A little bit of this, a little bit of that…

Lately, it seems the weather has been saying to us, “Stay inside and read a good book!”  So, here are some new reads for you to check out!

Celebrating Your Freedom to Read

Today is the beginning of Banned Books Week! The American Library Association sets aside 1 week out of the year to celebrate your freedom to read.

In honor of BBW, we are featuring a variety of books that have been banned or challenged throughout the years (as well as a list of the 100 Most Frequently Banned/Challenged Books according to ALA) in our teen book display.  Along with books, there will be Banned Books Week Trivia in the display area from September 26th until October 3rd.  The first teen who correctly answers the most questions will win a BBW t-shirt.  And the first 5 teens who read a banned/challenged book during BBW will receive a free book from our book stash!

Now, I can go on and on about BBW, so I will cut this short and leave you with a quote by Harper Lee (she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird – which, just in case you were wondering).  Harper Lee once said, “Until I feared that I would lose it, I never loved to read.  One does not love breathing.”  So, think of her quote the next you pick up or are required to read for school # 41 on ALA’s Most Frequently Banned/Challenged Books – To Kill a Mockingbird.

Oh, and the most challenged book for the past 3 years is…

And Tango Makes Three.  And Tango Makes Three is based upon a the true story of 2 male penguins, Roy and Silo, at the New York Zoo who raised a baby penguin – named Tango.

The Case of the Clues is Closed.

An Abundance of Clues (a.k.a. The search for autographed copies of books by John Green) is officially over.  However, a big congratulations goes out to Juliana and Katie who won the autographed copies of Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska!

Giving Away John Green…

O.k., so, I told a lie.  But, I needed you to read this!  We technically are not giving away John Green because I am 99.99% sure that it is illegal to give away a physical human being without said physical human being’s written/verbal consent.  HOWEVER, we are giving away copies of Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns that Michael and I had autographed by John Green.

You also may be asking yourself, “How can I receive one of those books autographed by John Green?”  We came to an unanimous decision in the workroom that simply handing over the books to the first people who visit the desk and mention this blog post would be too easy.  Instead, Paper Towns inspired us to create An Abundance of Clues.  Similar to how Margo Roth Spiegelman left clues for Q, you will need to find and solve the clues that we left around GPL in order to receive one of the books.

To enter An Abundance of Clues, you must be in grades 6 – 12 and have an active GPL library card.  To start out, stop by the Front Desk and tell whomever is working what D.F.B.T.A. means.

Zombified

Apparently, the next big thing in books appears to be zombies…ask Michael.  He just ordered numerous books to add to our collections about the “living impaired.”  If you don’t believe me here are a few titles that you have to look forward to reading:  Zombie Blondes, Zombie Haiku, The Zombie Queen of Newbury High, Generation Dead and In the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

Also, in case you are concerned about the next zombie attack in Goshen, you might want to know how long it would take you to become a zombie after the first bite.  This website has developed a quiz to help you determine just that.  I clocked in around 1 hour and 8 minutes, and Katrina has 1 hour and 7 minutes until she was fully zombified.  How long will it take you to turn into a zombie?