Book Bag: Friendswood Youth Services Blog

Kathleen has also graciously answered our questions!* Who is your idol (in real life or in fiction)? Oooo, tough one.....probably all those main characters (mainly female ones) who make things in life look so easy to do, like solve a humongous mystery that stumps every one else, save someone's life, or even something as difficult as finding a perfect guy (which must be impossible). If something in my life had the option of being easy, I'd be so happy. What's your favorite book? Why? One of my many favorite books is City of Glass because after you read the other two books, you've really gotten to know the characters and then in City of Glass, it wraps everything up in type of way that makes you hate to put the book down or finish it. Of course, then Cassandra Clare decided it wasn't over, but still.....the idea is there. Who is your favorite fictional character? Another hard one!!!! I'd have to say Katsa from Graceling. The only reason I have is she's cool....

Jenny's back! She has kindly agreed to share more of her opinions and thoughts in our new and hopefully ongoing series "Confessions of a Teenage Bibliophile" in which teens answer questions about their favorite books and the library!* Name: Jenny Baglio Age: 14 School: FHS Who is your idol (in real life or fiction)? You, Sti! You are such a bright person and you're always willing to talk to everyone. What's your favorite book? Why? I have none because I love almost all of the books I've read and I can relate to them somehow. I just love books in general, they can take you everywhere and allow you to feel every emotion. It's an art. Who is your favorite fictional character? Annabeth Chase. She is very strong emotionally and physically but she still has a soft side. What's your favorite fictional world? If you could live there would you? Idris. Yes, everyone is able to fight the ultimate evil - demons! Is there a book you can relate your life to...

Looking for something seasonal to read this week? Check out these titles! The Steps by Rachel Cohn Over Christmas vacation, Annabel goes from her home in Manhattan to visit her father, his new wife, and her half- and step-siblings in Sydney, Australia. The Christmas Killer by Patricia Windsor At Christmastime Rose Cleer is having bad dreams while young girls are disappearing. Birdland by Tracy Mack Fourteen-year-old, tongue-tied Jed spends Christmas break working on a school project filming a documentary about his East Village, New York City, neighborhood, where he is reminded of his older brother, Zeke, a promising poet who died. Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle In three intertwining short stories, several high school couples experience the trials and tribulations along with the joys of romance during a Christmas Eve snowstorm in a small town. What Child Is This? by Caroline B. Cooney When seventeen-year-old Matt tries to find a family for an eight-year-...

Sorry it's been so long since I posted here! This has been a crazy semester but I'm done with school now so I can spend more time writing here and planning more fun things to do at the library! To start with, the junior high has early release today and tomorrow so we'll be smushing (technical term) into the teeny tiny Local History Room to watch your favorite show and mine: Doctor Who! We'll be starting at the beginning episode one series one (series= British speak for season). For those of you who have watched series 1-4 here's a preview for this year's Christmas special (will be showing on BBC America they day after Christmas aka Boxing Day in England) Also, a new video from author John Green, in which he answers many questions: And Maureen Johnson's cheap yet awesome gift-giving guide for the holiday season! Okay, see you soon! Sti

Jenny loves reading AND bagels! :) Jenny was kind enough to send me her responses to these Reading Habits questions so I wanted to pass it along! Send me yours! Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? Sometimes, i enjoy cheeze its as a nice snack Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? I think that by writing in them how i feel about something, that it will change when i read them again and i will want to go back to thinking the same way that i did when i firt wrote it down. it's complicated, but it feel s like going backwards to me. How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open? Scraps of paper, whatever is small, thin, handy, and it won't hurt if it's lost or misplaced. (old coordinate sheets) i only lay books upside down for a short period of time when i have to something that interrupted my reading Fiction, Non-fiction, or both? Fict...

The 40th anniversary of the children's show, Sesame Street is this week! It's the longest running show on PBS, and seriously one of the most important to a lot our lives growing up. I know I've gushed about Sesame Street before but I thought I'd post a few videos just in case you'd like to feel nostalgic. :) Okay, Shoes AND Neil Patrick Harris? Awesome Plain White Ts- So cute! Seriously, these guys may be where my love of aliens came from: And here are a few for Merritt! DFTBA, Sti

Here's a quick survey I took about my reading habits, I'd love to hear your answers to these questions! Leave yours in the comments or email them to me and I'll post it here! Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? Sometimes, I usually eat breakfast while I read in the morning. If I can use a meal as an excuse to read I will. Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? If they are mine I usually don’t hesitate to make notes if I really love the book. My copy of Jane Eyre is all marked up! I also like finding notes in other books, it’s fun to see what people are thinking as they read. Might sound odd, but it’s a totally different thing then someone defacing a book. How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open? Like Nicola, whatever is lying around, though I am guilty of laying a book upside down *gasp* Fiction, Non-fiction, or both? Mostly fiction. I find m...

It's that time again! Teen Read Week 2009! This year's theme is "Read Beyond Reality," so I'm going to be highlighting fantasy and science fiction books this week with reviews posted here by me and some of you teens. I also be displaying some of my favorites in the YA area. Also, I'm thinking of having a CONTEST! So, each person that writes me a quick review (3 sentences at least!) in the comments about a book they've enjoyed recently gets a PRIZE! Be sure to sign your name! DFTBA, Sti

You'll probably notice that I've made some changes to the blog. Hopefully these changes will provide you with some extra info while you're here (see the Upcoming Programs list up there?). I also put up a slideshow of pictures from our programs and a few more things. Hope you like them! Also. Remember this hilarious Twilight spoof? Well, the lovely Anjali pointed me to the New Moon spoof by the same people: Which do you like better?

I'm back again! Here's a great article by the ever-wonderful Meg Cabot about one of my favorite series the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace: What Little Girls are Made Of p.s. Some of my favorite parts of these books were their beautiful illustrations, here are couple.

Thanks for everyone who took part in our Banned Book Week debate at the TAG meeting on Tuesday, though you probably all know my opinions on the subject, it was great to hear your opinions and I'm glad we were able to discuss them in a respectful way. :) As this week draws to a close, I wanted to post a link to one of the greatest explanations I've read about why libraries do not (and should not) remove/ban books that are challenged. If you don't want to read it, that's cool but here it is: Letter to a Concerned Patron And I really wish I'd found this website earlier: http://bannedbooksweek.org/index.html Next year I'll be more prepared! And of course this really interesting map of reported book challenges across the country: http://bannedbooksweek.org/Mapofbookcensorship.html from 2007-2009, but these are only the ones reported to the American Library Association. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Her name is Maggie Stiefvater. Here's her official website Her books are: Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan, a gifted harpist who regularly plays for weddings and other events, has the kind of stage fright that makes her physically ill before a performance, which is an inauspicious way to start a romance; but while vomiting before a competition she meets a gorgeous boy who comes into the restroom to hold her hair. He is Luke Dillon, a flautist who proceeds to accompany her in a truly stellar performance. As four-leaf clovers start appearing everywhere, Deirdre develops telekinetic powers and encounters strange, unworldly people who seem to bear her ill will. Her best friend, James, also a talented musician; her beloved grandmother; and her mother all are in danger, as Deirdre is targeted by the queen of Faerie. Deirdre eventually discovers that she is a cloverhand, a person who can see the denizens of faerie, and Luke, not the only immortal ...

Here's a video of us having a giant singalong to Yellow Submarine during Game Day this week. Keith is singing loudly at the beginning but then you can hear all of us. :) Thought you'd appreciate it!

Another hilarious video, this one is from Hank Green- John Green's brother. Hank usually writes funny songs (there's a good one about a squirrel too!), and I thought a lot of you would really appreciate this one in particular. :D Oh! A few other things before I go. Tomorrow is National Talk Like a Pirate Day! Arrrrrr! Aaaand, keep your eyes peeled for a new segment coming up on this blog which will hopefully prompt me to be better at updating! And, as always, DFTBA!

I really want to see this when it comes out. And now I want to watch Mr. Rogers!

Okay, I know they don't always get them right, but it is fun when your favorite books are made into movies. And lately it seems like a lot of them are being adapted (maybe Hollywood has no new ideas?). Anyway, here's a collection of the ones I'm most excited about*: Where the Wild Things Are: I CANNOT tell you how excited I am about this. Also, Maurice Sendak the author/illustrator has given it his blessing so you know he's happy about the finished product! AND, the song in the preview is one of my favorite songs by The Arcade Fire! So happiness all around! Cirque du Freak The Vampire's Assistant : Okay, I haven't read these books so I don't know if this is anything like them, but it looks awesome! Is the character's name really Darren? Isn't that the author's name? Anyway, I love the cast and it looks funny and scary which are a great combo in my mind. Next up is The Fantastic Mr. Fox : This is based on a book I haven't read either, by Roal...

So sorry I've been so bad about updating the blog this summer. I promise I will try to do better!! To make amends for my long absence, here is an awesome new video by John Green about, among other things, why it's awesome to be a nerd. Also, this awesome website: Superhero Factory! You get to create your own Superhero, and they give you a great name. I can't mine but it was awesome, as you would expect. Saw the Harry Potter, and though some of you I've talked to have been down on it for not being straight from the book, I will stand by it and say it's probably my favorite of the films so far. But bear in my mind it's been a while since I've watched the others. :) What did you think? I'm making some polls in the sidebar so let me know there and/or in the comments! To celebrate the movie release we threw a party here at the library. We ate lots, attended some Hogwarts classes, and won some prizes. Here are a few pictures from the event: Wingardium Leviosa...

I know, I know, 2 blog posts in one day! Unprecedented! A miracle! :) I just discovered this free online novel called The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Boat of Her Own Making I've only read a bit of the first chapter but it looks really interesting. The author posts a new chapter every Monday. How fun! DFTBA, Sti

Really interesting documentary coming out this weekend. As I'm a huge fan of food, I'm really wanting to see this and find out more about what I eat! DFTBA, Sti

Originally, I picked up The True Meaning of Smekday because I like the author/illustrator, Adam Rex. He also wrote the really funny poetry books Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and Frankenstein Takes the Cake as well as the great children's book Psst! What I found on reading his first full length novel was that he continued to be funny! The main character, who's name is Gratuity (Tip for short) is funny and smart, and J.Lo the Boov is awesome. I read some of it to my mom and even she was cracking up and now we quote lines from the book. That's how good it is. Anyway, here's a quick summary I swiped off of Amazon.com It all starts with a school essay. When twelve-year-old Gratuity ("Tip") Tucci is assigned to write five pages on "The True Meaning of Smekday" for the National Time Capsule contest, she's not sure where to begin. When her mom started telling everyone about the messages aliens were sending through a mole on the back of her neck? Mayb...

This is a shout-out to everyone who joined us for the Roleplaying Game yesterday, I'm really excited to see if we can save all of history! Here's that webpage again: http://friendswoodroleplay.ownforum.org/index.php Hope to see the forum a-hopping! If you didn't get to sign up, come see me and I can get you caught up! DFTBA, Sti

This cat is crazy! What if someone sat on him?!

Cheers! So the other day a few of us were talking about how awesome Australia is, I was showing off pictures of my trip there a few years back, and then we decided to teach ourselves to talk with an Australian accent. In my opinion, this is hard. I was there for a month and I barely attempt it. We did find a few websites with tips though: http://www.ehow.com/how_2073832_talk-australian-accent.html And a video (I can't listen to the sound at my desk so I don't even know if the video is any good, let me know!): Also, here are some Aussie phrases and slang for your enjoyment. Though on a sidenote: you know the phrase "throw some shrimp on the barbie?" Well Australians don't use the word shrimp for shrimp. They call them prawns! And they say it prawwwwns. A few things I learned while I was there: Cheers- they use in both the usual sense of the word, but also to agree with something, or even to say good bye smoko- used to be short for smoke break, but now it just mean...

Our Universe is amazing. Sometimes I forget that with all of things that go on day to day. That's exactly why I love this video it makes you see how beautiful it all is. Hope you enjoy! Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo . DFTBA, Sti

DFTBA, Sti

I seriously wish I could talk as fast as Hank Green.

A little explanation of the Dewey Decimal System for those of you interested. Verry funny! DFTBA, Sti

A Battle of the Books video made by the Everdeen sisters to the tune of that song from High School Musical 3: Also, a clip from one of the best 80s sitcoms ever-Designing Women. If any of you have siblings, you probably understand what I mean when I say only you can make fun of your brother/sister. Julia Sugarbaker shows us what happens when you badmouth her sister! DFTBA, Sti

What you guys said, as edited together by Lisa! You're all brilliant and legendary! And you didn't forget to be awesome! Love and peaches, Sti

Five Reasons Why YA Librarians are Better than Google: (and you guys know I love Google!) 5. Google locates only web sites, while YA librarians find all types of resources in any format. 4. Google requires you to design your own searches, but YA librarians help you plan an effective search strategy. 3. Google leaves it up to you to sort through the mountain of results, while YA librarians assist you in selecting information to meet your specific needs. 2. Google provides no quality control, but YA librarians always have a Plan B if your search yields no results. AND 1. Google is an inanimate web site with no ability to offer moral support, but YA librarians are real people who can dispense things like encouragement, high fives and even hugs.

I took a little break over the long weekend, sorry! I hope you all had a great weekend with your families, Easter Egg hunting, eating, etc. I know I did. We're all too old for Easter Egg Hunting at my house (my youngest sister, Robin is 18), but we did buy an hilarious chocolate bunny who's name is Dude 'da' Bunny. He has bling. It is awesome. Have I mentioned the Poetry Contest yet? I forget...Well the 5th Annual Friendswood Library Poetry Contest is taking place RIGHT NOW! We're taking entries until April 21st and we'll announce the winners on April 24th at a special Coffee House Poetry Reading. The winners (and anyone else) are invited to read their poetry. And snacks, did I mention snacks? Mmmm snacks! :) In other news there is a TAG meeting tomorrow! For a non-library related post head over to my page on Maureen Johnson's Ning DFTBA, Sti

I missed yesterday's blog. Maybe I'll blog twice today to make up for it. Maybe not. Yesterday just wasn't that interesting. Ashley thinks I should blog about global warming. Do you believe in it? I'm pretty green, and I do for the most part, she likes to argue the other side. She says "I'm with the whole 'go green' but I not with the whole live in mud huts thing.' What are your thoughts? I noticed today that I don't know how to spell meerkat. I always want to spell it meercat. Meerkat sounds like lolspeak to me. Why is it spelled with a K???? This afternoon I taught Jenny and Ashley the word ineffable, which always reminds me of my favorite Douglas Adams quote: "Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable, let's prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all." Lovely man Ready for a lolcat video? Awesome, here you go:

As much as I hate to admit it, I am an adult. I'm 24, I have a college degree, a full time job. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of perks about being an adult: having your own car, no curfew, being able to vote, etc. But there are some other things that are not so fun. And by this I mean taxes. Many of you took the TAKS test today, well I handled my taxes. If you've ever asked me for help with a math problem and gotten no help, you may understand that I have little to no math skills. This isn't because I dislike math, on the contrary I like counting things and making little calculations, and because algebra and geometry problems are kind of like puzzles to me, I usually enjoy working them out. The difficulty arises when grading time comes around. Because no matter how well I thought I understood something, I will usually get the wrong answer. Wrong answers lead to frustration lead to me not wanting to mess up other people's homework or do math very often. Okay, so...

Welcome to Monday, ah the beginning of a week. Today has been pretty normal. I walked back and forth from one end of the library to the other so many times that I was told to stop as I was making one of the librarians at the Circulation Desk dizzy. She said it was like watching a tennis match. I read stories to the little kids at Kandiland. My google searches included "building trebuchets" "paintballs" and "why are people who are good at Math not good at English?" Two of these three things were completely work related too. The third one has applications to the job though. Something I don't understand. Talking first thing in the morning. Why? Usually I wake up to an empty house (I mean, my dog and cat are there but they aren't too talkative unless they want something). But some mornings my dad or my sister go into work/school late and they're in the kitchen when I zombie-walk in to make a fresh pot of coffee just the way I like it (with cinnamon...

Already I have missed a day! How lame is that? Though I did spend the whole day (or most of it) finishing the most excellent City of Glass by the legendary Cassandra Clare. Read it. Now. Did I mention how good it was? Totally wrapped the trilogy up amazingly. Complete with demons, downworlders, Shadowhunters, twisty storylines, and snarky comments! Yay! In other news...well I don't really have any other news right now...Do you?

It's 10:15, and I almost forgot to blog today! How sad would it be if I messed up on only day 3 of this challenge? But never fear, I live to blog another day! Well, Texas Teens 4 Libraries (TT4L) was yesterday, and it was wonderful! I got to meet Meg Cabot and didn't embarrass myself too badly. :) I got to talk to Cassandra Clare again, this time a normal conversation as she was sitting outside the Teen Room before giving a talk, we talked about being nervous talking in front of people, the strange questions kids ask at Q&A sessions, and traveling in England (she said I should go to the British Library and the Tate Modern-will do!) I also got to attend the Bluebonnet Award Luncheon, where they awarded Bluebonnet Award to Cynthia DeFelice and Andrea U'Ren for "One Potato, Two Potato". There was yummy food and wonderful speeches. We went to a great session about intellectual freedom and a wonderful school that didn't bow down to The Man (aka a rich family wh...

Good morning all, and it definitely is morning. The sun isn't even up! I am never awake before 6! Just wanted to share a few things with you. Yesterday, as you know I went to TLA. It was so much fun! I met a few authors: Cassandra Clare (author of the Mortal Instruments series!!!!!) and she was sooo cool, and remembered me from when we had talked on twitter a week ago! Jacqueline Kelly who gave out not only free copies of her book, but also pens and coffee cups! Aaaand Joan Bauer! Author of Hope was Here, Best Foot Forward, Peeled and a lot of other amazing books. And she was the most gracious celebrity I've ever met! She shook my hand and chatted with me about my best friend (who she dedicated my book to--presents!) And today offers even more awesomeness, because group of you all are coming with me and MEG CABOT WILL BE THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which book should I take to have signed??? DFTBA, Sti

Welcome to April everyone! I'm so glad people have been reminding me that it's April Fool's Day because there are some upsetting spoofs floating around the internet, including an article claiming my very dear Neil Gaiman could lose the Newbery Medal ! I would have cried if I'd seen that without warning. Anyway, also welcome to Blog Every Day April! We'll see how this goes because I am very bad at writing in this blog regularly. Hopefully this will make me better. This afternoon I will be attending part of the Texas Library Association's (TLA) Annual Conference here in Houston. That's why there aren't any programs this week, we're short on staff a lot of the time. Sorry! But today I shall be seeing The Book Cart Drill Team State Championship! What's a Book Cart Drill Team you ask? This, my dear friends is a Book Cart Drill Team: It's exactly what it sounds like, Librarians doing choreographed dance moves with book carts. Awesome, right? So I k...

Okay, so you all know of my deep appreciation for YA author Maureen Johnson, right? Well she has declared that she will write a blog entry every day during the month of April. Aaand she has extended the challenge to her fans, so I will be trying to post an entry here every day this month... We'll see how it goes. If you want to take part, here's a link to MJ's blog entry detailing the rules! Hope everyone had a great weekend, I know I did! DFTBA, Sti

Okay, well not everything. But I can definitely name a few.. This is the newest awesome thing from the Big Apple. It's a list of all sorts of awesome (okay, maybe I should look through a thesaurus for some new words..*) books for teens from the teens at the New York Public Library. It's called Stuff for the Teen Age 2009 and it has books in different categories with lots of book talks by New York teens about the books. Check it out! Hope you're all having a great weekend, and are excited about going back to school Monday! Don't Forget to be Awesome! Sti * Looked up awesome in a thesaurus: adjective Far beyond what is usual, normal, or customary: exceptional , extraordinary , magnificent , outstanding , preeminent , rare , remarkable , singular , towering , uncommon , unusual . Informal standout . Slang out of sight .

It's been a while since I've updated here and I apologize! I promise to make an effort to post more. Something to get you caught up, this Friday we had a Girl's Only Slumber Party here at the library. It was sooo much fun, 5 girls and I managed to stay up the whole night! Before the others fell asleep we played games, watched movies, painted nails, ate a lot of junk food, and did other slumber party type things. Below are some pictures from the night: The 6 troopers who stayed up all night! To reward you for reading this again after so long, a new ninja cat video!

Brilliant.

If you look to the right side of this blog --> You'll see that I have a few fun or informational things for you to look at/use. There is first of all, a cute picture from the Christmas party (post-snowball fight!), then there is a list of our up-coming events and the dates they'll take place on, after that is a list of interesting blog's of YA authors or book reviews--if you're ever stuck wondering what to read next these are excellent places to look! Then I've got some useful links to fun websites like freerice.com and Teen Ink- a magazine that has only articles and work written by teens. Then there's a little About Sti thing, because I know you need to know more :P and there's also a few random selections from My Bookshelf so you can see what books I've been reading and enjoyed! Okay, here's where the prizes come in! If you have time, explore a few of the links I've put up and tell me which you've liked best or give me a suggestion of a ...

for some first class freaking out-- Sti Style! Guess who won the Newbery Medal this year?! That's right, the author I spend the majority of my time talking about: NEIL GAIMAN! For his awesome book The Graveyard Book . Oh lordy I am soooo excited you can not believe it, I don't know if I'll get any real work done today because of this! If you haven't read The Graveyard Book yet, what are you waiting for? :) Well, it could be that it's checked out right now but don't let that stop you! After you've put it on hold you can watch/listen to the author read it right here: http://www.mousecircus.com/videotour.aspx The other Newbery Honors go to: The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, illustrated by David Small The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle Savvy by Ingrid Law After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson Okay, now off to do happy dances around the library! :) DFTBA, Sti

Here's the best trailer for Coraline so far. And it's actually Neil Gaiman's (he wrote the book) favorite! The movie comes out February 6th and I'll definitely be seeing it that weekend, so if you want to see it with me let me know and we can get a group of people to see it together! I know Kathleen and Mallory are already on board! dftba, Sti

I just realized I haven't given anything away for a while, and I have tons of cool prizes to give away!! Sooooo, the first 3 people to post comments with their favorite cheesy joke (you know how much I love them!) will get to choose from a selection of awesome candy or a book from my collection of book prizes! And here are some zombie lolcats for your Friday! DFTBA! Sti

On the day of an important music competition, talented but painfully introverted and nervous Deirdre Monaghan is helped to perform by the compelling and enigmatic Luke Dillon and finds herself inexorably drawn into the mysteries and dangers of the faerieworld. I've been reading about this book for several weeks/months and I was so excited when it came in that I put it in my bag to read while I was in St. Louis last weekend. Turns out it was an excellent choice, this book was full of romance, suspense, magic, best friends, some seriously scary faeries, and even some funny bits. Deirdre plays the harp (who plays the harp? Awesome), but she has horrible stage fright, right before a big competition she meets up with the mysterious and super-hot Luke and learns that she is a Clover Hand--someone who is able to see faeries. On top of this her awful aunt is in town and the Faerie Queen is out to get her. Deirdre is a great character, she's smart and funny and though she's overwhe...

I know I don't need them since I've always got a huge list of books waiting to be read, but when I found this website: http://novelchallenges.blogspot.com/ I was hooked. Hopefully I won't get sucked in too much, but there is at least one challenge I will be participating in, and that's the Neil Gaiman Challenge "The Dream King Challenge." Here are the rules: Neophyte : Read one work and watch one movie Acolyte : Read three works (from three different categories) and watch one movie Devotee : Read six works (from six different categories) and watch one movie Zealot : Read twelve works (from at least six different categories) and watch one movie There will also be mini-challenges (with prizes!) and other fun activities during the year. Re-reads are okay - I'm sure a lot of us have already read a few of Neil's books before. This challenge can (and will!) overlap with other challenges. I would suggest J. Kaye's Young Adult Reading Challenge and Laza...