The Fault In Our Stars & This Star Won't Go Out

The Fault In Our Stars trailer, The Fault In Our Stars trailer, The Fault In Our Stars trailer!

If you haven't read The Fault In Our Stars, put a copy on hold before the movie comes out on June 6th!

In related news, This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl came out yesterday! According to TeenReads.com,  "This Star Won't Go Out chronicles the life of Esther Grace Earl. Diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age twelve, she lived with the disease for four years. During that time, she befriended her favorite young adult author, John Green, at a Harry Potter convention. Green’s cross-generational friendship with Esther motivated him to write his New York Times bestselling novel, The Fault In Our Stars, although the novel tells a far different story than Esther’s." Read more about the book on TeenReads.com.

Melvil Dewey's Birthday!

It's Melvil Dewey's birthday! He was born December 10th, 1851 in New York. That means, if he was still alive, he'd be 162 years old today! In 1874, Melvil Dewey earned his bachelor's degree and in 1877, he earned his master's. But he's famous for something you, as a library goer, use all the time-- the Dewey Decimal System! The Dewey Decimal System is a library classification system that uses a three-digit number for main classes (such as "Earth Science," or "Dogs") followed by decimals as expansions for more detail (such as "Volcanoes" or "Golden Retrievers"). We, as librarians, assign a Dewey Decimal number to every book so that it can be located in the library and then returned to its proper place. This system is used in 200,000 libraries in at least 135 countries around the world!

Melvil Dewey is also known for other, less popular, library-related innovations: (1) the idea of the state library controlling the school and public libraries within that state, (2) the creation of hanging vertical files, and (3) The Library Journal, which we librarians still use in our profession today. As far as his personality, it's said that Melvil Dewey was "difficult" to deal with, establishing a pattern of making enemies, although he had a handful of friends throughout is life and also got married twice. Melvil Dewey died on December 26th, 1931 in Lake Placid, Florida.

Here is The Dewey Decimal Rap, which features a modern Melvil character himself, who explains the Dewey Decimal System for you!


For more, try checking out a book on Melville Dewey. Here are two you can reserve right now:

Melvil Dewey: Library Genius by Jill Sherman

Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey by Wayne A. Wiegand

Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak would have been 85-years-old today and Google's made note! There is a video of the adorable memorial here:


Check out one of Maurice Sendak's books today!

Uglies: Shay's Story

Are you a fan of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series?

Good news if you are! There's a graphic novel now!

Uglies: Shay's Story came out this month and is the graphic novel version of the original Uglies book. It's written by Scott Westerfeld and Devin Grayson and illustrated by Steven Cummings.

The book trailer can be found below:



Click here to reserve your copy of "Uglies: Shay's Story" today!

Very Hungry Caterpillar Day!

Happy Very Hungry Caterpillar Day!

Here is an entire Pinterest board dedicated to crafts for celebrating today! I think the necklace is genius.

Make sure to reserve a copy of the book here, then watch Eric Carle himself read it:

The Fault In Our Stars... CUPCAKES!

Have you ever considered the idea of making a cupcake based on the details of a book? Well "Have Your (Cup)Cake And Read It Too", a collaboration between Huffington Post Books and BookBliss.com, has done just that! And this month they read one of my favorites, John Green's The Fault In Our Stars and made cupcakes to go along with it. Watch the segment below and see which of the details you remember from the book.



What parts of the story would you focus on if you were making your own The Fault In Our Stars cupcakes?

Last Week's "An Evening of Awesome" with John and Hank Green

Did you virtually attend last Tuesday's "An Evening of Awesome" with John and Hank Green? The crowd was sold out, which no author has done since Norman Mailer's memorial service, which was almost five years ago!

If you missed the big night, don't worry! You can still watch the evening's events on YouTube! (Scroll to minute 35:12; that's when the good stuff begins.)

Enjoy, nerdfighters!

A Tribute to Maurice Sendak

“There must be more to life than having everything.” -Maurice Sendak

It's a sad day for anyone who's ever fallen in love with a children's book. Influential, unrivaled and famous author Maurice Sendak died this morning, at age 83, four days after he suffered a stroke. Maurice "revolutionized children's books and how we think about childhood simply by leaving in what so many writers before had excluded. Dick and Jane were no match for his naughty Max. His kids misbehaved and didn't regret it and in their dreams and nightmares fled to the most unimaginable places" (Associated Press).

If you've never had the privilege of being taken away by one of Maurice Sendak's books, here are a few suggestions to get you started:

Alligators All Around: An Alphabet

Pierre : a Cautionary Tale in Five chapters and a prologue

Very Far Away

Where The Wild Things Are

Also, make sure to take a look at this awesome blog inspired by the beloved Where The Wild Things Are, called Terrible Yellow Eyes. The pieces presented on this site were done as a tribute to his life and legacy.

And enjoy this brief and lovely adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are," almost undoubtedly his most famous book:

 

Then view this 2006 NBC interview with Maurice Sendak.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"Sendak spoke often, endlessly, about death in recent years - dreading it, longing for it. He didn't mind being old because the young were under so much pressure. But he missed his late siblings and his longtime companion, Eugene Glynn, who died in 2009. Work, not people, was his reason to carry on" (Associated Press).

We'll miss you, Maurice... but the wild things cried, "Oh please don't go! We'll eat you up, we love you so!"

Waiting for the Hunger Games...

With the Hunger Games movie coming out in just THREE days, Figment.com has created a few funny charts to keep us entertained while we wait for the big night.
Click here for the rest of the Hunger Games related charts and graphs.

It's almost here! And if you haven't seen it yet, get yourself pumped up with this trailer:


May the odds be ever in your favor!

Dancing Books

How about some dancing books? Watch this video and see it happen!



The video (on Yahoo) was made by Sean Ohlenkamp and his wife, who spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating. I love it!

Hunger Games Trailer

The Hunger Games trailer is up! Check it out below:



What do you think? I'm surprisingly impressed.

First Hunger Games Trailer

If you lost power this weekend, chances are you missed the MTV Video Music Awards. In typical MTV Award Show Fashion, there was a pretty important movie trailer premier. Last night, we got our first glimpse at The Hunger Games movie!

Unfortunately, it was a little disappointing, all that anticipation to see Jennifer Lawrence run for a few seconds and the mockingjay logo rotate a few times. But never the less, take a look and get a feel for the much-anticipated Hunger Games movie:



And don't forget, if you still haven't read the book, there's plenty of time! Reserve a copy of The Hunger Games now.

Hugo Trailer

In the wake of the release of the final Harry Potter movie, there is some exciting news for Hugo Cabret fans (like me)! The first official trailer for Martin Scorsese's "Hugo," based on Brian Selznick’s award winning book, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" has been released!

Take a look! It's beautiful.



This is Martin Scorsese's first 3D film as well as his first family-oriented film. "Hugo" is the story of an orphan boy who lives a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station in the 1930's. When he meets his friend, Isabelle, the two get wrapped up in a mystery involving a mean toy shop owner, Hugo's late father, and an automaton.

For more on the Hugo cast, see IMDB.

If you haven't read Brian Selznick’s 2008 Caldecott winner (and one of my personal favorite books), "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," you can reserve a copy here.

Pottermore Announcement

J.K. Rowling made an exciting announcement in London this morning. Starting in October, her seven Harry Potter novels will be sold as e-books through a new website called "Pottermore."

Pottermore is more than just a website for which to buy ebooks. It's going to be an interactive site, promising to "immerse users in her world of wizards, combining elements of computer games, social networking and an online store." J.K. Rowling also has written 18,000 words of new Potter material! (Source: Today Books)

The Pottermore page appeared online a few weeks ago with nothing but the words "Coming soon..." on it. It has been the subject of intense speculation since.

According to Today Books, "the project unveiled in London lets Potter fans delve into the world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Sections let users shop for wands in Diagon Alley, travel to Hogwarts from the imaginary Platform 9 3/4 at London's King's Cross train station and be sorted into Hogwarts school houses by the perceptive Sorting Hat. Along the way are wand fights, games and new information about characters beloved around the world, including Harry's reviled relatives, the Dursleys."

You can also follow Pottermore on Twitter for all the latest info!

Breaking Dawn Trailer

The first official Breaking Dawn trailer premiered Sunday, June 5th and the MTV Movie Awards! If you missed it (like me), here it is...



This third Twilight movie is due out November 18th! What do you think? Excited?

Beastly, the movie!

Hey Beastly fans! Did you know that they turned Alex Flinn's retelling of Beauty and the Beast into a major motion picture?

Kyle is played by Alex Pettyfer and Lindy is played by Vanessa Hudgens, but the cast includes several other big names such as Neil Patrick Harris and Mary-Kate Olsen. IMDB has the full cast list, as well as other interesting movie facts.

Watch the official trailer below:



The movie is due out next week, on March 4th! And be sure to read the book before you see the movie! Put a copy on reserve by clicking here!

90 Second Newbery

Every year since 1922, the American Library Association has awarded the very prestigious Newbery Medal. Now that we've already learned of our 2011 winner, a quick calculation tells us that there are 89 Newbery Medal books in all! That's a lot! Have you read them all?

Me neither.

But wouldn't it be nice to say that you did? Well, it might not be exactly the same as reading the book, but check out a 90 second reenactment of the 1963 winner, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle:



Get it? Want to make your own? Check out: 90secondnewbery.com for more information about the program, which is run by teen author James Kennedy.

Happy acting!

The Sky Is Everywhere

On this first snow of the season, I thought it was the perfect day to cozy up in the heat and read. And if you're looking for something new, why not check out (two!) book trailers for one of my favorite books of the year: The Sky Is Everywhere, by Jandy Nelson.

In the book, seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, is deeply affected by the sudden death of her big sister, Bailey. As she attempts to cope, Lennie finds herself in a series of interesting situations, including unresolved feelings and curiosity about her absentee mother, a reluctance to box up her sister's things, guilt, drama in band, conflict with Gram, awkwardness with her best friend, Sarah, and most prominently, a struggle to balance two boys, despite her nonexistent relationship history.

Watch these amazing trailers to find out more:





To reserve a copy of The Sky Is Everywhere, click here!

Inflatable Bag Monsters

You've got to see this! Artist Joshua Allen Harris has created amazing street art right in New York City, using only plastic garbage bags and a lot of creativity.

Harry Potter movie

Have you seen the new Harry Potter movie yet?

If you need to re-read the book, click here to put a copy on hold: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.