Games at Central on Thursday!

When you can't take being cooped up in the house anymore, make a break for the library on Thursday, December 27th. At 6p.m. we will have Games at Central, in the upstairs meeting room. Bring some friends and enjoy DDR, GHII, or any fun board games you may want to bring in to play.

See you there!

December meeting set!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is making their way through the holiday season. The next TAG meeting is Saturday December 15 at 3 p.m. I hope to see everyone there! You are all important to us.

If you have any special plans for the break, post in the comments and I will post them.

Thanksgiving Storytime and Craft

The APL TAG will be hosting a Thanksgiving Storytime on November 17 at 4p.m. This event is open to preschoolers-school age kids so be sure to sign up at your library. Reservations are required!

We will have storytime presented by members of our TAG and then everyone will get to make a craft to take home! It will be a lot of fun, so hope to see you there!

BOO!

On this day before Halloween, I think the following link is appropriate: http://www.ilovelibraries.org/news/topstories/hauntedsw.cfm

This will take you into a section of the "I Love Libraries" website that features haunted libraries. Scroll down for Texas libraries.



Enjoy the spookiness!



Happy Halloween!

TAG Meeting TOMORROW

It is time for our October TAG get together! Tomorrow at Central at 3p.m. We're having elections--so be sure to make your vote count!

WHO YOU GONNA CALL?
NW Branch is showing "Ghostbusters" Sunday at 2p.m. They will have snacks and a surprise for you!!

Masquerade at the Library!

Northwest Branch Library is hosting a Twilight Masquerade (inspired by the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer) on TUESDAY, OCT 30 from 6-8:30 pm. There will dancing and karaoke, a costume contest, and of course, refreshments!

Be the Bella of the ball! Be the Jake of all trades!

We are asking you to call 359-2035 to RSVP--let Nikki and Carmel know you are coming so we can better plan our treats!

See you there!

Good news for gamers

I found this on the Fox News site and thought it might be of interest to some of you out there: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303220,00.html

Good news for tech types--who like a bit of intrigue on the side.

And because this is a library teen blog, I highly recommend TAMAR by Mal Peet. It is a gripping story of WWII intrigue, love, and the worst kind of betrayal. Dart and Tamar are Allied spies dropped into Nazi-occupied Holland during the Hungry Winter. There is little food, and less security. If you watched the Ken Burns documentary "The War" and found it compelling, you will enjoy TAMAR as well. You can reserve it online at www.amarillopubliclibrary.org.

LOL@your library: Teen Read Week activities

Next week we have much for you to do at your local libraries. Kicking off our Teen Read Week we have a Young Adult Book Smorgasbord from 6:30-8:30 at our NW Branch. For more information call 359-2035 and ask for Nikki or Carmel!



Tuesday, you have your choice between DDR at our North Branch from 6-7 or a Poetry Slam at SW from 7-8:30.



Movies at Central on Wed at 4 and Thurs at 6:30. The Wed movie is "Transformers" and the Thursday is a surprise!



If you would like to volunteer to staff any of these happenings, please call me at 378-3089. I could use some help to man the DDR equipment at North for sure!

Officers and what they do for TAG

There are currently 3 offices in the Teen Advisory Group, president, vice-president, and treasurer. Here are the duties of each from the TAG bylaws.

The president of TAG will work closely with the TAG advisor to organize TAG meetings. The TAG advisor will assist the president in creating the meeting agenda and will preside over TAG meetings. The president will act as a contact person for other TAG members who want items added to the meeting agenda.

The vice-president will serve as the president in his or her absence. The vice-president will serve as membership coordinator, keeping track of active and inactive members and new applications. The vice-president will inform and remind all members of upcoming meetings, programs, and special events.

The secretary will keep minutes of TAG meetings and keep them on file in a notebook in the Central Library Youth Services area. The secretary will be responsible for the attendance sheets at all meetings and inform the vice-president of absent members at meetings. The secretary will see to the upkeep of the master file of minutes to be kept in the Youth Services area. The secretary will read the highlights of the previous meeting’s minutes at the beginning of each regular meeting. The secretary will see to the upkeep of the master file of minutes to be kept in the Youth Services area. The secretary will keep track of all votes taken at each meeting. The secretary will serve as the president in the absence of the presiding president and vice-president.

We have been fortunate to have great officers in the past, and I know we will continue to have strong leadership for the Teen Advisory Group.

A boo!-tiful website

Check out the boo-ography portion of www.biography.com to learn more about all sorts of spookiness! Link: http://www.biography.com/boo-ography/index.jsp

Campaigning and a nifty website to check out

Time is really flying, and it will be time for our elections before you know it. If you are interested, please post a comment to this blog so I can post it! That way, your fellow TAGers will know more about you!

I have a website to share: www.readergirlz.com. Get this: there are interviews with authors EVERY DAY in October. EVERY DAY!

The week of October 14 is Teen Read Week--this year the theme is LOL@yourlibrary. We have some great programs planned--and as always, could use your help!

Talk to you soon!

Elections, Suggestions, and Updates

Our next meeting, and hopefully elections too, will be on October 27 at 3pm. If you are interested in running for an office, please post a comment stating your qualifications and plans for TAG in the future. I will post them to the blog and everyone can be prepared for our next meeting!

TAG has 3 officers: President, Vice-President, and Secretary.

I am wondering about the interest in a Thursday evening craft session. Open to any crafts, so it could be knitting, duct-tape, beadwork, etc. Any response? Holidays are just around the corner, people, and making gifts is much less expensive than buying them!

Overdrive.com and other news

Did you know that you can get audiobooks through the Amarillo Public Library website? The library is proud to offer our patrons access to Overdrive.com. With this service you can download audiobooks to your PC or MP3 player to listen to at your leisure. You can burn some, but not all, titles to CDs as well. Checkout is 14 days, the same as the materials you get from APL. The following Youth and Young Adult titles are available: The Book Thief, Speak, Feed, The Princess Diaries, Eragon, Eldest, Twilight, Sabriel, Hatchet, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Just go the the library website, http://www.amarillolibrary.org/, and click on Overdrive Downloadable Audio Books link on the green navigation bar on the left side of the screen. Follow the instructions, and you are set!
Enjoy! This may help you when all the copies of Hatchet or The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe are checked out and you need it for an assignment!

There is no TAG meeting on Saturday as previously announced. We are having a lot of conflicts with other activities. Any ideas to respond to this? Also, what programs and activities would you like to see at the library? I would love to hear some suggestions.

Hope your first two weeks in school have been great!

TAG Meeting TOMORROW

The original date for the TAG meeting just was not working for some of our members, so we have changed it to tomorrow at 3. Just to remind you, we are going to have elections.

Hope to see all TAG members there!

New Youth and Young Adult Titles@your library!

When I arrived for work today I discovered the following new books for the Y and YA sections!

Lynne Ewing's new series, The Daughters of Isis, begins with The Summoning. From the back of the book:
Meri, Sudi, and Dalila are three girls who live in Washington, D.C., but have little in common. Or so they think. When an ancient magic is revealed, so are their true identities as SISTERS OF ISIS.
Call number: YA Ewing

We have a new companion book to the classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, from the History Channel, entitled History in Literature: The Story Behind Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. We get a little background on the author and book, and more information on the Civil Rights movement, hate crime, and racism.
Call number: Y 813.43 Gi

Now you know!

Volunteer opportunities

We have 2 opportunities for teen volunteers coming up very soon! We need teens to assist the library at Kidsfest at Thompson Park on Saturday--three days away! Please call Melody at 378-3089 or Donna M. at 378-3051 to sign up to work. We will be doing a craft and relay race with the participating kids. It will be a lot of fun, so sign up now!

The second opportunity is for our Brown Bag book sale--Friday, August 24 and Saturday August 25. Please sign up---it is good for you! See old friends, make some new ones!

Call me!!!!

Comments, Elections, and Bring a Friend!

It was brought to my attention that some of you may be having problems commenting on the blog--so here are the instructions. At the bottom of this post, where it says "posted by Melody" there is a number and the word comment. Just click on the word comment, and a new window will open. You will have the three options: Google/Blogger, other, and anonymous. Since most of you probably don't have a Google account, you should simply choose other or anonymous. When you choose other, you can use your name or not. We really aren't picky--we just want to hear from you! Then you can scroll up, write your comment or question in the text box, and then type the distorted text you see in the word verification box, and click on Publish your Comment.



In September we will have elections. If you are interested in running for office, please be at this meeting. And bring a friend to our meeting September 8 at 3pm. We have four officer positions: President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.



I have had some great suggestions for programs, and would like to hear from you---so, tell me what you would like to do at the library! Would you like to learn origami? Share a book and make a sundae? Learn to knit or crochet? Make a duct tape project? Have an anime afternoon?If you like these ideas or have some of your own, let me know!!

Announcing $100 and $50 winners!

Congrats to Jacob Mota and Kaemeasha Ashley. Jacob is our $50 Xtreme Reading winner, and Kaemaesha won the $100!

We had a great time at the XR 2007 finale last night! 33 people were in attendance to try their skill at DDR and GHII. The top 5 in DDR are: Cammy, Sarah, Addison, Zachary, and Justin. Winning GHII were Justin, Addison, Patrick, Juleah, and Sandra. Congrats to these as well. We want to thank the Friends of the Amarillo Public Library, Amarillo National Bank, and Sonic for generously supporting our reading teens in Amarillo.

Like numbers? We had 103 active readers participating this summer. That is up from 44 in 2006. Way to go! You read a total of 1,673 hours in July.

Thanks to everyone who was a part of Xtreme Reading 2007!

Final Week of Xtreme Read!

We are in the final week of Xtreme Read. Congrats to all the winners from the past two weeks!

This week's events include: Monday: at East--Talent Show--come show us your skills! North--Teen Read Night--share a book or story you especially like!
Tuesday: Northwest--En Garde! Come to the fencing demonstration!
Wednesday: Southwest--Cheap Movie Date! How about a FREE movie?
Thursday: Central--If you missed the fencing program at NW, you have another chance at Central!

This week's prize? A $20 Target giftcard!

Don't forget the Xtreme Read finale on Tuesday, July 31! Northwest Branch, 6:30.

Poetry Workshops at Northwest Library

Come to the Northwest Library on W. 9th and learn the art of poetry from members of Slamarillo, Amarillo's slam poetry group. Workshops are from 3-4 Tuesdays and Thursdays in July! You will learn how to write and perform your own poetry. Feel free to bring your own notebook and pen, but we can provide paper and pencils too!

It's another way to express yourself @your library!

JULY TAG MEETING SATURDAY!

The next Teen Advisory Group meeting is Saturday, July 14, at 3 pm.
If you are interested in being a part of this group please attend!

Congratulations to Week 1 Winners!

We held our drawings at 4 pm on Friday for Week 1 winners! Congratulations to Sara Lim at Southwest Branch, Kerry Ferrell at North, Wesley Southern at Central, Cheyanne Jones at East, and Gage Rowland at Northwest! They are the lucky winners of a Movie Prize Pack, which included a $5 Hastings gift card, movie candy, popcorn, and a list of new movies available for check out at your libraries!

Big happenings this week too!

• The Harry Potter Fest at North is today at 6:30 pm
• Teen Hair and Skin care at East today at 6:30 pm
• Boss 420 and The Art of Mendhi at Northwest at 6:30 pm
• DDR and Guitar Hero II at Southwest Wednesday at 6:30 pm
• Tribal Fusion dance at Central Thursday at 4:30 pm

Our drawing will be Friday July 13th, at 4 pm! To be eligible, you must read at least 7 hours this week and turn in your reading log by Friday. Get another chance to win by attending our programs!

Good luck!

Happening this week at the library

Sign-up for Xtreme Read begins July 1! You will receive your reading log, an application for the Teen Advisory Group if you aren't already a member, and a bookmark. The reading log is also your entry for prize drawings each week. You tear off the pieces week by week. Remember, you must read at least 7 hours a week to enter the drawings! The events are on the back of the log, so read that carefully so you don't miss any of the fun!

Monday we have DDR at the East Branch, and Drug Awareness at the North Branch. Both programs start at 6:30. See you there! If you would like to volunteer to help, please call Karlah at the North Branch at 381-7931, or Shannon at the East Branch at 342-1589.

Thursday we have "Pirates of the Caribbean" and a craft at Central at 4:30. Slight change of plans from your reading log calendar: I looked everywhere for plain eyepatches for us to decorate, but the ones I found were already decorated. So you will have a choice of making a bandana treasure map or decorating a hug for your soda can! If you want to volunteer for this give me a call at 378-3089 for more info, or post a response here.

Xtreme Read begins Sunday, July 1

We are mere days away from the beginning of Xtreme Read 2007. The basics you need to know are:

• Sign up at any of 5 libraries
• Read a minimum of 7 hours per week to enter the drawings for fabulous prizes!
• Attend our programs to get more chances to win!
• Meet new friends, experience new things!

Monday July 2 North Branch will have a program on Drug Awareness, and East will be hosting DDR! Thursday July 5 Central will be showing "Pirates of the Caribbean" and then we will do some pirate crafts! We'll see you there!

Bored? Come help us out!

We have some jobs for our TAG members. The mission, should you accept it, is to help us with a Summer Reading Program event at the North Branch on July 6. That is a Friday, and you'll be helping with Water Balloon Games. For more information call me at Central, and I will tell you who to contact!

I need people here at Central to create Poetry Scramble kits! Xtreme Reading is less than 2 weeks away, and I don't have enough kits! Please help me out! Bring a friend, or brother or sister, and let's get it done!

I am currently reading Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Anyone else read this book? What did you think? Did you check out Stephenie's website yet?

Call me at 378-3089 or email me at melody.boren@amarillolibrary.org to help out the library! Hope you're having a great summer!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Amarillo Public Library Teen Advisory Group blog. Here you will find dates and times for meetings, upcoming programs, and other special events for the teens of Amarillo.

The staff and TAG of APL are gearing up for Xtreme Reading 2007, happening July 1-31. We have great programs planned for all our branches, and our theme for 2007 is Express Yourself. Get ready for poetry workshops, music, fencing demonstrations, and more at your library!