This is the latest book by the author of Elsewhere, and it is even better.  In Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, Naomi falls down the stairs at the front of her school, hits her head and passes out.  When she wakes up the first thing she hears is James telling the EMTs that he is her boyfriend.  When they get to the hospital, Naomi knows her name, but she doesn’t know why she is in the hospital, what year it is, that James is not her boyfriend, or that her parents are divorced- she has forgotten the last four years of her life.  Once she gets out of the hospital, she has to try to start living her life again, but it’s not easy.  Along with her memories, she’s lost her likes and dislikes: why she’s dating boring, binge-drinking athlete Ace; why she spent hours every day co-editing the yearbook; what made her mad enough at her Mom to give her the silent treatment for three years; why she hates her Dad’s fiancée.  Everyone expects Naomi to go right back to her old life, but without her memories, she’s no longer the person she was. 

This is a really good story, and an excellent read.  It’s partially a family story, and partially a romance, but mainly it’s about a girl who is trying really hard to put the pieces of her broken life back together.  While her amnesia is in no way a good thing, in some cases it gives her a new perspective on her choices and lets her try things that she might not have in her pre-accident life.
 

Courtesy of flickr user TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

Preparing a college application package or looking for an after school job?  This is the workshop for you. 

Saturday Sept. 26 at 2:30pm in the Conference Room (Mezzanine level)

We’ll go over the basics of crafting a professional resume, and get into tips and tricks for formatting a resume for the job you want.   
Bring your resume if you have one (printed out!) and we’ll learn tips and tricks for making your resume a winner.     
 

Good Read!

Molly and Trevor have been dating for three months, ever since Trevor dumped Barbie-doll Felicia.  Trevor is pressuring to take things to the next level, but Molly’s not so sure.   Kissing Trevor feels amazing, but it’s only been three months and he’s still refusing to meet her family.  When Molly catches Trevor kissing his ex, she’s heartbroken but vows to move on.  With Trevor trying to win her back, and her best friend trying to set her up with a string of rebound guys, Molly finds solace in the place she least expected it: her little neighbor’s Girl Corps troupe.  Sure, at fifteen she looks out-of-place among the pre-teen Girl Corps, but hanging out with the troupe is giving her a sense of empowerment and identity she’s never had before.   

Girl to the Core is a really fun read.  Molly is a good character and her relationships with her friends and with the younger girls are interesting and authentic.  She gets herself into some difficult situations, but with her strong sense of family and the lessons she learns at Girl Corps, she manages to become a stronger person because of them.
 

image thanks to flickr user Margarida Sardo

There's a new weekly program happening just for teens. Every Wednesday, we'll be doing something fun in the Teen Lounge around 4 p.m. All you have to do is stop in.

TODAY, we're making movies!

Here are some of the things we might be doing in the coming weeks: 

Craft MANIA. All of our crafts will be on the table. You can make jewelry, buttons, cards, art--whatever you want!

Board games. We've got Life, Guess Who, Scattergories, and more

Superfast art competition. The best drawing done in 30 minutes wins

Make your own comics

Puzzle competitions

image courtesy of user All Glass Photo

Calling all teens! Are you a Chess Rookie, self-proclaimed Chess Titan or a Seasoned Hardcore Veteran Chessmaster?  Whatever your level, test your wits and put your mate in check this Tuesday, September 29 from 4 - 5:30 P.M., in the Power Library Study Rooms on the Lower Level.

Come and:

-Learn how to play.

-Join in casual pick-up games.

-Just hang out and spectate your fellow mates!

Sets will be provided, but feel free to bring your own if you'd like, along with your friends and your A game. See you there!

This summer, we held a graphic novel workshop at the library as part of Teen Summer Reading. I was so impressed with the work of one of the participants, Heidi Lohr, that I thought I would share her drawings with you!

Auden is the child of divorced university professors.  Pretty much since birth she’s been pressured to succeed academically, and in the quest for the highest grades and most attractive college application package she’s missed out on a lot.  She’s never had close friends, been in a food fight, or learned to ride a bike.  Her acceptance to a prestigious college secured, she heads off to spend the summer with her Dad and his new wife and daughter.  All is not well at her Dad’s house, and the stress soon has Auden wandering the streets of the sea-side town at night, plagued with insomnia.  She soon meets the small town’s other sleepless residents, including Eli, a boy with a secret hurt of his own.  Eli and Auden decide to spend the summer nights filling in her lost carefree highschool years.

Along for the Ride is sweet and funny.  Dessen is as amazing as always at describing the nuances of families and writing characters that sound and act authentic. Highly recommended, especially if you liked Dessen's other books.

Our next book club meeting was originally planned for September 24,  but there is an open house at the middle school that night, so we will be meeting on September 29 instead. Let’s meet at 6 p.m. In the Teen Lounge. As always, we’ll have pizza.

The book we will be reading and discussing this month is The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
http://www.darienlibrary.org/catalog/record/95750. Copies of the book are available at the front desk.

Hope you can make it!

A few years ago 30-something Sarah Brown started sharing her old diaries with friends and strangers, through the web and at a coffee-house event in New York.  The project prompted an open call for old teenage journals, poetry and other writings from anyone willing to share; the most cringe-worthy and embarrassing results became this book.  The entries are funny and sad, but it shows pretty clearly that a lot of people go through the same experiences.   

As an FYI- Cringe contains uncensored journal entries, and some of the subjects covered are pretty sobering and explicit.  Brown’s and the original authors’ approach to all the entries is tongue-in-cheek, so the commentary does not take even the most heart-wrenching subjects seriously.   
 

In the America of the distant future books are outlawed.  Guy Montag is a fireman, a burner of books, who has always followed the rules.  He likes his life, and has never really questioned it, until one day, on his way home from work, he meets a unique young woman who is walking near his house.  Soon after, his wife overdoses on sleeping pills and is revived by uncaring paramedics.  Finally, while at work he accidentally reads a line of a book, something he has never done in his long and distinguished career.   He steals the book, placing himself among the ranks of the insane and probably dangerous. 

The book by Ray Bradbury came out in 1953 and is an excellent read.  This new graphic novel adaptation by Tim Hamilton is faithful to the original and brings the characters to life once again.

Image courtesy of Flickr user Poccreia who assures that the pictured books were not burned maliciously.