Scott Westerfeld at Shorecrest Performing Arts Center.

Today our intrepid band of STABies (Myself, my lovely wife Gail, Natalie, Molly, Leslie and Roxana) visited the Shorecrest PAC to hear Scott Westerfeld speak. Scott Westerfeld is the author of a number of books including So Yesterday, the Uglies Trilogy (Uglies, Pretties, Specials) and Peeps. His new book, Extras, is the 4th book in the Uglies Trilogy (Huh?).

Natalie was on crutches and we tried to use this to our advantage, like to get better seats or jump the line, but to no avail. About 100 people were scattered over the auditorium and a group of not very boisterous librarians I knew sat behind us. Mr. Westerfeld spoke quite extensively about his books and where his ideas came from. For example, the inspiration for Uglies came from a trip a friend of his took to the dentist. He also discussed his new book, Extras, and how it started out with the idea of what it would be like to know your Myspace/Amazon rating instantaneously and if it were based on more than just hits and sales figures. Most of talk was based around questions from the audience. And I have to say, this crowd seemed a little more educated than the one at the Stephenie Meyer lecture I attended earlier this year.

Mr. Westerfeld was very gracious and signed our books. I also had him sign a copy of Peeps that he had already signed. This time I had him make it out to STAB for our group. (Next time you are in, ask to see it and gaze at it's glory.) He, however, did not remember me from our encounter we had at the ALA conference in New Orleans in 2006.

Afterwards we, (the STABies without Scott Westerfeld) went to local fast food drive thru and had frozen "dairy" products and I used a coupon. If was a lot of fun and, I hate to break this to you, you really missed out if you didn't go.

Adrenaline Junkies and Armchair Adventurers
Revised October 2007

Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
Takeo learns the skills of a nobleman…and an assassin.

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
Matt is a cabinboy aboard a luxury airship when the vessel is attacked by pirates and crash-landed on a mysterious island.

Between a rock and a hard place by Aron Ralston
Aron Ralston was rock climbing alone in Utah when his arm was caught in rockslide. His only hope of escape was to do the unthinkable. Based on a true story.

Blood Red Horse by K.M. Grant
During the 3rd Crusade, a horse helps two brothers understand the true meaning of friendship, family and courage.

Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer
Mary disguises herself as a boy, changes her name, and signs aboard a naval ship as a cabinboy.

Children of the Lamp: The Akhenaten Adventure by P.B. Kerr
All around the twins, wishes seem to be coming true. But why?

Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac
In World War II, Ned Begay and his Navajo classmates help to create the only code system that the Japanese could never break: a code based on the Navajo language.

The Death Collector by Justin Richards
What can you not like about a reanimated T-Rex run by steam power in Victorian London?

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
The aliens will soon return to attack Earth, and only Ender’s soldiers can fight them off. But is Ender smart enough to outwit the Buggers?

Escaping the Giant Wave by Peg Kehret
When a tsunami strikes the Oregon coast, Kyle must save his younger sister and another boy. Also by this author: Earthquake Terror , The Volcano Disaster , The Flood Disaster and others.

Far North by Will Hobbs
Gabe and Raymond are stranded in the frozen world of Deadmen Valley for the winter. Also by this author: Downriver, The Maze, Jason’s Gold and others.

House of Stairs by William Sleator
Six orphans are trapped in building with no ceiling, floors or walls. To survive they must either rely on each other or kill one another.'

I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you by Ally Carter
Cammie Morgan attends a boarding school where she is learning to become a spy. However, all of her education in espionage doesn’t help her much when she falls for a local boy.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
The author’s account of the disastrous climbing season on Mount Everest.
Non-fiction.

Left for dead : a young man's search for justice for the USS Indianapolis by Peter Nelson
Eleven year old Hunter Scott used his history day project to clear the name of naval captain court martialed in World War II. Based on a true story.

The Lightning Thief : Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
Percy and his friends are on a magical quest to retrieve items of power.
First in a series.

Maximum Ride : the Angel Experiment by James Patterson
Max and her “Avian-American” family must escape from the lab—fast.
First in a trilogy.

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Sam runs away to the woods, tames a wild falcon, and lives off the land. Also by this author: Julie of the Wolves

Operation Red Jericho by Joshua Mowll
Rebecca and Doug are thrust into a world of espionage and intrigue when they join their uncle and the mysterious group known as the Honourable Guild of Specialists.

Pirates! by Celia Rees
To escape an arranged marriage, Nancy Kington and the slave girl Minerva join a band of pirates, braving storms, capture, and mutiny at sea.

Poison by Chris Wooding
When Poison’s sister is kidnapped she starts on a journey that lead to realm of Fairies and perhaps to the end of her life.

Sabriel by Garth Nix
Sabriel is a necromancer and her job is to keep dead things dead.

The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer
audiobook narrated by Gerard Doyle
Jack accepts a quest to Jotunheim, the land of the trolls, accompanied by the savage Olaf One-Brow, a young shield maiden, and a very odd crow.

Shackleton's Stowaway by Victoria McKernan
In 1914, Perce Blackbrow stowaways on the Endurance, Ernest Shakelton’s. The adventure of a lifetime that Perce expects to have quickly turns out to be a fight for life or death in the treacherous Antarctic. Based on a true story.

Shade’s Children by Garth Nix
Alien Overlords have decreed that no child will live past age 14. Aided by the mysterious Shade, a few children have escaped…or have they?

The Storm Thief by Chris Wooding
Probablity storms on the island of Orokos can change anyone or anything. They key to defeating them lies in hands of two thieves and an innocent golem.

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
After his uncle is mysteriously murdered, Alex Rider is recruited by MI6 to track down his killers with the help of his arsenal of high-tech hardware.

Terrier by Tamora Pierce
One part CSI. One part Gladiator. Sprinkle with fantasy. Enjoy.

The Thief by Megan Whelan Turner
Gen is the best thief in the kingdom…unfortunately, he’s a thief with a big mouth.

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
All the adults are prisoners, and only a few kids remain free to make the choice: surrender, run away…or fight back.

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
As punishment for severely beating a younger boy, Cole must choose: prison, or living in isolation on a remote Alaskan island for a year.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
When you are 16, they will give you an operation to make you pretty. But your face isn’t the only thing the operation will change….

The worst-case scenario survival handbook by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht
Learn how to survive nearly any life or death situation with this handy pocket sized book.

The Wreckers by Iain Lawrence
In 1799, the law said that those who found a ship wrecked on the shore could keep the contents if none aboard survived the wreck. And so some people decided to make sure that nobody would survive the wreck of the boat
Isle of Skye….

Stephenie Meyer author visit

This evening I visited Summit elementary school in Seattle to see Stephenie Meyer speak. The visit was sponsored by All for Kids bookstore (Thanks!) The crowd was enormous, with at least 600 bodies filling nearly every seat in the auditorium. There were far fewer costumes than I would have imagined for event of this nature, so that was a bit disappointing. Sadly, as with the parade, nearly all of you STABies cancelled on me. I did, however, go since I promised a few individuals I would get them books. Thankfully, I was with my lovely assistant (manager), Alene, so I wasn’t too lonely. I was one of the very few people in my demographic at the event. (Surprise!)

Ms. Meyer had no prepared comments, nor did she read from her newest tome. She opted, instead, to answer questions from the audience. There were some extremely insightful and ponderous queries presented to Ms. Meyer. For example, one question was, “What does Bella eat for breakfast ?” Another was, “How much wood, would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” She refused to answer questions regarding the future of the characters in the books, even when threatened with physical harm.

We purchased our books at the door which was a mistake as those who bought their books before hand were given a better place in line. Our ticket number was 1021. However, a librarian friend of mine was there with her daughter. They had bought a book before hand and recived a ticket, but, alas, forgot to bring their book. She offered me her ticket. It was number 61. I’m only a little embarrassed to tell you I nearly cried with joy.

After the Q&A, we were ushered into an adjoining room where I’m pretty sure we were breaking the fire code by half. A few tables were set up for various arts and crafts related to the books. Alene and I took the time to chat with Megan and Kathryn from STAB who had also come. They had good tickets too, but not as good as ours. (Tee hee.)

When our number was called we were herded into line to wait in an antechamber to go into a waiting room to be frisked and wanded before approaching Stephenie Meyer. We were given explicit instructions, “1) at no time are you to make eye contact with Stephenie Meyer, 2) you are not to make sudden movements around Stephenie Meyer, 3) do not talk to Stephenie Meyer, 4) do not breathe in the direction of Stephenie Meyer, 5) do not feed Stephenie Meyer,. . .” and the list went on.

We made our way through the line and Ms. Meyer was extremely nice. She took our books and graciously signed them. We were then escorted out the door into the chilly night breeze. And that was pretty much it. As you can see from the picture I had a pretty good time.

Too bad for those of you who didn’t go, but feel free to place your holds on her much anticipated book or (audio version if you prefer) if you have not already done so.

Stepping out at the Shoreline Parade


Today was the Shoreline parade. It was perfect weather for a parade—bright, sunny and a tiny little breeze that turned our signs into petite sails that sent us spinning across the street. We looked like some kind of concrete parasailers. Our merry bunch of 15 souls marched proudly between a marching band in front and a large truck behind. It was a tiny bit claustrophobic.

Sadly, only 2 STABies came to the parade. I’d like to do a special shout-out to Kathryn and Chelsea who braved the elements and swelling crowds to march proudly and show their Shoreline pride. Represent! Sorry, got a bit excited there. Thanks to these two STABies all 10 of the signs created by our intrepid set of artists were showcased during the march.

Of course, the stars of the show were my 2 kids who rode in style in a little red wagon-future STABies to be sure.

To those of you who didn’t go, you missed some great donuts , a nice walk , my stellar company , loads of teeth rotting candy and cute children. Also, a bunch of volunteer hours . Hopefully, you’ve all learned your lesson and can come next year. Also, you can see more pictures of the event if you so choose at our STABucket site.

The return of the STABcast!

By popular demand I bring you a brand new, fresh from the studio, STABcast!

Bruce, our STABcaster today, has chosen to review Foundation by Issac Asimov.



Foundation is available from KCLS as a book, or a book, a large print book, an audio book or a book containing all three parts of the trilogy. (Phew!)

Library Ninja!

I thought you might appreciate this. I think I may have found a new calling.

STABies,
The other thing we discussed at the STAB meeting was the upcoming Harry Potter Book launch party. I think we should call "Harry Potter and the STAB meeting". It will be at the Richmond Beach library July 21st .
The Harry Potter countdown is for the book and the party, though it doesn't technically mention the party:

Anyways, here are the notes. There are plenty of opportunities for you guys to volunteer and make your mark (creativily speaking, of course.) Let me or Aarene know if there is anything you would like to add or amend:

Those who would like to design a Harry Potter button for the HP party are encouraged to do it! Artistic skill is not a requirement; that is why God created Photoshop. I see no reason to stick with just one button if there are several cool designs submitted. Anybody who has a great idea for a button to promote the program ahead of time, please get it on paper and let me see it!

For the day of the party, we'd really like FOUR buttons, so that participants can be sorted into houses. The following artistic geniuses have agreed to apply their talents to design:
Krystina - Slitherin
Roxanna - Griffindor
Logan - Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw

Good ideas for activities are still being sought. So far, the ideas include:
face painting
costumes
hat making (also wand-making)
qwiddich (maybe out in the park?)
wizard chess (no fair clobbering the little kids with swords!)

Any ideas about snacks? The Friends of the Library will purchase pizza around 5pm, but what else should be available for snackage during the day? Pumpkin juice is a nice idea, but would anybody actually drink it? (bleh!)

The meeting room definitely needs to be decorated. Molly had some ideas about this. I'd love to see stars hung from the ceiling in the meeting room...and what else? Somebody please jump-start my brain...or better yet, show up here with a bunch of crepe paper and creativity. But tell me what you want to do so I can buy supplies!

Naming your STABcasts.

Mica, this weeks STABcaster, has chosen to review The Naming by Alison Croggon.

Having a problem with the player? Try getting it from Twango.

The Naming is available from the King County Library System as is the sequel, The Riddle.

May STAB meeting wrap up.

We have some upcoming meetings in June:
June 5th, “Super” STABBBYA Meeting, 4pm-7pm (We need at least 15 people)
June 12th, STAB Meeting, 4pm-6pm
June 19th, Last STABBBYA meeting before ALA (Possibly with visitors), 4pm-6pm

STABcasts: Still need volunteers. Please let me know when you can come in and I'll try and set up a time.

Volunteer hours: Get them now (and later). I still need volunteers to help with all sorts of things. Let me know if you can in sometime and I'll make sure you have some stuff to do. I'm in this weekend (June 2 & 3) so if you are looking to get out of the sun, you know where to go.

Buttons and badgers: Holly, myself and the members of the BBYA committee would like you to design a button. Please get it to me by June 5th at the latest (our SuperSTABBBYA meeting!). Design elements should include the phrase "BBYA 2008" and possilby Committee Member. The badges should be circular in nature. You could incorporate the theme of Washington DC as well, as that is where conference will be held. You may also want to insert the YALSA logo / conference logo as well. Please no pictures of badgers.

An abundance of STABcasts.

Jennifer, our STABcaster this week, has chosen to review the 2007 Printz honor book An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. It also appears on the 2007 Best Books for Young Adults list.



An Abundance of Katherines is availabe on CD as well as in your traditinal codex format. As opposed to, like, a scroll.

John Green is also the author of the 2006 Printz Award winning book, Looking for Alaska, which we have on CD, EAdudio, in Spanish as well as a good old fashioned book.

Also, Unshelved highlighted An Abundance of Katherines on their Unshelved Book Club.

Fun fact about John Green: I've had the pleasure of dining with him and have also chatted with him on a number of occasions and he is a heck of a nice guy. I talked with him last year in New Orleans when he spoke a the Printz reception. He had a nasty case of the flu and could barely stand. But, due to his illness, no one would go near him so I had him to myself practically the whole night. He probably doesn't remember this interaction, but he promised me that his next book would be dedicated to me. At least, that is the way I remember it.

The Long Dark STABcast of the Soul.

Mica, our STABcaster this week, has chosen to review The long dark tea-time of the soul by Douglas Adams.



Having problems with Twango player? Try listening to it here!

Many of you may be familiar with Douglas Adams from his series of books The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.

On a personal note, Douglas Adams is one of my favorite authors.

On a professional note, the fact that he is one of my favorite authors has nothing to do with the fact that I ran to my computer to post this review as soon as I got it.

Just in case you haven't been keeping up, this is our 7th STABcast. And, coincidentally, Just in case by Meg Rossoff is the book that this week's STABcaster, Jennifer, has chosen to review.



Having trouble with the Twango player? Get it right from the source!

Just in case is available from the King County Library System.

Fun fact: Meg Rossoff won the Printz award in 2005 for her book How we live now, which we have in Large Print, on CD, Tape and as EAudio to download.

Another fun fact: She also has a great picture book titled Meet the Wild Boars which discusses how difficult it can be to be friends to a pack of four wild boars named Hoarace, Boris, Doris and Morris.

Our STABcast this week is of the creepy What happened to Cass McBride? by Gail Giles. This book is espcially for fans of CSI and shows of that type.

Having trouble with the player? Listen to the STABcast at Twango.

Our STABcaster, Leslie, even discussed this particular book at ALA when it was in Seattle which no doubt had a great deal with it making the Best Book for Young Adults 2007 list.

My little Daemon.

The Golden Compass movie is coming! And on the official website you can find out what your daemon is. Here is mine:

A new STABcast.

Our STABcaster, Jennifer, chose 2007 Printz Award winning book American Born Chinese by Gene Yang to review this week.



Having trouble with the player? Listen to it right from Twango.

You can place a hold, read reviews and look at the cover of American Born Chinese from our catalog.

MacBeth Themes Booklist
For the Room 9 Community School
Ambition, Betrayal, Guilt, Relationships, Supernatural, Symbolism

Akhenaten Adventure
By P.B. Kerr A,B,R, Su

American Gods
By Neil Gaiman A, B,G, R, Su, Sym

Amulet of Samarkand
By Jonathon Stroud A, B, R, Su

Artemis Fowl (series)
by Eoin Colfer A, B, Su

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
By M.T. Anderson A, B, G, R, Sym

Black Duck
by Janet Lisle Taylor A, B, G, R

The Book Thief
By Markus Zusak A, B, G, R, Sym

Courtesan’s Daughter
By Priscilla Galloway A, B, R

Cry of the Icemark
By Stuart Hill A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Devilish
By Maureen Johnson A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Double Helix
By Nancy Werlin A, B, G, R,

Ender’s Game
By Orson Scott Card A, B, G, R, Sym

Fellowship of the Ring (series)
By J. R. R. Tolkein A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Freaks! Alive on the Inside
By Annette Curtis Klaus A, B, G, R, Sym

Golden Compass
By Phillip Pullman A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Goose Girl
by Shannon Hale A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

A Great and Terrible Beauty
By Libba Bray A, B, G, Su

Harry Potter (series)
by J.K. Rowling A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Hattie Big Sky
by Kirby Larson A, B, G, R

The Hero and the Crown
By Robin McKinley A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Holes
By Louis Sacher A, B, G, Sym

The Hollow Kingdom
By Clare B. Dunkle A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

House of Stairs
By William Sleator A, B, G, R, Sym

Ithaka
By Adele Geras A, B, R, Su

Keeper
by Mal Peet A, R, Su, Sym

The Killer’s Tears
By Anne-Laure Bondoux B, G, R, Su, Sym

Kite Rider
By Geraldine McCaughrean
A, B, G, R, Sym

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
By C.S. Lewis A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
By Gary D. Schmidt A, B, G, R, Sym

London Calling
By Edward Bloor A, Su, Sym

Love Curse of the Rumbaughs
By Jack Gantos B, R, Sym

Mimus
By Lilli Thal A, B, G, R, Sym

Monster
By Walter Dean Myers A, B, G, R

Montmorency ; thief liar gentleman?
by Eleanor Updale A, B, G, R

Northern Light
By Jennifer Donnelly A, B, G, R, Sym

Ophelia
By Lisa Klein B, G, R

Oracle Betrayed
By Catherine Fisher B, Su

Over Sea, Under Stone (series)
By Susan Cooper A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Pirates
By Celia Rees A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Poet Slave of Cuba
By Margarita Engle A, B, Sym

Power of One
by Bryce Courtenay A, B, G, R, Sym

Private Peaceful
By Michael Morpurgo B, G, R, Sym

Rag and Bone Shop
By Robert Cormier A, B, G, R

Sabriel (series)
By Garth Nix A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Samurai Shortstop
By Alan Gratz A, G, R, Sym

Sea of Trolls
By Nancy Farmer A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Shade’s Children
By Garth Nix A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Shades of Simon Gray
By Joyce McDonald A, B, G, R, Su

Silver Donkey
By Sony Hartnett A, B, G, R, Sym

The Thief
By Megan Whelan Turner
A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Tithe
By Holly Black
A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

Tomorrow, When the War Began (series)
By John Marsden
A, B, G, R, Sym

Trigger
by Susan Vaught G, B, R

Troy
by Adele Geras A, B, R, Su

Uglies
By Scott Westerfield A, B, G, R, Sym

Warchild
by Karin Lowachee A, B, G, R, Sym

The Wreckers
By Iain Lawrence A, B, G, R, Sym

Wrinkle in Time
By Madeleine L’Engle
A, B, G, R, Su, Sym

The Year of Secret Assignments
By Jaclyn Moriarty A, B, R

The Young Royals (series)
by Carolyn Meyer A, B, G, R

STABcast of the week!

This week, Molly STABcasts Scott Westerfeld's The Midnighters: Volume 1, The secret hour.



This is a first book in the Midnighters trilogoy . The trilogy also includes Touching Darkness and Blue Noon.

Having problems with the player above? Listen to it right from Twango.

This week's STABcast

Our STABcast this week is Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill.

Problems, with the player? Try and listen to it from Twango.

Cry of the Icemark is available from KCLS in audio, large print, as a traditional book and also as an enhanced book (which includes a CD-ROM with maps, timelines and an author interview).

On a personal note, Cry of the Icemark was my favorite fantasy novel of 2005. Nonetheless, this review was not coerced from Jackie. (Though I probably would have paid her to give the book a favorable review.) In fact, this is all the payment Jackie will receive: Thanks for the review!

Our newest STABcast!

Our STABcast this week is a review of The Silver Donkey by Sonya Harnett .


Problems with the player? Try getting it directly from Twango.

Thanks, Chelsea, for providing the review.

Sorry, but I canceled the meeting for today, Tuesday, April 3rd. However, we will have 2 more meetings this month:

a STABBBYA Meeting on April 10th

and

a STAB meeting on April 17th

Both are from 4-6pm.

Hope to see you there!

How Brian Michael Bendis stole my baby. (Or what I learned at Emerald City Comiccon.)

To begin with, the title is completely inaccurate. I didn’t learn anything at the Emerald City Comic Con (ECCC). No, wait. That part is right. It was that Bendis didn’t technically “steal” my baby. It was more like I tried to trade her for a comic, but he didn’t wouldn’t take her. But more on that later . . .

So, back to what I learned:


1. Bring a baby stroller with you so you have a place to put all the stuff you buy.
I was fortunate to have Aidan with me so I didn’t have to just bring an empty baby stroller to throw stuff in. Cuz’ I’ve done that before and it looks creepy. You can also use the stroller as a battering ram to get to the good stuff.

2. Bounty Hunters take too many breaks.
We swung by the the 501st Legion’s booth to have my picture taken with characters from the Star Wars movies. However, the magic of the event was somewhat diminished when “Darth Vader” whipped off his helmet and talked about how he couldn’t breathe. (I thought he had some kind of mechanism for that kind of thing in that big old can on his head.) So, Aidan and I stood in line to have our picture taken and I was very pleased becausebo one of my favorite characters from the Star Wars films was there: Boba Fett. However, as they leant me a light saber (I left mine at home) and a Jedi robe I noticed that Mr. Fett had gone away and he was not to be found. I hated to be a pain, but I asked if it would be possible to find him or we could wait. They did a quick search, but couldn’t find him anywhere. But that was when Darth stepped up.

3. Darth Vader isn’t such a bad guy and Storm Troopers are pretty friendly too.
Darth asked if a Strom Trooper and a Darth Vader would work for the picture. “Sure,” I said. So off we went. I figured Darth was kind of mean based on the movies, but I guess that is just another liberal media ploy to vilify the Empire. The Storm Trooper chatted with me while we were waiting for Darth to put his helmet back on. I asked him why he was wearing desert gear in Seattle and he said that he wanted to be prepared. It makes me curious as to whether or not the Boy Scouts and the Storm Troopers share training techniques.

4. Comic book writers and artists don’t want to trade their wares for kids.
Usually I’m not a geek when it comes to meeting famous people. I give them their space and just admire their work. Plus, I never have anything interesting to say. But there is something about being at a comic convention where you just let your geek out. And so I stood in line to have some artists and writers I admire sign some books. One of the individuals signing was a guy named Brian Michael Bendis. He is currently working on a series at Marvel called Civil War. Anyways, I was grabbing one of his books to sign and I said something to the effect of “Do you mind . . . ?” while shifting Aidan on my hip. BMB jumped up and said “Sure” and gestured for Aidan. “Uh. OK” was my sterling response as I handed over my child. He then started to make googly eyes at her which was actually really cute. Aidan seemed to be pretty happy with the arrangement. I almost asked if he wanted to watch her while I wandered around a bit more, but he had a line. Maybe next time.

5. Bounty hunters like to shop for toys.
On my way out, I was wandering by a booth and found Boba Fett shopping for action figures. So I had to stop and ask if we could have a picture. I thought, “Hey, he isn’t pointy like the Tuscan Raider” (pictured above), “Why doesn’t he hold Aidan?" However, when I tried to hand Aidan over, she started crying. Apparently, Aidan must think she has a price on her head. (Which she doesn’t as far as I know.) Regardless, we got our picture with Boba Fett.
6. It is always more fun to hang out with someone else at a costume competition.
Aidan and I made one last stop at the costume competition on our way out. We were accompanied by one of my librarian co-workers, Dawn. More than two-dozen people showed off their creativity at the competition. However, as Dawn and I noted, some people were perhaps “too creative”. When designing a costume, one should refrain from highlighting parts of the body that cellulite can, uh, collect in unpleasant ways. Plus, thigh high boots and hot pants may look good in a comics, but may not look so good in real life. Also, in my opinion, flesh colored tights can cover a multitude of sins.

All in all, it was a good bonding experience between a father and daughter. Remember, it is never too early to introduce your younglings to nerd-dom.

The new Harry Potter cover is out. Looks a little too happy for a title like Deathly Hallows to me.

Our first STABcast!

Hopefully this will be our first of many STABcasts! What is a STABcast you ask? A STABcast is podcast book review preformed by members of the Shoreline Teen Advisory Board.

This week we are happy to have Leslie review The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing, traitor to the nation ; v. 1 The Pox party taken from accounts by his own hand and other sundry sources ; collected by M.T. Anderson of Boston by M.T. Anderson.



If the player above is not working trying going directly to the the Twango site.

This book is also available on audio.

Fun fact- Octavian Nothing won a Printz Honor this year.

Another fun fact-this is the longest title of any book. Ever. Probably.

If you missed the STAB meeting, or even if you went and want to relive it, here are some abbreviated notes:

First off we talked about the articles in the PI about STAB @ ALA . Max mentioned that he was quoted in later article dealing with Millennials and computer use. According to the article, Max never leaves his computer.

I also asked you to give me your thoughts on STAB on the blog I’ll leave it up until the end of the month. Hope you get a chance to make a few comments what you think.

I reminded everyone that STAB is on MySpace and I would like to be your “friend”—in a non-creepy way, of course.

We’re thinking of having a Harry Potter Party probably on July 21st. Stay tuned for details.

In regards to volunteering, I’ve got about as many volunteers as I can handle. A few things to remember:
Please come to meetings prepared.
If you have any questions, talk to me before the meeting. That means reviewing books for the “classic” STAB Meetings and reading and commenting on books for the STABBBYA meetings .
Also, we’ve had some issues with volunteers in the back room. Please only come into the staff area if I am there. Please go the Information Desk, and ask them to call me to come out if you don’t see me. Thanks!

Our next STABBBYA meeting is April 3rd, from 4-6pm.

Did I miss anything?

STAB Survey

In an effort to serve you better, I’d like you to post a few comments on the STABlog about your thoughts on our little group.

There is no form, so I’ll give you some suggested topics to discuss:

What do you like most about STAB?

What do you like least about STAB?

Has STAB helped you in your school/work/life?

Why did you join STAB? And why do you continue to attend?

What STAB services do you use? ie: STABlog, MySTAB; STABucket, etc.

Doe STAB encourage you to visit the library more/read more/make new friends?

Does STAB encourage you to use library services (checking out books, use databases, etc.) or come to events (like SAT prep program, Manga classes)?

You should be able to post to the STABlog anonymously, so I would appreciate any comments you have, both good and bad. When you post it, it will say something about seeking administrator approval, which just means that they send me an e-mail telling me that I have a comment.

I’d like to have them done by March 30th, so you have some time to think about what you want to say. Thanks!

The Seattle STAB Intellgencer!

STAB is front page news on the PI! And there was some other stuff in the article as well.

Here are a couple of my thoughts on the articles, though I’ll limit my comments to STAB related stuff.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/books/306531_teenlit08.html

First off—Leslie! What are you doing at LFP? Why are you going to another library? Seriously though, nice picture.

And Jennifer? You are going to something called the Shoreline Teen Advisory Group? Why are you people going to other library’s and library programs? You’re starting to hurt my feelings.

And I’m quoted! Don’t I sound knowledgeable and such! I can tell when my book shelves are empty. Stellar performance!

Also nice to see Holly quoted. Eloquent as always.

Glad to see that Zeno sharp fashion sense is just as keen as his taste in books,

Victor—Stop picking on Delta Force. You don’t want to make them angry.

Terry Pratchett is not a comic genius, Feather, he is a comic demigod!

And Angie! The gang is all here! And you were the guys talking about titles that were more than just the run of the mill popular stuff!

For the other article:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/books/306478_teenlitsplit08.html

Interesting idea of separating the teen collection. I’ll have you guys start on that at the next STAB meeting. Of course, that would mean that we would have to have a STAB for each collection. So SYAAB, SMSAB, SCAAB? It could work . . . We’ll work on itl

What do you guys think?

When does the New Harry Potter come out? And the movie? Oh, here it is.

Instructions for our STAB Meetings!

Want to know what to expect at a STAB meeting. Here you go! (And don't worry, it is a lot more fun than it sounds.)

-Go to www.bwibooks.com and access our account the STAB account. If you don't remember the login, let me know and I'll e-mail it to you.
-Click on "Your lists" on the right side of the page. Find the list with your name and open it. If you don't see one with your name e-mail me and I can set you up with a list. If you can't get a hold of me, review the list "Extra1" or "Extra2".
-Once you open the list, you'll notice that many of the books have "Full Text Reviews" done by professional publications. You can access them by clicking either the big red "FTR" link or click on the "Details" link to access the cover art, the reviews and a summary of the book.
-Or, if you want, you can look them up in a place like Amazon.com. Remember to look more closely at the professional reviews than at the customer reviews.
-Based on the reviews, what you read in the summary, the cover art and anything else that strikes your fancy, give me a score for the book on a scale from 1-5. 1 is low (don't you dare buy this thing) and 5 being high (I just might go buy this book myself).
-Remember, I'm not expecting you to read the book before the meeting. For the STAB meetings I just need you to come to the meeting ready to give a very brief desription of what you think of the book. I'm looking for your opinions based on whatever information you can gather.

More STAB@ALA talk:

This appeared in the King County Library System weekly Memo on Febraury 13th, 2007:

The Shoreline Teen Advisory Board visits the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference (or STAB@ALA)

On January 21^st, twenty-one teens from the Shoreline Teen Advisory Board (also known as STAB), descended on the American Library Association’s Midwinter conference in downtown Seattle. Clad in identical black t-shirts, the group’s mission (other than to gather as much free stuff at the exhibits as they could carry), was to discuss some of the 232 books nominated to the 2007 Best Books for Young Adults selection list before a standing room only crowd of 300 people. The crowd consisted of librarians, publishers, agents, editors and other adults curious to know what teens think about young adult literature today.

The STABies did extremely well. Audience members commented on the group’s thoughtfulness, insights and passion. One publisher was heard to remark that this was the best teen participation forum he had seen. Best Books for Young Adults committee members praised the teens for their critical reading and examinations of the books nominated.

The teens enjoyed themselves immensely. Apart from their erudite discussion of the books at the teen forum, each of them returned with bags full of books, pens, note pads, water bottles and other assorted convention giveaways. More importantly, the teens returned with a sense of a job well done, a greater understanding of libraries and an even deeper love of reading. They also had sore backs from carrying around all of their free stuff.
The trip was sponsored by the Friends of Shoreline Library. The STABies were chaperoned by Yoshiko and Jeanne of the Friends of Shoreline Library, Alene and Aarene of the Richmond Beach-Shoreline cluster and Gail, a volunteer from the community.

For a complete listing of the titles that made the Best Books for Young Adults list visit
http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/bestbooksyoung.htm

For some photos from the event, visit:
http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s216/librarylad/

More thoughts on STAB @ ALA.

From Jennifer
My favorite part of STAB@ALA was having lunch with the publisher and then speaking to the committee. I hadn’t realized that books had to be repackaged to make them more appealing every five or ten years, but when they showed us old covers, it made sense. It made me realize how much people actually spend time thinking about how to make books more popular and how there’s lots of people whose jobs are all about books.
Even though speaking to the room full of people was probably the most intimidating part of the day, I liked it because I got to say what I really thought about the books and I knew people were taking me seriously. I felt like the librarians were interested in what I had to say, which was a pretty cool feeling. Until I found out that the Printz Award went to American-Born Chinese instead of The Book Thief.

Here is a post from Victor:

Being there at the convention was easily one of the most crazy moments EVER
in STAB history, probably the most significant thing we've done. From
roaming the show floor to get endless amounts of free books, t-shirts, hats,
and publisher comments to the actual speaking engagement, ALA 2007 was
totally insanity on so many good levels.

The endless flow of freebies weren't only the best thing on the show floor.
Our STAB shirts got us the best reactions from other show attendees as some
were actually appalled from it while others were just happy to see some
teens flock in. That along with the DDR station, creepy and insidious robot
version 1.0 (patent pending), and Baker and Taylor models made the whole
darn show floor very lively, since our 6+ bags of SWAG were the buzzkill to
our energy.

The speaking session was a lot of fun just either extolling a book to the
high heavens or ranting a book down to the ground. Props to Max and Zeno for
really making this portion really hilarious; their witty and clever humor
was totally awesome. Most surprising was the amount of people that bothered
to come in and listen to us. I was not expecting the high amount of people
that showed up.

Overall, this probably was the defining moment in STAB's illustrious history
and a lot of fun to be a part of. Now to continue reading my free books I
acquired...

Philadelphia in 2008, here we come?

Blogs from our trip to ALA.

Some of the STABies have written up blogs about the experiences with STAB @ ALA. Here is one from Jesse:

Anyways, cool stuffs. My sister and I went to the American Library Association Convention in Seattle today from eight in the morning to five o'clock at night. Yes, we skipped church. It just so happens that God wrote the best book in history, so we figured that he's okay with reading. We wandered around for about three hours and got swag (a.k.a. cool stuff like unreleased books) while wearing our awesome shirts that say STAB in big messy red letters. That stands for Shoreline Teen Advisory Board, not Socialist Terrorism And Blackmail, just to let you know. I will be wearing my shirt tomorrow. After lugging about 40 pounds of swag around, we finally went up to the conference room, where we ate lunch, expounded upon the joys of reading, and disagreed with a nervous boy named Quentin. Sorry, Quenty old boy, that's just the way the nation crumbles. Or cookie. Or book's reputation. After this, we swaggered out and went swagging some more, then retired to the van for some de-swagging, feeling 50 pounds and 15 pens lighter. I shall endeavor to obtain some photographic memorabilia to enpost upon my blog, so you can all see our glorious swagdom. Until then, you'll have to be content with my disjointed narrative.
One last note: If any of the HaLo executives are reading this, it's somewhat difficult to swing dance to Justin Timberlake. And swing tag is fun. And my leg hurts.