Nation by Terry Pratchett

Hey! The book we're reading for January is Nation by Terry Pratchett. I just finished this book, so let me tell you a bit about it. When I read a book, it's important that I can picture what the characters look like, and what the setting looks like. I play it like a movie in my head. This is what I pictured in a nutshell:


Time: Alternate history of our world in the 1870s.
Place: A beautiful island with sandy beaches, palm trees, grass huts, and exotic birds.
Main Characters: Mogli from the Jungle Book (Mau) and Alice from Alice in Wonderland (Daphne).

Mau is an islander, living in the middle of the Great Southern Pelagic Ocean--he is dark skinned, with a head of dark curls. He wears hardly any clothing, and thinks little of politics or manners. Daphne is British--pale and blonde, always covered up and conscious of what is proper and what is not. They end up together on this island after a devastating tsunami wipes out Daphne's ship and Mau's island. It is up to them to build a new Nation.

Both characters are extremely nationalistic, but less out of choice, and more because of their sheltered lives. They know little, if anything, of each others cultures and absolutely nothing of each others language. Daphne, being from a royal English family, speaks English, while Mau speaks his native island language.

This book is about culture, friendship, race and tolerance, and faith and the existence of god.

It's philosophical, clever, and funny. I recommend it.

See you January 7th, 2010 for Pizza and Pages!

Teen Read Week Top 10 Winners!

And the winners are.... Here are the top 10 favorite teen reads from Teen Read Week 2009.



#1 Paper Towns by John Green

#2 Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

#3 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

#4 City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

#5 Identical by Ellen Hopkins

#6 The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

#7 Wake by Lisa McMann

#8 Untamed by P.C. and Kristin Cast

#9 The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart

#10 Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Check out one today!

Coraline is coming....come see the movie with dinner this Thursday from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Then discuss Coraline, the novel AND the Graphic novel at Pizza & Pages in November!

October News

Hope you all enjoyed playing "Ender's Game Jeopardy" at the last Pizza & Pages meeting! Elly led the discussion and the game.



Don't forget to pick up both copies of Coraline for the November 5 book discussion of the novel and the graphic novel. Maybe we'll have time to take a peek at the movie, too!



Next week is a big one for teens. Dinner and a scary movie night on Thursday, Oct. 15. Come for food and the creepy movie, Coraline! Our TAC is running the show!



Then on Saturday....it's Cupcakes for Teens. Learn the latest decorating tips from a real pastry chef. Take home cupcakes for your friends and family, too.

Teen Advisory Council

On Thursday, Novemember 17th the library's Teen Council (TAC) had a meeting. For those who could not attend the meeting we talked about the upcoming events and teen read week.

Some of the Upcoming Teen events are:

Gaming For Teens Thursday,September 24th 6:30-8:30pm

Teen Photo Contest Workshop Saturday, September 26th 2:00-3:00pm
Description: A workshop to introduce teens to the photo contest. Techniques for taking pictures along with the rules of the contest will be discussed.

Pizza and Pages Thursday, October 1st 7:00-8:00pm
Description: Enjoy Pizza while discussing this month's book. The book for October is Ender's Game.

Gaming For Girls Thursday, October 8th 6:30-8:30pm
Description: Girls in grades 6-12 can come and enjoy playing on the Wii or playing DDR (dance dance revolution)

Teen Dinner and Scary Movie Night Thursday, October 15th 6:00-9:00pm
Description: Enjoy dinner and a slightly creepy movie (Coraline).

Cupcakes for Teens Satuday, October 17th 2:00-4:00pm

Gaming For Teens Thursday, October 22nd 6:30-8:30pm

For more information about these and other events you can go to the Baldwin website or you just click this link.

http://host.evanced.info/baldwin/evanced/eventcalendar.asp

Pizza & Pages October 1

Great to see everyone at the last Pizza & Pages. We discussed "Peak" and watched part of an Imax movie on Everest! Amazing!

Don't miss the October meeting...we're reading an award-winner by Orson Scott Card, "Ender's Game". In honor of Teen Read Week's 2009 theme, "Read Beyond Reality", we thought we'd try a science fiction title.


Pick up a copy and come to the discussion.

And, don't forget to vote for the top 10 teen books at: www.ala.org/teenstopten. Voting ends on September 18.

Pizza and Pages: Peak

For those who don't know coming up on Thursday, September third, there is a pizza and pages. At this pizza and pages we will be discussing the book Peak, By Roland Smith. If you look below there is a short summary of the book, Peak. If you have not already you can pick up a copy of Peak from Baldwin so you can attend the pizza and pages. Hope to see you there!


Peak Summary

When Peak Marcello gets arrested for climbing skyscrapers in New York City it starts a long chain of events. For the first time in Peak's life he is going to see his father for more than a day. Peak's father, Josh Wood decides to take Peak to Mount Everest so he can avoid going to a juvenile detention center for three years. Once he arrives at Mount Everest he discovers that if he can make it to the top of Mount Everest before his 15th birthday then he will be the youngest person to ever make it above 29,000 feet. Can Peak make it? To find out read Peak By:Roland Smith.

Oddzin Ends Teen Face Art and Tattoos

OK I went to this program today and it was really cool. There were airbrush tattoos and face painting. The tattoos were really cool and they last 10 days. There were dragon, butterflies, flowers and some other things. The face painting was also cool it wasn't like it was for little kids. It was like creations on your face. There will probably be some pictures on the website some time. Anyways it was a lot of fun and most missed out.

See ya,

Lola

Losing the Library

Beverly hills is considering to get rid of the library this is a problem and we need to stop it. Facts are needed tohelps save th library we need them. HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pizza and Pages

I think I might be speaking on behalf of a lot of people, but I would like to apologize for the horrible behavior last pizza and pages. Sorry :(

Coraline: The Graphic Novel vs. The Book

vs.

I have often asked myself that age-old question: which format is a book better in? As a text-only book or with pretty pictures. Ok, maybe its not an age-old question, but its still a pretty important one.

To test my love of illustration, I decided to compare two books: Coraline (the book) and Coraline (the graphic novel). It's kind of like reading a book and then watching the movie: same story, different format.

Quick Plot Synopsis: "In Coraline's family's new flat is a door which opens only to a brick wall. But one day, the door opens on a passage to another flat just like her own. At first, things seem marvelous there. The food is better. The toys are magical. But there's also another mother and father, and they want Coraline to be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go." (From the Baldwin Public Library Website) There was also a major motion picture adapted from this story.

So, now the question you've been waiting for, which is better: book or graphic novel?

Categories of Evaluation:

Fastest Read: the graphic novel, which I finished in about half the the time.
Best Characters: the book. I know what you're thinking, "they're the same characters!" Somehow, though, they're not. The book characters have a little bit more depth, a little bit more wit, and are, generally, better developed
Most Imaginative: Tie: the book makes you imagine more for yourself, which in a totally made up world, can get kind of crazy. But the graphic novel had to try to interpret a created-world which, for the lack of a better description, falls apart into nothingness - so kudos to the illustrator.

Winner? There is no winner. Or they're both winners. Or, really, I'm the winner! Both formats were crazy interesting in their own right, and the different format made me notice different things. I noticed dialogue more in the graphic novel (because that forms 90% of the words), but noticed characters more in the book.

If only I could see the movie now...

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: Book vs. Movie

Title: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Author: John Boyne
Date: 2006

Summary:
Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in 1942, Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer, befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence.
(Taken from the Baldwin Public Library Catalog)


Review:
I really enjoyed this book. The book is fiction, but it is based on real events of 1940s Nazi Germany. The author chooses to make Bruno, the main character, a simple and naive 9 year old who barely knows anything about life. He has no idea what is going on outside his window; there is a Nazi concentration camp near his house but he thinks that adults are calling it "Out-With" instead of Auschwitz and he thinks that the prisoners are wearing striped pajamas. The friendship between Bruno and Shmuel (the Jewish boy on the other side of the fence) is what really makes this book moving. Bruno learns a lot about himself and changes as the book goes on. This is a book that appeals to children, teens, and adults. It makes you think about friendship, discrimination, stereotypes, and love.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

How is the movie different???

The movie is good, but not as good as the book (of course). I would recommend reading the book first! After reading the book, the movie characters really come to life. There are many things in the book though that don't get put into the movie. The biggest difference and disappointment to me was at the very end of the movie. In the book, Bruno says, "You're my best friend, Shmuel, my best friend for life." For some reason, the movie does not include this line. Other than that, the movie is decent.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

Hi

julia, you can get mad at me later. HI everybody, if there are people reading this please post comments

I Love books !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go big or go home

Brady's life is all about extremeness. Extreme bike jump. Extreme life size catapault. But when a meteorite crashes through his roof, this tops all extreme acts of ever before. But is this meteorite worth the trouble it brings?

Valiant

I would recommend this book to people who can take the cold hard truth of the world. It is quite dark. It shows you a side of New York City that you might not want to know about. The main character, Val, is an athletic 16-year-old who runs away to New York. She falls in with a makeshift family of teenagers. As she does she discovers a modern fairy tale right in NYC. I don't want to reveal any of the book, but a warning that this book shows things that some people may not like. Not the best book I have ever read, but OK in all.

The Looking Glass Wars

The Looking Glass wars is a book about the true story of alice in wonderland. When the kingdom of wonderland is under attack by the queen's malicious sister Redd, the bodyguard Hatter Madigan must take the princess through the pool of tears into our world. Will they survive? And can they get back to wonderland to retake the throne from Redd? Read the book. It is one of my favorite books of all time.

Tales of Beedle the Bard

Title: Tales of Beedle the Bard
Author: J.K. Rowling
Number of Pages: 111 (big margins and text...and pictures)
Publication Year: 2008

Summary: "The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a Wizarding classic, first came to Muggle readers' attention in the book known as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now, thanks to Hermione Granger's new translation from the ancient runes, we present this stunning edition with an introduction, notes, and illustrations by J. K. Rowling, and extensive commentary by Albus Dumbledore. Never before have Muggles been privy to these richly imaginative tales." (Taken from the Baldwin Public Library Catalog)

Review: From an avid Harry Potter fan, this is a pretty good book. It took about two hours to read. Basically a bunch of wizarding fairy tales. I'll admit, I felt a little bit like J.K. Rowling felt the need to whap me upside the head, yelling, "hey, you, here's the moral of this story, ya dweeb", everytime that I read Dumbledore's commentary, but the small insights into wizarding history balanced out my dismay and lulled me into that familiar Harry Potter endorphin rush that I've missed so much. Overall a good book.

Sidenote: If you haven't read any of the Harry Potter books, you might not like it very much.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

We Read!

Another one:

http://weread.com/ (also has a Facebook app - so does GoodReads!)

Book Related Websites

http://www.librarything.com/
http://www.goodreads.com/
http://www.anobii.com/
http://www.dailylit.com/
http://www.search-pdf-books.com/
http://www.readernaut.com/
http://www.bookglutton.com/
http://www.bookjetty.com/
http://www.booktagger.com/
http://www.booksprouts.com/
http://www.readingtrails.com/

The Army of One

Check out the Book Army website.

No More Candy

To promote healthy living, the TAC may switch from candy to vegetables at monthly meetings. What do you all think? I was thinking of some tasty cabbage and celery.

True Talents Book Review

SPOILER ALERT: What is written following may contain spoilers for those who have not read Hidden Talents. If you would like to read the Hidden Talents book review scroll down.

Summary: It's been over a year since fourteen-year-old Eddie "Trash" Thalmeyer and his friends from Edgeview Alternative School found out about their special hidden talents. Trash can move things with his mind; Torchie is a fire starter; Cheater reads minds; Lucky finds lost objects; Flinch can predict the future; and Martin can see into people's souls.
When Trash tests his powerin a bank and accidently steals a fistful of cash, he is kidnapped by the ruthless leader of a shadowy company. Torchie, Cheater, Lucky, Flinch, and Martin join forces to rescue their friend using their hidden talents, and discover their true talents in the process.

Review:
This book is laugh out loud funny, has enough action to keep you reading, and just enough gore to
make it interesting. The book makes a fantastic sequel to "Hidden Talents".

Note: I recommend reading Hidden Talents before reading True Talents.

hello

There will be random posts like this one scattered throughout the blog. I won a canvas. Did you? HUH? yeah. I didn't think so. IGGL. iF yOu GuYs At ThE TAC DoN'T LiKe ThIs, ThEn I'm SoRrY, yElL aT mE nExT mEeTiNg.

What this is

This is a blog about what the Teen Advisory Council does at the Baldwin Public Library. We will do book, movie, magazines and any other reviews. It will also probably have teen programs at the library.

Rules:
*no swearing
*no personal info
*nothing rude

"Scat" book review

The book "Scat" by Carl Hiassen is a very nice book. Most of his books talk about environmental problems, like this one. The book is about a group of students who were on a field trip to a florida swamp. But things go strange when a wildfire breaks out and their teacher dissapears. Something fishy is going on in black vine swamp, and Nick Waters will find out what's going on.

Hidden Talents Book Review

Hidden Talents
By: David Lubar

Summary:
Martin Anderson and his friends don't like being called losers. But they've been called that for so long they start to believe it even they start to believe it. Until Martin makes an incredible discovery: each of his friends has a special hidden talent.
Edgeview Alternative School was supposed to be the end of the road. But for Martin and his friends, it just might be a new beginning.

Review:
This is book is FANTASTIC!!!!!!!
It is fast paced, and somewhat realistic.
Though the beginning may seem a bit dry,
when it gets going it goes fast.
You will LOVE the characters and their total
awesomeness.

Also........

You can also post movie reveiws and movies and books you would like us to review.

hi

hello this is a blog. This is a blog for reveiws of books. These reveiws are okay. We accept reader input. Please send in your reviews to baldwinteen@gmail.com