Winter/Holiday books for Young Adults

After searching for what seemed like days I have found a nice selection of YA books that have either a winter or holiday theme for the season.  I've been working on a display in the Teen Lounge and found enough of these books in my collection to make it look alright.  :-)
Here's what I've come up with.

• Icing on the Lake by Catherine Clark
• Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
• Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater 
• Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn
• The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
• The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
• Trapped by Michael Northrop
• Winter's End by Jean-Claude Mourlevat
• Let it Snow by John Green
• Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
• Love on the Lifts by Rachel Hawthorne
• Sun & Moon, Ice & Snow by Jessica Day George
• As Simple As Snow by Gregory Galloway
• Kissing Snowflakes by Abby Sher
• Far From You by Lisa Schroeder
• Secret Santa by Sabrina James
• Winter's Kiss by Jennifer Echols
• Winter Town by Stephen Emond
• Snowed In by Rachel Hawthorne
• Mistletoe: Four Holiday Stories by Hailey Abbott

Comic Book Club

After attending a Comics Conference this past spring I decided to start a Comic Book Club for elementary kids grades 2-6 (I may change the ages to just grades 4-6).  The purpose of this club is to introduce or explore more comic books geared toward elementary age children.  The club meets once a month, each month we explore a different aspect of creating a comic book.  I took the different elements and turned them into comprehensible ideas for the kids.  We look at different comic books in the library and spend some time working on creating our own comics.  I allow time each session for participants to share about comics they are reading or creating. So far there are a few attendees and my hope is that as word spreads that there is a new program at the library that more kids will participate.

Some of the books that I used to create my monthly activities are as followed:

Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels by Scott McCloud
Lila & Ecco's Do-It-Yourself Comics Club by Willow Dawson

Getting Teens Involved

Over the last few years my library has turned into the hangout for teens.  They love to hide away in the teen lounge or play chess  by the magazines.  The computers are always teaming with kids and teens after school. The issue I've run into this year is program attendance.  I've always polled the teens for the types of programs they want to attend at the library and plan based on that.  I've polled the teens this summer and they like the programs we have, but the do not come for the program.  They will be in the library, but don't want to participate in the programs.  Art Club and Teen Advisory Board are the only teen ones that are attended.  They do not even come for game day anymore.  I've considered changing the time of programming, or maybe I need to change the programs themselves.  The teens are aware of when programs are.  It's posted all over the library and internet.  It's obviously time for change and with the new year coming I plan to change the teen programming at the library so that it suits the teens better.
Time to get planning!

Whimsical Tree

I saw a picture the other day of a pretty whimsical tree with swirls and buttons.  I drew my own tree design and added some buttons and jewels.  I thought this would be fun for teens to do as the front of a holiday card or for kids to do as a picture during their holiday break.

Here is what my whimsical tree looks like:

Star Wars Snowflakes

This is just awesome!  I found this craft on Pinterest.  The link has patterns of snowflakes that you cut to make different Star Wars characters and ships.  Some patterns are easier than others.

I suggest using nail scissors and an exacto knife to cut all the small pieces out.  I would consider this for a teen program.  Right now I've just made a few myself and will hang them in the children's area among the other snowflakes.  It will be a fun surprise for all the Star War fans and they will have fun trying to spot the Death Star and Darth Vader.

Star Wars Snowflakes

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Contest!

This will be the third year of this contest at the library.  The first year I did this I had 24 houses submitted.  The last year there were a few less, but more groups involved and extremely detailed structures.  This is a super easy program, that the whole community can get involved in.  This year a local coffee shop is donating the prizes.  I give out prizes to every age category and the group category.  We have a big display window in the front of our library so I make a winter gingerbread village in there and number the houses so people can come in the library and vote.  People really get into this program and of course we put out a display of all our gingerbread constructing books!

Technology, Teens and the Library

This is completely based off of my experience in a small town library.  I've talked with the teens who come to the library and the teens who are on the Teen Advisory Board about technology and what they think the library should have.  I also asked them if they use any type of eReader for school or fun.  Turns out that only a few of them own eReaders or use their smart phones to read books.  A few have a tablet of some sort, but do not use it for reading.  They prefer coming to the library and borrowing books.  When asked what technology they would like to see in the library, they all agreed that there should be iPads for the teens to use.
I've been looking into how to use the iPads with the teens.  They mainly want the iPads just to sit down in the Teen Lounge and surf the Web or play games on them.  That is something that can easily be done, but what else could they be used for?  Gaming days at the library, use them to make eBooks, digital drawing contests, check books out right from the iPad???  There are many possibilities, it's just a matter of developing a library program that the teens will want to participate in.  I'm thinking about including library iPads in my monthly challenge games and see if I can get more teens to participate.  What are your thoughts on introducing more technology into the library and using it with teens or kids?

Book Review! Book Review!

I've just finished reading In a Glass Grimmly by  Adam Gidwitz.  This is the sequel to  A Tale Dark and Grimm.  These are both great books geared toward fourth or fifth grade.  My favorite part about these two books is how the author interjects his voice throughout the stories.  Mostly to caution the readers.
These are the Grimm tales mashed together and still gruesome, but in a way that is not real scary.  Kids will enjoy these stories and maybe search the shelves for more Grimm tales.

Glitter, glitter everywhere: 3-D Stars

It looks like my desk was bombed by glitter faeries, but I had a lot of fun making this 3-D star.  I know the teens will enjoy them too next Art Club.  Of course, I got the idea for these from Pinterest.  Here is a link to how to make them.  3-D STARS 

The cool think about this is you can have teens or yourself save cereal boxes and cut your stars right out of that or any other cardboard you have on hand.  I save thin cardboard from packages all the time because they come in handy for projects like this.  These stars will sit nicely on a window sill or mantel. You can also add some ribbon when attaching the sides together and make a nice ornament.  The star I made is as about 4 inches tall.

It's a bit hard to tell through all the glitter in this picture but it is 3-D.  

Here is the picture from Pinterest: 

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving: Books and Crafts

November is one of my favorite months of the year.  Mostly because my birthday is in November, but I also love fall crafts!  Here are a couple of my favorite fall crafts to do with teens and kids along with some great books.

Teens:
Rectangular leaf wreath. This can be made using cereal boxes or any other scrap cardboard, fall colored leaves at any craft store, ribbon, a pumpkin cut out of foam using a die cut machine, and glitter.  I used a hot glue gun to attach the leaves and ribbon.  These make great presents and are fun to make.  The teens would do this craft in Art club or during a school break.

Kids:
This cute little pumpkin is made out of foam and cute into a pumpkin shape using a die cut machine.  These are simple and fun to make.  Sometime I attach ribbon on the back and other times I use magnet strips.  I find that ribbon glued to the back of the foam works best.  Sometimes for a more cost effective craft I use orange card stock and magnet strips.  This way children can have a choice of crayons or markers.  Glitter is always fun to add to these little projects, but it definitely gets messy with several little ones around.  :-)

Fall Wreath:  This is made with a paper plate, fall leaves, and ribbon.  I cut the center out of a paper plate and punch small holes all around it-just big enough for the stem of the leaf to fit through.  I tape the stems down to the back of the wreath and use a glue stick to keep the leaves flat on the plate.  This one has a cute little squirrel and acorns on it, but it would look nice with a small turkey!

Books:

Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch 

    by Mary Peterson

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving 

    by Dav Pilkey

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie

    by Alison Jackson

Splat Says Thank You! 

    by Rob Scotton

Thanksgiving Rules 

    by Laurie Friedman

'Twas the Day AFTER Thanksgiving 

    by Mavis Smith

The Littlest Pilgrim 

    by Brandi Dougherty

Over the River and Through the Wood 

    by Lydia Maria Child

The Perfect Thanksgiving 

    by Eileen Spinelli

November's TAB Challenge

Parma's Teen Advisory Board liked my idea of monthly challenges for library teens to participate in for a chance to win a $5.00 gift certificate to out local coffee shop.  This month's challenge was taken from School Library Journal  Vol 35, No. 4.  It's called Photo Finish.  What I did was cut up a ton of random pictures from old magazines and put them in a box with instructions on the lid. Teens are told to take 3 pictures out of the box without looking.  They tape the pictures to a piece of paper and write a short 1-2 paragraph story using the pictures. TAB members will vote on a winning story at the beginning of Dec.  I can't wait to see what the teens come up with this month!