Tonight is the night of Golden's Candlelight Walk! If you want to join the fun, head to Foothills Art Center (15th and Washington) at about 6. The Chamber will be selling candles for 50 cents each. The walk down the hill will begin at about 6:30. As the group passes through each block of Washington Avenue, those lights will be illuminated. When they reach the Visitors Center, they’ll enjoy a brief holiday show, then the Mayor will flip a switch and all the trees along Clear Creek will light up! After that, enjoy treats and entertainment all along the Creek.
Be sure and stop by the Golden Library on your journey. Enjoy treats and live holiday entertainment with the Blue Spruce Duo, during and after the Candlelight Walk. While you're here, visit the Holiday Whale of a Used Book Sale featuring more than 2,000 gently used items. The book sale will take place from 10 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. today and will continue from 12-4 p.m. tomorrow, Dec. 1 See you there!
Because I am a super cool librarian who will help you do crazy things like participate in GISHWHES (or check out their Facebook page.) A former teen advisory board member asked me for help with a few of the entries:
Your next question is: "How do I become part of this amazingly fabulous group?" It's easy! Come talk to Arra at the Lakewood Library.
Carver Young grew up in a New York City orphanage reading crime novels and dreaming of becoming a detective. One day he discovers a letter that contains a few clues that might help Carver track down his biological father. Just as he considers starting to search, he gets adopted by a detective from a world-famous agency. Convenient, right? This agency is also in the middle of investigating a brutal serial killer who is terrorizing New York City, a case they believe Carter just might be able to help them solve. Ripper by Stefan Petrucha is a great mystery but it does have a few gruesome parts, mostly in the first chapter. It's an awesome twist on a real-life story and it's full of action and edge-of-your-seat thrills.
The teen book World War Z by Max Brooks is coming out as a movie in June 2013. Brad Pitt plays the part of Gerry Lane. Quirky fact about this movie: While filming in Hungary all of the prop guns were confiscated by the Hungarian Anti Terrorism unit. They had not been permanently disabled and thus were not legal in Hungary.
The holiday decorations are up, crazy shopping has begun and holiday music is being played everywhere. Join the festive season by making a holiday haiku.
Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that combines three different lines and a noticeable grammatical break. The break, or kireji, is often replaced with commas or hyphens
Write your haiku into three lines, the first with five syllables, the second line with seven syllables and the third line with five syllables and post in the comments.
Here is an example to get you started: Waking from a dream ... only the sound of snowflakes on the windowpane Nick Avis
Did you know there is an annual event in which robots play soccer? RoboCup is a group of robot enthusiasts who come together to play soccer with their computers and electronic components rather than their feet. This last year the group met in June in Mexico City and next year they are on for the Netherlands.
It is surprisingly difficult to make a robot walk. These types of robots are called biped robots. Walking is something our brains do for us without any conscious thought but for a robot this task is much more difficult. Honda's ASIMO robot uses a Zero Moment Point algorithm. This means the robot is constantly adjusting for the force of gravity, the action of movement and the force of the floor pushing back against the robot's foot. We have our inner ear to help us adjust for movement and balance but in a robot this all must be programmed. At this time robots are only able to walk across smooth surfaces.
The hope for the future is that a robot can be invented that can walk over uneven surfaces, climb stairs and maybe even take out the trash and do our dishes.
Want to know more? Check out our online database Science Online.
Do you like cutting paper snowflakes? If you do, this snowflake website may be for you! Try your hand at cutting a snowflake online. You may also save the snowflakes you cut as images. I found it a lot harder than cutting snowflakes from paper!
This is how the one I made turned out. (Created with Make-a-Flake by Barkley)
I'm not a big fan of horror fiction but for some reason I like zombie books. Not the funny, quirky zombies, but the I'm going to eat you so you had better run kind of zombies. Here are some of my favorite zombie books:
Mary lives in a walled village and in the surrounding forest dwell the unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead. There are paths leading from the village down which no one has walked for generations. They are nearly forgotten until one day a stranger comes into the village along one of the paths.
In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter. What I love about this book is the new look at zombies as former humans. The book starts slow but after the first chapter it really takes off.
A huge electromagnetic pulse has been set off and all electronics are dead along with most of the humans. Alex was taking a solo hiking trip through the woods when the EMP struck and at first does not realize the danger. Another side effect of the EMP? People turning into zombies. I couldn't put this book down. It grabbed me from the first page and didn't let up till the end.
Thanksgiving is upon us! Check out a couple of these Thanksgiving movies to share with the family.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles(1987) - Steve Martin is trying to get home for Thanksgiving but the odds are against him. Not to mention a shower curtain ring salesman who becomes his unwitting traveling companion. This hilarious movie still holds up after 20 years. And two not to miss great performances by Steve Martin and John Candy.
Pieces of April(2003) - Long before she wed Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes played the lead in this comedic drama. At the center of it all is Thanksgiving dinner, which April attempts to whip up in her cramped and less-than-clean New York City apartment for a cast of snarky, largely estranged family members.If only she could cook.
The New World(2005) - Beautiful landscapes, compelling music and gripping storytelling make "The New World" a convincing recount of the Thanksgiving settlers we've heard about since early childhood. At the heart of this movie is a story of love found and lost, but don't let that sway your opinion. There's plenty of action, too. Plus you get Colin Farrell as John Smith and Christian Bale as John Rolfe to boot!
Home for the Holidays(2002) - A single mother loses her job and travels home to spend Thanksgiving with her family all on the same day. A starlit cast, including Robert Downey Jr., Dylan McDermott and Holly Hunter, lends acting chops to a movie that explores the stressors of gathering with one's family during the holidays. As this extended family gathers around a turkey dinner, the antics hilariously step up a notch.
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving(1973) -Yes, I know you've all seen this one...it's Charlie Brown for heaven's sake! When Peppermint Patty and her friends finagle Charlie Brown into serving a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, it's up to Woodstock and Snoopy to make the day a success. Thanks to daring dishes like buttered toast and popcorn, and a memorable struggle with an uncooperative folding chair, Snoopy lends his own brand of wordless charm to the day's events.
Read This! The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan
Look for YA FICTION LANAGAN
"On remote Rollrock Island, men go to sea to make their livings--and to catch their wives. The witch Misskaella knows the way of drawing a girl from the heart of a seal, of luring the beauty out of the beast. And for a price a man may buy himself a lovely sea-wife. He may have and hold and keep her. And he will tell himself that he is her master. But from his first look into those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as she. He will be equally ensnared. And the witch will have her true payment"-- Provided by publisher.
Okay, I was skeptical about this one. I think the cover made me a little fearful that it was going to be kind of cheesy or something. Instead I found myself quickly engrossed in this story. The writing is excellent and the voices of the characters quite compelling, not surprising since Ms. Lanagan is a two time Prinz Honor winner. I loved that each character is given an honest accounting – that in the end you feel everyone’s sorrow, even when they are wicked awful.
I haven’t yet read The Loners (the first book in the Quarantine Trilogy), but it must be good: Black Forest Film Group acquired feature rights to the novel several months before it was released to the public in July, according to Variety.
In this Lord of the Flies meets The Hunger Games thriller, the students at McKinley High are infected with a virus that makes the teens deadly to adults. With the school under military quarantine, students divide themselves into violent gangs based on their former social cliques. Loner David Thorpe and his younger brother Will are fighting to survive on their own.
The book’s authors, Lex Hrabe and Thomas Voorhies (who write under the pseudonym Lex Thomas), are now working on the film’s screenplay in addition to the remaining books in the trilogy. You can learn more about the Quarantine Trilogy here.
The world’s scariest swimming pool has been built at Shanghai Pudong Kangqiao's Holiday Inn. Who knew the Holiday Inn could be so cool? Could we get one of these in Denver? And yes, even though I’m scared of heights, I would definitely swim in this. One swimmer told the CCTV, "I felt as if I was flying in the sky -- I could also enjoy the beautiful scenery of Pudong from here ... it's so cool and wonderful." Check out more pools in the sky here.
Are you a fan of steampunk? If so, check out the series by Kady Cross called The Steampunk Chronicles.
In the first book, The Girl in the Steel Corset, Finley Jayne discovers her powers and learns how to use them just in time to help her new found friends in their struggle against a criminal call The Machinist. In the second book, The Girl in the Clockwork Collar, Finley and her friends, Griffin, Emily, and Sam, travel to America to help Jasper out of a tight spot. Will they arrive in time? And will they be able to find Jasper and help solve his problems?
If you like the first two books in this series, remember to put the third book, The Girl with the Iron Touch, on hold!
What other Steampunk series or books have you read and liked?
Attention mountain teens: are you looking for something to do this weekend?
Come to the Evergreen Library at 6:30 on Friday for Board Game and Trivia Night. We’ll play new and retro board games (Operation, anyone?), play some freeze tag, and test our smarts with trivia. Snacks and drinks will be provided. Contact the Evergreen Library for more information.
Teen Time: Board Games and Trivia 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 9 Evergreen Library
The Sid Fleishman Humor Award is given annually to the best humor book published in the previous year. This year the winner is The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander. Mac will fix your problems, whatever they are. With the help of his BFF and fellow Cubs fan Vince, he runs his 'business' out of the fourth stall of the boys room. On a new assignment to protect a third grader from a bully things go hysterically awry.
Even though you may not be old enough to vote I’m sure you have an opinion about who you would like to win the current election. Did you know that even though the popular vote (people going to the polls) is decided on November 6th the president will not actually be elected until January 6th? This is due to the 23rd amendment which establishes the Electoral College.
For 2012 there are 358 members of the college. This includes 9 members for Colorado. The number of Electoral College members for each state is based on how many members the state has in the Senate (2) and in the House of Representatives. Each state decides how Electoral College members are selected. In Colorado these members are nominated by their party (democratic, republican or an independent). Colorado is a “winner take” all state. This means all 9 of the Colorado Electoral College members will vote for the candidate who got the most votes. Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that split their votes based on the popular election.
I loved this book! I needed a break from the latest best-selling dystopian novel and Carnival of Souls fit the bill perfectly. It’s been described as dangerous, dark, decadent and one author even claimed it was Marr’s best book to date. I couldn’t agree more, at least with the dangerous, dark and decadent part. Carnival of Souls is a fast-paced paranormal adventure with just the right amount of romantic tension. I found myself immersed in a complex and detailed world unlike any I’ve read before. It kept me reading late into the night.
Mallory isn’t like ordinary teenagers; ordinary teenagers don’t scan their environment for threats, train for lethality or move every few months or even weeks because they might be tracked by a daimon. Mallory’s adopted father has been keeping secrets. He’s a witch and his quite untrustworthy sister is the head witch. Mallory’s mother left her and her father a few years ago and Mallory presumes she was human. But was she? And what is Mallory?
Centuries ago witches and daimons lived together in the City until their level of distrust for each other brought war and the witches fled to the human realm. However for the witches the war never really ended, it only went underground where they’ve bided their time, waiting for the right moment to regain control of the City. Their time is swiftly approaching and unbeknownst to Mallory she is their secret weapon.
If you are one of those awesome teens who likes to volunteer -- or maybe you need to fulfill some volunteer hours for school or your future college app – you can VOLUNTEER @ the LIBRARY!
We have lots of volunteer opportunities throughout the year – our giant book sales, weekly tutoring programs, helping with programming or just all the millions of little things that need to happen for the library to run smoothly.
If you are interested go to our website and fill out our Volunteer Form!
Now that Halloween is over it is the time where you test how much candy you can consume before you get sick. As we all know, candy is high in calories and low in nutritional value. How exactly is a calorie calculated? One way to calculate calories in food is the bomb calorimeter. First all the moisture must be removed from the food in a dehydrator and then the food is ground up and processed into a pellet. This pellet is then placed in the bomb calorimeter. Inside the bomb calorimeter it is a pure oxygen environment where the food will be burned. The heat measured from the burning of the food is what scientist use to calculate the calories in the food.
In a recent episode of NOVA Science Now they explored what separates humans from animals. A crucial step for humans is the ability to cook our food. By cooking our food we are able to more easily digest it and thus can consume more calories from our food than animals. In this episode they compared the calorie content of a cupcake to a rat. 7 oz of cupcake have twice as many calories as a rat. Maybe next Halloween I will hand out frozen dead rats instead of candy. (Just kidding!) You can watch this episode online.
Want to know more? Check out our online database Science Online.
You probably know that JCPL’s collection includes a growing number of ebooks patrons can download on Kindles, Nooks, and iPads. Of the library’s 11,158 ebooks, more than 2,000 (and counting) are for kids and teens. Some of these are familiar high-demand titles (The Selection by Kiera Cass and Veronica Roth’s Insurgent, for example), but there are an equal number of undiscovered gems in this collection. It’s where I found my favorite young adult book of the year (well, so far): See You at Harry’s by Jo Knowles.
Twelve-year-old Fern is a middle child, stuck between two older siblings and the 3-year-old baby of the family. Her parents are too busy running the family restaurant to deal with their oldest son’s coming out or to pay much attention to Fern as she starts middle school. When the unthinkable happens, the family must pull together even as it seems to be coming apart.
See You at Harry’s deals with common adolescent issues, but it also packs an emotional wallop that surprised me. It’s available as an ebook or as an audiobook from JCPL. Check it out!
FIRST there were the Decemberists, a quirky folk rock band out of Portlandia, Oregondia, with its blend of strangely familiar, almost traditional, completely unique weirdness. THEN came his debut novel, Wildwood – illustrated by his wife Carson Ellis, in her trademark almost traditional, uniquely weird way. And now there is a sequel… Under Wildwood, which, I’m venturing a guess, will also be oddly familiar in a weird way.
Look for J FICTION MELOY
This book opens with Prue and her baby brother back home after their big adventures in Wildwood. Safe and warm and hopelessly bored, Prue is left to wonder how her friend Curtis is doing back in Wildwood training with the rebels. All is not well in Wildwood though, and Prue is called to reunite with Curtis as they try to save Wildwood from villainous villains.