October 20, 2010

Hey, writers...get ready!

November is knocking on October's door, and it's coming with the annual writing challenge--NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It's a personal goal you set for yourself to write a novel in November. Yes, a NOVEL. Think you have what it takes? Below is the scoop from the folks sponsoring the event. Read on...

What: To meet your word-count goal and write a novel from scratch in one month’s time. You will be able to enter your chosen word-count goal in your profile starting October 1.

Who: You!

You should sign up on the Young Writers Program site if you are:

•17 years old or younger participating on your own.
•In a K-12 teacher-led class that is participating in NaNoWriMo.
•An educator facilitating NaNoWriMo in your classroom.
If you are 13 or older, you can sign up on the main site at www.nanowrimo.org. Just know that you will have to write 50,000 words since the adult site doesn’t allow you to set your own word-count goal.

Why: The reasons are endless! To write freely without having to stress over spelling and grammar. To be able to talk about how cool your novel is any chance you get. To be able to make fun of real novelists who take far longer than 30 days to write their books...

When: You can sign up whenever you’d like to add your name to the roster of budding young authors and participate in the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach your word-count goal by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the celebration begins.

If you ever thought about giving writing a try, why not take the plunge during NaNoWriMo? The library has lots of books with tips for aspiring writers, so drop by and give us a shout.

October 13, 2010

Unwind


by Neal Shusterman
YA SciFi Shusterman N
335 p. 2010 Science Fiction
Grade: A+

Unwind was so great! I would recommend this book to anyone, whether they like science fiction or not. It is full of suspense and tension. Some parts are a little hard to follow, but overall, it was superb!

Reviewed by Teen Lit Club member Marlene G.

October 4, 2010

The Wide-Awake Princess


by E.D. Baker
jBak
261 p. 2010 Fairy Tales
Grade: A

The Wide-Awake Princess was a funny, quick, and light read that stayed true to the fairy tale spirit of The Frog Princess . In this story, Princess Annie, Sleeping Beauty's younger sister, is the only one left awake when the whole castle falls asleep. She sets out to bring home her sister's true love to break the spell, encountering many other quirky (often familiar) fairy tale characters along the way. The Wide-Awake Princess is a quirky, likeable twist on several well-known fairytales that I would recommend to anyone who's enjoyed E.D. Baker's other tales.

Reviewed by Teen Lit Book Club and TAB member Allison P.