Superheroes Vs. Villains

Thank goodness the rain held off and we had another successful Nerf Gun war in Superheroes vs. Villains!  Thank you teens for running around all evening. Here is some of the fun:

 The gear...

Waiting for the rest of the players

 Round 1: The Villains

 Jesse the Superhero Destroyer

Regan and Taryn

 Morgan fleeing the scene

an alliance being made or broken?

 Helen...

Round 2: hostage sitatuation!

Round 1: Hannah has the flag!

Every man for himself!

The dead people chillin' out

Book Review: Gathering Darkness

SQUEEEE!!!!!  I can't get enough of this series!!!

Gathering Darkness

Morgan Rhodes

Prince Magnus's father is lord over all Mytica.  His son and Princess Cleo have been forced into marriage to keep the land together.  Jonas leads the rebels, though a only a mere few remain.  The Watcher, Melenia is out to manipulate every pawn she can both in the Sanctuary and out.  Ashur and Amara, brother and sister from the land across the sea, Kraeshia are visiting, and no one has quite figured out their motive for their vacation, and the questions they have begun to ask about the kindred.

King Gaius now only needs the four crystals to rule with godlike powers, and his daughter, Lucia, is the only one who can help him find them.  As Lucia begins to tame her magic powers, Cleo shuffles in to befriend the girl.  Cleo, who has a Kindred ring is able to tame Lucia's power, but refuses to let her new-found friend find out it is due to a ring rather than Cleo, herself.  

As new bonds are formed, betrayals threaten to destroy the alliances the characters have fought so hard to create.  It comes down to a battle of time--who can collect all four crystals first.

I can't say it enough--Rhodes is a phenomenal writer.  Everything in her story is solid, tightly knit.  Each character stays IN character throughout the entire series.  Rhodes doesn't forget any detail with any character, which is quite an accomplishment, because there are so many!

Cleo and Magnus have the most interesting relationship, in my opinion.  The two hate each other, but have been forced into marriage.  Magnus's father has taken over Cleo's kingdom.  But while the two outwardly show their hatred towards one another, you slowly see them opening up to one another.  Magnus is not his cold, blood-thirsty father, and Cleo is more interested in forming a bond with Magnus than manipulating him.

The next book of this series doesn't come out until December 2015, but I hear Rhodes is creating a spin-off series that I'm pumped for!

The fourth book is:

Teen Comic Books and Fan Fiction

I had a great turn out for our Comic Book/Fan Fiction workshop on Tuesday! I had one person create a comic by hand, one create fan fiction from their favorite superheroes, and everyone else picked a website online to create their own comics.

If anyone is interested in trying these programs at home, the websites we used were:

www.makebeliefscomix.com

www.chogger.com

www.marvel.com/games/cyoc

www.scratch.mit.edu

Here are some pics:

Book Review: Doon

New series...of course I start a new one. This one is loosely based on the musical, Brigadoon...

Doon

Carey Corp & Lorie Langdon

 

Veronica just saw her boyfriend flirting with another girl.  Her mother is dating a lazy, cruel new man and they both pretend Veronica is invisible.  She has been having visions of a handsome kilted Scottish boy.

When her best friend invites her to a summer vacation at her inherited Scotland cottage for free, Veronica can't say no.

Veronica packs up and heads to a small cottage near a mysterious bridge.  Within the cottage, Veronica finds a mysterious journal describing a parallel world that passes time much slower.  She also realizes that her mysterious kilted boy has followed her to Scotland.

When the girls find magical rings and cross the Bridge of Doon, they are transported to that fantasy island where they are taken to the princes of Doon.  When Veronica arrives, she realizes the oldest prince is the mysterious kilted boy from her visions.

Together, the girls and the princes must uncover the dark underbelly of Doon in order to save the island before it is destroyed by an evil sorceress bent on destroying Doon forever.

This is a pretty girly book, I will say that up front.  Veronica is in love with the idea of love, especially with the prince.  Her best friend, Mackenna, also is rocketed into love with the prince's brother.  However, the fantastical magic throughout the story is Earth shattering.  The girls act like 16 year old girls, so they do some pretty stupid stuff without thinking it through, which actually makes the story more believable.

The four main characters are connected on levels you don't find out until the end of the story, and you're left heartbroken when both Veronica and Mackenna make the ultimate sacrifices.

This is the first book of a new series...The second book is:

Meet a Veteran/Obstacle Course

We had some amazing veterans stop by the library and talk to our teens about their service.  We had:

Doug: Infantry during the Vietnam War
     Doug earned the Purple Heart during his service.  He is one of the most decorated soldiers in our area. Doug was drafted back in the 1960s and he was part of a recon unit, consisting of 5 guys, that would attempt to locate enemy supply areas.  They would then radio the location in for the Air Force to come take care of the job.  Doug mentions that it never happened that all 5 guys returned to base.

Mike: Navy during the Vietnam War
     Mike enlisted for the Army, and was assigned to the Navy to work in communications on board a minesweeper in the Pacific.  His job was to use Morse code to transfer messages to and from base.  The ship he was on would drop cables into the water to literally "sweep" the mines up before detonating and destroying American ships.

Drew: Air Force...everywhere
     Drew served in the Air Force and found himself all over the globe, from Somalia, to Yugoslavia, to Russia, to Iceland.  He met then president, Ronald Reagan during his tour overseas.

Aaron: Army Reserve & National Guard Medical Unit
     Aaron was our youngest Veteran, only 27.  He was trained in the medical field and served in the National Guard.  He worked in the hospitals to nurse soldiers back to health.  His training led him overseas to West Africa where he helped bring medical aid to civilians with Ebola.

Our Veterans had some great things to say, and I had a whopping 25 teens, and 7 parents/siblings! Below are pictures from our speakers and the obstacle course that took place, for fun, afterward!