When The Lovely Bones was published in 2002 it took off like a shot, catapulting its author, Alice Sebold, high into literary stardom. This dark, wrenching novel of disquietude and loss is the story of Susie Salmon, a 12 year old girl who is raped and murdered in an underground den by a neighbor one afternoon when she takes a shortcut home from school. Susie narrates the story from a place of solitude – her own personal heaven – where she observes her grief-stricken, traumatized family as they come to terms with her death while searching for answers about the crime. She also watches as her killer evades justice. Written in spare, at times lyrical, at times graphic, prose, Sebold’s novel is unsettling in its evocation of a conflicted afterlife, as well as its depiction of a terrifying, brutal crime that tears a family apart.

Now, seven years after it appeared as a book, The Lovely Bones will be a film. The bestselling novel has been brought to filmic life by Peter Jackson, the visionary director behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy, with an impressive cast that includes Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon, and the amazing young actress, Saoirse Ronan. It’s even scored by Brian Eno. Watch the trailer below. To me, it’s one of the most compelling, artful trailers I’ve seen in a long time, and promises a deeply emotional experience with a searching tone and eerie, almost painted, beauty to it.

Are you a fan of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak? Then don’t miss Alice Sebold’s first book, Lucky, a memoir about the rape she experienced her freshman year at Syracuse and the unlikely justice she eventually saw served, also available in the Loft.

GET YOUR GAME ON this Saturday, November 13, 1:30 pm in the LOFT and enter our Super Smash Bros. Brawl Tournament! Play against other libraries. PRIZES!

WII WANT YOU TO PLAY AT THE LIBRARY THIS SATURDAY. It’s National Gaming Day @ Your Library!

Thursday, November 12th, 2009. 4:30 p.m.

Are you dying to make noise? Or maybe you want to pound on something as hard as you possibly can!  Now’s your chance with Drumming in the Loft.  This scrappy percussion ensemble will thrash out energetic rhythms and create original
beats on found objects, junk salvage, old drums, and recycled parts.  Open door: No drumming experience necessary, all teens are invited. Ear plugs will be provided. Register at the Fall Programs link up above and then meet us in the Loft at 4:30 p.m. See you there.

What food in your refrigerator makes the best fake blood? How should you angle the camera if you want someone to appear menacing and creepy? These are the types of questions that preoccupied Alfred Hitchcock, the masterful director of macabre, tightly-plotted, classic suspense films like The Birds, Rear Window, and Strangers on a Train. Hitchcock was famous for his precision as a director: shots were carefully plotted far in advance, editing was scrutinized, and special effects (like the sound of a stabbing) were achieved through imaginative use of everyday objects.

On Thursday, October 22nd, 2009, in honor of Teen Read Week, the Loft hosted a film workshop devoted to the works of Hitchcock. Inspired by the theme of the week – Read Beyond Reality – we decided to “Think Like Hitchcock,” and explore the world as captured by the late ingenious film director. What follows is a wrap-up of that dark and drizzly afternoon.

***

The day started off small. We watched scenes from Rope, Vertigo, Spellbound, and Psycho, analyzing each for their point of view shots, editing, inventive camera movements and set mechanics, and simple special effects. We talked about how Hitchcock used these elements to increase a sense of dread in his audience. The dream sequence in Spellbound (designed by Salvador Dali), as well as the grisly childhood accident flashback and final gun-in-your-face POV shot were riveting. We leafed through Bill Krohn’s excellent book, Hitchcock at Work, and discussed the use of storyboards and grand locations like the Golden Gate Bridge in Vertigo and Mount Rushmore in North by Northwest.

One thread in conversation centered on Hitchcock’s aprupt endings, how it seemed like he was more obsessed with the cinematic process of reaching the end of each film than the actual endings themselves. We discussed how, in a way, this is a model approach to life – endings and beginning are brief, it’s what you do in the middle, the attention and care that you pay to living, that count.

Maybe if Marion Crane in Psycho had understood this she would have noticed the door opening behind her, the blurry figure approaching…

When we watched the shower scene in Psycho and Marion’s screams and Bernard Herrman’s classic score rented the air the whole room stopped dead – teens on computers, teens looking for books, teens studying – and everyone turned to watch. When it was over, and Marion lay slung over the edge of the bathtub, the water dripping off her fingertips, the room exploded with Hitchcock chatter. Who knew? Turns out there were some serious Hitchcock buffs in our midst.

Which was great because they all joined us for the second half of the workshop, what I dubbed The Fruit Stabbing.

When Hitchcock was making Psycho he asked his props master to line up a whole slew of fruits and vegetables and knife each one to find the best stabbing sound. With about 8 teens in the center of the Loft we re-created this Psycho production moment; I challenged them each to “think like Hitchcock,” to choose the best effect for their own murderous shower scenes.

On a table I laid out a cantaloupe, honey dew melon, tomato, carnival squash, pineapple and more, and I stabbed each of them with a large butcher knife. Some fruit were an obvious No, like the too-ripe papaya, but others, like the squash, gave us pause. Sides were chosen, with friendly arguments erupting regarding the best sounds of the knife. (Check out pics from the Fruit Stabbing in the Loft Flickr stream in the margin to the right).

Lore has it that Hitchcock settled on a casaba melon. Our group was finally torn between a pineapple and a large, onion-shaped turnip. Finally, after careful consideration and a final vote, the turnip won.

Then we devoured the produce.

I never imagined the Hitchcock workshop would turn into a discussion about food, nor did I imagine it would become a delectable feast, but we’d obviously worked up an appetite. The teens were ravenous. While Loft staff cut up the melon we started talking about spaghetti squash, inspecting the inside of the turnip to figure out exactly what it was (with some even biting into the vegetable raw) and generally chowing down. We ate up almost everything – cantaloupe, honey dew melon, even the tomato was consumed like an apple. And I was worried about wasting food.

While we ate we also talked about our favorite Hitchcock films with The Lady Vanishes, Vertigo and The 39 Steps recommended as favorites. Yum.

When it was over, the table covered in fruit flesh, seeds, and rinds, one teen checked out Spellbound to take home, while others vowed to seek out more Hitchcock soon. I kept a pretty squash for myself.

Thank you, everyone, for a great event!

(Jarrett, The Loft)

UPDATE (11/10/09): On Saturday I was in the grocery store and I came across the mystery turnip that won the stabbing contest. It’s called a jicama and is, according to the website Wisegeek, “a crispy, sweet, edible root that resembles a turnip in physical appearance, although the plants are not related.” The website’s definition goes on to explain that, “Jicama has been cultivated in South America for centuries, and the vegetable is quite popular in Mexican cuisine. Jicama has a unique flavor that lends itself well to salads, salsas, and vegetable platters.”

It also lends itself well to horror effects. -jd

The instant Bobby sees the abandoned Skoda(car) in the driveway, he starts formulating a plan. It was his ma’s decision, not his, to leave Dublin; away from his friends that maybe aren’t the best influence, away from ma’s own set of problems.  Well, she may have moved them down to Ennis, but he would get back to Dublin. In Dublin, there’s his cousin Fluke, Psycho Mick, and Beetle; his gang. They steal cars and wallets, and use the proceeds to get high.

It’s too quiet out in the country, and there’s nothing to do. There’s always something to do in Dublin; a car ‘to borrow’ and take for a ride, something, anything.  PJ Dooley, the man who owns the cottage they’re renting seems decent enough, if not a little bit too trusting.

His mother, Mrs. Dooley pays them a welcoming visit. Along with the eggs, she brings the story of the only child to have lived in their cottage, a little girl; a little girl who was never allowed outdoors, and was never seen by anyone except her parents and a nurse. This is the same child, whose cries would wake Mrs. Dooley and cut her to the bone with the pain in them.  To make the visit stranger still, as she leaves, Mrs. Dooley tells them to be sure to put out the little green bowl full of milk each night for the fairies. To city folk like Bobby and his mum, this seems ridiculous, but his little brother Dennis is happy to play along.

The idyllic country scene is shaken like an Etch a Sketch when Bobby steals the Skoda and high tails it back to Dublin. Things don’t go as planned. Bobby ends up being hauled into a police station after Mick crashes the car. Smooth talking and a bit of finger pointing get him off the hook, and a ride back to Ennis. This is where things change.

Lars, the Skoda’s owner may have mysteriously disappeared, but he’s not forgotten. PJ Dooley is determined to have Bobby work off the value of the car, in order that he should be able to send it  to Lars’s mother.

Remember the bowl of milk to be left out for the fairies? Dennis, Bobby’s little brother does. Bobby is woken up night after night by the sound of Dennis down in the kitchen, chattering away to someone. Dennis says he’s talking to the little woman.

As the story progresses two things are clear: hard work is good for Bobby, and there’s a mysterious force at work. As you turn the pages, you can feel it tightening around your chest. Something is going to give; the picturesque scene can’t and won’t stay as is. Will it be Psycho Mick, the creditors, or someone else from their past in Dublin? Maybe the girl who lived in their house; Bobby heard a disturbing story about her. Or what about that ‘little woman’ Dennis is always going on about?

Short chapters make this book fly by. Bobby isn’t always the most upstanding citizen, but you can’t help liking him. His voice rings true. You find yourself desperate to find out what or who is the creature of the night.

(Bridget, The Loft)

On Thursday, October 29, at 7 pm, Sharon Flake will speak at the Evanston Public Library in the Community Room!  Flake is the author of the following acclaimed YA favorites: Money Hungry; Begging for Change; The Skin I’m In; Who Am I Without Him; and Bang!

To welcome Sharon Flake to the Evanston Public Library and to celebrate her stories, the Loft’s theatre troupe will perform a scene from Money Hungry. The dance troupe Variations will also perform! Don’t miss it! FREE.

Did you know…

Most toilets flush in E-flat. -Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Bacteria account for 10% of our dry body weight. -Crispin Tickell

Two-thirds of the world’s people have never seen snow. -Canadian Weather Trivia Calendar 2008

The words “tomato,” “coyote,” “avocado,” and “chocolate” all come from the Aztec language Nahautl. -Marginal Revolution, February 22, 2006

At birth, most babies cry at C or C-sharp. -Financial Times, July 31, 2003

Facts shorn out of context can potentially bolster a weak opinion, and facts cunningly combined with other carefully selected pieces of information can distort truth. Sometimes it’s what people do with facts that is the most perplexing – and the most disturbing. Nonetheless, this entertaining compilation of facts has been collected to “amuse and astound,” and “perhaps to inspire its readers to see the world slightly differently.” I will spend the day wondering if the fact that most toilets flush in E-flat sheds any light on the history of music masterpieces.  (Christie, The Loft)

YOU Are One-Third Daffodil and Other Amusing Facts to Amaze, Amuse, and Astound, compiled by Tom Nuttall.

What YA books have rocked your world lately? Let us know by posting a comment below. In the past few weeks, some of the books that Lofters have been excited about are:

Marcelo in the Real World, The Hunger Games, Ash, Catching Fire, Shooting Star, Never Die Easy: The Autobiography of Walter Payton, Fire, Front and Center, and Never Cry Werewolf.

Join us for our exciting end-of-the-week programs in the Loft (Hitchcock Film Effect Workshop, Science Cafe, and a Self-Defense Workshop)!

Read something out of this world just for the fun of it, and let us know what you’re reading by leaving a comment below! We’ll be posting news all week about teen read week activities (sign up for Loft events if you haven’t already). Chat with young adult authors at the Readergirlz blog at 8 pm/Central, Monday, October 19th – Friday, October 23rd. Here’s the schedule.

Monday, October 19: Beyond Imagination

Justina Chen Headley (NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL)
Alyson Noël (EVERMORE)
Zoe Marriott (DAUGHTER OF THE FLAMES)

Tuesday, October 20: Beyond Hardship

Lorie Ann Grover (HOLD ME TIGHT)
Elizabeth Scott (LIVING DEAD GIRL)
Lynn Weingarten (WHEREVER NINA LIES)

Wednesday, October 21: Beyond Daily Life

Holly Cupala (TELL ME A SECRET)
Lisa McMann (WAKE)
Cynthia Leitich Smith (ETERNAL)

Thursday, October 22: Beyond Our World

Melissa Walker (LOVESTRUCK SUMMER)
Cassandra Clare (CITY OF ASHES)
Patrick Ness (THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO)

Friday, October 23: Into Our Beyond

Dia Calhoun (AVIELLE OF RHIA)
Sylvia Engdahl (ENCHANTRESS FROM THE STARS)

Life is as unpredictable as a knuckleball. Molly learns that the hard way — her father has just died in a mysterious car accident. Her mother is in that ”distant, ticked-off, unreachable place.” Molly is left to navigate on her own the morass of 8th grade and grief. And the one thing that she knows can help her the most is BASEBALL.

Remembering the long afternoons playing baseball with her father, mastering the art of throwing a knuckleball, Molly decides to try out for the baseball team — the boy’s baseball team: “‘You don’t just aim a butterfly,’ her father used to say. ‘You release it.’ ” He told her that the knuckleball isn’t just a pitch but an attitude toward life, a way of being in the world — a philosophy… 

In Mick Cochrane’s The Girl Who Threw Butterflies, the characters are so well-drawn, the descriptions of baseball make me want tickets to the World Series and drew me into the magic of the game, and the rich metaphors and story brilliantly capture the transitions and struggles in the life of an 8th grader. For example, from her father “Molly understood that keeping score was a kind of storytelling, an almost magical translation of loud and dusty events in the world — a stolen base, an around-the-horn double play, a triple — into pencil marks, a kind of secret code, numbers and lines and shapes, like cuneiform or hieroglyphics, the handiwork of some ancient scribe.” From the baseball team Molly discovers that as the pitcher, if there’s a runner on first base, it’s her responsibility to talk to the shortstop and second baseman. It’s her job to call out who should take a bunt if the first and third basmen are both charging it. If Coach Morales touches his forearm, it means steal a base. If he touches the bill of his cap, it means bunt.  Molly loves this entire system of wordless communication.

She wonders if she could apply this system to the rest of her life, like when her locker is defaced, or when she’s sitting across the table from her mother at dinner. She would love to try and communicate some of their dinner conversations using signs. But then again there are many nights when she doesn’t see how she possibly could, because half the time she doesn’t even know what she wants to get across.

Even the signs and scorebook don’t show just how nervous a pitcher is, or how exuberant a teammate is when he clears the plate with a double, with all the attendant whistling and cheering. Or how terrible Molly feels if her knuckler has gone completely wild. “You’re cruising along one minute, feeling like you can do no wrong. Life is good, all’s right with the world. And then all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, things change.” Baseball = 8th grade = life.

(Christie, The Loft)