Library Shouts

Several weeks ago we ordered a book for the children's nonfiction collection called Sneaky Art: Crafty Surprises to Hide in Plain Sight.  Written by Marthe Jocelyn, this book has lots of cute, whimsical crafts that can be pieced together with everyday objects and left behind in certain locations as art. 

As we were paging though the book, one of the projects in particular caught our attention:  Library Shouts.  To do this project, you basically cut out some paper in the shape of a speech bubble and decorate it with words, shapes, stickers, stamps, cutouts...whatever you have on hand.  You then stick the bubble's tail in a book.  The idea is that the speech bubble will draw attention to the book and encourage people to pick it up.

I thought this was a perfect project for my Teen Advisory Group, and my teens agreed.  We changed the format slightly and made bookmarks with a large, oval-shaped bubble at the top.  This shape seemed to provide a bit more stability, plus it fit a bit better in the relatively narrow space between the top of the books and the next shelf.  During this week's TAG group the teens took the bookmarks and went to town decorating them.  We used magazine cutouts (mostly for the sake of mismatched letters), construction paper, markers, and sequins to make our Library Shouts look amazing.  When they were finished I laminated all of the Library Shouts so that they will - hopefully - last a little bit longer.  Then it was just a matter or sticking them inside books that we loved!

We placed all of our Library Shouts in books in the Young Adult area since this is the collection near and dear to the teens' hearts. But theoretically we could use these bookmarks anywhere in the library!

I also was sure to get my library's circulation department on board with this project. My hope is that the circ staff will be able to take the bookmarks when patrons go to check these books out and return them to me so that I can reuse them in other books. I don't expect that we'll be able to keep these Library Shouts forever - eventually they'll get lost or walk away - but we want to be able to use this promotion for as long as possible.

Live Clue

Life-sized board games are all the rage right now.  Not long ago I got to try my hand at it when we did a Live Clue program for teens.  Unfortunately, I can't take credit for developing this program.  That credit belongs to my predecessor, who is now working in another department at the library.  But she did such a good job with this program that we had lots of requests to do it again this year.  Fortunately, my predecessor was willing to help out with the program and show me how it's supposed to work.

At its most basic, the Live Clue event is a lot like playing the classic board game.  Players divided themselves into groups of no more than six.  Everyone in each group is dealt cards from the deck which represent the rooms, suspects, and weapons.  The players must make suggestions to uncover clues.  The idea is to use the process of elimination to figure out exactly who committed the murder, what weapon was used, and in what room the murder took place.  What makes this program special is that instead of moving small plastic pieces around the board, the players all take on the persona of one of the characters and physically move from room to room in the library to make their suggestions.

Since we were using different areas of the library as the "rooms" for this game, my co-worker also re-wrote the game's back story, which we read to the group before beginning play, to give it an appropriate library setting.  The story reads as follows:

Each of the Clue characters has a secret: They’re very bad at returning library books on time. The Library Director has invited these six people to the library to discuss their long overdue books. Unbeknownst to her, each person would rather commit murder than return their books and has snuck a weapon into the library. Although everyone had murder on the brain, only one of them actually succeeded in killing the Library Director. Tonight you will become one of the Library Delinquents and it’s your job to find out who committed the crime, what weapon they used, and in what part of the library the murder occurred. Everyone’s a suspect, even you…… 

To set the mood, teen volunteers used decorations like caution tape, masking tape body outlines, and plastic "weapons" all around the library.  A few participants also came in dressed as Clue characters, FBI agents, detectives, and the like.

Since we wanted to make use of the entire library for this program, it made sense to do Live Clue as an after-hours event so that we weren't disturbing other library patrons.  We held the program on a Friday because the library closes at 5:00 on that day.  This way "after-hours" did not equate to "really late at night."  The teens gathered at the library for pizza and to hear a brief explanation of the rules a half hour before the library closed.  Once the doors were locked the teens divided themselves into groups of six and headed into the library to start trying to solve the case.  We played for one hour with a hard cut-off time, and this amount of time was just about perfect for most groups to solve their case.  One group actually had time to start, but not finish, a second case.

Twelve teens were in attendance for this program, which actually was a very good number.  You can have as many as six people in each group (one for each of the six murder suspects) and it's more fun if the groups are larger, so it was wonderful that we could have two full groups.  I did require registration for this program so that I would know how much pizza to buy and how many volunteers I would need.

Three adult or older teen volunteers helped out with this program.  Each volunteer acted as a group leader and was in charge of coordinating a group of six teens, leading them around the library as they made their suggestions, and keeping everyone focused on the game.  With all of the walking around it could be a little bit tricky to keep player order straight, so it was the group leader's job to focus on turn order and further explain the rules if anyone had questions.  Since I had at least one volunteer with each group, this left me with the ability to float between the groups and help out as needed, plus it gave me the chance to interact with everyone instead of being tied to a small selection of the teens in attendance.

What kind of work went into creating this program?  It actually wasn't much work for me since this program had been done before and we already had most of the things we needed from past Live Clue events.  My predecessor, however, must have put in a bit of time to get things ready when she first began doing this program.  She had made all of the cards needed to represent the rooms, people, and weapons using Publisher, and then had then all printed and laminated.  She also created "case folders" for each player.  The case folders were color coded to correspond with the character that each player had chosen.  Inside the folder was a rules sheet that included the back story and a slip that players to use to mark the clues they had seen.  The good thing is that once these pieces were made, they were totally reusable.  All I had to do was print new clue sheets to restock the case folders, sort the clue cards and, of course, coordinate registration and the volunteers.  Expenses for this program were minimal, limited only to pizza and a few rolls of caution tape for decoration.

The hardest part of this program was getting everyone to understand the rules.  I highly suggest playing the board game yourself before doing the Live version so that you understand exactly how making a suggestion and uncovering clues works.  Honestly, this part of the game is something that's tricky to explain concisely and it makes the most sense after you just do it a few times.  Be sure that your volunteers are also very well-trained and are experts on making suggestions as well, since they're the ones who will have to do most of the explaining to the teens.  The single hardest part of this program was keeping some of the younger teens focused and following the rules correctly.  Not a problem for most of the participants, but a couple of them were easily distracted which lead to some overall confusion for the group.  Generally, though, everyone stayed on task with some firm guidance from the group leaders.

Green Dragon Book

Two boys, probably in the 5th or 6th grade, came up to me the other day. One of the boys was trying to tell his friend about a book he had read, but he couldn't remember the title or the author. All he could remember was that there was a dragon on the cover, and that it wasn't the Eragon series by Christopher Paolini.

 I asked the boy if he could tell me what the book was about. His response: "Well, the book was green..."

Hmm, not very helpful. But when he said there was a dragon on the cover my mind immediately went to another popular series of dragon books: The Last Dragon Chronicles, written by Chris D'Lacey. Each book in the series shows a close-up picture of a dragon's eye on the cover, and each book also features a different color. I was pretty sure that one of the books in that series was green. So I took a shot in the dark and walked the boys over to the shelf where this series is kept and, sure enough, the first book in the series (The Fire Within) was the book he had been thinking of.

Thank goodness.  If this hadn't been the right book, I might have had to resort to showing the boys every single book that we have that features dragons.  That's a lot of books!

Often it's really hard to figure out these mystery books when all we have to go on is the color of the book.  Clues like the plot of the book, the setting, or even the main character's name are usually much better clues because they better narrow down our options.  These clues are even searchable in reader's advisory databases like Novelist or even on Google, where book color really isn't.  Color also becomes tricky when a book has been reprinted with a different cover because the book on the library shelf might not match the image that the patron is familiar with.  Most book covers also feature multiple colors, and it's amazing how different colors in an image stand out to different people - a book cover that I might describe as yellow, for example, might appear blue to someone else.

Catching Fire Teaser Trailer

 

Last night at the MTV Movie Awards a teaser for the upcoming "Catching Fire" movie was finally unveiled.  Enjoy!

Bookmarks

A young girl, about 4 or 5 years old, saw the bookmarks that we have available for patrons to take.  She asked what they were for, and I explained that a bookmark is a way to help you keep your place when you are reading.  The dialogue continued as follows:

"Do you color it?  Do you need markers?"

"No, you don't need to color it.  It's already colored, isn't it?"

Girl nods.

"You just put the bookmark inside of the book so that you know what page you are on."

I then had to take a book and demonstrate exactly how to use a bookmark.  The girl looked at the book with a bemused expression and asked:

"Does it need glue?"

"No, it doesn't need glue."

"Oh."

She seemed disappointed.  I think she just really wanted to do an art project.

This Is a Library

This afternoon I overheard two siblings (a girl age 7 or so, and a boy age 5) as they looked at some dinosaur books.  Unfortunately the dinosaur books are on high shelves, so the kids found themselves a stool to help them reach.  Even still, the kids really had to stretch to reach the highest shelf.  As they were looking at books I heard the older sister tell her brother:

"This is a library, not a jungle gym."

I'd be willing to bet that the girl picked this phrase up from Mom or Dad.  It's much cuter, though, coming out of the mouth of a 7-year-old.

Prom Book Display

It's hard to believe, but for many high schoolers prom is only a few short weeks away.  This means that teenage girls are busy finalizing their hair and makeup plans and trying on dresses, while boys are renting their tuxes and planning elaborate "promposals."  For many teens prom is a watershed rite of passages and as such, it has often been the subject of books targeted at teens. 

In honor of the upcoming festivities, I put together a display of prom-themed books in the teen area.

 
Here are a few of the titles featured:

Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson
When a faculty advisor is arrested for stealing the funds for the prom and the event is cancelled, Ashley Hannigan feels terrible for her best friend and prom-enthusiast Natalia and so comes up with a plan to get the prom back on track.

Perfectly Dateless by Kristin Billerbeck
Entering her senior year at St. James Christian Academy, Daisy has less than 200 days to look stylish, develop social skills, find the right boy for the prom, and convince her parents to let her date.

Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg
This book is modern adaptation of the classic Jane Austin novel.  For Lizzie Bennett, a music scholarship student at Connecticut's exclusive, girls-only Longbourn Academy, the furor over prom is senseless.  Even more puzzling is her attraction to the pompous Will Darcy, best friend of her roommate's boyfriend.

Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin
Feeling humiliated and confused when his best friend Tessa rejects his prom invitation and comes out of the closet, high school senior Luke must decide if he should stand by Tessa when she invites a female date to the prom, sparking controversy in their small Indiana town.

21 Proms edited by David Levithan and Daniel Ehrenhaft
A full spectrum of good dates, bad dates, unexpected dates, and more is covered in 21 stories from a range of YA authors, including Jacqueline Woodson, Holly Black, Melissa de la Cruz, E. Lockhart, and Leslie Margolis.

Captain Underpants Display

Recently we decided to replace all of our well-worn Captain Underpants books with brand new, shiny, clean copies.  Since we're likely to never again have them all in one place at the same time, we thought it was a good time to do a fun display:

 

I giggle every time I walk past the display.  Wouldn't you?

All underpants displayed here are brand new, but will eventually go home to certain staff people's husbands. 

Gaming Trophies

Not long ago I hosted a Wii gaming event for kids of all ages.  We spent two hours playing Mario Kart and Wii Sports resort.  I've done this sort of event before with great success, but this time I added a new twist to the program.  In the back of our storage closet I found a box of small plastic trophies we had purchased from Oriental Trading for a long-forgotten reason. 

I set the trophies out at the gaming event.  When the kids asked about the trophies I told them that I would decide who got a trophy and when.  They might get one for winning the game they were playing, for example, but I would give trophies for other things too.  It was all up to me!  The kids were somewhat intrigued by this and constantly come running to me to brag about their accomplishments.  Many of these involved winning:  Long winning streaks (or thwarting long winning streaks!), perfect scores, etc.  But there were other achievements too, such as helping a younger child learn to play the games or organizing a rotation system so that everyone could get a turn to play.

Over the course of the afternoon I found a reason to reward every child who attended the program with a trophy.  The highlight of my afternoon came at the end of the day when one of the older kids saw that, miraculously enough, I only had one trophy left in my box.  He took the trophy, handed it to me, and told me that I could keep it because I was the best at setting up the gaming program.  Isn't that sweet?

Label added by yours truly after the fact.

But kids aren't simply sweet.  Sometimes they say the darndest things.  Over the course of the afternoon I was able to show off my own gaming skills by competing with the kids in attendance.  After schooling a couple of fifth-grade boys at Mario Kart one of them turned to me, patted me on the shoulder, and said:

"You're pretty good for an old person."

I didn't know if I should take that as a compliment or as an insult!  When I posed the question to the boy he actually thought about it for a moment before telling me that he wasn't sure either.

Across the Universe

Amy's parents, who have military and science backgrounds, are selected to help build a new colony on Centauri-Earth.  Unfortunately, the trip through outer space will take about 300 years, so Amy and her parents are cryogenically frozen along with 97 other passengers for the duration of the journey.  But when Amy is woken up fifty years too early it soon becomes clear that life aboard the Godspeed isn't at all what she would have expected.  Was Amy's awakening really an accident?  Soon it becomes clear that someone is trying to murder the other passengers who lie frozen in the ship's cargo hold, and only Amy cares enough to try to solve the mystery.  As Amy races to unlock Godspeed's secrets she encounters Elder, a teenage boy who is destined to become the leader of the ship's crew.  Is Elder Amy's greatest ally...or does he deserve a spot on her list of suspects?

Beth Revis' Across the Universe is one of the best science fiction reads I've encountered for the teen audience in quite some time.  There is some romance, but rather than dwelling on it as so many teen reads seem to do, this book does what science fiction does best:  It explores the human condition.  The story is narrated in alternating perspectives by Amy and Elder, so readers really get to see both sides of the story and the individual biases that form the basis of these characters' opinions.  This book has mystery, intrigue, a fascinating setting, and interesting characters.  What more can you ask for? 

Overall Grade:  A


But the story doesn't stop there!

In A Million Suns, Elder is now the leader of the Godspeed and is ready to enact his vision of what life on the ship could be like.  Unfortunately, his reign isn't going as smoothly as he had hoped.  While Elder has the beginnings of a rebellion in his hands, he and Amy learn that there are even more mysteries to be uncovered on Godspeed.  As they put together the pieces of the puzzle, Amy and Elder soon make a startling discovery...

In the final volume, Shades of Earth, Amy and Elder have finally made it off of the ship and onto the planet Centauri-Earth.  But even with the warnings they have received, the planet proves more dangerous than imagined.  Soon it becomes clear that Godspeed's crew isn't alone on the planet.  But what is the real danger:  The giant dinosaur-like creatures, the flowers with mind-numbing toxins, or something else - or someone else - entirely?  Amy and Elder will have to figure it out quickly, before the planet they worked so hard to reach kills them.

One downloadable novella and several short stories further flesh out the story of Godspeed's journey to Centauri-Earth. 

This series is well worth the effort.  I love that while the plots of all three books are intertwined, each book stands solidly on its own.  Each book has elements of mystery that drive the story, and it's fascinating as a reader to imagine what they would do in this unusual situation.