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