Fine Alternative Program: Review of Fullmetal Alchemist

Book: Fullmetal Alchemist vol.1
written by: Hiromu Arakawa

The book is about two brothers Edward Elric(the fullmetal alchemist) and his younger brother alphonse. The two brothers are trying to gain possession of the philosopher's stone to restore alphonse's body.

the book has a terrific plot with plenty of action and will deffinately have you begging for more.

-Jonathan

Here at the Carnegie Library, we do things. You ought to check some of them out.

We know it has been super beautiful outside, and school is nearly over, and people are graduating and working on final projects and musicals and tests. Everyone is pretty busy and distracted and excited. We know that. However, the Teen staff here at the library has been pretty busy, too. We’re making plans and working on awesome programs for this summer and getting ready for Teen Summer Reading which kicks off on June 10th.

Awesome Awesomeness coming up at the library:

Saturday, June 30th Books on Bikes - A bicycle ride in which teens will raise money to provide books for local organizations serving teens in need. In addition, participating teens will visit libraries across Pittsburgh’s East End to raise awareness of the importance of books and information for teens in all of Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods. For more information contact Joseph or Patrick at (412) 622-3121

Friday, July 20th Harry Potter Anticipation Party – Get ready for the last Harry Potter book and the new movie with themed games, trivia, music, and fellow Harry Potter maniacs!

Sometime in July we would like to have a Guitar Hero Tournament. It will probably be a day-long rock-fest with snacks and prizes. We’re working on all of the details. Any interest? Contact Teens at (412) 622-3121.

And we also have all of our on-going weekly programs:
Monday YouTube Swap 3:00 – share funny, gross, crazy, wacky, awesome clips and we’ll project them on a big screen.
Wednesday Teen Art Club 3:00 – Make cool things. No talent required, only willingness to hang out and be creative.
Thursday and Friday 3:00 – Gaming! We have a Wii and a Playstation 2 and an Xbox and we’ll let you play games on them!

"It Came from the Stacks": Why Pandas Do Handstands (and Other Curious Truths about Animals), by Augustus Brown

Did you know that ants communicate by drumming? Owls use snakes to babysit their children? That certain parasites castrate their hosts? If you didn't--and you wish you did--then this is the book for you. Why Pandas Do Handstands (and Other Curious Truths about Animals), by Augustus Brown, has hundreds of the most bizarre, funny, and downright gross facts about the non-human animal world.

Fine Alternative Program: Review of Evanescence

Evanescence—
Not just a whiny wannabe rock band.

The Carnegie Library has two (or more copies) of The Open Door and Fallen, two discs by Evanescence. When you first look at Fallen, you see a lot of clichéd lyrics and from reading the liner notes, you start to think that the lead singer, Amy Lee, doesn’t even like rock music and she’s just doing this to please Ben. Actually Ben left the band in the middle of their World Domination tour in 2003. No real explanation—he just left. And the fact that Amy’s still in the band? Or is the band? Shows that she is an amazingly real rock star. As for the clichéd lyrics? They make it all right with the chorus of people singing Latin doom phrases in the background and the melancholy piano. If you were to listen to their old, pre-Fallen material, like their first “album” Origin, and their EPs, (www.evanescencereference.info/music) then you’d understand that all of this… like, instant fame, came from years of hard work, but I guess also chance played a part in it. They have some really good old music too, and it’s free for download at the site mentioned above. Totally legal too—Amy and Ben (used to—[Ben]) encourage the free download of it all. I really like Evanescence and I think Amy’s vocals are amazing—more drawn out by the heavy, thrashing guitar, and the sweet, melodramatic piano. So go to the library, find an Evanescence CD, and check one out today!!

Do you want to earn $5 for every hour you spend reading, reviewing, watching movies, posting to our blog, or other activities? Call us at 412-622-3121 and ask about the Fine Alternative Program. Some restrictions apply.

Fine Alternative Program: Five Zine Reviews

Dollfazed
Winter 2002
By… Warped Tour Staff??

The first thing I noticed about this zine was the name. Dollfazed. Sounds… very, I guess, scene-y. Cute. Anyways then I noticed the picture and decided that it was an interesting mix. (The picture was of some super hardcore punk holding up an issue of Dollfazed with this super odd smile.) It’s like the perfect example of a true *punk* zine… it has collaged pics, super typewriter font, reviews, and obviously essays on punk life? One of my favorite parts was the essay on how female punks aren’t really considered punks to some people, and then they mentioned a bunch of… punks, I guess?
Like, they mentioned Ella Fitzgerald as a punk. I mean come on. There’s always another way of looking at things, but Ella fricking Fitzgerald? Not saying she wasn’t cool though. They also mentioned Madonna. Wow. Apparently in one of her songs, she mentioned how music was her religion and how she’s trying to find a god in that. One of the other things I liked was the Degrassi Moment… It basically talked about Joey Jeremiah and how he’s bald now… it was nice of them to include pop culture. Even if this was back in 2002. They had lots of interviews with bands like the Bouncing Souls. But the fact that they consider them punk is beyond me… They also reviewed a ton of bands including Bad Religion, Less Than Jake, No Use For A Name, Outspan, Good Riddance… etc. Also had a funny comic.
This zine is very similar to the magazine Punk Planet—and it’s very good. I enjoyed paging through it. Their website is http://www.geocites/dollfazedzine.

About My Disappearance
By… Dave

This is pretty well put together zine about this guy named Dave who survived Crohn’s disease. Well, not survived, seeing as it’s a chronic illness. Dave writes about his first four months with Crohn’s disease, and from what he wrote about it, main symptom is… er, diarrhea. In the appendix he writes 20 different ways how to describe bowel movements. And he has one last note… not to give him advice about how to deal with Crohn’s disease… like how some people would go, oh yeah, my grandfather died of Crohn’s. It’s a little amusing. Good zine.

Beyond Squat or Rot
Anarchist Approaches to Housing
By… Chuck Munson

Chuck calls Anarchist neighborhoods “Anarcho-hoods”. He has an interesting approach to housing—includes valid points like when it’s time to renew the lease and the landlord wants to raise the rent again but the landlord didn’t do anything to improve the apartment at all. Chuck includes good ideas like co-op housing and great ways to execute that… An okay zine.

Girl-16 #2
??

The first few pages were written in really slanted cursive. I could barely read it. But then I got to the typed parts. It was all really moody and emo, like she was writing a letter to him; the author expected him to read it, but she was kind of hiding it from him at the same time. It had a lot of great lines lie, “Sometimes I wished you would just shut up and kiss me like in the movies.”, and “Summer is always with someone leaving me in the fall. If you leave me in the fall I know I will die.” Some parts of it were quite disturbing, like she mentioned an obsession with sharp things, like cutting and things of that sort. Kind of disturbing but a really sweet zine.

Encyclopedia Destructica
Vol. ??
??

This volume (I know it has volume because it had others with the same title) is in the form of a mini composition notebook. It’s got a little cartoon on each page… with a plot that makes more or less sense. Some guy gets sick… and gets better with Absinthe (strong alcohol) and a snake that coils around him. It doesn’t make much sense. And I don’t like those comics that if you’re “deep” you should understand them. If you don’t you’re not.
Do you want to earn $5 for every hour you spend reading, reviewing, watching movies, posting to our blog, or other activities? Call us at 412-622-3121 and ask about the Fine Alternative Program. Some restrictions apply.

Fine Alternative Program: Review of Beautiful City of the Dead, by Leander Watts

In the book Beautiful City of the Dead by Leander Watts, the two main characters stood out. Obviously, seeing as they’re… the main characters. Anyways, Relly is considered the element of fire, he’s kind of crazy, obsessed with making his band (Scorpion Bone) Sound like Ghost Metal, and, of course, fire. Zee, the main main character, is a little timid, unsure, the element water, and is obsessed with fire. But not in a sick way. The plot is pretty creepy. It’s about these two tetrads (four and no more. Groups of four, basically…) that are incomplete, (they are missing their fourth element—water.). Once Zee joins Relly’s band as bass player, she completes their tetrad. But the teachers have a tetrad of their own, and apparently once you complete one you become invincible. So the teachers are trying to steal Zee away from Scorpion Bone. That’s the plot… yeah kinda creepy. I enjoyed the complexity of it all, and the fact that it was about a ghost metal band. I didn’t like how dark it all was… it was kind of depressing not sure how to explain it… and I usually like dark stuff. This book and it’s poetry were well written, overall.

Do you want to earn $5 for every hour you spend reading, reviewing, watching movies, posting to our blog, or other activities? Call us at 412-622-3121 and ask about the Fine Alternative Program. Some restrictions apply.

Review: Shonen Jump Volume 5, Issue 3

This month’s shonen jump ended some battles the started, and then continued a couple rambling ones. In Naruto a climactic battle if hokage sprouted as ‘The Professor” A.K.A the fourth hokage, launched a hard core battle of death against that snake guy, Orochimaru. In such battle, Orochimaru summoned to previous hokage to bathe The Professor. Naruto and his pal continued the chase against Sasuke. Gin Tama Discovered a spy in his chapter. It was kinda’ of anti climactic. Then as if my prayers were answered that one Yu-Gi-Oh battle against Bakura finally ended and I got along with my life.
The X-guys finally showed their true colors and Lyserg goes just a bit insane. Hikaru Shindo upped himself in ranks in the pro test and Akira is stalking Hikaru. Am I the only one who thinks that’s just a tad bit weird?? GX ends his battle and Chazz gets some soul food.

~Eli

A Message from Sara

Have you walked into the Teen Department of the Carnegie Library in Oakland and seen a myriad of computer screens filled with game clients that look like tiny cartoons? Have you seen the itty-bitty classes running around, casting spells, fighting Treechnids (and other spooky monsters)? This game is known as Dofus (DOUGH-fuss), and it’s the hottest game to hit Pittsburgh since football.

Dofus is turn-based French subscription MMORPG with extensive and intricate battle, crafting, and job systems. What does this mean, you might be asking yourself. Turn-based? MMORPG? What!?

“MMORPG” stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplay Game. This means that a large amount of people come together using the Internet to slip into the roles of the characters they create for group and personal interaction. A turn-based game is that in which you must anticipate your opponent’s moves and act accordingly—if you like games like chess, you might be interested in a turn-based game; another example of a turn-based game is Puzzle Pirates. Realtime games are those in which you have no specific turn; all groups, friends and enemies, move in sync. Such games include Halo and World of Warcraft. Subscription means that, though you can play the game without paying money, if you pay $6.90 a month, you get full access to the game and more options for your character.

Though many people play Dofus for different reasons, the main point of the game is to level your character, equip it as best you can, and basically go around owning the world and fighting others. If you are not interested in the battle aspect of the game, you can still work on your Professions (such as farming, bow carving, mining) for money, or you can run around finding and completing various quests. However, even if those “career paths” interest you, you really ought to accept the fact that Dofus is a war game, and logging on puts you directly into the melee.

My character is an Osamoda named Myriad; I play on the second International server, Rosal (the other being Rushu). An Osamoda is a character that summons animals to fight for it—a chicken-like character named a “tofu,” a boar that pushes enemy characters around to manipulate battlefields, a stone giant named a “Crackler” that walks up and stomps you. Myriad is short and thick, as all Osamodas are, with a black dress and cap, yellow hair, and light pink skin. She is complete with a small set of horns and a lovely forked tail. There are many other classes, twelve total, and gamers at the library come in all classes, genders, and colors. The other day, I was playing Dofus and a boy next to me leaned over to me and said, “I have a level 111 Sram on Rushu… What server are you on?” (A male Sram is a skeleton in a cape with a hood who attacks while invisible, so they are very tricky, and hard to kill!)

I have been playing Dofus since its Beta period, which means since it first opened for English-speaking people to test. I played this at the library and left the client (window for playing) behind, never bothering to close it when I logged off… And people started to open the clients, curious as to what Dofus was. A week ago, I walked into the library, not really paying attention, and was shocked to see six or seven people all playing Dofus, not all in a group. Was this because I left the client behind? Or did people find it on their own? Either way, I find it amazing that people are now exploring and experiencing the game I’ve grown to love over the past year and a half. I’m so happy to realize that I am now surrounded by a supportive and creative Pittsburgh Dofus community, so that when I need help with something in the game or I’m looking to game with someone in real life, all I have to do is cast my gaze around the library, and sure enough, someone is playing Dofus.

If you are interested in playing the game, go to community.dofus.com and click “Download.” If playing from the library, after you click “Download,” click the top left yellow button to run the program; make sure you run it to the Desktop, not Program Files, so that you can open the client until you log off.

Once you download it, experiment with classes, characters, and servers—have fun! If you wish to subscribe to the game, try the Rosal server; message Myriad if you need help with anything. If you can’t get in touch with Myriad, do what I do… Look around the library and ask for help! With so many people playing, I’m sure there are many potential friends just waiting for you to ask to play.

Meet the Author - Katherine Ayres

What an opportunity! Local author of novels for children and young adults, Katherine Ayres, will be speaking in the Teen department at CLP - Main this Wednesday. Her talk will begin at 4:00pm and she'll be talking about her books, writing, and all that jazz. You can ask her questions, too!

Katherine Ayres books include:

Family Tree
Eleven-year-old Tyler Stoudt starts sixth grade off on the wrong foot. She has Ms. Custer, the toughest teacher in school, who has announced that the schoolwork for the year will revolve around one project: a family tree. Tyler doesn't have a family tree--she has only Papa. As Papa said, her family tree was "chop down and burnt up. " But Tyler decides to do her best on the family tree project. Does she have grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles? Tyler wants to know, but she is afraid of what she might find out.


Macaroni Boy
Mike Costa has lived his whole life in The Strip, Pittsburgh’s warehouse and factory district. His father’s large Italian family runs a food wholesale business, and Mike is used to the sounds and smells of men working all night to unload the trains that feed the city. But it’s 1933, and the Depression is bringing tough times to everyone. Mike worries about his beloved grandfather, who is getting forgetful and confused. When dead rats start appearing in the streets, Mike notices that his grandfather is also physically sick. Can whatever is killing the rats be hurting Mike’s grandfather? It’s a mystery Mike urgently needs to solve in this atmospheric, fast-paced story filled with vibrant period detail.

North by Night
This exciting first-person narrative brings the story of the Underground Railroad to life. Sixteen-year-old Lucy Spencer believes in the work she and her family are doing to help fugitive slaves escape to Canada. Yet, what will Lucy do when asked to make the ultimate sacrifice and leave all she loves behind.

Ch-ch-changes!

Hello, everyone. Our blog is going to undergo some renovations. We'll start unveiling a host of new features soon. If you have any suggestions for what YOU would like to see on this blog, or on the library web site in general, let us know.

~Joseph

New Books!

Lots of titles have been published to our new books blog...

Check it out.

New Books

Check out the new books blog for our latest arrivals...

more new fiction...

Here's another batch of new titles...

New Books Backlog

We are starting to get through the backlog - check out some of the new fiction titles that have come in in the last month or so on our new books blog...

many, many, many more to come.

While You're at School, We're on Recess

Hi everyone,

As Karen is now the coordinator of Teen services for the entire Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh system (go Karen!), we're going to be taking a little vacation from posting for a while. We'll try to keep you updated as to reviews as well as interesting news & notes, but we won't have a chance to let you know about the new books. Things are a little hectic while we wait for some new colleagues, now that school's back in session.

Speaking of, much luck to you in the new year. If you need a place to study, work on group projects, get help with your research, or just relax and have fun after school, stop by the space some time. Just to remind you, we're located at 4400 Forbes Ave., in Oakland (you know, the building behind the dinosaur).

In the meantime, if you have anything you want us to post on your behalf, e-mail us: teensmain@carnegielibrary.org.

Alright, hope to see you soon,
Joseph

It's almost over.

As the summer winds down, it's time to reflect on all the amazing things that went on at the Main Library. Here are a few:

• 173 Teens read 965 books as part of the Teen Summer Reading Party
• 284 Teens attended programs at the library like Movie Matinees, Go Game! and Crafts
• 350 people attended the Harry and the Potters concert on July 6th (and how cool was that, by the way?)
• 30 Teens came to the Teen Summer Reading End of Summer After-Hours After-Party (which was also really amazing -- I hope you all had fun!)
• Approximately a million fabulous conversations about books, music, movies and life were carried out between teens and librarians
• 0 tears were shed. That I know of, anyway.

It's a bittersweet kind of thing...a new school year is very exciting, but we're going to miss seeing you every day! I hope that you don't forget to come visit! We're a great place to do homework, too.

One person we're really going to miss is our teen volunteer, Lily, who's been coming in twice a week all summer long to shelve books, make displays and help with programs. Lily wrote us a great essay about what she thinks about being a teen volunteer at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, which is reproduced here for your reading enjoyment:

How Do I Feel About Being A Library Volunteer? Well…
By: Lily

When someone asks, “How do you feel about being a volunteer at the Carnegie Library?” what am I, an average Pittsburgh girl, to say? Only 65,000 words exist in my dictionary to describe the feeling, and the majority of words like rancid, compunction, or defenestrate would fit the situation as well as a XS floral bikini would fit cow.

Thousands of years of linguistic evolution cannot provide the proper answer, but what about chemistry? Yeah Chemistry. The mixing and combining separate entities to create a new whole. If I approach the question from different perspectives, as different people, I should be able to rearrange the essence of their answers to form the perfect one for me.

Okay. I’m ready. Ask me again, in the words of Sergeant Sarah Brown, “ ‘Ask me how do I feel…’ about being a library volunteer?”

Well, if I were a cheerleader, I’d be cheering:

I’M A VOLUNTEER! WHAT DO I DO?
I SHELVE BOOKS! WHY DON’T YOU?

(above: Chant to the beat of I’ve got spirit)

THE LIBRARY IS THE BEST PLACE TO VOLUNTEER,
SO MUCH TO DO, BET YOU WISH YOU WERE HERE.

YOU COULD DESIGN ON WINDOWS, WALLS, AND MORE
WITH PENCILS AND PAINTS AND SHARPIES GALORE.

SO MUCH SHELVING, STICKERING, AND LAUGHING TO DO,
COME TO THE LIBRARY AND THIS COULD BE YOU!

(above: Say it anyway you like. As long as you’re peppy it works)

BE A LIBRARIAN
B-E A LIBRARIAN
B-E A-L-I-B-R-A-R-I-A-N
YEA!!!!!! (toe-touch) WAHOO!!!!!! (cartwheel)

(above: Scream to the beat of Be Aggressive)

If I were a poet, I’d be writing:

Once upon a noontime airy, I began to wander, though worn and wary.
After many a quiet and solemn hour, I happened upon a library tower.
As I approached, nearly falling, I thought I could hear a faint voice calling.
Tis only tiredness that is talking, yet I still followed, slowly walking,
All the way to the wooden door.

Ah, I vividly recall, it was season not yet fall.
Each paneled door swung out revealing a light, so bright, from the ceiling.
Swiftly fled was all my sorrow, in its stead a golden morrow
Of laughter and life and lore, of tomes that nestle across the floor
A vision that continued forevermore.

If I were a French chef, I’d be cooking:

A baguette, Monsieur. Les baguettes symbolizes the food of the people, les gens.
We en France buy many a day, eat with every meal. It nourished us, our bodies.
And I, one of the select, makes the baguettes, takes my place among the
nourishers of them, I say my fellow countrymen. I have a points, mon cher. Sois
patience.

Books , les livres, are the baguette for the mind. I proud to feed the body
and the community mind. I come, put the books, les journals, how do you say the
“magazins” upon the shelf and I feel proud. I smile at the shelves and shelves of
food. What fun, what an aroma, and I, my friend, I smile.

Ask me how do I feel about being a library volunteer. Well, if I were just me, I’d answer:

It makes me feel like jumping off a human pyramid and doing flips in the air, all while shouting about the marvels of the library. Unfortunately, acrobatics is something that is beyond me (or should I say, behind me), but volunteering makes me feel like I can do what I cannot. The experience motivates, invigorates. It never bores, only soothes. The sight of rows upon rows of shelves filled with books just fills me with a sense of awe. It is not a frequent sight, rare although not expensive, but worth more than all the jewels in the world. It is the sight of joy being given out for free. Nothing is better. The books themselves make me smile. They send up bubbles that pop out of mouth as a laugh. Some books stand majestically on their bases silently waiting for fate while others lean so far out that they practically fall off the shelves, seeming to innocently plead, “Look a little higher. No lower. Come on. I know you see me. Yes. Yeeessssss… Here I am. Pick me. Pick me. NO, you don’t want that one.” Every time, I put one of those books up on a shelf, or a handmade poster on a wall, I feel proud because I am adding to what makes the library so amazing to me and making it better for others to enjoy. The library, volunteering or not, just makes me feel happy. If I were a bell, I’d definitely be ringing Ding Dong Ding Dong Ding!

**Editor's note: That bit above about zero tears being shed? Not quite so true anymore. Thanks, Lily**

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!