Pretty Monsters - New Short Stories Collection

If you don't have time for a long book during the holidays, how about a collection of short stories, each one just the right length for one sitting. One of the newer collections to the library is Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link. It includes 9 stories including "The Wrong Grave" and "The Faery Handbag." Each story begins with a drawing by Shaun Tan and an ominous sentence such as "Anyone might accidentally dig up the wrong grave." or "It's night in The Free People's World-Tree Library. All the librarians are asleep, tucked into their coffins..." or my favorite "After a while, everyone had become a zombie. So they went for a swim."

A bit creepy but fun. Stop by the library today to get your hands on it, otherwise you might have to wait until after the holidays!

Vacation Activities

During your time off from school, stop by the library for a variety of activities:

Friday, November 28 at 1:00 - watch Wall E on our big screen.
Saturday, November 29 10:00 - open Wii time.
Monday, December 29 All Day - come make a holiday bookmark.
Friday, December 26 1:00 PM - open Wii time.
Tuesday, December 30 5:30 PM - open Wii time.
Friday, January 2 1:00 PM - watch Kung Fu Panda on our big screen.

Hope to see you there!

Voting Results Are In!

During election week kids were asked to vote for their favorite books and characters. Surprisingly most of the votes returned from Teens. Here is a listing of your favorites:

Dead Girls Don't Write Letters by Gail Giles (2 votes)
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
The Ashleys series by Melissa de la Cruz
Judy Moody Saves the World by Megan McDonald
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Babymouse: Skater Girl by Jennifer Holm
Twist Magazine

Find these great books and more at your library!

Teen Volunteers Rock!

A Big Thank YOU! to all the teens who helped at last night's Halloween Extravaganza. Face Painting, Pumpkin Toss, Pumpkin Painting, Tattoos...we couldn't have done it without you. So thank you Anastasia, Justin, Chris, Brenden, Chris, Brooklyn, Sarah, Emily and Kayla.

Twilight Fan Party

Last night was the Twilight Fan Party and a good time was had by all! Check out the pictures below to see Bella's new wedding dress choices - all made from toilet paper of course.

The night would not have been complete without bags of blood, crystal heart charm bracelets and of course vampire tattoos. We were also able to watch the final trailer for the movie coming out November 21.

Fans impressed me with their trivia knowledge of the books and Tina won a poster with the stars of the upcoming movie for answering the most questions correctly.

Andrew and Precious also won copies of book 1 & 2 in our raffle. Thanks for coming everyone!

Twilight Fan Party Pictures

Wii Tournament Pictures

Wii Tournament Results

After hours of grueling competition the System Wide Wii Championship is over. Lester Public Library is very proud of the 5 Teens who competed in this years competition and results are as follows:

Peng - 1st Place - Super Smash Brothers
Justin - 1st Place - Wii Tennis
Sam - 2nd Place - Wii Bowling
Brody - 3rd Place - Dance Dance Revolution
Nick - 4th Place - Guitar Hero

Each champion went home with a medal! Congratulations gentleman!! Wii Rock! If you would like to see more pictures from the event check out our Flickr page here.

If you would like to see a full listing of the results for each game, check out Manitowoc Public Library's YA Blog here.

Since everyone had such a good time, we will probably host another tournament next year so start practicing. You can play at the library on Tuesday, October 28 at 5:30 PM and Friday, October 31 at 1:00 PM.

See you there!

Teen Anime Night

Mark your calendars!
Monday, September 22 6:00 PM

Come enjoy an evening of Anime on our big screen. Pizza and Soda provided. Anime titles to be shown will be determined by audience the night of the program. No registration required. Must be in 6th grade or older.

Teens who come to the Anime Night will have first dibs on Teen Late Night Sheets for Friday, October 3 from 7:00-11:00 PM. Only 40 spots available!

Super Smash Brothers Brawl

Competition was tough in our final Super Smash Brothers Brawl tournament this summer held last Friday, August 15.

In a new twist, we used the Wii controllers with nunchuks instead of the GameCube controllers. While it slowed down some of our previous champions, they were able to prove that when you got it, you got it!

Coming out on top this round was Peng followed by a close second was Sam.

As Alex L. won our first tournament, he and Peng will battle it out at a future date in order to determine the final champion for LPL.

Watch for future tournament dates and times.

Our final Guitar Hero tournament will take place on Tuesday, August 26 at 5:30 PM.

See you then!

Suvivor Winners

Congratulations to all of our teens who participated in our Survivor Night. Only 2 teens could be said to have met every challenge and mastered it!

Chris X. is our big winner and Crystal D. came in second. As you can tell, they were both thrilled.

A big thank you to Robert and Austin for helping out with the evening.

See you on Friday August 15 at 1:00 for our 2nd Super Smash Brothers Brawl Tournament. Bring your Wii Remote and Nunchuk.

Annual Survivor Night

Don't forget, the Lester Public Library's annual Teen Survivor Night is tomorrow, Thursday, August 7 at 8:00 PM.

Come see if you can be the last to survive a night in the library. Many new challenges this year including our most disgusting eating challenge yet!

Open to all teens in 6th-12th grade. This program will be over by 9:30 PM.

See you there!

Disgusting

As our first Edible Fear Factor is now over, I am amazed at Teens ability to literally eat anything. Considering I was having trouble just dishing out the goodies our two winners surely deserve a round of applause. WAY TO GO MIKE W. & BRODY J.!

Both teens ate everything served and quickly...Clamato Juice, Prunes, Chocolate Sauce covered Pickles, Cheetos in Lemon Juice, Ketchup on Cherry Jello, Meal Worms, Chocolate Covered Bugs and more. By far the worst for me were the sardines.

Mike and Brody each won a gift certificate to Culvers, 5 extra hours on the computer, a Lester Public Library 512K Flash Drive and a Summer Reading Program T-shirt. Was it worth it? The 60 people in the audience certainly thought so as the groans and gags attested.

For more pictures check out our Flickr page at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesterpubliclibrary/sets/72157605706899166/

Wii Tournament Update

So far this summer...

On Friday, June 13 we held our first Super Smash Brothers Brawl Tournament. Competition was tough with 21 contestants battling it out for the winning spot. Everybody got to play at least 2x before elimination, we played 4 at a time with 3 lives per person. The last battle between Martin C. and Alex L. was heated but Alex L.came out on top. Do you have what it takes to beat Alex?

The next tournament for Super Smash Brothers Brawl will be on Friday, August 15 at 1:00 PM. PLEASE NOTE! We will be using the Wii controllers and nunchucks for the next tournament. As the library only has 2 controllers I will need someone to bring 2 extra.

Guitar Hero was equally impressive with 17 participants varying in strengths from Medium to Expert. The experts clearly knew what they were doing and the competition between them was even tougher. Mike W. came out on top but only by a nose.

Our next Guitar Hero competition will be on Tuesday, August 26 at 5:30 PM. At this point, if you would like to advance to the next level of competition in Manitowoc in the fall you will need to be able to play at expert level.

We will still allow all levels to compete in the tournament at the local level and I should note that Olivia L. was our champion for Hard Level and Brody J. was our champion at the Medium Level.

Let's Eat Bugs!

There are still permission slips available for:

Edible Fear Factor
1:00 PM

How’s your stomach? Do you think you could eat Sardines? Jell-O & ketchup? Could you drink a glass of clam juice? How about a chocolate covered cricket or a sour cream and onion meal worm? Come compete with other teens in 6th-12th grade in the library’s Edible Fear Factor—I Dare You! Prizes for the teens who can eat anything.

If you can't handle the menu come and watch!

Super Smash Brothers Brawl This Friday!

This Friday is our first tournament for Wii Super Smash Brothers Brawl. The tournament is open to all teens in 6th-12th grade. We'll start at 1:10ish.

This tournament is a part of our 2008 Battle of the Boxes: Wii Championship on the Coast.

For more information about this tournament checkout our website at:
http://www.tworivers.lib.wi.us/Teens.htm#Wii%20Championship%20Tournament

See you on Friday!

Don't Forget!

Just a reminder that the Summer Reading Program begins on Monday! Here is your chance to win prizes reading the books you love to read! Earn extra computer time at the library, free pizza, bowling, ice cream, McDonald's coupons, and more!

Also, if you have any library fines, you can read them off this summer. Ask at the Youth Desk for details.

Be sure and stop in first thing Monday morning and start reading!

Dance Dance Revolution Tourney Part 1

For those of you who missed it, on Tuesday, May 27 at 5:30 PM we held our first tournament for Dance Dance Revolution. This tournament is a part of the Battle of the Boxes Wii Tournament. For more info on the tournament check out our website at: http://www.tworivers.lib.wi.us/Teens

Each competitor played 3 times and then we added up all 3 scores. The player with the top score was declared our winner.

Our first Dance Dance Revolution Champion is Chris!

Great job to all who played.

Just a reminder:

Starting Friday, June 13 there will be Wii open play times every Friday from 1:00-5:15 PM. Hope to see you there!

Attention Percy Jackson Fans

The much anticipated new book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is now at the Lester Public Library.

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

In addition to the book, the library also owns a copy of the book on CD for all you audio lovers.

If you love this series, stop by the library today to put your copy on hold. You may also call or go online. Just have your library card on hand.

For those of you new to the series, you might want to start with #1. Here are the titles in order:
1: The Lightning Thief
2: The Sea of Monsters
3: The Titan's Curse
4: The Battle of the Labyrinth

Book description from Amazon:
Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse. Percy could have sworn his prealgebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. Percy's mom decides it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from. She sends Percy to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends - one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena - Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

For you super fans, here is the publishers website: http://www.percyjacksonbooks.com/ (They actually have a contest going on right now with a chance to win a trip to Camp Half-Blood)

Enjoy!

Edlibe Fear Factor

I just ordered a bunch of chocolate covered crickets and worms as well as a selection of barbecue and cheddar cheese flavored meal worms. YUMMMMMY!

Why you ask? We are gearing up for the summer reading program and our first Teen program: Edible Fear Factor on June 19 at 1:00 PM. This program is open to all 6th-12th graders who have a strong stomach.

So far we will be eating the above mentioned bugs but I have also been thinking about clam juice, sardines, and jell-o covered in ketchup. I am still brainstorming - if you have an idea feel free to comment. I am not going to cook anything, it has to be pre-made or come in a can or jar.

You will have to sign up ahead of time and get a permission slip signed by a parent. I will have them ready by June 9.

For those of you who do not have a strong stomach, come and watch!

Wii Championship - Tennis

We just finished another round in our Battle of the Boxes - Championship on the Coast! tournament with the Nintendo Wii. Tonight we played Tennis. The results are as follows:

Justin with 4 wins
Peng with 3 wins
Alex with 2 wins
Sam & Dominic with 1 win
Chris with 0 wins

We played one on one, everyone got to play 3 matches and then the top winners played off. Each match consisted of 3 games.

Our next tournament date will be on Tuesday, May 27 at 5:30 PM. We will be playing Dance Dance Revolution.

Hope to see you there!

Teen Late Nights

I've had a few questions this week about when the next late night will be. I'm afraid we will be taking a break for a few months. But don't worry, we will definitely start up again in September or October and continue through the school year.

In the meantime, look for these exciting programs this summer:

Edible Fear Factor
Thursday, June 19 1:00 PM
How’s your stomach? Do you think you could eat Sardines? Jell-O & ketchup? Could you drink a glass of clam juice? How about a chocolate covered cricket or a sour cream and onion meal worm? Come compete with other teens in 6th-12th grade in the library’s Edible Fear Factor—I Dare You! Prizes for the teens who can eat anything. Registration required.

Henna Tattoos
Thursday, July 10 2:00 PM
Registration required. Back by popular demand, artist Amy Wilde will once again be demonstrating the art of temporary henna tattoos. Amy will draw one for you, or you can do one on yourself or your friends.

Beaded Bugs
Thursday, July 24 12:30 PM
Dragonfly key chains, bee charm bracelets and other buggy delights in our afternoon of beaded fun. Open to all teens in 6th-12th grade, no registration required. Pizza & Soda provided.

Survivor Night
Thursday, August 7 8:00 PM
Can you survive a night in the library? Compete with other 6th-12th graders in a variety of challenges to become Lester Public Library’s Survivor Champion. There will be only one winner. No registration required, snacks and soda provided. This program will be over by approximately 9:30 PM.

Texas Hold’em
Thursday, August 21 12:30 PM
Spend the afternoon with other teens in 6th-12th grade playing Texas Hold’em poker. Easy to learn and fun to play. Prizes for best hand and most chips. You do not have to know how to play to join in, we will teach you. No registration required. Pizza & Soda provided.

Timber Rattlers Game
Monday, August 25 7:05 PM
Keep track of the time you spend reading this summer and you can earn a free ticket for the August 25 Timber Rattlers Game. Timber Rattlers reading program begins Monday, June 30 and runs through Friday, August 1. Registration Required.

Test Podcast

Hi everyone,

My goal is to start a podcast to talk about teen books and other materials of interest to teens at the Lester Public Library. This is just a test. You should only bother to listen to this one if you have missed the sound of my voice.

But please, watch for more podcasts in the next month or so. I will hopefully have a feed you can subscribe to up and running soon.

New Manga

As I was perusing the New YA collection, I noticed quite a few new Manga titles. They are easy to spot because of the blue dot on their spine. New titles such as:

Helsing by Kohta Hirano - a bit violent, full of vampires, ghouls and the like, lots of action.

Nosatsu Junkie by Ryoko Fukuyama - Comedy

Rose Hip Zero Vol. 4 by Tohru Fujisawa - Action/Drama

Punch by Rie Takada - Martial Arts, jealous boyfriends - definitely for older teens.

Come check out the new titles. There is also a selection of new and old on display in the YA area. If you see a series you like and would like me to continue buying them for the library, just let me know. I am also open to new suggestions. Don't be afraid to ask!

Wii Championship Tournament Game Change

Please note:

We've decided not to play Wii Golf for our Wii Championship Tournament, instead we will be playing Wii Tennis. I'm not sure how this tournament will be played but you might want to bone up on your backhand!

Wii Tennis Game Times will be on the following dates:

Tuesday, April 29 5:30 PM
Friday, July 18 1:00 PM

2008 Battle of the Books

The annual Teen Battle of the Books, a competition between the 6 libraries in the Manitowoc-Calumet Library System (New Holstein, Chilton, Kiel, Manitowoc, Two Rivers, and Brillion) will be here soon.

This year the competition will be take place on Wednesday, September 3 5:30 PM at Silver Lake College. This will give you all summer to read and then compete the first week of school before you are too busy to do anything.

The Battle committee met last Thursday in Two Rivers to choose the 8 books for the competition. The titles are as follows:

• The Re-gifters by Mike Carey (graphic novel)
• Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham
• Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet (nonfiction)
• Peak by Roland Smith
• Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
• Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson
• Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

If you are interested in being on this year's team, give me a buzz at 793-7116 and start reading!

Our library’s team will compete against the Manitowoc, New Holstein, Chilton, Brillion and Kiel libraries. Each team consists of 8 7th-12th graders who work together to answer trivia questions based on the 8 titles above. After the battle, all teams are invited to eat pizza and drink soda. All participants will recieve a team t-shirt just for playing. A traveling trophy is awarded to the winning team.

While Two Rivers has not won YET, we have always done well, a trend I am hoping to continue this year so come be a part of this fun event.

Super Smash Brothers Brawl Has Arrived!

For all of you who have been waiting....Super Smash Brothers Brawl has arrived.

For those of you who don't know, here is the official Nintendo description:

What is "Super Smash Bros."? It's a brawling, battling, action-packed video game that features a varied roster of characters for four-player simultaneous melees! When you hit an opponent, his or her damage meter builds up. The more damage that builds up, the farther an opponent flies each time he or she gets hit! Soon, people are flying around like rockets. And when you fly off the screen in any direction. Also, in some modes, each time you KO an opponent, you earn points. As an example, you can fight for a mere two minutes in a competition to see who can shoot their opponents off-screen the most. If you had to call it something, I'd say it's almost like a sport.

I like to think of it as King of the Mountain. Just a reminder about our Wii tournament, if you want to compete to be Lester Public Library's Super Smash Brothers Brawl Champion we will be playing on Friday, June 13 1:00 PM and Friday, August 15 at 1:00 PM.

We may also have some time to try it out on Tuesday, April 29 after we do the Golf tournament.

Hope to see you then!

Sequel Alert!

Has anyone read Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer? Here is a quick rundown from Amazon.com:

It's almost the end of Miranda's sophomore year in high school, and her journal reflects the busy life of a typical teenager: conversations with friends, fights with mom, and fervent hopes for a driver's license. When Miranda first begins hearing the reports of a meteor on a collision course with the moon, it hardly seems worth a mention in her diary. But after the meteor hits, pushing the moon off its axis and causing worldwide earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes, all the things Miranda used to take for granted begin to disappear. Food and gas shortages, along with extreme weather changes, come to her small Pennsylvania town; and Miranda's voice is by turns petulant, angry, and finally resigned, as her family is forced to make tough choices while they consider their increasingly limited options. Yet even as suspicious neighbors stockpile food in anticipation of a looming winter without heat or electricity, Miranda knows that that her future is still hers to decide even if life as she knew it is over.

This book gave me chills, I felt the need to visit the grocery store and buy every canned good that they had. It is a scary thought to think how much the earth depends on the moon being exactly where it is.

This books sequel, The Dead and the Gone just arrived and I can't wait to see what happens. To reserve your copy, stop by the library or visit us online at www.tworivers.lib.wi.us and hit search catalog.

Interesting Movie

Just saw Across the Universe this weekend. While always a big fan of musicals this one was a bit strange. Great soundtrack if you like the Beatles and I really liked the two main actors Evan Rachel Wood (Lucy) and Jim Sturgess (Jude.)

Here is a synopsis from www.imdb.com (Internet Movie Database):

An original musical film, Across The Universe is a fictional love story set in the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, the struggle for free speech and civil rights, mind exploration and rock and roll. At once gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical, the story moves from high schools and universities in Massachusetts, Princeton and Ohio to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Detroit riots, Vietnam and the dockyards of Liverpool. A combination of live action and animation, the film is paired with many songs by The Beatles that defined the time. Written by Anonymous

To reserve a copy of the movie, visit our website at www.tworivers.lib.wi.us and hit search catalog. Have your library card handy and remember your pin/password is the last 4 digits of your phone number.

This just in!

Hey all,

Guess what I just opened? A box containing our very own GUITAR HERO! Super Smash Brothers Brawl is on the way, along with another controller. Warm up those fingers and show us what you got tomorrow at the Late Night.

Speaking of which, only 14 spots left. If you haven't picked up your slip you better do it soon before they are all gone.

See you tomorrow!

Teen Newsletter

Want to have teen events, new books, music, and movies delivered right to your inbox? Then sign up for the Lester Public Library's Teen Email Newsletter. It's simple, just let us know your email address and I will send you the newsletter once a month.

You can also sign up for our program reminder too. Know what's going on but forget the day of the program? Sign up for the reminder and I will send you a note a day or two before each program.

You can also find sign-up slips in the Young Adult area of the library. Just drop your slip at the desk and I will add you to the list.

Stay connected!

Teen Late Night This Friday!

Just a reminder that the next Teen Late Night is this Friday, April 4 from 7:00-11:00 PM.

Late Nights are open to all teens in 6th-12th grade. You must pick up a permission slip before Friday and have it signed by your parents. You must have your permission slip the night of the late night in order to get in the building.

There are still slips available but they are going fast so stop by the Youth Desk today for yours.

See you on Friday.

Waiting for Stephenie Meyer?

Attention, fans of Stephenie Meyer! While you are waiting for her next book, check out our display of vampire novels in the YA section under the magazines. Some good titles up there including:

• Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz
• Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schrieber
• Glass Houses by Rachel Caine
• Marked by P.C. Cast (This is a new one, let me know what you think.)
• Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
• Vampire High by Douglas Rees

Wii Championship Tournament

Do you have what it takes to become a Wii Champion?

Do you excel at Bowling, Golf, Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero or Super Smash Brothers Brawl?

Come test your skill against other teens ages 12 and up for a chance to become a Lester Public Library Wii Champion. One champion will be selected for each of the above games.

Champions will then compete with other teens from Manitowoc, Kiel, Chilton, New Holstein and Brillion at a tournament this fall. Winners from that tournament will then compete with teen across the state!

To participate you must be at least 12 years old, have a valid library card and compete at LPL during one of the following game times:

• Friday, March 29: Bowling

• Tuesday, April 29: Golf

• Tuesday, May 27: DDR

• Friday, June 13: Super Smash Brothers

• Friday, June 20: Guitar Hero

• Tuesday, June 24: Bowling

• Friday, July 18: Golf

• Tuesday, July 29: DDR

• Friday, August 15: Super Smash Brothers

• Tuesday, August 26: Guitar Hero

Game Times:
Tuesdays - 5:30 PM Fridays - 1:00 PM

Participants with the highest score for each game will be declared champion. Rules for each game will be discussed during game time. Scores will be kept track of on a master sheet. Participants may compete at any tournament they wish but may only represent LPL for one game. Participants do not have to be present for both tournaments in their game of choice. The Wii is available for practice on Fridays during the summer when no tournament is scheduled (1:00-5: 15PM.)

For more information call Terry at 793-7116.