Play with Clay and Other Upcoming Events!

These are some of the things I made using Sculpey clay. Join me Monday, and you can make these things, too. Or bring your own idea. I'll have a few more by Monday, I'm sure. I'm working on a turtle.
So, join us for our popular Crafternoon. 3 - 4 pm. We'll have cookies and hot chocolate, talk, and listen to some music while we play with clay.

What else is going on, you ask?
Green Teens and School Garden Corps Training Tuesdays 4 - 6 pm
Training by Rutgers Cooperative Extension Intern, Ms. Bakucz
March 23 at Greenhouse on Cook College
March 30 at Rutgers Cooperative Extension 42 Riva Ave, No Brunswick
April 6 at RCE 42 Riva Ave, North Brunswick
Film Club with Dr Knoll Monday April 12 at 7 pm
He will talk to us about comedy and show some clips of Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers, "Some Like It Hot","Ghostbusters" and "The Producers". We'll have Q and A afterwards.
Green Teens, Monday April 19 at 7 pm.
Getting ready for Earth Day event. We'll make a display and get our activity ready. Green snacks.
Earth Day Event for all. Thursday April 22 at 6pm at the High School
Activities, demonstrations, and education all about food and agriculture.
Tour the School Gardens Project. Help at our table or just stop by.
Sponsored by Sustainable Highland Park.

Film Club - Learn how to make a documentary! Monday May 3 7 pm
Rutgers film student, Stephen Beeston, will be here to tell us what's involved in doing it well. He has a lot of experience and wants to help us do a good job when make a documentary of the School Gardens Project this spring and summer! Join us. He will help us all along the way.
Expresso Meetings will be held in May to get ready for June publishing.

I get to do all of it and you can, too! Join us for something.

Enjoy the sunshine!

Michelle

Year End Gratitude

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~ Melodie Beattie

I love this quote. Maybe I don't even need to say any more...but I will!


I can't pass up the opportunity to thank those who have taught us, entertained us and supported us:

Gary Leslie, Sam Shiffman, Alex Prister and our teen film makers for their hard work and dedication to bringing their stories to the screen and the web. We had a successful festival in '09 and are excited about what new skills we can show off at the 2010 festival.

Our Green Teens who did super job at the Earth Day festival. We even made it to Channel 12 news! We made necklaces and wallets out of recycled materials. Big hit with the kids who attended he fair.

Sustainable Highland Park for making the Earth Day festival a reality. There was a a great turnout and we are already thinking of something fun and creative for Earth Day 2010. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Edible Gardens Organization for helping our Green Teens get started on our first garden. We made a raised bed out of recycled materials, filled it with organic soil and used the square foot method of gardening to grow tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, herbs and some flowers. It was beautiful - and useful. We brought some produce to the HP food pantry and made gazpacho to give out as well. It was a delicious and humbling experience. We will do more of this next year. Keep your eye out for more info.

Our Expresso writers produced another wonderful issue of our teen magazine. We were able to publish some beautiful poetry and writing from our local teens. Hoping to have more for 2010's spring/summer issue. I already have some great submissions so I know it will be worth waiting for!

Our Book Buddies! Our teens did an outstanding job this summer reading and doing crafts with their little buddies. Miss Fran and I were so proud of all of them.
We got a lot of positive feedback from the kids and parents. You are all wonderful to spend you spare time helping kids improve their reading skills, gain confidence and just to enjoy reading! Did I mention we were so proud of you?!

We have a lot of people to thank for our summer programs:

Bill Crosbie - video gaming - huge hit with the kids and very informative.
Allison Wiesel - paper making - messy and creative, right up our alley.
Alex Prister - Film maker extraordinaire shared his film making tips and showed us the film he is working on. We are excited to be his groupies!
Jill Caporlingua - artist and teacher who inspired us to make our beautiful word wall hanging in our YA room.
Jack Yang - chess master and teacher. The kids love playing with and against him. He has made us better players!

Dr Robert Knoll - helped our HS students prepare their college essays. He is a gem and an asset to the community. He also came out and spoke to our film club. We hope to have him back often!

Teachers Dara Botvinick, Sara Dea and Colin Hogan for making the HP library a destination for their 6th grade classes. I have enjoyed helping them with their book selections, research projects and introducing them to the artists on display in the meeting room. In turn they have been encouraging students to share their writing for our Expresso issue. We are grateful for teachers like them who help kids make the connection to their public library. It is win-win.

Tian Weishaus, Iren Chan Marx and Anne Barron of Sustainable Highland Park for the workshop they did on "Stuff". They showed us the movie, The Story of Stuff and led a lively and eye-opening discussion. We hope to have more workshops like this and get more teens involved with local sustainability projects. Join us.

Roberta Kressel and Judy Wagner for the composting workshop. They are local Master Gardeners who shared their expertise and got us excited to start our own compost heap at the library. I did not quite manage to pull it off, but I have one at home I'll share!

Most importantly we must thank our Friends of the Library who paid any and all expenses including refreshments, t-shirts, art supplies etc. We could do nothing without them.

So, thank you Friends! If you'd like to be a Friend of the HP library visit the library homepage for a link to the membership form.
You can never have enough Friends.

And of course, all the teens who participated in our programs. You are the life behind all of it.
You are interested and interesting. You are funny and fun to be around. You are kind to one another and to the staff and myself. You make my job a pleasure.
I am grateful for all of you.

Now time to plan 2010.
I can't wait to see what we will be grateful for in the new year.

Best wishes,

Michelle

Heard a Good Book Lately?

Come check it out, we have many new books on CD!

Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Lightning Thief - the whole series!

Try it, you might like it.

I'll let you know how I do with listening to Lightning Thief on CD.

Cheers,

Michelle

Hunger Games Party!

Not only did we survive, we prevailed! It was a huge success judging by the
turnout and the feedback!

Enjoy some pictures....


Let the Games Begin



Our Weapons and Chokers


The Cake!


A District Tribute and her people....




Anyone who wants details about what we did can email me but basically
after sifting through lots of good ideas for our fellow librarians and
teens the highlights were:


Party began with lights off, creepy music, spotlight on me and the announcing of the rules. We were off to a good start!

The homemade bows and arrows were the biggest hit and we had a ball making them (ahead of time). Very quick and easy with wire cutters, pliers, coat hangers, rubber bands, q-tips and coffee straws - nothing bought.

Chokers a close second: Magnets ordered from Zazzle.com
on a pantyhose and a washer "choker" The Catching Fire magnets were more popular than Hungry? Better color. The kids made these at the end of the event.

Wish I had thought to put Rue in the centerpiece of the cake which was decorated with flowers. That was a last minute purchase - it was going to be brownies but I took what Costco had. Delicious and inexpensive.

Kids worked in district teams to decorate a banner and select a tribute to represent them. They dressed their tribute in cotumes that they made for them. Correctly answered trivia questions earned them a trip to the Cornucopia for "supplies" for battle or their costume. They all really did a good job and were quite creative. They all had basic supplies to work with. Face painting was obviously part of it as you can see from this young girl....she loved it!
Then each district was interviewed and judged. Winners got to go first in archery.

They could have done archery all day! Fortunately, we all came back to civilization with cake and the choker activity.

Very, very fun.

We are thinking of doing a Lightning Thief party for the Summer Reading theme - Poseidon etc...that might be a good workshop idea??

Our biggest problem - be prepared to have a lot of kids!!

Thanks to all who helped us with ideas!!
Big thanks to Lauren our part-time librarian who was invaluable when it came to ideas - especially decorating - she had the idea of putting cameras around on tripods so it looked like they were being filmed. And she had our banner idea, and found and made up the trivia questions. Not to mention that her and Fran were top-notch Peacemakers all afternoon!



Michelle and Fran

Banned Books Week

This week is Banned Books Week. What does that mean?

It means celebrate your freedom to read by picking up a book that has been challenged or banned from a public or school library. I think you will be surprised at what's on the list of books that someone wanted to forbid you to read. Copy and paste this link to see a list of banned or challenged classics:

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics/reasonsbanned/index.cfm

I am not suggesting that you should read books that offend you. I am suggesting that you should not be prohibited from reading books that offend others. (Unless it's your mom or dad - I will assume they have good reason for suggesting a book is inappropriate for you)

Censor for yourself. I often skip passages that make me uncomfortable for one reason or another. If someone told me I couldn't read something it might make it even more desirable. Imagine that and consider this quote from The Tragedy of Puddin'head Wilson by Mark Twain:

"Adam was but human--this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent; then he would have eaten the serpent."

Think on that one for a bit...and discuss it at the dinner table or in the lunchroom tomorrow.

Or:
Check out this puppet video put out by The Office of Intellectual Freedom for another explanation of Banned Books Week.

http://bannedbooksweek.org/bbw%20videos.htm

Enjoy your freedom to read any book you like this week (and always!)

Peace,

Michelle

The Ask and the Answer!

It's in! The sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go


The Ask and the Answer

Check out the author's online diary to find out more about him and his books.
I think he's cool.

http://www.patrickness.com/

I am going to do what he says and head out into the sunshine to read...told you he was cool.

Enjoy! mr

Welcome Back!

I hope you all enjoyed your summer vacation. I did!
Check out my previous blog entry for the books I loved this summer.
Be sure and stop in and tell me what you loved.

We have some fun events planned for fall and, of course, are here to help you with your school needs.
Make sure you can find your library card or come in and get a new one.

Join our Film or Green Teens Clubs and attend some informative workshops on film making and composting. Guess which workshop for which club...

Attend the College Essay Writing Workshop on Oct. 5 with Dr. Knoll, beloved HP teacher!
Everyone will leave with an outline and rough draft. Don't miss this opportunity to get some help and alleviate some of the stress associated with the process of applying to colleges.

Hunger Games party - October 28th! Join us for some fun competition and snacks. If you have suggestions for the party see me. No real bows and arrows...sorry, but I do see how that could be fun. Maybe darts. Magnetic darts.

Origami in November.

Check our calendar for date and times and please register so we know to expect you.

I look forward to seeing you soon...stop in and say hi. Admire the garden on your way in. We had fun with it this summer. The tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs made a delicious gazpacho! Pumpkin patch coming in the fall. We can have a Great Pumpkin party...there is no end to the good ideas.

See ya,

Michelle

What I Read and How I Loved It...

I read some GREAT books this summer....

I do some of my best reading at the beach, the pool, my yard, my porch and spent a lot of time on each this summer. I am molto fortunato!

Here's what I loved. I'm keeping each review to about 3 key words. If I spend too much time thinking about the review I won't get this done. Look on our teen page for a link to these books in our catalog and a longer descrition. You're going to want to read them yourself. Find one you like and come talk to me about it! Keep in mind some will be appropriate for middle school, some HS and some for adults, like Mister Pip. All are appropriate for adults who remember what it was like to be a teen.
In the order that I remembered them...


"What I Saw and How I Lied" by Judy Blundell
Glamour, mystery, and the little lies we tell ourselves....and that cover!

"Life as We Knew It" and the "Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Disaster, destruction, survival. LAWKI is a girls perspective of the event, D&G, a boys.

"Every Soul a Star" by Wendy Mass
Just to show you I don't only love death and destruction -
3 kids, one solar eclipse. My favorite book this summer and I WILL be going to a campsite to enjoy the next total solar eclipse in 2017. Click the link below to see the path - I will be on that path. She is a wonderful author. Thoughtful, funny and does her research.
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Aug21Tgoogle.html



"Living Dead Girl" by Elizabeth Scott
Dark, like its title...and sad.

"Baby" by Joseph Monninger
Foster care, friendship, dog sled racing (which was fascinating). I love when I learn about something new.

"Mister Pip" by Lloyd Jones
A special teacher. If you liked To Kill a Mockingbird you will love this one.

"If the Witnes Lied" by Caroline Cooney
What happens when people believe the adult just because...

"The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman
He is a great story teller. Don't be put off by the beginning. You will love some of the folks who "live" in this graveyard. Promise.

"Jellicoe Road" by Melina Marchetta
Unfolds beautifully...stick with it. Will re-read one day because it's worth it.

"Hunger Games" - re-read to get ready for its sequel due out Sept 1 - put a copy on hold for yourself! Sequel - "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins. Keep an eye out for our HG party!



"Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
Noise, chaos, boy, dog, girl. Set in the future it is dark, intense and still manages to be sweet....Loved it!
Book 1 of a trilogy, Chaos Walking. Good title for the series. Hated the cliff hanger ending but the good news is Book 2 will be out in the next week. I'm first in line for it!






"Mice Templar - The Prophecy"
Rats, swords, justice....still working on this one but I loved the forewords by the author and illustrator. Just big boys who still love swords and believe in goodness...and why can't rats be the good guys? A graphic novel.
Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
For fans of Sherman Alexie. He is one of my favorites, but I preferred Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

"Cry, the Beloved Country" by Alan Patton.
Was prepared to dislike it just because, but I am enjoying it. I understand the feeling of loss...and appreciate the dignity. I'm not very far into it, but I predict I might cry...

"How to Read Literature Like a Professor" by Thomas C. Foster
Entertaining, informative. Rain is never just rain...or maybe it is.

On my nightstand -
Swallow Me Whole - graphic novel - love the cover.
Funny How Things Change by Melissa Wyatt
Peace, Love and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle (of ttfn and ttyl fame)
Geektastic:Stories from the Nerd Herd edited by Holly Black
Gone by Michael Grant

Stop by and pick up one of these titles or tell me about one I should not miss!
What should I pick next for my nightstand?

Enjoy...michelle

Summer Reading Winds Down!

Last of our summer events....

Harvest Celebration Tonight, Monday the 17th at 7 pm. Food from our gardens!

Origami Box Making, Thursday the 20th at 1 pm.

Then, I'll take a deep breath and start posting some photos of our summer fun and gearing up for school. We'll be ready when it comes around. Speaking of...

Stop in for your summer reading books. We have a few copies of each title but they are going fast. You won't know until you come in and ask or visit our catalog. Put a hold on a summer reading book and we'll try our best to get you a copy.

http://hpplnj.kohalibrary.com/

Don't forget your one choice book as well. If you want your first choice hurry in.

Look for us on facebook. Highland Park Public Library - Teens. No one reads this blog but my brother and our friend Leora so fb is one more way for me to reach you ;)

If you do check this for info about our programs let me know...I'm feeling unread ;)

Peace,

Michelle

Coming Up....

Chess, Wed July 29 at 3 pm - all levels welcome!

Paper-Making, Monday Aug 3 at 7 pm. Wear something you can get messy in.
Bring your summer reading logs to earn raffle tickets!

Film editing, Monday, Tues, Wed Aug 3 - 5, 1 - 3 pm
Bring a laptop if you have one and all of your work to date!

Please register online or via email to mreasso@hpplnj.org

Hope to see you!

Michelle

Thank you's! Alex Prister and Jack Yang

We had 2 more great programs this week.

Film Making
Alex Prister, recent Rutgers graduate, shared his film making experiences with us.

We saw his award winning video and are glad he is helping us out. We loved it and can't wait to say we knew him when he was just starting out as a film maker! He is very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and he is looking forward to seeing what we bring back in August. He will help us edit and get ready for our film festival, so please take advantage of those August workshops!

Highlights:
The importance of planning
Write a script
Storyboard - know what shots you want to take
Shoot a scene at least twice

Keeping it simple and short is a good rule when you are first starting out.

Lighting is very important.
Sound is also important - he suggested you use a microphone for dialogue. It helps block out background noise.

You can't change the audio or the lighting once you are done filming so it's
important to get it as right the first time as you can.

Hold the camera steady. Use a tripod if necessary.

Those are just a few tips he shared.

Join us August 3, 4 and 5 for editing. Bring a laptop if you have one.
Sign up online or in the library. Or email me. I'll be happy to discuss your film
and help you get ready for Alex's next visit.

Chess
Join us for the next 3 Wednesdays! 3 - 4:30 pm. All skill levels welcome.
Jack spends the first 15 minutes giving tips and tactical advice and then you can test out your new skills on one another - and Jack!

Thank you's! Bill Crosbie and Jill Caporlingua

Video Gaming

We had a large group of very interested teens for Bill's talk on Video Gaming!
Bill was terrific and we could have kept him here all night, I'm sure.
Based on the immense interest next year maybe a workshop where we create our own!
In the meantime, do what Bill said - play games, analyze them - think of ways they could be improved. Be a student of life. Be interested in history, art, literature, sports, culture - the more things you know the more you bring to your imagination!
I'm pretty sure he said READ!!! I know where you can get some books, cheap...free if you return them on time.





Art Wall with Jill Caporlingua

A very talented and inspired group of teens used markers, oil pastels, crayons and paint to create 2 masterpieces that are hanging in our Young Adult room.

Jill gave us an interesting background on how graffiti came to be respected in fine art circles. Picasso, George Braques, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Robert Indiana and Twist (Barry McGee) all influenced the art of graffiti. It was educational and fun to work on a group project! Come see what we created with words and symbols inspire us - visit the YA room.

Will post photos I promise!

Film Making and Chess this week.

www.hpplnj.org/teens for more info.

Cheers!
Michelle

Improv Class - Thank you George Street Playhouse

We had a great time with Ms. Christa from George Street!
Thank you for a fun evening.
Check out their other classes here
http://www.georgestplayhouse.org/

See our photo gallery for more photos.
http://www.hpplnj.org/gallery


Next up:

Creating Video Games Monday July 13th 7 pm
Led by local professor Bill Crosbie



Graffiti Art Wall - Wednesday July 15th 3 pm
Led by local artist and teacher Jill Caporlingua from Gallery Chaos



Hope to see you there

Michelle

Summer Reading Begins!

Sign up online or in the library

Teen Summer Reading
Log hours read and written to be eligible for prizes
Come into receive your packet which includes
a journal and the rules

Teen Summer Workshops:
Improv
Creating Video Games
Film Making
Paper Making
Chess Club
Art Wall

See Calendar for dates
We appreciate sign-ups so we can plan but you are always welcome to attend.

See me if you have any questions.

I hope to see many of you over the summer.

Be safe and remember to bring a book with you wherever you go!

Next post will be book recommendations.

Come pick up your copy of Expresso Summer 2009!

Michelle

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Planting Day, Wednesday May 27 3 pm!

We built the bed!










Join us for planting.
Bring some plants to donate if you have them.
Still in need of some herbs and maybe one tomato plant

We already have promised or in hand:
watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, zucchini, one tomato plant, some peppers, lavender, lemon basil, lettuce and chard

I was INSPIRED to build one in my own yard over the weekend

/>

It was great fun and hopefully will prove very rewarding!

We will be reading to our garden this summer. Perhaps we will even be INSPIRED to write it some poetry ;)

my garden
inspires me
to grow
~ michelle r

Edible Garden Project!

Green Teens - join us Friday, May 22 at 3 pm

We will walk from the library down to the Oriti's house to build a raised bed
for our vegetable garden. Wear something appropriate and bring a hammer, gloves and you green thumb if you can.

We'll discuss the square foot gardening method we will be using.

check it out here:

www.squarefootgardening.com

We'll come back to the library and at 4 for a concert if you can stay....
Melissa Lisbao, who will be performing at Carnegie Hall in June, will play the violin for the community. She will be performing three Celtic fiddle pieces, Bach’s Sonata in G-Minor, and, Wieniawski’s Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, Opus 22

We will have refreshments at the library.

Planting next Wednesday the 27th at 3 pm!

See you there.

Michelle

With a little help from our Friends...

We are generously funded....every cookie, prize, t-shirt and event is compliments of our Friends of the Library. Please support them by donating or purchasing (or both) at the:

Friends of the Library Book Sale - accepting book donations all week. Sale is Sat/Sun, the 16 and 17th Bring your good books to the meeting room. The earlier in the week, the better. We also need volunteers to sort so feel free to stay awhile if you can. Then come back and buy over the weekend.

HP5K - Honoring Riki Jacobs, local aids activist, mom and good neighbor. Race begins Sunday at 9 am. Still time to register. www.therunningcompany.net/hp5k or stop by the Main Street office with your check for $25 and fill out an application. Pick up your t-shirt/number and goody bag at the 421 Raritan between 12 - 2 on Sat or the morning of the race 7:30 in Bank of America lot. Good luck to all.

Planting Day on Raritan Ave Saturday May 16th for more info www.mainstreethp.org

GREEN TEENS Take on....
An Edible Gardens Project at the Library - Friday, May 22 join us in building 2 raised beds that will be used to plant some edibles - tomatoes, herbs, radishes etc. For more info and how to find out how you can make your own edible garden http://www.ediblegardensproject.org/

We have a busy summer lined up - check back for info.

Expresso submissions welcome - please send us your poetry, short stories, art, cartoons etc.
expresso@hpplnj.org

Grazie,

Michelle

Free Comic Book Day!

Join me this Sunday afternoon when Fallout Shelter from New Brunswick comes to give away free comic books. All comics will be appropriate for all ages.

They will be here from 1 - 3 - maybe longer if you want them to....
Fallout Shelter will also be bringing some card games and Role Playing Games

Fallout Shelter is located at
27 Bayard St.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
(732) 354-4520

If you can't make it Sunday please go pay them a visit.

Tell your friends!

See you there,

Michelle

Green Teens Earth Day Extravaganza!

Some of our Green Teens at Sustainable Highland Park's Earth Day Extravaganza:

It was a huge success! The room was packed with exhibitors and active participants. NJN news was there all evening covering the event all evening and we were interviewed - live at 5:15! Yikes...scary but we did very well. I am trying to figure out how to get it taped off my DVR so you can see it. Will let you know if I am successful.

Thanks so much to all the teens who came out to help make wallets and necklaces with the little ones. You were awesome! I think our table was a big hit. Over 100 kids left with one of our crafts!

Congratulations to The Sustainable Highland Park members who put this together. Visit them at http://www.greenhp.org/

Here are some

of our happy creators showing off their work!

See more here: http://www.hpplnj.org/gallery/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=19&g2_page=2&g2_navId=xd038e52c

Be a Green Teen this summer when we do some conatiner gardening here at the library. We'll eat our work at an end of summer feast! Look for info on our website - coming soon!

Cheers,

Michelle