I LOVE the American Office. I am completely obsessed with it right now. Did you know that the library has both seasons in our collection? I really have nothing else to say, except are you on Team Pam or Team Karen? Leave a comment!

PS. I'm Team Pam all the way.

We have new books! I have chosen to mark this event by making a homemade "new" symbol (pictured left) to accompany this entry. Please note that I am not an artist; I am a librarian.

While on the subject, I want to let you know that if you ever have suggestions for book titles, please let me know and I'll see what I can do!

Let's get down to business. Here is an overview of our new titles (please note that I have marked line breaks with miniature photos of Barry Manilow, to make this post even more festive):

The Black Tattoo by Sam Enthoven: A teen unites with two friends to break the spell of a cursed black tattoo that has appeared on his back.

Corbenic by Catherine Fisher:A retelling of the story of Perceval and the Holy Grail set in modern day England.

Everlost by Neal Shusterman: Two teens die in a car crash and meet in Everlost, the place between death and the afterlife. The two try to go back home and Everlost proves to be difficult to escape.

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter: A 15-year-old girl in a top-secret boarding school for spies-in-training falls for a local boy, but can't reveal her identity.

Sins of the Fathers by Chris Lynch: Set in a Catholic school in working-class Boston, three boys' friendships are put to the test as disturbing secrets are revealed about the priests who educate them.

This is All by Aidan Chambers: A 19-year-old girl writes a series of pillow books - Japanese diaries written in full disclosure- to her unborn daughter.

Trigger by Susan Vaught: A teenager with severe brain damage, caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, struggles through a series of hazy flashbacks to try to recall why he attempted suicide.

Vanishing Act by John Feinstein: Two 8th-grade sports reporters investigate the disappearance of a Russian tennis star before the U.S. Open.

What Happened to Cass McBride? by Gail Giles: The most popular girl in school is kidnapped and buried alive after a boy holds her responsible for his brother's suicide.

These books are all available now in the Teen Section on the library's main floor.

Is anybody else out there as big of a Bravo junkie as I am? If so, I thought I'd point out that the library now has both seasons of Project Runway in our collection. I am especially fond of Season 2 because I love Santino Rice (I know that everybody else hates him, but I think he's a cool guy!). Fun fact: when I was still in library school last winter, my friend and I asked for permission to leave class early so that we could watch the season finale of season 2 and the teacher actually ended class early for everybody!

Do you ever notice that PBS sometimes rocks? This is due to their weekly broadcasts of Austin City Limits, a show which features a variety of live performances by independent rock bands (they're repeating an episode featuring Franz Ferdinand this weekend!). In addition to the weekly televsion show, there is an annual Austin City Limits music festival in (naturally) Austin, Texas. Recently, the library added the DVD of the 2005 festival to our collection. This two-disc set features performances by British band The Kaiser Chiefs, Jason Mraz, and electronic duo The Thievery Corporation, just to name a few.

If hip-hop is more your thing, check out the Beastie Boys new DVD Awesome: I Shot That, a concert video shot entirely by members of the audience with handheld cameras.

In honor of magician David Blaine's latest stunt, which he is performing this week in Times Square, I'm (sort of) devoting this post to magic.

My favorite book I've read all year was actually published last year: Greg Galloway's As Simple As Snow. The book has been noted for having a memorable first line:

Anna Cayne had moved here in August just before our sophmore year in high school, but by February she had, one by one, killed everyone in town.

Anne Cayne, the new goth girl in town, begins a relationship with an unnamed protagonist, an "average Joe" student who becomes swept up in her intelligence, uncanny communication, and amazing mix CDs (I'm going to have a music geek moment here, but how many "teen" novels out there mention bands like Felt, The Smiths, and Bonnie "Prince" Billy? I'm impressed!). The book follows their romance and her subsequent disappearance, which leads to hundreds of unanswered questions, clues, and a mystery too deep to be contained within the book. In fact, you can sign up at www.assimpleassnow.com to have clues e-mailed to you on a weekly basis. What other books do this?

But, getting back to the theme of this post, I should mention that Anna, ASAS's main character, is obsessed with Houdini, most notably, the codes that he and his wife invented together. This led me to read the new Houdini biography, Escape!: The Story of the Great Houdini by Sid Fleischman. Through reading this, you realize that Houdini is really the grandfather of modern magic. Although David Blaine and Criss Angel perform elaborate stunts, most of their feats are modern revivals of old Houdini acts. To see some of this magic in action, be sure to check out the new DVD Criss Angel Mindfreak: Halloween.

And if you think that magic is kind of stupid, may I recommend the TV show Arrested Development? Gob Bluth, one of the show's main characters, is a hilarious failure as a magician, botching almost every trick he attempts to perform. In one episode, he is one-upped by guest star Ben Stiller who plays Tony Wonder, a magician whose act is largely based on the fact that he can make bread appear out of thin air. Get it? Tony Wonder? And yes, I have hyped Arrested Development in this blog before, but I don't care. I love this show.

And so ends my (super-long) post on magic.

By now, I'm sure you've had to read Romeo and Juliet at some point in your school career. Romeo falls in love with Juliet, their families are feuding, they get secretly married, they die, blah blah blah. But do you remember Juliet's cousin Roseline? She was the one who first caught Romeo's attention. After he showered her with professions of love, he dumps her like a hot potato for Juliet. What gives? The new book Romeo's Ex: Roseline's Story by Lisa Fiedler tells the classic Shakespearian tale from the perspective of Roseline, focusing largely on the minor characters of the play and leaving the Romeo and Juliet plot largely in the background. If you've ever wanted to delve deeper into this story, this book's for you.

Last week I had the honor of meeting Patrick Jones, the author of two novels for young adults. Things Change was published in 2004 and documents an abusive relationship from both the female and male perspectives. I read most of this in one sitting because it was too intense to put down! I just started reading his new novel Nailed, which came out last spring. This book follows the life of Bret Hendricks, a high school outsider who enjoys theatre, kitschy tee shirts, and The Clash. However, his dad would prefer his son to take an interest in sports or car repair and goes out of his way to make Bret know that he's a big disappointment to the family.

Both of these books are quick reads and are unique enough to not interfere with what you have to read for school. I encourage you to check them out (literally!).

Did you know that the library has DVDs? The AV department is located on the lower level and is giving your neighborhood rental chain a run for its money. In addition to buying all the usual "library" stuff (eg. PBS specials, kids' movies, educational things, etc.), we buy fun things too! Get groovy with the first season of That 70's Show, check out Jack Black in Nacho Libre, or if teenage drama is more your thing, we have Degrassi: The Next Generation and the third season of The OC.

And if you want to be cool, you can check out my favorite teen show of all time, Freaks & Geeks. The show follows the lives of high schoolers in suburban Michigan in the early 80's. It was only on for one season in 1999, but helped launch the careers of Linda Cardellini (E.R.), James Franco (Spider Man, Annapolis), and Jason Segal (How I Met Your Mother). This show was written and directed by Paul Feig, who not only wrote the hilarious book, Superstud, but also directed episodes of Arrested Development and The Office, both of which I love as well. Perhaps I should have titled this entry "I Love Paul Feig..." Too late now!

If you'd like to get involved in selectinmg DVDs for the library, you should join our new Teen Advisory Group! E-mail me for more information.

There are many ways to contact the library for help, the phone being just one method. Did you know that we now offer reference services through instant messaging? You can either instant message us directly from the link on our site, or you can add us to your buddy list. We are "AskWestportLibrary." If you can't make it to the library, this is a great way to get your research done because unlike waiting for an e-mail response, you can interact in real time. There are no guarantees that any of us will make you LOL (actually, I can probably guarantee that we won't!), but we can help you find what you're looking for. I'm usually on IM from 3PM-5PM Monday-Friday.

Need help when the library's closed? We now offer 24-hour reference through InfoAnytime! Not that we're encouraging you to save your homework for 2AM the night before it's due...

While I'm on the topic, another way to keep in touch with the library is through our new MySpace page. And for those of you who think that MySpace is so 2005, I'm in the process of making a Facebook page as well.

The National Book Awards were announced this week and M.T. Anderson won in the category for Young People’s Literature with his book The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume One: The Pox Party. The story is set in Boston in the Revolutionary Era and follows the story of a black youth named Octavian and his mother, an African princess, who are living in a house of philosophers and educators. Although Octavian is getting a top-notch education and is living in comfortable surroundings, he realizes that he and his mother are captive in the house and are unwillingly the subjects of experiments meant to determine the intellectual capacity of Africans. After a tragic end to a pox party, Octavian escapes, only to be recaptured and forced to wear an iron mask.

If you like this book, be sure to check Feed, also by MT Anderson.

It’s that time of year where every senior is freaking out about college deadlines. Should I apply early decision? Is my essay good enough? Will my teacher really write me a good letter of recommendation? Stress is normal to every student, but it affects some more than others. It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini is a great novel about this. The book is a fictional story about a high school freshman named Craig Gilner. After months of studying, he gets accepted to a prestigious professional prep school in Manhattan, only to fall into severe depression upon realizing that he can’t keep up with the rigorous curriculum. After nearly committing suicide, Craig checks himself into the psychiatric facility of a local hospital and learns to get his life under control. The book is funny, informative, and almost therapeutic to read. Although this work is fictional, the author had a similar experience himself and spent five days in adult psychiatric at Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, NY in late 2004.

If reading a fictional novel isn't enough to help you relax, the library has several books in our collection about how to deal with stress. Just ask a librarian to suggest some titles!