The giant search engine Google is having a contest called Doodle 4 Google.  Doodles are the decorative changes made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists and scientists.   Doodle 4 Google is a competition that gives K-12 students the chance to reinvent the Google logo.  This year’s theme is: If I could do anything, I would….

Registration closes at 11:59:59 p.m. Pacific Time (PT) on March 17, 2010, and entries are due by March 31, 2010 no later than 11:59:59 P.M. Pacific Time (PT). The winning doodle will be featured on our Google.com homepage on May 27, 2010.

Click here for more information from the Doodle 4 Google website.

Whether you love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day is almost here.  Join us @ GPL to celebrate or lament the holiday.  Saturday February 13, 2010 3-4 pm.  Teens ages 12-18 are welcome to come and decorate cookies, make iPod valentines, make duct tape roses, and enjoy the deliciousness of a chocolate fountain. Think of it as our little valentine to you.

For more information call Bethni King at 930-3551 or visit http://teenspace.georgetown.org/events-calendar/

The 2010 Michael L. Printz Award has been announced.  The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.  This is the big annual prize for young adult literature.

And the 2010 winner is:

Going Bovine by Libba Bray.

Cameron Smith, a disaffected sixteen-year-old who, after being diagnosed with Creutzfeld Jakob’s (AKA mad cow) disease, sets off on a road trip with a death-obsessed video gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital in an attempt to find a cure.

Other books by Libba Bray: A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing

The 2010 Honor Books are:

Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman

Once Charles Darwin sets his rational mind to marry the religious Emma Wedgeworth, they both must take a leap of faith in order to build a life together.

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Will Henry, orphan and assistant to a monstrumologist, races against time to save his town (and himself) from the anthropophagi, a pod of monstrous creatures who prey on humans.

Other books by Rick Yancey: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon, Alfred Kropp: The Thirteenth Skull

Punkzilla by Adam Rapp

Fourteen-year-old runaway Jamie, homeless and strung out, embarks on a harrowing journey to reach his dying brother.

Other books by Adam Rapp: Ball Peen Hammer

Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973 by John Barnes

Karl Shoemaker wants to begin his senior year with a new identity separate from his counseling group, his alcoholic mother and the legacy of his dead father.

The Lightning Thief movie is almost here!  The movie will open February 12, 2010 and is based on the book The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.  Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson learns he is a demigod, the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, God of the Sea. His mother sends him to a summer camp for demigods where he and his new friends set out on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.  The movie stars Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth Chase, and Brandon T. Jackson as Grover.

Read the whole series.

Percy Jackson and the Olypians:  The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan’s Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, The Last Olympian, The Demigod Files

It’s time for the second annual Read-It-Forward extravaganza to begin. The Georgetown Middle Schools and Ninth Grade Center join the Georgetown Public Library to offer this fun and creative reading experience.

Over 400 copies of Found have been scattered around the four campuses and GPL.   Found is book one in the Missing series by Margaret Peterson Haddix. The first students to find the books get to start the reading chain.

Each book has instructions telling you exactly what you need to do after you find a book.  GPL is providing a website that will track each copy as well as reader comments. Click the Read-it-Forward graphic above or look for a link on any of the participating campus library web pages.

The most important step is to take the copy you just read and “read-it-forward” by sharing it with a friend or leaving it somewhere on campus for another student to find.

Georgetown Public Library and the Friends of the Library will host a wrap up party on April 24,2010.  So, read the book, pass it on, get the invitation and then party.  We’ll celebrate the end of Read it Forward with pizza, Wii basketball, crafts and a grand prize drawing.  Watch for more details on the Found tracking website or your school library web page.  Or check with your school librarian.

Don’t miss out- go find “Found”.

How to Read it Forward

Once you find a book- here’s what you do.

1. Read the book

2.  Autograph the back of the book

3.  Pass it to a friend or re-hide the book (aka: read it forward)

4.  Go to your library website

5.  Complete the Read it Forward Survey

7.  See your librarian for an invitation to the “Found” party

8.  Attend  for the chance to win an awesome prize

Teen Open Game Night

January 22, 2010 from 6-8 pm.

Teens ages 12-18. Rock on with Guitar Hero and  Guitar Hero: World Tour.  New games for the Wii including Guitar Hero 5, Wii Resort Sports, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, and  Super Mario Galaxy.  Thanks to the generosity of the Friends of the Georgetown Public Library we now have 2 42″ flat screen televisions.   Play games on a PS2 and the Nintendo Wii. Or bring your own stuff. And don’t forget your friends. 6-8 pm in the Hewlett Room. Sodas and snacks provided.

For more information call Bethni King at 930-3551 or visit http://library.georgetown.org/events.yacalendar.php or email bking@georgetowntx.org

Welcome to 2010!  The Teen Space@GPL begins the new year with a fantastic present from the Friends of the Georgetown Public Library.  The Friends group graciously provided funds to purchase approximately 150 DVDs for the teen area.  The DVDs are mostly motion pictures but a few new anime titles were purchased as well.  Stop by and check them out.

Thanks Friends!

This month’s Animanga @ GPL club will meet on Saturday December 12, 2009 from  3-4:30 pm in the Friends Room.

We’ll decorate Christmas cookies baked from the recipe used in the manga Princess Kitchen volume 1.  We’ll also be watching Tsubasa by Clamp.

Teens ages 12-18.  Share your passion and obsession with others like you.  Watch Anime, discuss Manga, draw, preview new Manga titles, eat snacks, and help the library purchase related materials.

For more information call Bethni King at 930-3551 or visit http://library.georgetown.org/events.yacalendar.php or email bking@georgetowntx.org

Shiver

by Maggie Stiefvater

An unusual twist on the werewolf story that is full of romance and suspense. Grace has always felt a kinship with the yellow-eyed wolf that keeps watch over her from the woods behind her house.  When fate brings her together with a boy named Sam, she knows that she has found “her wolf”. Wonderfully told with alternating narrators, Shiver tells the tale of one boy’s struggle to maintain his humanity through the enduring love of one young woman.

Click here to check if the book is currently available @ GPL.

Book guest reviewed by Amy Nolan.

If you like this book try: Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception by Maggie Stiefvater, Liar by Justine Larbalestier, Graceling by Kristin Cashore, Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klaus.