Saying Good-bye

Something that I learned when I was a teenager is that saying good-bye is not easy but it is an inevitable part of life. People come into our lives sometimes briefly, sometimes forever. We move from place to place. We graduate high school and then college and later grad school saying good-bye to the friends we made along the way. Life moves fast and it is full of good-byes. 

Good-byes are never easy.

This month is my last month at CLP-Carrick and now I must say good bye. And it will not be easy. I have seen kids grow up here from toddlers to 3rd graders; from 12 year olds to high school graduates.  It has been a wonderful six years but now it is time to say good-bye.

Good-bye to all the families that have brought your children to my storytimes, Easter Egg Hunts, Halloween Haunted Houses and various other programs. I’ve enjoyed singing and playing with your children and scaring them on Halloween!

Good-bye to all the teens that have joined our TAG group along the way. Most of you have moved on already and wish you the best of luck in all you do.

Good-bye to the staff that I have worked with at Carrick over the years. I will miss you all so much!

Good-bye to all my fellow children’s librarian and teen specialists. I’ve learned so much from you. You’ll probably see me chasing my kids threw your library doors some day soon!

Good-bye to the community members, teachers and customers of the Carrick library. Thank you for your continued support for the library!

Good-bye blog readers. Thank you for reading!

I had the time of my life!

Julie, CLP-Carrick

Teen Intern Manga Review: A Certain Scientific Railgun

Today CLP East Liberty‘s own Teen Youth Intern, Savion, will review a recently published volume of manga. It was sent to me for review by the publisher, Seven Seas, and I wanted to see if had any appeal for the teen collection. Here’s what he has to say:

This manga called A Certain Scientific Railgun by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by Motoi Fuyukawa is nothing short of awesome. The main character’s name is Mikoto Misaka. She is almost the most powerful mutant in town.

I liked this book because, the topic entertained me, and the idea of a middle school girl having the power of a railgun just seems exquisite–she basically uses electricity to fight but the voltage level is very high*. Everyone does not have powers, only the mutants–other locals are just humans. The kids who do have powers are special.

In school Mikoto and her friends learn how to control their powers and become more powerful. Every mutant has a power level that goes from 0 to 5, 5 is the most powerful level. Mikoto is a level 5 and she has the power of a railgun.

I like this book because it has a lot of action in it, like when the main character Mikoto fights other mutants. I like her use of her powers of the railgun. Another thing I like about this book is the characters’ personalities. They feel like real people but just inside of a book. I like the art style in the book. It is manga of course. This book flows a lot like anime and I happen to really like anime. I like how this book goes more on the teen side then the younger audience.

I don’t have many dislikes of this book. But it could have a better variety of powers to distinguish throughout all of the characters. I don’t like how Mikoto only uses her powers to fight. She could also use them to hack into computers and lots of other cool fun things that have to do with electricity.

I highly recommend this title for the library.

-Savion, CLP – East Liberty

*NOTE – I had to look this up while I was reading the book, so I thought I’d pass on the information: a railgun is a gun that does not use gunpowder. Instead, its power comes from an electrified magnetic field. (Click here for more detailed information.)  That’s why Mikoto’s nickname is “the Railgun”.  Check out this video to see how much destruction a railgun can create:

The library doesn’t have this book (yet?) but if you’re looking for similar action-style manga we do have these options:

Like reading about so-called “mutants”? We have a ton of X-Men comics…




 

 

 







Prefer to stick with manga?

Code:Breaker / Akimine Kamijyo: Teenage assassins with superpowers!

 

 

 

 

Rurouni Kenshin / story and art by Nobuhiro Watsuki:

Kenshin is a wandering former assassin during the Meiji period in Japan. Some of the characters have superhuman skills.

 

 

 

 

 

The Prince of Tennis / story & art by Takeshi Konomi.

What if you could defy physics? Would you use your skills to play tennis?