Teens

Well...not us, but our blogs are moving. Within the next few days, we'll be updating the looks and locations of all four Orion Library blogs. We're sorry for the inconvenience, but please take the time to update your bookmarks, favorites and / or feed links. If all goes well, we should have the new links available by Monday afternoon.

Sign up for summer reading and earn some great prizes! Our theme this year is Out of This World. Get points for reading and coming to programs at the library. Get extra points for reading science fiction. We have a bibliography in the Teen area if you're stumped for good books.

This Saturday at 1:00 is the official kickoff for summer reading. We're going to paint the windows in the Teen area with the science fiction theme. Join us, learn about TAB (Teen Advisory Board), eat pizza and paint. Check out other stuff that's happening this summer at our website www.orionlibrary.org. Click on Teens.

One of the new things we're doing this year besides entering slips to win the grand prize (a digital camera), is a drawing and writing contest. You can draw a picture in one of the following categories: Aliens/Robots, Future Fashions, Spaceships. or you can write a science fiction short story. A prize will be awarded to the winner in each category.

Also, you get 100 points towards summer reading if you fill out the a book review form available at the desk. If you want an additional 50 points, write a longer review, submit it to me in person or via email (dmotley@oriolibrary.org) and I'll post it to the blog.

Have a great summer and I hope I see you at the library.

The winner of the Thumb's Up Award (selected from the Teen Top Twenty) is.... drumroll, please.....

Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande, the story of a girl who stays true to herself even as she faces ostracism from former friends and family and begins a new way of looking at the world.

Honor books are:

When it comes to decorating cakes, I'm a mess. I remember baking a cake for my mom's birthday and after I frosted it, it collapsed on one side. I tried to decorate it to make it look like I did it on purpose. People were asking, "What's wrong with it?" It tasted good, but that's beside the point. This Thursday starts the first of 4 cake decorating classes. If you don't want to have the disaster that I had, you might consider coming to this class

Finally, the last of the Teen Top Twenty and this one was really good. (They've all been really good). San Lee has moved around a lot and tries on a different persona wherever he goes. This time he decides to be a Zen master. He finds out that he's pretty good at it and becomes quite the popular guy as a result. The B basketball team loves him, the soup kitchen loves him, the librarian loves him and the girl of his dreams seems to love him, too. What happens to it all when he is found out?

Dashti gets a job working as the lady in waiting for Lady Saren. As soon as she begins, she finds out that she is to be locked in a tower for 7 years with her mistress, who refuses to marry the man her father selected for her. After a few years, Saren and Dashti finally escape the tower and find the land devastated. They end up working as kitchen maids in what Dashti believes is Saren's true love's home. Everyone of course, lives happily ever after. This was a good story, though not great. Dashti is a likable character, but Saren is pretty nuts and the ending is very obvious, almost from the beginning. Still, it kept me turning pages.

Abbey wants to earn a million dollars by the time she's 30. At 15, she lives with her great grandmother who owns an old fashioned beauty shop and she earns money there. Grandma Po rents out the shop to a woman who puts in a spa, giving Abbey a chance to earn lots of money. But then her mom shows up and things change. Abbey begins to learn the true meaning of family. I really enjoyed the characters in this book, and was rooting for Abbey all the way.

Billy Bloom is a 17 year old drag queen who starts his senior year at a very conservative Florida school. Other students are offended by him and he gets beaten up very badly. But that incident begins a friendship between him and the high school football star, Flip. When Billy would like a more intimate relationship with him, Flip runs out on Billy. To make a splash and soothe himself, Billy makes the bold decision to run for homecoming queen.
Alternatively hilarious and heartbreaking this book reveals the ugly underbelly of homophobia and one queen's complete optimism in the face of continuous obstacles.

Capricorn Anderson has grown up in a "commune" but the only residents of the "community" are his grandmother and him. After Grandma Rain breaks her hip, Cap who has been home schooled, must go into the real world of middle school. He's never been around kids his own age, never seen a TV or cellphone. He starts out as the target of bullies but his innocence and outlook make others question their own values. The audiobook is read by voices of the different characters and is fun to listen to.

Dana is best friends with Avra who is dating Emil. The three of them do everything together but Dana really likes Emil, a classic love triangle. Dana likens their relationship to a bee colony with Avra as the queen bee, Dana the worker who attends the queen and Emil the drone. When Emil finally admits to liking Dana back and they don't want to hurt Avra she has a decision to make. What's a worker bee to do? This is a very engaging and fairly short story. I'm not sure I liked Dana's solution to her dilemma but it seems to work for her.