Teens Blog
Here in the Teen Services department, we are constantly striving to provide the kinds of programs that Kalamazoo's teenagers want. We know that gaming, crafts, and Japanese pop culture are popular. And Galley Group attracts new enthusiastic teen readers almost every month. Besides those, however, are there other programs we could offer that would bring you and your friends to the library? If so, we want to hear from you! Among the ideas that we have recently scheduled that either had to be cancelled due to lack of registrants or had few, if any, attendees include reader's theatre and workshops in the library's computer lab.
If you are a teenager and you have some good ideas about how the library can better serve its teen patrons, please leave your comments below. Better yet, consider joining the Teen Advisory Board (T.A.B.), which meets once a month. The next meeting is Wednesday, December 2, from 3:30 to 5 in the Van Deusen Room. We look forward to your feedback!
Karen posted earlier about the upcoming visits by great authors during 2009-2010, and we're about to kick things off with a visit by this year's visiting Youth Literature Seminar authors Lisa McMann and James A. Owen. Lisa's suspense-filled Wake is one of this year's Teen Top Ten award winners, and James' Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series is sure to appeal to fantasy lovers. Hear Lisa and James talk about their work and read selected passages from their books (including possible sneak previews!) There will be time for Q&A and book signing as well, so if you're a fan of Lisa and/or James, or if you're just curious about the writing process, be sure to come to Central at 6:30 PM on Thursday for the Meet the Author event!
Book
Lisa McMann
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http://www.kpl.gov/teens/meet-the-author.aspx
While I consider myself to be a fairly good writer, I often wish I had been a little more willing to step outside of my comfort zone and try new ways of expressing myself on paper, for instance through poetry or fiction or other forms of creative writing. Perhaps I would have ended up going down a slightly different path and become a professional writer. Nonetheless, one of my favorite things about being a librarian is having the opportunity to hear authors speak about their development as writers. When did they know they wanted to do nothing else but write? How long did it take to get their first book published? What inspires them to write the things they write about?
If these kinds of questions interest you, you will be glad to know that the Teen Services department at KPL often brings well-known young adult authors to Kalamazoo so that you can ask them these questions (and more!) yourself. For instance, in the last several years, we've had Sharon Draper, Chris Crutcher, Laurie Halse Anderson, Jacqueline Woodson, John Green, Angela Johnson and M.T. Anderson, just to name a few. And this year is no different. We are busy getting ready for fall visits from authors Lisa McMann (Wake and Fade) and James A. Owen (The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series), as well as some other favorite authors who will be coming later in the 2009-2010 year. You'll definitely want to keep checking back here for the latest news on upcoming author visits.
In the meantime, if you have read any of Lisa McMann's or James A. Owen's books, what did you think about them? We'd love to know!
Wake
9781416953579
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Yesterday's bubble wrap printing program was an awesome success! Check out what some resourceful teens and tweens made with just some bubble wrap, paint, and paper at our Flickr set for the Bubble Wrap Prints program.
.jpg "Teen Summer Reading Game logo")
If you're reading this, chances are you literally just got out of school for the summer! I know, the last thing on your mind might be more reading- but now's the time to come down to any library location and sign up for the Summer Reading Game! We've got library staff ready and waiting to sign you up, and there are tons of excellent prizes to earn- all just for reading anything with pages over the summer(yes, really)! Read more info about the games at the Reading Games page on our website, or stop in and pick up your game board and find out the rules in person!
The pillars at the entrance to the Teen Area were recently decorated in anticipation of this year's Teen Summer Reading game: Wild Style! If you haven't been downstairs recently, you really ought to stop by(of course, if you're reading this in the Teen Area you already know). We decided to throw a little color around down here and I think it turned out great. We'll have a whole post about the game and Summer activities soon- but for now, come on down and take a look at our mess!
In case you've forgotten(and how could you), this coming Saturday is our annual Prom Prep event! We've got all sorts of outfits, shoes, and accessories for you to take home! While honestly, most of the stuff we've got is for the ladies, in the interest of fairness I didn't want the guys to feel completely left out. I've found some awesome tuxedo ideas for the gents out there, and I think I'll let the sites speak for themselves. Presenting: The Corxedo! The Coke Can Tuxedo! And my personal favorite: The Bacon-Scented Bacon Print Tuxedo! We'll be looking for all three of these at this year's Kalamazoo-area proms.
Leading up to our Prom Prep event on April 4th, I thought I'd post a few tips and tricks I found all over the net on making your prom memorable, or at least different. Our first hint comes to us courtesy of the always-awesome Instructables blog. Short on cash but flush with duct tape at home? Save yourself some money and make your date's corsage and flowers out of multi-colored duct tape! Easy, step-by-step instructions over at Instructables. For extra bonus recycling points, be sure and check out the dress made out of Skittles wrappers!
Check back soon for more prom prep tips...
Today's the first day of the Michigan Merit Exam for all students in 11th Grade. Sorry about that.
However, if you're not taking the exam today, there's a ton of fun stuff to do all over town. Teen staff will be heading over to the Douglas Community Center armed with the Wiis, Guitar Hero, DDR, and Mario Kart for hours of fun between 11 am and 3 pm. There's also other recreational activities planned at the Douglas as well, so stop in for fun and games! A full list of sites participating in today's MME activities can be found in the latest issue of Excelsior, or at the Kalamazoo Public Schools website.
This past Friday, we had an overflow-capacity crowd show up at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art to watch this year's selected films for the 6th annual Teen Filmmaker Festival. The audience grabbed free popcorn, candy, and Jones Soda and took a seat for the hour-plus screening. We had a mix of all different kinds of films this year- science-fiction, comedy, horror, animation, and more... sometime within the same films! We've uploaded the winning films to our YouTube page... be sure to check 'em out if you missed the Festival. And don't forget to catch the replay of the Fest on the Public Media Network to see not just the films but also interviews with the filmmakers, sponsors, and facilitators of this year's event! More info and a list of all of this year's film and winners can be found on the Film Fest page. Once again, congratulations to all of our winning filmmakers and thanks to everyone who participated!