Teen Blog

National Library Workers Day is a day for library staff, users, administrators and Friends groups to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library workers.  I bet there is someone at the CRRL that you'd like to recognize for helping you out.

Got a favorite storytime reader?  Submit a star for them!  Did someone at the library help you with a school project or teach you a new craft?  Submit a star for them!  Did a reference librarian help you find information you needed or write a book match for you?  Submit a star for them!

Thanks to all the staff and volunteers at the CRRL for making it part of a thriving community.

Gale/Cengage Learning, the publisher of the following databases, is offering library visitors free access during National Library Week:

Career Transitions — a new electronic resource offering a comprehensive guide to career change

Global Issues in Context — this online resource offers global news and perspectives on issues and events of international importance

GREENR (Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources) — a new electronic resource offering authoritative reference content on the environment, energy, economic development and natural resources

Grzimek’s Animal Life — an interactive, media-rich online resource, with information on more than 4,000 species

Archives Unbound — a vast new resource of topically-focused, cross-searchable digital collections of historical documents

Check them out and contact us if you would like to see any added to the CRRL database collection.

Are you a teen poet? Here's something to celebrate: our annual Teen Poetry Contest!

It was awesome! Were you there? It was on Friday, March 12, 7-9 pm. It was in the Headquarters theater.

Thanks to all the musicians and, hey, you can check them out on MySpace Music: Proof by Assertion, Ambulance Review, and 52 Foreign Dumpsters! (You all were great and you know it!)

Check out this video of Proof by Assertion at Salem Church last August.

You can also see The Ambulance Review performing "No Way!" Says FAA on MySpace.

Fans, you were great, too! Wouldn't be a show without you all! Mark your calendars for the next show at Headquarters: Friday, June 11

 “He was not sure exactly when he became a child of the forest,” but 13 year-old Samuel, the hero of Gary Paulsen’s new book Woods Runner,  has a profound gift for hunting and understanding “sign” in the wild. Not only does Samuel supply meat for his parents, but he is the main hunter for the frontier community in which he lives.

Teen Tech Week may be officially over, but our Teen Video Contest is only at its halfway point. While it's been widely advertised that winners’ videos will be featured on our library website, we just found out that Best Buy has also generously donated some incredible prizes. The first place winner will receive an Ultra Flip video camera, second place a $100 gift card to Best Buy, and third place an official library t-shirt.

Thirty-eight students in grades 9-12 from Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Stafford and Westmoreland county particpated in this year's show.  The talent is immense, the art is phenomenal and difficult choices were made.  Local artist, Johnny Johnson, generously donated his time to judge the grades 11 and 12 contestants.  Those artists experienced the other side of an art show and were the judges for those in grades 9-10. 

Best in Show was awarded to senior, Katy Shepard for "Roman Myths of Love" (shown above)

Last month I blogged about Leviathan, an awesome new book by Scott Westerfeld in the steampunk tradition. The trailer below illustrates the Leviathan plot and setting. For fans of the first book - you'll be thrilled to hear that the second book in the series is called Behemoth and will be published in October 2010.

This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you. See our other Book Matches.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini: "In Aagaesia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters."

If you like fantasies like Eragon, read these recommended titles full of action, adventure and heroics for the young-adult audience. Many of them are also available as audiobooks.

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud.
Nathaniel, an apprentice to an ineffective magician, takes matters in his own hand and summons up a djinni to help him get revenge on the evil Simon Lovelace. This is the first book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy.

Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen
Jakkin, a bond boy who works as a Keeper in a dragon nursery, secretly trains a fighting pit dragon of his own in hopes of winning his freedom.