Teen Read Week Reading List!

I told you guys about our awesome Teen Read Week theme on Friday and, then, today, I was reminded of all the really cool music themed teen reads there are out there. I decided to put together a list of a few of my favorite indie, rock, and music-centric Young Adult Books in honor of Teen Read Week. Enjoy!

P.S. The movie we're showing in Teen Central at 6 tonight was based off of one of these books. Figure out what it is using the Internet Movie Database.

Meagan Brothers' Debbie Harry Sings in French
Robin Benway's Audrey, Wait!
Cecil Castellucci's Beige
Rachel Cohn and David Leviathan's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Sarah Dessen's Just Listen
Gordan Korman's Born to Rock
Christopher Krovatin's Heavy Metal and You
Yvonne Prinz's The Vinyl Princess
Jon Skovron's Struts and Frets
Gaby Triana's Backstage Pass

Teen Read Week!

Can I just tell you guys how excited I am that it's almost Teen Read Week. We get to spend an entire week focusing on teens and books for teens. The bonus this year is that the theme is really cool. We're talking about "Books with Beat", so all of the books and programs we're featuring involve music. The very first one next week is Teen Central's 5th Birthday Bash. There will be music, games, fun, and cake galore. The really cool part is that we're going to have local teen band Epic Failure in to play for that event. If you missed them in our Garage Band competition this summer, be sure to be here for the party on Monday. The party starts at 4 and the band starts at 4:30. There's also going to be a game competition on Tuesday, a movie on Wednesday, candy sushi on Friday, and a dance performance on Saturday...and that's just in Teen Central. There are going to be 10 other programs around the branch library's for you to participate in. Check out all of our awesome programs here.

Learning Express

I had a teen come flying into the library in a near panic the other day. She has to take the PSAT this month and there were no PSAT study books available at this late date. If you've ever come in looking for a test study book (SAT/ACT/GED...any of them) at the last minute, you might understand her panic. There is almost always a wait on these books the closer it gets to a test period. However, I was able to help her out immediately rather than having her wait and squirm to see if a test prep book would come in before her test date. Forsyth County Public Library offers this great service called Learning Express. You can find it about halfway down on this page. On this service you'll find timed online practice tests where you can save your place and come back later if you don't have time to complete it, whole test prep. courses that you might pay hundreds of dollars for with a private tutor, and ebooks on a variety of topics. These practice tests just aren't for high school students either, there are also sections for elementary and middle school students, college students, and adult learners, too! So, the next time you're in a testing panic, remember to try Learning Express Library.

Online Book Club # 5 - Audrey Wait!

Teen Read Week is only two weeks away! In honor of this year's theme, Books with Beat, we're featuring a book with a definate beat as our Online Book Club pick!
Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway (in about 100 words):

What if your boyfriend wrote a song about you? Wouldn’t that be cool? Well, what if he wrote it about when you broke up with him and your name was a major part of the chorus? What if that song went on to be part of a best selling album? And you were still in high school? And people you’ve never even talked to before are yelling your name in the halls? Oh, and did I mention the paparazzi trying to follow you and your best friend, your new boyfriend, or even your mom around, when all you want to do is be the same you you’ve always been? All of that and more happens to Audrey in Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway!

Now, go read it if you haven't already and come back and answer some questions! Oh, hey, remember to come to Teen Central tomorrow at 4 PM to meet the author of last month's Online Book Club pick!

Question #1:

Have you ever been the subject of unwanted attention like Audrey? What happened? What was that like?

Local Author Visit!

Come to Teen Central on Tuesday and meet local author Bonnie Doerr. Bonnie wrote last month's Online Book Club pick Island Sting and she has another great teen mystery coming out in January. She'll be talking about her books, how she wrote them, and how they finally got to publication. So, if you've ever thought about being an author or if you like mystery novels, come to Teen Central on Tuesday at 4 PM.