Hello American!

Welcome to this month's Teen's Newsletter. I hope you've been able to stay warm and are excited for winter break! Keep scrolling down to see what's happening this month for anyone in grades 6-12. Want more information on a program? Click its link and read more about it on the Ashland Town Calendar.

Remember, if you're in 8th grade or higher (aged 13 or up) and want to keep up-to-date on events, be the first to know about new books coming in, and have easy access to library resources, join our Discord server!

Ana
Teen Librarian
[email protected]
They/Them

The best way to keep updated on our events is to subscribe to our website calendar. Click on Notify Me®, pick the Library Events (about 3/4 of they way down the page) and you'll get notifications when we've added new, exciting programs! 

Looking for community service hours? The library is a great way to get those in early before the end of the school year!
Get in touch with Miss Lois to learn more.: [email protected]

This month will be the start of monthly game days at the library! Join us afterschool on Friday,  December 16 in the Schiesske meeting room (the big conference room downstairs next to the children's room) and on Saturday, January 7th in the Teen Room for snacks and video games. Drop by anytime, no registration needed!

After taking a break from last month, we're back with another Teen Craft! This month will be making flag books, which are a fun and easy hand-made book structure that make great gifts. Click Here to register. 

Rewritten and Retold
One of the most common literary tropes is to re-use folktales, mythologies and classic stories. Take a look at some of the ways current authors have been remixing familiar stories into exciting modern renditions!

An Arrow to the Moon by X.R. Pan is a mixture of Chinese mythology and Romeo and Juliet. 

"Hunter Yee has perfect aim with a bow and arrow, but all else in his life veers wrong. He’s sick of being haunted by his family’s past mistakes. The only things keeping him from running away are his little brother, a supernatural wind, and the bewitching girl at his new high school.

Luna Chang dreads the future. Graduation looms ahead, and her parents’ expectations are stifling. When she begins to break the rules, she finds her life upended by the strange new boy in her class, the arrival of unearthly fireflies, and an ominous crack spreading across the town of Fairbridge."

Anne of Greenville by Mariko Tamaki is a LGBT+ retelling of the 1908 classic book, Anne of the Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. 

"In this modern reimagining of Anne of Green Gables, Anne is an ABBA-loving singer/actor/writer of disco-operas, queer, Japanese-American who longs to be understood for her artistic genius. Recently relocated to middle-of-nowhere Greenville and starting at a new school, Anne has a tendency to A) fall in love quickly, deeply, and effervescently and B) fly off the handle in the face of jerks."

Children of Ragnarok is the first in the Runestone Saga by Cinda Williams Chima. Taking elements from Norse mythology it tells a story about a post-Ragnorok world. 

"Ever since Ragnarok—the great war between the gods and the forces of chaos--the human realm of the Midlands has become a dangerous place, bereft of magic, where most lead lives of desperation."

Skin of the Sea is the first in a series of the same name by Natasha Bowen. It is an original story that takes elements and figures from central, western and southern African mythology. 

"Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata--a mermaid--collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home.

But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi goes against an ancient decree and does the unthinkable--she saves his life. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy the gods."

Strike the Zither by Joan He is a fantasy historical fiction novel based off of Three Kingdoms, one of the four classics of Chinese Literature. 

"The year is 414 of the Xin Dynasty, and chaos abounds. A puppet empress is on the throne. The realm has fractured into three factions and three warlordesses hoping to claim the continent for themselves.

But Zephyr knows it’s no contest."

Do you know about our Library of Many Things?

The library has a special collection of objects that go out the same way books do. We have both a Nintendo Switch AND a Nintendo Switch LITE, a telescope, metal detector, ukulele, along with board games, puzzles, and more!

Come check it out! We're getting more things all the time so you never know when there will be something new.