TeenFusion @ the GDL

How are our TeenFusion Programs this summer?  Please Express Yourself to the TeenFusion Blog.

Share favorite title(s) with a comment to the blog.  I just finished The Autobiography of My Dead Brother by Walter Dean Myers, a powerful story of teens growing up in Harlem.  Discover the ”it” in Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford.  After a nuclear attack, Eli and family are confined to The Compound by S. A. Bodeen, a tale with surprising twists.  The Department of Homeland security goes awry in Little Brother by Cory Doctorow and computer geek Marcus and friends use technology to fight back.  Meet Ama, Jo and Polly in Ann Brashares new sisterhood adventure, 3 Willows.  Your opinions and reading suggestions are always welcome on the Rate Your Read page. 

Attention Teen Readers!!! Express Yourself this summer at a TeenFusion summer event.  Program information booklets are now available at your favorite GDL branch.  First up is Read/Write/Lunch, a workshop for teen authors, on Saturday, June 13 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM at the Davison Area Branch, 203 E. Fourth Street, Davison.  For more information please call 810-653-2022.  Online registration for summer reading begins on June 15.  This year’s readers will be rewarded for tracking the time they spend reading.  Awards for reading are as follows: 6 hours = prize book bag; 12 hours of reading = certificate for a day at Crossroads village for you and three others; 24 hours = a free paperback book selected from the teen booklist. 

Week One Programs - June 14-20, 2009

Learn how to publish your songs with Shava Jamerson.  Presentations will be June 16 at Genesee Valley; June 17 at Vera Rison-Beecher; June 18 at Mt. Morris.  All programs begin at 2:00 PM. 

Columnist Eileen Button will be at Davison Area on June 17 at 7:00 PM, passing along information about writing professionally. 

More information on all Express Yourself programming is available at your GDL branch or by calling the Teen Services Librarian at 810-653-2022.

Express Yourself this summer at Read/Write/Lunch, every other Saturday from 1:00 to 3:00 PM at the Davison Area Library.  A good writing group or workshop provides a welcoming environment for authors to share their work for critique and support, make friends, brainstorm ideas and talk about writing.  Members usually have a common goal-to be published authors.  Read/Write/Lunch is an opportunity for you to do all of the above and more.  Discover how to format a manuscript, write query letters, and where to send them.  The first meeting is June 13 with pizza on the lunch menu.  Please bring a sample of your writing.  You will lead the discussion on your work, so think about a question or two you could ask about your writing sample. 

Elizabeth Scott has two books on this year’s Thumbs Up list.  Living Dead Girl and Stealing Heaven.  Both books focus on adult criminal behavior and how it impacts the teens trapped in a life they would not choose for themselves.  Your comments on either/both titles will initiate the TeenFusion online book discussion, Words of Thought.   New title(s)/author will be posted for discussion each month.    What are your thoughts?

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Compound by S. A. Bodeen

Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor

Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Pena

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilla Gallante

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film about the Grapes of Wrath by Steven Goldman

Playing with Matches by Brian Katcher

Venomous by Chris Krovatin

Paper Towns by John Green

Last Exit to Normal by Michael B. Harmon

Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott

Chanda’s War by Allan Stratton

Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

Have you read a great book over the holidays?  Share your thoughts in Rate Your Read.  Rate Your Read is a book discussion page where you can voice your positive or negative opinion on books, magazine articles, web pages, and newpaper articles.  Please include the title, author and dates from artlcles with your comments.

Are you It?  TAG stands for Teen Advisory Group and the GDL needs you to help plan, promote and present events, rate your reads, voice your opinion on library materials and meet other teens who share your interests.  On September 18, the TAG for Grand Blanc-McFarlen and Goodrich will meet in Grand Blanc at 7:00 PM.  Last month, attendees agreed to write book reviews for the blog.  Discussion focused on programming and what TAG members thought about current GDL program offerings.  Signup is easy.  Just click on the TAG Signup Page on TeenFusion and fill in the blanks.  Make sure to include a valid email or contact number.  Click submit once.  Watch for a personal invitation to a regional TAG meeting in your library service area.  Regions are:  Montrose/Clio/Flushing; Headquarters/Genesee Valley/Beecher; Burton/Davison; Gaines/Linden/Fenton; Grand Blanc/Goodrich; Baker Park/Flint Township/Swartz Creek; Mt. Morris/Johnson/Otisville.  Take GDL TAG challenge!!!

  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
By Alexie, Sherman

Wins the 2008 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award.  
Find out why this book has the attention of critics and readers.  This is an amazing story of breaking out of the confines of tradition to explore the possibilities of life outside the reservation. 

The Michigan Library Association’s Teen Services Division would like to know your favorite books from 2007.  Twenty titles recognizing the excellence and uniqueness of teen/young adult fiction or non-fiction have been placed on the ballot.  Visit the Thumbs Up! Book Award web site to vote for your favorite title.  Instructions for filing your vote are on the ballot.  Polls close on May 30, 2008.