Ages 11-18
Blog Post
Duct-Tape Do-Over!
by erin
Teens in grades 6-12 are invited to join us at the latest of our uber-popular duct tape craft workshops. With all supplies provided be prepared to get creative and join the legions of other fans to create your own projects. We will have a wide assortment of duct tape colors and patterns including the elusive plaid tape. Looking for inspiration before the event? Look no further. We'll see you at the Malletts Creek Branch on Tuesday, July 15 from 6:30-8:30 PM. No need to register for this FREE event - see you there!
Blog Post
Trickster's Choice: Audiobook
by Cherie Lee
Alianne of Pirate's Swoop is in for a trouble when a trickster god makes a wager with her. Her adventures take her far from home and everything she knows, but Aly's quick wits and special skills will be needed to save her life and the lives of others.
This follow-up to Tamora Pierce's original Alanna series is even better than the previous series. I loved Aly's spunk and mischievous nature that made it clear why she was chosen by a trickster. There's a cool little musical intro and outro to the novel and Trini Alvarado, who read the original Alanna adventures on audiobook, reads these as well with just as much warmth and talent.
Blog Post
Medieval murder and mayhem
by K.C.
Need a mystery with tons of twists and turns? Then read The Falconer’s Knot. Handsome, young Silvano pines for Angelica, the beautiful wife of a coarse but wealthy sheep farmer. When Angelica’s husband turns up dead with Silvano’s knife sticking out of his body, Silvano seeks sanctuary at a friary until the real murderer can be discovered.
At first his life is simple and it seems like he has escaped his problems; he even has time to eye a lovely novice at the adjoining abbey. But then a series of murders within the friary casts suspicion back on him. His life hanging by a thread again, he must work quickly to uncover the truth of the murders. . . Silvano’s days are suddenly not the dull fare he expected when he moved into the friary.
Blog Post
Teen Summer Reading Game: Flexible and Fun
by sherlonya
There has been a bit of confusion about the Teen Summer Reading Game.
The Teen Summer Reading Game offers a variety of activities that 6-12 graders can do in order to finish the game and be entered into the grand prize drawings. This list of activities is meant as a suggestion, to give teens ideas for completing the Summer Reading Game. Our hope is to make the game fun and flexible.
Teens, we want you to be able to enjoy the game whether reading "great novels", or rocking out to Guitar Hero (or both) is your idea of a good time.
So, can you play the game by reading 10 books? Sure you can.
Can you play the game by coming to 10 library programs? Sure you can.
Can you come up with the best combination for you? Of course.
Blog Post
The Off Season
by K.C.
Dairy Queen D. J. Schwenk hits her stride in her junior year of high school. She's playing linebacker for her high school football team, hanging out with Brian (the rival high school's quarterback), earning passing grades, and pulling her weight on her family's struggling dairy farm. But "a whole herd of trouble" is coming her way. First, D.J. and, by extension, Brian become the unwitting subjects of a People magazine article. Then D.J. suffers a shoulder injury that threatens her sports career, her gay best friend runs away with an older girlfriend, and D.J. notices that Brian isn't too keen on being seen with her in public.
This is not the kind of "Off Season" D.J. expects, but it’s one she’ll never forget. Check out author Catherine Gilbert Murdock and find out about her next book. After these first two books I, for one, will be looking for her next one!
Blog Post
"A woman precedes me up the long rope...."
by Maxine
Today, June 27th, is the birthday of poet Lucille Clifton who was born in 1936 in Depew, New York. Clifton's first book, Good Times, was entered into a poetry competition by Robert Hayden, an acclaimed poet who taught at the University of Michigan. Clifton's poetry like that of other African-American poets of her time including Amiri Baraka and Sonia Sanchez described the lives of African Americans, using free verse and the cadences of language she heard around her. Later in her writing, she dealt with themes related to being a woman and described social conditions, always drawing from her own experience. Clifton is also well known for her books for children, especially those about her beloved character, Everett Anderson.
Blog Post
I Can Make That!
by Bertha
With only a few craft supplies, put together tiny characters that look like fairies or superheroes.
Wednesday, July 2 | 4:00-6:00 pm at Pittsfield Branch | Grades 6-8 See you there.
Blog Post
Library Lego League
by lola
Register now for Library Lego League! Visit any public service desk or call 327-4200 to reserve your spot on one of the four Lego building days: 7/24, 7/31, 8/7, or 8/14.
In teams of four, participants will spend all day, from 10-4 PM, building a robot out of Mindstorms NXT kits in the Downtown Library Multipurpose Room. Teams will face a challenge of the day, where they will have to program their robot to complete a certain task. The top three teams will win prizes, while everyone will leave with a participation ribbon. Pizza will be provided.
Join us at the library for a fun-filled day. Be sure to sign up because space is limited. Check out the L3 Blog to find fellow NXT enthusiasts. See you there!
To brush up on Mindstorms, check out these books: The unofficial LEGO Mindstorms NXT inventor's guide, Building robots with Lego Mindstorms : the ultimate tool for Mindstorms maniacs! and Creative projects with LEGO mindstorms.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #115
by muffy
Michigan native Scott Sigler's previous novels are "free, serialized podcasts that generated a large online following and saw over 4 million downloads".
His print debut Infected* will thrill and chill SF and horror fans with a mysterious disease that is turning ordinary Americans across the country into raving, screaming, homicidal maniacs.
CIA operative Dew Phillips and Center for Disease Control epidemiologist Margaret Montoya race in vain to capture a live victim. Meanwhile Perry Dawsey - a hulking former University of Michigan football star awakens one morning to find several mysterious itchy welts growing on his body. Soon Perry finds himself acting and thinking strangely, hearing voices ... he is infected.
With numerous references to Michigan and the UM, this is definitely a fast-paced and captivating read. Try the podcast just for fun and stop scratching!
* = Starred Review
Blog Post
Carnegie Medal winner a riveting read
by Maxine
In Tamar, a compelling story of courage, love and betrayal, Mal Peet, winner of Britain's 2005 Carnegie Medal for the best children's and young adult books, takes us back and forth in time, from the Dutch resistance movement during World War II to the 1990's. Tamar, named by her grandfather who was a code breaker in Holland during the war, is shocked by his suicide and determined to solve the puzzle he's left her in some old maps. But the most exciting sections of the book take place in Holland where Tamar and Dart, both code breakers, try to organize the resistance in the most dangerous of circumstances with the Nazis on their heels at every moment. Add romance to this mix in the person of Marijke who is Tamar's love but also the object of Dart's passion. A tightly constructed plot with unrelenting suspense and sound characterization will hold you hostage till the last page.