The New Cloud Library is for Teens, Too!

                                   

Have you heard all the hype about the new Cloud Library at SPL?  

Did you know that the Scarborough Public Library as a new ebook lending service that allows you to download a book to multiple devices? 

Did you know that the Scarborough Public Library is the first and only library in Maine to off such advanced technology? 

Do you prefer to read a book on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod?

If you have heard about the Cloud Library, you might have thought that it was for adults only.

WRONG!  Mrs. C. has ordered some great teen titles for the ebook collection and is ordering more all the time!
You can search for books in the new Discovery Station near the adult catalogs, or go to this link on the library’s home page. http://www.scarboroughlibrary.org/eBooks/eBooks.html  

The link will lead you to lots of information about how the Cloud Library works and also to this link for the catalog. http://www.scarboroughlibrary.org/eBooks/eBooks.html


Here’s a book I love that is in the ebook Cloud Library collection for you to check out:

       Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist – books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

Ask if you have any questions about the Could Library.  We are always happy to help!

Connie

Calling all Middle School Bookworms!!!

         Calling all Middle School Bookworms!!!
     
          Do you like to read?  Want to get together with other kids to talk about books?  Join the new Book Club for middle school kids at the Scarborough Public Library! 

          We’ll meet on Wednesdays, from 3:00 to 3:45.  Our first meeting will take place on Wednesday, November 7th.  Youth Service Assistant Connie will facilitate. 

Don’t miss this book club!  It will be SO much fun! 

                                                              Book Club Registration

Name: _____________________________________________________   Grade:_______________
Email address: _______________________________________________   Phone:_______________
Parent/guardian’s Name:__________________________  

Thanks!  Please drop this form off at the Youth Services desk.  See you November 7th! 
Be thinking of a cool name for our club?

Connie

Teen Lock Down!

Don’t miss….. 

The Teen Lock Down!!! 

WHERE is THE place to be on Friday, October 26th?

THE place to be is the Scarborough Public Library for the second Teen Lock Down!

Doors will open at 6:00 p.m.  We will “lock down" at 6:30, with pick-up time at 8:30 p.m.   All Scarborough middle school kids in grades 6 to 8 are invited. 

Join the Youth Services staff (that’s Mrs. C. Lauren, Marilyn, and Connie) for Wii games, duct tape crafts, making a mini golf maze, karaoke, snacks, and more.  There’s a zombie theme; come in costumes if you want (you don’t have to).  And practice your dance moves.  We’ll all dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”   Pretty scary, huh?

The kids who came to the Lock Down last June had a blast!  They videotaped themselves with some Flip cameras we had on hand.  Check out the video:

So, what do you need to do?  Pre-register by calling Youth Services 883-4723 option 3, or stop by.

                                     
You don’t want to miss this!!

See you there,

Connie

Marvel!

The Youth Services Room:

A Great Place to Get Fabulous Books to Read
AND a Great Place to Get Help with Homework and Research!!

 We LOVE to help you find books you will LOVE to read, and we also LOVE to help you with homework. The Youth Services Room has a wonderful collection of non-fiction books. We can help you search the catalog to find just the right information for your report.
    And have you investigated MARVEL!? This huge collection of databases  provides every resident of Maine with access to a collection magazines, newspapers, journals and reference books that are credible, reputable resources.  (Google isn’t always reliable. You know that, right?)

Check out some of the cool information you can find in Marvel!:
Did you know that Scarborough used to be called Owascoag?  Click here to read an article about the history of Scarborough in the Maine Memory Network.

In Annals of American History you can find a video of the first man walking on the moon. Newspapers (Proquest) includes newspapers from all around the world.  Middle Search Plus is a great database of lots of magazines about current events. And don’t miss Britannica Online. This includes three different encyclopedias (from easier to more difficult, depending on what you need) with lots of images, maps, videos. You can translate the articles into Spanish, if you want!  Look up “frog.” Click on the audio and listen to a frog croak. It just doesn’t get much better than that, does it?
    You can find Marvel! by going to the Scarborough Library’s home page, drop-down menu “Books and More,” and clicking on Marvel! From home you may need to create a quick account. But it’s all free!
    So, when you need help with research or homework, stop by the Youth Services Room at the Scarborough Public Library!  See you there.
Connie

Banned Books Week 2012 September 30th- October 6th

 This year marks the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week, a celebration of the freedom to read and the importance of free and open access to information.

You would be shocked at all the great books that have been targeted with being removed from public libraries or schools. Sometimes a person finds something offensive in a book and wants it taken out of a school or public library. Librarians are against censorship like this. If every book that offended everyone was taken away, our shelves would be pretty empty and our freedom to read very limited.

We are lucky to live in a society where our reading is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.  Celebrate that by reading a banned book this week!

The list of banned books is really, really, sadly very long. You can do a Google search to find long lists. Here are a few books from those lists:

• The dictionary (seriously?!)
• Where the Wild Things Are (a child who yells at his mother!! Supernatural elements!  Oh, no…)
• Little Red Riding Hood (a version that promoted alcohol to minors…Little Red bringing a bottle of wine to sick Grandma)
•  I couldn’t make this stuff up.
• Here are some more:
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Hunger Games
• Twilight
• The Giver
• Are You There, God?  It’s Me, Margaret
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
• Most of Sarah Dessen’s books

I could go on and on. Go here for a list of the Top  Ten Frequently Challenged books by year. To celebrate your freedom to read, curl up and read a banned book this week!

Want to listen to some banned books? Go to the North Carolina State University site to listen.
Connie

Some Sad and Scary New Books

I was browsing the new Young Adult new fiction display alcove, and was drawn to some titles that are either sad or scary or both. Maybe the cool autumn air is putting me in a Halloween mood! Here are some of the books I discovered.

Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson
This subtitle of this book is An Elegy.  Do you know what an “elegy” is? It’s a song or a poem that expresses sorrow, especially sorrow for someone who has died. Fifteen-year-old Laurel, grieving over the death of her mother and her grandmother and the loss of their family home, moves to Galilee. She makes a new friend, becomes a cheerleader, and everything is going pretty well, ….and then she meets T-Boom, a star basketball player. T-Boom introduces her to meth (which they call “moon”) and her life goes downhill so fast my heart nearly stopped. 

The Night She Disappeared by April Henry
Gabie delivers pizza part-time after school in her Mini Cooper.  One night, another pizza delivery girl, Kayla, does not return from a delivery. Is she kidnapped?  Murdered? When Gabie learns that the man who ordered the pizza asked that it be delivered by the girl in the Mini Cooper, she worries that she was the actual target. Along with co-worker Drew, Gabie tries to find Kayla and discover who kidnapped her. The chapters shift to different kids’ viewpoints and even to that of the perpetrator. Interspersed are police reports, interviews, and 911 call transcripts, which make the action in the book seem really real.

The Silence of Murder by Dandi Daley Mackall
When the Panthers basketball coach is murdered, eighteen-year-old Jeremy Long, a boy with autism who has not spoken one word for nine years, is accused of the murder. Jeremy’s sister, Hope, lives up to her name: she believes her brother and tries to prove his innocence. Can she?

Stop in for more suggestions...Connie

GOODREADS!

Do you like Facebook and social networking sites?  Do you love to read as much as I do?  Do you love talking about books with your friends, sharing book titles with them, and getting great book recommendations?  

Then Goodreads is for you!

Goodreads is a website and also an app that can be downloaded free on your mobile device. Make a simple account. You can invite your Facebook friends and other friends who make accounts to be your friends on Goodreads.  You read and rate books and can see what others are reading and what they have rated books.  Goodreads will send you suggestions of books you might like to read, based on the kinds of books you have already read.  You can create shelves: currently reading, want to read, already read, etc.  You can message your friends within Goodreads, too.

It’s safe, really easy to set up, and just as addictive as Facebook for those of us who are readers!

I have many teens who are my friends on Goodreads.  Set up an account and invite me to be your friend so we can start sharing really good books that we love!

Connie