Adios!

I will be leaving my position at the Coventry Library--
It's been fun sharing books with you.
Adios!

Join the Wildwood Dance

Every night of the full moon, Jena tucks her frog Gogu in her pocket and follows her sisters through the magic portal to dance with the fairy folk. But things take a sinister turn when the Night People come visiting Fairy Grove.
Can Jena protect her older sister from the pale and handsome stranger? And just who or what is Gogu?
Read the outcome of this Transylvanian tale in WILDWOOD DANCING by Juliet Marillier.

Buddha Boy

What a freak! This kid sports an oversize dragon tee shirt, a shaved head, and a perpetual smile. If that isn't weird enough, he actually starts begging in the school cafeteria.
Now Justin is paired with him for a school project...

Buddha Boy by Kathe Koja

Join the Larry Fest!

Josh’s best friend Beth is enthralled with a hot new website. www.gospelaccordingtolarry.com gets hundreds of hits a day. She’s hooked on its rants against our ad-driven, materialistic society. But Josh is too distracted by Beth’s awesome mouth to listen to what it’s saying. Besides, he knows much more about Larry and his sermons than Beth will ever guess.

Next week we're discussing THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LARRY at Knotty Oak School Media Center on Wednesday April 25 at 2:20. Come join us for the Larry Fest!

Step Up to the Plate

Do you love baseball? Would you like to win a free trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame? Check this out:
Welcome to Step Up to the Plate @ your library, where kids and young adults (9-18 years of age) can to win a trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame!
Here’s how to get started:
Returning players click here to login.
1. Select a baseball book. You can choose a book from this list or pick the book of your choice, as long as it has to do with baseball. You can always ask your librarian for help in finding the perfect book for you.
2. Read the book and choose a favorite character (fictional or non-fictional).
3. In 250-750 words, describe the character and tell us about why the character inspires you.
4. Submit your essay. You can do this in two different ways:
Submit your essay online. All essays must be submitted by September 1, 2007. OR
Send your essay by mail.
Fill out an entry form and send it in the mail with your typed essay. Make sure you fill out the entire entry form in order to be eligible, and please remember that all entries sent by mail must be typed.
Send to: Step Up to the Plate @ your library PO Box 118070 Chicago, IL 60611 All entries must be postmarked by September 1, 2007 and received by September 10, 2007. (Note: No UPS, FedEx or DHL or other non-U.S. Post Office packages can be accepted.)

Pay it Forward

Trevor's teacher gave him a challenge. He took it. He was going to change the world.
The movie was cool. The book is cooler.
Read Pay it Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Pass it on.

Zing into Spring

It may not feel much like spring yet, but we have some great programs scheduled for May and June, despite the weather. Check it out!

May and June Programs for Teens
Coventry Public Library
1672 Flat River Road
Coventry, RI 02816
Please Sign Up for Programs at the Reference Desk

Shell and Pipe Cleaner Pets
Wednesday May 2
3:30-4:30 p.m.
In the Council Chambers

Zebra Pudding
Wednesday May 9
3:30-4:30 pm
In Staff Room

Book Discussion Group: The Exchange Student by Kate Gilmore
At Knotty Oak Middle School Media Center
Wednesday May 16
2:20-3:20 pm

Sugar Cookies
Wednesday May 23
3:30-4:30 pm
In Staff Room

Teen Improv
Wednesday May 30
3:30-4:30 pm
In Council Chambers

Duct Tape Wallets
Wednesday June 6
3:30-4:30 pm
In Staff Room

Summer Volunteer Meeting
Friday June 22
10:30 a.m.
In Council Chambers

April Poetry Share

April is National Poetry Month, so I'm inviting you to share a favorite poem here, either one you've read or one you've written.
Here's one of my favorites:

SONNET 130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
--William Shakespeare

Also, this website has great tips for Teen Bloggers:
www.BlogSafety.com

Sold

I just finished reading SOLD by Patricia McCormick. It's about the slave trade—the modern slave trade.
Lakshmi lives amid the beautiful mountains of Nepal. Her family is desperately poor and her stepfather gambles what little money they have away. She believes that her stepfather is sending her to the city to work as a maid, but instead she is taken across the border to work in India in a trade of a much different kind…

This stuff is really happening in our world. Right now. And it's not just happening in far off countries like India and Nepal. It's happening in New York City and Boston and Providence, too.
You can find out more about child trafficking and how you can help at Patricia McCormick’s website:
http://www.pattymccormick.com/

Young Heroes

Do you know a young hero? Nominate them for the Barron's Young Hero award at http://www.barronprize.org/

And talk about real heroes, check out The Hero Project: 2 Teens, 1 Notebook. 13 Extraordinary Interviews by teenage brothers, Robert and William Hatch.

Celebrate with the Divas

In celebration of Women's History Month, four fantastic YA authors have launched a new website. Check it out on http://www.readergirlz.com/divas.html

Write Stuff

Do you love to write poetry or stories or anything else?
Try your chances on this writing contest for all ages at
http://www.childrencomefirst.com/onlinewriter.shtml

Earn your Bread

We just had a terrific book discussion group on THE BREADWINNER by Deborah Ellis.
Did any of you folks out there in cyberspace ever read the book? What did you think of it?
I'd love to see your comments.

Asteroid Alert!

Miranda leads a normal life, worrying about grades, boys, being asked to the prom. Like everyone else in her neighborhood, she joins the block party watching the expected asteroid's collision with the moon. But the collision is much bigger than the scientists expected. The moon is knocked out of its orbit. First come the tsunamis, then the volcanic eruptions, and then... nothing will ever be normal again.
Check out LIFE AS WE KNEW IT by Susan Beth Pfeffer.

Big Questions

I know the author, so yeah, I'm prejudiced, but BLIND FAITH by Ellen Wittlinger is a great read.
Summer should be a breezy time of hanging out at the lake, but when Liz's grandmother dies, her mom falls apart and starts going to this spiritualist church where the elders talk to those who have "passed." Liz doesn't know what to believe.
Then there are the new kids across the street, staying with their crabby grandmother. Liz is drawn to little Courtney, who is trying to understand her why her mother is so sick, but older brother Nathan isn't so friendly.

Love Poems

Happy Valentine's Day! Here is my gift to all you lovers and longers out there.
www.poet.org/love


When You are Old
by W. B. Yeats
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Braid Blog

I am a newby at this blog stuff, and I just found an incredible blog. On it is a discussion of the book THE BRAID by Helen Frost. Made me want to run out and get the book. Check out this great site at:
http://yzocaet.blogspot.com/

Your Award

Adults pick other book award winners, but not this one. This time YOU choose the winner. Make your choice. Vote for your favorite Rhode Island Teen Book Award title.
You can print off a ballot at
http://www.ri.net/RIEMA/ritbaballot.htm
and drop it off at the Reference Desk at the Coventry Public Library

Invention Dimension

Ever have one of those great ideas--for some incredible invention that's just so fantastic you figure you should get it patented--well this website is the place to go.
Check out the Brain Drain game or noodle around the patent office at

http://web.mit.edu/invent/g-braindrain/game.html

Win $50!

Enter the Earth Day 2007 Water Supply Essay and Graphics Contest sponsored by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island for a chance to win $50.
For more information and contest rules go to:
http://asri.org/ewing/articles/jan_07_03.html

You're A Star!

Calling teen dancers, singers, gymnists, musicians, comedians, etc.
Be a star! Audition for our Teen Variety Show
Wednesday January 24 from 3-4:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers
at the Coventry Public Library,
1672 Flat River Road
Coventry, RI

Race the Iditorod--blind!

I just read a great sports book,
No End in Sight: My Life as a Blind Iditarod Racer by Rachael Scdoris.
Born legally blind, Rachael struggled through her parents’ divorce, moves, and the taunts of her classmates. Her father was a dog sledder and she found peace in racing across the snow with the dogs. Required by her father to be able to run half the length of a race in order to race the dogs solo, Rachael joined track, eventually becoming the captain of her track team and an Olympic torch carrier. But her dream was to compete in the grueling Iditarod across the wilderness of Alaska.

Ghost Hunters

Okay, okay, this is really an adult book. But I think you can handle it. It's fascinating stuff, all about legitimate, well-known scientists who risked their reputations to investigate the truth about ghosts and the people who claimed they could contact them.
Some of the stories they uncover are uncanny--and there doesn't seem to be logical explanations for them. And this isn't fiction--this book is a historical look at a real scientific investigation.
Check it out!
GHOST HUNTERS: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of the life after death, by Deborah Blum.

Happy New Year!

I'm back! And we have some exciting Teen Programs coming up. Next Wednesday, January 10, we'll be making calzones in the Staff Room at the Coventry Public Library.
Then on Wednesday, January 17 we're launching a Book Group at the Knotty Oak Middle School, 2:20-3:20 in the Media Center. Only open to the first 20 teens to sign up with Mrs. Murphy at the Media Center--so hurry and reserve your spot.

At the end of the Month we'll be holding a Variety Show. If you can sing, dance, play an instrument, do karate, do gymnastics, tell jokes, etc. bring your act and audition for our show on January 24 at 3:00 in the Council Chambers. Rehearsal and Performance are the following week, January 31 from 3:00-4:30 in the Council Chambers.