of her fellow residents to solve a decade-old murder–her own. Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer, R. F. Jackaby, dive into the cold case, starting with a search for Jenny’s fiancé, who went missing the night she died. But when a new, gruesome murder closely mirrors the events of ten years prior, Abigail and Jackaby realize that Jenny’s case isn’t so cold after all.
Fantasy and folklore mix with mad science as Abigail’s race to unravel the mystery leads her across the cold cobblestones of nineteenth-century New England, down to the mythical underworld, and deep into her colleagues’ grim histories to battle the most deadly foe she has ever faced.
Ghostly Echoes, the third installment in the New York Times bestselling Jackaby series, features its much-loved quirky, courageous characters and sly humor in the scariest and most exciting volume yet.
Making Friends with Billy Wong by Augusta Scattergood (ISBN-13: 9780545924252 Publisher: Scholastic, Inc. Publication date: 08/30/2016)
Azalea is not happy about being dropped off to look after Grandmother Clark. Even if she didn’t care that much about meeting the new sixth graders in her Texas hometown, those strangers seem much preferable to the ones in Paris Junction. Talk about troubled Willis DeLoach or gossipy Melinda Bowman. Who needs friends like these!
And then there’s Billy Wong, a Chinese-American boy who shows up to help in her grandmother’s garden. Billy’s great-aunt and uncle own the Lucky Foods grocery store, where days are long and some folks aren’t friendly. For Azalea, whose family and experiences seem different from most everybody she knows, friendship has never been easy. Maybe this time, it will be.
Inspired by the true accounts of Chinese immigrants who lived in the American South during the civil rights era, these side by side stories–one in Azalea’s prose, the other in Billy’s poetic narrative–create a poignant novel and reminds us that friends can come to us in the most unexpected ways.
The Boy Who Killed Grant Parker by Kat Spears (ISBN-13: 9781250088864 Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Publication date: 09/13/2016)
Luke Grayson’s life might as well be over when he’s sent to live with his Baptist pastor father in rural Tennessee after getting kicked out of his DC private school. His soulless stepmother is none too pleased to have him, and Luke’s bad boy status has done him no favors with his new principal or the local police chief. He’s also an easy target for Grant Parker, the local golden boy with a violent streak, who has the community of Ashland under his thumb and Luke directly in his crosshairs.
But things go topsy-turvy when, after a freak accident, Luke replaces Grant at the top of the social pyramid. This fish out of water has suddenly gone from social outcast to hero in a matter of twenty-four hours. For the students who have lived in fear of Grant all their lives, this is a welcome change. But Luke’s newfound fame comes with a price. Nobody knows the truth about what really happened to Grant Parker except for Luke, and the longer he keeps living the lie, the more like Grant he becomes.
Kat Spears returns with this explosive coming of age story that explores not only the labels put on us by society, but the labels we put on ourselves, and the work it takes to find out who we really are underneath all the lies.
Interference by Kay Honeyman (ISBN-13: 9780545812320 Publisher: Scholastic, Inc. Publication date: 09/27/2016)
As a Congressman’s daughter in Washington, D.C., Kate Hamilton is good at getting what she wants — what some people might call “interfering.” But when her family moves to West Texas so her dad can run in a special election, Kate encounters some difficulties that test all her political skills. None of her matchmaking efforts go according to plan. Her father’s campaign gets off to a rough start. A pro tip for moving to Texas: Don’t slam the star quarterback’s hand in a door. And whenever Kate messes up, the irritatingly right (and handsome) Hunter Price is there to witness it. But Kate has determination and a good heart, and with all her political savvy — and a little clever interference — she’ll figure out what it takes to make Red Dirt home.
Terrifically funny and sweetly romantic, with whip-crack dialogue and a wise perspective on growing up, INTERFERENCE is the perfect next read for fans of Jenny Han, Huntley Fitzpatrick, Elizabeth Eulberg, or Sarah Dessen.
Falling Over Sideways by Jordan Sonnenblick (ISBN-13: 9780545863247 Publisher:S cholastic, Inc. Publication date: 09/27/2016)
It’s not easy being Claire. (Really.)
Claire’s life is a joke . . . but she’s not laughing. While her friends seem to be leaping forward, she’s dancing in the same place. The mean girls at school are living up to their mean name, and there’s a boy, Ryder, who’s just as bad, if not worse. And at home, nobody’s really listening to her — if anything, they seem to be more in on the joke than she is.
Then into all of this (not-very-funny-to-Claire) comedy comes something intense and tragic — while her dad is talking to her at the kitchen table, he falls over with a medical emergency. Suddenly the joke has become very serious — and the only way Claire, her family, and her friends are going to get through it is if they can find a way to make it funny again.
The Women in the Walls by Amy Lukavics (ISBN-13: 9780373211944 Publisher: Harlequin Publication date: 09/27/2016)
Lucy Acosta’s mother died when she was three. Growing up in a Victorian mansion in the middle of the woods with her cold, distant father, she explored the dark hallways of the estate with her cousin, Margaret. They’re inseparable—a family.
When her aunt Penelope, the only mother she’s ever known, tragically disappears while walking in the woods surrounding their estate, Lucy finds herself devastated and alone. Margaret has been spending a lot of time in the attic. She claims she can hear her dead mother’s voice whispering from the walls. Emotionally shut out by her father, Lucy watches helplessly as her cousin’s sanity slowly unravels. But when she begins hearing voices herself, Lucy finds herself confronting an ancient and deadly legacy that has marked the women in her family for generations.
Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz (ISBN-13: 9780373212385 Publisher: Harlequin Publication date: 10/04/2016)
It feels like there’s no ground beneath me, like everything I’ve ever done has been a lie. Like I’m breaking apart, shattering. Who am I? Where do I belong?
Jasmine de los Santos has always done what’s expected of her. Pretty and popular, she’s studied hard, made her Filipino immigrant parents proud and is ready to reap the rewards in the form of a full college scholarship.
And then everything shatters. A national scholar award invitation compels her parents to reveal the truth: their visas expired years ago. Her entire family is illegal. That means no scholarships, maybe no college at all and the very real threat of deportation.
For the first time, Jasmine rebels, trying all those teen things she never had time for in the past. Even as she’s trying to make sense of her new world, it’s turned upside down by Royce Blakely, the charming son of a high-ranking congressman. Jasmine no longer has any idea where—or if—she fits into the American Dream. All she knows is that she’s not giving up. Because when the rules you lived by no longer apply, the only thing to do is make up your own.
Wrecked by Maria Padian (ISBN-13: 9781616206246 Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers Publication date: 10/04/2016)
Everyone has heard a different version of what happened that night at MacCallum College. Haley was already in bed when her roommate, Jenny, arrived home shell-shocked from the wild Conundrum House party. Richard heard his housemate Jordan brag about the cute freshman he hooked up with. When Jenny formally accuses Jordan of rape, Haley and Richard find themselves pushed onto opposite sides of the school’s investigation. But conflicting interests fueling conflicting versions of the story may make bringing the truth to light nearly impossible–especially when reputations, relationships, and whole futures are riding on the verdict.
Maria Padian offers a kaleidoscopic view of a sexual assault on a college campus. Wrecked will leave readers thinking about how memory and identity, what’s at stake, and who sits in judgment shape what we all decide to believe about the truth.
In Case You Missed It by Sarah Darer Littman (ISBN-13: 9780545904377 Publisher: Scholastic, Inc. Publication date: 10/11/2016)
Sammy Wallach has epic plans for the end of junior year over: Sneak out to the city to see her favorite band. Get crush-worthy Jamie Moss to ask her to prom. Rock all exams (APs and driver’s).
With a few white lies, some killer flirting, and tons of practice, Sammy’s got things covered. That is, until the bank her dad works for is attacked by hacktivists who manage to steal everything in the Wallach family’s private cloud, including Sammy’s entire digital life. Literally the whole world has access to her emails, texts, photos, and, worst of all, journal.
Life. Is. Over.
Now Sammy’s best friends are furious about things she wrote, Jamie thinks she’s desperate, and she can barely show her face at school. Plus, her parents know all the rules she broke. But Sammy’s not the only one with secrets — her family has a few of its own that could change everything. And while the truth might set you free, no one said it was going to be painless. Or in Sammy’s case, private.
The Baby by Lisa Drakeford (ISBN-13: 9780545940276 Publisher: Scholastic, Inc. Publication date: 10/25/2016)
When Olivia opens the bathroom door, the last thing she expects to see is her best friend, Nicola, giving birth on the floor. And to say that Nicola is shocked is an understatement. She’s not ready to be a mother, and she needs Olivia’s help. But Olivia has her own problems–specifically her bullying boyfriend, Jonty, and having to keep an eye on her younger sister, Alice. And then there’s Nicola’s friend Ben, who’s struggling with secrets of his own…
The Baby explores one cataclysmic event from five sides to create a brilliant, engaging, bittersweet drama about friendship and family that’s perfect for fans of Jesse Andrews and Jandy Nelson.
Midnight Hour by C.C. Hunter (ISBN-13: 9781250035882 Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Publication date: 10/25/2016 Series: Shadow Falls: After Dark Series, #4)
After captivating millions across the globe, the Shadow Falls saga reaches its final—and most unforgettable—chapter yet! Prepare to fall in love all over again. . .
Being a dyslexic witch is a curse in itself, but Miranda Kane’s time at Shadow Falls has helped her harness her magical powers. Now, just as she’s finally mastered them and is preparing to graduate with her friends, a near-death experience threatens to ruin it all.
Miranda awakens in the hospital with a mysterious tattoo that no one can explain. As she struggles to make sense of it – and questions her feelings for a certain irresistible shape-shifter and a hot new guy – the strange markings begin to spread all over her body, leaving her desperate to find answers. But before she can solve that problem, a new one arises: her sister is missing.
Has her sister been kidnapped? Miranda will risk her life to find out. Will she live to share the day she’s worked so hard for with her friends? When the clock strikes midnight, will Miranda make it to her graduation at Shadow Falls?
C. C. Hunter brings The Shadow Falls saga to a spectacular conclusion in this thrilling finale: Midnight Hour!
If I Fix You by Abigail Johnson (ISBN-13: 9780373212408 Publisher: Harlequin Publication date: 10/25/2016)
Some things are easy to fix…but are some meant to stay broken?
When sixteen-year-old Jill Whitaker’s mom walks out—with a sticky note as a goodbye—only Jill knows the real reason she’s gone. But how can she tell her father? Jill can hardly believe the truth herself.
Suddenly, the girl who likes to fix things—cars, relationships, romances, people—is all broken up. It used to be, her best friend, tall, blond and hot flirt Sean Addison, could make her smile in seconds. But not anymore. They don’t even talk.
With nothing making sense, Jill tries to pick up the pieces of her life. But when a new guy moves in next door, intense, seriously cute, but with scars—on the inside and out—that he thinks don’t show, Jill finds herself trying to make things better for Daniel. But over one long, hot Arizona summer, she realizes she can’t fix anyone’s life until she fixes her own. And she knows just where to start…
Life in a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos (ISBN-13: 9781681190358 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Publication date: 01/03/2017)
Fifteen-year-old Jackie Stone’s father is dying.
When Jackie discovers that her father has been diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor, her whole world starts to crumble. She can’t imagine how she’ll live without him . . .
Then, in a desperate act to secure his family’s future, Jackie’s father does the unthinkable–he puts his life up for auction on eBay. Jackie can do nothing but watch and wait as an odd assortment of bidders, some with nefarious intentions, drive the price up higher. The fate of her entire family hangs in the balance.
But no one can predict how the auction will finally end, or any of the very public fallout that ensues. Life as Jackie knows it is about to change forever . . .
In this brilliantly written tragicomedy told through multiple points of view–including Jackie’s dad’s tumor–acclaimed author Len Vlahos deftly explores what it really means to live.
Freeks by Amanda Hocking (ISBN-13: 9781250084774 Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Publication date: 01/03/2017)
Welcome to Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Sideshow, where necromancy, magical visions, and pyrokinesis are more than just part of the act…
Mara has always longed for a normal life in a normal town where no one has the ability to levitate or predict the future. Instead, she roams from place to place, cleaning the tiger cage while her friends perform supernatural feats every night.
When the struggling sideshow is miraculously offered the money they need if they set up camp in Caudry, Louisiana, Mara meets local-boy Gabe…and a normal life has never been more appealing.
But before long, performers begin disappearing and bodes are found mauled by an invisible beast. Mara realizes that there’s a sinister presence lurking in the town with its sights set on getting rid of the sideshow freeks. In order to unravel the truth before the attacker kills everyone Mara holds dear, she has seven days to take control of a power she didn’t know she was capable of—one that could change her future forever.
Bestselling author Amanda Hocking draws readers inside the dark and mysterious world of Freeks.
History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera (ISBN-13: 9781616956929 Publisher: Soho Press, Incorporated Publication date: 01/17/2017)
OCD-afflicted Griffin has just lost his first love, Theo, in a drowning accident. In an attempt to hold onto every piece of the past, he forges a friendship with Theo’s last boyfriend, Jackson. When Jackson begins to exhibit signs of guilt, Griffin suspects he’s hiding something, and will stop at nothing to get to the truth about Theo’s death. But as the grieving pair grows closer, readers will question Griffin’s own version of the truth—both in terms of what he’s willing to hide and what true love means.
The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles (ISBN-13: 9781619637535 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Publication date: 01/31/2017)
When their worlds collide, X and Zoe are pushed to the edge of everything in this tour de force from Entertainment Weekly veteran Jeff Giles.
For the perfect love, what would you be willing to lose?
It’s been a shattering year for seventeen-year-old Zoe, who’s still reeling from her father’s shocking death in a caving accident and her neighbors’ mysterious disappearance from their own home. Then on a terrifying subzero, blizzardy night in Montana, she and her brother are brutally attacked in the woods–only to be rescued by a mysterious bounty hunter they call X.
X is no ordinary bounty hunter. He is from a hell called the Lowlands, sent to claim the soul of Zoe’s evil attacker and others like him. X is forbidden from revealing himself to anyone other than his prey, but he casts aside the Lowlands’ rules for Zoe. As they learn more about their colliding worlds, they begin to question the past, their fate, and their future. But escaping the Lowlands and the ties that bind X might mean the ultimate sacrifice for them both.
Gripping and full of heart, this epic start to a new series will bring readers right to the edge of everything.
Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones (ISBN-13: 9781250079213 Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Publication date: 02/07/2017)
Dark, romantic and unforgettable, a fantastical coming-of-age story for fans of Labyrinth and The Darkest Part of the Forest.
Deep in his terrifying realm underground, the cold and forbidding Goblin King casts a dark shadow over nineteen-year-old Liesl. Her grandmother has always warned her to follow the old laws, for every year on the longest night of winter, she claims, the Goblin King will emerge into the waking world in search of his eternal bride. Sensible and plain, Liesl knows it’s her duty to keep her beautiful sister Käthe safe from harm. But Liesl finds refuge only in her wild, captivating music, composed in secret in honor of the mysterious Goblin King.
When Käthe is stolen by the Goblin King, Liesl knows she must set aside her childish fantasies to journey to the Underground and save her. Drawn despite herself to the strange, beautiful world she finds—and the mysterious man who rules it—she finds herself facing an impossible choice. With time and the old laws working against her, Liesl must discover who she truly is before her fate is sealed.
Set at the turn of the 19th century, when young upstart composers like Beethoven were forever altering the sound of music, S. Jae-Jones’ richly imagined debut spins a spellbinding tale of music, love, sisterhood, and a young woman’s search for self-actualization.
At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson (ISBN-13: 9781481449663 Publisher: Simon Pulse Publication date: 02/07/2017)
From the author of We Are the Ants and The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley comes the heartbreaking story of a boy who believes the universe is slowly shrinking as things he remembers are being erased from others’ memories.
Tommy and Ozzie have been best friends since the second grade, and boyfriends since eighth. They spent countless days dreaming of escaping their small town—and then Tommy vanished.
More accurately, he ceased to exist, erased from the minds and memories of everyone who knew him. Everyone except Ozzie.
Ozzie doesn’t know how to navigate life without Tommy, and soon he suspects that something else is going on: that the universe is shrinking.
When Ozzie is paired up with new student Calvin on a physics project, he begins to wonder if Calvin could somehow be involved. But the more time they spend together, the harder it is for him to deny the feelings developing between them, even if he still loves Tommy.
But Ozzie knows there isn’t much time left to find Tommy—that once the door closes, it can’t be opened again. And he’s determined to keep it open as long as it takes to get his boyfriend back.
Nowhere Near You by Leah Thomas (ISBN-13: 9781681191782 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Publication date: 02/07/2017)
Following up her acclaimed debut, Because You’ll Never Meet Me, Leah Thomas continues the stories of Ollie and Moritz in another heart-warming story of unique friendship.
Ollie and Moritz might never meet, but their friendship knows no bounds. Their letters carry on as Ollie embarks on his first road trip away from the woods–no easy feat for a boy allergic to electricity–and Moritz decides which new school would best suit an eyeless boy who prefers to be alone.
Along the way they meet other teens like them, other products of strange science who lead seemingly normal lives in ways Ollie and Moritz never imagined possible: A boy who jokes about his atypical skeleton; an aspiring actress who hides a strange deformity; a track star whose abnormal heart propels her to victory. Suddenly the future feels wide open for two former hermits. But even as Ollie and Moritz dare to enjoy life, they can’t escape their past, which threatens to destroy any progress they’ve made. Can these boys ever find their place in a world that might never understand them?
The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera (ISBN-13 :9781481472111 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers Publication date: 02/21/2017)
Pretty in Pink comes to the South Bronx in this bold and romantic coming-of-age novel about dysfunctional families, good and bad choices, and finding the courage to question everything you ever thought you wanted—from debut author Lilliam Rivera.
Things/People Margot Hates:
Mami, for destroying her social life
Papi, for allowing Junior to become a Neanderthal
Junior, for becoming a Neanderthal
The supermarket
Everyone else
After “borrowing” her father’s credit card to finance a more stylish wardrobe, Margot Sanchez suddenly finds herself grounded. And by grounded, she means working as an indentured servant in her family’s struggling grocery store to pay off her debts.
With each order of deli meat she slices, Margot can feel her carefully cultivated prep school reputation slipping through her fingers, and she’s willing to do anything to get out of this punishment. Lie, cheat, and maybe even steal…
Margot’s invitation to the ultimate beach party is within reach and she has no intention of letting her family’s drama or Moises—the admittedly good looking but outspoken boy from the neighborhood—keep her from her goal.
Ronit & Jamil by Pamela L. Laskin (ISBN-13: 9780062458544 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Publication date: 02/21/2017)
Pamela L. Laskin’s beautiful and lyrical novel in verse delivers a fresh and captivating retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that transports the star-crossed lovers to the modern-day Israel-Palestine conflict.
Ronit, an Israeli girl, lives on one side of the fence. Jamil, a Palestinian boy, lives on the other side. Only miles apart but separated by generations of conflict—much more than just the concrete blockade between them. Their fathers, however, work in a distrusting but mutually beneficial business arrangement, a relationship that brings Ronit and Jamil together. And lightning strikes. The kind of lightning that transcends barrier fences, war, and hatred.
The teenage lovers fall desperately into the throes of forbidden love, one that would create an irreparable rift between their families if it were discovered. But a love this big can only be kept secret for so long. Ronit and Jamil must face the fateful choice to save their lives or their loves, as it may not be possible to save both.
Wonderful Feels Like This by Sara Lovestam (ISBN-13: 9781250095237 Publisher: Flatiron Books Publication date: 03/07/2017)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower in this novel celebrating being a little bit odd, finding your people, and the power of music across generations.
For Steffi, going to school every day is an exercise in survival. She’s never fit in with any of the other groups at school, and she’s viciously teased by the other girls in her class. The only way she can escape is through her music—especially jazz music.
When Steffi hears her favorite jazz song playing through an open window of a retirement home on her walk home from school, she decides to go in and introduce herself.
The old man playing her favorite song is Alvar. When Alvar was a teenager in World War II-era Sweden, he dreamt of being in a real jazz band. Then and now, Alvar’s escape is music—especially jazz music.
Through their unconventional but powerful friendship, Steffi realizes that she won’t always be lonely in her small town. She can go to the music school in Stockholm. She can be a real musician. And she can be a jitterbug, just like Alvar.
But how can Steffi convince her parents to let her go to Stockholm to audition? And how is it that Steffi’s school, the retirement home, her music, and even her worst bully are somehow connected to Alvar and his story? Because as it turns out, everything is, in the end, linked . . .
The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Saenz (ISBN-13: 9780544586505 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publication date: 03/07/2017)
From the multi-award-winning author of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universecomes a gorgeous new story about love, identity, and families lost and found.
Sal used to know his place with his adoptive gay father, their loving Mexican-American family, and his best friend, Samantha. But it’s senior year, and suddenly Sal is throwing punches, questioning everything, and realizing he no longer knows himself. If Sal’s not who he thought he was, who is he? This humor-infused, warmly humane look at universal questions of belonging is a triumph.
Just a Girl Carrie Mesrobian (ISBN-13: 9780062349910 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Publication date: 03/28/2017)
Taking a hard look at the societal conventions that constrain teenage girls, William C. Morris Award finalist Carrie Mesrobian tells one girl’s story with bracing honesty and refreshing authenticity.
By her senior year of high school, Rianne has exhausted all the fun there is to have in small town Wereford, Minnesota. Volleyball season is winding down, the parties all feel tired, and now that she’s in a serious relationship with reformed player Luke Pinsky, her wild streak has ended. Not that she ever did anything more than the guys her age did…but she knows what everyone thinks of her.
Including her parents. Divorced but now inexplicably living together again, Rianne wonders why they’re so quick to point out every bad choice she’s making when they can’t even act like adults. With an uncomfortable home life and her once-solid group of friends now dissolving, the reasons for sticking around after high school are few. So why is Rianne in lockstep when it comes to figuring out her future?
That’s not the only question Rianne can’t answer. Lately she’s been wondering why, when she has a perfect-on-paper boyfriend, she wants anything but. Or how it is that Sergei, a broken-English-speaking Russian, understands her better than anyone who’s known her all her life? And why has Rianne gotten stuck with an “easy girl” reputation for doing the same exact things guys do without any judgment? Carrie Mesrobian, acclaimed author of Sex & Violence and Cut Both Ways, sets fire to the unfair stereotypes and contradictions that persist even in the twenty-first century.
Radio Silence by Alice Oseman (ISBN-13: 9780062335715 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Publication date: 03/28/2017)
From critically acclaimed author Alice Oseman comes a smartly crafted contemporary YA novel, perfect for readers who loved Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl.
Frances Janvier spends most of her time studying.
Everyone knows Aled Last as that quiet boy who gets straight As.
You probably think that they are going to fall in love or something. Since he is a boy and she is a girl.
They don’t. They make a podcast.
In a world determined to shut them up, knock them down, and set them on a cookie cutter life path, Frances and Aled struggle to find their voices over the course of one life-changing year. Will they have the courage to show everyone who they really are? Or will they be met with radio silence?
Here we are, day 4 discussing outreach and let’s talk about making chalkboard speech bubbles as photo booth props. Full disclosure: I have awful penmanship. I write myself notes and then later, I have no idea what they say. None. So I was worried about how we were going to make our speech bubbles for the photo booth. It turns out that Desiree, one of the Teen MakerSpace Assistants, knows how to do text transfer so we were able to make amazing looking chalkboard speech bubble props.
Text transfer is the process of printing off a text and then transferring it onto another medium. This allows you to not only have good penmanship, but to use fancy fonts.
We were able to buy a scrapbooking stack of 12×12 size chalkboard paper. This is the perfect size for a speech bubble. Pre-cut your shape so you know what size text you need to print off. If you would like, you can also use a piece of foam core and use chalkboard spray paint to cover your speech bubble. I have used chalkboard spray paint and find it works well. Either way, you end up with a chalkboard speech bubble as your canvas.
Step 2: Printing Your TextIn order to do a text transfer, you are going to begin by printing off your word(s) from a computer. Select your font, and if you are looking for fun fonts you can try several free online font resources like 1001freefonts.com. Just create your word(s) like you would regularly. You can use Microsoft Word or a publishing program. Print off your text the size you want it to appear on your speech bubble, with exact spacing, punctuation, etc. Print it out and you are ready to begin your transfer onto the chalkboard.
After you have printed your text, cut around it leaving a minimum of an inch on each side of all the letters. You will then turn your piece of paper over and completely shade the back side of your paper with a #2 pencil. Make sure and get that backside nice and dark and fill in every last space. Fill it in good.
You will then turn your paper back over so the printed text is on the top. Place it where you want it to be located on your speech bubble and use your ballpoint pen to go around and outline the text. This will transfer the text in pencil onto your speech bubble. Don’t be afraid to press down hard.
After your text is transferred, you simply outline it with your chalk marker and color it in.
If you want to take it a step further and give it the appearance of a used chalkboard, simply take a piece of regular white chalk – not a chalk marker, but a piece of traditional chalk – and color over the entire speech bubble. Then take a tissue and wipe it off.
Hot glue a dowel rod to the back and you have a chalkboard speech bubble photo booth prop. Man, that’s a mouthful.
And here’s Desiree modelling her chalkboard speech bubble.
You can do this with any type of chalkboard sign. It doesn’t have to be a speech bubble. It doesn’t have to be a photo booth prop. It doesn’t even have to be a chalkboard. You can do it with regular paper and markers or gel pens. It has turned out to be a lifesaver for me, the person with epically awful penmanship.
And now we’re done with photo booth outreach. Tomorrow we will finish our outreach series by discussing teen coloring.
Making Photo Booth Props: Outreach at The Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County, Day 3
Last week, I wrote a review about the video game Undertale. If you haven’t read it, go ahead and skim it before trying out this program! Also, be sure to ask your regular teens if they’re fans of Undertale before deciding to do this program. Undertale is a niche fandom that isn’t nearly as big as something like Pokemon Go, so make sure you are guaranteed an audience first!
I had my Undertale program a few weekends ago on a Saturday afternoon. One of my regular teens volunteered to help decorate our program room and plan games, which was a HUGE help! The best part about my Undertale program was how it attracted teens from all over our county who didn’t know each other, and they all exchanged phone numbers at the end!
Music: I always like to play music in the background during programs because it makes it less awkward if there’s a lull in conversation. I recommend two different playlists for this program. First, you can play Undertale’s soundtrack on this YouTube playlist. But, if you want to get hardcore, you can play music from the Undertale musical. Yes, you read that correctly! Someone made an Undertale musical, which you can find on YouTube here. This is a bonus for your teens who are big Hamilton fans!
YouTube Video:
Food: There are a ton of ridiculous names for food in Undertale, and they’re inspirational for food creation activities (a part of me wishes I made rock candy with the teens!). For a complete list, you can click here.
I chose to buy a candy mix and called it “Monster Candy”, Cinnamon Bunnies, and Spider Cider. I had teens create and bake their own Cinnamon Bunnies using Pillsbury dough and chocolate chips. We made big bunnies, small bunnies, and what we dubbed “womp bunnies” for all of the bunnies whose ears fell off while eating it. I also poured apple cider in cups and put plastic spiders in them.
Craft: I always try to give the teens something to take home from a large program like this, so I printed out Undertale perler bead patterns and let the teens go nuts. Kandi Patterns has plenty of different character patterns available for free! *Be sure you have PLENTY of black available, because every single character needs a black outline!*
Perler beads are the perfect craft for this video game because the game’s graphics are 8-bit, and perler beads look just like the video game! Creating perler bead crafts gave the teens something to do with their hands while they talked all things Undertale. They talked for a long time about their favorite character, what path they played through first, and what is their favorite YouTuber “Let’s Play” video.
Games: Figuring out games to play was a little tricky. I did not want to play the video game itself because it’s only a single player game, and I wanted all of my teens to be engaged at once. I decided to pick aspects of Undertale that were fun, and create activities that are somewhat related. You could easily do your own puzzle activities, since that would fit Undertale’s gameplay.
Pun Off: Puns are a big part of the game, whether you enjoy them or not. I planned to have a formal “Pun Off”, but it actually manifested by itself during the perler beads crafts. The teens tried to come up with their best puns and reciting puns they memorized from the game.
Collect Gold Coins: In order to survive in the game, players have to collect coins which can be used to buy food for health. I actually planned out a scavenger hunt for gold coins, but that fell through because our library reorganized our interior that weekend because we are renovating soon! So, I decided to repurpose the ball pit balls that I spray painted gold and have the teens play a live version of Hungry Hungry Hippos. Is Hungry Hungry Hippos related to Undertale? Not in the slightest, but it wouldn’t be a library program without a little improvisation!
Disarming a Bomb: One popular mini game in Undertale is disarming bombs in under three minutes. I wanted to do something related to disarming bombs, which is how I discovered the video game Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. I reviewed it for TLT, which you can read here. The teens LOVED this game, and it will now be featured at our weekly Teen Game Night program!
Marshmallow Target Practice: I printed out a giant version of Flowey, taped him to our library building outside, and let the teens practice throwing marshmallows at it. I made sure to buy those giant campfire marshmallows for easy throwing! Flowey is the primary boss in the game, so don’t be fooled by the cute looking flower.
Glow Stick Dance Party: I had a celebratory dance program at the very end, especially because they were full of sugar! I turned off the lights, gave them glow sticks, and turned up the music!
Video: Glow stick party
Questions? Comments? Tweet them at me!
By: Alanna Graves
Twitter: @LannaLibrarian
As promised, today is day 3 in discussing our outreach modules at The Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County and we will be discussing making our own photo booth props for our portable photo booth that I shared with you yesterday.
Why make your own props? Well, I figured since we are a Teen MakerSpace, it only made sense to make our own. So we did. With the help of various teens. And I’m not going to lie, it was AWESOME!
We made 20 props total with the help of about 10 teens and 3 Teen MakerSpace staff. It was more expensive then buying pre-made props, but it was a great community activity and the teens got to give us input on what props they wanted to make and be involved with the process every step of the way. It takes about $50.00 in supplies and 2 days to make 20 props.
We tried a lot of different supplies, and some worked well while others were a complete fail. For example, we initially bought these cute pinwheel sticks at the craft store:
Although super cute, they did not hold up to the amount of use our props got so DO NOT USE them.
Use dowel rods, they are sturdy and hold up over the long term. You can spray paint them in bulk if you want something other than a natural finish.
We also experimented with various types of glue. A tot glue gun definitely worked the best.
For this type of an activity, you want to use acrylic paint. You can usually buy bulk packs at craft stores or buy individual colors for about .50 cents a bottle. If you know what props you want to make ahead of time, you can plan accordingly.
We knew we wanted to make MakerSpace themed props for this outreach activity. This meant things like gears, science related symbols and more. In addition, our teens insisted that they wanted emojis.
To make the emoji props, teens simply blew the emoji up to the right size on a computer, printed them off, cut them out, and glued them to a piece of foam core. They then cut the foam core to shape and size and glued them to a stick. Amazingly simple.
To make our other props, for example the gears, we printed off a template which we then traced directly onto the foam core and cut out. We used paint to add features and give them dimension. We then simply glued them to a stick. Here’s a look at some of the props that we made.
In addition, I happen to be incredibly lucky because I have two artistically talented Teen MakerSpace Assistants. For example, this is Morgan. She drew and painted this Einstein prop free hand.
We are currently working on Star Wars themed props for Star Wars Reads Day. I made these Yoda ears all by myself using first a template and then some paint. It looks like Yoda, right?
We are also working on making emoji pumpkin props inspired by this Michael’s activity I saw at a recent event.
There wasn’t a lot of technology involved in this Teen MakerSpace activity, but a great time was had by all and I consider it a HUGE success. Because we have the photo booth, we will continue to make various themed props with our teens when appropriate.
Tomorrow, I am going to share with you Desiree’s technique for making chalkboard speech bubble photo booth props.
Yesterday I shared with you that this week was all about outreach and introduced you to our basic format. Today, I’m going to share with you how we created our portable outreach photo booth.
Our primary outreach event is called First Fridays, which is a downtown festival with food trucks, an outdoor concert, and an opportunity for local businesses to promote themselves with booths. On average, we have noted that we talk to anywhere between 200 and 400 people in the space of 3 hours. We had a module where we made buttons, and it turns out they are very popular but making 300 buttons in 3 hours can be exhausting. And after 3 First Fridays, we wanted to kind of spice it up and show a different side of the Teen MakerSpace. So we decided to make a portable photo booth. This turned out to be a fun and popular decision.
We needed a photo booth that was easy to transport and set up/take down. After a lot of research, we used this as our model. We only made on slight change in that we have to different sizes of cross bars so that we can have a smaller or wider photo booth depending on the size of the space we are in. Also, we have both a green screen and a black background. We just bought cheap sheets at the local store and these work fine.
Supplies needed:(These can purchased at Lowe’s or some other home repair store)
2 pieces of PVC elbows (for your top connectors)
4 pieces of PVC “T” connectors (2 for your middle cross bar, 2 for your feet)
10 pieces of PVC cut to 3 feet (2 for your back cross bars, 4 for your height, and 4 for your feet)
2 pieces of PVC cut to 5 feet (if you wish to have a larger width photo booth)
Please note: all your pieces of PVC pipe should be the same. We used 3/4 of an inch in diameter. In this picture shown we have used the smaller PVC pipe for our crossbars.
Our total cost was about $50.00, including one sheet.
Once you have all your pieces cut to the correct size, setting up is easy. As I mentioned, we have to sizes of cross bars so our width can be either 3 feet across, which fits one person, or 5 feet across, which accommodated groups pretty well. We have used it both as a green screen and as a basic backdrop. You will need at least 2 staff to set up and take down the portable photo booth. I also recommend making step-by-step photo instructions.
After you set up your frame, you’ll need 2 people to drape your sheet over the frame. Especially if you are using it as a green screen, you want to pull your sheet as tight as possible. Wrinkles can cause lighting issues which can cause the green screen to not be properly replaced with your software. Good lighting is really important when using a green screen as well.
We used both binder clips and alligator clips to pull the material tightly in the back and keep it in place.
We made a banner so that people knew who we were using triangles, string and giant letter stickers. We eventually made gears to decorate our banner, which is not shown here.
Signage is very important – as is creating a hashtag. People were invited to take their own pictures and staff used their devices to take pictures as well using the library’s account. All pictures were tagged with the hashtag so that patron’s could go find them online. In addition, we had a slip of paper that we handed to each person telling them about the library, about the hashtag, and inviting them to come into the Teen MakerSpace where we could show them how to print their picture and make it into a button or use some of our photo apps to add text and filters.
The night we first used our portable photo booth turned out to be a really windy night. We had to have staff sit on each side of the photo booth with their foot on the bottom bar to keep it stable. We are talking getting a bar of rebarb to slide through the bottom to help with this in the future. We also discussed sand bags, though we are hesitant to add more bulky, heavy items to our set up. Just know that if you are outdoors wind can be an issue and you may need a stabilizing agent.
For the larger size booth – 5 feet across – we cut the PVC pipe to 5 feet. This means that we had these longer pieces to carry. We are talking about cutting them in half and adding another connector so that all the PVC poles are shorter and we can fit them into a larger gym bag. The jury is still out on this.
I love the portable photo booth! Everyone had a really great time and it was very easy to set up and take down. And to be honest, it was easier on staff then making 300 buttons in 3 hours.
Here are some of the pictures we took . . .
Tomorrow, I will share with you how we made our own photo booth props, what worked . . . and what didn’t.
Publisher’s description
From the authors of the New York Times bestselling book Rad American Women A-Z, comes a bold new collection of 40 biographical profiles, each accompanied by a striking illustrated portrait, showcasing extraordinary women from around the world.
In Rad Women Worldwide, writer Kate Schatz and artist Miriam Klein Stahl tell fresh, engaging, and inspiring tales of perseverance and radical success by pairing well researched and riveting biographies with powerful and expressive cut-paper portraits. Featuring an array of diverse figures from Hatshepsut (the great female king who ruled Egypt peacefully for two decades) and Malala Yousafzi (the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize) to Poly Styrene (legendary teenage punk and lead singer of X-Ray Spex) and Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft (polar explorers and the first women to cross Antarctica), this progressive and visually arresting book is a compelling addition to women’s history.
I’m going to crib from my review of their previous book, Rad American Women A-Z, because the same sentiment applies here:
“Please go buy this book. Buy it for your library, your classroom, your kids, your friends’ kids, your neighbors, yourself. Maybe, just to be safe, buy like 10 copies, so you have plenty to hand out for gifts. This book would make a great graduation present, a birthday present for kids of all ages, and a great gift for your adult friends, too.”
Just as you would expect, this book tells about “the lives and accomplishments of bold, brave women who lived awesome, exciting, revolutionary, historic, and world-changing lives” (as the introduction tells us). Some of the women are more well-known than others. Many of the women I already knew about thanks to an extremely extensive education in college while getting my women’s studies degree. Even though college was now 20 years ago, so many of their stories have stuck with me specifically because I never heard about their lives anywhere except my women’s studies classes. 40 women from 30 countries are highlighted. Readers will kick off their education by learning about Enheduanna (2285-2250 BCE, Mesopotamia), the world’s oldest known author. From there we jump all over the place, both in time and location. We learn about Kalpana Chawla, an Indian astronaut; Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s ardent supporter of democracy and peace; Qiu Jin, China’s revolutionary leader known as the “Chinese Joan of Arc;” Fe Del Mundo, from the Philippines, the first woman admitted to Harvard Medical School; Kasha Jacqueline Nagabasera, the “Mother of the Gay Rights Movement” in Uganda; feminist and Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; Colombian street artist Bastardilla; punk singer Poly Styrene from the band X-Ray Spex (I wouldn’t be much of a punk if this wasn’t one of my favorite songs from my youth); and the Argentinian activist group Madres de la Plaza de Mayo (who I had the honor to hear speak back in the mid-90s). Those are just some of the phenomenal women included in this book. These women, and the other women written about, are many things: musicians, athletes, rulers, spies, activists, leaders, explorers, linguists, fighters, healers, educators, scientists, programmers, and more. The end of the book includes a list of 250 more rad women from around the world to check out. The bold, bright paper-cut art is dynamic and makes this already extremely appealing book even more likely to get noticed on a shelf. An excellent overview of many important women and a fantastic addition to any collection.
Review copy courtesy of the authors
ISBN-13: 9780399578861
Publisher: Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony
Publication date: 09/27/2016
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