Article on tween behavior

Passed on by a staff member at MTL, good for better understanding of young teens, both for staff and parents:

Deal With Tweenage Attitude
Sick of "whatever" with a side of eye-rolling? Here's how to tame the sass and sarcasm preteens are famous for.

Q&A with Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

I'm behind on reading this series, but loved the first one. Are any of your younger teens reading it?

To mark the release of Peter and the Secret of Rundoon (Disney Editions, Oct.), the final volume in Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson’s saga about Peter before he was Pan, the authors kicked off a national tour, beginning with an appearance this week in Barry’s hometown: Miami, Florida.

program idea: Matchbox Shrines

Darlene from MIL forwarded me this fun project idea:

Matchbox Shrines

These little boxes are just so much fun to make! They also make a neat alternative to a card – you can even put in a tiny letter or a small pressie which reflects the theme of your shrine…

Looks fun, with lots of room for creativity.

full-time gaming at the library?

What do you think of the idea of having a permanent gaming space in the library?

Fort Worth Library Unveils New Teen Gaming Section

I'm sure teens would love it. How would you justify it to the tax payers?

Arguing in favor of video games

This blog posting by The Shifted Librarian is in response to a newspaper article that makes some sweeping negative generalizations about video gaming, and supplies some good counter arguments and talking points for using with patrons who may have concerns.

Another Article about Gaming and Libraries, Same Old Story

What responses have you encountered, from patrons or staff, about gaming in our libraries?

very cool teen website from Penguin UK

I'm just smitten with this website called Spine Breakers put out by Penguin UK for teens 13-18. Not only does it have about the most awesome name for a book site EVER, but it is interactive, filled with different medias for access points, encourages contribution of creative content from teens and just looks good!

Hopefully our new teen site will aspire to such heights!

What do you like about Spine Breakers?

National Book Award Finalists - Young People's Literature

• Sherman Alexie for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little, Brown)
• Kathleen Duey for Skin Hunger: A Resurrection of Magic, Book One (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
• M. Sindy Felin for Touching Snow (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
• Brian Selznick for The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Scholastic)
• Sara Zarr for Story of a Girl (Little, Brown)

Hip Hop Planet

National Geographic recently had a feature on hip-hop culture around the world. Check it out at:

Hip-Hop Planet

Be sure to check out the Photo Gallery, Learn More, and Multimedia links. Great stuff!

thanks to Jim McCluskey for sharing this!

Stargirl inspires

I love this idea. Teens who loved the message of Stargirl started their own society to support each other to live more like Stargirl and do kind things for others. So nice!
Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl Inspires Societies

learning with iPods

Looking at how trendy technology can help motivate students to learn:

In Some Schools, iPods Are Required Listening

What library applications can you envision?

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - the movie!

I'm excited to see that NaNIP is going to be made into a movie...starring one of the guys from Superbad! Check it out:

Cera and Dennings to star in 'Playlist'

31 Flavorite Authors

Readergirlz and YALSA are featuring a different teen author chat each day this month in celebration of Teen Read Week/Month! Consider adding their downloadable poster to your Teen Read Month display.

A day in the (digital) life of a South Korean boy

From CNN:

A day in the (digital) life of a South Korean boy.

This is interesting, as it shows some technology trends we are just starting to see, and ways they may very well develop. Can any of your teens send text messages without looking? Can you imagine if Internet cafes offered free rides to teens?