PML YA Yakkers!

Patchogue Medford Library Young Adult Department

Friday, June 30, 2006

Chapter 5: Wreckless Endangerment

Book Survivor Adventure Mountain

Voted Off: Island of the Blue Dolphins.


As I wandered the path that was made of yellow brick, I thought of my adventures thus far. Where was Lucy? Was she taken by those wretched Mongoblins? And more importantly, what was to be found at the peak of Adventure Mountain?

I came to a clearing and discovered a small man with pink hair standing with his hands on his hips. I approached him cautiously.

"Ello there!" the man smiled at me.

"Hi," I said.

"My name is Courderoy Gobbledegook," he said. "I am looking for this mystical island." I laughed. We were well above sea level!

"My good sir," I started. "We are well above sea level! There are no islands to be found! Perhaps if you journeyed back to the base of Adventure Mountain..." The man stomped his feet.

"If you find the cave of Chairiboo, you shall discover the island of my people." I shook my head.

"I never heard of any sort of cave of Chairibooboo or however you say it," I said.

"Well," he said. "If you venture beyond the valley of the green dragon, through the icicles of despair, you shall come to the cave." I glanced down and saw that the yellow bricked road ended at this man's feet. Coincidence? I think not!

"Okay," I said. "I guess I shall accompany you....." I grabbed his bluish hand (blue?) and walked for a couple of paces until we came across a valley that had dragon shaped hedges. The Valley of Dragons?

We walked a little further and came to a cave that contained many icicles, and suddenly, I was filled with..despair? Could these be the icicles of despair?

We approached a cave that had a greenish glow. My new friend, Courderoy clapped excitedly. "This is the cave of Chairiboo!" he shouted. He ran through the cave and I followed him. The cave ended in what appeared to be a river, with a rowboat attached. I jumped in, grabbed an oar and started row. "We must hurry!" he shouted.

After a great many minutes, we finally came ashore. Courderoy stood up tall and jumped into the water. His skin began to change. His face became longer, and kinder. His hands disappeared and fins grew in his place. Suddenly, all that remained was a guppy..no..a...whale?

"Welcome to the Island of the Blue Dolphins," my friend said.

To be continued.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Chapter 4: Cannibals!

Book Survivor: Adventure Mountain

Chapter 4: Cannibals!

Voted Out: Wizard of Oz and Robinson Crusoe

The girl with the purple hair lunged toward me and grabbed my ear. She pulled me toward a large cauldron.

"Megrina!" shouted the man. "Fetch me some basil." Megrina (who must have been the purple haired vixen) let go of my ear and stumbled toward the woods.'

The weird man put down his banjo and faced me. "I apologize wholeheartedly for my daughter's actions." I nodded. "You see, when I was younger, she was captured by the Mongoblins." I blinked.

"The what?" I asked.

"The Mongoblins are a fearsome race. They capture people and train them to be wild and crazy and weird." He sniffled. "Megrina was just seven when we were at
a cafe when one of them came in. You see, they pose as humans and then capture the their victims and try to form them into their own race. I'm afraid my daughter has become one of them, but slowly, I am mananging to get her back to being human by playing my banjo. It somehow takes away her monsterous side." I paused and considered what he just said.

"What is she like when she is a monster?" The banjo bearing man grabbed my wrist.

"Shhh..." he whispered. "She might hear you."

Suddenly, Megrina bounced out of the woods and began spitting what looked like paper wads. What the? She ran over and began screaming something rapidly. I turned to the banjo playing man.

"What is she saying?" I asked.

"Part of being a Mongoblin means you have the ability to connect with literature on an extremely profound level. Listen closely to what she is saying..."

I strained my hearing and tried to listen. Suddenly, it sounded like she was saying...."RobbBaruso....Rob Baruso....Robbin Buso....Robinson Babuso...Robinson Crusoe...."

That was a classic story!

I turned to Banjo man. He pointed. Megrina began to spit out huge volumes of Robinson Crusoe out of her mouth and it fell onto the beach. "How do we calm her down?" I screamed.

Banjo Man pulled out a bottle and threw it at his daughter. She bent down on the floor and ate the entire bottle. My mouth opened wide with surprise. What kind of freaks were these?

Megrina began to calm down and her skin began to look more human like and less page like. She began to cry. I turned to Banjo Man. "This is awful.." I started.

Banjo nodded. I told him about my expedition and about Max and Lucy. He began to look panicked. "Your friend.." he started. "They might have her.."

I looked startled. Lucy captured by Mongoblins?!

"What do I do?" I asked.

Banjo Man appeared crestfellen. "There is only one thing left to do..." he said. "Follow the yellow brick road.." I nodded.

I looked at the ground and saw a yellow paved path. I waved goodbye to my new friends and decided to venture onwards..to avenge Max...find Lucy..and reach the top of Adventure Mountain!

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Summer Reading Club Signup Starts Tomorrow

Signup for our summer reading club, Bookwrecked, begins tomorrow, Friday June 23. Bring in your library card, sign up for the club, and receive a prize! Each week that you report on at least one book, you will receive another prize. For every book you report on, you receive one chance to win one of our grand prizes. The raffles will be drawn at our exclusive end of summer DJ party. You must be in the summer reading club to receive an invitation. Want to write book reviews to be shared with other teens? You can earn chances to win an additional prize. Come on in and sign up.

Our club kickoff event is being held on Tuesday, June 27, from 2-4 pm. Come on in, decorate a journal and have a snack. We have lots of good stuff planned for the summer - crafts, cooking, trips and more. Check it out in our newsletter or visit our on-line calendar at www.pmlib.org.

Not sure what to read this summer? Check our displays, or just ask us! Here are some interesting first lines to get you started:

We went to the moon to have fun, but it turned out to completely suck. Feed by MT Anderson

Anna Cayne had moved here in August, just before our sophomore year in high school, but by February she had, one by one, killed everyone in town. Simple As Snow by Gregory Galloway

If your teacher has to die, August isn't a bad time of year for it. The Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck

The way it looks is not the way it is. Inexcusable by Chris Lynch

12th Day of September. I am commanded to write an account of my days: I am bit by fleas and plagued by family. That is all there is to say. Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

My name is Shawn McDaniel. My life is like one of those "good news-bad news" jokes. Like, "I've got some good news and some bad news-which do you wanna hear first?" Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman

Ebba Rose was the name of our last-born child. Except it was a lie. East by Edith Pattou

Monday, June 19, 2006

Young People in US History


The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin

Did you ever listen to the weather report, and hope for a snow day? Do you ever just leave the house without listening to the weather report? Or without a coat?

In 1888, weather forecasting was in its infancy. The Great Plains area – now North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Nebraska - was just being settled by thousands of impoverished European immigrants.

The morning of January 12th, 1888 was unseasonably warm. Farmers worked out of doors; children walked to their one-room schoolhouses, some without hats or coats. Suddenly, there was a roaring sound and winds up to 80 mph blasted dust-fine snow across the plains, dropping temperatures by more than 20 degrees in 3 minutes.

Anyone caught outdoors had only seconds to react. Those who remained outside found themselves unable to see two inches in front of them, unable to breath due to the fine snow and lost in a sea of white as ice froze their eyelids shut. Schoolteachers had to decide whether to keep their students in the schoolhouses, or to dismiss them and let them attempt to get home in the storm. A bad decision could be fatal.


Children of the Great Depression by Russell Freedman

The Great Depression was a hard time for many people in the United States. Many families could not afford food or housing. Their children had to do without new shoes and clothing, and toys were a rarity. Many children had to leave school and go to work to help support their families. The author of this book draws on primary source material including diaries, letters, photographs and newspapers to show how children lived in the 1930s.


Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930s by Michael L. Cooper

The Great Depression was not the only disaster to hit the United States in the 1930s. There was also the drought that led to the dust bowl – dust storms that carpeted the Great Plains. Farmers lost everything, small towns emptied out, and a mass migration westward took place, along the famous Route 66. Entire families lived in their cars, or in shanties, or became migrant workers in California, struggling to survive. This book features anecdotes from famous people, and historical photographs, and tells how this pair of calamities changed the United States.

Feverish


An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy.

Two hundred years ago, Philadelphia was the capital of the United States. What happens when a plague strikes the capital city of a country barely 20 years old? What are the chances of surviving the plague when the main treatments used by doctors are bleeding and purging and bad smells are believed to cause illness? Who runs the city, and who provides medical services? And could it happen again?

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

Mattie Cook lives above the coffee shop run by her mother when the plague strikes Philadelphia, and her mother is taken ill. Mattie must learn to survive in a city turned upside down and isolated by the disease. There is no money, no food, no medicine and nowhere to go….

Friday, June 16, 2006

Chapter 3: Shark Attaaaaaack!

Book Survivor Adventure Mountain

Advenutre Log 3: Hatchet (Voted off)

...urgh.....Where am I? Who am I? Why am I wearing slippers? Urgh....shark?

I stumbled onto the sand with the shark's teeth chomping down on my right leg. My best friend Max lay in pieces on the beach. Lucy Langross was nowhere to be seen. I screamed and picked up the only object that was nearby. A Hatchet??! It had the word Gary Paulsen inscribed on the handle. I picked up the Hatchet and began slashing at the shark. The shark began to scream and mutter.. "Beware the peak..." it said. My eyes widened at the thought of a shark being able to speak to me.

After many hours of rest, I paid respects to my dearest friend Max and set off toward the peak in search of Lucy. I climbed for many hours and arrived at encampment. A man wearing a pointy green hat sat reclining on a large sack of rice. He was playing a banjo and a girl with purple hair and eyes was dancing.

"Well, hello there," said the man. I nodded. "Are you lost?"

I smiled sadly. "No, my friend," said I. "The only thing I have lost is my best friend, and my girl." The girl with the purple hair smiled, revealing pointy blue teeth.

"Ay!" she twittered. "Love's a lost is a sad experience, aye yi," she sang. I gazed into her eyes and saw a beautiful sparkle. I was mezmorized. The man stamped his foot on the sand, causing me to spring to attention. "I'm getting hungry poppars," said the girl.

The man grinned a devilish smile. "Well then, looks like we'll be eating..." The girl began moving toward me. I closed my eyes.....

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Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Battle of the Books

The Suffolk County Battle of the Books is once again upon us!
Our meetings in June will occur on June 26th (Monday) and June 28th (Weds) from 4-5pm.

The titles this year are:

So B. It by Sarah Weeks
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane
Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris
The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer
The Man Who Was Poe by Avi
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
The Boy Who Saved Baseball by John Ritter

Returning Titles:

No More Dead Dogs by Gorman Korman
When My Name was Keoko by Linda Sue Park
Downsiders by Neal Shusterman


Th-th-th-that's all folks

-Brian

Monday, June 12, 2006

Pretties, Uglies and Specials

This trilogy of books by Scott Westerfeld is set in a future where everybody has surgery to make them beautiful when they are 16. Almost everyone, that is. There is an underground movement of teens who want to live outside the cities and remain ugly (people between the ages of 10 and 16 are called uglies). It is Tally’s greatest wish to become pretty and go live in pretty town where she can party all the time. But her new friend Shay wants to join the rebels out in the wilderness.

The trilogy takes us through a few months in Tally’s life – where she lives as an ugly, is recruited as a spy to infiltrate an underground group, becomes a pretty, has mind-altering surgery and experiences, and finally, has additional surgery to make her a “special”, a member of the super-strong group with bodies like weapons that polices the city and makes sure everyone follows the rules. In the process she learns about her city and how it controls its citizens, and a lot about herself.

Who is the real Tally Youngblood, and what does she want?

Friday, June 09, 2006

Avast Ye.. Chapter 2: The Paradise

Book Survivor Adventure Mountain

Adventure Log 2: The Cay

Ahoy hoy there fellow travelers! Tis I, your host, Simon Mirage Explorerdorado! When you last left me, my party of Lucy Langross, Max Figgins and myself were resting at a camp. Well, let me tell you, fellow travelers, the dangers we have encountered in those numerous holes have paled compared to what I will shortly share.

We set off at the earlier of morning and climbed up a steep embankment. It was treacherous, wet and rather ill smelling. When we arrived at the top, I recieved the shock of my life. It was a Carnival! It appeared to be a crudely constructed with a ferris wheel made of figs and a fun house that consisted of two rubber tennis balls and a smiling radish. Well, well well! Then there was a horrible stench. It was the stench of carniefolk. There appeared to be greasy looking carnie folk, wearing faded blue jumpsuits and donning green and white hair. Lucy began to screan and she became violently ill. I told my comrades to run.

We ran and ran until we ended up at a beautiful cay. We began set up camp for the night. It was an extremely traumatic and despicable day. Suddenly, Max screamed. A giant shark jumped onto the beach and began attacking him! Sharks on land? Jiminy! Lucy got the jemmy legs and remained glued to her spot. I grabbed an oar and began to hit the shark lightly on the tail. It turned away from Max and focuses on me...then I.

To be continued

Monday, June 05, 2006

The Adventures of an Adventurer Chapter I: Setting Out.

Book Survivor: Adventure Mountain

Adventure Log: Holes


Hello my fairweather friends! I am Simon Mirage Explorerdorado! I have started my expedition into the wilderness of the ????? Mountains. I am writing from a camp inside my trusty canvas tent.

Today, I began the journey with my friend Maxwell Figgins and Lucy Langross. We set out in the wilderness for the famed Adventure Mountain. For no one has made it to the peak and back...alive!! We started up the trail, and we stumbled, and stumbled again. Holes! Holes everywhere! Max, Lucy and myself fell over our own two feet. After we struggled and tripped, we saw a sign that said "Holes: By Louis Sachar." I do not know who this Sachar fellow was, but I have the feeling that some sort of dastardly force it at work, trying to impede my trip. We finally came to a campsite and we have decided to rest our dusty tired bones.

Tomorrow, I shall begin the hike up to the next part of the mountain, and I shall hope that I shall not encounter any more perils. I shall update sometime early next week.

Plodding onward!

Simon Mirage Explorerdorado