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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Sign Up for January Programs Now!

It's almost 2013--don't forget to sign up for our January programs!  You can register in person at the library, by phone at 973-835-5044, by email at riverdalelibrarykids@nac.net, or online by clicking here.

Teen Movie Night
Wed. Jan. 2
5:30-7:45 p.m.
Join us for popcorn and enjoy "The Last Song" with Miley Cyrus.














Teen Advisory Board
Thurs. Jan. 3
5:00-6:00 p.m.
Hang out with friends and tell us what you want your library to be like.  TAB gives teens the chance to help with planning programs and choosing library materials while possibly earning community service.

Teen Book Discussion Club
Wed. Jan. 16
6:00-7:00 p.m.
Join us for pizza as we discuss the book of the month.  Reading a book with a group is fun and can also possibly count as extra credit for school.  January's pick is Looking for Alaska by John Green.  Pick up your free copy at the Circulation Desk.















Teen Crocheting
Wed. Jan. 23
6:00-7:00 p.m.
Come learn basic patterns and techniques that will help you keep busy and warm over the winter!  Yarn and hooks provided. 

Friday, December 21, 2012

Christmas Around the World

This year, wish your family and friends merry Christmas in a new way and make it your New Year's resolution to learn a new language!


Danish:                          Glaedelig Jul                    GLA-da-lig U-el

Finnish:                         Hauskaa Joulua                HAUS-ka U-loo-a

French:                          Joyeux Noel                      jo-YEUH no-EL

German:                        Frohliche Weinachten       FRO-leek-eh VY-nak-techn

Greek:                           Kala Christougenna           ka-LA chris-TOU-yeh-na

Italian:                          Buon Natale                       boo-ON na-TA-leh

Norwegian/Swedish:    God Jul                             gud U-el

Portuguese:                   Feliz Natal                         fel-FEES na-TAL

Russian:                        S Rozhdyestvom                S Ro-zhdye-STVOM
 
Spanish:                        Feliz Navidad                     feh-LEES na-vid-DOD


 
Peace on Earth!
 
 

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

All I Want for Christmas Is You!

There's only six more days till Christmas.  Here's an early present courtesy of Jimmy Fallon, Mariah Carey, and the Roots. 





Monday, December 10, 2012

December Teen Book Club/The Perks of Being a Wallflower

It's not too late to sign up for the next Teen Book Discussion on Wed. Dec. 19 from 6-7 p.m.  Join us for pizza and a chance to discuss what you liked and didn't like about the book of the month.  Love the movie "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"?  Then you're in luck, because this month we're reading the book by Stephen Chbosky. 

Charlie is a freshman. And while's he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He's a wallflower--shy and introspective and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of undisclosed name, age, and gender. Charlie encounters the same struggles that many kids face in high school--how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs--but he must also deal with his best friend's recent suicide. Charlie's letters take on the intimate feel of a journal as he shares his day-to-day thoughts and feelings. 

With the help of a teacher who recognizes his wisdom and intuition, and his two friends, seniors Samantha and Patrick, Charlie mostly manages to avoid the depression he feels slowly creeping. When it all becomes too much, after a shocking realization about his beloved late Aunt Helen, Charlie retreats from reality for awhile. But he makes it back in due time, ready to face his sophomore year and all that it may bring in this funny, touching novel.


Thursday, December 6, 2012

Anniversary of Basketball/Dragon Road

Did you know that basketball was created this month back in 1891?  James Naismith was a teacher of physical education at the International YMCA Training College at Springfield, MA.  In order to create an indoor sport, that could be played during the winter months, he nailed up peach baskets at opposite ends of the gym and gave students soccer balls to toss into them.  Thus, the game of basketball was born.

Looking for a good book about your favorite winter sport?  Try Dragon Road: Golden Mountain Chronicles, 1939 by Lawrence Yep. 

It's 1939 and Chinese-American best friends Cal and Barney are both trapped by the invisible barriers created by racial prejudice.  With no jobs and no real homes, it's only their wizardry with a basketball that's let them survive this long.  That same skill suddenly flings a door open to fame and fortune when a professional basketball team, the Dragons, invites them to join. Soon they're barnstorming across America and taking on all comers—from local amateurs to other professional teams like the Harlem Globetrotters.

On that long, difficult road, they must battle rowdy teams and their even rougher fans on makeshift courts. Cal, aka Flash, and the team must also overcome terrible weather, crumbling highways, and their own disintegrating car. As the tour starts to fall apart, the tension between Cal and the team's jealous captain comes to a head.  Suddenly Cal must choose between loyalty to his teammates and the pursuit of his own celebrity. Inspired by the pioneering professional Chinese-American basketball team the Hong Wah Kues, Newbery Honor author Laurence Yep re-creates a colorful era of barnstorming basketball and leads readers through the heartache and glory of the dragon road.

 

Monday, December 3, 2012

New Books for December!

Look for these new books coming soon to Riverdale Public Library!


Beta by Rachel Cohn: Elysia was created in a laboratory, born as a sixteen-year-old girl, an empty vessel with no life experience to draw from. She is a Beta, an experimental model of a teenage clone. Elysia’s purpose is to serve the inhabitants of Demesne, an island paradise for the wealthiest people on earth. Everything about Demesne is bioengineered for perfection.  At first, Elysia’s life is idyllic and pampered. But she soon sees that Demesne’s human residents, who should want for nothing, yearn. But for what, exactly? She also comes to realize that beneath the island’s flawless exterior, there is an under­current of discontent among Demesne’s worker clones. She knows she is soulless and cannot feel and should not care—so why are overpowering sensations cloud­ing Elysia’s mind?  If anyone discovers that Elysia isn’t the unfeeling clone she must pretend to be, she will suffer a fate too terrible to imagine. When her one chance at happi­ness is ripped away with breathtaking cruelty, emotions she’s always had but never understood are unleashed. As rage, terror, and desire threaten to overwhelm her, Elysia must find the will to survive.

The Diviners by Libba Bray:  Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is positively thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."  When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

Crossed and Reached by Ally Condie:  Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate...until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.  Crossed and Reached are the final books to the thrilling adventure started in Matched

See You at Harry's by Jo Knowles: Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible. Her dad is always busy planning how to increase traffic to the family business. Her mom is constantly going off to meditate. Her sister Sarah, who's taking a "gap year" after high school, is too busy finding ways not to work; and her brother Holden is too focused on his new "friend" to pay attention to her. And then there's Charlie: three years old, a "surprise" baby, and the center of everyone's world.  If it wasn't for Ran, Fern's best and oldest friend, there would be nowhere to turn. Ran is always calm, always positive. His mantra "All will be well" is soothing in a way that nothing else seems to be. And when Ran says it, Fern can almost believe.  But when their lives are unexpectedly turned upside down, Fern feels more alone than ever, and responsible for the event that wrenches the family apart. All will not be well. Or at least, all will never be the same.

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor: Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war. This is not that world.  Student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is--and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: sheloved the enemy and he betrayed her, and the world suffered for it.  In this sequel to the Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.  While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope. But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?

Look for these books or put them on hold here.


Best Teen Books of 2012

Fresh from the New York Times, the Notable Young Adult Books of 2012:

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore: The companion to Graceling and Fire, this beautiful, haunting, and thrilling high fantasy about a young queen and her troubled kindgom stands on it's own.  Teen Fiction Cashore

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein:  This tale of a spy and a fighter pilot during World War II is at heart a story about female friendship.  Teen Fiction Wein

Jepp, Who Defied the Stars by Katherine Marsh: A dwarf at court in 16th-century Denmark is the surprising hero in this novel, which also features real-life astronomer Tycho Brahe, an eccentric Danish nobleman.  Available through interlibrary loan

Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick: This novelized memoir tells the tragic but inspiring life story of Arn Chorn-Pond, a boy who was nine years old when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia.  Available through interlibrary loan

Son by Lois Lowry: In the conclusion to the dystopian Giver quartet, Lowry returns to the story of a mother searching for her lost son.  Quiet and sorrowful, it is a deeply moving exploration of the powers of empathy and the obligations of love.  New Teen Fiction Lowry


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

New Books for November!

Look for these new teen reads coming soon to Riverdale Public Library!


Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall:  When Odilia and her four sisters find a dead body in the swimming hole, they embark on a hero’s journey to return the dead man to his family in Mexico.  But returning home to Texas turns into an incredible.  With the supernatural aid of ghostly La Llorona via a magical earring, Odilia and her little sisters travel a tough road to their long-lost grandmother’s house. Along the way, they must outsmart a witch and her Evil Trinity: a wily warlock, a coven of vicious half-human barn owls, and bloodthirsty livestock-hunting chupacabras. Can these fantastic trials prepare Odilia and her sisters for what happens when they face their final test, returning home to the real world, where goddesses and ghosts can no longer help them?

Eighth Grade is Making Me Sick:  Ginny Davis's Year in Stuff: by Jennifer L. Holm:  Ginny has big plans for eighth grade. She's going to try out for cheerleading, join Virtual Vampire Vixens, and maybe even fall in love. But middle school is more of a roller-coaster ride than Ginny could have ever predicted. Her family has just moved into a fancy new house when Ginny's stepdad loses his job. (Can worrying about money make you sick?) Ginny's big brother keeps getting into trouble. And there's a new baby on the way. (Living proof that Ginny's mom and stepdad are having sex. Just what she needs.) Filled with Post-its, journal entries, grocery lists, hand-drawn comic strips, report cards, IMs, notes, and more, Eighth Grade Is Making Me Sick is the sometimes poignant, often hilarious, always relatable look at a year in the life of one girl, told entirely through her stuff. Part graphic novel, part scrapbook and altogether original.


Drama by Raina Telgemeier:  Callie loves theater.  And while she would totally try out for her middle school's production of "Moon Over Mississippi," she's a terrible singer. Instead she's the set designer for the stage crew, and this year she's determined to create a set worthy of Broadway on a middle-school budget.  But how can she, when she doesn't know much about carpentry, ticket sales are down, and the crew members are having trouble working together? Not to mention the onstage AND offstage drama that occurs once the actors are chosen and two cute brothers enter the picture.  Featuring a diverse set of characters, this graphic novel humorously explores friendship, crushes, and all-around drama!


Look for these books or put them on hold here.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Hunger Games Party

Calling all Katniss lovers:  It's not too late to sign up for the Hunger Games Party next Thursday, November 29 from 4-5 p.m.   We'll play Hunger Games trivia for chances to win prizes, make a cool craft, and eat a (non) poisonous berry dessert (this isn't the Capitol, after all). 

You can sign up in person, by phone at 973-835-2175, by email at RiverdaleLibraryKids@nac.net or by clicking on Teens at www.riverdalelibrary.org

So whether you're Team Peeta or Team Gale, come on down to Panem and volunteer as Tribute!

Friday, November 16, 2012

New Books for October!

Look for these new books coming soon to Riverdale Public Library!


Game Change by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Athletics are everything for eighth-grader KT Sutton. She’s a softball star, and she’s on track to get a college scholarship and achieve international fame. Then one day during a championship game—in the middle of an important play—she suddenly blacks out.  When she wakes up, she’s in a different world. One where school is class after class of athletic drills, and after-school sports are replaced by popular academic competitions. One where KT is despised for her talent, and where her parents are fixated on her brother’s future mathletics career rather than KT’s softball hopes.  KT is desperate to get back to reality as she knew it, but bits and pieces of disturbing memories and dreams make her wonder if something truly awful happened there. What if she’s lost something a lot more important than a softball game?


 Skylark by Megan Spooner

Vis in magia, in vita vi. In magic there is power, and in power, life. For fifteen years, Lark Ainsley waited for the day when her Resource would be harvested and she would finally be an adult. After the harvest she expected a small role in the regular, orderly operation of the City within the Wall. She expected to do her part to maintain the refuge for the last survivors of the Wars. She expected to be a tiny cog in the larger clockwork of the city.  Lark did not expect to become the City's power supply. For fifteen years, Lark Ainsley believed in a lie. Now she must escape the only world she's ever known...or face a fate more unimaginable than death.  Part 1 in the Skylark Trilogy.

For fifteen years, Lark Ainsley believed in a lie. Now she must escape the only world she's ever known...or face a fate more unimaginable than death.
For fifteen years, Lark Ainsley believed in a lie. Now she must escape the only world she's ever known...or face a fate more unimaginable than death. Part 1 in the Skylark Trilogy. 

Lark did not expect to become the City's power supply.

For fifteen years, Lark Ainsley believed in a lie. Now she must escape the only world she's ever known...or face a fate more unimaginable than death. 




The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore

Four, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten—these aren’t the winning lottery numbers but rather the known surviving members of an alien race who continue to battle the dastardly Mogadorians in the series that began with I Am Number Four. The sequel, The Power of Six, divided itself into two first-person POVs, and this one continues the trend. Two characters emerge as especially interesting: Nine, the arrogant but capable rich kid traveling alongside stalwart Four; and Eight, who is tracked down in India, where locals believe him to be a reincarnated Vishnu.  And just in case you thought this was a trilogy, stay tuned—there’s more on the way! 




The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

On a cold night every spring, sixteen-year-old Blue and her psychic mother wait in a churchyard for the dead to arrive. Her mother is usually the one who sees the spirits of people who will die within the next twelve months, but this year, Blue herself is startled by the sad, desperate sight of a boy named Gansey falling to his knees before her.  "There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark's Eve, Blue. Either you're his true love...or you killed him."  With those chilling words, Blue is caught up in a mystery she never expected involving the privileged Raven Boys from Aglionby Academy. She must guard her heart closely, however, because Blue's always been told that she's destined to kill her true love with a kiss.  Book 1 in the Raven Cycle.


The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente

In this sequel to The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, September is 13 years old and in possession of a teenage heart that is “raw and new, fast and fierce.”  It is this heart that guides her sophomore trip to Fairyland.  When she literally stumbles into the magical realm, September finds that the inhabitants of Fairyland Above have been losing their shadows—sucked Below by the Alleyman, a floating red-feathered hat—and, along with them, their magic. As Fairyland Above becomes depleted, the underworld becomes a stronger, darker, increasingly renegade place under the rule of Halloween, September’s shadow.   Can September return the shadows and reset the equilibrium in Fairyland?


You can look for these books or put them on hold here.