And the Winner Is…

The results of the 2007-2008 Georgia Peach Book Award for teen readers are in. This year’s winner is a Creekview High favorite, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer!  This book had the most votes in the past 4 years! The 2007-2008 Honor Book Winners are also Grizzly favorites, I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter and Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. All three winners will receive hand-blown peach trophies by Lillie Glass Company from Georgia Library Media Association. GLMA would like to thank all the schools and public libraries that voted. They had over 80 libraries respond this year, the most ever!

Calling All Book Divas!

Are you a book diva? Do you live for books? Well, you may be interested in a cool website, BookDivas. BookDivas is a great place to go for book reviews; interviews with authors; writing tips for budding authors; book trailers and author videos; writing resources to help you with grammar, style, poetry writing, self-publishing, and book clubs. There is even a blog, and there are fun author visits. Once you’ve written your own book, you can even promote it on BookDivas. You can even post an excerpt of your book in their “Works in Progress” section and get feedback from other readers. What, I ask you, could be cooler than that? Some day you, too, could be one of BookDiva’s book divas! Check it out today!

Simon Says “Listen!”

Have you checked out the great podcasts on YA books from Simon and Schuster?  If not, check out the latest “booktalk” via podcast about City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare—this podcast features an interview with Ms. Clare!  Here is what Simon and Schuster have to say about this cool podcast:

In today’s Simon Pulse podcast, we’ll talk with Cassandra Clare about City of Ashes, the second book in the Mortal Instruments series. This breathtaking sequel to City of Bones lures readers back into the dark grip of New York City’s Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

 There are three ways to listen and subscribe to this podcast:

Download this podcast (MP3)
Subscribe with iTunes
Subscribe (RSS)

For additional cool podcasts, try these resources from Simon and Schuster:

A monthly podcast providing the inside scoop on the hottest authors and books for teens.

SimonSays Weekly Podcast:
A weekly podcast providing information on Simon and Schuster latest books and audiobooks.
Subscribe with iTunes
Subscribe (RSS/XML)

SimonSays Pulse Podcast:
A monthly podcast providing the inside scoop on the hottest authors and books for teens.
Subscribe with iTunes
Subscribe (RSS/XML)

SimonSays Book Club Reader Podcast:
A monthly podcast providing the inside scoop on Simon and Schuster authors and books for your bookclub.
Subscribe with iTunes
Subscribe (RSS/XML)  

Thanks to Ms. Hamilton’s post at “The Unquiet Library” blog for this info!

A Movie About a Movie? What Will They Think of Next?

Have you been to see The Spiderwick Chronicles yet? Did you remember that author Holly Black was one of our readergirlz 31 Flavorite Authors back in October? Well, in case you’re interested, here’s a video interview with Holly, along with illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi discussing the writing/illustrating process they used in creating The Spiderwick Chronicles. If you have seen the movie, or read the books, why not take a moment to comment on your opinions of how the movie represents the series. Visit Holly’s website , Tony’s website, or the Spiderwick website for more info.

The New Books Are Here! The New Books Are Here!

Stop by the media center to “check out” all the new books that just arrived this morning at The Unquiet Library. Today’s shipment includes plenty of fiction and nonfiction books. Be the first to stop by for your favorite title or author!

Take Your Favorite Authors’ Pulse!

Simon & Schuster is launching their first annual Pulse Blogfest – a two-week event From March 14 to March 27, 2008, where over 120 top teen authors and their fans come together to share ideas on one single blog. But how does Pulse Blogfest work? Over the past few weeks, Pulse Blogfest  solicited questions from teen readers, including those on their Pulse IT  advisory teen board, as well as on the Pulse Blogfest MySpace page, and then they chose fourteen questions that covered a wide range of topics. Each day, for two weeks, they will have one featured question. For each question, dozens of our authors will be posting blog entries addressing that question. You’ll be able to get dozens of unique viewpoints of the same question. Each participating author will be answering anywhere from one to seven different questions throughout the event. Unfortunately, you can no longer submit questions for the authors to answer. The fourteen questions that will be answered during the blogfest have already been chosen, so they won’t be taking submissions for new questions at this time. However, you can still post your own thoughts and feelings about any author’s blog entries. But there are certain restrictions. In order to post a response to a particular blog entry, go to the end of the entry. There, you’ll see something that looks like a link that shows the number of comments thus far for that entry. To post your comment, follow the same etiquette that applies to your comments on the Blatant Bibliophile Blog: use only your first name, use appropriate language, and be patient: the comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately. The authors may or may not be able to return comments related to your comments. Have fun and enjoy the authors!

Way Cool Author Coming to Creekview!

Mark your calendar, Blatant Bibliophiles! We have our very own writer coming to Creekview on Monday, April 28 and Tuesday, April 29. Writer Kelly Bingham, author of Shark Girl, will not only be visiting The Unquiet Library, she will also be conducting poetry writing workshops for students in English classes all day. Kelly will show the students a variety of poems and talk about word choice; “showing instead of telling;” the element of surprise in poetry; and editing, drafting, and revising poems. There will be a writing exercise in which students will have the opportunity to try their hands at writing their own poems. Visit Kelly at her website to learn more about her. She is a guest author for April on one of our favorite sites, readergirlz. Shark Girl was a starred review in School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly and was an SLJ “hot pick.” It was also nominated for a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association and a CYBIL, the Children’s and Young Adult’s Literary Award.

Art, Art, Baby!

“Marry Me?” Kelsey, Megan, Haley, and James

“Elasticity” by Miranda, Lindsey, Shannon, and Nikki

“Maria Chillin’” by Maria, Kortnee, Portia, Sarah, and Heather

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the coolest art teacher of them all? It has got to be our own Ms. McCloskey. And her art students. This week, their contribution is three-dimensional tape sculpture. Check out their first three fabulous contributions. For more information on tape sculpture, and instructions on how to create your own, you can go to TapeSculpture.org. OK, you know that they’re not using live objects in the website’s demonstrations, right? Don’t try taping up live babies to make a sculpture. That is a DOLL, not a baby. Real babies do not survive taping. Our students used members of their groups as “molds” for their work, and they did a fantastic job! Kudos to all our great Creekview artists, and Ms. McCloskey, the world’s greatest art teacher! Oh, yeah! Don’t forget to check out the Cherokee County High School Art Show 2008 on Friday, March 14, 6-8 PM, featuring Adam O., Olivia S., Amanda M., Nikki C., Mandy G., Maura M., Briana G., Taylor A., Allison G., Kelsey S. Navin T., Haley B., Justin V., Britney R., Yana H., and Maggie B. For more art sculptures, check out the Grizzly Den blog and The Unquiet Library blog

Is TypoGenerator Your Type?

Have you tried Typo Generator? If not, then you are definitely not in the cool. Typo Generator lets you make wild graphics with letters and numbers; then you can save them as picture files to upload to your blogs, social networking sites like MySpace or FaceBook, or other websites. Just type in the letters and/or numbers you want to use, then click on “Generate New.” Don’t like what you see? Then check “Destroy” to change the text style, colors, and/or background. Then check “Try Again.” You can try again all day and all night if you have the stamina. Once you’re satisfied, just right click on your graphic to save it as a picture file, then upload it to your desired location. Voila! You have a beautarific design like the one you see in front of you! Some kinda fun, huh?

Women’s History Month Rocks!

March is Women’s History Month! Here are some great places you can go to find information about women who have made a difference in our history, in addition to information about the celebration of women’s history:
Encyclopedia Britannica’s 300 Women Who Changed the World (Use the Galileo Password)
Library of Congress Women’s History Month
CNN Student News
InfoPlease Women’s History Month
Gale Women’s Biographies