Dear Diary

Novels that are narrated in a diary or journal format provide a raw, intimate, and honest perspective. Readers are provided confidential details of the narrators’ deepest fears, desires, and secrets. Young adult novels in diary format are particularly of interest because the process of coming of age is so personal. This unfiltered perspective is something that the reader's inner voyeur cannot resist.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Being a teenager is tough— especially when you are Arnold Spirit, better known as “Junior.” Growing up in poverty on a Native American reservation, Junior decides to create a better future for himself by attending a school outside the “rez” -- even if doing so means his friends and family feel betrayed, and he does not fit in at his new all-white school. Junior’s sense of humor will keep you smiling in spite of his honest look at the difficulties of racism, family drama, and new beginnings.

Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

A year in the life of British teenager Georgia Nicholson will have readers laughing so hard, they may want to avoid reading this book in public. Georgia must navigate the throes of adolescence betwixt a loony little sister named Libby, a violent Scottish wildcat named Angus, and absurd parents whom she resentfully refers to as Mutti and Vati. Thank goodness she has her beloved Ace Gang of girlfriends to have hilarious adventures with as she falls in love
with Robbie (aka the Sex God), the lead singer of a local band.

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Alice has been shocking readers about the slippery slope of drug addiction since this diary's publication in 1971. What begins as a coming-of-age story about social acceptance and growing up turns into a terrifying account of the struggles of drug abuse that leads to homelessness, prostitution, an insane asylum, and eventually a fate worse than those aforementioned. Alice’s cautionary tale of addiction is not one you will soon forget.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

“Monster”: It’s the name given to Steve Harmon, a 16-year-old African-American boy, while on trial as an accomplice to murder. Steve tells his story of being in prison and on trial during in between journal entries and his own version of a screenplay— the cinematic story of his life. Watch the courtroom drama unfold to reveal the truth: Is Steve innocent? Was he framed by his so-called friends? Or was he simply in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Meet Jessica Darling in the first of a series of five novels. Her story begins at age 16 when her best friend moves away, and Jessica must enter her sophomore year of high school alone. Readers will relate to Jessica in one way or another — for her self-proclaimed type-A personality, her humor and wit, her insecurities; and if all else fails, her unflinching honesty as new relationships develop and blossom.

YA Infographic Display

I have a fascination with infographics.  Have you ever seen NPR's amazing infographic on SciFi and Fantasy Literature?  It's inspiring.  If I had an infographic available for all of life's decisions, well, let's just say my life would be a lot easier!

But no such thing is true.  What is true is that I was able to take that inspiration and create an infographic of my own.  I decided to make one for the bulletin board in our Teen Space since I kind of thought teens would like the "quiz" style of the display.  Unless quizzes aren't cool anymore. KIDS THESE DAYS, AMIRIGHT?

Anyways.  I had fun with this.  Almost too much fun with it.  If I were a toocoolforschool teenager I would probably make fun of myself (I make fun of myself all the time, who am I kidding?) and say, "Look at that librarian trying to make a funny.  She spelled LOLS wrong.  Clearly it should be LAWLZ."  I seriously googled the difference in the two.  I could find no clear answer.  I meant to changed LOLS to LAWLZ after I printed.  See what we're dealing with here?

The best part?  This display board is right above the computer sign-in station so those teenagers HAVE to look at it!  If it ends up being a success I think I will get a little more specific with it; such as an infographic for historical fiction or graphic novels.

Read? Read.

I created a simple display and reference/ tribute to John Green's best selling The Fault in Our Stars on the window of our "quiet study room" in Teen Space.  Hazel Grace and Augustus, the star crossed lovers of the novel, use "Okay? Okay." as terms of affection and the expression can be seen in blue and white clouds all over t-shirts, phone cases, and book bags.  Although it killed me a little that we didn't have a white window crayon, I still thought it was worth modifying and creating an image that teens would recognize.  So far, it's gotten a lot of compliments in spite of my inclination to despise it because it's not perfect.

DIY Book Charms

This week for Art Attack (our craft program for teens, 13-19), I gave participants the materials to make book charms.  I looked at a lot of ideas on the web and the ones that I liked best (and looked the easiest!) were made using little dollhouse books, only 5/8x by 7/8 of an inch!

I picked out some of my favorite YA titles, including old and new favorites:

• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• Divergent by Veronica Roth

If you save the images of these book covers into a Word document, you can right click the images and format them to the exact size of the books, which I bought on Amazon.

I also purchased eye pins to make the clasp on each charm.  I did this step ahead of time: coat the eye pin in superglue and insert it into the spine of the book.  Something about teenagers and superglue did not sit well with me, and quite frankly I got so much on my fingers I probably should not have been allowed to use it either!

Pretty much all of your prep work is done. When the teens were ready to make their book charms, I told the to trim down the cover image of their choice so that no edges were showing, since the image is the exact size of the book.  Next, they applied modge-podge (the homemade kind: Elmer's Glue + water) with a paint brush all over their book. After gluing down their cover, they put on another layer of modge-podge.  Doing these two layers will keep the paper from curling once glued, and give the book charm a nice shiny finish.

Finally, after allowing the books to dry for a few minutes, teens were able to finish off their book charms by adding a chain or cord to make it into a necklace, keychain, or bracelet.  Most wanted to wear their charms proudly around their necks, and one thoughtful brother made a TFIOS necklace for his sister, because "she's obsessed".  Fine by me!

YA Quote Quiz Display

I like displays that are interactive, especially when they are for teens.  For my next Teen Space display, I decided to pick out quotes from some of my favorite YA reads, and make a display that would quiz viewers on which book the quote is from (all you have to do is lift the flap to find out).  This display also gave me the chance to display some of the great books that the quotes are from.

How do you think you would do?

SPOILER ALERT!  

If you want to know the answers to the quote quiz, see below.

"I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."
- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

"I am haunted by humans."
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

"You love me. Real or not real?"
- Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

"My Name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father. Prepare to die!"
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman

"Take a person's memories and you change who they are."
- Allegiant by Veronica Roth

"And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

"Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold."
- The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Divergent Party

This past Saturday I held a Divergent party to celebrate the upcoming release of Veronica Roth's final book in the trilogy, Allegiant, which comes out on October 22nd, 2013.  I had so much fun with the party and I consider it a huge success.  It was a teen program and attracted patrons aged 13-19.

The program was attended by both Divergent fans as well as teens who had never read the series.  I  took this as a great opportunity to do a quick booktalk and hopefully inspire interest in the series for those who were unfamiliar with it.  I explained it as a great readalike for Hunger Games, where the series is set in a futuristic dystopian Chicago.  The city is divided into five factions: Abnegation, the selfless; Dauntless, the brave; Erudite, the intelligent; Amity, the peaceful; and Candor; the honest.  Long ago, the government determined that it was these qualities of humanity that were necessary for society to function and therefore each citizen must be a part of one faction and act out its qualities to the utmost extent.  Some rare people, however, called the Divergent, have aptitude for more than one faction.  Tris, the main character in the series, was born into Abnegation but chooses Dauntless, after learning that she has aptitude for Abnegation, Dauntless, and Erudite.  Having divergence for three different factions is almost unheard of and we learn that this puts Tris in great danger, but also gives her great power.

The first part of the program was to have teens take a quiz that I created, entitled "Divergent Faction Aptitude Test".  This quiz was done in a infographic style, with questions similar to the scenarios Tris faces in the first book before the Choosing Ceremony (first question: "You see two baskets in front of you: one with a knife, one with cheese.  Choose one!").  At the end of the quiz, they have the opportunity to be Divergent by coming up with an idea alternative to the choices given in the quiz.  Once their faction is determined, participants could choose an activity based on their factions.  I also gave out stickers I made for each faction so that they could wear them with pride (I, for the record, belong in Amity!).  The activities I had planned for each faction are as follows:

Dauntless: Temporary tattoo design
Erudite: Play Scrabble
Candor: Play "Would You Rather?"
Amity: Make friendship bracelets
Abnegation: Make greeting cards

Overall, the teens seemed to enjoy playing "Would You Rather?" the most.  The questions I created sparked discussion and they all got really into it.  Most people did a few different activities as opposed to just doing their faction activity, which I took as an opportunity to explain their "divergence", inspiring further conversation about the book ("Can you imagine having to be 100% honest, all the time?  Even when it hurts someone's feelings?.. etc.).  I was thrilled with that fact that not only did participants thoroughly enjoy the program, but it also got a lot of them interested in reading the series.  I, for one, am anxiously awaiting October 22nd, so that I can read Allegiant.  I never thought that I would like a series as much as Hunger Games, but Divergent is a huge contender!

Catching Fire Display

It's exactly 50 days until Catching Fire is released in theaters on November 22nd, 2013.  To commemorate the exciting day, we will be holding a special Catching Fire movie release party this November, filled with super fun Hunger Games activities and games (spoiler: create your own victor!).  Because I am majorly geeking out over this, I couldn't even wait until November to start working on a display for this event, and let me just say, things got intense.  I am particularly proud of the flames coming out of the Mockingjay.  Get it? Catching Fire!

To make this display, I drew the mockingjay logo on yellow poster board, about one foot wide.  Then I traced over it with a Sharpie and cut out the middle pieces.  I coated the entire piece with some glitter glue I found in the craft closet, using a paintbrush.  Then, I layered red, orange, and yellow tissue paper and cut out a flame pattern.  I stapled the folded layers together and crumpled them up to give the flames a more fiery look, and layered the flames beneath the mockingjay.  Finally, I glued all of it onto a poster board, where I have written with cut-out letters: "May the odds be ever in your favor".  I obviously had a little too much fun with this one.