Soda Bottle Rockets at Lyons today!

The John Green Effect

June 19th, 2014 By: Nora Rawlinson. As seen on "Early Word"

Will there be more movies based on John Green novels? Don’t bother answering that.
Now that The Fault in Our Stars is a certified hit, The Hollywood Reporter gives details on the “frenzy of interest” in his other novels.
      
The one most likely to hit screens first is Paper Towns, (Penguin/Speak), which has Nat Wolff, (Isaac in TFIOS), set to star. Fox 2000 on the search for a director.
THR also reports on the “ripple effect” for other “grounded” Y.A. adaptations (which have the advantage of not requiring expensive special effects). On the heels of the success of TFIOS, Lionsgate says they are close to hiring a director for an adaptation of R.J. Palacio’s Wonder, (RH/knopf)
Note to Hollywood: Green is currently promoting a much different book, one that is not yet a movie, but should be, he says, Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers (Random House).

Great Science Books for Summer Reading

Science Books
Meet two academic goals with one book. Summer reading is key and the Scholastic Summer Reading Program's theme is Reading Under the Stars offers lots of fun activities, book ideas and motivation.
Great space-themed books for kids ages 8-10:
* 13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System by David A. Aguilar
* Stink: Solar System Superhero by Megan McDonald & Peter H. Reynolds
* Binky the Space Cat by Ashley Spires
* Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet by Alexandra Siy
Great space-themed books for kids ages 10-12:
* A Black Hole Is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano & Michael Carroll
* How Do You Burp in Space?: And Other Tips Every Space Tourist Needs to Know by Susan E. Goodman & Michael Slack
* The Silver Six by A.J. Lieberman & Darren Rawlings
For more advanced readers:
* The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet by Neil deGrasse Tyson
* These Broken Stars: A Starbound Novel by Amie Kaufman & Megan Spooner
* Alienated by Melissa Landers
Find more great summer reading suggestions with a focus on science here.
* Summer Brain Games

Specifically designed to keep kids' brains engaged during summer vacation, the Museum of Science and Industry's Summer Brain Games are online and offer eight weekly free and fun at-home science experiments available to everyone. You can sign up here.

As seen on "Tween Us"

Comic Books Coming to Small Screen

Watching More Books

Posted: 12 May 2014 04:37 AM PDT From The Eleventh Stack

A while back, I featured some books that would making their way to the small screen with adaptations (That was in August? Holy smokes!). Well, now that the networks are announcing their choices for the next TV season, it’s clear that more folks jumping on board the comic book party train for their source material.  Let’s check out a few of the books that I can’t wait to watch in a few months.
Thanks to the fantastic Arrow series on right now (Scott was not wrong about that show), we’ll get to see The Flash this fall. Arrow has done some legwork in building this spin-off in the past few months, with characters popping up and even setting the stage for Barry Allen’s transformation from skinny nerd to The Fastest Man Alive. I really hope these series work together in the Buffy-Angel mold, in that they support two strong, separate plots, but allow for movement between shows in a seamless way.
I’m beside myself over Gotham. I love the idea of a show living in the world of Batman, but focusing on the people around Bruce Wayne in the years leading up to him putting on the cape and cowl. This hasn’t been explored much in the comics, but I think Gotham Central might be the closest match, in that it revolves around the work Jim Gordon and other members of the Gotham PD are doing to solve crimes in their city.
I knew Rob Thomas (this one, not that one) was working on a new show and there would be zombies, but I had no idea that it was based on a comic series. iZombie follows a young woman who happens to be a zombie – as she consumes new brains, the memories of the dead person take over and she works to fulfill their last request. The show is moving away from the graveyard of the comics to a coroner’s office for a more defined detective story angle. Slightly gory Veronica Mars? Sign me up.
Are there any comics/graphic novels that you’d love to see turned into a TV show?

Teen craft ideas on Pinterest

Are you looking for fun craft ideas for Teens?
Don't forget to check out the PLS Pinterest page.
http://www.pinterest.com/pioneerlibrary/

Here is a new pin that was added today!

Remember to post pictures of your Children and Teen crafts.  We would LOVE to see them!

Teen Book Recommendations

So you like Divergent…

Posted: 29 Apr 2014 09:41 AM PDT from Overdrive

With the dystopian-genre dominating books and films, chances are your readers have already checked out The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner. For those readers looking for their next dystopian fix, here are a few recommendations from our team:

Dystopian fans also tend to enjoy “It’s-the-end-of-the-world” disaster novels like these:

Finally, in these selections the world hasn’t ended yet, but it’s definitely in danger:

You can find all of these fast-paced adventures in the OverDrive Marketplace.

*Some titles may have limited regional or platform availability.

Program Idea: Recipe Swap

Recipe Swap: A Children's/Adult Programming Collaboration

From: The ShowMe Librarian Blog http://showmelibrarian.blogspot.com/

My adult services colleagues and I have been brainstorming ways to work together in my branch lately. One of the ideas we came up with was offering joint children's/adult programs--that is, programs for families that involve some overlapping activities as well as distinct spaces and activities for kids and adults. We had a few goals for these sorts of programs:

1. Allow the caregivers to enjoy content geared to them.
2. Provide thematic crafts/activities for kids so that caregivers need not find childcare to attend the adult program.
3. End programs with an invitation for the family to continue the program exploration at home, whether through conversation or related activities.

With those goals in mind, my colleague Michele and I offered our first joint programming endeavor earlier this week. It wasn't heavily attended--we still need to figure out how to best advertise this new style of program--but it was fun. Here's what we did:

Recipe Swap for Kids and Caregivers

The joint activity: What's the herb/spice?

     Michele created a poster board with images of 16 herbs and spices used in different types of cooking. She also created a sort of game page, with spaces to guess all 16 herbs and spices based on their pictures. For additional clues and interest, she also set out plates with all 16 of the herbs and spices. Smelling, carefully grating, and feeling the foodstuffs were all acceptable means of exploring what the herbs and spices were. The goal was for families to work together to explore these foods, talking about what they were, what they smelled like, what they use them for in their house, etc.

     This hands-on and self-paced activity provided great ways for families to use food vocabulary and to talk about their own food traditions.

The adult activity: Recipe Swap & Cookbook Exploration

     The advertisement for the program encouraged attendees to bring a printed copy of a recipe or two that they enjoy at their own homes. At the beginning of the program, a library staffer ran off copies of each of the recipes for everyone to swap. There were pasta dishes, a breakfast sausage recipe, some baked goods, and a sweet and sour pork recipe, all with recommendations for their ease, healthfulness, and kid-friendliness.

     Michele also called in and displayed a wide variety of cookbooks in the library's collections to share with attendees. They were then able to talk about their favorite recipe sources--cookbooks, blogs--and swap personal tips for the best stores for certain ingredients, keeping meals well-balanced, etc. So many caregivers try to be cognizant of the types of foods they share with their families, and so this topic produced tons of conversation.

The kids' activity: Decorating Recipe Cards

     I created a blank, half-page recipe card template in Publisher and printed a bunch on white card stock. I had the library's washable, large-size ink pads on the craft table, ready for kids to do fingerprint art to decorate the backs of the recipe cards. I also had plenty of wipes on hand for when the artists wanted to switch to a new color of ink.

     The end result was a great variety of personalized, colorful recipe cards, ready to be used to share favorite family recipes. This craft is a pretty straightforward one for the crafters, so we were able to talk about our favorite foods and how we help cook and bake at home while working on our recipe cards.

The wrap-up: Cookies!

     Michele shared a recipe for chocolate crinkle cookies in the recipe swap, and she prepared a batch to share at the program as well. Kids and adults reconvened to try the cookies, which provided a nice end to our joint programming adventure.