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.

How to get ready for our trip to ALA!

Curling up with that good book/s that you took last time you were here would be the perfect way to start.

Another way would be to read what your fellow STABies wrote about their trip to Texas for STAB Antonio. It is at: http://shorstab.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_shorstab_archive.html . Remember to start from the bottom or it won't make any sense.

You could also review the "Talkin' bout books" document I wrote up last year while wearing your cat like a pair of ear-muffs. It will help with the upcoming STABBBYA meetings but is designed specifically for the discussion at ALA. (The document. Not the cat.) You can also find that at the blog at our handy blog which is: http://shorstab.blogspot.com/2006/10/talkin-bout-best-books-thoughts-for.html

Also, consider whether or not you want to go to the convention. I believe that all of you can and should go. If you have any specific concerns, let me know and we can discuss them. Let me know if you can go so that I can get a head count and figure out how many chaperones we need.

As always don't hesitate to call or e-mail if you have questions!

STAB Meetings of the Future!

I planned out STAB meetings all the way up to the convention. Go right these dates in crayon on your bedroom wall so you don't forget. Or you can check out the calendar at the MySTAB page in case your crayon is out of wax: http://www.myspace.com/rickobaggins (As always, no need to join MySpace to only view the site or calendar.)
Dec 5 4-6pm
Dec 19, 4-6pm
Jan 2, 4-6pm
Jan 16, 5-8pm
Those of you who are extra eagle eyed will note that the meeting on the 16th is longer and at a different time. I'm calling it our X-STAB-Aganza! That is because this will be the last meeting before we head to the convention on Sunday, January 21st. This meeting is as mandatory as I can make one. If you can't make that meeting, well, I'm not sure if you should come to the convention.
Why is it so important you ask?
I'm glad you asked. It is so important because:
1. This will be your last chance to discuss the books you've read
2. You'll be able to practice what you are going to say at the convention
3. We'll go over the nitty gritty details of the convention
4. You'll have a chance to meet the chaperones
5. I'm hoping that a few other BBYA groups from the area will be able to attend.
6. There will be pizza.

I can't think of anymore incentives to come to something other than to say you'll also have me there to make fun of for 3 whopping hours. How can you not come?

We’ll be having a STABBBYA meeting, next week. The blessed event will take place Tuesday, November 14th from 4-6pm. What do you need to get ready for the meeting, you ask? Well, just read a book from our lovely collection from our private STASH at the library. Come in ask me what I’m talking about if this e-mail appears to be gibberish.

Also, I wanted to alert you to a change on the MySpace page. It has a fancy feature where I can post a calendar of events. You don’t need to be a member of MySpace to view the calendar, so check it out if you are ever confused about events happening in the library or those specifically related to STAB. Also, a special note for those who are on MySpace, I started a STAB/STABBBYA group. So far we have, only 3 members, so if you are on STAB, become one of the cool MySpace kids and join the group. If you aren’t on MySpace, no need to worry, you’ll still get all the cheesy e-mails chock full of the exact same information. Websites of note from this paragraph include:
www.myspace.com/rickobaggins
groups.myspace.com/ShorelineTAB
www.shorstab.blogspot.com

Plus, I've only received one entry for the STAB T-shirt contest. Though it is really great, I know others of you confessed you were interested in attempting your artistic hand at this endeavor. If you are, get them to me before the meeting next week so I can review them. Then we can vote on them at the next meeting, or soon thereafter.

Talkin’ Bout Best Books
Thoughts for discussing books at the BBYA Committee Meeting
This is not an attempt to:
-Crush your creativity
-Suck the joy out of your reading
-Tell you what to say or
-How to think.

Rather, this is an attempt to get you to focus your comments on the BBYA nominations so that:
Everyone gets a chance to contribute
The BBYA Committee can get only the most useful information they can out of you and
You get to say everything that you want and need to say.

I hope that these tips help you to think about what you have read and critically analyze the books. The most important thing to remember is that your opinion matters, your comments matter and you have the right to speak your mind:

1. Talk to the committee or the chair. There may be hundreds of people in the room, but don’t worry about them. The 15 people on the dais are the ones who are making the decisions about the books.

2. Keep it positive. There is really very little need to discuss a book you don’t like. Let me be the bad guy. The committee would rather hear about your favorites rather than the ones you hated. So come ready to talk about your top 5 -10 books rather than your least favorite 10-20. However, if you feel strongly about a book, we want to hear about it.

3. Focus on WHY you like/love/hate the book. What was the hook? What was the most appealing aspect of this book?

4. Keep your comments short and succinct. We have roughly 2 hours and possibly 60 teens that all have something they want to say. A little quick math tells us that everyone gets about 2 minutes to speak.

5. Don’t give a summary of the book. Everyone on the committee should have already read the book. We don’t need to know what it is about. Here are some suggestions for topics to talk about:
- Characters (Real, fake, interesting, annoying (but in a good way?))
- Plot
- Pacing
- Language (Was this well written?)
- Pictures/Artwork/Cover
- Believability
- Voice of the Character (Does this sound like a teen or like a real person)
- Compare to other books (Espcially this year selections)
- Format/Layout (Espcially poetry and titles that use some type of formatting other than the standard, for example footnotes, diary format, IM (leet speak), slang, etc.)
- Relevant/Age Appropriate (Does this appeal to teens, or is it too young or old?)
- Factual (Espciall for non-fiction)

6. Be honest. The Committee is interested in hearing about what teens think about the books. Don’t bother telling us what you think we want to hear. Tell us what you think about the book. And remeber, no matter what you believe about a book, it isn't wrong. It is your opinion and you have every right to it.