Ideas for the Teen Department in Angus Glen

Is there anything you would like us to get to decorate the Teen Department, in Angus Glen?

What would you like in your department? Tell us, so we can make it better.

Graphic Novel Collection - We need help!

Andrea does the ordering for all the teen departments, in all of our libraries.

She wants to know which graphic novels, you must have and which ones should go.

Please post on this one or your favourites might be gone!

Has anyone seen the Da Vinci Code?

Like Harry Potter, this one is a guaranteed winner before the movie even premiered.

They have already made tons of money on the book. One reporter calculated that about 40 million people have read the book. If they had even a small percentage of readers see the movie it would be a winner.

The controversy surrounding the movie is also adding to the hype.

Let us know what you think of the movie.

Did you read Harry Potter?

Another true confession: I tried to read Harry Potter but did not like the story, at all. As I said before, I am not into that type of fiction. This was really hard for me because I was working in the Children's Department.

I will credit Rowling with bringing even the most reluctant readers, into the library.

Is there a series or book that you have wanted to read?

Is there something you wish we would purchase for the teen department/

Family Vacation

When my kids were small, we went on a family vacation: camping. I am a hotel girl, mints on the pillow, the whole nine yards. It was 39 degrees, the coldest August 12th, in years.

Yesterday, I had a girl who is going to the Great Wall of China, this summer.

What was your best or worst family vacation?

Prize question: Pick a city that you would like to travel to, in the future. Find a website that highlights the information a traveller would like to know.

P.S. There will be a second prize for the worst family vacation story. I have told you one of mine. Share yours.

Driving and Learner's Permits

True confessions: It took me two tries to get my license. I have to thank my best friend at the time, Mary for going with me, on the day of my test. One of my many excuses was that I went to Keele and the 401 to take my test. Even then kids were going to Aurora because they heard it was easier. Personally, I think I was out forever but definitely longer than usual for the test. In the end, I think the guy felt sorry for me and passed me out of pity.

Someone's daugher, I am not naming names had the misfortune of going to Scarborough to take her test. She has not really been to Scarborough but to make things worse, she had a pedestrian run out into the road during her test. She failed. The next test she took in Aurora, she passed. I swear she and her dad put a thousand miles on my car, the week before the test.

This same girl has a friend who rear ended another car in the drive through line at McDonald's. When you order, put your car in PARK! She is no longer driving.

P.S. One other driving tip: If you see someone flash their lights on and off at you, day or night that means that the radar trap is up ahead. Slow down.

Slow down period! Your parents although they are appearing calm on the outside are wearing a hole in the carpet from pacing while you are out. The happiest sound I ever hear is when I hear the car keys hit the table or counter at night.

P.S. Check out the MTO website for driver information. Driving schools especially one of the bigger ones even has a parent course for those who are nervous.

P.P.S> We have one cd from the Ministry that looks pretty good for preparing for your test.
Check it out.

Share us your driving stories.

Favourite DVD

The library needs some fresh dvds. We need your help again.

What is your favourite dvd? Would you recommend purchasing it for the library?

Runescape or Sims - which is better?

In taking a teen technology course, I tried out Runescape.

I will admit that at one point, I was addicted to Sims and spent some time on the game daily, supposedly in the hopes of better understanding what my children liked.

Which one do you like?

P.S. A parent of a young child who is maybe 8 or 10 asked if I knew if that game was appropriate for that age. I did not go too heavily into Runescape because I had to check out other games and technology for this course.

Can I ask an avid Runescape user, what is the correct answer? How old do you think someone should be to play Runescape?

Catherine

Slushy or Tiny Tom Donuts

Nothing says summer to me like a slushy or Tiny Tom Donuts (only the cinnamon ones). I was so excited when I found out Wonderland had the doughnuts. I don't have a pass but I beg people to bring me them home.

Yes, I know both the slushy and donuts are bad but what can I say?

What is your favourite summer food or tradition?

Favourite Game or Gamer Website

Someone I work with is Scrabble nuts. We all stay out of her way, she is too good. I used to play online but I have quit. My family no longer plays with me because I am a little too competitive.
I also like Mah Jong and some of the card games.

My son is PSP, Gameboy and XBox nuts.

What are your favourites?

Catherine

Lit Finder and Shakespeare Online

Andrea wants me to slip in some information about our online databases while we are blogging.

Years ago, (yes as my daughter Christine says , "when dinosaurs roamed the earth or when mom was in high school), I had a teacher named Miss Zucchi. Actually, I had two teachers named Miss Zucchi. One taught French and the other taught English.

No disrespect to the French teacher, Miss Zucchi but I always struggled with everything and French was no different. I think I came in around the low seventies, if I was lucky.

English teacher, Miss Zucchi was my favourite because I loved English. She now has four kids who I run into every now and then. I always tell her kids what a great teacher she was and how lucky they are to have her. (Side note: It is not Miss Zucchi's fault if my spelling and grammar are horrible that is my fault.)

We were studied the plays, "Death of A Salesman" and "Hamlet". Miss Zucchi made any play or interesting and let us have our chance to express our views that was what made her so great.

Quick tips: We have Lit Finder if you need to find literary criticisms online. This is available through our online databases. (See how I mentioned them again.)

When looking for plays by Shakespeare, type in the name of the play on any search engine and then Shakespeare Online. This site is great. Many of my customers love using this one.

Did you also know Blooms Notes and the one that starts with "S" (Scopes, (HELP ME PEOPLE, I CANNOT REMEMBER) are also online for free? They are great resources.

Catherine

Favourite Teacher

Everyone has a favourite teacher. Mrs. Quance in Grade One who made me feel special. Miss Piergies who became Mrs. Papagic (i could never spell her name correctly) taught me in Grade 4 and 6.

I credit my love of good books to Miss Piergies. She was from England and read to us every afternoon. Miss P. read us Tom Sawyer and the Wind in the Willows. I probably work in a library because of her. Everyone should be so lucky to have someone like her in their lives.

Who is your favourite teacher? What subject did the teach? What did they do that inspires you?

Catherine

Poem Finder

Years ago, I had two wonderful teachers who I will always remember for their teaching but also the life lessons, I will never forget.

Mr. Putre taught me in Grade 8. I am a horrible test taker as were many of my classmates. To help us, he had us remember long passages of poetry. For years, I could recite selected passages from "The Charge of the Light Brigade." I swear this poem had 14 verses. I should check on that in Poem Finder.

One poem, I will always remember and always reminds me of life lessons is "The Road not Taken."
It is by William Frost. He was the Poet Laureate who read at JFK's swearing in ceremony. I think.
Anyway, the poem talks about coming to a fork in the road and having to make a choice.
You get the idea and how it applies to life.

My doctor also had "Desiderata" which I even bought because it meant so much to me. I never told him that and I guess I should have. He also had Rockwell prints in his office which I loved.

What is your choice for a favourite poem and why?

Catherine

Favourite Website

I know we all have our favourite websites. Mine is a store which I will not name.

My son has a sports site. He loves to buy the latest hockey collectables.

Although my daughter will not admit to having a favourite site, I see her looking at her horoscope quite a bit. She also does online journaling.

I thought of one site I can share. Ever have trouble finding a classic book for school? Project Guttenberg was one of the first sites to ever have complete texts of many of the classics available for free. It is not ideal if you have a teacher who is demanding an exact edition but it can help in a pinch when you cannot find the book or left it at school.

Our library is continuously purchasing books, many of which are classic titles from Net Library. We have many titles and are constantly purchasing more. If you need instructions on how to use Net Library, it is with our online databases. We also have online and in house copies of brochures, you can have.

What is your favourite website?

Catherine

All loves excelling and Hanging on to Max

This weekend, I have completed two books with two very serious themes.

I am going to start with the second one because I think this is not as frequent a problem for the majority of our customers. It is the story of a young guy who finds out he and his girlfriend are having a baby. There are a number of twists and turns to the plot. His girlfriend gives the baby up and he tries to raise the baby. The ending did me in because I did not seem it coming.

Unfortunately, as a parent and a forever student, the first book was also troubling. This is the story of Amanda who is driven by her mother to try and be an overachiever. I will admit Amanda does buckle under pressure. The ending also was not as I expected.

Has anyone read these books?

Does anyone have any great tips that they would like to share with others about coping with stress, exams or long hours of studying? I know you do not want to think about this but it may help someone taking a summer course or even a subject, in the fall.

The Lottery by Beth Goobie

There is a book by Beth Goobie called the Lottery. When I read the book, I was taken back to think that students could be so mean. The premise of the book is that a girl is chosen by a group like a secret society and she is their slave for the year.

I know that this is a work of fiction but unfortuantely, it rang true. Some of the stuff the girl had to do was all too real.

Has anyone else read this book? Does this really happen or is the writer way off base?

Catherine

Role Model Biographies

Years ago, I loved biographies. These were the days when it was still okay to eat meat. I read about Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's; Elizabeth Arden and Harlan Saunders, founder of KFC.

I learned something from all of them: Ray actually was famous originally for his milkshakes, not his hamburgers.

Elizabeth and other perfume manufacturers of the time tried to make jars with false or optical illusion bottles. These bottles made it look like there was more facial cream in the jar than there actually was. After being found out by the government, everyone had to change this practise.

The Colonel wanted to be known for his gravy not his chicken.

Is there anyone you have read about in a book, magazine article or paper than inspired you?

Catherine

Where have all the Idols gone?

Does anyone wonder what happened to all the American and Canadian Idols?

The only one to make it big was Kelly Clarkson who this week is number one on the Chum charts.

Ryan Malcolm, the Canadian winner got himself in hot water, a few weeks back when he criticized the contest for putting the winner on top to fall quickly back to the bottom.

I know Princes William and Harry are supposedly watching (or is that for the benefit of the American Press) but who else is watching?

Have we lost our idols and are we buying their cds?

Catherine

Favourite Music

Last week, we had the TAG Group (Teen Advisory Group) come in and sort through our sorry cd collection. We are looking to make much needed new purchases.

What are you listening too and what would you like us to buy? One thing to remember is the turn around time is slow. We will do our best and want to make good selections that would appeal to everyone.

Thanks.

Catherine

Hot Topics

As a staff, we are being asked to create hot topics. These topics are supposed to provide helpful information for our customers.

I am looking for ideas that would interest teens. This is my goal for the fall. I will also use the ideas for display in the Teen Department.

Please let me know something that you would think be of interest to teens. I have ideas but I am not sure if I am hitting the mark.

Thanks.

Catherine

Television Ads

Today, I have this silly ad going through my head. You know the one, "hands in my pocket, hands in my pocket"

To be honest, I know the product is for a bank but I could not tell you which one.

Gordon and Frank are actually one of my favourites advertising for Bell.

What is your favourite and which one do you mute the t.v. or turn the channel?

Catherine

Children's book

I am in mom mode. When my kids were little, they both liked one particular book to my chagrin. In my daughter's case, it was a board book called "Betty's Birthday." I finally bought the book when I found it, for $2.99. The book was nothing special but I could no longer borrow it from the library.
My son loved Theodore Tugboat which was closely tied with Thomas the Tank engine. I read those books again and again.

Myself, I loved Harry the Dirty Dog, Curious George and Amelia Bedelia. I laughed when Amelia hung the lightbulbs out to dry and cut all the rosebuds off the sheets.

What was your favourite book as a child and why?

P.S. No pressure but this is a prize question. We will take a random name from all the entries, for this one.

Catherine

Sci Fi Lovers

I admit it I am not a trekkie or lover of the LOTR. I need your help. Can you think of a tough trivia question that a real trekkie or LOTR fan would be stumped by, if we asked?

If you have another sci fi writer you love, let us know. I am always asked about sci fi and I just stand there with this glazed look in my eyes or I refer my customers to one of my more informed colleagues.

Thanks for sharing.

Catherine

Career Cruising

I admire all of you so much. You all seem to know what you want do and where you want to go. I went through at least five careers in high school: marketing, dental technician, lawyer, nurse and even hotel and restaurant management. Somehow I ended up working in a library.

I know you have the careers course in Grade 10 to help you out. If you still need help, we have an online database called "Career Cruising." I know most of your schools have this available as well but it is only while you are in 10th grade.

If you ever want to check it out again, we always have it available. They are also always coming out with new features.

Check it out!

Catherine and Andrea

Cover letters and resumes/Finding a job

Do you need help with your cover letter or resume? We have books that can help. You can also find help online. Be careful though some sites charge for their services.

Another great resource: Human Resources Development Canada - Summer Jobs or HRDC.
Also just googling in Job Bank, gets you there.
HRDC have offices all through York Region and are there to help.

Catherine and Andrea

Summer Jobs - Good and Bad

Tell us about your best and worst summer job.

My worst summer job was working in a factory on an assembly line. It was hot and horrible. One thing I learned out of that job was the respect I have for workers on an assembly line. I was very humbled by how hard they worked and the less than ideal working conditions. By the way, some of my friends were working down the road in a toy factory testing out toys and games.

My best summer job was the same summer. At the time, I was too young to realize that this was a great job. I worked in an office (my own office) compiling statistics and doing office work. They had me back for three summers. The money was amazing.

Tell us your experience. It might also help someone get a job, in the future.

Volunteers, Volunteers and More Volunteers

Help!

We have too many students applying to be volunteers. Unfortunately, we cannot take everybody who applies.

This is where we need you!

Do you know anyone or anywhere that needs volunteers? These people must be willing to sign the sheet for the volunteer, at the end of their time. It does not have to be for the full 40 hours.
If your church, your team or a local seniors home needs help, please post and share.
Many students try and do their commitment over the summer.

P.S. If you have had a great experience volunteering, please share. This might give someone an idea of somewhere or something that they could do to fulfil their 40 hours.

Thanks.

Catherine