Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them Release Party

Calling Harry Potter Fans Ages 10 and Up!

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will hie the movie theaters in November, and we're having a party to celebrate its release.  Test your Hogwarts knowledge in our trivia game while enjoying wizardly snacks and creating beastly crafts.  Be sure to dress in costume so you can enter the costume contest for a prize!

WHEN: Wednesday November 16, 2017
TIME: 5-7 p.m.
WHERE: Burgess Community Room
WHO: For ages 10 and up

Stuffed Animal Sleepover

Grab your favorite stuffie and join us for Stuffed Animal Sleepover on Saturday, January 16 from 1:30-2:30. Teen Library Council will host a craft and fun-filled event, including a stuffed animal hospital and a storytime! Leave your stuffie in our care and it will spend the night exploring the library. Return the next day to pick it up along with pictures of it's grand adventures!

Don't forget to claim your summer reading prizes!

Don't forget to claim your summer reading prizes! There's just a few days left!!! Kids and teens who signed up for the summer reading program have until Monday August 31st to turn in their reading records and to claim their prizes. Everyone gets to pick out a book to keep, a discounted coupon to go to Oaks Park and a voucher for a free Portland Trailblazer ticket!

Claim Your Summer Reading Prizes!

Don't forget to claim your summer reading prizes!  Kids and teens who signed up for the summer reading program have until August 31st to turn in their reading records and to claim their prizes.  Everyone gets to pick out a book to keep, a discounted coupon to go to Oaks Park and a voucher for a free Portland Trailblazer ticket! 

Quidditch for Muggles

"Quidditch for muggles," you may ask. "How can a measly muggle such as myself play the wizarding game of Quidditch?" If you are 8 or over join us this Friday, August 8 from 1 to 4 in the Burgess Community Room and find out! The winning team will have its name immortalized as it is inscribed on the Quidditch Cup to be on display in the library.

Improv Showcase for All Ages

Join us on Friday, August 23 from 5-6:30 p.m. in the Burgess Community Room for the Teen Improv Showcase!

Our performers will work hard at the workshops this week to learn the art of improvisational theater and put on a great show. Be there to cheer them on!

Maker Mondays

If you're looking for something fun to do with your teens, or you'd like a little break from the kiddos to brush up your technological prowess, you simply must join us for our Maker Mondays series of events. We're meeting every Monday from now until August 19 to share amazingly simple technology tools that will inspire you to create, repair and entertain. Next Monday from 4-6 p.m. in the Technology Room, experts from Free Geek will show you how use free, open source software to transform your old, slow computers into well-oiled, customized machines that will actually do what you want them to do. The following week will be an incredible 3-D printing demonstration, and the week after that we'll show you how to make music and games using simple apps on your devices, and you'll get to play with our Makey Makeys, a deceptively simple technology that transforms pretty much anything into a controller.

The Maker movement is a growing phenomenon, and people everywhere are tapping into their powers of invention. It turns out, with a little innovation and help from fellow making enthusiasts, you can create whatever you can imagine, regardless of skill level. Want to disguise a mixer as a Boba Fett helmet? No problem. Want to make shrinkydinks and polymer clay mustaches using your own "Easy Make Oven?" Why not. How about a "PB & J 2.0" with 9 different flavor combinations? Yum. 

Writing Workshop For Teens

Registration had already begun for a writing workshop for teens that will meet for four sessions, January 8, 15, 22 and 29. Do you have a teen in your life (in grade 8 and up) who loves to write, could use some guidance on a story or character, and would like to learn more about the writing process? They should Register now for a four week writing workshop taught by Kate Ristau, a folklorist, author and writing instructor at Western Oregon University. In the final session, we will publish a journal of the finished writing projects. Registration required. Stop by the Children’s Reference Desk or call 503-718-2656 to register.

Favorite Book Fridays- A new favorite

I just finished a marvelous new book! In In Zanesville, by Jo Ann Beard, the protagonist and narrator is a 14-year-old girl living in Zaneville, Illinois in the 1970s. The author made the fascinating choice not to explicitly  name her heroine, but you do get little clues throughout about what her name may be. Books about young people for grown-ups are a rare and welcome occurrence, and this one is particularly special. The nameless narrator and her best friend share the kind of bond that we all grow up thinking is impermeable, then something happens. There friendship easily survives accidental house fires, other embarrassing babysitting incidents, equally embarrassing parents, secret kittens and fashion faux pas, but when a cheerleader new to town invites the girls to a slumber party, not realizing that they are not cool enough for the popular crowd, a rift begins to form. I loved this hilarious, tender authentic book about being 14 in Zanesville. If you enjoyed I Think I Love You by Alison Pearson (another one of my favorites), definitely check out In Zanesville as well.

ACT Test Prep for Teens

Calling all parents of high schoolers:  Is your teen preparing to take the ACT?  If so, have your teen get ready with a fun, interactive workshop with teachers from the Sylvan Learning Center in Tualatin who will share tips, tools, and strategies for ACT success.  Attendees will also get a brief preview of what to expect from the SAT's.  This test prep will take place on Thursday March 15th from 5 to 7pm and will be the perfect event for Brain Awareness Week too!
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.  STOP BY OR CALL THE CHILDREN'S DESK at 503-718-2656

Meet the Collection Monday (Tuesday Edition): Young Adult Spanish

Hello and welcome to another (belated) Meet the Collection Monday. Allow me to introduce you to our Young Adult Spanish collection, which lives on the second floor of the library on the shelf with the YA Graphic Novels. The collection consists of, you guessed it, young adult materials in Spanish. Some are non-fiction like Puberman, a comic book set up to inform boys about what they can expect from puberty. There are also other great informative books about subjects ranging from algebra to Che Guevara.

Moving on to fiction, you will find both translations and books written originally in Spanish. When I select titles for the collection, I look especially for translations of popular teen books like Alexandra Adornetto's Halo and classics that will support high school curriculum and reading lists like Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. 

Some of the most popular items in the collection are graphic novels, including translations of Japanese comics like Tokyo Mew Mew and American comics like Hellboy. Come peruse the collection and find the next great book for your Spanish speaking or learning teen!

Meet the Collection Monday- Young Adult Audiobooks

 Is there anything better than kicking back in the car or on a plane or at home and listening to a great reader bring a story to life? Audiobooks can be so vivid and compelling, whether they are read by a full cast complete with sound effects or are more intimate productions with a single, excellent reader. Perhaps you've already discovered our audiobooks for children and adults, but have you found the Young Adult Books on CD collection yet? If not, you're in for a treat, and if so, you know that there are hundreds of fabulous audio versions of incredible YA books, from non-fiction to classics to contemporary. Find them upstairs in the YA section near the magazines.

If you're a fan of irreverent comedy/social commentary, you will love Libba Bray's Beauty Queens, and the audiobook (read by the author) is especially fun. Usually, authors simply cannot compete with the professional actors who bring characters to life in audiobooks, but a few know how to get just the right tone to tell their stories. Bray's reading of her own book is hilarious. In this Lord of the Flies/pop-culture parody, a plane caring contestants for the Miss Teen Dream pageant crashes on the way to the final competition. The survivors learn to work together as they build structures, hunt for food, accessorize jungle-style, and uncover a corporate conspiracy.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian is, in my humble opinion, the best book ever, and the author's reading of it is divinity. Sherman Alexie's pitch-perfect reading will carry you laughing, weeping and hooting triumphantly through the hilarity, tragedy, irony and injustice that is Junior's life.

If Chuck Norris challenged Neil Gaiman to a fight, he would be so stunned by the author's rapier wit that his beard hairs would start to fall out. Then he would beg Neil to let him join one of his dinner parties and Neil would graciously agree, stunning Chuck yet again with his gentility. Then Neil would knock him out with a perfectly executed roundhouse kick to the face. In other words, Gaiman's a genius and his reading of The Graveyard Book is further proof of his brilliance. OK, Neil, we get it.

You may also love Terry Pratchett's magically hilarious Wee Free Men, read by Stephen Briggs, Patrick Ness' terrifying Knife of Never Letting Go, read by Nick Podehl, and Holly Black's fantastical White Cat read by Jesse Eisenberg. Yes, that Jesse Eisenberg.

And, as you'll notice from the pictures above, all the cutest author's write teen books. Look at them; they're so adorable!

Meet the Collection Monday: Young Adult Graphic Novels

 Welcome to another Meet the Collection Monday! Today, I'm thrilled to introduce you to our fabulous Young Adult Graphic Novel collection. YA Graphics live on the second floor of the library in, you guessed it, theYA section. This is a vibrant and popular collection with so much character you can almost feel it breathing as you walk near it. Though the collection is smaller than YA fiction, it circulates just as much. These books literally fly of the shelf! Peruse the collection and you will find a wide variety of formats, topics and styles. You will see wonderful stand alone biographies like the Printz award winning American Born Chinese, captivating and creative stories like the incredible Anya's Ghost, super hero comic characters like Batman and Runaways, adaptations of classics both new and old like Coraline and Merchant of Venice, and, of course, lots of manga (Japanese comics) like Bleach.

If you are new to the wonderful world of graphic novels, we are happy to offer recommendations. Besides the titles I mention above, I also enjoyed the hauntingly strange Salem Brownstone, the achingly true Skim, the genre-defying Watchmen, the bittersweet Twin Spica, and the ridiculously fun and revolutionary Plain Janes.

Study Abroad

Do you or your teen have questions about studying abroad while in high school or college? Then you'll want to join us on Thursday, January 5 from 5-6:30 in the Community Room for a panel discussion featuring students who have studied abroad and representatives of student exchange programs. Rotary identifies students to send abroad as early as the freshman year of high school, so it's never too early to start preparing your teens for their academic adventures!

Meet The Collection Mondays: Young Adult Non-Fiction

Welcome to the world of Young Adult non-fiction!

To find your next favorite Young Adult non-fiction book, you first get to go on a treasure hunt through the adult non-fiction stacks. Shelved among adult materials, you can find excellent teen-oriented reads on many subjects.

DNA: Do you like your science with a lot of pictures? The Stuff of Life is a graphic non-fiction guide to genetics and DNA. Usually an overwhelmingly complicated subject to delve into, The Stuff of Life almost makes genetics seem simple.

DIY: Get inspired to sew your own plush dolls with Plush You, profiling artists who make everything from socktopusses (octopus sock monkeys) to felt eggs and bacon. Or crochet your own pepperoni pizza scarf following step-by-step instructions in Twinkie Chan’s Crochet Goodies for Fashion Foodies.

SPY: Perhaps you’ve always imagined having a life as an undercover operative. The Real Spy’s Guide to Becoming a Spy will prepare you for your ultimate career.

In addition to these gems, you will also find many other materials to support the educational, recreational, developmental, and informational needs of young adults from 6th through 12th grade. Whether you are writing a school paper, looking for some fashion tips, or interested in finding more information about your favorite skateboarder, the Young Adult non-fiction collection has something to offer. Come visit at the Young Adult reference desk, and we will help you navigate the non-fiction stacks to find the materials that best suit your needs.

Meet The Collection Monday: Young Adult Fiction

Welcome to another Meet the Collection Monday! I'm delighted to introduce you to my favorite collection. Our collections are like our kids, and I know they say you're not supposed to have favorites, but...you know. (Kidding).

The Young Adult Fiction collection is located on the second floor of the library with other Young Adult (YA) collections. Items are alphabetized by the authors' last names, with the exception of short story compilations which are shelved under "Y STORIES" and alphabetized by the book titles.

When I select books for YA fiction, I am looking for titles that meet the wide range of needs and interest of teens in grades 6-12. Of course, adults love perusing the collection as well, as I discuss in this post. Some items in the collection have crossover appeal and can also be found in the Juvenile or adult collections. The collection includes classics and books often found on high school reading lists. It also includes Printz Award winners like Going Bovine, a wild, bittersweet, fantastical adventure story in which a teen with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and a talking garden gnome head to Florida for Spring Break and to save the universe.

While I make sure to keep a core collection of classics, contemporary classics, and award winners, I enjoy the challenge of trying to keep up with the fast pace of YA publishing and the demand resulting from teens' shifting interests. Chime is a new book with lasting impact. This atmoshperic story of a young woman growing up in haunted swamp is one of the best books of the year, and has great apppeal to today's readers of the supernatural.

And of course, the collection wouldn't be complete without huge hits like Suzanne Collins' magnificent Hunger Games series. These books are so popular that you probably won't find them on the shelf in the YA Room, but if you're lucky you may find a copy (along with other popular YA books) on the Bestseller Shelf on the first floor of the library.

It's not just about vampires...

I just read an interesting article about Young Adult literature and why adults should read it. It's interesting to me that the legitimacy of YA lit is still in question, considering the number of incredible, award-winning titles that have been published in the last several decades as the category becomes more popular. If you haven't explored YA lit yet, promise me you will. I read it for years before I became a teen librarian, and I know I'll be reading it for the rest of my life. While I enjoy a good adult book, there is nothing more refreshing than the sense of hope and discovery that can be found between the pages of a good YA book. Even the darkest genres convey a feeling of wonder and lack the cynicism of adult books, perhaps because these characters have their whole lives ahead of them. I've listed some recommendations below, and I welcome comments about your favorites.

Modern classics:

Teens are all about currency. In fact, their demographic sets many trends for the rest of us. Music, fashion, film, literature: It's all about what teens love and their tastes are constantly shifting. However, every once in a while there's a book that has a certain aura about it, and you can just tell that it will not only define a generation, it will be relatable to readers hundreds of years from now. Among these books is the Harry Potter series, and Sherman Alexie's incredible Absolutely True Diaries of a Part-Time Indian. OK, every reader is different, but to me, this book is perfect. This authentic, funny, deep, heart-felt, elegantly written book will go down in history as one of the greatest YA books ever written. And the audiobook (read by the author) is an incredible experience in its own right.

Emerging Genres:

The predominant trend in YA lit right is Dystopias. These books feature worlds that are often quite similar to our own, or portray a very clear vision of our future, and the protagonists endeavor to free themselves from the binds of a tyrannical government. What can be more typically teen than the struggle to find ones own individually and fight for independence in a world controlled by adults with their own agendas? I think we can all relate to that one. You've all heard of The Hunger Games, and if you loved it or are still waiting for your hold to come in, try one of these great reads: The Knife of Never Letting Go or Lauren Oliver's Delirium.

Maybe you're a steampunk fan? If you love Jules Verne or contemporary writers like Paolo Bacigalupi or Cheri Priest, you may adore Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan or Eoin Colfer's Airman.

Realistic Fiction:

Do you love reading stories about people like you, people that you could meet on the street or in the library? Me too. I love character-based books filled with revelations about what it means to be a friend, a child, a student, a human today. Books like Please Ignore Vera Dietz, Last Summer of the Death Warriors, The Canning Season, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and Love is the Higher Law.

Historical Fiction:

Lovers of history will not want to miss the fascinating, densely written and elaborately titled The Astonishing Live of Octavian Nothing, or the richly emotional Folly.

Thrillers:

Loved The Lovely Bones? Then try Stolen or The Missing Girl. Or, if you like your thrillers with a bit of a psycho-supernatural flavor a la Steven King (with a dash of Dexter), try I Am Not A Serial Killer.

Fantasy:

As you may know, there is a lot of fantasy in YA lit. A lot. You may think you're reading a mystery or a romance or some other genre, then find you are also reading a fantasy. There's a lot to chose from! Fans of Tolkien may love the books of Jonathan Stroud. If you like Miriam Zimmer Bradley, than don't miss Graceling. Terry Pratchett fans: if you haven't read Sir Terry's smart and hilarious Wee Free Men, you must. Hurry. Finally, if you like your fantasy modern, with a bit of steamy romance, try the fabulous Hold Me Closer, Necromancer.

There are so many more great YA books. Stop by the Young Adult Reference desk sometime and we'll overwhelm you with even more recommendations!

Calling all Percy Jackson fans!!!

If you're going to be in the 4th grade or up and you love Percy Jackson as much as I do, come join us at Camp Half-Blood on Wednesday, July 14 from 3 to 6 in the Community Room. See the movie The Lightning Thief, enter a trivia contest, and find out who your "god parent" is. I already know who mine is: Athena. Go figure, I'm a librarian.

Saving for College?

This summer the Oregon College Savings Plan and public libraries throughout the state are teaming up to bring you the Dive into Saving for College program. You could win a $1,000 Oregon College Savings Plan account for your newborn to 18 year old.

What do you have to do? Sign up for Summer Reading at the library! Look for entry cards for Dive into Saving for College. Fill it out and drop it in the mail for a chance to win! Fifteen lucky winners will chosen at the end of the summer. Find out more here or stop in the library for the entry form and rules. Entries must be postmarked by August 20, 2010 and received by August 24, 2010 to be eligible.

A now for a teen production...

Five teens wrote, acted, filmed and edited this film during a recent program. For more information about programs the library offers for teens, check out our webpage.
Group Boredom from Tigard Library on Vimeo.