DIY-YA: Teen Tech Week @ RPL

Richmond Public Library is celebrating Teen Tech Week again, and we are really excited because we have more branches involved. The theme for Teen Tech Week for this year is "DIY @ your library". Richmond Public Library always encourages their teen patrons to be expressive and creative by using upcycled materials to make re-purposed items. We have creative librarians and library staff who are welling to share their creative skills for awesome Teen Tech Week programs.  Here are our activities down below.

A lot of our programs have been geared towards career development for teens. It all started with our Teen Recyclable Craft Sale, which is held at Main in December and it has been very successful. This year we are working with the YA staff and teens at other branches to make the craft sale system wide.


We are setting a new trend for our teen programs and it is called "DIY-YA". If you are the type of teen who likes to be creative and explore new trends, check us out at RPL!

Tech Trends for Teens: Free Graphic Programs for Digital Art

Using Free Internet Tools to Make Cool Digital Art

As we gear up for Teen Tech Week and the RVA Sticker Contest this week, take advantage of free graphic tools, drawing, and graphic programs to meet your digital art creative needs.

Artpad is an online painting tool that allows you to see the paintbrush. You can change colors, brush sizes, paint opacity, and you can even splatter paint or write on your drawing. It will let you replay your drawing and save it or any frame from the replay.

Brushter is a free online painting website with a twist. Its paintbrushes all produce textured strokes. Like other painting websites, you can choose your colors, shades, and widths. You need the Adobe Shockwave Player to use it. This tool is produced by the National Gallery of Art.

Do Ink is a drawing and animation application that allows you to use vector-drawing tools to create your pictures.In addition to the traditional drawing tool, you also get art props that will add to the drawings you create. Do Ink is available only in a downloadable form for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

Draw Island allows you to paint or draw. It is unique in that you can create animations with this tool as well. However, the animation feature currently works only if you use Firefox (Mozilla) asyour Web browser.

FlockDraw is an excellent choice for collaborative business drawing. It allows an unlimited number of users to participate for free. Think of a community whiteboard in an online format and you will have the essence of FlockDraw.

Gimp is a very powerful image manipulation program, great for photo retouching and image creation. There are other downloads, GTK and runtime environment, required for this program to work properly. This program currently runs on Linux, Windows (XP and Vista), Mac OSX, and some Unix-based systems.

Graffiti Plado allows you to bring the street to your art. Use spray paint on a wall-textured background to create your ideas and save them. You can adjust color, size of the spray, strength, and even whether or not you want to see and hear the spray can while you paint.

Pixia Originally a Japanese only edition, Pixia is a very nice paint tool with full layers of support and many other features. The English version website does lack information and support so you will probably need to search the web for information on learning to use this tool. This is currently a Windows only program and does support some drawing tablets.

Odosketch is interesting because the sketches it creates resemble pencil and watercolor. The tips of your brush create both thin lines and wide ribbons. When you select your color you can also select the width of the tip. Create your sketch free online and then save it to your hard drive or disk.

Onemotion is an online painting website. It allows you to adjust brush width and color, but its unique feature is that your speed controls the width of your line.

Open Clip Art  is a site where you can download free clip art.

Skencil  is an interactive vector drawing program for Unix and Linux operating systems built on the Python language. This program has tons of features such as gradient fills, bezier curves and you can bend text along paths to name a few.

Sketchpad is a free online paint tool, but the effects it can create are awesome. There are stamp, wallpaper, geometric design, and fill options. Its unique color adjusting method allows you to visualize your scheme more easily. It also has an option of painting in two tones.

Ultimate Paint is an image creation and manipulation program for Windows systems. This is a pretty compact and fast-running graphics program with plenty of features.

Viscosity is a unique abstract art creation site. Like other online painting and drawing websites, you can save your work on your computer. The difference is you begin viscosity with a mixed palette, which you drag your “brush” through. This tool is a little more difficult to use effectively, but it is also extremely enjoyable.

Wixie has all the traditional paint and drawing options, but adds in three-dimensional, crayon, and stretch functions. This website also allows you to choose the texture of your fills.

Information was taken from Mashable.com and Smallbiztrends.com

Teen Tech Week -Check In @ your library!

During Teen Tech Week™ (March 10 - 16, 2013), the Richmond Public library invites you to Check In @ your library! 
With this year's theme, Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) wants to encourage libraries to open their physical and virtual doors to teens and showcase the outstanding technology they offer, from services such as online homework help and digital literacy-focused programs to resources like e-books, audiobooks, databases and more.

Here at RPL, we want the teens to experience all of the programs RPL has to offer.

Teen Tech Week will be celebrated at the Main and North Avenue Branches. There are so many exciting things to do, from the digital art contest to exploring new technology trends in an open laptop computer lab. You can find out more information by going to the Events Calendar on the library's website or call both branches for more details.

Here are some "cool" things to do on your own during Teen Tech Week.

• Follow us on our Social Media Outlets (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr).
• Visit the library's Events Calendar for programs.
• Use Overdrive to access eBooks and Audiobooks.
• Try out a book-focused website like GoodReads, LibraryThing or Shelfari.
• Start a Teen Tech Club at your school or public library.
• Read and contribute to a blog about technology.
• Join a Teen Advisory Group (Main) or Teen Advisory Board (North Avenue).
• Use our databases located on the library's website.
• Volunteer at your library.
• Share ideas for the new teen page.
• Have a smartphone? Learn a new app.

Tween and Teen Reads with Natasha

Halloween is creeping around the corner and we have some good Halloween reads for you. From new to classic and from creepy to funny -- you decide. Even though Teen Read Week is almost over, this is still a perfect opportunity to take a look at some of these titles. 

Teens

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake 
Cas Lowood has a special gift: he kills the dead. He inherited this gift from his father, who was gruesomely executed by a ghost whom he was trying to kill. Now Cas is carrying on where his father left off, along with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit sniffing cat. 

They arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood. She was brutally murdered in 1958 and she still wears the white dress she died in.  This ghost is not your ordinary ghost and Cas has never experienced anything like her before. She is a dangerous ghost who is possessed by rage and will kill anyone who dares to step into the abandoned Victorian place she calls home, except for Cas.

Expect to see in our collection soon the sequel, Girl of Nightmares.

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff 

In the small town of Gentry, there is a sixteen-year-old boy named Mackie Doyle. He is known as a Replacement, a fairy child who replaced a human child when he was just an infant. His adopted parents know what he is as well, but no one talks about it. He wants to fit in, but he is slowly dying in the human world. He becomes interested in a girl named Tate. When Tate's baby sister goes missing, it is up to Mackie to save the young girl by going to the place where he truly belongs, the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. This is a place where a tattooed princess rules over living dead girls. He must face the creatures in the underground world and find out where he truly belongs.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Check out my previous mentions of the book here: Tween and Teen Reads with Natasha, June 28th.

Tweens

Prince of Dorkness: More Notes from a Totally Lame Vampire by Tim Collins 
If you like the Diary of the Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, you may like this book. 
Nigel Mullet has new found vampire abilities and he is finally happy and popular in school. He has a girlfriend named Chloe, but a new guy, Jason, ends up stealing Chloe from Nigel and that is when everything goes downhill. Nigel is bullied by his little sister and is losing his popularity at school. Desperate, Nigel decides to spy on Jason and follows him into the woods one day. He finds out a horrifying secret about Jason: he and his family are werewolves!
Will this secret help him win Chloe back or just make him even more lame? 
This book is the sequel to Notes from a totally lame vampire : because the undead have feelings too!. 

Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury 
In this timeless 1962 classic, a mysterious carnival arrives in a Midwestern town. Everything seems normal at first; there are many attractions, rides, mazes and sideshow tents. But soon people start disappearing and thirteen year old James Nightshade and William Halloway are suspicious of the carnival owner, Mr.Dark. No one will listen to the two boys when weird things continue to happen. The only person who believes them is William's father, a janitor at the local library. Will James and William be able to save the rest of the people in the town?


For more classic Halloween reads, read The Halloween Tree and by Ray Bradbury.

The Graveyard Book  by Neil Gaiman

A lonesome baby is the only survivor after a gruesome attack on his family. Left alone, the toddler leaves the house and ends up in a graveyard where ghosts find him.The ghosts, the Owens, decide to keep him and he is known as "Nobody Owens."
Soon the toddler grows up and the story revolves around him as he befriends a girl named Scarlett Perkins and convinces her mother that he is an imaginary friend.

Nobody Owens does not realize he is in danger: the man who killed his family is coming after him.

Closed for the Season : A Mystery Story by Mary Downing Hahn
Logan, a thirteen year-old boy, and his family move into a rundown old house in rural Virginia where a woman was murdered years ago. Logan eventually befriends his neighbor Arthur and they begin to investigate what happened so long ago in that house. During their quest, they make some dangerous discoveries that put their lives in danger. Will the two make it out alive?

 

Reading YA with Amanda

Its back to school time! But just because summer is over, doesn't mean the reading has to stop. Whether you feel like you need to escape reality for a moment, or just need a good laugh. Try one of these books out!

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

Once upon a time Hazel lived with her parents and attended a private school where the teachers loved her imagination and creativity. Now that her father has left, the only one who seems to understand her is her best friend Jack. Like Hazel, his home life is not perfect, but together they use their imagination to have the time of their lives. But being best friends with a boy has its own challenges, especially when he seems to change mysteriously over night almost like his heart had turned to ice. Hazel doesn’t believe that he doesn’t want to be friends anymore, but when he suddenly disappears; his friend doesn’t believe the story and convinces Hazel that she is the only one who can save him. Only, does Jack want to be saved? For the first time, Hazel must become a player in her real life fairy tale to rescue her friend and save him from the ice queen.

Like Breadcrumbs? Check out the rest of the 2012 Girls of Summer List!

Ursu, Anne. Breadcrumbs. Illustrated by Erin McGuire.  New York: Walden Pond Press, 2011. ISBN-13: 978-0-0620-1505-1. (hardback). Ages 8-12.

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

“Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme; remember me to one who lives there, for then she’ll be a true love of mine.” Lucy Scarborough is just like any other 17 year old girl, except that her birth mother, Miranda, enters and disappears from her life at the strangest times. Lucy’s mother was Miranda’s best friend, until she gave birth to Lucy and went crazy. So when Miranda starts showing up at Lucy’s school singing the lyrics to Scarborough Fair, Lucy tries to hide the fact that Miranda is her mom. But, when Lucy attends her prom and is raped by her date and then becomes pregnant, she begins to wonder if history is just repeating herself. Then, when she begins to read Miranda’s diary she wonders if there is more to the story, and the song, then meets the eye. As Lucy begins to believe in the curse, she finds solace in the fact that she has something that no other Scarborough girl had before her: love and support from family and Zach, the boy next door. Can Lucy and Zach solve the riddles and end the curse or will Lucy follow Miranda right down into the darkness?

Werlin, Nancy. Impossible. New York: Dial Books, 2008. ISBN-13: 978-0-8037-3002-1. (hardback). Ages 13+

The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee: an Origami Yoda Book by Tom Angleberger

Be a wimp or be a wookiee, that is the question! After being suspended from McQuarrie Middle, Dwight has transferred to Tippett Academy. All of his friends miss him, but they also miss Origami Yoda! However, Dwight looked out for them and gave Sara a Chewbacca Fortune Wookiee and a Han Foldo to translate. But, is the Fortune Wookiee the real thing? If so, can he handle all the strange things happening at McQuarrie? When the boys lose faith and decide that only Origami Yoda will do, they find that everything with Dwight may not be what it seems either. But dark times are ahead, can they save Dwight before its too late?

Check out The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and Dark Paper Strikes Back, the first two Origami Yoda books!  Then look out for the forth book, Art2-D2′s Guide to Folding and Doodling: An Origami Yoda Activity Book! Coming this spring! 

Angleberger, Tom. The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee: an Origami Yoda Book. New York: Amulet Books, 2012. ISBN-13: 978-1-4197-0392-8. (hardback). Ages 8-12+

 Swim the Fly by Don Calame

Matt, Coop and Sean are three friends who have always spent their summers on the neighborhood swim team (even though they aren’t very good) and trying to achieve their own personal summer time goal. This summer is no exception, except for their goal, which is the most unlikely the trio has set yet. To see a real-live naked girl! While that seems impossible enough, Matt has a major thing for the hot, new girl on the swim team, Kelly West. So, while he can barely manage one lap in the pool, he volunteers to swim the 100 meter butterfly.  As the trio plots and schemes to achieve their goal they must content with their bodies and girls. What could possibly go wrong?

Swim the Fly is a laugh out loud book for boys, and girls who are brave enough to learn what’s really going on inside their heads.

Calame, Don. Swim the Fly. Somerville, Mass: Candlewick, 2009. ISBN-13: 978-0-7636-4776-6. (paperback). Ages 14+

Special Sneak Peek Review

Safekeeping by Karen Hesse

"This is madness. This is the United States.
This doesn't happen here. But, it IS happening."

Radley Parker-Hughes is in Haiti helping at an orphanage after the earthquake when the President of the United States is assassinated and the American People's Party takes over. Radley sets out for home and her parents, but the United States she lands in is unrecognizable. Landing in New Hampshire, Radley's parents aren't there to pick up her, but she doesn't have the proper documentation to cross state lines into Vermont. So Radley decides to walk all the way home. But after days on the road when she finally arrives at her house, her parents are no where to be found. Feeling unsafe and afraid, she does the only thing she can think of and sets out for the safety of Canada, wanting nothing more than the safety of her parents and their love.

Safekeeping by Karen Hesse
Expected Publication Date: September 18, 2012
Young Adult, Ages 12+
ARC copy used for review.

(my complete review)

Teens and Tweens Reads with Natasha: Back to School

Summer is almost over and kids are going back to school. I know..I know...Here we go again! Parents are rejoicing and some kids are miserable, but we can fix it by reading some good books, right?

Here are some titles to get you back into the swing of things.

Tweens

Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson
This is the first book to, Middle School: Get Me out of Here!. I think it is appropriate to write about, Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life, because of the start of the school year. There are a lot of tweens who are going to start middle school this year and they may feel the anxiety and excitement of starting a new school. 
Rafe Khatchadorian is feeling the same way on his first year at middle school. Rafe wants the best year of his life, so to do so, he along with his friend, Leo, tries to break every rule in the Hills Village Middle School Code of Conduct book. They can gain points from running in the halls to pulling fire alarms. But once he finds success with misbehaving, Rafe gets in trouble with the principal. He gets in so much trouble that the principal is considering suspending Rafe from school. Now he has to decided if getting in trouble is worth having the best school year ever.

Liar, liar : the theory, practice, and destructive properties of deception by Gary Paulsen
Kevin is a 14 year old boy who is really good at lying and he never got caught. Lying makes life easy for this eighth grader, and he believes that lying is his second language. But when his lying catches up with him, Kevin gets in trouble with everyone at school. He doesn't mean to get in trouble for his lies, so he tries to find away to make things better. 

Troublemaker by Andrew Clements
Clayton Hensley is Principal Kelling’s #1 nuisance, and the principal has a folder of Clay's information thicker than anyone else in the school.
But when Clayton gets in serious trouble in his art class by drawing a picture of his principal as a donkey, he soon realizes that his troubling actions is making a spectacle of himself. And when his big brother, Mitchell, gets in serious trouble, Clay tries to change his ways. Can he change is ways of being a troublemaker?



Lunch Lady and the Mutant Mathletes by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Even though this book was written for a younger audience, it fits the theme for these reviews, plus, the Lunch Lady series is awesome! Everyone can get a good read before going back to school. 

When Hector, Terrence, and Dee (The Breakfast Bunch) gets in trouble for skipping out on a museum tour (from book #6), the principal punished them by making them join the school's math team. When the kids are up against Willowby Thompson Academy in a competition, Lunch Lady notices something strange about the other school and their coach and she begins her investigation along with her sidekick, Betty. Will they uncover something awful before the other school tries to snatch victory from the Breakfast Bunch and the rest of the Thompson Brook Elementary School math team?

Also, keep a look out next month for, Lunch Lady and the Picture Day Peril. It is book #8 in this graphic novel series.

Teens 

New Boy by Julian Houston
Rob Garrett is a fifteen year old boy who leaves his segregated town in Virginia to be the first person of color to attend an elite Connecticut boarding school because his parents wanted to shield him from the prejudice that was going on in the south. He first encountered bullies picking on an Italian kid and another boy for being Jewish. A lot has change and there is a Civil Rights Moment going on back home.
When Rob return home during spring break, he has to decided if he is going to join his friend for a sit-in at the lunch counter of the local department store, which refuses to serve African-Americans. Can Rob make a difference?




Circle of Silence by Carol Tanzman
The book, Circle of Silence, is the sequel to, Dancegirl. RPL does not have copies of the two books, but we will get both copies soon. Keep a look out!
Valerie Gaines is part of the Campus News crew at Washington Irving High School and she is looking for the biggest story of her life to report. Valerie is in charge of the news crew and she is feeling the stress of running things. 
Then mysteriously things started happening to the students at the school and it is up to Valerie and her crew to find out what is going on.

Tech Trends for Teens: Cool (Free) Apps for Teens

Everybody loves to play on their cell phones, right? Thanks to our Library Science student intern, Laura Buell, we have compiled a list of exciting apps for teens and tweens so you can check them out! And they're free!

Pandora
Pandora is an internet radio station that adjusts itself to your musical tastes! You can create up to 100 different stations and select your likes and dislikes to create the Perfect Music Experience!

myHomework
Great way to keep organized! First, input your classes so you can have a schedule in your phone (especially helpful for the beginning of the year). Second, put your assignments into the "Homework" section. Finally, there's an area called "calendar" where you can view all of your assignments at once.

OverDrive
Just in case you hadn't heard: OverDrive connects you to this library so you can download eBooks and audiobooks!

Temple Run
For when you just need a little fun, Temple Run is an adventure game. Your objective is to stay away from whatever is chasing you -- and as fast as you can!

Shazam
Do you ever hear a song you like, but you don’t know what it’s called or who sings it? The next time you hear it playing, use Shazam to figure out what it is!

Instagram
You can use this app to edit your pictures -- make them black and white or give them other effects to change their appearance. Lots of fun to play around with!

There are a ton of fun apps to play with and these are just a few that we know are fun to play with!

Reading YA with Amanda- RPS Summer Reading Style

It can be hard sometimes to decide what to read off of your school's Summer Reading List. Never fear, help is here. The handy flowchart below will help rising high school students in Richmond Public Schools navigate their reading selections. Click HERE for a printable version of the HS chart.

Teens and Tweens Reads with Natasha

Summer is here and kids are out of school. Yay!!! So why not take the time to read some books? It is me again, Natasha the YA Librarian and I am here to recommend some good books and to remind you to sign up for our Summer Reading Program. This would be a great opportunity to use some of these titles to add to your reading log. (Hint-Hint!)

Teens 
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
This interesting novel presents a collaboration of fiction and photographs. In this story, a sixteen-year-old named Jacob comes across a remote island off the coast of Wales. He discovers a decaying building named Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Jacob explores the home where children used to live, one of them being his own grandfather. This is an interesting book for those who enjoy mysteries, horror and paranormal activities. The photographs add an interesting take to this novel.

Just Write: Here's How! by Walter Dean Myers
This is a how-to-do guide for those teens who want to become writers. YA author, Walter Dean Myers, has put together this collection of valuable information and includes examples from his writing and reading experience. This book is inspiring and any young author would gain much needed information from a renowned author.

Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson
This is an extraordinary book about a girl named, Laurel Daneau, who is trying to gain a new lease on life. It all starts when Laurel loses her mother and grandmother after Hurricane Katrina which causes her father, younger bother and herself to move to another state. She gains new friends and become a cheerleader for the school's basketball team. Still grieving the lost of her mother and grandmother, Laurel gets caught up with the wrong crowd through her boyfriend, T-Boom, the co-captain of the basketball team, who introduced her to meth. Soon she begins to alienate her friends and family and as her life drifts downward, Laurel finally realizes she needs to find some sobriety. With help from new friends, Laurel now is able to rewrite her story and move on from her addiction.


Tweens

Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Auggie Pullman has a rare disorder. His head is malformed and he has scars from corrective surgery. After being home schooled, his parents decided it was time for Auggie to go to private school.  Auggie wants to convince his classmates that he is just like them-normal. The books starts from Auggie's point of view and then switches to his sister, friends and others. This novel shows how a community deals with acceptance. Wonder is a very powerful book for tweens and  teens to read and it helps deal with the issue of bullying.

Explorer: The Mystery Boxes by Kazu Kibuishi 

This graphic novel has a collection of seven stories. Each story is about mysterious boxes. The stories may be short but they are well crafted. One of the stories in the book, Spring Cleaning, was illustrated by Raina Telgemeier. If you have read my book review from last month, then you would see my review of her book, Smile. 

Summer Reading Program - Reading Is So Delicious for Teens!

A lot of exciting things are going to be happening for the start of the Richmond Public Library's Summer Reading Program. The theme for this year's program is  Reading Is So Delicious! The program begins Saturday, June 16th and everyone can participate. 

  

Let's talk about TEENS.

This is an exciting time for teens. We have more programs and cool prizes including a chance to win a Kindle Fire® at the finale.
This year, we are introducing a new online registration for teens called Litkeeper! Now teens will be able to enter and keep track of the books they have read from any computer! 

Five books are required to complete the program. However, they may substitute "one" book if they attend an event .

Speaking of events...we are offering awesome events for teens throughout RPL. We will start with Main's summer reading kick-off this Saturday, June 16th, with inspirational teen author, Rachel Coker. She is going to talk about her book, Interrupted: Life Beyond Words and be available for book signings. Rachel also will share her experience as a young writer. This will be a great opportunity for young writers to come and meet her. Just for Girls is a program where authors, Meg Medina and Gigi Amateau,  presents their summer reading list for girls at the Main Library June 19th at 7pm. More information on their reading list can be found by clicking this link, Girls of Summer. Nikki Giovanni will be at the Main Library later this month, June 27th at 2:00 pm and everybody is invited. Belmont, Main, North Avenue, and East End will be having the Henna Lady. Teens will explore the the background of this ancient art. Check the events calendar for locations, dates and times. With the partnership of the Virginia Credit Union, we will be offering the Teen Money Camp at Main July 9th through the 13th. Teen will receive financial tips and learn how to make the best of their money.

It doesn't stop there!

There will be more programs for teens at other locations. Pay attention to the events calendar  and enjoy your summer!