Zen and the Art of Faking It By Jordan Sonnenblick

Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick is a book about a boy named San Lee. San is always moving around, so he never lives in one place for long. After moving for the seventh time, he starts to settle in. Before doing anything, he has to decide what people will see him as. He thinks of being a hippie or a loner, but can't decide. At school, after answering a long and difficult question on Zen Buddhism and then researching it, everyone starts to see him as "the Buddha kid". San also meets this girl and falls in love with her. She likes him, too, but not for the traveling kid he really is. She likes the Buddhist San. He is forced to tell her the truth after she meets his mom, who is nothing like a Zen Buddhist. In the end everyone sees him as the boy he really is: San Lee, not a Zen Buddhist.

I liked this book very much. It is funny and very realistic. I would recommend it to middle-schoolers that like a funny story that is easy to read.

~David, Teen Book Reviwer

Teen Community Service Opportunities

6th-12th Graders Welcome

Employment Workshop for Teens DXY648
Wednesday, November 16, 6:30 pm (DH)
Project Excel presents this workshop: learn interviewing skills, find out who is hiring and become eligible for job placement. Registration begins 11/1.

Teen Book Reviewers
Wednesday, November 9 or Thursday, November 10, 6-7 pm (DH)
Wednesday, December 7 or Thursday, December 8, 6-7 pm (DH)
A teen librarian will be available for you to choose from a delction of new books to read and write a review for our Teen Blog. You may only read one book a month for 3 hours of community service. No registration required.

Chess for Kids DXY649
Fridays, November 4, 11, 18, 6:30-7:30 pm
Help children learn to play chess.

Letters to Veterans
Friday, November 11, 2-5 pm
Drop in the Teen area on Veterans Day and write a holiday card for a a verteran that will be sent to the VA hospital in Northport. Earn one hour of Community Service. No registration required.

Teen Photography Favorite Pet Pictures
Thursdays, December 1, 8, 15, 6-7 pm (DH)
Share a picture of your favorite pet for our display in our Teen Art Gallery. Creatively matte an 8 x 10 photo for display. Earn 3 hours of community service. No registration required.

Seen Behind the Scenes
Wednesday, December 7, 7 pm (DH)
Explore the inner workings of television, documentaries, comedy, and films. Receive 2 hours of community service. No registration required.

Gingerbread Houses DXY650
Friday, December 9, 6:30-7:15 pm (DH)
Friday December 9, 7:45-8:30 pm (DH)
Help kids and their families decorate gingerbread houses for the holidays. Registration begins 11/22.

Teen Programs

ePrep Demonstration DXY647
Drop that expensive SAT Prep Course and learn how to use this new online test preparation resource. Registration is underway.

Project Excel Employment Counselor
Wednesdays, November 16 & 3, Decmeber 7 & 14, 2:30-3:30 pm (DH)
A job counselor will be available in th eTeen Area to help guide you in your job search. No registration required.

Corner of 6th & 7th
Pumpkin, Pumpkin & More Pumpkin DXY645
Thursday, November 17, 7 pm (DH)
Create your own pumpkin mousse parfait, truffles and cider. Registration begins 11/3.

Homemade Belgian Waffles and Ice Cream Sundaes DXY646
Thursday, December 29, 6:30 pm (DH)
Make waffles from scratch and top them off with ice cream, whip cream, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate syrup and bananas. Registration begins 12/8.

The Lying Game by Sara Shepard

I read the book The Lying Game by Sara Shepard. This book is about a girl's adventures of trying to find her long lost twin sister's murderer. One day, when Emily was at her foster parent's home, her new brother showed her a video of a girl who looked exactly like her getting strangled. Emily thought maybe she could be related to her, and made plans to meet up with her. But when Emily can't find her twin, everything takes a turn for the worse. Emily is taken away by Sutton (her twin's) friends. Emily had no choice but to pretend to be her sister. Emily learned to trust no one, because anyone could have been her sisters killer. I would reccomend this book for girls in 7th or 8th grade. I really liked this book. I couldn't put it down because it was so suspenseful and interesting.

~Alicia, Teen Book Reviewer

Four Eyes by Joe Kelly

Four Eyes is a graphic novel about Enrico, a young boy who must skip the joys of childhood, and work to support his family during the Great Depression in New York City. Mystical creatures known as Dragons exist in this dark world and live their lives well away from human civilization without causing any harm to people. Usually anybody with a right mind will stay away from them, but a greedy man has taken advantage of them and is using them for underground ring fighting. Enrico’s father, as well as many other desperate men, are paid to dig deep into their nests for eggs that will soon hatch new fighters. Enrico must take this job after his father violently gets killed by a dragon during his raid. This job is very dangerous, but Enrico can’t make money anywhere else. Now Enrico is caught between two things: taking over the life of his father or defending this innocent race.

I greatly enjoyed reading “Four Eyes.” All the pictures were brilliantly illustrated and the text gently guides the reader through the story. A grim and sad mood of despair grips the readers and forces them to read more. The graphic novel also strikes a fine balance between both print-text literature and image literate. I highly recommend this story to a any teenager that wants a good read.

~Edward, Teen Book Reviewer

Z by Michael Thomas Ford

Z takes place in the future when zombies actually existed in the past. The main character Josh and his friend Firecracker are both addicted to a virtual reality video game where you can play against zombies and kill them. Josh still plays it even though his mother doesn’t want him to. Then one day Josh gets a chance to play an IRL game (in real life) he jumps at the chance and says yes to the offer. When players, as well as his best friend, go missing he soon finds out that it isn’t all that fun to play this game and uncovers a plot to make money by turning people into zombies.
Z is an amazing book. It has love, tragedy, and sorrow. If you love zombie books and suspense then this is a book for you. If you are creeped out by zombies or by explicit details of body parts that have been ripped off then this is not a book for you. I personally loved this book and would recommend the book to any of my friends. Overall I would give this book 5 stars.

~Wesley,Teen Book Reviewer

Empty by Suzanne Weyn

This book is about the future, the very near future that is bound to come. Gas and fuel is running out, nearly making the world empty. The food is scarce and what everyone takes for granted is running out. Sage Valley is a town where the people don’t lose hope even though the world is turning upside down for them. Some teens including Gwen, Niki and Tom survive through the disastrous future. Gwen runs away when a fire leaves her homeless. How will she survive? Niki and Tom, survive through the flood and hurricane by making many sacrifices. They live weeks without good food, shelter and heat. Is the world really ending or are we making it end for ourselves? Read this book to find out. I would recommend this book to teens who like to read about science-fiction novels. In this book, Sci- fiction will invade your mind and remind you of near future. Suzanne Weyn has an inspiring touch in this classic book that will make the reader interested throughout the story.

~Erem, Teen Book Reviewer

Bloody Horowitz by Anthony Horowitz

I read the book Bloody Horowitz by Anthony Horowitz. This has 12 different stories in it that all do not have happy endings. One of the stories in this book was about a guy named Henry who accused Darren Shan of stealing his story and rewording parts of it in his own words. Then Henry tries to murder Darren Shan by sending him a letter with poision on the envelope. Henry hopes Darren Shan will open the letter and and lick the poison off the envelope before sending him a letter back. Darren Shan recieves Henry's letter in the mail. It is all over the news that Darren Shan was murdered by licking poision off an envelope that one of his fans sent to him. You have to read the story to find out what happens next.

This was my favorite story out of the other ones in this book because I thought it was weird how someone would try to murder another person by putting poision on an envelope. This was a scary,yet very interesting and fun book to read. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a bunch of different scary stories without happy endings.

~Kyle, Teen Book Reviewers

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I have just read the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. This book begins at Arthur Dent's house, he wakes up in the morning and notices contractors with bulldozers waiting for Arthur to leave his house so they could destroy it and build a new bypass. Arthur wanted to keep his house which he felt was special to him, so layed on his lawn. Arthurs friend, Ford Perfect, finds Arthur laying in front of the bulldozers. That is how the story starts, Ford Perfect was unusual for the reason that he was an alien. Ford tries to explain to Arthur that the earth will be desroyed by the Vogons because the greedy aliens wanted to make space for a hyperspace bypass. If I told you anymore about this book, I would ruin the suspense of the book. I would recommend this book to more advanced seventh or eight graders. This was a great book, and you would like it more especially if you are into action packed books.

~Vikram, Teen Book Reviewer

Draw the Dark by Ilsa J. Bick

This book is about a seventeen year old boy named Christian Cage. Both of Christian's parents disappeared when he was little. Due to Christian having no mother or father, he got to live with Uncle Hank, the town sheriff. Christian's mother left clues behind for him. These clues led to Christian's development of the idea that his parents are trapped in a place called "the sideways place." In school, Christian Cage is considered to be an outsider who doesn't fit in with the rest because people believe that he caused the near death of his first-grade teacher years earlier. Christian spends extremely great amounts of time drawing images of the sideways place. In the beginning of the story, he discovers that in his sleep he has painted the official emblem of the Nazi Party on a prominent citizen's barn. After that, he begins to have nightmares. In his nightmares, he sees violent incidents from the past in the perspective of a young Jewish boy. This scares Christian, so he researches Winter's history for an explanation, and there are World War II-era events involving a camp for German prisoners of war. Christian also researches and tries to find out about how he is able to draw the thoughts and nightmares of those around him. With Christian in Winter, Wisconsin, the town will not be able to ignore or forget what actually happened where they live.

I'd recommend this book to people who like reading books that are mysterious, intense, and creepy. The whole idea of this book is so unique that it will be one memorable book. However, I would not recommend this book to little kids because the writing style can be random at times and hard for some people to get through.

~Carson, Teen Book Reviewer

Super Human by Michael Carroll

I recently read a book called Super Human by Michael Carroll. This book is about a teenage boy named Lance McKendrick that earns money by pulling scams on people. Lance wants to keep his identity a secret so it does not go on his record. A group of superheroes are trying to take control of a nuclear power plant that the super villains took over. Lance wants to help. The superheroes are teenagers that have super human abilities. They recruit other super humans to help. Their next target for the super villains is a bigger nuclear power plant. The super villains are looking for something that would bring back Krodin, a ruler of the past of 4,456 years ago. He also had super human abilities and ruled the world. He was said to be immortal, but one day when the sun rose he burned to death. Lance and the superheroes try to prevent Krodin from awakening and defeat the super villains.

I think this book is very interesting but it changes events a lot and you have to be able to learn about the characters quickly or else you will get confused. On the most part it explains everything clearly and is very interesting and it hooks you in at every chapter. I recommend this book to teenagers and early adults because some parts of the book may get confusing and you might need to read parts over and over again. I also recommend this book to people that have lots of time on their hands because the book keeps reeling you in and you want to read more. Lastly, I recommend this book to someone that likes superheroes and super villains and is interested in a comic like story. I highly recommend this book.

~Ryan, Teen Book Reviewer

Emily The Strange: Dark Times by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner

Emily The Strange: Dark Times is a very good book. It is about Emily and her adventures. She is very wacky and crazy which I could definitely relate to, but is also kind and patient. She is home-schooled by her mom and has no friends. She also has about four cats. Emily has many inventions and she had used this black rock substance to help power her inventions, but when she runs out, she is helpless. She tries to go back to the place where she located it but the source was gone. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mystery and adventure. When I was done reading it, I was disappointed because I wanted to know more but then I found out that it is the first book of a series.

~Alex, Teen Book Reviewer

You Wish by Mandy Hubbard

You Wish by Mandy Hubbard is about Kayla, who was soon to be turning 16. Her best friend is Nicole, who is dating dreamy Ben. For Kayla's 16th birthday wish, all she wants is for her birthday wishes to come true. Of course, she doesn't believe it will happen because it never did before. One morning she wakes up to see a pink pony in front of her house. Was this real? One by one, all of her wishes come true, except there's a twist: she doesn't know when each wish will happen and she'll have to kiss Ben! I really like the ending and it was very good. I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next. It seemed like Nicole and Kayla wouldn't be friends ever again. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did! The ending will surprise you and Kayla will never be the same.

~Mary, Teen Book Reviewers