Summer Programs are Almost Here!!!!!!!!!!

Summer...it sounds sooooooo cool at first. No school, sleeping in, non-stop fun in the sun, etc. But then reality and the overwhelming boredom sets in. Nothing do do. Nowhere to go. So. Very. Lame.  

Well, that's all over.  We are dedicated to making summer awesome again!  At Moore Memorial Public Library we want to be YOUR summer hot spot!  We have our year long awesomeness of our wonderful collection of books, magazines, movies, graphic novels, manga, documentaries, TV series, audio books, electronic resources, and more.  Not only do we have all these amazing resources, but you can use them (with the exception of DVDs) to fill up a Teen Summer Reading Log to enter into our prize drawing.  

Summer Reading

Starting June 10th, come by the library and pick up a reading log.  Then  keep track of the amount of time you spend reading on your reading log.  For every 10 hours of reading that you record on your reading log, you’ll receive one entry in our drawing for an AWESOME prize.  Earn additional entries for every 10 hours you read.  OR you can complete the Seven Library Labors on the back of the reading log!  You can even do both to double your chances to win! All reading logs are due at the Library Reference Desk by August 16th no later than 5 PM.

But in addition to all this great stuff to read, watch, listen to, enjoy, etc. we also have great summer programs!

Board Game Fridays

On Fridays from June 14th through August 9th, we will be hosting gaming afternoons at the library in the Holland Meeting Room from 2-5 PM.  Teens ages 12-18 can come to the library to play board games, strategy games, and card games like you’ve NEVER played before.  We have :

Carcassonne: Build your medieval landscape tile by tile to control the greatest resources.
Dixit: Can you guess the story in the cards? A truly unique game of imagination.
Dominion:  Use your cards to build your resources and dominate!
Flux: a fast-paced card game in which the rules are always in flux
Forbidden Island: a cooperative game of treasure hunting on an ever-sinking island
The Great Dalmuti: Players take their places in the pecking order, from Greater Peon to Greater Dalmuti, and try to ditch the cards in their hands.
Labyrinth: Make your way through an ever shifting maze to get the most treasure and escape.
Munchkin: use cards to create your own bizarre heroes and battle monsters.  Pandemic: Work together to stop the diseases before all humankind is doomed!
Risk: The classic game of total world domination.
Settlers of Catan: an award-winning strategy game of conquest through building.

Want something more traditional? Play a rousing round of chess or the ancient strategy game Go. We also have the party games like Apples to Apples, Cranium,  and Scattegories as well as all classic board games like Clue, Monopoly, Scrabble, Sorry, and more. we have enough great games that you can play something new EVERY Friday!

Special Teen Programs!!!

We will have some super-awesome programs this summer and they are all FREE FREE FREE!!! All you need to do is pick up your FREE ticket at the reference desk one week before the event you want to attend!  We will have randomly selected door prizes at every one of these Special Teen Programs AND a prize for any teen that comes to all four! 

Wednesday, June 12th from 2-4 PM
Duct Tape Crafts-Get crafty with tape and make awesome FREE wallets, belts, bows, and more. You’ll be the envy of all the non-duct taped populace!

Wednesday, June 26th from 2-4 PM
How to be a Writer- Learn to write fantasy and paranormal fiction with Sarah Cortez, editor of You Don’t Have a Clue and Windows into My World: Latino Youth Write their Lives.  Get a FREE pocket notebook to keep all your best ideas.  A perfect program for aspiring writers of all types!

Wednesday, July 17th from 2-4 PM
How to Survive a Zombie Attack- Learn how to survive the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse. Play zombie trivia, learn zombie survival, compete in the zombie walk-off, and more. Remember all those that laughed off the possibility of zombie uprisings when your brains are still snug in your skull and the scoffers' internal organs are no longer internal!

Wednesday, July 31st from 2-4 PM
Minute to Win It III- Compete in super-fun 60 second games for chances to win legendary glory and awesome prizes! Nothing can prepare you for the awesome onslaught of these ridiculous trials!  Be the winner!  Taste victory from an exploding waterfall of fire and also lightning!  Become immortal*!

*Metaphorically.  Moore Memorial Public Library can not bestow immortality on it's patrons (yet). 

VolunTeens 

 Don't sit at home bored and lonely and sad. Come volunteer at the library! We are looking for teens willing to extend a helping hand to young readers this summer. If you are a teen (ages 12-18), you are eligible to volunteer as a reading mentor by listening to young readers practicing their skills. “Listen off” your fines or gain community service credit.

VolunTeens will also help keep the library neat, keep the YP FIC organized, shelve DVDs, make book lists, and more!  We will also have Tech Teen photographers that take pictures for MMPL. With this volunteer time, you can either “work” off your fines* (at a rate of $3 per 15 minutes) or gain community service credit—we will provide you with proof for your service. 

*Please note that this program applies only to overdue fines and not fines from lost or damaged materials. Participants may only work off their own fines, not those of other family members  



For more information about any summer event, ask the reference desk or call the Reference Desk at (409) 643-5977.

Josie Griffin is Not a Vampire by Heather Swain YP FIC SWAIN

Josie Griffin isn't sorry. Her scumbag ex-boyfriend totally deserved to have his windshield bashed in (he's just lucky it wasn't his cheating-on-her-with-her-best-friend-face!). Now she has to have mandatory community service AND anger management classes.  Like being angry at all her back stabbing ex-friends isn't normal?  Besides her group is about as far from normal you can get.  Avis thinks he's a were-something-or-other, Johan vants to suck her blooood, Tarren believes she has magic powers, and Helios thinks he's a Greek god (at least he looks it-swoon).  It isn't long before the crazy starts rubbing off on Josie and she starts wondering if maybe they aren't crazy and she's just joined a Supernatural Support Group. And worse yet Josie is about to find out that some creatures of the night are darker than others and one out there is preying on defenseless girls.

This is a fun and silly trifle that could be some great beach reading.  Josie has a seriously tart tongue and attitude to spare, but it never gets to be whiny or annoying.  Swain's look at the paranormal world that lives just under our nose isn't terribly original, but her witty take and flair for clever (if woefully dated. i mean do Kids These Days really know The Lost Boys?) pop culture references make the book very fun reading.  As much as I liked Heather and her Nancy Drew with bite attempt to solve mysteries, save the day, and get to the truth I'd say most the books supporting characters are a little flat.  The support group provides lots of humor but no real depth. Also, the central mystery isn't very hard to solve and the books eventual Big Bad doesn't have much of a character or menace.  You'd think that would make this a bad review, but for some reason I read this book in a single go.  It was just that perfect mix of humor and frothy fun with the perfect length.

Check our catalog for Josie Griffin is Not a Vampire here.

manicpixiedreamgirl by Tom Leveen YP FIC LEVEEN

GOOD NEWS: Tyler Darcy has just been published! And he's just a teenager!  BAD NEWS: It's complicated.

Tyler Darcy has loved Rebecca Webb since the moment he first saw her, separating her animal crackers into broken pieces and whole pieces. She only ate the broken ones. ever since then she has been the Unattainable One, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl that shakes up your life and teaches you how to really LIVE, man. He tried to find out more about her with Sydney, but just ended up sort of dating her...for two years.  He finally managed to make friends with Rebecca, but never got the courage up to tell her how he feels.  Which brings us back to GOOD NEWS/ BAD NEWS. BAD NEWS: Tyler went and wrote a beautiful story all about Rebecca (well the one that lives inside his head at least) so Sidney has dumped him, his friends think he's at least a little psycho, and he has to finally tell his dream girl all his squishiest feelings.  Unfortunately, dreams don't always come true and when a girl is on a pedestal she has an awfully long way to fall.

DISCLAIMER: I should admit that I hate the fiction trope of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl (a girlish, whimsical young woman that brings troubled moody men out of their doldrums by teaching them to let go and live life to the fullest).  Fortunately, Rebecca isn't really a MPDG at all and this book is a very intelligent look at the dangers of idealization. Really, this book is almost TOO well written. that seems like a pretty unfair complaint, but Tyler is often too witty to read as a real teenager, BUT he is a (newly) published author so it ends up working.  In fact the whole book ends up working really exceptionally well.  It has pitch perfect dialogue, a likeable, relatable, and infuriatingly real (read that as totally blind) protagonist, and a really well developed supporting cast. The book takes place over one night with frequent flashbacks to show how the story got to this point. Leveen is quite good at picking the best moment to jump back and forward to keep us hooked and to highlight his themes and illuminate character.  By only getting flashes of Rebecca we have to first rely on Tyler's (faulty) view of her and his friend's (faulty in a completely different way) view of her.  This keeps the reader as seeing her as mysterious and alluring as Tyler does, and makes her slowly revealed reality more compelling as well. It takes pretty much the whole dang book, but you eventually get to really know both Rebecca and Tyler and they get to know more about themselves.  It's a great book about how stupid love, lust, and impossible ideals make us all.  It's equal parts fast, funny, cool, smart, and memorable. I highly recommend it to anyone that wants a great book about love that isn't always lovely.

You can check our catalog for manicpixiedreamgirl here.

In Mozart's Shadow by Carolyn Meyer YP FIC MEYER

Nannerl (try saying that five times fast!) has a bright future ahead of her. As a musical prodigy, she could have something precious few women have in 18th century Salzburg: choice.  Unfortunately, Nannerl is a Mozart (as in THAT Mozart) and when wee Wolfgang starts composing at five her gifts pale next to his blinding genius.  She is all but ignored by her family and stuck at home while her family and future seems to fade away.  Her only hope is in her love of music and of a man she is forbidden to be with. This is her courageous and heartrending story of living and loving in the shadows.

Nannerl is such a fully realized character.  Her resentment and determination is made all the more painful, because she has history against her.  Women in the 18th century simply didn't have the same choices as men and therein lies the drama and tragedy.  however, this isn't just a story of being eclipsed by fame, but also reflects a more universal story of family, love, loss, and acceptance.  Carolyn Meyer excels in making humanity shine in young women from history.  She also excels in capturing period details that transport a reader through time, but making the prose and dialogue accessible and flowing.  She really makes the time and place FEEL lived in and real and the people that live their feel like people of their time.  Sadly, most of her fine novels end with compromises and broken hearts because history is often unkind regardless of sex or station. But Meyer does a stellar job at focusing on moments of joy and brightness and seeing the value in lives that can seem empty from far away. I found myself rooting for Nannerl even though I KNEW what her ending had to be, but when all was said and done Meyer did such a great job at emphasizing the little joys that it both highlighted and undercut the sadness and loneliness in her tale.  

You can check the catalog for In Mozart's Shadow here.

The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin YP FIC LEGUIN

Welcome to Earthsea, where words have power and magic lives.  

A Wizard of Earthsea: A young boy is born with a special affinity for magic and dangerous ambition. Ged could change the balance of magic forever when his arrogance awakens a darkness from beyond.  

The Tombs of Atun: Tenar serves the nameless ones, ancient gods that require sacrifices of the living.  When she captures a powerful wizards with stories of the world outside will she be a faithful servant or risk everything to taste freedom?

The Farthest Shore: Magic is dying in Earthsea and there is only one wizard that can restore the balance, but it will be at a great price.

This is among the best fantasy writing I have ever read and I am literally kicking myself (ow!) for not reading it waaaaaaay (ow!) sooner! Le Guin has a deceptively simple prose style.  I say deceptive, because she squeezes so much out of her short almost stark sentences.  It reads like an oral history passed down through generations and then finally put to paper.  This makes it feel like a document discovered about an ancient world and feel timeless.  Also, the simple style allows for her to leave a lot between the lines.  Words and knowledge are the keys to magic in Earthsea and also in art.  Le Guin uses these masterfully to weave her own spells. So these books work as rousing adventures filled with larger than life characters at the same time as being examinations of much deeper themes. She looks at the nature of power, faith, honor, duty, and most of all the idea of balance.  She does this without ever having to use long diatribes or give explicit answers.  You'll just read wonderful adventures and find yourself asking the questions almost unconsciously.  This is a series that should be read and reread over a lifetime, so like the wizard Ged you change along with the story and find new wonders as you grow.  If and when you love these tales, continue with Tehanu also Tales from Earthsea also found in YP FIC LEGUIN.

You can check our catalog for The Earthsea Trilogy here.