Thursday, October 30, 2014

Happy Halloween: Anime Club's zombie creations!


At the library's Anime Club Halloween meeting on Tuesday, we took old Barbies and transformed them into creepy zombies! We first dyed the doll clothes brown, and then painted the dolls' bodies and clothes after they dried. As you can tell, everyone got really creative (and a bit twisted!)...

Princess Jasmine... you've changed.
Très chic zombie
Zombies get haircuts, too.
Bad hair day zombie

These are fun homemade decorations for Halloween or as a gift for fans of the TV show The Walking Dead. Happy Halloween!

2014 Teens' Top Ten

Teens around the country voted on their favorite books from the past year, and here are the top ten (here are the nominated titles):

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits--smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

Splintered by A.G. Howard
A descendant of the inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, sixteen-year-old Alyssa Gardner fears she is mentally ill like her mother until she finds that Wonderland is real and, if she passes a series of tests to fix Alice's mistakes, she may save her family from their curse.

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
As Wild Chalklings threaten the American Isles and Rithmatists are humanity's only defense, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice.


The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
Cassie Sullivan, the survivor of an alien invasion, must rescue her young brother from the enemy with help from a boy who may be one of them.

Monument 14: Sky on Fire by Emmy Laybourne
A group of survivors, originally trapped together in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, has split in two--one group heading to Denver airport on a repaired school bus, the other remaining in the Sanctuary trying to rebuild the community they lost. But the world outside is dark and filled with dangerous chemicals that turn people into bloodthirsty monsters.

Earth Girl by Janet Edwards
Only the disabled are living on Earth in 2788. Eighteen-year-old Jarra decides she wants to prove to the norms that she is the same as they are.

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
Sixteen-year-old Malencia (Cia) Vale is chosen to participate in The Testing to attend the University; however, Cia is fearful when she figures out her friends who do not pass The Testing are disappearing.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
At age eight, David watched as his father was killed by an Epic, a human with superhuman powers, and now, ten years later, he joins the Reckoners--the only people who are trying to kill the Epics and end their tyranny.

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
Hunted across the True Sea and haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret.

The Eye of Minds by James Dashner
Michael is a skilled internet gamer in a world of advanced technology. When a cyber-terrorist begins to threaten players, Michael is called upon to seek him and his secrets out.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

New October releases

Redeemed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Final book in the House of Night series. Zoey and her friends face the ultimate battle with evil, which will determine the fate of the world, both human and vampyre.

BZRK Apocalypse by Michael Grant
In the concluding book in the BZRK trilogy, war is again being waged in the macro and the nano, and Lear's identity is finally uncovered.

Glory O'Brien's History of the Future by A.S. King
As her high school graduation draws near, Glory O'Brien begins having powerful and terrifying visions of the future as she struggles with her long-buried grief over her mother's suicide.

How it Went Down by Kekla Magoon
When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson is shot to death, his community is thrown into an uproar because Tariq was black and the shooter, Jack Franklin, is white, and in the aftermath everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events agree.

My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories edited by Stephanie Perkins
If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you're going to fall in love with My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by the international bestselling Stephanie Perkins. Whether you enjoy celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or New Years, there's something here for everyone.

Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero
Sixteen-year-old Gabi Hernandez chronicles her senior year in high school as she copes with her friend Cindy's pregnancy, friend Sebastian's coming out, her father's meth habit, her own cravings for food and cute boys, and especially, the poetry that helps forge her identity.

UnDivided by Neal Shusterman
Three teens band together in order to sway the government to repeal all rulings in support of a procedure in which unwanted teenagers are captured and are unwound into parts that can be reused for transplantation.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs. The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost.

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow, illustrated by Jen Wang
Anda loves Coarsegold Online, the massively-multiplayer role playing game that she spends most of her free time on. It's a place where she can be a leader, a fighter, a hero. It's a place where she can meet people from all over the world, and make friends. But things become a lot more complicated when Anda befriends a gold farmer -- a poor Chinese kid whose avatar in the game illegally collects valuable objects and then sells them to players from developed countries with money to burn. This behavior is strictly against the rules in Coarsegold, but Anda soon comes to realize that questions of right and wrong are a lot less straightforward when a real person's real livelihood is at stake.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

"It Came From the Library:" Creepy books and thrillers to read in October


Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender
When fifteen-year-old Lexi's younger sister Kasey begins behaving strangely and their old Victorian house seems to take on a life of its own, Lexi investigates and discovers some frightening facts about previous occupants of the house, leading her to believe that many lives are in danger.

Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough
When Cora and her younger sister, Mimi, are sent to stay with their great Auntie Ida in an isolated village in 1958, they discover that they are in danger from a centuries-old evil and, along with village boys Roger and Peter, strive to uncover the horrifying truth before it is too late.

The Infects by Sean Beaudoin
Seventeen-year-old Nero is stuck in the wilderness with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents on an "Inward Trek." As if that weren't bad enough, his counselors have turned into flesh-eating maniacs overnight and are now chowing down on his fellow miscreants. These kids have seen zombie movies. They know the rules. Unfortunately, knowing the rules isn't going to be enough.

Ashes by Ilsa Bick
Alex, a resourceful seventeen-year-old running from her incurable brain tumor, Tom, who has left the war in Afghanistan, and Ellie, an angry eight-year-old, join forces after an electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky and kills most of the world's population, turning some of those who remain into zombies and giving the others superhuman senses. More in this series: Shadows, Monsters

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll (new)
A collection of five spine-tingling short stories.

Fear: 13 Stories of Suspense and Horror edited by R.L. Stine
A collection of thirteen scary stories by bestselling and award-winning authors.

Darkwater by Catherine Fisher
Sixteen-year-old Sarah sells her soul to reclaim her family's estate and is given 100 years to atone for their sins, but as the bargain nears its end, modern-day Tom, yearning to attend the private school that Darkwater Hall has become, gets caught up in the bargain.

The Poisoned House by Michael Ford
As the widowed master of an elegant house in Victorian-era London slips slowly into madness and his tyrannical housekeeper takes on more power, a ghostly presence distracts a teenaged maidservant with clues to a deadly secret.


The Enemy by Charlie Higson
As a disease turns everyone over sixteen into brainless, decomposing, flesh-eating creatures, a group of teenagers head to London. Ed, Jack, Bam and the other students at Rowhurst School learn more about the Disaster, and meet an adult who seems to be immune to the disease. Read more in this series: The Dead, The Fear, The Sacrifice, The Fallen

Scowler by Daniel Kraus
In the midst of a 1981 meteor shower in Iowa, a homicidal maniac escapes from prison and returns to the farm where his nineteen-year-old son, Ry, must summon three childhood toys--Mr. Furrington, Jesus Christ, and Scowler--to protect himself, his eleven-year-old sister, Sarah, and their mother.

Extremities: Stories of Death, Murder, and Revenge by David Lubar
A group of high school girls takes revenge on their sadistic gym teacher in the most fitting way possible. Two stowaways find themselves on a ship for the dead. An ancient predator stalks the wrong victim. Here are thirteen tales of death, murder, and revenge.

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
Seventeen-year-old Jazz learned all about being a serial killer from his notorious "Dear Old Dad," but believes he has a conscience that will help fight his own urges and right some of his father's wrongs, so he secretly helps the police apprehend the town's newest murderer, "The Impressionist." Read more in this series: Game

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter. Read more in this series: Dust and Decay, Flesh and Bone, Fire and Ash

The End Games by T. Michael Martin
In the rural mountains of West Virginia, seventeen-year-old Michael Faris tries to protect his fragile younger brother from the horrors of the zombie apocalypse.

Amity by Micol Ostow (new)
Two teens narrate the terrifying days and nights they spend living in a house of horrors.

Witch World by Christopher Pike
On a high school graduation road trip to Las Vegas, Jessie, still in love with ex-boyfriend Jimmy, discovers that she possesses extraordinary powers and the ability to exist in both the real world and an alternate one.

The Turning by Francine Prose
A teen boy becomes the babysitter for two very peculiar children on a haunted island in this modern retelling of The Turn of the Screw.

Dreams of the Dead by Thomas Randall
After her mother dies, sixteen-year-old Kara and her father move to Japan, where he teaches and she attends school, but she is haunted by a series of frightening nightmares and deaths that might be revenge--or something worse. Read more in this series: Spirits of the Noh

The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
When a mysterious threat reenters the lives of twins Ben and Sheere, separated as babies and reunited as teenagers in 1930s Calcutta, the siblings must confront an unspeakable terror, with the help of their secret society of fellow orphans.

The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd
Dr. Moreau's daughter, Juliet, travels to her estranged father's island, only to encounter murder, medical horrors, and a love triangle. Read more in this series: Her Dark Curiosity

The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman
After a series of suicide-killings and a deadly storm, the residents of the town of Oleander, Kansas, start acting even more strangely than would be expected. Only the five witnesses of the murders retain their sound minds, and must band together to save the town from whatever has come over it.

The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones
After a disturbing freshman year at New York University, Mimi is happy to get away to her father's remote Canadian cottage only to discover a stranger living there who has never heard of her or her father and who is convinced that Mimi is responsible for leaving sinister tokens around the property.