Book Bag: Friendswood Youth Services Blog

And here's Karen's take on Chamber of Secrets! You're so lucky to get 2 reviews in 1 day! Title/Year originally published: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets/1999 When I originally read it: Now. What I thought of it then: When I re-read it: Ah, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. With such a favorable impression left upon me by the first book , of course I had to read the second one. (or I should say, listen to) There is the magic way Harry is supposed to travel to school (on the subway platform) and then, when he fails to make his train, the adventure with him and Ron in the flying car. I thought it a strange concept that one ghost haunts nothing else but a girl's bathroom in the school and the bathroom becomes the central point of the book. And could Gaylord (excuse me, Gilderoy Lockheart) be any more annoying. Geesh. In my opinion the end was very clever the way that Tom Marvolo Riddle turned out to be Voldemort and that Ginny w...

Title/Year originally published: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets/1999 When I originally read it: 1999 What I thought of it then: Believe it or not, I don't have a clear memory of checking out the second book like I do with the first. I don't know why though, so much stuff happens! I do remember thinking that Gilderoy Lockhart was obnoxious... When I re-read it: I may be saying this with every book as I re-read them, but this one might be my favorite! Like I said before, there's so much stuff going on here! Moaning Myrtle! Tom Riddle's diary and learning about Voldemort's past! Seeing Dumbledore's office for the first time! Seeing Ginny's crush on Harry (I only vaguely remember Ginny in the earlier books, and I certainly forgot her song about Harry), Colin Creevy's creepy fanboy obsession, the flying car, whomping willow, Hagrid's friendship with a giant spider, Hagrid going to Azkaban (I COMPLETELY forgot about that happening! Scary!), basili...

(This is one of my favorite dishes to make Curried Black Beans and Chickpeas with cous cous) When I got to college, I earned a reputation among my roommates as being a good cook. Now, don't be fooled, I am by no means the next Rachel Ray but I did know my way around a kitchen. I could use a garlic press, make scrambled eggs, bake a cake, cook something in the oven besides a frozen pizza and basically follow most recipes. I guess it never occurred to me that not everyone's parents and friends' parents cook a lot. I was used to helping my mom out in the kitchen and watching while my best friend E (who is an amazing and mostly self taught cook) cook with her mom. It's not the end of the world if you don't know how to cook in high school, college, or even after college. But it can be a lot of fun. Also it ends up being cheaper (And FAR healthier) than buying fast food or already prepared meals. And there's a sense of satisfaction and acc...

I think that all of you teens who attend my programs know how I feel about bullying. I hate it. I think anyone who's ever been the subject of bullying hates it and we don't need to live in a world where people are mocked, belittled and/or abused for being who they are. This is 2010, we are living in the future, and we may not have flying cars or time travel (YET) but we should be able to be kind to our fellow human beings. ANYway, off my soapbox. This was all leading to showcasing this website that aims to stop cyber-bullying: Say It 2 My Face Here's a little from their "about" page: Too often, people view the cyber world as a world in which you can do anything and more relevantly, say anything. People, especially adolescents, inappropriately utilize the cyber realm as a cop out to send messages that they'd never say to some ones face. People assume that they can use derogatory language or broadcast hateful messages against their peers without any consequences...

This is Karen. She is the best, she assists our Library Director and pretty much manages lots of important things around the library (and she's a notary so she's my hero!) As you may know if you read this blog regularly , she is reading the entire Harry Potter series with me. And these are her thoughts on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: When I originally read it: The first time I read it was in 1998 when my kids were little and I read it out loud to them. I had completely forgotten the whole second half of the book. Weird, huh? What I thought of it then: When I was reading the book the first time, it was hard to retain because I was reading it out loud to two small children that would stop me over and over and ask questions. Plus I didn’t know how to pronounce a lot of the names, so when the movie came out I was like OHHHH!!, that’s how you say that. When I re-read it: So I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for ...

Okay, so I know I just blogged about rereading the Harry Potter series yesterday...but I'm already finished with the first book (I've been listening to it for a while). So here's the format I think I'll try to follow for each book. Title/Year originally published: When I originally read it: What I thought of it then: When I re-read it: What my thoughts are now: Maybe I'll do a separate blog for when I rewatch the movie for each book? I'll take your thoughts on that as well.. So here we go! Title/Year originally published: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/1997 (sorry the info in the last blog entry was wrong, so most of you were about 2 or 3...and I was 12) When I originally read it: I don't recall exactly, but it must have been it first came out because I hadn't heard any of the hype*, so I'll say 1997. What I thought of it then: Let me paint a picture for you, this was probably the summer while I was in jr. high and I was browsing through t...

I meant to report on this much earlier, but over my birthday weekend I got to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. And was it ever amazing! Probably my favorite of the movies so far. The few people I've talked to who weren't absolutely in love with it said that the slowness of it was part of the problem. While I think this is a valid point, it didn't detract from my love. There were so many things to love! Beautiful scenery, all the Harry's, Bill Weasley!, George Weasley drinking coffee (tea?) with something sticking out his ear hole, Ron gazing at Hermione, scary Nagini, crazy Bellatrix, terrified Lucius Malfoy, even more terrified Draco Malfoy, Dobby and Creacher, Ron gazing at Hermione (wait did I say that already?), the much improved acting of all 3 of our main characters,the scariness, the tears, all the Polyjuice potion, the ministry of magic, Luna and her dad, and much more! Okay, I could post a BILLION more pictures (I think these are all from listal...

Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Daniel Radcliffe on the hilarious website Go Fug Yourself. I love the made up conversation between the 3 of them :) http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/go_fug_yourself/2010/11/rupertgrint_111210.html

Harry Potter of the Day: “Basically, it amounted to the fact that she felt I had been very good in this ‘Harry Potter’ film, and as a reward for that, she wasn’t going to [write] any more ‘Harry Potter’ [books]” — Daniel Radcliffe, discussing a text message he received from J.K. Rowling following the London premiere of Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

In honor of Deathly Hallows coming out on Friday I'm going to post a Harry Potter related something or other everyday this week! Here's Monday's, Daniel Radcliffe singing all of the elements :)

So on Friday our program was Dr. Horrible themed scavenger hunt! I can't decide what was more fun, creating and putting the hunt together with Keith or watching our teams take on our challenges! First we split our teams into the Henchman's Union in the Evil League of Evil (ELE) and the "Hammer Heads"- Captain Hammer's groupies. The mission of the Henchman/ELE was to steal the Wonderflonium before the Hammer Heads could stop them. The first challenge was a Straw War, each team tried to topple the other's cups using Q-tip torpedos and straws: When they had toppled all of the other teams cups they could move on to building a free standing (for at least 3 seconds) tower of Jenga blocks. Once their buildings were complete they saddled up("there's no recourse..") a stick pony and ran outside singing the Bad Horse chorus: Once outside we had a laundry relay that was pure chaos: When our laundry was dry and folded, our tea...

Hey all, sorry it's been so long since I've blogged! Fall has been running away from me, but here I am with a few fun things you may like. First, a few of my favorite Halloween books: The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury : This slightly creepy story follows a group of friends out trick or treating. When their friend is abducted, they chase through time and place with the help of the mysterious Mountshroud to save him--learning about the origins of Halloween throughout the world. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury: What can I say, I love this guy! This one is about 2 friends and a terrifying carnival that comes to their town. Sooo creepy! The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare: This book isn't technically a Halloween book, but it is about witches...well a witch trial anyway. After her grandfather dies, Kit travels from the Caribbean islands to live with her Puritan aunt and uncle in Connecticut. Her differences make her an outsider which ups...

It's Banned Book Week everyone! Stay tuned for more posts about BBW

We had our second meeting of the Movie Makers last night, and it went really well! Merritt proposed an idea for our project that everyone agreed was really awesome. You all remember my blog post about Scott Pilgrim: the movie and the comic , right? Of course you do! Anywho, Merritt thought it would be cool to do our own version of Scott Pilgrim where, to win the affections of Ramona Flowers, Scott must battle her 7 evil exes. Only, instead of the evil exes from the books we've chosen book/movie/tv characters for our Scott Pilgrim to battle! Here they are: Howl Jenkins (Howl's Moving Castle) Lady Macbeth (Macbeth) Peeta Malark (Hunger Games trilogy) the creepy twins from The Shining Captain Jack Sparrow Voldemort (well, you know) We're thinking that Edward Cullen will also make a quick cameo as well as other favorite characters like Katara, Kingdom Hearts characters, and Frank J. Brown. So the homework for next meeting is to watch/read/research Scott Pilgrim so you know wha...

Okay, you've debated Team Jacob vs. Team Edward and Team Peeta vs. Team Gale. Blah blah blah love triangles blah blah blah The real question I want to know the answer to is: Are you Team Zombie or Team Unicorn? Zombies vs Unicorns Anthology Book Trailer from cosproductions on Vimeo . And if you have to ask what team I'm on, you must not know me very well.

Thanks to everyone who came to our first meeting of Movie Makers yesterday. Everyone had a lot of great ideas and I hope we can get to them all. The idea that we decided on for our first foray into film making is to make a short (3 minute) video where our favorite fictional character (from books, movies, tv) meet. What would they talk about? Would they get along? Would it be funny? So your assignment for the next meeting (September 21, 5:30-6:30) is to research a favorite character that you want to be. We'll need to know what that character would wear, as well as other things about their personality and life. Come prepared and bring a friend, we'll be brainstorming script ideas! DFTBA, Sti

This is Sadie, I like what she has to say:

So today is my day off because I work on Saturday (*hint hint* Come visit me!), so I am blogging to you from the comfort of my home while Rumples McTavish sleeps (shhhhh, she got out last night and it freaked her out a bit so let's let her get some rest).* Anyway, I'm writing to you from my zebra striped couch to tell you that the vlogbrothers have made a few new fantastic videos. Not that all of their other videos aren't fantastic, I just thought you would all appreciate these. First John Green ( nerdfighter , and author of Paper Towns, Looking for Alaksa, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and An Abundance of Katherines) helps us work out. The Nerd Way. And guys, I'm not ashamed to admit that I participated along with this video (though I'm really bad at sit ups), so you should too! And, to fulfill a bet, and to celebrate the release of Mockingjay, Hank Green (@ecogeek, nerdfighter , and brother to John Green) shows us how to apply make up for "District 12 look....

Yesterday, a couple other librarians and I went to a workshop where the new (to YA, anyway) author Sophie Jordan shared her thoughts and insights about writing, the awesomeness that is YA literature, PTAs (she thinks they're like the mafia--and I don't blame her), selling your book to a movie studio before it's even released, how much YA writers make in advances (advances=the $ you make when you sell your book), and more. She was lovely and we would have happily listened and talked to her for another hour. Which means, of course I'm really excited about her book Firelight, which comes out in September (I've already put in an order for it for the library, hopefully we'll get it quickly!)! Here's a quick summary: Descended from dragons, the draki's ability to appear human protects them from hunters. Jacinda lives with her pride in the Cascades, but she chafes under her special status as the only fire-breather in hundreds of years. Recklessly breaking th...

The American Library Association's (ALA) annual Teens' Top Ten has started! You can vote everyday until September 17 Vote here: Teens' Top Ten And then tell me what you voted for in the comments!

Okay, maybe you're getting tired of me talking about my Purple-Over, but I wanted to share the newest developments! Lisa has posted the video of the first version on youtube, so you can see just how adorable I am (when I watch this I vacillate between thinking how cute I am and being really embarrassed...) And here are some pictures of the second version that happened over the weekend: Before I'm a unicorn! I hope this comes out right! The sink we used to wash out my hair was tiny! Aaand the after picture! Hope y'all like it! DFTBA, Sti

Okay, the video made by Lisa is done and I will post it here as soon as she puts it up on youtube! Also, since the poll seems to be leaning toward my hair needing to be darker/brighter/more obvious purple, Merritt and Angelica are coming to the library today to go to work and make it so! Stay tuned for new pictures!

If you visit this blog on any sort of regular basis, you may have noted a few changes I've made today. Hopefully this will make it easier to navigate and read. I hope you enjoy it!

Okay, if you were a fan of our March Madness showdown of YA books, you're going to love Heather Zundell's YA Fantasy Showdown . Male and female characters from our favorite YA fantasy novels will duke it out to see who the ultimate Fantasy character is! Each round consists of photos and info about each of the combatants as well the showdown's creator's idea of how the fight would go down. Vote for your favorite and see who wins! DFTBA, Sti

Okay, confession time. But first, an obvious fact: there are a lot of books at the library. And here's the confession: I haven't read all of them. Shocking, I know Anyway, one series of books that I haven't read and haven't even thought to read was the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series by Kathryn Lasky . But now that I've seen the trailer for the movie, I might want to.... "Deep in the Forest of Tyto the adventure takes wing! Soren is born in a forest kingdom where Barn Owls have lived in peace for eons. But evil now lurks in the owl world, an evil that will shatter Tyto's peace and change Soren's life forever. In the first four books of this popular series Soren and his band make their way to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree where they will join with like-minded owls - honest, brave, wise and true - to boldly face danger and be tested in ways they never imagined." - amazon.com Sounds cool now! Here's the trailer. It's in 3-D (the movie,...

Hair Update: I know I promised a video of my hair dyeing would be up last week, but there were a few obstacles in the editing process so it's still under construction. But when it's done I will post it here!! The whole process was a lot of fun, Lisa and I went to the salon together and laughed and talked while Julie bleached and then dyed 7 strips of my hair. I like the finished product, but it came out much more subtle then I expected. Though a professional salon is probably not going to be in the practice of doing completely Crayola-fantastic dye jobs, and I have naturally dark brown hair so I don't hold it against Julie's talent. Overall I'm very happy with it. Who knows, maybe I'll keep them forever? What do y'all think? Answer in the comments and/or the poll on the right. DFTBA, Sti

Today at about 3:15 a teen patron named Anna turned in the reading log that pushed your Total Hours Read to 5,000 hours!!! You know what this means, right? On Saturday night at the End of Summer Party you will be the first to see my purple hair streaks! Truthfully, I'm a little nervous now that the time is here. I mean, I'm a grown woman (hard to believe, right?) and I'm going to have purple in my hair. Purple! But I made a promise, and I'm not going to back out now. Especially since Angelica has already done purple tips and Merritt is planning to as well. Stay tuned for the video, which should be posted Saturday afternoon! DFTBA, Your soon-to-be-purple-haired librarian Sti

Or, an editor of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (p.s. 'diction' is one of my favorite words) This is one of those things I know have been bothering you for a long time. What is the proper plural form of the word 'octopus'? I will definitely be using the third form from now on! DFTBA, Sti

Okay, blogging every Monday is turning out to be difficult! Okay, here we go. Today's movie is a double feature. In 1964 Roald Dahl wrote a little book called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , about a boy named Charlie Bucket and his adventures in the fantastic candy factory of the strange and mysterious Willy Wonka. I'm sure you've heard of it. Lots of other movies have been made from Mr. Dahl's books--but I'll save those for other blog entries. So far, there have been 2 movies based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And there seems to be a lot of controversy about which is better/more scary. My favorite is the original movie that came out in 1971 starring Gene Wilder called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory . Other people prefer the new movie starring Johnny Depp Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . Personally I think Depp (though I love him) is a creepier Willy Wonka. Also, he doesn't sing. I have a problem with that. But that's just my opinion....

Sorry about not posting on Monday, we had our Volunteer Appreciate Lunch and I also had to return the indoor planetarium to the Lunar and Planetary Institute, after that the day just seemed to fly by! Anyway, I'm really excited about this movie coming out on August 13. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is directed by one of my favorite directors, Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Spaced) and stars the usually hilarious Michael Cera. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is based on a series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley about a 25 year old slacker named Scott Pilgrim and his exploits/adventures with his band, his roommate, the new girl he's seeing and her 7 Evil Exes that he must battle in order to date her. These are young adult books that lean a little more into the 'adult' of young adult, and the movie is rated PG-13. I know that's fine for most of my readers, but I wanted to put a little disclaimer here just in case, if you're not old enough or don...