Gamers are Readers Too

So, how many of you got new video games over the holidays? And how many of you have spent every waking minute absorbed in these games? I’m not even a gamer, but since Christmas morning, I have spent all of my non-eating, non-sleeping, and non-working time playing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (a super amazing game, by [...]

This Is a Post

There’s no form of joke I love more than a quirky, weird one-liner. One-liners make such incisive observations that, like a good poem, they can spark your imagination and make you see the world differently. One of my favorite one-liner comedians is Demetri Martin, whose cutesy off-the-wall humor makes me crack up almost every time. [...]

Poetry On Wednesday: Winter Stars

My father once broke a man’s hand Over the exhaust pipe of a John Deere tractor. That’s how Larry Levis opens up the poem “Winter Stars”.  One of the more gripping opening lines of a poem, it’s also maybe not what you’d expect from a poem so entitled.  Perhaps “Winter Stars” called to your mind [...]

Revenge is a Book Best Served Cold.

                    Please enjoy this booklist featuring characters intent on getting even. Anderson, Jodi Lynn Loser/Queen High school nonentity Cammy Hall lives with her grandparents and has one friend–Gerdi, the Danish foreign exchange student–but when someone starts sending her mysterious text messages with instructions that make her [...]

Happy Boxing Day

Boxing Day is a holiday in many British Commonwealth nations.  The thing is, nobody’s completely sure where it came from.  This article on Snopes says that it’s not related to the cardboard containers now empty of your presents, or an outbreak of violence after one-too-many family holiday gatherings.  Both Snopes and the article on Wikipedia cover most of the big theories on the origins of [...]

Winter Break Boredom.

Happy Winter Break! It is now December 23rd and winter break has just begun. Once all the eating and gift giving subsides you will definitely be looking for some free or low-cost fun! Here are my top five suggestions! 1. Visit your local library for a free program! You can make a winter bracelet at Hazelwood or a party hat at [...]

Beautiful Books

How often have we heard that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover? That it’s what’s on the inside that counts? With the increasing popularity of the e-book, free of any frills and fuss, it would seem that we are listening. HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and St. Martin’s Press have all reported a substantial [...]

Teen WINTER Reading Raffle @ Main, Teen Department

You’ve probably heard of Teen Summer Reading; it’s our annual program where we give out prizes to encourage you to read during the summer break. (You’re welcome.) It’s a great program and always super busy. Well, this year the Teen Department at Main library in Oakland is running a Teen Winter Reading Raffle. Actually, it [...]

Calling All Comic, Graphic Novel, and Manga Readers!!!

The nominations for YALSA’s 2012 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list have been finalized!  All year I’ve been reading all the new graphic novels, superhero stories, and manga I can get my hands on to evaluate and nominate titles, because last year I was selected as a committee member for this list.  But the committee [...]

Great Opening Lines

A great opening line can hook the reader immediately.  The American Book Review compiled a list of the 100 Best First Lines from Novels.  To me, the grand-daddy of first lines was the opening of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the [...]