Weekly Summer Challenges in the Teen Area! 

For each week of summer, we'll have a challenge and give away a gift certificate! Tweens and teens can take part in this challenge by submitting their answers into a box on the sill of the display case. Participants can only submit one answer per challenge/week. In total, we will pull 12 names for 12 prizes. Please email your Teen Librarian Megan for more information. 

Summer Reading 2022

Read Beyond the Beaten Path: Summer 2022! 

Have a blast this summer by joining Read Beyond the Beaten Path with Newton Free Library from June 13 to August 31. Rising 6th-12th graders can use our online reading log to keep track of the time spent reading. Remember, all reading counts--read a book, magazine or e-book; listen to an audiobook; read aloud to a sibling; read aloud with your family.

Tweens and teens entering 6th-12th in the 2022-23 school year can win prizes! Register and log your reading on Beanstack to be entered in a drawing to win a prize each week of summer reading (6/13-8/21). Write a book review on Beanstack; complete an adventure; or attend a library program (and fill in the relevant adventure on the site). Prizes will include experiences such as a kayak outing and cool stuff to enjoy like gift certificates to bookstores. You can find registration, summer programming and everything else summer at newtonfreelibrary.net/summer.

Outside Typewriter Poetry: Monday, July 11 at 6:30pm. We’ll be getting together to use old-school typewriters and write poems for library patrons on the spot! We will meet outside the library on the brick steps on the Homer St. side. If there's a chance of rain, we'll consider a rain date. Registration is required. Grades 7-12. 

Bad Movie Club: Tuesday, July 12 at 6:30pm. Do you enjoy watching 'bad' movies with your family or friends? Do you enjoy talking about these 'bad' movies with other people? Once a month, join us and other like-minded teens to watch and discuss a bad movie. Our first 'bad' movie will be: Cats (2019). Rated PG, running time 110 minutes. Snacks will be provided. For those entering grades 8-12.

Mosaic Planter Pot: Monday July 25 at 7pm. Summer is the perfect time for a unique stained glass mosaic pot to gleam in the sun. Join us in the Teen Area to decorate a smaller planter pot with gorgeous stained glass tiles. Leslie Doherty of Ways of Color will join us over Zoom to guide us through the process. You might even want to start thinking about what you'll plant in it! Registration is required and will begin Monday, June 27. For those entering grades 6-12.

Engineering Club: Thursday, July 21 at 7pm. Be a problem solver! Take on a new engineering challenge each week. Get creative, think outside the box and hang out with other like-minded kids. Members can bring project ideas and we'll vote on the ones we want to do throughout the club. Registration is for ALL 4 sessions 7/21, 7/28. 8/4 & 8/11. Online registration (required) begins Thursday, July 1. For rising 6th to 8th graders. 

Anime/Manga Club: Wednesday, August 17 at 4:30pm. Meet and hang out with lovers of all things anime! Activities will range from anime screenings to discussion of our favorite series, manga share and swap, anime-themed crafts, cosplay workshops, art trades and more! For those entering grades 6-12. This month: we'll screen a series & make candy sushi! 

LGBTQIA+ Drop-In Potluck: Wednesday, August 17 at 7pm. Are you a lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, ace or questioning teen? Are you a teen ally for LGBTQIA+ teens? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then we invite you to come to this event! Meet like-minded teens from the community and enjoy an evening of fun! For those entering grades 7-12. This month, we'll be hosting a potluck dinner. If you'd like information on the potluck or the drop-in, contact your Teen Librarian Megan. 

Needle Felt a Whale! Thursday, August 18 at 7pm. Learn how to needle felt wool with Pop up Art School. Use a barbed needle and merino wool roving to create a smiling blue whale. In this beginner’s class, you’ll learn how to sculpt basic shapes and attach them together. This event will be in person in the Teen Area. Needle felting is fun, easy and relaxing! For ages 12+. Registration for this event will begin Monday, July 25.

Minute to Win It: End of Summer Celebration! Monday, August 22 at 6:30pm. Celebrate the end of summer with Minute To Win It games and ice cream! The idea is to complete challenges in under a minute using simple, everyday items. Meet us in the Teen Area to head outside for fun and ice cream! For those entering grades 6-12. 

Whatcha Reading, Staff? 

Tween

Let the Monster Out by Chad Lucas - When things in their town keep getting stranger and stranger, Bones Malone and Kyle Specks team up to solve this mystery, which forces them to face their worst nightmares as they search for the truth. Librarian Julia thinks this creepy mystery has great characters, a wonderful tone and a thrilling plot. 

We Are Wolves by Katrina Nannestad - Sometimes it's good to be wild. Sometimes you have to be wild. When the Russian Army marches into East Prussia at the end of the war, the Wolf family must flee. Liesl, Otto and their baby sister Mia find themselves lost and alone, in a blizzard, in the middle of a war zone. Liesl has promised Mama that she will keep her brother and sister safe. But sometimes to survive, you have to do bad things. Dangerous things. Wild things. Sometimes to survive, you must become a wolf. Librarian Deena felt this powerful story explored a lesser known part of World War II. Place a hold on the physical copy here! 

Hunters of the Lost City by Kali Wallace - Twelve-year-old Octavia, who grew up believing her town was the only one left after a magical war, meets a girl from outside her town and tries to uncover the truth about her world. Librarian Megan enjoys the world-building and character development of Octavia and her maybe more than friend Sima. Place a hold on the physical book here! 

Teen

The Counselors by Jessica Goodman - After a traumatic school year, camp counselor Goldie Easton is excited to reunite with her two best friends at an elite summer camp, but when a local boy is found dead on the grounds, all three must reveal a dark secret to find the murderer. Librarian Rachel is missing summer camp after this well-written mystery with a Jewish protagonist!  

This May End Badly by Samantha Markum - Seventeen-year-old pranking mastermind Doe Saltpeter abandons her plans to win a rivalry with the neighboring boys' school and instead joins forces with her enemies to protect a younger student from a teacher's inappropriate behavior. Librarian Rachel blurbed the book for the publisher and said: Funny, charming, real... Set in a prep school during senior year, this debut tackles it all: feminism, college applications, kissing your fake boyfriend, friendship changes and ultimately figuring out what you want your legacy to be...without losing who you are at your core. 

A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft - Sharpshooter Margaret Welty and alchemical apprentice Weston Winters form an unlikely team competing for glory in a magical fox hunt -- while she wants to lure her mother home, Wes needs the prize money to support his family and his political aspirations. Librarian Julia is a fan of this historical fantasy and the relationship between the two main characters.