Teens Only | I Don't Know About You....

...but I'm ready for this school year to be over so I can enjoy reading books for FUN!

So I thought I'd check out some recommended great books for teens, and found a pretty decent list on the YALSA page. 

Here's what's on my TO READ list for Summer 2014:

1) Just One Day by Gayle Forman 

And here's the blurb: Sparks fly when American good girl Allyson encounters laid-back Dutch actor Willem, so she follows him on a whirlwind trip to Paris, upending her life in just one day and prompting a year of self-discovery and the search for true love.

2) When We Wake by Karen Healey

Here's the blurb for this one: In 2027, sixteen-year-old Tegan is just like every other girl--playing the guitar, falling in love, and protesting the wrongs of the world with her friends. But then Tegan dies, waking up 100 years in the future as the unknowing first government guinea pig to be cryogenically frozen and successfully revived. Appalling secrets about her new world come to light, and Tegan must choose to either keep her head down or fight for a better future.

3) Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

This is the 2nd in the "His Fair Assassin" series. The first book was Grave Mercy. Here's the 4-1-1 on the 2nd book: Sybella's duty as Death's assassin in 15th-century France forces her return home to the personal hell that she had finally escaped. Love and romance, history and magic, vengeance and salvation converge in this sequel to Grave Mercy.

And don't forget your chance to do something very rewarding this Summer: Sign up to be a Book Buddies Tutor at the Chavez Library. For info, call (209) 937-7012. It will change your life!

Happy Reading!

The Reader Digests | Science Experiments

Can we eat science experiments?  An exploding volcano model, maybe not - but science experiments made out of food, yes!  In honor of this year's summer reading program, Fizz! Boom! Read!, I present science experiments you can eat (and what we learn from them)!

Discuss the properties of proteins by making egg whites.  According to Vicki Cobb's Science Experiment's You Can Eat, this is a great way to discuss how

germanfood.about.com

the shape of protein molecules plays an important role in determining the reaction.  Egg whites' proteins are like "tiny balls of yarn" and dissolve in water because they are so compact. Beating them = unraveling the yarn. Whoa! Slowly beat in some sugar, which mixes with the water in the egg whites, drop them on a cookie sheet, and heat them in an oven at 175 degrees for 1 hour, then turn it off and leave them in overnight.  The meringues are dried, leaving hard egg whites and sugar.  Yummy!

www.npr.org

Another fun and easy experiment in the book discusses oxidation of fruit.  Take an apple, slice it in half, and place a sliced kiwi on the cut top of one side, leaving the other side of the apple bare (or put a sponge on top).  Which side ends up brown?  This is a great way to introduce the idea of oxidation, and the effects of vitamin C on the browning process.  Make a fruit salad using apples, peaches, and bananas, and mix pieces of one vitamin C tablet (or lemon) on one side and leave the other plain.  What happens? Does vitamin C slow down the oxidation process?  What if you leave part of it at room temperature and put the other in the fridge?

Oh, and could flying pies be a physics lesson?  Definitely!

Of course, the best part about food experiments is eating them afterwards! Visit the library for more books about science experiments with food and don't forget to sign up for our summer reading program beginning on June 1!

4 Kids | Shhh....It's a Secret!

What would you do if you were out walking your dog, and all of the sudden your dog fell into a deep hole. Oh no, right? And suppose that while getting your dog out, you discovered -- in that deep hole -- a tunnel! What would you do? Would you go exploring?

That's just what Jacques and Marcel did back in 1940. And you'll never believe what they found! That tunnel led to a cave. And in that cave were a whole bunch of beautiful paintings dating back to prehistoric times. Prehistoric -- as in 17,000 years. 

Author Emily Arnold McCully explores the discovery of this cave in her book The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux. At first the boys thought they were going to find buried gold, but instead they found the most famous prehistoric art of all time, the Lascaux cave paintings. What's really cool about these paintings is that the colors had not faded. The paintings -- approximately 600 -- had a protective layer of chalk which made them watertight. That's why they lasted all those years!

Gradually the boys did share the secret of the cave and eventually people were able to visit the cave and marvel at the wonderful works of art. 

You can learn all about the discovery of this prehistoric art by reading this really great non-fiction book! 

And just a reminder, the Summer Reading Club returns to SSJCPL on June 1. Stop by anytime after that and pick up your reading log and start reading in order to win fabulous prizes. And if you complete your reading log, you'll be entered into a grand prize raffle to win a Kindle Fire! 

Just Life| Grandma's Persian Rug

On mother's day, my mom brought me a small red Persian rug that belonged to my late grandma. 

That small rug transported me back to my childhood. For as long as I could remember, that Persian carpet resided in front of my grandma's television. 

I used to lounge on that Persian carpet to watch TV with my grandma.

When my mom brought me that rug on mother's day, I automatically unrolled it in front of our own television set. 

A few minutes later, it was a bit magical and ironic to see my own daughter sitting on that same Persian carpet in front of the television, while both of her grandmas' were sitting on the couch behind her.

I wonder if this Persian carpet will end up in my daughter's house one day. 

And if I am lucky enough, I would be watching television with my own granddaughter reminiscing about the past.

In loving memory of my grandma (Mamani), who loved writing and reading poetry, here are a few Persian poetry books:

 

 

The gift : poems

The subject tonight is love : 60 wild and sweet poems 

A garden beyond paradise

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha