Review: Hunger Games

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
• Publisher: Scholastic Press; Reprint edition (July 3, 2010)
• ISBN-13: 978-0439023528
• Review by Kendall L.
• The Hunger Games is a book of strategy, suspense, and action starring the main character, Katniss Everdeen. Katniss is an average 16 year-old girl living since birth in District 12. Every year the Capitol (the "control group") has a tournament called the Hunger Games (two children from each district have to compete in an organized fight and must kill to literally save their lives) and this year Katniss has to go. She enters with her opponent, Peeta Mellark, and something happens that no one ever expects...
• I really enjoyed this book. It was full of description, lots of drama, and all that fighting stuff that we teenagers like to see in a book. We crave for these kinds of books because it's appealing to the eye, which is almost like the vampire books everyone reads now, but luckily not vampires this time! There’s a cliff hanger at almost every chapter so it makes you want to read more. For example, the first time I read this book, it literally took me three days to finish it (including school in between)!!! 
• Day and night, this makes for a great escape when you want to get away from something, or just snuggle down with a good book, either way it's truly a fantastic book. In the end, I definitely recommend this book.

Teen Tech Week Event!

Valentine Storytime

DeGroodt Digital Dash: Week 7 Images and Photos

First Camera Phone, a photo by Ribbit Voice on Flickr.

Remember those old photo albums that would sit on shelves or under coffee tables? Then we would lug the binders out for every family get together (or even those embarrassing baby pictures shown to our dates), relieving memories. It was so important to make sure that every photo was perfect…film was expensive.
 
Today, we all seem to have cameras at our disposal. Digital camera technology allows us to have our cameras integrated into our phones, our computers, and our pocket mobile devices. As technology keeps changing these devices are becoming cheaper which means they are more accessible, bridging the digital divide. Storage also isn’t as much of an issue which means that we can freely snap away. The results sometimes seem like photo overload.

We have also gone digital when it comes to sharing our photos. Many of us use Facebook, posting instantly from our mobile devices, to share with friends and families. Other websites like Flickr, which is one of the most know photo sharing sites, allow allotments of space for free (or pay an upgrade charge for additional space) to post our photos for everyone to see and maybe even share. Photos can be tagged with keywords to make searching easier. Other users can even comment on photos or even share them with others.

Flickr uses what is known as Creative Commons licensing to grant permissions for reuse of photos. Some users are just posting to visually share their work, but others are willing to let other users download and modify the images. Public Domain means that an image has no copyright then it is free to reuse the images without first getting permission from the greater or domain holder. (Caution: photos of artwork are not always public domain even if the artwork is public domain because the actual photos belong to the photographer or museum). So if you are thinking of using an image for a project, remember to first check the licensing restrictions and then give all proper attributions (i.e. credit the source). Why get permission first? Well, think about it, you wouldn’t want someone using a photo of your dog in a dog food ad without your permission.

There are also several tools out there that allow you to edit your photos. Apple fans already know about Instagram which allows you to subtly change the appearance of your photos with filters, but there are also more advanced programs you can purchase for your computer, like Photoshop, that allow you to go into much more detail with your editing. Don’t forget to check out the free resources like the ones available through Google or even GIMP which is a open-source image manipulation program that rivals Photoshop.

Whichever route your photos take you, just remember to have fun and happy clicking!

Graphic Novel Review: My Boyfriend is a Monster Series

My Boyfriend is a Monster 

graphic novel series published by Graphic Universe

Volume 3: MyBoyfriend Bites

by Dan Jolley  illustrated by Alitha E. Martinez 

ISBN 978-0761370789

Volume 4: Under his Spell

by Marie P. Croall, illustrated by Hyeondo Park

ISBN 978-0761370765

Review by Matthew M. 

The My Boyfriend is a Monster series is an anthology, with each story being standalone, but the basic concept is used for each story. Following a Twilight-style plot, these high school girls Vanessa Shingle (Vol. 3) and Bethany Farmer (Vol. 4) are attracted to Jean-Paul McClellan and Allein, a vampire and a faerie respectively. Afterwards, it turns out that the monsters are going up against other monsters from their worlds. The monster and the girl then team up and take down the other monsters. That’s the basic idea for each story. While it does sound like it borrows from Twilight (I haven’t read Twilight), the stories do belong to the genre of high school romance monster action. The romance parts goes as much as you would expect, with the girls’ being curious about the guys, then finding out, then spend time with each other, the way each story is told is different. Vanessa’s story is different form Bethany’s, with how they are personality wise, and how they deal with the monsters they meet. Besides the romance, there’s plenty of high school wit that won’t exactly make you laugh, but is somewhat clever and gets your attention.

            As comic books, the art is decent. Done in B&W, with a few color pages, the art get’s the job done. The fight scenes are handle well, be it in a classroom or another dimension. The characters are drawn with some detail, even several minor characters, so everyone can be kept track of. With each book being over 100 pages, they can be read in one sitting, or spread out. Handling the concept of teen girls dating monsters with some quality, and decent artwork, the books can only be recommended for comic fans. You don’t have to be a fan of monster romance series to enjoy it. 3/5.

Jumping, Leaping, Jiving Storytime

DeGroodt Digital Dash Week 6: Tagging and Social Bookmarking

Tag you’re it!

Well, not really, but you can tag the items you post on sites like Pinterest and Twitter to make it easier for others to search for them. This means that you are adding a special character called a hashtag to your keyword to make it searchable. For Example, typing in #chicken means that the when someone searches for the keyword “chicken”, your post will come up in the list of results. Some databases like Blogger have a tag field box where you would enter in all the words you would like to make searchable. When using a field box, you do not always need the hashtag. Sometimes the words need to either be written as one word no spaces like “chickenrecipe” or listed with commas separating the keywords “chicken recipe, fried chicken”.

When you are in Facebook you tag your friends in your posts by adding the “@” symbol before their name. This means that your post will also appear on your fiends’ timeline and they will receive a notification that you have “tagged” them. Twitter also has this feature when you want to “mention” a person. It will also send a notification.

Social Bookmarking uses this concept of tagging to help you organize your bookmarks. Sites like Delicious are very handy web 2.0 tools that allow you to save websites to lists or boards that you can access at a later date from any computer with Internet access. This comes in very handy when you have hundreds of sites bookmarked and you are looking only for the one that has a certain subject.

You can even tag items in the Brevard County Libraries’ DiscoverCard Catalog . Tagging an item in the card catalog makes it easier for others to search for an item. Examples of tags you might want to use would be series names, volume numbers, or even character names from the book. All tags are moderated before they are posted for others to see.

Here we have expanded the tag box for the book Civil War on Sunday by Mary Pope Osborne. If you were to search for any of those tags, this book would appear in your search results. You can also see at the bottom there is a button to “Add Tag”. This is what you would select if you wanted to submit your own tag to the list. One possible tag for this entry would be “Magic Treehouse” which would make this book appear in the list if the space was forgotten from “Tree House” in the series title.

Have you tried tagging before? What do you think about it?

Lions and Tigers, Oh My! Storytime

DeGroodt Digital Dash Week 5: eBooks

Did you know that you can get books and audiobooks even when the library is closed? Well, no the library hasn’t changed their hours, but we have changed the services we offer.

Here come the eBooks!

An eBook is an electronic or digital version of a full length book. There is a lot of debate over which is better: a traditional print book or an eBook. We will let you make your own decision on that, but most eBooks have little extras like built in dictionaries, highlighting, and the ability to make the print larger. Yes, that means that with an eBook, any book can be a large print book.

Prices are still hit or miss with this format. There is a lot of self publishing going on with eBooks. Some traditional authors have also decided to grasp this opportunity to bypass the traditional publishing houses or offer teaser chapters or novellas in the eBook format.

Amanda Hocking is currently one of the success stories. She started writing in her spare time and decided to self publish using the eBook format. Her specialty is paranormal young adult romances. She has since sold millions of copies of her book, is now a millionaire, AND has just signed a contract with a traditional publishing house. How much were her books selling for? Many for less than a dollar.

At the library, we now use a system called Overdrive that allows you access to hundreds of instant eBooks and eAudiobooks that you can download to your computer or mobile device. 

This website features selection in many different formats

·         Kindle Books

·         Adobe EPUB eBooks

·         Adobe PDF eBooks

·         OverDrive WMA Audiobooks

·         OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks

All you need to get started is

• A valid Brevard County library card
• Internet access
• A computer or device that meets the system requirements for the type(s) of materials you wish to download (These can be found listed on the Overdrive website!)
• Free software for the computer or device on which you wish to use the materials available at this site

While our staff cannot download selections to your device, they are available for any questions or concerns. You may also take a guided tour of the Overdrive site. 

Do you have a favorite eBook or eAudiobook?