HarperTeen Summer

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=714E95F7B085BED1


These are book trailers for HarperTeen's Supernatural Summer. Unfortunately, the authors, who include Melissa Marr, aren't headed for the East Coast. Enjoy 'em anyway.

YA Authors Who Twitter

Take a look at the April 26, 2009 entry on this blog: readergirlz.blogspot.com If you Twitter, so do these writers.

The 2009 Summer Reading Club for tween and teens:

Catch the Title Wave
@ Your Library!

Starting June 1st, dudes and dudettes, start your reading! Record what you read (books on tape and CD count!),
Earn free stuff, and enter the “Where in the world is Bruno?” contest to win weekly prizes.

There are plenty of things to do at the Hart Library – crafts and game nights included. Check it out!

The end of the summer reading club party is on Thursday, August 13th at 7:00 p.m. Win prizes, books, and enjoy a cool, refreshing ice cream sundae!

Don’t forget to check out the teenspace page at www.yorktownlibrary.org/teenspace

John C. Hart Memorial Library
“Yorktown’s Community Library”
1130 East Main Street
Shrub Oak, NY 10588
(914)245-5262

Stuff for the Teen Age

The New York Public Library publishes a yearly list of Young Adult books. It used to be called "Books for the Teen Age." This year they're doing something different. Besides changing the name of the list to "Stuff for the Teen Age," they've pared the list down to 100 items including video games and cds. The website's pretty cool, too: www.nypl.org/books/sta2009. There are videos of teens reviewing some of the titles. If you like what you see, then join the Hart Library's Teen Advisory Group and we'll start plannning a more interactive TeenSpace page.

P.S. There's a Twilight convention closer than Georgia: Parsippany, New Jersey. www.creationent.com/cal/twilight_nj.htm

News! News! News!

I just found out that there's going to be a "Salute to Twilight" convention in Atlanta, Georgia in July. The link for more info is www.creationent.com/cal/twilight_ga.htm Some of the cast will be there (not the actors in leading roles).



Liionsgate just bought the rights to film Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games.

College Info. Stuff and Pseudoscience

CollegeWise does free presentations at the library a couple of times a year. Take a look at their website, especially their latest newsletter about being a "joiner." http://www.collegewise.com/

I was passing by the new nonfiction shelves and this title caught my eye: Death From the Skies! These are the ways the world will end by Philip Plait, PhD. If you're into The Earth's Final Days this is a book for you. It explains scientific concepts and debunks information that's just plain wrong. Dr. Plait has another book called Bad Astronomy: misconceptions and misuses revealed, from astrology to the moon landing "hoax." He has a column/blog in Discovery: www.badastronomy.com

If you like reading about hoaxes, or just getting the 411 on science and the occult check out these webpages:
www.skeptic.com
www.csicop.org
www.randi.org James Randi is a debunker extraordinaire. His website posts a $1 million reward to anyone who can prove occult powers/events. I don't believe anyone has won yet.
www.quackwatch.org
www.snopes.com Great for getting the facts on urban myths and those irritating stories in your e-mail.

For actual books:
James Randi. Flim Flam! the truth about unicorns, parapsychology and other delusions.
Carl Sagan. The Demon-Haunted World: science as a candle in the dark.
Michael Shermer. Why People Believe Weird Things: pseudoscience, superstition and other confusions of our time.
Martin Gardner. Did Adam and Eve Have Navels? Discourses on reflexology, numerology, urine therapy and other dubious subjects. Gardner's book Fads and Fallacies in the name of science opened my eyes when I was in college.

This is just to get you started. There's loads more info out there.

CoolTunes

I found this through Blogger, so I decided to play with it. As you can tell, I'm not really into the current music scene. Got any opinions on the addition? Too distracting or just plain unnecessary?

www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Blogs_for_Teens a wiki devoted to...public library blogs for teens. See what other libraries are doing. Got any ideas about what Hart Teen readers want on your blog?

Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" wins the Newbery!!! Rock on, Neil! Hart Library owns copies, ordered it on Playaway and on cd. You can check it out at Neil Gaiman's site: www.neilgaiman.com There's a link to a video tour to get a taste if you havent read it yet. If you like books on cd, listen to the author read his own works. He's a great narrator.

The movie version of "Coraline" is out. Take a look at the official webpage: coraline.com