Back to School!

It's that time of the year. School has now started.

Many of you will be making plans about what to do after you finish high school. It's never too early to start looking up information about your future.

Here are some books that can help you in your search:

- How to Choose a College Major by Linda Landis Andrews
- Barron's Best Buys in College Education by Lucia Solorzano
- Peterson's Four Year Colleges
- But what if I don't want to go to college? By Harlow G. Unger

Here are some test preparation books:

- Kaplan SAT Comprehensive Program
- Cracking the ACT
- The Official Guide for All SAT Subject Tests

And some websites as well:

- FACTS.org: Florida's online academic advising system.
- Petersons.com: College and graduate school planning website.

Tampa Colleges and Universities:

- University of South Florida
- University of Tampa
- Hillsborough Community College

Best wishes!

South Tampa Anime-Manga Club

Exciting news! Jan Platt Library is getting its very own Anime-Manga Club! Join us on Wednesday, Sept 5, at 4:30pm. This will be the very first meeting, so it will be a fun one. We'll have Japanese candy, Manga trivia, and more! Also, you can help us pick what movies to watch in future club meetings. Check it out!

Manga:SAT as...

Enough already. Aren't we past the time where it should be acceptable for someone to blow off graphic novels and manga as silly comic books? What's the tipping point when ignorance on a subject becomes pathetic?

OK, so this isn't news if you're reading this, but here's some ammo for the next time this happens to you: manga makes you smart. Seriously, they're teaching this stuff in schools.

First, they tell us video games are good for us, now this. If this keeps up, there won't be anything left to warp our minds.

1st Teen Library Club Meeting at Bruton Memorial Library

YOU are invited to the 1st Teen Library Club Meeting @ Bruton Memorial Library
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Library Meeting Room

Middle School and High School Students Only!

Make new friends and have fun!

Learn new skills and information!

Get volunteer experience at the library!


For more information:
Ask to speak with Librarian Salena Coller
302 McLendon Street, Plant City, FL 33563
(813)757-9215

Christmas in August

Or Hanukkah. Or Kwanzaa. Or whichever commercialized co-opted religious celebration you prefer. The point is: Madden NFL 08 is out. As if any any self-respecting gamer worth his/her juke move didn't already know.

Sure, at this point there's really not much more they can do to change the game every year. There are some cool new features this year such as the ability to relocate your franchise anywhere and even rename different fan sections of your stadium, but that's really just fluff, right? The gameplay has been tweaked to make the D smart enough to stop you from just rolling out and throwing bombs all game (I can't stand playing people who do that. Is that really fun? Explain why the same people who fork over $50 every year for a realistic sports game continue to play it as unrealistically as possible? Okay, rant over.)



And, yes, Ron Mexico himself is still in the game. I can't wait to have the Falcons visit the Dawg Pound in Cleveland for a little karmic justice.

My Picks for August

School's about to start! But in the meantime, here are some good ones to keep you entertained.

Fiction Book- Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett

Anna Comnena does not want to be anybody's puppet. She loves her lessons- especially reading and writing. And she looks forward to being empress and marrying Golden Constantine someday. But her intelligence and determination are a threat to her grandmother, who would much rather have her younger brother rule the empire instead. Based on the Alexiad, written by the real Anna Comnena.


Non-fiction Book- The Top 10 of Everything by Russell Ash

What are the 10 tallest habitable buildings in the world? Is your first or last name in the current top 10 of the USA? Have you ever seen any of the 10 fastest mammals? Which of your favorite movies fell into the top 10 for budget? All of this and more is in this awesome book- which launches a new edition every year!

Manga- Swan by Kyoko Ariyoshi

Masumi Hijiri dreams of becoming a ballerina like her mother. She sneaks in backstage to see her idols- Sayoko and Kusakabe- perform in a recital. But her dancing impresses the dancers so much, that now Masumi has been invited to a competition in Tokyo. And imagine her surprised when she is also asked to join an exclusive ballet school! Published by CMX.

Anime- Gatchaman

You may remember "G-Force" or "Battle of the Planets". Gatchaman is the original version that they were derived from- and even better! The Science Ninja Team has to prevent the evil Galactor to take over the Earth's natural resources. Under Professor Nambu, Ken the Eagle and his superhero teammates have to protect our planet from destruction!

Website- Livejournal

Livejournal allows you to keep a blog online easily. You can even customize the way you look, as well as make "friends only" and private posts. And the best part is- you can easily view the Livejournals of all your friends on your Friends Page. Plus you can join many communities and even create some. Livejournal even has a mascot- Frank the Goat!!!

kittehs.

Since Heidi shared pix of her pets, I thought I would do the same...Here are my cats, Walter and Fish.

They look like they are hugging but they were actually fighting when I took this. They don't get along!

I also have a virtual pet turtle:

adopt your own virtual pet!

Splish Splash!

Want a pet but don't have much time, money, or space for it? Then perhaps goldfish are the right pet for you!

I have had pet goldfish since last year. Currently I have two Oranda goldfish named Selphie and Irvine in a 5 gallon aquarium. It's important that you keep them in an aquarium with a filter and not a bowl so that the water is purified and filtered- and thus your fishies can live longer. You can feed goldfish flakes, chips, and pellets from a pet shop- or you can also give them vegetables like peas and lettuce. Oranda are one of the many kinds of fantail (double-tailed) goldfish. Common and comet goldfish have a single tail. Some goldfish have a beautiful coloration called calico- and some even have bubble eyes.

Here are some books in our library about pet goldfish:

- Goldfish
- A Step-By-Step Book About Goldfish
- Taking Care Of Your Goldfish

And here are some great websites about goldfish:

- Glimmering Goldfish
- Koko's Goldfish World

Now comes what you all were waiting for- a picture of my aquarium. Don't worry- Selphie's just asleep!