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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