Check out the top 3 winning entries of the 2012 Book Trailer Contest below:

1st place (winner of a Kindle Fire): Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by K. Rai

2nd place (winner of a $50 iTunes gift card): 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens  by L. Do

3rd place (winner of a $25 Jamba Juice card): Ender’s Game by L. Chinn

Thank you to everyone who submitted such creative and fun videos! It was a difficult decision to choose the top three.

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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.

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.

Congratulations to the winners! - Check out their Work!

Children up to age 6

1st place: Joaquin Albornoz, age 5, “Joaquin’s Birthday Party”

Honorable Mention: Kapil Kumar age 5 1/2 , “Sharing and Friendship”

Children ages 7-12

1st place: Nathan Koketsu, age 11, “Adventure in the Open Sea”

2nd place: Madurya Suresh, age 9, “The Search for the Sun”

3rd place: Laura Shieh, age 12, “Silver Dandelion”

Honorable Mention:  Audrey Chiang, age 8, “The Firefly and her Glow”

Teens

1st place: Apanuba Mahmood, age 14, “Flaming Resolve! – Fleeting Demon Encounter”

2nd place: Huyen Nguyen (Chibi Teresa), age 15, “Phantom Dream Hunter: The Prologue”

3rd place: Sienna Gonzales, age 14, “Colored Pencils”

Honorable Mention: Thu Nguyen, age 14,  “Terra”

Adults

1st place: Queena Xu, “Butterfly Wish”

2nd place: Christine Bainbridge, “A Dream”

3rd place: Eric Elemen, “Super Busy Dad”

Honorable Mention: Darren Tat, “Death Match”

For more photos, please vist the San Jose Public Library Flickr site.

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If you have a talent for creating comic/manga style illustrated short stories, you are invited to enter San José Public Library’s Graphic Novel Making Contest for all ages as part of our Summer Reading Celebration, 2012. This contest is sponsored by San José Public Library, Hijinx Comics, San José Museum of Art and TRY Japan Culture Group.

Here’s how to enter …

• Create your own comic book with a maximum length of 8 pages, including the cover page.
• Use letter-size paper (8.5 x 11) with black-and-white drawings and text on one side only.
• Each submission must be the creative and original work of a single individual—the author/illustrator.
• The contest is limited to amateur authors/ illustrators only.
• Computer generated images are acceptable as long as they are your original work (no clip art)
• Consider submitting a photocopy that is an accurate reflection of the original (as submissions are non-returnable).
• San José Public Library reserves the right to reproduce your work. You can reuse all your work after the contest.
• Be sure to print and complete the creative works release form. Include your Name, Age, Contact Information and Signature.
• Entries can be submitted to any San José Public Library location no later than 8p.m. on Wednesday, August 1, 2012.  There is a limit of one entry per contestant.

Entries will be judged on content and illustrations by a panel of library staff and comic industry professionals. All cash prizes will be awarded as gift cards. 

• Children (up to age 6): first place will receive Art Supplies
• Children (7-12):  first place $40, second place $20
• Teens (ages 13-17):  first place $100; second place $70; third place $50
• Adults (age 18 and above):  first place $100; second place $70; third place $50

Winners will be announced and prizes awarded at a reception to be held at the Berryessa Branch Library on Saturday, August 25th at 2:00 p.m.in the Community Room. 

Check out the award winning entries from 2011 and 2010. We're discussing last year's winners and other graphic novels in the Online Book Club during June and July.      

Learn how to make your own comic book, graphic novel or manga!  Oliver Chin will be teaching this free workshop for teens at some San José Public Library branches.

San José Public Library staff members are ineligible to participate.

San José Public Library reserves the right to refuse submissions that are not appropriate for a general audience. This contest is open to all California residents.

There are some doom-sayers who are claiming that the world is coming to an end on December 21, 2012.  Whether or not they are right, there are some other people who are taking it to heart in a joking way and creating a "bucket list" for 2012.  There's a facebook group if you'd like to join and I thought I'd share my own "bucket list" for 2012.

1.  Go to Alcatraz.  I've lived in the Bay area for 10 years now and I still haven't done the boat ride and tour of Alcatraz.  And before I go I need to read: Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko.  It is the story of a boy whose family moves to Alcatraz Island when his father gets a job as a guard there in 1935.

2.  Go to Disneyland.  I went when I was 2 years old and I hear I had a good time, but I frankly don't recall!  I have a lot of friends who still love to go to Disneyland as adults.  And before I go, I need to read: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow.  This one is a free ebook download so I can use my ereader...

3.  Eat Cioppino.  This is apparently the most famous San Francisco Fish Dish.  I don't know what they're talking about because I've never tried it.  Bobby Flay did a Throwdown against Phil DiGirolamo from Phil's in Moss Landing for this dish and includes a recipe in his book: Bobby Flay's Throwdown.  There are a lot of restaurants who carry this dish so I don't think I'll have a problem here!

4.  Bike the Coyote Creek Trail.  This trail is 18.7 miles in total so I might take it easy and do it in a couple of sessions.  But I'd be able to get a scenic view of a lot of San Jose!  But first, I need to fix my bike up - I think I'll need to check out the Complete Bike Book by Chris Sidwells. 

5.  Wow!  I'm running out of good ideas for my bucket list!  Time to check out Newcomer's Handbook for Moving to and Living in the San Francisco Bay Area by Scott Van Velsor! 

Maybe you'd like to join me in creating a "bucket list" this year instead of a resolution.  Come up with some fun activities and give yourself a reading list too!  Let me know how it goes and Happy New Year!