Mind Over Matter. Or the Other Way Around.

Have you ever had that itching feeling? The one where you’re on the edge of some momentous discovery or creation, an instant before a breakthrough, so close that a heavenly choir is preparing to sing in the background? If you’re anything like me, that instant-before moment is right about when you lose your train of thought.

The other night I was doodling my own book cover for Lois Lowry’s The Giver. Everything was going well, the  images were flowing freely from my mind to my pencil to the paper. My fingertips were throbbing, but it was that pleasant soreness of effort and accomplishment. The two-dimensional graphite on my paper grew a magical depth and form, reminding me of the real magic that came out of Clary Fray’s illustrations. Okay, maybe my surprisingly decent drawing of a finger sandwich couldn’t actually become a finger sandwich, like Clary’s could in Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones, but it could make my soul soar.

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Eva Perry Library Reads: Outcast

*This blog post got Evelyn tickets for our Teen Summer Contest. Click here to find out how to enter!*

The book Outcast, by Rosemary Sutcliff, is full of historical adventure. The setting is near the end of the Roman empire, when barbaric hunting tribes inhabited Britain. Beric, the main character, landed as an infant on the coast of England, the sole survivor of a violent shipwreck. A kind couple took him in and raised him as their own. Fifteen years later, when the tribe’s crops failed, and sickness started spreading, the elders blamed Beric, who was of Roman descent, a nation despised by the Brits. He was thrown out of the only family and community he had ever known, never to return. The book follows the journey and engrossing adventures of Beric.  Outcast was an intriguing novel, filled with twists and turns.

Teens’ Top Ten 2011: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

*This blog post got Cheenu book bucks for our Teen Summer Contest. Click here to find out how to enter!*

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is one of the Teens’ Top Ten Nominations for 2011.

Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins, is the last book in the Hunger Games Trilogy. The background of this book is the country of Panem, the result of a devastated and ruined North America. The country of Panem is made up of the Capitol (the center of Panem) and thirteen outlying districts whose job is to supply the Capitol with various goods and products. Before the Hunger Games Trilogy began, a civil war broke out in which the districts revolted against the Capitol. The districts were eventually crushed and District 13 was supposedly demolished. As a penalty for the rebellion, the districts are forced to send one male and one female representative from each district to fight to the death on live television. Everyone is forced to watch this battle to show how weak they are.

2011 Student Poetry Contest: Winners

The winners for Wake County Public Libraries 2011 Student Poetry Contest have been announced!  Click the Pirate Kraken above to find out who won!

Last Call For Entries!

Today is the last day to enter the 2011 Wake County Public Libraries 2011 Student Poetry contest!  Check out the guidelines and submit your poem before 5:00 p.m.!

All entries must include your name, grade, school, phone and your parents’ name and phone number.  Please remember that the contest is open only to residents of Wake County, NC!

What are you waiting for?  Enter now!

Win $3,000 for Your Library and $50 for Yourself

Teens, how would you like to win $3,000 for your favorite Wake County Library and $50 for yourself!  The American Library Association is sponsoring a video contest for ages 13-18.  Entries are due by April 18.  This contest has no affiliation with Wake County.  Details can be found on the website.

Teen Art Contest at Eva Perry Regional

All students in grades 6-12 are invited to submit original artwork in our 4th annual Eva Perry Library Teen Art Contest and Exhibition.

Entries will be accepted from February 28-March 7.  Grades 6-12 can submit to the exhibition, and only grades 9-12 will be judged in the contest.

One entry per category:  painting, drawing, digital arts, photography, or mutimedia. And entry form must be submitted with each piece of art.

Click here for an entry form and a full list of guidelines.