Summer Reading Celebration
Sunday, June 3 from 1-4 p.m
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
The kickoff event invites people of all ages to participate in a scavenger hunt inside the King Library (Lower Level-4th Floor).
The scavenger hunt will be divided into three groups: families with small children, teens and adults. Each group will have their own set of clues and will have to search for hidden treasures inside the library to be eligible to win a prize.
Prizes include tickets to ...
The kickoff event will also feature a community resource fair and plenty of live entertainment.
1:00 p.m. Music by harpist Elizabeth Erickson
2:00 p.m. Ballon Artist from A New Twist Balloons inside the Children's Room
3:00 p.m. Enjoy a free concert at 3 p.m. with Cascada de Flores performing Mexican and Caribbean song and dance.
Downtown Parking:
Free parking in the street and the 4th and San Fernando Street Garage located across from the King Library
The Pregnancy Project by Gaby Rodriguez created a firestorm for the author when it was revealed that she had faked a pregnancy for her senior project. The book is an inspiring read about a teen who sought a way to give voice to a group of people who are often looked down upon by peers, teachers, and their families.
Teens are taught by adults that teen pregnancy should be frowned upon. Gaby has grown up in an economically-disadvantaged household where all of her immediate family have been teen parents. Gaby has seen first-hand how difficult it is to raise children as a teen through her mother and seven siblings. However, she also wonders if the very stereotypes about teens who become parents perpetuates the problem from generation to generation.
Gaby comes up with an innovative solution to this problem. She decides to fake a pregnancy to see how her family, friends, and teachers treat her, after they find out she is pregnant. Once she is done with the project, she will reveal the stereotypes she has seen and hopefully help teens who become pregnant.
As an honor student, she has been viewed as the hope for her family. However, there have been naysayers who say she will probably end up a teen mom as well. What happens when Gaby supposedly becomes pregnant? How will her friends and teachers react? How will her family react when they think that their one hope for future salvation is dashed?
Teens: want to do something more imaginative than just writing a review for Summer Reading books that you have read? Create and submit a book trailer review for Summer Reading, and you could win a Kindle Fire! Upload a short clip, no longer than 4 minutes, to YouTube, providing your review of the book. Be creative! The contest is open to all participants in the Teen Summer Reading Celebration.
How to enter:
Entries will be judged on creativity and content by a panel of library staff.
Need some examples? Check out the winning entry from last year's Book Trailer Contest, created by Nathan Verdonk.
Here are links to some professional book trailers:
- Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
- The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
Teens who submit links to their Book Trailer will automatically be entered in the contest. The top 3 winners will receive:



Entries for the contest must be submitted between June 1 and July 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in August.
Children up to age 6
1st place: Joaquin Albornoz, age 5, “Joaquin’s Birthday Party”
Honorable Mention: Kapil Kumar age 5 1/2 , “Sharing and Friendship”
Children ages 7-12
1st place: Nathan Koketsu, age 11, “Adventure in the Open Sea”
2nd place: Madurya Suresh, age 9, “The Search for the Sun”
3rd place: Laura Shieh, age 12, “Silver Dandelion”
Honorable Mention: Audrey Chiang, age 8, “The Firefly and her Glow”
Teens
1st place: Apanuba Mahmood, age 14, “Flaming Resolve! – Fleeting Demon Encounter”
2nd place: Huyen Nguyen (Chibi Teresa), age 15, “Phantom Dream Hunter: The Prologue”
3rd place: Sienna Gonzales, age 14, “Colored Pencils”
Honorable Mention: Thu Nguyen, age 14, “Terra”
Adults
1st place: Queena Xu, “Butterfly Wish”
2nd place: Christine Bainbridge, “A Dream”
3rd place: Eric Elemen, “Super Busy Dad”
Honorable Mention: Darren Tat, “Death Match”
For more photos, please vist the San Jose Public Library Flickr site.
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If you have a talent for creating comic/manga style illustrated short stories, you are invited to enter San José Public Library’s Graphic Novel Making Contest for all ages as part of our Summer Reading Celebration, 2012. This contest is sponsored by San José Public Library, Hijinx Comics, San José Museum of Art and TRY Japan Culture Group.
Here’s how to enter …
Entries will be judged on content and illustrations by a panel of library staff and comic industry professionals. All cash prizes will be awarded as gift cards.
Winners will be announced and prizes awarded at a reception to be held at the Berryessa Branch Library on Saturday, August 25th at 2:00 p.m.in the Community Room.
Check out the award winning entries from 2011 and 2010. We're discussing last year's winners and other graphic novels in the Online Book Club during June and July.
Learn how to make your own comic book, graphic novel or manga! Oliver Chin will be teaching this free workshop for teens at some San José Public Library branches.
San José Public Library staff members are ineligible to participate.
San José Public Library reserves the right to refuse submissions that are not appropriate for a general audience. This contest is open to all California residents.
Favorite children's author and illustrator Todd Parr will be at Almaden Branch Library this Saturday, April 21, at 3:30 PM as part of the Silicon Valley Reads program.
So save the date and tell your friends!
Todd — author of It's OK To Be Different — will talk and draw for young children and families, and there will be a book signing afterward.
FREE copies of It's OK To Be Different will be distributed at this event, compliments of First 5 Santa Clara County. One book per family. Quantities are limited.
Don't miss it.
On Tuesday, April 17, the Almaden Valley Community Association (AVCA) will be hosting a Candidates Forum featuring people who are running for the City of San Jose's District 10 Council Seat.
The Forum will take place in Holy Spirit Church's Parish Hall, 1200 Redmond Avenue, San Jose 95120 and will run from 7:00 to 9:00 PM.
According to the AVCA website, "The format of the forum will be audience-driven. Each candidate will be provided two minutes for opening remarks, followed by questions submitted on index cards by the audience. The moderator will summarize the questions, and each candidate will be allowed up to two minutes to respond. No questions will be directed to individual candidates. Candidates will be invited to provide a one-minute wrap-up at the end of the meeting."
The six candidates running for the seat are expected to be at the Forum.
The election for City Council District 10 as well as Districts 2, 4, 6, and 8 will take place on Tuesday, June 5, 2012.
Register by May 21 to vote on June 5. Call 1-800-345-VOTE for questions about voting or to determine your voter registration status. For more information, see smartvoter.org/ca/state/#register.
Are you new to native plant gardening?
Do you want to include drought-tolerant, low-maintenance native plants in the garden, but don’t know where to start?
Come to this talk offered by the library and California Native Plant Society at Almaden Branch Library on Wednesday, May 9, at 6:30 PM.
Learn about easy-to-grow native plants (trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals) for the home garden that will not only look beautiful but also help you conserve water, energy, effort, and money.
Barry’s The Great Influenza is a history of the 1918 flu epidemic. However, the book is of interest not just as history, but as an education in the science of medicine and the nature of disease. Largely forgotten today, in its era the epidemic was as much of a crisis as the first world war that was being fought at the same time. Barry’s narrative moves along at a brisk pace as he explains how wartime preparation and troop movements altered the progress of the epidemic at the same time that the epidemic forced changes in the conduct of the war. Rural areas far from the fighting, both in the US and elsewhere, also suffered from the ravages of the disease despite never hearing a shot fired in anger. But while the public has largely forgotten, medicine has not forgotten the 1918 epidemic, as in the intervening decades researchers have continued to study samples collected during the plague years, advancing the science of epidemiology against the possibility of future plagues. And Barry seamlessly integrates these modern discoveries into the historical record, creating a rather interesting detective story which traces the origin, spread, and decline of the disease. In an era when world-wide epidemic scares are a feature of the evening news, Barry’s tale of one of the first pandemics is useful as well as entertaining reading.
Have you read 1Q84, 11/22/63, The Leftovers, The Marriage Plot, State of Wonder, Swamplandia, The Tiger’s Wife?
These are among the best fiction for 2011 as nominated by NPR, the New York Times, Salon, Publishers Weekly and Library Journal.
If you have read any of these, vote for the novel that you think San Jose Public Library should submit for the 2013 IMPAC Dublin Literary award.
Other titles (novels, not short stories) welcome for submission if published in 2011.
Click on Add new comment below and let us know the title. Our deadline is April 25th.
Hey everyone its National Library Week, April 8-14!
Celebrate National Library Week with a fun Scavenger Hunt at your local library. All participants will receive a prize. This program is designed for children ages 6 and up.
While at the library visit the information desk and pick up a heart and tell us why you love your library.
