January 2007 Events for Teens @NCPL

In the Zone Spring 2007 schedule

Writer's Slam Spring 2007 schedule

Anime Club Spring 2007 schedule

Teen Movie Afternoons

Teen Movie Afternoons
Wednesday, December 20 "RV"

Thursday, December 28 "Eight Below"
@ 3:00 p.m. in the Crawford Room

Holiday Open House

Get in the spirit this holiday season and join us in the Teen Zone for crafts, games, food, and fun.
Thursday, December 14 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Hanging of the Greens

Forget decking the halls, it's time to deck the Library! Teens are invited to a decoration celebration this December to help usher in the Holiday Season. The "Hanging of the Greens" begins at 4:30pm Friday, December 8. Help spread the holiday cheer and get your Natrona County Public Library in style for the holidays! For more information call 237-4935 ext. 101.
Please join us tomorrow, Friday, December 8 from 4:30-6.

Let's Talk College... Scholarship Strategies

So, you know you want to go to college, and you might even know where, but do you know HOW? The many steps to getting into and through college can be overwhelming. Your Natrona County Public Library is here to help with a new series of "Let's Talk College" workshops.

The first of these workshops will delve into "Scholarship Strategies" including where to look for scholarships, tips on the application process, and ideas for scholastic resumes, scholarship essays, and interviews. Cristina Colling of the University of Wyoming Educational Opportunities Center will address these issues and more. Bring your questions and concerns to the Natrona County Public Library on Wednesday, November 15 at 7:00 PM.
"Let's Talk College" workshops are free and open to all who wish to attend.

Teen Writer's Club-Postponed

Due to low attendance and lack of interest, Teen Writer's Club for November and December has been cancelled.

Those who are interested in writing and sharing your work need not fear. The New Year has something in store for you. Watch for more information about our Writer's Slam... Coming Soon!

Authors Get Active @ NCPL

Just a reminder that authors Todd Stasser, Elaine Marie Alphin, and S.L. Rottman will be here tomorrow night, Thursday October 19, at 7 p.m. in the Teen Zone. Please join us as they discuss their writing.

Poetry Slam

Check out pictures and audio from Tuesday Night's Poetry Slam courtesy of the Casper Star Tribune and photographer Ryan Soderlin.
http://www.casperstartribune.net/slideshow/Poetry_Slam/

TEEN READ WEEK-October 15-21, 2006

Poetry Slam-Tuesday October 10

Sign up in the Teen Zone if you want to slam. Otherwise, join us at Metro to support your fellow teens. Slammers will need to bring 3 poems.

Sign up now for Hemp, Hemp, Hooray! -Wed, Sept 27

Celebrate Banned Book Week -Sept 23-30

Celebrate Banned Books Week and the freedom to read. Teens in Grades 6-8 , reading Nothing But The Truth by Avi, can join us for Afternoon Book Club on Wednesday, September 20 at 3:30 p.m. or Saturday, September 23 at 4 p.m. Teen Book Club for those in Grades 9-12 will meet Wednesday, September 27 at 7 p.m. and discuss 1984 by George Orwell. All book clubs meet at Metro Coffee Company and teens are asked to register at the Teen Zone desk.

Don't Forget: Dinner & A Movie Friday

Teen Book Reviews

Are you a teen who love to read and wants to share great books with other teens? Here's your chance. Write reviews for our Books @ NCPL page by completing the form at http://fs11.formsite.com/ncplteenzone/form497451004/index.html

You can also pick up a form from the Teen Zone desk.

Got a Library Card?

September is Library Card Sign-Up Month. Make sure to sign up for your own FREE library card. If you are under 18, all you need to do is stop by the Main Library or one of our branches with a parent.

If you have lost your library card, come into the Main Library or any of our branches and get your card replaced for FREE!! After September, replacement cards will be $1. Your library card is your ticket to knowledge.

Just added: Books and Authors

Make sure to check out our new blog pages...
If you are looking for a good book, check out Books @ NCPL

Your favorite author is just a click away. Check for their website on our YA Author Website page. If we're missing your favorite author, make sure you leave a comment and let us know so we can update the list. You can navigate through our blog using the links on the right side of the page.

Library Closed September 4th

Natrona County Public Library will be closed Monday, September 4th to observe Labor Day. We will be open again Tuesday, September 5th at 10 a.m. Natrona County Schools also resume classes on Tuesday, September 5th.

Dinner and a Movie-September 15, 2006

Fall Schedule for Anime and Writing Club

Join NCPL’s Anime Club!
Meet other anime fanatics, view great anime, discuss manga and chat about all things ANIME!
Fall 2006 Meetings
Wednesday, September 6, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, October 3, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, November 1, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, December 6, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
All meetings in NCPL’s Crawford Room
For teens in grades 6-12

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NCPL’s Writers Club
Meet other writers, share and critique your work, learn more about getting published and MORE!
Fall 2006 Meetings
Tuesday, September 19, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, October 17, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, November 14, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, December 12, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
All meetings in NCPL’s Crawford Room
For teens in grades 6-12

Nothing But the Truth: a documentary novel by Avi

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and Nothing But the Truth? If you’ve watched enough courtroom dramas, you’ve heard that oath being taken. Telling the truth should be simple, right? Well, I’m here to tell you that the truth can be a little more complicated than you’d think. The thing I find more difficult than the truth would be rules. Rules, rules, rules. They are everywhere and it seems like people are always making up rules to make life harder. But the place they bother me the most is in school. The rules say you have to go everyday for 8 hours from age 5 to 18. You have to listen to some know-it-all teacher drone on and on about stuff that is boring and out of date. Then there are rules that if you aren’t passing every subject you can’t go out for sports. Whatever! My stupid English teacher hates me and that’s why I’m failing her class and why I can’t run track. Now that stupid teacher is trying to tell me there is a rule against humming the national anthem. Excuse me? I can’t believe that something as harmless as humming could cause such a raucous, make news across the country, and affect so many people’s lives. But it has…So there you have it. Nothing But the Truth.

New Fall Library Hours

During the summer, Natrona County Public Library and the Teen Zone have become the place to hang out. That doesn't have to change once school starts. Starting Tuesday, September 11, your library will be extending evening hours. We will be open Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Watch for our fall programming which kicks off Friday, September 15th at 7 p.m. with Dinner and a Movie featuring The Pink Panther. Book Clubs will also resume in September and books are currently available in the Teen Zone. Teens in grades 6-8 will be reading Nothing But The Truth by Avi and meets on either Wednesday, September 20 at 4 p.m. or Saturday, September 23 at 3:30 p.m. Those in grades 9-12 are reading 1984 by George Orwell and will meet Wednesday, September 27 at 7 p.m. All book clubs meet at Metro Coffee Company.

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

What do you think of when you hear a church bell ring? Maybe it reminds you of a wedding, a celebration? Maybe you think of it as marking a time of day, such as morning, noon, and night? Possibly as signaling time for worship and prayer? What if the joyful sound of the church bells weren’t so joyous? What if they began to signal death and what if they never stopped ringing? How would you feel? Would it worry or scare you or drive you crazy? For Mattie Cook and the city of Philadelphia in the late hot summer of 1793, the tolling of the church bells signified that a mysterious illness, yellow fever, had claimed another victim. At first the bells tolled once or twice per day but within weeks the bells rang constantly. Fear and panic set in as the death count climbed and cemeteries began filling up. “Bring out your dead, bring out your dead!” was the call from the streets. The rich people fled the city in an attempt to escape the outbreak and those who couldn’t leave were at the mercy of doctors who were willing to try useless and dangerous methods to rid the patient of the disease. Worried that Mattie will fall ill with the fever, her mother sends her away to the country to wait with friends. But due to quarantines in nearby towns, she never makes it and she too falls ill with the fever. Will Mattie be strong enough to make it back to Philadelphia and survive this deadly disease? Fever 1793 is based on the actual tragedy that befell the nation’s capital city.

Endgame by Nancy Garden

Have you ever been picked on? Misunderstood? Felt like you’d lost all control? Meet Gray. He’s a 14-year-old freshman whose family has just moved from Massachusetts to Connecticut. His parents have assured him that this year will be different, a chance to forget about all the bad stuff that happened at Parker Middle School. But as it turns out, for Gray nothing is going to change. He’s still gonna be the kid who gets picked on, pushed around, bullied, and beat up by the big tough jocks. But this time, the abuse has escalated and Gray can’t say anything about it because the adults seem to just brush it off as mild teasing and even if he did tell, the jocks just do more damage. Too make matters worse, Gray’s dad treats him as bad as the jocks do. Gray can only take so much and when the last straw snaps, he does the only thing he can think of to make the pain go away and six lives are drastically changed forever. Let Gray tell you the truth about what caused the extreme chain of events that altered his life.

**If you've ever wondered what would make someone feel like violence was the only answer and what could be going on in the mind of a school shooter, this powerful novel is the one for you.**

Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart

Ever wonder what it would be like to just watch the world from another perspective, say a fly on the wall. Gretchen did. She was tired of her life. Her parents just told her they are getting a divorce and she must sort through her things and get rid of the “junk”. She attends the prestigious Manhattan High School of the Arts and doesn’t fit in. Her art teacher is continuously criticizing her art work. She loves Spiderman and is great at drawing in the comic style. Plus she has a huge crush on Titus, a junior who doesn’t seem to notice her. Gretchen’s mom is leaving on a 10 day cruise and her father is going to Hong Kong. Gretchen is dreading the time alone, especially since her only friend Katya seems to be busy all the time. It is then she makes her ill-fated wish, “to be a fly on the wall of the boy’s locker room”. She sits down to finally read her homework assignment, Kafka’s Metamorphosis.
Will Gretchen enjoy her new life as a fly? What will she learn about herself and her classmates from her new perspective? Will she ever find a way to get back to her real life or will she be stuck as a fly forever? How would you feel about being just A Fly on the Wall?
**WARNING. Gretchen's experiences as a fly do take place in the boy's locker room and she gives descriptions of what she sees. Also there is swearing in this book. If either of those things bother you, you may want to steer clear of this one.**

Sweet Sixteen Princess by Meg Cabot

There are 3 days until Mia’s 16th birthday. Lilly won’t stop talking about Lana’s party on a yacht and Grandmere has invited the MTV show My Super Sweet Sixteen to film Mia’s birthday extravaganza with 100 of her closest friends for a weekend in Genovia. All Mia wants is a regular birthday party that doesn’t include Lilly playing 7 Minutes in Heaven with a Nepalese busboy who wasn’t her boyfriend. Will Mia get her wish or will her Royal Sweet Sixteen be just another day in the life of Genovia/America’s most infamous princess.

Bad Kitty by Michelle Jaffe

Pseudo CSI Equipment (Blush brush, eye shadow, tweezers and makeup bags): $25
Suite at Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas: $300
A Las Vegas-sized mystery with keen fashion sense, witty one-liners, and footnoted conversations between friends: So Mastercard (AKA…$PRICELESS) and Totally Visa (Everywhere you want to be).
Little Life Lesson 1: If you want to have a fun, relaxing, uneventful summer vacation, do not go on a family vacation to Las Vegas. Especially if you are like Jasmine and have no innate superpowers.
Little Life Lesson 2: If you fail to heed this warning and go on said vacation, remember to really SEE what is happening. It is not merely a coincidence when a wild cat jumps on you, a little boy yells for you to save the cat, and then you ruin a wedding by trampling the cake and knocking the bride into the pool. Still not a coincidence when instead of being punished, Hotel Security upgrades you and your parents to a suite.
Little Life Lesson 3: Have a great group of friends on speed-dial, who can sense when something is awry. Hopefully these friends have great superpowers, which can aid in your crime solving skills.
Little Life Lesson 4: See again #2. Not everything is as it appears. Don’t just look but SEE. A fashionable pair of cowboy boots can double as a compartment for holding lipstick and deadly Designer Imposters body spray. Look at every THREAD of evidence carefully.
Little Life Lesson 5: Understand that while some people’s superpowers are obvious to the naked eye like keen fashion sense or voice imitation, some of us harbor superpowers within ourselves that we don’t realize until they are put to use.
Little Life Lesson 6: If you want a fun, relaxing mystery, try Bad Kitty by Michelle Jaffe.

Teen Book Club meets Wednesday July 26th

Teen Book Club meets Wednesday, July 26th at 7 p.m. at Metro Coffee Company. We will be discussing Deception Point by Dan Brown. Teen Book Club is open to those who recently completed grades 9-12. Sign up at the Teen Zone desk for your free copy of the book.

Hello!

Welcome to the NCPL Teen Zone blog. In the future you will be able to read blurbs about books I've recently read, new books, and programs that are currently happening or are coming up. Hope you enjoy and stay in touch!