Why should you come to a Young Writer's Program?

Have you wanted to write a novel in a month? Do you want to meet others who are interested in writing? What about just wanting like-minded individuals to correspond with? Want to push and challenge yourself? Just like being at the library?

Come to October's Novel Prep Sessions on Tuesdays @ 3:30 pm. The Library is providing laptops for who can't bring their own and writing devices for those who like to hand-write everything!

The First Meeting, on October 6th, will go over what NaNo is, what most people do to prepare, signing up for the Young Writer's Program, find our Virtual Classroom, and outlining what our goals are for our October Prep and for November .

Then we will have an activity to help us lock away our Inner Editor and start to relish the insanity that will be November.

Some Key Notes: The point of this program is to push yourself on your creativity, make you fulfill a self-made promise, and nothing you write will be public. Also, everything done inside of the virtual classroom is self-contained. If at the end of November you wish to edit your novel and try to get it published, I will aid you as much as possible!

Teen Fiction Picks

Looking for a good book?

Book cover images and summaries from Goodreads.

Thirteen by James Phelen- Kidnapped from school and finding out his parents aren't who he thinks they are, Sam is suddenly running from danger at every turn. Nothing will ever be the same again.  With his life and identity shattered, Sam's salvation is tied to an ancient prophecy. He is in the final battle to save the world, up against an enemy plotting to destroy us all.  He alone can find the last thirteen.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer- Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead- When seventh grader Georges (the S is silent) moves into a Brooklyn apartment building, he meets Safer, a twelve-year-old coffee-drinking loner and self-appointed spy. Georges becomes Safer's first spy recruit. His assignment? Tracking the mysterious Mr. X, who lives in the apartment upstairs. But as Safer becomes more demanding, Georges starts to wonder: how far is too far to go for your only friend?

Keep reading!

Shaen

Graphic Novel Picks

Looking for a good book?

Book cover images and summaries from Goodreads.

The Titan's Curse: The Graphic Novel- Rick Riordan's internationally best-selling The Titan's Curse becomes a graphic novel in the hands of comic-book luminaries Robert Venditti, Attila Futaki, and Gregory Guilhaumond.

The Return of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke- Zita the Spacegirl has saved planets, battled monsters, and wrestled with interplanetary fame. But she faces her biggest challenge yet in the third and final installment of the Zita adventures. Wrongfully imprisoned on a penitentiary planet, Zita has to plot the galaxy's greatest jailbreak before the evil prison warden can execute his plan of interstellar domination!

Lunch Lady and the School Wide Scuffle by Jarrett J. Krosoczka- Lunch Lady and Betty have been unceremoniously cut from the school budget, and the timing couldn't be worse—the villains from all nine of her previous adventures are worming their way back into Thompson Brook with a masterfully devious plan. Will the Breakfast Bunch still be able to count on Lunch Lady's superhero gadgets and abilities to save the school, or are they on their own? Don't miss Lunch Lady's swashbuckling finale!

Keep reading!

Shaen

July Contest Winners for Ironton Headquarters

Congratulations to all of the kids and teens who participated in our July Contest Month!  For the Ironton Headquarters, winners were as follows:

Coloring Contest (age 3-6 category):
1st place- Braeden Oberle
2nd place- Braelyn Turnbough
3rd place- Knox Beard
Honorable Mention- Connor Oberle

"My Favorite Book" Contest (age 7-14 category):
1st place- Chelsie Rice
2nd place- Hanna Rice

Branch winners will be announced next week.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Ironton Back to School Fair

What a great time Miss Pat and I had at today's Back to School Fair at Ironton!  Over the course of about four hours, we registered 47 new library cards!  Check out a sampling of pictures below!

We had a selection of giveaway books for participating families.

The event brought in a steady stream of activity.

Miss Pat and Miss Shaen getting ready for the next round of kiddos!

Registering patrons for new library cards.

Registering patrons for new library cards.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Back to School Fair TODAY!

After lots of prep work this week, we're ready for the Ironton Back-to-School Fair!  The Fair will be at First Baptist Church of Ironton and run from 10-2:30 pm today.  Stop by and see Miss Pat and me- we'll be signing families up for new library cards, handing out giveaway books, and passing out goody bags to the kids!

A view of the library conference room yesterday.  We now have 150 goody bags ready to go!

Keep reading!

Shaen

The Giver Trailer

If you're a fan of Lois Lowry or dystopian science fiction (think The Hunger Games, Divergent), you only have sixteen days to wait until The Giver hits movie theaters!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Teen Event- Doctor Who

First of all, a HUGE thanks to Miss Pat, for gamely taking over the Doctor Who Teen Program last week while I was out sick with the flu!  We had to cancel our Ironton session in order to give her enough to time to finish prepping materials (though if you were signed up originally to attend the event at Ironton, please drop by the front desk to pick up a craft kit to take home with you), and our Fredericktown session was packed to the brim!  Check out all the photos below (plus the cool handmade Tardis one of the attending adults brought).

Gathering before the program starts.

Getting ready to make bowties (in keeping with Matt Smith's Doctor, who proclaims "bowties are cool".).

Yep, they're cool :)

And cooler still!

The group also made paper cubee-style Tardises.

A finished Tardis (in the perfect shade of blue).

Check out the fez (if you're a Whovian, you get the reference!).

A finished paper cup Dalek.  This kid's an artist (and a superfan!).

One lucky winner found a Doctor Who picture taped under her seat during a game of Unmusical Chairs- and earned some Doctor-approved metallic glitter slime!

Posing in front of the Tardis with a finished project.

More Tardis pictures.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Summer Book Bunch

This week, we held our Summer Book Bunch at four branches and discussed Kat Fall's underwater ecological adventure, Dark Life.  In keeping with our ocean theme, we snacked on cheddar fish crackers, experimented with scale by measuring out the span of a whale (interesting fact: at an average of 100 feet in length, a whale wouldn't even fit in most of our libraries!), sorted sea animals into their proper "depth" zones, and painted glow-in-the-dark jellyfish mobiles!

Getting ready to discuss Dark Life.

Learning about the different ocean zones, which include the Sunlit, Twilight, Midnight, Abyss, and Trench zones.

Sorting ocean animals into proper depth designations.

Working on our luminescent jellyfish mobiles!

They also work well as hats.

Our bookish bunch at Ironton.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Reach for the Stars Book Fair

Wow!  What a great response we had to the Reach for the Stars Book Fair!  With almost $600 in collected pledges and well over 5000 minutes read by the kids over the course of only two weeks, I'd say the program was a success!  Top readers winning prizes were: Violet Morgan for the Youngest category with 930 minutes being read to her, Brandon Morgan for the Elementary category with 930 minutes read as well, and Brianne Cooper for the Teen category with an amazing 1,483 minutes read.
Thanks to our community sponsors- the Mountain Echo and Cole's Funeral Home-, as well as First State Community Bank, who provided goody bags for participants.  We also appreciate all the families and friends who pledged support to readers throughout June and Connie Fain, our local Usborne Books & More representative, who put in a lot of time getting great books into the hands of deserving kids.  Check out the pictures below!

Setting up our refreshments table.

Every kid who attended got a free balloon.

While families were waiting in line for books, they got to make a paper Mr. and Ms. Potato Head craft and fill out thank you cards to their sponsors.

The Ms. Potato Head sample waiting for the Fair to start.

At the start of the Book Fair, we announced our top readers for each age category and then celebrated by blowing noisemakers and setting off confetti poppers.

Our local Usborne rep, Connie Fain, handing out prizes to top readers.

Brandon Morgan, top reader for the Elementary category.

Brianne Cooper, top reader for the Teen category.

Violet Morgan, child with most minutes read to her in the Youngest category.

Digging into the refreshments: popcorn, lemonade, fresh fruit, and lollipops!

There were lots of great Usborne books and other materials on display.

 

Doling out balloons as the party ends!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Reach for the Stars Book Fair TODAY!!!

Come on out, and join all the fun!  Our Reach for the Stars Book Fair will be starting at 1 pm TODAY at the Ironton Library.  We'll have FREE freshly-popped popcorn, lemonade, crafts, lollipops and balloons for the kids, and of course, an expansive collection of Usborne books for sale!  The event is open to the public; you don't have to have participated in the Reach for the Stars Reading Club in order to attend the Book Fair.  We'll also be announcing our prize-winning top readers shortly after 1.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Mad Science

Check out all the photos from the awesome Mad Science program with Dr. Goo!

Talking about science.

Experimenting with chemical reactions.

Experimenting with sound.

More sound experiments.

We had lots of great science books to check out after the program, as well as free balloons and ice cream sandwiches donated by a story time mom!  Thanks to her if she's reading :)

Keep reading!

Shaen