Alright, so I'm one day early, but I just wanted to point out that tomorrow is the start of National Poetry Month. To kick start the celebration, I've made a display in the library's teen section. While you'll find some traditional offerings from Hughes and Dickinson, you'll also notice some titles written in verse, like...

1. 'One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies' by Sonya Sones (YA FIC SON)

2. 'Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy' by Sonya Sones (YA FIC SON)

3. 'God Went to Beauty School' by Cynthia Rylant (YA FIC RYL)

4. 'A Bad Boy Can Be Good For a Girl' by Tanya Lee Stone (YA FIC STO)

I'll continue posting more poetry throughout the month, so be on the look-out.

Maine InfoNet has recently started a new service which allows anyone with a Maine library card to download audio books onto their computer and mobile devices (MP3 players and even some cell phones).

You can start by going here and clicking "Juvenile Fiction" in the left-hand sidebar. This will bring up a number of teen titles, including books by Stephenie Meyer, John Green, Sarah Dessen, and Neil Gaiman. You'll be required to download the OverDrive Media Console, choose your library, and enter your library card number. Once all of that is done, you'll be free to download 2 titles at a time and be on your merry way. Audio books are a good choice for catching up on your favorite books when you're on the go...or even when you're not on the go.

For more info, click here or feel free to contact me at diannaleighton@presqueisle.lib.me.us or (207) 764-2571.

Today is Ada Lovelace Day, an event to mark the importance of women in areas of technology. Bloggers around the world are creating blog posts, podcasts, and other online media to showcase women that have influenced and inspired them.

For me, it was a difficult choice, but I ultimately chose Helen Greiner. Greiner is the co-founder of iRobot, most notably known as the creators of the Roomba cleaning device. iRobot has also developed innovating military robots such as the PackBot, which limit exposure to explosives and chemical agents for service men and women.

Greiner was inspired by the world of robotics after being introduced to R2D2 at the age of 10. She would go on to learn how to program her family's TRS-80 PC to control some of her older brother's coveted toys, study artificial intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), develop repair-performing robots during her internship at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and work with California Cybernetics in the development of automobile manufacturing. In 1990, she would use her MIT connections to form iRobot with Rodney Brooks and and Colin Angle.

Through Helen Greiner's work, we're able to realize the potential of robotics and artificial intelligence in our personal and professional lives.

Wall-Street Journal profile here.

Dataquest information here.

U.S. News & World Report article here.

2008 Women of Vision award speech here:

Upon taking in the first 20 pages of E. Lockhart's 'The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks', I began to wonder...

...is this Fight Club meets Gossip Girl?!

Part I: The title character leads a semi-charmed life. Upper class lifestyle? Check. Attendance at an esteemed New England boarding school? Yep. Making it to the other side of puberty with likable looks and a whip-smart wit? You betcha.

*sigh* So why is the girl-that-we're-all-supposed-to-hate so gosh darned amazingly super-awesome?


Part II: Well, her fondness for Foucault is a good place to start.

Click "Read More" to continue reading this post...
As she begins discovering that her boyfriend is part of an all-male secret society known as The Loyal Order of the Bassett Hounds, she decides to mix up. Rather than flee or fight, she commits identity theft, leading the pack through her Gmail account and conducting society-stirring pranks involving brassieres and a vegan art project.

Unlike most stories that take on this theme, Frankie is never really in any sort of imminent danger nor will one find a teary group hug of acceptance at the end [spoiler alert!]. Thus, Frankie's gender is never directly threatened nor accepted. Rather, she challenges the subtle social cues that should maintain her acceptance of the world around her. [NOTE: Frankie learns about and often refers to Bentham's panopticon throughout the course of the book to stress this point]

Yet, Lockhart keeps it real. Frankie isn't exactly rampaging campus in full military regalia. She has insecurities along the way, just as any young person would in her situation. She's quirky, becoming happily obsessed with using neglected positives or words created by removing their negative prefix (disgrunted minus "dis" equals "gruntled" meaning happy). She worries about the motivation for her boyfriend's interest in her. She has a mini-lunchroom panic attack. She has loyal friends who still, as loyal friends are apt to do, manage to completely get on her nerves.

And thus, I'd love to be her friend. Talk about the Cacophony Society. Help her get into The New School. Do sketches of Wodehouse.

Awesome.

25 Random Things about Frankie Landau-Banks here.

SITBB Review here.

Read an excerpt here.

Yes, it's on it's way. Come join us as the library for fun, geekery, gaming, cinematic romance, and possible spontaneous dancing.

The run-down:

Teen Tech Week@Turner Library

Sunday March 8th – Saturday March 14th

All week…
Internet Scavenger Hunt: Complete the challenge and enter a drawing to win a geek-tastic prize pack!!

Video Reviews: Have a favorite book, song, movie, or game? We’ll help you get the word out!

Game Nights
Tuesday March 10th and Thursday March 12th, 5:00p-7:00p

Test your skills as you go head-to-head in games like Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Wii Sports, Wii Play, and MORE!

Afternoon Movie
Saturday March 14th , Noon-2:00p

Bring your friends and come join us for a movie! Hint: Adorable Girl+Cute Guy share love of music in the big city.

It's entirely possible/nearly expected that you WILL throw your copy of M.T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Volume 1: The Pox Party at a wall. Or into incoming traffic. Or a preheating oven.

The bizarre language. The full-on creepiness factor. Characters assigned numbers instead of names. What in Teh Wurldz is GOING on?! Arrrghsoirsuoeijfdv!

But, look, stick with it. You've already gotten over the fact that there's the term 'Pox Party' in the title.

Click 'Read More' to continue reading this post...

Sure, Octavian has issues. He lives with a bunch of weird guys who keep hitting on his mom. He gets dolled up in silks and wigs, but is living under some serious restrictions. He's taught to observe. Shut up. Stay passive.

He's not alone. It's the years leading up to the American Revolutionary War, as a growing group of colonists are itching to overthrow British Rule. Hushed whispers of rebellion collide against the silence of Loyalists. But more on that in a bit.

It doesn't take long to see that something's amiss. Hidden behind Latin lessons and philosophic discussion lies cruel motivation. Octavian stumbles upon haunting documents in forbidden rooms. He comes to slowly realize his true self: a slave.

But this isn't just a cautionary tale about one's capacity for evil. It's not simply a tale of a slave seeking freedom. Or a young man finding himself. Or some historical epic praising heroes that rise from nothing.

Octavian has to work. He has to go through a massive amount of trauma before breaking free (no, that's not a spoiler). He comes across defiance in shackles. Insecurity in uniform. He loses everything. Yet, we have to seriously wonder what was authentic to begin with? His cherished ability to be objective wears thin around page 235. He begins to deconstruct himself in order to piece together a stronger version.

But this is only volume one, right? Well, he's certainly not able to cast away all demons.

It can be difficult to find footing in this story. Difficult to wrap our head/heart around the idea that a segment of America could so eagerly fight for freedom while simultaneously denying it of others. Thus, Anderson cites historical influences in the afterword, including the life of Francis Williams and the structure of the Royal Society of London, that help form a better sense of things.

Got quite a bit of time and love lectures? Try this.

Less time? Go here.

If you don't make it through on the first go, that's fine, but try to come back to it. At times, we forget about the historical ghosts in our midst. The complex legacies. Other times, we throw all these little pieces of history into the pot. Let it become more digestible. Yet, in the process, it loses its raw texture. Its biting simplicity. We need to face these stories, even if they seem too harsh or absurd. We have to rally with Octavian to remind him of his, well, somethingness.

Excerpt here.

Teen Reads review here.

Also known as DVD FIC KAP Material #35870 when you go looking for it. Which you will. Bear with me.

See, 'Josie and the Pussycats' is more amazing than you might think. Consider this argument:

Click 'Read More' to continue reading this post...

1. Spitting in the eye of 1999-era pop madness. Schoolgirl Lolita Britney Spears. That weird BSB video with the monsters. TRL when it was actually called 'Total Request Live' and showed complete videos. J&TP did its best to question the notion of these consumer-driven confections through 'Behind the Music'-type breakdowns and dead-behind-the-eyes trend-seeking giggle-zombies. Of course, we've been able to witness the fall of pop princes and princesses in their own time. Welcome back to Earth, y'all.

2.Rosario Dawson. She's amazing for taking on characters that are raw, real, and do things that, well, rarely can be mentioned here (well, I can show you this, sort of). She cares about a million different things. Including comics. Comics. COMICS! Alright, so this isn't her best role, but she manages to give us someone to connect with. Someone to distract us from Tara Reid.

3. Rachael Leigh Cook. Alright, not a ton to say here. I most just wanted to put in this anti-drug plug.

4. Kay Hanley. Who? Kay. Hanley. When I was a wee Di in rural Louisiana, Kay Hanley saved my life through her grrl-centric pop-punk angst. She swears alot. So much so that I don't feel comfortable linking to her blog here. Ask your parents, then Google it. My point is: she could probably knock your teeth out. Yet, she wrote all the songs in this flick. And that's her giving Rachel Leigh Cook her voice. Bonus Points: Kay Hanley apparently helps the Patriots win. Also, now a back-up singer for Miley Cyrus. Um. What?!

In conclusion, there's alot of rawk in this movie. But it's rated PG. So you can live hard while earning some easy baby-sitting cash if you so choose.