This month’s Teen Open Game Night is Friday February 20 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Hewlett Room at GPL. Teens ages 13-18 are welcome. Play Nintendo Wii and PS2.   We have 2 projectors for bigger than life action and two tv’s.  Show off your moves with DDR and Guitar Hero. Challenge someone to a board game or card game. Bring your own games and your friends. We’ll have drinks and munchies on hand.  Teen Open Game Night is sponsored by the TAB (Teen Advisory Board) at GPL.

The first ever Read-It-Forward in GISD has begun. The Georgetown Middle Schools and Ninth Grade Center join Georgetown Public Library to offer this fun and creative reading experience. Over 400 copies of  Gordon Korman’s book Schooled have been released at various locations on their campuses as well as at GPL. Students who find the packages first get to unwrap and start the reading chain.

Each book has instructions describing steps that the reader should take when the book is finished. 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 and “read-it-forward” by passing it to a friend or leaving it somewhere on campus for another student to find. With so many copies circulating, the goal is to have at least 1000 readers before the end of school.

Georgetown Public Library and the Friends of the Library will host an “After-Schooled” wrap up party on May 9, 2009.  So, read the book, pass it on, get the invitation and then party.  We’ll celebrate the end of Read it Forward with pizza, tie dying, Guitar Hero and more.  Watch for more details on the Schooled tracking site, your campus web page or check with your librarian.

Now go get schooled.

Thirteen Reasons Why

by Jay Asher

Clay Jensen had a crush on Hannah Baker.  He hoped he was finally getting to know her better.  That was until she committed suicide.  Two weeks later, as he is struggling with the aftermath of her death, Clay finds a shoebox addressed to him on his porch.  Inside the shoebox was the last thing he wanted or expected.  The shoebox contained tapes recorded by Hannah.  Hannah’s voice explains that there are 13 reasons she decided to end her life.  Clay is one of them.  If he listens he will find out why.  What follows is a nerve wracking, life altering night where Clay travels around town learning things about himself and others he would rather not face.  Through the tapes, Hannah’s life and death unfold showing us that we never know how people are connected or what kind of effect our actions and words will have on someone else.  Once you listen, Hannah’s voice will grab you and not let you go.

If you like this book try: Before I Die by Jenny Downham, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin, Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen, I Heart You Your Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder

Notes from the Midnight Driver

by Jordan Sonnenblick

So Alex Gregory made one little mistake.  So what?  He’s a good kid.  Nobody was hurt in the car crash except a garden gnome.  It wasn’t really his fault anyway.  Now, in order to fulfill the community service hours given to him by a hardhearted judge, Alex must baby sit some crazy, cranky old guy at the nursing home where his mom works.  This on top of school, jazz band, his parents impending divorce, and his confusing feelings for his best friend Laurie, who by the way could kill him with one finger.  What did he do to deserve this?  This is the story of Alex Gregory, his guitar, his best pal, Laurie, and the friendship of a lifetime.

If you liked this book, try these other books by Jordan Sonnenblick: Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie; Zen and the Art of Faking It