Today at CLP - Teens

Just a quick reminder that, since summer reading is officially over, we will no longer be hosting Dance Dance Revolution on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Instead, we're back to the old school-year schedule of Fridays only. Sorry, folks. I know you had a lot of fun, but the time has come to put the nose to the grindstone and do your homework!

But come to the library anyway, even if there is no DDR.

Teen Programming Survey

Did you know that teens who come to the Main Library in Oakland would rather have programs on Mondays or Fridays than any other days? How 'bout the fact that almost all of y'all would like to watch movies in the library? (Of course, that last tidbit leaves me to wonder why, when we had movies showing in the library, so few of you came...) And more teens who've visited the library in the last week or so are in 9th grade than any other grade. Welcome to high school!

How do we know all this, you might ask? Well, it's simple. In an effort to plan programs around what interests you, the teens of Pittsburgh, we're surveying people who visit the space to get their opinions on what they'd like to see. So far, about 35 people have filled out the survey. Unfortunately, we're only able to survey people who actually come into the library or who've given us email addresses, but we really want to get information about what teens who don't already visit the library want. So, if you haven't been here in awhile but would come back if something cool was happening, email us at teens@carnegielibrary.org and we'll email you the survey to fill out.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Karen

Another day, another dollar

Good morning! Just wanted to let y'all know about a really cool program that's going on at the library today: Crafts for Teens. Our intrepid intern Adaena is creating a massive geodesic dome to hang in the teens space, and I'm sure she'd appreciate some assistance! The program runs from 1-3pm and, like almost everything else at the library, it's free. Teens from 12 to 18 are welcome! This is the last crafts program of the summer, so come on down.

On a book note: I finished The Onion Girl last night, and it was really wonderful. Read it. This morning while I was drinking my coffee I read Emma Frost: Higher Learning, a graphic novel from the Marvel Age series. It's about Emma Frost, who some of you may know as The White Queen from the X-Men. This book, however, talks about Emma's life before she joined the ranks of the X-Men, when she was just a privileged schoolgirl from an insensitive family. It's rather fun, and now I have to go and find the next volume!

I hope you all have a great day. More later.

Karen

What I'm Reading

Right now I'm in an urban fantasy kick. I just read Magic Street by Orson Scott Card, about a young man who has the power to make dreams come true (but they always come true with a nasty twist), and now I've gotten hooked on Charles De Lint. Here's his website: http://www.sfsite.com/charlesdelint/

Most of Charles De Lint's books take place in a city called Newford, which somehow has a rift between the "World As It Is" and a magical realm. Right now I'm reading Onion Girl, about an artist who was run over by a car and very badly injured. While in the dreamworld, she's told that she has to heal the hurts inside that remain from a childhood of abuse before she can be healed on the outside. It's a really, really wonderful story. A lot of Charles De Lint's books are written for adults, but he also writes for teens. The most recent of his books written specifically for a young adult audience is The Blue Girl, which YALSA (the Young Adult Library Services Association) voted one of the 2005 Best Books for Young Adults. I loved it, and if you like ghosts, fantasy novels, or punk rock you probably will too.

More later,
Karen

Welcome!

If you're reading this, you've found the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Teens blog! Here we, the Teens staff, will attempt to keep you, the reader, updated as to what's going on in our space, what we're reading, what you're reading, and so forth. Feel free to post comments and tell us what you think!

My name's Karen and I'm one of the Teen library assistants. The other people on our staff you might hear from are Ellen, Joseph, Erin, Reed and Robyn, as well as our interns, Adaena and Licia (who won't be with us much longer...boo hoo). Together, we are the Teens Staff!

Right now it's Tuesday at 3:22pm, and those of you in the know know what that means -- DDR. That's right. We have Dance Dance Revolution set up in the Teen Meeting Room and there are about eight of our regulars in there dancing their hearts out. Starting next week, though, Summer Reading is over and we'll be going back to just having DDR on Friday afternoons at 3pm.

Speaking of Teen Summer Reading: about 200 teens signed up for TSR at CLP - Main, and a whole lot more signed up across the city! If you want a chance to win the grand prize, a trip to Kennywood or Sandcastle for yourself and five of your friends, there's still time! Just go onto our website, www.carnegielibrary.org/teens/tsr and sign up. Then, fill out the survey for your chance to win!

Anyway...that's all the news that's fit to print for now. I'll be back.