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"Melie has two mothers. She's been certain of this since she was a little girl and saw a cartoon about twin sisters. The twins were identical but with totally different personalities. One was gentle and kind, the other bitter and cruel. Her mother is like that."

Mélie isn't hopeless though. She knows that she can cure her cruel mother by performing her special rituals and intoning magical incantations when touching things or moving them around and putting them back in their place. Some colors are safe (like pink), others are not (red). Traffic lights, cracks in the sidewalk, everything she passes must be counted and multiplied by three. Only by paying attention to these things and following the rules can Mélie have her gentle mother all the time. Or so she thinks.

You might enjoy Clara Vidal's Like a Thorn if you also like Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat saga or Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar.

It's your world. If you don't like it, change it. Whether you want a more reasonable curfew, better lunches at school or world peace, the library has the information you need to help you speak out and get it done.

Let's begin at home. Ever think your parents' rules are unfair? You might not be the only one. Sarah O'Leary Burningham knows that sometimes the rules really are unfair and offers advice on mastering the art of parental negotiation in How To Raise Your Parents: A Teen Girl's Survival Guide. After reading it you'll have a better understanding of why your parents make the rules they do and how you can make them work better for both of you (not just for them).

Having a hard time at school? Guess what? People learn in different ways. This might not be news to you if you know the lyrics to all of your favorite songs but can't remember any of the lines of that poem you were supposed to memorize for English class (after writing it about a million times). Learn about your options in The Teenager's Guide to School Outside the Box by R. Greene. Because you have the right to an education that works for you.

Maybe you have a bigger cause. You know what needs to be done but aren't sure how to you get your message out there. Start with the Big Book of Pop Culture (a how-do guide for teen artists by Hal Niedzviecki), to figure out the best way (or ways). It's not just for artist/activists but anyone who wants to make a change. Use it to learn how to broadcast on local access cable or radio, write and distribute zines and more, then do it!

Make your world a better place. Start at the library.

Your library should have a new "Guide to Naturalization" handout for immigrants seeking citizenship. Developed by the Seattle Public Library, King County Library System and City of Seattle New Citizen Initiative, this packet contains the essential information on the citizenship process.

Included in the booklet are: the steps to naturalization; common questions; new and old exam questions and study material; a list of organizations that help with citizenship; and the N-400 Application for Naturalization Form. The booklet has been printed in a number of different languages - ask your local library branch to find out what language(s) they carry.

Now, for the exam:

• If your interview is scheduled before October 1, 2008, you will be tested on the old exam.
• If you apply before October 1, 2008 but are interviewed between October 1, 2008 and October 1, 2009, you can choose to take the old or the new exam
• If you apply after October 1, 2008, or your interview is after October 1, 2009, you must take the new exam

The library's free for everyone, right? Well library use is free most of the time. When books, cd's, dvd's, magazines, etc. are late the cardholder does get a 10 cent a day fine. The maximum a fine can be on one item is $3.00. However, if an item is over 28 days late the full replacement charge of that item is placed on the person's card until the item is either paid in full or returned.

If fines on a card add up to more than $10.00 then that person is not allowed to use their card to check out items or place holds. They may still use their card to access our databases and to reserve time on library computers, but not check out laptops. As soon as they pay the fines down to $10.00 or less they can have full privileges on their cards again. If their fines eventually get sent to our collection agency, then they have to pay the full amount plus a $5.00 collection fee to check out or place holds.

We try to work with students to keep their card available for use as much as possible. If it is the first time a student has a large amount of fines, then they may be eligible for a fresh start. This totally clears up to $25 in fines one time so they can start fresh. Please check with any library branch to clear up fines on a student's card.

When you are searching our library catalog, you usually hope to see that items have a status of CHECK SHELF, meaning that they should be on the shelf and available for check out.  But what about other statuses you might see?  What does STORAGE or WEEDING mean?  Is that item available for check out?

The KCLS website has a nice glossary of status terms on the following page: Item Statuses.  You can find the link to this page and other useful information from the Using the Library Catalog page on the KCLS web site.

Another useful glossary on that page is the Guide to Call Numbers.  What does it mean when a call number is preceded by YLP or eAUDFILE J ?  Find out on the Guide to Call Numbers!

Recycling and re-purposing has stealthily become one of my obsessions. Luckily for me and other like-minded folks, the greater Seattle area boasts nearly as many thrift stores, flea markets, and swap meets as it does coffee stands. Maybe you set out to find something specific, like a lamp for your desk, or an outfit to wear to work, but one can never underestimate the happy possibility of laying hands on a treasure that cannot be resisted. Like the old blue birdcage a friend picked up for a song the other day. It merely needed a little extra help to reach its full reusable potential as a porch decoration filled with lush ferns.

One of my favorite stores, The Salvage Studio, is filled with creative uses of good junk and I always get great ideas for using things that I already have (and sometimes don't have). But you don't have to go to their store, because the owners Amy Duncan, Beth Evans-Ramos, and Lisa Hilderbrand, have written a book:
The Salvage Studio: sustainable home comforts to organize, entertain, and inspire.

These ladies are masters of staging gorgeous vignettes. This book is on order for KCLS and due out this fall. While you wait, here are some other titles to try:

Restoration Home

Flea Market Style:  ideas & projects for your world

Creating Vintage Style

Are you a couch potato or do you want to become one? Start watching 1 of over 4,000 television shows available on DVD through the King County Library System.

Can't think of a TV show you'd like to watch? How about...

All in the Family  Avengers Baretta Benny Hill Benson Boston Legal Cagney & Lacey Cheers Columbo Desperate Housewives The Dick Van Dyke Show Family Ties

Father Knows Best Frasier Friends The Fugitive Golden Girls Gunsmoke I Love Lucy The Jack Benny Show The Jeffersons M*A*S*H Mary Tyler Moore Show Monk

The Monkees Murphy Brown The Odd Couple Saturday Night Live Sex and the City Six Feet Under Smothers Brothers Taxi This American Life Three's Company Ugly Betty Will and Grace

You can even browse all the television series on DVD in the library catalog. We have comedies, talk and variety shows, and police and medical dramas.

KCLS does not purchase every television show available on DVD. For example, we purchase Emmy winners, but not all the nominees. We try to buy the best television programs from the United States, and some from the United Kingdom and Canada. We look to see if they have been well-reviewed, won awards, or have ties to the Northwest.

If you'd like to learn more about how KCLS selects which DVDs to purchase, please ask a staff member for the "TV Series- Fiction" (p. 96) section of our Collection Development Manual.

There is an online form if you would like to suggest that KCLS buy a DVD.

Happy watching and don't forget to share the remote control with your loved ones.

So, have you ever become aware of something for the first time, and then started seeing it everywhere?  The other day I arrived at work to find an advanced reader's copy of Lang Lang: Playing with Flying Keys by Lang Lang (right now only the audio book is available for placing holds through the catalog) on my desk.  I didn't know a lot about the famous pianist, and I wondered who had mysteriously left this book for me. Then I visited one of my favorite music blogs a few minutes later, and the very first entry was about Lang Lang!  Apparently, he is auctioning off a red Steinway grand piano (one of only two in existence) that he recently played in a concert in Central Park.  The proceeds will go to aid China in its earthquake relief efforts. 

The bidding started at $165,000.  Go ahead, you can put in your bid here. 

Interested in hearing some of Lang Lang's stellar performances?  Check out these recordings:

The Magic of Lang Lang

Dragon Songs

Memory

By the way, being a librarian, I simply had to see if there was a name for this type of phenomenon (being introduced to something and then encountering it often).  There is, and it's called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. 

Bestselling author J.A. Jance will be visiting the Covington Library!!  This free event will be Tuesday, August 19, 7pm.

Jance will be discussing her latest work Damage Control.

The suspense-filled adventures of Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady continue as an elderly couple drives off a cliff in Coronado National Monument and a gruesome discovery awaits exposure by the subsiding rains of an ominous thunderstorm.

Documentaries can be really interesting. You'll be amazed at the wide variety of documentaries that the library carries. You can browse the library catalog for documentaries or do a subject search for "Documentary films."

There are a few documentaries with ties to Washington State such as "Arid Lands" about the Hanford nuclear site, "The Heart of the Game" about the Roosevelt High School women's basketball team, and "Source to the Sea" about a man who swims the length of the Columbia River.

If you want to see a funny slice of life check out "Heavy Metal Parking Lot."  It is full of short interviews with Judas Priest fans in the concert parking lot. 

If you are interested in making your own documentary, consider taking classes at the 911 Media Center in Seattle or at the Northwest Film Forum.