Book Drive Success!

The book drive for Books for Africa as part of Global Youth Service Day yielded hundreds of books. Students from Hunt Middle School brought in many, and the BHS library donated a ton!

We had raised $50 from our two bake sales, which paid for the shipping of many books! However, there are still more that could be shipped, if we can raise the money!










Blaise feels badly for Gloomy Gus...

RockBand Tournament

And the winners are.....

PRANK


(Ben, James & Solomon)

For rocking the stage

They won $25 each at Best Buy

Their high levels of difficulty and concurrent overdrives also helped their score


They played In Bloom by Nirvana and Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash.




The Super Awesome Red Power Rangers (Wes, Matt & Alex) took second, with special kudos for drum skills








The Three Fires (Tony, Will, & Skylar) took third, with a special commendation for Missippi Queen.



Will sang the incredibly difficult song, but the photographer was too impressed to remember to document the moment.












The illustrious judges rate bands with volunteer Dave Carlson's scorecards

Super Smash Bros Brawl

MarioKart Double Dash

And Dance Dance Revolution always provides a workout!

Thanks to Best Buy for donating the prizes, and thanks to Leonardo's for donating the pizza!

Vacation Gaming on the last Saturday!

RockBand made its debut at Fletcher Free Library!

James rocks out on the drums, arguably the most bodacious instrument

RockBand can have both bass and guitar playing together

CJ is all about the vocals

Volunteer David scrambles to keep up with two-mat DDR

Volunteer Emilie finds that RockBand vocals might be her calling


















Guitar Hero I-III is always an option


















Joe decided playing some Smash wasn't a bad way to celebrate his birthday!

Friends join him and battle it out on the big screen













Getting comfy in the Community Room







Enjoying the pizza generously donated by Big Daddy's

Peer Reviews

Here's what some high schoolers have found in the library recently....

Throwing Like A Girl shows what it takes to be part of a team: courage, confidence and accepting your losses while learning from your mistakes.
It has a strong sense of moving to a new school and starting afresh.
Also, Weezie shows how relationships make a difference in our lives!... It's powerful!
~Olivia



I recommend Case Closed for awesome sleuthing and detective action.







I recommend The Odyssey for fascinating mythological action

~Ben






If you like Sarah Dessen, read books by Deb Caletti. Very real emotions are displayed by the characters in her books. She creates girls you can relate to and guys you'll want to meet. Great realistic fiction for teenage girls.




If you enjoyed reading His Dark Materials, get the book on tape. It's a full cast recording. The voics capture the characters well and it's a great way to listen to the book.
~Natalie

Be on Vermont Public Radio!

Ever wanted to record a story in a radio studio? Here's a chance for your minute of glory. Write 200-words (a paragraph!) about you & Vermont, and call up VPR to record it in Colchester. The radio especially wants to hear from young people. They say, "We want to hear what issues students are concerned about, whether they plan to stay in Vermont, and what their dreams are for the future." Need some motivation? Come to Fletcher Free and ask Cara or a youth librarian to help you organize your thoughts! Find more information here: http://www.vpr.net/episode/43325/

Fletcher Free's Teen Room Celebrates its Grand Opening!

Over 40 people were on hand to officially inaugurate the new and improved Teen Room at Fletcher Free Library. Several years after local teens were surveyed about what they wanted from the library and the first Teen Advisory Board was formed by Holly Klump, the library has followed through on many of their recommendations! This was a chance to thank everyone who has supported and contributed to the teen space, collection, and programming at Fletcher Free Library.











Youth Librarian Beth Wright briefly explained the evolution of the Fletcher Free Library Teen Room. It started as the nearby area outside the Pickering Room that now houses the ESL collection, but the YA collection was soon overflowing those bounds. The Teen Area leapt into this larger space and was spiffed up with new carpet, furniture, a display case, a beautiful mural, a bulletin board, new shelves, a catalog computer, and an expanded collection! Beth gave heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported the library's Teen Services over the years.

Co-director Robert Resnik emcees the door prizes.

Lekisha wins the Borders gift card!

Local author Tanya Stone talked with Amelia and Blaise. Stone is the author of A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl and Up Close: Ella Fitzgerald.

Chris Tebbetts, author of M or F? with Lisa Papademetriou, also spoke with the teens present, and his book was checked out the next day. Tebbetts is also the author of The Viking fantasy series. He is running a workshop this Saturday in Shelburne about Writing a Young Adult Novel. For more info, see the Flying Pig Bookstore.





Chamber music and refreshments welcomed attendees into the Teen Room.



























Ben and Wesley check out the blog











Fletcher Free Library staff members say, Thanks for Coming!

Super Smashdown in Brawl

On Sunday, March 30, almost 30 gamers came out to try their hand against new opponents.

Getting ready for tournament play, players practice their moves on Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Luckily we had some loaned Wiis and games so most of Brawl was already unlocked

In the Brawl tournament, players had two-minute limit matches in Battlefield. Each player kept one character for all matches, and Kirby and Meta were popular choices. Many thanks to Ben from Champlain College for running the tournament, and to Emilie for filming it!

Here are the finals of the 12-player tournament!

The winners were James, playing Ike, who won a $25 GameStop gift card and Ben, playing Lucario, who took second place. Both characters were new with Brawl!

Wii sports were also popular-- tennis, golf, boxing and baseball!






























Gamers also practiced their moves at Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero II















Sam from Quarterstaff Games played Magic with fans and added another layer to the event...