TPL Teens

Our Summer Reads booklist is full of wild adventures. Take a trip inspired by the far east with some of these amazing titles

By Alissa, Runnymede Branch Youth Advisory Group member Halloween is a great time of the year where you get to dress up and pretend to be someone else, plus you even get candy. But the amount of time I personally spend scrambling to come up with costumes before the big...

I want to start off by thanking everyone for the amazing submissions, and for taking the time to enter. From this wonderful drawing by A.C., depicting herself looking out over the city: To this amazing shot of the city by Aloysius: And of course, this beautiful painting by Grace: With...

We had some fun entries for this contest, which asked you to use a book cover to change your identity. (You can see more details here). Let's start with a few of my favourites, before I announce the big winner. This one from Angela is a fun little play on...

Review by Chelsea, age 12 Overcooked by Ghost Town Games is a fun, cooperative game for your and your friends! It involves a great amount of teamwork, quick thinking, and of course, cooking. Can you master the art of cooking and save your city by feeding the meatball beast? The...

Review by Maryann, age 17 The Book Thief by Markus Zusak This story takes place during World War 2 in Germany, and is centered around a ten-year-old girl named Liesel. In this novel, the story is narrated by Death who describes the events that happen during this period of time,...

Reviews by Tiffany, age 18 ************************************************************************************************************** A story about hope in an enchanting world with a unique protagonist – it will leave you breathless. Ally Condie’s Atlantia left me in pieces. I was literally brimming with emotions by the time I put this book down at 2:30 in the morning....

Review by Chelsea, age 12 Do you love sports? Do you have three older brothers who also love sports? Maybe you don't, but Charlotte Reynolds does. As a sixteen-year-old, being raised by a single father and being surrounded by athletics friends has its perks. You could outscore every boy you...

By Alissa, Runnymede Branch Youth Advisory Group member photo credit: Great Beyond on a CC license It is no secret to anyone at this point that school is coming. In fact, school is coming fast! The final days before school should be savoured, enjoyed, and it's a time to get...

Charles Babbage created plans for a calculating machine. Ada Lovelace read them and added notes that included the first glimmers of computing. Computers were nowhere in sight and were still a century away... but what if they weren't? What if these two teamed up and created this machines, turning it...

Review by Snehan Do you eat food? Are you concerned about the environmental state of our planet? Do you want to be your best by striving for perfect health? What are you doing about it? Most of us are clueless about two of the most important issues we face; the...

Time to spice up our last week of summer programming with some music and dancing! Check out what's on this week at the library: Zumba for Teens Tuesday August 30, 2016 | 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm Location: Malvern Funky Latin rhythms mixed with easy to follow moves create a...

Review by Yasir, age 15 Death Note, written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, is an action, mystery manga (in which many people die so I advise that don’t read it unless you are 14 or above). The word death note is based on the note book in...

Review by Jamia, age 12 The Darkest Minds, by Alexandra Bracken, is a book about a disease roaming around in the United States causing death rates to increase alarmingly. Children in the United States are getting powers because of this disease. The story is about a girl by the name...

Review by Syeda, age 14 Explorer: The Mystery Boxes - Edited by Kazu Kibuishi 'A book about mysterious boxes? YESS!' That's what I thought when I saw this book and it sure didn't disappoint me. This is a graphic novel that's made up of 7 different stories with the same...

Review by Faith, age 17 "Guilt is a hunter. Fate is a hunter. Shame is a hunter. Fear is a hunter." Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys is one of those books that coerces this Faith into delivering one of those rare and (somewhat) thoughtfully serious reviews. This is...

Review by Mishaal, age 13 The Hunger Games has been very famous among teens lately, everybody kept recommending it to me, so I finally decided to check it out. Believe it or not, this book (along with the others in the trilogy) are now right at the top of my...

Review by Farees, age 19 Between The Assassinations (a collection of short stories) by Aravind Adiga is something excruciatingly short of a masterpiece. The book was crisp, a very well written satire with sarcasm that’s so funny yet dark, it makes one feel guilty for finding it amusing. However the...

Review by Fariha F. Most people underestimate eyes. They're infinite. You look someone straight in the eye and your whole soul can be sucked out in a nanosecond. Other people's eyes are limitless and that's what scares me. Let me just start the review by saying that this book is...

Review by Zainab City of Bones by Cassandra Clare is easily the best fantasy book I have read. Most people find it crazy when I say I hate fantasy. I hate it and I can put up a fight because of it. City of Bones has been a life changer...

TV Show: Pretty Little Liars Currently in the midst of its seventh season, Pretty Little Liars is a drama that has attracted millions of viewers. Four best friends, Spencer (played by Troian Bellasario), Aria (played by Lucy Hale), Hanna (played by Ashley Benson), and Emily (played by Shay Mitchell) are...

review by Maeesha Re: Book Review Submission: The Outside Circle by Patti LaBoucane Benson What we learn about the indigenous people of Canada in history class doesn't usually do the original people of this land much justice. With this in mind, I read The Outside Circle by Patti LaBoucane Benson,...

Marvel's Unbeatable Squirrel Girl may not be as well known as the Avengers or the X-Men, but she's the only one who's beaten all the biggest and toughest - Wolverine? Check. Deapool? Yup. Doctor Doom AND Thanos? Got the better of both of them. Sometimes, cute and resourceful is totally...

The Maria A. Shchuka Youth Advisory Group recently had the opportunity to ask some questions to Ryan North, author of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. 1. Which of your characters are your favourite? My favourite character is T-Rex from Dinosaur Comics: he's the first character I really came up with, and...

Where in Toronto do you feel most creative? Is there a spot where you feel inspired to draw and paint and build and make plans for even more drawings, paintings and designs? To enter this contest for a chance to win a pair of B&O Beoplay H6 Headphones, use any...