Teen Summer Reading Programs - Explore Japan!

Culture Kids! Japan! Continue the journey through the Summer as you explore new countries, new cuisines and new customs. Click here for videos and pictures from program! Every TUESDAY at 2pm 7th grade and up
Explorers! Japan! Begin the world traveling journey this the Summer as you explore new countries, new cuisines and new customs. Every THURSDAY at 2pm 4th - 6th grade and up
Family Movie Night Everyone is invited to watch a new movie on the big screen. We'll even provide the popcorn! This week is Karate Kid! Every Tuesday Night at 6pm Open to all Ages!
Wednesday Afternoon Movies Everyone is invited to watch a world traveling movie on the big screen. Next up Aladdin! Every Wednesday at 1:30pm Open to all Ages!

There’s a new Instant Win Game where you can try to get a FREE Twix bar by spinning the wheel. – if you don’t have a code, just click “Don’t Have a Code”. You can only use the "Don't have a code" once, after that look out for codes on your twix bars.


To try your luck go to http://www.twix.com/pickyourpause/

And to continue the sugar high, check out these great chocolate books!

Culture Kids : The Amazing Race!

Join us June 7 at 2pm for a library edition of the Amazing Race!  Just like in the popular TV show you'll race around the library in competition on a series of puzzling and crazy scavenger hunts!

Grade 7 and up!

Teen Summer Reading Programs - Explore Africa!

Culture Kids! Africa! Continue the journey through the Summer as you explore new countries, new cuisines and new customs. TUESDAY June 7 at 2pm 7th grade and up
Explorers! Africa! Begin the world traveling journey this the Summer as you explore new countries, new cuisines and new customs. THURSDAY June 9 at 2pm 4th - 6th grade and up
Critters! Join Critter Rick and his menagerie of animals Thursday June 16, 10 am at the Gardendale Civic Center Open to all Ages!
Family Movie Night Everyone is invited to watch a new movie on the big screen. We'll even provide the popcorn! Every Tuesday Night at 6pm Open to all Ages!
Wednesday Afternoon Movies Everyone is invited to watch a world traveling movie on the big screen. First up Madagascar! Every Wednesday at 1:30pm Open to all Ages!

Book Trailer for Maggie Steifvater's Forever!

Patrick Ness's top 10 'unsuitable' books for teenagers

1. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

The obvious first choice, but not necessarily because of its literary reputation. It needs to be read when you're young. If you first meet Holden Caulfield when you're too old, the desire to give him a good slap might impede your enjoyment.

2. The Stand by Stephen King

For his sheer ability to get teenagers to love reading, Stephen King is a saint. I did a book report on Pet Sematary in 8th grade. My English teacher, bless her forever, gave me an A. I pick The Stand because if you're an adult, it's a bit long. If you're a teenager, it's War and Peace. Scratch that, if you're a teenager, it's better. And that's no bad thing.

3. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Speaking of 1000+page books, Infinite Jest is filled with all the things that are brilliant to read when you're young: unembarrassed cleverness, a cheeky take on the future, hilarious experiments with form, and a serious sense of accomplishment when you're finished.

4. Beloved by Toni Morrison

I read Beloved when I was 15, and it felt like the first time being allowed to sit at the grown-up's table. I may not have followed every word, but I was mesmerised. And I learned without even knowing I was being taught.

5. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

One of those literary, award-winning adult novels that I secretly think was written for teens all along (see To Kill A Mockingbird). No, it won't encourage suicide, but it will encourage an appreciation for elegant writing and ring true for how isolating the teenage years can feel. Plus, it's in third person plural! What's not to love?

6. Dracula by Bram Stoker

Next, a couple of classics that are better in your teens. Dracula first because it's still fast-paced, scary and appealingly pervy. Plus, it's important to know that vampires don't play baseball. And honestly? They never would.



 
7. Middlemarch by George Eliot

Because Middlemarch should be read when you're 14. And again when you're 23. And again at 31. And 45. And 52. And 68. And 84. It will, astoundingly, be a different book every time.

8. Maul by Tricia Sullivan

Two personal choices now. Read Tricia Sullivan's fantastic, profane and mind-bending Maul mainly because it's very important to start loving brilliant genre fiction before older readers can tell you to be a snob about it. Plus, far-future gender politics and teenagers with machine guns in a shopping mall. I ask again, what's not to love?

9. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

Tom, not Harold. This book is the whole reason for this list. I read it probably a dozen times from ages 15 to 17, and was amazed to discover that fiction could be, of all things, playful. That it didn't always need to be polite. That it could have runaway metaphors just for a laugh. And that the naughty bits could be told with a smile. It opened my eyes to a world of possibilities in my own writing, and is probably the most formative book I ever read. And you know what? I haven't read it since. I can't bear to. Seen through the eyes of my adult self, who knows how disappointed I'd be? Let it remain forever, gloriously, in my teenage years.

10. Unrecommended by Unnamed

And here's where it gets tricky. I can't possibly recommend some of the books that I and others read when we were teenagers. I mean, really, is Trainspotting in any way appropriate for a teenager? And what about the Jilly Coopers and the Jackie Collinses and, heaven help us, Flowers in the Attic? We older folks may have cherished, er, survived reading them at your age, but you're too young, WAY too young, to read any of these books that are easily available at your local library. Listed alphabetically by author. So the Cs would be near the front and Ws near the back. But I couldn't possibly recommend that.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2011/apr/08/patrick-ness-top-10-unsuitable-books-teenagers