Cooking for Teens!

       A huge THANK YOU to Detective Ron Nelsen, Evidence Technician for the Scarborough Police Department, who presented a great program on Forensics to a group of very interested middle school kids at the library. He showed them how footprints and fingerprints are collected, and gave them a chance to try dusting their own fingerprints.  Here are some pictures of the event:

Next Wednesday is our Cooking for Teens program.  YUM.  I can't wait!

Do you like to cook? Do you like to eat (silly question!)?  

Michele from Scarborough’s own Measuring Up!- Cooking for Kids will offer a cool cooking program for teens on Wednesday, July 24th from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Get some hands-on cooking experience and something yummy to eat. Michele has posted on her website her logo: “Where food and fun mix together.”  Sounds irresistibly scrumptious to me!  

The cooking session is full, but stop by the Youth Services room at the library or call us to get on the waiting list (883-4723 opt.3).

Happy reading...and cooking,
Connie

"Awesome" Eco-bots/ Forensics 101: What's that?

Last night's robotics program with Trent Schriefer from the 4-H program through the University of Maine Cooperative Extension was a huge success!  We had such fun.  Here are some pictures of the small eco-bots we made (mostly from toothbrushes, a battery, and a pager motor).  After making the, we had the challenge of using them to clean up a pretend oil spill (think brown rice!). 

  

Next week we'll explore Forensics with Detective Nelsen!  I can't wait.  The session is full, but you can get on a wait list by calling the library or stopping by the Youth Services room.

What is Forensic Science anyway? Detectives and police officers and other criminal investigators use science and technology to figure out people, places, and things that are involved in criminal activity.

 Have you seen the show “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”?  On the show, members of the Las Vegas Police Department use physical evidence to solve grisly murders.

On July 17th, from 6:30-7:30, you can join Scarborough’s own Detective Nelsen as he shows examples of how crime scene investigation works.  How cool is that?

 
We are full at the moment , but you can sign up to be on the waiting list by dropping by the Youth Services room or calling us at 883-4723 option3.

Check this blog for more news about summer reading and the very exciting  programs we’re offering for YOU.  See you at the library!

Happy reading,
Connie

Want to make a robot?

Want to make a robot?  Want to learn how robots can be used to clean up and protect the environment? 

Take the Eco-Bot Challenge! 

On Thursday, July 10th, from 6-7:30, the Teen Summer Reading programming will kick-off with the Eco-Bot Challenge.We’ll assemble our own Eco-Bot, and then discover how the robot functions. We’ll design a set of control surfaces to program the Eco-Bot to perform a simulated environmental clean-up project.  No prior robot experience is needed!!  

Interest has been high. We now are taking registrations for a waiting list! Please sign up for the waiting list as soon as possible by dropping by the Youth Services room or calling us at 883-4723 option3.

Check this blog for more news about summer reading and the very cool programs we’re offering.  See you at the library!

Happy reading,
Connie

Did you love Divergent?

          I know a bunch of you have loved Divergent and Its sequel, Insurgent.  While you wait for Allegiant to be published (not until October 22!), here are some other dystopian novels.  Each one is the first in a series, so you’ll have plenty to read.

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.

All her life, Cassia has never had a choice. The Society dictates everything: when and how to play, where to work, where to live, what to eat and wear, when to die, and most importantly to Cassia as she turns 17, who to marry.

Exiled from her safe home in the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria finds herself in the outer wastelands known as the Death Shop. If the cannibals don't get her, the violent energy storms will. There she meets a savage, an Outsider named Perry - wild, dangerous - who is her only chance of survival. But Perry needs Aria, too, and they are forced into an unlikely alliance that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

In the not-too-distant future, when biotechnological advances have made synthetic bodies and brains possible but illegal, a seventeen-year-old girl, recovering from a serious accident and suffering from memory lapses, learns a startling secret about her existence.

Transformation into a super beauty on her sixteenth birthday and reuniting with her friend Peris will only happen if Tally Youngblood's friend Shay also agrees to the operation.

In a small town on the coast of California, everyone over the age of fourteen suddenly disappears, setting up a battle between the remaining town residents and the students from a local private school, as well as those who have "The Power" and are able to perform supernatural feats and those who do not.

And there are even more novels like these!  Just ask us in the Youth Services Room.

Happy Reading,
Connie

I love summer reading!

I love books.  Oh, I also own a Kindle, but I love the feel of a book in my hand.  I 'm an avid reader – one of those people who actually write “Reading” as one of my hobbies.   Years younger than my brother and sister (I was only 10 when they both left home for college), I read a lot, finding a cure for loneliness by connecting with characters in a good story.

I especially love summer reading:  a book, the sun, a comfy chair!  And I love what I call “beach reads” –those easy, breezy books that are great stories with characters I care about.  I’ve already added  seven “to-read” books to my Goodreads account and will add more before summer.

Summer reading often means choosing books you want to read, and this choice helps instill a love of reading.  Kids who don’t read in the summer can lose reading skills and be as much as two years behind their classmates by the end of 6th grade.

What books are on your “to-read” list this summer? Here's one I just finished reading and recommend.

This is a take-off on the Cinderella story, set in the future. Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s fatal illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle and a forbidden attraction. She must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Stay tuned to hear all about some fun summer reading programs for teens at the Scarborough Public Library this summer.  I can’t wait!

Happy reading,
Connie

My favorite new book!

      

     
       Eleanor is the new girl in town and her wild red hair and patchwork outfits are not helping her blend in. She ends up taking the only seat available to her on the bus, and finds herself sitting next to Park.  Park keeps himself separate from the rude jocks on the bus. He loves comic books (although the rest of his family loves sports). Eleanor and Park, both outsiders, sit in awkward silence every day until Park notices that Eleanor is reading his comics over his shoulder. He begins to slide them closer to her side of the seat. And that begins their love story. Their relationship grows gradually--making each other mixed tapes (it's 1986) and discussing X-Men characters--until they both find themselves looking forward to the bus ride more than any other part of the day. Things aren’t easy for them.  Eleanor is bullied at school and then goes home to a really scary and abusive family situation.  Park’s parents do not approve of Eleanor’s awkward ways. In the end, though, this is a book about two high school kids who just really, really like each other and who believe that they can overcome any obstacle standing in the way of their happiness.

Here’s a very short video clip from the publisher that gives you a feeling for the book.

I highly recommend this book! Try it and let me know if you like it as much as I do.

Happy reading,
Connie

Mark November 22nd on your calendar!

      That’s the day the movie, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” based on the second book in Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games trilogy, opens!  The sequel picks up where the last film left off with Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence) winning the 74th annual Hunger Games along with Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson).  As the couple embarks on their Victory Tour of all the districts, it becomes clear that a revolution is on the brink - with Katniss and Peeta at the center of it.

 I loved the first movie and can’t wait for the second one.

Here’s the teaser trailer.

Happy reading (and movie watching!),
Connie