Get ready to own the night! Teens ages 12-17 are invited to spend a fun-filled Zombie themed evening at participating San Jose Public Library branches on Friday, August 3rd from 8pm to 11pm*. Participate in fun and memorable activities such as scavenger hunts, video/board games, craft, movie and more! Refreshments and food will be provided!

IMPORTANT: The Teen Lock-In event takes place at the libraries listed below. To register, you and your parent or guardian must come to the library that you prefer to participate in this event and fill-out the registration form. Please submit the form by Friday, July 27th. Space is limited and all teens must be pre-registered and have reviewed two books for the Teen Summer Reading Celebration to participate.

(*Teen Lock-In will be from 7pm to 10pm at Berryessa branch library, Evergreen branch library and Santa Teresa branch library.)

Almaden Branch Library

6445 Camden Ave.
San José, CA 95120
(408) 808-3040
ab.sjpl@sjlibrary.org

Berryessa Branch Library (Note: From 7pm to 10pm at this location)

3355 Noble Avenue
San José, CA 95132
(408) 808-3050
bb.sjpl@sjlibrary.org

Biblioteca Branch Library

921 South First St.
San José, CA 95110
(408) 294-1237
bla.sjpl@sjlibrary.org

Evergreen Branch Library (Note: From 7pm to 10pm at this location)

2635 Aborn Rd.
San José, CA 95121
(408) 808-3060
ev.sjpl@sjlibrary.org

Hillview Branch Library

1600 Hopkins Dr.
San José, CA 95122
(408) 808-3033
hb.sjpl@sjlibrary.org

Joyce Ellington Branch Library

491 E. Empire St.
San José, CA 95112
(408) 808-3043
je.sjpl@sjlibrary.org

Santa Teresa Branch Library (Note: From 7pm to 10pm at this location)

290 International Circle
San José, CA 95119
(408) 808-3068
sa.sjpl@sjlibrary.org

West Valley Branch Library

1243 San Tomas Aquino Rd.
San José, CA 95117
(408) 244-4747
wv.sjpl@sjlibrary.org

I have just discovered a beautiful new series of books about energy, the environment, photosynthesis, and ecology.  They are co-written by Molly Bang, a famous children's author and Penny Chisholm, an MIT professor.  I love these books because they convey the magic of the universe through the lens of art and science.  The pictures are absolutely wonderful, each conveying the energy, the light, and the power the sun gives.  In My Light, the first book, Molly explains how energy is transformed from the light energy into various forms of water, wind, and plant energy to give us life and strength.  In the second title, Living Sunlight, she explains how light is transformed into plant life on earth.  Through wondrous pictures, she explains photosynthesis.  In her third book, Ocean Sunlight, she explains how plant life enrich our oceans and seas.  Again with wonderful pictures, she explains the ecology of oceans.  A wonderful series, I could not recommend it more to children, parents, and teachers.

Nowadays, with our new emphasis on non-fiction reading in schools, this is a wonderful introduction to life science.  This can be read to pre-schoolers up to lower elementary, and it could be a wonderful introduction children of older grades.  If you would like to teach more in depth on photosynthesis, phytoplankton, or marine snow, you could look them up in the back where the authors provide more information.  

Just to provide an anecdote, I read Ocean Sunlight to my four-year old, and he loved the book so much that he requested that I borrow Living Sunlight.  Not only so, after reading Living Sunlight, he was asking about photosynthesis and the cycle of how plants produce oxygen and how we breathe oxygen.  It goes to show that one can really teach science to children at a very young age.

Enjoy a delightful puppet show based on multi-cultural folk legends, fables and stories on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 6:00 pm in the Edenvale Branch Library Community Room. Local artist Edgar Zancudo Sanchez will entertain the entire family with his interactive show.   This event is made possible by the generosity of the Friends of the Edenvale Branch Library.

Teens: want to do something more imaginative than just writing a review for Summer Reading books that you have read? Create and submit a book trailer review for Summer Reading, and you could win a Kindle Fire! Upload a short clip, no longer than 4 minutes, to YouTube, providing your review of the book. Be creative!  The contest is open to all participants in the Teen Summer Reading Celebration.

How to enter:

• Create your own book trailer, reviewing a book that you read for Summer Reading. You can submit more than one video, but each video has to be for a separate book.
• Post the video on YouTube using the tag: SJPL2012SRC
• Sign up for Summer Reading here, starting in a few weeks.
• When you log the book you read on the Summer Reading website, make sure to include a link to your video in the review field.

Entries will be judged on creativity and content by a panel of library staff.

Need some examples? Check out the winning entry from last year's Book Trailer Contest, created by Nathan Verdonk.

Here are links to some professional book trailers:

- Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

- The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

Teens who submit links to their Book Trailer will automatically be entered in the contest. The top 3 winners will receive:

• 1st place: Kindle Fire
• 2nd place: $50 gift card for iTunes
• 3rd place: $25 gift card for Jamba Juice 

Entries for the contest must be submitted between June 1 and July 31, 2012.   Winners will be announced in August.