Posts from Muhlenberg Library

NYPLarcade Teen is an opportunity for teens to play, watch, and discuss independent, experimental, and thought-provoking games in a library setting. Think of it as a book club, but for video games. Our second series at Muhlenberg Library focuses on the rise of local multiplayer games.

As social networks, mobile devices, and always-online consoles have popularized gaming virtually with others, there has recently been a movement towards designing games which rely on face-to-face interaction.

This series will highlight recent, 

This year's International Games Day takes place on Saturday, November 16. All over the world, libraries will be celebrating the annual event by inviting patrons of all ages to come in and play games together.

At Muhlenberg Library, we will be hosting a special Double Fine edition of IGD 2013 with a curated selection of video games for ages 12 and up as well as board games for the whole family throughout the day. The event is FREE and takes place between 12:30 and 4:30 p.m. See the full schedule below!

Teens and 

NYPLarcade Teen is an opportunity for teens to play, watch, and discuss independent, experimental, and thought-provoking games in a library setting. Think of it as a book club, but for video games. Our first series at Muhlenberg Library will focus on the roguelike genre.

The name "roguelike" comes from the 1980 dungeon crawler Rogue, which was developed for Unix, had procedurally-generated levels, and inspired other classics like Hack and Nethack. The general features are: permadeath (the player only has one 

Every week the Teen Advisory groups from Jefferson Market Library and Muhlenberg Library take a photo of what's happening during their meeting. Here's last week's photos:

Jefferson Market's TAG

Muhlenberg's TAG

Find a Teen Advisory group close 

Every week the Teen Advisory Groups from the Jefferson Market Library and the Muhlenberg Library take a photo of what's happening during their meeting. Here's last week's photos: 

Jefferson Market's Pic

and 16 blocks away: 

Muhlenberg's pic

Get ready for one of the darkest books I've seen written for YA readers. 

Janne Teller's Nothing is the story of a group of eighth graders trying to find meaning in the world.  Sounds pleasant enough, right?

In the middle of class Pierre Anthon stands up and declares that life is meaningless and therefore there is no point to care about anything: school, friends, family, nothing at all. With that he turns and walks out the door and climbs into a plum tree outside of the 

I was drawn to Colin Meloy's Wildwood for two very superficial yet important reasons.  

First, the cover is spectacular!

Carson Ellis has done illustrations for Lemony Snicket's The Composer is Dead and Trenton Lee Stewart's The Mysterious Benedict Society. In Wildwood, Ellis gives the readers a beautifully illustrated 

In The Magnolia League, Alex is a free spirit that is forced to move in with her grandmother after her mother’s mysterious death. Alex doesn’t want to leave her commune in California, and Savannah, Georgia seems like a world away from everything she knows. 

What Alex doesn’t know is that she is part of Savannah royalty. She is a rightful, albeit unwilling, member of the Magnolia League, Savannah’s longstanding and mysterious debutante 

Hey there summer campers!

We are working on a great new blog post that includes making your own mini loom! Until then, check out a blog post from last year, Graphic Ts! Enjoy!

Have you ever gone to a trendy clothing store, looked at very cool graphic tees, and said, "I could totally make that!"

I've had these moments a lot (I'm looking at you Urban Outfitters!) and finally decided to become an amateur T-shirt designer, using a fun project that I found in Todd Oldham's easy-to-follow craft book

What do you get when you combine 11 teenagers, two brave judges, and a shopping bag filled with after-school snacks? Muhlenberg Library’s first annual “Top Chef” competition!

Last Friday, teens at Muhlenburg Library used everyday food to make extra-ordinary after school snacks. The results were simply delicious! (Most of the time.)

To host a “Top Chef” program, you’ll need a grab bag of snacks (the more random they are... the more interesting the finished products will be!), and a variety of utensils, plates, cups, and 

Welcome back to Summer Camp! I hope you had fun with Jessica’s paper people — I know I did! This week, we’ll be using lace as a delicate and unique stencil. You can use fabric lace or paper doilies (as I used in this project) on any number of things: t-shirts, paper, or one of the many free tote bags everyone seems to have nowadays.

This week's craft was inspired by a project in the book Print! 25 Original 

Sunny is accustomed to being different. She was born in New York City but lives in Nigeria. She has the same features as her West African family, but she is an albino. The people in her community don’t know what to make of her, so they stay away or call her names.

In school, Sunny makes new friends in Orlu and Chichi, who reveal that they have magical powers and suspect that she does too. It turns out that Sunny is a “free agent,” someone who’s powers are not hereditary. Usually, people with these powers are from a magical family and 

Hi there!  Our next craft will be posted on Tuesday, May 31^th  and until then, here are some fun project ideas that we found online: If you liked the checkerboard card project, then you'll love: pop up cards!  I found this project (complete with very helpful pictures) on the blog Oh Happy Day. The project was created by Michaela who has her own great blog

Hello and welcome to Hand-Made's Summer Camp!

Our first project is making woven cards, adapted from Sarah Swett's book, Kids Weaving.

For me, weaving has always been a summery craft. The summer before second grade my mother took me to visit a family friend in New Mexico who worked on a large loom in her home. She took the time to show me the ins and outs of working with a loom but I 

For nearly 200 years, Ruby and her mother have led their group of congregants through years and years of backbreaking work, hoping for the return of Otto, Ruby's father and their leader, to come and save them. They are forced to harvest water, an almost impossible task, and are beaten if they don’t reach their quota.    Ruby dreams of freedom and when Ford, a handsome Overseer, promises to bring her into the modern world, she is tempted to leave. But it is her blood that keeps the congregation alive. Leaving would mean death for the people 

My favorite way to celebrate Earth Day is to bring more plants into my home.  But sadly, the plants rarely make it to see Memorial Day.  For all of you out there who want to fill their homes with plants, but then have trouble keeping them alive, terrariums might be the answer. 

I've always loved terrariums but they were a mystery to me.  How do they stay alive?  What materials do I need?  Why can't I make them look like the plants I see in magazines or in the

On March 18, Muhlenberg Library was lucky to host a panel of amazing writers who read from their newest books for teens.  Helen Ellis was the first author to arrive at the panel, so I had the chance to get to know her a little bit and meet her mom! The Library had just ordered copies of her first book for teens, called The Turning: What Curiosity Kills, but sadly, didn’t make it in time for the 

We've gotten to know a lot of wonderful patrons that come to Muhlenberg and thought that we would return the favor. 

Ashley Curran has been the site manager of Muhlenberg since September 2010 and has already made big changes in the branch. 

How did you get started working in libraries?   Whilst finishing my bachelors in history at Hunter College I took a part time job as a bibliographic assistant at The New York Society Library and was mentored by a number of the 

Dating violence is a problem that is unfortunately all too common in teenagers' lives.  Abuse comes in many forms.  It can be physical as well as emotional, verbal and sexual, and it can happen to anyone.  This week, Marie Hansen, superstar librarian at Jefferson Market, posted a list of resources for people who are either in an abusive relationship or who know someone who is in an abusive relationship. 

YA literature has tackled this difficult subject in