Posts by Andrea Lipinski

This fall, several teenagers from the Kingsbridge and Grand Central branches of the New York Public Library participated in a very unique program. When Robin Bowman created The American Teenager Project, she was photographing and interviewing teenagers all over the country.

This was her first time conducting this program in a library setting, and it was an intensive program that ran for two months (a little longer than we expected, 

When I first saw a copy of Regine's Book: A Teen Girl's Last Words by Regine Stokke, my first thought was that this would be a great book to recommend to teenagers who are always looking for more books like Dave Pelzer's A Child Called "It" and other books that are both tragic and real.

But then I thought... there's a big difference between someone who goes through an 

The members of our Teen Advisory Group have spent many hours reading, watching, and reviewing so that they can recommend the best of the best to you. Here are some of their favorite things they enjoyed in 2012…

Rosalie is a fan of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin. Mara's best friends are dead and she is alive. She moves to another school and she thinks she can't fall in love, but she's wrong. Noah knows a lot about her, and it seems 

Okay, you're probably busy putting the finishing touches on your wizard's robe and/or brushing the hair on your furry hobbit's feet so that you will be as stylish as possible when you arrive at the movie theater to catch a midnight showing of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey later this month.

But while you're passing the time getting ready for the new movie, don't forget that you can use the library to read J.R.R. Tolkien's books, books about Tolkien, and other books connected to the LOtR universe. Plus you 

A is sixteen years old, and has never been the same person twice. Every morning, A wakes up in the body of a different sixteen-year-old: a boy, a girl, an athlete, an addict, a star student, a burnout. Then A falls in love, and things get REALLY complicated.

Every Day by David Levithan takes a weird but simple premise — imagine what it would be like to wake up each day in a different person's body — and expands on this idea with some thought-provoking questions. What 

Part photography program. Part exploration of personal history. All teenagers. The American Teenager Project has combined photographic portraits with oral histories of hundreds of teenagers over the last several years, and now is the chance for YOU to participate in this unique program at the Kingsbridge Library in the Bronx.

Tell the story of your life with film and friends. Join award-winning journalist Robin Bowman for a six-week series where you'll learn how to craft a narrative using photographs, 

Cas Lowood uses his father's blade to send ghosts out of this world and back to where they belong. Cas used to help his father with this task, but now his father is dead, murdered by one of those evil spirits. Cas has battled with many ghosts in his time, but when he meets a ghost named Anna, his unusual life takes an even more dangerous turn.

In Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake, Cas Lowood moves to the town of Thunder Bay to try to track down a ghost who became famous 

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, does it still make a sound? If somebody insults Will Halpin and he isn’t reading that person’s lips, does it still count as an insult?

In The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk, Will Halpin knows that he doesn’t fit into his new school. Transferring out of an all-deaf school and into a mainstream one has definitely been a difficult transition. He knows that his deafness makes him an outsider, as well 

Talullah Casey is off to change her life in a very different environment. She’s going to be taking classes at a performing arts college. She will be living on the dramatic, damp, and windswept Yorkshire Dales where she can pretend to be Cathy looking for her Heathcliff. And yes, there will be snogging involved.

Talullah is the younger cousin of Georgia Nicolson, who readers may remember as the heroine of a whole series of novels that made readers laugh out loud. 

Anya moved from Russia to America years ago, but even though she lost weight and lost her accent, she still has a lot of trouble making friends.  And then one day she has an accident that changes her life.  That’s the day she meets the ghost of a girl named Emily.

After Anya falls down a well, she finds a human skeleton and then moments later she sees Emily’s ghost hovering over that skeleton.  Keep in mind — that’s three traumatic incidents in a row!  So is it any wonder that Anya freaks out and starts screaming? But 

Jill’s father is gone, and her mother isn’t making sense anymore.

When Jill’s father died, it broke their family into pieces.

Then Jill’s mother decided to adopt a baby from an unwed teenager.

That’s the part that doesn’t make sense.

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr is a story told in two voices. Chapters alternate between the point of view of two very different teenage girls, Jill and Mandy.

Jill is angry and upset about a 

The kids in my Teen Advisory Group have been going through a reviewing frenzy recently. Here are some of the books and other “stuff” they’ve been enjoying this spring.

Hey 13! by Gary Soto This is a book of thirteen different stories about teens who go through different situations when they are thirteen years old. Most teens will be able to relate to these stories, and I really think that teens will find it to be a funny and easy book to read.

Axe Cop is a policeman who uses his axe to chop off the heads of bad guys. He meets many unusual characters along the way. 

There’s Dinosaur Soldier, who was part man and part dinosaur… until he ate an avocado, at which point he transformed into Avocado Soldier. 

There’s Uni-Baby, who was part baby and part unicorn… or at least... she WAS until an explosion broke off her horn, and the avocado soldier decided to use it to grant wishes. 

Then there’s Ralph Wrinkles, who was an ordinary dog until the 

Do you like fantasy and science fiction? Are you ready for some armchair exploration? For your reading pleasure, check out these three new books that are set in alternate futures and alternate realities!

Cinder by Marissa Meyer The Fourth World War has already come and gone, a deadly plague is spreading over the earth, and the lunar queen is waiting to make her next move. Cinder is one of the best mechanics in New Beijing, and one of the main reasons that she’s so good at working on 

The teens in our Teen Advisory Group have been involved in several recent brainstorming sessions to pick out their favorite books, music, and movies that were released this year. Their selections included all kinds of stuff — funny, weird, and thought-provoking — even stuff that will make you want to dance. 

Unbroken by Demi Lovato

Her music is inspirational, emotional, and it makes you think!

Benny Imura was appalled to learn that the Apocalypse came with homework.

Thus begins Jonathan Maberry's new teen novel Dust & Decay, the eagerly-anticipated sequel to his 2010 novel Rot & Ruin.

Benny Imura is a likable hero both for his strengths and his weaknesses. At the beginning of Rot & Ruin, we were more aware of his weaknesses: he was a scared, skinny kid who didn't know 

The new school year has just begun, but already the teens in Kingsbridge Library's Teen Advisory Group have been reading up a storm. Here are some of their favorite books from 2011 — some of them are already on our shelves, and some of them will be released in the coming months. They're all listed in our Catalog, so you can reserve copies of these new and super-new titles!

Vivien recommends Unleashed (Wolf Spring Chronicles) by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie.

Katelyn is a 

Bullying is a horrible thing.  It sticks with you forever.  It poisons you.  But only if you let it.

These lines, from Heather Brewer's story "The Secret," touch on the prevailing themes of a new book called Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories.  Since October is National Bullying Prevention Month, it seemed especially appropriate to share this book right now.

Dear Bully is a collection containing stories by many authors who have written books for 

Do you love Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games trilogy? Are you REALLY hoping that the new Hunger Games movie is going to do justice to the book? Do you want to read more books in which the world as we know it has ended... and a dark and dangerous world has taken its place? Where a dark and dangerous guy (or, for that matter, a blonde and dangerous guy) will look deeply into your eyes and inspire you to fight against the society you've known your entire life?