New Books

You know the score. To see what's new on our shelves (and flying off our shelves), check out our new books blog: http://clpteens-newbooks.blogspot.com/. We've got all sorts of new stuff.

~Joseph

Teen Summer Reading PARTY!!!

Hey Teens!

If you registered for Teen Summer Reading and listed MAIN as your primary library, you're invited to a fabulous party celebrating your participation in Teen Summer Reading!

Who: All teens who registered for TSR with MAIN as their primary library
Where: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Main, Teen Space
When: Friday, August 18th, 5:30 - 7:30 (the rest of the library will be closed! How cool is that?)
Why: Uh...to have fun? And celebrate the end of Teen Summer Reading?
What: Food! Prizes! Music! Games! Friends! Fun! Librarians! And Much More!!!

You must tell us you're coming by August 16th (Wednesday) or we can't let you in!

Call 412-622-5526 or email teensmain@carnegielibrary.org to RSVP.

Hope to see you all there,

CLP - Teen Staff (Karen, Joseph and Connie)

Warped Tour - by Guest Blogger Beverly

**Editor's note** In an effort to make our blog more teen-centric, we've started soliciting blog posts from members of our Teen Advisory Council, volunteers, and random teens who wander into the library. Our first Guest Blogger is Beverly, one of our incredibly dedicated TAC members. If you'd like to contribute a blog, email us at teensmain@carnegielibrary.org! **

Warped Tour

The Warped Tour is a festival of bands that tour the country every summer. This summer was my first year going and it was an amazing experience. The night before the tour I only got 2 hours of sleep because I was so excited. When it was time to leave at 10am I still had no clue what it was going to be like, the people I had was going with had also never been to the tour before. By the time I got there the line was already massive. Even before the doors opened the energy was amazing, there were people walking around promoting their bands and handing out free merchandise.

The doors opened a bit after 11am, and I tried to find my friends Karly and Georgina who I was supposed to be meeting. I was overwhelmed by the size of Post Gazette Pavilion and it took me a while to find Karly and Georgina. Once I found all my friends we went to started going to see bands, the crowd and bands performances were all amazing. The energy was completely different from a normal show. Out of all the bands I saw, I feel The Academy Is had the best performance. They got the crowd really going and singing along to all the songs.

After going to Warped Tour this year I would definitely go again. I feel it is a worthwhile experience that anyone who enjoys music should go to.

Contests!!

Reading through this months VOYA (the one we're featured in, by the way) I came across two fabulous contests for teens:

The National Peace Essay Contest-

Teens in grades nine to twelve are invited to assume to role of Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General and design a program that dissuades youth from participating in violent conflict. There are fabulous prizes, including a $1,000 scholarship for the winner from each state who then goes on to compete for national awards. The awards program includes an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C.! For more information visit http://www.usip.org/npec.

Teen Tech Week Logo Contest-

A new initiative from the Young Adult Library Services Association, Teen Tech Week encourages teens to use their libraries for more than just books! Teens can design a logo for Teen Tech Week, which will be used on all marketing a promotional materials. The winning teen will also get a $50 Borders gift card, and the library that submits the winning logo will get $100 worth of free books! Rules and the entry form can be found at http://www.ala.org/teentechweek.

Good luck!

Last chance to win!

Hey, all. Just a reminder that today's the LAST DAY to enter to contest to win a free, signed copy of Alanna: the First Adventure by Tamora Pierce! I'll be drawing the winner first thing tomorrow morning.

The rules again:

• You must be between 12 - 18 years old and have a Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh library card
• You must be registered for Teen Summer Reading
• You must answer the three quiz questions correctly

The quiz questions:

1. What was the name of Alanna's cat?
2. Alanna went to Corus to become a knight. Where did her brother Thom go, and what did he want to become?
3. Where does Alanna find her sword?

To enter the contest, just email the correct answers, your name and your library card number to teensmain@carnegielibrary.org by 8:00 TONIGHT. The winner will be randomly selected from everyone who gets all three questions right and meets all the other requirements.

Important things

• There's new fiction on the book blog
• You have less than a week to enter the contest to win the autographed Tamora Pierce book
• Our Teen space is the featured YA Space of Your Dreams in the August VOYA, which arrived in the mail today. Be sure to ask to see it the next time you're in the library!

kbr

Oodles of books

Many, many new non-fiction titles have been added to the new books blog. And tomorrow, there will be abundant fiction titles added. Enjoy.

Win an autographed Tamora Pierce book!!

While I was in New Orleans for an American Library Association conference, I had the opportunity to meet Tamora Pierce and have her sign some books for me. Are you jealous? I thought you might be, so I asked her to sign one for you, too! I have a copy of Alanna: The First Adventure, autographed to "Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Teens" that I will give away.

It's not going to be quite that simple, though. Here are the rules:

• You must be between 12 - 18 years old and have a Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh library card
• You must be registered for Teen Summer Reading
• You must answer the three quiz questions correctly

What's that? Quiz questions? Yeah, that's right. Here they are:

• What was the name of Alanna's cat?
• Alanna went to Corus to become a knight. Where did her brother Thom go, and what did he want to become?
• Where does Alanna find her sword?

To enter the contest, just email the correct answers, your name and your library card number to teensmain@carnegielibrary.org by July 31st, 2006. The winner will be randomly selected from everyone who gets all three questions right and meets all the other requirements.

If you want to enter but aren't registered for Teen Summer Reading, that's easy to fix! Just go here: www.carnegielibrary.org/teens/tsr

Good luck!!

kbr

D & D Campaign

Hello all! We have received more than a few inquiries about this summer’s Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Unfortunately we can no longer accept reservations because the program is full. However, due to the large interest in the event, we would like to extend an offer. If an interested teen wants to organize a Dungeons and Dragons campaign then we might be able to have a new game this upcoming Fall. If you have experience as a Dungeon Master and would like to organize a campaign then please contact the teen staff to discuss the details. teensmain@carnegielibrary.org

Harry and the Potters Live @ CLP

Here you have it, folks. Harry and the Potters live on the CLP lawn. I'll post more videos as I make them. Thanks for being a part!



Or, if that doesn't work:





Best wishes,
Joseph

Those wizards definitely ROCKED.

As all of you who were here last night know, the Harry and the Potters concert was an amazing success. There were at least 300 people here, probably as many as 400, all bopping and dancing to the amazing tunes of Dracos and the Malfoys (boo! but yay at the same time) and Harry and the Potters.

I was really happy to see so many teens at the concert, and so many unfamiliar faces! I hope that you all are able to make your way back to CLP - Main to check out our amazing Teen area and say hi! I also want to say "thanks, you people are amazing" to all the folks who traveled so far to get here. I talked to one family who came all the way from Maryland! Now, that's dedication.

Joseph recorded the entire concert, and I took lots of pictures, so hopefully we'll be able to get some of that up on the blog soon.

Please, please, please...let me know what you thought! Did it rock as hard as it seemed to?

Also, many thanks to Paul, Joe, Brian, Brad, Cathy and Ryan. You all have put together an amazing show, and I hope the rest of your tour is a success!

kbr

Today's the day!!

Hi, everyone! I just wanted to remind y'all that the Harry and the Potters concert is TONIGHT! Yes, that's right, tonight. It starts at 6:00, on the lawn in front of CLP - Oakland. That is, unless it rains, in which case it will be held in the Lecture Hall -- everyone keep your fingers crossed that that doesn't happen! On the off chance that it does, you can get to the Lecture Hall by following the path to the right of the front doors. According to the weather report, however, it going to be a BEAUTIFUL day.

If you're planning on coming, I recommend bringing some water to keep you hydrated while you're dancing, and maybe a blanket or folding chair to sit on. Information about the concert can be found on our website, here: http://www.carnegielibrary.org/dontmiss/details.cfm?event_id=23245, or on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's website, here: http://www.post-gazette.com/events/default.asp?mode=8&id=15560

Prior to the concert, don't forget about Get Game! Video Gaming @ Your Library, which will take place in Teen from 3:00 - 5:00. We'll be hooking up the X-box and a GameCube that one of our interns is bringing in, and spending the afternoon hanging out and playing video games! This is your chance to help us plan whether we want to run tournaments over the course of the summer, and also to help us prioritize which Playstation 2 games we want to try to order for our collection.

kbr

Gossip Girl and More!

The New Books Blog has been updated with many, many new fiction titles, including not one but two books by the fabulous Pete Hautman and the new Gossip Girl book, Only in Your Dreams. I read it over the Fourth of July, and it's just at scintillating as the previous titles.

Of course, we got some new non-fiction titles in, too...and Joseph just taught me a new, faster way to update the blog, so hopefully I'll have those up soon! [EDIT: The Non-Fiction books are up, and in half the time it usually takes! Thanks, Joseph!]

kbr

Harry & The Potters - Thur. July 6, 6-8 PM

Join us for an evening of rock music based on the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling with New York based punk band Harry and the Potters! The show will take place on Thursday July 6, from 6-8 PM on the Front Lawn of Carnegie Library's Main facility in Oakland. THIS SHOW IS FREE!!!

Check out the video below to see the wizard rock in action!

Books Again

We're still churning them out, and you're still reading them. Take a look at some of the newest things on hand at the New Books Blog.

~Joseph

Will it ever stop?

The answer is NO! But that's a good thing...

Just when I thought I was done posting new books to the New Books Blog -- FINALLY -- another box of new books arrived! But there weren't too many, and they're all posted and ready to put on display. Except for one of the copies of LBD: Friends Forever, which is coming home with me.

kbr

Summer Reading of to a ROARING start!

Last sunday was the Summer Reading Extravaganza. It was a fabulous party, and early estimates say that over 5000 people attended! I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty impressive. We registered over 130 teens for Teen Summer Reading at the Extravaganza. Another 150 or so have registered in the last week, bringing to total number of Teen Summer Reading participants to 335. So far, teens participating at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh locations have read 408 books. That's a lot of books!

The numbers of participants at Main are MUCH higher than they were this time last year. 77 teens registered with Main as their primary library, and so far those 77 have read 168 books. I'm very impressed. We're hoping to get at least 150 participants at Main this summer, so if you haven't registered yet, DO IT! You can register here.

Don't forget that every week you put at least one book into your book log, you'll have the chance to win a gift certificate to either Barnes and Noble or Target. And if you're at Main, be sure to fill out one of our "What Are You Reading"/Raffle forms for the chance to win an iPod Shuffle!

Hope to see you soon,
KBR

TONS of New Books!

I just put about three weeks worth of new books on the new books blog. If you're already getting tired of sleeping late and doing nothing, check out one of these fabulous, shiny and new titles! You can find the list here.

You're too late.

Our esteemed Dungeon Master just informed me that the Dungeons and Dragons campaign is FULL. That's right, there is no more room in the campaign.

If you'd like to get your name on a list to be contacted next year, send us an email!

kbr

IT'S ALMOST HERE!!!

What's almost here, you ask? Well, I'll tell you:

TEEN SUMMER READING!

That's right. In two short days, on Sunday, June 11th, you can register online for Teen Summer Reading and have the chance to win awesome prizes, just for reading.

All you have to do is keep track of what you read online, and every week each library in the city will select a winner.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

Are you unable to check out books or use our computers because you owe the library too much money? If you register for summer reading, we will automatically (within 24 hours) waive all overdue fines on your library card. (Sorry, we can't waive fines for lost or damaged items or overdue fines on items that don't belong to Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.)

And if that wasn't enough...

If you come to CLP - Main in Oakland and fill out a book review raffle ticket, you might win an iPod Shuffle! We're giving away too.

Still want more? You got it!

All summer long we'll be randomly pulling names from a hat for some other prizes, like restaurant and movie gift certificates. You have to be here to win, though...so come to the library often! You never know when we'll pick a winner.

We'll also be offering great programs all summer:

• Monday Movie Matinees
• Open Video Games / Tournaments
• Dance Dance Revolution
• Open Zine Making Workshops
• Dungeons and Dragons (call 412-622-3121 to register)
• Teen Craft Times

Summer Reading 2006 starts on June 11th at the Summer Reading Extravaganza!! Come to CLP - Main for free food, games, music, giveaways and more. Hope to see you there!