BONUS Bonus Post: Teen Read Week!!!

I totally forgot to mention that we're having a kick-off party for Teen Read Week!!! The theme this year is "Turn Dreams Into Reality," and we're going all out! We're going to brighten up the library with banners and sidewalk chalk, decorate a cloud bookshelf, and eat pizza and cloud Jell-O!

We're having a fun night on Thursday, Oct. 16, too! The JMU Golden Key group is going to teach us how to make dreamcatchers, and we'll enjoy ice cream floats!

You guys will also get the first chance to enter in for one of our TRW drawing prizes! If you drop your check-out receipt in the box at Circulation, you'll be entered in a drawing for one of the amazing prizes! We have gift certificates and goodies from all over Downtown Harrisonburg. You could get a prize from:

Blue Nile
Bella Luna
Benny Sorrentino's
Earth & Tea Cafe
Las Chamas
You Made It!
Larkin Arts
Glen's Fair Price Store
The Indian & American Cafe

All you have to do is check out a book to enter! How amazing is that?!

Here are the deets:

Teen Read Kick-off @ Main Library

10/11/2014

Get ready for Teen Read Week (October 12-17) by celebrating with a party! Snacks will be provided. Make awesome art and watch the video from the Book Domino event. You can even enter your name for prize drawings! This event is for ages 11-17.

Location:

Main Library-downtown Harrisonburg

A Night on Cloud 9 @ Main Library

10/16/2014

Celebrate Teen Read Week and "Turn Dreams Into Reality!" Teens, ages 11-17, come make a dreamcatcher and enjoy an ice cream float, provided by JMU Golden Key. Don't forget to drop your checkout receipt in the box at Circulation for a chance to win a prize! We have over $100 in prizes from awesome businesses in downtown Harrisonburg!

Location:

Main Library - downtown Harrisonburg

Furious Flower Poetry Conference

The JMU Furious Flower Poetry Conference is happening right now! It's a gathering centered around African American poetry, complete with writer Q&As and awesome discussions with scholars. If you want to attend, you don't have much time left! It started Wednesday and is wrapping up tomorrow (with special events on Saturday). Here's the schedule.

Here are two poems, "Maple Valley Branch Library, 1967" and "Heart to Heart," by former US Poet Laureate Rita Dove, who will be at the event!

Bonus Post: Teen Dominoes!

We're having an awesome event on Saturday. We'll be setting up books like dominoes! It will go a little like this:

Come help us make something amazing! There will be pizza!

Teen Dominoes @ Main Library

9/6/2014

Were you ever obsessed with dominoes? Put those skills to use and help us make a domino chain of books! Enjoy pizza, fun, and book dominoes! You may even end up on an impressive video to promote the library. Come back in a month for the Teen Reed Kick-off (October 11) for the video premiere!
Ages 11-17 Event.

Location:
Main Library-downtown Harrisonburg

Before the Summer Ends + HARRY POTTER BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!

It's the end of July! That means you've got some serious summer reading to fit into the last few weeks before school starts up again. To give you some inspiration, check out the following:

• YALSA is having a Teen Blogging Contest for Teen Read Week! If you're passionate about YA lit and love to blog, this is perfect for you. TRW isn't until October--more about that later--but you only have until August 1 (that's Friday!) to sign up for the contest! Click here for more information.
• This one isn't just for the girls! Meg Medina, author of Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass and The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind, and Gigi Amateau, author of Claiming Georgia Tate and Come August, Come Freedom, made a summer reading list of books about amazing girls. This list is awesome, and should be required reading for any kid, in my opinion. (I'm still working my way through some of them!) Fun fact: Both authors live in Richmond!
• Veronica Roth did an interview with Goodreads about her Divergent trilogy and subsequent prequel(ish) quartet of short stories about the male lead, Four. It has some major spoilers, so don't read it unless you've read at least up to Allegiant. Before you go back to school, this is a perfect time to get caught up on one of the hottest literary trends of the past few years! Then read the interview to get some questions answered for you.

The coolest and most awesome thing you can do before July ends is come to the Harry Potter birthday party we're having at the library tomorrow night! It's going to have everything: Butterbeer, Hagrid's (cup)cakes, wandmaking at Ollivander's, the Sorting Hat, and even Quidditch. That's right--the JMU Quidditch Team is going to be here to teach us the greatest wizarding sport ever and help us play a game. It's going to be amazing, so put on your best HP costume and come to the Main branch to throw Harry Potter the best birthday party he never had!

Happy Birthday, Harry Potter!

7/31/2014

Teens (ages 11-17) are invited to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday by drinking butterbeer, making your own wand, and playing his favorite wizarding sport with the JMU Quidditch team. You'll even be sorted into one of the Hogwarts Houses!

Location:

Main Library-downtown Harrisonburg