Friends Newsletter, June 2011

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Friends Newsletter June 2011

YA Author Visits El Paso

At the beginning of the month, Dorris Van Doren librarian Lisa Martinez attended Todd Strasser’s visit to the Burges High School library. She shares her experience and photos of the event on this blog:

On May 4, the librarians at Burges High School were kind enough to invite El Paso Public Library staff to attend their annual Young Adult author visit. Librarians Mrs. Avalos and Ms. Trevino were successful last year at getting Chris Crutcher to speak to Burges H.S. students. This year they invited Todd Strasser to visit! They used grant money to purchase books for the ninth grade class to read as a group and then to fund the author’s visit. This year the students read Tod Strasser’s award winning book, The Wave.

Todd Strasser hails from New York and is the author of more than 120 books for teens and middle graders including the best-selling Help! I'm Trapped In ... series, and numerous award-winning YA novels including Give A Boy A Gun, The Accident, Can't Get There From Here, Boot Camp, and If I Grow Up. His newest book is called Famous. He spoke to three different groups of students throughout the day. He talked about growing up and the events that influenced some of his books. The students were amazed to learn that he was a poor reader and was almost held back in school. He really got their attention when he showed them a picture of himself as a teen (see photo below). He concluded his presentation with a writing workshop, as well as a discussion on his writing and publishing process. The librarians also raffled away books for Todd to sign.

Big thanks to Ms. Trevino & Mrs. Avalos for sharing this opportunity with us! I can't wait to find out who they bring next year.

• Check out Chris Crutcher’s visit to Burges H.S. here>>
  
• Visit Todd Strasser’s website>>
• Watch a cool book trailer for Blood on My Hands here>>
• Check out Todd Strasser's books at the library>>
• Books that Todd Strasser recommended: The Hunger Games, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Feed, Wish You Were Dead, Famous, The Graveyard Book, & Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend (all available @ the library).
  

Reconsidering Hip Hop

This Saturday will be your last chance to catch the “Reconsidering Hip Hop” series at the library. The El Paso Public Library hosted three programs featuring lectures, performances, and movies. At Dorris Van Doren, there will be a live breakdance exhibition and a screening of Wild Style. Wild Style is a classic hip hop movie, starring Grandmaster Flash, Fab 5 Freddy, and others.

Justin De Senso and Lecroy Rhyanes, both NMSU grads, founded the Hip Hop Alumni (HHA) in 2008. HHA is an online resource that documents hip hop’s continued impact on society, education, history, art, and culture. For more info, check out their website: www.hiphopalumni.com/

Hop Alumni makes its last stop here at DVD on Saturday, May 14 from 3-5:30 p.m.

Check out these news articles about the program:

• New Library Project Digs Deep Into Hip-Hop's Roots (from What's Up)
  
• El Paso Public Library Salutes Hip Hop (from The Prospector)
  

The talented staff @ DVD tries their hand at graffiti art.

New (De) Contsruction

Have you noticed that there are a few shelves missing from our middle area near the bestsellers? The shelves have have been removed and are now being used as storage shelves for equipment and games. Both staff and patrons are liking the new "construction." There's more room to browse books, access requested items, and a clear walkway to the courtyard and family room.

What do you think? Should we have left them as they were?

TeenFest T-Shirt Contest!

Tax Season

This tax season has brought about heightened anxiety for many tax filers that have had to wait for tax form changes. The good news is that the deadline to file tax returns has been extended to April 18, 2011. The IRS needed time to implement changes when President Obama signed the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Act into law back in December. You can read more about the act here.

We finally received the following forms and booklets yesterday:

• 1040
• 1040A
• 1040EZ

Find and print other forms at http://www.irs.gov/index.html, or stop in the library and ask someone to print the forms out for you, free of charge (limit 10 copies).

Other Resources:

• A list of free tax help locations provided by AARP and VITA have been compiled by our Government Documents Departments. View them here.
• Free help with electronically filing your taxes will be available at the Main Library this Saturday, February 19 from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. You can also visit their website at www.myfreetaxes.com/ep
• Get the latest scoop by following the IRS on Twitter: @IRSnews
  

Morganville Comes to El Paso!

The El Paso Public Libraries are so excited to be able to bring another bestselling author to town! Rachel Caine is the author of several series, including The Morganville Vampires, Weather Warden, and The Outcast Season. She will be in El Paso from January 26-29, stopping at several libraries across town.

Best of all, she'll be here at Dorris Van Doren on the 28th from 5-9 p.m. for a Vampire Ball! So, make sure to come dressed as a vampire, character out of the book, or just as you are. We'll have a photo booth set up so that you can take pictures! It's free and open to all ages.

In the meantime, you can...

• Check out The Morganville Vampires books @ the library>>
• Read sample chapters from Rachel's site>>
• Visit Rachel's site>>
• Visit Morganville>>

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook for the latest updates!

Morganville in El Paso 2011
The official Twitter hashtag for this event is #mvep11