Do you like to play games? Then don't miss our 2nd Annual Games Fair, this Saturday, November 6th, from 1 -4 p.m. Our fair is part of National Gaming Day in Libraries, an American Library Association annual event that began in 2008, with Libraries across the country hosting games and game-players for a day of sharing and connecting with people who share an interest in games.

This year, we will celebrate with  board games, card games, and video games! Our volunteers will bring their favorites to share with you, and the Library will provide information about the latest trends and news in the world of gaming. This event is for beginners and experts, families and individuals, young and old alike. If you would like to volunteer to teach a game for our Games Fair, please contact Ben (gomberg@ci.monterey.ca.us), or call the Library Help Desk for more information at 831.646.3933

I mentioned in my post about the Victoria State Library in Melbourne that its front steps and lawn are a popular gathering spot where people linger and are sometimes treated to free musical entertainments.   Well, Monterey Public Library doesn’t have grand front steps or a lawn, but yesterday after school let out, we were treated to a spontaneous performance of show tunes by several local kids in their early teens.  They sang, among others, “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music and then a song from Les Miserables.  As I listened, I thought to myself, “I don’t know what to make of this younger generation, but I sure like it!” 

We hope you've been enjoying the spring weather this week, a nice gift for the holiday weekend. For the past few months, staff at the checkout desk have been reading lots of great books. We'd like to update you on some of our suggestions.

Books

   Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

   Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

   Waiting for Aphrodite by Sue Hubbell

  The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

  Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

  Spain: A Culinary Road Trip by Mario Batali and Gwenyth Paltrow

  Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett

  An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

  The Magicians by Lev Grossman

  The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

  U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton

  Push by Sapphire

  You Better Not Cry by Augusten Burroughs

  Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

  Slam by Nick Hornby

  The Gift by Cecelia Ahern


Audiovisuals

  The Soloist

  Whip It

  Big Love 

  Stones Into Schools by Greg Mortenson

  Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead
 

If you like to play games, consider coming out Sunday, November 15th, to play games in the Library. National Gaming Day in Libraries is a American Library Association annual event that began in 2008, with Libraries across the country hosting games and game-players for a day of sharing and connecting with your peers.

This year, Monterey Public Library is celebrating with a Games Fair featuring board games, card games, and video games! Our volunteer experts will bring their favorites to share with you, and the Library will provide information about the latest trends and news in the world of gaming. This event is for beginners and experts, families and individuals, young and old alike. If you would like to volunteer to teach a game for our Games Fair, please contact Ben (gomberg@ci.monterey.ca.us), or call the reference desk for more information at 831.646.3933 

Celebrate Teen Read Week October 18-24.  This is not only a great time for teens to discover the joys of reading, but an opportunity for grandparents to share the joy with their grandchildren.  Read what my friend Dr. Catherine Al-Meten has to say on the subject and be inspired!

http://www.examiner.com/x-26070-SF-Grandparenting-Examiner~y2009m10d14-Share-favorite-books-during-Teen-Read-Week?cid=email-this-article

Meet the Library's newest bookshelves. One part optical illusion, one part recycling, and one part teen craft project, these creations have taken up residence along the wall of the Teen Zone. The project used books donated specifically for this purpose, and re-purposed them to create these unique shelves.

If you'd like to make your own floating bookshelf, instructions can be found here.

Do you have a great idea for a Library craft project? Let us know about your favorites in the comments.

This Sunday, March 8th, visitors to our Library will have a chance to see the future...or at least the really-really-extremely-up-to-date present. We are hosting a technology petting zoo for all of our visitors who haven't yet tried Facebook, digital videography, Playaways, and many other technologies that are designed to make life easier and more enjoyable.

The truth is, people visit our Library everyday and use these technologies. Other people take one look and start sweating just at the idea of trying to decipher how to turn on one of these strange things. On Sunday we're bringing those two groups together, and you get to reap the benefits. One lucky visitor will take home a brand-new Flip Video Camera. So join us as we make technology fun again!

I often make a point of seeing new movies based on children's and young adult books as soon as they come out in theaters. I wish I could say it was due to a sense of professional obligation. More often than not, however, I am just another fan. In the last few months alone, I've seen Twilight, Inkheart, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, The City of Ember, and The Tale of Despereaux. Just this weekend, I saw another recent favorite; Coraline. More than some of these others, I thought Coraline did a great job of staying true to the book and its characters. So kudos to the adaptation and direction of Henry Selick.

On a separate note, Coraline is an intense movie. The surreal quality of the book's imagery was fully represented in the movie's visuals. There are some truly scary moments, even for adults. I heard a child of maybe seven years complain to his mother, 'I don't like this movie' in a voice that registered more than a little aprehension. While I think most kids and adults will really enjoy the great action and visuals, Coraline is not for everyone. So, please do your kids a favor and scan some reviews before deciding if those PG or PG-13 movies are right for them.

Join our new book discussion group where anyone can read the books online and participate online, using the Library's Tumblebooks.  It's quick, easy and fun!

In two short books,  Ish and The Dot, Peter Reynolds has written simple stories about what constitutes art and how easily all of us, especially children, can be discouraged from attempting creative efforts.  We can even doubt our ability to be creative! 

It will take you four minutes or less to read or watch each book.  Then you can join in on the discussion.
   

Look for this big button on the Kids Page. There you can read the two books (or have them read to you).

Here are some questions to think about while you read.  Then let us know what you think.

Who has encouraged - or discouraged - your creativity?  What was your response? 

How can we encourage ourselves (or our children or students) to be more creative?

The summer reading program this year will be entitled "Be Creative@ Your Library" and, for teens, "Express Yourself @ Your Library".  What activities should be offered that will really make a difference?

 

In addition to following this fall's tough economic news and endless political banter (or maybe in substitution of these?), the library staff has been reading a lot. We have a mix of fiction, non-fiction, movies and audiobooks. Let us know what you've been enjoying too!

Books

  13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

  Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot

  The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson

  The Painted Drum by Louise Erdich

  The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

  Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

  Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

 

Last Wednesday, Monterey teens were among the first in the world to play the new Guitar Hero World Tour in a public library. Chill Time featured the new game, which includes a microphone for vocals, a 6 piece drum kit, and 2 guitars, one electric, one bass.

Clever us, we were standing by with a video camera.

 

The game will return next week, and our beginners will soon become experts. Check out the Monterey Public Library page on Facebook for more Guitar Hero videos and photos.

Finally, if you're not a teen but are itching to rock out at the Library, don't despair. We'll be organizing a family game day soon! Let us know now what kinds of games you'd like to see.

Right now the Library is offering a survey for teens to help us understand what you want your Library to be. We'll use the results to offer new programs, new stuff in the Teen Zone, and new ways to keep you informed about what's going on at the Library. Please take a minute (5 tops) to take the survey. We'll be giving away a Jamba Juice card to one lucky survey-taker at the end of the month.

Michael Vicent won four tickets to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk in Monterey Public Library's Back-To-School Live Homework Help promotion.  Everyone who showed us their tutor session slip was entered in the drawing and received a small back-to-school prize.  Michael won the grand prize.  However, with Live Homework Help, the Library's free online chat-based tutoring service for students of any age, everyone wins - better grades.  Try Live Homework Help anytime in the library or through the Library website at home, and look for another contest around the time of mid-terms.

This Friday September 18 at 3 p.m. will be the drawing!  To enter, just try Live Homework Help, the Library's free online tutoring program for Kindergarten through adult learners.  Get help for your homework, Kindergarten through Calculus, math, writing, science, and more.  Live Homework can be found on the Kids Page, the Teen Zone and on the databases page.  Access it at home with your (free) library card or in the Library and chat with a tutor -live.  Then print out your session slip and show it to staff at the Youth Services Desk or Bookmobile.  You'll get a small prize as well as the chance for the big prize- four tickets to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.  It's easy, and you might win!  Questions?Contact the Youth Desk ysdesk@ci.monterey.ca.us or 646-3744. 

A couple weeks ago I was reading the blog of one of my librarian buddies who runs a school library in Bolvia and she raved on and on about this great book she'd just finished:

So I quick logged into the library catalog and placed it on hold.

Eventually I got around to reading it, and gah! Now I can't stop talking about it! It's definitely my newest favorite book.

Yeah, it may be a teenage love story, but it's one that anyone with a punk rocker's heart can relate too.

And by the way, the movie version comes out in early October - so I recommend that you grab the book and read it before you go!

Yesterday we kicked-off a new teen program at the Library: Chill Time. This weekly, Wednesday afternoon event provides an afternoon gathering-spot for local teens where they are free to listen to music, play games, watch movies, or just relax.

Our first day was a great start. Monterey High School students from freshmen to seniors stopped by for free sodas, Wii games, and a lively Risk game battling for world domination. While we were elated by the turnout, we are hoping that our local teens will expand our offerings in the future by bringing their own movies, games, books, and music to share.

Chill Time runs Wednesday afternoons from 1:30 to 3:00 P.M. in the Community Room. Check the Teen Zone Events page to offer your own entertainment.

Yes, the Library has lots of fitness books and DVD's, and I've tried most of them.  But nothing worked for me, mainly because I would rather lie down and read a good book than work out any time.  But now, the Library has the perfect thing:  Playaways!  These tiny little machines (about the size of a small cell phone or calculator) come with a book on a chip inside.  I plugged in the earbuds I got on my last plane ride, and started walking.  Now I can't wait to get back to my exercise, because I have told myself that only when walking can I listen to my book.   I want to hear the next part.   I love it! - and my doctor will too.  I am listening to Jodi Picoult's Vanishing Acts , but there are many others I want to read.  There are 38 in the new collection, with more due in any day.   You can see a list of them by searching under the call number PLA .  Check it out, and wave at me on the beach trails!

Tomorrow, at 2 p.m., marks the first of our three consecutive Saturday Teen Movies in the Library's community room. While I cannot divulge the film's title due to copyright restrictions, I can tell you it is one word, starts with a J, stars Ellen Page, and puts a new spin on teenage pregnancy. Copyright law is funny about those kinds of technicalities.

Rather than over-exciting our teen readers with the wealth of information the Library has on copyright and intellectual property, I would much rather highlight our small, but growing, collection of Teen Movies. These include screen versions of classic books, recent teen movies, anime, and informational videos, just like the ones below.

 

So, when you come to the Library over the next three Saturdays at 2 p.m. to see the movies teens voted for, make sure you leave a few minutes to browse the video collection. See you at the movies.

 

We're right in the heart of summer now, prime reading season when you have a few spare hours! Do you have any juicy titles to share for the summer? Here are a few that the check-out desk staff is enjoying...

  People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

  Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

  Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin

  No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

   Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith

  Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty

   Who Killed Cock Robin? by Kevin O'Malley

  Mysterious Benedict Society by Trent Lee Stewart

  Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

  Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

  Extras by Scott Westerfield

 

  Driving Lessons (movie)

posted by Catrina

You may know that you can sign up for the summer reading program on our  "Catch the Reading Bug" web page, but did you know that you could find out what it takes to be a young bug wrangler, too? The Fun Links and Activities section of the page is full of interesting and exciting things! There are links for learning about bug identification, building bug traps - from simple baked potato bug traps to complicated water bug traps - and links that help you solve "buggy" problems.

Do you like art? Then you won't want to miss the colorful super up-close bug photography pages from Dennis Kunkel and MicroAngela. Love to play games on the computer? Check out the "Hunt the Bug" link for a fun one! Feel like a spa day? We have a link to recipes for at-home spa treatments made with bee-you-ti-ful honey... For the gardeners, there are beneficial insect pages and for the cooks there are links to bug INSPIRED recipes - tasty treats for the whole family!

We'd love it if you would let us know what you think of the activities and links - we sure think they're fun!

Picoult's latest novel, Nineteen Minutes, is a great book for adults (especially mothers) and teenagers.  For parents, it's about our expectations for our kids, our struggles to be good moms and dads, and our worst fears.  For teenagers, it's about popularity, fitting in, standing up, and the mental and physical cruelty suffered by some kids at the hands of others.  It's also about the news -  A school shooting, even worse than Columbine,  and a boy, charged as a man, teenage brains, post-traumatic stress syndrome, and CSI.  The bad news is that the book is long, and that means that you will want to stay up late to finish it!