TeenSpace Blog: Miscellaneous Archives

September 26, 2009

Spooktacular fall decorations

Come visit TeenSpace to check out the fall decor and our new scratch and sniff bookmarks - candy corn and bubble gum - yum! They really smell like candy.

At our Teen Advisory Board meeting on Thursday, we created some fun fall creatures:

Thanks to everyone who helped!
Sharon Long
Teen Services Librarian

Posted by egoldberg at 9:28 AM | Comments (0)

August 20, 2009

Could you tell your life story in 6 words?

“Everyone has a story. Can you tell yours in six words?”

That’s the question posed by Smith Magazine on their website:
http://www.smithteens.com/sixwords/
They can be funny, sad, shocking, wistful…anything, really. You name it.

Some of the examples posted are:

Dating others to get over you. – Eliza_Shevitz

Every story begins with “that boy…” – readwriteknit

Sounds like the way banana tastes – mhenry

Everything needs recharging, phone, iPod, me. – happy_nel

We just ordered the new book, I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six-word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obscure which collects almost six-word memoirs. The editors of the collection found that some of the most poignant entries were coming from teens-and so this newest collection is entirely by and for those smart, sassy, and angst-filled truth tellers.

If you’d like to try your hand at writing your mini-memoir, go to the website and submit!

Posted by egoldberg at 1:46 PM | Comments (0)

August 17, 2009

Twilight book covers in stained glass

This was a random find, but I found something cool on the awesome online marketplace for handmade goods known as Etsy:
www.etsy.com

Check out these bad boys from Etsy seller GeekyGlass:

new%20moon%20glass.jpg

The original listing for the Twilight stained glass panel can be linked to here and can be yours for a bargain price of $190.00!

By the way, if you haven't heard of Etsy, it's a craft lover's dream website. The Etsy motto is is to "Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade," which in these economic times is a good way to find interesting (and sometimes cheaper) handmade goods online. Check it out!

Posted by egoldberg at 3:52 PM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2009

Aspiring writers, unite!

Hi everyone,
The following was sent to me from Beckie Weinheimer, author of Converting Kate . Check out her website at:
http://www.beckieweinheimer.org

"Hi, All I read about this and thought you might want to use if you are an young aspiring writer or pass the word if you are a librarian!

Learn to Write (L2W) is a new and up-and-coming message board where teen/preteen/young aspiring writers can develop skills through classes, activities, and fun.

Join today at http://www.setbb.com/l2w/

tell all your friends, especially those who like to write.

(This site has roleplays, places for you to post your own stories/creations for others to read/comment, writing classes, games, contests, and so much more!)"

Enjoy the long weekend!
Sharon Long

Posted by egoldberg at 4:05 PM | Comments (0)

February 17, 2009

Twitter much?

Okay, I get Facebook and My Space, but I am not sure about Twitter. It kind of reminds me of the status updates that are posted on Facebook, but without any profiles or fun stuff.
Several YA authors like to Twitter - Sarah Dessen and Maureen Johnson, for example.

http://twitter.com/sarahdessen
http://twitter.com/maureenjohnson

Or you can search Twitter for your favorite authors (those are just two of mine) and other celebrities.

Follow me on twitter:
follow me on Twitter

January 5, 2009

Creative Writing contest for teens sponsored by author Sonya Sones

From Sonya's Facebook:
WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN'T KNOW just came out in paperback. Yay! And to celebrate, my publisher is having an awesome writing contest.

The winner of the WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN'T KNOW writing contest will win a free six-week online writing class from Gotham Writers' Workshop. And the winning entry will be posted on my website. 10 runners-up will receive a year's subscription to Teen Ink and an autographed copy of the book.

To enter the contest all you have to do is read WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN'T KNOW, and when you get to the very last poem, write a continuation of the story. Keep it short but sweet - ten pages or less. And, of course, write it in the same style as WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN'T KNOW - in a series of poems.

October 13, 2008

Books With Bite

It's Teen Read Week! This year's theme is Books With Bite. Stop by TeenSpace and check out some of the vampire themed books and graphic novels out on display to help celebrate Teen Read Week. If you read nominated books throughout the year, you’ll be ready to vote for your favorites during Teen Read Week, October 12 - 18, 2008. Readers aged twelve to eighteen can vote right here, online, anytime that week.
Voting takes place through midnight on Saturday.
Click below to vote now for the 2008 Teens' Top Ten and have a great week!

September 18, 2008

Arrrr Ye Ready?

So to celebrate, let’s go over the basics:
“Pirate lingo is rich and complicated, sort of like a good stew.
But if you just want a quick fix, a surface gloss, a "pirate patina," if you will, here are the five basic words that you cannot live without. Master them, and you can face Talk Like a Pirate Day with a smile on your face and a parrot on your shoulder, if that's your thing:

Ahoy! - "Hello!"
Avast! - Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, "Whoa! Get a load of that!" which today makes it more of a "Check it out" or "No way!" or "Get off!"
Aye! - "Why yes, I agree most heartily with everything you just said or did."
Aye aye! - "I'll get right on that sir, as soon as my break is over."
Arrr! - This one is often confused with arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. "Arrr!" can mean, variously, "yes," "I agree," "I'm happy," "I'm enjoying this beer," "My team is going to win it all," "I saw that television show, it sucked!" and "That was a clever remark you or I just made." And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr!”

Above content from http://www.talklikeapirate.com/ © Mark Summers and John Baur, 2006

Terry and the Pirates Julian F. Thompson.
When sixteen-year-old Terry Talley stows away on a yacht, she doesn't expect to encounter another runaway and end up shipwrecked on a tiny island with a bunch of oddball pirates who are looking for some buried treasure.

Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques
In 1620, a boy and his dog are rescued from the doomed ship, Flying Dutchman, by an angel who guides them in travelling the world, eternally helping those in great need.

Pirate emperor by Kai Meyer
Jolly and Munk start training with Forefather when they discover that their special abilities as "polliwogs" may be the only way to save the city Aelenium from the Maelstrom.

Pirates! by Celia Rees.
In 1722, after arriving with her brother at the family's Jamaican plantation where she is to be married off, sixteen-year-old Nancy Kington escapes with her slave friend, Minerva Sharpe, and together they become pirates traveling the world in search of treasure.

Piratica : a daring tale of a singular girl's adventure by Tanith Lee.
A bump on the head restores Art's memories of her mother and the exciting life they led, so the sixteen-year-old leaves Angels Academy for Young Maidens, seeks out the pirates who were her family before her mother's death, and leads them back to adventure on the high seas.

September 3, 2008

Tutor.com

Tutor.com has Live Homework Help available to Syosset residents with a Syosset Public Library card. The new and improved hours for this service are everyday from 2:00 PM - 10:00 PM. It's available at home or in the library. Check it out by clicking below!

July 29, 2008

Go Ask Alice...from the Twilight Saga

It's the Alice fortune telling widget! Ask her anything, "Will Bella become a vampire?" "Will Jacob get any taller?" "What's for dinner tonight?"
Have fun!

July 11, 2008

New interview with Stephenie Meyer and 'Twilight' movie article

Fans of Stephenie Meyer's vampire saga will be interested to learn that Entertainment Weekly has not one but TWO new cover story articles about the Twilight saga. The first link is an interview with the vampire (creator) herself, Ms. Meyer, and the second is a visit to the set of the film Twilight. The movie is scheduled to hit theatres on December 12.
Stephenie Mayer interview:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20211938,00.html
Twilight Movie article:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20211840,00.html
Enjoy!

March 4, 2008

Wimpy Kids to Hit the Silver Screen

Wimpy Kids is about to hit the silver screen. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney is a great, fun book. One of my favorites this past year. Now, it will be turned into a movie.

Fox 2000 is bringing the series to the big screen for a live action movie. The studio purchased all rights to the five novels in the series, composed of handwriting and animation, chronicling the daily indignities faced by middle school student Greg Heffley. No release date has been announced.

Author/illustrator Kinney's first two books, last spring's Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules released in February, both hit No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, the third book in the series, will be released this fall.

February 27, 2008

Twilight - The Movie

If you are interested in the latest on Twilight-the movie, there is information on Stephenie Meyer's website: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_movie.html. Photes and updates.

February 20, 2008

Walt Whitman Birthplace Association Poetry Contest

The Walt Whitman Birthplace Association is Proud to Present the Twenty-Second Annual Poetry Contest

The theme is The Crossing, based on Whitman's poem, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, included in Leaves of Grass. The first stanza is shown below:

Flood-tide below me! I see you face to face!
Clouds of the west!--sun there half an hour high--I see you also face to face.

And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence are more to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose.

Complete contest rules can be found at: http://www.waltwhitman.org/Poetrycontest.asp. Highlights are listed below:

Contest: Write a Poem About a Crossing or Crossings
There are many kinds of crossings: crossings by boat, bus, jet, car, bike, UFO, skateboard, or just crossing the street by foot. Also a crossing could be developmental (small to tall, child to teenager), or emotional (falling in love, losing a loved one, gaining a sibling), or intellectual (crossing to a new understanding or realization—what you knew then, what you know now and how you got there). And, of course, birth and death, are the crossings in and out of this life.

Entries must be postmarked by March 7, 2008 and winners will be notified by mid-May. Mail entries to:

Poetry Contest
Attn: Carolyn Diglio, Coordinator of Visitor Services
Walt Whitman Birthplace Assocation
246 Old Walt Whitman Road
Huntington Stations, NY 11746-4148

Entry categories are Individual Poems or Class Anthologies for grades 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 and 11-12.

February 19, 2008

Poseur Design Contest from Hachette Book Group

Have an idea for an uber-cool tote bag? Sketch it or make it and send your design in for a chance for your winning entry to be included in an upcoming Poseur book (not to mention snagging some cool books and $250)! You can check out all the contest details at the publisher's website: http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/features/poseur/contest/index.html

Important: all entries must be postmarked before March 20, 2008 and received by March 25!!! The Contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are at least 13 years of age but no older than 18 years of age as the time of entry.

Listed below are some of the requirements. Please read the complete Official Rules at the Hachette Book website, shown above.

How to Enter the Contest: To participate in the contest, you must submit a design (see Submission below) and additional information and material, between 12:01 a.m. ET on February 5, 2008, and 11:59 p.m. ET on March 20, 2008. Limit one (1) submission per person.

The Submission will consist of:
(1) Information about you, which you may provide by hand printing: your name, age, complete address (including zip code), daytime phone number and email address (if you have one) on a 3”x 5” card or a 8 1/2” x 11” piece of paper;

(2) A picture of your design of a tote bag (based on the "classic" tote definition, it is a bag, usually rectangular in shape, with two handles and it opens at the top); the picture of your design may be a photograph or a drawing; and

(3) A short paragraph or two describing your tote bag design, e.g., what fabric(s) /color(s) and/or other materials should be used and any inspiration for your tote bag design.

Mail the information, the design and your short paragraph or two in one package to:

Poseur Design Contest
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue, 15-161B
New York, New York 10017
Attention: LM

Submissions must be postmarked no later than March 20, 2008, Midnight (ET), and Sponsor must receive the entries no later than March 25, 2008, 5 pm (ET).

Submission Requirements: Each Submission that is entered into the Contest must meet ALL of the “Submission Requirements” set forth below. (Any Submission that, in Sponsor's good faith judgment, violates the following criteria may be disqualified):

a) The Submission must be the entrant’s original, previously unpublished design and work;

b) The Submission must not include images that are obscene, pornographic, libelous or otherwise objectionable; and

c) The Submission must not include any photographs of any person other than the entrant, nor include any corporate logos.

January 11, 2008

Cirque du Freak -- the Movie

Hayek joins Reilly in Weitz's 'Freak'
Actress to play bearded lady in Universal film
by Tatiana Siegel

Salma Hayek is joining a freak show. The actress has signed on to star opposite John C. Reilly in Universal Pictures’ horror drama Cirque du Freak, which will mark her first acting role since her maternity leave.

Production begins next month....Reilly will play a vampire who drafts a 14-year-old to serve as his assistant. The youth is turned into a half-vampire and becomes the catalyst in a battle between vampires and the rival Vampanese. Hayek will play Madame Truska, the bearded lady.
(from Variety Magazine)

December 6, 2007

HarperTeen Writing Challenge

Submit your original writing (a short story, poem, or song) between now and January 7, 2008 and you will be entered for a chance to win. A panel of HarperTeen judges will select the 10 most original and creative pieces, but it will be up to the MySpace community to decide who wins!

Need help? Check out HarperTeen's MySpace blog and forums for writing tips and advice from authors and editors.

The Official Rules can be obtained at the HarperTeen MySpace website: http://www.myspace.com/harperteen. Scroll down a bit and you'll see the yellow blurb with a link to the rules. Some rule highlights are:

ELIGIBILITY: The Contest is open only to legal residents of the United States and the District of Columbia who are at least 14 years of age but no older than 18 years of age at time of entry and who are registered members of the www.myspace.com community.

HOW TO ENTER: Entrants must visit the Contest web site during the Contest Period by logging in to their MySpace profile and then going to the HarperTeen MySpace page http://www.myspace.com/harperteen. Follow the on-screen instructions to "befriend" the HarperTeen profile. Complete the entry form by providing all of the requested information and required materials for entry into the Contest.

SUBMISSIONS: Submissions must be no more than 2,500 characters including spaces and can be related to any topic. Submissions may only be presented in the form of written text; no photos or illustrations will be accepted.

JUDGING CRITERIA: All Submissions will be judged by a panel of judges to be selected by the Sponsors. Submissions will be scored in four (4) categories. Each category is worth a maximum of 25% of the total score. In the event of a tie between two or more Submissions, the Judges will conduct a tie-breaking round according to the established Judging Criteria. All decisions of the Judging Panel are final on all aspects of the Contest. Submissions will be scored based on the following criteria:

November 16, 2007

Stand Up for Freedom! Art and Writing Contest

The Nassau County chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union is sponsoring the Stand Up for Freedom! Art and Writing Contest. This contest is open to Nassau County students grades 7-12. The deadline is December 20, 2007.

Specifics of the contest are as follows:
Topic:
"You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free." Interpret this quote from Clarence Darrow as it relates to civil liberties in the United States today. You may focus on the rights of any of the following groups: women, minorities, the LGBT community, immigrants, students, prisoners or people with disabilities.

Requirements:
Essays and shorts stories must be:
-750-1,500 words
-Persuasively and passionately argued
-Clearly organized and written
-Thoughtful and original
-Properly sources
Artistic Pieces (posters, movies, photography, poetry/spoken word) must:
-Clearly convey a position or interpretation
-Be thoughtful and original
-Be focused on the topic
-Poetry/spoken word must be recorded onto video/dvd format

Prizes and Judging:
Entries will be evaluated without identifying the students' names or schools. Prizes will be awarded as follows:
Essay Winner (7th-8th grade) $100
Creative piece Winner (7th-8th grade) $100
Essay Winner (9th-12th grade) $300
Creative piece Winner (9th-12th grade) $300

Send all entries to:
New York Civil Liberties Union-Nassau
250 Fulton Avenue, Suite 514A
Hempstead, NY 11550

Entry forms can be obtained at the Syosset Public Library or by contacting the NY Civil Liberties Union.

More information can be obtained at the following website: http://www.nassau.nyclu.org/freedom_contest_2007.html

November 6, 2007

Long Island Portfolio Day

The Huntington School of Fine Arts is sponsoring Long Island Portfolio Day for serious art majors. This event is designed to give potential art majors a chance to discuss college offerings with college officials and have them evaluate the applicant's work. Over 20 colleges and universities will be in attendance. Attendees are required to present a samlple of their artwork. The event will be in two parts:

Part I: Friday, November 16, 2007 from 10 AM - 6 PM
Part II: Monday, November 19, 2007 from 10 AM - 4 PM

More information can be obtained on the school's website: http://www.huntfinearts.com/events/portfolio_day.php, via e-mail at huntingtonfinearts@gmail.com or via phone at 631-351-4060.

September 5, 2007

2008 Letters About Literature Contest

Entry forms are now available for the 2008 Letters About Literature contest. The New York Center for the Book welcomes entries from readers in grades 4-6, 7-8, and 9-12 living in New York state. Readers enter the contest by writing a letter to an author expressing the way(s) in which the author's book has influenced them.

The contest officially starts September 1 and ends on December 14. Entry forms are now available online on the New York Center for the Book web site at: http://library.syr.edu/nybook/lal.html. Printed forms will be sent to teachers and/or schools from which students previously entered, as well as a number of libraries and school districts. If you would like a print entry form, please contact: Tasha Cooper, nacoop01@syr.edu; 315-443-9518.

First place winners at the New York state level move to a round of judging at the national level. Additional information is available on the Library of Congress, Letters About Literature web site: http://www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/letters.html. This is a preliminary announcement, and additional information is forthcoming.

Questions? Please contact Tasha Cooper, nacoop01@syr.edu, or visit the New York Center for the Book web page: http://nybook.org.

July 3, 2007

Contest For Meg McCafferty Fans

So, here's a contest for you--direct from her blog: http://www.meganmccafferty.com/retroblogger/

The Fourth Comings Mini-Film Contest
Who: Fans of Jessica Darling, aspiring film-makers, obsessive vloggers, or anyone who is creative with a camera

What: Create an original 3-minutes-or-under video that summarizes the action in Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings and Charmed Thirds

When: Starting right now, submissions are due by August 7th, 2007 (aka the on-sale date of Fourth Comings)

Where: Post your video on YouTube with the tags Fourth Comings, Megan McCafferty, then email me the link via megan@meganmccafferty.com

Why (part one): To bring new and forgetful readers up to speed on the action leading up to Fourth Comings, and also because I thought it would be a fun distraction tactic until August 7th (for me, if not you)

Why (part two): The director of the best video (as determined by yours truly and a panel of my novel-writing peers) will win a customized Fourth Comings tote bag, containing The Megan McCafferty Collection, including (but not limited to) autographed copies of all the Jessica Darling novels and other books I've contributed to, audio books, and an original You, Yes, You T-shirt

How: Dramatic reading! Music video! Interpretive dance! Anime! Finger-puppet theater! However you want to express yourself...as long as the video is under three minutes and complies with YouTube's Terms of Use

I'll blog about the most entertaining videos as they come in. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

July 2, 2007

Summer Volunteer Opportunity

The Walt Whitman Birthplace, at 246 Old Walt Whitman Road, Huntington Station, NY is in need of volunteers to help prepare a bulk mailing of 13,000 booklets. It requires collating 3 pages to form the booklet, applying address labels and mailing seals, and sorting into zip code postal bins. The project begins approximately July 30 and takes between 2-3 weeks, working half days. Anyone interested in volunteering, please contact Carolyn Diglio at 631-427-5240 on Mondays or Wednesdays from 10 AM - 4 PM.

June 6, 2007

Win Some Books

Win a copy of Dairy Queen and its sequel Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Dairy Queen was one of my favorite books of 2006. D. J. Schwenk is a football-loving 15-year-old who takes over the chores on her family's small Wisconsin dairy farm when her dad is sidelined by an injury. Like the rest of the tongue-tied Schwenks, D.J. is not much of a talker. Then she meets Brian, a snooty quarterback from a rival team who she agreed to train, and she finally learns who she is and what she wants. A unique look at girls who like 'guy' sports.

In Off Season, life is looking up for D.J. She's in eleventh grade. After a rocky summer, she's reconnecting with her best friend, Amber. She's got kind of a thing going with Brian. And she's starting for the Red Bend High School football team—the first girl linebacker in northern Wisconsin, probably. However, as autumn progresses, D.J. struggles to understand Amber, Schwenk Farm, her relationship with Brian, and most of all her family. As a whole herd of trouble comes her way, she discovers she's a lot stronger than she—or anyone—ever thought.

Cut and paste the URL below and enter. http://www.yabookscentral.com/cfusion/index.cfm?fuseAction=home.OffSeason

Castelluci, author of Boy Proof and The Queen of Cool, has written another page turner. Now that she’s exiled from Canada to sunny Los Angeles, Katy figures she’ll bury her nose in a book and ignore the fact that she’s spending two weeks with her father — punk name: the Rat — a recovered addict and drummer for the famously infamous band Suck. Even though Katy doesn’t want to be there, even though she feels abandoned by her mom, even though the Rat’s place is a mess and he’s not like anything she’d call a father, Katy won’t make a fuss. After all, she is a nice girl, a girl who is quiet and polite, a girl who smiles, a girl who is, well, beige. Or is she?

Cut and paste the URL below and enter to win a copy of Beige. http://www.yabookscentral.com/cfusion/index.cfm?fuseAction=home.Beige

May 22, 2007

Calling All Songwriters

The John Lennon Songwriting Contest is an international songwriting contest that began in 1997. JLSC is a companion event to the John Lennon Education Tour Bus, a nonprofit state-of-the-art mobile recording studio that provides free hands-on programs to high schools and community groups nationwide.

The Contest is open to amateur and professional songwriters who submit entries in any one of 12 categories. The JLSC is open year-round and features two Sessions -- with 72 Finalists, 24 Grand Prize Winners, 12 Lennon Award Winners and 1 Maxell Song of the Year.

Session II
Open - June 16, 2007
Deadline - December 15, 2007
Winner Announcement - March 1, 2008

So, if you are interested, go to www.jlsc.com for more information. Good luck to all of you who enter.

May 2, 2007

2008 Teen 3 Apples Book Award - Finalists

You have voted and the results are in!!!!!
Listed below are the 15 finalists for the 2008 Teen 3 Apples Book Award - a New York State Teen's Choice Award.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
A Child Called “It” by David Pelzer
The Clique by Lisi Harrison
Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Heat by Mike Lupica
Holes by Louis Sachar
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Collier
The Outsiders by S.E.Hinton
Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

You can find these books in TeenSpace. An annotated booklist will be available shortly. You have the rest of the year to read at least 3 of the books in order to be eligible to vote for your favorite in January 2008. With the Teen Summer Reading Program almost upon us, the summer would be a good time to read and review some of these books and possibly win a Summer Reading raffle prize in the process.

I've read 10 of the finalist books and I'm having a hard time deciding my favorite. As you read the books, let me know your thoughts.

April 25, 2007

10 Deadly Teen Driver Mistakes

The 10 Deadliest Mistakes Teen Drivers Make by Joseph D. Younger (copied from www.AAA.com/teens)

Parents with teen drivers don’t sleep well at night—and for good reason. Every year, traffic crashes claim more teenage lives than drugs, guns, suicide and AIDS combined. In fact, teen drivers have the highest collision rate of any age group; they endanger not only themselves, but also everyone else on the road. Studies show that pedestrians, passengers and occupants of other cars account for nearly two out of three fatalities in teen crashes.

After extensive research and deliberation, AAA experts have identified 10 mistakes that most commonly lead to fatal crashes involving teens. As a parent (and teen), you need to know what they are—and how you can help the young driver in your family avoid them.

Most teens think they know everything about everything—including driving. After all, they’ve taken driver’s ed, right? As a parent and an experienced driver, you know better. Driver’s ed doesn’t make you a safe driver any more than a box of instant mac and cheese makes you a good cook.

“In New York State, it takes 5,000 hours of practice to become a licensed cosmetologist,” says Barbara Ward of AAA New York’s Traffic Safety Department. “It takes 10,000 hours of practice to earn an electrician’s license. But the law requires only 20 hours of behind-the-wheel practice to get a driver’s license and operate a motor vehicle in which teens can endanger themselves and others.” For teens, inexperience combined with overconfidence becomes a recipe for disaster.

AAA recommends at least 50 hours of supervised driving in a variety of situations. For families with busy schedules, Ward suggests keeping a log that notes the supervising driver (Mom, Dad or some other adult), the date, the duration of the session, the type of road (expressway, urban arteries, suburban streets) and weather conditions.

How you practice matters just as much as how much you practice. “The car is not the place to worry about hurting your teen’s feelings,” says Mark Kulewicz, AAA New York’s director of Traffic Engineering and Safety Services. Correct mistakes calmly but firmly. Positive reinforcement works wonders for teens, as long as they don’t get an exaggerated sense of their own behind-the- wheel competence.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, safety belts reduce the risk of injury or fatality by a whopping 45 percent. Despite these common-sense stats, however, too many teens neglect their car’s simplest and most effective safety device. Experts insist that buckling up is a habit cultivated from a very early age. If you always wear your seat belt—and insist that your teen always wears his or hers, even as a passenger—eventually your child will feel naked without it.

About one-third of all fatal teen crashes involve excessive speed. Apart from a young person’s natural inclination to move fast, your teen may have inherited a heavy foot from you. According to a recent study sponsored by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, teens with bad driving records are much more likely to have parents with bad driving records— suggesting that children’s behind-the-wheel behavior reflects their parents’. If your teen grew up watching you regularly ignore speed limits, why be surprised when he or she does the same?

You can do more than model sensible speed control, however. Increasingly, parents install event data recorders (EDRs)—so-called black boxes—to monitor their teens’ driving. Costing as little as $200, these aftermarket devices keep track not only of speed, but also of other aggressive driving indicators. Some even sound alarms when the vehicle exceeds certain pre-set limits.

If you do resort to an EDR, remember your real purpose—discouraging risky behavior. Many safety experts suggest using an EDR to monitor your own driving behavior as well and sharing the results with your teen. That way, everyone will view the black box as a family safety check, not just a tool to snoop on kids.

4. Carrying rowdy passengers. When it comes to driving, teens find no safety in numbers—quite the opposite, in fact. A teen driver’s crash risk doubles with one peer passenger. With two or more, the risk increases fivefold.

Such stats form the basis for New York State’s graduated driver licensing (GDL) law, which prohibits drivers with a junior license from carrying more than two passengers under 21 (unless the passengers are family members). Knowing the statistical risk of peer passengers, however, some parents choose to set even stricter limits.

“The law is a great crutch for parents who need to use it,” says Kulewicz. “You have to enforce state law, of course. But you can limit the number of passengers even more than the law requires. As a parent, you control access to the car and you have the power to restrict their driving.” Prohibiting all teen passengers for the first few months of driving can give your teen the chance to log valuable solo time in lower-risk conditions.

Five years after the state banned behind-the-wheel hand-held phone use, evidence about the hazards of yakking and driving continues to pile up. The wireless revolution has brought even more potentially distracting cellular capabilities: text messaging, transmitting photos and downloading videos and music, for instance.

Cell phones present such a distraction that Kulewicz suggests teens refrain from using even hands-free models during the first year of driving. As for text messaging and downloading—they’re completely out of the question.

According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, adjusting the radio, cassette, or CD player ranks as the No. 1 distraction among drivers under the age of 20. As if those things weren’t bad enough, the iPod came along. With its thumbwheel and tiny screen, it forces you to look away from the road even longer to choose your tunes, unless you have hardware to control it through the in-dash stereo.

Although you can’t hope to separate teens from their music, you can insist that your teen not root around for CDs and or scroll through playlists while the vehicle is moving.

Between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., teens’ crash rate doubles. Night driving presents so great a risk, in fact, that New York’s GDL law imposes restrictions and curfews on teens with a junior license.

Even after teens earn their full license, parents need to emphasize that a car is a vehicle for transportation, not a means of amusement. “Going out for a drive at night, with no particular destination and no parental control, creates a situation in which a teen can do something dumb— and dangerous,” says Kulewicz. You control access to the car, so you need to ensure that your teen has a specific destination, especially after dark.

First, the bad news: 36 percent of all fatal teen crashes involve alcohol. Now, the good news: Drinking ranks rather low in non-contributing factors for crashes involving first-year drivers. Statistically, alcohol tends to grow as a problem for older teens.

New York’s GDL law enforces zero tolerance for drivers with a junior license, and conscientious parents insist on it even for older teens. But serious parents also guarantee a ride home for their children who may have been drinking. “It’s important for kids to know that they can call their parents anytime, day or night, and get a ride home, no questions asked until the morning,” says AAA’s Ward. “You can discuss the situation the next day. But if teens are too scared of their parents’ reaction, they might take a chance and drive after drinking.”

Driving requires good decisions, and even sober teens often make bad ones. For example, getting into a car with a driver who has been drinking can prove just as deadly as driving drunk yourself. So can cramming yourself into an overcrowded car with an overexcited driver. “Teens should know that they don’t have to get into a car with a driver who is drunk, fatigued, emotional, or angry, even as a passenger,” says Ward.

From slipping past red lights to sitting on the hood of a moving car to drag racing, the list of tragic teen blunders that “seemed like a good idea at the time” goes on and on. Of course, you can’t monitor your teen’s driving habits every minute. But you can’t throw up your hands, either.

“There’s a tendency for even responsible parents to drop out of the picture after their teen takes driver’s ed,” says Kulewicz. “You have to get involved and stay involved.”

One key tool is your ears. Keep them open. You can learn a lot about your teen’s driving habits simply by listening to his or her friends and siblings. Another is a parent-to-parent agreement. It helps you and the parents in your teen’s circle of friends enforce the same rules. And a teen-parent contract spells out the new driver’s responsibilities and sets clear consequences for violations. Those consequences may run from doing extra chores to losing driving privileges altogether.

“They’re not foolproof,” says Kulewicz, “but they can go a long way toward keeping your teen safer.”

You can learn more about parent-to-parent and parent-teen driving contracts at www.AAA.com/safety. AAA New York also offers free, informative presentations on teen driving safety for PTA and other community groups. For details, call the Club’s Traffic Safety Department at 516-873-2378.

March 14, 2007

The Teen 3 Apples Book Award - 2008

The Teen 3 Apples Book Award -- a New York State Teen's Choice Award -- is for teens aged 13 and older who are in grades 7-12.

Nominations for the new 2008 Teen's Choice Book Award are now being accepted. They are due by March 29. So, either stop in at TeenSpace and fill out a nomination form or e-mail your nomination to me at syoteens@syossetpubliclibrary.org. Include: your name and age, and the title and author of the book you want to nominate.

Essay Contest

The Intellectual Freedom Committee of the Nassau County Library Association is sponsoring it's Third Annual Essay Contest.

People use libraries for many reasons. Among them has always included the accessibility to books. Given how much books are treasured, insuring this accessibility in libraries is of great importance. Therefore the Contest this year gives you the opportunity to answer the following question:

Write or type your personal views on one or two pages. Send your essay along with the completed bottom part of this flyer to:

Intellectual Freedom Committee, NCLA
Bob Ludemann
Merrick Library
2279 Merrick Avenue
Merrick, New York 11566

All age group winners will receive a Barnes and Noble gift card and be invited to a reception at the Carle Place store on Thursday, April 26th at 7:30 p.m. All participants must submit their essays by April 9, 2007. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Ludemann at 377- 6112, ext. 103 or e-mail: bobludemann@merricklibrary.org
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February 14, 2007

Joan Lowery Nixon Writing Contest

Many of you have read great mystery books written by Joan Lowery Nixon (Laugh Till You Cry, Nightmare, The Trap). The Mystery Writers of America is sponsoring the Joan Lowery Nixon Mystery Writing Contest, open to 6th - 10th graders. Rules for the contest can be located at http://www.mysterywriters.org/pages/news/nixon.htm. Entries of between 250 and 1,000 words must be submitted (by e-mail) by February 28 and must be submitted by your teacher (one story per teacher). So, let me know if you enter and let me know if you win. Good luck to all.

The 3 Apples Book Award - 2007

The 3 Apples Book Award is New York State's Children's Choice award where you vote for your favorite book. This past year year, voting was limited to children up to age 13. However, this year there will be a new Teen Choice Award. Voting will occur during the month of March. So, watch for details on the blog or come to TeenSpace. I'll keep you posted.

By the way, this year's Children's Choice Award went to the wonderful book Charlotte's Web by E.B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams.
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