For anyone who's not on Twitter or Facebook, the Teen Advisory Board is hosting a pizza lunch in the library garden (weather permitting) this Thursday, Oct. 2nd, at 12PM. We'll eat, play games, and then have our monthly TAB meeting at 1:30--anyone 13 and up is welcome to join us and see what TAB is about :) The meeting will last until 2:30, and we'll be turning part of the second half over to some representatives from Berry College, who will be holding a Teen Creative Writing class that should start later in October.
Because we'll be limited on time at our meeting, here are the things we most need to discuss:
*Teen Read Week (starts Oct.13--theme is 'Turn Dreams Into Reality @ Your Library'). At our last meeting, we had a few ideas
-Books about dreams as a display
-Candy for young adults who bring their library card to the Children's Department desk
- Some kind of riddle-based scavenger hunt
-Covered books with only the barcode showing--so you check it out and get a surprise :) I might try to pull some of these before the meeting so we can personalize them on Thursday.
*Improving our publicity methods
*Next event--what, when, etc.
*Ideas for our bulletin board
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Last but not least, I'm really behind on posting book reviews--so here are some recent ones :)
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Madilyn, age 13, had this to say about John Green's book (now also a movie!) The Fault in Our Stars:
"Hazel Grace Lancaster, a terminally ill teenager, thinks there is no hope for her anymore. Until she meets Augustus Waters. I liked everything about this book! It's so raw, and it doesn't sugar-coat anything about what the characters go through."
She gives it 5/5 stars and recommends it to anyone.
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Jacob, age 15, reviewed Airman by Eoin Colfer:
"A young boy that loves flying, grows up to be an inventor, but is betrayed when he discovers a conspiracy against the King. I pretty much liked everything about this book. It has action, adventure, a dash of romance, and the story is just awesome. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone from 12-17. It's a great read.
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TAB member Phoebe, who is 13, had great things to say about Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series:
"A twelve-year-old genius, criminal mastermind, millionaire that starts to mess with fairies. But not Tinker Bell kind of faries, SWAT team kinda fairies. Nuf said? PLEASE don't get me started on how much I liked. LOL. The only thing I didn't like, was that there were only 8 books :) I recommend the whole series, and ANYONE should read it."
No wonder she gave it 5 stars--I know this series is on my to-read list!
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Shannon, 16, another TAB member, gave 5 stars to P.C. Cast's House of the Night series. It's about a vampire high priestess, and she liked everything about the plot, writer, and ending. She recommends it to anyone who likes vampire fiction.
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Lauren, 16, who--you guessed it--is also on our Teen Advisory Board--reviewed one of my favorite reads of the past couple of years, Divergent by Veronica Roth. She gave it 5 stars and had this to say:
"Divergent is about a girl named Beatrice 'Tris' Prior, who lives in a dystopian Chicago. The city is composed of different factions, and after taking her required faction initiation test, Tris is in for some shocking news. She must decide who she wants to be--while trying to survive.
I liked that this book was constantly exciting. I also really liked the characters. I enjoyed reading the entire trilogy, but Divergent was by far my favorite of the three books.
I definitely recommend this book! If you like books such as The Hunger Games or the Matched series, then you would most definitely enjoy Divergent as well."
She encourages you to read the book before seeing the movie (which is out on DVD now)
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Chloe gave another 5-star review to Richelle Mead's book Shadow Kiss, the third title in the Vampire Academy series
"It was about a world with the Moroi, an ancient vampire race that is not evil and does die, and Dhampirs who are half humand and Moroi and are guardians for the Moroi. Lastly there are Strogoi, who are the unnatural product of either a Moroi killing when it feeds, or a Strogoi exchanging blood with a Moroi, vampire, or human.
I loved the writing style, but my absolute favorite thing about this book was the character development from Rose, Lissa, Dimitri, Christian and Adrian. The ONLY thing I disliked about this book was that it was so short! I wish it was just a tad more descriptive as well.
Of course I would recommend this book! I don't really know what kind of reader would enjoy it, I only know that I loved it!"
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16-year-old TAB member Aleya reviewed two books--here are her reviews:
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (5 stars)
Clairy Fray, a sixteen-year-old New Yorker, has her life turned completely upside down when she finds out that her past and her self are not what thought. Along the way, she meets potential love interest Jace Wayland and his adopted siblings, Isabelle and Alec Lightwood, when she is propelled into a world she never knew existed.
I loved everything, from the gripping plot to the amazing characters! Equal parts action, romance, and humor, this book will not let you down!
I think anyone would enjoy this. However, the series contains some mature content. Also check out the prequel series, The Infernal Devices!"
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (4 1/2 stars)
"Puck Connolly decides to enter a dangerous race involving 'water horses', a dangerous sea creature, and men. There's just one problem: she's a girl, and girls have long been excluded from the Scorpio Races--that is, until she meets Sean Kendrick.
It was so different from anything else I'd read! Very original! It also has quite a bit of romance thrown in with action!
Definitely, if you're into fantasy, read this!"
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Want to add your own review? We've got forms at the end of the Young Adult computer counter--just review your favorite book or series and we'll hang it up and add it to the blog!
