Thank you…

Once again, Fayetteville (NC) recognized the service and sacrifice of the men and women of the armed forces with a Field of Honor.  This year 1,300 full-size American flags swept across the lawn of the Airborne & Special Operations Museum during the month of May.

Airborne and Special Operations Museum; “The Gates” 9-11 Memorial

Yellow ribbons and tags were attached with the names of service members, sponsored by members of the public. 

Please check out our teen Flickr page for more pictures of the Field of Honor, the Airborne and Special Operations Museum, and “The Gates” 9-11 Memorial.

The Up and Coming Weekly, News 14 Carolina, The Washington Post, have nice write-ups about the display and the Glory Days celebration.  Those who are interested in sponsoring a flag in 2010 may do so by clicking here.

Happy Memorial Day.  To the men and women, past and present, who have worn the uniform, thank you for your service. 

Always,

Missy

…but was the table really round, I wonder?

 

Here Lies Arthur

by Philip Reeve

So you think you know the story of King Arthur?  He was a wonderful king, had loads of knights, a great castle and a round table, right?  Wrong!  Here Lies Arthur tells the story of Arthur’s rise to power from a young girl’s point of view.   The story begins as Gwyna becomes Myrddin’s servant boy (yes, servant boy) and follows her thru her teenage years as she watches Arthur’s cruel and vicious rise to power.  This book is a fresh and different take on the traditional Arthurian legend.

 

Jennifer is a youth services librarian at the North Regional Branch.

Thanks for posting, Jenn!

 

I really enjoy these types of stories, too.  Some other books you might like to check out:

The Avalon series  by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Grail Quest series by Bernard Cornwell

The Arthur Trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland

The Pendragon Cycle series by Stephen R. Lawhead

Black Horses for the King by Anne McCaffery

The Squire’s Tale and The Knight’s Tale series by Gerald Morris

I am Mordred by Nancy Springer 

The Legends of King Arthur series by Rosemary Sutcliff

The Idylls of the King by Alfred, Lord Tennyson  The Once and Future King by T.H. White

…or go to our catalog and do a basic subject search for “King Arthur.”

Thanks for stopping by!

Read on, read on.

Always,

Missy

A league of their own…

“I’d promised Mom I’d have no interest whatsoever in Jason, but I could see now that I’d made a vow that was easier said than done.”- The Boyfriend League by Rachel Hawthorne

Dani and Bird love baseball and are almost seniors in high school.  Life is great, except in the romance department.  Summer is approaching fast which means that the collegiate team will be playing ball in their town.  The players are in need of host houses in which to stay.  This is the perfect opportunity to meet a team of hot older guys.  After their parents agree, the girls get to play ‘hostess’ for the summer.  Bird easily finds a boyfriend but Dani may need help.  She is torn between her house guest and her parent’s rules.  Will Dani find a boyfriend who accepts her for who she really is?

I picked up this book because I was sick of cold and rainy weather.  The author brought the summer feeling out of the book.  The characters are the ‘next door neighbor’ type.  This novel is sure to bring a smile to your lips and a warm, fuzzy feeling to your heart.

Marsha is a youth services librarian at the Cliffdale Branch Library.

Thanks for posting, Marsha!

Always,

Missy

Rockin’!

“I have McMurphy, the eight-hundred pound gorilla I carry in my DNA, a total loose cannon rolling around my personality.”- Born to Rock by Gordon Korman

Leo has a full scholarship to Harvard and is graduating soon.  The scholarship is taken away when he doesn’t tell on a friend.  He is also floored when he discovers his father is a rock star, which means his mom was a ‘groupie’ at one time.  Leo decides to tour with King Maggot, who is his father and the lead singer of Purge.  Can Leo handle being a ‘roadie’ and adjust to this new lifestyle?  Will his father be convinced to give him money for Harvard?

This book interested me because I love rock music.  This book did not disappoint me with its touch of ‘Almost Famous’ glamour.  I found myself laughing out loud at random intervals and think that this is a light-hearted and comical book.

Marsha is a youth services librarian at the Cliffdale Branch library.

Thanks for posting Marsha!

Always,

Missy

No Joy.

There have been very few submissions for our Teen Tech Online Challenges event this month — actually, there have been none. 

 

HOWEVER, I choose to believe that lots of teens have tried out the Flickr toys and made hilarious/poignant/touching works of art which they have then shared with their friends and family. 

 

I do not do this because of any pesky facts or statistics — simply my general faith in creativity of teenaged-folk and my actual experiences with getting them to participate in activities and share their creations. 

 

Unless duct tape is involved.  That seems to bring them in. 

‘Cause it’s AWESOME!

 

So, because they [YOU!] did not come to me….

…I will come to them [YOU!]. 

Kinda like stalking.  But with software.

 

Here are some shiny linky-bits and fun stuff that I’ve found as I’ve skipped merrily down the road to he….um…to the park. 

I love parks.  Lots of trees.  They rock. 

Parks, that is, not necessarily the trees…unless they’re petrified…but that’s really rare….um. 

 

Right.  Here you go.  J

 

www.gickr.com

Make an animated GIF from your pictures.

 

www.glogster.com

Think collages but without the glue.

www.imagechef.com

Turn words into shapes.

www.wordle.net

Make beautiful word clouds.

www.yoyogames.com/make 

Make your very own computer game.

 

…’cause teen tech week is EVERY week. 

I guess this means that there’s joy to be found, after all. 

Awesome.  J

Always,

Missy

 

Let’s Play!

Create and Share using Flickr Toys

Edit, alter, and arrange pictures using the online tools at BigHugeLabs and enter your creations to our Flickr Teen Tech Gallery! 

[only my examples, so far...I need TEEN ENTRIES!!!  plsthx-ml]

For some inspiration check out fd’s Flickr Toy Pool.

I’m partial to the Lolcat Generator and the Trading Card Maker, myself!

So get going and show us what’cha got!

Check back for more tech-savvy fun and games throughout the month…

 

Whoops…I almost forgot!  Rosen Publishing is hosting a Teen Tech Week writing contest:  Teen Health & Wellness-Share Your Personal Story.  The deadline is March 31st and there are prizes and possible publication involved.  Good luck!

Always,

Missy

Come to the dark side…

                                    …we’re making CRAFTS!

January and February were very creative months for Cumberland County teens. 

Nuts, bolts, washers, cotter pins, and beads were cobbled together into hardware jewelry.  One teen even figured out how to make a pop tab bracelet just from looking at a picture (no instructions needed - yay, Patrick!).

 

Mass quantities of duct tape were turned into oh-so-beautiful roses by more than 57 teens at the Bordeaux, Hope Mills, and East Regional Branches:

The directions that we used for the roses can be found here.

Check out more teen craft program pictures!

Wanna play? 

In celebration of Teen Tech Week 2009, the Spring Lake Branch is having a DIY: Techno Hardware workshop on Monday, March 9th starting at 4 pm.  Click on the link for registration information.  Make your own piece of wearable art from upcycled computer parts donated by local stores.

In celebration of The Big Read, join us at the East Regional Branch  on Tuesday, March 10th, and make your own unique version of the mysterious Maltese Falcon.  For more information and to reserve your spot, please follow the link: DIY for Teens: The Maltese Falcon.

Check our calendar for upcoming teen programs (FYI, we’ll be doing the duct tape roses again in early May just in time for Mother’s Day!).

Keep crafting! 

Always,
Missy

Don’t myth the point…

 

Lightning Thief

by Rick Riordan

 

12 year old Percy Jackson has just been kicked out of yet another boarding school, but it’s really not his fault.  Percy was only defending himself when his fault that his math teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him.  Of course nobody believes Percy.  Heck, Percy doesn’t even know if he believes it himself.  That is, until the mythic Minotaur chases Percy to camp!  At Camp Half-Blood, Percy learns that his father is in fact a Greek God (although he’s not sure which God).  Then, right around the time that he comes to Camp Half-Blood, Zeus’s prize lightning bold goes missing, and Percy is the number one suspect!  Now Percy, along with his friends Annabeth (a daughter of Athena) and Grover (a satyr) must find the lightning bolt within 10 days or else the Gods on Mount Olympus are gonna start an all out war.

 

Someone recommended this book to me a while go, when I looked at the back of the book, I looked at the person and handed the book back thinking “there’s no way that I’m going to read this.”  The person just handed the book back to me and guaranteed that I would like it.  I figured I would humor the them, so I read it and I have to admit, I absolutely loved it!  The book has some really great plot twists and the titles of the chapters are just so catchy.  “I become supreme lord of the bathroom” and “we take a zebra to Vegas”, how can you not be interested with chapters like that?  This is the first in a series (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) of five books, with the final book due out in May of 2009.

Jennifer is a youth services librarian at the North Regional Branch Library.

Thanks for posting, Jenn! -ml

Always,

Missy

…and here I just really liked the Simon & Garfunkel song…

Impossible
A Novel by Nancy Werlin

Lucy Scarborough is burdened by a family curse. She discovers that many generations ago, one of her relatives rejected the advances of an Elfin Knight. In his anger, the knight placed a curse on the Scarborough women. Each woman finds herself pregnant at 17 and forced to complete three impossible tasks. If the woman does not complete these tasks by the time she gives birth to her daughter, she will go insane. Now, at the age of 17, Lucy finds herself trying to complete the three impossible tasks before she meets a fate like all the other Scarborough women.

This story was actually inspired by a medieval ballad called “Scarborough Fair” (which can be traced back to a 17th century ballad called “The Elfin Knight”) which is given at the beginning of the book. The story itself is really great! It’s got a touch of romance, fantasy, drama, and even comedy. Fair warning, there is one scene where a character is raped, though not graphic, it is disturbing.

For those interested in knowing a bit more about the background of the ballad in the book, check out the hyperlinks on Scarborough Fair and Elfin Knight in the above paragraph. 

Jennifer is a youth services librarian at the North Regional Branch.  Thanks for posting, Jenn!

Also, if you have a minute, check out this really neat book trailer that Nancy is hosting on her site.  

Always,

Missy

NC Snows…

…not to be confused with NC Knows, a wonderfully useful chat reference service offered through the Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center, and other NC public libraries. 

NC Snows is the wonderful event that happened last week and allowed even us big kids to have a snow day!

As an Ohio gal, I was kinda impressed.  It really snowed like it meant it…best snowstorm in the 4 years I’ve lived in NC.    It was a great day for snuggling in with a good book.  I finished Pandora’s Star by Peter F. Hamilton, and immediately started on the sequel, Judas Unchained. 

 

These two wonderful books take readers on an interstellar odyssey following the adventures and mishaps of a cast of characters: a genetically predisposed detective tracks a deadly terrorist group that insists that human events are being manipulated by an alien, an astronomer makes a startling observation of a distant star that may have dire implications for humanity, the rich, the wealthy, and politically powerful angle and jostle for the supremacy of their family’s fortunes and sometimes, just sometimes, they act in the best interest of the rest of the madding crowds. 

I loved the large cast, although I had to go back a couple of times to make sure I remembered who was doing what, I loved the huge scale of the story, the twisty morality and the temporizing of right and wrong, good and evil, especially when the very nature of life and death has changed.  Is is such a heroic act to sacrifice yourself for a person or a cause if you know that your memories will be preserved and you will be “re-lifed” in a new body?  If it’s us versus them, if we as a species must choose to kill or be killed, is genocide ever acceptable?  Hamilton gives us a glimpse into his version of the future as we face that which is alien, and discover what makes us truly human.

Check out the Unshelved booktalk here!

Thanks for reading!  I’ve got to get back to business now…

*crosses fingers and checks the local weather: snow snow snow*

Always,

Missy