International Games Day @ the Aulds Branch

The Bossier Parish Libraries are getting involved with International Games Day!

The post below, about the activities going on at the Aulds Branch on November 14th, was originally posted on the IGD blog in July. 

This is a great idea for an IGD activity from Amanda Bradley of Aulds Library in Bossier City, LA - a live game of Pac-Man! Just be careful to remind the players not to actually eat the dots...

Bringing Pac-Man Back to Your Library

I will have to start by saying I am very excited to be writing this blog and I hope everyone gets something, rather it be motivation or inspiration, out of it. This is my first year participating in the International Games Day at my library and I truly cannot wait for November. In the spirit of complete honesty I got this idea from the wonderful world of Pinterest. I was browsing in my normal fashion and stumbled across this picture of a Pac-Man game taped out on the floor and was super excited. I just knew I needed to make this happen at my library and knew just when it needed to happen: International Games Day!

 

I am actually hosting my IGD event on Thursday November 14, 2013 from 9am to 5pm. I will be using the library meeting room and creating a giant Pac-Man game. The maze portion of the game will be mapped out and laid down with another all-time favorite: duct tape. The little dots are coins laid on the floor. I have just begun prepping for the library’s fall activities, but I am pretty sure I will just use foam circles or something similar.

I have already had some library staff express interest in helping out that day. They will become the ghosts. I am going to get some colorful sheets for them to throw over themselves or even make ghost cut outs from cardboard. I have not decided which would be more awesome to use. In addition to the giant Pac-Man game I will have some board games and snacks for people to enjoy in the meeting room as well. Patrons will be able to come in and enjoy the games and snacks

Thanks Amanda! Sounds like a simple, low-cost way to give your patrons some out-of-the-ordinary fun!

(Original post can be found on the IGD blog at http://igd.ala.org/page/4/)

Teens Top Ten Winners

YALSA has announced this year's Teens Top Ten winners, as voted on by teens around the country:

1. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Disney/Hyperion)
2. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Scholastic/Scholastic Press)
3. Insurgent by Veronica Roth (Harper Collins/Katherine Tegen Books)
4. Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry (Harlequin Teen)
5. Poison Princess by Kresley Cole (Simon & Schuster)
6. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic/Scholastic Press)
7. Crewel by Gennifer Albin (Macmillan/Farrar Straus Giroux)
8. Every Day by David Levithan (Random House/Alfred A. Knopf)
9. Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross (Egmont)
10. Butter by Erin Jade Lange (Bloomsbury)

For more information about Teens Top Ten click here.

Teen Read Week

Teen Read Week is October 13 - 19!  Come celebrate teen literacy at your local Bossier Parish Library branch!  

Here's whats going on at our libraries for teens this week:

Bossier Central Branch

Book Face! - Mon, October 14 - Fri, October 18
Find a book with a face, hand, foot(!) on the cover and pose for a picture with the book in front of your own face, hand, foot!  Just find your book and let the staff know you want to have your picture taken.  Pictures will be posted in the Teen Central area.

Blackout Poetry - Thurs, October 17, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
We'll taking pages out of discarded books and making poetry out of the words by blacking out/drawing designs over any words you don't want to use. 

Contact Tonya Oswalt at the Bossier Central Branch if you have any questions about these programs.


Aulds Branch

Read-a-thon - Sun, October 13 - Sat, October 19
Win prizes for reading! You can come into the Aulds library and read in their Teen Central area or read at home.  If you want to read in the library, check in with Amanda before you start and when you finish.  If you want to read at home, or Amanda isn't available, send a text to 318-459-8063 when you start and stop reading.

Contact Amanda Bradley at the Aulds Branch if you have any questions about this program.


Benton Branch

Read-a-thon - Sun, October 13 - Sat, October 19
Win prizes for reading! You can come to the Benton library and read or read at home.  Pick up a reading log at the Benton Branch.  If you want to read at the library, let a staff member know. 

Contact Kristin Kennedy at the Benton Branch if you have any questions about this program.


Haughton Branch

Game and Craft Day - Mon, October 14, starts at 2:00 PM
Come play X-box games and make crafts!  Bring your friends!

Contact Audra Bartholomew at the Haughton Branch if you have any questions about this program.

Teen Summer Reading Program Chatter

We had a fun Teen Summer Reading Program this year!  Participants build spaghetti and marshmallow towers, and played Under the Earth Trivia They learned about the Caddo Indians and archaeology, and made their own clay pottery.  They made hedgehogs out of old books and wrote background stories for classified ads.  Those stories were crazy fun!  On the final day of the program, participants had the chance to win several prizes, such as hobbit socks, t-shirts, a jellyfish mood lamp, and gift certificates to local businesses.  The grand prize for reading was a Kindle Fire.

For the first year, two of our other branches participated in the Teen Summer Reading program by having some passive programs available for teens to complete.  Hopefully in the future, other branches will join in and perhaps the full program will make it's way to all the branches!

It was another successful year with lots of reading!  Now we're looking forward to next year's program!

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.

Beneath the Surface Program Schedule

Tuesday, June 18, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Tuesday, June 25, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Tuesday, July 2, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Tuesday, July 9, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Tuesday, July 16, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM


Read to win prizes and attend weekly events for fun activities!

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.

Teen Volunteers Needed

The Bossier Parish Library is looking for teen volunteers (13-17 years old) to assist with the 2013 Children's Summer Reading Program.  We need volunteers to help prepare the crafts and activities, and to assist with our weekly events.  If you are looking for a great way to get involved with your community, please consider being a library volunteer.

Applications are available at the Children Services Desk in the KID ZONE.  Once an application is filled out, turn it into the Children Services staff.

Thank you!

Beautiful Creatures - Book Review by Lindsay

Beautiful Creatures  by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures is a story set in a rural, southern town, where you see the same people and things every day, nobody moves in, nobody moves out. So when there's actually a new girl in town, named Lena, everybody's researching her, and trying to find out what young person would be crazy enough to move into their town. Before she's even settled in, the whole population already knows she's the niece of the town outcast, Macon Ravenwood. Everyone automatically typecasts her as being just like her uncle, nobody thinks she belongs, except for Ethan Wate, who swears this girl is familiar, and special. Eventually Ethan finds out Lena is part of a family of "casters" which are basically like witches, but not quite. Witches are something out of movies and stories, casters are so different. On a caster's 16th birthday, they are claimed for either the light or the dark, and Lena is terrified she's going to be claimed dark.

  Basically, the story just builds up to Lena's birthday, and shows some difficult decisions she has to make. Ethan and Lena discover a bunch of things that neither of their family's would ever tell them, and Ethan eventually finds out why he feels so tied to Lena.

This was an amazing book that can't be described in only a few sentences. It's very long, but definitely worth the time. If you only read one book this year, make it this one.

Book Review by Lindsay