Friday, October 31, 2008

Cooking Competition Coming Soon!

MONDAY, DECEMBER 29th, 5:30-7:00PM

Get a team of two people in grades 5-12 together.
Call the library to register your team of two. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.
Come to the event and your team will make up part of the audience.
At the beginning of the night, we’ll draw the names of four teams to
compete in the challenge. The remaining teams will stay as part of
the audience to cheer on the other teams and sample their
creations after the competition has concluded. There will be a
great mystery prize to the winning team, and a special
“twist” ending. If you are not a teenager, you are
welcome to come and be a part of the audience.
You’ll be invited to sample the creations as well!! No
need to register for this - first come, first served.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Costume Contest

Get your scare on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH by volunteering to be a monster in the Haunted Library program.

Here's the deal -

You know you want to wear your costumes more than one night, and this gives you the perfect chance to show off all the guts one last time. You'll be stationed at a part of the library, and at the appointed time, scare groups of "tourists" on a haunted library expedition. It's going to be a blast. And it gets better. If I can get TEN volunteers or more, I will give one volunteer a $50 Borders gift card. The people who attend the event will vote on which monster they think is the scariest. The person who gets the most votes wins! Tell your friends, and let me know. You need to register your monster in advance with me - this way I know if I need to get the gift card or not!

E-mail me: dbarbour@cwmars.org

Peace!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Local Chef Visits (and Works!!) at the SPL!!

Many of you know Miss Priya as the kind, soft-spoken, uber-friendly Children's Librarian. Did you know when she takes off her library name tag to go home for the night, she often swaps it for an apron?!! One of Priya's passions is cooking. Last night, she shared some easy to make recipes with a crowd of hungry onlookers. The theme was Indian cooking, and she introduced many traditional Indian ingredients and dishes that received RAVE reviews! Here are some pictures from the event:Chopping onions before the big event!



"There is no such thing as too much spice." - Priya's apron

Passing out samples!!


Miss Priya is incredibly strong!!!!


Mango lassi doesn't last long when people keep refilling!!!

Other pics of the food cooking.....


Thursday, October 09, 2008

Shuttle anyone?

If you aren't aware, if you go to either the Shrewsbury Public High School, Oak Middle School, or Sherwood Middle School, you can ride to the library for FREE on Mondays and Wednesdays once classes get out. You NEED to register at the library first, but once you do (a parent must register with you) you are good to go for the rest of the year. This is a special service sponsored by The Institute of Museum and Library Services and Dunkin Donuts.

cat

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Film Screening

Here is the film trailer to the movie we're showing this Friday at the library. Tickets are 100% free! Be sure to stop by and see the summer blockbuster presented on the big screen! 2PM - the film is rated PG-13. For grades 5-12.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Cookie Day - A Tasty Success

About a dozen of you showed up to free cookie day this past Friday! Here is a collage from the event (click on the picture to blow it up for easier viewing!) Thanks for coming all! And a special thanks to the Wicked Good Cookie Company for their awesome designs on the cookies!


Friday, October 03, 2008

Mitali Perkins Workshop Posts

ATTENTION -
All of the posts submitted to me are now online. If you attended the event, but took your work home, it will obviously not appear below. Feel free to email me (dbarbour@cwmars.org) with your creation and I will add it to the stories below!


If you attended the writing workshop with praised author Mitali Perkins this past weekend, then you know how much fun it was! If you missed it, here are some of the creations that came from the writing workshop and Mitali Perkins great direction.

The participants were asked to choose a place, a character, and an emotion for their paragraphs. I'll let you figure out which was which in the following pieces.

The writing creations are going to be typed as they were written unless my spell checker caught something obvious, and I apologize for any typos in advance. Any possibly offensive language has been omitted.


From Anonymous


Alex sighed, slumping down in her seat she closed her eyes and let the music and the screaming children fill her ears. All her stress melted away and relaxation washed over her. It was another rough day at school and she had tried not getting in trouble but those 11th grade girls made her blood boil and it seemed to be getting worse and worse every day. Many aromas filled the air and she could almost see the golden, buttery popcorn through her closed eyelids and taste the big fluffy pink cotton candy melting in her mouth. The Ferris wheel came to a halt, and Alex climbed out and disappeared into the darkness.

From Anonymous


I hear the waves crashing against back. Everything's normal and calm. The salty air tickles my nose. I grow a big smile on my face. I feel damp, cold. "Oh, sorry let me introduce myself. I'm Meg, 11 years old. I'm an average girl that has a ton of friends." I spread my arms out to feel the nice cool breeze filling my body with joy. The blue sparkling ocean catches my eye as I look out at it for miles. And just then, out of the blue, a humongo wave hits me like a rain storm crashing down on me "Blech! Puh! Eeew!" I make these horrible noises as salty water pours out of my mouth.

From Sahil S.

Paul stared down at the bustling streets of New York through a window of a huge towering apartment. It was a gloomy and stormy night. There was a knock on the door. Paul's guardian walked in and started towards Paul with dinner. Her name was Sara. She knew at first glance Paul was a handsome teenage American. He had brown silky hair with eyes filled with sorrow. She knew those eyes. They were eyes that had seen too much. She didn't blame him, for his uncle had been shot. It was unexpected. Paul could see a gang smoking on the sidewalk from his window. Paul sniffed at the thick foggy gray smoke reaching his window on the 12th floor. Paul had never known his parents. Their death was unexpected as well. He started to eat the steaming pancake with a thick juicy cover of maple syrup that Sara had prepared for him for dinner. He poked the tender pancake. Sara is Paul's only relative that is alive that is. He heard a knock on the wooden door. The knock was so loud that another one like that would break the door. Sara opened it. Slam! Sara was hit and slumped to the ground. Two men in tuxedos walked in with a wide grin which had slowly formed on their faces. Paul stood and realized his fate had been sealed.....


From Kevin S.


The towering oaks dappled shadows over my body with the full moon shining over my head. Leaves crunch and crackle under my feet as I kick pebbles along the path trying to relieve myself from the pressure on me.... With the icy mist sending shivers up my spine, I survey this dark, icy land that I placed myself in and think, "How fit this place does." Running down the path, trying to run away from what happened...I am powerless.

From Olivia A.

I watched as my younger sister happily scurried down the stairs and towards the Christmas tree. I followed behind much more tired, looking out the window to find that the sun was barely over the horizon line. It was too early. From the other side of the room my mother pushed a knob on the stereo and Christmas Carols filled the entire room. My sister wasted no time getting to her gifts, and was surrounded by a flurry of wrapping paper. The scent of freshly baked Italian Christmas cookies lingered in the air, as it had for me past week. My father entered the room with a green box with holes in it, and placed it on white carpet in front of me. I let out a yawn as I opened the box in one swift motion. Inside was a small, brown, fuzzy creature...a dog.

From Nidhee K.

I sat in the waiting room of the doctor's office, watching the dozens of mothers comfort crying babies, or read them stories or flip through magazines that were months old. As I inhaled deeply trying to calm my nerves, a great amount of antibacterial sanitizers assaulted my nose. It did nothing but hatch more butterflies in my stomach. It seemed as an eternity had passed until I heard "Lauren, the doctor will see you now!" A strong sense of foreboding washed over me as I followed the overly happy nurse, with the fake smile plastered on herself, into the examination room. I tried not to take this as a bad omen.

From Hannah B.

I ran into my seat loosing my shoe to the floor of the school bus. Once again I was too late and the big yellow monstrosity that I call a bus almost left without me. The small of turkey sandwiches engulfed me as I slid into the pleather seat next to Ellen. I voices yelling all around me blocked out what Ellen was saying. "Hey, did you finish the science paper? It took me about 2 hours to finish only 3 pages." Ellen stated. I looked at her as if she had three heads. "What science paper?" I asked, my voice rising. "That 5 page paper we had to write for Mrs. O..." Ellen trailed off, "You didn't do it, did you?" I had five minutes to write a five page paper on a subject that I was failing in. Good job Miss Forgetful.

From Rohit S.

Fear coursed down my spine as I walked slowly through the forest. I hadn't realized how dark it was until now, with the trees swallowing up any sliver of light the moon cast. Dead leaves, twigs, and the smell of dirt surrounded me. The slow rhythm of footsteps behind me suddenly began to get quicker as well as loud. My pace picked up to a slow trot. My heart was now pounding as if it wanted out. Crunch. Crunch. The sound of dead leaves being stepped on was getting louder and louder. Now, I was sprinting. My mouth was as dry as sand paper and my breath, a wheezing. The world began to sway as I ran on, my eyes stinging from the sweat and tears pouring into and out. And then--

From Anonymous

Finally! How long does it take Mommy to eat her stupid lunch, anyway? I darted into the car and told my mom to hurry up. When we arrived at the fair, my sister (who, by the way thinks that she's all that just because she's twelve and I'm "only" 6) told me to shut up or else. I can't believe that we had to wait FOREVER just to get our tickets, I mean who needs those things, anyways? Anna says that I was running around like some Maniac, I don't even know what that is but it sure sounds like a good thing, I hope! That pizza smelled so good, I almost hit my mom when she said no. My mom said that I already had that fluffy, warm cotton candy, but I just think that she doesn't have enough money!

From Anonymous

I tiptoed toward the giant white door at the end of the long hallway. It seemed to glow like a star as I continued my way down. Finally, I approached the majestic door. This was it...the moment of truth...I grasped the door knob tightly, slowly turned, and then pushed the door forward. And there in front of me laid the most beautiful place I had ever seen. Delicate pink flowers seemed to pop out of the wallpaper and bring their sweet fragrance with them. As I made my way across the room, I noticed a faint noise coming from a musical box. The ballet music made me want to dance and run...and even fly. I was in such a trance that I fell over onto the enormous bed. The soft, warm blanket made me want to fall asleep--and sleep for all eternity.


From Anonymous

As I was riding my horse in the gloomy forest I knew something was chasing me but I couldn't look back. I grabbed the leather reigns harder the horse neighed. It was catching on so I whipped the reigns and the hoofs of my horse grew louder. The birds in the sky screeched and flew away. It was catch on so I whipped the reigns again and I knew my horse was galloping faster. The sun was peaking down in to the mountains as the evening sky looked like fire. I knew I couldn't keep doing this but the nearest allied encampment army group is still far away. I kept whipping the reigns telling my horse to speed up.


From Himansu D.

It was my first day in this school. All the kids looked at me like I was different. I had to go to my class, but I was too nervous to ask anyone. I just kept wandering the school until I found my classroom, when I got in I heard a warm welcome song that my new classmates sang me. Then I tasted the sweet m and m cookies my new teacher had got. I thought this new school was going to be hard and scary but it turned out good. I even made a new friend he was 2x as tall as me but really nice. I really like this school.



Thanks for all the great works!!!






Thursday, October 02, 2008

Extreme Makeover: YA Edition!

Hey there all! There have been some pretty cool changes in the YA collection room at the SPL in the past couple of days. Here are some pictures to show you some of the new things as well as the new look of the YA room.

When you enter...


You'll notice that the wooden shelving is no longer front and center. We have our new shelving unit which now holds all the paperbacks.


Look to your left....
This used to be where the Manga was stored. We decided to get rid of the Manga collection - the format (reading backwards) just went against everything we're used to reading. Now we have an expanded comics section. Note the new item addition on the right side, second shelf down. We have DVD-ROM comic book series - you can read complete comic book series on your computer! They are awesome. They check out for three weeks each.

Turn Around And Look to Your Right....

Of course I was just kidding about the Manga! We now have more room for Manga, and I am going to need your help updating the different series. They are no longer squashed together like they used to be!

Look a Little Bit More to Your Right....

The non-fiction now begins in the room itself - which is good. If you have seen the shelves lately, they have looked awful. Now there is a lot more room to browse. There are some great new titles too - not all awesome stuff is fiction!!


Other Pics...


Our fireplace looks a little different now that the Playaways moved over and the Manga were shifted.

Our new paperback shelving unit!


And here is the worst video I have ever made (It was made on a low-quality digital camera. It's better than nothing....barely.)