Monday, October 29, 2018

Recommended Reads: Binti



     Sometime in the distant future, Binti, a girl from the African Himba tribe, is such a gifted mathematician that she has become the first of her people to be given a scholarship to the prestigious Oomza University.
    The problem is, Himba people do NOT leave their tribe. EVER. Tribal tradition is very strict and no one, especially no girl, has ever left their land - let alone gotten on a space ship and flown across the galaxy to the Oomza University planet. But Binti knows she has to do this. It is her dream, and nothing is going to stop her - so she leaves without telling anyone where she is going.
    And that's when the trouble starts. Binti's school ship is attacked by the warlike Meduse - a race that is at war with Oomza University because of something very precious the school stole from them long ago. Everyone on the ship is killed and Binti is now more alone than ever, forced to fight for her life against creatures who don't understand her, and think of her as nothing more than an animal, or worse.

Binti is the first book in a trilogy, and bonus - each book is super short so you can read the whole trilogy super fast. Even though it's short there is a lot to the story though, and it will definitely keep you interested throughout. If anything, I thought maybe the story was TOO short, and the author wrapped the first book up too fast, I wanted to keep reading.
You can find Binti as a book from the Main Library at the link here, or as an audio book from Hoopla Digital .

Official Rating: 3/4 Booker Bears!

Monday, October 22, 2018

Escape Rooms Are Back at Main Library!

One of out most popular programs in the teen department is back: Mrs. Eva Cervantes is bringing back her super fun monthly escape rooms, each month with a different theme.

The program returned on October 17th with a spooky themed room just in time for Halloween. 18 teens were given 45 minutes to work together to solve a series of puzzles with themes like Dracula and Edgar Allen Poe and tried their best to unlock multiple locks to get to a treasure hidden inside the lock-box. (The treasure was candy, and who doesn't want free candy)!

In the end, the teens managed to complete the escape with just about 3 minutes left on the clock! Good job to everyone who participated.

If you missed the October escape room, make sure you stop by for the November room, which will run at 4:00 PM on Wednesday, November 14th, 2018. The theme will be Harry Potter. Mrs. Cervantes is also planning a Nightmare Before Christmas themed room for December! The date on that one will be decided soon.

They made it with 3 minutes, 16 seconds to spare!