Wilton Library Teens Blog

FUN and games?

Marissa — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:58:49 +0000

Your Teen Advisory Board has scheduled an awesome event for Friday, March 29 called Cheesy Game Day. Come by the Brubeck Room from 2-4pm and play all sorts of board games and win a chance at some fabulous prizes! You can register here: Cheesy Game Day

While our Cheesy Game Day will definitely be fun, there is a dark side to some of those classic games. “LIFE” originally included poverty and gambling debt among possible outcomes, and “Clue” included weapons like a syringe and a bomb. It makes Professor Plum in the Conservatory with a candlestick look entirely harmless.

You can read the entire article from Yahoo! Games here…and make sure to join us for some real fun on March 29!

Award-winning books!

Marissa — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:31:43 +0000

The American Library Association announced its Youth Media Awards on January 28th. These are kind of a big deal. This group of awards includes the Caldecott Medal, the Newbery Medal, and the Printz Award. Of those, the Printz is given to a book demonstrating excellence in literature for young adults (the other two are for picture books and children’s literature, respectively). You can read the American Library Association’s press release with all the awards here. Follow the links below to view the books in the library’s catalog and place holds on them, if you wish. If there is no link, we don’t own the item, but we can always get materials for you through interlibrary loan.

Michael L. Printz Award (excellence in literature written for young adults): In Darkness by Nick Lake

Alex Awards (10 best adult books that appeal to teens): Caring is Creepy by David Zimmerman, Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman, Juvenile in Justice by Richard Ross, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf, One Shot at Forever by Chris Ballard, Pure by Julianna Baggott, The Round House by Louise Erdrich, Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt, and Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

Margaret A. Edwards Award (lifetime achievement in writing for young adults): Tamora Pierce

Mildred L. Batchelder Award (outstanding children’s book originally published in another country and language, then translated into English for publication in the United States): My Family for the War by Anne Voorhoeve

Odyssey Award (best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults): The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, narrated by Kate Rudd

Pura Belpré (Author) Award (honoring a Latino writer whose children’s books best portray the Latino cultural experience): Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award (most distinguished informational book for children): Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

Stonewall Book Award (English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience): Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (again!)

William C. Morris Award (debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens): Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

and last but not least…

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults: Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin (again!!)

If you’re in need of a good read or listen, or you have to pick a book for school, or you just need something to flip through when you’re riding in the car, these are some excellent choices. YALSA (rhymes with salsa) stands for Young Adult Library Services Association and they are completely dedicated to awesome library service and materials for teens. Check them out here and browse around their other lists. They even have a YALSA Teen Book Finder app.

Who will be thanking the Academy?

Marissa — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:17:17 +0000

The Golden Globe awards were last night, celebrating the best of TV and film. It’s generally thought that the Golden Globes are a good measure of how the Oscar Awards (aka Academy Awards) will play out. Do you like to guess who might win? On the website for the Oscars, you can fill out your picks and see how you stack up against your Facebook friends. Go here for the ballot and the details (click on the FAQ for info). The awards air on Sunday, February 24, so you have plenty of time!

Here at the library, our media librarian Melissa has already set out our Oscar Ballot Box. If you get the most correct answers, you can win free DVD rentals! Next time you’re in, drop by the circulation desk to participate!

What was your favorite movie this year, Oscar-nominated or otherwise?

Happy New Year!

Marissa — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 01:17:54 +0000

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you had some relaxing and fun times over the holidays. The new year is synonymous with fresh starts and resolutions– doing something new, different, or better. We get all excited that we’re going to make a change and then if we either forget or give up on our resolution, we feel rotten. A New Year’s resolution is just like any other goal– something to work toward and accomplish. It doesn’t have to be huge, but being able to measure the goal is important, because then you can see how far you’ve come. If you want to get more exercise, keep a log of how much time you spend walking or jogging. Want to save money? Get a jar and start tossing in your change– it will multiply quickly! Feel like you need to get more organized? Spend a few minutes each day tossing out things you don’t need anymore, and watch that trash bag fill up. Little by little, you will work toward your goal. If you don’t make it all the way, it’s ok– you are human after all. Enjoy the fresh start!

Never forgetting

Marissa — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:15:10 +0000

The events of last Friday, December 14, in Newtown, Connecticut are shocking, scary, and sad. It has always seemed to me that Fairfield County is really just a big town. Odds are that all of us have some connection to Newtown, whether it’s playing on a rival sports team, living in a neighboring town, or knowing someone who lives or works there. This shooting has not just shaken Newtown, but the entire county, state, and nation. Keep loved ones close and stay safe.

President Obama’s speech at Newtown High School last night may be watched on the Washington Post website if you didn’t get to see it live. There is also a transcript.

12/12/12

Marissa — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 23:26:37 +0000

It’s the last time this century we’ll have a day like this! Happy 12/12/12! From reading the news, there are lots of marriages happening today, and there is of course the 12/12/12 concert being held to raise money for those affected by Hurricane Sandy back in November. You can also check out Mental Floss, a cool knowledge-and-trivia website posting “lists of 12″ all day. Read the first post of the day here and then go read the dozens and dozens of lists they’ve put together. Fun facts by the dozen. Have a great day!

Life before texting

Marissa — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:36:28 +0000

Texting is probably the easiest way to get in touch with someone. Have a question about your math homework? Text your friend. Going to stay late at school? Text your parents. There are even “text a librarian” services out there if you have a reference question (we don’t have that yet, but you can always give us a ring when we’re open.) Before texting (or even emailing), people wrote letters to each other. A cool website called Letters of Note has collected about 900 of these letters, both handwritten and typed. You can browse by author or date. It’s sort of like peeking into someone’s diary and is a fascinating way to spend some time. Here’s one that is sort of sad but sweet: Fiona Apple writing about her dog who is very sick.

The letters date from pre-1600 to the 2000s. I don’t recommend looking at the website if you have something urgent to do because the letters are amazing! Enjoy.

It’s NaNoWriMo time!

Marissa — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:00:28 +0000

It’s the first of November, and that means it’s time for NaNoWriMo! What’s that, you ask? NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It’s a challenge to write a full-length novel in the span of one month! Go ahead and write– let your imagination take over! For adults, the goal is 50,000 words, or almost 2000 words a day. For the NaNoWriMo Young Writer’s Program, you can set your own reasonable goal. The NaNoWriMo website likes to track how many people are participating, so if you’re going to write the next great American novel, make sure you get all the info and sign up. If you’re over the age of 18, check out the regular NaNoWriMo website to sign up.

Good luck!

Writers who got their start at a young age (click the links for title info):

S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders

Alexandra Adornetto, Halo, Hades, Heaven

Christopher Paolini, Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, Inheritance

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Maureen Daly, Seventeenth Summer

Alex and Brett Harris, Do Hard Things

Isamu Fukui, Truancy, Truancy: Origins

Teens’ Top Ten!

Marissa — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:28:43 +0000

Happy Teen Read Week! This is the official week that the American Library Association and libraries recognize the importance of teens reading for fun. Unofficially, we do that every week.

Teen Read Week is also when the Teens’ Top Ten is announced. The Teens’ Top Ten is like the Teen Choice Awards for books, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year. Sixteen lucky teen book groups in schools and libraries across the country make the official nominations, and then anyone ages 12-18 can vote in September. The winners are announced during Teen Read Week…and since that’s now, here are the winners! Click the link to see the library’s catalog and reserve any of the titles with your library card. Drumrolllllll…

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth

2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

3. Legend by Marie Lu

4. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

5. What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

6. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

7. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

8. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

9. Where She Went by Gayle Forman

10. Abandon by Meg Cabot

43 days to go!

Marissa — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:59:29 +0000

It’s hard to believe, but the 2012 election is only forty-three days away. That’s about seven weeks. No matter what your political leanings, it doesn’t mean a thing unless you’re registered to vote! DoSomething.org is running a campaign called Vote Up or Shut Up to encourage unregistered young voters to register in time for the election. There are 44 million young people under the age of 30 in the United States. Imagine if every one of those people voted? If you are 18 or older, you can register on the Vote Up or Shut Up page. If you are under 18, you can pre-register and DoSomething.org will send you a reminder to register on your 18th birthday. Want a little more encouragement? If you sign up with DoSomething.org and tell them which five of your friends is least likely to vote, you could win a $4000 scholarship.

For more voting information regarding deadlines in various states, surf on over to MyTimeToVote.com and click the “Voting Requirements” tab on the top. There, you can select specific information for your state. (Connecticut– you have to register at least seven days before the election in order to be eligible.)

Make your voice heard this November and vote!