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» Next Entries

January 2011

The Archives

• Competition, Horror, Simon

  Global Twilight Superfan Competition

  14.01.11 | Permalink | Comment?

  There’s another competition that anyone in the world can enter. Are you a Twilight Superfan? Can you prove your superfandom somehow? Because if you can you and ten others could get to meet and spend time with Stephenie Meyer. Where and for how long I do not know! Presumably it will be somewhere cool (a castle! a cruise ship!) and for just long enough (but not so long that conversation dries up).

  Good luck, Superfans!

  
  

• Competition, Internet, Science!, Simon

  Google Global (!) Youth Science Fair

  14.01.11 | Permalink | Comment?

  Google is running a Global Science Fair for teens. As it is global, anyone in the world can enter. Even a NZer. Especially a NZer, since we’re quite good at innovation and science. Entrants (i.e. everyone reading this I hope*) need to be between the ages of 13 and 18, and can work solo or in groups of up to three. You enter it online obviously! 

  *The prizes are beyond awesome. They are actually epic. Guys you need to win this.

  
  

• Books, Horror, Simon

  Bestsellers on your birthday

  13.01.11 | Permalink | Comment?

  Have you often wondered what books were bestsellers on the day of your glorious birth? Of course you have. Here’s a site that tells you (and then makes you feel old when you realise how many have already been made into movies.)

  [Link fixed!]

  
  

• Most Wanted, Science!, Simon

  Most Borrowed for 2010

  13.01.11 | Permalink | 1 Comment

  Which items were borrowed the most from the library last year? By harnessing the power of computers, I can tell you what they were! Definite winners were Stephenie Meyer and Robert Muchamore, unsurprisingly (perhaps they should write a book together and it would be the most popular book ever written?); Glee, also unsurprisingly; and Old Dogs, surprisingly.

  The most borrowed item overall (out of everything!) was a magazine from the Young Adult collection; Simpsons Comics.

  (There’s no point in listing the most borrowed YA non-fiction, as they’re mostly all study guides (Year 13 Bio is #1); 100% Gleek and Sam Stern’s Eat Vegetarian are the top non-study guide non-fiction books popular with borrowers, who are predominately vegetarian Gleeks.)

  1o Most Borrowed YA Fiction
  1. Brigands M.C., by Robert Muchamore
  2. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
  3. Breaking dawn, by Stephenie Meyer
  4. Shadow wave, by Robert Muchamore
  5. Fallen, by Lauren Kate
  6. The general, by Robert Muchamore
  7. Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer
  8. The hunger games, by Suzanne Collins
  9. Tomorrow, when the war began, by John Marsden
  10. The awakening, by L. J. Smith

  10 Most Borrowed YA Movies
  1. Alice in Wonderland
  2. How to train your dragon ; plus, Boneknapper dragon
  3. Percy Jackson & the lightning thief
  4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  5. Avatar
  6. Glee. Season 1, volume 2, Road to regionals
  7. Old dogs
  8. Letters to Juliet
  9. The last song
  10. G-Force
  
  10 Most Borrowed YA Comics
  1. Big bratty book of Bart Simpson.
  2. Simpsons comics : dollars to donuts
  3. Twilight : the graphic novel. Volume 1
  4. Ghostopolis
  5. Naruto. Vol. 40, The ultimate art
  6. Maximum Ride : the manga. Vol. 3
  7. Skeleton key
  8. The Simpsons : treehouse of horror : dead man’s jest.
  9. Naruto. Vol. 23, Predicament
  10. Big beastly book of Bart Simpson.

  10 Most Borrowed YA CDs
  1. Glee : the music. Volume 3, Showstoppers deluxe.
  2. Now that’s what I call music 33.
  3. Teenage dream, by Katy Perry
  4. Now that’s what I call music 34.
  5. From the inside out, by Stan Walker
  6. Glee : the music. Volume 1.
  7. Can’t be tamed, by Miley Cyrus
  8. Rokstarr, by Taio Criz
  9. Glee : the music. Volume 2.
  10. Glee : the music : the power of Madonna.

  
  

• Jack, News, Pencil it in your diaries, Study

  NCEA results online today

  12.01.11 | Permalink | Comment?

  Yes, it’s true, you can find out your NCEA results right now. Teen Blog wishes everyone the best of luck.

  For those of you who are now finished with your secondary education, congratulations! Everyone else going back to school later on this year should note that the YA section of your local library has all the relevant study guides and that the Central Library has past exam papers. Note that down in your diaries for the next study period, or get a ridiculously large jump start on it now.

  
  

• Edna Welthorpe, New Magazines

  New Magazines 12/01/11

  12.01.11 | Permalink | Comment?

  Hey guys! Here are the newest magazines. At last - we were all on holiday pretty much, so they (the magazines) didn’t get put out as soon as possible.

  Entertainment Weekly #1131, #1132, and #1133 – Some guy called Taylor Swift is entertainer of the year? He was great as a Deatheater in that Twilight movie. (Just kidding. Ha ha.)
  Creme February 2011 – Full of this year’s star guides, if you belieeeeve. Apparently I need my freedom, so don’t try to pin me down! Lucky colour: lime green (?!)
  Girlfriend January 2011 
  Seventeen February 2011 – I had to check the year on the cover, as inside the magazine says denim shorts are still in fashion. Was it an issue from 2008? But no, 2011.
  Official Australian and New Zealand XBox 360 Magazine #61 & #62 – Would it be boastful of me to say that Santa brought me an Xbox360? Probably!
  Simpons Treehouse of Horror #16, Simpsons Comics #168, and Bart Simpson : Prank Pitchman #40

  
  

• Books, Grimm

  And the Printz Goes To

  11.01.11 | Permalink | Comment?

  Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi. It’s a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story in which Nailer looks for copper among ship wrecks in order to scrape together an existence, and in one of these wrecks stumbles across a girl who promises him a comfortable, “swank” life of luxury (but is she just trying to save her neck?).

  The Printz honour books (= also excellent) were:

  Nothing, Janne Teller. Pierre says life has no meaning, so his classmates set out to prove him wrong, and it is in the proving that things slowly turn sinister-ly very wrong. The School Library Journal (since we’re doing the SLJ in this post) suggests (as do others) this is an updated Lord of the Flies (William Golding). Actual WCL librarians (Lucy L) have read (and recommend) this too.

  Revolver, Marcus Sedgwick. A thriller set in the Arctic circle where Sig is held captive in a log cabin with the body of his father and Gunther Wolff (his captor, with a rather awesome name you wouldn’t mess with). The revolver in question is his father’s, which he could potentially use to rescue the situation, if he could. just. get. it. The School Library Journal said this has a sort of Jack London (Call of the Wild, White Fang) feel about it (in its arctic-ness).

  Stolen, Lucy Christopher. Gemma is kidnapped on her way from England to Vietnam and ends up in the Australian outback. The School Library Journal suggests this is a good counterpoint to Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott.

  Please Ignore Vera Dietz, A S King. We don’t have this in the library yet (she did say please ignore her) but will soon. For older teens: a love triangle, an untimely death, angst. More tough realistic fiction! [ETA: you can now reserve this one.]

  It’s all a box of fluffy ducks this year! Enjoy them for their good writing, suspense, horror and grit, if not their cheery good humour and happiness.

  What’s the Printz Award? Have a look here.

  
  

• Books, Horror, Simon, Trailers

  Trailer Tuesday

  11.01.11 | Permalink | Comment?

  Here are some book trailers! Some of the books we mightn’t have ordered, but if you think they look like something you’d want to read email us or comment below or something.

  The first is for Cryer’s Cross, by Lisa McMann, who wrote the Wake trilogy. Quite creepy! Teens start disappearing in a tiny US town, and the only thing connecting them was a (rather nice & retro I think) desk. Soon messages, scratched into the desk, begin to appear …

  This is for Clarity, by Kim Harrington, a ghostly murder-mystery about a girl who has visions about any object she touches. She should touch that desk! Or maybe not!

  Across The Universe, by Beth Revis, not only shares its name with a Beatles-classic-covered-awesomely-by-Fiona-Apple but is also ‘a story of love, murder, and madness aboard an enormous spaceship bound for the future’ which ticks all the boxes. There is a website.

  
  

• Grimm, Most Wanted

  Most Wanted: January 2011

  10.01.11 | Permalink | Comment?

  2011 starts where 2010 left off, in a list of espionage, dystopias and supernatural romance. Note that the fourth book in the Mortal Instruments series (City of Fallen Angels) will be published in April. Also note that Bruno Mars is amazing, just the way he is.

  1. Shadow Wave, Robert Muchamore [no change]
  2. Last Sacrifice, Richelle Mead [no change]
  3. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins [no change]
  4. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer [back]
  5. Torment, Lauren Kate [up 1]
  5. Tomorrow When the War Began, John Marsden [up 2]
  5. Doo-wops and Hooligans, Bruno Mars [new]
  8. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins [back]
  8. Dead of the Night, John Marsden [down 3]
  8. Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer [back]
  8. City of Fallen Angels, Cassandra Clare [new, on order]
  

  
  

• Books, Library Serf

  Resolve to Cook

  07.01.11 | Permalink | Comment?

  You either cook because you love it or because you have to: either way, cookbooks are extremely useful, and your local library is an excellent source of these, from staid classics to the downright weird.

  In the young adult area, Sam Stern, a sort of YA Jamie Oliver ably helped by his mum, has a bunch of cookbooks with (he assures us) recipes that teenagers will like. His latest is Sam Stern’s Eat Vegatarian, which covers all possible meals including a fab baking section and a drinks section (I prefer my drinks vegetarian myself for sure).

  On the subject of baking and as far as downright weird goes, you can’t go wrong with A Zombie Ate My Cupcake - see Kerry’s post about this gem on the WCL news blog here (which inspired this post, ta). If you’re wanting to impress people with your skills this book looks like a one stop shop, from “Sweenie Todd’s Surprise” (what? meat pies?) through Day of the Dead skulls to zombie hands: learn how to make fiddly ghoulish decorations. Totally worth it.

  The next time you’re in the library, wander past the recipe books (641.5) and surprise your cookery victims.

  
  

» Next Entries

Teen Blog

This is a blog for teens about reading, Wellington, and whatever else. Feel free to comment! We like it! We can be contacted at teenblog@wcl.govt.nz

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