The Heroes of Olympus Update + Percy Jackson Book!!!

Rick Riordan gave his fans a plethora of amazing spoilers on his blog. Let's bullet point this:

• If you've downloaded the short story "The Staff of Serapis," which features Annabeth Chase + Sadie Kane, you'll get a sneak peek of the first chapter of The Blood of Olympus. (Here's a sample of the first few pages of "The Staff of Serapis"!)
• BTW, here's the cover for the final book in The Heroes of Olympus series, due to be released October 7:

• RR also released some info about the book itself, including its length (about as long as the others) and what will happen at the end (no epilogue or cliffhangers but complete closure for the characters and story arc!).
• Before that, though, you can read Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, and the illustrations look bananas. (Not like actual fruit bananas, but like, "it's so cool, it's making me crazy, like I'm 'going bananas.'" You guys remember Gwen Stefani, right??)

 

• RR also mentioned what his next two projects are going to be and MAN, they sound good!!
• His next series will be based on Norse mythology! It will be released Fall 2015, though the title (and some hints??) will be revealed at the end of The Blood of Olympus. 
• Also, here's a quote directly from RR:

Other things going on: I am presently writing the third crossover story in the Kane/Percy Jackson saga, in which Percy, Sadie, Carter and Annabeth finally team up all together. This will be told from Percy's point of view, a la the 'old school' Percy Jackson novels. I'm having a lot of fun with it. I'll get you more info -- the title, the publication date -- as soon as it's all confirmed.

!!! Worlds are colliding, guys! I'm going to wear out the + key on my keyboard, talking about Pecy + Sadie + Carter + Annabeth.
• THE LOST HERO GRAPHIC NOVEL LOOKS SO GOOOOOOD!

• RR also mentioned he's going on a book tour starting October 7 to promote The Blood of Olympus, as well as the new paperback boxset that's been released.

It's just been a really exciting week for RR/Percy Jackson fans. If you're not up-to-date on any of his books--or if you want to read them over again--check them out from MRL!

Photo credits: Rick Riordan, Nate Powell, someone named Wes? Sorry Wes, I don't know you, but cool bed. Very Rocko's Modern Life.

Guest Post // North River Library Neighborhood: Summertime

Welcome to the North River Library Neighborhood! Summer of 2014 has been a busy one as of today, we have registered 816 youth ages 0-17 in the Summer Reading Games here at NRL. Summer reading culminates on August 9. We have provided Crafty Kids on Wednesdays with stories and STEM activities. Legos Club on the second Tuesday of each month throughout the year continues to be a big hit for children in grades K-5. Story times on Thursday mornings for children ages 0-5 have grown to our largest two with 90 participants combined. For adolescent patrons, a local Girl Scout has created writers support groups for her Gold Award. Students have met several times to share and discuss their personal writing pieces. The adult book group read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and enjoyed a discussion of the questions the book raised regarding life and death. Ms. Moyes' most recent book, One Plus One, is on order to arrive at NRL in early August.

 

Bonus Post: New Mockingjay Teaser!

A new Mockingjay Part 1 teaser was released. I didn't think it was possible they could outdo the first one BUT THEY DID.

ENJOY:

Dumbledore's Army Reunion BY J.K. ROWLING!!

J.K. Rowling wrote an amazing update for the Dumbledore's Army for Pottermore.

(If you don't know what Pottermore is, it's an online Harry Potter resource, with games [you can make potions and cast spells!] and a very safe social aspect [it's completely anonymous]. You follow the course of the books through chapters--meaning you answer quiz questions written by Queen Jo herself to get sorted into a house at Hogwarts in the first one! Plus there is so much background on all your favorite characters, locations, potions... It's just really cool and fun! Wait until you read Professor McGonagall's background; she's fantastic.)

Queen Jo wrote an article as Rita Skeeter and posted in on Pottermore yesterday as though Dumbledore's Army (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna) had a reunion at the Quidditch World Cup! You also get an update on some other faves. In case you were wondering, the article mentions that Harry is 34 years old (The Deathly Hallows takes place from 1997-1998).

When I first started reading it, I saw it on Tumblr without seeing the caption and I just thought it was an insanely good fanfic, but I got to a certain point and realized it was her...it was the queen. If you come to the Harry Potter Birthday Party on July 31, we can gab about everything and--oh, enough talk! Here's the article she posted! (If you zoom in, you'll have to read all the left columns before the right ones.)

Major spoiler alert!! If you don't want to know what they're up to all these years later, do not read past this sentence!

Walter Dean Myers

Award-winning author Walter Dean Myers passed away this week. Check out his biography on Teenreads for more insight on why he was an amazing individual. Check out his books from MRL to find out why his children's and young adult books are so important.

Amazing Books from YALSA

We got a grant from YALSA for the Top Ten Teen Book Nominees, and you guys love them. There are hardly any left on the shelf! Check out these pics of some teens enjoying them:

Adaptation News!!!

THERE'S A MOCKINGJAY PART 1 TEASER THAT'S SO AMAZING IT MAKES ME WANT TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS.

"PANEM TODAY, PANEM TOMORROW, PANEM FOREVER."

Wow, guys. This is going to be great. Which reminds me...

I've been speculating with people about where the first part of Mockingjay is going to end. It's not like the book is easily broken into parts. Where do you think they're going to end Mockingjay Part 1? Comment with your thoughts.
*Note: This makes the comment section definitely a spoiler zone! Watch out for that!

Also, if you haven't heard already, John Green broke some major news on his Twitter last night:

So excited to announce that the brilliant filmmaker Sarah Polley will be writing and directing a film adaptation of Looking for Alaska.
— John Green (@realjohngreen) June 26, 2014

For those of you keeping tally of John Green movie adaptations:
TFiOS: Check
LfA: They're working on it
Paper Towns: Other people are working on it
An Abundance of Katherines: Some other people might be working on that one, too? There have been rumors.

So if you like John Green's books, this is a really good week for you.

And finally, we've all been totally excited for the addition to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios--and totally jealous of anyone who's lucky enough to visit. But now you can see what it's all about! Slash Film offers us an insight into Diagon Alley with tons of detailed pics of the decor, props, and even food & drinks! Take a look around and enjoy--and get ready for the Harry Potter Birthday Party we're throwing here at the library on July 31 (more details to follow)!

Mockingjay Part 1 News!

Can't wait for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1? Here's something to satiate you until November:
TheCapitol.pn
The site includes portraits of typical members of select districts and even has Capitol TV! You have to register to enter that portion of the site, but enjoy the amazing portraits below!

Click photo to enlarge

From Lionsgate

From Lionsgate

From Lionsgate

 

From Lionsgate

 

From Lionsgate

From Lionsgate

 

From Lionsgate

The Maze Runner + The Giver + eBooks + more!

So if you guys saw TFiOS this weekend you may have seen trailers for some other movies that are based on Young Adult books. Here were some of them:

And lucky for you, we have them all available for checkout! But did you know that we also have some of them available for online checkout? All you have to do is log in using your library card and pin and download them to your device. They work like normal checkouts, so you'll have them available for two weeks only. Here are some:

 The Maze Runner series

The Giver Quartet

The Book Thief

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series

Matched Triology

Wonder

The Hobbit

Beautiful Creatures series

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series

The Maximum Ride series

The Iron Fey series

...and we have tons more available. We also have magazines and audiobooks! Start browsing now!

LAST TFIOS Movie Entry, Okay?? (...Okay.)

This is it, you guys. The TFIOS movie is coming out this week. My expectations are so high, they are going to come crashing to the ground if it isn't perfect. But as John Green said in his vlog, he doesn't get a cut from the movie, and if he didn't like it he would say so, and he loves it, so that's a good sign.

So to get you psyched for the premiere, here are some links you may want to check out:

• In case you're lucky enough to traverse far and wide, you can see TFIOS tonight instead of Friday! It's called The Night Before Our Stars, and it includes a simulcast with the cast/crew/author, live performances by Birdy and Nat & Alex Wolff, and gifts, such as a charm bracelet and poster. Attendees will also get to see John Green's cameo, which was famously cut from the film. (Or some theaters, like the Harrisonburg Regal 14, are doing "midnight" showings at around 9:00 PM, without all the fancy stuff. Still! The movie!)
• BuzzFeed has been obsessed with TFIOS. Here are 8 cool facts about the book/movie that you may not have known! (For example, did you know the "I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once" line was inspired by Hemingway?)
• Ansel, Shai, and John drew what they thought love looked like, and the results are adorkable.



• John Green was recently featured in The New Yorker. The article is long because it follows him around as he does a lot of what he does in his life--and he has a lot going on, obviously--but if you read anything, skip to the bottom and read from the giant O to the end. It describes a video chat that John has with a group of kids who happen to have cancer. I don't want to tell you much about it, except that they have questions you might have about the book/movie and he answers them, so you might get some resolution (or not).
• This movie reviewer from the Chicago Sun-Times says Shailene Woodley should get an Oscar for TFIOS. Wow.
• Finally, after you watch TFIOS and want some more books to read this summer (because, you know, you need to get your hours in for the SUMMER READING GAMES), here's a suggested list of 17 books you may also like!