Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Meet Sarah Mylanowski! In NYC!


To celebrate the release in the last of the Magic In Manhattan series (Bras & Broomsticks, Frogs & French Kisses, Spells & Sleeping Bags), Parties & Potions, they are running a sweepstakes to w"in a trip for four to Manhattan to have lunch with Sarah Mlynowski!"

"Answer the below question and win!
As Rachel and Miri know, life’s a ball when
you’re a witch! In 100 words or less, tell us what
you would do if you could be a witch for a day!"


Just answer the question and fill out the entry form.

If you aren't feeling up to writing 100 words or less for that question, but are still interested in the series and author, she's all over the internet with chats and interviews.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Like Love?

Harlequin, the long-lived, publisher of adult romances is starting a line for teen girls - and they want your help. On their site:

"The Harlequin™ Teen Panel is an online reader panel for teens between the ages of 13and 17.

Members of the Harlequin Teen Panel will participate in fun quizzes and discussions about things like: books, movies, music and websites. In other words, everything that you’re interested in.

This is the place to be if you love to read!
Sign up today to share your opinion about the books you’ve read and the books you’d like to read—as well as other things that help you choose your books."

More importantly, according to my sources:

"Teens will be asked to fill out fun quizzes; they’ll participate in discussions and will also receive FREE books (approximate retail value of $10-$15 per book?) and have a chance to enter into sweepstakes (with [parental] permission)."

Check it out, and remember, as always, if you find a book you love so much you think others should read it, ask the library to buy it - we probably will.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Girls Can't What?

"As women, we've all been there at some point in our lives....a job...a sport...some activity where we were told we can't participate simply because we were female."

The website, "Girls Can't What?" wants you to share your story.

Check out their site for girl-powered talk, book reviews, and real stories of girls who didn't listen to those who said they can't.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Dragon's Horde 2008


What's that? I hear you asking.

"Dragon's Horde is a contest for teen writers with the goal of discovering and publishing fresh talent in the areas of short story writing, poetry, artwork, photography, and illustrated stories such as manga. The prize is publication in a forthcoming anthology called, Dragon's Horde 2: A treasury of teen art and writing as well as copies of the book for the winners in each category."

Full info here.

Deadline is December 31st.

Good Luck!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Morris Award Shortlist

The Morris Award is given to the best debut novel for young adults; it must be the author (or illustrator's) first published book. Here are this year's nominees:

A CURSE DARK AS GOLD by Elizabeth Bunce
GRACELING by Kristin Cashore
ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS by James Lecesne
MADAPPLE by Christina Meldrum
ME, THE MISSING, AND THE DEAD by Jenny Valentine

This is just the shortlist - the winner will be announced in mid-January.

***pssst: I'm rooting for GRACELING! But I haven't yet read ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS, and it looks really good!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Feeling Creative?


Want to get your art published on a massive scale? Say 19.5 MILLION copies?

On the back of ketchup packets?

Or maybe you just want your school to score the $1,000 worth of ketchup?

Or line your pockets (or college fund) with $1,000 of your own?

Maybe you've just always wanted to draw a ketchup bottle into surreal scenes?

Well, the way to do it would be to enter the Heinz Ketchup Creativity™ Contest 2008-2009.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Live Chat with Meg Cabot!


Since you're probably stuck inside with all this snow, why not chat with an immensely popular author?

From the readergirlz blog:

"Join the readergirlz forum tonight at 9pm EST/6pm PST as we chat LIVE with Meg Cabot! Tiaras optional.

And during the day, to psych up, visit Girl Week at Reviewer X's blog."

Have fun!

I know you are looking for more books to read over break.


The New York Times agrees, but Amazon shakes it up a bit. With all of the NYT teen titles, The Kingdom on the Waves, Sunrise Over Fallujah, The Hunger Games, Little Brother, and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks appearing in Publisher Weekly's list I posted about last month. Read their thoughts.




Amazon has also released their "Best of 2008" lists. Here's their Editor's Pick (order matters):

The Kingdom on the Waves
by MT Anderson

Paper Towns
by John Green

The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins

Graceling
Kristin Cashore

Pretty Monsters
by Kelly Link

The Patron Saint of Butterflies
by Cecilia Galante

The Knife of Never Letting Go
by Patrick Ness

Bog Child
by Siobhan Dowd

The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman

Little Brother
by Cory Doctorow

Why not try one of these over break?

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

C-SPAN StudentCam

Like making movies? How about documentaries?

Want a chance at winning $250-$5,000?

From their website:

"This Year's StudentCam Topic:
A message to the new President:

What is the most urgent issue for the new president to address after taking office, and why?

Students are asked to create a short (between 5 and 8 minutes) video documentary that explores an issue of national significance that they believe is in need of urgent attention from the new president of the United States.

Your documentary should include more than one point of view. YOU MUST USE C-SPAN PROGRAMMING TO ENHANCE YOUR DOCUMENTARY. Videos that do not use C-SPAN programming will be disqualified."

They are also on FaceBook.

Good Luck!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Love Twilight? Meetup with other fans this Friday!

Come to the Mountlake Terrace Library this Friday for a Twilight Party!

Celebrate new Twilight movie with Goth makeovers, games and fun DIY projects including making duct tape roses, Goth sock puppets and body glitter! Discuss the movie vs. the book, Edward vs. Jacob!

Mountlake Terrace Library
3:00 PM


Supported by the Sno-Isle Libraries Foundation.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Spread your Holiday Cheer


Every holiday season, we look for ways to spread the cheer and help others have a better experience during what can often be a not so happy time of year.

Donating food to your local food bank is and easy way to help people in your community. There are probably donation bins all over town this time of year.

The United States Marine Corps are collecting donations for Toys for Tots, and the Salvation Army has their bell ringers and red kettles outside many stores where you'll be shopping.

I recently learned of another way to spread a bit of extra cheer. You can send holiday cards to wounded American soldiers and veterans through a program sponsored by the Red Cross called Holiday Mail for Heroes.

You can send your cards to the following address, but they ask that they are postmarked no later than December 10th. That's just two days away, but you've still got time to pop a card in the mail!

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD. 20791-5456


If you're in the Oak Harbor Library during the next couple of days, look in the teen area for the cards to sign. I'll be sending them off soon.

~Anne

What are your reading habits?

Teens!

Library students are conducting a survey to find out more about what YOU think. They hope to hear from thousands of teens!

Take a few minutes and help them out? Take the survey.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

You keep seeing that book, here's a great interview with the author


M.T. Anderson, author of one of my absolute favorites, FEED, and the critically acclaimed two-volume OCTAVIAN NOTHING books, is interviewed here. It's worth a few minutes.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Win $500 by writing a letter?


Yep. Five hundred bucks to Target, which is sorta like cash money. I could spend $500 at Target, easy.

What you have to do:

"[W]rite a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre-- fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic, explaining how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or themselves. There are three competition levels: Level I for children in grades 4 through 6; Level II for grades 7 and 8, and Level III, grades 9 - 12."

Full instructions here and even more info, including examples of past winners, here.

The catch? You've only got until December 6th. That's Saturday.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Free Meg Cabot?

It's been eight years in the making - the last book in Meg Cabot's PRINCESS DIARIES series, FOREVER PRINCESS, is out on January 6th. Why am I telling you this? Well, the publisher, HarperCollins, is making an electronic copy of the first book available free online in celebration. FREE. No, really. To anyone who wants it. I read it on Meg Cabot's blog, so it's got to be true. Read it here.


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