Enthusiastic?

Try ENTHUSIASM by Polly Shulman
Julie's best friend, Ashleigh is always enmeshed in some craze and dragging Julie with her. But when Ashleigh develops a passion for Jane Austin novels and decides that she and Julie must crash the dance at the all-boys prep school to find their "Mr. Darcie," Julie gets embroiled in one embarrassing situation after another. But who is writing those sonnets, and are they meant for Julie or Ashleigh?

If you're interested in writing sonnets or anything else, this afternoon, we'll have our first Teen Writers' Group of the school year. Join us at 3 p.m. in the Council Chambers...and even if you can't make it, you're welcome to submit your poetry, short stories, articles, and art to TEENWORKS! (Open to all students in 6-12 grade) Just submit your material to the Reference Desk.

Feed her Heart

Cyril dreams of being a chef, but more than that, he dreams of the beautiful Rose, who just sees him as nothing more than her chubby, good natured buddy. Things get worse when Cyril's best friend Nick asks him to help him win Rose by preparing gourmet meals that Nick passes off as his own. Who gets the girl? Find out by reading Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw.

And to flaunt your own cooking skills try this recipe, which we made at our Teen Cooks Program last Wednesday.

Autumn Apple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcakes:
1cup (1 large) apple, peeled, cored, and chopped (use “apple torture device”)
1 ¼ cup flour
1tablespoon cider or apple juice
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves
2 large eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Position rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 medium muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.
2. Peel, core and chop apple
3. Put apple in a small bowl and stir in cider
4. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in the large bowl of an electric mixer at low speed.
5. Mix in eggs, oil, vanilla, and apple mixture.
6. Divide batter among 12 muffin tins, about 3 tablespoons of batter in each.
7. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 23-25 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups powdered sugar

1. Combine butter, cream cheese, and vanilla in large bowl of electric mixer and beat on medium low speed for about 1 minute until smooth
2. Decrease speed and add powdered sugar, half at a time.
3. Beat until powdered sugar is completely mixed in and mixture is smooth.
4. Spread over top of each cupcake

Have your say!

What would you like to see for Teens at the Coventry Public Library? We want to know. Let your voice be heard by filling out this survey:
http://www.coventrylibrary.org/tsurvey.htm

Out of Africa

Imagine yourself fleeing famine and war, only to find your survival depends on someone who is supposed to be your enemy. That's what happens to Christian Sahay and Jewish Rahel as they try to escape the upheaval in their native Ethiopia. You can find out what happens to them in THE STORYTELLER'S BEADS by Jane Kurtz.
Author Jane Kurtz is a fascinating person, who was born in the United States but grew up in Ethiopia. Hear more about her life at http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2006/09/author-interview-jane-kurtz-on.html
Jane has started an organization to make books available to kids over there. Check out this website www.ethiopiareads.org

Culture Shock

I just read a great book, HABIBI, by Naomi Shihab Nye. The main character, Liyana, has spent all her life in St. Louis with her American mother and her Palestinian father. She's just received her first kiss when her father announces he's moving the family back to Jeruselem where he was born. Now Liyana is suddenly thrust into a Palestinian culture where only tourists wear shorts, and boy/girl interactions are strictly regulated. She's terribly homesick until she meets Omer, a Jewish boy. How will her Palestinian family react?

You might also be interested in a letter that the author wrote "To would-be terrorists"
at http://godlas/myweb/uga.edu/shahibnye.html

Tell a librarian what to do

Want to tell a librarian what to do? Come to our Teen Advisory Board Meeting, Wednesday, September 13, from 3-4 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Coventry Public Library.

Sold!

Sold is a new book due out next week. It's written by Patricia McCormick, author of Cut.

You can read an interview with her about the book at
<<http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6369325.html?nid=2788>>

The Experimental Experience

Our Fall Teen Programs have begun! Yesterday we made "Baskets of Me." See if you can spot one of our teen's creations in our Teen Nook.

What comes next? That's up to you.
Help plan our programs--come to our TEEN ADVISORY BOARD or TAB Meeting next Wednesday, September 13 from 3-4 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Coventry Public Library.

Yesterday, at our Baskets of Me meeting we got to talking about gruesome science experiments gone wrong. That reminded me of a great new book. GUINEA PIG SCIENTISTS: BOLD SELF-EXPERIMENTERS IN SCIENCE AND MEDICINE by Leslie Dendy and Mel Boring describes scientists driven to uncover the truth by performing wild and dangerous experiments on themselves. Some of them even survived!