Book Bag: Friendswood Youth Services Blog

Welcome to the Final Four! Just two weeks left of this tournament of pets and familiars! In a lot of the categories it was a close race! Come in to the YA section for the final scores.  So here is your tough decision for this week! Crookshanks VS. Iko Cranky cat or hilarious android? Saphira VS. Hedwig DRAGON or AWESOME OWL This is too difficult. I might abstain from voting (just kidding, I'm totally voting)...But you shouldn't! Come in to vote or vote in the polls to the right of this post! DFTBA, Sti

Welcome to summer! Our Tween and YA programs start today at 1:30 for Tweens (8-10 year olds) and 3:30 for Young Adults (11-18 year olds. Today the Tweens are making Super Hero Masks and the YAs making Smash Books!  On Friday at 1:30 the Tweens are making Bouncy Balls and at 3:30 the YAs are dropping eggs! And don't forget! The YAs are playing Muggle Quidditch on Saturday at Noon! See you there! DFTBA, Sti

I know I've been absent for a while, but if you've been at the library at all this summer I'm sure you understand! We've had a crazy busy summer so, at the end of June we had more people signed up for the Summer Reading Clubs then we had for the entire summer of 2010, so there's that. I've also been busy with our awesome Reading Redcoats: The British Invasion programs, which have been a smashing success if I do say so myself :) Here's a brief recap of some of the things we've been up to, in photo form: Castle Building Tea Cup Candles British Jeopardy Knight Jousting Fake Mustaches Planetarium And we can't forget about our EPIC Harry Potter Lock In !

I was talking with my friend Sarah yesterday (mostly about Doctor Who) and she told me about a Harry Potter related site to which she contributes. It's called Magic is Might and it provides daily updates from the Ministry of Magic during the 7th and final Harry Potter book (i.e. from Voldemort's rise to powere to his demise) in real time! This is a really interactive site with lots of stuff to sift through for you loyal Harry Potter fans. So check it out! It can be a little overwhelming at first (remember, the ministry was full of lots of fear mongering against Muggles and Muggle-born wizards in the 7th book-something that always alarms me), so here is a little info before you dive in. Just click here And when you're ready here is Magic is Might! magicismight.co.uk DFTBA, Sti

Sirius Black's Wanted Poster Title/Year originally published: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban/1999 When I originally read it: 1999, I believe I got it for Christmas… What I thought of it then: When I first read this book I thought parts of it were the saddest things I’d ever read. When Harry overhears that his parents’ best friend betrayed them to Voldemort and was so angry he wanted to kill Sirius Black I cried, a lot. Besides that I thought the whole Time Turner device was really nifty on J.K.'s part (yeah, we're close, I can call her that*). I loved Lupin and the fact that chocolate is the remedy for when you've had all your worst memories brought to mind by Dementors.I also always love Scabbers so I was really sad when he turned out to be the betrayer of Lily and James Potter. Sigh. When I re-read it: January 2011 What my thoughts are now: This book is so great, I can see why it's a lot of people's favorite of the series. I mean, c'mon t...

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...

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...

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 :)

It's Movie Monday again! I missed last week since we were closed but now I'm back! These entries will be dedicated to movies based on books. Upcoming movies and older movies worth remembering and the books that inspired them. I'll discuss what I think are the pros and cons of the movie vs. the book (and I want to hear your comments, so don't hesitate to speak up!). If there are any movies you think I should write about, shoot me an email at librariansti@gmail.com! But before we get to our newest featured book movie, I just wanted to announce that the teens in the Teen Reading Club have read a total of 3200 hours so far!! You guys are seriously blowing my mind! Seriously! Okay, onto the movie of the day. I put off watching the trailer for this until just now because I wanted to give you my opinions right as I had them. So here they are, my thoughts on the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1: All I can say is...wow. It's been a few years sinc...

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!