>All the world’s a stage!

>Tween Book Club met today and we went mad about the Bard!



A Winter’s Tale



Today we FINALLY used the Masterpuppet Theater set that was donated to us by Eric at Quirk Books and we had a blast!

The goal of the day was to perform Shakespeare in Sixty Seconds. Inspired by the BBC’s contest we wanted to act out the plays in a condensed form.
We started with clips of Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth  from The Reduced Shakespeare Company to get a feel of the stage and the actors. Despite some remarks about the language and having trouble with what was being said, there were many chuckles from the group as we watched the performances.

Thou venom rude-growing scut!

Our next activity was a game of snaps using the Shakespeare Insult Kit. By far Thou goatish fat-kidneyed foot-licker was the favorite. This part was so much fun that we carried on a few extra minutes and made up a few of our own. Copies of the insults were made to be given to group members!

We finally used the puppets and performed scenes from The Winter’s Tale (Act 3, scene 3 lines 15-38), 

Macbeth (Act 4, scene 1, lines 1-38) and Hamlet (Act 3, scene 1, lines 55-89).

A discussion of Hamet began and the group wanted to explore that at a future meeting.

We talked about modern takes on Shakespeare’s works and watched a bit of West Side Story. We compared the begining riot with the Sharks and the Jets to the Family fued in Fair Verona.

Here is (an abbreviated) list of plays to help introduce you to the world of Shakespeare.

The Tragedies.

Hamlet

Macbeth

Romeo & Juliet

The Comedies.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The Taming of the Shrew

Much Ado About Nothing

Books available at our meeting:
Adaptations

Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper

The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet by Erin Dunne

Romeo’s Ex by Lisa Fiedler

Dating Hamlet, Ophelia’s Story by Lisa Fieldler

Something Wicked by Alan Gratz

Something Rotten by Alan Gratz

Wicked Will by Bailey MacDonald

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

Graphic Novels

Romeo and Juliet


Twelfth Night

Picture Books

Romeow and Drooliet by Nina Laden

Web Sites

Shakespeare’s insults sound so good!

http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/dryfoo/Funny-pages/shakespeare-insult-kit.html

 http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/

Words Shakespeare invented: http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakespeare-words.htm

Films

Hamlet:
The Lion King (2001) Let the Devil Wear Black (1999)

The Taming of the Shrew:
 Kiss Me Kate (1948)
10 Things I Hate About You

Macbeth:
Men of Respect (1991)
Scotland, PA (2001)

Romeo and Juliet
West Side Story (1961)
Romeo Must Die (2000)

>NaNoWriMo

>What?

What in the world is NaNoWriMo you may ask?

National Novel Writing Month happens every November!
It’s a FUN writing event where the challenge is to write an entire novel in just 30 days. That means participants begin writing November 1 and must finish by midnight, November 30. For our first Novel-a-long, we are setting the pace at WHATEVER you feel comfortable with.

The thing that matters most in NaNoWriMo is output. Our high-velocity approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: you will be writing a lot of strange stuff, and some of it will be just plain bad. But that’s a good thing! For 30 days, you get to lock that inner editor in the basement, let your imagination take over, and just create!

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants of all ages are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel.

To read more about NaNoWriMo, check out this website about NaNoWriMo’s Young Writer’s program here.

Good Luck and happy writing!
-r

>Author visit!

>On Wednesday, December 2nd at 7:00 PM we welcome Andy Deane, lead singer of Belle Morte and author of “The Sticks.” He will speak with our teen writers group about his writing as well as take a look at their works. Copies of his book will be available for purchase and for signing. Light refreshments will be served at this event. Young writers are encouraged to bring their works for Andy to look over.

Any questions?
Please call Ms. Rachee with any questions (610-623-0239 ext 5)

See you there!
-r

>New Graphic Novels!

>You may have noticed a change in the Young Adult area.

In an effort to better manage the collection, Graphic Novels are now located behind the circulation desk.

To borrow or read one: please take the page of the one you’d want in it’s plastic cover to the front desk.

Thank you for your assistance with this change.

-r

>Write Here, Write Now!

>Our teen writers are going to meet every Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30.

Each week teens aged 12-17 are invited to bring their creative works to share.
No registration is required, however if you will need copies made of your work please e-mail or contact Miss Rachee.

Happy writing!
-r