Kissed By an Angel?

People must be getting tired of romances with nasty old dead vampires, because all of the sudden there are a whole lot of romances coming out that feature angels! What is the advantage? They do seem to generally be a lot nicer and less likely to drink your blood.

To make it easy for you to find some, we have a new teen booklist: Heavenly Love - Paranormal Romance with Angels.




What titles are we missing? Which are your favorites?

What Technology Are You Excited About?

For us here at Sno-Isle Libraries, a big part of Teen Tech Month is celebrating all the great things teens do with technology. Part of this is offering exciting programs where teens can learn new skills and show off their stuff. And by having our annual Teen Video Contest.

But the real authorities on teens and technology is YOU. So let us know, what tech stuff are you excited about right now? Have a favorite technology website, favorite book trailer, web gizmo, favorite web-based video creation tool, new technology or gadget you are excited about, or tech book you think is awesome? Share it with us!

If your post is featured on our blog, you will be entered to win one of our last few Sno-Isle Teens Flash Drives!

Win a signed copy of THE SEA OF MONSTERS

I have one Rick Riordan-signed paperback copy of Percy Jackson #2, The Sea of Monsters.

In order to win, you must:

1. be 12-18 years old,
2. able to pick it up at one of the Sno-Isle Libraries,
3. watch the following video, (all of it)
4. answer in the comments the questions I ask after the video:

(Yes, I know, I ask so much of you)



Would you want to read on one of those, or are you going to hold onto reading your paper books? What do you guys think about ebooks in general? What do you like/dislike about this whole issue? Why?

You have until 11:59pm on Sunday, March 14 to answer.

I'll draw one lucky winner from the comments. If you add interesting discussion by returning and interacting with other comments, you can earn more entries per substantive comment (meaning: only if those comments add something to the discussion), up to 3 entries per teen.

Love Japanese Culture?

This Saturday the Mountlake Terrace Library is hosting our first Japanese Culture Appreciation Festival!

Small Meeting Room - Anime Marathon
Spirited Away 10-12:15
Howl's Moving Castle 12:30-2:30
Millennium Actress 2:45-4:15

Large Meeting Room - Classes
Learn to Play Go with instructors from the Seattle Go Center – 10-noon
Learn to make veggie sushi – 12:30-1:30
Learn how to dress in the Gothic Lolita style – 2-3
Gothic Lolita tea party – 3-4 (bring a donation for the foodbank, if you can!)

DVD prizes, popcorn and Japanese snacks provided by the Friends of the Mountlake Terrace Library.

Saturday December 5th – 10-4:30pm

Mountlake Terrace Library
23300 - 58th Ave. W
Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043

The Ranger's Apprentice Giveaway!

Ok, since the winners of the Harry Potter giveaway are most likely quietly ensconced in their reading chairs revisiting the last three adventures of that scar-faced bespectacled boy, it's time for a new giveaway. Now, The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan may not be as popular as good 'ole Harry, but I assure you, if you are a fan of adventures and quests concerning orphaned young underdogs, you will love Will, who has been apprenticed to the mysterious Ranger.

I have TWO copies of the newest installment in this series, The Siege of Macindaw, to giveaway. Same drill as before, you must comment to have a chance at the books - this time I want you to tell me what your favorite fantasy book (or series) is that ISN'T Harry Potter, Twilight, or The Ranger's Apprentice.

The rules: You MUST be between the ages of 12-18. You MUST be able to pick up your prize at one of the 21 Sno-Isle libraries (or be on the bookmobile route). Find a library near you. Note that you can only enter ONCE! :)

You have until Tuesday, August 11th at 8pm to enter! We'll have a random drawing and announce the winners Tuesday night - so you'll have to check back to see if you win - and then the winners will need to email us at the address we'll provide on the 11th.

Just to whet your appetite, here's a teaser book trailer for the first three books:



And, if you need more proof of this series' cred (I don't know why I'm assuming you haven't read it, I've personally given it to scads of you - and there are currently 72 holds on The Siege of Macindaw) THEY ARE MAKING A MOVIE OF THE FIRST BOOK TO BE RELEASED NEXT YEAR. Just so you know. It's not like I'm all excited or anything... *looks away*

Win an 8GB iPod Touch and Signed Audiobooks!

The Fantasy Road Trip Contest from Listening Library:

"If you could go on a fantasy road trip with a character (or characters!) from your favorite series, where would you go? What would you do along the way? How would you travel? Create a video and show us!

Best selling authors Libba Bray, Tamora Pierce and Rick Riordan will judge the videos and choose 3 grand prize winners!"



Read the complete rules.

Casting Call!

I know that a handful of you have found Skeleton Creek, as all copies are currently checked out and there are 6 people in the queue for it. Plus, this just sounds neat.

from HipWriterMama:

I received an e-mail from Patrick Carman, letting me know there is an on-line casting call for his next vBook project. 

Patrick Carman is the author of The Land of Elyon series, the Atherton Trilogy, Elliot's Park Adventures. His most recent book, Skeleton Creek, combines the book, web videos and live webcasts, for the total reading experience.

Information on the teen roles to be cast, scripts, guidelines, how to submit your audition, and even a chance to view auditions can be found here. Auditions end May 31st.

I do want to stress that it's important to keep safe and aware when posting information about yourself on-line. This sounds like a fun opportunity, but remember, safety first.

YALSA's Teens' Top Ten

Love to read? Want to take part in deciding YALSA's Teens Top Ten books of 2009? You have 25 weeks to read 25 books, and then vote during Teen Read Week (October 18-24). These books have been nominated by teens, and will be decided on by teens as teen favorites.

Here is the list of nominations, with links so you can check them out from Sno-Isle! Warning: some of these are really popular, so if you want to read them in time, you will want to order them soon :)

Confess Your Biggest Screw Up!

Shamelessly ripped off from KL Going's site:

Win a $100 gift certificate to your local independent bookstore, Borders, or Barnes & Noble, plus a complete set of autographed KL Going YA books (Fat Kid Rules the World; Saint Iggy; King of the Screwups).

Three runners-up will receive an autographed copy of King of the Screwups.

Contest runs: April 1st - June 30th 2009.

Read submitted entries (they are kind of awesome!).

More info/enter

Read the first three chapters of King of the Screwups.

Two more book trailer entries!

You guys are doing such a great job! Let's see more entries!!



Midnighters by Scott Westerfeld



Far North by Will Hobbs

Check out all of the entries we've received so far!

How to Enter:

• Create a video of a book trailer -- like a movie trailer, but for a book! Your video should be 30 seconds to 3 minutes long, and be about a teen book, or a book that teens enjoy, owned by Sno-Isle Libraries.


• 2. Post your Book Trailer video to YouTube.


• 3. Make sure your video post contains the tag: "snoisleteens"


• 4. Enter this form below by April 15, 2009: http://www.sno-isle.org/applic ations/teenvideo/

Libraries v. Schools

What do you think? Do you agree with him? Disagree?

From audiobooker.

Are you an inventor?

Ashoka GenV and the Lemelson Foundation are having a cool contest: the Invent Your World Challenge. Fifty young inventors will use their creations to address a local or global challenge and create positive change.

Do you have an idea for a new technology or the adaptation of an existing technology that will help make life easier, the planet greener, or the world better?

Put together a team, submit a proposal, and you might qualify for a grant to make your dream a reality! And your team could also win a $20,000 in scholarship money!

Teens 12-20 can apply before March 15, 2009 here.

Sparky Awards & video contest announcement

Ever thought you might be able to make the world a better place by making a YouTube video? The Sparky Award celebrates young filmmakers who "creatively illustrate a short video on the value of sharing ideas".

This year’s winners are:

GRAND PRIZE WINNER:
To Infinity and Beyond
By Danaya Panya, Sebastian Rivera, Hemanth Sirandas, Uriel Rotstein, and Jaymeni Patel, University of Illinois at Chicago Honors College
http://urliek.blogspot.com/2009/01/sparky-awards-entry.html

FIRST RUNNER UP:
How to Make Things Easier
By Taejin Kim, Savannah College of Art and Design
http://blip.tv/file/1493053

SECOND RUNNER UP:
Brighter
By Christopher Wetzel, Ohio Northern University
http://www.vimeo.com/2373573

SPECIAL MERIT AWARD:
GrowUp
By Cécile Iran, Laurie Glassmann, Christophe Zidler, Aldric de Villartay, University of Versailles-Saint Quentin, France
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7kaif_growup_creation

While that contest is over for now, you can start working on your entry for Sno-Isle's Teen Tech Month Book Trailer Contest! Winner gets a cool, personalized Flip Mino video camera. Entries are due by April 15, 2009 so start working on yours today!

The Most Popular Teen Titles @ Sno-Isle

The following are the titles checked out most often over the last month or so:

1. Naruto. vol. 31, Final Battle by Kishimoto, Masashi


2. The Graveyard Book by Gaiman, Neil


3. Th1rteen R3asons Why by Asher, Jay


4. Luna Nueva by Meyer, Stephenie


5. The Battle for Skandia by Flanagan, John


6. The Truth About Forever by Dessen, Sarah


7. The Sorcerer of the North by Flanagan, John


8. Breaking Dawn by Meyer, Stephenie


9. Revelations: A Blue Bloods Novel by De la Cruz, melissa


10. The Summoning by Armstrong, Kelley


11. Blue Bloods by De la cruz, melissa


12. The Sea of Monsters by Riordan, Rick


13. The Angel Experiment by Patterson, James


14. Kristen: A Clique Novel by Harrison, Lisi


15. The Icebound Land by Flanagan, John


16. Identical by Hopkins, Ellen


17. Someone Like You by Dessen, Sarah


18. High School Debut vol. 1 by Kawahara, Kazune


19. Shadow Kiss by Mead, Richelle


20. Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by Harris, Alex


21. Ouran High School Host Club, vol. 11 by Hatori, Bisco


22. Angel Diary, vol. 7 by Lee, Yun Hee


23. Tsubasa. 19 by Clamp (mangaka group)


24. Me & My Brothers, volume 5 by Tokeino, Hari


25. Bloodhound: The Legend of Beka Cooper by Pierce, Tamora

Oak Harbor Teens Make the News!

Last week's duct tape program caught the eye of Whidbey News Times reporter Jenny Manning, who stopped by to see exactly what we were up to. She asked a lot of questions, took a lot of photos, and stayed for almost the entire two hours! In the end, she walked away with a fantastic impression of teens at the library, and her very own duct tape bag.

You can read the article HERE.

Teen Choice Book Award!

via Menasha Kids:

"In association with the Children’s Book Council (CBC), Teenreads.com is giving you a very special opportunity to let your voices be heard by telling us your five favorite books of 2008. The five titles that receive the most “votes” will serve as the finalists for the CBC’s 2009 Teen Choice Book Award. Later we will tell you where you can go vote for them once the five finalists have been announced. The winner will be announced in May 2009.

All you have to do is fill out the form found here between now and January 31, 2009. Your top five selections may come from the list we’ve provided [here], or you can vote for titles not on the list."

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.

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!

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!

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!