Teen Programs Suspended

For a short while, teen programs and events will be suspended as of 12/31/08. Stay tuned for more information... and check our website for upcoming programs!

Vampire Book Club: It's all about the ginger cookies, root beer, chips, salsa... oh yeah, and FREE BOOKS!

Yesterday the Vampire Book Club received their very own fresh new copies of The Edge Chronicles: Beyond the Deepwoods, which is the first book in this beautifully-illustrated fantasy series by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell! Above is an, er, interestingly-aligned photo that Lyle took of Rachel and Sequoia! (Taking photos on a diagonal is a new trend in digital photography, so I hear).

From the back of the book: "Far, far away, jutting out into the emptiness beyond, lies the Edge. Filled with strange peoples and terrifying creatures, this is a world unlike any other, where action - and danger - wait at every turn... When thirteen-year-old Twig discovers that he was abandoned at birth by an unknown outsider, he leaves his woodtroll family behind and sets off on a journey through and beyond the dangerous Deepwoods. As he makes his way through a nightmarish world of goblins and trogs, blood-thirsty beasts and flesh-eating trees, only two things keep Twig going: the mystery of his identity and the promise of a heroic destiny..."

Sound awesome? Yeah, we think so too. Join us for our next book club on December 17 from 3pm - 4pm. We'll have snacks, we'll hang out, talk (sometimes, we talk in Textmessagese like OMG and TTYL - hope that's ok with you), and maybe even play a game. Copies of the second book have already been ordered, but if you'd like your very own FREE copy of the next book in the series (made possible by glorious, glorious grant $) then let Rachel know ASAP! E-mail her at rdingfelder@gmail.com or call 865.7228.

Check out The Edge Chronicles on the internetz... here.

One more thing: you might be wondering why our book club is called the VAMPIRE Book Club. It's funny, 'cause we don't read books about vampires and none of us ARE vampires (at least I hope not), but at one time the book club read quite a few books about vampires, hence the name. The name stuck.. 'cause vampires are pretty rad (although I have to admit, they suck sometimes). Hardy har har.

Amazing Book: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie!

I want to suggest an awesome book to you guys - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and Ellen Forney (illustrator). Previous Americorps*VISTA Cara gave it to me before she left, and I read almost all of it last night after work! I just learned that this book really is "absolutely true," and based on poet/short-story writer/and first-time young adult writer Shermen Alexie's life - read his bio here.

Alexie writes as Junior, a witty, Native American budding cartoonist who lives on the Spokane Indian reservation and gets bullied for being a "retard." Junior was born with too much spinal fluid in his brain which caused him to suffer all sorts of physical problems, but he's incredibly smart, hopeful, and knows he needs to go beyond his poor reservation if he wants to live up to his potential. Junior transfers to an all-white school miles away from his reservation, and has to deal with racism, resentment from the Native American community, and allllllllll that other crazy stuff you have to deal with in high school. I absolutely love this book so far - it's beautiful throughout, sad at times, and there are laugh-out-loud cartoons (like, seriously, I LOL'd in the middle of a coffee shop last night) every few pages which makes me feel like I'm getting a peek at the extra-secret thoughts of this incredible character. Here is a great book review from The New York Times. We have copies at the library! Check it out.

Meet Rachel: The New Teen Services Coordinator!

Cara Lovell, this past year's amazing Teen Services Coordinator with Americorops*VISTA has handed over the baton to someone new - Rachel Dingfelder! Cara Lovell did an awesome job expanding teen programs and making the Teen Area a much more welcoming place. We'll miss Cara, but her hard work is everywhere.

Now, I'm going to not-so-sneakily switch into the first person and tell you a little bit about me, Rachel!

The three most important things you should know about me: I'm very new to Burlington, I LOVE peanut butter, and I'm a firm believer that all the worlds' problems can be solved if we simply listen, laugh, and act really goofy together. I mean, it would be nice - right?!

I'm from a very different place - Pittsburgh, PA - and it's been so much fun exploring Burlington, riding my bike down roads I've never been on before, hiking up Camel's Hump - you guys are lucky! This city is beautiful and I'm happy to be here for the next year. It's possible that I'll bombard you with questions about Burlington, 'cause you guys know it well.

So, without sounding too much like a Facebook profile, let me just list off some things I like. Maybe we have something in common.. or not. :-)
Alright, here it goes: dancing FOREVER! (I can't stop sometimes), bicycling, learning how to knit, cooking delicious food with lots and lots of vegetables and spices with friends (no silly, the friends don't go IN the food), drinking tea, giggling, whales and other cool creatures who live in the ocean, hand-made things, lazy mornings, primates, reading the news and political gossip, going on bicycle adventures, slowly learning more about bicycle mechanics, and my friends.

Some things I don't like: olives, rude people, reading - HAH! Gotcha. Ever heard of a librarian who doesn't like to read? When you do, tell me.

I love reading. Right now, I'm all about The Death and Life of Great American Cities, by Jane Jacobs, which is a critique on modern urban planning. A few friends recommended it to me and although it's a slow read, it's really, really awesome. I just read two of Marjane Satrapi's graphic novels, Embroideries and Chicken with Plums (you might have heard of her - she wrote Persepolis, which was made into a totally rad movie), which were both very good and beautifully illustrated. One of the books that I would like to get around to reading is the classic Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I have an incredible edition which is illustrated by Dame Darcy, who is this gothy Neo-Victorian illustrator, singer, author, and awesome lady. Check out Dame Darcy's illustrated Jane Eyre here.

That's all for now. I'm super-excited to meet you guys. I love e-mail, so e-mail me anytime if you have suggestions or questions! Here's my address: rdingfelder@gmail.com. You can call me at 865.7228.
And here's a picture of me so you know who I am! I'm sitting inside what I'm pretty sure is part of an old blast furnace. Pretty cool, huh?

Author Doug Wilhelm visits EMS 8th graders and parents

Every year the 8th graders at Edmunds, parents and teachers have a book bunch early one morning to discuss good books that talk about the transition to high school. This year they all read Falling and invited the author, Doug Wilhelm, to speak.


Here Doug read from a section where Matt and Katie take a walk and the point of view switches back and forth so that the reader can get inside both of their heads (and see how nervous they both are)!

Doug talked about how the book was written with the help of local middle school students, who fleshed out the characters like Matt, Katie, Tamra, Sam, and KJ during class and writing workshops. Students came up with the baking cookies idea and even the title of the book!




Doug answered questions about whether the parents were realistic and also about whether the characters (especially Katie) were too mature. He described reading students religion papers to get in the heads of his 9th-grade characters!

He also talked about getting information on drug use from local police, detectives, and rehabilitation counselors.




Many students got their copies of Falling signed, which they get to keep for their personal libraries. Bagels and treats capped off the event.


Both Doug and the students said they really enjoyed meeting each other and connecting over some important issues. Falling started through conversations with young people, and the book bunch continued those conversations! They are definitely not over yet... keep talking!

There is a request for reactions and comments on the Falling blog, located at http://crenca.edublogs.org.

Game Design at the Art Hop

Fletcher Free Library sent an envoy of young game testers to this year's Art Hop in early September.

Champlain College's Emergent Media Center and Burlington Telecom teamed up to create an exhibit showcasing the games students have been working on.



Champlain students were on hand to explain to the young gamers how the games were made and what they were supposed to teach.


The games focused on media literacy. In one, the player acted as a detective searching for clues in a 3-D science laboratory. In another, the player sailed to various islands and undertook different challenges to earn light and eventually build a lighthouse.
Champlain College also exhibited their work on America's Army and Google Maps.


The exhibit was hosted by SoundToys, which set up visualizations of sound mixing as part of the exhibit!

Great games to test, great gamers to test them: a great partnership!

Local authors visit schools!

Some lucky students and teachers have welcomed local authors into their classrooms, thanks to a grant from Vermont Community Foundation's Successful Communities Grant Round. Students first read and discussed a book by the author, and got to keep their copies of the book.

Erik Esckilsen talked about his book Offsides and its parallels to his experience playing soccer in South Burlington. The students also discussed the controversy over Native American mascots present in the book, and Erik brought along the beaver mascot costume from Champlain College!

Over at BHS, Tanya Lee Stone visited an English class to talk about writing in verse and her book A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl. Click here to read her article "Now and Forever: The Power of Sex in Young Adult Literature"

Win Points for a $100 Gift Card!

Game Tournaments continue, with a $100 prize for the first gamer to score 50 points! The prize will be a gift card to either Game Stop, Best Buy, Toys R Us or Circuit City, depending on the vote. Points are awarded to all participants in the tournaments: 10 to the winner, 8 for 2nd place, 6 for 3rd place, and 4 to all other entrants.

This month's tournament game was Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Here Sabin and Kevin battle it out in the semifinals.

Guitar Hero Tournament

The opening round of the tournament!















Some RockBand on the side...

The women show their skills at Cliffs of Dover

And the epic battle determines the winner of $25 at Best Buy (Thank you, Best Buy!)

Then, time for Leonardo's pizza (Thank you, Leonardo's!)

Drawing Videogame Characters Class

Mario, Sega, Pokemon, and Star Wars characters sprang to life last Saturday in the library.

Volunteer Emilie Rodgers, an art and animation student at Champlain College, taught some drawing basics, and students swapped videogame knowledge.

Twilight Saga Madness!

Have you finished Breaking Dawn? Need to share? Come to Vampire Book Club every other Monday from 4-5pm. Get free copies of the books!

The big story recently in the Twilight world was that Stephenie Meyer stopped writing a 5th book, Midnight Sun, after a very rough draft was illegally posted on the internet and many fans had read it. See Meyer's reaction here. The book was from Edward's perspective.

The other buzz is the movie, coming out in November. See the preview here. There's also some behind-the-scenes footage of how they did the ending fight scene, and the flight through the woods.

Did you know Stephenie Meyer comes up with playlists to accompany her books? Check out the Breaking Dawn songs here.

A Long Way Gone

The High School Book club read A Long Way Gone over the past month. It's an epic story of survival in war and the loss of childhood. Participants said the story was intense and depressing, but that they were glad they read it anyway.
The book left me wondering what Ishmael Beah did once he got to the U.S. He is still involved in international panels regarding armed children in conflict, including the UN, Religions for Peace Youth Assembly, Human Rights Watch, Council on Foreign Relations, and the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities.

He started writing in a class at Oberlin college and his teachers encouraged him to continue.
To see Ishmael Beah explain his own work, watch the videos at http://www.alongwaygone.com/media.html

If the story deepened your interest in the conflict in Sierra Leone and child soldiers around the world, there is lots more to explore.
UNICEF has a great resource about child soliders:
http://www.unicef.org/protection/files/Armed_Groups.pdf

The movie Blood Diamond takes place partly in Sierra Leone and explores the parts of the war that A Long Way Gone does not. It is about conflict diamonds and also about child soldiers in the rebel forces, contrasting the importance of a child with the importance of a jewel.
http://www.blooddiamondaction.org/

There was also some debate about the extent to which the account could have been fictionalized, and those views are best summarized in the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Long_Way_Gone#Credibility_dispute

The Library Becomes a Galaxy Far Far Away

On Thursday afternoon the Community Room became a haven for Star Wars and Soul Caliber enthusiasts.





Imperial stormtroopers of the 501st Legion's New England Garrison paid a visit to the Fletcher Free's monthly video game tournament.











This trooper plays his own game, with others of his kind running around on the screen of Battlefront II.













Non-troopers got in on the action, too.

The tournament was in Soul Caliber IV, just released on Tuesday. Characters included Yoda and Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice.
Duncan was the winner after several rounds of battle. He won a fancy Star Wars illustrated guide.



One trooper strums his stuff on Guitar Hero Aerosmith.





Thank you to the members of the New England Garrison for coming, and to Leonardo's for donating pizza!

Scratch is Amazing!

Several students were introduced last week to the wonders of Scratch, an open-source (free!) software to make programming and animation easy and fun! We edited pong games to make them harder and made our own animations and stories. On Wednesday, July 30, we'll have drop-in on the laptops from 3-5pm where you can get a tutorial or work on a project. Check our program listing for future classes on animation and programming. Scratch is also easy to download at home and learn. Try it out! http://scratch.mit.edu

Book Review: My Heartbeat

It's hard to make a narrator funny, insightful and realistic all at the same time. Garret Freymann-Weyr does that with most of his characters in My Heartbeat. Both the story and the characters are believable: Ellen, 14, loves her older brother math-whiz Link, and has always loved his best friend and cinema critic James. After wondering aloud if they are more than just friends, Ellen pulls out questions of identity in all three of them.

The author creates characters that are just normal enough to relate to (watching movies and running together) but not normal enough to be boring (going to hospital dining halls to write and sketch about the strangers). Ellen also talks about her summer reading of Age of Innocence, Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights for some fun tie-ins to those plots.

For an absorbing and meaningful read, I highly recommend My Heartbeat!

For more (older) books this one shares a list with, check out http://www.asu.edu/clas/english/englished/yalit/engedya02honorlist.htm

~Cara

Blender Basics Class

Students tried their hand at some 3-D modeling under the direction of Brendan Owens of Middlebury College. The recent library computer class taught design and animation of 3-D objects that could be placed in gaming worlds.

The young game designers were using Blender, an advanced open-source design tool.

The next game design course at the library will be on Friday, July 25. Students will learn to use Scratch, a simple animation and programming tool that is very rewarding.

Pre-registration is required: call Cara at 865-7228 or email her at clovell@ci.burlington.vt.us

Game Tournaments in the Community Room

We rocked out in the library's basement again last Friday...

And are planning either a Videogame Triathalon or a championship series to earn points in tournaments towards a grand prize. Thoughts? Ideas?

Summer Reading Program Volunteers are Stylin'

The shirts volunteers get for free sport this year's Catch the Reading Bug artwork by local cartoonist Harry Bliss.

We decided to let volunteers individualize their shirts a bit this year...





Have some old t-shirts to cut up? Get inspiration from some great books in our catalog:
99 Ways To Cut, Sew, trim & tie your T-shirt into something special
http://search.fletcherfree.org/uhtbin/cgisirsi/r4gsJymKS8/0/102520109/9 and
Generation T : 108 ways to transform a T-shirt
http://search.fletcherfree.org/uhtbin/cgisirsi/gp2rSMlX93/0/102520109/9

Poetry Slam

Young poets jammed and slammed last Friday with Vermont's slam champion, Geof Hewitt. Geof explained the general dynamic and rules to the many newbies present, and all came away with a feel for the possibilites of performance poetry.




Kate shared two poems, reading with rhythm and grace.


















Bailey took home a prize pen with two poems read at the speed of light....














Ryan read some new poems and was given Geof's book "Only What's Imagined"










And Wesley took home the best prize of all, a nose flute...