For our teen game night we played Exploding Kittens! Really, who doesn't like kittens and explosions?! The game was easy to learn, easy to explain, and so much fun to play. Each player gets 4 cards, and a diffuse card in their hand to start. Then the remaining diffuse cards, and exploding kitten cards (# players-1) are shuffled into the deck. You can play as many cards as you like on your turn, or none at all, then draw to mark the end of your turn. If you draw an exploding kitten then you die, unless you have a diffuse card. We played by the rules for the first two rounds, then threw the rules to the wind; adding all the exploding kitten cards and shuffling in the diffuse cards instead of starting each player with one. It made the game more suspenseful and more hilarious. I highly recommend this game for teens! We even wrangled in a new player who just couldn't help watching us play. It only takes about 15 minutes to play, so I will keep this on hand from now on to use if we have extra time at the end of programs.
July was our annual potluck lunch meeting and business meeting. I became Vice President, mostly because nobody else offered to do it. I reviewed the following books:
Sticks & Stones (Upside Down Magic #2) by Sarah Mlynowski In this adorable sequel, Nory and Bax are continuing to deal with their upside down magic, this time facing a petition to get rid of the UDM program after some mysterious things start happening at school. Can the UDM students prove it wasn’t them, or will they be banished for being too dangerous? Readers of Upside Down Magic will love the second book in this series. Our favorite characters return, and as we get to know them better they become even more lovable. With great lessons of empathy and teamwork, and an exciting plot, young readers are sure to love this series. Highly recommend for grades 3-5. Sweaterweather by Sara Varon This retrospective collection of Sara Varon’s work gives readers a glimpse into Varon’s growth as a graphic novelist. The illustrations and stories are simple, but show her growth as a storyteller. I’m not really sure who the audience is. Readers who are already a fan of Varon may enjoy reading this, but new readers may find the introduction to each story tiresome, as I did. Some stories make sense, some I had to read multiple times to understand what was going on. Overall, I finished this book feeling relieved to be done, and not motivated to read any of her other works. Gorilla Tactics by Sheila Grau The second book in the series, Runt continues to search for information about his curse, but needs to find the Archivist of the Great library, a secret library guarded by CLOUD, the Covert Librarian Order Until Death. Meanwhile at school, Dr. Critchlore is trying to save the school with a fashion show. I really enjoyed the plot line about the CLOUD and the secret library, though I wasn't crazy about the fashion show idea. Dr. Critchlore's School for Minions series is a silly read that is sure to delight and entertain young readers. Recommend for grades 4-7 The Jungle Book: Mowgli's story This beautifully illustrated edition delivers us the story of the Jungle Book in the most imaginable way possible. The images are gorgeous and supplement the text to create a vivid story. Having never read The Jungle Book, I was pleasantly surprised by the precision of the words and the natural flow of the short stories and poems. Teaching us about empathy for animals, this book evokes a variety of emotions. This is an edition that readers of all ages will enjoy. Mage of Trelian by Michelle Knudsen The third in a trilogy, this book picks up with Calen studying under Krelig, the evil mage. Calen wants desperately to escape, but doesn't yet know how he can defeat Krelig, and won't leave until he has that information. Meanwhile, Princess Meg and her dragon are fighting off enemy forces at the castle. Told from the alternating perspectives of Calen and Meg, readers will enjoy the action and world building that Knudsen creates. I had not read the previous two books in the series, but was not lost at all. I would highly recommend this series. Though, the first two books do need better covers since I can already tell my teens won't pick them up based on that alone. Highly recommend for middle school readers. A new month, a new slew of teen programs. I started out strong with a "DIY Fourth of July" program with 6 teens. I laid out a variety of supplies including duct tape, ribbons, jewelry making supplies, and craft books then let the teens make whatever they wanted. The most popular crafts were hair bows, earrings, and one young man made a duct tape bow tie. I combined our monthly Marvel Club and LOTR club for a "Marvel vs. LOTR Olympics". LOTR club won simply because there was only 1 Marvel member. Still, the teens had fun. We had picnic food, potato sack races, played ring toss and drip drip drop. I will make this a yearly event. Our monthly DIY Tuesday craft was a duct tape lanyard. I had 6 teens. They said they liked that the craft wasn't too complicated, since some duct tape crafts can be quite involved. After making the lanyards I let them continue making things with the duct tape and ended up teaching them to make a duct tape wallet. Teen Book Club only had 2 members at this meeting. We discussed our favorite picture books and I read Outfoxed to them. I even had another teen who was just in the library for the Pokemon Go lure listen in while I was reading. It was a fun meeting, and laid back since I knew some people would be out of town. Life Size Jenga was fun. I built the blocks out of donated soda can boxes and had my summer volunteers tape over any ripped areas. I only had 3 teens show up, but we played outside and talked about Pokemon and still had a good time. So...Pokemon Go! I came into the library and immediately had my co-workers asking me if I knew anything about it. I had been off the weekend after it was released and they had people coming in and playing it since we are a Poke Stop. I've since explained it and taken over programming for it. I created a sign advertising lure times, and we have a "Pokestop Library" sign in the front window. I also have two passives. Laura Perenic posted this passive on her blog, which I am using. I also set up a chalkboard and asked what Pokemon people have caught in the library. So far Saturdays have been our best for luring teens in. Last Saturday I had two teens commend me on my knowledge of Pokemon and said they were bummed that other businesses weren't doing anything special like we were. I have two more programs this month and will be changing my display on Monday. I am trying really hard to keep up with this blog and to become a better blogger. My current goal: take more pictures to share on here!
After being off of work for maternity leave, I have returned and been thrust into the chaos that is Summer Reading Club.
Here is what I've been doing: DIY Bouncy Balls Using this recipe, I had a teen program for making bouncy balls. I found that it was easiest to pre-measure the ingredients into small plastic cups and have the kids mix their own. This way the measurements are precise. If they are not precise then the bouncy ball will not turn out as well. I had 12 people!! We talked about the importance of accuracy and how the ingredients work together to make the bouncy ball. Self Defense Thanks to Guardian Family Martial Arts, we had a very successful teen self defense class. The teens learned the different levels of threat, and how to appropriately respond. They were able to practice a variety of maneuvers and had a grasp of basic safety. Pandemic Pandemic is a cooperative game where players work together to save the world from deadly diseases. The teens had a blast working together to cure the diseases, and it was really amazing to watch them get so involved and care so much about the game. Few games have had that affect, but Pandemic made them care. Henna I had a local henna artist come in and apply designs and talk to the teens about henna. It was our most popular program so far! I had 12 teens sign up, and 17 show up. She was only able to take a few extra after the people who signed up, but I will definitely do this program again! Unfortunately, I had two programs this month that were not well attended. Life Size Connect 4 had only 2 kids show up, but the sisters had fun. I had to cancel our Pilates series that was being held at a local studio because nobody showed to the first class. I hope that my July programs have better turn outs! |
Amanda MarquartHere I will discuss my library antics, including but not limited to: story times, displays, committees, book reviews, and random findings. Archives
September 2016
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