Teen Scene

New Books

2011-06-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

Fourteen-year-old Karl Stern has never thought of himself as a Jew. But to the bullies at his school in Naziera Berlin, it doesn't matter that Karl has never set foot in a synagogue or that his family doesn't practice religion. Demoralized by relentless attacks on a heritage he doesn't accept as his own, Karl longs to prove his worth to everyone around him.

So when Max Schmeling, champion boxer and German national hero, makes a deal with Karl's father to give Karl boxing lessons, Karl sees it as the perfect chance to reinvent himself. A skilled cartoonist, Karl has never had an interest in boxing, but as Max becomes the mentor Karl never had, Karl soon finds both his boxing skills and his art flourishing.

But when Nazi violence against Jews escalates, Karl must take on a new role: protector of his family. Karl longs to ask his new mentor for help, but with Max's fame growing, he is forced to associate with Hitler and other Nazi elites, leaving Karl to wonder where his hero's sympathies truly lie. Can Karl balance his dream of boxing greatness with his obligation to keep his family out of harm's way?

One December night, 14-year-old Alex goes to bed. He wakes up to find himself in the wrong bedroom, in an unfamiliar house, in a different part of the country, and it's the middle of June. Six months have disappeared overnight. The family at the breakfast table are total strangers.
And when he looks in the mirror, another boy's face stares back at him. A boy named Flip. Unless Alex finds out what's happened and how to get back to his own life, he may be trapped forever inside a body that belongs to someone else.
Questions of identity, the will to survive, and what you're willing to sacrifice to be alive make this extraordinary book impossible to put down.

Charlie Bucktin, a bookish thirteen year old, is startled one summer night by an urgent knock on his bedroom window. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in their small mining town, and he has come to ask for Charlie's help. Terribly afraid but desperate to impress, Charlie follows him into the night.

Jasper takes him to his secret glade, where Charlie witnesses Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion. He locks horns with his tempestuous mother, falls nervously in love, and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.

Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia's led a privileged life at court. But everything changes when it's revealed, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection. Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city of Vivaskari, her best friend, Keirnan, and the only life she's ever known.

Sinda is sent to live with her only surviving relative, an aunt who is a dyer in a distant village. She is a cold, scornful woman with little patience for her newfound niece, and Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks. But when Sinda discovers that magic runs through her veins - long-suppressed, dangerous magic that she must learn to control - she realizes that she can never learn to be a simple village girl.

Returning to Vivaskari for answers, Sinda finds her purpose as a wizard scribe, rediscovers the boy who saw her all along, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor's history, forever.

Laura Wiess Milltown Author!

2011-06-18T06:24:00.000-07:00

Laura Wiess

Laura Wiess is a Young Adult author and
her hometown is none other than Milltown, NJ!

Her latest book "Ordinary Beauty"

How can you make someone love you when they won’t?

And what if that person happens to be your mother?

Sayre Bellavia grew up knowing she was a mistake: unplanned and unwanted. At five months shy of eighteen, she’s become an expert in loneliness, heartache, and neglect. Her whole life she’s been cursed, used, and left behind. Swallowed a thousand tears and ignored a thousand deliberate cruelties. Sayre’s stuck by her mother through hell, tried to help her, be near her, be important to her even as her mother slipped away into a violent haze of addiction, destroying the only chance Sayre ever had for a real family.

Now her mother is lying in a hospital bed, near death, ravaged by her own destructive behavior. And as Sayre fights her way to her mother’s bedside, she is terrified but determined to get the answer to a question no one should ever have to ask: Did my mother ever really love me? And what will Sayre do if the answer is yes?

Book Signing @ Barnes and Nobles in East Brunswick on Friday July 1st at 7pm~

The library has her other YA books as well.

Want more info check out her website.

Register for the Summer Reading program

2011-06-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a guide on how to use the online Summer Reading Program logs.

Register online and beginning on June 20th you can start adding reading logs.
For every 120 minutes you read you will receive a gift card towards a snack.
*You will receive a maximum of one gift card per week.
Please give a brief summary of the book(s) you are reading.

Don't forget you can pick up copies of HOOT and The Sisters Grimm at the circulation desk and join our online reading group!

Summer Reading PRograms

2011-06-09T15:56:00.000-07:00

Welcome everyone to the Summer Reading Program!

Registration begins next week you can register online or in person at the circulation desk.

Programs:

Teen Gaming
Mondays @ 3-4:30pm
For Grades 6th and up! Come in and play video games on our huge projector screen. we have a Wii and a XBOX 360.

Want to Volunteer?
Come into the library and volunteer we can give you a letter for community service for scouts or confirmation for example. Our volunteer duties range from watering the plants, straightening up the library, and prepping for other programs. Older teens can assist with programs and more complicated tasks.

Online Book Club:
We will be reading two books "HOOT" and "The Sisters Grimm"!
Simply create a user account on Edmodo, a safe online program, that looks a lot like Facebook with a "wall" and everything! This book club is private and will only be used by Milltown students in Joyce Kilmer Middle School.

If you want to join log onto Edmodo and sign up! Then on the left hand side you will click join group, enter the group # 6v2m95. Then on the left hand side you will see "Summer Reading Group", once you click that you will view the groups wall. You can comment on what you think of the book or questions you might have.

I hope to see everyone this summer at the library!

Summer Reading Program "You Are Here"

2011-06-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

Registration begins June 13th
Summer Reading Program begins June 20th

"You are here" this summer at Milltown Public Library’s Summer Reading Program!

All you have to do is read all summer long.

Register online starting June 13th or in person at the circulation desk. Check in every week online or in person and record how many minutes you've read. Once you read 12o minutes (2hrs) you will receive a prize.

Read all summer long to get
prizes and attend our programs!

What's new @ your library

2011-05-30T18:05:00.001-07:00

NEW: Matched by Ally Condie

Whatever Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

HERO by Mike Lupica

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck

Bookmarks

2011-04-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

Wednesday the 13th @ 3:30pm
Bookmark string dolls

For National Library Week we will create bookmarks out of string dolls. You can make a creepy, cute, or funny one!

Manga/ Graphic Novels/ Comics has moved!

2011-04-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

The comics/graphic novels/manga have moved to a new book shelf!

We also have added some to the collection.

Fruits Basket
Death Note

8 Bit Art

2011-02-06T06:43:00.000-08:00

*Please note that Librarian Katie did not make the peler beads above.

8 Bit Art is back!

Wednesday(Feb 16th) at 3:30-4:30pm come in and create some peler bead creations. I will have templates and different peg boards available.

XBOX 360 Dead

2011-01-29T12:46:00.000-08:00

Unfortonatly our XBOX 360 had died. It caught the red ring of death last week and is currently unable to load any games. I'm going to try and see if we can get a new one. I'm honestly really disappointed that it's broken, but I know the Monday gaming crew is even more upset. I'm hoping to investigate and find out how much a new one would be. Till then we have our Wii

Gaming

2010-11-27T07:30:00.000-08:00

Teen Gaming on Mondays as now from 3:30pm-4:30pm every Monday.

Our XBOX 360 is having some technical difficulties so we will be playing the Wii. We have Madden 2010, Glee Karaoke, and Rock Band.

World Book

2010-11-15T19:28:00.000-08:00

Need homework help? Check out World Book Web. It's a database that Milltown Public Library has access to. Think of it as a giant encyclopedia that you can search through online. It has different layouts depending on the person who is using it, little kids to older teens and adults., and lots of great information. It even helps you cite information that you've found.

Teen Read Week

2010-10-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

This week is all about Teen Read Week!

Monday
3:30-4:30pm 8bit art

4:30-6pm Teen Gaming (grades 6th and up only)

Wednesday
3:30-4:30pm String Dolls

Teen Gaming

2010-10-11T16:47:00.000-07:00

Every Monday from 4:30pm-6pm come to the library and play video games
on our XBOX 360 and wii!

We will also be doing some crafts on Wednesday.

Programs for after school

2010-09-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

What programs would you like to attend after school?

Show anime? crafts? board games?

let us know!
You can comment here, or email Librarian Katie KRLlera@lmxac.org.

T.A.B.

2010-09-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

Teen Advisory Board, also known as T.A.B. , will be having it's fist meeting this month.

T.A.B. is for teens/tweens who want more out of their library. We will meet once a month and discuss books that we've read, video games, music, and more. We will also discuss programs at the library. What programs do you want at our library? Anime afternoon program? Crafts? Gaming?

Come to our first meeting and help decide what you want your library to be!

September 27th time to follow shortly.

What's coming on vacation with me...

2010-08-22T06:27:00.001-07:00

With Mockingjay days away from coming out I wanted to be ready! (MPL has already ordered a copy) So coming with me are "Hunger Games" and "Catching Fire". If you haven't read them I definitely suggest checking them out!

Hunger Games

"Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place. "

2010-08-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

Death's Note book

2010-08-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

Death Note Volume One by Tsugumi Ohba
located in the comics & graphic novel section in Young Adult

"Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects - and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the "Death Note," a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the "Death Note" to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal...or his life?Light tests the boundaries of the "Death Note"'s powers as L and the police begin to close in. Luckily Light's father is the head of the Japanese National Police Agency and leaves vital information about the case lying around the house. With access to his father's files, Light can keep one step ahead of the authorities. But who is the strange man following him, and how can Light guard against enemies whose names he doesn't know?"

Librarian Katie's Review:
I read this book because I heard so many good things about the series. It also was a TV series in Japan, has three live action movies, and an American movie of the first three books is being made this year. So it's received a lot of notoriety. I was also intrigued by the whole Death Note book, Death note god, and the characters.

This series is a quirky one and also very dark. Light Yagami is an excellent student scoring 1st in school tests. He finds the Death Notebook and begins writing names of criminals. At first I liked Light, he's trying to do good by getting rid of criminals. At the same time, and I know this is a book and not real life, I found myself uneasy with how easy it was for Light to write down names. Light is very nonchalante about the whole Death Note, He is calculating and clever. I'm waiting to see a more normal, humane side of him. Soon after finding the Death Note he is greeted by a Shinigami Death God. Shinigami is an interesting side character. He is just hanging on the sidelines watching what Light does with the Death Note, he's a bored Death God. At first I really didn't like the Shinigami's look, he's very 1980's. He's wearing all black, skin tight clothes, even has a dangling earring. But over time he grew on me.

The first book was really laying the ground work for the rules and story line. Not only is Light getting rid of criminals and also hiding from L the detective, he is learning about the Death Note.

What will Light do next? Will he realize that he's lost sight of his goals?

Also the entire Japanese Animated TV show is available on hulu.

Take Flight

2010-07-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

FLIGHT Volume one
written and illustrated by many artists

FLIGHT is a compilation of many short, full color comics.

Librarian Katie's review:
This was interesting and not what I had expected. This book is beautifully illustrated with bits of comics and graphic novel in it. It has lots of short stories by different artists with very different tastes. I liked the stories and the fact that if I didn't I could simply turn the page to another one. I had orginally seen this book online at Amazon and then checked out if another library had it. A lot of libraries had it but it was checked out almost everywhere. I decided to buy the first two volumes for the library. These books are really cool both if you like comics/graphic novels and if you don't.

Graphic novels/comics bring weird emotions out of people. They either love it or hate it. I have never scene another genre have some black and white emotions, well except Twilight (i.e. dark romance) But if you aren't into graphic novels/comics try this, the short stories and artwork are worth viewing. If you love graphic novels/comics check this out and see different artists that you may want to read more about.

Overall something to definitely check out!

Summer Programs for Teens

2010-06-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

Gaming for Teens only
-Every Friday 2-3pm
-Come in for an afternoon of gaming for Tween/Teens! We have a Wii and XBOX 360 and fun games! Games such as Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Star Wars, Mario Kart and much more! *We'll supply the games.

Tween/Teen Book Craft
Tuesday July 6th at 2-3pm
-Have you read a great book lately? Come join us as we will discuss our latest favorite books and create art at the same time. With some creativity we will make posters for our favorite books with a small review of why we loved it!

Origami
Tuesday July 13th 3-4pm
-We will be making Origami! Miss. Katie will have colorful paper and demonstrate how to make some Origami

Board Game Afternoons
Thursday August 5th 3-4pm
-We will be playing the board games such as Cranium, Boggle, Simpsons Clue, UNO, and more!

Rock Band Touranment
-August 13th 2pm
-Get your band and your gear ready for our Rock Band Tournament! Dress up and rock out!

Interactive Reading

2010-06-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

Cathy's Book by Stewart/Weisman/Brigg

Cathy's Book was created for her best friend Emma in case anything happens to her. "Cathy (17yrs) is dumped by her new boyfriend, and while trying to find out why, she gets deeper and deeper into the mystery of who he is and how she's involved."

Librarian Katie's Review:

First off I have to say I have never, ever read a book quite like this.

The cover really intrigued me, it has great illustrations and looks so unique. I was reading the first few pages when my friend asked me if I had called the telephone number on the cover. I looked at him as if he was absurd! It's a fake I said to him, those numbers are meant to just intrigue you more about the story. To prove my point I called it....and I was wrong.

The telephone number on the cover rings and you hear a recording from Cathy. This is just the beginning of interactive reading. The book has telephone numbers you call and receive more clues about the book's mystery. Also the websites listed in the book are real, you can find even more clues on them. In the center of the book are a collection of pictures that are also part of the story.

Beyond the telephone numbers,websites, and pictures there is a great story. Cathy is quirky and sarcastic. Emma her best friend and responsible one is her handy side kick. But Cathy is an independent person, desperate to find out why her boyfriend dumped her and what he's hiding!

This the first book in the series.

Kawaii Crochet!

2010-06-03T18:26:00.000-07:00

Kawaii! (Cute in Japanese)

Amigurumi is a Japanese word for these type of crochet creatures.

Creepy Cute Crochet: zombies, ninjas, robots and more!

by Christen Haden

This book is so fun to look at, you've got the grim reaper, ninjas, robots, and monsters!

First off this book is not for beginners to crochet. Once you do know the basics you can tackle some of the beginner projects. The book has great pictures and explanations of each creature, from how to make their eyes and gear.

The book also has websites for information on technique and different yarn. So I decided to tackle one I chose the grim reaper!

First off I started crochet as a teen, when I was 15 my older cousin started crochet and I learned from her. Now I do not crochet very often, in fact rarely. I enjoy knitting more, I always get lost in the stitches in crochet.

The Grim Reaper creature is labeled as a beginner's project. The body and head were easy to make. The hood for the grim reaper took me a minute to figure out. Some of the stitches such as decreasing and increasing I didn't remember so I youtubed it! There are tons of tutorials for learning crochet techniques as well as books in the library. (I was at home so I didn't have books)

Tah Dah! This is my grim reaper for my first ever Amigurumi. Check it out at the circulation desk at the library, where you can also check out Creepy Crochet at MPL.

Just One of the Boys

2010-05-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau- Banks

by E. Lockheart.

Frankie, age 15, has always been the good girl that no one notices. But when she goes back to boarding school she has become quite the beauty and even has a senior boyfriend, Matthew Livingston! She has a sharp tongue and is clever.

Frankie's boyfriend is starting to exclude her from his all-male secret society. He keeps showing up in strange places and lying to her. The secret society loves to play pranks in the school. But she is smarter than any of them and starts pulling pranks of her own.

Will Frankie get away with the pranks? Will Matthew ever find out that
Frankie knows about their secret society?

Librarian Katie's Review:

What I loved about this book is Frankie as a character, she is not weak or timid. She is quick with her wit and clever. She so desperately wants to break into the boy's secret society that she takes things into her own hands. She wants to be an equal to the boys in her school intellectually while still being a beautiful girl.

This book really showcases vanity among the popular kids in her school. It makes the reader question what would they do to succeed? Would you want to be popular and seem dumb, or step up and prove yourself.

First Crush

2010-05-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Sand Chronicles volume 1

Story and Art by Hinako Ashihara

Summary:

After her parents divorce, Ann Uekusa and her mom move from Tokyo to rural Shimane. She feels out of place in this simple town where everyone is friendly.

Then a personal tragedy strikes Ann and she becomes depressed.

Will she be able to make it in her new home?

What about the cute guys she's befriended? Daigo and Fuji?

Will she ever find her place in her new home?

Katie's Review:

The story is really relatable for anyone who has ever felt out of place and in new surroundings. Ann begins the story at 12yrs old and gradually gets older as the story continues. The writing is funny and heartfelt at the same time. It's a shojo manga (girls graphic novel) so it's very feminine.

One part that I love about manga in general is the Japanese culture. We get to learn about their habits and customs from fun stories. In this manga they use a lot of Japanese words, but have no fear they have included a glossary in the back.

Overall I liked the story and artwork. The artwork is mostly close-ups of faces but the story of first crushes and dealing with emotions really pulls the story up. If you enjoy romance and first crushes you will defiantly enjoy Sand Chronicles.