Smoothie Fun!

Last week I had a smoothie program at the library--a woman came in to teach my teens all about the health benefits of smoothies, they sampled a mystery green smoothie, and she made them a berry smoothie to taste. It was way fun and my kids had a blast. I was inspired and the next day I ran out and bought a ton of ingredients for Best Girl and I to experiment with. We have been making smoothies for breakfast every day. I thought it might be a nice change of pace for the blog if I posted about them here.

Today's smoothie: Pineapple-Mango Smoothie
Ingredients: (um, we don't measure, exactly, but that's the fun of smoothies!)

• coconut milk (about a half cup), 
• vanilla greek yogurt (a couple spoonfuls), 
• fresh pineapple (three rings, cut up. Yes, I buy the pre-cored fresh pineapple!),
• frozen mango (a handful), 
• frozen banana (about half. We used frozen bananas instead of fresh instead of watering the smoothie down with ice cubes), 
• fresh spinach (about a half cup. Best Girl insists her smoothies are as healthy as possible, which is awesome considering normally she won't touch the stuff LOL)

Result: "It's OK." It wasn't the favorite smoothie we've tried thus far--Best Girl says to add less pineapple next time (it overpowered every other flavor) and she only had a few sips, but the more I drank it, the better I liked it. It's a light, refreshing smoothie, perfect for a summer day (which today is decidedly not, it's raining and gross out).

I have no idea how long this trend will continue in our house (this is actually Smoothie Day 3), but I thought it would be nice to keep track of what we're making, and maybe you guys will enjoy this non-reading side of my life. :)

Opinons?
Enjoy your reading!
Christi

Library Program: Read a Movie

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This library program was just a smidge different from others, as it took place over two separate evenings, a week apart. My Book Cafe group selected a book that also had a movie counterpart (and that the library owned enough copies of), and we read the book, and the following week we watched the movie. The book that the group chose to read/watch was I am Number Four by James Frey's fiction farm Pittacus Lore. I'm not going to rehash the book for you; feel free to check out my review here. This post will focus more on the actual programs.

The book discussion went over very well, I thought. We had about 15 teens in attendance (which is just awesome for my branch!), and 7 of them had actually read the book. We were able to discuss the various components of the book without revealing too many spoilers, and the teens who hadn't read the book were interested enough to actually put it on hold after we were done!

The following week we held the movie program, and I had 19 teens attend (woohoo!). I find it's really hard to host a movie program, because I'm constantly shushing the kids, they just won't shut the heck up and our sound system isn't that spectacular. Still, it held their interest.

Here are the things that occurred to me as I was watching the movie--I did a lot of WTH while we were watching (the "H," of course, is Heck):

• I totally get the hype over Alex Pettyfer. How old is he--is he too young for me to find attractive? (heads to Wikipedia--hmmm, 21...OK, I can swoon!) But he does NOT look 15.
• WTH with the Mogadorians? They were NOT at all as I pictured them (although I was constantly referring to them as Muppets, which means they REALLY didn't fit my my preconceived notions LOL)
• And the home ec class, that was the ENTIRE premise of how Hottie Alex and that girl met and got together? Yeah, where was that?
• And SAM? NOT into aliens? WTH??
• Movie Henri could never have been mistaken for a Frenchman.
• John knows nothing about his Legacies. NOTHING.
• BERNIE KOSAR HAD NO TAGS.
• The Spring Carnival. In its entirety. Everything was wrong with this.
• Movie Mark did not have the opportunity to show us his growth and maturity like Book Mark (hee hee) did.
• The chest was not so much of a chest as a fancy shoebox.
• SAM'S DAD. That was NOT information we were given in the book. I kind of inferred it, but it was never explicitly said, and I figured it would be explained more in the upcoming sequel(s).

I really could go on and on. I was trying to explain this to my teens and I don't think they got it. As a movie, I thought it was pretty good. It's not what I normally gravitate to, but it was definitely interesting, exciting, and cool. As a movie adaptation, however, I thought it blew chunks. I get it that moviemakers can't go through a book page by page and put that on the screen; however, so many of my bullet points above were such integral parts of the plot that they should have been put in the film. Ugh.

Anyway, the kids really enjoyed it and I guess that's all that matters. :)

Enjoy your reading (and watching!)!

Christi

Library Program: Kieran Scott!

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Waaayy back in the summer of 2010, I approached Kieran Scott through email and asked if she would be interested in visiting my library for an author program. She agreed, and after meeting her at the 2010 Collingswood Book Festival, we were able to schedule a date for January 2011.

Unfortunately, Kieran got pretty sick (and was also pregnant, although that's not unfortunate, of course!) and had to reschedule her visit. She got in touch with me over the summer and we picked an October Saturday for her to visit. 

It just happened to be the nicest Saturday that we've seen in months, so even though I advertised the hell out of this program (through our library's Facebook page, tons of posters around the branch and the system, blast-emailing my teens to remind them, sending press releases), on the afternoon of the program I only had two teens show up. UGH. At least one of the teens had started reading (and was really enjoying) She's So Dead to Us, and the other teens is just so enthusiastic about everything--basically, if I could only have two teens show up, I'm glad it was these two! 

Kieran was very gracious about the whole thing--she spoke at length about her writing process (she outlines everything) and how she develops her characters, and why she writes some titles as Kate Brian (and Emma Harrison before that!). We talked about the differences in the covers of She's So Dead to Us and He's So Not Worth It, and about how, exactly, Privilege spun off from Private (and The Book of Spells was mentioned, too!). She didn't reveal too much about what was going to happen in This is So Not Happening but did talk a little about what she's working on next--although we're not at liberty to reveal that yet!

Kieran was also nice enough to sign the books I'd purchased, and Teen 1's book, and then graciously gave Teen 2 a copy of She's So Dead to Us, which I thought was really sweet of her. Then she posed for pictures and we all enjoyed some brownies!

All in all, it was a great afternoon, and while of course I'm disappointed that the turnout was so poor, I think we still had a wonderful time. I really think the weather worked against us. Kieran is a fantastic author and we were so fortunate to have been able to spend some time with her. Those who didn't come certainly missed out.

Enjoy your reading!

Christi

Library Program: 9/11 Documentary & Discussion

I hosted a 9/11 documentary viewing and discussion last Thursday at the library. I selected a documentary from our branch's collection called 102 Minutes That Changed America. It was a television special that aired, commercial-free, on the History Channel on September 11, 2008.

This film is a compilation of amateur and professional video taken during the harrowing 102 minutes where the Twin Towers were struck and ultimately collapsed. These are videos that I, at least, have never seen before and the reactions captured are all raw and real in their own right. There are videos from college students in an NYU dorm, people watching from Times Square, across the river, a block away, a mile away. The documentary is shown in real time with no narration--just titles of where the video was shot. It's definitely a harrowing documentary. You can learn more about it here, if you'd like.

On the evening of the program I welcomed my teens to the library and gave a little introduction to the film. My regular teens at the library are young--between 13 and 16 years old. None of them had any recollection of 9/11, although some said they've been told they watched it happen on TV. I explained my personal connection to the events--my husband, at the time a bridge painter in NY, watched the towers fall on his birthday. Two days later, his crew showed up at Ground Zero to offer their services with the search and rescue. I was at work at the time--teaching kindergarten in a day care in central NJ. Many of our parents worked in NY; one of our after-care students lost her dad that day.

I wanted to make the events real for my teens. I know they'd spent time in school this week learning about the events, but I wanted them to know this was something real that happened. I think this documentary captured that reality. I think my teens definitely took something away from this program, especially because so much of this footage is so raw. 

While a few of my teens were less than interested (and one actually asked if we could put another movie in),  I think it was because their level of comfort that was being tested. The movie ran over our typical 8:30pm end time, so I lost a great number of teens at that time, but several did stay until the conclusion. Next week we'll be back to our regular teen advisory board meetings, planning upcoming programs (and actually, this program was suggested by the very same teen advisory board!), but hopefully tonight's program will make the events of 9/11 real to these teens who have no memories of it.

Enjoy your reading!

Christi

Library Program: End of Summer Party & Book Auction

Our teen volunteers work hard all summer and deserve an awesome end-of-summer party! My teen volunteer coordinator, Amanda, made cupcakes, I ordered a pretzel party tray from the Philly Pretzel Factory, I got chips and drinks, and we set it all up!


In addition to being the volunteer party, this event was also our Summer Reading party. I invited anyone who'd completed our library's summer reading program so far (read and review 5 books) to come to the party, too. 


As each teen entered, they were given a number of raffle tickets. Each teen got one ticket just for volunteering and then two tickets for each book read and reviewed. There were a few teens who only got one ticket, one teen who got 53 (!!), and teens all over the place in  between.


What were the tickets for? Why, our first ever Book Auction, of course! Throughout the year I've been hoarding saving books that I've won from giveaways, ARCs that I no longer need, and even a few books I've purchased and had signed by the author. I had something like 90 books to give away! Last week a few of the teens bundled the books in groups that made sense to them. We had 20 bundles of 4 books each, one anime-related prize, and 7 or 8 autographed books. 

 They only look like coffee cans, but actually, these are bundles and bundles of books to give away!



More book bundles, and even an anime bundle!

These books were autographed, so were auctioned off individually.

After everyone had a chance to distribute their tickets and get some snacks, Amanda and I started pulling names. We took turns so the process would move along. Some people won lots of prizes, and unfortunately some didn't win anything, but everyone had a great time! After each auction we combined all the tickets into one large basket, which I then used for door prizes. I had some ARCs in less-than-stellar condition that the kids had been fighting over, some tote bags, I found a few library shirts in my closet, things like that. After all of that I put out all the assorted swag I've acquired over the past year (well, the swag I wanted to share, anyway!) and just let the teens have at it. This way everyone got to take something home.


We had board games, cards, and the Wii set up, and duct tape, beads, and lanyard stuff on a table in case anyone was feeling crafty. Most kids were content to sit and chat, though. Oh! And everyone who actually completed summer reading also got a little goody bag with candy and some toys, and a certificate.


Several teens told me this was the best end-of-summer party ever, which totally made my day. I was able to clean off my shelves and the teens were able to get some new books. Now I can start stocking up for next summer! I've already decided to use some funds to purchase more book-related items for next year's auction.


How are you saying goodbye to summer?
Enjoy your reading!
Christi

Library Program: Origami

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Win a signed copy of Jersey Tomatoes are the Best!

Win an ARC of Shut Out by Kody Keplinger!

Another "You Are Here" program! Tonight we had a shortened TAB (Teen Advisory Board) meeting and after a short snack break, segued right into our origami program. I had printed out tons of instructions for different designs of varying difficulty, put a selection of origami books and paper out, and let the teens at it. As a special treat, I shared some Pocky that I'd found at my local Five Below store--it was actually quite tasty!


I had fourteen teens attend this event, and it was a very laid-back program--my favorite kind! Teens had a blast creating stars, boxes, cups, cranes, jumping frogs, and more. I finally figured out how to make a fortune teller (Daughter has been making them at camp all summer and now I made one for her!) and a "talking" dog.


Sorry I forgot to take pictures! All in all it was a fun, quiet program that's very affordable--all you need is origami paper and instructions!


Enjoy your reading!
Christi

Library Program: Cupcakes!

I have TWO giveaways going on right now! 

Win a signed copy of Jersey Tomatoes are the Best!

Win an ARC of Shut Out by Kody Keplinger!

Another summer teen program I recently held was Decorate Your Own Cupcakes. I'm fortunate enough to work with a woman whose daughter owns her own cake company. She does some awesome work, let me tell you. She's happy to bring her creations to the library for a variety of programs. For the past two years we've had her do a decorate-your-own program for teens at a very reasonable price.


This year's summer reading theme is You Are Here, and I let Jennifer have full creative license with that. She came up with a garden cupcake because, after all, NJ is the Garden State. For this program she baked and frosted 60 cupcakes, crushed Oreos for dirt, and handmade tons of little fondant veggies.


Attendance for this program was not nearly as good as I would have liked. Registration was full at 20 teens, but I only had 5 show up (my stats are higher, though, because we had a few moms and even staff members come in on their breaks!). The lower number worked out, though, because Jennifer was able to give them one-on-one help with creating all the different vegetables. The teens really enjoyed making all the little veggies--corn on the cob, tomatoes, cabbage, peas in a pod, and carrots. Because of the lower number of attendees, teens were able to make at least three cupcakes each!


I had gathered a ton of cake and cupcake books from the library for teens and moms to look at, and Jennifer had some of her work on display via a digital picture frame. Overall, the teens had a really good time, and the children's librarian and I are going to select a date for Jennifer to come back for a tween program!

Enjoy your reading!
Christi

Library program: Henna Tattoos!

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OK, I don't really spend too much time talking about my actual JOB as a teen services librarian. This blog is in no way related to my place of employment--it's all my own thoughts, done on my own time--and I think I'm still trying to find that right balance.

BUT! I had a FANTASTIC program earlier this month, and I definitely want to share it. The summer reading theme this year is Travel (for teens, specifically, it's You Are Here). So a bunch of us YA librarians are hosting henna tattoos programs. Some of the branches are having someone come in and actually do the henna. I wasn't sure how a program like this would go over with my kids, so I opted to simply purchase some henna cones and let the teens have at it. Actually, another librarian graciously got the cones for me, as she'd done this program before and knew exactly where to get them. Sometimes I love being a part of a team!

I requested a bunch of books and printed out tons of how-to's and examples. For the teens whose parents wouldn't let them get tattoos (I provided consent forms) and everyone, really, I printed out information on Mandalas, and got some printables off the internet that could be colored in.

Can I just tell you--TWENTY-THREE teens showed up for this event! My teen advisory board (TAB) has been steadily growing since I started last year--I had about five dedicated teens, and now I can count on at least a dozen, and closer to 15-17 for programs. But there were at least a dozen new teens at the event that I'd never seen in the library before!

There was a Mah-Jong program that afternoon, so instead of rearranging the room I simply left the four card tables up, with long tables at the front for all the supplies. The teens got themselves into little clusters, provided their consent forms, and listened carefully as I explained the history and laid out the ground rules (legs, feet, arms or hands only--no face, and nothing obscene). A volunteer handed out the how-to's, scrap paper, crayons, markers, and pencils for each table, and the groups set about trying to come up with the best designs ever.

My co-worker told me that it sounded loud from where she was in the library, but I didn't feel that it was loud at all--and I've had to speak to smaller groups of kids for being loud before! Instead, I likened it to controlled chaos. These kids were excited, and tested out several designs before I started handing out the cones. I'd purchased nine cones, which was more than enough (I actually have tons left over in my fridge). I could have purchased less, but I thought what I had was the perfect amount for sharing.

I had teens giving themselves tattoos, teens with their legs up on the table so their friends could do their henna, and people who'd never met before giving each other tattoos. I had one of the girls do one on my wrist, and a mom even came in at the end and asked if she could get one (and then had one of the teens do it!).

Here's mine (it's on the inside of my left wrist, where my next real tat is going to go):

It was such an awesome program, and I don't pat myself on the back too much, but my boss says I need to, so...there you go. :) When I do this program again, the only thing I'd do differently would be to have lemon juice and cotton balls available. Dabbing the henna tattoo with lemon juice really helps to darken the tat.

How's your summer going?

Enjoy your reading!

Christi