The whole world knows that the New Moon movie is coming out on November 20.  Many of you are probably rereading the book before you see the film.  If you love the Twilight Saga, check out these juicy paranormal read-alikes:

 Need by Carrie Jones: A group of werewolves threatens the safety of a small Maine town.

Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz: Half human, half vampire, Schuyler Van Allen must discover her place in vampire high society.

Evernight by Claudia Gray: Bianca Olivier leaves behind everything she knows when her parents become teachers at a paranormal boarding school. 

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead: At a school deep in the Montana woods, Rose Hathaway must fight with everything she has to protect her best friend, a vampire princess named Lissa.

Evermore by Allison Noel: Ever can read people’s thoughts, until she meets the mysterious Damen, who hides a deep secret even Ever cannot discover.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater: Grace has always loved the wolf who lives in her woods, but she never thought she’d meet him in person.

P.S. Don’t forget New Moon: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion and the official soundtrack CD!

– Liz

DOPE SICK by Walter Dean Myers

Life is full of choices.  If you had it to do all over again, would you make different ones?

Lil J finds himself in trouble after he participates in a drug deal gone bad, which leaves a police officer clinging to life and Lil J holding the gun.   As he tries to elude capture by the numerous cops on his trail, Lil J ends up in an abandoned building where he encounters a mysterious man who shows him episodes of his life on a television.  In each instance Lil J relives a moment where a choice he made helped to land him in the position he now  finds himself.  Lil J is forced to come to terms with his choices by the mystery man who constantly asks the question: “If you could take back anything you did, what would it be?”  Prolific Young Adult author Walter Dean Myers offers up a novel that is sure to get teens to think about the decisions they make and their consequences.

IF I GROW UP by Todd Strasser

“When you grew up in the projects, there were no choices.  No good one, at least.”

If I Grow Up offers a gritty, realistic view of growing up in the inner city where teens face touch circumstances and limited choices.  Deshawn, unlike many of his peers, is a good student and obeys his grandmother.  He knows that life in a gang or being a drug dealer is not for him, yet his options seem scarce as he struggles to take care of his family.  Although at times a bit heavy-handed, the message in this book is clear.  Strasser clearly illustrates that without positive role models, support and direction, even the best teen can get caught up in wrong situations.  One cannot help but to root for Deshawn as he tries to do the right thing and feel heartbroken when he succumbs to his environment.

JUMPED by Rita Williams-Garcia

Sometimes what you don’t say means more than what you do.

What would you do if you overheard someone saying they were going to jump someone after school and that someone doesn’t have a clue?  Would you let them know, or would you stay out of it and not say anything?  This is the dilemma Leticia finds herself in when she overhears Dominique announce that afterschool she is going to beat up Trina because she “cut into” her space as she passed by in the hallway.  Told in the alternating viewpoints of Leticia, Dominique and Trina, this novel gives readers a frightening and realistic look at teen angst and bullying.  Williams-Garcia does a masterful job at showing how the lives of these very different girls connect and how choices can have serious consequences.

– Zandra

Hayao Miyazaki has been called the Walt Disney of Japan. His gorgeously animated films have always had cult popularity in America, but his fame and success have skyrocketed in the USA after his films began to be dubbed, distributed and released by (appropriately) Disney. You might have seen titles such as Nausicaä, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle – all available on DVD through CADL.

Miyazaki’s latest animated masterpiece, Ponyo (full title “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea”), has just been released to theaters on a limited basis. It tells the story of a goldfish named Ponyo who befriends a five-year old boy and wants to become a human girl. The film has a 92% rating at RottenTomatoes at present, and is playing in Lansing-area theaters. The all-star English-language voice cast includes Cate Blanchett, Noah Cyrus, Matt Damon, Tina Fey and Liam Neeson. See it while you can, and don’t forget to check-out more films and art books from Miyazaki (click here) and Studio Ghibli at your local library!

Congratulations to all of the contributors to the Summer 2009 Teen Literary Magazine, CADL Presents: Young Voices. The submissions were fantastic!

CADL Presents: Young Voices is a collection of poetry, stories, artwork, photography and comics by area teens. In the coming weeks, a hard copy of the magazine will be available to check out at your local library. Currently, the magazine is available online in our eBook collection. Follow the link below to check out and download a copy today!

CADL Presents: Young Voices

A special congratulations is in order for Garrett S., age 11 of Williamston whose photo The Team is featured on the magazine’s front and back cover. Garrett’s photo was the winning entry in the “A Day in the Life of Williamston” photo contest.

If you like this edition of the CADL Teen Literary Magazine, check out some others.

Dare to Be
By: Teens Like You

Haslett Library Teen Advisory Board Presents:
The Teen Literary Magazine

Posted by ErinS

Several influential people have spent time in Lansing—basketball great Magic Johnson; Hootie and the Blowfish drummer Jim ‘Soni’ Sonefeld, and CNN reporter Suzanne Malveaux. Lansing recently lost one of its notable one-time residents, film icon John Hughes. Hughes is the celebrated director of favorite teen flicks like Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. And his writing credits aren’t too shabby either. Hughes put his pen to work on classics like Pretty in Pink, The Great Outdoors and Home Alone.

Born on February 18, 1950 in Lansing, Hughes spent most of his life in Wisconsin and Illinois. He started his career as a copywriter in Chicago and eventually went on to write for National Lampoon Magazine before directing films. Renowned for his keen portrayal of teen social habits, Hughes was once called “the philosopher of adolescence” by critic Roger Ebert.

Hughes passed away on August 6, 2009 in New York City. For a complete list of his work, visit www.imdb.com.

Posted by ErinS

At a recent CADL Creative Writing Workshop teens shared what books they were currently reading. The diverse list included the following books:

Nobody’s Princess by Esther Friesner

Unbelievable: A Pretty Little Liars Novel by Sara Shepard

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Almost Forever by Maria Testa

******************************************************************

These awesome books are available at your Library….check ‘em out!

We want to hear from you! What are you reading? Let other teens know what books you love by filling out a “Teens Read for the Fun of It!” form available at the Downtown Lansing Library. For each form handed in to Teen Services Librarian, Ms. Zandra, your name will be entered in a raffle to win a monthly prize.

Post by ZandraB

Dani Austin of Grand Ledge

The Holt-Delhi Library got a wonderful visit from Anshu Varma, Henna Tattoo Artist, on Wednesday July 29. Anshu showed us how to create our own Henna tattoos, how to wrap a sari, and shared lots of interesting tidbits about Indian culture. Interested in creating your own Henna art? Check out these great library titles:

Decorate Yourself: Cool Designs for Temporary Tattoos, Face Painting, Henna & More by Tom Andrich

Mehndi : the Art of Henna Body Painting by Carine Fabius

Mehndi : the Timeless Art of Henna Painting by Loretta Roome

Posted by LizV

CADL is accepting submissions for the new Teen Literary Magazine. Teens ages 10-19 can  send us original poetry, stories, artwork, photography and/or comics and we’ll include them in our new Teen Literary Magazine! Submissions are due by midnight on Wednesday, August 5 by e-mailing them to grayn@cadl.org. Call (517) 367-6367 for more information.

Poetry: Under 30 lines long, double spaced and e-mailed as a Microsoft Word attachment (.doc).

Short Stories: Between 500-3500 words, double spaced and e-mailed as a Microsoft Word attachment (.doc).

Photography: PDF, JPG or TIFF formats, as high a resolution as possible. E-mail 1-2 photos as an attachment.

Comics: 1-2 pages in PDF, JPG or TIFF formats, as high a resolution as possible. Color OK but black & white preferred. E-mail as an attachment.

• All entrants will receive a copy of the magazine.
• Copies will be available for check out at all CADL locations,
and a PDF copy will be posted at cadl.org.
• CADL reserves the right to refuse submissions
with inappropriate content.

Launch Party!
And then join us at the Downtown Lansing Library on Wednesday, Aug. 12 from 6-8 pm when we celebrate the magazine’s debut! Everyone is welcome.

The critically acclaimed graphic novel by Alan Moore hit the theaters with much anticipation on March 6, 2009. Now, less than five months later the DVD release is finally here.

The world of the Watchmen is set in an alternative 1985 where Nixon is still President, the Cold War is still in full force and the threat of a nuclear apocalypse seems closer than ever. The story follows the lives of the now retired costumed heroes as they attempt to make sense of the recent murder of their former costumed colleague, the Comedian. Rorschach, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre and the rest are left to ask if there is really a plot to eliminate costumed heroes or something much worse.

The “heroes” of the Watchmen are not the super-powered superheroes of the Marvel Universe but regular, everyday people who, inspired by the comic book crime fighters of their past decided to don costumes and take up arms on the side of justice and virtue. However, the careers of the costumed crime fighters were not to last as the public began to question their motives and intentions by asking “Who Watches the Watchmen?”

With the release of the movie this week on DVD and BluRay we want to know “who is watching the Watchmen?”

But if you are a fan of Watchmen do not stop there, check out the plethora of other materials available from the world of the Watchmen.

Watchmen (Motion Picture)  DVD | BluRay

Watchmen: The Art of the Film by Peter Aperlo

Watchmen: Portraits by Clay Enos

Watchmen: Music From the Motion Picture

Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test / edited by Mark D. White

Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic  DVD | BluRay

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter

Watchmen (Graphic Novel)

Posted by ThomasM

Teens at the Holt-Delhi library had the chance to make their own CD clocks as a part of the Express Yourself @ Your Library Summer Reading Program. We had a blast decorating old CDs (like the kind you used to get in the mail all the time), and then turning them into clock faces. Each clock was unique and very creative! If you’d like to give this a shot at home, just get an old CD, decorate the shiny side with colored permanent markers, and assemble it with a clockwork kit (these can be found at any craft or hobby store). Have fun, and Express Yourself!

Posted by LizV