Friday Is “Buy Indie Day” April 30, 2009

Tomorrow, Friday, May 1st, 2009, is Buy Indie Day across America.  Celebrate and support your local, independent bookstore by purchasing a paperback book, a hardcover, an audiobook – whatever.

Buy Indie Day is a project of IndieBound, “a community-oriented movement…that brings together booksellers, readers, indie retailers, local business alliances, and anyone else with a passionate belief that healthy local economies help communities thrive.”  Indiebound runs a great website that features book recommendations from independent booksellers across the country, a list of indie top sellers, and a handy storefinder to help you connect locally with independent bookshops.

You might be wondering, Who cares?  Why should I shop at indie stores?  Because when you do you help your community, the economy, and the environment.

Here at the Loft we recommend taking part in Buy Indie Day by shopping at Comix Revolution located at 606 Davis Street, (between Chicago and Orrington on Davis).  This fantastic store offers an extensive selection of “independent and alternative comics,” independent/underground magazines (everything from Found to The Believer, Bust to Cometbus), t-shirts, over two thousand graphic novels, books (“Noam Chomsky to…David Sedaris”), Ugly Dolls, and even games.  Comix Revolution is open M-F from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Saturday, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., and Sunday from 12-6 p.m.

Harry Potter: The Exhibition Premieres In Chicago Tomorrow April 29, 2009

Are you a fan of the Harry Potter movies? Ever wished you could jump through the screen into Hagrid’s hut, toss a quaffle, meet Dobby the house elf or Acromantula the spider face to face? Or maybe you’re not a fan of Harry, but you want to work in film and would like a chance to view the top-notch craftsmanship and artistry of costume and prop designers who helped bring these stories to life?  Starting tomorrow Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry makes all this possible when they begin hosting the world premiere of Harry Potter: The Exhibition, a show that displays over 200 props and costumes used during the filming of the first five Harry Potter movies on sets that recreate the world of Hogwarts.  Here you’ll see Harry’s actual wand and glasses, formal gowns worn by actresses during the Yule ball, Quidditch uniforms, dementors and more!  This exhibit will live on Chicago’s South Side through September 27th, 2009. To learn more, visit the Harry Potter: The Exhibition website.

Order tickets to Harry Potter: The Exhibition online or call the Museum at (773) 684-1414.

Los Angeles Times Book Prizes April 28, 2009

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE WINNER FOR YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE IS:

Nation by Terry Pratchett

Mau thought he was paddling his dugout canoe home to his small island to be greeted by the elders eager to celebrate his “passage into manhood.” But a tidal wave ravages his island, located somewhere in the South Pacific, and Mau returns home only to find dead bodies, his entire family gone. But wait – he is caught off guard when ”trousergirl” Daphne (an English girl), whose ship was deposited on the island by the wave, suddenly appears before him. Then a pregnant woman, and next a woman with a baby. Still others make their way to the island, and Mau has to help, because if he doesn’t, who else will?

 

Imagine desperate Mau wrangling milk from a mother pig to feed a human baby. And “demon boy” Mau wrestling with the gods, and barely escaping a shark attack. The survivors reinvent civilization, exploring language, religion, and science as they struggle to survive. Deeply philosophical and laugh-out-loud funny, the inimitable Terry Pratchett has crafted an original, masterful tale, reminiscent of Robinson Crusoe and Lord of the Flies, and with all the nail-biting tension of The Hunger Games and Lost. (Christie, The Loft)

 

 …AND THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE WINNER FOR THE ART SEIDENBAUM AWARD FOR FIRST FICTION IS:    

Finding Nouf by Zoë Ferraris

Click here for a review of Finding Nouf.

Speak Out Against Abuse! April 26, 2009

APRIL 2009 is SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS & PREVENTION MONTH

Sexual assault scars the lives of millions in this country. Speak out against abuse!! Visit RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) for more information on reporting a crime, recovery, effects of sexual assault and reducing your risk. Join us in the Loft on Wednesday, April 29, at 4 pm for a discussion on Crossing Boundaries: Sexual Assault and the Law: Impact, Consequences, and Remedies. The event is open to all teens. Learn about your rights, resources, preventive measures, and more from Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, Justice Project Against Sexual Harm,  and the Evanston Community Defender Office.

 

 

 

Read more! The following titles can be found in the Loft.

 FICTION

Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas. Anke feels like furniture, always there but rarely noticed. She is but a footstool in a house full of anger and violence. Is it horrible to want to be noticed at any cost?

Dreamland by Sarah Dessen. Caitlin finds gorgeous and magnetic Rogerson Biscoe impossible to resist, so much so that when the abuse starts, she struggles to find her way out. Can she?

Inexcusable by Chris Lynch. Something happened, something potentially horrible. High School senior and football player Kier Sarafian narrates his side of the story. And then there’s Gigi, a childhood friend, whose very different view the reader gleans through Kier’s reporting.

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen. What really happened at the end-of-the-year party that changed everything for sixteen-year-old Annabel?

Leftovers by Laura Weiss. What happens when victims become perpetrators? Blair and Ardith decide to exact revenge on their wrongdoers in this highly charged novel of lost innocence.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda’s freshman year in high school.

Stained by Jennifer Jacobson. Seventeen-year-old Jocelyn looks for answers when her lifelong neighbor and friend, Gabe, turns up missing and she learns that, while her boyfriend has been telling everything to a priest, Gabe has been keeping terrible secrets.

Target by Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson. Grady finally goes to a new high school where he meets several students who try to help him deal with the horrible secret that is robbing him of his life.

 

NONFICTION

The Date Rape Prevention Book: The Essential Guide for Girls & Women by Scott Lindquist

In Love & Danger: A Teen’s Guide to Breaking Free of Abusive Relationships by Barrie Levy, MSW.

Learning to Swim: A Memoir by Ann Turner.

Lucky by Alice Sebold.

Strong At the Heart: How it Feels to Heal From Sexual Abuse by Carolyn Lehman.

 

ONLINE RESOURCES

RAINN: Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1.800.656.HOPE and the Online Hotline; educates the public about sexual assault; and leads national efforts to prevent sexual assault, improve services to victims and insure that rapists are brought to justice.

Teenwire: Teenwire.com is an award-winning sexual health website for teens.

YWCA: The YWCA provides information on what to do if you’ve been sexually assaulted; how to help someone who has been sexually assaulted; rape myths; and prevention at home, in your car, and while walking. Rape Crisis Hotline: Call 888-293-2080 in Chicago Metropolitan Area

Friday Night Gaming & Poetry Slam in the Loft! April 24, 2009

Do you write poetry? Lyrics? Are you into gaming? Stop by the Loft tomorrow, April 24th, for Friday night gaming (PS2, Wii, Xbox 360), online word games, and poetry performances! Celebrate National Poetry Month by bringing your poems and lyrics to read out loud. Pizza will be served.

6:30 – 9:00 p.m. Teens only.

A little bit Wicked April 23, 2009

Did you absolutely loooooove Wicked? Have you seen it more than once? Kristin Chenoweth, the woman who made the role of Glinda what it is today, has written about her experience as part of the Wicked phenomenon, as well as the rest of her colorful life in her new book, “ A Little Bit Wicked.” Chenoweth has a great sense of humor that comes through. She was recently interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air.  She’s now starring on Fox’s “Sit Down, Shut Up,” a show set in the fictional  Knob Haven High School. The show combines animation and live scenery.  Chenoweth stars, along with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett, as Miracle Grohe, the science teacher who doesn’t  quite believe in science.

French Milk by Lucy Knisley April 21, 2009

Lucy is graduating from college soon and wonders aloud what it will be like in this journal.  The title comes from her love of French milk which is sold in glass bottles and is full-fat not skim.  The drawings in the story are vivid accounts of her time in Paris during January with her mother.  After Christmas, she and her mom depart the United States and fly to Paris living in a rented flat for 6 weeks.

The story is beautifully told with drawings and photographs carefully framed in the same pen that she draws with.  The entire book feels really heavenly to hold and read as there is a richness in the description of food that will make you hungry or nostalgic for your last good meal.  There’s something about this book that is just striking.  It’s like a comic, but there’s not too many frames on the page.  So for people that don’t read graphic novels or comics very much, it’s totally nice to read.  If you don’t like to read that much for fun, this book is cool because the words explain the drawings, and there are no long paragraphs.

Whether you’ve been to Paris on vacation or not, you can pretend after reading this book.  You can learn a few French words.  Learn about a few famous places in Paris.  You can even see drawings of important paintings in famous museums.  You’ll know the names of some awesome shops and restaurants in Paris.  And if you go to a nice grocery store, you could buy some fancy cheese and French bread and sausage and stuff and have your own European-style meal while reading this really fun book.  That’s what I did!  (Mercedes, The Loft)

Happy Birthday, Will Shakespeare! April 19, 2009

 

April 23rd is Shakespeare’s birthday and The Loft is celebrating The Bard’s 445th with this great list of books! Here you’ll find modern novel re-tellings of Shakespeare plays, stories inspired by the great scribe’s life (and the lives of his characters), Manga adaptations, as well as gripping non-fiction titles that explore his creative genius, biography, and thematic obsessions.  Dive into the exciting, vibrant world of The Bard to combat the early spring doldrums!  Happy Birthday, Will!

 

Poetry this weekend April 17, 2009

Come listen to the winning poems from the Jo-Anne Hirshfield Memorial Poetry Contest this Sunday, April 19, at 2 pm., in the community room. Poet Janet Wong will introduce the award-winning poets and she will read some of her own poetry as well. Stop by the Loft and check out her collection of poems about driving: Behind the Wheel: Poems About Driving.

 

Forget kindergarten

sharing.

Everything you need to know

you learn right here

behind the wheel.  

So begins the title poem of the collection…Read the rest of this poem and the others in the collection in the Loft at YA 811.54 Wong.J.

Early Dismissal Wednesday: The Naming of Cats April 15, 2009

The Naming Of Cats

by T. S. Eliot

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey–
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter–
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover–
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

(This poem kicks off T.S. Eliot’s book of whimsical and whiskerful poetry, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, with illustrations by Edward Gorey.  Celebrate National Poetry Month by picking up a copy at the library today!).