#tplteens

[eve-silver]

Toronto teens! Send me your submissions for feedback!

Scribes, Submissions, and Trade Secrets #TPLteens #youngvoicesTPL http://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/teens/2015/09/scribes-submissions-and-trade-secrets-.html 

[torontolibrary]

In hindsight, we probably should have waited to shave our heads until after Owen's last interview with the local newspaper.

from Prairie Fire (eBook) by E.K. Johnston

Prairie Fire continues the story of Owen Thorskgard, dragon slayer. Set in an alternate version of Ontario that you never knew existed, what would it be like to have dragons living in 2015?

Read our review and Q+A with E. K. Johnston!

[torontolibrary]

Unless you're born with outsize character and unfathomable beauty, you spend at least 67% of your adolescence fretting about what you look like. You spend the rest of the time eating Doritos and ogling teen pop stars with remarkably good skin. If you're of normal constitution, you cry a lot. Covering your jeans in safety pins tells the world you're a badass. And who would deny a growing creature that small protection against the cruelties of life?

from A Bunch of Pretty Things I Did Not Buy (eBook) by Sarah Lazarovic 

It can be hard to be a mindful consumer, and resist the buying impulse. Sarah Lazarovic tackles the challenge by spending a year drawing the things she did not buy. Her graphic memoir of this experience is one of our Top 10 Reads for this summer! Find out more about the book and read our interview with the author.

[torontolibrary]

Molecules are made of atoms. When someone dies, their molecules break down, but their individual atoms don’t. So, say a carbon atom is part of a molecule in a person’s leg. When that person dies, that atom could become part of something else, like a blooming flower, or even another human being.  … I think it’s kind of beautiful. Everything, and everyone, is interconnected.

from We Are All Made of Molecules (eBook / eAudiobook) by Susin Nielsen

Stewart and Ashley couldn’t be more different. He’s at the top academically, but at the bottom of the social ladder. She’s the most popular girl in her grade, but her marks suck. When their parents move in together, they’ll have to learn to live with each other.

Told in alternating chapters, We Are All Made of Molecules explores our similarities and differences, what connects us and disconnects us, and what it means to come together as a family.

Claire said this book made her laugh, and made her cry. We Are All Made of Molecules is one of our summer picks! You can borrow the book, eBook, or eAudiobook today.

[torontolibrary]

My fingers barely work as I pull off my old shoes, and I wonder if everyone has noticed how ratty they are. Slowly I slip one foot into the Top-Siders, then the other. I wiggle my toes around. They are the perfect size.

from Paper Things (eBook) by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

Arianna, called Ari, is in grade 5 and is hoping to get into a prestigious school for grade 6. It was her dying mother’s wish.

Ari is also homeless.

Paper Things is Ari’s story about couch surfing with her brother, desperately trying to get good grades, struggling to find the time and resources to shower and wash her clothes, and having to make difficult decisions about life.

In our review, we call Paper Things both heartbreaking and heartwarming.

Give it a read. What do you think?

[torontolibrary]

Calling all teen writers!

Have you heard about the Brentwood Teen Writers’ Group?

No?

It’s one of several teen writing groups we have across the city!

Why is it extra-special?

Because our 2014 eWriter in Residence, Emily Pohl-Weary, is doing special workshops with the group on Tuesday May 5th & 19th!

Do you want to learn how to write for different genres, fine tune your writing skills and deliver helpful critiques? Here’s your chance! Author (and editor!) Emily Pohl-Weary will be a guest facilitator. Come share your writing with Emily and other teens who love to write!

Got questions? Contact the Brentwood library branch!

[torontolibrary]

Reading a book that you love! Want to share it with other Toronto teens? Send us a review of the book and, as long as you can get to a Toronto Public Library branch, we'll send you a free book, no questions asked. Well... wait a minute... I will have...

Are you a Toronto-area teen that loves to read books? Sometimes before anyone else gets to read them? Do you love to share your thoughts on books via Tumblr, Goodreads, in your personal diary, the classroom, the dinner table? We would love to hear from you!

We’re looking for teens to write book reviews for our blog and, in return, we are offering you-- free books! Because who better to suggest books for teens than other teens?

(We’ll try to stop saying “teens”, honest. Basically we mean people age 13-19. Although if you’re not quite 13 yet, you can contact us anyway!)

All details are in the above link. Or here. You can click here too.

[torontolibrary]

I'd been listening to it constantly over the past couple of days, trying to figure out what he meant. Listen and you'll understand. What was I supposed to understand? He'd killed himself and left me here all alone, left me to find him. And I was pretty sure it was my fault, though that wasn't something I was prepared to think about at the moment. But I'd listened and listened, looking for the song that would confirm it, the song that would lay all the blame on me. So far I hadn't found it.

— from Playlist for the Dead (eBook) by Michelle Falkoff

Newly releasing this week, Playlist for the Dead is about Hayden's suicide and the playlist and note he left behind for his best friend, Sam. Now Sam's left to figure out why, and all he has to rely on are some songs and his own memory.

Think it sounds good? Check out our review! Recommended for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Thirteen Reasons Why.