Archives for Homepage Teens

Dive into Diversity: YA Fantasy

Dive into Diversity: YA Fantasy

In 2021, my Dive into Diversity posts about young adult books will focus on a different genre each month. I’ll highlight books with characters that represent a range of experiences and identities. I’ll also feature authors who share an aspect of their characters’ identity as much as possible. This month we have the last genre theme for the year: my favorite, YA fantasy. This month I read Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, which had been on my list for quite a while–so long, in fact, that its sequel was recently published. I had high hopes, and Raybearer exceeded them. The story
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October 22, 2021 9:56 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Dive into Diversity, Fantasy, staff picks, staff recommendations, YA Fiction, and YA literature.

Grab & Go Craft Kits: Learn to Knit

Grab & Go Craft Kits: Learn to Knit

Teens in grades 7-12 can pick up a kit with project supplies at the Library, then follow along with the video below to make the project. Or, you can find the materials around your home and follow the video to make the project. Kits are first come, first served, and will become available on Monday, October 18th in the Library lobby. This month's kit contains everything you need to learn to knit. The kit contains knitting needles and yarn. The goal with this kit is to complete the garter stitch square swatch. I’ve already done the cast-on and the first
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October 18, 2021 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: crafting, crafts, Grab & Go kits, Grab&Go Kits, knitting, and teen volunteers.

NaNoWriMo: November Writing Time Reminder

NaNoWriMo: November Writing Time Reminder

Are you a middle schooler or teenager who loves to write? Is writing the best way you can express yourself? If so, then you should join our NaNoWrimo (National Novel Writing Month) program. In September and October we brainstormed ideas, learned about conflict and worked on character sketches and writing prompts. If you missed our writing sessions for the months of September and October you can still sign up for our November writing sessions. This program is for anyone in grades 4-12 who is looking for some quiet time to write. Each week we will set an hour to write
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October 15, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: creative writing, NaNoWriMo, and National Novel Writing Month.

Teen Volunteering: Fall 2021

Teen Volunteering: Fall 2021

We’ve had such a wonderful response to our current initiative for teen volunteers, writing original book reviews for books in our YA collection. However, we know teens are really looking for more volunteering opportunities, so I have a few upcoming projects for teens to earn some community service credit. These are pilot programs with a low beginning capacity as we test them out, but we hope to be able to offer more hours over time. Knitting for a Cause We’re working toward a goal of knitting handmade accessories to donate to Knit the Rainbow, an organization that donates warm clothing
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October 4, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: community service, knitting, teen volunteers, volunteer opportunities, and volunteering.

Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons

Virtual Dungeons & Dragons Campaign For Teens in Grades 7-12 Starting October 6th, on the first and third Wednesdays of each month through January 4:00-7:00 p.m. Join us for a new Dungeons & Dragons campaign led by Dungeon Master Ben Seligson. Create your own character, give your character a backstory, then travel along with the group fighting monsters and saving the virtual world from impending doom. This campaign is open to new and seasoned veterans of D&D. We will be meeting on Wednesdays twice a month for 3 hours. You must be able to participate in all sessions, or your
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October 1, 2021 4:08 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons and Dragons, Dungeons and Dragons groups in White Plains, Library events for teens, The Edge, and Westchester Dungeons and Dragons.

Let’s Draw Monsters

Let’s Draw Monsters

Kids, teens, and families are invited to join nationally syndicated award-winning cartoonist Rick Stromoski virtually on Tuesday, October 26th at 6:00 p.m. for a fun workshop to learn how to draw creatures, goblins, ghosts, and all things Halloweeny! All participants will need is a stack of paper and something they like to draw with! Let’s Draw Monsters! Tuesday, October 26th, 6:00 p.m. Grades 3+, teens, families Access the program here. Note: a free, registered Zoom account is required to join our youth-focused virtual programs. Sign up for a Zoom account is free and easy at http://zoom.us/signup. About Rick Stromoski Rick
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September 29, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: art, drawing, drawing workshop for children, drawing workshop for kids in Westchester, halloween, Halloween events in Westchester, Halloween events in White Plains, and Rick Stromoski.

Great SPOOKY Podcasts

Great SPOOKY Podcasts

Here are some great spooky podcasts to get your kids and teens (and you!) in the Halloween mood. All of these should be available on any service you use to listen to podcasts, such as Apple Podcasts, Apple Music, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, etc. If you have some great podcast recommendations, leave them in the comments below! For additional (non-spooky) podcast recommendations, click here! FOR KIDS & FAMILIES The Creeping Hour If your kids like Goosebumps, then The Creeping Hour horror anthology series from NPR is going to be a hit. Recommended for ages 8-12 and families, these are some
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September 29, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Great Podcasts, halloween, Halloween Books, Observances and Celebrations, October, podcasts, Spooktober, spooky podcasts, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Halloween STEAM

Halloween STEAM

Halloween is a wonderful time to learn about ghoulish goblins, bob for apples, visit Sleepy Hollow, and go trick-or-treating. However, if some of these activities aren’t an option, there are still plenty of fun things to do virtually to satisfy your need for creepy crawlies and menacing mummies! The Library will be hosting two fun and spooky STEAM projects: one for grades 1-6 and one for grades 4-8. Twelve kits will be available for each age group and patrons can register online through the library calendar to pick up their kits. Both kits will include items needed for the program,
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September 28, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: halloween, Halloween Books, Halloween STEAM, STEAM activities, STEAM at home, and STEM.

Dive into Diversity: Witches!

Dive into Diversity: Witches!

In 2021, my Dive into Diversity posts about young adult books will focus on a different genre each month. I’ll highlight books with characters that represent a range of experiences and identities. I’ll also feature authors who share an aspect of their characters’ identity as much as possible. In honor of Halloween, this month's post is a roundup of YA fiction starring… witches! This month I read a popular graphic novel, The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner. It's about 13-year-old Moth Hush, who lives in Founder's Bluff, Massachusetts, and loves all things witchy. While working on a school play about
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September 23, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Dive into Diversity, halloween, Halloween Books, October, Spooktober, staff picks, staff recommendations, witches, YA Fiction, and YA literature.

Project LIT Book Clubs for Kids and Teens

Project LIT Book Clubs for Kids and Teens

Project LIT is a global initiative to help kids, tweens, and teens engage with the real events shaking our country and the world at large. As a chapter in the Project LIT Community, the Trove and Edge staff organizes discussions revolving around recommended titles, highlighting and celebrating books that affirm and value all students. Our Project LIT Book Club for Kids & Tweens is for grades 4-8 and our Project LIT Book Club for Teens is for grades 7-12. We’ve been taking a break over the summer from our Project LIT Book Clubs but we’re happy to announce that they
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September 20, 2021 10:01 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: book discussions, kids book club, Project Lit, Project Lit Community, and teen book club.

Great Podcasts for Teens 2

Great Podcasts for Teens 2

Continuing our new series on Great Podcasts, here are some recommendations of Great Podcasts for Teens from YS Librarian, Erik! Most of these should be available on any service you use to listen to podcasts, such as Apple Podcasts, Apple Music, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, etc. All of our Great Podcasts recommendations, including those for Kids, Teens, and Parents and Caregivers, can be found here. If you have some great podcast recommendations, leave them in the comments below! Science: RadioLab RadioLab makes science fun. The team of Jad Abumrad, Lulu Miller, and Latif Nasser take a light hearted approach to
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September 20, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: Great Podcasts, Great Podcasts for teens, podcasts, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

STEAMy Summer Programs: A Look Back

STEAMy Summer Programs: A Look Back

Another summer of STEAM programs has finished. This was a challenging and rewarding summer like no other. In addition to increasing the length by two weeks, we also hired several more people to run programs. Among those hired were several high school students: members of the Techno Chix; a robotics club from the Girl Scouts; Mustafa Ajmal, a high school student in Oak Ridge High School, CA; and Shakira Cherimond, a graduating Senior from Ossining High School who will be attending Purchase College in the fall. By hiring multiple presenters this summer we were able to offer a wide variety
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September 15, 2021 2:03 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: STEAM, STEAM Camps, STEAM learning, STEM, Summer of Making, The Edge, Verisk Analytics, and White Plains Library Foundation.

Teen Book Review: A Very Large Expanse of Sea

Teen Book Review: A Very Large Expanse of Sea

Title: A Very Large Expanse of Sea Author: Tahereh Mafi Publisher: Harper Collins Library Catalog / Hoopla / OverDrive & Libby The romance novel A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi is about a high school sophomore named Shirin who‘s had a tough life growing up dealing with bullying. Shirin’s tired and annoyed of people stereotyping her; based on her religion, what she wears, and who she is. Since Shirin is used to receiving so much disrespect and physical violence, she builds up a strong personality. A strong personality where if someone makes a joke about her, she’ll
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September 13, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: book review, books, for teens by teens, reading, Tahereh Mafi, teen book review, and teen volunteers.

What You Need to Know About… Marvel’s Eternals

What You Need to Know About… Marvel’s Eternals

Disney is adding the Eternals into the MCU this November, but who are they? At first glance the Eternals look like souped up X-People (that’s right, I said “people” to fight our patriarchal society, deal with it), who have been around a really long time. The Eternals were created by Jack Kirby in the 70’s. Jack Kirby gave us Captain America back in the 40’s, was one of the principal authors of Marvel’s silver age, and brought X-Men (fine, I said it but only because that is the title, hence the italics). The Eternals were then brought back by Neil
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August 31, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: comic books, graphic novels, Marvel, staff picks, staff recommendations, the Eternals, and What You Need to Know About.

Teen Book Review: Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

Teen Book Review: Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

Title: Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie Author: Jordan Sonnenblick Publisher: Scholastic Library Catalog / OverDrive & Libby Jordan Sonnenblick’s realistic fiction novel Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie is about a thirteen year old boy named Steven and his five year old little brother Jeffrey. Jeffrey’s diagnosed with leukemia and Steven wants to keep that silent because he also needs to focus on school, tries to catch up with his extra activities, and has a crush on someone. While Jeffrey is not well, Steven can’t pay attention to his studies because he’s worried of his brother and doesn’t want anything worse
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August 30, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: book review, books, for teens by teens, Jordan Sonnenblick, reading, teen book review, and teen volunteers.

Fall STEM Programs for Kids & Teens

Fall STEM Programs for Kids & Teens

Minecraft for Teens In this session, youth are invited to play Minecraft together online in a safe, learning environment. Activities will include working together to survive in a randomly generated world and/or building things collectively in creative mode. All are welcome to partake in some fun with library friends and Digital Media Specialist Austin Olney. Participants must own Minecraft (non-java) on either Windows 10, iOS, Android, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, or Oculus Rift to join a private server. Email aolney@whiteplainslibrary.org for questions and help. 9/7/2021 Tuesday 4:00-4:45 p.m. 10/5/2021 Tuesday 4:00-4:45 p.m. Fortnite with Friends Ready for some
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August 26, 2021 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: digital technology, STEAM learning, STEM learning, STEM programs for kids, STEM programs for teens, and technology.

National Novel Writing Month for Young Novelists

National Novel Writing Month for Young Novelists

Have you heard about National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo? It’s a challenge that takes place each year in the month of November, where people work toward writing a book. This fall, we’re hosting a pre-planning writing series for young writers in grades 4 and up who may be interested in writing during NaNoWriMo. Each Thursday at 4:00 p.m., we’ll meet to discuss various elements that make up a novel, and work through the exercises in NaNoWriMo’s Young Novelist Workbook. By the end of the series, participants will have ideas for characters, setting, and plot ready to go, so they
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August 25, 2021 10:28 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: creative writing, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, and youth writing workshop.

Fall Virtual Tabletop Games

Fall Virtual Tabletop Games

Need something fun to do after school? Then join librarians Ashley and Erik from the Trove and the Edge to play virtual tabletop games! This program is for children and teens in grades 4 and up. We’ll be meeting on September 20th, October 4th, and October 18th at 4:30 p.m. Some of the games we normally play include 6 nimmt!, 7 Wonders, Solo, Sushi Go!, Go Nuts for Donuts, and Yahtzee. We use the platform boardgamearena.com to play the games while we chat on Zoom. Kids and teens that haven’t attended the program before will need to create a free
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August 24, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: tabletop games, tabletop games for kids, and tabletop games for teens.

Teen Book Review: Kindred

Teen Book Review: Kindred

Title: Kindred Author: Octavia Butler Publisher: Beacon Press Library Catalog / Hoopla / OverDrive & Libby In the book Kindred, Dana, an African American woman, is transported back in time to Maryland before the Civil War to save Rufus, a young white boy. In a series of journeys that defy time, Dana faces many life-threatening scenarios. This book is an excellent read for fans of history and suspense as Dana consistently puts her life on the line to help others. This book also contains mild violence to demonstrate the inhumane treatment of slaves during this period. Overall, this book is
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August 23, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: book review, books, for teens by teens, Octavia Butler, reading, teen book review, and teen volunteers.

Projects on the Plaza: For Teens

Projects on the Plaza: For Teens

In September, the Library will hold two outdoor STEM programs for teens. The programs will be on the Library Plaza, underneath the tent, on Wednesday afternoons from 4:00-5:30 p.m. September 15: Ecosystem in a Bottle Participants will learn how to take an old soda bottle and transform it into a planter. September 29: Marshmallow Launchers Participants will create marshmallow launchers using household items like toilet paper rolls and rubberbands. All participants will be expected to follow social distancing guidelines and wear a mask regardless of vaccination status.
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August 23, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: events for teens, Library programs for teens, STEM programs for teens, teen events, and The Edge.