Bronxwood - Book review by Janae

Bronxwood by Coe Booth

Bronxwood is an African-American book about a boy named Tyrell who has more problems than many.  His dad is getting out of jail, his mom won't work, his little brother is in foster care, he's getting kicked out of his apartment, and he isn't having much luck with the ladies.  There is a lot of pressure on Tyrell and being stressed doesn't even begin to describe his attitude.  Bronxwood was very fast-paced and edgy.  It was one of the most down to earth books I have read in a long time.

Book Review by Janae

The Fault in Our Stars - Book Review by Lindsay

The Fault In Our Stars  by John Green

16 year-old Hazel was diagnosed wth cancer at the age of 12, she's put on all sorts of medications, and has to carry around an oxygen tank eveywhere because her "lungs suck at being lungs". The drugs help keep her tumors at bay, but she realizes she's never going to get completely better. Hazel would spend all day watching "America's Next Top Model", or reading her favorite book, "An Imperial Affliction", all day, every day if she could, but her mom forces her to attend a support group for cancer kids. One group meeting, she meets this guy, Augustus Waters, who was forced to come by his friend Issac, and is currently in remission from osteosarcoma. Augustus takes an immediate interest to Hazel, and changes her life, completely.

This is a seriously amazing book, it's not like any other "cancer book" out there. The book is actually hilarious, and it plays with your emotions. The only time I wasn't laughing, I was crying. The ending was so sad, it didn't happen the way I expected it to, but I loved it. I will read probably read this book a bunch more times, and never get tired of it. In my opinion, this is John Green's best book yet. I highly reccomend this book. I promise, you won't regret reading it.

Book Review by Lindsay

What can you make with duct tape?

Here's what teens made at our recent duct tape program:

Bracelets and a Rose Pen

Mustache Wallet!

Duct Tape Bag

Inside the Bag

It's a Trophy!

Catching Fire - Book Review by Janae

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM THE FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES, THE HUNGER GAMES







  Catching Fire (second book in the Hunger Games Series) by Suzanne Collins

 After Katniss and Peeta have won the Hunger Games, everything has changed. It seems like everyone is on edge in District 12 and for good reason. The Capitol is very angry with the outcome of the Games and is seeking revenge. And when the Quarter Quell, the Hunger Games of every 25 years, comes around, the Capitol gets the revenge they have been hoping for: Katniss and Peeta are casted back into the arena. Catching Fire started off slow, but then captured my attention almost instantly. From then on, I couldn't put the book down. This is an awesome book, and I can't wait to read the next, and final, book in the series. 

Book Review by Janae

"Own the Night" Teen Summer Reading Program

All teenagers  in Bossier Parish, between the ages of 13-18, are invited to participate in the Teen Summer Reading Program at the Bossier Central Library in the History Center!

Own the Night Program Schedule

                                                   

Wed., June 13, 2 PM - 4 PM

Wed., June 20, 2 PM - 4 PM

Wed., June 27, 2 PM - 4 PM

Wed., July 11, 2 PM - 4 PM

Wed., July 18, 2 PM - 4 PM

Fri. - Sat., July 20, 7 PM - 7 AM (Lock-in)

Wed., July 25, 2 PM - 4 PM  

*There will not be a weekly program the week of July 4th.

If you would like to sign up for the program or find out more information, please contact Tonya Oswalt at the Bossier Central Library at (318) 746-1693.

How the Program Works

If you read 3 books, you will get a small prize and a raffle drawing entry.
(*You will get a prize for every three books you read, up to five prizes)

If you read 15 books, you get a grand prize entry.

If you attend a weekly summer program, you will get a raffle drawing entry.

*You must attend the final program to win raffle drawing prizes.

MECHANICS:

The Teen Summer Reading Program is geared towards youth between the ages of 13 to 18 years old.  The program usually consists of crafts, games, theme related activities, and special guests. The weekly program lasts approximately 1 ½ - 2 hours.

 Each teen will fill out a reading log with his/her name and age.  The teen will take the reading log home and record the title of each book read during the summer program.  For every three books the teen reads he/she will receive a small prize and a raffle drawing entry (up to five prizes and five entries).  If the teen reads fifteen books, he/she will receive an entry in the grand prize drawing.  Each teen will also receive a raffle drawing entry for each weekly summer program they attend.  All raffle drawings, including the grand prize drawing, will take place at the final program.

Any teen that wants to attend the lock-in program must read at least three books and return a permission slip signed by a parent.

Books to be counted on the logs may be library books or personally owned books, including fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and magazines. 

Teens do not have to attend each weekly summer program in order to participate in the Teen Summer Reading Program.

If you have any problems or questions, please ask our library staff.  We are here to help and assist our patrons.  Thanks so much for your cooperation and participation in this year’s fun-filled Teen Summer Reading Program!

Pretty Little Liars - Book Review by Lindsay

Pretty Little Liars  by Sara Shepard

High school juniors Aria, Spencer, Emily, and Hannah are 4 pretty girls with some ugly secrets. Hannah had low self-esteem because her own father called her overweight, but after making herself eat greasy, fatty food, then throw up, she's one of the prettiest, most popular girls in school now. She stopped for a while, but after some stressful things happen, all she wants to do is eat. Is she going to fall back into her bad habbits? Aria has always been the unique one but very unsure of herself. She contantly tries out different personality types, to see which one is most pleasing to other people, and make her popular, so she won't be just the weird girl with the pig-puppet. But when she meets an older man in a bar, was pretending to be someone she's not the best idea after all? Spencer is always surpassed by her older sister Mellissa, from school, to boyfriends. Spencer is always a little envious. And when Mellissa brings home her new super cute, British boyfriend, will Spencer be able to push aside her jealousy and resist temptations? And Emily, her life is going pretty well, she's doing good in school, and one of the stars of the swim team. But things shake up a little when there's a new girl, Maya, moving in across from her. Emily is very intrigued by Maya, and soon learns some secrets about her, and maybe herself. But are Emily's feelings for Maya a little more than friendly?

What do all these girls have in common? They were all best friends in 7th grade, along with their "pack leader", Alison. But the summer 7th grade ends, Ali goes missing, and nobody knows what happened to her. All the girls are really confused and creeped out by this, and since it happened, their friendship broke off. But there's something even scarier happening now, the girls are getting messages from someone who obviously knows secrets about them, the mysterious person only signs their name with an "A". Is it Alison? No. She's been missing for 3 years. She has to be dead by now, and ghosts can't send texts and emails, right?

I liked this book; the plot is really interesting and suspenseful! I liked how the book is told in switching view-points between Aria, Spencer, Hannah, and Emily. It made it easy to stay interested when there's 4 kinda seperate stories, and I like how they all tie to each other. It did get a little confusing at first, but other than that it's a really light read, no big complicated words, it's written pretty simply.

Book review by Lindsay

The Summer I turned Pretty - Book Review by Lindsay

The Summer I Turned Pretty  by Jenny Han

This book is about a 15 year old girl named Isabel, or Belly, as she goes by, who pretty much lives for summer. At the beginning of every summer, Belly, her brother Steven, and her mom go to a place called Cousins beach, where Belly's best friend's mom lives. Her mom's friend, Susannah, has 2 sons, Jeremiah, and Conrad. Jeremiah and Conrad have been just friends with Belly since they were little kids, but that doesn't mean Belly hasn't been crushing on either of them... And this year is different. In more ways than Belly knows at first. For one; She's matured a lot over the past year, this is the summer she turned pretty.

I was a little hesitant to read this at first; it sounded cliche, predictable and kind of boring. But it most definitely was not. (Well, some parts were, but it was still really good.)  I'm so glad I decided to give this book a chance because I really, really loved it! It's one of my favorites. I literally read it in a day. Belly is such a relatable character, and you can really connect with her emotions. And I loved most of the other characters too. I liked how there were little flashback chapters, where you could learn about some of Belly's past, it makes you almost feel like you grew up with the characters. This is the first book in a trilogy; I'm about halfway through the second book and I can't wait to read the third!

Book Review by Lindsay