The American Library Association and NASA are sponsoring a contest to promote the new 3-D IMAX movie, Hubble--a movie that tells the story of the Hubble Space Telescope in 3-D. To enter click here

Join our new Scrabble Club for teens, which starts on Tuesday March 9 at 7:00 pm. We'll play against different partners and learn new words. We may even try some silly games, like Harry Potter Scrabble! If you don't know how to play, we'll teach you in no time. Some Scrabble sets will be available, but please bring one if you have one at home, just in case. And there will be snacks! Sign up today.

Boy did we have a delicious time at Chocolate Fest! You can see the evidence on our Teen Photos page--we made candy, dipped yummy stuff into chocolate fondue, decorated cupcakes, and played Chocolate Jeopardy. We're still feeling the chocolate buzz here! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Our newest shipment of videogames for Xbox360, Playstation3, and Wii have arrived! New titles include Sonic the Hedgehog, The Golden Compass, Ridge Racer 7, and many more. Check the list on the Video Games page of our website and stop in to see what's available. Play on!

Congratulations to Kip Mangira, first place winner, and Junoe Simon, runnerup winner, in our Madden NFL playstation3 tournament! Kip won a $50 Gamestop giftcard and Junoe won a $30 Gamestop giftcard, thanks to the Friends of the SMF Public Library. Stay tuned for more videogame events this spring!

Going Bovine, by Libba Bray, is the winner of the 2010 Printz Award for excellence in teen literature. It's a funny book about a guy suffering from Mad Cow Disease who goes on a wacky road trip with his sidekick friend Gonzo--and a lawn gnome!

We've got plenty of room for more players in our Playstation3 MaddenNFL 10 tournament! First place wins a $50 Gamestop giftcard; 2nd place is a $30 giftcard. It happens on Saturday Jan. 23, starting at 11am, for grades 6 to 12. There will be FREE PIZZA for players! Call today or email us, or stop by the Teen Information Desk.

...our 4 winners of Lifesize Monopoly 2009! Congratulations to the team of Matt Landis & Mitch Malott for winning the teen game, and Brock Vickery & Ethan Praeter for winning the grades 3-5 game today.  They won Monopoly Deal card games as prizes, courtesy of the Friends of the Library. Thanks to everyone who played Monopoly with us!

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

You nominated, you voted, and now here's your top choice! The Teen Buckeye Book Award winner for 2009 is (drum roll please): Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games! Plus the Buckeye Children's Book Awards have been announced, including the grades 6-8 winner: Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata. For more details and the rest of the winners, go to the Buckeye Book Awards website.

Wednesday, December 2, 3:30-6:30pm at Hudson Middle School - Be Alex Rider! Teen spy Alex Rider is always finding himself in treacherous situations and now - using green-screen technology - Alex Rider fans can place themselves in their own Alex Rider scene, then download the image at home by entering their secret code on-line. RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED. There are a limited number of photos that can be taken. Please call The Learned Owl Bookstore: 330-653-2252 or 800-968-2685.

Available until January 1, here's a new fiction book that has real-life tips about H1N1 flu as well as humor and action. Here's a description:

"Thirteen-year old Finn is assigned to keep a journal for his English class. Little does he know that his journal will turn into a record of a major flu pandemic. Somehow, he survives infection, and as his school population dwindles, Finn faces down the school bully, draws comics, catches the principal ordering pizza, endures a string of bizarre substitute teachers, and even manages to study once in a while."

Our latest rotating batch of videogames has arrived! You can see a list of titles and descriptions on the video games page; we have Playstation 3, Xbox360, and Wii games available for checkout for one week. Happy gaming!

If you like horror stories, you'll want to read the new book The Monstrumologist, by Rick Yancey. It's about an orphan boy apprenticed to a doctor of "Monstrumology," the science of monsters. It's the start of a new series. We don't have a copy yet in the library, but for this week only, Sept. 22-29, you can read details about it and read the book here on your computer--IF YOU DARE! Don't say I didn't warn you...

And the GOLDEN PIE CRUST award :-) goes to....PIZZINO'S PIZZERIA! In a hard-fought battle, Pizzino's of Stow won the blind taste test over second-placed finisher ROMEO'S PIZZA of Cuyahoga Falls. MARCO'S PIZZA of Stow and GIONINO'S of Munroe Falls were the other top four finishers. Many many thanks to these four restaurants, as well as to: ALTIERI'S, PAPA JOHN'S, and BELLACINO'S for participating in our first-ever pizza taste-off for teens. Their generous donations made the evening a huge success for our 18 hungry tasters.

Can't you just smell the melted cheese and taste the chewy crust? Our pizza taste-off for teens grades 6-12 is Tuesday night! Seven local pizza restaurants are providing cheese pizzas for us to sample, and vote on our favorites. There are still a few slots left, so if you're free at 6:30pm, call us to sign up! Mmmmm.....

Imagine your world in 2059. (I personally want to see flying cars.) Inventors Digest, the longest-running international magazine for independent inventors, is celebrating National Inventors Month in August (and Sept) with the “2059 Essay Contest.” It’s open to all U.S. middle and high school students ages 12 to 17. Essays need to say in 500 words or less what technology, tool, product or service will shape our lives in 50 years and why. Official rules and entry forms are here.

Our Battle of the Bands was a lot of fun, with great music by five bands from Stow, Hudson, and Twinsburg. You can see video of some of the bands here, and photos of the bands in action on our Teen Photos page. Congratulations to the winners, from Hudson, Karta Stella! they won five hours of free studio recording time from Harvest Recording in Streetsboro. Check them out (and our other bands) on their Myspace pages too.

We have videos of a song each from the seven bands who competed in our Qualifying Concert for the upcoming Battle of the Bands: look at them on SMFPLTeenspace on YouTube. (Sorry they're a little shaky, I'm still learning how to use the camcorder :-) The Mix and Chil will be playing in Hudson this Saturday, come cheer them on!

Our first ever Teen Photo Contest is over and we've got wonderful entries. One hundred and twelve of them, to be exact! See all of the photos on display in the library's magazine lounge thru Aug. 31. You can also see scans of the winning photos below. Congratulations to all our winners (there were $15, $20 and $25 cash prizes for 1st-3rd place) and thanks for entering! We'll definitely do this again next year.

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