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March 30, 2007

Special April Fool's Day Treats

Bugs for LunchNothing says tasty April Fool’s Day treats better than insect recipes.  Yum Yum. And for those of you who don’t know a good recipe, Iowa State University has just the website for you. Try out Chocolate Chirpie Chip Cookies (made with crickets), Banana Worm Bread, or their jello favorite Bug Blox. Now that I’ve got your taste buds, um hopping, you are wondering where to get the bugs. Well fear not! The entomologists at Iowa State give you that information too! So get in the kitchen and celebrate April Fool’s Day in barfalicious style.

Want to learn more about people's bug eating habits around the world? Check out Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science Bugs or Bugs for Lunch.

Completely Inappropriate Video

PLEASE don't try this at home. And especially don't try this at our library!!!

 

Can you imagine being one of the customers in this library while they were filming this video? And how did they ever think to ask the question "What happens when a teenager brings a fart machine into a public library?" What kinds of videos do you think we should try to make here at our library?

March 29, 2007

(Comic-style) Book Reviews

So, a traditional book review might get you interested in reading a new book, but what if the Screenshot from the online comic UNSHELVED from March 18, 2007book review was in the format of a comic?

Check out these comic-strip book reviews from the creators of UNSHELVED: a comic about a library.

Split ScreenSplit Screen by Brent Hartinger. Read the comic HERE. Check out the library book HERE.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Read the comic HERE. Check out the library book HERE.

Kiki Strike by Kirsten Miller. Read the comic HERE. Check out the library book HERE.

March 23, 2007

You could win an iPod shuffle! (or a t-shirt)

Choose Respect Podcast Contest Open to Kansas Youth

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) is collaborating with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create a podcast series for the Choose Respect Initiative. Kansans ages 11-16 are invited to enter a writing contest to develop scripts to ensure the series is youth driven.
Choose RespectThe Choose Respect Initiative focuses on assisting youth in choosing healthy relationships and avoiding behaviors that would lead to future dating violence.  Each year, about one in 11 adolescents report being a victim of physical dating abuse.  Helping adolescents develop skills for healthy relationships can prevent many of these cases. Through the
Youth media project, KDHE and CDC hope to educate and engage youth around the issue of dating violence.  It will also provide them with skills to produce insightful and artistic media about the alternatives to violence.
“Hopefully, the information provided and distributed through the Choose Respect project will help generate learning, understanding, and community debate to encourage further violence prevention efforts in Kansas,” said KDHE Secretary Roderick L. Bremby.
The entry deadline is April 20, and winners will be announced May
1. Please visit www.kdheks.gov/idp/choose_respect_contest.htm for contest directions.  The first 200 entries will receive a Choose Respect T-shirt. Five to ten submissions will be selected to use in whole or parts during the development of the podcast series. The selected students will be interviewed to expand on what they have written and to include their voice in the podcast. The winners will also each receive an iPod Shuffle MP-3 player.
The Choose Respect Initiative was launched in Kansas in June
2006. The national initiative includes a Web site that provides a variety of materials to inform youth, parents and educators on choosing healthy relationships. For more information about the Choose Respect Initiative, visit www.chooserespect.org.
The Kansas Choose Respect Initiative is coordinated through KDHE Injury and Disability Prevention Programs.  For more information on Injury and disability prevention, please visit www.kdheks.gov/idp/.

March 20, 2007

Six WRHS Seniors Debate the War in Iraq

The Washburn Rural class of 2007 were eighth graders when the war in Iraq began. The WRHS AP Government class courtesy of cjonlineseniors in Kevin Hedberg’s Advance Placement Government class have mixed feelings about the Iraq conflict. Nathan Fredrickson is concerned about the political apathy among teenagers. In this government class, the students are divided. Some support Barack Obama who favors ending the war and others support America’s current role in Iraq. Read more.

March 19, 2007

All Ages Game Day

Play your favorite board games or learn a new one: Play Moods, Scrabble, Uno, Candyland, Chutes & Courtesy of sxc.huLadders, Clue, Battleship, chess, bingo, checkers and a variety of other games. Spin the Wheel of Fortune.
Friday, March 23
2:00-4:00 PM
Marvin Auditorium

March 18, 2007

Young Adult Chess

Grades 6-12
Attention chess players! Test your skills against other chess players and win prizes. A chess masterchess board will be available to help hone your chess skills. Registration required: 785-580-4565.
Wednesday
March 21
6:30-8:00 pm
David J's Place

March 16, 2007

Yu-Gi-Oh

12-18 years

Attention Yu-gi-oh duelists! Sign up for the opportunity to duel other Yu-gi-oh players. Walk-Yugiohins are allowed if there are open slots, but a reservation guarantees a seat! REGISTRATION REQUIRED – call 785-580-4565.

Monday

March 19

3:15-5:15 pm

Lingo Story Rm

The Animentals Anime Art Club

Do you have a passion for drawing manga characters and/or creating comic strips? A professional art Animeinstructor will help you create and draw your characters. This program will feature cosplay.
Tuesday, April 17
5:00-6:30 PM
Marvin Auditorium 101A
11-18 Years

What if Barbie had a book group?

March 14, 2007

Get Pantsed.

Forever in Blue

Tibby, Carmen, Lena and Bee are back in the latest (or is it the last?) installment of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. Separated by their first full year of college, the girls are feeling more lost than ever as their world divides. Tibby starts to unravel as pregnancy fears plague her; Carmen feels alone and invisible at her new school and can’t turn to her friends for support. Lena is still trying to untangle the last of her feelings for Kostos while trying to focus on her art and a new love interest; Bee heads to Turkey on an archeological dig where she finds more skeletons in her closet than bones in the dirt. Are the Traveling Pants strong enough to keep these four together for one more summer?

Get Forever in Blue or start at the beginning with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. This book was just as engrossing as the first three- I highly recommend it! Don’t forget to check out Sisterhood Central for news, info and quizzes! You can even be friends with the girls on myspace!

March 13, 2007

Martial Arts and Youth

Michael Barnett, who started the martial arts program at the YMCA, has seen a variety of Kyle Dawdy practices a spin kick courtesy of cjonlineteens pass through his program. Kyle Dawdy, a student from Logan Junior High, was one of those students. He had dyed black hair, was overweight and wore gothic style clothes. Kyle’s mother, Marsha Dawdy, said “Kyle has come a long way. He went from B’s & C’s to A’s & B’s.” Barnett uses karate, tae kwon do and other martial arts to teach respect, discipline and self-confidence. Read more.

March 10, 2007

Book Review: Pirates!

Pirates! Pirates! :the true and remarkable adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, female pirates by Celia Rees

While I hope this summary intrigues you, I mostly love the title of this book - Pirates! - plus the storytelling by the main character, Nancy, grabbed me right away.

Set in the 1800's, this adventure story features Nancy, a British teenage girl who is in love with a young sailor named William. Her wealthy sugar-importing father dies and her brothers try to take over the family planation in Jamaica by marrying Nancy off to the evil Brazilian next door. She flees into the wilderness with other escaped slaves, including her best friend Minerva, and they eventual joins a band of pirates. Although going on the account (slang for becoming a pirate) is difficult and complicated, she is much more worried about what William, now a naval officer, with think of her piratical ways if and when they meet again. To add to her fears, Nancy's nightmares warn her that the angry Brazilian is still coming for her, at best to fulfill their promised marriage or at worst, just for revenge.

March 08, 2007

Decorating Cookies is a Valentine's Day Hit

There were cookie crumbs and frosting everywhere but the cookie decorating patrons were Creative cookieslaughing and learning the fine art of decorating with frosting. What better pastime on Valentine’s Day than decorating heart shaped cookies? Some forgot the order of business and ate the cookies before they were frosted but that was OK. Others created monumental masterpieces.

SquigglesHearts

Reading Rants: out of the ordinary teen booklists

Reading RantsI just discovered this great teen book website - Reading Rants - run by a middle school librarian who is WAY TO OBSESSED with YA books, in a truly wonderful way. She posts terrific booklists with funny titles like "Deadheads and Moshpits" or "Fanging Around" with topics ranging from music, vampires, spiritual, gay, wicca, druggie, eating disorders, and more. I love her personal list of her top ten favorites!

March 07, 2007

Whats Coming Down The Pike?

photo courtesy of IGN.com

We all want the best new video games, and lots of them. We want to know when we can get our grubby, calloused hands on the newest games from the top publishers. Rest assured that all of this urgent information and more can be found at IGN’s GDC 2007.

March 06, 2007

To Infinity and Beyond!

A Brief History of TimeA few weeks ago word got out that the brilliant physicist Stephen Hawking is about to take a space flight!  This is remarkable in many ways.  Dr. Hawking has suffered with MND (motor neuron disease) for four decades and yet has lectured and written about physics and space and our place in it all these years.  His weakened body rides in a wheelchair and he needs a computer to communicate well, but he is now about to TRAVEL INTO SPACE !

 


The for-profit Zero Gravity Corp. will be sending him into a weightless (zero gravity) environment on April 26th this year.  This flight will be a short 30,000 foot parabolic arch and will only be weightless for only about 30 seconds.  But, Hawking is already making plans to fly higher and longer with Virgin Galactic in 2009.

If you want to read more about Stephen Hawking and his plans for space flight, check out the databases offered through our library.  If you choose
Expanded Academic ASAP, Academic Search Premier, or MasterFILE Premier - Ebsco and type the term Stephen Hawking and space in the search box, you will find full text articles from magazines, journals, and newspapers!  Read what British newspapers are saying about their most famous physicist!   Stephen Hawking has also written several provocative books such as A Brief History of Time that you can check out from our library!

Article contributed by Sherry Hawkins Backhus.

According to the Zero Gravity Corp. website, the full-day experience costs $3,500 plus tax. If you had that kind of cash, would you want to take that kind of flight?

March 04, 2007

Catch the Excitement

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz Stormbreaker
Alex Rider has been called the reluctant teenage spy, but really that’s not so accurate since he was blackmailed into joining M16 (the British equivalent of CIA). So how did that happen? Alex’s guardian died, supposedly in a car accident, and left M16 as his trustee.  Unaware that he’s been trained for most of his life for spy work, M16 thinks he has too much potential to ignore and they send him on a mission right away. Alex is to investigate the motive behind a billionaire donating a new computer to every school in England. M16 has had their eye on billionaire Herod Sayle for awhile but haven’t been able to prove anything. Can Alex really succeed where adults have failed? Be careful though; once you're hooked, you'll want to read all the Alex Rider Adventures!

Click on over to Alex’s website to learn more about his missions, skills, associates, and the villains he’s faced. Some information is classified and will require a login to access. Author Anthony Horowitz also has his own website that includes a message board where you can have your questions answered by the author!

March 02, 2007

Teens Break Ground on Second Life Island

Second LifeDuring Teen Tech Week at the library, March 4–10, watch Hope Street Academy teens unveil Oz Island, a new online property in the virtual Internet world known as Second Life (SL is a massively multiplayer virtual world created and inhabited by its user members).

 Read more here and tell us what you think!