from the Multnomah County Library website:

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HEY TEENS: Want to win $100 to spend at collage: curated art and craft supplies? Want thousands of people to see your artwork?

Are you an artist in grades 6–12? Would you like a chance to win one of two $100 gift certificates to collage: curated art and craft supplies? Enter cover art for the 2019 Multnomah County Library Summer Reading teen gameboards! The theme is “Space: A Universe of Stories.” We will select a middle school and high school winner from the entries. If your artwork is selected, people across Multnomah County will see your artwork all summer long. The library will also share winners and honorable mentions on the library’s social media channels.

PRINTABLE FLIER with entry size and all these details (or you can pick one up at your library).

ART SPECIFICATIONS 1) Black & white image only. 2) If hand drawn, use black ink, marker, pen or hard pencil. 3) If computer drawn, submit as black & white EPS or high resolution (300 dpi) PNG, JPG or TIF. NOTE: Final artwork will be printed at a maximum of 7” x 4.75” [measurements may change if art is scaled down].

SUBMISSION DETAILS Please include your name, grade, school (if applicable) and a phone number or email address so we can reach you if you win. Submit your artwork electronically to summerreading@multcolib.org, bring it to your local library, or send a paper version to:

Summer Reading | Multnomah County Library Isom Building, 205 NE Russell Street, Portland, OR 97212

Entries must be received by FRIDAY, MARCH 1.

Summer Reading is made possible by gifts to The Library Foundation.

Friends of the Library will hold their annual Used Book Sale on October 26-29 at the Lloyd Center Doubletree Inn (1000 NE Multnomah St). While it’s a “Used Book Sale”, there will be books, CDs, DVDs, sheet music, audiobooks, maps, and much more.

Here’s the schedule:

Members only pre-sale

Friday, October 26, 6pm-9pm  (Become a member ahead of time online or at the door for discounts and early entry to book sales events and for discounts at the Friends of the Library store, as well as online sales!)

General Sale

Saturday, Oct 27, 9am-9pm  – Literary Trivia and Bar 6pm-9pm
Sunday, Oct 28, 11am-5pm – 50% off with Educator ID
Monday, Oct 29, 9am-3pm – 50% EVERYTHING

The Lloyd Center Doubletree is easy to get to by MAX and bus.

It’s Teen Read Week!

I read a lot of “books for teens” when I was in middle and junior high school. I had lots of questions about being a teenager and about the world around me. I didn’t know many older kids, certainly not well enough to ask difficult questions, and there was no way I was taking my questions to any adults – too embarrassing! I read books like “To Take a Dare” (Paul Zindel) and “Go Ask Alice” (Beatrice Sparks) and almost everything by Paula Danziger and Judy Blume (but not the ‘teen romances’ – I never could get into them), trying to figure out this Being a Teenager thing. I don’t know how much those books helped me figure out how to be a teenager, but I do know I read about a lot of things that I decided I didn’t need to live through firsthand. Reading about them was plenty enough.

I read almost everything by Madeline L’Engle and CS Lewis, and several books by John Christopher. I don’t read much SciFi these days though. I read some rather heavy stuff, too, like “My Side of the Mountain” (Jean Craighead George), “When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit” (Jean Kerr) and “The Endless Steppe” (Esther Hautzig). Sometime during my early teen years, my mom found an abridged copy of The Arabian Nights, which we read both as a family and each of us on our own. I was also re-reading the entire Laura Ingalls Wilder series, and had started reading more adult works, like Ken Follett and James Clavell, and a lot of ‘true crime’ books.

As an adult, I’ve read a number of YA books like “The Golden Compass” (Philip Pullman), “Mockingbird” (Kathryn Erskine) and “Time Stops for No Mouse” (Michael Hoeye). I can’t say that I’ve read any Harry Potter or Percy Jackson books – I just can’t bring myself to fall in line when something is *that* ridiculously popular – though I have seen some of the Harry Potter movies and two Percy Jackson movies, mostly because I watched them with someone who was a big fan of the books. I finally made it through the rest of the Philip Pullman “Compass” series and am re-reading a Nancy Drew book.

Reading YA books is definitely not taking a break from reading adult works. “Young Adult” does not equal “fluff”. Some YA is fluff, sure, but then so is a great deal of adult writing. The themes are definitely as heavy or light as adult works. Well-written YA works are well-written literature, just as well-written adult works are.

I was a middle schooler and high schooler as YA saw a rise in “teen issues” as themes. The generation that followed me saw more manga and graphic novels – including classical literature in graphic novel form. The generation that followed them, they’re the group that came up with the first electronic books, reading them on desktops and on the early hand-held devices. For more about the history of YA literature, you might check out this Wikipedia entry.

What did you read in middle and high school? How did it affect who you are now?

Wordstock is coming!  Portland’s Festival of Words, November 10, 2018, is a day full of workshops, author presentations, book fairs, entertainment, vendors, and more. Since 2005, Portland has been celebrating the joy of words spoken, written or sung. There is a workshop track for K-12 teachers, a poetry slam, a literary ball, open-mic nights, author presentations and panels all over town, publishers and distributors looking for the next literary sensation, a short story contest, an area with activities and storytime just for kids, tables of books for sale, and tables of books for free.

The Festival will take place on the South Park Blocks in and around the Portland Art Museum, with additional stages at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, The Old Church, Oregon Historical Society, and Portland’5: the Brunish Theatre, the Winningstad Theatre, and the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.