Hey, You Guy-uys!

Our first meeting of the school year is next Thursday, September 6, at 6:00 p.m. Hope to see you there!

Well, dear friends, it looks like we have the same number of entries for different movies, so I'm going to make an executive decision... On Thursday, July 28, we will show Casper. It is a 100 minute movie, so just over an hour and a half. The show will start PROMPTLY at 6:00, and end at 7:40. We will need to put all the chairs away before we leave, so please remind your parents we will be finished later than usual. You may bring a snack, but please be careful with it. We will have to clean up! Any drinks must, of course, have a lid.

I expect you to behave like the growing-ups you are, not like the five-year-olds you are no longer. This means no throwing anything, no loud talking, no pushing people around. What you will do is show respect both to your fellow movie-watchers and to library property. Capisce?

Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday!

What to choose?

Hallo, mes amis! We are faced with a decision. This summer, I would like to have a movie night for all of you, but I need your input. From the following list of titles, please choose one and leave a comment. I would like to have a consensus by the end of the week so that I can start work on the brochure for your Summer Reading Program events!

Here are your options:
Beetlejuice
Casper
The Goonies
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Monster House
Scooby Doo (live action)
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride

Please leave your choice in the comment section. Thanks!

P.S. I have a prize for the first responder!

(edited to add: Please include your name on your comment!)

No-Sew T-Shirt Bag!

As a Youth Services person in a small-ish branch library, I work with kids of all ages, but really LOVE working with my Teens. Finding activities for them which are cheap, easy, and fast can be a challenge, but this is one craft which ANYONE (with the ability to wield scissors) can do. 

The materials are simple. Old t-shirt, sharp scissors, and a safety pin. That's all it takes to make a great book bag in a matter of minutes!

Cut off the sleeves to the INside of the seam and as much of the neck as you like to get the size opening you want.

Cut the seam off of each sleeve and discard.

Cut a ring from each sleeve and snip the bottom seam off to open the loop into a string.

Pull the strings of t-shirt material until they curl up along the edges.

Snip two holes on opposite sides in the bottom hem of the shirt, being careful not to cut the stitching of the hem. Having at least two holes is important, as otherwise there will be one large opening at the bottom of the bag instead of two or more smaller holes.

"Thread" one of the t-shirt strings on your safety pin.

Begin pushing the string through the hem of the shirt. Continue until you reach the hole on the other side of the hem.

Pull the string through until you have an even amount protruding from each hole.

Tie a firm knot.

Snip the long ends of the strings.

Repeat using the other string through the other side of the hem. You should now have two smallish holes in the bottom of your bag.

That was easy!

Cute! And so is she...Thanks for modeling, Kayleigh!

Where'd you go?

I haven't seen you for almost three weeks! Where have you been? Oh, wait. I'm the one who's supposed to be here. You just visit to see if I have anything brilliant to say. I haven't been feeling particularly brilliant lately. Getting ready for Christmas always seems to take it out of me, even when I don't feel particularly pressured or stressed.

I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas (pardon me, Winter) break and I will see you next week. Hopefully with something witty and pertinent to say. Me, not you. Well, it would be nice to hear from you, too. Witty or witless, I don't mind either one.

What a great excuse!

Beginning in January, I will be taking a class titled "Young Adult Materials" in Library School. Yes! I will be formally studying past and present YA books! I love reading them, and now I can do so without feeling guilty about all the time I'm not doing something more productive. They're for school, after all. I'm so excited!

If you're lucky, I might find time to review them all for you!

p.s. Aren't exclamation points great!?!

Book Review, ahoy!

Cloaked in Red, by Vivian Vande Velde--From the introduction, "Everyone knows the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the girl with the unfortunate name and the inability to tell the difference between her grandmother and a member of a different species." And, "However you look at it, 'Little Red Riding Hood' is a strange and disturbing story that should probably not be shared with children. That is why I've gone ahead and written eight new versions of it."

Ms. Vande Velde's eight new versions of LRRH are smart, funny, and ultimately satisfying. Unlike the original, which has plot holes big enough to accommodate a Mack truck, her short stories are tightly plotted and the characters are vivid and grand.

Since the stories are so short ( the entire book is only 127 small pages) there is only so much I can say about them. "The Red Cloak" is courtesy of an interfering mother who doesn't pay attention; "The Red Riding Hood Doll" gives a woman a bit of happiness in her otherwise drab life; "Little Red Riding Hood's Family" has one of the best openings... "Once upon a time, long after people had found out that their families could sometimes be an embarrassment, but before there were advice columnists you could complain to, there was a girl named Roselle."; "Granny and the Wolf" tells of a young granny who has to deal with a different kind of wolf; "Deems the Wood Gatherer" is an unfortunately near-sighted man with an unfortunate penchant for doing good deeds; the title characters in "Why Willy and His Brother Won't Ever Amount to Anything" are either dim-witted or overly-imaginative; "The Little Red Headache" is told from the wolf's point of view; and "Little Red Riding Hood's Little Red Riding Hood" is one of the most intelligent articles of clothing you will ever meet.

This little book doesn't take long to read, but it is well worth every minute!