Play Games Online

You can play your favorite word and number games online at the library! Try these sites:

www.setgame.com/set/ Set Daily Puzzle: puzzle game using shapes, colors, and patterns

www.dailysudoku.com/sudoku/ Sudoku online

FYI the scrabulous web site has been taken down, I think because of copyright infringement!

Relax and Play Board Games

Got some time to kill at the library? Need to take a break from doing your homework? Play checkers, chess or monopoly in the YA Room. Or try out our new game: Shadows over Camelot!

New Board Game in YA Room

Shadows over Camelot is a game where players collaborate with each other to defeat the game itself. You and your fellow gamers are reincarnated Knights of the Round Table, and you must complete a number of quests in order to protect Camelot. Together you must find Excalibur, the Holy Grail and Lancelot’s Armor; you must defeat the Black Knight, and win wars against the Saxons and Picts. As if that isn’t enough, there may be a traitor in your midst! 3 – 7 people can play at a time, and a game takes about 90 minutes.

Review of The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding

This is a very creepy book. It's set in London in what appears to be the 19th century, but none of the events described in the story have any real place in history. In this parallel London, the city was bombed and nearly destroyed by a German airship fleet, and in the ensuing years becomes overrun by wych-kin, supernatural monsters that prey on human beings. The only protection comes from wych-hunters who use ancient rituals to track them and kill them. Thaniel Fox is a 17-year-old wych-hunter who learned the craft from his father, and then his mentor, Cathaline. The book opens with Thaniel chasing a Cradlejack (much more dangerous than it sounds: it's like a vampire that preys on babies) into an abandoned building where he stumbles across a crazed young woman who attacks him and then collapses. He takes her home, and with Cathaline's help, tries to unravel her mystery. The only thing she remembers is her name: Alaizabel Cray. Cathaline surrounds her room with talismans to ward off any evil pursuers, but Alaizabel insists that during the night something cold, wet and horrible tried to get into her room, even though no one else heard or felt anything. Is she insane or is something really trying to get her? Thaniel and Cathaline soon realize that the girl they saved is the key to a conspiracy that could bring the ultimate evil into the world. Along the way, they join forces with the vagrants, pickpockets and other unsavory people who inhabit the Old Quarter, an area of London most people avoid. Besides the wych-kin and wolves that inhabit the Old Quarter, there's also the serial killer Stitch-face, clearly modelled on Jack the Ripper. This is a real page-turner, but don't read it unless you have a strong stomach for gore. Review by Stacy Church

Review of Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick

San Lee is an 8th grader transferring into a new school in the middle of a semester, and, once again, he's the new kid in a new school in a new town. But he has the same old problems, only now they're worse than ever because his dad is in prison, and his mom is working constantly to try and support them. At every new school, San makes himself over to become someone who can fit in, but this time he says, "I was sick of pretending to be like everyone else --the artificial slang, the Internet research on sports I didn't care about, the endless watching of MTV so I could learn song lyrics, dance moves, cool clothing brands." Then, in the cafeteria on his first day, he meets a wild-haired girl who spends every lunch period singing and playing an old, beat-up guitar. Next, in social studies class (which he happens to have with the wild-haired girl, Woody), he just happens to know the answer to a question about Zen Buddhism, and his new identity as Buddha Boy is launched. Since he's the only Asian in the school, everyone takes his expertise for granted. So he rushes to the library after school to read up on Buddhism and begins to fake it. He gets paired up with Woody to do a project on Buddhism, and the time involved in their dual project of volunteering at a soup kitchen and learning how to shoot baskets the Zen way gets him into trouble with his mom, who suspects him of becoming a liar like his father. This is a very funny, heartfelt book by the author of two other terrific books: Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie and Notes from the Midnight Driver. Review by Stacy Church