THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

I'd like to say thank you to all of the teens who participated in the "Lollipops for Letters" program. Teens earned a lollipop for each letter they wrote to show their support for The Mahwah Public Library.

The letters were sent to our local representatives and to Governor Christie in the hopes of stopping the Governor's proposed 74% budget cuts to library funding. Over 100 letters were collected. That's a lot of support, and a lot of lollipops too!

Click on the "Flickr box" to see some of the photos.

Denise J., Teen Librarian

THE TEEN WINTER READING CLUB RESULTS ARE IN!!!

I'm very proud to say that 53 teens participated in this year's Teen W.R.C.  They diligently filled in their "bingo boards" with all of the book pages, manga pages, magazines, and newspapers they read.  Some participants even attended a lot of teen activities and even volunteered at the library.  Here are the results:

Books Read:  115 (Average # of pages 200 per book)

Graphic Novels/Manga Read:  63 (Average # of pages 180 per g.n. or manga)

Magazines Read:  35

Newspapers Read:  22

Participants Who Attended Various Teen Programs:  26

Participants Who Volunteered at the Library: 2

Overall, teens said that they liked this year's format of combining a "bingo board" format with "pages read" to be a lot of fun, and easier for them because of all of their school work.

GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!!

Denise J.

Teen Librarian

TEEN TECH WEEK RAFFLE

Congratulations to Anna Radakrishnan.  She was the winner of the $15 dollar "iTunes" gift card for having answered some "tech" questions correctly.  Several teens entered the raffle to help celebrate "Teen Tech Week" this year which was March 7th - March 13th. 

During that special week, teens also participated in the "Show Us What You've Got!" program where teens got to show off their cellphones, "Apps," "iPods," "iPhones," "Nintendo DS and DSI" systems, and many other gadgets and gizmos.  I even brought in my "Nintendo DSI" and some games for the teens to enjoy.

Later in the week, teens had fun at the "Gaming Club" program and enjoyed playing "Just Dance," "Mario Kart," "Brawl," and other fun games.  Boy do I realize that I have a lot to learn about the latest trends and technology.  Thank goodness, I have the teens to help me. : )

Denise J.
Teen Librarian

FANG: A MAXIMUM RIDE NOVEL BY JAMES PATTERSON

Woo Hoo!  The book is finally here!!!  I've ordered several copies, so make sure you use your library card in the computer to reserve one.  Just go to: http://mahwah.bccls.org/ and search the library catalog.  Or you can ask me to reserve a copy for you.

Do you really think Fang will die?!?!?

Happy Reading,
Denise J., Teen Librarian

March's Teen Advisory Board Meeting (T.A.B.)

I'd like to thank everyone who logged into Facebook yesterday to be a part of our "online chat."  We were discussing some possible book choices for the two upcoming summer book groups (WOW!  Are we already thinking of the summer!). 

If you have a Facebook account feel free to click on the "fan box" below and take a look at the possible selections.  Also, leave your suggestions too.  I'd like some more feedback if possible.  If you don't use Facebook, I'm posting the choices below.  Please feel free to stop by, e-mail me, leave me a note, etc., with your thoughts. 

Thanks so much,
Denise J., Teen Librarian

HERE ARE THE POSSIBILITIES FOR "THE BOOK BRAWL" DISCUSSION GROUP FOR GRADES 6 -8:


"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" by John Boyne


Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in 1942, Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer, befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence.

"When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead (Won the 2010 NEWBERY AWARD)


As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1980s television game show, "The $20,000 Pyramid," a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.


"The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick


When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized.


"The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail" by Michael Spradlin


In 1191, fifteen-year-old Tristan, a youth of unknown origin raised in an English abbey, becomes a Templar Knight's squire during the Third Crusade and soon finds himself on a mission to bring the Holy Grail to safety.


"Witch & Wizard" by James Patterson

The world is changing: the government has seized control of every aspect of society, and now, kids are disappearing. For 15-year-old Wisty and her older brother Whit, life turns upside down when they are torn from their parents one night and slammed into a secret prison for no reason they can comprehend. The New Order, as it is known, is clearly trying to suppress Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Being a Normal Teenager. But while trapped in this totalitarian nightmare, Wisty and Whit discover they have incredible powers they'd never dreamed of. Can this newly minted witch and wizard master their skills in time to save themselves, their parents--and maybe the world?


"The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart


After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.


"The Gravity Keeper" by Michael Reisman


Nerdy sixth-grader Simon Bloom finds a book that enables him to control the laws of physics, but when two thugs come after him, he needs the formulas in the book to save himself.


"Leviathan" by Scott Westerfeld

In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.


"The Demon King" by Cinda Williams Chima

Relates the intertwining fates of former street gang leader Han Alister and headstrong Princess Raisa, as Han takes possession of an amulet that once belonged to an evil wizard and Raisa uncovers a conspiracy in the Grey Wolf Court.


"The Clone Codes" by Patricia, Fredrick & John McKissack

On the run from a bounty hunter who arrested her mother for being part of a secret society devoted to freeing clones, thirteen-year-old Leanna learns amazing truths about herself and her family as she is forced to consider the value of freedom and what it really means to be human in 2170 America.


"The Secret of the Sirens" by Julia Golding


Upon moving to her aunt's seaside home in the British Isles, Connie becomes part of a secret society that shelters mythical creatures, and must use her ability to communicate with these beings to protect them from evil and the incursions of humans.


"The Alchemyst" by Michael Scott


While working at pleasant but mundane summer jobs in San Francisco, fifteen-year-old twins, Sophie and Josh, suddenly find themselves caught up in the deadly, centuries-old struggle between rival alchemists, Nicholas Flamel and John Dee, over the possession of an ancient and powerful book holding the secret formulas for alchemy and everlasting life.


"Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow

After being interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, California, seventeen-year-old Marcus, released into what is now a police state, decides to use his expertise in computer hacking to set things right.


"Compound" by S. A. Bodeen


After his parents, two sisters, and he have spent six years in a vast underground compound built by his wealthy father to protect them from a nuclear holocaust, fifteen-year-old Eli, whose twin brother and grandmother were left behind, discovers that his father has perpetrated a monstrous hoax on them all.


"Monstrumologist" by Rick Yancey

In 1888, twelve-year-old Will Henry chronicles his apprenticeship with Dr. Warthrop, a scientist who hunts and studies real-life monsters, as they discover and attempt to destroy a pod of Anthropophagi.

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HERE ARE THE POSSIBILITIES FOR "THE READING RANT" DISCUSSION GROUP FOR GRADES 9 - 12:


"The Carbon Diaries 2015" by Saci Lloyd


In 2015, when England becomes the first nation to introduce carbon dioxide rationing in a drastic bid to combat climate change, sixteen-year-old Laura documents the first year of rationing as her family spirals out of control.


"Marcelo in the Real World" by Francisco X. Stork


Marcelo Sandoval, a seventeen-year-old boy on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, faces new challenges, including romance and injustice, when he goes to work for his father in the mailroom of a corporate law firm.


"Going Bovine" (Won the 2010 PRINTZ AWARD) by Cameron Smith


A disaffected sixteen year-old who, after being diagnosed with Creutzfeld Jakob's (aka mad cow) disease, sets off on a road trip with a death-obsessed video gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital in an attempt to find a cure.


"The Maze Runner" by James Dashner


Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.


"Graceling" by Kristin Cashore


In a world where some people are born with extreme and often feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.


"Gone" by Michael Grant


In a small town on the coast of California, everyone over the age of fourteen suddenly disappears, setting up a battle between the remaining town residents and the students from a local private school, as well as those who have "The Power" and are able to perform supernatural feats and those who do not.


"City of Bones" by Cassandra Clare


Suddenly able to see demons and the Darkhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is drawn into this bizzare world when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a monster.


"Num8ers" by Rachel Ward


Fifteen-year-old Jem knows when she looks at someone the exact date they will die, so she avoids relationships and tries to keep out of the way, but when she meets a boy named Spider and they plan a day out together, they become more involved than either of them had planned.


"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak


Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.


"What I Saw and How I Lied" by Judy Blundell


In 1947, with her jovial stepfather Joe back from the war and family life returning to normal, teenage Evie, smitten by the handsome young ex-GI who seems to have a secret hold on Joe, finds herself caught in a complicated web of lies whose devastating outcome change her life and that of her family forever.


"Dear John" by Nicholas Sparks


An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else. "Dear John," the letter read...and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love--and face the hardest decision of his life.


"Break" by Hannah Moskowitz


To relieve the pressures of caring for a brother with life-threatening food allergies, another who is a fussy baby, and parents who are at odds with one other, seventeen-year-old Jonah sets out to break every bone in his body in hopes of becoming stronger.


"The Uninvited" by Tim Wynne Jones


After a disturbing freshman year at New York University, Mimi is happy to get away to her father's remote Canadian cottage only to discover a stranger living there who has never heard of her or her father and who is convinced that Mimi is responsible for leaving sinister tokens around the property.


"How to Say Goodbye in Robot" by Natalie Standiford


After moving to Baltimore and enrolling in a private school, high school senior Beatrice befriends a quiet loner with a troubled family history.


"Liar" by Justine Larbalestier


Compulsive liar Micah promises to tell the truth after revealing that her boyfriend has been murdered.


"The Reformed Vampire Support Group" by Catherine Jinks


Fifteen-year-old vampire Nina has been stuck for fifty-one years in a boring support group for vampires, and nothing exciting has ever happened to them--until one of them is murdered and the others must try to solve the crime.


"Soul Enchilada" by David Macinnis Gill


When, after a demon appears to repossess her car, she discovers that both the car and her soul were given as collateral in a deal made with the Devil by her irrascible grandfather, eighteen-year-old Bug Smoot, given two-days' grace, tries to find ways to outsmart the Devil as she frantically searches for her conveniently absent relative.


"If I Stay" by Gayle Forman


While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, considers whether to live with her grief or join her family in death.


"Tales of the Madman Underground" by John Barnes


In September 1973, as the school year begins in his depressed Ohio town, high-school senior Kurt Shoemaker determines to be "normal," despite his chaotic home life with his volatile, alcoholic mother and the deep loyalty and affection he has for his friends in the therapy group dubbed the Madman Underground.


"Shutter Island" by Dennis Lehane


A scorching psychological thriller set in 1954 at Ashcliffe Hospital--a federal institution for the criminally insane. As a storm threatens to strand U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner Chuck Aule, they stumble into an evil darker than any nightmare.

Here's A Story Written By A Member of the "Teen Writers' Group"

"The Eleventh Moon" by Manan Garg

It was like a bad dream come true.  I looked around the corner, seeing a perfect sunset.  Seeing the sunset might not bring hope to my people.  But at least I can see it once more.  The more I speak, the more danger you all are in. 

The fight between the Pans and Humans draws the Earth's end nearer. Life here is dangerous, and the "Jukinators" are huge, ugly, wicked aliens.  These aliens kill anyone who won't worship them.  Our only hope is "Dragon Ri....."  Get out of here!  Our journey will start here......

TO BE CONTINUED

TEEN WRITERS UNITE!

On Thursday, March 4th members of the "Write On!" Teen Writers' Group created their first work of fiction together. The story began with "It was a beautiful, sunny day. But then, it happened." The sheet was passed around to each member who had a few minutes to add their thoughts to the story.

I must warn you that the story may get wacky and weird, but who cares, that's what makes fiction great right? Please enjoy, and feel free to leave comments and add your thoughts to it.

Sincerely,
Denise J., Teen Librarian

It was a beautiful, sunny day. But then it happened. Superman quickly dashed into the air to save a box that fell in the water. Then the Jokerman wanted to fight Superman. Then the Power Puff Girls raced Superman to save the day.

The smiley face sticker on the box peeled off as fat things invaded space. What were they? No one would find out until they landed.


The fat things were very overweight. Their augmentative weight caused a huge disturbance. Earth's only placid hero was the only skinny kid, Ozzy. Ozzy was so underweight he could absorb the fat and still be underweight. It was all up to him.


Ozzy went to the supermarket and bought skittles, "taste the rainbow" and went to Canada. There, he went to sleep as people were being attacked by overweight hobos all over the world. Then, the hobos started to feed Ozzy with as many hamburgers as possible. But, it didn't work. HE WAS TOO UNDERWEIGHT! Then, Amir dropped a ton into Ozzy's mouth. But it still didn't work; he was still 2 pounds.


So...What can defeat Ozzy? I know! "OBCT!" "OBCT" is a weapon so awesome, it's name is Mokana.


Then a Barbie came to life and walked around eating peanuts. She was beautiful and she was a princess. She ran away on her wedding day. She was desperately eating peanuts. Then a prince came from oblivion and went to her and chopped off her head which turned into a peanut because she ate too many peanuts. Then the princess hopped to the prince's house.


Other Barbies invaded the Earth then, and they tried to kill the prince who made their friend a peanut. So then all the Barbies took out all the guards to get to the prince. But the Barbies were eaten by a pack of wolves, and only one Barbie survived. Half of her face was missing. She then gets mauled by another pack of wolves, but she's still alive. Then, unfortunately the surviving Barbie also gets mauled by a bear and dies painfully and slowly.


THE END