Category Archives: Teen Scene

TeenHQ: We’re here to entertain

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Dear Parents,

 

Congratulations on surviving the school year with your teens!  We’re sending you an enthusiastic high-five for helping them through homework assignments, group projects, and extra-curriculars.  But if you find yourself in a panic asking, “What do I do with them now?”, don’t worry.  The library is here to help!  Let US entertain your teens and keep them engaged and off the couch this summer with everyday activities that defeat boredom.

 

This summer, teens in grades 6-12 can kick back and relax in TeenHQ in a variety of ways including:

  • earning prizes by reading
  • attending a program (FREE SNACKS!)
  • watching a movie with friends (FREE SNACKS!)
  • starting a video game tournament (FREE SNACKS!)
  • winning a game of GIANT checkers or chess (FREE SNACKS!)
  • playing a new board game (FREE SNACKS!)
  • entering a weekly STEM challenge (FREE SNACKS!)
  • exploring a maker kit (FREE SNACKS!)
  • completing a book tasting menu for candy!

And SO much more.  Did I mention there will be FREE SNACKS?  We know the way to a teen’s heart is through their stomach 🙂  Keep TeenHQ in mind when your teen says they’re bored.  We’re here to entertain!

 

Sincerely,

 

Your friendly neighborhood Teen Librarians

 

April is National Poetry Month

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April is National Poetry Month!

Here are some ways you can join in the celebration:

  • Write a poem! You can share it with friends and family, your favorite librarian, or even get it published by someone like Poetry Foundation!
  • Watch a movie about poetry. A few of my favorites are Dead Poet’s Society, Sylvia, and The Basketball Diaries.
  • Celebrate “Poem in Your Pocket Day” on April 27th – Select a poem you love, carry it with you, and share it with people you see.
  • Share poetry with your community by using sidewalk chalk.
  • Attend a poetry reading event. (You should totally wear a beret with a black turtleneck and snap you fingers like a beatnik.)
  • Memorize a poem.
  • Check out one of the teen novels in verse listed below!

The Poet X – Elizabeth Acevedo

Because I am Furniture – Thalia Chaltas

One – Sarah Crossan

Forget Me Not – Carolee Dean

Bull – David Elliott

The Lightning Dreamer – Margarita Engle

The Good Braider – Terry Farish

Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling – Lucy Frank

Poisoned Apples – Chrstine Heppermann

Crank – Ellen Hopkins

Ronit & Jamil – Pamela Laskin

Sold – Patricia McCormick

This Impossible Light – Lily Myers

October Mourning – Leslea Newman

Karma – Cathy Ostlere

Long Way Down – Jason Reynolds

Song of the Sparrow – Lisa Ann Sandell

Like Water on Stone – Dana Walrath

 

For Tweens:

Heartbeat – Sharon Creech

A Time to Dance – Padma Venkatraman

Diverse Reads for Teens

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One of the best things about reading is how it teaches us empathy and compassion. Reading opens doors to new worlds, new cultures, new experiences, and new perspectives. Readers can walk in someone else’s shoes without even leaving the couch. Diverse books are about characters from various backgrounds, races, genders, or lifestyles that provide us with the opportunity to view a perspective we may not have seen before and better understand the world around us.

Here are a few diverse reads for teens and tweens to help expand your reading horizons!

Teen
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Natasha, whose family is hours away from being deported, and Daniel, a first generation Korean American who strives to live up to his parents’ expectations, unexpectedly fall in love and must determine which path they will choose in order to be together.

 

 

Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham
When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family’s property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the past, the present, and herself.

 

 

 

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy
Sixteen-year-old Willowdean wants to prove to everyone in her small Texas town that she is more than just a fat girl, so, while grappling with her feelings for a co-worker who is clearly attracted to her, Will and some other misfits prepare to compete inthe beauty pageant her mother runs.

 

 

 

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
After witnessing her friend’s death at the hands of a police officer, Starr Carter’s life is complicated when the police and a local drug lord try to intimidate her in an effort to learn what happened the night Kahlil died.

 

 

 

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
Imagining that she is sending love to passengers in airplanes flying overhead, Astrid Jones, a teen from a small town torn by gossip and narrow-mindedness, struggles with her family’s dysfunction and hides her love for another girl.

 

 

 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

 

 

 

Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Writing letters to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., seventeen-year-old college-bound Justyce McAllister struggles to face the reality of race relations today and how they are shaping him.

 

 

 

The Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
Driven by the secrets and vengeance that mark his street culture, 15-year-old Will contemplates over the course of 60 psychologically suspenseful seconds whether or not he is going to murder the person who killed his brother.

 

 

 

Tween
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.

 

 

 

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky
Grayson has been holding onto a secret for what seems like forever: “he” is a girl on the inside, stuck in the wrong gender’s body. Strengthened by an unexpected friendship and a caring teacher who gives her a chance to step into the spotlight, Grayson might finally have the tools to let her inner light shine.

 

 

Amina’s Voice by Jena Khan
Amina, a Pakistani-American Muslim girl, struggles to stay true to her family’s culture while dealing with the vandalism of the local Islamic Center and mosque and her best friend Soojin’s new friendship with their former nemesis.

 

 

 

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of noncomformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.

 

 

Binge-worthy Teen Reads

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If you’re anything like me, when winter hits all I want to do is curl up on the couch with a blanket, some hot cocoa, and either (1) Netflix or (2) a good book. In fact, during the winter I tend to go on TV and reading binges. It’s too cold to do anything else! So I thought, why not combine some of my favorite things and put together a list of books that are like some of my favorite TV series? And then I thought, why don’t I make a list for you too?!

Check out the list for some great teen reads like some of your favorite teen TV shows!

If you like Riverdale, you might like:

If you like 13 Reasons Why, you might like:

If you like Stranger Things, you might like:

If you like The Flash, you might like:

Great 2017 Teen Reads

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2017 was a great year for teen fiction.  Our new teen fiction shelves were filled with diverse books that put a spotlight on complicated characters, cultural identity, and relevant topics that demand attention and conversation.  There was something for every type of reader – for those that read to escape into story and others that are in the search for ways to connect and expand their understanding of their own experiences.

Our “Ten Reads for Teens” display in TeenHQ is currently highlighting some great reads released this year.  Check out one of these stand-out books and pick up a Great Reads of 2017 flyer today!

Here are a few titles to give you a taste of the awesome available for your reading pleasure:

Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham

When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family’s property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the past, the present, and herself.

 

 

They Both Die in the End by Adam Silvera

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day.    

 

 

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with her small-town Texas high school that thinks the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes and hallway harassment. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules.

 

 

Geekerella by Ashley Poston

When geek girl Elle Wittimer sees a cosplay contest sponsored by the producers of Starfield, she has to enter. First prize is an invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot.

 

 

Warcross by Marie Lu

Teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players of Warcross who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy.  Emika is shocked when she gets a call from the game’s creator with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year’s tournament in order to uncover a security problem .