Epic Cosplay Costumes by Kristie "Karmada" Good

If you've got an anime club, chance are good that at least one teen will come cosplay at every meeting. Cosplay (dressing up as a character from a book, anime, movie, or TV show) is becoming more and more popular now, and not just with the anime crowd. Show up at a convention in cosplay, and you'll feel like a celebrity, with everyone wanting to take a picture of you.

A lot of teens start a costume with thrifted pieces, but sometimes you have to get out a needle and thread and make a piece from scratch. That's where this book comes in.

Rather than having patterns, Epic Cosplay Costumes includes instructions on how to measure and create items that will fit you: a basic skirt, pants, gloves (good luck finding those at your local thrift store), and more. The designs are all simple and generic enough to work for nearly every costume, with suggestions on how to adapt them to fit the character you're looking to cosplay. Includes a chapter on how to style and store wigs, and one on how to survive a convention without losing your props or your sanity.

Art Club: Ugly Art

I started a new program this fall: Teen Art Club. We meet once a month to make art. Some months we experiment with different media, and some months we create something to be used in a library display.

For our first meeting, I went looking for something we could do that wouldn't let the teens stress over whether their art was as good as the others'. I came across the idea of ugly art here. Brilliant! I bought mini canvases from the dollar store, and we used acrylics, rhinestones, and a variety of random craft supplies from my cupboard to make the ugliest thing we could. Then we voted on the results.

Everyone had fun making their ugly art. Alas, one kid got upset and left when his painting wasn't voted the ugliest. I can't win.

Anime Scattegories

Looking for a new game to play with your anime club? How about a twist on a classic game? All you need is some paper and the die from Scattergories.

If you haven't played Scattergories before, it's very easy to learn. The game comes with cards that list a bunch of categories; things like Parts of a Car and Cartoon Characters. You roll the die and everyone madly scribbles down a word for each category that starts with the letter on the die before the timer runs out. If someone else has the same word as you, neither of you gets a point.

My list of anime categories is below. I created it based on what manga and anime were popular at my anime club; you could very easily adapt it to suit your teens. Print out a pile of the lists, and you can get as many games out of it as there are letters on the alphabet die.


Letter:   _____

1.  Female Character
2.  Anime Series
3.  Place
4.  Something from Bleach
5.  Something from Naruto
6.  Male Character
7.  Shojo Manga
8.  Shonen Manga
9.  Yaoi Manga
10.  Something from One Piece
11.  Something from Black Butler
12.  Cross-Dressing Character

Silence by Michelle Sagara

The local graveyard might not be most people's preferred place to walk their dog, but Emma likes it for the quiet, and because she can visit her boyfriend's grave. On one of her evening walks there, she has a chilling encounter with the ghost of an old woman. From then on she can see and hear ghosts, and if she touches them, other people can see the ghosts, too. Emma is a necromancer. But being a necromancer is dangerous. Some people want to kill her for being one, and other necromancers want to kidnap her. All Emma wants is to help the ghost of a little boy who burned to death in a house fire, and who is reliving his death in an endless loop.

I listened to the audiobook version of this. I found the narrator to be a rather slow reader, but I was able to get past that and enjoy the story despite her pacing.

Suggest to teens looking for ghost stories, creepy books, or an interesting magic system. Kirkus recommends this for ages 12+.

Escape Rooms for Teens in the Library

Escape rooms are popping up all over the place, and if you've never tried an one before, they're a lot of fun. You and a group of friends let yourselves be locked in a room and madly decipher clues, solve puzzles, and search for the key that will let you out of the room before the timer goes off.

I'd never considered creating my own escape room as a teen program until I came across this article from ALA . They offer plenty of tips and two different ways to run the program so you can adapt it to fit your library.

Once you've picked up a few locks and props, you can just change your theme, allowing for near endless variations to the  program. How about locking your teens into The Chamber of Secrets for a Harry Potter-themed event? You could tie it in to whatever book or movie is currently big with the teens at your library, or make up a story all of your own.

World War One: 1914-1918 by Alan Cowsill and Lalit Kumar Sharma

Like World War Two, from the same publisher, this graphic novel mixes fact with fiction, large scale action with personal stories. It frames World War I with first person narration from an imaginary soldier named George Smith who enlists along with his brother in the British Army at the start of the war. Then it alternates George's story with stories of historical figures and from a broader point of view. It's an excellent and accessible look at the First World War. This is the first time I've actually understood the complex web of treaties and alliances that made Archduke Ferdinand's assassination the trigger to a world war.

Includes information on the animal soldiers and geographic scope of the war at the end of the book.
The book won Best Graphic Novel 2014 at the Comic Con India Awards.

Food Wars: Shokugeki No Soma by Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki

 Soma's been helping out at his family's restaurant since he was old enough to hold a knife, but his dad has decided it's time for Soma to go to culinary school. The school his dad has chosen is infamous. It has a 10% graduation rate, and the entrance examiner is so terrifying that most people back out before they've even started. Soma's ignorant of all this, however, and he aces the entrance exam while simultaneously infuriating the examiner, who refuses to pass him. Soma only gets in because the dean of the school overrides the examiner. Unfortunately for Soma, the examiner happens to be the top student in the school, and she's declared war on Soma. And in this school, losing a battle in the kitchen means expulsion.

Who knew cooking could be so exciting? Cook-offs full of whirling spatulas and knives are interspersed with over-the-top humour, and the story whips along. Make sure you have snacks on hand while reading this series, as the illustrations of food are guaranteed to make you hungry. Recipes for some of the dishes are included, and although readers might have a hard time finding some of the ingredients, the instructions are unintimidating.

The publisher rates the series as T+ for older teens, as there is plenty of nudity, pushing this firmly into the ecchi category. In addition to a student who likes to go naked except for an apron, at least once a chapter someone eats a dish so sublime that they find themselves naked, naughty bits strategically covered by ingredients, an orgasmic expression on their face. It's not always the buxom girl this happens to, either. In one scene,  a scrawny, old monk rips off his clothes.

Suggest to teens looking for action, humour, or plenty of battle scenes.