…Ready For It?

Couldn’t get tickets to The Eras Tour?

Or maybe you’re one of the lucky ones looking to relive the concert magic? Either way, you can come spend an enchanted afternoon at the library with The Eras Party!

Celebrate all of Taylor’s eras by listening to music (Taylor’s Version, of course), discussing favorite songs and albums, and speculating about eras yet to come (The Tortured Poets Department, obviously). Test your knowledge with Taylor Trivia, and compete to win Taylor-themed stickers, keychains and accessories! Enjoy Taylor-approved snacks, Taylor coloring pages, fun photo ops with Taylor-themed props, and a DIY friendship bracelet station featuring colorful, metallic, and letter beads.

It’s nice to have a friend, so bring one with you, or meet new Swiftie friends at The Eras Party!

This event is for teens in grades 7-12. Registration is recommended. Click here to register.

We Are Happy to Help!

Do you ever find yourself overwhelmed at the sheer number of books available in the kids department? There are so many topics, a huge age range, audiobooks, graphic novels, picture books, nonfiction, and on, and on, and on! Where do you begin?! Luckily, there is a very easy answer to that overwhelming question: You begin at the Youth Services Desk.

Youth Services staff members can be found at the Youth Services desk during all open library hours, and at the Teen Desk during select afternoon/evening hours…and we can’t wait to help you find your (or your child’s) next favorite book!

If you are feeling independent, we can point you toward multiple resources—both in our room and online—which feature YS staff members’ book recommendations on a variety of topics. However, we are always very happy to help our customers with personalized recommendations, if you prefer to work with us directly.

If you are not yet at the library, and you’d like to begin your searching online, you can find a multitude of staff-built lists by visiting the Book Suggestions page on our website, or by visiting ECPubLibYouth right in our MORE catalog.

In addition to giving book recommendations, our desk staff offers various other services as well! We will happily provide room directions, give scavenger hunt clues, help you track down answers to questions—we even have diapers if you find yourself without. If you or your children need support (or a high five) while you are at the library, our friendly desk staff is always there to help. So be sure to stop by and say hello the next time you are in the library!

And the Winner Is…Young Readers!

Golden Globes.

Grammys.

Oscars.

Youth Media Awards!

It’s award season and, on January 23, the American Library Association recognized its annual selection of the best of the best books through the Youth Media Awards. One of the most well-known awards is the Newbery Medal winner, which is presented each year to the “author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.” This year’s Newbery winner is The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers, an adventure featuring Johannes, a free dog, who loves to sprint faster than the speed of light around the urban park he calls home. After a harrowing experience, Johannes becomes determined to free the park’s bison. Yet will the appearance of mysterious rectangles, new buildings, and a strange new hoard of animals prevent him from liberating his friends?

There are a number of different awards that celebrate books for readers from birth through age 18. Check out the winners and honorees! What would you put on this list? What were your favorite books in 2023?

Plus, don’t forget to take a look at our Youth Services staff’s favorite books of 2023.

https://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newbery

 

Looking for a NEW book?

Who doesn’t love the smell and feel of fresh, crisp pages of a brand-new book?  Or the excitement of reading a book that just hit the shelves?  New items are added to the collection regularly (almost daily!) and are shelved separately from the rest of the collection, making it easy to browse the newest titles.  Juvenile New Items can be found near the Youth Services desk, Teen New Items are shelved near the Teen Lounge, and adult New Items are located just inside the library’s front entrance.

Browsing new additions to the library’s collection can also be done on the MORE Catalog.  New titles pop up right on the home screen of the MORE app, and can be searched on a PC by clicking New Titles on the catalogs home page.  Do you want a sneak peek before the items even hit the shelves?  Then click the Coming Soon link to see the titles that have just been ordered.

Browse the new additions to the library’s collection on your next visit to either the library or the MORE Catalog to find your NEW favorite read!

 

Favorite Books of 2023

As 2023 draws to a close (Can you believe it?!), Youth Services staff has been reflecting on some of the most exciting contributions to children and teen literature this year. We have compiled our absolute favorites to share with you. We trust there will be titles on this list that will become (or maybe already are) favorites for you and your family as well! The list features a mixture of books that are funny, poignant, creative, mind-bending, and more from our various collections in Youth Services (board books and picture books as well as juvenile and teen graphic novels, fiction, and nonfiction).

➜ Without further ado, here is the list of Youth Services’ Favorite Books of 2023.

What were your favorites this year? Let us know! Want more suggestions for great books for babies, children, and teens? Check out our collection of book lists here and here, or chat with us at the Youth Services desk during your next library visit.

Here’s to another great year of reading!

A Library Advisory Board for Teens

Is your teen socially-minded or do they simply love the library? Encourage them to join Teen Advisory Board!

What is Teen Advisory Board (TAB)?

The Teen Advisory Board is a volunteer-based group comprised of teens that love the library and an adult facilitator. The group works to make the library a better place for their peers in middle and high school.

What do TAB members do?

  • Attend monthly meetings, trainings, or events.
  • Suggest books and other materials for the library to purchase.
  • Promote the library to peers.
  • Assist library staff in creating events, displays, and projects for teens and kids.
  • Work with the TAB group to achieve that year’s goals.
  • Learn to communicate effectively through email and other tools.
  • Help the library grow and improve.

Who can join?

Anyone in grades 7-12 and 12-18 years old. Teens must also be a L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library cardholder (They are easy to get and are free!)

How do teens join?

Fill out this quick form. Piece of cake!

If your teen is interested in TAB, we’d love to chat with them about the group. Still have questions? Send us a quick email at ysstaff@eauclaire.lib.wi.us or call 715-839-5007.

 

TAB Projects, 2022-2023

Chill Out in the Teen Lounge

Are you looking for a chill safe space for your teen to hang out? The library has you covered!

Check out our Teen Lounge on Level 1, just to the left of the main entrance. This space is just for teens in grades 7-12. It features tables to work at, computers, a printer, Teen study rooms, and comfy chairs. The library wants teens to have a place they can feel is theirs; no adults and no little kids. This opens the door for teens to meet and have fun with each other and explore the library more independently.

Teens can use the space unattended. Computers are available for any teen library card holders. No library card? No problem! Teens ages 13-16 can come to the Youth Services desk and get a guest pass. The Teen Lounge also has fun activities that teens can check out whenever they come into the library including a Would You Rather Wall, board games, and more! Sometimes a Youth Services Staff member hangs out in the Teen Lounge to help teens, and other times teens can always ask for help at the Youth Services desk in the back corner of Level 1.

In short, the Teen Lounge is a wonderful place for older kids to hang out, study, enjoy the teen collection, and feel that they have a space in the library. We hope you see your teen in the library very soon!

Best New Books of 2022 for Kids and Teens

It’s no surprise that we love talking about books here at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, and the end of the year is a perfect time to gather together favorites. With that in mind, three of our Youth Services librarians thought we’d share our top picks of 2022 for kids and teens. Check them out, and view our complete list of recommendations!

And while you’re at it, be sure to participate in our best books giveaway!

 

Staff Picks for Family Video Game Night

Growing up, my brother and I spent a lot of time bonding over our shared love of video games. Our parents mostly appreciated our hobby from a distance, but the times that they did join in were always tons of fun, and memories I treasure to this day. Playing video games as a family can be a great way to build stronger connections and to understand the media your children consume. It also gives you opportunities to model empathy and problem-solving skills, and learning to cope with losing in games can help kids build emotional resilience.

With that in mind, why not host a family video game night? Here are some video game suggestions to get the ball rolling:

Nintendo – King of family games

  • Mario Party offers a board game-like experience, dice and all.
  • Mario Kart has been a multiplayer kart-racing staple for decades.

Chaotic fun

  • In Overcooked! 1 or 2, four people can run a restaurant together (and put out kitchen fires in the process).

Minecraft fans

  • In Minecraft Dungeons your party can explore dungeons, slay monsters, and find loot, all set in the Minecraft world.

LEGO Fans

  • LEGO has many 2 player games, including crossovers with Harry Potter, Batman, Jurassic World, and many more.

Outside the box

  • In Untitled Goose Game you play as mischievous geese who solve puzzles and play pranks on unsuspecting humans.

Get your bodies moving

  • Check out the Just Dance series and dance along to a selection of popular music.

And many more!

The library has video games available for a variety of different consoles, including several generations of PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo systems. Video games in our children’s collection have a green sticker on the spine to make finding them easy, but if you ever have questions about whether a video game is appropriate for your child just check the ESRB rating on the back. Visit the ESRB website for more information on what these ratings mean: https://www.esrb.org/ratings-guide/

Most importantly, remember to have fun! Playing video games together can offer a window into your child’s world, and you may even find yourself feeling like a kid again.

 

Try Hoopla for Teen Audiobooks

August is often full of last-minute road trips and, if you’re anything like me, you enjoy a great audiobook while on the road. I especially appreciate an audiobook you can stream right from your smart device, which is why I’m an avid Hoopla user. Hoopla has a wide selection of audiobooks and it doesn’t have any wait lists! Just login, find an intriguing audiobook, and you’re set to download it right away. Each Eau Claire library cardholder gets four downloads per month, and those downloads automatically return when they’re due. Win-win-win!

If you’re looking for a good place to start, try one of these awesome teen audiobooks available now on Hoopla.


Loveless Loveless by Alice Oseman

If you love a great journey of self-discovery, Loveless is the perfect choice!

This is the funny, honest, messy, completely relatable story of Georgia, who doesn’t understand why she can’t crush and kiss and make out like her friends do. She’s surrounded by the narrative that dating + sex = love. It’s not until she gets to college that she discovers the A range of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum – coming to understand herself as asexual/aromantic. Disrupting the narrative that she’s been told since birth isn’t easy – there are many mistakes along the way to inviting people into a newly found articulation of an always-known part of your identity. But Georgia’s determined to get her life right, with the help of (and despite the major drama of) her friends.


Dustborn Dustborn by Erin Bowman

If Science Fiction is more your jam, Dustborn is an involving postapocalyptic Western-Sci-Fi mashup.

Delta of Dead River has always been told to hide her back, where a map is branded on her skin to a rumored paradise called the Verdant. In a wasteland plagued by dust squalls, geomagnetic storms, and solar flares, many would kill for it – even if no one can read it. So, when raiders sent by a man known as the General attack her village, Delta suspects he is searching for her. Delta sets out to rescue her family but quickly learns that in the Wastes no one can be trusted.


When Dimple Met Rishi When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

For those seeking sweet romance, When Dimple Met Rishi will surely hit the perfect note.

Now that Dimple Shah has graduated, she’s ready for a break from her family – especially from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the Ideal Indian Husband. Ugh. But Dimple knows that her mother must respect that she isn’t interested in doing that right now – otherwise she wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers, right? Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic, so when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him – during which he’ll have to woo her – he’s totally on board. Although their parents hadn’t planned suggesting the arrangement so soon, when their kids signed up for the same summer program, they figured “Why not?”


Into the Bloodred Woods Into the Bloodred Woods by Martha Brockenbrough

Into the Bloodred Woods is a dark fairytale where Beauty and the Beast are one and the same…

Happily ever after is a lie. Once upon a time there was a kingdom, and a forest that liked to eat men, and a girl who would change everything, but not alone…In a faraway land, populated by were beasts and surrounded by a powerful forest, lies a kingdom about to be sent into chaos. On his deathbed, King Tyran divides his land, leaving half to each of his two children – so they’ll rule together. However, his son, Albrecht, is not satisfied with half a kingdom. And even though his sister, Ursula, is the first born, he decides that, as a girl and were bear, she is unfit to rule. What follows is an epic battle of good, evil, and something in-between.


The Race of the Century by Neal BascombThe Race of the Century

If you’re looking for gripping narrative non-fiction, try The Race of the Century, which relates the history of the race to break the 4-minute mile.

Highly acclaimed author Neal Bascomb pulls together his peerless research and fast-paced narrative style into this inspiring and moving story of three men racing to achieve the impossible — the perfect four-minute mile. There was a time when running the mile in four minutes was believed to be beyond the limits of human foot speed. In 1952, after suffering defeat at the Helsinki Olympics, three world-class runners each set out to break this barrier. Bascomb delivers a breathtaking story of unlikely heroes and leaves us with a lasting portrait of the twilight years of the golden age of sport.