Thursday, July 31, 2008

New(ish) JK Rowling book available Dec. 4th!!!


On the author's website:

"'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' will now be widely available to all Harry Potter fans. Royalties will be donated to the Children's High Level Group, to benefit institutionalised children in desperate need of a voice. The new edition will include the Tales themselves, translated from the original runes by Hermione Granger, and with the illustrations by me, but also notes by Professor Albus Dumbledore, which appear by generous permission if the Hogwarts Headmasters' Archive.'"

According to the email I got from B&N:

"It contains all five wizarding fairy tales left to Hermione Granger by Albus Dumbledore in the seventh and final Harry Potter series. Only one, The Tale of the Three Brothers, is recounted in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. The other four are reveled here for the very first time."

Well, while I knew it HAD to be release EVENTUALLY, I wasn't expecting it. And am curious. You?

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Comic-Con 2008

Comic-Con was last week. And while one post couldn't do it justice (Watchmen! Wolverine! Orson Scott Card?), these were my two favorite parts of the coverage.

The National Press of Canada reported: "A hysterical mob of teen girls took over the panel hall to see the stars of Twilight, asking lots of questions like, 'What was it like to play a totally hot vampire?'"

And the totally non-1337 spelling of the Tron sequel. Though the trailer looks pretty awesome.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Stephenie Meyer is taking Questions

The author of this summer's biggest book will be on ABC's Good Morning America on Thursday, July 31st and ABC is soliciting questions for her to answer on air!


And don't forget that the Lynnwood Library is having a Breaking Dawn Party FRIDAY from 9-Midnight. We'll even be selling the book at 12:01 am, thanks to the Children's Bookshop! We'll be giving away a few copies of Breaking Dawn, as well as two tickets to the Stephenie Meyer Concert on August 12th!
Hope to see you Friday!

Friday, July 25, 2008

video games + comics?

It is always fascinating to see what is going on with technology and comics in Japan. I just read an article that said some of the big manga companies are going to start sending their products through the Wii Channels!

Digital Comics Coming to the Wii in Japan


Do you think it would be cool to read manga on your Wii or DS? Why or why not?

fun contest for your library

Are you super creative?
Love your library?
Have mad decorating skills?

Then you should consider entering Unshelved's Pimp My Bookcart contest!

Check out last year's amazing winners. Just try and beat those!

Monday, July 21, 2008

Manga and anime: your recommendations?

Someone made the great suggestion that we should have a post where everyone shares their manga and anime recommendations.

I'm in the middle of watching season one of To Heart, a super sweet anime about two friends who have lived next door to each other since kindergarten, and now that they are in high school she starts wondering if they could have something more.

I follow a number of manga series. Here is what I love to read in my free time:

Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
Yotsuba&!
Nana
What's Michael?
Red String
Nodame Cantabile

These series are complete now, but also great:

Paradise Kiss
Azumanga Daioh
Miki Falls
Love Roma

What are you into?

Friday, July 18, 2008

Wanna See NYC? Fan of MJ?

"Enter the Suite Scarlett Sweepstakes for a chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime experience – an overnight stay in a New York City hotel, plus brunch with author Maureen Johnson. Email your name, address, and birth date to Thisispoint@scholastic.com for a chance to win."

You have to be between the ages of 13 and 18 at the time you enter the sweepstakes. I'm a little bummed about that because she's hilarious, which you already know if you've ever read her blog, and I would totally enter if I wasn't over 18. :(

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Reading Commonly

Hip Hop artist and actor Common, (formerly known as Common Sense and known to his mother as Lonnie Rashid Lynn) has started an online book club called The Corner Book Club through his Common Ground Foundation.

His website says:

"Teens are able to follow along with the recommended book of the month, blog with other members about relevant topics and have the opportunity to participate in a live online chat with Common Ground Foundation staff.


Celebrity artists will also be interviewed each month and talk about their favorite books and why reading is so important to them.


Each year the Foundation will sponsor a national "Common Ground Challenge" for our book club members. Winners will have an opportunity to meet Common and their essay will be posted on The Common Ground Foundation website. The Foundation is also committed to provide a college scholarship as the first prize award."


Their first choice? Long Way Gone, Memoirs of A Boy Soldier by Ishmaell Beah, which they describe as:

"This gripping story by a children’s-rights advocate recounts his experiences as a boy growing up in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, during one of the most brutal and violent civil wars in recent history."


Find out more, sign up, or just check out this month's artist interview with Talib Kweli.

Monday, July 14, 2008

looking for something to do?

Don't forget to check our Teen Events Calendar! There is so much good stuff happening at the Sno-Isle Libraries this summer...you are really missing out if you don't check out at least one of our teen programs!

Coming up soon:

From the Streets of Shakespeare to the Court of Elizabeth - 7/15 - Mill Creek @ 7pm

Mukilteo Teens Brunch Bunch (book group) - 7/16 - Mukilteo @ 10am.

Teen Summer Movies - 7/16 - Monroe @ 12 noon.

Duct Tape Wallets - 7/16 - Coupeville @ 2:30pm and 7/17 - Oak Harbor @ 6:30pm.

Teen Book Group - 7/16 - Mountlake Terrace @ 4pm.

Teen Advisory Group - 7/17 - Marysville @ 7:30pm

Anime and Manga Club - 7/18 - Lynnwood @ 4pm.

And a ton of video game programs, too!
7/15 - Sultan - 2pm
7/15 - Darrington - 3pm
7/15 - Lake Stevens - 2pm
7/16 - Oak Harbor - 3pm
7/16 - Lynnwood - 4pm
7/17 - Mill Creek - 2pm
7/19 - Langley - 6pm - (after hours!)

And all of that is JUST this week!

Have a great idea for a teen program? Let us know!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Freedom to Read!



Hopefully you celebrated the birth of this country with lots of good food, fun, and plenty of explosions. But don't forget - readers have rights too!



  1. The right to not read.

  2. The right to skip pages.

  3. The right to not finish.

  4. The right to reread.

  5. The right to read anything.

  6. The right to escapism.

  7. The right to read anywhere.

  8. The right to browse.

  9. The right to read out loud.

  10. The right not to defend your tastes.

—Pennac, Daniel, Better Than Life, Coach House Press, 1996.



Of course, you may not be able to convince your teachers of some of these when you go back to school in the fall, but hey -it's summer! Enjoy your freedom to read and the sun while it's here.

And all those books you're reading? Don't forget to submit your reviews for a chance to win prizes...

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Change your life, get free stuff


The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly lists the 100 greatest movies, tv shows, albums and books of the last 25 years. Simpsons is the number one tv show (which is correct), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the number 2 book (which is also a very good choice).


The thing that really interested me was Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) put together a list of her top 10 short stories of the last 25 years. I had read three of them, which is pretty good since I don't read a whole lot of short stories. The ones I do read and like tend to stick with me though.


I was talking with one of our pages about the story "Wickedness" by Ron Hansen, which is about the Children's Blizzard of 1888 (I'm sure that doesn't sound fascinating, but the story starts with a teacher coming across a frostbite victim's limbless body in a burlap sack on a train) . I told the page she should read this story before she went to college because it would change her life. So here is my list of short stories that teens should read in order to change their life. And hey, since the theme of teh summer reading program is Metamorphosis you can read them for this summer... and win prizes!
Brokeback Mountain-Annie Proulx
Wickedness - Ron Hansen
The Things they Carried- Tim O'Brien
Bullet in the Brain-Tobias Wolff
The Paperhanger-William Gay
River of Names-Dorothy Allison
Best New Horror-Joe Hill
Testimony of Pilot-Barry Hannah
A Pale Horse-Thom Jones
Cathedral-Raymond Chandler