A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend is a coming-of-age/coming-out/road trip/romance/dead-best-friend novel, and it is absolutely gorgeous. Cass' best friend Julia dies, and Cass decides to take a cross-country bicycle trip to commemorate her. As Cass travels, her trip becomes a way for her to learn about herself, figure out her feelings about Julia and her friends, and develop the independence and confidence she never had before. Upon her return, however, she learns that her friends are staging the totally awesome ninja musical that Julia wrote before her death, and that they've cast her arch-enemy Heather in the lead role. While Cass struggles with her feelings for Heather--at first, those of loathing, but later, something much different, she also comes to terms with Julia's death. This book alternates between chapters describing Cass' summer road trip and those unfolding in the present, making it possible to see how much Cass has grown, and how her summer experiences help her become the girl she is in the following school year. The prose is beautiful, perfectly describing feelings of grief, alienation, heartbreak, and infatuation.

Our next Teen DIY is Monday, August 23 @ 4:30pm in the Teen Room. We'll be using rub-on transfers (kind of like temporary tattoos-meets-stickers for craft projects) to decorate photo cubes and plastic bangles. It will be lots of fun, so don't miss it! Check out the samples Tara made below:

Teen Summer Reading 2010 ended last week. We hope you all participated to get your t-shirts! Congratulations to our grand prize winners:

Digital camera winner:
Catherine, 17, from Headquarters

 
Nintendo DSi XL winner:
Sarah, 12, from Inman

Kindle winner:
Tashia, 14, from Cowpens

TSR may be over, but that doesn't mean there isn't still great stuff to do at your library--check our events page to see what's going on for teens in August!

Heather is our new Teen Services Assistant. Stop by the teen room and welcome her to the library!

There are still a few Photobook cameras available, so if you want to participate, click the Photobook logo on the side of the Teen Blog and request a camera. We’ll mail it to you with an instructions sheet and you can get started! Photobook also ends July 31^st, so make sure you get your cameras back to us in time!

Photobook is a project where 50 Spartanburg County teens are each given a camera and asked to photograph Spartanburg as they see it. This is the fourth year of the project and we are bringing back the optional photo scavenger hunt! To participate and learn more, attend the Photobook kickoff event on Wednesday, July 7th @ 4pm in the Barrett Room at the Headquarters Library. If any cameras are left after the kickoff event, they will be at the Teen Services Desk in the teen room or you can request them by clicking on the Photobook logo on www.infodepot.org. First come, first served!

Photobook is open to teens ages 12-18 or entering grades 7-12 and runs July 7th-July 31st. Cameras can be turned in to any Spartanburg County Public Library location. All returned cameras will be entered into a drawing for a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card!

Film from the cameras will be developed and at least one photo from each camera will be selected to display at the Headquarters Library in the AT&T Exhibition Gallery in September. The photographers will be given a set of prints from the film in their camera. All photos taken become the property of the Spartanburg County Public Libraries.

Three photos will be selected as the best based on originality, creativity and composition. The winning photographers will receive $25 Barnes & Noble gift cards!

Call 864-596-3506 or email teens@infodepot.org with questions!

Sure, reading is great, but what else can you do at the library this summer? Why not meet your friends in the Teen Room to play video games at Game On?  Or drop into the Barrett Room for Flicks for Teens to watch recently-released films, snack on fresh popcorn and sip on ice-cold sodas? It’s all free and fun @ your library.

Game On! Gaming Club for Teens:
Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution III
Thursday, July 1 from 1-5pm in the Teen Room

So far this month we’ve had two great DIY programs! First we had about 25 teens recycle old t-shirts into cool necklaces in the teen room.

Hard at work!

Some of the crafty teens pose with their necklaces for a group shot afterwards. 

Then last week over 30 teens showed up to tie dye t-shirts outside in the Bill Drake Amphitheater!

Most of the teens were finished by the time I had a chance to get the camera out, but imagine this shady area with about 25 more teens and you’ll get an idea what it was like.

I promise we had gloves! Dye is sneaky though and it gets EVERYWHERE. I still have some pink on one of my fingers! 

The next DIY program is Tuesday, June 29^th @ 3pm in the teen room. We’ll be learning kumihimo, a Japanese braiding technique. Hope you can join us!

Carrie was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina. After growing up in the south, she decided to attend Williams College. This is where she met her fiancée JP, who convinced Carrie to go to her first zombie movie. Carrie became fascinated by zombies, and after moving to Charlotte, decided to write a zombie novel. There are so many movies about the days and weeks after a zombie apocalypse, but Carrie wanted to know what happened much later—generations later, so she wrote The Forest of Hands and Teeth and its sequel, The Dead-Tossed Waves.

Go to any SCPL location to sign up and get started!

We had a great turnout at teencentric--thanks to all who came out and joined us! Sing Sing 76 sounded great, Tamora Pierce was amazing, and everyone had lots of fun! Check out some pictures from the event:

Sing Sing 76

Tamora Pierce

The LONG line for Tamora Pierce's book signing

Teen Services staff with Tamora Pierce

As promised, here are the pictures of Pacolet's remodeled teen area!

Before

After!

The Inman, Pacolet and Westside branches have all recently remodeled their teen areas. Featured below are Inman and Westside. Pacolet photos coming soon!

Check out the new Inman branch teen area!

Check out the new Westside branch teen area!

Earth Day was yesterday, but at the Spartanburg County Public Libraries we're celebrating for the entire month of April! Come to the Headquarters Library tomorrow, Saturday, April 24th to find out different ways to go green! Here are some of the great events we'll have going on tomorrow:

• Farmer's Market in the parking lot from 9am-1pm
• Book Swap in the atrium from 9am-1pm
• Local Green Groups in the atrium from 9am-1pm
• Kill-a-Watt Program in the Barrett Room from 10am-11am

You can also enter ways you go green here throughout the month of April to be entered into a drawing for a $100 gift certificate to the Spartanburg Farmer's Market!

Want to learn about more ways to go green? Check out some of our nonfiction titles for teens!

250 Things You Can Do to Green the World
by CosmoGirl

Recycle This Book:
100 Top Children's Authors Tell You How to Go Green
edited by Dan Gutman

Generation Green:
The Ultimate Teen Guide to Living an Eco-Friendly Life
by Linda and Tosh Sivertsen

50 Ways to Save the Earth
by Anne Jankeliowitch

National Poetry Month was created by the Academy of American Poets to celebrate poetry and its place in American culture throughout the month of April. Try out some of these suggestions for celebrating this month:

--Post a Poem in your teen area! Share your favorite poetry verse--from a song, a poem, or something you've written--by putting it on a post-it note and adding it to the poetry board.
--Check out the Academy of American Poets' list of 30 Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month.
--Sign up for the Poets.org Poem-A-Day email.

Be the first teen to identify this book and text the title to 864-381-SCPL (864-381-7275) to win the book and a $15 iTunes gift card!

"For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires."

Update: We have a winner! Harry from the Headquarters Library correctly identified the title as Feed by M.T. Anderson. Congratulations, Harry!

Be the first person to identify this book and text the title to 864-381-SCPL (864-381-7275) to win the book and a $15 iTunes gift card!

"Thirteen-year-old Johnny Turnbull has always known there was something different about him. It turns out he’s the first-ever human softwire—able to enter and communicate with computers with his mind. Now that JT and two hundred other orphans have been put to work in alien factories on the first ring of Orbis, things are going very wrong. The 'perfect' central computer is malfunctioning, and suspicious eyes are turning to JT. Could he be the one responsible?"

Update:
We have a winner! Jesse from the Middle Tyger location correctly identified the book as The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 by PJ Haarsma. Congratulations, Jesse!

!

Be the first person to identify this book and text the title to 864-381-SCPL (864-381-7275) to win the book and a $15 iTunes gift card!

"In a virtual reality game, there are way too many ways to get killed—and Giannine seems to be finding them all. Which is a darn shame, because unless she can get the magic ring, locate the stolen treasure, answer the dwarf's dumb riddles, impress the head-chopping statue, charm the army of ghosts, fend off the barbarians, and defeat the man-eating dragon, she'll never win.

And she has to, because losing means she'll die—for real this time."

Update:
We have a winner! Taylor from the Middle Tyger location correctly identified the book as Heir Apparent by Vivan Vande Velde. Congratulations, Taylor!

Jennifer is our new Teen Services Assistant. Stop by the teen room and welcome her to the library!

HOMETOWN: Savannah, Georgia
THEN WHAT: Went to Georgia State University in Atlanta and earned a BA in English; moved back to Savannah where I became certified to teach high school English; got married and moved to the suburbs of Atlanta where I started teaching high school English; earned my M.Ed in Library Media; moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where I continued teaching high school English; moved to South Carolina.
FAMILY: Husband, Derek; two lovable dogs – Taylor and Booboo
HOBBIES: Reading, playing board games, and singing
FAVORITE QUOTE: "I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes." Edna St. Vincent Millay
FAVORITE TEEN BOOKS: The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Crank by Ellen Hopkins
FAVORITE NON-TEEN BOOKS: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and books by Jodi Picoult
RECENTLY READ: How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg, Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, Tricks by Ellen Hopkins, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Be the first person to identify this book and text the title to 864-381-SCPL (864-381-7275) to win the book and a $15 iTunes gift card!

"'I'm not picking Cartwright just because I met Julian there. For all I know he'll change his mind and not even go! Although that would be a shame because I want him to be the father of my firstborn child. KIDDING! :-}'

While on a college visit, Chloe meets Julian, another prospective freshman, and infatuated, the two high school seniors begin a long-distance relationship. Chloe is thrilled that she'll have a boyfriend at college, although she doesn't know how to break the news to Eli, her best friend whom she's sort of dating. As Chloe and Julian prepare to meet again, they must face the question of whether their relationship is based on who they really are or who they imagine each other to be."

Update:
We have a winner! Evan from the Middle Tyger location correctly identified the book as Heart on My Sleeve by Ellen Wittlinger. Congratulations, Evan!

Be the first person to identify this book and text the title to 864-381-SCPL (864-381-7275) to win the book and a $15 iTunes gift card!

"In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives."

Update:
We have a winner! Nita from the Headquarters location correctly identified the book as Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Congratulations, Nita!

Teen Tech Week is March 7th-13th this year, but we’re celebrating it for the entire month of March! Check out the Teen Events page for information about this month’s programs, and be sure to enter our special Teen Tech Week Pick Me Up contests!

TextBook: Check the teen blog and Facebook page every Monday and read the book description we’ve posted. Figure out the book’s title and text it to 864-381-SCPL (864-381-7275). The first person to send us the correct title will win that week’s book and a $15 iTunes gift card!

LOLcaptions: Each branch will have a funny picture posted in their teen area. Submit the best caption and win a flash drive and a prize book from our stash! 

Taking the SAT can be stressful, so you'll want to get as much practice as you can before the actual test. We're working with Sylvan Learning Center to provide a free SAT practice test on Saturday, February 20th from 1:30-5:30pm in the Hoechst Celanese Room! The test is four hours long, so come prepared to stay for the duration. All you need to bring are pencils and a four-function calculator; we will provide water and candy. If you want to take the test, please sign up in the teen room or email us at teens@infodepot.org. Good luck!

Today, Scholastic announced the title and release date of the third and final book of the totally amazing Hunger Games trilogy. The book will be called Mockingjay, and it will be released on August 24th! The publishers are totally hush-hush about any plot details, but we've been dying to read this book since the cliffhanger ending of Catching Fire. If you haven't started the Hunger Games trilogy, you've still got time! Check out The Hunger Games and Catching Fire from any SCPL location.

This series has such a crazy premise that I thought I wouldn’t be able to get into it, but Lauren McLaughlin has created a really interesting group of characters, and I couldn’t put it down. Re-Cycler is the second book in a series about Jill, a girl who turns into a boy named Jack for 4 days each month. After Jill's secret is exposed at her senior prom, she decides that it’s time to get out of town. The choice isn’t easy, though—should she move to New York City with Ramie, her best friend (and Jack’s girlfriend) or embark upon a cross-country road trip with her boyfriend Tommy? Once she makes her choice, it’s a time for new experiences—both for Jill and for Jack. Jack is finally able to go out into the world, so he tries to make friends and soak in all the things he missed when he was locked up back at home, and Jill deals with her own emotions as she meets new people and gets her heart broken. Will Jack and Jill ever learn how to coexist? Will the big city prove too much for them to handle? Read to find out!

Due to the awful weather headed our way, we've had to postpone teencentric for now. We apologize to all of you who were excited to come, but we plan to reschedule for later this year. Keep an eye on this blog for announcements about the new date.

This year’s Printz awards were announced yesterday. The Michael L. Printz Award is given to a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. This year’s winner is:

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

After being diagnosed with Creutzfeld Jakob's (aka mad cow) disease, Cameron Smith, a disaffected sixteen year-old, sets off on a road trip with a death-obsessed video gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital in an attempt to find a cure.  

There are also up to four honor awards announced each year. The 2010 Printz Honor Books are:

Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes

In September 1973, as the school year begins in his depressed Ohio town, high-school senior Kurt Shoemaker determines to be "normal," despite his chaotic home life with his volatile, alcoholic mother and the deep loyalty and affection he has for his friends in the therapy group dubbed the Madman Underground.

Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith
by Deborah Heligman

Charles Darwin and his wife, Emma, were deeply in love and very supportive of each other, but their opinions often clashed. Emma was extremely religious, and Charles questioned God's very existence.

Punkzilla by Adam Rapp

"Punkzilla" is on a mission to see his older brother "P", before "P" dies of cancer. Still buzzing from his last hit of meth, he embarks on a days-long trip from Portland, Ore. to Memphis, Tenn., writing letters to his family and friends. Along the way, he sees a sketchier side of America and worries if he will make it to see his brother in time. 

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

In 1888, twelve-year-old Will Henry chronicles his apprenticeship with Dr. Warthrop, a scientist who hunts and studies real-life monsters, as they discover and attempt to destroy a pod of Anthropophagi.

Free carnival-style snacks and drinks all day. Priority seating is reserved for teens, so arrive early for a good seat! There will also be a free photo booth for you to take pictures with your friends!

1pm Sing Sing 76 Concert

Enjoy a performance by local indie pop band Sing Sing 76. To learn more about Sing Sing 76, visit them at http://www.myspace.com/singsing76 or http://www.singsing76.com

2pm Tamora Pierce Speaks

Listen to the popular author of several teen fantasy series including Beka Cooper, the Circle of Magic, and the Daughter of the Lioness. Check out Tamora Pierce’s website at http://www.tamora-pierce.com

3pm Autographing Session

Teen Winter Reading is here! All you have to do is read and review a book for a chance to win. Review forms are available at all SCPL locations, or you can submit your entry online at www.infodepot.org. Winners will be drawn weekly, and will receive an awesome SCPL messenger bag and a teen book. Enter as many times as you want for more chances to win.

WIN ME!

Teen Winter Reading ends on March 31, so start reading! Teen Winter Reading is open to teens ages 12-18 or in grades 7-12. Books must be age appropriate and read during the program. To be eligible for prizes, participating teens or someone living at the teen's permanent residence must be a full-privilege Spartanburg County Public Library cardholder.

Join us Saturday, January 30, 2010, for the first-ever teen reading festival, teencentric! Popular teen author Tamora Pierce will speak and sign books. Doors will open at 12:45, and we'll have an awesome photobooth, a local band (TBA), fun snacks and a meet and greet with the author. This is an event you won't want to miss, so make plans to attend! Check back here for more details, and we'll see you in January!

Okay, get ready, because you’re only going to hear this once—I just read a vampire book and liked it. Night Runner is an interesting spin on the grossly overdone vampire novel. Zack lives in a mental institution—not because he’s crazy, but it’s the only place where he can have the special care he needs. He’s allergic to the sun, can only drink red smoothies, and seems to have some superhuman strength...sound familiar? When a crazy old man drives into (not up to, but into) the asylum and tells Zack he has to run for his life, he starts to learn the truth about who he really is and what forces are against him.

Our 2009 Teen Read Week Design a Bookmark Contest Winner is Edith Allan from the Westside branch. Edith received a $75 Visa gift card for winning. Her bookmark is being professionally printed and will be available soon at all SCPL locations, so keep an eye out for her winning design! Congratulations, Edith!

Lisa is our new Teen Services Assistant.
Stop by the teen room and welcome her to the library!

The Teen Halloween Party 2009 was a blast! We entertained around 70 teens with a movie, games, contests, crafts, and delicious snacks. Many teens came in costume and everyone had a great time. Hopefully we will have another Halloween success next year!

An assortment of ghoulishly delightful Halloween themed drinks.

White chocolate bones and spooky sandwiches
were two of our most popular dishes.

Teens could create their own personalized Halloween bags.

Several teens enjoying a game of Dance Dance Revolution.

The party in full swing.

Our donut bobbing contest was fun (and hilarious)!

I should have posted this at the beginning of October instead of the end, but there are still 4 more days to enter all of our Teen Read Week contests. Click on the Read Beyond Reality logo to the right for more info!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Though it may not look like it from the title or cover, this book is about the zombie apocalypse. However, it’s a refreshing change from all the Twilight-esque vampire/zombie/werewolf/fairy/pixie/
selkie/witch/shapeshifter/boy-who-turns-into-a-fire-hydrant-on-Wednesdays romances out there. For starters, the zombie threat is always an outside one (no star-crossed dead or undead lovers here!), and this is just the story of a group of young people trying to survive.

Mary and her friends live in a village surrounded by the Forest of Hands and Teeth, where the Unconsecrated wait to feast on human flesh. The world in which Mary lives is supposedly one in our future, after The Return, when the dead begin to come back to life. However, the constant threat of the Unconsecrated, along with years spent isolated in a small enclosed village, has made the villagers scared and allowed religious zealots with their own questionable agendas to take control. Once the village’s fences are breeched and the village overrun, Mary & her friends must make their way through covered paths in the forest in hopes of finding a safe haven. Of course, things are never that simple—she’s also dealing with family issues and convoluted love triangles along the way. Read this book soon—the sequel is out next year!

The photos have been developed and the results are in!

Congratulations to our 2009 winners:

• Best in Show Winners: Megan Narduzzi, Deidra Thacker
  & Heather Haynes
• Scavenger Hunt Winner: Chriss Lowe
• Random Camera Drawing Winner: Hannah Wertz

Megan Narduzzi

Deidra Thacker


Heather Haynes 

and Teen Summer Reading 2009 will be over! Hope you can all make it to the Masquerade Ball Finale in the Barrett Room tomorrow from 3-5pm. It's going to be fun!

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

     In today’s political climate, it’s sometimes hard to know who the true bad guys are. After terrorists attack San Francisco, this becomes a particularly difficult problem for seventeen year-old Marcus and his friends. They’re regular high school students, if also computer hackers and avid gamers. Caught in the wrong place during the attack, they are detained and interrogated by the Department of Homeland Security. Once Marcus gets out, though, he still doesn’t feel safe—it’s like living in a police state, where everyone is under suspicion. To fight a system that’s terrorizing all its citizens, Marcus gets together a group of hackers and uses modified Xboxes to communicate. Before too long, he finds himself in over his head in a complicated battle against DHS. They want to shut his hacker network down and send him back to prison, but he just wants to free his city from an oppressive government.
     This book has a really interesting look at what’s good and bad, and what government measures are appropriate in a time of emergency. It really makes you consider your rights as a US citizen, as well as how they may be taken away from you. It’s fast-paced and interesting, and you’ll learn a lot about computers, security systems, and the internet.

Lindsay is the newest Teen Room staff member.
Stop by sometime and introduce yourself.
Read on to learn more about her!

For the last few months, we’ve been organizing a series of shows featuring the art of local teens. Our first installation will be from July 1st - 15th, and it will display the art of Cathy, a graduating senior from Spartanburg High. We are excited to showcase her talents before she heads off to college! If you’re interested in having your art displayed in one of our next art shows, come to the Teen Services desk and sign up for a spot. In the meantime, be sure to check out Cathy’s show!

This summer, we’ve had a lot of great Teen DIY events! First, there was Paint Like Pollock, where teens braved high temperatures to create their own splatter-paint art. Here they are in the middle of creating their paintings...

Knitwits is starting its first group project—a cell phone or iPod cover! This month, we had 9 new members who are learning the basics of knitting before they start working on the project. The next Knitwits meeting is Tuesday, July 14^th at 3pm in the Teen Room. If you’re interested in joining, be sure to sign up by emailing, calling, or stopping by the Teen Room—space is limited to 9 new members per session.

Teen Summer Reading is here! Our kickoff was last Thursday, and we had a lot of fun. About 50 teens signed up, and there were snacks, games and prizes all afternoon. If you couldn’t make it, don’t worry! You can still sign up for Teen Summer Reading at any SCPL branch throughout the summer. Click on the Teen Summer Reading logo to the right to find out more information.

The cake before...

and after.

Playing MarioKart on the Wii

and playing musical chairs. Who knew it could be so much fun?!

Last week, we also got a new sign for the Headquarters teen room! It’s on the outside wall in HUGE purple letters, so everyone knows where the teen room is. Be sure to check it out next time you’re here!

This past Thursday we had our last regular TAG meeting of the school year, which means next year we'll have at least 9 less smiling faces around the TAG table. (A couple of graduating teens were at the very first TAG meeting ever in 2004. It has been so much fun watching them grow up!)

A big thank you to the TAG Class of 2009 for everything you've given the library and good luck out in the world! You will be missed.

The small but mighty ice cream cake!

A few graduating TAG members pose with the tiny cake. :)

Happy Spring Break! I'm glad it's April because March was a busy month. A new Teen Services Assistant named Lindsay started (bio coming soon!), Teen Tech Week was celebrated, Teen Winter Reading was conducted, jamboread! happened, we showed Twilight the movie, TAG decided on Teen Summer Reading prizes, Knitwits knitted, Spartanburg High's Theatre Odyssey performed a short play, J.A.M.S. watched Ouran High School Host Club, and Game On! played Super Smash Bros. and MarioKart. Whew! April is not as crazy, but there is still plenty to do. Check out the teen events calendar to see what is happening for teens at the Headquarters Library in April. Enjoy your week off of school!

Here's a photo of local band Sing Sing '76 performing
in the teen room at jamboread! They were awesome
and we hope they'll play for us again sometime!

So much has been happening lately that I am just now finding time to post! Today is jamboread!, the library's annual family reading festival. I am writing from the teen room before things get too crazy. In the background teens are playing Rock Band 2, decorating eco bags and iron-ons, making journals and creating jewelry from hardware. Teens were here earlier than usual this year and the room is pretty crowded for 10:30am. We'll continue the activities until 3pm when we'll rearrange the room for a concert by local band Sing Sing '76. If you're in the area, stop by and check it out!

The 2009 Printz Awards were announced today. The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. Here are the results:

2009 Award Winner
Jellicoe Road
by Melina Marchetta

Honor Book
Nation
by Terry Pratchett

 
Honor Book
Tender Morsels
by Margo Lanagan


Honor Book
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
by E. Lockhart

Honor Book
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing vol. 2
by M.T. Anderson

About a month ago, construction was completed on a new computer counter for the teen room. We also added 4 computers (now we have 8!) and SAM, the computer management software used on all other computers throughout the library. We're super happy to have more computers reserved just for teens, so stop by and check it out!

A rare time right after installation when all computers were available.

Teen Winter Reading began January 1st and ends March 31st. To participate, just read and review a book! Review forms are available at all SCPL locations or you can follow this link to fill out an online review. Random drawings will be held weekly for travel mugs and great teen books. Good luck and happy reading!

Ann is our other new Teen Services Assistant.
Stop by the teen room and welcome her to the library!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I can't remember the last time I started a book and didn't want to put it down. I wish it happened more often, but who knows if it is my inability to choose books, my short attention span or my tendency to watch a lot of TV that is to blame. :) In any case, I am so glad this book was recommended to me (thanks, June)!

The Hunger Games tells the story of Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old girl living/surviving in the future North America, now known as Panem. She lives in district 12 (there use to be 13, but during an uprising against the Capitol it was obliterated), one of the poorest districts, and is forced to hunt for food for her family in forests that are actually off limits. Each year, to commemorate the rebellion and basically remind the districts that the Capitol will always win, each district has to send two residents between the ages of 12 and 18 to compete in The Hunger Games. The goal of the Games? Don't die. The last one standing wins and receives a life of luxury. The other 23 die, mostly at the hands of each other.

Intriguing plot, huh? When I started it, I liked it immediately. Unfortunately, I started it at 11:30pm on a Sunday night. I kept reading, thinking I would quit and sleep when it got boring, only IT NEVER DID. Finally, at 3am, I forced myself to stop at the end of a chapter. I finished it the next day and now I'm telling everyone about it. This includes you! We own six copies at the library and soon, thanks to a donation, we'll have seven. So check out The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

So our 3rd Annual Teen Halloween Party was last Saturday and I am just now posting about it...sorry it took so long. Hopefully the awesomeness of the pictures will make up for the tardiness of the pictures. :-)

The entrance

Halloween shaped sandwiches

Chocolate eclair fingers

Our graveyard cake- I didn't eat any (too busy),
but I had fun decorating it!

The pumpkin decorating table

The zombie toy supplies

An awesome tablecloth for zombie toy making.

Scary dancing/DDR

Some toys brought back from the dead.

Taking a break from zombie making to pose.

Taking a break from pumpkin painting to pose.

A bear in zombie transformation.

I think this picture is my favorite, although I am a little
frightened that I can't remember if I found the dinosaur this way,
or if I put him like this. Hmmmm....

During the mummy race game.
(I didn't do anything to this photo, they were just walking that fast!)

Another year, another great Halloween. Hope everyone had a
fun day yesterday and got to dress up and go somewhere!

The Order of Odd-Fish by James Kennedy

Teen Read Week is celebrated nationally for one week each October, but at SCPL we celebrate it for the whole month! This year the theme is

so we are having three appropriately themed contests just for teens- a Candy Counting contest, a Bite-sized Short Story contest and a Design a Bookmark contest. For more info, the rules and what you can win, please click here. Happy reading!

This year was the second year for our Photobook project where we give 50 cameras to 50 teens and have them take pictures of Spartanburg as they see it. Cameras were given out starting June 15th and due by July 31st. We developed the film, chose at least one good photo from each camera to display and selected five photos as the overall best. Those photographers received a $25 Visa giftcard for their work. All of the photos we chose are on display at the Headquarters Library in the at&t Exhibition Gallery through September.Below are the five photos selected as the best-

Stop in and check out the whole display!

No, seriously-- it seems like just the other day Teen Summer Reading was over, then it was August 2nd and Breaking Dawn came out, then it was the 19th and school started and now it is August 28th! Only 3 days until September. We've kept busy with events this month-- a TAG meeting where we discussed Teen Summer Reading 2009, a read & feed where we discussed King Dork by Frank Portman, a Flicks for Teens where we showed Step Up 2: The Streets and a J.A.M.S. where we watched a little Emma and Negima vol. 2 among other things. We also said goodbye to a teen room employee who changed departments, welcomed an intern for the fall and next week two new teen room employees will start. Exciting stuff!

Dancing in the teen room. Just kidding, they are dancing, but they are not in the teen room, they are in Step Up 2: The Streets. Although I think this part is in a warehouse or something, not the streets. :-)

over the weekend and LOVED it. I only liked New Moon and Eclipse, so I was thrilled to enjoy Breaking Dawn as much as I did. I have only discussed it with 3 other people though (no one else is finished!). Two of them loved it and one hated it. Not just disliked, but hated. It is getting mixed reviews online too, but I want to go on record as saying I LOVED IT.

Happy Reading!

So this year the Teen Advisory Group (TAG) voted to have a beach party theme finale, so we decorated some koozies to keep beach drinks cold, made jewelry with shells, had Spongebob playing in the background, searched for messages in bottles, played pineapple bowling and ate some popsicles! Here are a few photos of the fun!

First up-- the few teens who would humor me by wearing this face frame for a photo-

(I am pretty sure she took this picture herself!)

That is a coconut bowling ball in his hand.
You don't see one of those everyday!

All of the above photos just prove my theory that everyone
looks cool with an inflatable palm tree on their head.

Next up- Koozie decorating shots!

These girls asked if they could looked surprised in the
photo and it was my favorite question all day!

It was an awesome summer-- we read a lot of good books,
held a lot of fun events and had an overall great time! Hope everyone enjoys their last few weeks of freedom before school starts. We're going to draw for the big summer reading prizes before the end of the week, so cross your fingers!

Friday we celebrated all things Twilight at our Twilight Party! We had some fabulous freebies thanks to the publisher-- buttons, stickers, t-shirts and a DVD of the trailer with some behind the scenes stuff. We had a trivia contest, vampire teeth, a wedding cake for Edward and Bella, pennant flag making so everyone could express where their loyalties lie, a costume contest and temporary tattoos of bite barks, scratches, etc.

Everyone could also vote who they thought Bella would end up with and if she would become a vampire, but then I totally forgot to announce the results when we did prizes! So, for the record-- only 3 people think she'll end up with Jacob, everyone else thinks Edward and only 2 people think she'll remain human. Pretty overwhelming numbers, I think. I can't wait to read what happens!

The wedding cake

Close-up of the top (Bella and Edward "disappeared" at some point during the party, so I'm glad I got a photo to remember them by!)

Teens posing by the cake

What would a vampire party be without vampire teeth?

Temporary tattoo table

Some tattoos...

Hard at work on the trivia

Pennant flag making

"Edward"
Costume contest winner

This month we discussed Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. It's about a girl who can see and hear faeries... and then the faeries start stalking her. Read & Feed attendees were overall pretty pleased with the book and one girl said it is in her top 10 favorites. It has a sequel called Ink Exchange that continues the story. Next month's book is King Dork by Frank Portman. I've been meaning to read it since it came out, so it will be nice to be forced to read it!

The next event is the Twilight Party on Friday!
Hope to see you there. :-)

Yesterday was our monthly J.A.M.S. meeting and since we didn't get permission for xxxholic vol. 2 (in time, that is-- they approved it today so I guess we'll watch it next month), we watched a little of 4 different anime including Ragnarok

and Batman: Gotham Knight

Next month we'll meet on Friday, August 22nd @ 4:30pm!

Every summer we hold our TAG meeting at Barnes & Noble and use the time to find and request books for the library to add to its collection. It is always crowded, we are always in the way (the teen books are on the way to the bathrooms and the staff lounge, so we get a lot of "excuse me's"), but it is always fun and a nice change from our regular meetings. Yesterday I got pages of requests, a tall mint mocha chip frappucino and some pictures of teens on the hunt for a good book!

Searching the teen section for books to request.

Posing with (I think she said) an old Bratz case.

Money from Hong Kong where one of the teens just went.
You can't tell, but it's plastic!

Usually I am behind the camera (I honestly don't even
know who took this), but it is rare to find me listening
and not talking, so here is proof that it happens!

About 10 teens came out Friday not to decorate their t-shirts, but to transform them! We used patterns from Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt by Megan Nicolay. We used only the no sew ideas and we had some interesting creations! The book is available for check out if you're interested. :-)

Here are a couple of pictures of the teens at work-

Yesterday we had a Mario Kart tournament on the Wii which was lots of fun and pretty competitive! Around 40 teens played in a single elimination style tournament where only one teen could be the fastest. Here is a photo of some of the action-

and below is a photo of the winner. Congratulations!

The next teen event is Transform Your T-shirt on Friday, July 11th @ 3pm in the Hoechst Celanese Room. Don't forget to bring a t-shirt!

Yesterday our anime club, J.A.M.S. met and enjoyed the whole first volume of xxxholic! I'm going to try and get permission to show volume 2 in July. We also had a little cosplay contest and I took a picture of the awesome results!

Ninja, Sora and Kairi

Yesterday we showed The Other Boleyn Girl to a group of teens who knew a surprising amount about King Henry VIII and his life. I was impressed! The movie is based on a book of the same name by Philippa Gregory if you'd like to read it. We won't have another teen movie until August and we'll vote for what to show at the July TAG meeting. Our next event is our anime club, J.A.M.S. on Wednesday, June 25th @ 3pm. We're showing anime (probably xxxholic!) and having a cosplay contest, so I hope you can join us!

So last year we tried a little experiment called Photobook where we gave 50 teens a camera each and asked them to take pictures of Spartanburg. It went so well we decided fo do it again this year! Find more info here.

Last Wednesday we made custom marble magnets and buttons using our sweet button press. Here are some pics of the fun and the results!

Then yesterday we enjoyed ice cream in the heat while
discussing 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
at our June Read & Feed. The next teen event at HQ is The Other Boleyn Girl on Thursday, June 19th at 3pm. Hope to see you there!

Here are more pics that I promised from TSR sign up! We tie dyed in the raging heat on Friday, but it was so crazy busy that we didn't get to take a picture. It was fun though!

Teen Summer Reading began last Friday and we had a sign up party with lots of cake, Wii playing and duct tape creating. Below are a few pics, I'll post more later!

The cake before,

the cake about halfway through the party,

some of the Wii-ness,

and one of the duct tape creations!

More soon!

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, here is a link to the official Twilight teaser trailer. I'm pretty happy with it and can't wait for the whole movie! It opens 12/12/08 which isn't so bad since we'll have Breaking Dawn in August to tide us over. Btw, we're planning a Twilight party for this summer-  should be fun!

Since all I'm doing is planning teen summer reading these days, I thought a post about it was in order, especially since I have been slack about posting recently. Here is the 2008 teen summer reading logo!

All the fun begins Friday, May 30th--stay tuned for more info soon!

Considering the last time I posted, one might think nothing happened at the library in March. It did though-- we had a teen book discussion (Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce), a TAG meeting, a double feature movie day (Enchanted and I am Legend) and a J.A.M.S. meeting. 

Now here it is April already! This month we are discussing Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan,

showing The Golden Compass, making major teen summer reading decisions at our TAG meeting, and hopefully watching some Bleach and InuYasha at our J.A.M.S. meeting . Also, April 19th is the deadline to enter films for Take One: Teen Short Film Festival and on the 25th local band Backside Forward is going to play the library again. If you missed them last time, here's your second chance! Check the calendar of events for official dates, times and places. Hope you can join us!

jamboread! was this past Saturday and it was crazy and loud and lots of fun! We made altered books, sang karaoke, played the Wii, made custom buttons and got to meet author John Green. My arms are still sore from making buttons with the button press for 5 straight hours, but there are about 400 great buttons accessorizing local teens now, so it was all worth it. :-) Below are some pictures of the fun!

Teen Haiku Contest winners posing with John Green

Making buttons!

Hiding behind altered books

Making altered books

More altered bookmaking

Just a reminder, if you've never read a John Green book, you should consider it. He has two out right now (Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines) and one out in the fall named Paper Towns. I can't wait to read it!

jamboread! is this Saturday and I've been busy preparing, so this blog entry is very late! J.A.M.S. was last Friday and we watched some of Bleach vol. 2, some of Fullmetal Alchemist vol. 1 and gave out a lot of prizes courtesy of Right Stuf! Here are some pics of the crowd posing (while engrossed in their anime)!

Friday we made our own holiday and celebrated by having an Anti-Valentine's Day Party! We made black duct tape roses, anti-valentine's and ate broken heart cookies. I totally forgot to take pictures (although the newspaper was there and they ran some in the paper the next day), but one very sweet teen posed afterwards with her anti-valentine for me!

Monday was our Read & Feed meeting where we discussed An Abundance of Katherines by jamboread! author John Green. We had a great time and can't wait to meet him March 1st!

TAG met last Friday to finalize jamboread! plans, vote on a movie for March (I think we're going to have a double feature, btw) and start a discussion on summer reading for 2008. Much was accomplished, as usual-- the TAG teens are awesome!

Photographic proof of awesomeness. :-)

Friday we had Greenville band Backside Forward play and they were great! Most of the audience was imported from Greenville though, so next time they play we'll have to get more Spartanburg people here. To hear what you missed, visit their myspace page at www.myspace.com/backsideforward.

Backside Forward

Monday was Read & Feed and we discussed Polly Shulman's Enthusiasm and ate a dessert that involves Fritos (sounds gross, but is good.) Next month we're reading An Abundance of Katherines by jamboread! author John Green. Hope you can join us!

Just a quick note to let you know that the 3rd book in the Inheritance cycle will be released Saturday, September 20th and is titled Brisingr. Here's the cover art-

We got halfway through Naruto disc one yesterday, so we'll probably finish it in February. Next month we're back to meeting on Friday (the 22nd to be exact) and I'm taking suggestions, so let me know what you want to watch so I can get permission. Enjoy the rest of your snow day!

It's been a busy few days! Thursday we had a TAG meeting where we made final decisions about jamboread! activities. Yesterday morning the 2008 Printz Awards were announced and in the afternoon we showed Stardust to celebrate the day off school. In case you don't already know, the Printz Awards are kind of like the Oscars of teen literature. They are for books that "exemplify literary excellence in young adult literature." This year the awards went to:

Printz Award winner

The four Printz honor books are...

The awards totally caught me off guard this year-- I haven't read any of the winning books and they weren't even on my award radar! We own copies of all of them, so check them out and see if you agree with the Printz committee!

Stardust was a lot of fun yesterday, too. If you like the movie, try the book of the same name by Neil Gaiman!

Today was our monthly J.A.M.S. meeting where for the first time in recent memory, we watched 4 episodes of the same show (Bleach) and actually finished a DVD. Pretty exciting. :-) Next month we'll meet on Wednesday, January 16th @ 4:30pm in the Barrett Room. Not sure what we're going to watch yet, so if you have a suggestion, feel free to leave it. Happy Holidays everyone-- see you in 2008!

First, a confession. I begin reading LOTS of books. I also quit reading LOTS of books. I maybe finish 1 out of every 5 I start, so it would be fair to say that I am a pretty picky reader. I used to feel obligated to finish reading a book, but that was several years ago and I am very over that. So, here are 7 teen books* that I not only finished reading this year, but thoroughly enjoyed and/or loved.

*The God of Animals is not technically a teen book, but the main character is a teenage girl and nothing happens that would make it have to be an adult novel, so I'm not sure why it was published for adults. I actually heard about the book from John Green's (author of An Abundance of Katherines) brother Hank on their Brotherhood 2.0 blog. Hank was the author's neighbor. Small world.  

I have a lot of reading planned over Christmas break, so it is possible I will have some late 2007 additions. If so, I will post them here. Have great holidays and happy reading!

Last Friday we showed the 5th installment of the Harry Potter story, The Order of the Phoenix and at Monday's Read & Feed we discussed Dairy Queen, one of my favorite books of 2006, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. The author, as it turns out, is sister to Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat Pray Love, which I happen to currently be reading. Who knew?

Next month we're showing Stardust and discussing Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman (not on the same day though-- check the schedule of events for times!).

We had a great TAG meeting last Friday at which much was discussed and...I forgot to take pictures, so I am just now posting about it. We made some decisions regarding teen jamboread! activities and contests that you will hear more about in the next couple of months. Here's a hint- brush up on your anagramming skills!

Now for some Twilight movie news-- Edward has been cast! Visit Stephenie's official website for a photo, the press release and how she feels about the casting. As for me, I'm thrilled with their choice and I can't wait for the movie!

Soon I will post a list of my favorite reads of 2007, but because I have a problem with a post with no pictures, I'm going to give you a sneak peak-

If you like good books and you like to cry, this is the book for you!

We're having our first ever Teen Winter Reading program this year. It's really easy -- you just read books, review them and you're entered to win prizes! Prizes include great teen books, coffee mugs and bookbags. The fun ends February 29, 2008, so curl up with a good book and then tell us about it!

Friday we showed Hairspray on the big screen and Saturday we had an all day Dungeons & Dragons event led by a couple of awesome D&D experts who go to Wofford. Here are some pictures of the fun!

Next month is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Friday, December 14th @ 4:30pm in the Barrett Room!

Teens at the Westside Library recently had a program called Top Chef Teens - The Peanut Butter Challenge. It was a culinary competition where the teens had to prepare a dish that included peanut butter, but could also include anything else on the ingredients table, which had everything from candy and chocolate sauce to celery and apples. Contestants really got into this program and competition was fierce. Once all the contestants had completed their dish they had to name it, and then it was taste-tested by the judges (Westside staff). A winner was determined for each category: Best Overall (meaning it looked great and was edible), Most Creative, and Nastiest. Winners received a teen cookbook!

Dangerous Pie won Nastiest

Frosty=cute

Peanut Butter Fountain won Best Overall

Tiger's Trap won Most Creative

the Top Chef Teens

Today we had our 3rd anniversary Read & Feed! The book was My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I just finished it today but not because it was a difficult read, just a long one (423 pages). I loved the different perspectives of all the characters telling one story but the ending took me by surprise. I haven't made up my mind about it yet...

Next month we're discussing Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock and I think I'm going to propose a cookie exchange because the only thing better than cookies, is lots of cookies!

Friday we had our monthly J.A.M.S. meeting where we finally finished Tsubasa (and gave it away!) and started Blue Gender. Here are a few pictures of everyone "looking natural" and one of a part of Blue Gender.

Next month we'll meet on Friday, December 21st @ 4:30pm in the Barrett Room. Hopefully we'll have something new to watch!

Friday we celebrated the 3rd anniversary of our Teen Advisory Group. We had fancy chocolate cake, fake candles, sparkling grape juice, flowers and ring pops! We even had 3 boys attend, which is a record for us.

We voted for the December teen movie (it's a tie between Stardust and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), discussed the Teen Winter Reading program (coming to a library near you very soon!) and talked about what to do at jamboread! 2008 where the teen author will be....

JOHN GREEN!

For those of you not familiar with John, he's written Looking for Alaska (which won the Printz Award) and An Abundance of Katherines (which won a Printz honor).

For those of you who know and follow his blog, I hope to see all of you nerdfighters there!

The Teen Halloween Party was a success- but kind of crazy- with over 70 teens attending! Here are some pics, as promised, of the fun-

some pictures of the food...


"spiders"

dirt pudding supplies

"mouths and fingers"

The one in pink won the costume contest -she also won last year!

pumpkin painting supplies

haunted gingerbread house supplies

spooky doll supplies

singstar singers

looking goth

cheesing for the camera

working on their spooky dolls

a couple of the haunted houses 

Happy Halloween, everyone!

We held our monthly J.A.M.S. meeting on Monday and watched a little Pumpkin Scissors (very appropriate for October!), Blue Gender and Tsubasa. Next month our meeting will be back on a Friday (the 16th of November to be exact) and we'll watch either School Rumble, Mushi-Shi, Black Cat or Samurai 7-- J.A.M.S. member votes are due by midnight tonight. Tomorrow is our Teen Halloween Party so I'll post a recap and pics on Monday. Enjoy your day off of school and I hope to see you tomorrow!

Yesterday we showed Transformers and over 20 teens showed up to watch and try to win the DVD. The Teen Advisory Group votes on what movies we show and they've chosen Hairspray for November, so mark your calendars for Friday, November 30th @ 4:30pm and join us!

We had a TAG meeting last Wednesday to discuss last minute stuff for The Teen Gatsby Gala (which was yesterday night) and the Teen Halloween Party (which is in 2 weeks). Here's a photo of some of the crew deep in thought/cheesing for the camera-

We had about 50 teens attend the Teen Gatsby Gala last night (thank you teachers who offered extra credit for attending!) and indulged in food invented in the 1920s such as cheese sandwiches (Velveeta and Wonder Bread), PB & J's (Peter Pan Peanut Butter, Welch's Grape Jelly and Wonder Bread), Milky Ways, Butterfingers, Good Humor bars, A & W Root Beer, Life Savers, and lots more! I forgot to take a picture of the food before it was decimated--oops! It looked so fancy too. :-(

Teens were challenged by some Great Gatsby trivia, a Great Gatsby crossword puzzle (a popular fad of the 1920s), matching slang of the 1920s game, and a type of bingo that involved them discussing The Great Gatsby with other teens. Here are some teens (in costume, no less) playing the games.

The flapper with the red feather on was the winner of our costume contest! We also had The Great Gatsby movie on the big screen, a how-to-do the Charleston instructional video playing and Dance Dance Revolution, because marathon dance contests were a popular fad in the 1920s-

Next month's book is My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Hope you can join us!

since I last posted-- oops! We've actually had a book discussion (on Cut by Patricia McCormick), a movie (We Are Marshall) and a J.A.M.S. meeting since my last post, I just didn't take any pictures so I didn't post anything. This past Sunday marked the beginning of The Big Read Gatsby About Town  project. Basically, for the next 6 weeks we are encouraging everyone to read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and participate in book discussions and events happening around the county. For teens there are book discussions at each SCPL location and an essay contest with a $1100 prize. For more info, visit the Gatsby About Town page on the library's website!

We had our monthly TAG meeting last Thursday and much was accomplished! We decided on contests and prizes for Teen Read Week, we voted to have (for the first time ever) a Teen Winter Reading program (probably November-February), and we talked about activities for the Teen Gatsby Gala and the Teen Halloween Party. Oh, and Transformers won the October movie vote, so we'll be showing that next month. October is going to be busy!

Here's a pic of some TAG members after the meeting and the feeding frenzy that occurs when they get to choose an ARC* for attending!

*ARC stands for "advanced reader's copy." They are almost final versions of some new books sent to librarians, booksellers, reviewers. etc.! We love them :-)

Yesterday we showed Blades of Glory starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. I think everyone liked it-- I heard a lot of laughing!

Next month we're showing We Are Marshall on Wednesday, September 19th at 4:30pm in the Barrett Room. Hope to see you there! Enjoy the long weekend...

Yesterday was our monthly J.A.M.S. meeting and the group voted to watch an episode of Tsubasa and two episodes of Air TV. We only met once during the summer and we usually get a couple of DVDs a month from the anime clubs we belong to, so now we've got a lot to choose from!

Yesterday was the first day of school and I fully intended to post a "good luck" entry, but in the afternoon the electricity went out and I had no computer or internet...so good luck on your second day of school and all the ones after that!

In other news, Eclipse, the long awaited third novel by Stephenie Meyer, finally arrived (it was released 2 weeks ago but all the places we order from were out of stock-aargh!). We got 16 copies systemwide with 5 copies just at Headquarters. Sorry for the delay, but I hope you enjoy it. I've read it and am anxious to discuss it, so stop by the teen room or respond to this post when you finish it!

Yesterday was our Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Read & Feed. We had several new faces, frozen wands and a lively discussion! Topics discussed included-

-whose death made you cry the most?
-do you like Snape now?
-how was Malfoy the true owner of the wand?
-how could you not see Ron and Hermione getting together?
-what does Harry do as an adult?
-who was that at the train station?
-did you love or hate the epilogue?

Next month's book is Cut by Patrica McCormick. Hope you can join us!

Just a quick post about today's TAG meeting-- we discussed the teen halloween party, the teen gatsby gala, teen read week, and teen summer reading...we didn't make any decisions, but we will! Here are a few TAG members posing with upside-down books after the meeting!

Friday was the Junior Volunteer Party to thank all of the wonderful volunteers who helped out at SCPL this summer. There was pizza, karaoke, prizes and letters of recommendation- good times!

Wofford and SCPL are sponsoring a reading program called Terrier Tales where grades K-8 can earn tickets to Wofford football and basketball games by reading. To sign up, visit any branch or the teen room or multimedia desk at the Headquarters Library!

Photobook: Spartanburg 2007 ended June 30th and we had 37 of the original 50 cameras returned. One photo from each camera was selected for a display in the teen room at the Headquarters Library. The following five photos were selected as the best by a panel of local experts. They are Abernathy's Grocery by Kayla Dixon, the Barnet Park sculpture by Kristen Bell, The Beacon sign by Bonnie Antosh, Building gap by Courtney Tipton and Headquarters Library by Wing Ling Tang. The teens who took the winning shots received a $25 Best Buy gitcard. All photographers were given a set of prints from the film in their camera. Enjoy!

 
by Kayla Dixon

by Kristen Bell

by Bonnie Antosh

by Courtney Tipton

by Wing Ling Tang

We had our Battle of the Bands: Teen Summer Reading Finale on Friday. Four great local teen bands/musicians (Coma Cinema, Amplifyed, Polyphonic and Steven Howell) competed for the following sweet trophy-

Yes, those are gold eagles. The battle was very loud, crowded and awesome! Amplifyed went home with the trophy and (hopefully) a good time was had by all. Here are some pics in case you missed it!

Polyphonic

Polyphonic

Amplifyed

Coma Cinema

Coma Cinema

Steven Howell

Amplifyed 

We had what is becoming our annual summer TAG meeting yesterday at Barnes & Noble. I forgot the camera, so all I've got is a picture of the outside of the building! We met in the teen fiction area and everyone was able to browse the shelves and request books for the library to buy. We also voted on the August teen movie and talked about the possibility of doing a really simple winter reading program. We'll meet at the library next month to discuss fall teen events!

So I stayed home all day Saturday and did basically nothing but read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I finished it a little after 11pm and was not disappointed! Did you guys like it? Here are more pics, as promised, from our Harry Potter party Friday where around 60 teens came to celebrate!

I'll post more about the party and all things Harry Potter on Monday, but here are some pics from the party today! Happy reading!

The last Harry Potter book comes out this Saturday and it makes me happy and sad at the same time. So, to celebrate/mourn, we're having a Harry Potter party this Friday from 3-5pm in the Barrett Room at the Headquarters Library. It's open to teens ages 12-18 or in grades 7-12. We'll have a costume contest, Harry and friends on the big screen, wandmaking, games, fun food and more! Then at 9am on Saturday morning, visit your local SCPL location to check out a copy of book 7. Here's hoping the final book is as awesome as the previous 6!

Today we discussed A Heart Divided by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld at Crossroads Coffee. Here's a synopsis of the book (which I loved-- that's 2 read & feed's in a row!) and a photo from the discussion!

synopsis- When sixteen-year-old Kate, an aspiring playright, moves from New Jersey to attend high school in the South, she becomes embroiled in a controversy to remove the school's Confederate flag symbol.

Next month we're discussing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!

About 20 teens turned out yesterday to make wallets out of duct tape! Here are some pictures of them and their works in progress.

And that's just the tape left over!

I forgot to tell everyone yesterday where to go for more duct tape ideas. Check out these books-- the library owns both!

Today was the teen open mic event and it was awesome! Lots of singing and poetry reading. Here are pics of some of the performers!

    twin shirts!   





   

  



 

I realized that although I've posted about teen summer reading events, I don't think I've ever posted about the teen summer reading program. Oops! Here is the info followed by a picture of the prizes-

-Open to teens ages 12-18 or entering grades 7-12!
-Sign up and receive a card to keep track of your progress!
-Earn points by reading, reviewing items read and attending events just for teens @ the library!
-Earn 10 points and receive a mood cup and a chance to win a $50 giftcard to Westgate Mall!
-Earn 20 points and receive a booklight and a chance to win a $100 giftcard to Barnes & Noble!
-Keep going, and for each additional 10 points earned, you’ll get another chance at a $100 giftcard to Barnes & Noble!
-Teens who earn 20 points or more will be entered to win an iPod or a Nintendo Wii!

J.A.M.S. met last Monday to watch Black Cat, win prizes and suggest manga titles to add to the teen collection. Here's a pic of a few Otaku in attendance!

This event actually happened on Friday, June 22nd, but I was off last week so I could attend my little sister's wedding in Ohio and am just now getting to post about it. Rob Wilder, a science teacher at Spartan High is in Barrow, Alaska this summer as part of the PolarTrec program. We had a live webcast and Q & A session with him from the comfort of the Headquarters Library. Here are some photos from the event.

Learn more about PolarTrec here!

Wednesday we had about 30 teens show up to either compete in or watch our Guitar Hero tournament. Here are a couple of pictures!

Second and first place-- our Guitar Heroes!

Oops- I totally forgot to bring the camera to the book discussion today! We met at Crossroads Coffee right by the library and enjoyed a sandwich tray, fancy coffee drinks and lively discussion about this month's book, Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson. To be honest, I hated this book when I started it, but it won me over by the end and I think I might read the sequel now. Here's the cover and a synopsis-

Synopsis- Three teenaged girls from very different backgrounds, thrown together to pick peaches in a Georgia orchard, spend a summer in pursuit of the right boy, the truest of friends, and the perfect peach.

Hope you'll join us at the July Read & Feed where we'll be discussing A Heart Divided by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld!

Today was the Teen Writer's Group meeting and 10 teens turned out to share their writing and have it critiqued by other teens. Here are some pictures taken between readings!

Around 30 teens showed up to watch Blood and Chocolate today at the HQ library. The movie is based on the teen book of the same name by Annette Curtis Klause. Here are couple of photos- one during the movie and one of a few teens who stayed after so I could take their picture for the blog!

Here is a photo of teen detectives in action at our recent murder mystery!

I've been lucky enough to read two books lately that I've really loved. The first, Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr, I wrote about a few days ago. The second I just finished this past weekend. It's called The God of Animals and is by first time author Aryn Kyle. I heard about it on a podcast (teen author John Green and his brother Hank's Brotherhood 2.0 podcast to be exact. Aryn is Hank's neighbor.) and even though it is technically an adult book (but narrated by a 12 year old girl) and I hate the cover (I know, I know), the writing is awesome. I laughed, I cried, etc. Here's a pic of the cover (judge for yourself) and a summary from the publisher-

When her older sister runs away to marry a rodeo cowboy, Alice Winston is left to bear the brunt of her family's troubles -- a depressed, bedridden mother; a reticent, overworked father; and a run-down horse ranch. As the hottest summer in fifteen years unfolds and bills pile up, Alice is torn between dreams of escaping the loneliness of her duty-filled life and a longing to help her father mend their family and the ranch. To make ends meet, the Winstons board the pampered horses of rich neighbors, and for the first time Alice confronts the power and security that class and wealth provide. As her family and their well-being become intertwined with the lives of their clients, Alice is drawn into an adult world of secrets and hard truths, and soon discovers that people -- including herself -- can be cruel, can lie and cheat, and every once in a while, can do something heartbreaking and selfless. Ultimately, Alice and her family must weather a devastating betrayal and a shocking, violent series of events that will test their love and prove the power of forgiveness.

For those of you who've never been to the Headquarters library and seen our awesome teen room, here are some pictures so you can experience it vicariously!

Photobook: Spartanburg 2007 officially started Friday! All 50 cameras are in the hands of 50 Spartanburg teens and we're excited to see what they deem photo-worthy!

We made pillows out of t-shirts yesterday at HQ. Here are some pics of a few of the final products!

I read the best book Friday. It's called Story of a Girl and is by a first time novelist named Sara Zarr. I'm now a fan for life and can't wait for her second book!

Here's a synopsis from the publisher-  When she is caught in the backseat of a car with her older brother's best friend - Deanna Lambert's teenage life is changed forever. Struggling to overcome the lasting repercussions and the stifling role of "school slut," she longs to escape a life defined by her past.  With subtle grace, complicated wisdom and striking emotion, Story of a Girl reminds us of our human capacity for resilience, epiphany and redemption.

What would happen if we gave 50 teens a camera each and asked them to photograph Spartanburg? Let's find out!

Join us for the Photobook: Spartanburg 2007 kick off event on Friday, June 1st @ 3pm in the Barrett Room at the Headquarters Library located at 151 S. Church St. in Spartanburg. Local photographer Mark Olencki will talk about what to look for in a photograph and give other photography tips. One time use 35mm cameras will be distributed to the first 50 teens in attendance.

• Photobook is open to teens ages 12-18 or in grades 7-12 and runs June 1st– June 30th.
• Cameras must be turned in to any Spartanburg County Public Library by Saturday, June 30th and be accompanied by the photographer’s name, address, phone #, age and grade in school.
• Film from the cameras will be developed and one photo from each camera will be selected to display at the Headquarters Library in July. Five photos will be selected as the best by a panel of local experts and the teens who took those photos will receive a $25 Best Buy giftcard. All photographers will be given a set of prints from the film in their camera.
• Call 864-596-3500 x.1241 or email susanw@infodepot.org with questions!

So school is out and teen summer reading has officially begun! We had our sign up party yesterday at the Headquarters Library and around 60 teens came to sign up, eat, make hemp keychains, watch Happily N'Ever After and play Dance Dance Revolution. Click on the teen summer reading logo to learn more!