Create Your Own Manga Contest at Pemberton

This one is for all you aspiring manga kas out there. The Pemberton branch is having a Create Your Own Manga contest this month, and if you have a Burlington County Library card and are age 10 or older, you can participate. The contest runs until September 30th. Here are the details:

Create a short story with your own drawings and text! Pick up the Manga Contest Packet in the Young Adult Room at the Pemberton branch! There are a few rules you must follow to qualify to win:

THE RULES
1. Manga MUST be completed in ink or color. NO PENCIL!
2. You can use your favorite characters but NO TRACING!
3. Story must take the full 10 pages (5 pages back and front). You must make use of ALL frames!
4. Handwriting MUST be legible!
5. ABSOLUTELY NO OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE OR DRAWINGS!
6. Don’t plagiarize! You may draw your own version of an already published character, but DO NOT submit a chapter straight from a published title! Don’t steal, be creative!
7. Only ONE entry per person.
All entries must be turned into the Circulation Desk by September 30th!
Those who submit their finished chapters following the rules stated above will qualify to win.
2 Runners Up will win a $5 gift card to Blockbuster and 1st Place will receive a featured video game!

Upcoming Evesham Teen Advisory Board Meeting

Evesham teens, the library wants you and your ideas! Evesham's Teen Advisory Board for teens ages 13 and above will be meeting Monday, November 6 from 7:00 -8:00 p.m. There will be refreshments and discussion of lots of ideas for teen programs at the Evesham branch.

Harper's New Program, First Look Teen

If you're interested in getting to read the latest teen books before everyone else, Harper Books has a new program that may be just what you've been looking for. It's called First Look Teen, and if you sign up, every month you can get free Advance Reading Copies (ARCs) of great new YA books that haven't even been published yet. In return, they select reviewers at random from people who have signed up for the program. This month they're offering White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean; Street Love by Walter Dean Myers; Walking on Glass by Alma Fullerton; The Moon Riders by Theresa Tomlinson; The New Policeman by Kate Thompson; and Breathe by Penni Russon. There are some great authors here, especially if you're interested in science fiction and fantasy, and these books aren't even going to be out in the bookstores (or the library) until October or November.

September Teen Advisory Board Meeting

The Teen Advisory Board met at the Headquarters branch in Westampton on Tuesday night, September 12. Here's what we talked about:

The Teen Zone neon sign has come in and is waiting to be installed in the YA area at HQ.

HQ Programs:

The DDR program originally scheduled for November 9 has been cancelled. The DDR program on Saturday, October 21 is still on.

The Halo tournament is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, January 13. As discussed at the August meeting, the registration will be limited to 16 with 4 on the waitlist, with an age limit 13-18. Fliers will state the game’s Mature rating. We currently have 2 Xboxes, 5 controllers, 3 copies of the game and 1 24” TV volunteered. We need volunteers to bring 3 link cables, 5 hookups, 2 more Xboxes, 1 more copy of the game and 3 TVs.

The library director has said yes to a Library Lockin program. It’s currently scheduled for Saturday, August 4, 2007 and will be all night after the library closes. Permission slips will be needed.

TAB decided we wouldn’t be able to get a cosplay program together in time for Halloween. Instead there will be two cosplay costume making workshops on February 3 and 10 (15 people limit), and then a cosplay fashion show, accompanied by Jpop and other music, on March 3. YA librarian will purchase some costume making materials with money from the YA programming budget.

TAB wants to do a combined Japanese tea party/anime party. A number of anime titles were discussed, including Eureka 7, Comet Party, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Azumanga DaiOh. TAB also suggested doing a InuYasha movie marathon.

Literary Magazine – Everyone looked at an example from Elizabeth Public Library. Kathleen will contact the YA librarian at Elizabeth to find out more about how they did their magazine. There were many suggestions for a title, including the following: Freeze Frame Through Teenage Minds, Complex Omega, Reverse Flip, Dream Sword, Soft Evolution, Switch Form, Slumber Dash, Elemental Nocturne, Lost Symphony, Immediate Now, Blue Horizon, Emerald …, Marine Tear, Insanto Flame, Funky Money Monkey, Flashmonkey, Tearing Revolution, Blast, Instant Bling (Just Add Teen!), Unknown Agenda, Pink Paradise, Overdrive, Lost Halo, Infinite Rise, High Octane, Adventus Maxima, Seven Draft, Crossblade Embassy, Feuer und Wasser, Blade Curse, Maximum Magic, Omega Monsoon and TAB Drive. Teens will vote on their favorite title.

Kathleen showed printouts from the YA blog in progress (URL is http://bclsya.blogspot.com/). TAB agreed meeting minutes should go up on the blog. Several TAB members expressed interest in working on the library’s teen web page.

Next TAB meeting will be October 10.