Are you going to be 18 by Feb. 5, 2008? November 30, 2007

If you will turn 18 before February 5, 2008, you can vote in the presidential primary.

If you will turn 18 before November 4, 2008, you can vote in the presidential election.

But first you have to register!

There will be voter registration at the library tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 1, between noon and 4:00 pm.

Bring two pieces of identification (one of which must show your current address) like your driver’s license, school ID, or birth certificate.

If you don’t have time tomorrow, here are some other places you can register:

City of Evanston City Clerk’s Office

Cook County Clerk’s Office

Illinois Secretary of State offices

Or you can register online!

For more info, check out Rock the Vote or Project Vote Smart or MTV’s Choose or Loose…

Books into Movies! November 28, 2007

Several book-inspired movies are coming soon to the big screen! The action-packed classic Beowulf is already playing in theatres. Coming soon are the following: the spellbinding science fiction epic The Golden Compass; Satrapi’s compelling story (and stunning artistry) of coming-of-age in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, Persepolis; and finally, the sweeping saga of friendship, betrayal and redemption in Hosseini’s Kite Runner. There’s so much to read, see and talk about. We recommend reading the book first and then taking in the movie. Either way, don’t miss checking out the book!! Some of the above movies are PG-13 and contain mature content.

          

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (Alfred A. Knopf, 1995). Recommended for Middle and High School

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon Books, 2003). Recommended for High School

Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000). Recommended for High School

Beowulf (A Graphic Novel) by Gareth Hinds (Candlewick Press, 2007). Recommended for High School

Beowulf the modern English version translated by Francis Gummere, online.

Beowulf: A Hero’s Tale Retold by James Rumford (Houghton Mifflin, 2007). Recommended for Middle School

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead Books, 2003). Recommended for High School

Book of a Thousand Days November 25, 2007

I have been eagerly awaiting Shannon Hale’s latest novel, Book of a Thousand Days  (Bloomsbury, 2007), and it definitely does not disappoint. The language sings! It is an imaginative retelling of a little-known fairy tale, Maid Maleen by the Brothers Grimm.

 

Set in a fictionalized, medieval Mongolia, 16-year-old Lady Saren is locked away in a tower for seven years by her father for refusing to marry the man her father has chosen, Lord Khasar. The story is told, however, by Lady Saren’s mucker maid Dashti, who has sworn to serve her mistress and therefore is shut away in the tower with her. Dashti keeps a journal which propels the story forward with spunk, grit, resourcefulness, and humor, all of which definitely come in handy as they face long and lonely days without sunlight and the great blue sky to brighten their world.

 

As Lady Saren despairs, Dashti does her best singing the healing songs she learned as a mucker girl on the steppes. Dashti even poses as Lady Saren when two suitors appear outside the tower, one the despicable Lord Khasar, and the other, the gentle Khan Tegus. Dashti’s growing friendship with Tegus and her rethinking of the gentry fuel subplots to come.

 

Adventures, misadventures, and a war-ravaged land await Dashti and Lady Saren. Highly recommended (Christie, The Loft).

Wii away the hours November 21, 2007

Need to work off that Thanksgiving turkey? Stop by the Loft on Friday, November 23rd at 2:00pm for Nintendo Wii tennis, baseball, and bowling!

This program is for Evanston teens grades 6 through 12 only.

High School Teen Advisory Board Meeting November 20, 2007

The high school TAB will meet tonight in the Loft from 6:00 to 7:30. If you are an Evanston teen in high school, please join us!

Stay warm with a good book! November 19, 2007

It’s getting colder, it’s darker sooner, why not curl up with a good book from one of our cool booklists!

Or come to the Loft, check out a book on display, and relax in the lounge.

Games & Robots (what more could you want?!) November 16, 2007

Drop-in to the Loft today (Friday, November 16) between 3:30 and 5:30 for Nintendo Wii gaming! This event is only for 6th through 12th graders.

Tomorrow (Saturday, November 17) at 2:00 join us for a Saturday Afternoon Movie:
The Transformers. Two intergalactic races, the Autobots and the evil Decepticons, wage war against each other using Earth as their battleground. Again, this program is just for teens!

It’s Absolutely True - Alexie wins! November 14, 2007

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is this year’s winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. (Little, Brown, 2007)

 

Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, is born with “brain grease” (hydrocephalus, or excessive accumulation of fluid on the brain) which in his words “mucked up the works.” Junior has 10 extra teeth, a large head, a lisp, a stutter, and eyeglasses by age three, and he rapidly becomes a candidate for the black-eye-of-the-month club thanks to school bullies. To avoid being beaten up, he stays inside and draws cartoons and reads books. The son of an alcoholic father and “long suffering mother,” life on the reservation (Spokane Indian) poses its share of challenges for Junior.

 

So he decides to take a chance on an “all-white” school 22 miles away where the only Indian is the school mascot. A new world opens up for Junior, but many of his reservation friends, including his best friend Rowdy, think he has sold out. Juggling these two worlds leaves Junior feeling like a part-time Indian. Through it all he keeps drawing, and his cartoons keep him afloat: “I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.”

 

Thankfully for us, while Junior keeps drawing, Alexie keeps writing (and laughing). Move over Holden Caulfield - meet Arnold Spirit! (Christie, The Loft)

Call for Writing November 12, 2007

   VSA arts Teen Writing Project

VSA’s online journal, Infinite Difference, is showcasing the creative writing of middle and high school students. This year, students are asked to “zoom in” on a specific encounter through a short work of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. For more information regarding entry guidelines, go to VSA arts Writing Project.

• The call is open to students between the ages of 11 and 18 years
• The call is open to students with disabilities and students who have connections to people with disabilities
• Submissions must relate to the theme “Encounter”
• Entries must be received by VSA arts on or before Friday, December 7, 2007
• Alternate formats, such as audio recordings or Braille, are welcome

VSA arts is an international, nonprofit organization founded in 1974 to create a society where all people with disabilities learn through, participate in, and enjoy the arts.

What if you forgot the last 4 years of your life?! November 10, 2007

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, by Gabrielle Zevin (Farrar Strauss Giroux, 2007)

 

Imagine having no memory of events that happened in your life over the last four years. If you were dating someone, you don’t remember. If you were learning a new language, you don’t remember. That’s what happens to Naomi Porter. She loses a coin toss with her co-editor of the high school yearbook, so she has to go back to the office to retrieve the expensive camera they left behind. Naomi falls down the stairs, and in a frantic attempt to protect the camera, she hits her head and loses four years worth of short-term memory.

 

Naomi can’t remember why she was dating Ace, especially when she’s attracted to someone else, and she also can’t remember the last four years of changes in her parents’ lives and marriage, or why she pursued some activities in school and not others. Naomi has to rely on her friends and family to piece together events in her life. What if she is not sure she likes the Naomi she hears about? How do identities evolve? How much of other people’s perceptions have shaped Naomi’s identity? Can we reinvent ourselves?

 

This thoughtful story about identity and character is rich in metaphor. Don’t miss Zevin’s other fascinating YA novel, Elsewhere  (Christie, The Loft).