New Programming Ideas

I am quite often bursting at the seams to pitch new programming ideas - it comes from a decade of volunteering to run panels and events at various conventions around Florida. However, all the best ideas in the world aren't worth a lick if they aren't what you, yes, you, teenaged member of Palm Harbor Library, want to do. I haven't been a teenager in a few years and change, and we all know how quickly what's "cool" changes from year to year.

So tell us what you most want to see. Give the teen programming some direction! Please vote in the new poll, located on the sidebar. If you'd love to see something that isn't listed, comment here with what sort of ideas you have! We can't wait to see what you want. Don't worry about being vague or specific - just let us know what you want and we'll fill the calendar to the best of our abilities.

YALSA Reading Challenge

A good challenge can be just the fire needed to get moving on a great goal - like reading more. YALSA is presenting a challenge that has some great bragging rights and the chance to win a bookworm's dream prize - a tote full of 2012 and 2013 YA Lit titles! Follow this link to learn more:

http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2013/02/03/yalsas-2013-hub-reading-challenge-begins/

Speaking of reading challenges, this is a great challenge to combine with the reading challenge presented by Goodreads!

http://www.goodreads.com/challenges/940-2013-reading-challenge

There is no physical prize at the end of this rainbow, but the satisfaction of setting and attaining a reading goal. And, hey, it might coincide nicely with the summer reading program coming up soon (which will feature a contest with prizes)!

Secret (Book) Valentine!

Feburary 14, 3:00 to 5:00 PM, Harbor Room

You'll meet new people and win new books at this fun new Valentine's Day program! Come play a game of White Elephant and see what book you can keep safe and yours. A safe and crazy fun way to meet new people.

Blind Date book display from Mercer County Library

We hope you'll join us to mingle with new and old friends and win some great new YA titles in the process!

I Love Him to Pieces

My Boyfriend is a Monster #1 - I Love Him to Pieces by Evonne Tsang and Janina Gorrissen.

I am not a zombie fan. I know, I'm a terrible fantasy fan. But even though I don't like zombies, I adored this first book in what looks like will be a cute comic series. It's a love story between a jock and a geek that developed fast but believably, and then there are zombies. The zombies were even more sudden than the love story, but the characters kept me reading along.

Bonus, it takes place right here in Pinellas! St. Pete is overrun with zombies first. Keep an eye out!

Secret Lives Of

For children and teens, interest in a TV show or a video game usually denotes a limited reading resource. Sometimes the same holds true for a book series - hype may interest someone into reading one series, but that interest may not carry over into branching out to read other books. Fanfiction creates a bridge between the non-literary and an impossibly vast world of literature.

While “fanfiction” may not be considered by all to be literature, it is words on a page - words that may be more interesting to a reluctant reader than a published writing. Fanfiction brings characters to life in a whole new way that is more understandable to struggling readers because they might have been written by that reader’s peers.

Fanfiction not only encourages reading, but it can inspire writing as well. Fans of a series will often want to know more about characters and events- and fanfiction gives them a chance to decide what that “more” is for themselves.

The Palm Harbor Library will be offering Fanfiction workshops, exercises, discussions, contests, and more through the website Figment. We are running a private group called The Secret Lives Of, in which we will promote reading, writing, and sharing. You can find it here: http://figment.com/groups/12684-The-Secret-Lives-Of Please feel free to sign up today and get ready to start the new year off with a bit of magic and wonder.