Teen Art

As many of you may already know, the library will be relocating to the new location at the beginning of December.  The teens and I have been anxiously waiting to begin decorating and occupying the new space.

Last weekend, the Teen Advisory Board chose colors (bright blue in the teen area, lime green in the tween area and purple accents).  Then we discussed how we would decorate area.  I have really been pushing for art that they designed rather than posters.  Surprisingly, they agreed!

We decide to make canvases with melted crayons and another with rolled magazine ads.

On Thursday night, other teens got to help with the decorating of the teen area.  We made alcohol ink tiles (another great Pinterest find).

The tiles were surprisingly simple.  All you need is non-porous tiles (only 16 cents at Home Depot), alcohol blending solution (Joann's) and alcohol ink (expensive and I was only able to find it online at Joann's).  You may also use Q-tips or straws for blending.

Each tile turns out completely different.  The teens made one to keep and one to donate to the library for teen room decorations.  They all did a great job and I can't wait to hang them in the new space.  We had 16 teens total and each will now have a special space in the young adult area.

"May the odds be every in your favor."

Today, I challenged the teens with a Hunger Games scavenger hunt.  I had hid 24 "survival items" throughout the park.  These "survival items" were pictures of items that would be found in the cornucopia, such as a tarp, water or medicine.  On the back of these pictures I wrote a word.  So the first part of their quest was to find all of the pictures (only two teams) did and then unscramble the words found on the back of the pictures to form a quote from the movie.  A few of the teams struggled with this but two teams got the quote almost exactly right.  I won't make you do the scavenger hunt but let's see if you can unscramble the quote.

Words:

I, can, heart, in, of, do, nothing, and, imminent, you, embrace, probability, Abernathy, death, that, Haymitch, the, your, know, your, there's, save, to

The two teen girls that once received Hunger Games bookmarks and a tribute guide or movie guide.  You just get the satisfcation of knowing your Hunger Games trivia.

ArT pArTy!!!

As a librarian, I often struggle to find programs that are appealing to all teen ages and interests and are not repeat programs.  This summer I realized that the teens are really into anything "party."  So basically all I needed to do was pick an idea and call it party.  With that being said, we are having a Glee Party, Glow Party, Zombie Party and on Thursday night, an Art Party.

It was really well-received and registration numbers were great; however, getting them to walk in the door is another story.

Either way the teens that did come had lots of fun.  I divided the room into different stations.  There was the nail polish blotter art (thank you Pinterest); rock painting (I had to bring a little Lakeside to the library); origami lucky stars; self portraits using water colors, duct tape and construction paper scraps; and a photo booth.

The teens were so creative and definitely used their imaginations to explore these artforms and create one-of-a-kind pieces of art.

Looking forward to this week's Glee Party!  All Gleeks welcome!

You Can't Always Get What You Want

As a librarian, I always hope that attendance number will remain high and consistent throughout the entire summer.  Last week was amazing and I had hopes that we would maintain those numbers.

I guess my hopes were too high.

On Monday, we had 14 teens signed up to dissect owl pellets.  Now, that's not a huge number but I was happy with it because I scheduled it because I was hoping more boys would come.  A few hours before the program, however, the township switched our picnic grove.  With the confusion, only six teens ended up coming.  What a let down...

Then last night, I had 25 kids signed up to make glow-in-the-dark t-shirts.  That's a big number and glow-in-the-dark paint in that quantity is not cheap.  Well, seven cancelled within the hour before the program, which is fine because it became a more manageable number since my volunteer wasn't coming either.  It turned out that only eight showed up.  Where were the unaccounted for 10?

I don't know if it was the weather - not wanting to leave the pool or air-conditioning but it was frustrating.  Every teen gets a reminder call to, so they knew about it.

Here's to a better week next week, which actually starts tonight with a sleepover of 30 tweens at the library.  I'm feeling tired already.

All in a week at the library...

People often ask what a typical day in the life of a librarian consists of and the answer is that every day is different, which is one of the reasons I love my job so much.  Each week is no different.

For instance this week, we used our creativity, practiced relaxation and learned crime scene investigation skills.  What a week!

On Monday, the girls made magazine picture frames by rolling colorful pages from magazines into tubes and gluing them on to a shoebox lid.  I was worried they might have trouble but the frames turned out awesome.  They are pretty expensive to buy in the store.

Then on Tuesday the tweens relaxed and learned some new yoga techniques. It was the first time for many of them and they all had a great time, especially during the wall hands, which even the librarians did!  We were supposed to try it outside but it was too hot.

And finally on Wednesday, all of the teens went to PTI to learn crime scene investigation skills from one of the department instructors there.  They learned how to match fingerprints, analyze handwriting samples and determine what evidence was used for a break-in.  I learned that I have a rare fingerprint, which only 5% of the world's population has...interesting.

It was a fun week and I'm excited for next week - owl pellet dissection lab in the park and glow-in-the-dark t-shirts!

Summer Kick-Off: Tie Dye and Paint Party!!

Last Tuesday, the teens officially kicked off summer reading with the annual tie dye program.  This year I added some other colorful elements, including squirt gun painting and crayon art.  The weather was perfect, so the teens were able to work on their projects outside. 

Some of the teens made tie dye shirts first...

...while others used squirt gun and paint to decorate a sheet.  It turned out awesome!  The original idea was to hang the sheet in the teen department at the new library but the teens were so attached to their masterpiece that now I have to very carefully cut it into 20+ squares.

Then others worked on making crayon art with old crayons and a hair dryer (thanks Pinterest).  It was a bit messy but the canvases looked fabulous.  I wanted to keep these for the teen department too but we raffled them off to three lucky participants.

The teens I work with continue to surprise me with their creativity and eagerness to try new things.  Today we made magazine picture frames (I will write a post about this later) and many of the girls had their tie dye shirts on or said they turned out really well and were going to wear them to the next program. 

Summer 2012 is off to a great start at the library!



Happy Summer Reading!

June 1

For many, this date is insignificant but for me is the start of an event that defines the next three months for me. 

TEEN SUMMER READING!

For the last six months, my colleagues and I have been planning for summer.  We have experienced a range of emotions from stress to excitement.  We have anticipated June 1 since January. 

The evening went well overall.  We expected a bigger turnout but the weather, graduation and another major event in the area prompted different results.

Now, that it is over I'm met with those same emotions - stress and excitement for three months of three-four programs a week. 

Let the summer begin! 

Happy Hunger Games!

Well, I will be the first to admit that I was not originally thrilled with the Hunger Games series. I read the first book but had no desire to read any further. Normally, I'm not a fan of popular series either but with all the hype surrounding the film release I caved.

During the last month, I have had two teen programs at the library to celebrate the film release. The first party had wacky trivia, a cornucopia challenge and archery (plastic of course). Then yesterday, we played trivia games beforehand at the theater and then watched the movie.

Somewhere along the way, I got hooked. Perhaps it was seeing the excitement of the teens regarding the book and the movie release or that the movie ended up being absolutely fabulous! Now I want to read the first book again and the last two as well.

From a librarian's perspective, it makes me so happy to see that the teens, both boys and girls, are excited about a book! So many, that today when I checked the hold list, it was almost 800! I loved watching the kids laugh, cry, scream and clap during the movie yesterday.

Now, don't get excited, I am not jumping on the Twilight or Harry Potter bandwagons yet. I tried and it wasn't my thing. Hunger Games may be though! I want to be Katniss for Halloween next year!

Happy Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor!

(The odds aren't in your favor if you want to get the book from the library. Sorry, I'd buy it if you really want to read it.)