All Broke Down

Author: Cora Carmack
Info: William Morrow Paperbacks, copyright 2014, 360 pages

Dylan fights for lost causes. Probably because she used to be one.

Environmental issues, civil rights, corrupt corporations, and politicians you name it, she's probably been involved in a protest. When her latest cause lands her in jail overnight, she meets Silas Moore. He's in for a different kind of fighting. And though he's arrogant and infuriating, she can't help being fascinated with him. Yet another lost cause.

Football and trouble are the only things that have ever come naturally to Silas. And it's trouble that lands him in a cell next to do-gooder Dylan. He's met girls like her before fixers, he calls them, desperate to heal the damage and make him into their ideal boyfriend. But he doesn't think he's broken, and he definitely doesn't need a girlfriend trying to change him. Until, that is, his anger issues and rash decisions threaten the only thing he really cares about: his spot on the Rusk University football team. Dylan might just be the perfect girl to help.

Because Silas Moore needs some fixing after all. -Goodreads Description

The Rundown

     This is the second book in Cora Carmack's Rusk University series. I read the first one, All Lined Up, too long ago to give it a proper review on my blog. The same goes for Carmack's first series, Losing It. Maybe one day I'll reread them to review, but let's be real, it would just be me being a gushing hot mess fan girl about how much I love Cora Carmack's books! She was my gateway author into the fabulous world of new adult lit back in 2013 when I first read Losing It. 

     We first met Silas in All Lined Up as Rusk's handsome, cocky running back who struck out with Dallas, the coach's daughter, in a play to win a bet. That's okay, because we got a great story out of Dallas and Carson! And, in my opinion, we get an even better, hotter story with Silas and Dylan!

     I had always hoped there was more to Silas than what I saw in All Lined Up, and praise Jesus there is! Key people in his childhood saw that he could rise above where he came from, and football was his ticket out. Still, he's felt like an outsider at Rusk. He believes most of the students come from good homes and families, and he's just poor white trash pretending to fit in. After a run in with the past (first, his absent and all around bad news mom, then his all around bad news former friend and ex Rusk quarter back, Levi) he lands himself in a jail cell for fighting. What should have set the tone for a negative, downward spiral of a school year is about to change his life forever.

     Why? Because in the holding cell across from him is sweet, beautiful, perfectionist Dylan. How does a good girl land herself in jail? By handcuffing herself to a sign during a protest to keep a local homeless shelter open, that's how. She just feels so trapped her current world. Almost invisible, like she's playing the role of perfect daughter, perfect student. Dylan even wonders if that's why her boyfriend of four years just ended it. For someone who fights for even the most hopeless of causes, why can't she stand up for herself? Still, she can't take her eyes off of the guy with bad news written all over him in the cell across from hers. 

     Dylan's more than just a perfect little rich girl. And Silas is more than just a bad boy. Their chance meeting sets them off on an unforgettable journey of friendship, love, and self-discovery. I want you to read it and know their story, so at the risk of spoilers I'll leave it at that!

     Cora Carmack has this knack for writing New Adult exactly the way it should be! She blends a believable romance, likable characters, realistic trials and triumphs, and steamy scenes with the humor, parties, and coming of age in campus life. And her author note at the end of the book (after a very tragic thing happens to one of Silas & Dylan's friends) spoke to my heart about standing up and fighting for the underdog and what's right. We really all can be better. We owe that to one another. 

     For those of you unfamiliar with New Adult, think of it as the bridge between YA and Adult literature, with main characters typically in the 18-30 age range. Like teen lit: the college years! 

Rating: 4/5 Stars: A really great & enjoyable read!

Top Five Books On My TBR Spring List

Ah spring is in the air. The smell of rain, flowers, and new books! The coolest part about being a YA librarian (well really everything about being a YA librarian is the coolest) is getting the scoop about new releases from old favorites or debut authors months ahead of time. The bad part?? Waiting for book birthdays or for a precious ARC. Here are the top five books I've been waiting to get my hands on all winter!

1) Walk the Edge by Katie McGarry

Kate McGarry + Hot Biker Boys = AAAAHHHHHH!!!! I turn into a hot mess fan girl and embarrass myself all over Twitter every time she mentions this book as it gets close to the March 29 release. And she usually retweets me, which makes me act even dorkier. The second installment in the Thunder Road series will be in my hands in less than a week!!

2) Charged by Jay Crownover

This is the second installment in the Saints of Denver series which is a spin off of the hit Marked Men series. And O.M.G. Jay Crownover is one of my favorite New Adult authors. Why? She writes about steamy dreamy tattooed boys!! Duh! We first met Avett and Quaid in Asa (Marked Men #6) and I always wanted Avett to get her story. And now it's almost here! Yes!!

3) Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston

Ever since I read reviews for this book and pre-ordered it for my library I've been anxious to read it! I have a feeling it'll be a tear jerker!

4) Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

Given that the book description stars with "Amsterdam, 1943" the history geek in me was like "Yup!". 

5) Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

Probably one of the most buzzed about YA contemporary romances I've come across this spring! Haven't we all dreamed about someone we've never met at some point? Sigh. 

Hot Reads for Teens Summer 2016

Summer will be upon us soon! Warmer weather, longer days, and the super fun Summer Reading Program!!! Here's a preview of the summer edition of the Hot Reads for Teens pamphlet. Feel free to download and play with the layout and titles to make it work for your library! These go like hot cakes in my teen area!

Download here!

Front Lines

Author: Michael Grant
Info: Katherine Tegan Books, copyright 2016, 576 pages

1942. World War II. The most terrible war in human history. Millions are dead; millions more are still to die. The Nazis rampage across Europe and eye far-off America.

The green, untested American army is going up against the greatest fighting force ever assembled—the armed forces of Nazi Germany.

But something has changed. A court decision makes females subject to the draft and eligible for service. So in this World War II, women and girls fight, too.

As the fate of the world hangs in the balance, three girls sign up to fight. Rio Richlin, Frangie Marr, and Rainy Schulterman are average girls, girls with dreams and aspirations, at the start of their lives, at the start of their loves. Each has her own reasons for volunteering. Not one expects to see actual combat. Not one expects to be on the front lines.

Rio, Frangie, and Rainy will play their parts in the war to defeat evil and save the human race. They will fear and they will rage; they will suffer and they will inflict suffering; they will hate and they will love. They will fight the greatest war the world has ever known.        -Goodreads Description

The Rundown

I'm a historical fiction junkie, especially when it comes to WWII era books. I couldn't wait to read it and thankfully it wasn't a let down at all! I'll admit that as excited as I was to get my hands on this, I was a little worried about how Michael Grant could carry out an alternate telling of the most famous conflict in world history. 

I mean, we know Rosie the Riveter. We know women built planes, ships, tanks, ammo, served with the USO, grew victory gardens, and more on the home front, but actually fighting? Going through basic training right alongside men? In 1942? Huh? 

The story opens with a fictional article about a lawsuit against a state draft board that made it legal for women to be eligible for the draft as well as men in 1940. If you look at it like a historian, it's a pretty easy bit of fiction to swallow as reality. All you had to do in 1940 was watch a newsreel or turn on the radio to see how things were going in Europe. Although the majority of Americans favored isolationism there was also a dreaded sense that we would be dragged into the conflict eventually. And we were, on December 7, 1941. We saw this overwhelming surge of nationalism as young men went to enlist, and in this story, women too. Think about the days and months after 9/11, when women in military service was a much more common thing. It's really not hard to believe that women, very young women, were enlisting right along with young men to do their duty.

Okay, the history major in me will try to shut up now and get back to the book review. First off the characters. Rainy was my absolute favorite! After basic she was recruited to go on to army intelligence. She's kind of our girl on the inside, who we get to see the bigger picture through. I can't wait to follow her in the next book. Why? Rainy is from New York City and the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Poland. She knows that no one from their temple with family in Poland or the Ukraine have gotten any letters in over a year. It's in her mind to find out why.

Frangie is our glimpse at what military service was like with two strikes against you: being a woman and being African-American. Although women can fight in this alternate telling, the US Army is still segregated by race. She leaves Tulsa, Oklahoma for the army to help send money to her family, who are facing hard times after an accident leaves her father unable to find work. Frangie's family and neighborhood, the Greenwood district, were greatly scarred by the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921 (definitely an event worth reading up on!). Some of the most gut-wrenching parts of the book to read were those following Frangie. Once, during basic, she's caught walking alone by a white sergeant and is nearly attacked before a black squad happens to pass by and put an end to it. We follow Frangie to North Africa where she's a medic with a black artillery unit. Readers will be amazed how some soldiers would rather risk bleeding out or infection over letting a black medic assist them. 

Rio tells the story of many. Although her hometown of Gedwell Falls, California, is fictitious, it could very well be any small town in America. Being from a little farming town myself, I could appreciate where Rio grew up: a place where you knew everyone, their parents, their grandparents. Where hardly anything was new and not much changes. Rio is already struggling with feeling like she's the next generation of farmer's wife: raising children, cooking, cleaning, and keeping a home and wondering if there's more out there when her family gets a telegram that her older sister was killed in the Pacific theater. She's still dealing with being the first gold star family in town when her best friend, Jenou, tells her she's enlisting. Wishing to do something, anything, Rio lies about her age (she's 17) and joins the army. 

I got very attached to the close-knit group of young men and women that go through basic and become a squad together with Rio & Jenou. Which makes following them through their first days in North Africa difficult. For years I over glamorized the 1940s in my head (still do now and then...I mean, the fashion, the greatest generation...anyway) until I saw the movie Saving Private Ryan when I was a teenager. War is devastating. Cruel. These young men and women saw, endured, and made choices no one should ever have to make. Yet they did it, and we have them to thank for our freedom. 

Before I became the YA librarian I worked in the local history center of our library. I had the honor of meeting and interviewing veterans from many wars during that time, but one in particular stood out to me, and I played his words over as I read about Rainy, Frangie, and Rio in North Africa. This veteran was a WWII pilot. He was in a wheelchair as came into the library. I stuck my hand out to thank him for his service, but he wouldn't take my hand until he had stood up and removed his hat for a lady (so yes, I fell in love). While talking to him we got around to the camaraderie I'd always envisioned in war. You know, fighting for apple pie and baseball and your buddy next to you. He had tears in his eyes when he told me that it got to a point where his heart couldn't take making friends. He said you'd chat with a few guys one night, maybe grab a drink together. Then you'd get back from a mission and hear their plane got shot down. It was a lonely feeling. Away from home. Being asked to kill. Afraid of friendship. 

Can you imagine? I can't, but I played his words over in my head after reading the battle scenes Grant painted in North Africa. And this is only the beginning of war for Rainy, Frangie, and Rio. Front Lines takes you through basic training and into their first exposures to combat. This is the first in the Soldier Girl series with the other books going on to the invasion of Italy, landing in France, and the liberation of Europe.

It is a large book with longer chapters, but the pace of the book balances out the size. Every time I'd near the end of a chapter I'd think I could put it down and go to bed, but nope! A definite page turner perfect for any reader who loves historical fiction, war & military life stories, and awesome main characters! The beginning was a little slow and I thought for sure I wasn't going to like Rio, but by the end of this book when you see what a kick butt soldier she is, you'll be thankful for all the time you spent with her as a normal teenage girl in Gedwell Falls. I can't wait to follow the invasion of Italy with these soldier girls!

Rating: 4 Stars. A great book & enjoyable read. 

Top Five Favorite 90s Movies

I love blogging about books and authors, but I never say no to a good movie! I'm a 90s kid through and through and my gosh did we have some great movies! It's always fun when I get to do a movie program with my teens at the library (It's part of my job to pop popcorn and put my feet up? Seriously?!). Every once in a while, I use movie programs to selfishly get a little dose of nostalgia and introduce my teens to the classics.

Here are my top five favorite 90s movies! What are some of yours? I'd love to hear!

1) Dazed and Confused (1993)

Okay, if you know this one know it's definitely not one I can show at the library (it's rated R), but it doesn't stop it from being one of my all time favorite movies. I love comedies, and no matter how many times I watch this movie, I still crack up. Set on the last day of high school in Texas in 1976 (yes, a 90s movie set in the 70s) complete with all the mischief, partying, and one of the best soundtracks ever. Not to mention a young Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, and Jason London!

Favorite Line: "You just gotta keep on livin man. L-I-V-I-N." (really anything Matthew McConaughey's character says is pure gold!)

2) A League of Their Own (1992)

Another 90s move set not in the 90s. During World War Two, pro baseball was in danger of being shut down for the duration of the war until a team owner's promotional manager had the idea of starting a league of women's pro baseball teams. The movie follows two sisters on their journey from Oregon to being the first women inducted into the hall of fame, along with their teammates and managers fifty years later. Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, and Rosie O'Donnell make up a great cast. Confession: I cry every time I watch this movie. Usually at least three times. But I laugh even more! I love this movie!

Favorite Line: "There's no crying in baseball!"

3) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Halloween will always be my favorite holiday. I don't even know how to begin to fangirl about this movie. The music? (If you haven't heard Marilyn Manson's cover of "This is Halloween" look it up!) The amazing sets? The stop animation? The characters? Jack, The Pumpkin King. Sally. Zero. Sandy Claws. Lock, Shock, & Barrel. Oogie Boogie. This was my childhood. From Halloween to Christmas, this was my movie! And then during my teen years it was immortalized in the Blink 182 song I Miss You: "We can live like Jack and Sally if we want. Where you can always find me. We'll have Halloween on Christmas. And in the night we'll wish this never ends."

Favorite Line: "My dearest friend, if you don't mind I'd like to join you by your side. Where we can gaze into the stars. And sit together, now and forever. For it is plain as anyone can see, we're simply meant to be."

4) Casper (1995)

It doesn't have to be autumn for me to watch a Halloween movie. Ever! How can you not love Casper?! It has the coolest set ever (except for The Addam's Family's house!), a lovable father daughter duo, three mischievous ghosts, and the endearing Casper. Friendship, first love, and everlasting love all play out in this feel good movie about a lonely ghost who just wants a friend. And what every 90s girl remembers most: Devon Sawa (as human Casper) walking down the stairs to dance with Kat. I had Devon Sawa posters everywhere for years after that (Thanks Tiger Beat!)

Favorite Line: "Can I keep you?"  

5) Romeo + Juliet (1996)

There's a reason why this work of Shakespeare has stood the test of time. It's beautiful. It's poetry. It's passion. This movie is just brilliant. Keep the play intact, but give it a modern setting and the best soundtrack of all time? Oh and throw in a pre-Titanic Leo? Yes. Please. Grab the tissues and the cookie dough for this one! 

Favorite Line: "Did my heart love 'til now? Forswear its sight. For I never saw true beauty 'til this night."

Top Five Favorite Historical Fiction Settings

I love historical fiction. Like a lot. As in I have to remind myself to read other genres (other than a good contemporary romance, which I'm also an addict of). My love of historical fiction can be traced back to picking up my first American Girls book when I was 7 or 8. I was hooked. Christmas for me as a kid was scoring different of the "classic" American Girl's cookbooks and crafting kits. A few years later it was my turn to pick our family vacation destination and I picked Colonial Williamsburg so I could see where Felicity grew up. Connor Prairie (this awesome living history museum of an 1830s Indiana village) was always my favorite field trip in school...I'd go on with all of my history geekisms but let's just wrap it up with that I majored in history in college and long to be a 50s housewife (mostly for the fashion). 

Anyway, here are my top five historical fiction settings I'll read over and over again!

1) World War Two Era

I remember my 4th grade teacher reading Number the Stars by Lois Lowery aloud to us during circle time. I loved that story so much that I wanted to know more. It became my favorite era to study all the way through college (I even had a super cool professor who let me write a history vs. Hollywood style term paper on Casablanca!). While it's easy to get caught up in the romance of the era, sometimes it's good historical fiction set here that has more of an impact on me than anything I could glean from a textbook. 

Check Out: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

2) The Roaring Twenties

The height of the jazz age...flappers...speakeasies...I've probably over romanticized it all in my head, but would I hop in a time machine, rock a drop waist dress and headband while dancing the Charleston all night? Yup! Plus this generation had women with more freedom than any before it, which makes for some kick butt female protagonists! I wish this was an era written about more in YA, but the books I have read set during this time are awesome!

Check Out: The Diviners by Libba Bray, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Born of Illusion by Teri Brown

3) The American Civil War

No matter if I'm rereading Gone with the Wind or a biography on Harriett Tubman I'll never lose my fascination with every aspect of this time in American history. We have a Civil War reenactment every year here and I never miss it (though I haven't started dressing up...yet). I'd love to see more of this setting again in YA! 

Check Out: Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin, My Name's Not Friday by Jon Walter, and Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (okay, this is a bit of a stretch, but there are several flashbacks to South Carolina during the war that play a huge role in the story AND you can see the lasting impact this war has on our country today)

4) Victorian Era

I love reading about spunky, rebellious women during this age! Especially the late 19th century. And sometimes I just wish I could wear fancy dresses and go to balls and have tea time. 

Check Out: These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly, A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, and Jackaby by William Ritter

5) The Great Depression 

So this probably sounds like...well...depressing. And I suppose it is, but it isn't. To go from the glitz and excess of the 1920s to worldwide hardship wouldn't make you think of a great setting, but some good YA lit is set during this time. Times were hard, nothing went to waste, racial tensions were high, and on the global stage were all of the events leading up to WWII. 

Check Out: Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman, The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Eleanor & Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell
Info: St. Martin's Press, copyright 2013, 328 pages

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. -Goodreads description

The Rundown

How do I even begin to tell you how amazing this book is? You'll laugh. You'll cry (a lot). And you'll end it believing that love can be drug through the mess of life and maybe, just maybe, come out stronger on the other side.

First off, this novel is set in 1986 and the soundtrack I cooked up in my head based on the music mentioned is fantastic: The Smiths, Joy Division, Dead Kennedys, Elvis Costello, Henry Rollins...yes!! 

I love a good romance always, but Eleanor & Park struck a very different chord with me than a lot of what I've read lately. There are so many great YA authors who tackle tough social issues weaved into a romance, and they do it justice. But there's just something about Eleanor & Park that I'll carry with me for the rest of my life.

You see Park comes from this close, loving family. A mom and dad who are head over heels in love and doting grandparents who live right next door. His biggest thing that makes him different in the neighborhood is being half Korean, wearing eyeliner occasionally, and disappearing into punk rock and comic books. 

Eleanor, on the other hand, has divorced parents, a blended family, and a stepdad from hell on top of living in poverty. She's been labeled the "Fat Girl" (though reading how Park sees her and even a few comments she makes about herself, I'd bet money she's just a little bit taller and bigger built than average, but by no means fat...kids can be cruel), has wild curly red hair, and doesn't have the means to dress on trend (but she probably wouldn't even if she did). 

These two never wanted to like each other, but life had other plans for them. I can't think of a better author than Rainbow Rowell to tell their story. She has this way with words that makes you feel everything in deep in your soul. That's what makes this book such a good, but difficult read. You can't help but feel everything, the good and the bad. First love with all of its intensity and ups and downs will hit you like a work tornado (it's a thing I promise). 

This book often had me spinning back to my own teen years. Eleanor's story is in part, my story. I once had a Park of my own with a family much like his who saved me in so many ways.  I never knew before them that a house could actually feel like a home, or that a mother could truly love her children. To find a piece of heaven amid hell is a blessing to an abused child. Maybe that's why I never thought I'd finish this book. Not because it wasn't beautifully written and practically dripping with poetry, but because it tore open wounds that had been healing for years. I'm glad I finished it. And I'll probably read it again and again and again to remind myself that love can vanquish even the darkest parts of life. 

Grab a box of tissues, play The Smiths softly, and get a copy of Eleanor & Park in your hands like yesterday.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

DIY Lava Lamps

Science can be super cool! This craft/experiment is great for teens and tweens because there's no heat, no glue, and little chance for a mess. Bonus for librarians on a shoestring budget (aren't we all?!): you can make these super fun lava lamps with things you probably already have at home!

Items Needed:

Water Bottle (filled 1/4 of the way with water)

Vegetable Oil

Food Coloring

Cold & Flu Seltzer Tablets

Small Funnel

Instructions:

1) Using the funnel, pour vegetable oil into the water bottle, filling 3/4 of the way (make sure you leave 1/4 of the bottle open so nothing bubbles over!)

2) Add a few drops of food coloring. This might be a great time to remind teens of the color wheel and what colors make what (a few of my teens learned that all the colors=brown lava lamp).

3) Add the seltzer tabs and watch the fun begin! Just make sure teens leave the caps off of their bottles. We used a store brand of tablets and about two worked perfectly in a standard size water bottle. 

Teens can take these home and show off their lava lamp project any time they have extra seltzer tablets! For more fun, turn off the lights and shine a flashlight behind the bottle as you drop in the tablets!

Top Five Songs on My Writing Playlist

     So I mostly blog about books. But here's the thing: I geek music as much as I geek books! I grew up with a drummer/guitarist for a dad who put drumsticks in my hands when I was 3 and had me riding around in his truck singing along to Tom Petty before kindergarten. Good classic rock has a special place in my heart for sure (I don't want to brag but I've been to 4 Def Leppard concerts...)

     Even though I'm still slightly jealous that my dad got to be a teenager in the 70s (I mean he like lived the Dazed and Confused soundtrack...it's an awesome movie I promise) my coming of age teen years were the early 2000s. Pop punk and emo and sneaking off to Warped Tour and finding new bands on MySpace are fond memories (where I try to forget that I tried super hard to look like Avril Lavigne...black eye liner and studded belts and stick straight hair...*shudders*). 

     I toy around with creative writing from time to time and one of my favorite parts of my writing process is making a playlist for my characters. I like to imagine what song they have to turn up in their car or what song makes them think of their first kiss or what they dance around to when they get ready in the morning. 

     Anyway, taking a break from a book top five this week to post the top five songs on my current project's playlist (and it's a big trip down memory lane for me!). What do you like to listen to when you write?

1) Existentialism on Prom Night by Straylight Run 

"Sing me something soft. Sad and delicate. Or loud and out of key. Sing me anything. Sing like you think no one's listening. You would kill for this. Just a little bit."

Confession: may have been my most overused away message on AIM back in the day  

2) Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional

"The streets were wet and the gate was locked so I jumped it. And I let you in. And you stood at your door with your hands on my waist and you kissed me like you meant it."

This whole song is like one fantastic story. Everyone should remember a day like this. 

3) For Me This Is Heaven by Jimmy Eat World

"Can you still feel the butterflies? Can you still hear the last goodnight? I close my eyes and believe. Wherever you are, an angel for me."

Because no early 2000s pop punk/emo playlist is complete without a Jimmy Eat World song...or five or six. And any kid who loved this genre and claims Clarity wasn't a life changing album is lying. But this song. All the feels.



4) Konstantine by Something Corporate

"It's to Jimmy Eat World and those nights in my car. When the first star you see may not be a star. I'm not your star. Isn't that what you said what you thought this song meant?"

10 minutes of some of the best emo lyrics ever written. I used this song in a driving scene I'm working on! And bonus: this line is a reference to For Me This Is Heaven by Jimmy Eat World!

5) Blue and Yellow by The Used

"Well you never find it if you're looking for it. Should have done something but I've done it enough. By the way your hands were shaking. Rather waste some time with you."

Teenage me thought this should have been the spotlight dance at prom (small town Midwest=prom flooded with cheesy country). It's just a pretty, achingly beautiful song to me. Confession: I saw The Used live again just a few years ago and still debated buying one of their t-shirts that said, "I want to have Bert McCraken's dirty, filthy, bearded babies!" We never grow out of our rock star crushes!

Since I seriously just picked the first five songs on the list, here are some close call bands: Story of the Year, Blink 182, The Starting Line, Brand New, HIM, Coheed & Cambria, Alexisonfire, Yellowcard, The Ataris, Taking Back Sunday, Alkaline Trio, Sugarcult, Jack's Mannequin, My Chemical Romance, Hawthorne Heights, City and Color, AFI, Say Anything, and Sum 41!

Library Scavenger Hunt

Classic scavenger hunts never lose their fun! One tailored for a library? Even better! The teens at my library love any type of contest, and this is a fool proof one. Great for pairing into teams or competing solo! 

Bonus: teens get to learn about and visit other areas of the library!

Click here for a link to the most recent scavenger hunt I wrote. Feel free to reuse or rewrite it to work for your library (or work an upcoming holiday into it)!

**Image from http://www.freeimages.com/